Albion Monitor Issue 143 FEBRUARY, 2006
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Neo-Con Smackdown
PHOTO: Protester hits Wm. Kristol in the face with a pie, March 31, 2005

Francis Fukuyama, best known for his post-Cold War essay, "The End of History," now says that neo-conservatives badly miscalculated on the Iraq war and that democracy can never be established through the barrel of a gun

Rumsfeld And Neo-cons Sabotaged Iran's Help Offer After 9/11


Including chance to roundup al Qaeda fighters and leaders

Hamas Election Is Neo-Cons Nightmare: Democratically Chosen Extremists


Palestinians didn't get the memo about electing U.S.- friendly leaders

Neo-Cons Down, Not Out In Second Bush Administration


FREE! Even while U.S. troops are bogged down in an ugly counterinsurgency campaign in Iraq, the neo-conservatives have picked up their efforts pushing for wider military engagement in the region, focusing particular attention on Iran. And key to this campaign is another central weapon in their arsenal -- the media


Reconstruction projects leave Iraqis powerless -   New book shows no post-war planning   - Iraq Reconstruction Funds Running Out   - Who's Winning Friends, Making Enemies in Pakistan? 404 reports

Pakistan On Edge As Bush Visit Begins


As UN envoy John Bolton pronounces Pakistan and India have 'legitimate' nuclear weapons

Poll: 3 Of 4 Troops In Iraq Want War Over By End Of 2006


1 in 4 doesn't even know why U.S. forces in Iraq

Dubai Does Brisk War Business FREE!


Staging area for both Iraq and Afghanistan wars

UAE Port Deal Was Exposed By Neo-Con Columnist


Super-hawk who made "Islamofascism" a favorite right-wing slogan

Bush Should Boycott UAE, Not Make Trade Deals


Denounced last year by State Dept. for human trafficking, Emirate royals personally tied to bin Laden

UAE Jolted By Uproar Over Port Deal


Is a top customer for U.S. arms

Bush Admin Wins Suit Over Renditions


Syrian-born Canadian citizen who was arrested by U.S. and imprisoned in Syria, although no charges ever filed


  OUTRAGE OVER POLITICAL CARTOON

MUSLIM RAGE SPREADS

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Iraqis burn a Danish flag in Kirkuk, Feb. 16

The now-infamous Danish cartoons of Mohammed have become a litmus test for European media. Some publications have chosen to reprint the cartoons as an act of "defiance," even as individual journalists have pointed out that newspapers are sensitive not to offend Christian icons. But while there's no question that most of the demonstrations throughout the Islamic world against the Danish cartoons of Mohammed are genuine, there's strong evidence that the violent reactions in Gaza, Lebanon and Afghanistan were deliberately planned and provoked by politically motivated groups

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Pakistan Anger Over Mohammed Cartoons Focuses On U.S.

Cartoon Furor Being Used As Excuse To Denounce Western-Style Freedoms

Cartoon Crisis Echoes "Why They Hate Us" Debate

Mainstream Press Lost Credibility By Defyingly Printing Mohammed Cartoons

All Brit Papers - Including Tabloids - Refused Mohammed Cartoons

Muslim Anger Is More About Terrorist Stereotypes, Not Cartoon
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Muslim protesters torch Danish embassy in Beirut Feb. 5

Political Groups Spurred Violent Cartoon Protests

Many European Journalists Condemn Mohammed Cartoons

Mohammed Cartoon Part Of Growing Anti-Muslim Attitudes In Europe

Mohammed Cartoon Issue Is Bad Taste, Not Free Speech

Two Reports Find Few Terror Ties Among Gitmo Prisoners


Only 8% fighters for a terrorist group

Rumsfeld Declares War On The Press


Cites Cold War-era initiatives to spread propaganda

EU Tries To Head Off Panic As Bird Flu Spreads


Now found in a new country almost every day

Uproar Over Deal For Arab Company To Guard U.S. Ports


So much for encouraging Arab world free trade

National Security Whistleblowers Need Protection, Congress Told


Retaliation for exposing lapses in security, abuses of power

Africa Seen As Next Big Source For Oil, Theatre For Terror War


Projected to supply 25% of U.S. oil supply within next decade

Can Russian Diplomats Prevent Iran Crisis?


Otherwise sanctions, possible military attack inevitable

NASA, NOAA, Other Science Agencies Blast Bush Meddling With Science


Funding withheld from scientists whospeak out or pursue research contradicting White House policy

UN Tells Bush To Close Gitmo - But What To Do With Prisoners?


Un envoys say treatment amounts to torture

Morales Execution Opposed By Judge In Death Sentence Trial


Will Schwarzenegger grant clemency to prisoner whose judge now renounces the jury's verdict?

THE UN AND THE HAITIAN ELECTIONS
UN HAITI
MINUSTAH/Sophia Paris

THE UN'S WAR IN HAITI

FREE! Haiti's elusive election, four times postponed due to logistical and substantive difficulties, is central to the Bush administration's desire to get the island off its foreign policy agenda, but unlikely to offer a way out of the current nightmare of instability, chaos and violence - a failure that must be blamed upon the UN mission, MINUSTAH, which has not only failed to bring security to the country, but has been complicit in gross human rights violations

FREE! Haiti's Elections: Right Result For The Wrong Reason


The defective vote tabulation is just the latest in a long string of efforts to minimize the impact of the poor voters

Preval Declared Haiti's President


As anger was growing over suspected election fraud

FREE! Election Results Were Aristide's Revenge


No question that protege Rene Preval won the first round with a very big margin

Big Turnout For Haiti's Delayed Election Day


Only 4 elections-related deaths

Bush Proposes To Sell Off $1 Billion Worth Of Public Lands FREE!


Would turn Forest Service, BLM into sales office for over 800,000 acres

Bush Admin Slammed By GAO, House Repubs, For Katrina Response


Almost total failure in planning for and dealing with disaster

U.S. Risks Jill Carroll's Life With Tough Posturing


Delayed release of women prisoners so it wouldn't look like Bush had caved in

U.S. Attack On Iran More Likely Than Not


3 reasons why it's dangerous to assume Bush wouldn't dare launch assault

Bush "Cherry Picked" Data To Take Nation To War, CIA's Top Mideast Analyst Charges


Most serious evidence since the leak of the "Downing Street Memo"

Evangelical Leaders Call For Action on Global Warming


Major break within Christian Right wing that supports Bush without question

Mrs. King's Funeral A Reminder Of Family's Anti-Gay Slant


Gays have reason to fear that with the death of Coretta Scott King, the King family name will be used to promote homophobia - again

Gonzales Insists Domestic Wiretaps Legal, Senate Skeptical


"Instead of doing what the president has the authority to do legally, he decided to do it illegally"

Bolton Tries To Bully UN - We Pay Most, We Should Run The Place


Says U.S. has right to virtually dictate the agenda on UN peacekeeping

Bolton Trying To Use Security Council To Attack UN's Own Leadership


Taking advantage of rotating Council chair to accuse Annan's Secretariat of corruption

Special Forces, Big-Ticket Weapons Dominate Defense Plans


Including $10.4 billion for "star wars," despite doubts program will ever work

Bush Budget Wants More Guns, Less Butter


Big winners are Pentagon, drug warriors, Bush's pet programs to reward "good" countries

New Charges Against UN For Spending Abuses


Abuses supposedly in UN supplies and services for peacekeeping operations


Iraq THE WAR IN IRAQ

Iraq On The Brink?


Grand Ayatollah Sistani tells Shiites they may have to depend on their own forces for defense

Hopes For Iraq Coalition Government Fade After Mosque Bombing


Sunni-Shiite tensions were high even before attack

Street Thugs Terrorize Baghdad Without Fear Of Being Caught


Rare under Saddam, robbery, murder, kidnapping, home invasion and revenge attacks now common

Iraq Gasoline Crisis After Saudis, Turkey Stop Supply Over Unpaid Bills


Owes about $2 billion, also behind on payments to Kuwait refineries

Most Iraqis Doubt U.S. Will Ever Leave


87% want timetable for withdrawal

Iraqi Outrage Spreads Over New Torture Images


More from infamous Abu Ghraib series, plus new photos of British abuse

Feuds Fade As Iraq Sunnis Becoming United Resistance


All groups appear to have become more confident of victory over U.S.

Iraqi Journalists Held Without Charges By U.S. Troops


Iraq press freedom ranked 157th out of 167 countries

Politics As Usual POLITICS AS USUAL

Like Nixon In Crisis, Polls Show Only Bush Hard-Core Supporters Remain


"His Republican base is no longer secure," says staunch White House loyalist

No Shortage Of Metaphors In Cheney Shooting


It is also impossible not to wonder how such news would be treated if it had occurred during one of John Kerry's hunting trips

Cheney's Fox "Interview" Typical Media Mea Culpa


Symbolic that he never mentioned the word, "responsibility"

Whatever Happened To John Ashcroft?


Raking in the cash as a lobbyist for companies with big Homeland Security Dept. contracts

2006 Looks To Be Banner Year for Prosecuting Republicans FREE!


Many rats to go down with Abramoff's sinking ship

State Of The Union Speech Underwhelms


Bush's focus on reducing the percentage of oil imported from the Middle East, which currently accounts for only about 17 percent of all U.S. oil imports, even drew scorn from neo-conservative allies of the president

Bush Speech Tribute To King Was Shameless


Now that Dr. King's widow is no longer alive, the smarmy process will be even easier: Just praise him as a beloved civil rights leader, as though the last few years of his life -- filled with struggles for economic justice and peace -- didn't exist

Now Bush Seeks To "Fix" Health Insurance


Most Americans will get nothing, and many could lose their insurance if these tax breaks encourage employers to cut off insurance benefits

Right's Anti-Immigrant Revolt Led By Colorado Rep. Tancredo


FREE! Like many other social conservatives who came into politics with the rise of the New Right in the 1970s, Tancredo regards politics as a fight between the grassroots and the liberal establishment, generally found on the East Coast. For Tancredo, immigration is a life-or-death issue in the culture war to save America, and he doesn't intend to let party loyalties stand in the way of battling back in the clash of civilizations

Alito's Confirmation Shifts Supreme Court To Right


A record of extreme deference to the executive branch

  UPSET ELECTION RESULTS

HAMAS TAKES PALESTINE


In Palestinine's first parliamentary elections in a decade, the Islamist Hamas party won an easy victory over its chief secular and long-ruling rival, Fatah. It appears that the party's victory was due less to its anti-Zionism than to its effectiveness at delivering social services and an image of incorruptibility, particularly compared to Fatah. Hamas also wants to strengthen a judicial system which has resulted in a breakdown of economic, social and security structures in Palestine.

But Hamas is an ultra-religious party that makes many liberal-minded Palestinians uncomfortable. "It would be scary as an individual, as a person, as woman," said local resident Qubbaj of a Hamas victory. "We know they have kind of a conservative social agenda that I would oppose." A Hamas victory, she said may include interference with women's education, work, family life and freedom of dress.

While Bush declined to say whether Washington would cut aid to the Palestinian Authority if Hamas takes over the government, he stressed that if Hamas sticks to both its ideological and actual guns -- the U.S. officially considers it a "terrorist" organization -- Washington would not welcome it into a peace process. "We are hearing all this talk about how can the Israelis deal with the Palestinians now after Hamas' victory?" said Phyllis Bennis, of the left-wing Institute for Policy Studies (IPS). "But there haven't been any (bilateral) negotiations for the past two years except between Israel and the U.S., so that's not anything new and different."

MORE on Hamas election victory

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Hamas Now Faces Problem Of Managing Fatah-Run Government

Egypt Finds Brotherhood With Hamas After Election Victory

Aid Cutoff To Palestine Attempt To Bring Hamas To Heel

Israel, U.S. Made Hamas A Credible Political Power

U.S. Policies Breeding New Terrorists, UN Author Says


"Instead of stabilizing places like Iraq, international efforts to centralize power are creating a more fragile security environment than ever before"

At 20 Years, Biotech Crops Yet To Prove Claims


Promises of solving world hunger toned down from beginning

Criminal Charges Pile Up Against Pinochet And Family


Elaborate scheme involved secret bank accounts in the U.S, Europe, Panama and the Cayman Islands

Post-9/11 Roundup Of Muslims Is Focus Of Lawsuit


Class action by 2,000 Muslim men against FBI, Ashcroft, police

The Biggest Company You Never Heard Of


Koch is a huge company -- bigger than Microsoft -- but few people have heard of it

FBI Collecting Reports On Enviros From Right-Wing Thinktanks


Thousands of pages on Greenpeace "radical tactics"

France Calls Back Toxic-Laden Ship After Public Outrage


Was trying to send former aircraft carrier to India for dismantling

Fear-Mongering Over "Polish Plumbers" FREE!


Two years ago, Europeans tried to whip up fear of foreign workers, but time has proven them wrong

War on Iraq's Civilians

Emissions Soaring In Energy-Gobbling China


Planning 562 new coal-fired power stations -- nearly half the world total of plants

Catholic Church Apologizes For Radio Prank On New Bolivian Leader


Comic on Church-owned Spain's #1 radio station calls Morales, impersonates Prime Minister

All The King's Men Can't Restore Peace 1 Year After Nepal Coup


Monarch constantly reminds world leaders that he too is "fighting terrorism"

Gold Mining Company To Move Glaciers In Andes Mountains


Enviros denounce plan to move ice to new glaciers will be created nearby

"Liberal Media Bias" Study Made Its Point - By Being Deeply Flawed FREE!


Dishonest UCLA study makes broad conclusions about overall bias by using selective data

NY Times' Columnist Kristof And Neo-Liberals Slumming


This year: India prostitutes - but never mind the policies that contributed to their despair

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Iran's popular TV sitcom "The Nights of Barareh" accused of having "populist implications and demagogic repercussions"

Sitcom Becomes Battleground For Iran's Culture Wars FREE!


Religious conservatives want to censor TV content

Gulf Arabs Leading Pakistan Quake Relief Funds FREE!


Considerable grassroots support by providing social services to the poor

Muslim Brotherhood Wins Over Egyptians With Charity Services FREE!


Without conservation, proven reserves will only meet demand for about 25 years

Madrassas Defy Pakistan Order To Kick Out Foreigners


Sign that Pakistan is losing control over province that spawned Taliban

Al-Jazeera's Popularity Soars As Reporters, Bureaus Attacked By U.S.


Banned from reporting in Iraq hasn't hurt popularity or credibility

Young Quake Survivors Turning To Child Labor FREE!


Many children who survived the Himalayan earthquake forced into work in the cities

For Thousands Of Tsunami Survivors, Life Is "Unbelievably Grim"


Survivors have been driven from their land, cut off from their livelihoods and denied food, clean water and a secure home

Columnists

MOLLY IVINS

Molly Ivins Fear The Corporation, Not The Arabs In Port Deal

The GOP Wanna-Be Reformers

Cheney Shot The Only Liberal Repub In Texas

Al Gonzales' Constitution

Bush The Alt Energy Guy? Give Us A Break

Notes For The State Of The War Speech

Too Much Damage To Track

ROBERT SCHEER

Robert Scheer In Defense Of Free Thought

In Your Dreams, Condi

Bush Uses Terror War As Excuse To Destroy Safety Net

Enron's Political Helpmates

ALEXANDER COCKBURN

Alexander Cockburn Cheney And The Quail Industry

The FBI And The Myth Of Fingerprints

How Not To Spot A Terrorist

Bush: All Wind, No Power

STEVE YOUNG FREE!

Steve Young Most Subversive Movie Of The Year

Fox News Continues To Air Offensive Cartoons

Go Easy On Us, Mr. President!

Bill Blames It On "The Folks"

A Letter to my Danish Friends FREE! There has been widespread debate in your country regarding Denmark's role in provoking the reaction, ranging from the appropriateness of the cartoons themselves to the Danish government's support of the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

Whatever missteps may have occurred on your side of the Atlantic, however, it is hard to imagine that the extent of the violent reaction would have been nearly as severe as it was if not for the pent up grievances in the Islamic world resulting from many years of irresponsible U.S. policies. And for this, I can only offer my apologies

Albion Monitor
(http://www.albionmonitor.com)
Issue 143

Editor: Jeff Elliott (editor@monitor.net)

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