THE U.S. PLAN TO ACT AGAINST THOSE WHO OPPOSE THE AFGHAN INTERIM GOVERNMENT
The U.S. has decided to change its military strategy in Afghanistan and punish those who are against the Afghan Interim government. According to a U.S. daily paper, the Pentagon has changed its policy in Afghanistan and turned its military might on those Afghan militia groups who are criticizing Hamid Karzai's government. This fact was also accepted by U.S. Central Command, which issued details that a few days back, U.S. warplanes had dropped guided bombs on those who attacked Karzai's troops.

Deweaponization drive resisted in Afghanistan
An Afghan border official confirmed the fighting and said that people opened fire on official forces that had asked them to hand over their weapons."A group of local people refused to hand over their weapons and resisted, which resulted in fighting," Zalmay Khan, a spokesman for the Afghan Foreign Office in Spin Buldak, told this correspondent over telephone

U.S. May Remain in Afghanistan
WASHINGTON (AP) - The United States wants to make sure Afghanistan (news - web sites)'s internal rivalries don't rekindle civil war and plunge that country again into killing and chaos.

Afghanistan not under full US control: Gul
Former chief of the ISI Lt Gen (retd) Hamid Gul has termed the impression wrong that Afghanistan was under complete control of the United States these days. He was commenting on the existing situation in Pakistan and Afghanistan at Tehrik-e-Rehmat office in Lahore. Chief of the Tehrik Khawaja Rehmat was also present on this occasion. Hamid Gul said that Karzai is unaware of his future, as governors of several provinces are deadly against him. He claimed that Taliban have started themselves regrouping and even those who are worried over atrocities of the Northern Alliance are also joining them.

Robertson Calls Islam a Religion of Violence, Mayhem
Television evangelist Pat Robertson yesterday described Islam as a violent religion bent on world domination, drawing immediate protests from American Muslims.

Houston, City of Texas-Size Calamities
Jim Kollaer is an optimistic man. He's paid to be. As president of the Greater Houston Partnership, it's his job to be the city's chief advocate for businesses. Which is why it was so hard to watch the collapse of Enron Corp., which he saw up close: His office is directly across a small park from the bankrupt energy trader's skyscraper

Pashtuns flee to Pakistan fearing country's descent into violent chaos
AS many as 20,000 Afghan Pashtuns are reported to have flooded across the Pakistan border crossing at Chaman in the last few days in an ominous re-run of the mass exodus which followed ethnic purges and outright civil war in the 1990s, following Russian occupation.

The military busts the 2003 federal budget
Standing against a backdrop of F-15 and F-16 fighter planes, an A-10 warthog, and a huge American flag, Bush argued that the United States needs new military spending to address new threats and a new security environment. “It is very clear that the defense budget is cheap when one compares it to putting our security at risk, our lives at risk, our country at risk, our freedoms at risk,” Bush said. But his rhetoric ignores the fact that this new military spending spree has little to do with fighting the war on terrorism.

Lies can come back to hurt you
The Pentagon has created an Office of Strategic Influence, according to the news from Washington, and is now in the process of discussing just who is to be disinformed, about what. The office was set up during the fighting in Afghanistan as the administration began to be concerned about losing support for its "war on terrorism" in foreign countries, particularly Muslim countries.

Afghan governor pledges Taleban release
The governor of the southern Afghan province of Kandahar has pledged to work to secure the release from detention of the former Taleban foreign minister, Mullah Wakil Ahmed Mutawakkil. Mr Muttawakil gave himself up earlier this month, and is reportedly being held at the American base at Kandahar airport. The governor, Gul Agha, told worshippers gathered for prayers on the Eid al-Adha, that he had helped other Taleban members, and would also try to help free Mr Mutawakkil.

What has war brought us so far?
No one knows whether the war's ostensible, primary objective has been accomplished. Whether Osama bin Laden is dead or alive is anyone's guess; if he is alive, neither we nor our allies know where he is hiding. Bin Laden, in fact, has all but disappeared from public discussion, which has turned to ever-widening aims: toppling the government of Afghanistan, dealing with what President Bush terms an "axis of evil" that embraces at least three other nation-states and, in Secretary of State Colin Powell's declaration, going "after terrorism wherever it threatens free men and women."

Sharon’s war crimes in Lebanon: the record
An attempt by Palestinians to bring Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon before a Belgian court on charges of war crimes appears to have been thwarted. On February 14, the International Court of Justice in The Hague ruled that past and present government leaders cannot be tried for war crimes by a foreign state because of their diplomatic immunity and can only be held to account in their own country.

Bush doubletalk on Afghan POWs: US continues to flout Geneva Conventions
In the face of mounting international condemnation over US treatment of fighters captured in Afghanistan, George W. Bush announced February 7 what was purported to be an amended policy concerning the prisoners being held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Bush declared that the US would apply the Geneva Conventions to those prisoners it deemed to be Taliban, but would not do so for those it claimed were members of Al Qaeda. At the same time, Bush said that none of the captured Taliban would be considered prisoners of war.

Two exchanges on the US economy
Dear Editor,
In your article “Claims of US ‘recovery’ look premature,” Mr. Beams claims that since investment spending has not risen, the consumer spending is not going to reflect a future upturn in the economy. I feel his logic is misleading and incorrect. First there must come an increase in consumer spending to make an increase in investment spending appear profitable for firms.

Enron and the Bush administration: kindred spirits in fraud and criminality
The collapse of energy trading giant Enron, with all its legal and economic ramifications, has obviously embroiled the Bush administration in a major scandal. A column in the Los Angeles Times last week referred to the affair as “Teapot Dome, the Sequel” (the Teapot Dome affair essentially brought an end to the Harding administration in the 1920s). It is pointless at the moment to speculate whether or not Enron will prove the present government’s undoing. The more critical issue is grasping the extent to which Enron as a criminal and parasitic enterprise expresses the social essence of the Bush administration and the American ruling elite as a whole.

Murder of an Afghan minister reveals a weak, divided government
The killing of Afghanistan’s Tourism and Aviation Minister Abdul Rahman at Kabul airport last Thursday evening has highlighted the fractious and unstable character of the interim administration headed by Hamid Karzai.

Black Hawk Down: naked propaganda masquerading as entertainment
Ridley Scott’s Black Hawk Down sets out to tell the story of a US military debacle. On October 3, 1993, Somali gunmen brought down two Black Hawk helicopters as American Special Forces tried to seize the warlord Farah Aideed. During a night of fighting 18 US soldiers died and 73 were wounded. One pilot was taken hostage and CNN showed scenes of American dead being paraded through the streets of Mogadishu. Within months the Clinton administration pulled US forces out of Somalia.

Sharon takes swipe at army refuseniks
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon took a swipe Thursday at reserve soldiers who refuse to serve in the Palestinian territories and participate in the occupation, saying they "encourage terrorists." In a televised address to the nation calling for unity in the face of escalating violence, he said "expressions of disobedience naturally encourage terrorist organisations and motivate them to intensify their actions." More than 250 reserve soldiers have signed up to a petition launched on January 25 by a group of troops refusing to serve in the Palestinian territories, so as not to participate in operations of "oppression."

Israelis desert "The Butcher of Lebanon" Sharon as credibility dives
Ariel Sharon suffered a humbling finish to the most bruising week of his prime minstership yesterday with opinion polls charting a deepening disenchantment with the Israeli leadership. A poll conducted for the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, Israel's largest Hebrew daily, showed that 61% of Israelis were dissatisfied with Mr Sharon's performance, and just 38% would give him a passing grade for his handling of the 17-month Palestinian uprising.

Afghan Mullahs See Missionary Conflict
Muslim for a millennium, this prostrate land now looks from far-off pulpits like a God-given opportunity for missionary work - to save Afghans from ``an eternity without Christ,'' as one American charity chief put it.

The Jobless Still Wait
THIS MONTH the Senate, after deadlocking on a broader economic stimulus package, unanimously passed a simple bill to extend unemployment benefits for 13 weeks. The measure would provide some direct relief to those laid-off workers who've been out of a job long enough to exhaust the standard 26-week package of unemployment payments.

Afghans flee hunger and strife
Even before September 11, a huge humanitarian crisis was predicted for northern Afghanistan. Now, despite the defeat of the Taliban regime and promises of billions of dollars in aid from the international community, the true depth of the disaster is emerging.

Gambling, Opium Smoking and Paedophilia Return to Kandahar
Gambling, opium smoking and paedophilia have all re-emerged after the removal of the honourable Islamic Taliban rule. Where the Taliban had stamped out paedohilia, Kirzai's government powerlessly watches as this evil practice returns to Kandahar and children are safe no more. Following this rapid spread of evil, the people of the city are already lamenting the absence of the Taliban and it will not be long, Allah willing, that the people of Afghanistan scream and cry for the return of the noble Taliban.

Tensions high as Iran competes for influence in Afghanistan
Washington is casting a worried eye on Iran’s activities in western Afghanistan, where U.S. officials say Tehran is trying to expand its influence at the expense of the interim administration. U.S. President George W. Bush’s special envoy for Afghanistan, Zalmay Khalilzad, has repeatedly charged in recent weeks that elements within Iran are helping to arm and finance groups within Afghanistan in a bid to establish pockets of influence and discourage cooperation with the government in Kabul.

Israel continuing air and ground assaults against Palestinians
The Israeli army continued on Thursday for the third day in a row its ground and air operations against Palestinian National Authority (PNA) security complexes and installations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, a Palestinian official statement said.
Israeli soldiers killed five Palestinians and wounded 50 others during raids before dawn Thursday after thrusting into Palestinian-controlled territories in southern and eastern Gaza Strip, Palestinian eyewitnesses reported.

Iran's N-capability: reality belies US rhetoric
Surrounded by hostile neighbours, Iran is a nation under constant diplomatic - and military - pressure. But while its quest for regional security may have led it to quietly explore weapons of mass destruction , that exploration has led it into the jaws of US criticism. Now that the US has declared 'war on terrorism' and pronounced Iran, Iraq, and North Korea an "axis of evil," such a threat perception in Washington could yield serious consequences

EU terms US charges against Iran baseless
Just back from Tehran where he was sent as the European Union's special representative for Afghanistan, Klaus-Peter Kleiber has let it be known that he is now convinced that accusations made against Iran by George W. Bush are completely baseless.

President Jiang tells Bush not to bully Iraq
RECITING Chinese proverbs and Christian wisdom, President Jiang Zemin gave a subtle but firm warning to President Bush not to act the “bully” by rushing into unilateral military action against Iraq.

Charley Reese: Charges against Lindh overstated
John Walker Lindh, if he can receive a fair trial — and that’s a huge if — will probably be acquitted of all charges. Maybe it is because we haven’t found the leadership of al-Qaida, or the Taliban, or the man who sent the anthrax letters, but the Justice Department seems to be almost hysterically determined to make a scapegoat out of an American kid who is guilty, it seems to me, of nothing but bad judgment and even worse luck

MI5 fears flood of Afghan heroin
Police and intelligence agencies have been warned that Britain is facing a potentially huge increase in heroin trafficking because of massive and unchecked replanting of the opium crop in Afghanistan, the Guardian has learned. The expectation is that the 2002 crop will be equivalent to the bumper one of three years ago, which yielded 4,600 tonnes of raw opium.

Ad Losses hit Arab Network
Sources told Forbes that the Saudi government was upset that al-Jazeera's coverage was too favorable to terrorist Osama bin Laden, a programming stance that became a huge ratings-builder. Saudi leaders pressured Saudi-based companies and other multinationals - including Ford and PepsiCo - to yank their ads and boycott al-Jazeera

Wednesday 20th February 2002

AFGHAN NATION WILL CALL FOR THE TALIBAN VERY SOON" - TALIBAN INTERIOR
The Interior Minister of the Taliban government, Mulla Abdul Razzaq Akhwand said that that the Taliban will soon regroup and initiate their activities again with the whole Afghan nation supporting them. This interview with the Reuters News Agency was held in Spin Boldak. Mulla Abdul Razzak also said Karzai's interim government had failed to maintain law and order in Afghanistan despite immense support from the US and other Western countries.

US Kills and Injures Kirzai's Supporters as Taliban Fight On
US B-52 and B-1 warplanes launched fresh airstrikes over the Eastern regions of Afghanistan. Guided missiles and bombs were used in the airstrikes. As a result of these strikes, one of Kirzai's supporters was killed while 3 others were injured. The US warplanes were launced from the US Naval fleet present in the Arabian Sea. Naval Commander Dewi Kueler said that the US warplanes lauched airstrikes over enemy troops in Afghanistan when coalition forces were attacked while crossing a road. However, the victims of these bombing were paedophile Afghan supporters of Kirzai.

Taliban uprising possible
The Taliban retains sufficient manpower and military strength to launch an armed rebellion in war-ravaged Afghanistan, the UN has warned.

Iran working with Afghan rebels
U.S. intelligence agencies have spotted scores of Iranian intelligence and military personnel deep inside Afghanistan working to destabilize the interim government.

Israeli warplanes pound Gaza as more Israeli soldiers felled
Four more Palestinians, reportedly security men, were killed when Israeli warplanes fired rockets and machine guns at a Gaza office of Yasser Arafat this evening.
The attack came after Palestinian resistance fighters killed six soldiers in an ambush near the West Bank town of Ramallah.

Taliban says it will regroup and return
The Interior Minister of the Taliban government, Mulla Abdul Razzaq Akhwand has said that the Taliban will soon regroup and return to restore law and order to Afghanistan. In an interview with Reuters in Spin Boldak. Mulla Abdul Razzak said Karzai's interim government had failed to maintain law and order in Afghanistan despite immense support from the US and other Western countries.

Singapore Muslims warned against pushing for headscarves in schools
Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong of Singapore has warned local Muslims against asserting their own identity and involving outsiders in a campaign to allow the wearing of Islamic headscarves in public schools. The Straits Times reported Monday that Goh revealed over the weekend that some Singaporeans had travelled to Malaysia to seek support and raise funds for their cause following a controversy over the headscarf ban.

Pentagon Propaganda Plan Is Undemocratic, Possibly Illegal
The New York Times reported today that the Pentagon’s Office of Strategic Influence is “developing plans to provide news items, possibly even false ones, to foreign media organizations” in an effort “to influence public sentiment and policy makers in both friendly and unfriendly countries.”

Déjà vu All Over Again
The Pentagon has just publicly announced the existence of the Office of Strategic Influence (OSI). Created shortly and in secret after September 11, OSI is an arm of the Bush Administration’s overall wartime communications effort to advance the U.S. government’s perspective in Islamic countries and to generate global support for the U.S.-led war on terrorism. OSI is now “developing plans to provide news items, possibly even false ones, to foreign media organizations" in an effort "to influence public sentiment and policy makers in both friendly and unfriendly countries"

Is It Better Now? - A New Film Depicts Old Realities in Afghanistan
"Are they glad the Taliban are out of power?" Strada continued. "Mostly yes." But are they living in anything resembling peace? "No," he said. He described the road he traveled from Kabul to Panshir in December: "It's like a moonscape there are so many craters. The land is uninhabitable and will be for many years." He said he was trying to be optimistic.

Washington to Unemployed: Too Bad, Life's Hard
"It's frustrating, aggravating. I'm depressed," said Woods, who has applied for jobs at every conceivable place that serves food - restaurants, hotels, hospital kitchens, colleges. No one is hiring, not even someone like Woods, with 14 years of experience. "I've looked everywhere." She also has been to the public-assistance office. The first time ever. There was no choice, she said, not after her unemployment benefits ran out last November. She is fully capable of living on just a little. But no one can live on nothing.

Making Money, the Bush Way
You have to hand it to George Bush the senior for hustle. Back in 1998, he took at least $80,000 in stock from Global Crossing in return for speaking for the company in Tokyo. The payment was made as the company was about to go public and the stock's value quickly multiplied 175-fold to $14 million. Maybe some congressional committee will turn up how much of that stock the former president sold before the company went belly up a few weeks ago

Journalism's Dangerous Patriotism
Those who criticize this flagrantly unprofessional behavior have been ignored, ridiculed or condemned for lack of patriotism. And in many places, specifically the Fox News Channel (which has distinguished itself by dispatching the cartoonish Geraldo Rivera to Afghanistan), some newsreaders and journalists sport American flag lapel pins. A virtual Old Glory can be spotted waving in a corner of the video frame.

US planes bomb Afghan opposition
American aircraft have attacked groups engaged in skirmishes with forces loyal to the Hamid Karzai's government, near the southeastern city of Khost. The weekend bombing was believed to be the first time that American air power had been used to defend the Karzai administration against opposition groups.

Ain't no stopping US now
The Bush administration sees no particular virtue in seeking global consensus in its war on terrorism, because it has limited respect for governments whose opinions differ from its own,

Monday 18th February 2002

Mujahideen Launch Attack on British Occupying Forces
The Mujahideen launched a surprise attack on a British checkpoint near a Bread Plant situated in the western region of Kabul. This was the first guerrilla raid in Kabul launched by the Mujahideen. After several minutes of severe Mujahideen fire, the British soldiers, after regaining control over their senses, returned fire but the Mujahideen succeeded in escaping. After this attack, British soldiers were seen to be leaving this checkpoint as they knew that staying there would be unsafe.

Eight US Soldiers Killed in US Transport Plane Crash
According to information received from Kandahar, all US soldiers present on the MC-130P transport plane that crashed in the remote mountainous region north of Kandahar on Wednesday were killed. This is in opposition to US claims who said that the transport plane had crashed resulting in no loss of life. Eye witness accounts from the residents of Kandahar report that the transport plane was downed by attacking fire in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Australian Soldier Killed in Kabul and British Soldiers Fire on Family
The Australian authorities disclosed that of the Australian soldiers included in the International Peace Keeping Force in Afghanistan, one was killed as a result of a land mine explosion. According to a foreign News Agency the Australian Defence Minister Robert Hill confirmed the death of the soldier, as did a news agency in Kabul. However, the name of the dead soldier was not revealed. According to authorities the land mine was laid at short distance from Kabul city.

The Way Bush Sees the World
Bush's darker view -- which the events of Sept. 11 reinforced -- is now driving U.S. policy on everything from civil liberties to federal spending to foreign policy. Military spending is projected to outstrip non-military discretionary spending within a few years. Extraordinary detention procedures are followed for terrorism suspects, especially those who are not U.S. citizens.

Post-Taliban Afghanistan: A short route to chaos
With the Taliban removed from control in most of Afghanistan, the same war lords initially defeated by the religiously repressive Taliban are moving back into power. It has been a move that is anything but smooth. It is, in fact, chaotic, because the U.S. bombing campaign was so effective that no plans were in place to assemble a unified Afghanistan leadership.

America frightens its friends and creates new enemies
When you take time to reflect on international developments, you can sometimes be struck by major changes that you fail to notice when you are busy keeping up with the daily news. You may discover some secrets that have come out into the open, or be alerted to important details of history even as it is being freshly made. The driving force of the rapid changes taking place on the international scene is America: President George W. Bush, his administration, the people’s representatives, and the public at large. On the other side stand those leaders, governments, and peoples who find themselves compelled, to varying degrees, to go along with those changes ­ not because they are convinced of the wisdom of American policy, but out of fear,

Bush administration acts like Israel’s puppet
My biggest disappointment in President George W. Bush has been in how he has allowed himself to be manipulated by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. He has followed the same failed policy that his predecessor did. That policy can be summed up as "the Israelis are always right, and the Palestinians are always wrong." That’s a very convenient policy for politicians who don’t want the powerful Israeli lobby on their case. But if the goal is peace, the policy is a failure. If the goal is to protect America’s interests, the policy is a failure. If the goal is to bring stability to the Middle East, the policy is a failure. If the goal is to eliminate terrorism, the policy is a failure.

A wayward crusade
A month ago, I knew exactly why we were fighting. You knew exactly why we were fighting. We were getting the Sept. 11 killers before they could get us again. Even if we had to track down Osama bin Laden and his filthy gang to the ends of the earth, we were up to the task. So what happened to that gutsy war of bringing the World Trade Center and Pentagon attackers to justice?

State Department rejects portions of MTV profile of Powell
The US State Department took issue with a profile of Secretary of State Colin Powell being aired worldwide by MTV that depicts him as the sole dove and moderate in an administration of unreasonable hard-line unilateralist hawks.

20,000 Israelis rally for peace Speakers urge nation to end occupation of West Bank, Gaza Strip
A record number of Israelis rallied here for peace last night -- the biggest demonstration staged by the Israeli left since Palestinian-Israeli violence broke out in September 2000. The demonstrators -- Israeli media estimated the size of the crowd at 20, 000 -- listened to both Israeli and Palestinian speakers who had one central message: the need for Israel to leave the West Bank and Gaza.

Five hit as British Paras open fire on taxi
THE international peacekeeping force in Afghanistan suffered a major blow to its credibility yesterday after British paratroops opened fire on a taxi taking a woman in labour to hospital, killing one person and wounding four more.

Afghan mine kills SAS soldier
Australian forces in Afghanistan are mourning their first death, after a Special Air Services soldier was killed when his army Land Rover hit an anti-tank mine. The soldier, whose name has not been released because of family wishes, was one of five in the vehicle at the head of a convoy. He was treated by a US military parachute surgical team and evacuated to Kandahar but died soon after arriving there on Saturday.

Israeli aircraft attack Nablus governor's HQ
Israeli F-16 jets and helicopters began bombing raids over the governor's house and the police headquarters in the West Bank town of Nablus, Palestinian witnesses said early Sunday. Witnesses said they heard F-16 fighter jets attacking the two buildings followed by firing from helicopters, just hours after a Palestinian suicide bomber killed two Israelis and wounded 30 others in an attack on a nearby Jewish settlement.

Allies Hear Sour Notes in 'Axis of Evil' Chorus
As a new and glaring rift emerges between the White House and America's allies over how to pursue the next phase of the war on terrorism, something odd has happened: President Bush and his top aides now seem to welcome, even to egg on, the sharp differences prompted by Mr. Bush's determination to expand his battle against what he calls "evil" regimes.

Doubts cloud US Taliban case
Scepticism about the strength of the case against John Walker, the so-called American Taliban fighter, is growing, but few legal analysts expect him to escape a long prison sentence. The odds are not in his favour. The court in Virginia that will hear the case is nicknamed the 'rocket docket' after its habit of delivering guilty verdicts in record time. The defence case will begin in a highly charged atmosphere on the anniversary of the terrorist attacks on New York. The prosecution has been accused of misrepresenting a central plank of its case, while a 'confession' obtained by the FBI was not written by Walker, nor was it taped.

Afghan leader says foreign forces may need stronger role in capital
Afghanistan's interim leader, Hamid Karzai, said he would ask the multinational force in Kabul to take a stronger role if security did not improve as fighting between ethnic forces in the north left up to four dead. Karzai, who is trying to track down the "assassins" of his aviation minister at Kabul's airport, said he may ask the international community for a greater presence in the force patrolling the war-torn city.

Recession and Reaction
Americans live in precarious times. I mean the ending of the nation’s record economic expansion last March and the terrorist crimes of Sept. 11. Keeping a job is becoming more difficult. The last hired are the first laid off. The Northeastern University's Center for Labor Market Studies found that young workers, ages 16 to 24, accounted for 95 percent of those fired after Sept. 11.

The Smoking Gun
While the White House has repeatedly described former Enron chairman Kenneth Lay as simply a "supporter" of George W. Bush, extensive correspondence between the two men paints a far cozier picture of their relationship, according to copies of letters obtained this afternoon (2/15) by The Smoking Gun.

US Mis-strikes in Afghanistan: Accidents or Possible War Crimes?
Have US forces in Afghanistan engaged in war crimes? That's a provocative question, the sort of query that few, if any, reporters at the Pentagon briefing room are going to toss at Rummy. Nevertheless, it's a question that may bear consideration as new details emerge about the latest US mis-strikes. Over the past week, two US military operations originally touted as successes have turned into PR nightmares for the Defense Department and the CIA First, the Pentagon had to acknowledge (sort of) that a January 24 commando raid that attacked two small compounds in Hazar Qadam--resulting in the deaths of 21 or so Afghans and the capture of 27 others--had been a mistake

To Protect Top Bureaucrats, NY Times SCRUBS Its OWN Osama Bin Laden Warning That It Published on 9-9-01
On 9-9-01 - just two days before Osama Bin Laden's attack on the US - the NY Times published a lengthy and chilling article about Osama Bin Laden by reporter John Burns. Some time after 9-11, the Times SCRUBBED this article, replacing it with a completely different article that Burns wrote on 9-12. Both articles discuss a 2-hour videotape by Bin Laden that intelligence agencies first saw in June 2001, but ignored until September. Why was the 9-9 article scrubbed? Read it yourself - we've UNSCRUBBED it.

Afghan stability in question after death
A day after an Afghan cabinet minister was apparently beaten to death by a mob of angry Muslim pilgrims, the chairman of the interim government said tonight that the killing had been an assassination that involved five high-ranking officials from the defense, intelligence and justice ministries.

Fresh Fighting In North And East Of Afghanistan
Fresh fighting has erupted in northern Afghanistan between rival ethnic factions in the interim government while tribal forces clashed in the east, aid officials and reports said on Sunday. The fighting casts fresh doubt on the ability of the new government to hold together its loose coalition of old enemies and ensure security in the war-shattered country.

'Euphoric' US Forgets Its Friends Says Mikhail Gorbachev
Former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev has accused the United States of forgetting its friends after the victory against the Taliban regime in Afghanistan The Russian news agency Interfax reported Gorbachev as saying,"whenever it (the US) gains a victory, it falls into euphoria and starts forgetting its friends."

Musharraf Berates Entire Muslim World
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has said Islamic countries will remain backward unless they concentrate more on scientific and technological development. Muslim nations are internally involved in fratricidal conflicts and perceived by the outside world as terrorists with little attention being given on their uplift, he said. "Today we are the poorest, the most illiterate, the most backward, the most unhealthy, the most un-enlightened, the most deprived, and the weakest of all the human race."

Signs of a Cover-up at the Pentagon
How many times did we see the video clips of the planes hitting the World Trade Centre? It was repeated almost like a loop on every channel until the horror of the event was permanently burned into our memories. Yet what can be said of the plane crash at the Pentagon – we heard about it soon enough, but very few images were forthcoming on the day, and the bulk of what we saw afterwards were still photos of the collapsed portion of the pentagon and a few pictures of fire-fighters attempting to extinguish the blaze. No sign of any video recordings, very few witness reports and definitely nothing to show us the event as it happened

The War on Terror Never Ends - Comic

Afghan Villagers Killed, Prisoners Beaten In US Military 'Mistake'
After a fortnight of flat denials from the Bush administration and the US military, the truth is finally emerging about the bloody events in the early hours of January 24 in the Afghan village of Hazar Qadam in Uruzgan Province.

Over 100,000 In Pakistan Now HIV-Infected
United Nations Thursday disclosed that about 100,000 people are infected with the deadly HIV/AIDS virus in Pakistan.
"Some 40 million people are living with HIV/AIDS including an estimated 100,000 people in Pakistan infected with the AIDS virus," Said WHO spokesperson Loretta H Girardet at a news briefing.

Sharon's vows to win war
Israel vowed on Sunday to win the "war" against the Palestinians after a deadly suicide bombing on a West Bank Jewish settlement and a missile attack on an Israeli army base, which triggered retaliatory air strikes on the city of Nablus.

Afghans demonstrate for compensation for victims of US bombing
Grieving and injured victims of the ongoing US bombing campaign in Afghanistan gathered outside the American embassy in Kabul on Wednesday to demand compensation for their pain, misery and medical expenses.

US AIRFORCE TRANSPORT PLANE CRASH SEVERELY INJURES 8 SOLDIERS
It has been reported that an American airforce transport plane has crashed in Afghanistan severely injuring the 8 serviceman on board. Details indicate that the MC-130P transport plane crashed in the remote mountainous region north of Kandahar on Wednesday. According to a French news agency all 8 US soldiers in the aircraft were severely injured although the cause of crash is not yet known. However, Al-Jazeera reported with reference to an US military source that this incident occurred due to firing. The source also claimed that all 8 US soldiers are now out of danger. It must be noted that since the US started the war in Afghanistan, 28 US aircraft have been destroyed to date.

Karzai: Afghanistan needs more protection
During a meeting today in Kabul with the foreign secretary, Jack Straw, Afghanistan's interim president, Hamid Karzai, repeated his call for more international troops to protect his country, following the violent death of his tourism minister at the city's airport.
Mr Karzai said the killing of the minister, Abdul Rahman, took place in mysterious circumstances and could have been carried out by al-Qaida terrorists still operating in Afghanistan.

Security officials killed Afghan minister: Karzai
Senior security officials of the Afghan interim administration assassinated aviation and tourism minister Abdul Rahman, interim leader Hamid Karzai said. In a statement read out on his behalf by Culture Minister Sayed Raheem late Friday, Karzai said four people had been arrested, among them two military generals. Another three had escaped to Saudi Arabia with Afghans making their annual pilgrimage to Mecca, he said, adding the Saudi authorities had been asked to repatriate the fugitives.

Pentagon and CIA making plans for war against Iraq this year
The Pentagon and the CIA have begun preparations for an assault on Iraq involving up to 200,000 US troops that is likely to be launched later this year with the aim of removing Saddam Hussein from power.

Afghan minister 'assassinated'
The Afghan interim minister for air transport and tourism, who was beaten to death yesterday at Kabul airport, was the victim of an assassination and not an angry mob of frustrated travellers, the country's interim government said today.

France opposes US action against Iraq
France's Defence Minister Alain Richard on Thursday said his government opposed both the idea of a US military campaign against Iraq and of continuing tough sanctions against Baghdad

US split with allies grows
A senior Pentagon adviser confirmed last night that the US was prepared to topple Saddam Hussein with or without the backing of Washington's allies, despite a chorus of criticism from around the world.

U.S. attack killed children, Afghan survivors say
U.S. warplanes dropped bombs and fired missiles at women and children escaping an attack on a Taliban stronghold in the first weeks of the U.S.-led war, survivors and a U.S.-allied provincial governor said Wednesday. At least a dozen children were reported killed.

Russian Officials Deny U.s. Claims
Russia has found no evidence that Russian companies and research centers leaked ballistic missile technology to Iran, as the United States has claimed, officials said Friday. The Russians examined 13 cases of alleged proliferation raised by the Americans, and concluded that ``none of them represented a violation,'' Alexei Krasnov, a deputy chief of the Russian Aerospace Agency's international department, said at a conference.

U.S. Considers Military Action to Remove Skating Judges (Funny)
Reacting to the outrageous awarding of the Olympic gold medal to a pair of Russian figure skaters over a more deserving Canadian pair Monday night, President Bush said today that the United States would not rule out military action to remove the figure-skating judges involved.

Stay away from S Asia, Pak warns Israel
Apparently perturbed by increasing Indo-Israeli defence cooperation and a possible sale of Phalcon spy plane to New Delhi, Pakistan has asked the Jewish state not to get involved in South Asia.

European foreign ministers attack Bush’s policy
Two weeks after President Bush’s State of the Union speech an open conflict has erupted between the US and the European Union over international policies. While at first only the European media voiced somewhat muted criticism of Bush’s address, and politicians exercised diplomatic restraint, now more and more leading European politicians are sharply criticising US foreign policy, with the media following suit.

Murdoch's world suddenly becomes smaller
Late in life, Rupert Murdoch's golden touch really does seem to be deserting him. That is certainly the case in continental Europe, where yesterday marked another embarrassing setback for the News Corporation machine.

CIA's Afghan Role Questioned in Raid That Killed Allies
The investigation into a bloody raid last month by US forces in Afghanistan has found that the operation was misguided and that faulty intelligence from the CIA was to blame for the attacks that killed more than a dozen Afghan allies, defense officials said yesterday.

Bush's Biggest Donors Had Links to Enron
Enron contributed $736,800 to George W. Bush over the past eight years, his single largest contributor. Many are looking for a smoking gun that will link Enron, directly, to specific favors. They want to see what specific decisions Enron bought. It is possible that such decisions will be uncovered, the evidence supplied.

Take Down the Flags, We Clearly Won the War
Based on corroborated reports from aid agencies, the United Nations, eyewitnesses, TV stations, newspapers and news agencies around the world, Herold estimates that at least 3,767 Afghanistan civilians were killed by U.S. bombs between Oct. 7 and Dec. 10 -- a higher figure than the 3,234 thought to have been killed in New York and Washington on Sept. 11.

I Watched a Soldier Shoot at Children
To my English eyes, the very sight of soldiers with machine guns on either side of us was unnerving; then we spotted five boys, probably about 13 years old, throwing occasional stones at the Israeli soldiers ahead of us. We stood and watched from our position in the crowd, secretly admiring their nerve if not their accuracy. One of the soldiers had clearly had enough and aimed his gun at them. He can't shoot, we thought; they're unarmed and they're only boys. But he did. He took aim and fired directly at them. They scattered, and for a moment we thought one of them had been hit. Not content with this result, the soldier climbed up on to one of the concrete posts, clearly visible against the sky, and took slow aim and fired again, and again.

Bush Blunder Shows It's Time for Dissent
Now, emboldened by military triumph and by bloated public opinion polls, President Bush has stumbled. By lumping Iraq, Iran, and North Korea together with Al Qaeda as an ''axis of evil,'' Bush has managed to create an equally improbable axis of worry about America's reliability if not our sanity. As a Frenchman, Antoine Boulay, famously said after zealous revolutionaries executed a popular duke, this was ''worse than a crime; it was a blunder.''

Britain: Case against Algerian sought by FBI collapses
The first person to be accused by the FBI of involvement in the September 11 terror bombings to have gone before a judge looks set to walk free, following the collapse of the supposed case against him. The Algerian citizen, Lotfi Raissi, was released on bail by a London court on February 12 after five months in custody. British police arrested the 27-year old pilot last September, acting on an international warrant issued by the United States, which was seeking his extradition. The pilot has always protested his innocence.

An Enron War On Terrorism
If former Enron boss Kenneth Lay were put in charge of the U.S. war on terrorism, he would probably conduct it much the same way his fellow Texas oilman and beneficiary of Enron largesse, George W. Bush, has. Like the bankrupt energy giant, the Bush administration has a predilection for secrecy and deregulation and a penchant for being indiscriminate when it comes to making potentially costly investments - mainly in the form of new military entanglements - in unstable partners around the globe.

The Bush Administration's Folly: Arrogance of Arms Abroad and Access to Avarice at Home
The European Union commissioner in charge of international relations attacked U.S. foreign policy under the Bush Administration as having a dangerously "absolutist and simplistic" attitude toward our allies and other members of the global community. Chris Patten, the EU commissioner, who is a former Conservative Party chairman in Britain, also told a London newspaper that it was time for EU governments to speak up and stop the U.S. before it goes into "unilateralist overdrive".

Shots fired amid Afghan soccer match mayhem
Afghan police fired shots into the air and set off smoke bombs to control fans as a long-awaited "Game of Unity" between a Kabul team and foreign troops degenerated into mayhem on Friday. The match, planned as a step towards normality in the war-torn country, was being played in Kabul football stadium previously used for public executions by the deposed Taliban government.

Israeli commander, three soldiers killed in ME violence
Israel's army reeled on Friday from the double blow of the death of a colonel leading an elite commando unit and a Palestinian bomb that killed three soldiers in one of its seemingly invulnerable Merkava tanks.

US was ally of al-Qaeda in Kosovo: Milosevic
Slobodan Milosevic told his war crimes trial on Friday that "genocidal" US forces had been the unwitting ally of Osama bin Laden in Kosovo, and demanded Bill Clinton and other Western leaders come to testify.

Coalition forces bolster defences at Afghan base
US and Canadian troops worked on Friday to boost security measures around the coalition base here amid signs an unknown enemy is trying to probe their defences. Two US soldiers were injured in what one of them called a well-planned attack late on Wednesday, and US and Canadian troops spent a second night on alert on Thursday after a suspicious vehicle was spotted near the perimeter of the base in southern Afghanistan.

Bush’s "evil axis" speech destabilises the Korean peninsula
The threat of US military action against North Korea implicit in George Bush’s State of the Union address has cast a pall over the South Korean government’s “sunshine policy” of rapprochement with Pyongyang and revived fears of another conflagration on the Korean peninsula. Along with Iran and Iraq, the US president labelled North Korea as part of an “axis of evil” that would be targetted as part of his “global war on terrorism”.

Australian government launches new attacks on free speech
Like the Bush administration, Prime Minister John Howard’s government in Australia is intent on exploiting the September 11 terror attacks in the US to further curtail free speech and suppress opposition to its policies.

How long will it last?
It is difficult to define relations between any two nations by a single category, let alone between Pakistan and the United States that are trying to find a new ground for restructuring ties. It is happening for the third time in half a century. It is generally argued that it has been American focus on third party that made Pakistan relevant to its security needs. Therefore, some analysts have raised the question whether it is the intrinsic strategic value of Pakistan itself or the fears, threats and dangers to the American interests elsewhere that have pushed the two countries toward close cooperation.

U.S. digging its heels in Central Asia
While the hunt is still on for what the captive U.S. news media describes as the two most wanted men in the world, Bin Laden and Mulla Omar, the U.S. is digging itself in for a long haul in and around Afghanistan.

They sold themselves cheap...
According to a Washington Times news on 2 Feb., dozens of Afghan warlords were given $200,000 payments and satellite phones to secure their ‘cooperation’ in the American war against the Taliban and their al Qaeda allies More than 35 local commanders made banking transactions involving identical $200,000 sums late last year, in some cases after meetings with U.S. officials. The transactions totaled more than $7 million and helped prompt a spending spree on four-wheel-drive vehicles in Pakistan

Gitmo's prisoners include Christians
Cuba -- Some of the detainees at this American base are not Muslim but Christian, U.S. military officials say, describing inmates as members of a "global community" who in some cases may be sympathetic to groups other than the Taliban or al-Qaida.

Afghan Mishaps Kill One, Injure 8
A U.S. soldier was crushed to death by falling equipment at an Afghan air base Wednesday, and eight others were injured, none critically, when their Air Force transport plane crashed, U.S. officials said. The Army soldier, based at Baghram airfield 40 miles north of the capital, Kabul, died of injuries caused when the heavy piece of equipment he was working on fell on him, said Maj. Ralph Mills, a spokesman for the U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Fla.

Pakistani Intelligence shielding bin Laden: Qanooni
Afghanistan’s interim interior minister has accused elements in Pakistan’s intelligence service of helping fugitives Osama bin Laden and Mullah Mohammad Omar evade capture by U.S. forces. Yunus Qanooni also told the pan-Arab *** Asharq al-Awsat ** daily in an interview published on Tuesday that Al-Qaeda fighters that had crossed to Pakistan were trying to regroup in a new party.

U.S. troops beat friendly prisoners in Afghanistan
U.S. forces in Afghanistan stand accused of beating friendly Afghans during raids near Kandahar in January and holding them prisoner for 16 days. It appears that the wrong men were targeted because of bad intelligence provided by local Afghan leaders. But the case also raises deeper questions about the treatment of military prisoners, whether they are friendly or not.

Beirut court to try Sharon, Peres as war criminals in absentia
The opening session of a war crime tribunal of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres will be held in Beirut tomorrow, the Lebanese Bar Association has said. Both war criminals will be tried in absentia.

Bush Administration Acts Like Israel's Puppet
My biggest disappointment in President George W. Bush has been in how he has allowed himself to be manipulated by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

Attackers Fire At Afghan U.s. Base
Attackers who opened fire on the main American base in southern Afghanistan appeared well-organized and moved within 50 yards of U.S. positions, an Army spokesman said Thursday.

Hussein Pledges Iraq Will Stand By Iran Against The US
President Saddam Hussein said Monday Iraq will stand firmly by Iran against ''any aggression,'' affirming an affinity with an erstwhile enemy with which it fought an eight-year war in the 1980s. ''We say it loud and clear: we are against aggression on Iran for many reasons and we are committed to our stand,'' Saddam told a cabinet meeting, according to the official Iraqi News Agency.

Oil, Sharon And The Axis Of Evil
Some weeks ago, something curious happened: Israel discovered that Iran is the Great Satan. It happened quite suddenly. There was no prior sensational news, no new discovery. As if by the order of a drill-sergeant, the whole Israeli phalanx changed direction. All the politicians, all the generals, all the enlisted media, with the usual complement of professors-for-hire, - all of them discovered overnight that Iran is the immediate, real and terrible danger.

Austria's Haider Defends Iraq Visit - Criticizes US
Austrian far-right leader Joerg Haider defended a controversial visit to Iraq Wednesday and accused the United States of picking on Baghdad as a pretext for building up its arms industry. Tuesday, the populist former leader of the far-right Freedom Party met Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, prompting a sharp rebuke from the State Department.

Powell says US wants the best for people of Iran
US Secretary of State Colin Powell said Tuesday the United States wants "the best for people of Iran" and urged the Islamic republic's elected reformist government to prevail over the country's hardline religious leadership. Powell, testifying before the Senate Budget Committee, renewed his defense of President George W Bush's inclusion of Iran in an "axis of evil" with Iraq and North Korea, but insisted that the designation did not close off any chance of dialogue with Tehran. "We want the best for the people of Iran,"

Media Prods US to Open Up on War
National media representatives prodded the Bush administration Tuesday to open up its conduct of the war on terrorism to greater scrutiny both on the battlefield and in the White House. A top ABC News official criticized the administration for its failure to let reporters cover in any meaningful way the conduct of special operations forces in Afghanistan

U.S. Trade Package for Pakistan Scaled Back
The Bush administration said on Wednesday it would provide $142 million in trade benefits to Pakistan -- far less than President Pervez Musharraf was seeking to aid his country's textile and apparel industry. President Bush had initially hoped to offer Musharraf, a key ally in the U.S.-led war against terrorism, a broader range of textile-trade benefits, including sweeping tariff relief and market access for Pakistani producers which saw their orders dry up after the Sept. 11 attacks

Allies point the finger at Britain as al-Qaida's 'revolving door'
Investigators in Britain are privately at loggerheads with their US and continental European counterparts over claims that the UK was used as a pivotal base for Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network in the run-up to the September 11 terror attacks.

Pak seeks debt relief, army equipment from US
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf would seek more aid from the United States, including US$ three billion debt relief and access to the US military equipment. Musharraf, on his first visit to the White House, also wants access to the US market for Pakistani textiles,

Unhappy state of Arab-US ties
The President of the United States has lately revealed his political position. In brief, he denies Arabs their rights. Worse still, he becomes the spokesman for a criminal like Ariel Sharon. He supports unabashedly the atrocities being inflicted by Israel on Palestinians.

The Panic Spreads - Japan's Economy At The Brink
You can no longer safely shrug off Japan's economic crisis. It just might drag the world into a depression.The world--including even the previously sanguine Japanese--is now catching on to the fact that Japan's 12-year slump has deteriorated into a full-blown crisis, threatening a wild global ride. Falloffs in various indicators in the world's second-largest economy resemble the plunge of such countries as the U.S. into the Great Depression of the 1930s.

A War Without End, And Without Victory
Karl Rove, the White House’s man assigned to winning the fall elections for the Republicans, says that the way to do it is to brag on how well the President has handled that illusive struggle called the "war against terrorism." The Democrats seem ready to concede the point; they’re saying it’s everything else Mr. Bush and his oil-soaked administration have screwed up.

Why Bush is scarier than Kim Jong-il
Axis of evil. Three little words; just 10 letters. But they certainly pack a punch. At the very least, George Bush's State of the Union speech on January 29 has heaved a mighty rock into what were already hardly calm waters. Ever since, agitated ripples have spread back and forth. Perhaps, in time, they'll die down. Then again, maybe they won't. Words are just words - but they hint at actions to come. Or are meant to.

America will not act alone on Iraq, says Bush
PRESIDENT BUSH tried to calm international concern about his intentions towards Iraq yesterday, saying that he would consult widely before acting. Amid mounting criticism that Washington was gearing up to go it alone against President Saddam Hussein, Mr Bush said that he “looked forward to working with the world” to bring pressure against rogue states that were developing weapons of mass destruction. But he said that America reserved the right to confront Saddam if he failed to abandon his quest for biological, chemical and nuclear capabilities.

Iraq Calls Bush's Bluff on Weapons Scrutiny
The past week has seen an unprecedented diplomatic offensive on the part of Iraq. This appears to be driven by the harsh rhetoric emanating from the Bush administration since the president's identification of Iraq as an integral part of an "axis of evil."
Whether or not Iraq is sincere, Baghdad's burst of diplomacy appears to be designed to derail a drive for war from within the Bush administration that has been gaining momentum at a startling rate.

Going after Iraq?
Of late, there has been no evidence that the Iraqi government is supporting terrorism, or that it was in any way involved in the Sept 11 carnage: Washington itself has made no such accusation. The only American complaint is Iraq's alleged plans to develop weapons of mass destruction. In the first place, the UN inspectors had completed their job of dismantling before Iraq ended its cooperation. It also transpired that some, though not all, inspectors were working for American intelligence agencies.

American Crusade - in pictures

US base in Kandahar attacked; seven held
Heavy gunfire and a number of explosions were heard at the US military base in Kandahar on Wednesday and the US military said it detained seven people for the attack.

'Tehran given details of Iranian interference in Afghanistan'
US President George W Bush's special envoy for Afghanistan said in a BBC interview that Washington has given Tehran details of alleged Iranian interference in Afghanistan and help to al-Qaeda fugitives. According to an account of the interview on the BBC website, Zalmay Khalilzad said Washington had passed the information directly to Iranian diplomats during multilateral talks on Afghanistan.

India, Russia ink $1.5 bn nuclear deal
Ties between New Delhi and Moscow reached a new level with the signing of a $1.5 billion contract for the delivery of two Russian reactors for an Indian nuclear power plant, reports Kashmir Media Service.The two 1,000-megawatt reactors will be delivered to the Kudankulum nuclear power plant within the next five years, the ITAR-TASS news agency quoted Russian Deputy Energy Minister Yevgeny Reshetnikov as saying.

US layoffs continue to mount in new year
Job slashing is continuing at a near record pace in the United States, undermining the claims of many analysts that the recession has ended. In recent weeks thousands of new layoff announcements were made in the auto industry, telecommunications, computers and retailing. Among those companies making large job cuts were auto parts manufacturers Lear Seating and Visteon, PC maker Gateway, the Toys ’R’ Us retail chain and telecommunications firms Nextel and Tyco

Bush targets Middle Eastern immigrants in new police dragnet
US federal agents will soon begin arresting and interrogating thousands of immigrants charged with ignoring deportation orders issued by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). An internal Justice Department memo obtained by the Washington Post details the agency’s “Absconder Apprehension Initiative,” which will begin with the apprehension of some 6,000 Middle Eastern immigrants.

Afghan villagers killed and prisoners beaten in US military "mistake"
After a fortnight of flat denials from the Bush administration and the US military, the truth is finally emerging about the bloody events in the early hours of January 24 in the Afghan village of Hazar Qadam in Uruzgan Province.

Orthodox Jews Call for Dismantling of Israel
Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss spokesman of Neturei Karta International, a world wide movement of anti-Zionist Jews, announced that a delegation of Rabbis will be joining the "Coalition of Arab-American, Muslim Organizations" in protest against the Zionist State.

Warlord challenges Karzai's nomination
Afghanistan's interim administration on Wednesday named Taj Mohammad Wardag as the new governor of eastern Paktia province, despite threats of violence from a local warlord who wants the job. Sultan Ahmad Baheen, head of the government-run Bakhter Information agency, said interim leader Hamid Karzai had personally appointed Wardag, a former governor of northeastern Badakhshan province. "Mr Karzai has approved Taj Mohammad Wardag as the governor," Baheen said

Tuesday 12th February 2002

US FORCES STARTED TO RECRUIT AFGHAN YOUTH FOR MILITARY TRAINING
Recently US forces have started a military training programme in Afghanistan. They are recruiting Afghan youth aged between 16 and 25 years and have acted as if they are training them for Afghanistan's own military. They are being paid 20 US dollars a month. The US have taken this step to brainwash these youth and inject in them Christianity and the thinking of military academies like those in the US and Britain, where the recruits are brainwashed and the concept of nationality is indoctrinated.

Confusion Reigns in Afghanistan, U.S. Says
The United States admitted on Monday it was battling a fog of confusion in post-war Afghanistan (news - web sites) but signaled it could soon move into the next phase of its anti-terror campaign -- dealing with "axis of evil" states.

Afghan prisoners complain of US brutality
Afghans captured by American forces in two raids in Oruzgan in Afghanistan last month have said that they were beaten and abused by American soldiers, despite their protests that they were supporters of Interim leader Hamid Karzai.

Afghan Warlord Vows to Fight On
Afghanistan (news - web sites) (AP) - With a bandoleer of bullets across his chest, an Afghan warlord said he had 6,000 men ready to fight forces loyal to a town council that refuses his rule as governor of a southeastern province.

RUMSFELD ATTACKS THE MIRROR... THEN DOES U-TURN
THE Mirror was attacked by America last night after we dared to criticise them over the treatment of prisoners at Camp X-Ray.
US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld launched an astonishing tirade over our headline last Monday 'What's Next? Electrodes'?

Afghans are still dying as air strikes go on. But no one is counting
Bombing blunders and misleading information on the ground keep the civilian toll rising in Afghanistan. In the first of a three-part investigation Guardian writers ask: How many innocent people are dying?

Islamism is the new bolshevism
The campaign to eliminate the terrorist threat must also end our unfinished business in Iraq, writes Margaret Thatcher

Daschle: Bush's 'Axis' Phrase Wrong
Senate Majority leader Tom Daschle said President Bush was wrong to label Iran, Iraq and North Korea as an ``axis of evil,'' the first major criticism from a leading Democrat about the war on terror. In an interview Monday on PBS' ``The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer,'' Daschle said the comment has had repercussions around the world.

Khatami: Good-versus-evil view has world on brink of a war
In a rebuke to the US, Iranian President Muhammed Khatami decried Sunday the good-versus-evil dichotomy that is pushing the world to the precipice of a war. "Naturally, this self-centered division of the world exposes it to a war whose start is known but its end is unfathomable," he told a group of Tehran-based ambassadors and foreign representatives.

Majority of Hindus want Ram temple: BJP chief
Softening his stand towards VHP on the Ram temple issue, BJP President K Jana Krishnamurthy has said VHP could prepare the electorate to vote for a party which would bring forth a legislation to facilitate the shrine's construction as BJP despite having championed this cause was now constrained by the NDA agenda.

US faces dilemma on Kashmir mediation
The United States has no wish to get dragged into India and Pakistan's bloody duel over Kashmir, but it may find itself gingerly seeking to mediate over one of the world's most alarming flashpoints. Successive US governments have stuck to a clear policy, that the conflict can be solved only by the rivals, taking into account the wishes of Kashmiris.

Iran says defence, US says aggression
Last week an acquaintance of mine, who recently graduated from Oxford University, received an email inviting him to apply for a job ... making weapons of mass destruction. Since the invitation came from the Atomic Weapons Establishment at Aldermaston in Britain - which operates under the reassuring slogan "excellence in innovative science and technology" - President George Bush is unlikely to be troubled by it. But imagine the fuss if equivalent organisations in, say, Iraq, Iran or North Korea had started recruiting by email.

Israel Tanks Move Into 2 Gaza Towns
Israeli tanks and troops moved into Palestinian territory in the northern part of the Gaza Strip early Wednesday, witnesses said, entering two towns. The operation followed Palestinian rocket and mortar attacks from Gaza and an Israeli warning of wider military operations in response.

Deaths in US capital highlight homelessness crisis
The deaths of at least two homeless people from hypothermia in one night in Washington DC shed light on the reality of American social life virtually in the shadow of the White House and Congress. Moreover, it lifts the lid on the growing crisis of homelessness in the US as a whole.

Former Enron CEO Refuses to Testify
Forced by a congressional subpoena to appear on Capitol Hill, former Enron chairman and chief executive Kenneth L. Lay today invoked his Fifth Amendment right and refused to testify about his knowledge of the scandal that has pushed his company into bankruptcy.

US picks Saddam's successor: Report
Former Iraqi army chief of staff General Nizar Khazraji has been picked by the United States to run Iraq after the overthrow of President Saddam Hussein, a newspaper reported Monday.

Accused pilot released on bail
An Algerian pilot who has been accused of training some of the 11 September hijackers has been granted bail at an extradition hearing. The United States has abandoned efforts to extradite Lotfi Raissi from Britain on terrorist charges but insists he is still a suspect.

Thousands Rally Against US in Iran As US Kills More Innocent Afghans
Tens of thousands of Iranians declared their defiance toward the United States, as Afghan officials said another US military bungle had cost more innocent lives in the "war on terror".

Official WTC Death Toll Declines Further To 2,843
The official death toll in the September 11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center has been revised steadily downward, and now stands at 2,843, city officials said Monday.

Pentagon Probes Afghan Villager Charges US Troops Beat Them
The US military has expanded an investigation into a special forces raid in Afghanistan last month in response to allegations that villagers taken prisoner were beat and kicked by US troops, the Pentagon said.

Insider Book on W: Hail to the Cheez Doodles
United States is being led by a lowbrow from the upper-crust ghetto, largely unaware of culture — high, pop and maybe even yogurt — a forthcoming biography of President Bush says.

War's Black and White Phase Turns to Gray
At the top of the agenda when the White House public relations "war room" convened for its morning meeting on Afghanistan yesterday were media reports that apparently innocent Afghan prisoners had been beaten by their U.S. military captors.

Sunday 10th February 2002

Taliban Reorganizing, Afghan Official Warns
The interim Afghan administration warned today that Taliban leaders are regrouping and could still destabilize the new, U.S.-imposed order here despite the surrender of the former Taliban foreign minister and his detention by U.S. troops

US/Russian Tension Rises as Russian Military Deploys 10 Warplanes at Bagram Airbase
The Russian Military reportedly deployed 10 warplanes on Friday at Bagram airbase, which lies north of Kabul. This move comes in open opposition to the US Military, who had asked the Russian Military not to deploy in this region. Consequently, this has created some tension between Russian and US troops who are now both present at Bagram

Report: US presence in Central Asia, military and oil implications to Arab states
"The U.S. Air Force is building a base that within months will be home to 3,000 personnel and nearly two dozen American and allied aircraft" The Washington Post reports today about this base being built in the country Kyrgyzstan in central Asia.

Israeli intelligence misled Bush on Iran
Sources in the French Secret Services say they have an explanation why President George W. Bush decided at the last minute to add Iran to his "axis of evil," which originally was to include only Iraq. North Korea was apparently added "for good measure," say the sources, for Bush does not apparently want to give the impression that his crusade is waged exclusively against Islam or the Middle East.

1,300 People May Sue NYC
From rescue workers who say they have lung problems to business owners who say their shops were damaged, 1,300 people have given notice they may sue the city for a total of $7.18 billion over the aftermath of the World Trade Center attack. The claims involve injuries or damage caused not by the attack itself but by the alleged negligence of the city during the recovery and cleanup.

Arafat? 'Hang him,' Cheney tells Israelis
Israeli Defense Minister Benjamin ben Eliezer was forced yesterday to make a formal apology to senior members of the United States government after revealing to the press off-the-cuff comments made by Vice President Dick Cheney and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice in his meetings with them in Washington.

Karzai frees 350 Taliban soldiers
Interim Afghan leader Hamid Karzai on Saturday pardoned 350 captured Taliban soldiers, saying they were "innocent" and part of a general amnesty that allowed foot-soldiers to go free.

Six killed as Afghan highwaymen prey on travellers
Six people have been killed by armed robbers on roads in southern Afghanistan, the latest victims in spiralling crime that has followed the defeat of the authoritarian Taliban regime

High-Ranking Taliban Surrenders - But US Faces Mounting Criticism
The United States Saturday claimed the most senior Taliban official yet to fall into their hands, but came under further criticism from Europe as the war on terror widened.

A Nation of Sheep - Dependent On DC
"The shift from personal autonomy to dependence on government is perhaps the defining characteristic of modern American politics. In the span of barely one lifetime, a nation grounded in ideals of individual liberty has been transformed into one in which federal decisions control even such personal matters as what health care we buy -- a nation now so bound up in detailed laws and regulation that no one can know what all the rules are, let alone comply with them." That's the opening statement in Boise State University Professor Charlotte Twight's new book, "Dependent on D.C."

Who Is Osama bin Laden? And Does He Have Anything To Do With The Sept. 11 Attack?
Was there a single terrorist in al-Qaeda? The U.S. war on the Taliban's Afghanistan began on Oct. 7, 2001. Any real terrorist organization would have retaliated within days, if not hours. Indeed, bin Laden brandished his alleged nuclear and biological weapons verbally, and the U.S. government warned that retaliation was drawing nigh.

Afghan 'War' Costing Americans $1.8 Billion A Month
The war in Afghanistan is costing about $1.8 billion a month, according to senior defense officials, and the Pentagon wants to set aside $10 billion to cover the bill for the global war on terrorism in 2003. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld also will ask Congress for a supplement to this year's budget to pay for the war in Afghanistan, an official said. He declined to specify how much the Pentagon would seek.

Taliban still a threat to Afghanistan security
There are two organisations outside Afghanistan," he said. "We do not have details of the organisations or their structure, but on the whole it is not acceptable that the Taliban is able to act outside or inside Afghanistan in any capacity.

Protest by Israeli reservists opens new chapter in the struggle against Zionism
Close to 200 Israeli military reservists are now refusing to serve in the Occupied Territories on the West Bank and Gaza Strip. In a few short weeks, a movement that started with just two officers, David Sonnschein and Yaniv Itzkovitz, posting a note at Tel Aviv University offering support for those unwilling to serve in the Occupied Territories has become a rallying point for hitherto inarticulate opposition to the Sharon government.

Armed to the Teeth
Is Bush's awesome increase in military spending a reasonable response to the aftermath of September 11, or is he creating a force almost too powerful for its own good?

World Bank Former Chief Economist's Amazing Accusations
The World Bank's former Chief Economist's accusations are eye-popping - including how the IMF and US Treasury fixed the Russian elections "It has condemned people to death," the former apparatchik told me. This was like a scene out of Le Carre. The brilliant old agent comes in from the cold, crosses to our side, and in hours of debriefing, empties his memory of horrors committed in the name of a political ideology he now realizes has gone rotten.

Claims of US "recovery" look premature
Many reports featured comments along the lines of remarks by Diane Swonk, chief economist at Bank One in Chicago, who said the US was “well positioned for a recovery” and that “we almost have to look back and call this a recession-ette, rather than a recession.” However, in the figures accompanying the headline report of 0.2 percent growth, there was one statistic that pointed to the possibility of a very different future for the US economy. This was the news that prices in the last three months of the year had fallen by 0.3 per cent—the first such decline for 50 years.

Saturday 9th February 2002

US and Iran accused of bribing rival warlords
Claims that the US and Iran are both buying the support of rival Afghan warlords have added fuel to the tensions between Washington and Tehran. If confirmed, the battle of the bribes could jeopardise hopes for a stable government in the war-torn country. The US has spent at least $7m (£5m) rewarding local Afghan commanders for their support against the Taliban,

Hizbullah admits to missiles on border
Hizbullah acknowledged on Wednesday that it has “missiles” along the border to deter Israeli aggression, as Prime Minister Rafik Hariri again told Washington that the government was growing impatient with “lies and malicious accusations” linking the country to terrorism. The war of words heated up as Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon flew to Washington for meetings on the spiraling violence in the region.

Iran is top worry, Sharon to tell Bush
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon will meet tonight (after midnight Israel time) with U.S. President George W. Bush for the fourth time since taking over the reins of power in Israel. From Sharon's point of view, the meeting is expected to focus on efforts to convince the United States that Iran constitutes a strategic threat to Israel

FBI, SEC Investigating Global Crossing
Telecommunications company Global Crossing Ltd. on Friday found itself the focus of two federal investigations, by the FBI (news - web sites) and securities regulators, as the fallout from its huge bankruptcy filing last month intensified.

Bombing Continues As More Mujahideen Are Arrested and Transported
As a result of fresh US attacks over the Afghan province of Khost, 3 innocent civilians died while as missile attacks created a lot of tension and fear for the local residents. The eyewitnesses from Khost said that on Wednesday night, missiles were launched over the village of Zawar.

The Panic Spreads
The world--including even the previously sanguine Japanese--is now catching on to the fact that Japan's 12-year slump has deteriorated into a full-blown crisis, threatening a wild global ride. Falloffs in various indicators in the world's second-largest economy resemble the plunge of such countries as the U.S. into the Great Depression of the 1930s.

US spies set up shop in Pakistan
Under gradual but pervasive United States influence, Pakistan, the only nuclear power in the Muslim world, is falling further under Washington's shadow. Well placed sources in the corridors of power in Islamabad have explained to Asia Times Online in detail that in coming days Pakistan's internal and external policies will undergo a clear shift towards the West, rather than to the Arab-Muslim world.

Bush’s ‘war’ will prove expensive
The war against terrorism is going splendidly, President Bush says. In the long run, that will be proven false. The reason is quite simple: You can’t eliminate terrorism by eliminating individual terrorists. The death of every terrorist creates new terrorists. As long as the reasons exist that spawned terrorism in the first place, new generations will take up the fight.

US should not trust Musharraf: Bhutto
Barely a few days before president Pervez Musharraf's arrival here to hold talks with the Bush administration, former Pakistan prime minister Benazir Bhutto has warned the US against putting too much trust in his words in view of his "past record".
"For the moment some might find Musharraf's dictatorship useful, but the US must proceed with great caution and wisdom," Bhutto said

The Elite's Pure Greed
The elite met once again on how to stay elite at the World Economic Forum. To be completely accurate, they were forced by the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 to display a veneer of conscience. Financier George Soros said: ''We need a global society and not just a global economy. We need to address wealth disparities and inequalities.'' Bill Gates said: ''People who feel the world is tilted against them will spawn the kind of hatred that is very dangerous for all of us.'' Even Horst Koehler, managing director of the International Monetary Fund said: ''Societies in the advanced countries are too selfish to give up their privileges.''

Bush's Decision to Bring Back Otto Reich Exposes the Hypocrisy of the War Against Terror
His name may sound like that of a character from a Mel Brooks musical but Otto Reich is real enough. He has just been appointed by President Bush as assistant secretary of state for western hemisphere affairs - and both the manner of his appointment and the role he will now play have profound implications for a part of the world often disregarded since September 11.

Bush proves he's 'crazy': North Korea
North Korea said on Thursday US President George W. Bush's rhetorical assault last week on the communist state "clearly proves how crazy he has become". In his State of the Union address last week, Bush said North Korea, Iraq and Iran were an "axis of evil" bent on developing weapons of mass destruction. North Korea has already condemned that description as being little short of a declaration of war.

Contradictions of Convenience
Excuse me, but the Bush administration's "internal contradictions," as the communists used to say, are showing like a dirty slip. On Jan. 25, the administration ordered federal agencies to review their contracts with Arthur Andersen and Enron, saying the scandal swirling around the companies raises doubts about whether they should continue to receive taxpayer money.

Rumsfeld's Surrender
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has it going. The Taliban scatter before his forces. The press swoons before his briefing room sallies. His Pentagon hit the jackpot in the annual budget sweepstakes. Fox News dubs him a "babe magnet . . . the new hunk of home-front air time." But the staggering $48 billion increase in military spending sought for next year masks the fact that Rumsfeld, the conqueror of Afghanistan, was routed in his own Pentagon. His much-advertised effort to "transform" the military is dead.

Bush's Pentagon Budget and the Lessons of Enron and Afghanistan
The Bush Administration's proposed Pentagon budget is mind-boggling. Even measured against the massive military buildup during the Reagan years, the expanse of funding for the foreseeable future ($451 billion by 2007 and trillions of dollars in the next five years) is historically unprecedented. Yet, in light of the recent lessons from the Enron scandal and the war in Afghanistan, the budget proposal seems awash in historical amnesia.

US dismisses European charge of simplistic world view
The United States on Thursday dismissed European, particularly French, criticism that President George W. Bush's world view was "simplistic" or "unilateralist", pointing out that Washington was in frequent contact with its European partners. "The view that the US is not consulting with its European allies and partners could not be further from the truth," State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said.

UN defies Bush's characterization of Iran
Iran, a country maligned by the United States, remains a key player in sustaining peace and stability in Kabul, the UN's highest-ranking official in Afghanistan said on Wednesday. "Iran is a very important neighbor - and they are not going to go away," said Lakhdar Brahimi, the UN's special envoy for Afghanistan

Alarm bells ring over US overseas military spending
US training of foreign militaries increased steeply during the 1990s and seems poised for rapid expansion in coming months.
The largest increase in defense spending since 1966, proposed to Congress by President George W Bush earlier this week, includes hundreds of million dollars for training programs and joint exercises with militaries overseas, many of which are likely to be kept secret from Congress if the administration has its way.

Karzai at mercy of feuding warlords
AS HE huddles in his unheated presidential palace, seemingly surrounded by everybody’s army but his own, Hamid Karzai could be forgiven for wishing that he was once more basking in the glow of the applause that has greeted him in the West. Nine weeks after being ushered into power by the Bonn agreement, Mr Karzai is beginning to look like a leader afflicted by Gorbachev syndrome: being wildly fêted in America and Europe while remaining largely impotent at home

Goodyear to Cut Jobs, Automaker Sales
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. said Friday it will eliminate another 3,500 jobs and may cut sales to automakers after reporting its first annual loss from operations in more than a decade. The nation's largest tiremaker said it expects worldwide demand to fall about 1 percent in 2002 due to economic weakness.

Violence in Jerusalem After Bush-Sharon Talks
Knife-wielding Arab youths killed a woman in an attack on Israelis in a popular Jerusalem tourist spot on Friday as 16 months of Middle East bloodshed spread to the city's Forest of Peace.

Saudi Government Official on Bin Laden as a Hero
Since September 11th the policy set by the heads of the Saudi Kingdom dictates that Saudi government employees are to refrain from expressing support of bin Laden. However, Al-Haddal stood firmly in defense of bin Laden. In his comments he also fiercely attacked American Jewry. Following are excerpts of Al-Haddal's statements:

Bush like Hitler, Bin Laden, and Shylock
"The American president George Bush, whom all agree is reckless and inexperienced, presented himself in his 'State of the Union address'- as a leader thirsty for bloodshed and for declaring war on half the world to satisfy a sense of vengeance and in submission to the sick Israeli incitement that stems from the interests of the Hebrew state - even if [satisfying] these interests comes at the expense of the destruction of the entire world."

Friday 8th February 2002

Fighters Ready To Repulse US Forces - Hekmatyar
The former Afghan Prime Minister and leader of Hizb-e-Islami, Engineer Gulbaddin Hekmatyar, said that his party has a sufficient number of armed fighters to repulse the foreign forces from Afghanistan. While speaking to an International News Agency he said that his well-trained forces are spread all over Afghanistan and could easily drive the US forces out of the region at the appropiate time.

US not pressing to end targeted killings: Sharon
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon denied on the eve of a visit to the United States that he was facing any pressure from Washington to end his controversial policy of assassinating suspected Palestinian militants.

Power bestowed by God, says Musharraf
President Gen Pervez Musharraf invoked a verse from the holy Quran on Tuesday to claim divine authority for his rule. His remarks appeared aimed at countering criticism of a crackdown on extremist groups launched last month.

Old Enforcers Limit New Freedoms Religious Police In Herat Include Taliban Veterans
The Taliban's religious police, who jailed men for shaving and used whips to enforce their version of Islamic morality, were widely resented here and people celebrated their demise when the Taliban collapsed. But they are not quite gone.

Bush orders $8bn sweetener for war allies
President George Bush has asked Congress to reward the United States's new friends in the war against terrorism, giving first-time military aid to India, Pakistan, Oman and Yemen. The aid, up 12.5 per cent to $US4.1 billion ($8 billion) next year, is part of Mr Bush's proposed budget that has as its centre the biggest increase in defence spending for two decades.

Torture advocates defy U.S., international law
Responding to a critical letter to the editor in Newsweek's November 19 issue, Alter claimed, "At both the beginning and the end of my column, I wrote that I oppose legalizing physical torture." Alter’s column did say that legalizing physical torture wouldn’t work in the U.S. Instead, he suggested we consider using "legal" forms of psychological torture at home, while "transferring some suspects to our less squeamish allies." In other words, send them overseas for the real thing.

Iran rules out nuclear weapons
Iran announced yesterday that it would not seek nuclear weapons "for any reason", in what was interpreted as an attempt to counter a campaign of increasingly hostile rhetoric by the United States. "The existence of nuclear weapons will turn us into a threat to others that could be exploited in a dangerous way to harm our relations with the countries of the region," said Admiral Ali Shamkhani, the Iranian defence minister.

French anger at US policy on Israel
The gulf between the US and Europe over Washington's foreign policy widened yesterday when France's foreign minister delivered an outspoken attack on America's support for Israel. In the hardest-hitting European assault yet on Washington's world view, Hubert Védrine said US support for the hardline Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, was "mistaken" and "dangerously simplistic".

Arrogance and fear: an American paradox
Is America about to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory? To judge by the incoherent, paranoid mood of the World Economic Forum in New York, American politicians, businessmen and media commentators appear to be on the brink of a collective nervous breakdown.

U.S. paid off warlords
Dozens of Afghan warlords were given $200,000 payments and satellite phones to secure their cooperation in the war against the Taliban and its al Qaeda allies, according to bankers, money changers and others close to the transactions.

Bush's executive-privilege two-step
His documents are too precious to give Congress, but those of the previous administration aren't worth protecting -- as long as they make Bill Clinton look bad.

France not to support action against Iran
France rules out any cooperation with the US to take any action against Iran in the name of terrorism without seeking the consent of the UN Security Council on the basis of solid proves. “The US right of legitimate defense against Iran could only be possible if it would first have to produce proof.

New Detainees Arrive At Guantanamo
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