A Duty to Disobey All Unlawful Orders: [Many articles have been written on the illegality and the immorality of Bush's plans to attack the people of Iraq. While many of these articles are excellent, they are not usually directed at the people who need to read them the most — the members of the armed forces of the United States. If you find this information useful, please forward this article to anyone you know in the military or to websites that they would frequent...]

Excerpts from John Brady Kiesling's letter of resignation sent to Secretary of State Colin L. Powell:

Dear Mr. Secretary:
I am writing you to submit my resignation from the Foreign Service of the United States and from my position as Political Counselor in U.S. Embassy Athens, effective March 7. I do so with a heavy heart...

The policies we are now asked to advance are incompatible not only with American values but also with American interests. Our fervent pursuit of war with Iraq is driving us to squander the international legitimacy that has been America’s most potent weapon of both offense and defense since the days of Woodrow Wilson. We have begun to dismantle the largest and most effective web of international relationships the world has ever known. Our current course will bring instability and danger, not security.
We should ask ourselves why we have failed to persuade more of the world that a war with Iraq is necessary. We have over the past two years done too much to assert to our world partners that narrow and mercenary U.S. interests override the cherished values of our partners.

We have a coalition still, a good one. The loyalty of many of our friends is impressive, a tribute to American moral capital built up over a century. But our closest allies are persuaded less that war is justified than that it would be perilous to allow the U.S. to drift into complete solipsism. Loyalty should be reciprocal. Why does our President condone the swaggering and contemptuous approach to our friends and allies this Administration is fostering, including among its most senior officials. Has “oderint dum metuant” really become our motto?

For those without the benefit of a Classical education, oderint dum metuant means Let them hate as long as they fear. You can read this letter in full at The New York Times.

War Protesters Use Telephone to Lobby

Thousands of calls and e-mails protesting the prospect of a war with Iraq flooded Senate offices today, making it impossible to reach Senators or their staffs. Senators were inundated whether they had supported the war or not, as protest organizers urged telephone and internet users to contact Senate offices across the board. NPR's Andrea Seabrook discusses the protest.

Watch it live: http://www.moveon.org/onlinehq/index_04.html

Also see: Anti-war protesters flood Senate, White House offices with calls in 'virtual march'

From the front: As ones who volunteered their Kung Fu to set up and admin Voice/Fax dialing servers, all we can say is, "Jam the Circuits Baybee, Yeah!"
The call volume is estimated at over one million calls. Circuits were jammed, but on the lighter side, those staffers that were forced to field the calls and messages were sent "care packages" of snacks and such. Dissent hax0r stylee.

Operation Northwoods

CODENAMED Operation Northwoods, the plan, which had the written approval of the Chairman and every member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, called for innocent people to be shot on American streets; for boats carrying refugees fleeing Cuba to be sunk on the high seas; for a wave of violent terrorism to be launched in Washington, D.C., Miami, and elsewhere. People would be framed for bombings they did not commit; planes would be hijacked. Using phony evidence, all of it would be blamed on Castro, thus giving [Lyman L] Lemnitzer* (right) and his cabal the excuse, as well as the public and international backing, they needed to launch their war.

Also see:

NORTHWOODS: A PLAN FOR TERROR TO JUSTIFY WAR

Culture and Life: Operation Northwoods and the two towers

In God He Trusts: How George Bush Infused the White House With A Religious Spirit

Bush's born-again Christianity cannot be questioned. Indeed, it dovetails with his widely attested lack of intellectual curiosity, his seemingly utter certainty of his convictions and with the difficulty of persuading him to change a mind already made up. Few mortals can compete with God for his ear.

Mr Bush's Christian fervour only confirms suspicions that the looming war with Iraq is indeed a "crusade" against Muslims, exactly as Osama bin Laden suggests. For world-weary Europe the presidential language evokes mirth and queasiness in equal measure. A European leader who spoke in such terms would be laughed off the stage. An American one who speaks this way only increases the fear that simplicities of faith, and a habit of seeing a hideously complicated world in a black-and-white, good or evil fashion, are a recipe for disaster. [more] [via]

Crazy fuckin' fundamentalists.

Declassified Mk-Ultra Project Documents

Artichoke Project
Bluebird Project
Pandora Project
Mk-Delta Project
Mk-Naomi Project
Mk-Action Project
Mk-Search Project
Mk-Ultra Project

Operations Pipe Dreams And Headhunter Put Illegal Drug Paraphernalia Sellers Out Of Business
National Sweep Shuts Down Retailers, Distributors and Internet Sites

Attorney General John Ashcroft and Acting DEA Administrator John B. Brown, III today announced the indictment of 50 individuals on charges of trafficking in illegal drug paraphernalia. The charges are the culmination of two nationwide investigations code-named Operation Pipe Dreams and Operation Headhunter and include indictments against national distributors of drug paraphernalia and businesses nationwide. DEA offices in Boise, Idaho; Des Moines, Iowa; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and Dallas and Tyler, Texas were involved in these investigations.

"With the advent of the Internet, the illegal drug paraphernalia industry has exploded," Ashcroft said. "The drug paraphernalia business is now accessible in anyone's home with a computer and Internet access. And in homes across America we know that children and young adults are the fastest growing Internet users. Quite simply, the illegal drug paraphernalia industry has invaded the homes of families across the country without their knowledge. This illegal billion-dollar industry will no longer be ignored by law enforcement. Today, the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force, under the leadership of Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson and Associate Deputy Attorney General Karen Tandy, has taken decisive steps to dismantle the illegal drug paraphernalia industry by attacking their physical, financial and Internet infrastructures." >> | Via MeFi

How Bush buys positive war spin

It's war. The nation's president is mad with imperial delusions. There is a burgeoning anti-war movement whose message of morality and peace screams for just a smidgen of fair attention from the media. Liberties face vicious attacks from the very leaders who have sworn to defend the Constitution; the press responds with yawns and shrugs. Courageous dissenters stand up against the power of the administration, and are derided or ignored by disdainful newspapers and TV chattering heads.

At Atlanta's media Coxopoly, the issue is simple. Follow the big bucks. Pentagon spin is accorded the status of holy writ, the president is granted unconditional support -- and Cox executives who disagree are forced to choose between their principles and their jobs. The president gratefully responds with legislation that squashes press competition, and enriches Cox and other media conglomerates to the tune of billions of dollars.

No, I'm not talking about next month at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. I'm talking about 1970-'72. (more)

This, the media, is where the war for whether war is acceptable is fought and won. We stand in relation to the media as the people of Iraq stand in relation to our techno-military juggernaut.

Congratulations to the weblogs acknowledged by receiving the 2002 Medley Medals from the wonderful Lynette Millet of Medley.

Canadian in Passport Fiasco; humiliated by US Immigration in Chicago. Is this because INS officers still don't know the difference between Indians and Muslim Asians? Toronto Star

Perhaps the only reason to watch the Grammy Awards is to see if this happens. [via Drudge Report]

The Kunduz Getaway

In an interview which aired on PBS' Now with Bill Moyers this week, Seymour Hersh relayed the story of how, following a 2001 battle near the Afghan town of Kunduz, the "cream of the crop of Al Qaeda" were allowed to escape into Pakistan with Donald Rumsfeld's authorization. Hersh first wrote about this in a January 2002 New Yorker article.

Reports about North Korea are disturbing.




We don't want to act as though the sky is falling on our heads..



But North Korea's Nuclear capability is quite frightening. The CIA says their ballistic missiles could hit the west coast. Their leader is a bit loony, too.

This is all taken from one of two (count 'em, two) very funny Tom Tomorrow/Tom the Dancing Bug-like parody sites of our new Department of Homeland Security Website. The other is here.



3. After an attack, beware of giant terrorists roaming the streets. Seal up oversize doors in your building with plastic sheeting and duct tape.

Dear Corpse Lovers:

The Great Brown God

is on a hot date with Exquisite Corpse

and invites you to come along

flow with us at www.corpse.org

The Mississippi Corpse

Wears your blues

--Andrei Codrescu

VIRTUAL MARCH ON WASHIGTON: Spam the Man

On February 26th, you can join a massive march on Washington without leaving your living room. The Virtual March on Washington is a first-of-its-kind campaign from the Win Without War coalition.

Working together, we will direct a steady stream of phone calls, about one per minute, all day ‹ to every Senate office in the country, while at the same time delivering a constant stream of e-mails and faxes. Our message: Don¹t Attack Iraq.

Please help make the Virtual March a success. To register to send a free fax and make phone calls to Senate offices and the White House, visit: www.moveon.org/winwithoutwar.

Sorry for the length- I got this in an email and thought I should share...

A letter to the London Observer from Terry Jones (ex Monty Python).
Letter to the Observer
Sunday January 26, 2003
The Observer

I'm really excited by George Bush's latest reason for bombing Iraq: he's
running out of patience. And so am I! For some time now I've been really
pissed off with Mr Johnson, who lives a couple of doors down the street.

Well, him and Mr Patel, who runs the health food shop. They both give me
queer looks, and I'm sure Mr Johnson is planning something nasty for me,
but so far I haven't been able to discover what.

I've been round to his place a few times to see what he's up to, but he's
got everything well hidden. That's how devious he is. As for Mr Patel,
don't ask me how I know, I just know - from very good sources - that he
is, in reality, a Mass Murderer. I have leafleted the street telling them
that if we don't act first, he'll pick us off one by one. Some of my
neighbours say, if I've got proof, why don't I go to the police? But
that's simply ridiculous. The police will say that they need evidence of a
crime with which to charge my neighbours. They'll come up with endless red
tape and quibbling about the rights and wrongs of a pre-emptive strike and
all the while Mr Johnson will be finalising his plans to do terrible
things to me, while Mr Patel will be secretly murdering people.

Since I'm the only one in the street with a decent range of
automaticfirearms, I reckon it's up to me to keep the peace. But until
recently that's been a little difficult. Now, however, George W. Bush has
made it clear that all I need to do is run out of patience, and then I can
wade in and do whatever I want! And let's face it, Mr Bush's carefully
thought-out policy towards Iraq is the only way to bring about
international peace and security. The one certain way to stop Muslim
fundamentalist suicide bombers targeting the US or the UK is to bomb a few
Muslim countries that have never threatened us.

That's why I want to blow up Mr Johnson's garage and kill his wife and
children. Strike first! That'll teach him a lesson. Then he'll leave us in
peace and stop peering at me in that totally unacceptable way.

Mr Bush makes it clear that all he needs to know before bombing Iraq is
that Saddam is a really nasty man and that he has weapons of mass
destruction - even if no one can find them. I'm certain I've just as much
justification for killing Mr Johnson's wife and children as Mr Bush has
for bombing Iraq. Mr Bush's long-term aim is to make the world a safer
place by eliminating 'rogue states' and 'terrorism'. It's such a clever
long-term aim because how can you ever know when you've achieved it? How
will Mr Bush know when he's wiped out all terrorists? When every single
terrorist is dead? But then a terrorist is only a terrorist once he's
committed an act of terror. What about would-be terrorists? These are the
ones you really want to eliminate, since most of the known terrorists,
being suicide bombers, have already eliminated themselves.

Perhaps Mr Bush needs to wipe out everyone who could possibly be a future
terrorist? Maybe he can't be sure he's achieved his objective until every
Muslim fundamentalist is dead? But then some moderate Muslims might
convert to fundamentalism. Maybe the only really safe thing to do would be
for Mr Bush to eliminate all Muslims? It's the same in my street. Mr
Johnson and Mr Patel are just the tip of the iceberg. There are dozens of
other people in the street who I don't like and who - quite frankly - look
at me in odd ways. No one will be really safe until I've wiped them all
out. My wife says I might be going too far but I tell her I'm simply using
the same logic as the President of the United States. That shuts her up.

Like Mr Bush, I've run out of patience, and if that's a good enough reason
for the President, it's good enough for me. I'm going to give the whole
street two weeks - no, 10 days - to come out in the open and hand over all
aliens and interplanetary hijackers, galactic outlaws and interstellar
terrorist masterminds, and if they don't hand them over nicely and say
'Thank you', I'm going to bomb the entire street to kingdom come. It's
just as sane as what George W. Bush is proposing - and, in contrast to
what he's intending, my policy will destroy only one street.

US plan for new nuclear arsenal

"The Bush administration is planning a secret meeting in August to discuss the construction of a new generation of nuclear weapons, including "mini-nukes", "bunker-busters" and neutron bombs designed to destroy chemical or biological agents, according to a leaked Pentagon document."
The Los Alamos Study Group says " The Study Group deserves no credit for unearthing this document. We didn’t dig it up, and it was not given to us with the idea that we would publish it. Quite the contrary. We have come to believe, however, that it is our responsibility to make it availability in its entirety, to do so rapidly (e.g. before any war in Iraq) -- and to do so from a position outside Washington, DC in order to enhance the vitality and diversity of debate about U.S. nuclear weapons."
Here is a summary of some of the important parts of the planning process. These meetings show, in a degree that is rare in publicly-available documents, the bold sweep of nuclear weapons planning in the Bush Administration.

"Said Study Group director Mello, “These plans deserve outrage -- first in the United States, and throughout the world. It may or may not be obvious that if allowed to proceed further -- especially in the present jingoistic atmosphere now prevailing in Washington -- the process outlined here will be quite hard to stop.
An html copy of the full leaked strategy
Via Cursor

War (What Is It Good for?)---an examination of artists' responses to war exhibition

"If Halper is right that the young outpost residents are useful instruments of the established settlers and the national government, able to advance a plan the government cannot articulate formally, it is also true that the outpost settlers can be politically extreme, unpredictable and difficult to control. Young settlers sometimes claim lands outside the areas the government has slated for Israeli control; this means that the army has to send soldiers to remote and isolated locations, creating what a senior official in the ministry of defense calls a ''military burden.'' And at the most radical outposts, people talk seriously about replacing the democratically elected Israeli government with a Jewish kingdom or a theocracy. After Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer tried to dismantle 30 unauthorized outposts last fall, the Shin Bet, the Israeli security service, issued a secret report warning of threats to his life from young settlers. One does not have to look too far to find evidence of this. Yehudit Shish, 18, who is from Jerusalem but boards at a girls' school in Kiryat Arba, a settlement next to Hebron, cheerily offered from the trailer where her dorm is, ''I would love to see Ben-Eliezer dead.'' Her only concern about such an assassination is that ''if he got shot, someone just like him would rise up in his place and the secular people would support him even more.'' (Ben-Eliezer stepped down as defense minister and was voted out as leader of the Labor Party in October.)"

Gary Fabiano... Living Rooms. Destroyed Living Rooms from the Jenin Refugee Camp, West Bank, April 2002. "...These living rooms that were left in their natural state as families fled the fighting are a reminder of war's unnatural burden on the innocents. If the homes were not completely destroyed and leveled, they were sheared open like human-sized dollhouses, for all to see." From PixelPress.

American Civil Liberties Union : ACLU Says New Ashcroft Bill Erodes Checks and Balances on Presidential Power; PATRIOT II Legislation Would Needlessly Infringe on Basic Constitutional Liberties

The American Civil Liberties Union today said that new Department of Justice "anti-terrorism" legislation goes further than the USA PATRIOT Act in eroding checks and balances on Presidential power and contains a number of measures that are of questionable effectiveness, but are sure to infringe on civil liberties.

"The new Ashcroft proposal threatens to fundamentally alter the Constitutional protections that allow us to be both safe and free," said Timothy H. Edgar, an ACLU Legislative Counsel. "If it becomes law, it will encourage police spying on political and religious activities, allow the government to wiretap without going to court and dramatically expand the death penalty under an overbroad definition of terrorism." [Full Story]

750 Women Go Nude In Protest

Only the latest in a long string of recent nude protests . . . Needless to say, we like this trend . . . After all, what is more humanist than the human body itself? Unadorned with the corruptive influences of fundamentalist religion (i.e. Ashcroft, Bin Laden, et al.) and clothes gone bad (i.e. Hilfiger, Nike, et al.)?

Internet security strategy released

The White House on Friday released the nation's first cybersecurity strategy, containing about half the recommendations of a wider-ranging earlier draft and largely leaving the task of Internet security to voluntary efforts by corporations and individual Americans.

After kicking off its crafting of the strategy with a high-profile event in the fall in Silicon Valley, the administration quietly posted the final version on its Web site Friday, saying the low-key release was prudent amid a heightened terror alert.

The National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace (at whitehouse.gov)

Mercury News Story Here

roma Chiara and I went to the manifestation yesterday. Participating were 2 - 3 million people (here there are always post-manifestation polemics regarding the actually number) and local news claims that Rome had the biggest turnout worldwide. Most everyone had a rainbow colored banner with PACE written on it.
Groups of children were also present, their slogan being: pace - pace- la guerra non ci piace.
And I ran into my next door neighbor who walked with a group of women aged post 50. Their slogan was: soldati, terroristi, noi siamo femministi.
For awhile Chiara and I walked behind a van blasting Viet Nam era music and we all started singing along stuff like: the answer my friend is blowing in the wind.
It was really all alot of fun.
Pier Ferdinando Casini, center right and president of the house of representatives, said it was time for the government to listen to the voice of the piazza.
"In ogni manifestazione popolare, immensa come questa, ci sono luci e ombre, come è fisiologico, ma fino ad ora debbo dire che è una manifestazione pacifica e composta, è una manifestazione di cui il governo e anche il Parlamento debbono tenere conto".
In other words, People In Piazzas do make a difference.

stencil revolution

Hey Kirsten, just got back--didn't see ya . . . but if the estimate of one hundred thousand on the streets of Seattle today protesting war on Iraq is correct (and I think it is--it looked like at least double the numbers of the '99 WTO protests, which was estimated to involve 50,000), then that explains it . . . I also liked the sign, "Bush couldn't run a laundromat," and countless more. I also enjoyed the short speech by Sherman Alexie, who recounted an incident that happened to him here in downtown Seattle a few days after 9-11: he had just come out of his health club and was standing on the corner of an intersection when a large truck flying a huge American flag stopped in front of him and the driver yelled, "Go back to where you came from!" He said the driver was halfway down the street before he recovered enough to yell: "You first!"

In case you're not lucky enough to know about Sherman Alexie, he is inarguably the most famous Native American author alive, if not ever. His eloquence today was as apparent as ever, and although I can't unfortunately recall all of his lines, I do distinctly remember him suggesting that instead of present war plans we should be sending bookmobiles to both Baghdad and the White House. The Americans all across the country who marched today in solidarity with like-minded beautiful people all over the world against Bush's plans for mass murder are the best of America.

The best of America hates and despises George Dubya Bush.

And don't you forget it!

In depth analysis of the French/US standoff at the UN. (Too long to post)

TOP SIGNS SEEN AT THE SEATTLE PROTEST

1. What would Jesus bomb?
2. Stop Mad-Cowboy Disease
3. Let's Bomb Texas- They Have Oil Too!
4. In Sauron We Trust
and finally...
4. All Your Base Are Belong To Us
thank you and goodnight....

finally we get on tv

The staff at Skippy cannot believe their eyes. CNN has actually been reporting on the world wide anti-war protests all day long, as a top, major story. Pictures of millions of demonstrators from cities all over the globe, and interviews with individual protesters.

Here's a CNN pop-up with coverage from several world-wide cities.

Here's another covering individual protesters, here in the US.

And of course, Larry King has Priscilla Presley.

Fox News is of course, harping on Tom Ridge's oranges, and Msnbc is talking about the Columbia disaster.

But CNN, we salute you. Actually reporting the news today. Thanks.

And there were (and still are) protests all over the world.

One million in London: More than one million people have staged an anti-war protest in London, making it the UK's largest ever peace demonstration, organisers claimed.

At least an estimated million also gathered in Rome to march.

400,000 in Paris.

They must have gotten the permit, because thousands of people are stretched 8 blocks long near the U.N. in New York.

80,000 people protested in Dublin.

More than a thousand marchers in Auckland, New Zealand.

An estimated 20,000 were expected to gather in Beirut.

Up to 40,000 in Bern, Switzerland.

othEr crowd estimations: in Syria, a nation on the front line if war comes, some 200,000 protesters marched through Damascus. In Bulgaria, Athens, South Korea, Australia, Malaysia and Thailand, demonstrations attracted thousands, while the crowds were in the hundreds or less in Bosnia, Hong Kong, Indian-controlled Kashmir and Moscow. Police estimated that 60,000 turned out in Oslo, Norway, 50,000 in bitter cold in Brussels, while about 35,000 gathered peacefully in frigid Stockholm. Crowds were estimated at 10,000 in Amsterdam and Copenhagen, 5,000 in Capetown and 4,000 in Johannesburg in South Africa, and 2,000 in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

And don't forget, Thousands in Thessaloniki!

At last, the media is beginning to realize that the U.S. anti-war movement is based in the mainstream.

for example: in Palm Beach, people took off their clothes for peace (or is that, "for a piece"?)

in Berkeley, law students raised $18,000 to take out an anti-war ad in the new york times: "There was a total disconnect between what we were learning in the classroom and what was coming out of Attorney General John Ashcroft's office and other Washington, D.C. agencies," says Abby Reyes, a second-year Boalt hall student. "We were quite alarmed, and we started thinking about how many other law students across the nation might be feeling this way."

Skippy is giving his staff the afternoon off to go participate in the Los Angeles march at Hollywood and vine at 1:00 real time. We expect to be back with a personal report later today.

All we are saying, is giving Blotopia (yes! we coined that phrase!) a chance.

Here lie: 3 remixes of Saul William's not in our name mp3 plus the original spoken word version. I'm partial to the DJ Spooky remix myself. (all 3 mixes added to the rotating randomized playlist at dr menlo radio, in addition to some spoken word by Judi Barri, Steven Jesse Bernstein, an interview with Greg Palast on the financial ties between the Bush family and the Bin Ladens and other Saudis, new music by Amon Tobin, 3 Ennio Morricone remixes, 3 jazz classics remixed and much more!--last plug for the station, I promise . . . )

Fact Sheet: New Terrorist Threat Integration Center Will Open May 1

President Bush announced plans on February 14 to launch a new
Terrorist Threat Integration Center (TTIC) on May 1 to "better protect
America by strengthening counterterrorism intelligence."

TTIC will play a lead role in overseeing a national counterterrorism tasking and requirements system and in maintaining an up-to-date database of known and suspected terrorists accessible to appropriate officials at all levels of government.

TTIC will be headed by a senior U.S. government official, who will report to the Director of Central Intelligence.

As an important next step in this effort, the President today announced that the FBI's Counterterrorism Division, the Director of Central Intelligence's Counterterrorist Center, and TTIC will relocate, as soon as possible, to a single new facility in order to improve collaboration and enhance the government's ability to thwart terrorist attacks and bring terrorists to justice. | Following is the text of the fact sheet

Also see:

U.S. Counterterrorism Strategy Will Enhance National Security

Bush Says Winning War On Terror Requires Perseverance, Coordination:The goal is to develop a comprehensive picture of terrorist activity. When the center is fully operational, it will fully house a database of known and suspected terrorists that officials across the country will be able to access and act upon.

Bush realigns FBI, CIA counterterrorism operations

Chemical warfare broadcasts in Israel ain't just duct tape.

"Oh man that brings back a lot of memories,"
says the Israeli guy.

"Check out this recording of Israeli radio from one of the many nights of missiles attack in 1991 Gulf War. (Link via a l - x . n e t)"

You can listen to an .mp3 of a real chemical attack warning broadcast on his site.

"The voices after the initial code it’s the radio broadcasters saying that this is a genuine alarm indicating a missile attack over Israel and then are instructing people to get into the sealed rooms and wear their gas masks.

"Pretty freaky, don’t you think? That alarm sound really gave me the shivers for a second when I heard it today. Hope we won’t have to hear that again.

"Here is a full transcript of this audio for the curious ones:

(Pink Floyd playing and then suddenly interrupted)

“Viper, Viper, Viper”

(The alarm activated)

Man: “this is an IDF spokesman announcement, we all know this signal that was heard, this is a genuine alarm following a missile attack over Israel. All residents of Israel need to wear their gas masks immediately and get into the sealed room. After the family has entered the threshold need to be sealed with a wet cloth and masking tape. The drill is well known: turn off the air conditioner, sea that the kids wore their gas masks in the correct way and continue listening to us. As aforesaid this is a genuine alarm following a missiles attack ..."

Rep. Ron Paul, R-TX, speaks out against war on Iraq -
C-SPAN interview
(RealPlayer video)

Reckless Administration May Reap Disastrous Consequences
by US Senator Robert Byrd
Senate Floor Speech - Wednesday, February 12, 2003

To contemplate war is to think about the most horrible of human experiences. On this February day, as this nation stands at the brink of battle, every American on some level must be contemplating the horrors of war.

Yet, this Chamber is, for the most part, silent -- ominously, dreadfully silent. There is no debate, no discussion, no attempt to lay out for the nation the pros and cons of this particular war. There is nothing.

We stand passively mute in the United States Senate, paralyzed by our own uncertainty, seemingly stunned by the sheer turmoil of events. Only on the editorial pages of our newspapers is there much substantive discussion of the prudence or imprudence of engaging in this particular war.

And this is no small conflagration we contemplate. This is no simple attempt to defang a villain. No. This coming battle, if it materializes, represents a turning point in U.S. foreign policy and possibly a turning point in the recent history of the world.

This nation is about to embark upon the first test of a revolutionary doctrine applied in an extraordinary way at an unfortunate time. The doctrine of preemption -- the idea that the United States or any other nation can legitimately attack a nation that is not imminently threatening but may be threatening in the future -- is a radical new twist on the traditional idea of self defense. It appears to be in contravention of international law and the UN Charter. And it is being tested at a time of world-wide terrorism, making many countries around the globe wonder if they will soon be on our -- or some other nation's -- hit list. High level Administration figures recently refused to take nuclear weapons off of the table when discussing a possible attack against Iraq. What could be more destabilizing and unwise than this type of uncertainty, particularly in a world where globalism has tied the vital economic and security interests of many nations so closely together? There are huge cracks emerging in our time-honored alliances, and U.S. intentions are suddenly subject to damaging worldwide speculation. Anti-Americanism based on mistrust, misinformation, suspicion, and alarming rhetoric from U.S. leaders is fracturing the once solid alliance against global terrorism which existed after September 11. [MORE]

Skimble says: "The United States is a country, not a country club. But Roger Kimball is just a caddie on the manicured fairway of Laura Bush's stunted cultural imagination."

I just love a well-turned phrase!

Hospitals on cyanide alert
Told to stock up on antidotes, be ready for crisis
Feb.13, 2003

New York City hospitals were placed on high alert yesterday after the government warned of a potential cyanide gas attack by terrorists.
The city Health Department has urged hospitals to increase levels of sodium thiosulfate, the antidote to cyanide, and other pharmaceutical agents in emergency rooms to deal with chemical warfare - or a nuclear attack.

"The hospitals have some stocks," said Susan Waltman, senior vice president with the Greater New York Hospital Association, the group that distributed the seven-page department alert to area emergency rooms. "But over time, we have enhanced our supplies of a lot of antibiotics and these types of antidotes, as well as different kinds of items we may need in a nuclear/radiological event." [Full Story]

Also see:

Rumor of War?

Clearchannel: Preparing for war?

FEMA want's to know: Are you ready?

Are You Ready?
National Security Emergencies

FEMA want's to know: Are you ready?
In addition to the natural and technological hazards described in this publication, Americans face threats posed by hostile governments or extremist groups. These threats to national security include acts of terrorism and acts of war. The following is general information about national security emergencies. [MORE]

To read the other chapters in this online book, please visit: http://www.fema.gov/areyouready/

Note: Uh, yeah. FEMA, that's who I'm gonna turn to for help...

Eric Alterman: "The most hostile words you can utter on right-wing talk-radio are 'I don’t know.' They all — and I mean all — think it’s a trick."

"private eyes, theyre watching you. they see your every move."

PASSIVELY MUTE
"To engage in war is always to pick a wild card. And war must always be a last resort, not a first choice. I truly must question the judgment of any President who can say that a massive unprovoked military attack on a nation which is over 50% children is "in the highest moral traditions of our country". This war is not necessary at this time. Pressure appears to be having a good result in Iraq. Our mistake was to put ourselves in a corner so quickly. Our challenge is to now find a graceful way out of a box of our own making. Perhaps there is still a way if we allow more time. "
More of Sen Robert Byrd's statement here

Clearchannel: Preparing for war?
The following is a purported internal memo smuggled out of Clearchannel Radio, the nations largest conglomerate of news/talk radio

WAR PLANS
KFBK and KSTE

NEWS

Make certain that we are monitoring CNN and ABC's Sat Que. Sat Que must be turned up loud. We can not just rely on someone occasionally checking the wires. Do NOT turn down the volume on ABC Sat Que. Ross, please consider setting the volume high and removing the volume knob, otherwise someone will turn it down and you'll miss an important bulletin.

Board ops: The second you get a notification that war has begun make sure you are prepared to hit news bulletin sounder and get the information on IMMEDIATELY. As soon as it is offered, cut to network updates or long-form coverage immediately. Then call and page Ken and Cristi.

If War breaks out after 10AM M-F please make sure that we call Joe and Jack to come in and take KSTE into long-form as well.

Our Coverage will be called America's War with Iraq In writing copy please call our coverage, 'LIVE In-Depth Team Coverage of America's War with Iraq.'

After a major terror attack or after the war begins take all presidential addresses and public appearances. [MORE]

Guiding Principals for US Post-Conflict Policy in Iraq

Post War Plan A 40 page .pdf Report of an Independent Working Group Cosponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations and the James Baker III Institute for Public Policy of Rice University

One million people may march in London anti war demo on Saturday!

From The Guardian

-"Our best recruiting agents have been Bush and
Blair," says Andrew Murray, chair of the national
coalition. "The only people who we are not attracting
are high Tories and new Labour cheerleaders."
-"It's a new movement, out of anyone's control. It's
like a tidal wave. The people organising it are not in
control. It has its own momentum."
-[T]he talk is that there could be a million people or
more descending on Hyde Park.

[...]

More than 450 organisations, including such disparate
groups as Greenpeace, Americans Against the War and
Britons versus Bush - a group of Bedford cabdrivers -
have joined 11 political parties including the SNP,
the Liberal Democrats, Plaid Cymru and the Greens, and
affiliated themselves to the Stop the War Coalition.

[...]

For weeks organisers have been confidently predicting
that attendance at the rally on Saturday will top
500,000, easily outstripping the autumn's Countryside
Alliance march. But now they are daring to believe
that the turnout may even outstrip their own original
estimate, and the talk is that there could be a
million people or more descending on Hyde Park.

National organisers sense that support may have
doubled in the past six weeks and has not yet peaked,
a feeling confirmed by local groups. "We had two
people in our group before our first meeting and 100
after," says Jane Mayes of the Carlisle coalition. "We
have now booked four coaches and will probably book
another two. We have more than 3,000 signatories and
last week the local art college students had a sit-in.
It's really snowballed.

"I've been involved in protest stuff since I first
went on the Aldermaston march as a child and I've
never known such strong public opposition to any
government policy, such anger and such determination
from people to have their views heard. People are not
at all equivocal about it - they don't care much about
UN resolutions and "proof" - they just seem to think
it's a crazy and dangerous idea and can't really
believe that Blair could be serious about it."

[...]

March to Hyde Park: times and routes
The Don't Attack Iraq demonstration will begin at
12.30pm on Saturday
There are two assembly points, one in Gower Street
for those travelling from the north, and Embankment
for London and everywhere else
The marches will unite at Piccadilly and continue to
Hyde Park, where speakers will include Jesse Jackson,
Bianca Jagger, Tony Benn and Charles Kennedy
The rally is due to end at 5.30pm
For information about coaches, drop-off points,
tubes and trains go to the Stop the War Coalition
website at stopwar.org.uk

Wow.

Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall Which of our alliances and security organizations are going to be left when these guys are through?

I was doing research for another Better Humans piece and I found a site called the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology.

And I found these interesting commandments for globalisation. They certainly explained what I've seen lately:

THE 10 COMMANDMENTS OF GLOBALISATION AND CORPORATE RULE

For Citizens

Thou shalt have no rights to livelihoods, to work, to food, to water, to a safe environment.
Thou shalt have no rights to work and livelihoods and to economic security.
Thou shalt have no other identity or morality except that of being consumers on the global market place.
Thou shalt elect governments but the governments’ role shall not be to protect you. They will protect corporations.

For Governments

Thou shalt give up all functions to protect your citizens and all duties and obligations required of you by your national constitutions.
Thou shalt consider your first duty and obligation to promote the freedom of transnational corporations and take away the freedoms of your people.
Thou shalt take the environmental wealth of your country and citizens and hand it over for free to the transnational corporations.

For Corporations and Business

If you are small and local, thou shalt disappear and make way for transnational monopolies.
If you are global, thou shalt demand absolute rights in every country to walk in and walk out as you find profitable.
Thou shalt destroy the environment and jobs everywhere to maximise your profits and returns on investments which will be the ends towards which all governments and citizens must assist you as their highest moral duty.

MY BLATANT JASON LUBYK POST OF SELF PROMOTION

(You can read Jason's short fiction here by the way...)

First, here's some art.



And now you can buy some of this art here, although not that piece for some reason. And yes: I'm ready for my closeup Sensual Liberation Army...

Two, I've started writing for Better Humans. I do a column called Red Hour Orgy. Think of it as a left version of Tech Central Station, which is objectively Pro Global Warming. Indeed.

Merely Stupid

Dubya has been bad mouthing the Germans lately. Well it seems the German Heinrich Heine anticipated the insults over 100 years ago when he said speaking of George "Ordinarily he was insane, but he had lucid moments when he was merely stupid"—Heinrich Heine (1797-1856) Heinrich spent the last years of his life in France so I suppose he may have been speaking for them as well. Of course that's just my opinion, but I'm standing by it.

Pentagon Moves to Revive Funding for Data Mining Program

Responding to a Senate effort to block all funding for its controversial Total Information Awareness Program (TIA), the Pentagon now says it will establish two oversight boards to ensure that the program doesn't violate the privacy rights of Americans. The TIA program is a project of the Information Awareness Office (IAO), which is under the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and is headed by former Reagan administration national security advisor John Poindexter.

The program aims to capture the "information signature" of people in order to track potential terrorists and has been sharply criticized by privacy and civil liberties groups. Last month, Sen. Ron Wyden (D.-Ore.), attached an amendment to a spending bill that would kill the Bush administration's $20 million funding request for the program.

According to a Pentagon statement, the two boards, one internal and one external advisory committee, will oversee TIA in order to make sure the program is developed in in accordance with "U.S. constitutional law, U.S. statutory law and American values related to privacy."

The internal board will consist of senior Department of Defense (DOD) officials and will set the policies and procedures for internal use of TIA-developed data mining tools. The external board will deal with policy and legal issues raised by the program.

Wyden claims the TIA is seeking to develop a way to integrate databases into a virtual centralized grand database. [MORE]

New York Sun suggests treason prosecution for free speech

In an editorial Thursday, the editors of the New York Sun call on New York City to obstruct a protest against a potential war in Iraq for as long as possible and to monitor the protestors for "an eventual treason prosecution." This breathtaking article is a direct attack on the free speech rights of every American.
Added : Saturday's anti-war protest in NYC , planned by United for Peace & Justice and to be held along First Avenue in the area of the UN, has been denied a parade permit by the city, who offered a permit for a stationery demonstration instead, to take place several blocks away from the UN. This decision has been backed by US District Court Judge Barbara Jones, citing concern for "Homeland Security" and the importance of defending the UN against possible terror attacks.

BUSH: "HUSSEIN CHEATS AT MONOPOLY"

Washington, D.C. - Feb. 11 2003

AS PART of an escalating war of rhetoric against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, today President Bush accused the Iraqi leader of cheating at a popular board game, Monopoly.

Bush spoke at a local military base today to a standing army only audience: "Recent evidence has come to our attention that only adds to the fact that Saddam Hussein is an evil-doer. Not only does he gas his own people, not only does he snub his nose at the United Nations and the United States on a regular basis, kicking out weapons inspectors whenever he chooses, but the man also cheats at monopoly!

"You show me a man who cheats at monopoly, and I'll show you a man hoarding weapons of mass destruction."

Bush then proceeded to pull out a tape recorder. "Here, let me show you some proof, or let you listen to it, rather. This is an intercept tape our intelligence forces have uh, intercepted recently . . . " He presses play. Garbled Iraqi voices are to be heard.

Bush translates: "Ok here, General Atuwa says, 'You sunk my battleship!'

"Hussein: 'We're not playing that game, idiot! We're playing Monopoly!'

"Atuwa: 'Why we play stupid capitalist-pig game like Monopoly anyway? Battleship is more for generals.'

"Hussein: 'Shut up and roll the dice, Atuwa, before I make you play hopscotch. Playing capitalistic-pig games helps us get inside their heads. This is a useful psychological device.'"

Here Bush shuts off the tape recorder, motions off-stage.

"Next piece of evidence is a satellite photo. At this point in the game, Saddam takes out a hidden card which was concealed in his sleeve."

We see an enlarged photo on a large white screen behind Bush. On it are 3 red blocks and 2 grey ones.

"The first red block here is Saddam. Now, we can't show you the whole evidence, but if you look closely at the bottom of this block here, you can clearly see a hidden stash of monopoly money, barely concealed under his sleeve."

Bush faces audience again. "I'm sick and tired of this man, America. What kind of a man cheats at Monopoly? The kind that I'm gonna get--dead or alive. God Bless America!"

Hey hey, I'm extremely proud to announce that as I post this we are in the very first fifteen minutes of drmenlo radio: music for the revolution.

generate the age of chill / beat on the brat

Big thanks and credit to Jason Lubyk of New World Disorder for the idea--who, by the way, will be announcing this very week the online launch of his New World Disorder magazine. You would be wise to be looking forward to it.

Orion > Orion Magazine > March | April 2003 >Wendell Berry This "we" of the new strategy can refer only to the president. It is a royal "we". A head of state, preparing to act alone in starting a preemptive war, will need to justify his intention by secret information, and will need to plan in secret and execute his plan without forewarning. The idea of a government acting alone in preemptive war is inherently undemocratic, for it does not require or even permit the president to obtain the consent of the governed. As a policy, this new strategy depends on the acquiescence of a public kept fearful and ignorant, subject to manipulation by the executive power, and on the compliance of an intimidated and office dependent legislature. To the extent that a government is secret, it cannot be democratic or its people free. By this new doctrine, the president alone may start a war against any nation at any time, and with no more forewarning than preceded the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. [via Jeanne D'arc]

LET'S CALL AN INVASION AN INVASION - Why it's time to can the "war" talk

How to Win an Argument about Iraq - a complete guide from Political Strategy.org

"The key points to focus on are:

~ The precedent set by the Bush Administration of a "first strike" sets a catastrophic example for the world to follow ... and the world will follow.
~ Such a policy is the antithesis of what America stands for. Use the term "un-American" liberally.
~ Other countries will follow.
~ Refer to the action of striking first as a "Bush Administration" phenomenon, not an "American" phenomenon. Even non-Americans understand the difference.
~ Refer to the Iraq situation as an "invasion" or a "preemptive strike", not as "war". It is not war. Psychologically, "war" is more acceptable to people than either an invasion or a preemptive strike.
~ Preemptive strikes do not make the world safer. They make it far, far more dangerous ... "

Bill Moyers Exposes Secret Draft Bill to Extend The Patriot Act

NEW: Many are experiencing difficulty accessing the DSEA document at the Center for Public Integrity due to high traffic volume. We have made a mirror available here, with a HTML version.

Friday, NOW with Bill Moyers provided details of a Justice Department draft of a bill designed to extend the powers of the Patriot Act. The draft bill was provided exclusively to NOW by the Center for Public Integrity, which obtained it from a confidential government source. The document, entitled the Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003, outlines significant broadening of law enforcement powers, including domestic intelligence gathering, surveillance, and law enforcement prerogatives, while decreasing public access to information and judicial review authority.

Dr. David Cole, Georgetown University Law professor and author of Terrorism and the Constitution assessed the document for NOW with Bill Moyers and the Center for Public Integrity. "I think this is a quite radical proposal. It authorizes secret arrests. It would give the Attorney General essentially unchecked authority to deport anyone who he thought was a danger to our economic interests. It would strip citizenship from people for lawful political associations," he told NOW's Roberta Baskin. "And...it has not been put on the table so there can be a discussion about it."

NOW interviewed executive director of the Center for Public Integrity, Charles Lewis, in New York on Thursday. When asked to gauge the significance of the document Lewis responded: "It just deepens and broadens, further extends the first Patriot Act," he says. "And it's arguably...a more thorough rendering of all the things law enforcement and intelligence agencies would like to have in a perfect world. I think it's a very tough document when it comes to secrecy and surveillance." | Via memes.org

Ann Arbor Peace Rally Feb 8 2003 Video

A quick video of today's Ann Arbor Peace Parade in Quick-Time format. About 2.8 MB so it may take a little while to download. be patient.
How many people? It was a great turnout! 18F and single-digit windchill, passionate, dedicated people. How many thousand? You decide.
If you need quick-time you can download it here:

FBI using Patriot Act to obtain information on library employees and patrons

Last year's passage of H.R. 3162, a.k.a. the "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA PATRIOT ACT) Act of 2001," has civil libertarians up in arms, but one portion of the bill specifically targets libraries. Recent false alarms notwithstanding, it's clear that the FBI is using the act to obtain information on library employees and patrons. | Via memepool

Additional: See this NPR piece that we blogged a while back: Librarians and Privacy: Big Brother is Reading Over Your Shoulder

Creation "science" is bunk & any professor is perfectly within his rights to write or not write recommendations for students who ask him. I have declined to write letters for students about whom I had doubts. Dr. Dini has merely made his standards publicly available. It's certainly not surprising, given the degraded times in which we live, that AG John Ashcroft, whose beliefs are not far removed from those of a medieval mullah, should be investigating this perfectly ordinary bit of academic procedure. I teach a class every other year called Imagining Science & on the first day I tell the students that, while I am perfectly willing to grant a diversity of religious beliefs, for the purposes of this class we will assume that evolution by natural selection, as broadly understood by the scientific community, is true. I have not yet been presented with the practical choice Dr. Dini has responded to--I teach in a Humanities department & am not usually called upon to warrant the scientific credentials of my students. I might find it necessary, though, to mention the fact in a letter of recommendation--even for a non-scientific position--that a particular student rejects a fundamental body of scientific knowledge. Or I might give the student a choice of a letter that mentions this fact or no letter at all. In any case, I don't make hard & fast distinctions between the sciences & the arts & it seems to me that anyone who has read Darwin & considered some of the recent controversies about evolution & who then asserts that "creation science" should replace that body of knowledge is a defective intellectual. I would not recommend a defective intellectual for graduate school in Sociology, let alone medical school. A person who has accepted creationist doctrine has made a choice not to participate in the intellectual life of his or her culture. Choices entail consequences. Surely, even John Ashcroft would assent to that proposition.

Justice Dept. Drafts Sweeping Expansion of Anti-Terrorism Act

The Bush Administration is preparing a bold, comprehensive sequel to the USA Patriot Act passed in the wake of September 11, 2001, which will give the government broad, sweeping new powers to increase domestic intelligence-gathering, surveillance and law enforcement prerogatives, and simultaneously decrease judicial review and public access to information.

The Center for Public Integrity has obtained a draft, dated January 9, 2003, of this previously undisclosed legislation and is making it available in full text (12 MB-PDF).The bill, drafted by the staff of Attorney General John Ashcroft and entitled the Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003, has not been officially released by the Department of Justice, although rumors of its development have circulated around the Capitol for the last few months under the name of “the Patriot Act II” in legislative parlance. [MORE]

Bush Orders Guidelines for Cyber-Warfare
Rules for Attacking Enemy Computers Prepared as U.S. Weighs Iraq Options

President Bush has signed a secret directive ordering the government to develop, for the first time, national-level guidance for determining when and how the United States would launch cyber-attacks against enemy computer networks, according to administration officials.

Similar to strategic doctrine that has guided the use of nuclear weapons since World War II, the cyber-warfare guidance would establish the rules under which the United States would penetrate and disrupt foreign computer systems.

The United States has never conducted a large-scale, strategic cyber-attack, according to several senior officials. But the Pentagon has stepped up development of cyber-weapons, envisioning a day when electrons might substitute for bombs and allow for more rapid and less bloody attacks on enemy targets. Instead of risking planes or troops, military planners imagine soldiers at computer terminals silently invading foreign networks to shut down radars, disable electrical facilities and disrupt phone services.

Bush's action highlights the administration's keen interest in pursuing a new form of weaponry that many specialists say has great potential for altering the means of waging war, but that until now has lacked presidential rules for deciding the circumstances under which such attacks would be launched, who should authorize and conduct them and what targets would be considered legitimate. [GET SOME]

"Is the Maestro a Hack?" by the inimitable Paul Krugman: The administration has used gimmicks to postpone most of the cost of these tax cuts until after 2008 — and whaddya know, the Office of Management and Budget has suddenly stopped talking about 10-year projections and now officially looks only five years ahead. But there are long-term projections tucked away in the back of the budget; they're overoptimistic, but even so they suggest a fiscal disaster once the baby boomers start collecting benefits from Social Security and Medicare. ("We will not pass along our problems to other Congresses, other presidents, other generations," declared Mr. Bush in the State of the Union. And with a straight face, too.)

:: Web Blackout for February 15th ::
Web Blackout for February 15th [Stop War]

Here's one way to show our support for the international day of protests planned for February 15th: Blackout sites. I've prepared a page that will be shown all day on February 15th in the place of onRelease.org. Bit And Pixels will also display the same page. Feel free to rip it.

If you feel strongly against this war, then this is another way to show the world that no, we aren't going to go on with our lives and that no, everything is not all right and that yes, there is a big problem here and we need to stop and address it.

System Integrity Flaw Discovered At Diebold Election Systems
Yesterday, technicians and programmers for Diebold Election Systems, the company that supplied every single voting machine for the surprising 2002 results in the state of Georgia, the company that is preparing to convert the state of Maryland to its no-paper-trail computerized voting, admitted to a file-sharing system that amounts to a colossal security flaw.

Threatening Poetry: NPR : All Things Considered for Tuesday, February 4, 2003: The California Supreme Court has accepted a case that schools hope will help them walk the fine post-Columbine line between students' free speech rights and the need for school safety. The court is considering a case from San Jose in which a student was expelled and prosecuted for writing what authorities called "threatening poetry." NPR's Richard Gonzales reports. [audio available tomorrow]

"If You Want To Win An Election, Just Control The Voting Machines"

"They can take over our country without firing a shot," Matulka said, "just by taking over our election systems."

. . . "I suspect they're getting ready to do this all across all the states," Matulka said in a January 30, 2003 interview. "God help us if Bush gets his touch screens all across the country," he added, "because they leave no paper trail. These corporations are taking over America, and they just about have control of our voting machines."

When I woke up the morning after the last midterm elections and heard the results, I did two things: 1) I let out an oversized groan probably audible down the hall (disclaimer: I am not a democrat, however . . . ), and 2) I knew it was fixed.

I have since had my suspicions confirmed. Every commentary written or broadcast about why the democrats lost that midterm election is about as relevant to the truth as a blank piece of toilet paper. I credit Bartcop for being one of the only people to bring this up and keep it up. Here is one of his pages called: Diebold Magic? (I believe he has put together at least one other page on this topic but I couldn't find it just now.)

Ladies and gentleman, look over the facts. Why has this story received little or no coverage? Maybe because of the successful campaign on the part of right-wing hardliners to label anything which even approaches a news-story that they don't want known as a "conspiracy theory?" (Combined with a corporate media blackout of anti-Bush facts, including and even up to correcting his quotes.) Forget labels. Look at the data. Look at the numbers. Look at the facts. If Bush & Co. are willing to massacre thousands, maybe tens of thousands, possibly hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians on the first day of their invasion of that country in order to accomplish their greedy, murderous, megalomaniacal goals--you think they're above stealing elections? Er, scratch that--you think they're above stealing more elections?

Helen Thomas was right: this is the worst president in the history of America. Maybe this is why he doesn't care about the black vote when he comes out against affirmative action on MLK's birthday--what the fuck does he need votes for? All he has to do is spread the Diebolds, and you goddamn proles can suck eggs for your democracy.

This story is potentially the most important threat to our (past) American democracy that this country has ever encountered, and you shouldn't let a little fear of a loaded Rush-ian slur like "conspiracy theory" stop you from looking into it--and if you do look into it and think that there are more questions to be answered based on the data, based on the numbers, based on the facts, then you need to spread the word, and you need to spread it now. Gore Vidal recently referred to the term 'conspiracy theory' as bearing the present meaning of 'uncomfortable truth.' The possibility that our American election was stolen at the ballot box right under our noses, and that this situation is only going to get worse--is quite possibly the most uncomfortable truth of all. Face it. Fight it. And rip it's fucking heart out.

US is misquoting my Iraq report, says Blix

Dr Blix took issue with what he said were US Secretary of State Colin Powell's claims that the inspectors had found that Iraqi officials were hiding and moving illicit materials within and outside of Iraq to prevent their discovery. He said that the inspectors had reported no such incidents.

Similarly, he said, he had not seen convincing evidence that Iraq was sending weapons scientists to other countries to prevent them from being interviewed.

Nor had he any reason to believe, as President George Bush charged in his State of the Union speech, that Iraqi agents were posing as scientists, or that his inspection agency had been penetrated by Iraqi agents and that sensitive information might have been leaked to Baghdad.

Finally, he said, he had seen no persuasive indications of Iraqi ties to al-Qaeda. "There are other states where there appear to be stronger links," such as Afghanistan, Dr Blix said. "It's bad enough that Iraq may have weapons of mass destruction."

Russia has also denied any knowledge of links between Iraq and al-Qaeda extremists. The Russian Foreign Minister, Igor Ivanov, said on Thursday that "so far, neither Russia nor any other country has information about Iraq's ties with al-Qaeda".