ISSUE:
#. 33. May 12, 2002
Posted here on 05/03/2010
SPECIAL REPORT: THE PALESTINE FRONT
ANWR & THE GLOBAL ENERGY WARS
"The caribou love it. They rub against it and they have babies. There
are more caribou in Alaska than you can shake a stick at."--George
Bush, Sr., on the Alaska pipeline. (New York Times, Jan. 17, 1992)
By Bill Weinberg
with David Bloom and Sarah Robbins, Special Correspondents
THE PALESTINE FRONT
1. UN: Jenin "War Crimes" Report To Go Ahead
2. FAIR: What Happened In Jenin?
3. End To Siege At Church Of The Nativity
4. Activists Delay End Of Siege
5. Arab Leaders Reaffirm Commitment To Saudi Plan
6. Suicide Bombings Continue
7. Hamas Promises To Continue Suicide Bombings
8. Saudis To Rein In Hamas, Islamic Jihad?
9. Porn On Hamas's Web Site
10. Likud: No State For The Palestinians
11. Jewish Terrorists Plant Bomb Near Arab School
12. Israeli Singer Threatened
13. Massive Peace Rally In Rabin Square
14. Bahrain Bans "Zionist" Al Jazeera
15. Clinton: International Troops Needed
16. Israeli Poll: Evacuate The Settlements
17. Arab Boycotts Gain Steam
18. KFC And Hardee's Bombed In Lebanon
19. Israeli Professors: We Support Refuseniks
20. Refuseniks On US Tour
21. National Review: "Why I Don't Care About The Palestinians"
THE AFGHANISTAN FRONT
1. British Commander: War In Afghanistan "All But Won"
2. Rocket Attack Misses US Forces In North Waziristan
3. US Searches For Missing Servicemen In South Waziristan?
4. CIA Botches Hekmatyar Liquidation
5. Dostum And Atta Bury The Hatchet
6. Dostum Admonishes Warlords To Behave
7. 290 Arrested After Pakistan Bombing
8. RAWA Founder's Killers Hanged In Pakistan
THE CAUCASUS FRONT
1. Terrorist Attack In Dagestan
2. Dick Cheney's Russia Oil Interests Tied To Drug Trade
THE WAR AT HOME
1. Prison Tries To Move Palestinian Activist
2. US Senior Citizen On Terrorist No-Fly List?
3. Student Visa Scam Link To 9/11?
4. Students Busted For Helping 9/11 Hijackers
5. INS Goofs: Part Deux
6. FBI Agents Warned Headquarters About Moussaoui, Others
THE WAR AT HOME
WATCHING THE SHADOWS
1. Petro-Oligarchs Exploit Middle East Crisis To Rape Alaska
2. USGS Study: Caribou Love Oil Development
3. Polar Bears Love Oil Development?
4. Interior Dept. Uses Fuzzy Math To Plug ANWR Oil Drilling
5. Environmentalists Iced From Energy Task Force
6. Did Exxon Oust U.N. Climate Chief?
7. Congressional Hearings On "Eco-Terrorism"
8. Judi Bari Case: Eco-Activists Framed For Terrorism Sue FBI
GLIMMERS OF HOPE
1. Green Energy For Gotham City?
PALESTINE FRONT
1. UN: JENIN "WAR CRIMES" REPORT TO GO AHEAD
UN secretary general, Kofi Annan will go forward with a report on
possible war crimes committed by Israel during their recent incursion
into the Jenin refugee camp, even though Israel has rejected a
previous UN fact-finding mission. Israel objected to the composition
of the initial fact-finding team, which did not have military and
counter-terrorism experts as full members. Israel also felt that the
members of the team were biased because of their backgrounds in human
rights work, and unsuccessfully sought immunity from prosecution for
their soldiers that would testify before the team (see WW3
REPORT#32). Annan will ask Israel and the Palestinians to provide
information for a report which the UN General assembly stipulated
would be wider-ranging than the mandate of the disbanded fact-finding
mission. The General Assembly asked Annan to "present a report,
drawing upon available resources, on the recent events in Jenin and
in other Palestinian cities."(UKGuardian, May 10) (David Bloom)
[top]
2. FAIR: WHAT HAPPENED IN JENIN?
A May 10 press release from media watchdog Fairness and Accuracy in
Media (FAIR) is critical of media coverage of the events during
Israel's invasion of the Jenin refugee camp. One of FAIR's arguments
is that the media debate over whether or not a "massacre" took place
in the camp obscures the more important issue -- that serious human
rights violations occurred. FAIR quotes veteran commentator Daniel
Schorr as saying May 4 on NPR's morning edition that "Human Rights
Watch has found that there was no massacre as such. Yes, there were a
couple of things that were not very nice. They found Israelis
destroyed more buildings than they absolutely had to. The Israelis
say they had to 'cause they thought they were booby trapped, but
Human Rights Watch says sometimes human beings were used as human
shields. Maybe. Some things happened which were not terribly,
terribly nice, and I'm sure they happened a lot. But if the question
is raised that 'Was there a deliberate massacre of civilians in
Jenin?' the answer seems to come out no." FAIR also criticizes
journalists for despairing of the ability to separate myth from fact,
which is what their task should be. On April 20 CBS Evening
correspondent Mark Phillips stated he didn't know who to trust: "What
happened in Jenin depends on who you believe."On April 19, CNN's
Christiane Amanpour's conclusion: "Jenin will remain for the
Palestinians a place of myth and legend and perhaps even a place of
revenge." Also on April 19, NPR's Julie McCarthy commented that "The
story of Jenin is set to live on in memory and myth." (FAIR, May
10)(David Bloom)
[top]
3. END TO SIEGE AT CHURCH OF THE NATIVITY
The five-week siege at Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity finally
came to an end May 10, when more than 100 Palestinians who had been
inside the compound since April 2, emerged from the church's Gate of
Humility and walked through a metal detector into Manger Square. (AP
May 10) In a European Union-brokered deal that was finalized May 9,
13 militants called "senior terrorists" were transferred in a British
plane to Cyprus, from where they will go on to live in exile in
Italy, Spain, Austria, Greece, Luxembourg, and Ireland. Among the
thirteen are nine members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, three
members of Hamas, and Bethlehem intelligence chief Abdullah Daoud,
who was the first to leave the compound. Twenty-six other alleged
militants, who boarded a different bus, were transferred to the Gaza
Strip. They were followed shortly thereafter by the remaining 73
people, including, finally 10 foreign activists (see below).
(Washington Post, May 10, CNN, May 10) A deal to end the standoff
appeared to be finalized Tuesday, when negotiations settled on Italy
as the host country for all 13 men to be exiled. However, plans were
stalled when Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said that his
country had not been notified of this arrangement, and that no one
nation could be asked to take on that responsibility. (CNN, May 10)
Secretary of State Colin Powell brokered negotiations with
Berlusconi, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and Greek Foreign
Minister George Papandreou. Finally, on Thursday, Cypriot Foreign
Minister Yiannakis Cassoulides said his country would house the
militants until their destinations were finalized. (AP, May 10) On
Thursday, Mohammed Madani, the Palestinian governor of the Bethlehem
district, left the church at 4 a.m. But moments later, the planned
exit was postponed when Palestinians demanded that European envoy
Alistair Crooke be allowed to enter the compound to ensure the safety
of the 13 "senior terrorists." Buses waiting outside pulled away and
IDF tanks resumed their posts outside the doors of the compound for
another day. (CNN, May 10) Madani said IDF troops fired almost daily
into the church, but the IDF denied this accusation, saying soldiers
shot Palestinians inside the church only when they were clearly
identified as having weapons. In response to allegations that doors
had been broken and money stolen by Palestinians, Madani said that
two doors had been broken-one by a man seeking shelter from Israeli
gunfire-and that he had addressed three complaints of stolen money,
between $300 and $400, by repaying these amounts himself. (Washington
Post, May 10) Priests and witnesses say no major damage befell the
church, and video footage showed piles of clothing, cooking pots and
dishes and piles of bedding and clothes along the walls. (CNN, May
10)(Sarah Robbins)
[top]
4. ACTIVISTS DELAY END OF SIEGE
Even after the Church of the Nativity was evacuated May 10, ten
activists remained inside of the church, delaying the end to the
five-week siege because they said they wanted a lawyer present before
they exited. (AP, May 10) According to Indymedia Jerusalem, the
activists, who are all members of the International
Solidarity Movement, made a plea to Palestinian President
Yasser Arafat for the same
condition-exit without consequence-that was granted to activists Adam
Shapiro and Caoimhe Butterly, who spent the night in Arafat's
Ramallah compound (AP, May 11). A press release from Indymedia says
"President Arafat himself informed the internationals that they
should remain in the Church until the Israeli army withdraws from the
city of Bethlehem and that no one would turn them in." All 10
activists, including four Americans, were being questioned by police
and will be deported, according to Israeli police spokesman Rafi
Yaffe. (AP, May 11, Indymedia Jerusalem, May 11) Father Gustavo, a
Franciscan priest who spent the 39 days inside the compound, said the
activists remained in a room in the Greek-Orthodox section of the
church until Israeli police in riot gear stormed inside and forced
them out. Another anonymous priest said the activists desecrated the
holy site built over the traditional birthplace of Jesus by smoking
and drinking. The activists' lawyer, Allegra Pachecco, denied the
allegations, saying during the siege the activists "received constant
support and appreciation for their efforts and at no time did anyone
ever raise any complaints against them." An International Solidarity
Movement statement claims "church officials ignored President
Arafat's order and mounted so much pressure on them that the fathers
surrounded the internationals inside the church, insulted them,
pushed and shoved several of the internationals and locked all of
them into one room." Pachecco said that before leaving the church
the activists had "pleaded with the priests to let them clean up the
entire church" but were told to leave immediately and turn themselves
in to the Israelis. They had the "utmost respect for the church as a
holy place," she said. The activists snuck into the church May 2,
saying they were acting in solidarity with the Palestinians and
bringing food to relieve those reportedly suffering from hunger.
Reporters who entered the church following the evacuation found
lemons from the church garden piled on a blanket and large cabinet
full of food, including more than 20 bags of lentils and rice, canned
goods and cooking oil. According the the Daily News, a Palestinian
source in daily contact with people inside the church said "no one
was talking to them. We are talking about a clash of cultures -- they
asked too many questions." (Daily News, May 11) In addition to four
US citizens -- Nauman Zaidi, 26, of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.; Robert
O'Neill, 21, of Claremont, Calif., Larry Hales, 26, of Denver, and
Kristen Schurr, 33, of New York City -- those arrested Friday include a
British citizen, two Swedes, a Canadian, an Irish citizen and an
activist from Denmark.(AP, May 10)(Sarah Robbins)
[top]
5. ARAB LEADERS REAFFIRM COMMITMENT TO SAUDI PLAN
The leaders of Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Syria, who met at the Egyptian
resort of Sharm el Sheik May 11, reaffirmed their commitment to a
Saudi initiative that calls for peace with Israel in exchange for an
Israeli withdrawal to the pre-1967 borders and expressed a "sincere
desire for peace and a rejection of violence in all forms." (NYT, May
12) Earlier in the weekend, Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak asked
President Bush to urge Israel to reconsider a potential assault in
the Gaza Strip in response to the May 7 suicide bombing in Rishon
Letzion. (Haaretz, May 11) Washington has told Sharon to think of the
consequences of a Gaza invasion but has not told him, specifically,
to cancel it. The New York Times reports Bush saying, "I'm never
going to tell my friend the prime minister what to do on how to
handle his business." (NYT, May 12) Sharon has already delayed and
scaled down a possible invasion, while Arab leaders and the US are
pressuring Arafat to crack down on suicide bombings. Muhammad
Dahlan, the head of the Palestinian security forces in Gaza, has said
he cannot crack down on Hamas unless Israeli troops stay out of the
area. (NYT, May 12)(Sarah Robbins)
[top]
6. SUICIDE BOMBINGS CONTINUE
Sixteen people were killed May 7 in suicide bombing in Rishon
Letzion, ten miles south of Tel Aviv. The attack was on a pool hall
and gambling parlor that police said violated Israeli security
procedures by having no license or guard at the door. It was filled
with several dozen patrons playing pool and slot machines when a man
walked in and detonated explosives studded with nails. (Chicago
Tribune, May 8) It was the first suicide bombing since an April 12
attack at a Jerusalem outdoor market. (AP, May 8) Sharon learned of
the bombing in Washington, during a 70 minute meeting with President
Bush. That evening, he told a news conference that he was returning
home with a feeling of "rage." He vowed, "Israel will react
strongly." (USA Today, May 8) Twelve hours later, a bomber detonated
explosives, apparently prematurely, at a road junction in northern
Israel, critically wounding himself but injuring no one. (AP, May 8)(Sarah Robbins)
[top]
7. HAMAS PROMISES TO CONTINUE SUICIDE BOMBINGS
Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the founder and spiritual leader of Hamas, said
in an interview May 11 that the group would continue to use suicide
bombings, calling them "forms of resistance open against the
enemy." In response to Arafat's call to cease the bombings, Yassin
said: "Hamas always considers the higher interests of the Palestinian
people...We have in the past stopped martyrdom operations against the
enemy. But they did not stop their killing of our people, our leaders
and officials. That is why we are no longer obligated by our previous
initiative." Palestinian security officers arrested 14 Hamas members
in Gaza on May 9. (Reuters, May 11)(Sarah Robbins)
[top]
8. SAUDIS TO REIGN IN HAMAS, ISLAMIC JIHAD?
According to the Arab-language daily Al-Quds al-Aravi, Saudi Arabia
will bring representatives of Hamas and Islamic Jihad to the Saudi
capital of Riyadh in the next few days and will bring pressure to
bear on the activists to curtail their terrorist actions. Haaretz
reports that Israel has information that the Saudi Foreign
Minister, Saud al-Faisel, pressured Palestinian Authority minister
Nabil Sha'ath at the May 10 meeting of Arab foreign ministers in
Cairo to effect an end to suicide attacks.
(Haaretz, May 13)(David Bloom)
[top]
9. PORN ON HAMAS'S WEB SITE
According to an April 7 BBC report, visitors to the Hamas website
were directed to a page called "Hot Motel Horny Sex Sluts," a
hard-core pornography site. Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmad
Yassin blamed Israeli intelligence for hacking Hamas's site, one of
a series of such attacks on web sites from both sides of the
conflict. "I'm telling them to die of their own fury," said the
sheikh. "They are trying to disfigure the image of Islam and Muslims.
These are the people who are shedding our blood and massacring our
people every day, so it is not difficult for them to do something
like this. As much as their anger and fire rises, they will try all
and crazy ways to extinguish it." Sheik Yassin said he would consult
internet specialists to help prevent further attacks.(see WW3 REPORT#31) (BBC,
Apr.7)(David Bloom)
[top]
10. LIKUD: NO STATE FOR THE PALESTINIANS
In a raucous meeting of the central committee of the ruling Israeli
Likud Party, Israeli Prime minister Ariel Sharon lost a key vote on
whether to allow a future Palestinian state. Only a few members of
the Likud backed their party leader in a show of hands. Sharon's
rival former Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who intends to
challenge Sharon's leadership of the party, had called for a vote on
whether peace talks could lead to a future Palestinian state, or just
a self-ruling entity. "This must be clear - there will not be a
Palestinian state west of the Jordan River because that would be a
deadly threat to Israel," Netanyahu told the audience (BBC May 13).
The vote was in direct contradiction to statements Sharon has made in
the past. Twice during the last year he has said a Palestinian state
could be part of an overall agreement. "Any decision taken today on
the final [status] agreement is dangerous to the state of Israel and
will only intensify the pressures on us," Sharon told the central
committee, but his entreaties fell on deaf ears. (Haaretz, May
13)(David Bloom)
[top]
11. JEWISH TERRORISTS PLANT BOMB NEAR ARAB SCHOOL
Four Jewish settlers have been detained by the Jerusalem police and
the Israeli Shin Bet internal security service since April 29 on
suspicion of planning terror attacks on Arab targets in East
Jerusalem. Three of the men are from Bat Ayin in the West Bank, a
Jewish settlement inhabited by 110 religious families, many
originally from the US. The fourth is from the Maon settlement. Two
of the settlers were arrested on April 28 when a trailer they left
near Jerusalem's al-Mukasad hospital in Jerusalem was found to
contain a gas canister, barrels of flammable material and a
detonator. The suspects refused to answer questions, but police
determined that they had set an explosion to occur the next
morning (NYPost, May 11). The other two men were arrested after the
first suspects were interrogated.
The trailer was also near an all-girls' high school (Haaretz, May
10). On March 5, in the southern Jerusalem Arab neighborhood of Sur
Bahir, metal cones, hidden in a pine grove in a school yard exploded,
spraying bullets and shrapnel all over the yard and breaking windows.
No one was injured (NYT, March 6)(see WW3 REPORT#24). A group
calling itself "Jewish Underground" distributed leaflets in various
settlements during the last week taking responsibility for the
attack. The group also took responsibility for the murder of eight
Arabs in terror attacks. Saying "their time has come," the leaflets
exhort the public to join and attack Palestinians in the Occupied
Territories and Palestinian citizens of Israel. The Yesha council of
settlers, an inter-settlement governing body, has criticized the
leaflets.(Haaretz, May 9)(David Bloom)
[top]
12. ISRAELI SINGER THREATENED
An extreme right-wing Jewish group calling itself "Gilad Shalhevet"
threatened to assassinate Israeli singer Yaffa Yarkoni if she
performed during a peace rally in Tel Aviv's Rabin Square. The
organization has claimed responsibility for several anti-Arab
terrorist attacks in the last year. Yarkoni, one of Israel's most
popular performers was critical of the action of some soldiers in
the Israeli Defense Forces during Operation Defensive Shield.
(Haaretz, May 10; AFP, May 11) "We are a people who suffered the
Holocaust. How can we do such things,?" Yakroni asked during a radio
interview, referring to images she saw of Israeli soldiers marking
numbers n the arm of Palestinian prisoners with markers. She also
came out in support of the Refuseniks, reserve soldiers who are
refusing to serve in the Occupied Territories. (CSM, May 7) (David
Bloom)
[top]
13. MASSIVE PEACE RALLY IN RABIN SQUARE
The largest peace demonstation since the start of the Intifada in
September 2000 was held May 11 in Tel Aviv's Rabin square. The
protestors, whose number was listed as 100,000 by Peace Now, the
event's organizers, and 60,000 by police estimate, demanded an
immediate withdrawal of the Israeli Defense Forces from Palestinian
territories and the dismantling of Israeli settlements there. The
protesters also called on the Israeli government to accept the Saudi
peace initiative, which grants normalization of relations with the
Arab countries in return for a full withdrawal. Singer Yaffa Yarkoni
performed, despite having received death threats. (BBC, May 12)(David
Bloom)
[top]
14. BAHRAIN BANS "ZIONIST" AL JAZEERA
Claiming it was a "Zionist channel," the kingdom of Bahrain announced
it will no longer allow Qatar's al-Jazeera satellite news network to
broadcast from Bahrain's territory. Al-Jazeera "deliberately seeks to
harm Bahrain," said Bahrain's Information Minister Nabeel Al Hamer,
who also claimed the station has links to Israel. "We believe Al
Jazeera is suspect and represents the Zionist side in the region. We
will not deal with this channel because we object to its coverage of
current affairs. It is a Zionist channel, penetrated by Zionists."
Duetsche-Presse Agentur also reported that sources in Bahrain's
capital Manama said the government was angry at al-Jazeera for the
way in which it covered anti-American protests recently held in the
kingdom to protest US support for Israel in its conflict with the
Palestinians.(DPA, May 11) (David Bloom)
[top]
15. CLINTON: INTERNATIONAL TROOPS NEEDED
Former US President Bill Clinton said that a US-led international
force comprised of Russian, European, and US troops would be needed to
achieve peace in Israel and Palestine. "I do believe it will have to
be, if not imposed, at least strongly pushed," Clinton told an
audience at Hunter College recently. "I believe it will require
international forces ... and I think we ought to show up and do it,"
( Haaretz, May 7). A recent poll taken by the Israeli firm
Dahaf found that 56% of Israelis would support a US-led international
force, which is something the Palestinians have been seeking since
the current intifada began 19 months ago. The Israeli government is
reluctant to accept an international force. (AP, May 9)(David Bloom)
[top]
16. ISRAELI POLL: EVACUATE THE SETTLEMENTS
According to a recent poll, 59% of Israelis believe that a
unilateral withdrawal from the Occupied Territories and an evacuation
of the settlements there would put peace negotiations back on track.
The Peace Coalition, comprising several Israeli peace organizations
released the poll conducted by the Dahaf Institute on May 8. The
poll was conducted before the May 6 suicide bombing attack on Rishon
Letzion. The poll also found that 63% believed peace negotiations
were needed to end terrorism. (AP, May 9)(David Bloom)
[top]
17. ARAB BOYCOTTS GAIN STEAM
A extensive list of Palestinian individuals, NGO's, political parties
and organizations published an advertisment in the Jerusalem-based
Palestinian newspaper Al Quds, urging Palestinian NGO's not to
cooperate with the US aid agency USAID throughout April and May. The
list called for the boycott in protest of "the American official
support for Israel government's crimes against our people." (al Quds,
May) An aid convoy bearing the logo of USAID was turned away by
residents of the Jenin Refugee camp (AFP, Apr. 25)(see WW3
REPORT#31)(David Bloom)
According the New York Times, an informal Arab consumer boycott of US
goods is also gaining strength. Sales of US consumer products and
fast food are 20-30% down throughout the 300 million person-strong Arab
market. The word-of-mouth boycott's message is being spread thru
sermons at mosques, newspapers, fliers, the Internet, and cell phone
messages. A list of alternative goods to purchase in lieu of US ones
is also circulating. A billboard in Syria reads: "Boycott American
products: Don't be an accomplice." (NYT, May 10) (David Bloom)
[top]
18. KFC AND HARDEE'S BOMBED IN LEBANON
A bomb exploded May 9 at the entrance to a building housing outlets
of the American fast-food chains Kentucky Fried Chicken and Hardee's
in the Lebanese port city of Tripoli. The bomb, 1.5 kilograms of TNT,
went off at 4 a.m., injuring no one Lebanese police said they were
investigating possible links between an Arab boycott of American
goods in retaliation for US support of Israel in its conflict with
the Palestinians. (AP, May 9)(David Bloom)
[top]
19. ISRAELI PROFESSORS: WE SUPPORT REFUSENIKS
244 Israeli professors and lecturers have signed an open letter
supporting students who refuse to do their reserve duty in the
occupied territories. The letter, originally signed by 40 faculty
members at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, grew to 244 signatures
after Israel's Minister of Education asked that the signers be
indicted. According to the May 10 Jerusalem Post, no action will be
taken against the professors. The professors wrote that they would
assist students who encounter academic, administrative and financial
problems as a result of their refusal. The letter read:
"We, faculty members from a number of Israeli universities, wish to
express our appreciation and support for those of our students and
lecturers who refuse to serve as soldiers in the occupied
territories. Such service too often involves carrying out orders that
have no place in a democratic society founded on the sanctity of
human life. For thirty five years an entire people, some three and a
half million in number, have been held without basic human rights.
The occupation and oppression of another people have brought the
State of Israel to where it is today. Without an Israeli declaration
of an end to the occupation, accompanied by appropriate
action--unilateral, if necessary--the present war is not being fought
for our home but for the settlements beyond the green line and for
the continued oppression of another people. We hereby express our
readiness to do everything in our power to help students who
encounter academic, administrative or economic difficulties as a
result of their refusal to serve in the territories. We call on the
University community at large to support them."(See WW3 REPORT#28) (Seruv press release
May 4)(David Bloom)
[top]
20. REFUSENIKS ON US TOUR
Three Israeli Refuseniks who refuse duty in the occupied Palestinian
territories have speaking engagements throughout the United States in
May. One of the Refuseniks is Haggai Matar, who co-authored the high
school Seniors' Letter of August 19 20001 to Israeli Prime Minister
Ariel Sharon which declared they would not serve in the IDF because
the objected to the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories:
"We, the undersigned, youths who grew up and were brought up in
Israel, are about to be called to serve in the IDF. We protest
before you against the aggressive and racist policy pursued by the
Israeli government's and its army, and to inform you that we do not
intend to take part in the execution of this policy."
"We strongly resist Israel's pounding of human rights. Land
expropriation, arrests, executions without a trial, house demolition,
closure, torture, and the prevention of health care are only some of
the crimes the state of Israel carries out, in blunt violation of
international conventions it has ratified."
"These actions are not only illegitimate; they do not even achieve
their stated goal - increasing the citizens' personal safety. Such
safety will be achieved only through a just peace agreement between
the Israeli government and the Palestinian people."
"Therefore we will obey our conscience and refuse to take part in
acts of oppression against the Palestinian people, acts that should
properly be called terrorist actions. We call upon persons our age,
conscripts, soldiers in the standing army, and reserve service
soldiers to do the same." (Courage to Refuse)
Matar will be in Madison, Wi. on May 13-14 and in New York City on
May 18-25. See further details.
Audio and Video of Haggai Matar speaking at the First Unitarian Society May 13 in Madison, Wi.
Ishai Sagi, an artillery lieutenant who was jailed last summer for
refusing to serve in the territories, and Ram Rahat of Yesh Gevul, a
support group for Refuseniks, will be in San Francisco May 15-May 22,
Los Angeles May 20, and Chicago May 23-June 1. See further details.(David Bloom)
[top]
21. NATIONAL REVIEW: "WHY I DON'T CARE ABOUT THE PALESTIANS"
John Derbyshire, a contributing editor to National Review, has
written an article explaining why he doesn't care about the
Palestinian people. At the end of the article, he describes what he
sees as the five options the Palestinians have available to them:
"1. An independent state, under Arafat or someone just as thuggish.
2. Military occupation by Israel.
3. Re-incorporation into a Jordanian-Palestinian nation.
4. Some sort of U.N. trusteeship.
5.Expulsion from the West Bank and Gaza, those territories then
incorporated into Israel."
Derbyshire's conclusion: "When I say 'the best option,' I don't
mean 'best for the Palestinians.' I don't think they have any good
options. Being Arabs, they are incapable of constructing a rational
polity, so their future is probably hopeless whatever happens. Their
options are the ones I listed above: to be ruled by gangsters, or
Israelis, or Jordanians, or welfare bureaucrats. Or to go live somewhere
else,under the gentle rule of their brother Arabs. Would expulsion be
hard on the Palestinians? I suppose it would. Would it be any harder
than options 1 thru 4? I doubt it. Do I really give a flying falafel one
way or the other? No, not really." Derbyshire also notes that recently
US Rep. Dick Armey spoke in favor of the expulsion option.(see WW3 REPORT#32) (National Review, May
9)
The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee asks for letters protesting Derbyshire's piece:
"Demand that the National Review disavow the advocacy of the expulsion of
the Palestinians from their homeland.
Write to National Review editor Rich Lowry, and tell him
that no journal or website that prints articles advocating war crimes
and crimes against humanity, not to mention such unabashed, open racism,
can be considered respectable or responsible."(ADC.org, May 10)(David Bloom)[top]
AFGHANISTAN FRONT
1. BRITISH COMMANDER: WAR IN AFGHANISTAN "ALL BUT WON"
Brigadier Roger Lane, commander of British forces in Afghanistan,
says the war there against the Taliban and al-Qaeda is "all but won.
We believe we're on the right way, that the fight against AQT
[al-Qaeda and Taleban] in Afghanistan is all but won, that they're
not showing a predisposition to reorganise and regroup to mount
offensive operations against us," Lane said. "I don't say it's over
now, but I think it will be in the weeks to come rather than the
months to come." Lane cautioned that coalition troops would have to
remain in Afghanistan for a while to assist with the country's
transition to democratic rule. (BBC, May 8)(David Bloom)
[top]
2. ROCKET ATTACK MISSES US FORCES IN NORTH WAZIRISTAN
A rocket was fired at the building where 7 US Special Forces were
believed to be sleeping in Miran Shah, North Waziristan Agency, part
of the semi-autonomous tribal areas of northwest Pakistan where
US forces, in conjunction with Pakistani troops, are involved
in an operation to root out remaining al-Qaeda fighters who have
slipped across the Afghan-Pakistan border. A second rocket was found
and defused. This was the second such attack on the building this
month. On May 1, a rocket missed the building by three hundred yards.
The Pakistan newspaper Jang reported that "some unidentified
miscreants" were responsible(Jang, May 12). The presence of US
troops, along with Pakistani troops who rarely venture into the area,
has been met with some hostility by local tribesmen. The morning
after the attack, local residents found pamphlets from a previously
unknown group warning that Muslims who did not "stand up against the
army of Jews and Christians," faced "disgrace and trouble," and that
the murder of Pakistani forces and officials aiding US forces is also
"justified." Pakistan has said that the only US forces in Pakistan
were communications specialists. (CBS, May 11)(David Bloom)
[top]
3. US SEARCHES FOR MISSING SERVICEMEN IN SOUTH WAZIRISTAN?
The Pakistani newspaper DAWN reports that anger towards the presence
of US forces among some of the tribal factions in South Waziristan
Agency (SWA) has convinced the US and Pakistan to put off their
operation for a few days. US Special Forces have withdrawn to a few
kilometers inside Afghan territory. According to DAWN's sources, 24
US troops were camped out in the house of an "alliance leader" and
were led by a Pashtun commander Sher Ahmad Jidran of the Northern
Alliance. The Troops had arrived in Wana, SWA a few days earlier and
had visited the Ziri Noor Refugee Camp, where it was thought they
might find 18 US soldiers purported by several Pakistani news sources
as having been captured by the Taliban/al-Qaeda at Shahi Kot during
Operation Anaconda. (see WW3 REPORT#27)top] DAWN reports pamphlets have
been distributed with a Fatwa calling for every American to be shot,
wherever and whenever they may be found. A rally against American
atrocities in Afghanistan was to be held in Wana on May 10. (DAWN,
May 10)(David Bloom)
[
4. CIA BOTCHES HEKMATYAR LIQUIDATION
In an effort to eliminate a threat to the Karzai regime, the Central
Intelligence Agency tried to assassinate Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, leader
of the militant Islamacist and predominantly Pashtun Hezb-I-Islami
party, outside Kabul May 5, using a Hellfire anti-tank missile fired
by an unmanned Predator surveillance drone. Hekmatyar is widely seen
as backing a recently thwarted plot to overthrow Karzai's government (see WW3 REPORT #28).
A Pentagon official was quoted by the New York Times as saying "We
had information that he was planning attacks on American and
coalition forces, on the interim government and on Karzai himself."
Another American official said that Hekmatyar "actively pursued
terrorist acts against Americans, both in terms of offering rewards
to people to kill Americans and in plotting terrorist attacks against
Americans." During the anti-Soviet resistance in Afghanistan,
Hekmatyar was the mujahadeen leader who was the largest recipient of
American aid among Afghan warlords. After the Soviets were expelled,
Hekmatyar became prime minister in a coalition mujahadeen government.
He is seen as widely responsible for factional infighting in Kabul
that killed thousands of civilians. He fled to Iran during the
Taliban regime and stayed there throughout the American campaign
against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. In February, Hekmatyar told
Reuters: "While foreign troops are present, the interim government
does not have any value or meaning. We prefer involvement in internal
war rather than occupation by foreigners and foreign troops." Iran
expelled Hekmatyar in February and after being turned away by Iraq
and Pakistan, he returned home pledging support for Karzai's
government.(see WW3 REPORT#25).(Boston Globe, Apr.5)(NYT, May
9)(David Bloom)
[top]
5. DOSTUM AND ATTA BURY THE HATCHET
Rival warlords General Abdul Rashid Dostum and Ustad Mohammad Atta
have signed an accord to remove their heavy weapons from the northern
afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif. The UN has verified that the warlords
are beginning to comply with this agreement. Forces from the Uzbek
Dostum's Junbish-i-Melli party and the Tajik Atta's Jamiat-I-Islami
parties, along with fighters from the Hazara Hezb-i-Wahdat party
led by warlord Karim Khalili have been battling each other since
they took Mazar-i-Sharif from the Pashtun-dominated Taliban militia
last fall. Dostum and Atta also agreed on terms for a 600-strong
multi-ethnic police force for Mazar-i-Sharif, and to also end the
fighting in the surrounding areas of Sholgarah and the neighboring
province of Sare Pul. The agreement stipulates that an impartial
commission under UN auspices should investigate the fighting there,
and disarm and demilitarize both areas. "Both sides agree to accept
the findings of the commission," the agreement reads.(NNI, May
8)(David Bloom)
[top]
6. DOSTUM ADMONISHES WARLORDS TO BEHAVE
In an extraordinary meeting, rivals Uzbek General Abdul Rashid
Dostum, Tajik Ustad Muhammed Atta, two other warlords and 90 of all
of their commanders signed an agreement to end the fighting among
them in and around the Northern Afghan city of Mazar-I-Sharif. The
agreement was signed one day after a similar one was signed by Dostum
and Atta. Dostum then compelled those assembled to listen as one of
his lieutenants read aloud a 52-page report by the human rights
organization Human Rights Watch called "Paying for the Taliban's
Crimes: Abuses Against Ethnic Pashtuns in Northern Afghanistan." The
report, given to Dostum by the UN, details atrocities committed in
reprisals against Pashtun civilians by Hazara, Tajik and Uzbek forces
in the wake of the defeat of the Pashtun-dominated Taliban militia.
Dostum said he didn't know if every story of rape, murder and pillage
was accurate, but he told the commanders they should listen to the
whole report and to stop abuses of civilians by forces under their
rule. "After today, if anybody creates problems in my name or in the
name of [the other warlords], we will not let them stay in this
province. We will unite against them and we will call him the friend
of Al Qaeda and the Taliban," Dostum told the commanders. "I am dying
of these accusations from the international community. 'What is
happening in Mazar with these mass killing? Why are you so cruel?'"
He asked, giving an example of the sort of questions he was being
asked. "If any one of my commanders commits these kind of acts, I
will kill him tomorrow." The Monitor notes that Dostum has a"tendency
to kill opponents even after they were captured and disarmed" and
that Physicians for Human Rights has reported that his forces killed
or suffocated captured Taliban troops last fall. But at the meeting,
Dostum told the commanders and warlords,"let's bury the enmity in the
graves, just as we have buried thousands." Dostum also warned them
that the world would be watching their actions: "You must be careful
in the future. These are very dangerous men[the Human Rights Watch
investigators]. They can take you to an international court of
justice if they can prove your actions." A representative of the
Hazara warlord Karim Khalili signed the agreement and told his
commanders: "The UN wants peace and stability in ourhomeland, and
they are well aware of what is going on here. . You must be careful
about your deeds and about how you treat civilians ---especially
Pashtuns."(CSMonitor, May 9)(David Bloom)
[top]
7. 290 ARRESTED AFTER PAKISTAN BOMBING
Fourteen people, including 12 French nationals, were killed in a May
8 bombing attack in Karachi. The French victims were engineers flown
in to work on a Pakistani submarine. They were traveling in a
Pakistan Navy shuttle bus when a suicide bomber in nearby car
detonated explosives, ripping the vehicles apart, according to
Pakistani police. Two hundred and ninety suspected militants
associated with Jaish-e-Mohammed, Sipah-e-Sahaba, Lashkar-e-Tayyaba
and other fundamentalist groups have been detained by the government
for possible involvement in the bombing. The French army's chief of
staff, General Jean-Pierre Kelche, said that Osama Bin Laden's
al-Qaeda network's was suspected to be responsible for the attack.
It was the third attack this year on foreigners in Pakistan, On March
17, five people were killed when a grenade was thrown inside the
International Protestant Church in Islamabad; US reporter Daniel
Pearl was kidnapped in Karachi in late January and killed by Islamic
militants. (AP, May 8)(David Bloom)
[top]
8. RAWA FOUNDER'S KILLERS HANGED IN PAKISTAN
Ahmad Sultan and Hamayun Zikria -- Afghan men convicted of the 1987
murder of Meena Kishwar Kamal, the founder of the Revolutionary
Association for the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA), and Engineer Fahim
and Engineer Syed Faqir, two of her colleagues -- were hanged May 7,
despite appeals for clemencey made by the Afghan Interim
Administration to relatives of the deceased, including Kamal's
daughter Najeeba, a current head of RAWA. (BBC, May 8, AFP, May 8)
According to a statement issued by RAWA, clemency was requested with
the claim that "the execution of two Afghan nationals in a foreign
land contravenes the tenets of Afghan honour." Though the motive of
the murders is unknown, RAWA says it was planned by supporters of
fundamentalist Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. (AFP, May 8) In
response to the execution, RAWA, whose demonstrations and activities
are opposed by conservative elements in Afghanistan, issued the
following statement: "The prevailing political culture and the level
of political ethics of most political entities in Afghanistan is such
that were a plea for pardon to be respected, malicious rumours would
certainly be circulated to the effect that RAWA had been bought off
with large sums of money or in exchange for political favours and
'positions and posts' in the Afghan government, or even both. In the
event of granting pardon, RAWA would have exposed itself to slanders
of dirty dealings over the blood of its martyrs." The release also
reports that a day before the execution, the organization received an
offer of a million dollars in return for the pardon.
(Sarah Robbins)
[top]
CAUCASUS FRONT
1. TERRORIST ATTACK IN DAGESTAN
An explosion during a Victory in Europe day parade May 9 in
Makhachkala, the capital of the Russian Republic of Dagestan, killed
39 people. Twenty servicemen, 13 children and five adults are among
the dead, and 130 are injured. It is believed that the bomb was set
off by remote control. No one has claimed responsibility for the
blast, but Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin blames Islamic
rebels in the neighboring Russian Republic of Chechnya (CNN, May 10).
"Nobody doubts that this was a terrorist act. In the shortest
possible time, we will find, convict and punish the criminals," Putin
said (RIA, May 9), Across the border in Chechnya, rebels fired on a
sports stadium where the VE anniversary was being celebrated by
Russian forces and Chechen civilians. Fighting in Chechnya between
Russian and Chechen Islamacist forces continues on almost a daily
basis in Chechnya, and on March 19, Chechen warlord Khattab, who had
been linked with al-Qaeda, was assassinated. (CNN, May 10,
Kavkaz-Center , Apr. 29)(see WW3 REPORTS#31&32)(David Bloom)
9. DICK CHENEY'S RUSSIA OIL INTERESTS TIED TO DRUG TRADE
On the campaign trail in 2000, the Bush team bashed Clinton/Gore for
shelling out billions in aid for Russia. Meanwhile, Dick Cheney has
lobbied to get US tax-dollars to back up oil investments in
Russia--investments investigators have now tied to financial sleaze
and the ex-USSR's booming drug trade. As CEO of Halliburton, a top
global energy services contractor, Cheney swung clout in Washington
for high-stakes projects in the oil-rich Caspian Sea region. On Aug.
3, 2000, The Moscow Times identified Cheney as the "key powerbroker"
in procuring $489 million in loan guarantees from the US
Export-Import Bank in 1999 for Russia's Tyumen Oil Co. (TNK)--at a
time when US-Russian relations were strained over the brutal war in
Chechnya. The State Department halted the Ex-Im Bank guarantee after
TNK's aggressive take-over of a subsidiary of Russian oil major
Sidanko, burning the company's major foreign shareholder,
BP-Amoco--which complained to the White House and Congress. BP-Amoco
was said to have turned its own investigation into TNK over to the
CIA for perusal. "But," writes the Moscow Times' Catherine Belton,
"TNK had a few tricks up its sleeve-and one of them was Dick Cheney."
$292 million of the guarantee was slated for buying equipment from
Halliburton to develop TNK's Samotlor oil field. A TNK official
confirmed to Belton that Cheney was key in finally pushing through
the deal in April. "It is common knowledge that the CEO of
Halliburton took a number of major steps in order to get the
guarantees," said TNK's Andrei Krivorotov.
A new report by Washington's Center for Public Integrity now links a
major TNK shareholder--Russia's Alfa Group--with Central Asian drug
trafficking. Alfa Group hotly denies the claims, but the Center for
Public Integrity quotes a "US intelligence report" based on an
interview with an unidentified ex-KGB agent as saying that Alfa Bank
and its trading arm Alfa Eko were "deeply involved in the early '90s
in the laundering of Russian and Colombian money and in the
trafficking of drugs from the Far East to Europe." In 1997, Russian
parliamentarian Viktor Ilyukhin called upon the Interior Ministry to
open an investigation into the Alfa Group, charging it "participated
in the transit of drugs from Southeast Asia through Russia and into
Europe." He also cited sources in the FSB, successor agency to the
KGB.
[top]
THE WAR AT HOME
1. PRISON TRIES TO MOVE PALESTINIAN ACTIVIST
Thanks to protesting phone calls from radio listeners to the warden
of the Middlesex Adult Correctional Center, Farouk Abdel-Muhti, a
New York-based Palestinian activist who has
been imprisoned in Middlesex Adult Correctional Center since April
26, successfully fought back attempts to move him without the prison
first informing
his lawyer. Gilma Carmago, Abdel-Muhti's lawyer, was alerted by
Abdel-Muhti to the attempt to move him. She announced the number of
the prison on New York Radio station WBAI, and enough people called
the warden that he relented and did not move Abdel-Muhti. Abdel-Muhti
is being held without a hearing after he was arrested on the basis of
a 1995 deportation order, an order which still has not been shown to
his lawyer. But Abdel-Muhti was told specifically by federal
authorities that he was being arrested because of his political
activities, and that unless he informed on people in the Arab
community in the US, and on Palestinians in Palestine, he would
turned over to Israeli Intelligence. Under the Homeland Security Act,
Abdel-Muhti can be held for 90 days without a hearing. (see WW3
REPORT#32)(David Bloom)
Abdel-Muhti suffers from high blood pressure and has been
experiencing chest pains,yet the prison has been denying him proper
medical treatment, and he has complained about lack of adequate heat
where he is kept.
To protest Abdel-Muhti's conditions and to demand proper medical
treatment for him, please call the warden at the Middlesex Adult
Correctional Center:
732-297-3636
Abdel-Muhti would appreciate letters:
Middlesex Adult Correctional Center
Housing Unit 87408-HPAT
PO Box 266
New Brunswick NJ 08903
To demand Abdel-Muhti's immediate and unconditional release:
Write/Call/Fax:
Andrea J. Quarantillo
NJ District Director
INS Newark District Office
970 Broad St. Rm. 136
Newark, NJ 07102
Phone: 973-645-4421
Fax: 973-645-2304
Listen to an April 29 interview with Farouk Abdel-Muhti and Gilma Carmago on WBAI
[top]
2. US SENIOR CITIZEN ON TERRORIST NO-FLY LIST?
Johnnie Thomas is a 70 year old African American woman who went
through a Kafkaesque ordeal trying to remove her name from the "no
fly" list in March and April 2002. The trouble started because her
name is similar to an alias used by 28 year old red-head Christian
Michael Longo, who was arrested on January 13. After being
repeatedly searched and questioned at various airports, she called
the F.B.I. office in Paterson. A man who refused to give his name
returned her call to say "If you want your name off the list, hire a
lawyer."
She called her United States senators and a reporter, who put her in
touch with an F.B.I. counterterrorism specialist, who suggested that
she call the Federal Aviation Administration. The number listed for
the F.A.A. in Bergen County was not in service. She called the
Transportation Security Administration where she learned that only
the F.B.I. can remove her name from the "no fly" list. Thomas then
called a friend who had been in the foreign service. This friend
called a colleague, who called an F.B.I. counter-terrorism expert.
This agent didn't know what the N.I.S.D.B. and the N.G.A.T. stood for
but knew to try them next to ask if they could remove her name.
Ultimately, Thomas called F.B.I. headquarters in Washington and was
directed to the Fugitive Publicity Unit. She then talked to
Supervisory Special Agent Rob Haley, in the Criminal Investigative
Division. Haley checked with the Oregon F.B.I. and discovered that
one airline had been told not to allow John Thomas to fly, but if was
not Mrs. Thomas' airline. He couldn't say how Thomas' name had ended
up on the list and was pessimistic about removing her name from the
list.
Thomas has flown since these calls. Before one flight,
everything went smoothly but the next flight had her labeled "not
allowed to fly." "Something different happens every time" she goes to
the airport, she said last week. "It's scary. It's surreal-so surreal
that I've written a rap song about it. Here's the last verse. It's in
the voice of the F.B.I.: The identity of the anthraxer is a mystery,
that's true / But Mrs. Thomas, give us credit, we did catch you! /
Say uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh!'" (New Yorker, 13)(M.
Hope)
[top]
3. STUDENT VISA SCAM LINK TO 9/11?
A search of the Virginia home of a person allegedly involved in a
student visa scam turned up a student Federal Aviation Administration
flight manual, a hand-drawn diagram of a plane striking one of the
World Trade Center towers and a date book with a lone entry -
September 11. Flight school catalogs, videos on air and water
disasters, telephone listings with locations of oil refineries, a
postcard with an aerial view of the Pentagon and photos of men posing
outside and inside the trade center were also found. Another suspect
from Norfolk, Virginia, had a CD-ROM with the words "flight school"
on it in his car.
Fifty-eight people were arrested and charged with conspiracy and mail
fraud in 13 states in the student visa scam. The conspiracy and mail
fraud charges carry sentences of up to five years and a $250,000
fine. The scam involved paying people to take the Test of English as
a Foreign Language required of foreign students by many colleges. The
date book entry says: "Trackd the World Trade Center or the Pentagon
Trackd for the Plaen," indicating that poor spelling may have been
the motivation for participating in the TOEFL scam. Others arrested
had no visible connection to the September 11 attacks. (AP, May
10)(M. Hope)
[top]
4. STUDENTS BUSTED FOR HELPING 9/11 HIJACKERS
Federal prosecutors allege that Yemeni Mohdar Mohamed Abdoulah, 24, a
former San Diego State University student, assisted Khalid Almihdhar
and Nawaf Alhazmi, who are suspected of hijacking American Airlines
Flight 77 and crashing it into the Pentagon, by arranging flying
lessons for them and helped the men obtain California drivers'
licenses and Social Security cards. Abdoulah was arrested and held as
a material witness shortly after September 11. Prosecutors also
describe a third Flight 77 hijacker, Hani Hanjour, as Abdoulah's
friend. Abdoulah claims he had no advance knowledge of the attacks
and no idea of the role played by his acquaintances. Abdoulah is
being held on $500,000 bail for allegedly filing a false asylum
application, claiming that he was a member of a minority group that
faced persecution in Somalia.
Prosecutors referred to a notebook found in Abdoulah's car which
"contained references to planes falling from the sky, mass killings
and hijacking." Abdoulah's attorney said the writings were "rap
lyrics" written by a teen-ager who left the notebook in his client's
car. (AP, May 9)(M. Hope)
[top]
5. INS GOOFS: PART DEUX
The Immigration and Naturalization Service has accidentally given
congressional investigators its secret list of September 11
detainees. Now it wants the list returned. At the request of Senator
Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) and Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), the General
Accounting Office is investigating the treatment of the detainees.
These detainees are being held on charges of violating immigration
laws while they are investigated for suspected links to terrorism.
"We're fighting all these court battles to not give this out," one
official said. "He [INS chief James Ziglar] will get reamed out."
(AP, May 6)(WW3 REPORT Special Correspondent)
[top]
6. FBI AGENTS WARNED HEADQUARTERS ABOUT MOUSSAOUI, OTHERS
The FBI agent who arrested Zacarias Moussaoui--often referred to as
the "20th [9/11] hijacker"--warned his superiors a month before
September 11 "that this is the type of individual to take a plane and
hijack it." According to FBI Director Robert Mueller, the agent
expressed "the possibility of Moussaoui being the type of person who
could fly something into the World Trade Center." A post-9/11 search
of the Frenchman's computer and apartment turned up financial records
linking him to Al Qaeda. (NY Post, May 9) Two months before 9/11, an
FBI agent in Arizona warned headquarters about Middle Easterners
training at an aviation school there. (Daily News, May 4)(WW3 REPORT
Special Correspondent)
[top]
WATCHING THE SHADOWS
1. PETRO-OLIGARCHS EXPLOIT MIDDLE EAST CRISIS TO RAPE ALASKA
Opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), on Alaska's North
Slope, to oil exploitation was a major plank in Bush's presidential
campaign, and in the new White House energy policy report produced by
Vice President Dick Cheney's special task force (see WW3 REPORT
#19). On April 18, Senate Republicans fell well short of the 60 votes
needed to break a Democratic filibuster and allow a vote on an
amendment to open the ANWR to oil companies. White House press
secretary Ari Fleischer said President Bush would continue to fight
for drilling in the ANWR, but didn't say whether Bush would sign an
energy bill that does not include a provision for opening the refuge.
Alaska's senators, both Republicans, sponsored the ANWR drilling
amendment to the energy bill. The Republican-dominated House approved
a measure for ANWR drilling last summer. (NPR, April 18)
Drilling supporters explicitly argued ANWR oil was essential for
energy security due to tensions and war in the Middle East. In the
prelude to the Senate vote, Ari Fleischer said: "The president knows
that ANWR represents 46 years' worth of imports of oil from Saddam
Hussein's Iraq." Alaska's Sen. Frank Murkowski and his allies brought
out representatives of Jewish organizations, including B'nai Brith
International and the American Jewish Congress, to tell Congress that
the security of the US and Israel depends on greater oil production.
Murkowski and his allies also invoked the recent turmoil in
Venezuela, the USA's third largest oil supplier (see WW3 REPORT #30).
(NYT, April 11)
In March, the Senate rejected a bill to raise the required average
mileage of vehicles sold in the US to 36 miles per gallon by 2016, up
from 16 miles per gallon now. Federal fuel efficiency requirements
have not changed since 1985, and average mileage has been falling for
years because of the popularity of sports utility vehicles, which are
not subject to the same standards as other cars. (NYT, April 11)
[top]
2. USGS STUDY: CARIBOU LOVE OIL DEVELOPMENT
A government study has concluded that oil wells in the northwest
corner of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge will do little or no
harm to the thousands of caribou who bear their young on the coastal
plain. In a follow-up of an earlier report, the US Geological Survey
held that caribou survival would not be threatened as long the
eastern half of the Arctic coastal plain is left untouched. "The
impact was minimal on the Porcupine caribou herd," Interior
Department spokesman Eric Ruff said of the two-page report, prepared
by USGS biologists.
USGS Director Charles G. Groat ordered the new study after an earlier
one, released in late March, considered a wider range of drilling
scenarios. The first study found caribou calf survival would be
slashed by 8.2% in the event of oil development throughout the plain.
The new report was issued just as the Senate prepared to resume
debate on energy legislation--including amendments to open the ANWR
to oil companies. Critics dismissed the revised findings, saying not
enough information is in on how the caribou depend on the northwest
quadrant. "We can be pretty confident that there would be impacts,
but we don't have a model yet to measure them," said Ken Whitten, a
biologist who contributed to the original report.
The annual trek of the 123,000-caribou herd--named after the
Porcupine River--from the mountains of Canada to the Arctic coast is
North America's last great mammal migration. The spring and summer
weeks spent along the coast is thought crucial to survival of the
herd. Federal officials estimate there are 5.7 billion to 16 billion
barrels of oil underneath the coastal plain. (LAT, April 8)
The Bush administration repudiated the first USGS report that found
substantial risks to the Porcupine herd and other wildlife. "We're
not looking at what the USGS studied," said White House spokesperson
Gordon Johndroe. Groat then ordered biologists to report back within
10 days with a new study on drilling proponent's revised plan. The
first study found the herd "may be particularly sensitive to
development" because it has little quality habitat elsewhere, and the
survival of calves is linked to the caribou's ability to move freely.
Musk oxen were described as "vulnerable to disturbances" from
development because they live in the region year-round. Snow geese,
among millions of migratory birds on the plain, could be displaced,
and it can't be assumed they would find adequate feeding areas
elsewhere, the study said. The 78-page report was based on 12 years
of research. (AP, March 30)
[top]
3. THE POLAR BEARS LOVE OIL DEVELOPMENT?
The average winter temperature in Alaska has increased by 4 degrees
Centigrade during the last 40 years, ten times the speed of warming
in more temperate regions. Clifford Weyiouanna, a village elder from
Shishmaref,on an island just off the Alaska coast in the Chuckchi
Sea, told the Television Trust for the Environment's (TVE) Earth
Report production "Baked Alaska": "[T]he freeze-up of the Chukchi sea
has really changed .... That ocean out there should under normal
conditions be four feet thick. I went out, and the ocean ice was only
one foot thick." As ice melts, the island loses ground and storms
become more severe. Professor Gunter Weller, director of the Center
for Global Change and Arctic System Research at the University of
Alaska in Fairbanks, blames the Alaskan oil industry, which provides
80% of Alaskan income, for promoting an "excessive lifestyle." Other
scientists dispute this. They point to burgeoning populations of
polar bears and bowhead whales that benefit from the warmer water.
(BBC, May 7) (M. Hope)
[top]
4. INTERIOR DEPT. USES FUZZY MATH TO PLUG ANWR OIL DRILLING
In late February, Interior Secretary Gale Norton repeated the
standard response to concerns about extensive oil development in the
ANWR: "The impact will be limited to just 2,000 out of 1.9 million
acres of the refuge." That number comes from the House version of the
Bush-Cheney energy plan, which promises that "surface acreage covered
by production and support facilities" will not exceed 2,000 acres.
Wrote Paul Krugman in a March 1 New York Times column: "It's a
reassuring picture: a tiny enclave of development, practically lost
in the Arctic vastness. But that picture is a fraud. Development
won't be limited to a small enclave: according to the US Geological
Survey, oil in ANWR is scattered in many separate pools, so drilling
rigs would be spread all across the coastal plain." Among the tricks
in this fuzzy math is that the roads linking the rigs aren't part of
the 2,000 acres because they're not "production and support
facilities." And "surface acreage covered" is narrowly defined: if a
pipeline snakes across the terrain on a series of posts, only the
ground on which those posts rest counts; bare ground under the
pipeline isn't considered "covered."
[top]
5. ENVIRONMENTALISTS ICED FROM ENERGY TASK FORCE
E-mail records indicate that US Energy Department officials gave
environmental groups less than 48 hours to submit proposals for Vice
President Dick Cheney's national energy policy report last year. One
message from the Department's Margot Andersen to a colleague asking
him to contact environmental groups for comment on the plan was sent
at 11:49 PM Wednesday March 21, 2001. It said, "Need by Friday
afternoon." The e-mail listed 11 environmental groups to be
contacted. In contrast, 109 energy industry representatives met with
Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham from January to May 17, 2001, when
the report was released. The group Judicial Watch and the Natural
Resources Defense Council sued the Energy Department to gain access
to the e-mails and other documents. (NYT, April 11)
[top]
6. DID EXXON OUST U.N. CLIMATE CHIEF?
Greenpeace says it will target ExxonMobil in a new campaign to
protest what it calls the oil company's drive to remove the head of
the UN advisory body on global climate change. Robert Watson was
ousted as chairman of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change in a secret ballot in Geneva April 19. Watson, who advocated a
shift away from fossil fuels, was replaced by IPCC vice president
Rajendra Pachauri. The drive to oust Watson was led by the US.
(Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 23)
Two weeks earlier, word spread in DC that State Department officials
met with oil industry lobbyists shortly before the Department
announced its decision to challenge Watson. The Natural Resources
Defense Council released a 2001 memo it had obtained through the
Freedom of Information Act from Randy Randol, ExxonMobil's senior
environmental advisor, to John Howard of the White House Council on
Environmental Quality, on replacing Watson with someone more
sympathetic to the industry. "The White House teamed up with
ExxonMobil and other polluters in hopes of disrupting the IPCC's
effectiveness as the global authority on climate science," said
NRDC's David Doniger. (Greenwire, April 22)
[top]
7. CONGRESSIONAL HEARINGS ON "ECO-TERRORISM"
In February, the House Resources Sub-committee on Forests and Forest
Health held hearings on "eco-terrorism." Craig Rosebraugh, former
spokesperson for the Earth Liberation Front, was called to testify,
and invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination more
than 40 times during his appearance. Committee members accused him of
abusing his constitutional rights and threatened to charge him with
contempt. (Irish Times, Feb. 16)
Also testifying was Richard Berman, executive director of the Center
for Consumer Freedom, a DC-based property rights group
(www.consumerfreedom.com). Said Berman to the committee in a prepared
statement: "Eco-terrorism is indeed alive and well in the United
States of America, and it shares a common heritage with violent
animal-rights extremism. These radical movements have been
responsible for well over 1,000 documented criminal acts in the
U.S., most of which would be prosecuted as felonies if the
perpetrators could be brought to justice... On September 11th of last
year, on the very day America mourned the loss of thousands of lives
to foreign terrorists, our own homegrown version (the Earth
Liberation Front and the Animal Liberation Front, known as 'ELF' and
'ALF') took joint credit for firebombing a McDonald's restaurant in
Tucson, Arizona."
Berman assured the committee he supported the constitutional rights
of environmentalists, but the substance of his comments exposed this
as meaningless lip service. Said Berman: "Another eco-criminal, Dave
Foreman, pled guilty in 1991 to felony conspiracy in a plot to blow
up the power lines of three nuclear power generating stations. Mr.
Foreman was a cofounder of the radical 'Earth First!' organization,
the group from which the Earth Liberation Front split during a 1992
meeting in the United Kingdom. Among its other claims to fame, Earth
First! actually published the newsletter articles (in the Earth
First! Journal) from which 'Unabomber' Ted Kaczinski chose his last
two victims." (House testimony, Feb. 12, 2000)
This claim seems to originate from a 1996 story in the Washington
Post speculating that the Unabomber was inspired to blow up
Burson-Marstellar executive Thomas Mosser by an article in the Earth
First! Journal by Puerto Rico-based journalist Carmelo Ruiz exposing
the global PR firm's role in spin control for Exxon following the
1989 Valdez oil spill in Alaska. Ruiz's story never mentioned Mosser,
and he told the Post that blaming him for the death is akin to
blaming the Beatles for the Manson family's "Helter Skelter"
killings. (WP, April 17, 1996) Following the allegation against Ruiz,
Anne Petermann of the Native Forest Network said: "If writers or the
alternative press are afraid to expose corruption because of
potential consequences, then truth will take the back seat to
whatever entity has the money to grease the wheels of propaganda for
profit." (NFN press release, April 1996)
Berman's testimony also mentioned the Ruckus Society and Rainforest
Action Network, noting that they were "largely responsible for the
1999 anti-WTO protests in Seattle, which ended in mass rioting and
the destruction of Starbucks and McDonald's restaurants." (The Ruckus
Society, who mostly do street theater, have an explicit non-violence
code and were not involved in any window-smashing at Seattle. In any
case, most of the violence at Seattle came from the police.)
[top]
8. JUDI BARI CASE: ECO-ACTIVISTS FRAMED FOR TERRORISM SUE FBI
Lawyers for Oakland police officers and Earth First! activists formed
an unlikely alliance in an attempt to discredit trial testimony of an
FBI bomb specialist, who steadfastly denied he manipulated a
controversial investigation into a still unsolved 1990 car bombing.
Despite the combined attack on his credibility over three days of
testimony, career FBI bomb specialist Frank Doyle refused to budge
from his courtroom contentions. Doyle repeatedly denied misleading
Oakland investigators into believing that late eco-activist Judi Bari
and companion Darryl Cherney were violence-prone environmental
radicals who were probably guilty of transporting a pipe bomb that
exploded on May 24, 1990, blowing up Bari's station wagon and leaving
her permanently injured. Cherney was also injured in the attack, and
Bari later died of cancer.
Doyle has been the primary witness in an on-going civil rights
lawsuit that is now before a federal jury after a decade of legal
wrangling. Bari heirs and Cherney seek damages from three Oakland
police investigators and six FBI agents, including Doyle--who they
accuse of "framing" the two well-known activists in a bid to
discredit the Earth First! movement. Doyle, who retired earlier this
year from the FBI after 32 years, refused to acknowledge a key role
in the bombing investigation, or that he was considered the FBI's
premier bomb expert in Northern California law enforcement offices.
Now a consultant on terrorist tactics in the Middle East for the US
State Department, Doyle conceded he has investigated nearly 200
bombing cases over his career, and has often been the lead instructor
in FBI training programs on explosive devices. But he would not agree
that experience makes him an "expert." Oakland city attorney Maria
Bee Tuesday attacked Doyle's credibility by citing a series of
inconsistencies with earlier sworn statements he gave at pre-trial
hearings. She read aloud from one document in which Doyle
acknowledged he was testifying as "an expert." The activists'
attorneys argue that Doyle and the FBI manipulated the Oakland police
in a rush to judgment, convincing them that Bari and Cherney were
perpetrators of a crime and not victims of a car bombing. Oakland
police investigators testified that within an hour of the mid-day
bomb blast on an Oakland street, they relied almost exclusively on
Doyle and fellow agents in the FBI's San Francisco counter-terrorism
squad for advice in how to proceed with the case. (Santa Rosa Press
Democrat, April 24)
For more info on the case, please see: www.judibari.org
[top]
[top] GLIMMERS OF HOPE
1. GREEN ENERGY FOR GOTHAM CITY?
Last November, San Francisco overwhelmingly approved a ballot
initiative to make the city the nation's top producer of solar power.
(See WW3 REPORT #8) Now even New York city and state--where there is
no referendum process, and consumers have not been chastened by the
California energy crisis--are starting to get with the program. But
it is citizens and localities that are in the lead while state and
city governments cite the supposedly prohibitive cost of "green energy." Writes
Chesley Hicks in a special Earth Day report in New York's on-line
Gotham Gazette: "Fortunately, some individuals and private
organizations are taking their own initiatives for on-site sources of
wind and solar power. A non-profit business cooperative that serves
New York City, called 1st Rochdale, intends to have a self-generated
residential building running this summer, a project that will include
solar panels. It is also working to finish a contract with the state
energy authority to offer green power to commercial customers.... New
York State's geography is particularly amenable to the proliferation
of green energy. The alternative energy website of the Department of
Energy declares that New York has excellent wind resources and that
solar power is 'useful throughout the state.' In the towns of Fenner
and Madison in New York's Madison County, two privately-owned wind
farms have opened over the last year and a half. The one in Fenner,
the largest wind farm in the eastern United States, generates enough
electricity to power 10,000 homes." Hicks says these technologies are
cost-effective when environmental considerations are factored into
the price: "On-site technologies like wind turbines and solar panels
are initially costly but pay off considerably not only by generating
'free energy' for years, but by giving clean air and unspoiled land
back to the public." ( Full story:
www.gothamgazette.com) [top]
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member states of the U.N. General Assembly
to found an International Criminal Tribunal for Palestine (ICTP)
in order to prosecute Israeli war criminals, both military and
civilian, including and especially Israeli political leaders
such as Sharon. The U.N. General Assembly can set up this ICTP
by a majority vote pursuant to its powers to establish "subsidiary
organs" under U.N. Charter Article 22. This International
Criminal Tribunal for Palestine should be organized by the U.N.
General Assembly along the same lines as the International Criminal
Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, which deals with international
armed conflicts.
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