Contents (5): Just World Campaign; Docs 201-250

US pardons linked to donations

   The West Australian, Washington Post, p 22, Monday, February 12, 2001
   House looks into nature of Bill Clinton's llth-hour largesse
   ■ WASHINGTON -- TWO pardons granted by Bill Clinton to criminals in the last hours of his United States presidency have been linked to donations.
   Carlos Vignali, who served only six months of a 15-year term for drug running, is the son of Los Angeles entrepreneur Horacio Vignali, who donated more than $288,000 to Democratic Party interests.
   Denise Rich, who lobbied Mr Clinton to pardon her former husband, fugitive financier Marc Rich, donated $819,000 to Mr Clinton's Arkansas presidential library fund.
   Because it is a hard-edged criminal case, Mr Vignali's commutation adds another dimension to the wave of 11th-hour Clinton clemencies and raises new questions about the influence of political donors and officials.
   As criminal justice officials in Minnesota learnt of Mr Vignali's sudden freedom, they reacted with the same indignation that has greeted other beneficiaries of the 140 pardons and 36 commutations Mr Clinton granted.
   Ms Rich's lawyer, Carol Bruce, told a House of Representatives committee investigating the pardon that her client gave an enormous sum of money to the Clinton library fund.
[Picture] Free man: Marc Rich with his wife, Gisela, in Switzerland.    - AP
   Ms Rich's friend Beth Dozoretz, a Democratic fundraiser, spoke with Mr Clinton 10 days before he pardoned Mr Rich while she and Ms Rich were visiting Colorado, according to an e-mail released at the hearing.
   Because of that phone call, House Government Reform Committee investigators want to talk to both women, spokesman Mark Corallo said. The committee planned to issue subpoenas this week for the list of Mr Clinton's library donors.
   The committee chaired by Clinton foe Dan Burton, is exploring links between Mr Rich's pardon and donations to Mr Clinton. "We're going to want to see what she gave and what came in," Mr Corallo said.
   Mr Rich and business partner Pincus Green were indicted in 1983 on charges of tax evasion and trading with Iran while American hostages were held in Tehran.
   The two fled the country and never faced trial. Their pardons were controversial because prosecutors who brought the case did not know they were being considered. #

209. Australian S.A.S. Diggers trained me, says East Timorese nun-killing accused. DILI, East Timor: By Mark Dodd and Craig Skehan, The West Australian and The Sydney Morning Herald, 11 August 2001; inserted 15 Aug 01
210. Hell's grannies, Women in Black put us to shame. PALESTINE/ISRAEL: Women facing down ethnic cleansing and nuclear criminality -- The Guardian (Manchester), Israel and West Asia; by George Monbiot, 14 August 2001, to WWW 14 Aug 01.

211. Hard lessons from defence export debacle: Editorial. AUSTRALIA: Australian Government tried to build an "industry" arming dictatorships near Australia, The Australian, 21 August 2001, to WWW 01 Sep 01.
212. Teachers oppose WTO agreement. JOMTIEN, Thailand: World's 25 million teachers oppose General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) -- The Weekend Australian, 25-26 August 2001, to WWW 01 Sep 01.
213. Contents (5), Docs. 201-250, to WWW 03 Sep 01.
214. WA Attorney General McGinty sees no widespread electoral fraud. PERTH: His answer to Federal Special Minister of State Abetz's 19 June '01 media release, 04 Sep 01, to WWW 08 Sep 01.
215. Citizens' Voice, No 11, September 2001. PERTH: In Qatar November 9-13, the WTO's wealthier nations and blocs will seek a mandate for a "new round" of negotiations aimed at de-legitimising remaining barriers to cross-border trade. A government can be forced to amend its laws or be obliged to pay exorbitant financial penalties as a result of adverse rulings by WTO dispute settlement panels. To WWW as RTF on 13 Sep 01, as HTML on 15 Sep 01.

216. Rebutting W.A. Labor's denial. PERTH: Rebutting the denial of effective electoral fraud, the 8 September answer to State Attorney General's arguments, to WWW 16 Sep 01.
217. Sustainable Population Australia, No 50, June 2001: AUSTRALIA: Politicians defy Australians' continued opposition to immigration rates; to WWW 28 Sep 01.
218. Sustainable Population Australia, No 51, Sep 2001: AUSTRALIA: Desertification is removing cropland but population increase requires more food; to WWW on 06 Oct 01, to HTML format 10 November 2001
219. A Global Online Petition for 'No more violence!', opposing War talk of U.S.A. and Allies after the 11 September World Trade Centre and Pentagon horrors, recommending instead to bring perpetrators to Justice, to this website 28 Sep 01
220. Monda Petego: 'Ne plu da Perforto!', Esperanta, Esperanto, as above, al cxi tiu retsituo 28 Sep 01

221. W.A. Attorney General McGinty repeats on 25 Sep 01 that there had been no evidence of widespread fraud in electoral enrolments in Australia, and that proving identity would be a deterrent to enrolment, to WWW 04 Oct 01.
222. Executive on charge. QUEENSLAND, Australia: Former Queensland Labor branch secretary and former Government adviser David Barbagallo charged with uttering and forging electoral enrolment forms in 1986, in The Australian, 2 Oct 01, to WWW 04 Oct 01
223. W.A. Labor Minister's electoral fraud denials re-rebutted. PERTH: Evidence given again of widespread electoral enrolment fraud, including the 2 October newsitem about the Barbagallo charges, and the cost of insisting on insisting on a separate State roll. The 4 October answer to State Attorney General's 25 September arguments, to WWW 09 Oct 01 [04 Oct, 01]
224. Poster for Global Petition 'No More Violence!' in relation to the Trade Centre and Pentagon terrorism of 11 Sep 01. Or click appeal.pdf for a copy of the original PDF format (requiring Acrobat® Reader™); to WWW 06-07 Oct 01
225. The few are crucial to a win. CANBERRA: Few are crucial for the 10 November 2001 Australian Federal election, The West Australian, 6 Oct 01. Plus commentary on how 6000 votes could easily be over-arched through electoral cheating. To WWW 07 Oct 01 [06 Oct, 01]

• Hitchens' Slurs

• WTO doesn't stop leather/shoes tariff evil.

• £1bn arms push to India.

   The Guardian, Britain, "£1bn arms push to India: Blair criticised over deal days after promoting peace: 60 Hawk jets in package promoted by ministers," www.guardian.co.uk/ , by Richard Norton-Taylor and Ewen MacAskill, Sat Jan 12 02
   BRITAIN: The government is mounting an intensive campaign to boost arms sales to India, including 60 Hawk jets worth £1bn, in spite of the danger of the India-Pakistan dispute over Kashmir spilling into war and destabilising the entire region.
   BAE Systems, makers of the Hawk, is confident of striking a deal with the Indians. Ministers have been pressing India behind the scenes to clinch the contract. British arms companies will be prominent at an arms fair in New Delhi, Defexpo 2002, offering howitzers, anti-aircraft guns, missiles and tanks. Ministers supposedly involved include Geoff Hoon, John Prescott and Mr Blair.
   Pakistan insists that a British arms embargo was still in place, by delaying spare parts, although the US embargo was lifted after the war in Afghanistan.
   Richard Bingley of the Campaign Against the Arms Trade said yesterday it was diabolical. [Jan 12, 02]
• Killing Daniel Pearl One More Time.
   USA Jewish News, www.usajewish.com , February 17, 2002

   UNITED STATES:

NOTES FROM ALL OVER [Awaiting permission to use]
KILLING DANIEL PEARL ONE MORE TIME
The plot to ignore the slain journalist's Jewish identity
The Chosen One
www.villagevoice.com/issues/0209/kamber.php
Journalist Daniel Pearl Was Killed for Being a Jew, by Michael Kamber
   "My father is a Jew, my mother is a Jew, and I am a Jew" are the last words Daniel Pearl uttered, an instant before his throat was slashed, according to government officials who have viewed the videotape of his murder. At least one of his captors has admitted that the kidnappers were specifically looking for a Jewish victim. Curiously, government officials and Pearl's family, as well as his employer, The Wall Street Journal, are downplaying this angle, as if drawing attention to what is clearly an anti-Jewish killing would dishonor Pearl, who was not an observant Jew.
   Yet his murderers are identified as members of "a fiercely anti-Semitic Islamic terrorist group called Jaish-e-Mohammed." I can only wonder about what qualifies as "fiercely anti-Semitic" in Pakistan, where anti-Semitism flows as easily as water. For several months following 9-11, the country's newspapers published frequent editorials calling for an investigation into Jewish involvement in the World Trade Center bombing.
   In interviews conducted while I was there, government officials would occasionally veer off into long diatribes about the Jews; fundamentalist religious leaders, who educate hundreds of thousands of children in the country's madrassas, spoke of little else. (Village Voice)
WIDOWSPEEK
The miasma of media myth-making
www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=26616
By Illana Mercer
   In the wake of poor Daniel Pearl's horrible murder, CNN news anchors took a break from celebrating the Islamic hajj and turned their short attention spans to celebrating themselves. The better part of the somber day was given over to praising the journalistic endeavor of truth seeking. Particularly chilling and revealing were the words of Danny Pearl's widow, herself a journalist. "Revenge," wrote Mariane Pearl, "would be easy, but it is far more valuable … to address this problem of terrorism with enough honesty to question our own responsibility as nations and as individuals for the rise of terrorism."
   Note how Mrs. Pearl nihilistically frames punishment as vengeance. Note how she then proceeds to shift responsibility away from the subhumans that slit her husband's throat, hinting at larger, emblematic processes. This truth-deflecting nonsense is insidious among members of the media. Mrs. Pearl sums up her sorrow-filled address by calling on "our governments to work hand in hand," and for "love, compassion, friendship and citizenship" to transcend the so-called "clash of civilizations." In journalese, this is generally a clarion call for the staple, governmental, therapeutic overtures. To wit, central planners must remain nationally and internationally vigilant about rewarding bummery and thuggery with the property of the prosperous. (WorldNetDaily)
Responding to "The miasma of media myth-making"
www.usajewish.com/scripts/usaj/forum/forum.idc?ForumID=24#msg1390
   I don't know why he married a non-Jew who will bear his non-Jewish child and be his legacy? Perhaps the perception that if we only understand the Arab Moslem mind we can fix the problem - is a factor in his having been vulnerable and therefore taken in by the kidnappers strategy which were e-mail ruses coached in western, American-style language? What follows are his non-Jewish wife's words as quoted by Illana Mercer in an article 'The Miasma of Media Myth Making' on worldnetdaily: "Particularly chilling and revealing were the words of Danny Pearl's widow, herself a journalist. "Revenge," wrote Mariane Pearl, "would be easy, but it is far … … to address this problem of terrorism with enough honesty to question our own responsibility as nations and as individuals for the rise of terrorism."
   Is his widow saying even as the beasts who committed their heinous crime against this gentle human being, her husband, need only to be better understood? Much of the media itself is on trial in the death of Daniel Pearl - its perceptional morass must be confronted as to what we are dealing with and how? (Susie, USAJewish.com forum, click to read the full entry)

BOOSTING ALIYAH PROGRAM WITH SEX ABUSERS
There's an untapped population that could turn Israel's demographics around. Give me your criminal, your insane, your loser, your violent sociopath…
[Awaiting permission to use]

Prisoner activist aims to bring Lanner here
www.jpost.com/Editions/2002/02/27/News/News.44171.html
By Haim Shapiro
   JERUSALEM (February 27) - Herut Lapid, the kibbutznik who has spearheaded the rehabilitation of hundreds of prisoners, is to travel to New York in an attempt to bring Rabbi Baruch Lanner, who has been accused of sexual abuse of teenagers under his care, here. The case has been a source of scandal for the American Orthodox community since it was publicized by The New York Jewish Week. Lanner was first a top official of the National Conference of Synagogue Youth and later the principal of a Hebrew day school. In March, a Monmouth County grand jury indicted him on two counts each of aggravated criminal sexual conduct, criminal sexual conduct, and endangering the welfare of a child. (Jerusalem Post)
LOCAL JEWISH POLITICS - NOT A MINUTE TOO SOON
Challenger Attacks Baca's Comments
www.latimes.com/news/local/la-000014877feb27.story
Election rival Sgt. John Stites tries to drive a wedge between the sheriff and his Jewish supporters by citing his praise for a Nation of Islam leader. By Beth Shuster
   Attempting to build support for his longshot challenge to Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, a candidate in that race is accusing Baca of tolerating "groups that threaten the safety of the Los Angeles Jewish community," a reference to praise by Baca of a Nation of Islam leader. An angry Baca retorted that his opponent, Sgt. John Stites, is "literally a messenger of hate himself."
   The unusually sharp exchange between the sheriff and his subordinate occurred over comments that Baca made regarding the Nation of Islam. In a recent article in The Times, Baca was quoted as complimenting Tony Muhammad, western regional minister of the Nation of Islam. Baca called Muhammad a "bright, thoughtful and effective leader." Stites plans to send hundreds of copies of a campaign release to synagogues and Jewish schools throughout the county today that uses that quote and comments on it. Nation of Islam leaders, including Louis Farrakhan, have been accused of anti-Semitism and racism. (L.A. Times)

Albert Schussler
[Awaiting permission to use]

HE WAS ON THE TAKE, HE WAS ON THE GIVE TOO
Smart, Generous, Low-Key and Indicted in Bribery Plot
By Janny Scott
There was nothing flashy about Albert Schussler, people in the real estate industry said yesterday about the 85-year-old tax consultant at the center of the city's alleged $10 million tax-assessment bribery scheme. Quite the contrary, they said; he always struck them as quiet, knowledgeable, down to earth. And generous, too. Mr. Schussler, who was indicted on Monday, was a major supporter of many Jewish charities - a past president of the American Friends of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, a director of the UJA-Federation of New York, a longtime supporter of the New Israel Fund and American Friends of the Open University of Israel.
NYC Investigators Uncover Tax Scam
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A3896-2002Feb26.html , By Larry Neumeister
NEW YORK -- In the largest tax scam in city history, more than a dozen assessors took bribes ranging from expensive meals to thousands of dollars during a 35-year scheme that cheated the city of hundreds of millions of dollars, investigators said. Seventeen people were arrested Monday and an additional defendant was expected to surrender Tuesday on charges of taking or giving more than $10 million in bribes to alter the assessed values of commercial properties. Authorities said two individuals accused in the indictment of paying bribes to tax assessors included Albert Schussler, 85, a major property manager, owner and former longtime assessor who allegedly engaged in the plot since 1967. Schussler was released on $250,000 bail after a court appearance Monday. His lawyer, Stephen Kaufman, declined to comment. The other defendants were each released on $25,000 bail.
(AP)

Here Comes The Bribe
By Kirsten Danis, David Seifman and Simon Crittle
February 26, 2002 -- A massive payola scheme led to the indictment yesterday of 18 people - including a cadre of allegedly corrupt city assessors - on charges they ran a decades-long scam to lower property taxes for some of the biggest names in New York real estate. In one of the most sweeping conspiracies - and biggest rip-offs - in city history, authorities said, consultant Albert Schussler was charged with handing out $10 million in bribes to assessors since 1967 to get reductions in property-tax assessments on some of the city's best-known buildings. "These defendants committed a breathtaking betrayal of the public trust," Manhattan U.S. Attorney James Comey said.
(NY Post)

Security Council opens public debate on Mideast
The UN Security Council opened a rare public debate on the Middle East called by council president Adolfo Aguilar Zinser of Mexico at the request of Palestinian representatives at the United Nations. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan last week said the council had an "essential role" to play in helping to bring the Israelis and Palestinians back to the negotiating table. Annan said the "lack of mutual confidence between the two sides makes a third-party role essential." "The breakdown of trust is so total that neither side will believe the other when it comes to the implementation of agreements," he said last week.
(AFP)

Bush Praises Mideast Peace Overture
By Barry Schweid
WASHINGTON -- GW Bush telephoned Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah on Tuesday to give his peace proposal a gentle push forward. The White House said the proposal injected a "note of hope" into the Middle East situation, and spokesman Ari Fleischer, speaking of Bush's call, said, "He's praised the idea." Nevertheless, Fleischer said, the prince's proposal does not constitute a breakthrough in the search for peace between the Arabs and Israel.
(AP)

Bush Welcomes Saudi Proposal on Mideast Peace
By David E. Sanger with Serge Schmemann
Some administration officials said they were less impressed by the content of the Saudi proposal - "It's not a plan, it's a vision," said one - than by the symbolism of having a leading Arab state, the caretaker of Islam's most treasured sites, put forward a plan that would lead to full normalization of relations with Israel. They cautioned, however, that for decades, successive Israeli governments have rejected calls for a withdrawal to Israel's pre-1967 borders, and they were unsure how Prime Minister Ariel Sharon would view a long-term plan at a time of such rapidly intensifying violence.
(NY Times)

Saudi peace plan gains support as joint security talks resume
Support was building for a Saudi peace plan for the Middle East, as Israel and the Palestinians resumed security talks aiming at halting the bloodshed. EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, in Israel as part of a tour of a region, said Tuesday that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was ready to meet any Saudi leader to discuss the initiative. "The only thing I can tell you is what has been made public already, that Sharon is ready to meet anybody from Saudi Arabia," said Solana. "It is fair to say that Sharon expressed interest in having more information on the content of the idea."
(AFP)

Sharon "willing" to discuss peace proposal
By Jeffrey Heller
JERUSALEM - Israeli leader Ariel Sharon has expressed readiness to meet Saudi officials over a Saudi peace initiative that drew praise from U.S. President George W. Bush for its vision of Israeli-Arab normalisation. The European Union's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, cut short a visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories and planned to go to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday to discuss Crown Prince Abdullah's surprise peace plan.
(Reuters)

E.U.: Sharon Ready to Meet Saudis
By Steve Weizman
JERUSALEM -- Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told an EU envoy Tuesday he was willing to meet Saudi officials, publicly or behind the scenes, to explore their proposals for an overall Mideast peace, the European diplomat said. The proposals floated by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah have gotten a warm response from the Palestinians, some Arab nations and some Israeli officials - including the foreign and defense ministers. Sharon's aides, however, say they want more details. Javier Solana, the European Union's foreign affairs chief, announced that he was making a previously unscheduled trip to Riyadh on Wednesday to hear details of the Saudi peace plan firsthand from Abdullah.
(AP)

EU Envoy Quizzes Saudi Prince on Mideast Proposal
JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia - A European Union envoy met Crown Prince Abdullah Wednesday to explore a Saudi peace feeler that world leaders have grasped as a possible route to renewed Arab-Israeli negotiations after months of bloodshed. Saudi officials said EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana was ushered to the royal palace in the Red Sea city of Jeddah after flying into the kingdom for a hastily arranged visit. Solana has said he will ask Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler for details of his peace message, aired with little elaboration in a New York Times interview published last week.
(Reuters)

'America Cannot Fight this War Alone'
TIME talks to Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud
TIME: You have criticized the Bush administration on the Palestinian issue, but what is your solution?
Abdullah: I respond with one word: justice. We have a means and a process to arrive at a solution: the Tenet Plan and the Mitchell Report. On both sides are human beings who have emotions that affect their actions and reactions. On one side, we have people, including children, who are being humiliated, killed, whose trees are being uprooted, and whose land is being confiscated. This leads them to lose hope and to react. On the other side, we have people who are subjected to constant violence and begin to lose hope as well. As a first step, we can separate the two sides and introduce peacekeepers. And then it will be time to pressure both sides to return to the negotiating table.
(TIME)

Prince Abdullah Rejects Iran, Iraq 'Evil' Label
WASHINGTON Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah said in an interview published on Monday that Iran and Iraq should not be targeted in an expanded U.S. war on terrorism despite U.S. President George W. Bush's description of them as part of an "axis of evil." "I do not believe that the war on terrorism applies to Iran and Iraq," the crown prince and de facto Saudi Arabian ruler said in a Time magazine interview posted on the publication's web site. Abdullah told Time that Iran, in fact, has been a stabilizing influence in the Persian Gulf region. "Iran is contributing to stability in the Persian Gulf region. In the past there were tensions, but these have been worked out," Abdullah said.
(Tehran Times)

Katsav goes out on limb to stump for Saudi plan
By Bradley Burston
In a possible indication of budding Israeli consensus to consider a Saudi proposal aimed at a watershed Mideast peace, President Moshe Katsav departed from his apolitical role to urge serious exploration of the plan. Katsav - along with the chairman of his Likud party, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon - has long been a savvy observer of the shifting sands of the Israeli electorate. With Sharon taking a vaguely favorable wait-and-see stance and Saudi officialdom appearing to backpeddle on the plan that has suddenly and surprisingly stolen the world spotlight, Katsav Wednesday issued one of the strongest Israeli endorsements to date of Saudi efforts to push for a gamebreaking comprehensive peace.
(Ha'aretz)

1 Country, 2 Futures
By Thomas L. Friedman
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- An acquaintance here in Saudi Arabia told me this story: He was touring the countryside by car and got slightly lost. He saw a car down the road and approached it to ask directions, but each time he drew near, the car sped away. Eventually he caught up to it, the car pulled over, and a terrified driver jumped out to flee: it was a Saudi woman dressed like a man. In a country where it is illegal for women to drive, that's the only way for a lady to get behind the wheel. This story is a good reminder that not everything here operates in real life as it appears on paper - which is what makes predicting Saudi Arabia's future a very inexact science. As such, I've concluded that there are two possible models for Saudi Arabia's future. I call them the "Soviet school" and the "China school."
(NY Times)

Nice idea but not a plan
By Zvi Bar'el
The faster the initiative of Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah gathers momentum, so grow the doubts about the substantive questions that his proposal does not answer. On the positive side, the initiative opens a horizon that Israel has always sought: not only recognition of its existence and right to live in peace - as the Fahd plan proposed in 1981 - but full normalization. That is a strategic change in the Arab line and a new foundation in the official Arab position - if the initiative is approved by the Arab League summit in Beirut next month.
(Ha'aretz)

[Awaiting permission to use]

[Awaiting permission to use]
We visited the Hebron Web site for images and discovered this one: Akiva, a local youth, who had been whipped by an Arab in Hebron…

WHO ARE YOU AND WHERE DID YOU TAKE OUR JTA?
It's obvious JTA was kidnapped by aliens and replaced by pro-Jewish reporting.

Hebron's Jews take solace in tale of Persian Jews' defeat of Haman
By Simon Carroll
HEBRON, Feb. 26 - Regaled by a singing duo on a slow-moving tractor, most of the 700-strong Jewish community here danced and sang and waved flags past barricaded Arab storefronts in a colorful and noisy Purim parade with a distinctly political message. Only as dusk fell and Jews returned from the communal meal celebrating the ancient Jewish victory over Haman did Hebron return to "normality": Shots rang out from the hills overlooking the tiny Jewish enclave, and Israeli soldiers returned fire. Tuesday's shots came a day after a local Jewish teen-ager was shot through the chest and injured. Two other Israelis were shot dead, and a pregnant woman was injured, while driving near a settlement between Hebron and Jerusalem. Immediately after Tuesday's shooting, Hebron's Jewish leadership called on the government to take stern security measures. "Start acting like Mordechai the Jew," the community statement urged Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. "Face your enemies and strike them down. Before more Jews are hurt!"
(JTA)

French criminal court to try Yahoo over Nazi sites
PARIS, Feb 26 - A French criminal court said on Tuesday it would try U.S. Internet giant Yahoo Inc YHOO.O and its former president for allegedly condoning war crimes by selling Nazi memorabilia. Former President Timothy Koogle faces a maximum sentence of five years and a 45,700 euro ($39,800) fine if found guilty -- a verdict that could have broad implications for international free speech rights in the Internet age. France ordered the California-based company in November 2000 to stop people in France accessing the sites, but a U.S. federal judge ruled last November Yahoo was not bound to comply with French laws governing Internet content on U.S.-based sites.
(Reuters)

US adds detail to Felton case
Filing describes alleged plot
By Thanassis Cambanis
The Leo Felton prosecutors want to put on trial is a man they describe as a rabid white supremacist, eager to light a fuse that would bring down a Boston landmark and simultaneously set off a ''racial holy war.'' Federal prosecutors have charged Felton, 30, a convicted felon, and his girlfriend, Erica Chase, 21, with a racially motivated conspiracy to bomb a Jewish or black landmark in Boston and say they've tied them to a web of neo-Nazi organizations. Documents filed in US District Court this week by federal prosecutors offer the greatest detail so far about the alleged conspiracy that involved Felton, Chase, and a cell of white supremacists who financed their planned exploits through bank robbery and counterfeiting.
(Boston Globe)

Peres hit for denial of French anti-Semitism
By Gil Hoffman
JERUSALEM (February 27) - Foreign Minister Shimon Peres's denial of anti-Semitism in France yesterday shocked and disturbed officials at the Paris office of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, which documented 320 anti-Semitic incidents there last year. Peres told French President Jacques Chirac he is confident France is protecting its Jewish citizens. "I am certain that France is not anti-Semitic, neither historically nor currently," Peres told reporters after meeting Chirac. "I am convinced the French leadership is staging a serious and determined battle against anti-Semitism in France."
(Jerusalem Post)

US Envoy: No Decision on Extradition
By Steven Gutkin
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- After meeting with Pakistan's president, the U.S. ambassador said Tuesday she is "not disappointed" with his response to American requests to hand over the key suspect in the murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. But Ambassador Wendy Chamberlin said no decision has been made about whether Pakistan will deliver Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh. The Bush administration said it wants to get its hands on the suspect, who already has been indicted in the United States in an earlier kidnapping. Pakistan wants to hold on to Saeed for now - hoping he can help locate Pearl's body and identify his killers, an Interior Ministry official said on condition of anonymity. Thus far, Saeed has not been known to provide any help.
(AP)

Palestinian kills Israeli employer near Jerusalem
A Palestinian man shot and killed his Israeli employer, Gad Rejwan, 34, early this morning in northern Jerusalem's Atarot industrial area. Police termed the shooting a terror attack, saying the Palestinian, in his 20s, had no record of labor disputes with Rejwan, part-owner of the Rejwan coffee factory located in a workshop in the industrial zone. Rejwan, who leaves behind a wife and daughter, will be buried this afternoon at the Har Hamenuchot cemetery. The funeral procession will leave the Shamgar funeral parlor at 4:00 p.m., Israel Radio reported.
(Jerusalem Post)

Policewoman dies of wounds
By Etgar Lefkovits
JERUSALEM (February 27) - F.-Sgt. Galit Arviv, 21, wounded in Monday night's terrorist attack in Jerusalem's Neveh Ya'acov neighborhood, died early yesterday in Hadassah-University Hospital, Mount Scopus. Arviv was buried yesterday afternoon in her hometown of Nesher, outside of Haifa. She was the first policewoman killed since the outbreak of violence 17 months ago. Arviv, who joined the Jerusalem police force earlier this year after completing her compulsory military service in the Border Police, took part in the shoot-out with the terrorist who opened fire on a residential street.
(Jerusalem Post)

Victims of Nokdim attack laid to rest
By Haim Shadmi and Nadav Shragai
Avraham Fisch, 64, was laid to rest yesterday at Kfar Etzion cemetery while his daughter recovered in hopital after giving birth prematurely to a baby girl. The child was delivered by cesarean section on Monday after the family was attacked in a drive-by shooting near their settlement of Nokdim. Fellow settler Aharon Gorov, 46, also killed in the attack, was buried as well at the cemetery, with thousands of mourners attending the two funerals. Tourism Minister Binyamin Elon said he could not speak in the government's name. "It is no longer possible to justify what the government is refraining from doing," he said. "In fact, it is doing nothing."
(Ha'aretz)

Israeli and Palestinian security chiefs meet
By Michele Gershberg
JERUSALEM - Israeli and Palestinian security chiefs are meeting to discuss ways of staunching 17 months of bloodshed as a Saudi peace initiative for the Middle East gains momentum with U.S. and European interest. No details were immediately available from the U.S.-mediated meeting in Tel Aviv which ended early on Wednesday. A previous session had been called off earlier this week due to Palestinian fury over an Israeli decision to keep Palestinian President Yasser Arafat confined to the West Bank city of Ramallah.
(Reuters)

Only Buffer Zones Can Protect Israel
By Dore Gold
The western buffer zone recently proposed by Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon would place serious obstacles before suicide bombers who regularly attempt to infiltrate Israeli population centers. Immediately adjacent to the West Bank is the densely populated Israeli coastal plain, where 70 percent of Israelis live and 80 percent of Israel's industrial capacity is located. The buffer zone would also protect Israel's capital in Jerusalem. The western zone would allow adequate depth against Palestinian weaponry, from automatic rifle fire and mortars to Qassam-2 rockets.
(NY Times)

Security talks resume; PM visits planned buffer zone
By Amira Hass
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, accompanied by his top security advisers, yesterday toured the proposed buffer zone in the vicinity of Tul Karm, while Israeli and Palestinian officers resumed security talks last night. Meanwhile, the number of violent incidents yesterday decreased but Israeli security officials said there were still warnings of impending terror attacks. Sharon's visit was shrouded in secrecy and journalists were not allowed to accompany him. He arrived in the area of Yad Hannah, overlooking the Shomron, in the morning hours, and was briefed on the difficulties of preventing the passage of Palestinians from the West Bank into Israeli territory.
(Ha'aretz)

Three terrorists killed after infiltrating from Sinai
IDF troops killed three armed terrorists this afternoon after they infiltrated into the southern Negev Desert from Egypt's Sinai Peninsula. Two Israeli soldiers were lightly wounded in the unusual terrorist infiltration attempt near Mount Kharif, located 30 kilometers southwest of Mitzpe Ramon. Israeli army trackers discovered the infiltration and troops began a chase which lasted for several hours. A gunbattle broke out and the terrorists, armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles, were eventually killed, Israel Radio reported.
(Jerusalem Post)

IDF troops kill three armed men in Negev near Egyptian border
Two soliders suffered light to moderate wounds and were being evacuated to Soroka Medical Center in Be'er Sheva for treatment. After the three men were killed, one was discovered with an explosive device that was prepared for a suicide attack.
(Ha'aretz)

Cop, volunteer prevent Haifa attack
By David Rudge
HAIFA (February 27) - The alertness and determination of a policewoman and a volunteer prevented a shooting attack by a Palestinian terrorist in downtown Haifa yesterday afternoon. The two chased and caught a suspicious man, discovering he had a Kalashnikov assault rifle ready to fire in his bag. Another man was seen running away, sparking a widespread search during which police closed the entrances to Haifa for more than two hours. The man was initially thought to be armed, but police later said that was unlikely and reopened the roads, although searches continued.
(Jerusalem Post)

Arab gang assaults Petah Tikva man
Four Israel Arabs assaulted a Petah Tikva man early this morning. The man was set upon as he returned from work, according to Army Radio. The four assailants, reportedly from the village of Kfar Kassem, beat and stabbed him with a broken bottle, and then fled, according to the report.
(Jerusalem Post)

Gov't: Palestinians still operating in Jerusalem
The Prime Minister's Office released a statement today saying Palestinian institutions formerly operating from the now-closed Orient House in eastern Jerusalem continue to work from other locations in the city's eastern sections. Palestinian financial institutions, which operated from the Orient House before Israeli ordered the closure of that quasi-official Palestinian institution in August 2001, have since scattered and continued operating in different locations throughout Jerusalem.
(Jerusalem Post)

Most residents of Muslims countries dislike US: poll
The majority of residents of Muslim countries have an unfavorable opinion of the United States because they believe it is ruthless and arrogant, according to a new opinion poll reported by CNN television. The survey, conducted by the Gallup organization in December and January, includes the views of 9,924 residents of Pakistan, Iran, Indonesia, Turkey, Lebanon, Morocco, Kuwait, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Fifty-three percent of those questioned had unfavorable opinions of the United States, while 22 percent had favorable opinions, CNN reported Tuesday.
(AFP)

Egypt detains Palestinian, Israeli 'Scientologists'
CAIRO - A Cairo court has prolonged the detention of a Palestinian woman and her Israeli husband suspected of "contempt of religion" by promoting Scientology in the country, Egypt's Middle East News Agency reported Tuesday. Wafaa Hassan Ahmed, 26, and Mahmoud Mufid Masarwa, 28, have confessed to being assigned by their followers in Tel Aviv and Rome to promote Scientology in Egypt as "a pivotal country in the region that would ease its spread to neighboring countries," MENA reported.
(Jerusalem Post)

Security forces raze poppy fields as part of nationwide drug crackdown
Murr says campaign will safeguard nation's 'reputation and credibility'
By Alia Ibrahim and Morshed Dandash
Lebanese security forces began an intensive one-week campaign Tuesday aimed at destroying 5 million square meters of poppy fields. Fighting bad weather, a 100-member team of Internal Security Forces and army personnel equipped with tractors destroyed about 1.2 million square meters of poppy plantations on the first day of the campaign. Speaking during a news conference at his office in Beirut, Interior Minister Elias Murr said that within a week, all poppy crops nationwide would be razed, with the exception of fields now covered with snow, whose destruction would have to wait until spring.
(Daily Star Lebanon)

PURIM AD-LO-YADA PARADE MOVED TO HOLON
In Tel Aviv the local gentry changed its name to Purim Carnival. Aren't they a bit behind on the Lent count?

Thousands Celebrate Jewish Festival
By Jason Keyser
HOLON, Israel -- Thousands of costumed Israelis turned out Tuesday for a huge, noisy parade here marking the Jewish festival of Purim, despite concerns about attacks by Palestinian militants. Children and some adults became broom-riding witches and princesses, policemen and soldiers, devils and fairies, cats with marker-drawn whiskers. Young boys fired colorful streams of aerosol silly string at girls. Beneath the revelry, however, there was apprehension that 17 months of fighting wouldn't ease off for the festival. On Monday, three Israelis and two Palestinians were killed in violent incidents, and police caught a Palestinian with a loaded automatic rifle in the Israeli port city of Haifa on Tuesday.
(AP)

E-mail lists 'good addiction' for Brazil's Jewish community
By Marcus Moraes
RIO DE JANEIRO, Feb. 26 - Brazil's 120,000 Jews increasingly are using the Internet to learn more about their heritage. The listas de discussao - Portuguese for "discussion lists" - have become an alternative "non-shul" way for Brazilian Jews of all ages to debate the meaning of their Jewishness, discuss Jewish religion and culture and get news about Israel and the Diaspora. In addition, these virtual forums offer a great opportunity to develop new friendships, meet old friends and - why not? - find a date. For Rabbi Sergio Margulies, "Judaism is characterized by debate, rather than obligatory ideas."
(JTA)

Mob Sets Fire to India Train, 55 Die
By Siddharth Darshan Kumar
GODHRA, India -- A Muslim mob set fire to a train carrying Hindu activists as it returned from a religious ceremony Wednesday, killing at least 55 people, officials said. District administrator Jayanti Ravi said there were about 75 passengers in the four coaches of the Sabarmati Express that were set ablaze in Godhra, in the western state of Gujarat. The coaches, she said, had been gutted. Ravi said 14 children were among the dead, and other officials reported at least 38 were hurt.
(AP)

BROOKLYN BRIDGE [Awaiting permission to use]

New York mayor ponders selling Brooklyn Bridge
NEW YORK - Unbelievable perhaps, but New York City's new mayor wants to sell you the historic Brooklyn Bridge. In fact, he wants to sell three other bridges in America's biggest city -- anything to raise cash in a city reeling from the economic effects of the September 11 attacks coupled with the first U.S. recession in 10 years. Michael Bloomberg, elected mayor last year just weeks after the destruction of the World Trade Centre, inherited a nearly $5 billion hole in his $40 billion spending plan, which an official in his administration said could be partly filled through the sale of the four bridges.
(Reuters)
   [The above includes material that is related to Clergy Child Sex Abuse. -- FPP, 02 Feb 04] [Feb 17, 02]
237: Non-marital sex activity of Church workers: Dealing with child-sex clergy, etc. - Guidelines for handling. AUSTRALIA: Guidelines arising out of the publicity about clergy child sex-abuse in Anglicanism and the Governor-General Dr Peter Hollingworth from early 2002, and the unfolding stories of Catholic and other clerical child abuse. (Printed from DOC format, the first brief version had been distributed at the second Rally for Marriage and Children, Perth, on 19 Feb 02), plus revisions and additions, now 7 A4 pages. List as 19 Feb 02
238: References -- Clergy Child Molesters, and Ethics; hived off 02 Mar 02
238.5: Outreach, Groups, Publications -- Clergy Child Molesters
239: Fathers would make the best "Fathers". PERTH: How to select candidates for the divine ministry who are less likely to corrupt and scandalise the young, or to protect clergy offenders, Mar 4 02
240: BOOKS about carnal abuse by priests and Church brothers; P & B Press, P.O. Box 81, Como, WA, 6952, AND many other book suppliers added since; 20 Jun 2002; revised and to WWW 26 Jun 02

• [NANOTECHNOLOGY - WHAT IT IS and WHY YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT IT.]
   Western Suburbs Weekly, Northbridge (Perth), Western Australia, published the bulk of the article under the heading "Bottom-up process takes root", by Phil Burrows* © June 2002, p 9, Tuesday, July 9, 2002
   PERTH, W. Australia: I wonder how Stephen Hawking felt, when he set out to write A Brief History of Time? It is certainly clear why he wrote it. He wanted to make the complex theories of quantum physics readily accessible to the lay person. Cynics might say that he wanted to make lots of money. In the latter, he certainly succeeded, for the book made Hawking a household name and it topped the bestseller lists around the world.
   As to the first objective - that of bringing the ideas of science into the average household, perhaps Hawking was not so successful for, as one writer observed, there were many thousands more who owned the book than had actually read it. However, in the end, such speculation is churlish, for there is no doubt that Hawking has given the theories of quantum physics a certain degree of common currency.
   This brings me to my own dilemma and the objectives of writing this piece. With regard to any commercial aspirations, I claim to have none whatsoever. My motives are purely altruistic. Why, then, the need to write it?
Nanotechnology, though in its infancy at present, will, almost certainly change the world we live in, whether we want it or not. Not only this, but it will do so in a remarkably short period of time. This is the major reason why people need to start talking and thinking about it, even if only at a superficial level and even if it is at the risk of being derided as an eccentric who is pushing a barrel-load of improbabilities. The same has occurred with every major development in history - the mastery of powered flight, the splitting of the atom, the cloning of a living creature, to name just three examples. All began as subjects for ridicule; the stuff of science fiction but which have now come to pass.
   So it is with nanotechnology but the difference is in the degree of impact that each of these developments has made. They have been considerable but are as nothing, compared to the impact that nanotechnology is likely to make.
   NANOTECHNOLOGY IS …
   Quite simply, a way of building things. It is not a theory; it is not some obscure field of scientific endeavour but a method of engineering and, because it relates to engineering, it does not belong in the 'speculative' basket. There is general acceptance of the feasibility of nanotechnology but it is in the area of implementation that problems still exist. This is no different to the development of, for example, the telephone. Many people knew that it would be possible. It was just difficult to know how to actually do it.
   From the first time that people started making things, they did so using a method which can be described as TOP-DOWN. In other words, the big object was selected - a lump of stone, a wooden log, etc. and the article was produced by cutting or chipping away the unwanted parts. Even if one thinks in terms of building a house, beginning with the foundation and working upwards, brick by brick, the elementary building materials have been constructed, themselves, by a means of utilising existing components and either combining those components or discarding the parts that are not needed.
   Why nanotechnology is so, potentially, life-changing, is that it employs a BOTTOM-UP process. All matter is made up of atoms and nanotechnology is a way of manipulating those atoms in any form or shape desired. In other words, the millions of atoms that constitute a table, for example, could be moved into different combinations and sequences to make a statuette - without any carving, sawing or shaving. In essence, the atoms that make up all the things in the world could be rearranged to make any other thing, be it a ham sandwich or a car or anything else.
   As far-fetched as it may sound, even if the reader accepts that this is, in fact, possible, there still may appear to be nothing dramatically exciting about a process which sounds even more slow and laborious than the one we have at present and which appears to be relatively efficient. This is, in fact, the stage at which nanotechnology is currently placed. The major difference is the element of size. Because nanotechnology operates at the molecular level, things can be made that are infinitely smaller than with conventional methods. To date, an electric motor has been constructed, which can only be seen under a microscope and (as reported in The Bulletin, September 4th, 2001, p. 64) a logic inverter, which is a key element of a computer processor, has been fabricated out of a single carbon tube 100 000 times smaller than a human hair. Another such example was reported in The Australian (August 8th, 2001) in which scientists from Osaka University created the world's tiniest sculptures using a computer-controlled laser. The finished product was a miniature bull which was so small that ten of them could stand, nose to tail, across the width of a human hair.
   Okay, the miniaturisation aspect is fairly impressive. Just imagine having a surgical implant to rectify a medical condition, that could be injected into the body and would, therefore, be non-invasive and the significance of nanotech starts to become apparent.
   However, this is just the start. The really extraordinary prospect is that miniaturised assembler machines could be made, which would then do the work of construction, by themselves. These machines, invisible to the human eye, could be programmed to assemble atoms in whatever format was desired. At this point, the reader will probably protest that this could not possibly happen and is merely the product of some fevered imagination.
   The truth is that this is exactly what has been happening for millennia - in the world of nature. Everything that grows, including yourself, grew from a single cell which sub-divided, ad infinitum, taking the shape of a leaf, a frog or a human being. Miraculously, this happens independent of exterior assistance. No programming or manipulation is needed because the programming is installed at inception. Nature, then, is nanotechnology in operation because it uses a bottom-up process and manipulates atoms to form the structures it is wired to create.
   At this point, the 'life-changing' nature of nanotechnology may become apparent. Mankind is racing towards the point (albeit with many problems still to be overcome) where the processes of biological construction could be emulated by Man (yes, and Woman too) to create anything that is desired.
   This, then, is the extraordinary potential of nanotechnology. Its significance resides in the fact that, at no time in the history of the human species (at least, of the current human species), has this been possible. If the full potential of this process is realised, the world, quite simply, will cease to function in the same way. The reader may wish to speculate on the consequences of a fully-realised nanotechnology - the end of manual labour; the end of commercial enterprise; the end of the monetary system, etc. In effect, no aspect of our world would remain untouched.
   Necessarily, this account is simplistic. Firstly, it is ridiculously brief. Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, it reflects the author's severely limited knowledge of anything but the broad-brush understandings of this topic. If readers seek a more detailed, authoritative account, they must be referred to the expert and 'father' in the field, Eric Drexler and to his major work, Engines of Creation: The Coming Era of Nanotechnology (Anchor Books,1990 - first published in 1986).
   To end at the beginning, it may be apparent, if the reader has stuck it out thus far, that, at the very least, people should be bringing the notion of nanotechnology into their own consciousness. The problem is that developments in the field are taking place at this very moment and at an astonishing rate. Billions of dollars are being poured into this research (no less by Australia, itself) and when, and if, the operational problems are overcome, the impact will be sudden and overwhelming. At the blink of an eye, the value-system that has typified human existence from the beginning of time, will be gone.
   At the very least it may be provident that we are, to some degree, psychologically prepared for the 'shock of the future' (apologies to Alvin Toffler).
   * Phil Burrows, M.Ed., is a retired teacher and author who lives in Peppermint Grove (Perth), WA. Tel 08 9385 1326

IN WAR, SOME FACTS LESS FACTUAL

Some US assertions from the last war on Iraq still appear dubious.    The Christian Science Monitor (U.S.A.), www.csmonitor. com/ 2002/0906/ p01s02- wosc.html , By Scott Peterson | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor, September 06, 2002
   [SOME missing paragraphs]
   But when the St. Petersburg Times in Florida acquired two commercial Soviet satellite images of the same area, taken at the same time, no Iraqi troops were visible near the Saudi border … just empty desert. "It was a pretty serious fib," says Jean Heller, the Times journalist who broke the story.
   The White House is now making its case. to Congress and the public for another invasion of Iraq; President George W. Bush is expected to present specific evidence of the threat posed by Iraq during a speech to the United Nations next week.
   But past cases of bad intelligence or outright disinformation used to justify war are making experts wary. The questions they are raising, some based on examples from the 1991 Persian Gulf War, highlight the importance of accurate information when a democracy considers military action.
   "My concern in these situations, always, is that the intelligence that you get is driven by the policy, rather than the policy being driven by the intelligence," says former US Rep. Lee Hamilton (D) of Indiana, a 34-year veteran lawmaker until 1999, who served on numerous foreign affairs and intelligence committees, and is now director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington. The Bush team "understands it has not yet carried the burden of persuasion [about an imminent Iraqi threat], so they will look for any kind of evidence to support their premise," Mr. Hamilton says. "I think we have to be skeptical about it."

   Examining the evidence
   Shortly before US strikes began in the Gulf War, for example, the St. Petersburg Times asked two experts to examine the satellite images of the Kuwait and Saudi Arabia border area taken in mid-September 1990, a month and a half after the Iraqi invasion. The experts, including a former Defense Intelligence Agency analyst who specialized in desert warfare, pointed out the US build-up … jet fighters standing wing-tip to wing-tip at Saudi bases … but were surprised to see almost no sign of the Iraqis. "That [Iraqi buildup] was the whole justification for Bush sending troops in there, and it just didn't exist," Ms. Heller says. Three times Heller contacted the office of Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney (now vice president) for evidence refuting the Times photos or analysis … offering to hold the story if proven wrong. The official response: "Trust us." To this day, the Pentagon's photographs of the Iraqi troop buildup remain classified. After the war, the House Armed Services Committee issued a report on lessons learned from the Persian Gulf War. It did not specifically look at the early stages of the Iraqi troop buildup in the fall, when the Bush administration was making its case to send American forces. But it did conclude that at the start of the ground war in February, the US faced only 183,000 Iraqi troops, less than half the Pentagon estimate. In 1996, Gen. Colin Powell, who is secretary of state today, told the PBS documentary program Frontline: "The Iraqis may not have been as strong as we thought they were…but that doesn't make a whole lot of difference to me. We put in place a force that would deal with it … whether they were 300,000, or 500,000." John MacArthur, publisher of Harper's Magazine and author of "Second Front: Censorship and Propaganda in the Gulf War," says that considering the number of senior officials shared by both Bush administrations, the American public should bear in mind the lessons of Gulf War propaganda. "These are all the same people who were running it more than 10 years ago," Mr. MacArthur says. "They'll make up just about anything … to get their way." On Iraq, analysts note that little evidence so far of an imminent threat from Mr. Hussein's weapons of mass destruction has been made public. Critics, including some former United Nations weapons inspectors in Iraq, say no such evidence exists. Mr. Bush says he will make his decision to go to war based on the "best" intelligence. "You have to wonder about the quality of that intelligence," says Mr. Hamilton at Woodrow Wilson. "This administration is capable of any lie … in order to advance its war goal in Iraq," says a US government source in Washington with some two decades of experience in intelligence, who would not be further identified. "It is one of the reasons it doesn't want to have UN weapons inspectors go back in, because they might actually show that the probability of Iraq having [threatening illicit weapons] is much lower than they want us to believe." The roots of modern war propaganda reach back to British World War II stories about German troops bayoneting babies, and can be traced through the Vietnam era and even to US campaigns in Somalia and Kosovo. While the adage has it that "truth is the first casualty of war," senior administration officials say they cherish their credibility, and would not lie. In a press briefing last September, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld noted occasions during World War II when false information about US troop movements was leaked to confuse the enemy. He paraphrased Winston Churchill, saying: "Sometimes the truth is so precious it must be accompanied by a bodyguard of lies." But he added that "my fervent hope is that we will be able to manage our affairs in a way that that will never happen. And I am 69 years old and I don't believe it's ever happened that I have lied to the press, and I don't intend to start now." Last fall, the Pentagon secretly created an "Office of Strategic Influence." But when its existence was revealed, the ensuing media storm over reports that it would launch disinformation campaigns prompted its official closure in late February. Commenting on the furor, President Bush pledged that the Pentagon will "tell the American people the truth." Critics familiar with the precedent set in recent decades, however, remain skeptical. They point, for example, to the Office of Public Diplomacy run by the State Department in the 1980s. Using staff detailed from US military "psychological operations" units, it fanned fears about Nicaragua's leftist Sandinista regime with false "intelligence" leaks. Besides placing a number of proContra, antiSandinista stories in the national US media as part of a "White Propaganda" campaign, that office fed the Miami Herald a make-believe story that the Soviet Union had given chemical weapons to the Sandinistas. Another tale … which happened to emerge the night of President Ronald Reagan's reelection victory … held that Soviet MiG fighters were on their way to Nicaragua. The office was shut down in 1987, after a report by the US Comptroller-General found that some of their efforts were "prohibited, covert propaganda activities." More recently, in the fall of 1990, members of Congress and the American public were swayed by the tearful testimony of a 15-year-old Kuwaiti girl, known only as Nayirah. In the girl's testimony before a congressional caucus, well-documented in MacArthur's book "Second Front" and elsewhere, she described how, as a volunteer in a Kuwait maternity ward, she had seen Iraqi troops storm her hospital, steal the incubators, and leave 312 babies "on the cold floor to die." Seven US Senators later referred to the story during debate; the motion for war passed by just five votes. In the weeks after Nayirah spoke, President Bush senior invoked the incident five times, saying that such "ghastly atrocities" were like "Hitler revisited." But just weeks before the US bombing campaign began in January, a few press reports began to raise questions about the validity of the incubator tale. Later, it was learned that Nayirah was in fact the daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador to Washington and had no connection to the Kuwait hospital. She had been coached … along with the handful of others who would "corroborate" the story … by senior executives of Hill and Knowlton in Washington, the biggest global PR firm at the time, which had a contract worth more than $10 million with the Kuwaitis to make the case for war. "We didn't know it wasn't true at the time," Brent Scowcroft, Bush's national security adviser, said of the incubator story in a 1995 interview with the London-based Guardian newspaper. He acknowledged "it was useful in mobilizing public opinion." Intelligence as political tool Selective use of intelligence information is not particular to any one presidential team, says former Congressman Hamilton. "This is not a problem unique to George Bush. It's every president I've known, and I've worked with seven or eight of them," Hamilton says. "All, at some time or another, used intelligence to support their political objectives. "Information is power, and the temptation to use information to achieve the results you want is almost overwhelming," he says. "The whole intelligence community knows exactly what the president wants [regarding Iraq], and most are in their jobs because of the president … certainly the people at the top … and they will do everything they can to support the policy. "I'm always skeptical about intelligence," adds Hamilton, who has been awarded medallions from both the CIA and the Defense Intelligence Agency. "It's not as pure as the driven snow." For further information:

The disinformation campaign Guardian (Oct 2001)

Some question motives behind leaks about Iraq Yahoo

Gulf War Stories the Media Loved -- Except They Aren't True Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting

Operation Desert Storm FAS

U.S. Department of State - Iraq Update

Iraqi News Agency

Iraq Daily

Gunning for Saddam Frontline (Nov 2001) Please Note: The Monitor does not endorse the sites behind these links. We offer them for your additional research. Following these links will open a new browser window.

CONTENTS (5), Docs. 201-250: Just World Campaign

US pardons linked to donations

• Hitchens' Slurs

• WTO doesn't stop leather/shoes tariff evil.

IN WAR, SOME FACTS LESS FACTUAL