Iraq inquiry to hear evidence in private –Findings will not be published until next summer 15 June 2009 The Prime Minister today announced his inquiry into the Iraq war would be held in private – to the dismay of campaigners. And its findings will not be published until next summer, after the date of the next General Election – an announcement met by jeers from Opposition MPs. Gordon Brown said the probe would be conducted by non-politicians, led by ex-Whitehall mandarin Sir John Chilcot.
‘It’s an affront to British democracy that this war went ahead despite the overwhelming majority of people being against it.’ Demonstrators protest at secret inquiry 15 Jun 2009 Protesters angry at the Government’s decision to hold the Iraq inquiry in secret gathered at Westminster today. As Prime Minister Gordon Brown addressed MPs, a crowd of demonstrators who were furious at the move filled Parliament Square.
Mission accomplished! Iraq unveils foreign oil contract shortlist –Exxonmobil, Total, BP, BG International and Premier Oil have been shortlisted to bid for contracts to work on Iraq’s oil and gasfields. 10 Jun 2009 Three British companies have been shortlisted to bid for contracts to work on Iraq’s oil and gas fields, pitting themselves against 32 other non-Iraqi companies in a televised, two-day bidding procedure revealed at Baghdad’s Oil Ministry. BP, BG International and Premier Oil were among the 120 companies who put themselves forward in June last year, and which now appear on the shortlist of 35 companies who are invited to submit proposals for consideration by a panel of experts at the Ministry. Along with other oil majors including Exxonmobil and Total, they are due to present proposals on June 29 and 30 to work on one of six oil fields and two gas fields.
As Iraq runs dry, a plague of snakes is unleashed –An unprecedented fall in the water levels of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers has left the rural population at the mercy of heat, drought – and displaced wildlife. 15 Jun 2009 Swarms of snakes are attacking people and cattle in southern Iraq as the Euphrates and Tigris rivers dry up and the reptiles lose their natural habitat among the reed beds. Doctors in the area say six people have been killed and 13 poisoned. The plague of snakes is the latest result of an unprecedented fall in the level of the water in the Euphrates and the Tigris, the two great rivers which for thousands of years have made life possible [until Bush arrived] in the sun-baked plains of Mesopotamia, the very name of which means “between the rivers” in Greek.
CIA head says Cheney almost wishing US be attacked 14 Jun 2009 CIA Director Leon Panetta says former Vice President [sic] Dick Cheney’s criticism of the Obama administration’s approach to terrorism almost suggests “he’s wishing that this country would be attacked again, in order to make his point.” Panetta told The New Yorker for an article in its June 22 issue that Cheney “smells some blood in the water” on the issue of national security. [Right, and Obama many of Bush-Cheney's 'burrowers' in his administration, so no surprises if another 9/11-style terror attack takes place.]
Afghan intelligence detains Al-Jazeera reporters 15 Jun 2009 Afghanistan’s intelligence agents have reportedly detained two producers working for Doha-based satellite TV channel, Al-Jazeera. Qais Azimy and Hamedullah Shah, who work for the station’s English and Arabic services, have been held by Afghan authorities since Sunday. The station said in a statement that it has been unable to contact the two since then. “Al-Jazeera is officially requesting information from the Afghan authorities and is calling for Qais and Hamedullah’s immediate release,” the statement read. It remains unclear why the two have been arrested by Afghan forces. [Notice that US media coverage of detention of reporters only takes place when the offending power is an adversary of the US, such as Iran or North Korea?]
Afghanistan has patchy control in Helmland 14 Jun 2009 The governor in Afghanistan’s most violent province has said the government now only controls eight of its thirteen districts. The governor of Helmand has said the government has lost control in three Helmand districts on the northern end of the province and two in the south.
US general assumes command in Afghanistan 15 Jun 2009 US General Stanley McChrystal, tasked with carrying out the new US ‘strategy’ in the war against the Taliban, has formally assumed command of international troops in Afghanistan. McChrystal, a former commander of special operations forces in Iraq and Afghanistan [war criminal], was nominated in May after the United States sacked his predecessor and called for “new thinking” in the fight against the insurgency.
Neo-Nazis are in the Army now –Why the U.S. military is ignoring its own regulations and permitting white supremacists to join its ranks. By Matt Kennard 14 Jun 2009 As the conflicts have dragged on, the military has loosened regulations, issuing “moral waivers” in many cases, allowing even those with criminal records to join up… The lax regulations have also opened the military’s doors to neo-Nazis, white supremacists and gang members — with drastic consequences. Some neo-Nazis have been charged with crimes inside the military, and others have been linked to recruitment efforts for the white right… Many white supremacists join the Army to secure training for, as they see it, a future domestic race war. Others claim to be shooting Iraqis not to pursue the military’s strategic goals but because killing “hajjis” is their duty as white militants… Tom Metzger is the former grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan and current leader of the White Aryan Resistance. He tells me the military has never been more tolerant of racial extremists. “Now they are letting everybody in,” he says.
In Tehran, anti-West protests erupt too 15 Jun 2009 As pro-Moussavi supporters staged a civil rally in Tehran, demonstrators from the opposite camp have gathered outside the British and French embassies in Tehran. Waving Iranian flags and chanting anti-US and British slogans, the demonstrators gathered on Monday to protest what they called western involvement in Iran’s internal affairs.
The Iranian People Speak 15 Jun 2009 The election results in Iran may reflect the will of the Iranian people. Many experts are claiming that the margin of victory of incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was the result of fraud or manipulation, but our nationwide public opinion survey of Iranians three weeks before the vote showed Ahmadinejad leading by a more than 2 to 1 margin — greater than his actual apparent margin of victory in Friday’s election. While Western news reports from Tehran in the days leading up to the voting portrayed an Iranian public enthusiastic about Ahmadinejad’s principal opponent, Mir Hossein Mousavi, our scientific sampling from across all 30 of Iran’s provinces showed Ahmadinejad well ahead.
Palestinians: Netanyahu is ‘sabotaging’ peace efforts 14 Jun 2009 The Palestinian Authority on Sunday criticized Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s highly anticipated foreign policy speech, in which he called for immediate peace talks and endorsed the creation of Palestinian state without military capabilities. An aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said that the speech “sabotages” regional peace efforts, due to Netanyahu’s refusal to accept an influx of Palestinian refugees into Israel and his unwillingness to compromise on the status of Jerusalem.
Lebanon charges 2 colonels with spying for Israel 15 Jun 2009 Two Lebanese army colonels have been charged with spying for Israel as the country continues a campaign against Israeli spy networks. Military prosecutor Saqr Saqr charged the two, who were arrested last month, with providing Israel with information about military and security positions, as well as civilian locations and aiding Israeli forces, a court official said.
Life in paradise as Guantanamo Four take a dip, eat ice cream, and plan first Uighur restaurant in British territory of Bermuda 15 Jun 2009 They look like ordinary tourists as they stroll along the seafront on the British territory of Bermuda, but these four men are far from regular sunseekers for they have spent the last seven years locked up in Guantanamo Bay. The former terror suspects are Uighurs – members of China’s Muslim Turkic-speaking minority… They were detained by the Americans, who eventually determined they were not a threat to the United States. But because no country volunteered to take them and it was feared they would be detained and tortured if they were returned to China, the men were left in limbo.
FM denies Yemeni Guantanamo detainees transferring to Saudi Arabia 14 Jun 2009 An official source at Foreign Ministry denied on Sunday reports that Yemeni inmates at Guantanamo Bay prison would be transported to terrorist rehabilitation centers in Saudi Arabia. The source told 26sep.net that the Yemeni and American sides still continued their talks over transporting the detainees to Yemen and tackling their situation.
EU and US draw up plans for new counter-terrorism regime 15 Jun 2009 European governments and the Obama administration today outlined aims for a new joint regime for combating terrorism. The proposals are based on common principles that would make it impossible to run detention camps such as Guantánamo Bay or secretly abduct suspects in the operations known as extraordinary rendition. EU officials say that the aim was also to come up with a broader joint agenda for fighting international organised crime, intelligence sharing, international travel security and data protection.
Whitehall plans new cyber security centre –US and Canada may join UK to fight off infiltration14 Jun 2009 A national cyber security centre to combat the growing threat of criminal gangs and foreign states hacking into Whitehall and big business is to be announced this month by the prime minister. The centre will be the main theme of a revised national security strategy paper from No 10 which will place much greater emphasis on tackling the threat. The organisation will be similar to an agency being created by Barack Obama who is appointing a cyber tsar to fight what the US president referred to last month as “weapons of mass disruption”. Britain has been holding talks with the US and Canada to co-ordinate operations against cyber attacks by foreign powers and terrorists.
‘We don’t want to end up with National ID Lite.’ Administration Plans to Rebrand Real ID Law–The new plan, called Pass ID, keeps elements of Real ID, such as requiring a digital photograph, signature and machine-readable features such as a bar code. 14 Jun 2009 Yielding to a rebellion by states that refused to pay for it, the Obama administration is moving to scale backrebrand a federal law passed after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that was designed to tighten security requirements for driver’s licenses, Homeland Security Department and congressional officials said… Privacy groups also objected, saying Real ID should just be killed.
ACLU Seeks Records About Laptop Searches At the Border –Border Patrol Policy Allows Officials to Search and Retain Information Without Suspicion (ACLU) 10 Jun 2009 United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) policy permits officials to search the laptops and other electronic devices of travelers without suspicion of wrongdoing, according to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed today by the American Civil Liberties Union. The ACLU filed the FOIA request with CBP, a component of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), to learn how CBP’s suspicionless search policy, first made public in July 2008, is impacting the constitutional rights of international travelers.
No change: Obama ambassadorships still go to fundraisers, friends 12 Jun 2009 President Barack Obama promised change, but he’s following one time-honored tradition: doling out plum ambassadorships to friends and big-money party donors. So far, Obama’s contributors and friends have been awarded with plum posts in Canada, France, England, Japan, South Africa, Ireland, the Bahamas, Denmark, Argentina and the Vatican.
California’s hard times driving people back to the ‘Dust Bowl’ 14 Jun 2009 Fleeing the Great Depression and a drought unprecedented in American history, a vast wave of Oklahomans and Texans dubbed “Okies” loaded everything they could onto crowded vehicles during the 1930s and headed west for California. Today, in huge numbers, their grandchildren are moving back.
Projection: It’ll be years before jobs return to much of U.S. 14 Jun 2009 Unlike the labor market collapse that killed millions of U.S. jobs in a matter of months, the nation’s return to peak employment will not be nearly as uniform nor as swift. Only six metropolitan areas across the country are expected to regain their pre-recession employment levels by the end of 2009, according to projections from IHS Global Insight, a leading economic forecaster.
