CHENEY'S CABAL

I. "Scooter" Libby - The I Stands For Indicted
Cheney's chief of staff faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison

Cheney Loses His Right-Hand Man As Libby Quits
Close and personal ties go back to first Bush administration
Dick Cheney's Covert Action
Attack on Plame was not an isolated incident
Et Tu, Mel Laird?
Nixon's bullet-headed Defense Secretary joins the anti-Bush chorus
Valerie Plame Meets Philip Agee
CIA shield law under which the Plame case was first launched deserves some attention

Powell Aide Blasts Cheney 'Cabal'
"Cowboyism" hijacked U.S. foreign policy with help of a president weak on foreign relations

Scowcroft Joins Conservatives Attacking Neo-Cons, Cheney
George H.W. Bush's closest friend, if not alter ego
TWO OCTOBERS: BUSH 2005, NIXON 1973
Nixon ordered the Saturday Night Massacre at a similar point in his investigation

Judy Miller's Deals With The Devil And Scooter Libby
He provided the covert smears, and she mislead the public

Who's Not On Trial With Saddam
Charges against him carefully chosen to avoid mention of 1980s U.S. support

Cheney's secret past - Project Censored hits and misses

Bush Nominates Another Unqualified Crony For Key Post
Wants to give refugee/ humanitarian post to GOP player

Faith-Based Groups Snag Katrina Relief Money
Questions if public funding being used to underwrite religious outreach

The Face Of New New Orleans Is Latino
Migrants, often incorrectly labeled "Mexicans," face tense race relations as they rebuild the Big Easy

Red Cross Charged With Discrimination Of Latino Hurricane Victims
Reportedly kicked out of shelters under threat of deportation

Tsunami Recovery Aid Still Hasn't Reached Many Victims
Incompetence, corruption, discrimination and lack of public accountability

An injured child clings to his father outside a field hospital. © Edward Parsons/IRIN

Meanwhile, time is running out. It has started snowing in the Pir Panjal range that runs through Kashmir. By early November, the worst-affected areas will become more or less inaccessible.

MEDIA HYPE, OR WILL IT BE GLOBAL KILLER? BIRD FLU WORRIES TAKE CENTER STAGE

The current strain of bird flu began four years ago in Vietnam and spread slowly across Asia with little done to stop it. It was ignored in China until the end of April, as wildlife officials at Lake Qinghai noticed geese in a small islet of the huge lake suddenly began dying. By mid-May it had spread through the lake's entire avian population, killing thousands. An ornithologist called it "the biggest and most extensively mortal avian influenza event ever seen in wild birds." The human epicenter was also rapidly expanding: in mid-July Indonesia confirmed that a father and his two young daughters had died of bird flu in a wealthy suburb of Jakarta. Disturbingly, the family had no known contact with live poultry. Then in early October, U.S. scientists discovered that the 1918 flu pandemic -- which killed 50 million people -- was caused by a bird flu virus that jumped directly to humans. Until the U.S. findings were released, scientists thought the bird flu virus would first have to mix with a human flu virus for it to create a pandemic among people. And unlike ordinary influenzas that hit the sick and elderly hardest, the 1918 flu killed a disproportionate number of young, otherwise healthy adults. This flu has only killed some 65 people so far, but if it suddenly mutates, as happened in 1918, it could become a killer on a grand scale. "Forget bioterrorism. Forget Iraq. Forget all this," said John Oxford, a top British virologist. "What could threaten us all is Mother Nature in the form of a great infectious disease... it's a very distinct possibility that this virus, this current virus, this H5N1, could break out and sweep around the world"

European Panic Stirs Over Bird Flu Cases Bird Experts Warn Against Culling Wild Birds To Control Flu A parrot receives a bird flu vaccine in Indonesia Bird Flu Is The Monster At Our Door "A Question Of When, Not If" Bush Would Use Military to Quarantine U.S. Public In Bird Flu Crisis Bird Flu Threat Grows In Indonesia 1918 Killer Pandemic Was Caused By Bird Flu, Researchers Find

"Suicide" Of Syria Interior Minister Questioned
Among leaders in UN probe of Hariri assassination
Rice Doesn't Rule Out Attacks On Iran, Syria
"I will not say anything that constrains his authority as commander in chief"

President Ahmadinejad called for Israel to be "wiped off the map" at Iran's "The World Without Zionism" conference PHOTO: Fars

Iran's President Calls For Israel To Be "Wiped Off The Map"
Israel denounced at annual Qods Day observations

Iran's Ancient Forests Felled For Timber
Over half of wildlife on Iranian plateau also now extinct

Israel Offers U.S. Evangelicals A Piece Of The Promised Land
Beach-front property on the Sea Of Galilee

Egypt Seals Gaza Border At Israel's Demand
Sudden closure left many Palestinians stranded on the Egyptian side

Four Years Later, Afghanistan A Fractured Nation
Completely dependent on foreign aid, a narco-economy, and 3 or 4 governments

Abuses Feared As Indonesia's Army Called To Fight Terror War
After latest Bali bombings which left 23 people dead

Bali Bombings Expected To Be Start Of New Terror Wave
Indonesia was warned of attacks last month, has tolerated radical Islamist group

Chavez Boots U.S. Evangelicals From Indian Zones
Venezuela president charges groups are exploiting tribes, declares day of resistance

Foreign Investment In Latin America Not Helping: UN
Great profits for transnational corporations in face of widespread poverty

Mexico's Crime Lords Run Empires From Prisons
Mexican police alerting public on how to detect threatening phone calls from jails
Is The U.S. Creating A New School of Assassins?
New police academy for Latin America to be built in El Salvador

Chile Appears Set To Investigate, Not Prosecute Pinochet
Country saves face by taking away immunity, but pretending he's too fragile for trial

HOW BUSH BROUGHT IRAN AND IRAQ TOGETHER
IRONIES OF CONQUEST
The toppling of Saddam opened the way for a huge influx of pilgrims and cash from Iran, where entrepreneurs began to negotiate building projects for hotels and other tourist-oriented facilities in the holy cities. Iranian financiers offered to support the construction of a modern airport in Najaf to facilitate tourism. Soon after the January elections, the new government made deals with Iran that affected almost every economic realm in depressed Iraq. Among the many projects settled upon were substantial improvements in Iraq's transportation system; agreements for the exchange of products ranging from detergents to construction materials and carpets; a shift of Iraqi imports of flour from the U.S. to Iran; the Iranian refining of Iraqi crude oil pumped from its southern fields; and a billion dollar credit line