Month: March 2004

Australia’s sole support of the U.S. in opposition to the 31-2 motion in the United Nations Commission on Human Rights condemnation of Israel’s extra-judicial killing of Sheik Yassin declares us the American “poodle du jour”.

New York University has an archived video of an interview with Hans Blix on his perspective on the disarmament of Iraq. Long and revealing, it includes some gems, particularly his characterisation of UNSCOM’s approach as that of “Rambo”. Well done, Richard Butler…

A revealing article on the private security guards who constitute the second largest force in Iraq after the U.S. military (approximately 10,000). In any other conflict, and with an ethical media, these people would be called what they are: mercenaries.

A well written article in The Scotsman on the ethnic tensions and divides in occupied Iraq.

From one of the British Guantanamo Bay detainees comes accusations of torture by U.S military while he was held at Bagram airbase, Khandahar and Camp X-ray. This has now been echoed by the other British detainees, released after the U.S could find nothing to charge them for, after two years of illegal detention.

After Aristede was finally allowed a press conference, Democracy Now! has in-depth interviews and analysis of Aristedes claims of kidnapping.

It’s increasingly clear that Aristede was forcibly removed from office. This is despite efforts by the corporate press to paint a rosy picture of the situation in Haiti, talking up the anti-Aristede protests, while downplaying the pro-Aristede protests.

Now we have the revelation that the Republican advertisement promoting President G.W. Bush didn’t use real firemen, instead using actors. This comes on the heels of the revelation the turkey served by Bush in the Iraq thanksgiving photo-op was also fake, and Paul O’Neill’s revelations that the cabinet meetings were scripted.

As the corporate media celebrates the stabilisation of Haiti, once again the U.S. stands accused of callous disregard for human life as it so often has been guilty of in conflicts such as Rwanda, Bosnia and the first Haitian coup. However the U.S. administration’s complicity is not limited this time to tacit support of the…