ISSUE:
#. 88. June 2, 2003
NATO SPLIT: ALMOST OFFICIAL
BLAIR TO THE HAGUE?
SHARON ON "ROAD MAP":
SETTLEMENT FREEZE? WHAT SETTLEMENT FREEZE?
GERALDO JEWISH? YEAH, AND ABU MAZEN'S BAHAI!
U.S. TO AFRICA: EAT SHIT OR DIE
GUERRILLA CELL BUSTED IN MEXICO
ARUNDHATI ROY GIVES A DISILLUSIONED LEFT WHAT IT WANTS
BOOK REVIEWS: GRAPPLING WITH THE NEW GLOBAL CONFLICT
CURRENT HOMELAND SECURITY COLOR ADVISORY CODE: YELLOW
By Bill Weinberg
with David Bloom, Subuhi Jiwani and Wynde Priddy, Special Correspondents
THE IRAQ FRONT
1. Still No Peace
2. U.S. Detains Palestinians at Baghdad Diplomatic Mission
3. UNICEF Fears for Iraqi Children
4. Looting Continues at Archaeological Sites
5. Shi'ite Resurgence in Baghdad Shanty-Town
6. Is Iran Next?
7. Kurdish Rebels Attack in Turkey; Syria Worried
8. Al-Jazeera Director Sacked
9. Probe Faults Pentagon on Killing of Journalists
10. Saving Private Lynch: Take Three
THE PALESTINE FRONT
1. Settlements Still Growing--Despite "Road Map" Prohibition
2. NYC Jewish Weekly: Apartheid Wall "An Inconvenience"
3. NYC "Salute To Israel" Day Brings Out Rival Factions
4. Likud Pol: IDF in "Gross Violations of Human Rights"
5. Israeli War Propaganda Exploits Kids Too
6. Is Abu Mazen Bahai?
7. Do the Jews "Need" Geraldo ?
THE AFGHANISTAN FRONT
1. Allied Forces Get New Chief
2. Prince Aga Khan Dead at 70; Led Afghan Aid Efforts
EUROPE
1. Bush Visit Highlights European Divisions
2. Dollar vs. Euro Shadow War Redux
3. Greek Lawyers to Bring War Crimes Charges Against Blair
4. Terror Plot on U.S. Bases in Germany?
5. Mosque Librarian Held in Italy
6. Basque Separatist Party Makes U.S. Terrorist List
7. Spain to Crack Down on Web Dissidents
8. Spanish Troops Killed in Plane Crash After Afghan Duty
AFRICA
1. African Continent Invisible Victim of Iraq War
2. Starving Africans are Football in U.S.-Europe Food Fight
3. Report: G.E. Crops Won't Solve World Hunger
4. South Africa Water Privatization Takes Grisly Toll
THE MEXICO FRONT
1. Suspected ERPI Guerillas Arrested
2. State Police Ambushed in Chiapas
THE WAR AT HOME
1. U.S. Plans "Death Camp" at Guantanamo
2. Akron to Fingerprint School Kids for Lunch Lines
3. Undocumented Migrants File Suit Against Vigilantes
4. Mass Deportation of Palestinians
5. French Reporters Expelled
6. Burgers With a Side of Xenophobia Redux
NEW YORK CITY
1. Ground Zero Plans to be Revised--Again
2. Police Terror Wave Hits City
3. Dairy 5-0
4. Dissident Radio WBAI Loses Phone Lines
GLIMMERS OF HOPE
1. Arcata Voids Patriot Act
THE IRAQ FRONT
1. STILL NO PEACE
On May 26, gunmen ambushed a US military convoy in northern Iraq, killing a
soldier and wounding four others. The eight-vehicle convoy of the 3rd
Armored Cavalry Regiment was on a resupply mission to a base near the town
of Hadithah, about 120 miles north of Baghdad when it came under fire from
machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades. Helicopters were immediately
dispatched to the area to find the assailants. Four soldiers were also
wounded in an apparent land-mine attack in a wealthy Baghdad neighborhood
that day, military officials and witnesses said. (AP, May 26)
On May 27, gunmen opened fire on US troops at a checkpoint, killing two
soldiers and wounding nine others in the town of Fallujah--a stronghold of
support for Saddam Hussein's fallen Baath Party. Returning fire, US troops
killed two attackers and took six Iraqis captive for questioning. Hours
later, two US military police officers were injured in two attacks with
rocket-propelled grenades on a northwest Baghdad police station. (AP, May
27)
Violent demonstrations broke out May 28 in Hit, a town 130 kilometers west
of Baghdad, when residents protested searches of their homes by US troops
backed up by local police. Over 100,000 streamed into the streets, burning
police cars and throwing stones and handmade grenades at police and US
soldiers. The town's police station was set ablaze, and residents reported
that a US helicopter was shot down. "The Iraqi police were very rough with
our women," one resident told Reuters. "They forced their way into houses
without knocking, sometimes when women were sleeping. This is a very
conservative town." Added another: "Saddam is gone, but we want the
occupation to end. The Americans must know they can never come back to
town." (Reuters, May 29)
On May 29, US troops killed two Iraqi civilians and injured two others
after their vehicle failed to stop at a checkpoint in Samarra, a town north
of Baghdad. Samarra was also the scene of a shootout involving US forces
three days earlier in which Central Command said three Iraqi men may have
been killed. (Reuters, May 29)
The new violence came as British Prime Minister Tony Blair arrived in the
southern city of Basra, the first Western leader to visit Iraq since the
war. In response to the continued bloodshed, the US announced a
redeployment of forces, with the Army's 1st Armored Division took over
Baghdad, freeing the 3rd Infantry Division for a shift
into restive towns west of the capital, such as Fallujah and Ramadi.
(Newsday, May 30)
The web site Iraq Body Count continues to monitor world press reports to
arrive at a daily update of the total Iraqi civilian dead. Each incident is
listed separately, noting the location, number dead, weaponry used and
media source. At press time, the minimum estimate stands at 5,430 and the
maximum at 7,046.
See also WW3 REPORT #87
[top]
2. U.S. DETAINS PALESTINIANS AT BAGHDAD DIPLOMATIC MISSION
On May 28, US troops ransacked the Palestinian Authority's diplomatic
mission in Baghdad and arrested 11 people. Within hours, the State
Department declared that foreign diplomats in Iraq do not have normal
diplomatic immunity against searches and seizures because there is no Iraqi
government to accredit them. The detained Palestinians, including charge
d'affairs Majah Abdul Rahman, were taken to a US base in the city,
according to Mohamed Abdulwahab, a mission official. Abdulwahab said dozens
of US troops with several armored vehicles pulled up at the mission. When
guards opened the gate, the soldiers burst into the building and detained
those present, seizing three AK-47 assault rifles the mission used to guard
against looting. The guns were properly licensed by Iraq's former
government, Abdulwahab said. Reported the Long Island newspaper Newsday:
"Journalists touring the building saw doors damaged by gunfire or combat
boots, and an official portrait of Palestinian Authority President Yasser
Arafat that had been pulled down and smashed. A safe had been forcibly
opened and file cabinets stood emptied." Said Abdulwahab: "To attack a
foreign embassy is a criminal act and a breach of diplomatic immunity. They
behaved like common thieves." (Newsday, May 30)
[top]
3. UNICEF FEARS FOR IRAQI CHILDREN
The head of the UN Children's Fund, Carol Bellamy, announced that a sharp
rise in acute diarrhea is hitting children in Iraq already weakened by
malnutrition. In the country to assess post-war conditions under a UNICEF
program, Bellamy said war-related damage is aggravating poor health
conditions that existed before the conflict, with many sewage and water
treatment plants, already poorly maintained because of UN sanctions, now
completely halted. One quarter of Iraqi children were already malnourished
before the bombs started falling.
See also WW3 REPORT #48
Bellamy also said fears of violence and lawlessness are keeping Iraqi
children away from school. "Whether it is accurate or not, there appears to
be a perception on the part of many families that the children,
particularly the youngest children, are potentially subject to violence if
they come to school." (BBC, May 18)
[top]
4. LOOTING CONTINUES AT ARCHEOLOGICAL SITES
Local authorities in Samawa, on the Euphrates River in southern Iraq, say
they have repeatedly appealed to US forces to protect the nearby
archeological sites of Babylon and Uruk, but their pleas have been largely
ignored and looting at the site continues. They have formed their own
patrols to protect the Babylonian and Sumerian ruins as best they can, but
continue to find new evidence of looting. (NYT, May 27)
See also WW3 REPORT # 86
[top]
5. SHI'ITE RESURGENCE IN BAGHDAD SHANTY-TOWN
On May 30, the New York Times ran before-and-after photos of a repainted
mural in the sprawling and impoverished Baghdad Shi'ite community formerly
known as Saddam City. The original mural featured a portrait of Saddam
Hussein. The new mural features portraits of Mohammed Sadiq al-Sadr, a
popular Shi'ite cleric killed by Saddam's regime in 1999, and his son,
Moktada al-Sadr, who many Shi'ites are now rallying behind. The shanty-town
has been renamed Sadr City.
See also WW3 REPORT #87
[top]
6. IS IRAN NEXT?
The Bush administration's new hard line on Iran is said to be partly driven
by intelligence reports that al-Qaeda leaders are being sheltered by the
Iranian revolutionary guards at one of the former shah's hunting lodges.
The militants suspected of taking refuge in Iran include Saif al-Adel, an
Eygptian believed to be number three in the organisation, and Abu Mohammed
al-Masri, a suspected organizer of the 1998 embassy bombings in east
Africa. They may also include Saad bin Laden, one of Osama bin Laden's sons.
The trail of clues that led to the hunting lodge-turned-military base in
the eastern highlands near the border with Pakistan and Afghanistan,
surfaced after an air crash in February outside the city of Kerman killed
200 soldiers from the revolutionary guards. According to a Washington
source, the crash produced intelligence that the revolutionary guards were
"hosting" the al-Qaeda leaders.
According to a May 28 report in Newsday, the Pentagon now believes that the
Iranian project to build a nuclear weapon has "passed the point of no
return", and that Tehran no longer needs foreign assistance to build a bomb.
Deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage, deputy secretary of defense
Paul Wolfowitz, and deputy head of the National Security Council Stephen
Hadley met May 29 to discuss a draft "national security decision
directive," which would reset US policy on Iran. The Pentagon is pushing
for an aggressive policy aimed at "regime change" in Tehran. Douglas Feith,
undersecretary of defense for policy, is promoting the idea of
reconstituting elements of the Iraq-based Mujahedeen Khalq (MEK)-- possibly
under a new name--to destabilize the Iranian government. The MEK has been
designated by the US state department as a terrorist group. The suggestion
of its possible use has caused an uproar in the State Department and in the
UK, where Foreign Secretary Jack Straw insists that his policy of
engagement with Iran's reformist president, Mohammad Khatami, is working.
(UK Guardian, May 29)
See also WW3 REPORT #87
[top]
7. KURDISH REBELS ATTACK IN TURKEY; SYRIA WORRIED
Neighboring governments are taking concern at growing Kurdish power in
northern Iraq. Turkish authorities reported that several government troops
had been wounded in a battle with Kurdish separatist guerillas of the PKK
near Tunceli in Turkish Kurdistan. (MSNBC, May 30)
Meanwhile in Syria, leaders of the Kurdish Yekiti Party denied allegations
by government security officials that two of its members were seeking
divide the country. Syrian authorities detained two Yekiti members, Hasan
Salih and Marwan Osman, on charges of belonging to a secret organization.
(KurdishMedia.com, May 24)
See also WW3 REPORT #87
[top]
8. AL-JAZEERA DIRECTOR SACKED
Mohammed Jassem al-Ali, director general of the Qatar-based satellite TV
network al-Jazeera since its inception in 1996, has been sacked amid
allegations he worked with Saddam Hussein's intelligence services. Ali
visited Iraq before the US-led war and met Saddam during an hour-long
interview. Ahmed Chalabi, leader of the US-backed Iraqi National Congress,
accuses several al-Jazeera reporters of working for Iraqi agencies, based
on documents found in state archives in Baghdad. Ali denies the charges.
The US harshly criticized al-Jazeera for carrying footage Iraqi TV footage
of dead coalition soldiers and prisoners of war, as well as repeated images
of Iraqi civilians badly wounded in air strikes. An al-Jazeera spokesman
said Ali would remain on the board of directors, adding that "all these
rumors and allegations about Jazeera are not taken at face value
whatsoever." (AFP, Reuters, May 28)
See also WW3 REPORT #79
[top]
9. PROBE FAULTS PENTAGON ON KILLING OF JOURNALISTS
A report by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) finds
fault with the Pentagon's account of the killing of two journalists,
including a Reuters TV cameraman, by US tank fire in Baghdad in April. The
report found no evidence to support US military statements that the tank
was responding to hostile fire from the hotel housing the reporters. The
tank hit a 15th floor balcony used by Reuters in the 17-story Palestine
Hotel, killing Ukraine-born cameraman Taras Protsyuk. Debris damaged the
floor below, where Spanish cameraman Jose Couso of Telecinco was fatally
wounded. In Madrid, relatives of Couso have asked judicial authorities to
have three US soldiers extradited to Spain to face charges of "war crimes."
The CPJ said the Pentagon had yet to answer some of its questions about the
April 8 shelling of the hotel, where about 100 journalists had been
staying. "A CPJ investigation into the incident ... suggests that [the]
attack on the journalists, while not deliberate, was avoidable," the group
said in its report "Permission to Fire." The CPJ found: "There is simply no
evidence to support the official U.S. position that US forces were
returning hostile fire from the Palestine Hotel. It conflicts with the
eyewitness testimony of numerous journalists in the hotel." In Washington,
a Pentagon spokesman insisted again that the soldiers had been responding
to fire. "We said we took fire from there [the hotel] and another
location," spokesman Bryan Whitman said. "As long as you're taking fire
from a location, you're going to return fire. They were defending
themselves."
The CPJ said it interviewed about a dozen reporters on the scene, including
two "embedded" with US forces who heard military radio traffic before and
after the shelling. "CPJ has learned that Pentagon officials, as well as
commanders on the ground in Baghdad, knew that the Palestine Hotel was full
of international journalists and were intent on not hitting it," CPJ said
in the report published on its web site (www.cpj.org). "However, these
senior officers apparently failed to convey their concern to the tank
commander who fired on the hotel." (Gulf News, Dubai, May 29)
See also WW3 REPORT #82
[top]
10. SAVING PRIVATE LYNCH: TAKE THREE
More controversy has emerged around the supposedly heroic April 1 rescue of
captured US Pfc. Jessica Lynch from a hospital in Nasiriyah, Iraq. Doctors
told the AP they were perfectly willing to turn Lynch over, and that the
display of force by US troops--who burst in with guns drawn in the dead of
night and broke down doors--was not needed. "If they had come to the door
and asked for Jessica, we would have gladly handed her over to them," said
Dr. Hazem Rikabi. "There was no need for all that drama. Why the show? They
just wanted to prove they were heroes. There was no battle. Responded
Marine Lt. Col David Lapan: "We don't want it to be a fair fight. The fact
that we didn;t encounter heavy resistance in the hospital was a good
thing." (AP, May 29)
See also WW3 REPORT #87
[top]
THE PALESTINE FRONT
1. SETTLEMENTS STILL GROWING--DESPITE "ROAD MAP" PROHIBITION
The so-called "Road Map to Peace"--now ostensibly approved by the Israeli
cabinet-- calls for a settlement freeze in the Occupied Territories and the
removal of all settlement construction built since September 2000.
Nonetheless, Israel is still building. The Israeli daily Yediot Aharanot
reported May 29 that the Israeli Housing Minister plans to build 12,000 new
housing units in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. This includes a plan to
build 502 apartments in the settlement of Maale Adumim, just north of
Jerusalem. (Islamonline.com, May 30) Maale Adumim's administration plans to
build 3,500 homes for 15,000 new residents by 2008. Israel refuses to stop
construction of what it considers to be the "natural growth" of
settlements. "Do they want a pregnant woman to have an abortion?" Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon asked recently. (Reuters, May 26)
Sharon is expected to announce the removal of some of the "illegal"
settlement outposts built in the last two years, but Israeli Channel Two TV
reports that Sharon has struck a deal with the US government to evacuate
"provocative" outposts but leave in place "defense outposts." (Ha'aretz,
June 1) There is no international legal distinction between "provocative"
outposts and those such as Maale Adumim. Only Israeli law recognizes a
legal distinction from settlements it calls "legal" vs. "illegal" ones.
(David Bloom)
[top]
2. NYC JEWISH WEEKLY: APARTHEID WALL "AN INCONVENIENCE"
A May 23 editorial in the New York Jewish weekly The Forward questions
criticism leveled at Israel over the building of the Separation
Fence--decried by Palestinians as the Apartheid Wall. The Forward editorial
calls the wall's impact on Palestinian life a mere "inconvenience to for
some innocents." Some 95,000 Palestinians will be cut off from the rest of
Palestinian territory, a recent World Bank study says, and thousands of
families will be deprived of their livelihood. The town of Jayyous, for
example, has lost some 70% of the land belonging to its farming
families--75% of whom depend on agriculture for their livelihood. Things
have gotten so bad in Jayyous that the town's mayor recently cut off his
own daughter's electricity because she could not afford to pay her bill.
The Forward seems to consider this sort of phenomenon humorous. "The
complaint seems almost comical at first glance," the venerable weekly
writes. "It's not uncommon for major public works projects to inconvenience
some innocents. The cost must be weighed against the project's larger good.
Thousands of New York families lost their homes when the Cross-Bronx
Expressway was constructed in the 1960s, but nobody called in the United
Nations. The displaced families licked their wounds and moved on.
Palestinians inconvenienced by the fence might be expected to do the
same..." (Forward, May 23; Electronic Intifada, Apr. 25)
There is a grim irony in The Forward's Cross-Bronx Expressway analogy. Over
1,500 families were forcibly relocated by the project when work commenced
in 1955, and thousands more were forced out in the subsequent waves of
insurance-write-off arson as the South Bronx community rapidly declined,
its heart ripped out by the mammoth highway. Twenty years after the project
began, the South Bronx looked like post-war Berlin. Author Robert Caro in
"The Power Broker," his classic biography of the project's mastermind, New
York's long-reigning development czar Robert Moses, actually drew an
analogy to Russian Jews who were forced to flee their villages in the
Czarist pogroms. In his discussion of the city's 1955 South Bronx
relocation program, Caro quotes from Isaac Bashevis Singer's "Fiddler on
the Roof":
FIRST MAN: "After a lifetime, a piece of paper, an edict from the
authorities, and we must all leave our homes."
MENDEL: "Rabbi, we've been waiting for the Messiah all our lives. Wouldn't
this be a good time for him to come?"
RABBI: "We'll have to wait for him someplace else. Meanwhile, let's start
packing."
(Robert A. Caro, "The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York,"
Vintage Books, 1974, p. 879)
See also WW3 REPORT #75)
(David Bloom and Bill Weinberg)
[top]
3. NYC "SALUTE TO ISRAEL" DAY BRINGS OUT RIVAL FACTIONS
Anti-occupation protestors briefly blocked the procession of pro-Israel
marchers at the June 1 "Salute to Israel" day parade in New York City. In
a "Trojan horse" tactic, the demonstrators joined and marched with the
"Friends of the IDF" contingent--only to surprise their fellow marchers by
suddenly unfurling anti-occupation banners across Fifth Avenue. The banners
read "Israel out of Palestine" and "Dismantle Israeli Settlements." The
protest itself was quickly dismantled by authorities while jeering
pro-Israel onlookers voiced their displeasure. "Traitors!," one woman
yelled. Demonstrator Daniel Lang-Levitsky explained the action thusly: "The
Israeli government supports violent, illegal settlers as they seize
Palestinian farms, attack Palestinians in their villages and hoard water
and other essential resources. We're blocking this parade to say enough!
There's nothing to celebrate about Israel's racist war on Palestinians."
NYC's local Channel Seven news covered the protest.
A block near the beginning of the parade route was lined on opposite sides
by pro-Israel parade-goers and Palestine activists, who numbered some 200.
Some signs on the pro -Israel side read: "Arafat is a Pedophile"; "Abu
Mazen is a Nazi"; "End the Arab Occupation of the Holy Land"; "Only Cowards
Kill Children," and "Roadtrap to Auschwitz."
The counter-demonstration was organized largely by the coalition group
Palestine Activist Forum of New York (PAFNY). One of the constituent groups
of PAFNY is Jews Against the Occupation (JATO), whose member Sam J. Miller
commented: "As a Jewish New Yorker, I wish we had a parade to celebrate our
Jewish heritage instead of being asked to salute Israel's violence against
Palestinians and its violations of human rights."
Alongside the PAFNY counter-protesters was contingent of ultra-orthodox
Jews who reject Zionism and believe
that a Jewish state in the Holy Land before the return of the Messiah is
apostasy. Their organization is called Neturei Karta, an Aramaic term for
"Guardians of the City"--a reference to the sanctity of Jerusalem.
Pro-Israel marchers seemed shocked at the sight of men in full Hasidic
regalia holding a Palestinian flag.
(David Bloom for WW3 REPORT on the scene; PAFNY: press release, June 1)
[top]
4. LIKUD POL: IDF IN "GROSS VIOLATIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS"
Member of the Knesset Michael Eitan of the right-wing Likud party shocked
military
officials with his line of questioning during a recent Knesset hearing. "I
am not certain that the responsible officials are aware of the fact that
there are gross violations of human rights in the field despite army
regulations," Eitan said. Brigadier Gen. Eli Yaffe, head of operations for
the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF), replied that "we are aware that there are
exceptional cases." When Yaffe failed to supply actual figures of abuses,
Eitan replied, "How can you not know? Are there a few instances or
thousands?" Eitan concluded: "If the army doesn't keep statistics, it
cannot be seriously dealing with the problem." (UK Guardian, May 27) (David
Bloom)
[top]
5. ISRAELI WAR PROPAGANDA EXPLOITS KIDS TOO
Much has been made of pictures of Palestinian children being taught to
appreciate guns and other assorted munitions. Such photos are cited as
examples of Palestinian incitement to violence and hatred (see WW3 REPORT
#42). Here WW3 REPORT readers
can see examples of an under-reported parallel Israeli phenomenon: on May
22, the UK Jewish Telegraph carried a picture on its website of a little
Israeli girl in the Jewish settlement of Avun Shalut straddling the barrel
of an Israeli tank. "A BARREL OF FUN," reads the caption. An Israeli flag
flies behind her. Another example,
of two Israeli children admiring a machine gun with an Israeli flag
overhead, can be seen here. (David Bloom)
[top]
6. IS ABU MAZEN BAHAI?
In a May 28 interview with Ha'aretz, Palestinian Prime
Minister Mahmoud Abbas, popularly known as Abu Mazen,
tried to put an old rumor to rest--that he is a member
of the Bahai faith, and not a Muslim. On May 23,
leaflets circulated in the Muslim quarter of Jerusalem
charging Abbas with being Bahai--presumably the work
of Palestinian hardliners seeking to discredit the
moderate Abbas. "I am a believing Muslim, the son of a
family of believers, and committed to the religion's
commandments," he responded. (UK Guardian, May 29).
The pacifistic Bahai faith is schismatic from Islam,
and is the successor to the Baba faith started in 1844 by Sayyid Ali Muhammad
Shirazi (1819-1850), A.K.A. the
Bab (the gate), in Shiraz, Iran, and which quickly gained
adherents. The Shah's prime minister felt his
religious influence with his patron could be
jeopardized should Shah and Bab meet, so the prime
minister had the Bab intercepted when he was on his
way to Tehran in 1847. Years of persecution and public
trials followed, during which the Bab's movement
grew--although Babis, as the followers were called, were frequently massacred by the
Shah's forces. But the Bab found tolerance at the
hands of the governor of the central Iranian city of
Isfahan, a Georgian Christian who had converted to
Shi'a Islam. The governor ordered the city's Muslim
clergy to accommodate the Bab, and it his here that
several of his most important works were written.
In 1850, the Shah and prime minister caught up with
the Bab and had him shot. Some of his followers sought
revenge by attempting to assassinate the Shah in 1852.
The plot failed, and in the course of the resultant
persecutions, most of the leading Babis were
massacred. The Bab's body was hidden in various places
in Iran for the next fifty years, until it reached its
final resting place in a shrine on the side of Mount
Carmel in the city of Haifa, Palestine [later to
become Israel]. (Bahai.com;
http://www.northill.demon.co.uk/bahai/intro8.htm)
The Bab's religion eventually evolved into the Bahai faith following Husayn-Ali (1817-92), A.K.A Baha'u'llah,
or "The Glory of God," whose coming was predicted by the Bab. During his harsh imprisonment
in 1852, Husayn-Ali experienced religious visions. This was the start of forty years of
revelation for Husayn-Ali, who revealed himself as Baha'u'llah in 1852. These years were
spent in exile and in prison. Baha'u'llah died in an Ottoman prison in Acre, Palestine in 1892.
(Bahai.org)
Israeli Prof. Moshe Sharon, chairman of Bahai studies
at the Hebrew University, told Ha'aretz's Akiva Eldar
in 2001: "It's impossible for Abu Mazen to be Bahai.
First of all, if the Bahai say someone isn't Bahai,
then there's no chance they are. They know all their
members and they have complete rosters of their
members. Secondly, according to the Bahai religion, it
is absolutely forbidden for a believer to live
permanently in the Land of Israel, between the Jordan
River and the Mediterranean. If you decide to be a
Bahai, you have to immediately leave the country [all
the Bahai in Israel are temporary emissaries]. Third,
according to the faith's founder, Baha'u'llah, Bahai
are prohibited from any nationalistic political
activity [as opposed to international frameworks]. A
Bahai cannot be Arafat's deputy."
Prof. Sharon also emphasized that one of the tenets of
faith for the religion states that a person is not
born Bahai, and every believer must "seek the truth"
personally. Therefore, it's impossible for Abu Mazen
to be, as rumors claim, "the son of a Bahai family
that converted to Islam." Sharon also pointed out that
the Bahai faith is banned in all Arab countries.
(Ha'aretz, Dec 18, 2001) (David Bloom)
For further information, see "A short introduction to
the Bahai faith"
[top]
7. DO THE JEWS "NEED" GERALDO ?
The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported May 20 that TV journalist Geraldo
Rivera has rediscovered his Jewish roots. Rivera also told the Washington
Post that "the Jews need me right now," but JTA dryly notes that "the Jews,
apparently, are decidedly mixed about his arrival." Rivera, the product of
a Jewish mother and a Puerto Rican
father, was recently Bar Mitzvahed in Jerusalem, and promises to "take this
whole Judaism thing seriously" from now on.
Count the right-wing Jewish media watchdog Committee for Accuracy in Middle
East Reporting in America (CAMERA) among Rivera's detractors. In April
2002, CAMERA criticized Rivera after he claimed that although he "would die
for Israel," Palestinian suffering was turning him also into a
"Palestinian-ist." In CAMERA's words: "Although uninformed coverage of the
Israel-Palestinian crisis is common, Rivera's combination of inanity and
incessant self-reference to his own feelings, reactions and experiences has
prompted particular audience disgust and derisive criticism from other
journalists."
Rivera expects to marry in a Reform Jewish ceremony this coming August.
Among the wedding guests will be Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Israeli
Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. (JTA, May 20) (David Bloom)
[top]
THE AFGHANISTAN FRONT
1. ALLIED FORCES GET NEW CHIEF
Along with a troop rotation, Maj. Gen. John Vines replaced Lt. Gen. Daniel
K. McNeill as commander of Coalition Joint Task Force, the US-led allied
force in Afghanistan. Under the rotation, 4,000 troops from the 82nd
Airborne Division are replaced by a similar number from the 10th Mountain
Division, which was last in Afghanistan in 2001. Some 8,500 US troops form
the bulk of the 11,500-member allied force in Afghanistan and at air bases
in neighboring Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. On a May 1 visit to Kabul,
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld announced that the combat phase of
operations is to now be superceded by the reconstruction effort. But Five
US servicemen have been killed in attacks in Afghanistan in the last six
months, and several more wounded. (NYT, May 28)
See also WW3 REPORT #86
[top]
2. PRINCE AGA KHAN DEAD AT 70; LED AFGHAN AID EFFORTS
Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, scion of the hereditary ruling family of the
Ismaili Shi'ite sect and a wealthy private philanthropist who held several
UN humanitarian posts, died May 12 at the age of 70 in Boston, MA. He was
both the youngest and longest serving UN High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR), taking the post at age 33 in 1965 and serving for 12 years.
Current UNHCR chief Ruud Lubbers, said "He left an indelible imprint on
UNHCR history, leading the agency through some of the most challenging
moments." Prince Sadruddin spearheaded UN responses to the wars in
Bangladesh, Vietnam and Uganda at the UNHCR. He also headed humanitarian
efforts in Afghanistan from 1988 to 1990, and following the 1991 Gulf War.
His famous motto was to keep a "cool head and warm heart without getting
cold feet." Born in Paris in 1933, Sadruddin was son of Sultan Mohammed
Shah, or Aga Khan III--spiritual leader of the world's Ismaili Muslims. He
later became uncle of Karim Aga Khan IV, now leader of the world's
Ismailis. The family traces its lineage all the way back to the Prophet Mohammed. Decorated with a long list of international awards, including the
French Legion of Honor, the Harvard-educated Prince Sadruddin held French,
Swiss and Iranian passports, and considered himself a "citizen of the
world." The announcement of his death was made by the Geneva-based
Bellerive Foundation, an environmental group founded by Sadruddin to help
preserve Alpine birdlife. (AP, May 16)
The Ismailis, who differ from mainstream Shia in recognizing seven imams
(or successors to the Prophet) rather than twelve, waged a resistance
struggle against the caliphates of Damascus and Baghdad for centuries
before establishing their own caliphate under Egypt's Fatamid dynasty in
909. The Ismaili Fatimids led the struggle against the Crusaders until
being overthrown by the Kurdish warrior Saladin's Sunni armies in 1171.
Ismaili communities survive throughout the Middle East, Central Asia and
India. Many of the Hazara ethnic group in Afghanistan's Hindu Kush mountain
range are followers of Ismaili Shia. (Ismaili.net)
[top]
EUROPE
1. BUSH VISIT HIGHLIGHTS EUROPEAN DIVISIONS
President Bush arrived May 30 at a gala to mark the 300th anniversary of
Russia's Czarist capital of St Petersburg brought together key players in
the bitter debate over the US-led invasion of Iraq--including the leaders
of France, Germany and Britain. While Bush joined the other leaders at a
Saturday banquet at the 18th century Peterhof palace on the Baltic Sea, his
late arrival calculatedly left time only for the briefest encounter with
French President Jacques Chirac, his most bitter European critic. (Reuters,
May 30) Bush even plans on minimizing his interactions with Chirac at his
next stop--the G8 summit in the French city of Evian. He will be in Evian
less than a day before flying to the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheik,
Egypt, for a meeting with Arab leaders. (Reuters, June 1)
Bush's May 29 stop in Poland, a key US ally on Iraq, was marked by
political controversy. The mayor of Krakow complained he had been excluded
from Bush's visit to the city because of his opposition to the war on Iraq.
"It is customary that the mayor, as the host of this city, should take part
in the welcoming ceremony. But the Americans have said they will not have
it," Mayor Jacek Majchrowski told private radio RMF. "It is strange that
guests dictate where the host should or should not be." Majchrowski wrote a
newspaper article entitled "Pax Americana" in March, harshly criticizing
the US-led campaign in Iraq, in which Poland also took part. He has
welcomed anti-war marches in Krakow, praising the protesters as having
"saved the honor of the city." (Reuters, May 29)
Sings mount of a fundamental European realignment. On April 30, the leaders
of France, Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg--all critics of the Iraq
campaign--agreed to beef up military cooperation in an effort to make the
continent's defense less dependant on the US. While they insisted the move
was not aimed at weakening NATO, the agreement was opposed by the UK,
Spain, Italy and other nations which supported the Iraq campaign. The new
plans call for a military planning "nucleus" based in Brussels, which NATO
brass have criticized as a redundant and potentially rival structure.
Meanwhile, US Marine Gen. James Jones, Rumsfeld's newly appointed NATO
commander, is said to be reviewing US military installations in Germany
with an toward moving some to Poland and other countries to the east. (WP,
April 30)
In a gesture of historical chutzpah, in early May, Polish Defense Minister
Jerzy Szmajdzinski invited his German counterpart Peter Struck to
contribute troops to the Polish-led force which is to jointly occupy Iraq
with US and British forces. Writes the New York Times: "It was an
invitation that the Germans summarily, even angrily, dismissed." (NYT, May
13)
See also WW3 REPORT #73
[top]
2. DOLLAR VS. EURO SHADOW WAR REDUX
Billionaire investor George Soros said in a TV interview May 20 he was
selling US dollars in currency markets, adding to the greenback's woes. His
comments on CNBC came as the dollar was plumbing four-year lows against
Europe's common currency. In his comments, Soros assailed Bush
administration policies and said he was buying the euro and the currencies
of Australia, Canada and New Zealand against the dollar, as well as gold.
The euro closed above $1.17 US that day, as gold set a three-month high at
$370 an ounce. Soros, founder of Quantum Endowment Fund, one of the world's
largest hedge funds, was dubbed "the man who broke the Bank of England" for
his role in betting heavily that the pound would fall in 1992. As a result,
the UK suffered a humiliating exit from Europe's exchange rate mechanism.
It was rumored that Soros earned $1 billion in a single day with his bet
against the British pound. (Reuters, May 21)
See also WW3 REPORT #84
[top]
3. GREEK LAWYERS TO BRING WAR CRIMES CHARGES AGAINST BLAIR
A group of lawyers in Greece is planning to take UK Prime Minister Tony
Blair to the new International Criminal Court on war crimes charges related
to the Iraq conflict. The Athens Bar Association says it feels an ethical
and juristic responsibility to seek action from the court, which was
formally inaugurated in March. The bar association is citing Blair and his
foreign secretary Jack Straw for war crimes and crimes against humanity, as
well as violations of international law, human rights and a number of
treaties. The British government, which has backed the new international
court, dismisses the claims as groundless and insists it acted in
accordance with international law in all its actions in Iraq. The Greek
lawyers are considering making similar legal move against the Spanish prime
minister, but not the US, which does not recognize the court's
jurisdiction. (Australian Broadcasting Company, May 27)
See also WW3 REPORT #84
[top]
4. TERROR PLOT ON U.S. BASES IN GERMANY?
On May 6, a German court convicted a Turkish man of illegally explosives,
after prosecutors dropped the more serious charge the he and his American
fiancee had planned to bomb the European headquarters of the US Army in
Heidelberg. Osman Petmezci was arrested in September after police found
gunpowder, chemicals, metal pipes and a poster of Osama bin Laden in his
apartment. He was sentneced to 18 months in jail by the Heidelberg state
court. HJis fiancee, Astrid Eyzaguirre was released after a witness
retracted her account of being told of the plot by Eyzaguirre, who works at
a liquor store on the base. "I'm an Army brat," Eyzaguirre said. "I grew up
in the Army, my father was in the Army. How could I ever do something like
that?" (NYT, May 7)
[top]
5. MOSQUE LIBRARIAN HELD IN ITALY
On May 6, Italian anti-terrorism police in Milan announced they had
arrested the librarian of a northern Italian mosque on charges of
recruiting dozens of militants for Anar al-Islam terrorist training camps
in northern Iraq. Police said they arrested the librarian, Noureddine
Drissi, also known as Abou Ali, at the Milan train station hours after he
returned from Iran with his wife and three children. Drissi, a Tunisian
immigrant, is charged with "criminal association for international
terrorism aims." Italy has arrested over 100 on suspected terrorist ties
since 9-11, but most have been released for lack of evidence. (NYT, May 7)
For more on Ansar al-Islam see WW3 REPORT # 80
[top]
6. BASQUE SEPARATIST PARTY MAKES U.S. TERRORIST LIST
On May 7, President Bush rewarded his Iraq war ally Prime Minister Jose
Maria Aznar of Spain with an Oval Office meeting, White House dinner--and
official designation of the Basque separatist group Batasuna as a terrorist
organization by the US State Department. Batasuna is the political wing of
the armed separatist group ETA, which attempted to assassinate Aznar in
1995. (NYT, May 8)
On March 17, Spain's supreme court declared Batasuna illegal, barring the
organization from elections and freezing its assets. (La Jornada, Mexico,
March 18) But before May 25 municipal elections, the Basque public TV
station broadcast a video of masked ETA militants urging voters to ignore
the ban and cast for Batasuna candidates. The Spanish government pledged an
investigation. Charged deputy prime minister Mariano Rajoy: "This is not a
question of broadcasting news. It's a question of a terrorist group
carrying out propaganda on a publicly owned televsiion channel." (NYT, May
17)
NOTE: ETA, for Basque Fatherland and Liberty, was already on the State
Department terrorist list.
[top]
7. SPAIN TO CRACK DOWN ON WEB DISSIDENTS
The Spanish government has asked for three-to-five-year prison terms for
two of its citizens who maintain an anti-war web page, a move that Spain's
left has denounced as "a witch hunt." The ruling Popular Party asked for
the sentence in the case of two members of the United Left (IU) charged
with libel of government members. The officials are described as
accomplices to murder on the website noalaguerra.org, for their complicity
in the war on Iraq. A Madrid court has been asked to order Spanish security forces to
investigate this and other websites under a counter-intelligence operation
code name "Nodo50" [apparently after the site http://www.nodo50.org/ , which
hosts several Spanish and Latin American radical left web pages]. (Granma International, Cuba, May 9)
[top]
8. SPANISH TROOPS KILLED IN PLANE CRASH AFTER AFGHAN DUTY
A chartered plane bringing home 62 Spanish troops from a four-month
"peacekeeping" tour in Afghanistan crashed in bad weather while trying to
make a refueling stop in the Turkish Black Sea port of Maska May 26. All on
board were killed. (NYT, May 27)
[top]
AFRICA
1. AFRICAN CONTINENT INVISIBLE VICTIM OF IRAQ WAR
African leaders are pressing the international community to not let the
enormous financial burden of reconstruction in Iraq relegate their
continent's needs to the "back burner," as South African President Thabo
Mbeki characterizes the problem.
The UN's World Food Program (WFP) reports that global food aid has been
falling. Last year it dipped to less than 10 million metric tons, from 15
million in 1999. This has translated into massive relief shortages in
developing countries. This year, for example, Mauritania, Cape Verde,
Gambia, Senegal and Mali only have 40 per cent of their external food aid
requirements.
In April the US Congress approved a $79 billion emergency spending package
for the initial costs of the war on Iraq and post-war reconstruction. Such
an amount would finance HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment programs for
about 10 years, based on UN estimates. Yet the Global Fund to Fight AIDS,
Tuberculosis and Malaria has raised only $2 billion since the initiative's
creation in 2001. (Africa Recovery, UN, May 2003)
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has pleaded with the Security Council in
recent weeks to support greater foreign intervention in Congo and West
Africa, where war, disease and hunger are reaching genocidal proportions.
The Bush administration, which is skeptical of UN peacekeeping and still
nursing a grudge against France, has been reluctant to back expansion of UN
operations in Africa--particularly in francophone countries such as Congo
where the French are likely to lead any intervention force. However, as the
UN warns of a new wave of mass ethnic killings in Congo, US officials have
finally begun to consider support for further UN intervention in the
troubled region. (Washington Post, May 25)
The UN says some 40 million people in Africa urgently need humanitarian
assistance this year, at a total cost of $1.8 billion. Relief pledges fall
$1 billion short of that amount. WFP director James Morris is pressing
donors to cover that gap, and to not allow resources to be diverted from
the humanitarian, social and economic crises confronting Africa. Morris
went so far as to accuse donors of applying a double standard. Why do "we
routinely accept a level of suffering and hopelessness in Africa we would
never accept in any other part of the world?" he asked at a UN Security
Council meeting in April.
Mr. Morris' appeal for more resources for Africa comes at a time when the
international community has mandated the agency to launch a $1.3 billion
dollar food aid operation in Iraq. (Africa Recovery, UN, May 2003)
See also WW3 REPORT #86
(Wynde Priddy)
[top]
2. STARVING AFRICANS ARE FOOTBALL IN U.S.-EUROPE FOOD FIGHT
President Bush has accused Europe of impeding US efforts to fight famine in
Africa because what he calls "unfounded" fears over genetically engineered
(GE) foods. According to Bush, Africa's long-term hunger could be greatly
reduced through the use of GE foods. "Our partners in Europe are impeding
this effort," he said. "They have blocked all new biocrops because of
unscientific fears." (Newsday, May 21)
Bush also alleged that Europeans, by closing their markets to bioengineered
foods, have caused African nations to avoid investments in such crops.
These accusations were made in a speech to a graduating class of cadets in
Connecticut May 21.
Though the speech was the first public address on the subject by Bush, the
accusations have fueled the fire of a long-standing disagreement between
the US and the European Union, which has imposed a freeze on genetically
modified foods. The Bush administration maintains that scientific studies
have shown that the foods do no harm. Critics counter that there has not
been sufficient testing on the long-term effects.
Earlier this month, the US and several other countries filed a lawsuit with
the World Trade Organization complaining about a five-year-old European
moratorium on bio-engineered crops. The administration said it acted
because Europeans had not met promises to repeal the ban. The EU called the
suit "legally unwarranted, economically unfounded and politically
unhelpful." EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy has said that the European
regulatory system for genetically modified foods complies with trade rules.
(Washington Post, May 22)
The BBC says the EU will resist the pressure to lift its block on GM food
imports and Zambia has remained resolute on the issue, banning GE food aid
in spite of the current drought in an effort to maintain its export markets
in Europe. (BBC May 22)
(Wynde Priddy)
[top]
3. REPORT: G.E. CROPS WON'T SOLVE WORLD HUNGER
There is no evidence to support claims that genetically modified (GM)
crops [also called genetically engineered, or GE crops] will help solve
world hunger, according to a new report by the UK-based development agency
ActionAid. The report said GM seeds are more suited to the needs of
large-scale commercial farmers, with no consistent evidence that they yield
more and require less chemicals. Entitled "Going Against the Grain," said
GM varieties could cause food insecurity by pushing poor farmers deeper
into debt as they become more reliant on expensive seeds and chemicals. It
said the development of "terminator technology" to produce sterile seeds
will prevent farmers from following their traditional practice of saving
seeds from one harvest to the next. "Poor communities need investment in
low-cost, low-input farmer-friendly technologies, building on farmers'
knowledge," the report said. "GM seeds, by contrast, are targeted at
large-scale commercial farmers growing cash crops in monocultures."
The study also claimed that less than one percent of all GM research was
directed at poor farmers. "GM research in Africa, for instance, focuses on
export crops such as cut flowers, fruits and tobacco, which are grown in
large-scale commercial plantations in Kenya, South Africa and Zimbabwe,"
the report reads. Said ActionAid's UK policy chief Matthew Lockwood: "GM
does not provide a magic bullet solution to world hunger. What poor people
really need is access to land, water, better roads to get their crops to
market, education and credit schemes." (Reuters, May 27)
[top]
4. SOUTH AFRICA WATER PRIVATIZATION TAKES GRISLY TOLL
The New York Times ran a front-page story May 29 on the impact of water
privatization in South Africa--with a photo of a rural woman in an
impoverished area scooping water from a dirty puddle, unable to afford to
buy it from the local utility. Ironically, the program began after the
post-apartheid 1994 constitution guaranteed the right to "sufficient food
and water." Simultaneously, the government started to shift the burden for
those promises onto a population in which at least two-thirds live on under
$2 a day. Utilities were urged to adopt "cost recovery" policies mandating
that they at least break even, if not turn a profit. Private investment was
also encouraged, with Johannesburg signing a water management contract with
the French conglomerate Suez. Saur, another French firm, has won 25-year
contracts with rural municipalities for water utility management. Saur has
set up metered communal taps in KwaDukuza municipality--which three years
ago was the center of a cholera epidemic which claimed 260 lives, the worst
in the country's recent history. Residents in Soweto and other townships
have organized strikes, refusing to pay their water and electric bills and
mobilizing local plumbers and electricians to reconnect residents who have
been cut off. "Privatization is a new kind of apartheid," said Richard
Makolo, leader of the Crisis Water Committee in Orange Farm township.
"Apartheid separated whites from blacks. Privatization separates the rich
from poor."
See also WW3 REPORT #62
[top]
THE MEXICO FRONT
1. SUSPECTED ERPI GUERILLAS ARRESTED
Mexican federal police announced the arrest May 25 of six presumed members
of the Revolutionary Army of the Insurgent People (ERPI), a guerilla group
active in the mountains of Guerrero and Oaxaca states. The arrests in
Guerrero state involved forces from two elite new federal police agencies,
the Special Unit against Organized Delinquency (UEDO) and the Federal
Agency of Investigations (AFI). UEDO director Jose Luis Santiago
Vasconcelos accused the men of involvement in a kidnapping this million,
which helped fund the group with a $100,000 [one-million-peso] ransom. One
arrested man fingered as a leader of the organization was Eudogio Suastegui
Garcia, alias "El alacran" (the scorpion). Suastegui said the men were
identified by family members of the kidnap victims who delivered the
ransom. The arrests took place in the mountain village of Ayutla, with
searches in neighboring La Viga, Zempazullo and San Isidro, where searches
reportedly turned up over 200 firearms of various caliber, ammunition,
military-style uniforms and a satellite telephone and ERPI documents.
(Proceso, May 27)
See also WW3 REPORT #64
Note: the report of the same raid in the newspaper La Reforma May 27 put
the number of seized firearms at only 12.
[top]
2. STATE POLICE AMBUSHED IN CHIAPAS
A detachment of Chiapas state police outside the village of Venustiano
Carranza were attacked by a group of "heavily-armed" gunmen May 23. No
injuries were reported. Subsequent searches turned up over 30 AR-15 and
AK-47 cartridges in the village. The attack came two days after the Popular
Revolutionary Army (EPR) issued a communique announcing a presence in
Chiapas and accusing the government of waging a "low-intensity war" in the
restive state. The EPR's traditional strongholds are in the mountains of
Oaxaca and Guerrero. (Cuarto Poder, Chiapas, May 22, 24)
[top]
THE WAR AT HOME
1. U.S. PLANS "DEATH CAMP" AT GUANTANAMO
A May 25 report in Britain's Mail on Sunday newspaper says the US is
considering plans to turn Guantanamo Bay into a "death camp," with its own
death row and execution chamber. Prisoners would be tried, convicted and
executed without leaving the camp, without a jury and without right of
appeal. The plans were revealed in comments by Major-General Geoffrey
Miller, who is in charge of 680 suspects from 43 countries at the camp.
The Pentagon reported two new suicide attempts at the Guantanamo prison
camp May 28. Since the camp opened in January 2000, 18 inmates have made a
total of 27 suicide attempts. (Reuters, May 29)
[top]
2. AKRON TO FINGERPRINT SCHOOL KIDS FOR LUNCH LINES
Public school students in Akron, OH, will be fingerprinted beginning this
fall to identify them in school lunch lines. After a lengthy debate, school
board members voted 5-2 May 27 to spend $700,000 on a controversial,
modernized cafeteria system. Said board member Curtis Walker in response to
concerns raised by civil liberties groups: "We need to watch this carefully
and make sure the issue of privacy does not hurt us in the end." ( Akron
Beacon Journal, May 28)
[top]
3. UNDOCUMENTED MIGRANTS FILE SUIT AGAINST VIGILANTES
A lawsuit filed in state court in Jim Hogg County, TX, on behalf of six
undocumented ("illegal") immigrants contends they were illegally detained,
robbed, abused and threatened with death on the exotic-game ranch of Jospeh
Sutton. Also named as defendants are three men said to be members of Ranch
Rescue, which organizes armed patrols of the Mexican border to protect
private property. Ranch Rescue came under scrutiny last year when two
Mexicans were found killed in the Arizona desert. Said Joe Berra, staff
attorney for the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Educational Fund: "What
we are saying essentially is that you can't organize paramilitary groups in
Texas. Whatever our clients did does not justify the threats by the group
that was protected by this rancher. What we are saying is that in this
country you can't get away with that." (NYT, May 30)
[top]
4. MASS DEPORTATION OF PALESTINIANS
The first mass deportation of Palestinians in years took place late May 13,
when 70 Jordanians, Palestinians and Egyptians were taken from Batavia, NY,
near Buffalo, and flown to Amman, Jordan. In Amman, negotiations led to the
Palestinian detainees being driven to the occupied West Bank. Writes the
Coalition for the Human Rights of Immigrants: "This is a serious shift in
policy, with implications for large numbers of Palestinians settled in the
US. Many have lived with deportation orders for years with no likelihood of
deportation. Now, apparently the US has changed its policy, and intends to
send them to the occupied territories, regardless of longtime residence,
their or their families' wishes, ongoing immigration appeals, political
instability or danger."
(Coalition for the Human Rights of Immigrants Action Alert, May 28)
[top]
5. FRENCH REPORTERS EXPELLED
Six French TV journalists who arrived in Los Angeles on May 10 and 11 to
cover the Electronic Entertainment Expo, a videogame trade show, were
handcuffed, body searched, interrogated and detained overnight before being
expelled from the US for lacking proper travel documents. Francisco Arcaute
of the Homeland Security Department's Bureau of Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (BICE) said the six tried to enter with "visitor for business"
visas rather than the "I" visas required for foreign journalists. In a
letter to the US ambassador to France, Reporters Without Borders charged
selective enforcement and demanded an investigation into the journalists'
"arbitrary if not discriminatory" treatment by US authorities. (Reuters,
May 21)
(From Immigration News Briefs, May 24)
[top]
6. BURGERS WITH A SIDE OF XENOPHOBIA REDUX
The May edition of Jim Hightower's Lowdown newsletter reports that as the
White House-led official demonization of the French began (in what
Hightower calls "a stunningly stupid outburst of knuckle-dragging
jingoism"), the makers of French's mustard issued a nativist press release
declaring: "The only thing French about French's Mustard is the name!" The
corporation spoke of founder Robert French's "all-American dream" and about
the mustard's iconic connection to hot dogs at baseball games. What the PR
effort did not note is that French's is no longer American-owned--its owned
by the British conglomerate Reckitt Benckiser PLC. Writes Hightower: "While
French's was waving Old Glory here, it also was concerned lest it actually
offend the French. After all, Reckitt Benckiser does more business in
Europe than the US, so it released its 'all-American' boast only in the
US--taking care to keep it off the corporate web site."
Meanwhile, such brand names as Coca-Cola, Pepsi and McDonalds are now
attempting to veil their Americanism in foreign operations. In India, Coke
is trying to fend off anti-US protests by declaring its Indianness: "We are
primarily Indian, employing Indians," said a top exec in a recent statement.
Hightower notes that xenophobia is serving as a substitute for real debate
in the government: "Every coffee shop in America had lively discussions
going, but the closest Congress got to war policy was to rule that the term
'French fried' would be removed from the menu of the House cafeteria."
See also WW3 REPORT #74
[top]
NEW YORK CITY
1. GROUND ZERO PLANS TO BE REVISED--AGAIN
The NY-NJ Port Authority, owner of the former World Trade Center site, has
signed a $3.3 million contract with Daniel Libeskind, designated architect
for the redevelopment effort, just to redesign the crowning 1,776-foot
"Freedom Tower" to accommodate TV antennas and other communications gear.
(Newsday, May 30) This basically represents a cynical bait-and-switch on
New York City, as Libeskind's plan was chosen on the merits of a memorial
garden atop the tower--which has now been eliminated in the re-design. See
WW3 REPORT #76
Meanwhile, the 13-member jury which has been chosen to approve a final
design for the memorial to the 9-11 victims at the site is coming under
heavy lobbying from the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC), the
agency created to oversee the redevelopment effort. LMDC wants to eliminate
another redeeming feature of Libeskind's plan which was key to its being
chosen in the first place: preservation of the "bathtub," the sunken pit
bounded by the WTC's foundation walls. (NYT, May 30) While 9-11 survivors
say they consider the pit to be hallowed ground, but the Port Authority
says it needs the space for a new transportation hub. See WW3 REPORT #75
Amid all the public focus on the 13-member jury and semi-public agencies
like the LMDC and Port Authority, Larry Silverstein, leaseholder on the
site, says he will not be bound by the details of Libeskind's plan, saying
that he has veto power and that the final project will only "reflect the
spirit of Dan's site plan." (NYT, May 30)
Silverstein wants the best of both worlds--his own veto power over the
plans as a private developer, but immunity from the fire and building
safety codes that apply to the private sector. A group of 9-11 victims'
families has launched a lawsuit against Silverstein, the LMDC and Port
Authority in an effort to have the Libeskind plan declared "illegal, null
and void" until courts order that it is subject to all city safety codes.
Said attorney Thomas Shanahan: "A government agency that operates a
commercial office building should be held to the same standards as the
private sector." The suit was brought by the Skyscraper Safety Campaign
families group and City Council members Alan Gerson of Lower Manhattan and
Helen Sears of Jackson Heights, who said: "If you build in the city of New
York, you should be in compliance with the buildings regulations. When you
don't have to do it, there's something wrong." (Newsday, May 30) While
technically not bound by the city codes, the Port Authority always claimed
the WTC was in compliance with them. However, this claim is now called into
question by a federal probe into why the towers collapsed. See WW3 REPORT
#85
A recent poll of New Yorkers found that a majority oppose any new
skyscraper at the site, fearing it would only tempt further terrorist
attacks. See WW3 REPORT #85
[top]
2. POLICE TERROR WAVE HITS CITY
On May 27, relatives of Alberta Spruill, a 57-year-old African American
woman who died of a heart attack when police burst down her door and
detonated a flash grenade in her Harlem apartment, gathered at Convent
Avenue Baptist Church, where she had been an active member. The city
medical examiner ruled her death a homicide, and police admitted that they
had been acting on a bad tip. Said Rev. Clarence Grant, the church's
pastor: "Alberta Spruill lost her life in a homicide at the hands of police
actions. It is not a new story, it is an old, old story. The time has come
for us to take action." Also at the ceremony were friends of Ousmane Zongo,
a young immigrant from Burkina Faso who was fatally shot by police days
earlier when police raided an CD pirating operation in a warehouse in the
Manhattan neighborhood of Chelsea. Zongo was unarmed, and not involved in
the pirating; police apparently opened fire when he ran. At a May 30
meeting on the killing wave at Harlem's Oberia Dempsey community center at
West 127th Street, Ousmane's uncle Adama Zongo said the impact of the death
was felt in his West African homeland. "When Africa cries, Harlem cries,"
he said, addressing the crowd through a translator in his native French.
(Newsday, May 28, 31)
See also WW3 REPORT #87
[top]
3. DAIRY 5-0
Jesse Taveras, 19, of the Bronx received a summons May 25 for sitting on a
milk crate outside the hair-braiding salon where he works on the Grand
Concourse. "I don't believe this," Taveras said he told the cop who handed
him the ticket, citing him for "unauthorized use of a milk crate." Taveras
said the cop told him: "Don't blame me, Blame Bloomberg"--a reference to
the city Mayor Mike Bloomberg. The crate bore the imprint of Sunnydale
Farms and the following warning: "Use by anyone but registered owner is
liable to prosecution, article 17A, General Business Law." An NYPD source
said cops are enforcing a quality-of-life campaign called Operation Impact.
(NY Daily News, May 20)
[top]
4. DISSIDENT RADIO WBAI LOSES PHONE LINES
Amy Goodman, host of the nationally syndicated progressive radio program
Democracy Now!, reported May 28 that the main phone lines for Pacifica
affiliate WBAI 99.5 in New York and Democracy Now! had both gone down.
According to Goodman, WBAI's phone lines are the only ones out in its
neighborhood, the heart of the downtown financial district. Adding to the
mystery, Democracy Now! and WBAI use separate lines. WBAI was in the middle
of its spring fundraising drive, and lost considerable money through the
loss of its pledge lines at a critical time.
The suspicious incident has sparked paranoia on New York's activist scene.
New York's Independent Media center reported that Pacifica station KPFA in
Berkeley, CA, "experienced similar phone problems during its recent spring
fundraiser." But ex-KPFA producer Larry Bensky, corresponding from Berkeley
on a Pacifica e-mail list, said the phones were only out for 45 minutes as
part of a general outage in the area. At WBAI, the lines were down for over
24 hours. The New York IMC also reported: "Prior to its coverage of the
February 15th anti-war rally in New York City, two NYPD officers were
caught yanking out the phone lines of host network, Pacifica Radio, just
after it began its nationwide coverage of the day of protest." This could
not be corroborated, but WW3 REPORT did report at the time that the office
of United for Peace & Justice, main organizers of the protest, temporarily
lost its phone lines just as the demonstration began. See WW3 REPORT #73
[top]
GLIMMERS OF HOPE
1. ARCATA VOIDS PATRIOT ACT
Over 100 cities and have passed resolutions condemning the USA Patriot Act,
saying it gives the federal government too much spying power. But the
Northern California town of Arcata has passed a council resolution making
cooperation with the law a criminal offense. A new city ordinance imposes a
fine of $57 on any city department head who voluntarily complies with
investigations or arrests under the aegis of the Patriot Act, the anti-
terrorism bill passed after the 9-11 attacks. (AP, May 17)
See also WW3 REPORT #72
[top]
SUPPORT WORLD WAR 3 REPORT!!!
EXIT POLL: WHITHER WORLD WAR 3 REPORT?
by Bill Weinberg
The American left is drowning in essays. Every writer
is a commentator, and the Internet gives each one a
soapbox, opinions whizzing incessantly over the wires
to a cybernetic amen chorus. The left print media--The
Nation, The Progressive, In These Times--are also
increasingly oriented towards personalistic
opinion-spewing. Even the UK Independent's genuinely
heroic Robert Fisk treats every dispatch from Iraq or
Afghanistan as an excuse to get up on the soapbox,
burdening his prose with indignation instead of
letting his quite sufficient and powerful facts speak
for themselves.
There is a sense that the gasbaggery so in vogue now
is an emotional compensation for the left's very
marginalization. The shrillness of the rhetoric rises
in inverse proportion to the left's power. We are
talking to ourselves, entrenching each other in our
sidelined sanctimony. Nuance is considered a sign of
weakness, and acknowledgement of moral complexities
akin to treason. Self-righteousness is the only
acceptable stance--how else to justify our
irrelevance? The Internet, which was supposed to
liberate information, has become an instrument of our
ghettoization.
There is also an insidiously sinister reason that this
pseudo-journalism becomes entrenched: it is easier. It
requires less (if any) research, and fact-checking is
nearly optional. There is a sense that in opinion
pieces, accuracy doesn't quite count. In this sense,
the left has merely capitulated to the general dumbing
down of the American media. Because opinion-spewing
can be quite engaging--far more so than serious
journalism on complex matters frequently is--this kind
of writing demands less of the reader (and I hope that
what you are reading right now is a case in point).
The infotainment ethic has infected its critics.
WORLD WAR 3 REPORT began two weeks after the 9-11
disaster to monitor both the mainstream media
reporting on the War on Terrorism, as well as rad-left
Internet chatter, separating the wheat from the chaff
in each and presenting it every Monday as a digest. We
took our name from the pro-war Thomas Friedman's Sept.
14 New York Times column proclaiming 9-11 the "Pearl
Harbor" of World War III--yet, because we are
leftists, we are accused of alarmism in adopting his
phrase. Bucking the vogue, we have opted for
rigor--perhaps to the point of obsession--and
generally resisted the temptations of opinion, doling
it out only in measured doses.
On various occasions, we have caught errors in screeds
much praised and circulated on the lefty e-lists. In
our very first issue, we noted that, contrary to
Robert Scheer's assertion in a Los Angeles Times
column, the US did not exactly give Drug War aid to
the Taliban. The aid went to NGOs working in
Afghanistan--not to the Afghan government; and it was
for crop-substitution programs--not enforcement.
Scheer has more than earned his chops as a journalist
over his long and distinguished career--and the CIA
did indeed provide covert aid to the Taliban, via its
Pakistani proxies. But Scheer simply got it
wrong--because (we assert) he was writing an opinion
piece, not actual reportage. (See WW3 REPORT #1)
Another case: last year, the New York Times' usually
execrable William Safire ran a strongly-worded column
warning that the Homeland Security Act would set up a
sinister Pentagon cyber-surveillance program known as
Total Information Awareness (TIA). The lefties ate up
this little piece of vindication from their usual
nemesis, and the piece zipped over those
closely-surveilled Internet lines for weeks. One minor
glitch: the Homeland Security Act and the Total
Information Awareness program have nothing to do with
each other, bureaucratically speaking. TIA, as a
Pentagon program (hello, William?), comes under the
Department of Defense. The Homeland Security Act
established the Homeland Security Department--not new
Pentagon programs. Obviously, both TIA and Homeland
Security are threats, and thematically related ones.
But getting the facts wrong just makes us less
effective at fighting them. (See WW3 REPORT #61)
Another case: Earlier this year, former CIA analyst Stephen C. Pelletiere ran a New York
Times op-ed which aasserted "Iraq is not to blame for the Halabja
massacre," the 1988 gas attack on the Kurdish city that instantly killed
5,000. Pelletiere--a CIA Middle East exeprt from the 1980s, when the US was
"tilting" to Iraq in the Iran-Iraq war--cited a little-known Defense
Intelligence Agency report finding evidence that it was actually Iranian
forces that gassed Halabja. Pelletiere's piece was widely distributed on
the Internet under the title "Did Saddam Really Gas His Own People?"
Well--yes he did. Halabja was only the worst gas attack on the Kurds during
Saddam's brutal 1988 counter-insurgency campaign, code-named "Anfal."
Numerous smaller chemical attacks went largely unreported--despite their
grisly toll. A brief survey of human rights reports documents this reality.
And nobody has asserted that they were all carried out by Iran. The left's
refusal to face the grim realities of the Saddam Hussein regime in the
prelude to its overthrow by US-led forces has contributed to its current
impotence and directionlessness.
(See WW3 REPORT#72)
While there is a surfeit of "blogs" out there that
provide a regular survey of what's reported, there are
few that attempt to actually digest the
reportage--rewrite, provide political context,
annotate with historical background, check facts when
something smells funny, and put the actual facts ahead
of what political goals they may serve. There is
especially a paucity of left-wing reporting--what used
to be called advocacy journalism. Objective journalism
is a fiction, because nothing in the human sphere can
ever be objective. But for writing to be journalism at
all, a certain degree of distance is required. Writing
needn't be mere propaganda to serve the causes of
peace and resistance--nothing is to be gained from
obfuscation, sloppiness or hiding facts, from
ourselves or others.
Is WW3 REPORT sustainable? Producing it on a weekly
basis is nearly a full-time job for myself and
co-editor David Bloom, and the steady trickle of
donations doesn't compensate for our time. Our
contributors such as Subuhi Jiwani and Wynde Priddy
also deserve to be paid for their work. Additionally,
I have for too long been putting off a long-planned
trip to South America to research my new book (which
Verso has agreed to publish) on the War on Terrorism,
corporate resource-grabs and indigenous resistance in
the Andes. This summer, War Resisters International
are holding their annual meeting in Medellin, which
would afford me the rare opportunity to meet with the
non-violent opposition in Colombia in a context of
openness and visibility. Inevitably, I will have to
rethink my commitment to a weekly, comprehensive
global news digest.
In keeping with our democratic spirit, we put the
following two-part EXIT POLL before our readers:
1. Should WW3 REPORT continue? And, if so, in which of
the following formats:
a) WW3 REPORT should continue as it is, weekly, until
guilt-tripping neurotic Jewish editor-in-chief Bill
Weinberg gives himself a bad back, cataracts and
carpal tunnel syndrome from too much computer time, as
he continues to live a miserable hand-to-mouth
existence. (Hey, this is the kind of
self-referentialism that you guys are supposed to eat
up, right?)
b) WW3 REPORT should surrender to the zeitgeist and
become a monthly, running two or three in-depth pieces
of reportage a month--including first-hand reports
from the Andes--as well as occasional opinion pieces
and book reviews of the sort offered this week by
Subuhi Jiwani and myself. In this case, the project
could keep going even if I was hopping between cyber
cafes in Colombia and Peru.
c) WW3 REPORT should become a bi-weekly as a
compromise between the other two options, running a
mix of news briefs and more in-depth journalism and
reviews. This would make editing it from the road in
South America more challenging, but still (perhaps)
possible.
2. Are you willing to pay to see WW3 REPORT continue?
There is no way that I can both go to the Andes and
keep the report going without raising a daunting sum
of money in a very short time. We are throwing a
benefit for ourselves on Saturday, June 14, 7:30 PM at
49 East Houston Street in New York City. Ten bucks at
the door, plus pass-the-hat. All proceeds will go to
send me to South America and pay the contributors who
will hopefully pick up the slack in my absence. How
about it, are you willing to shell out or what? Will
you be there, and bring your checkbook?
a) Yes, I am there! WW3 REPORT must survive, and Bill
Weinberg must go to South America!
b) Sorry, I can't make it that night, but I am sending
a check today. $10 for students and unemployed, $25
for real proletarians, $75 for trust-fund rads, $100
for professionals with health insurance, $500 for
confused Republicans who like us because we're
"anti-government," $5,000 for movie stars. You know
who you are.
c) Get lost! I wouldn't give that miserable,
self-promoting, jihad-loving, kvetchaholic,
francophobe anarchist crank Weinberg a thin dime!
OUR POLICY: Either answer the Exit Poll or send us a check
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