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Saturday, March 19, 2011: Resist the War Machine!
8th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq
In San Francisco, people will gather at 12 noon for a rally at UN Plaza (7th & Market Sts.) followed by a march to Lo. 2 boycotted hotels. The theme of the March 19 march and rally will be "No to War & Colonial Occupation - Fund Jobs, Healthcare & Education - Solidarity with SF Hotel Workers!" 12,000 SF hotel workers, members of UNITE-HERE Local 2, have been fighting for a new contract that protects their healthcare, wages and working conditions.
http://www.answercoalition.org/sf/index.html
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RALLY AGAINST THE WARS AGAINST WORKING PEOPLE AT HOME AND ABROAD! BACK TO THE STREETS! BRING THE TROOPS HOME NOW!
SATURDAY, APRIL 10, 2011
ASSEMBLE AT DOLORES PARK AT 11:00 A.M.
NOON RALLY
MARCH AT 1:30 P.M.
THEY are the government, corporate, and financial powers that wage war, ravage the environment and the economy and trample on our democratic rights and liberties.
WE are the vast majority of humanity who want peace, a healty planet and a society that prioritizes human needs, democracy and civil liberties for all.
WE DEMAND Bring U.S. Troops, Mercenaries and War Contractors Home Now: Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan! End the sanctions and stop the threats of war against the people of Iran, North Korea and Yemen. No to war and plunder of the people of Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa! End U.S. Aid to Israel! End U.S. Support to the Israeli Occupation of Palestine and the Siege of Gaza! End support of dictators in North Africa!
WE DEMAND an end to FBI raids on antiwar, social justice, and international solidarity activists, an end to the racist persecution and prosecutions that ravage Muslim communities, an end to police terror in Black and Latino communities, full rights and legality for immigrants and an end to all efforts to repress and punish Wikileaks and its contributors and founders.
WE DEMAND the immediate end to torture, rendition, secret trials, drone bombings and death squads.
WE DEMAND trillions for jobs, education, social services, an end to all foreclosures, quality single-payer healthcare for ail, a massive conversion to sustainable and planet-saving energy systems and public transportation and reparations to the victims of U.S. terror at home and abroad.
Next organizing meeting Sunday, February 20, 1:00 P.M., Centro del Pueblo, 474 Valencia Street (between 15th and 16th Streets, San Francisco)
Sponsored by the United National Antiwar Committee (UNAC)
www.unacpeace.org
unacnortherncalifornia@gmail.com
415-49-NO-WAR
Facebook.com/EndTheWars
Twitter.com/UNACPeace
TRADUCCION:
Marcha en contra de las guerras: en casa y en el exterior
Ellos son el gobierno y las corporaciones que financian las guerras, destruyen el medio ambiente, la economía y pisotean nuestras libertades y derechos democráticos.
Nosotros, somos la gran mayoría de la humanidad y queremos paz. Un planeta saludable y una sociedad que priorice en las necesidades humanas, la democracia y las libertades civiles para todos.
Nosotros, demandamos que las tropas militares, los mercenarios y los contratistas de guerra que enviaron a Irak, Afganistán, y Paquistán sean traídas de regreso a los Estados Unidos ¡Ahora! Que paren con las sanciones y las amenazas de guerra en contra de los pueblos de Irán, Corea del Norte y Yemen; y que los Estados Unidos deje de colaborar con Israel en la invasión y acoso a Palestina y Gaza. No al saqueo de los pueblos de América Latina, el Caribe y África; que paren la persecución racista que amenaza las comunidades musulmanas y que paren el terror policiaco en contra de las comunidades negras y latinas; derechos totales y legalización para los emigrantes.
Nosotros, demandamos que el FBI pare de inmediato la persecución a los luchadores por la justicia social y la solidaridad internacional; como también pongan un alto a todos los esfuerzos que reprimen y castigan a los contribuidores y fundadores de Wikileaks.
Nosotros, demandamos trillones de dólares para trabajos, educación y servicios sociales; que cesen todos los embargos de viviendas y desalojos; un programa de salud gratuito y de calidad para todos; un programa energético de conversión masiva que salve al planeta y buen el sistema de transporte público. Y reparaciones para las víctimas del terror de estados unidos aquí en casa y en el exterior.
VICTORY IN EGYPT!
U.S. Hands off the Ongoing Egyptian Revolution!
End US Military Aid to Egypt and Israel!
A Statement by the United National Antiwar Committee
On Friday, February 11th, the heroic Egyptian people won a historic victory with the ouster of Hosni Mubarak. Now they are proceeding to secure this victory by moving on to eliminate the rest of this hated regime, and to win the freedom, jobs, equality and dignity which has motivated their revolution from the start.
The announcement of Mubarak's resignation was coupled with news that the officers of the Armed Forces are now running the country. This comes as more and more rank and file soldiers and lower-level officers were joining the protests, and as others stood by as protesters blockaded the state TV, parliament and other government facilities.
We can be sure that the military hierarchy in alliance with what's left of the old regime will do everything in their power to stop the blossoming revolution in its tracks, to tell the protesters they must go home now and wait for gifts from on high.
AND THE DANGER IS REAL THAT WHEN THE MASSES SAY NO THAT THE MILITARY WILL DO WHAT IT DOES BEST.
We can be equally sure that Washington will give its full blessing and backing to these efforts of the remnants of the old regime and the military. Obama has made clear that he is solidly committed to the new face of the Egyptian regime, Omar Suleiman, who has proven over the years that he will collaborate with Washington in its torture and rendition policies. Meanwhile Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was quoted in the New York Times saying that Washington would help organize political parties for future elections in Egypt - a typical maneuver used to subvert revolutions.
The United National Antiwar Committee has repeatedly urged supporters to mobilize for demonstrations called by Egyptian organizations in the US in solidarity with the revolution in Egypt and against US military and diplomatic intervention. UNAC hails the call for today's march in Washington, DC by Egyptian groups, and takes this opportunity to point out the special obligations of antiwar activists in the US given Washington's multifaceted efforts to obstruct the wishes of the majority of the Egyptian people.
The $1.3 billion a year in military aid which the US gives to Egypt must be cut off immediately. All US soldiers serving in Egypt, such as those in the Multinational Force in the Sinai, must be immediately withdrawn. And the US warships headed for Egypt must be immediately turned around.
UNAC has from its founding opposed all US aid to Israel. That position takes on particular importance given the real danger that as the Egyptian revolution advances, Israel will intervene to derail it - or launch new attacks against Lebanon, Gaza, or elsewhere, as a diversionary tactic.
Amidst the euphoria in Cairo, Al Jazeera interviewed a young woman in the crowd, who said:
"Its not just about Mubarak stepping down. It is about the process of bringing the people to power... The issue of women, the issue of Palestine, now everything seems possible."
WE MUST ENSURE THOSE POSSIBILITIES STAY ALIVE! UNAC ENCOURAGES ALL ANTIWAR ACTIVISTS AND ORGANIZATIONS TO STEP UP SUPPORT FOR RALLIES PLANNED BY THE EGYPTIAN COMMUNITY, AND TO INITIATE THEM WHERE NONE ARE PLANNED.
Finally, we urge all supporters of the Egyptian people to redouble efforts to build the national antiwar marches called by UNAC for April 9th in New York and April 10th in San Francisco. These marches, called to demand an end to US wars and occupations in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, an end to support for Israeli occupation, and in favor of social justice and jobs, take on ever more importance with the revolts in Tunisia, Egypt, and elsewhere throughout the Arab world and Washington's attempts to crush or derail them.
SUPPORT THE FIGHT FOR DEMOCRACY AND AGAINST EXPLOITATION AND OPPRESSION THROUGHOUT THE ARAB WORLD!
BUILD THE NATIONAL ANTIWAR MARCHES ON APRIL 9TH AND 10TH!
For more information: In SF: UNACNorthernCalifornia@gmail.com; (415) 49 NO War; www.unacpeace.org, unacpeace@gmail.com. For NYC information: unac-nyc@juno.com
San Franciscans/Northern California: Next UNAC Organizing Meeting: Sunday February 20 at 1 PM, Centro del Pueblo, 474 Valencia Street, (between 15th and 16th Streets in the rear) SF
SAVE THE DATE: Sunday, APRIL 10, Mass antiwar/social justice march and rally, Assemble: 11 AM Dolores Park, 19th and Dolores; Rally Noon; March at 1:30 pm.
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Bay Area United Against War Newsletter
Table of Contents:
A. EVENTS AND ACTIONS
B. VIDEO, FILM, AUDIO. ART, POETRY, ETC.
C. SPECIAL APPEALS AND ONGOING CAMPAIGNS
D. ARTICLES IN FULL
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A. EVENTS AND ACTIONS
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"Never Again for Anyone," with Auschwitz Survivor Hajo Meyer & Islamic Scholar Hatem Bazian
February 17, 2011
First Presbyterian Church
2619 Broadway (12 blocks from MacArthur BART)
Oakland, California
http://www.mecaforpeace.org/events/never-again-anyone-auschwitz-survivor-hajo-meyer-islamic-scholar-hatem-bazian
Tickets: $15 general, $10 for low-income/students
Buy ticketsthrough Brown Paper Tickets online or by calling 1-800-838-3006
Wheelchair accessible, ASL interpreted
Benefit for MECA's Maia Project: Clean Water for the Children of Gaza
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Global Day of Action
Defend Trade Union Rights in Mexico
Friday, February 18, 2011, 12:00 pm
Mexican Consulate
532 Folsom Street (btwn 1st street and Essex)
San Francisco, CA
Day of Action Demands:
Hold government officials accountable for the Pasta de Conchos mine explosion that killed 65 miners on February 19, 2005.
Abolish systemic violations of workers' freedom of association, including employer-dominated "protection contracts" and interference in union elections.
End the use of force-by the state or private parties- to repress workers' legitimate demands for democratic unions, better wages and working conditions, and good health and safety conditions.
End the campaign of political persecution against the Mexican Miner's Union and the Mexican Electrical Workers' Union.
For more details contact Amber Baur for additional information or with any questions at amber@sflaborcouncil.org or (415) 440-4809 x 16.
Allan Fisher
afisher800@gmail.com
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US President Barack Obama may soon announce plans to expand Afghan security forces by roughly 70,000 over current targets by year's end. The plan is expensive: It would cost the United States another $6 billion next year -- nearly twice as much as previously planned.
The United States needs JOBS and a full-employment economy. NOT MORE WARS OR MILITARY SPENDING!
Please join us in demonstrating for Peace on February 18 at 2 PM., corner of University at Acton. Wheelchair accessible.
Sponsors:
Strawberry Creek Tenants Association
Fran Rachael
841-4143
Berkeley GRAY PANTHERS
Phone: (510)548-9696 FAX: (510)548-9697
Email: GrayPanthersBerk@aol.com
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Next Meeting of United National Antiwar Committee (UNAC) Steering Committee Meeting to Build April 10!
All BAy Area antiwar and peace and justice activists invited.
Sunday, February 20, 1:00 P.M.
Centro del Pueblo
474 Valencia Street (Between 15th and 16th Streets -- second floor, in the rear.)
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MEDIA RELEASE from Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists (BFUU)
A Benefit Evening to Support Bradley Manning
Thursday, Feb 24, 2011 7 - 9 pm
Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists
Fellowship Hall address: 1924 Cedar Street , Berkeley CA 94709
Sponsored by: Courage To Resist, Social Justice Committee of the Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists & Code Pink Golden Gate
Wheelchair Accessible. Suggested Donation is $5 - 10. No one turned away for lack of funds.
Dr. Caroline Knowles of the Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists will give the welcoming remarks.
Daniel Ellsberg will speak. As the "Pentagon Papers" whistle-blower of the Vietnam War era, he is in a unique position to put the the current issues into historical context.
http://www.ellsberg.net
Senator Mike Gravel has been referencing the damage to a democratic society that excessive secrecy and media manipulation has had on the ability of citizens to exercise informed judgment. All the while the government has passed more repressive laws since the 9/11 attacks that intrude on citizen privacy and rights.
http://www.mikegravel.us
Jeff Patterson of "Courage To Resist" will provide an overview of the issues and the history of Bradley Manning's case.
http://www.couragetoresist.org
Cynthia Papermaster of Code Pink Golden Gate chapter will MC. She will offer views on the treatment of Bradley Manning and will report on her recent experience at the demonstration on MLK DAY at Fort Quantico Prison where Bradley Manning is being held in solitary confinement.
http://www.codepinkgoldengate.org
Details of the event can be found at BFUU Upcoming Events Webpage.
Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists
Fellowship Hall address: 1924 Cedar Street , Berkeley CA 94709
Phone: 510-841-4824
www.bfuu.org
office@bfuu.org
Submitted by
Shirley Adams
404-245-7977 (cell)
BFUU Membership Team
The only gift is a portion of thyself.- Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Saturday, March 19, 2011: Resist the War Machine!
8th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq
In San Francisco, people will gather at 12 noon for a rally at UN Plaza (7th & Market Sts.) followed by a march to Lo. 2 boycotted hotels. The theme of the March 19 march and rally will be "No to War & Colonial Occupation - Fund Jobs, Healthcare & Education - Solidarity with SF Hotel Workers!" 12,000 SF hotel workers, members of UNITE-HERE Local 2, have been fighting for a new contract that protects their healthcare, wages and working conditions.
Come to Washington, D.C., on March 19 for veterans-led civil resistance at the White House
March 19 is the 8th anniversary of the invasion and occupation of Iraq. Iraq today remains occupied by nearly 50,000 U.S. soldiers and tens of thousands of foreign mercenaries.
Saturday, March 19, 2011, the anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, will be an international day of action against the war machine.
The war in Afghanistan is raging. The U.S. is invading and bombing Pakistan. The U.S. is financing endless atrocities against the people of Palestine, relentlessly threatening Iran and bringing Korea to the brink of a new war.
While the United States will spend $1 trillion for war, occupation and weapons in 2011, 30 million people in the United States remain unemployed or severely underemployed, and cuts in education, housing and healthcare are imposing a huge toll on the people.
Actions of civil resistance are spreading.
Last Dec. 16, a veterans-led civil resistance at the White House played an important role in bringing the anti-war movement from protest to resistance. Enduring hours of heavy snow, 131 veterans and other anti-war activists lined the White House fence and were arrested.
In Washington, D.C., on March 19 there will be an even larger veterans-led civil resistance at the White House initiated by Veterans for Peace. People from all over the country are joining together for a Noon Rally at Lafayette Park, followed by a march on the White House where the veterans-led civil resistance will take place.
Many people coming to Washington, D.C., will be also participating in the Sunday, March 20 demonstration at the Quantico Marine Base in Virginia to support PFC Bradley Manning. Quantico is one hour from D.C. Manning is suspected of leaking Iraq and Afghan war logs to Wikileaks. For the last eight months, he has been held in solitary confinement, pre-trial punishment, rather than pre-trial detention.
The ANSWER Coalition is fully mobilizing its east coast and near mid-west chapters and activist networks to be at the White House.
In Los Angeles, the March 19 rally and march will gather at 12 noon at Hollywood and Vine.
A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
http://www.AnswerCoalition.org/
info@AnswerCoalition.org
National Office in Washington DC: 202-265-1948
Boston: 857-334-5084 | New York City: 212-694-8720 | Chicago: 773-463-0311
San Francisco: 415-821-6545| Los Angeles: 213-251-1025 | Albuquerque: 505-268-2488
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Are you joining us on April 8 at the Pentagon in a climate chaos protest codenamed "Operation Disarmageddon?" It has been decided that affinity groups will engage in nonviolent autonomous actions. Do you have an affinity group? Do you have an idea for an action?
So far these are some of the suggested actions:
Send a letter to Sec. of War Robert Gates demanding a meeting to disclose the Pentagon's role in destroying the planet. He will ignore the letter, so a delegation would then go to the Metro Entrance to demand a meeting.
Use crime tape around some area of the Pentagon. The idea of crime/danger taping off the building could be done just outside the main Pentagon reservation entrance (intersection of Army/Navy) making the Alexandria PD the arresting authority (if needed) and where there is no ban on photography. Hazmat suits, a 'converted' truck (or other vehicle) could be part of the street theater. The area where I am thinking is also almost directly below I-95 and there is a bridge over the intersection - making a banner drop possible. Perhaps with the hazmat/street closure at ground level with a banner from above. If possible a coordinated action could be done at other Pentagon entrances and / or other war making institutions.
A procession onto the Pentagon reservation, without reservations, and set up a camp on one of the lawns surrounding The Pentagon. This contingent would reclaim the space in the name of peace and Mother Earth. This contingent would plan to stay there until The Pentagon is turned into a 100% green building using sustainable energy employing people who work for peace and the abolishment of war and life-affirming endeavors.
Bring a potted tree to be placed on the Pentagon's property to symbolize the need to radically reduce its environmental destructiveness.
Since the Pentagon is failing to return to the taxpayers the money it has misappropriated, "Foreclose on the Pentagon."
Banner hanging from a bridge.
Hand out copies of David Swanson's book WAR IS A LIE. Try to deliver a copy to Secretary of War Robert Gates.
Have short speeches in park between Pentagon and river; nice photo with Pentagon in background.
Die-in and chalk or paint outlines of victim's bodies everywhere that remain after the arrest to point to where real crimes are really being committed.
Establish command center, Peacecom? Paxcom? Put several people in white shirts and ties plus a few generals directing their armies for "Operation Disarmageddon."
Make the linkage between the tax dollars going to the Pentagon and war tax resistance. Use the WRL pie chart and carry banners "foreclose on war" and "money for green jobs not war jobs."
Hold a rally with representative speakers before going to the Pentagon Reservation. This would be an opportunity to speak out against warmongering and the Pentagon's role in destroying the environment.
As part of "Operation Disarmageddon," we will take a tree and plant it on the reservation. Our sign reads, "Plant trees not landmines."
Use crime tape on Army/Navy Drive to declare the Pentagon a crime scene. Do street theater there as well. Other affinity groups could go to selected entrances.
Establish a Peace Command Center at the Pentagon. Hold solidarity actions at federal buildings and corporate offices.
What groups have you contacted to suggest joining us at the Pentagon? See below for those who plan to be at the Pentagon on April 8 and for what groups have been contacted.
Kagiso,
Max
April 8, 2011 participants
Beth Adams
Ellen Barfield
Tim Chadwick
Joy First
Jeffrey Halperin
Malachy Kilbride
Max Obuszewski
David Swanson
April 8 Outreach
Beth Adams -- Earth First, Puppet Underground, Emma's Revolution, Joe Gerson-AFSC Cambridge, Code Pink(national via Lisa Savage in Maine), Vets for Peace, FOR, UCC Justice & Witness Ministries, Traprock, Nipponzan Myohoji Buddhist Order, (National-INt'l) Vets for Peace and WILPF, Pace e Bene, Christian Peace Witness & UCC Justice & Witness (Cleveland).
Tim Chadwick -- Brandywine, Lepoco, Witness against Torture, Vets for Peace (Thomas Paine Chapter Lehigh Valley PA), and Witness for Peace DC.
Jeffrey Halperin -- peace groups in Saratoga Spring, NY
Jack Lombardo - UNAC will add April 8 2011 to the Future Actions page on our blog, and make note in upcoming E-bulletins, but would appreciate a bit of descriptive text from the organizers and contact point to include when we do - so please advise ASAP! Also, we'll want to have such an announcement for our next print newsletter, which will be coming out in mid-December.
Max Obuszewski - Jonah House & Pledge of Resistance-Baltimore
Bonnie Urfer notified 351 individuals and groups on the Nukewatch list
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RALLY AGAINST THE WARS AGAINST WORKING PEOPLE AT HOME AND ABROAD! BACK TO THE STREETS! BRING THE TROOPS HOME NOW!
SATURDAY, APRIL 10, 2011
ASSEMBLE AT DOLORES PARK AT 11:00 A.M.
NOON RALLY
MARCH AT 1:30 P.M.
THEY are the government, corporate, and financial powers that wage war, ravage the environment and the economy and trample on our democratic rights and liberties.
WE are the vast majority of humanity who want peace, a healty planet and a society that prioritizes human needs, democracy and civil liberties for all.
WE DEMAND Bring U.S. Troops, Mercenaries and War Contractors Home Now: Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan! End the sanctions and stop the threats of war against the people of Iran, North Korea and Yemen. No to war and plunder of the people of Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa! End U.S. Aid to Israel! End U.S. Support to the Israeli Occupation of Palestine and the Siege of Gaza! End support of dictators in North Africa!
WE DEMAND an end to FBI raids on antiwar, social justice, and international solidarity activists, an end to the racist persecution and prosecutions that ravage Muslim communities, an end to police terror in Black and Latino communities, full rights and legality for immigrants and an end to all efforts to repress and punish Wikileaks and its contributors and founders.
WE DEMAND the immediate end to torture, rendition, secret trials, drone bombings and death squads.
WE DEMAND trillions for jobs, education, social services, an end to all foreclosures, quality single-payer healthcare for ail, a massive conversion to sustainable and planet-saving energy systems and public transportation and reparations to the victims of U.S. terror at home and abroad.
Next organizing meeting Sunday, February 20, 1:00 P.M., Centro del Pueblo, 474 Valencia Street (between 15th and 16th Streets, San Francisco)
Sponsored by the United National Antiwar Committee (UNAC)
www.unacpeace.org
unacnortherncalifornia@gmail.com
415-49-NO-WAR
Facebook.com/EndTheWars
Twitter.com/UNACPeace
TRADUCCION:
Marcha en contra de las guerras: en casa y en el exterior
Ellos son el gobierno y las corporaciones que financian las guerras, destruyen el medio ambiente, la economía y pisotean nuestras libertades y derechos democráticos.
Nosotros, somos la gran mayoría de la humanidad y queremos paz. Un planeta saludable y una sociedad que priorice en las necesidades humanas, la democracia y las libertades civiles para todos.
Nosotros, demandamos que las tropas militares, los mercenarios y los contratistas de guerra que enviaron a Irak, Afganistán, y Paquistán sean traídas de regreso a los Estados Unidos ¡Ahora! Que paren con las sanciones y las amenazas de guerra en contra de los pueblos de Irán, Corea del Norte y Yemen; y que los Estados Unidos deje de colaborar con Israel en la invasión y acoso a Palestina y Gaza. No al saqueo de los pueblos de América Latina, el Caribe y África; que paren la persecución racista que amenaza las comunidades musulmanas y que paren el terror policiaco en contra de las comunidades negras y latinas; derechos totales y legalización para los emigrantes.
Nosotros, demandamos que el FBI pare de inmediato la persecución a los luchadores por la justicia social y la solidaridad internacional; como también pongan un alto a todos los esfuerzos que reprimen y castigan a los contribuidores y fundadores de Wikileaks.
Nosotros, demandamos trillones de dólares para trabajos, educación y servicios sociales; que cesen todos los embargos de viviendas y desalojos; un programa de salud gratuito y de calidad para todos; un programa energético de conversión masiva que salve al planeta y buen el sistema de transporte público. Y reparaciones para las víctimas del terror de estados unidos aquí en casa y en el exterior.
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B. VIDEO, FILM, AUDIO. ART, POETRY, ETC.:
[Some of these videos are embeded on the BAUAW website:
http://bauaw.blogspot.com/ or bauaw.org ...bw]
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WikiLeaks Mirrors
Wikileaks is currently under heavy attack.
In order to make it impossible to ever fully remove Wikileaks from the Internet, you will find below a list of mirrors of Wikileaks website and CableGate pages.
Go to
http://wikileaks.ch/Mirrors.html
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Streaming TV from Egypt
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/spotlight/anger-in-egypt/
Mr. ElBaradei, who won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2005 for his work as the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said on Friday: "The Egyptian people will take care of themselves. The Egyptian people will be the ones who will make the change. We are not waiting for help or assistance from the outside world, but what I expect from the outside world is to practice what you preach, is to defend the rights of the Egyptian to their universal values."
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Labor Beat: Labor Stands with Subpoenaed Activists Against FBI Raids and Grand Jury Investigation of antiwar and social justice activists.
"If trouble is not at your door. It's on it's way, or it just left."
"Investigate the Billionaires...Full investigation into Wall Street..." Jesse Sharkey, Vice President, Chicago Teachers Union
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSNUSIGZCMQ
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Oil Spill Commission Final Report: Catfish Responds
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3ZRdsccMsM
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New antiwar song that's bound to be a classic:
box
http://www.youtube.com/user/avimecca
by tommi avicolli mecca
(c) 2009
Credits are:
Tommi Avicolli Mecca, guitar/vocals
John Radogno, lead guitar
Diana Hartman, vocals, kazoo
Chris Weir, upright bass
Produced and recorded by Khalil Sullivan
I'm the recruiter and if truth be told/ I can lure the young and old
what I do you won't see/ til your kid's in JROTC
CHO ooh, put them in a box drape it with a flag and send them off to mom and dad
send them with a card from good ol' uncle sam, gee it's really just so sad
I'm the general and what I do/ is to teach them to be true
to god and country flag and oil/ by shedding their blood on foreign soil
CHO
I'm the corporate boss and well I know/ war is lots of dough dough dough
you won't find me over there/ they just ship the money right back here
CHO
last of all it's me the holy priest/ my part is not the least
I assure them it's god's will/ to go on out and kill kill kill
CHO
it's really just so sad
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You might enjoy a bit of history:
William Buckley Show with Socialist Workers Party Presidential Candidates
http://vimeo.com/18611069
William Buckley Show with Socialist Workers Party Presidential Candidates from asi somburu on Vimeo.
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Wall Street Fat-Cats Flip Public Service Workers the Bird
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTcSOygSBBM
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Free Bradley Manning
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4eNzokgRIw&feature=player_embedded
Song for Bradley Manning
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_eood7DUwI
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Supermax Prison Cell Extraction - Maine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jUfK5i_lQs&feature=player_embedded
Warning, this is an extremely brutal video. What do you think? Is this torture?
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Did You Know?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL9Wu2kWwSY
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These videos refer to what happened at the G-20 Summit in Toronto June 26-27 of this year. The importance of this is that police were caught on tape and later confirmed that they sent police into the demonstration dressed as "rioting" protesters. One cop was caught with a large rock in his hand. Clearly, this is proof of police acting as agent provocatours. And we should expect this to continue and escalate. That's why everyone should be aware of these facts...bw
police accused of attempting to incite violence at G20 summ
Protestors at Montebello are accusing police of trying to incite violence. Video on YouTube shows union officials confronting three men that were police officers dressing up as demonstrators. The union is demanding to know if the Prime Minister's Office was involved in trying to discredit the demonstrators.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWbgnyUCC7M
quebec police admit going undercover at montebello protests
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAfzUOx53Rg&feature=related
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Published on Thursday, December 16, 2010 by Countdown With Keith Olbermann
Quantico, the New Gitmo
http://www.commondreams.org/video/2010/12/16-0
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Domestic Espionage Alert - Houston PD to use surveillance drone in America!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpstrc15Ogg
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15 year old Tells Establishment to Stick-it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-U_gHUiL4P8&feature=player_embedded#
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Julian Assange: Why the world needs WikiLeaks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVGqE726OAo&feature=player_embedded
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LOWKEY - TERRORIST? (OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmBnvajSfWU
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Coal Ash: One Valley's Tale
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6E7h-DNvwx4&feature=player_embedded
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Flashmob: Cape Town Opera say NO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wElyrFOnKPk
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Video of massive French protest -- inspiring!
http://www.dailymotion.com/Talenceagauchevraiment
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"Don't F*** With Our Activists" - Mobilizing Against FBI Raid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyG3dIUGQvQ
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C. SPECIAL APPEALS AND ONGOING CAMPAIGNS
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MECA Middle East Children's Alliance
Howard & Roslyn Zinn Presente! Honor Their Legacy By Providing Clean Water for Children in Gaza
http://www.mecaforpeace.org/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&id=13
Howard Zinn supported the work of the Middle East Children's Alliance (MECA) from the beginning. Over the years, he lent his name and his time countless times to support our work. Howard and Roz were both personal friends of mine and Howard helped MECA raise funds for our projects for children in Palestine by coming to the Bay Area and doing events for us.
On the first anniversary of Howard's passing, I hope you will join MECA in celebrating these two extraordinary individuals.
- Barbara Lubin, Executive Director
YES! I want to help MECA build a water purification and desalination unit at the Khan Younis Co-ed Elementary School for 1,400 students in Gaza in honor of Howard & Roslyn Zinn.
http://www.mecaforpeace.org/civicrm/contribute/transact?reset=1&id=13
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Call for EMERGENCY RESPONSE Action if Assange Indicted,
Dear Friends:
We write in haste, trying to reach as many of you as possible although the holiday break has begun.......This plan for an urgent "The Day After" demonstration is one we hope you and many, many more organizations will take up as your own, and mobilize for. World Can't Wait asks you to do all you can to spread it through list serves, Facebook, twitter, holiday gatherings.
Our proposal is very very simple, and you can use the following announcement to mobilize - or write your own....
ANY DAY NOW . . . IN THE EVENT THAT THE U.S. INDICTS JULIAN ASSANGE
An emergency public demonstration THE DAY AFTER any U.S. criminal indictment is announced against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. Spread the word and call people to come out, across the whole range of movements and groups: anti-war, human rights, freedom of information/freedom of the press, peace, anti-torture, environmental, students and youth, radicals and revolutionaries, religious, civil liberties, teachers and educators, journalists, anti-imperialists, anti-censorship, anti-police state......
At the Federal Building in San Francisco, we'll form ourselves into a human chain "surrounding" the government that meets the Wikileaked truth with repression and wants to imprison and silence leakers, whistleblowers and truthtellers - when, in fact, these people are heroes. We'll say:
HANDS OFF WIKILEAKS! FREE JULIAN ASSANGE! FREE BRADLEY MANNING!
Join the HUMAN CHAIN AROUND THE FEDERAL BUILDING!
New Federal Building, 7th and Mission, San Francisco (nearest BART: Civic Center)
4:00-6:00 PM on The Day FOLLOWING U.S. indictment of Assange
Bring all your friends - signs and banners - bullhorns.
Those who dare at great risk to themselves to put the truth in the hands of the people - and others who might at this moment be thinking about doing more of this themselves -- need to see how much they are supported, and that despite harsh repression from the government and total spin by the mainstream media, the people do want the truth told.
Brad Manning's Christmas Eve statement was just released by his lawyer: "Pvt. Bradley Manning, the lone soldier who stands accused of stealing millions of pages secret US government documents and handing them over to secrets outlet WikiLeaks, wants his supporters to know that they've meant a lot to him. 'I greatly appreciate everyone's support and well wishes during this time,' he said in a Christmas Eve statement released by his lawyer...." Read more here:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/12/mannings-message-christmas-eve-i-gr/
Demonstrations defending Wikileaks and Assange, and Brad Manning, have already been flowering around the world. Make it happen here too.
Especially here . . .
To join into this action plan, or with questions, contact World Can't Wait or whichever organization or listserve you received this message from.
World Can't Wait, SF Bay
415-864-5153
sf@worldcantwait.org
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Email received from Lynne Stewart:
12/19/10; 12:03pm
Dear Folks:
Some nuts and bolts and trivia,
1. New Address
Lynne Stewart #53504 - 054
Unit 2N
Federal Medical Center, Carswell
P.O. Box 27137
Fort Worth, TEXAS 76127
2. Visiting is very liberal but first I have to get people on my visiting list Wait til I or the lawyers let you know. The visits are FRI, SAT, SUN AND MON for 4 hours and on weekends 8 to 3. Bring clear plastic change purse with lots of change to buy from the machines. Brief Kiss upon arrival and departure, no touching or holding during visit (!!) On visiting forms it may be required that you knew me before I came to prison. Not a problem for most of you.
3. One hour time difference
4. Commissary Money is always welcome It is how I pay for the phone and for email. Also need it for a lot that prison doesn't supply in terms of food and "sundries" (pens!) A very big list that includes Raisins, Salad Dressing , ankle sox, mozzarella (definitely not from Antonys--more like a white cheddar, Sanitas Corn Chips but no Salsa etc. To add money, you do this by using Western Union and a credit card by phone or you can send a USPO money order or Business or Govt Check. The negotiable instruments (PAPER!) need to be sent to Federal Bureau of Prisons , 53504-054, Lynne Stewart, PO Box 474701, Des Moines Iowa 50947-001 (Payable to Lynne Stewart, 53504-054) They hold the mo or checks for 15 days. Western Union costs $10 but is within 2 hours. If you mail, your return address must be on the envelope. Unnecessarily complicated ? Of course, it's the BOP !)
5. Food is vastly improved. Just had Sunday Brunch real scrambled eggs, PORK sausage, Baked or home fried potatoes, Butter(sweet whipped M'God !!) Grapefruit juice Toast , orange. I will probably regain the weight I lost at MCC! Weighing against that is the fact that to eat we need to walk to another building (about at far as from my house to the F Train) Also included is 3 flights of stairs up and down. May try to get an elevator pass and try NOT to use it.
6. In a room with 4 bunks(small) about two tiers of rooms with same with "atrium" in middle with tv sets and tables and chairs. Estimate about 500 on Unit 2N and there are 4 units. Population Black, Mexicano and other spanish speaking (all of whom iron their underwear, Marta), White, Native Americans (few), no orientals or foreign speaking caucasians--lots are doing long bits, victims of drugs (meth etc) and boyfriends. We wear army style (khaki) pants with pockets tee shirts and dress shirts long sleeved and short sleeved. When one of the women heard that I hadn't ironed in 40 years, they offered to do the shirts for me. (This is typical of the help I get--escorted to meals and every other protection, explanations, supplies, etc. Mostly from white women.) One drawback is not having a bathroom in the room---have to go about 75 yards at all hours of the day and night --clean though.
7. Final Note--the sunsets and sunrises are gorgeous, the place is very open and outdoors there are pecan trees and birds galore (I need books for trees and birds (west) The full moon last night gladdened my heart as I realized it was shining on all of you I hold dear.
Love Struggle
Lynne
The address of her Defense Committee is:
Lynne Stewart Defense Committee
1070 Dean Street
Brooklyn, New York 11216
For further information:
718-789-0558 or 917-853-9759
Please make a generous contribution to her defense.
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Help end the inhumane treatment of Bradley Manning!
Bradley Manning Support Network. December 22, 2010
The Marine Brig at Quantico, Virginia is using "injury prevention" as a vehicle to inflict extreme pre-trial punishment on accused Wikileaks whistleblower Army PFC Bradley Manning (photo right). These "maximum conditions" are not unheard-of during an inmate's first week at a military confinement facility, but when applied continuously for months and with no end in sight they amount to a form of torture. Bradley, who just turned 23-years-old last week, has been held in solitary confinement since his arrest in late May. We're now turning to Bradley's supporters worldwide to directly protest, and help bring a halt to, the extremely punitive conditions of Bradley's pre-trial detention.
We need your help in pressing the following demands:
End the inhumane, degrading conditions of pre-trial confinement and respect Bradley's human rights. Specifically, lift the "Prevention of Injury (POI) watch order". This would allow Bradley meaningful physical exercise, uninterrupted sleep during the night, and a release from isolation. We are not asking for "special treatment". In fact, we are demanding an immediate end to the special treatment.
Quantico Base Commander
Colonel Daniel Choike
3250 Catlin Ave, Quantico VA 22134
+1-703-784-2707 (phone)
Quantico Brig Commanding Officer
CWO4 James Averhart
3247 Elrod Ave, Quantico VA 22134
+1-703-784-4242 (fax)
Background
In the wake of an investigative report last week by Glenn Greenwald of Salon.com giving evidence that Bradley Manning was subject to "detention conditions likely to create long-term psychological injuries", Bradley's attorney, David Coombs, published an article at his website on Saturday entitled "A Typical Day for PFC Bradley Manning". Mr. Coombs details the maximum custody conditions that Bradley is subject to at the Quantico Confinement Facility and highlights an additional set of restrictions imposed upon him under a Prevention of Injury (POI) watch order.
Usually enforced only through a detainee's first week at a confinement facility, or in cases of violent and/or suicidal inmates, the standing POI order has severely limited Manning's access to exercise, daylight and human contact for the past five months. The military's own psychologists assigned to Quantico have recommended that the POI order and the extra restrictions imposed on Bradley be lifted.
Despite not having been convicted of any crime or even yet formally indicted, the confinement regime Bradley lives under includes pronounced social isolation and a complete lack of opportunities for meaningful exercise. Additionally, Bradley's sleep is regularly interrupted. Coombs writes: "The guards are required to check on Manning every five minutes [...] At night, if the guards cannot see PFC Manning clearly, because he has a blanket over his head or is curled up towards the wall, they will wake him in order to ensure he is okay."
Denver Nicks writes in The Daily Beast that "[Bradley Manning's] attorney [...] says the extended isolation - now more than seven months of solitary confinement - is weighing on his client's psyche. [...] Both Coombs and Manning's psychologist, Coombs says, are sure Manning is mentally healthy, that there is no evidence he's a threat to himself, and shouldn't be held in such severe conditions under the artifice of his own protection."
In an article to be published at Firedoglake.com later today, David House, a friend of Bradley's who visits him regularly at Quantico, says that Bradley "has not been outside or into the brig yard for either recreation or exercise in four full weeks. He related that visits to the outdoors have been infrequent and sporadic for the past several months."
In an average military court martial situation, a defense attorney would be able to bring these issues of pre-trial punishment to the military judge assigned to the case (known as an Article 13 hearing). However, the military is unlikely to assign a judge to Bradley's case until the pre-trial Article 32 hearing is held (similar to an arraignment in civilian court), and that is not expected until February, March, or later-followed by the actual court martial trial months after that. In short, you are Bradley's best and most immediate hope.
What can you do?
Contact the Marine Corps officers above and respectfully, but firmly, ask that they lift the extreme pre-trial confinement conditions against Army PFC Bradley Manning.
Forward this urgent appeal for action widely.
Sign the "Stand with Brad" public petition and letter campaign at www.standwithbrad.org - Sign online, and we'll mail out two letters on your behalf to Army officials.
Donate to Bradley's defense fund at www.couragetoresist.org/bradley
References:
"The inhumane conditions of Bradley Manning's detention", by Glenn Greenwald for Salon.com, 15 December 2010
"A Typical Day for PFC Bradley Manning", by attorney David E. Coombs, 18 December 2010
"Bradley Manning's Life Behind Bars", by Denver Nicks for the Daily Beast, 17 December 2010
Bradley Manning Support Network
Courage To Resist
484 Lake Park Ave. #41
Oakland, CA 94610
510-488-3559
couragetoresist.org
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KOREA: Emergency Response Actions Needed
The United National Antiwar Committee urges the antiwar movement to begin to plan now for Emergency 5pm Day-of or Day-after demonstrations, should fighting break out on the Korean Peninsula or its surrounding waters.
As in past war crisis and U.S. attacks we propose:
NYC -- Times Square, Washington, D.C. -- the White House
In Many Cities - Federal Buildings
Many tens of thousands of U.S., Japanese and South Korean troops are mobilized on land and on hundreds of warships and aircraft carriers. The danger of a general war in Asia is acute.
China and Russia have made it clear that the scheduled military maneuvers and live-fire war "exercises" from an island right off the coast of north Korea (the Democratic People's Republic of Korea) by South Korea are very dangerous. The DPRK has made it clear that they consider these live-fire war exercises to be an act of war and they will again respond if they are again fired on.
The U.S. deployment of thousands of troops, ships, and aircraft in the area while South Korea is firing thousands of rounds of live ammunition and missiles is an enormously dangerous provocation, not only to the DPRK but to China. The Yellow Sea also borders China. The island and the waters where the war maneuvers are taking place are north of the Korean Demilitarized Zone and only eight miles from the coast of the DPRK.
On Sunday, December 19 in a day-long emergency session, the U.S. blocked in the UN Security Council any actions to resolve the crisis.
UNAC action program passed in Albany at the United National Antiwar Conference, July 2010 of over 800 antiwar, social justice and community organizations included the following Resolution on Korea:
15. In solidarity with the antiwar movements of Japan and Korea, each calling for U.S. Troops to Get Out Now, and given the great increase in U.S. military preparations against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, National Peace Conference participants will organize immediate protests following any attack by the U.S. on Korea. U.S. war preparations include stockpiling hundreds of bunker-busters and conducting major war games near the territorial waters of China and Korea. In keeping with our stand for the right of self-determination and our demand of Out Now, the National Peace Conference calls for Bringing All U.S. Troops Home Now!
UNAC urges the whole antiwar movement to begin to circulate messages alerts now in preparation. Together let's join together and demand: Bring all U.S. Troops Home Now! Stop the Wars and the Threats of War.
The United National Antiwar Committee, www.UNACpeace.org
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In earnest support of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange:
http://readersupportednews.org/julian-assange-petition
rsn:Petition
We here undersigned express our support for the work and integrity of Julian Assange. We express concern that the charges against the WikiLeaks founder appear too convenient both in terms of timing and the novelty of their nature.
We call for this modern media innovator, and fighter for human rights extraordinaire, to be afforded the same rights to defend himself before Swedish justice that all others similarly charged might expect, and that his liberty not be compromised as a courtesy to those governments whose truths he has revealed have embarrassed.
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GAP Inc: End Your Relationship with Supplier that Allows Workers to be Burned Alive
http://humanrights.change.org/blog/view/workers_burned_alive_making_clothes_for_the_gap
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KEVIN COOPER IS INNOCENT! FREE KEVIN COOPER!
Reasonable doubts about executing Kevin Cooper
Chronicle Editorial
Monday, December 13, 2010
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/12/13/EDG81GP0I7.DTL
Death penalty -- Kevin Cooper is Innocent! Help save his life from San Quentin's death row!
http://www.savekevincooper.org/
http://www.savekevincooper.org/pages/essays_content.html?ID=255
URGENT ACTION APPEAL
- From Amnesty International USA
17 December 2010
Click here to take action online:
http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/siteapps/advocacy/index.aspx?c=jhKPIXPCIoE&b=2590179&template=x.ascx&action=15084
To learn about recent Urgent Action successes and updates, go to
http://www.amnestyusa.org/iar/success
For a print-friendly version of this Urgent Action (PDF):
http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa25910.pdf
Kevin Cooper, who has been on death row in California for 25 years, is asking the outgoing state governor to commute his death sentence before leaving office on 2 January 2011. Kevin Cooper has consistently maintained his innocence of the four murders for which he was sentenced to death. Since 2004, a dozen federal appellate judges have indicated their doubts about his guilt.
On the night of 4 June 1983, Douglas and Peggy Ryen were hacked and stabbed to death in their home in Chino Hills, California, along with their 10-year-old daughter Jessica and 11-year-old houseguest Christopher Hughes. The couple's eight-year-old son, Joshua Ryen, was seriously wounded, but survived. He told investigators that the attackers were three or four white men. In hospital, he saw a picture of Kevin Cooper on television and said that Cooper, who is black, was not the attacker. However, the boy's later testimony - that he only saw one attacker - was introduced at the 1985 trial. The case has many other troubling aspects which call into question the reliability of the state's case and its conduct in obtaining this conviction (see http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR51/013/2004/en).
Kevin Cooper was less than eight hours from execution in 2004 when the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit granted a stay and sent the case back to the District Court for testing on blood and hair evidence, including to establish if the police had planted evidence. The District Court ruled in 2005 that the testing had not proved Kevin Cooper's innocence - his lawyers (and five Ninth Circuit judges) maintain that it did not do the testing as ordered. Nevertheless, in 2007, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit upheld the District Court's ruling. One of the judges described the result as "wholly discomforting" because of evidence tampering and destruction, but noted that she was constrained by US law, which places substantial obstacles in the way of successful appeals.
In 2009, the Ninth Circuit refused to have the whole court rehear the case. Eleven of its judges dissented. One of the dissenting opinions, running to more than 80 pages and signed by five judges, warned that "the State of California may be about to execute an innocent man". On the question of the evidence testing, they said: "There is no way to say this politely. The district court failed to provide Cooper a fair hearing and...imposed unreasonable conditions on the testing" ordered by the Ninth Circuit. They pointed to a test result that, if valid, indicated that evidence had been planted, and they asserted that the district court had blocked further scrutiny of this issue.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger had already denied clemency in 2004 when the Ninth Circuit issued its stay. At the time, he had said that the "courts have reviewed this case for more than eighteen years. Evidence establishing his guilt is overwhelming". Clearly, a notable number of federal judges disagree. The five judges in the Ninth Circuit's lengthy dissent in 2009 stated that the evidence of Kevin Cooper's guilt at his trial was "quite weak" and concluded that he "is probably innocent of the crimes for which the State of California is about to execute him".
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
On 2 June 1983, two days before the Chino Hills murders, Kevin Cooper had escaped from a minimum security prison, where he was serving a four-year term for burglary, and had hidden in an empty house near the Ryen home for two nights. After his arrest, he became the focus of public hatred. Outside the venue of his preliminary hearing, for example, people hung an effigy of a monkey in a noose with a sign reading "Hang the Nigger!!" At the time of the trial, jurors were confronted by graffiti declaring "Die Kevin Cooper" and "Kevin Cooper Must Be Hanged". Kevin Cooper pleaded not guilty - the jury deliberated for seven days before convicting him - and he has maintained his innocence since then. Since Governor Schwarzenegger denied clemency in 2004, more evidence supporting Kevin Cooper's claim of innocence has emerged, including for example, testimony from three witnesses who say they saw three white men near the crime scene on the night of the murders with blood on them.
In 2007, Judge Margaret McKeown was the member of the Ninth Circuit's three-judge panel who indicated that she was upholding the District Court's 2005 ruling despite her serious concerns. She wrote: "Significant evidence bearing on Cooper's guilt has been lost, destroyed or left unpursued, including, for example, blood-covered coveralls belonging to a potential suspect who was a convicted murderer, and a bloody t-shirt, discovered alongside the road near the crime scene. The managing criminologist in charge of the evidence used to establish Cooper's guilt at trial was, as it turns out, a heroin addict, and was fired for stealing drugs seized by the police. Countless other alleged problems with the handling and disclosure of evidence and the integrity of the forensic testing and investigation undermine confidence in the evidence". She continued that "despite the presence of serious questions as to the integrity of the investigation and evidence supporting the conviction, we are constrained by the requirements of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA)". Judge McKeown wrote that "the habeas process does not account for lingering doubt or new evidence that cannot leap the clear and convincing hurdle of AEDPA. Instead, we are left with a situation in which confidence in the blood sample is murky at best, and lost, destroyed or tampered evidence cannot be factored into the final analysis of doubt. The result is wholly discomforting, but one that the law demands".
Even if it is correct that the AEDPA demands this result, the power of executive clemency is not so confined. Last September, for example, the governor of Ohio commuted Kevin Keith's death sentence because of doubts about his guilt even though his death sentence had been upheld on appeal (see http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR51/079/2010/en). Governor Ted Strickland said that despite circumstantial evidence linking the condemned man to the crime, "many legitimate questions have been raised regarding the evidence in support of the conviction and the investigation which led to it. In particular, Mr Keith's conviction relied upon the linking of certain eyewitness testimony with certain forensic evidence about which important questions have been raised. I also find the absence of a full investigation of other credible suspects troubling." The same could be said in the case of Kevin Cooper, whose lawyer is asking Governor Schwarzenegger to commute the death sentence before he leaves office on 2 January 2011. While Kevin Cooper does not yet have an execution date, it is likely that one will be set, perhaps early in 2011.
More than 130 people have been released from death rows on grounds of innocence in the USA since 1976. At the original trial in each case, the defendant had been found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. It is clear beyond any dispute that the USA's criminal justice system is capable of making mistakes. International safeguards require that the death penalty not be imposed if guilt is not "based upon clear and convincing evidence leaving no room for an alternative explanation of the facts". Amnesty International opposes all executions regardless of the seriousness of the crime or the guilt or innocence of the condemned.
California has the largest death row in the USA, with more than 700 prisoners under sentence of death out of a national total of some 3,200. California accounts for 13 of the 1,234 executions in the USA since judicial killing resumed there in 1977. There have been 46 executions in the USA this year. The last execution in California was in January 2006.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible:
- Acknowledging the seriousness of the crime for which Kevin Cooper was sentenced to death;
- Urging Governor Schwarzenegger to take account of the continuing doubts about Kevin Cooper's guilt, including as expressed by more than 10 federal judges since 2004, when executive clemency was last requested;
- Urging the Governor to commute Kevin Cooper's death sentence.
APPEALS TO:
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
State Capitol Building, Sacramento, CA 95814, USA
Fax: 1 916-558-3160
Email: governor@governor.ca.gov or via http://gov.ca.gov/interact#contact
Salutation : Dear Governor
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 2 January 2011.
Tip of the Month:
Write as soon as you can. Try to write as close as possible to the date a case is issued.
** POSTAGE RATES **
Within the United States:
$0.28 - Postcards
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To Canada:
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Amnesty International is a worldwide grassroots movement that promotes and defends human rights.
This Urgent Action may be reposted if kept intact, including contact information and stop action date (if applicable). Thank you for your help with this appeal.
Urgent Action Network
Amnesty International USA
600 Pennsylvania Ave SE 5th fl
Washington DC 20003
Email: uan@aiusa.org
http://www.amnestyusa.org/urgent/
Phone: 202.509.8193
Fax: 202.675.8566
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Free the Children of Palestine!
Sign Petition:
http://www.gopetition.com/petition/41467.html
Published by Al-Awda, Palestine Right to Return Coalition on Dec 16, 2010
Category: Children's Rights
Region: GLOBAL
Target: President Obama
Web site: http://www.al-awda.org
Background (Preamble):
According to Israeli police, 1200 Palestinian children have been arrested, interrogated and imprisoned in the occupied city of Jerusalem alone this year. The youngest of these children was seven-years old.
Children and teen-agers were often dragged out of their beds in the middle of the night, taken in handcuffs for questioning, threatened, humiliated and many were subjected to physical violence while under arrest as part of an ongoing campaign against the children of Palestine. Since the year 2000, more than 8000 have been arrested by Israel, and reports of mistreatment are commonplace.
Further, based on sworn affidavits collected in 2009 from 100 of these children, lawyers working in the occupied West Bank with Defense Children International, a Geneva-based non governmental organization, found that 69% were beaten and kicked, 49% were threatened, 14% were held in solitary confinement, 12% were threatened with sexual assault, including rape, and 32% were forced to sign confessions written in Hebrew, a language they do not understand.
Minors were often asked to give names and incriminate friends and relatives as a condition of their release. Such institutionalized and systematic mistreatment of Palestinian children by the state of Israel is a violation international law and specifically contravenes the Convention on the Rights of the Child to which Israel is supposedly a signatory.
Petition:
http://www.gopetition.com/petition/41467.html
We, the undersigned call on US President Obama to direct Israel to
1. Stop all the night raids and arrests of Palestinian Children forthwith.
2. Immediately release all Palestinian children detained in its prisons and detention centers.
3. End all forms of systematic and institutionalized abuse against all Palestinian children.
4. Implement the full restoration of Palestinian children's rights in accordance with international law including, but not limited to, their right to return to their homes of origin, to education, to medical and psychological care, and to freedom of movement and expression.
The US government, which supports Israel to the tune of billions of taxpayer dollars a year while most ordinary Americans are suffering in a very bad economy, is bound by its laws and international conventions to cut off all aid to Israel until it ends all of its violations of human rights and basic freedoms in a verifiable manner.
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"Secret diplomacy is a necessary tool for a propertied minority, which is compelled to deceive the majority in order to subject it to its interests."..."Publishing State Secrets" By Leon Trotsky
Documents on Soviet Policy, Trotsky, iii, 2 p. 64
November 22, 1917
http://www.marxists.org/history/ussr/government/foreign-relations/1917/November/22.htm
FREE JULIAN ASSANGE! FREE BRADLEY MANNING! STOP THE FBI RAIDS NOW!
MONEY FOR HUMAN NEEDS NOT WAR!
To understand how much a trillion dollars is, consider looking at it in terms of time:
A million seconds would be about eleven-and-one-half days; a billion seconds would be 31 years; and a trillion seconds would be 31,000 years!
From the novel "A Dark Tide," by Andrew Gross
Now think of it in terms of U.S. war dollars and bankster bailouts!
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MIDDLE EAST CHILDREN'S ALLIANCE
Your Year-End Gift for the Children
Double your impact with this matching gift opportunity!
Dear Friend of the Children,
You may have recently received a letter from me via regular mail with a review of the important things you helped MECA accomplish for the children in 2010, along with a special Maia Project decal.
My letter to you also included an announcement of MECA's first ever matching gift offer. One of our most generous supporters will match all gifts received by December 31. 2010 to a total of $35,000.
So, whether you are a long time supporter, or giving for the first-time... Whether you can give $10 or $1,000... This is a unique opportunity to double the impact of your year-end gift!
Your contribution will be matched dollar for dollar, making it go twice as far so that MECA can:
* Install twenty more permanent drinking water units in Gaza schools though our Maia Project
* Continue our work with Playgrounds for Palestine to complete a community park in the besieged East Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan, where violent Israeli settlers attack children and adults, Israeli police arrest the victims, and the city conducts "administrative demolitions" of Palestinian homes.
* Send a large medical aid shipment to Gaza.
* Renew support for "Let the Children Play and Heal," a program in Gaza to help children cope with trauma and grief through arts programs, referrals to therapists, educational materials for families and training for mothers.
Your support for the Middle East Children's Alliance's delivers real, often life-saving, help. And it does more than that. It sends a message of hope and solidarity to Palestine-showing the people that we are standing beside them as they struggle to bring about a better life for their children.
With warm regards,
Barbara Lubin
Founder and Director
P.S. Please give as much as you possible can, and please make your contribution now, so it will be doubled. Thank you so much.
P.S.S. If you didn't receive a MAIA Project decal in the mail or if you would like another one, please send an email message to meca@mecaforpeace.org with "MAIA Project decal" in the subject line when you make your contribution.
To make a gift by mail send to:
MECA, 1101 8th Street, Berkley, CA 94710
To make a gift by phone, please call MECA's off at: 510-548-0542
To "GO PAPERLESS" and receive all your MECA communications by email, send a message to meca@mecaforpeace.org with "Paperless" in the subject line.
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For Immediate Release
Antiwar movement supports Wikileaks and calls for and independent, international investigation of the crimes that have been exposed. We call for the release of Bradley Manning and the end to the harassment of Julian Assange.
12/2/2010
For more information: Joe Lombardo, 518-281-1968,
UNACpeace@gmail.org, NationalPeaceConference.org
Antiwar movement supports Wikileaks and calls for and independent, international investigation of the crimes that have been exposed. We call for the release of Bradley Manning and the end to the harassment of Julian Assange.
The United National Antiwar Committee (UNAC) calls for the release of Bradley Manning who is awaiting trial accused of leaking the material to Wikileaks that has been released over the past several months. We also call for an end to the harassment of Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks and we call for an independent, international investigation of the illegal activity exposed through the material released by Wikileaks.
Before sending the material to Wikileaks, Bradley Manning tried to get his superiors in the military to do something about what he understood to be clear violations of international law. His superiors told him to keep quiet so Manning did the right thing; he exposed the illegal activity to the world.
The Afghan material leaked earlier shows military higher-ups telling soldiers to kill enemy combatants who were trying to surrender. The Iraq Wikileaks video from 2007 shows the US military killing civilians and news reporters from a helicopter while laughing about it. The widespread corruption among U.S. allies has been exposed by the most recent leaks of diplomatic cables. Yet, instead of calling for change in these policies, we hear only a call to suppress further leaks.
At the national antiwar conference held in Albany in July, 2010, at which UNAC was founded, we heard from Ethan McCord, one of the soldiers on the ground during the helicopter attack on the civilians in Iraq exposed by Wikileaks (see: http://www.mediasanctuary.org/movie/1810 ). He talked about removing wounded children from a civilian vehicle that the US military had shot up. It affected him so powerfully that he and another soldier who witnessed the massacre wrote a letter of apology to the families of the civilians who were killed.
We ask why this material was classified in the first place. There were no state secrets in the material, only evidence of illegal and immoral activity by the US military, the US government and its allies. To try to cover this up by classifying the material is a violation of our right to know the truth about these wars. In this respect, Bradley Manning and Julian Assange should be held up as heroes, not hounded for exposing the truth.
UNAC calls for an end to the illegal and immoral policies exposed by Wikileaks and an immediate end to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and an end to threats against Iran and North Korea.
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Courage to Resist needs your support
By Jeff Paterson, Courage to Resist.
It's been quite a ride the last four months since we took up the defense of accused WikiLeaks whistle-blower Bradley Manning. Since then, we helped form the Bradley Manning Support Network, established a defense fund, and have already paid over half of Bradley's total $100,000 in estimated legal expenses.
Now, I'm asking for your support of Courage to Resist so that we can continue to support not only Bradley, but the scores of other troops who are coming into conflict with military authorities due to reasons of conscience.
Please donate today:
https://co.clickandpledge.com/sp/d1/default.aspx?wid=38590
"Soldiers sworn oath is to defend and support the Constitution. Bradley Manning has been defending and supporting our Constitution."
-Dan Ellsberg, Pentagon Papers whistle-blower
Iraq War over? Afghanistan occupation winding down? Not from what we see. Please take a look at, "Soldier Jeff Hanks refuses deployment, seeks PTSD help" in our December newsletter. Jeff's situation is not isolated. Actually, his story is only unique in that he has chosen to share it with us in the hopes that it may result in some change. Jeff's case also illustrates the importance of Iraq Veterans Against the War's new "Operation Recovery" campaign which calls for an end to the deployment of traumatized troops.
Most of the folks who call us for help continue to be effected by Stoploss, a program that involuntarily extends enlistments (despite Army promises of its demise), or the Individual Ready Reserve which recalls thousands of former Soldiers and Marines quarterly from civilian life.
Another example of our efforts is Kyle Wesolowski. After returning from Iraq, Kyle submitted an application for a conscientious objector discharge based on his Buddhist faith. Kyle explains, "My experience of physical threats, religious persecution, and general abuse seems to speak of a system that appears to be broken.... It appears that I have no other recourse but to now refuse all duties that prepare myself for war or aid in any way shape or form to other soldiers in conditioning them to go to war." We believe he shouldn't have to walk this path alone.
Sincerely,
Jeff Paterson
Project Director, Courage to Resist
First US military service member to refuse to fight in Iraq
Please donate today.
https://co.clickandpledge.com/sp/d1/default.aspx?wid=38590
P.S. I'm asking that you consider a contribution of $50 or more, or possibly becoming a sustainer at $15 a month. Of course, now is also a perfect time to make a end of year tax-deductible donation. Thanks again for your support!
Please click here to forward this to a friend who might
also be interested in supporting GI resisters.
http://ymlp.com/forward.php?id=lS3tR&e=bonnieweinstein@yahoo.com
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Add your name! We stand with Bradley Manning.
"We stand for truth, for government transparency, and for an end to our tax-dollars funding endless occupation abroad... We stand with accused whistle-blower US Army Pfc. Bradley Manning."
Dear All,
The Bradley Manning Support Network and Courage to Resist are launching a new campaign, and we wanted to give you a chance to be among the first to add your name to this international effort. If you sign the letter online, we'll print out and mail two letters to Army officials on your behalf. With your permission, we may also use your name on the online petition and in upcoming media ads.
Read the complete public letter and add your name at:
http://standwithbrad.org/
Courage to Resist (http://couragetoresist.org)
on behalf of the Bradley Manning Support Network (http://bradleymanning.org)
484 Lake Park Ave #41, Oakland CA 94610
510-488-3559
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Committee to Stop FBI Repression
P.O. Box 14183
Minneapolis, MN 55414
Dear Friend,
On Friday, September 24th, the FBI raided homes in Chicago and Minneapolis, and turned the Anti-War Committee office upside down. We were shocked. Our response was strong however and we jumped into action holding emergency protests. When the FBI seized activists' personal computers, cell phones, and papers claiming they were investigating "material support for terrorism", they had no idea there would be such an outpouring of support from the anti-war movement across this country! Over 61 cities protested, with crowds of 500 in Minneapolis and Chicago. Activists distributed 12,000 leaflets at the One Nation Rally in Washington D.C. Supporters made thousands of calls to President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder. Solidarity statements from community organizations, unions, and other groups come in every day. By organizing against the attacks, the movement grows stronger.
At the same time, trusted lawyers stepped up to form a legal team and mount a defense. All fourteen activists signed letters refusing to testify. So Assistant U.S. Attorney Brandon Fox withdrew the subpoenas, but this is far from over. In fact, the repression is just starting. The FBI continues to question activists at their homes and work places. The U.S. government is trying to put people in jail for anti-war and international solidarity activism and there is no indication they are backing off. The U.S. Attorney has many options and a lot of power-he may re-issue subpoenas, attempt to force people to testify under threat of imprisonment, or make arrests.
To be successful in pushing back this attack, we need your donation. We need you to make substantial contributions like $1000, $500, and $200. We understand many of you are like us, and can only afford $50, $20, or $10, but we ask you to dig deep. The legal bills can easily run into the hundreds of thousands. We are all united to defend a movement for peace and justice that seeks friendship with people in other countries. These fourteen anti-war activists have done nothing wrong, yet their freedom is at stake.
It is essential that we defend our sisters and brothers who are facing FBI repression and the Grand Jury process. With each of your contributions, the movement grows stronger.
Please make a donation today at stopfbi.net (PayPal) on the right side of your screen. Also you can write to:
Committee to Stop FBI Repression
P.O. Box 14183
Minneapolis, MN 55414
This is a critical time for us to stand together, defend free speech, and defend those who help to organize for peace and justice, both at home and abroad!
Thank you for your generosity! Tom Burke
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Please sign the petition to stop the execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal and
and forward it to all your lists.
"Mumia Abu-Jamal and The Global Abolition of the Death Penalty"
http://www.petitiononline.com/Mumialaw/petition.html
(A Life In the Balance - The Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal, at 34, Amnesty Int'l, 2000; www. Amnesty.org/en/library/info/AMR51/001/2000.)
[Note: This petition is approved by Mumia Abu-Jamal and his lead attorney, Robert R. Bryan, San Francisco (E-mail: MumiaLegalDefense@gmail.com; Website: www.MumiaLegalDefense.org).]
Committee To Save Mumia Abu-Jamal
P.O. Box 2012
New York, NY 10159-2012
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Short Video About Al-Awda's Work
The following link is to a short video which provides an overview of Al-Awda's work since the founding of our organization in 2000. This video was first shown on Saturday May 23, 2009 at the fundraising banquet of the 7th Annual Int'l Al-Awda Convention in Anaheim California. It was produced from footage collected over the past nine years.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTiAkbB5uC0&eurl
Support Al-Awda, a Great Organization and Cause!
Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition, depends on your financial support to carry out its work.
To submit your tax-deductible donation to support our work, go to
http://www.al-awda.org/donate.html and follow the simple instructions.
Thank you for your generosity!
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COURAGE TO RESIST!
Support the troops who refuse to fight!
http://www.couragetoresist.org/x/
Donate:
http://www.couragetoresist.org/x/content/view/21/57/
18) A Tunisian-Egyptian Link That Shook Arab History
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK and DAVID E. SANGER
February 13, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/14/world/middleeast/14egypt-tunisia-protests.html?hp
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D. ARTICLES IN FULL (Unless otherwise noted)
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1) Obama to Propose Cuts as Opening Bid in Budget Showdown
By JACKIE CALMES
February 12, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/13/us/politics/13budget.html?hp
2) It Ain't Just Mubarak -- 7 of the Worst Dictators the U.S. Is Backing to the Hilt
By Joshua Holland, AlterNet
Posted on February 5, 2011, Printed on February 12, 2011
http://www.alternet.org/story/149805/
3) Soldier May Testify Against Comrades in Afghan Killings, Lawyer Says
By WILLIAM YARDLEY
February 11, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/12/us/12soldiers.html?ref=world
4) Wisconsin May Take an Ax to State Workers' Benefits and Their Unions
By MONICA DAVEY and STEVEN GREENHOUSE
February 11, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/12/us/12unions.html?ref=us
5) U.S. Approves Corn Modified for Ethanol
By ANDREW POLLACK
February 11, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/12/business/12corn.html?ref=us
6) Oregon: Man Dies Yards From Emergency Room Door
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
February 11, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/12/us/12brfs-MANDIESYARDS_BRF.html?ref=us
7) Egypt's military, an economic giant, now in charge
Andrew S. Ross
Sunday, February 13, 2011
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/02/13/BU1V1HLVP6.DTL
8) Egypt's Military Dissolves Parliament; Calls for Vote
By ANTHONY SHADID and J. DAVID GOODMAN
February 13, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/14/world/middleeast/14egypt.html?hp
9) Young Protesters Revolt in Yemeni Capital
By LAURA KASINOF and J. DAVID GOODMAN
February 13, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/14/world/middleeast/14yemen.html?hp
10) Mubarak Family Riches Attract New Focus
By NEIL MacFARQUHAR, DAVID ROHDE and ARAM ROSTON
February 12, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/13/world/middleeast/13wealth.html?hp
11) For Some Troops, Powerful Drug Cocktails Have Deadly Results
By JAMES DAO, BENEDICT CAREY and DAN FROSCH
February 12, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/13/us/13drugs.html?hp
12) Eat The Future
By PAUL KRUGMAN
February 13, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/14/opinion/14krugman.html?_r=1&hp
13) Young Protesters Clash With Police in Bahrain
By MICHAEL SLACKMAN and NADIM AUDI
February 14, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/15/world/middleeast/15bahrain.html?hp
14) Iranian Police Fire Tear Gas at Protesters
By ALAN COWELL
February 14, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/15/world/middleeast/15iran.html?hp
15) Protesters Clash With Government Supporters in Yemen
By LAURA KASINOF and J. DAVID GOODMAN
February 14, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/15/world/middleeast/15yemen.html?hp
16) Egypt's Ruling Generals Meet With Opposition
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK and ANTHONY SHADID
February 14, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/15/world/middleeast/15egypt.html?hp
17) Wall Street's Dead End
By FELIX SALMON
February 13, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/14/opinion/14Salmon.html?hp
18) Egypt rebellion spreads to sprawling state economy
* Industrial action sweeps through Egypt state sector
* "Leave, leave, leave!" workers tell their bosses
By Tom Perry
Sun Feb 13, 2011 8:19pm GMT
http://af.reuters.com/article/egyptNews/idAFLDE71C08G20110213
19) Wisconsin Demonstrates Against Scott Walker's War on Unions
"About ten thousand currently surround Walker's capitol office and are streaming into the dome. Walker should be extra-worried to know that the Super Bowl Champion Green Bay Packers and its former stars, the most important political lobby in the state, have come out against him."
by Abe Sauer
February 15th, 2011
http://www.theawl.com/2011/02/wisconsin-demonstrates-against-scott-walkers-war-on-unions
20) Protesters in Bahrain Refuse to Back Down
By Hadeel Al-Shalchi
Feb 16, 2011 - 10:56 AM
http://www.aolnews.com/2011/02/16/protesters-in-bahrain-refuse-to-back-down/?icid=maing|main5|dl1|sec1_lnk2|44354*
21) FBI harasses Michigan anti-war activist
By Tom Burke
February 13, 2011
Read more articles in FBI Repression
Via Email
22) Bahrain Protests Expand on Third Day
By MICHAEL SLACKMAN
February 16, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/17/world/middleeast/17bahrain.html?ref=world
23) Students in Iran Clash at Funeral
By NEIL MacFARQUHAR and ALAN COWELL
February 16, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/17/world/middleeast/17iran.html?ref=world
24) Police Try to End Clashes in Yemen
By LAURA KASINOF and J. DAVID GOODMAN
February 16, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/17/world/middleeast/17yemen.html?ref=world
25) Unrest Reported in Libyan City of Benghazi
By ALAN COWELL
February 16, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/17/world/middleeast/17libya.html?ref=world
26) Egypt Leaders Found 'Off' Switch for Internet
By JAMES GLANZ and JOHN MARKOFF
February 15, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/16/technology/16internet.html?ref=world
27) Police Fire on Protesters in Iraq
By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT and DURAID ADNAN
February 16, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/17/world/middleeast/17iraq.html?ref=world
28) In One Slice of Egypt, Daily Woes Top Religion
By ANTHONY SHADID
February 15, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/16/world/middleeast/16islam.html?ref=world
29) Lawsuit Says Military Is Rife With Sexual Abuse
By ASHLEY PARKER
February 15, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/16/us/16military.html?ref=us
30) Freed Man's Suit Accuses Brooklyn Prosecutors of Misconduct
By JOHN ELIGON
February 16, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/17/nyregion/17brooklyn.html?ref=nyregion
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1) Obama to Propose Cuts as Opening Bid in Budget Showdown
By JACKIE CALMES
February 12, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/13/us/politics/13budget.html?hp
WASHINGTON - President Obama said on Saturday that the budget he will propose on Monday would help the government, now running annual deficits averaging $1 trillion, start to "live within its means." Its proposed spending cuts will be his opening bid in the year's fiscal showdown with newly empowered Congressional Republicans.
"After a decade of rising deficits, this budget asks Washington to live within its means, while at the same time investing in our future," Mr. Obama said in his weekly national address. "It cuts what we can't afford to pay for what we cannot do without. That's what families do in hard times."
The budget for the 2012 fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1, will call for greater deficit reduction over the coming decade than Mr. Obama proposed last year and certainly than in his first budget, when the economy was in the depths of the worst recession in eight decades. As such, the budget will reflect his midterm shift from a focus on stimulus spending and tax cuts in his first two years to budget-cutting as the economy picks up steam.
Mr. Obama's third annual budget also reflects the political pressure he confronts from a new House Republican majority that is dedicated to slashing domestic spending far more. But the administration readily concedes, even boasts, that the president will not win any race to outcut House Republicans.
The Republicans are trying to strip up to $100 billion from domestic spending in the current fiscal year - nearly a quarter of the limited budget segment they have singled out - before they begin drafting their own budget for the 2012 fiscal year.
To frame the year's budget debate, Mr. Obama has been arguing for weeks that such deep cuts could threaten the recovery and that the economy's growth and competitiveness demand some spending increases, as he is proposing, in programs for education, infrastructure, innovation and research.
The administration also contends that its 10-year plan would leave the country in better overall fiscal health than the path envisioned by Congressional Republicans. They would maintain the Bush-era tax cuts after 2012, repeal the cost-saving provisions of the health care law and exempt the military from spending cuts even as they rip domestic spending.
While Mr. Obama will also reduce military spending and some health program costs, neither he nor the Republicans are tackling the unsustainable long-term growth of entitlement programs like Medicare or proposing to raise significant revenues - as most budget analysts and bipartisan debt-reduction panels, including the one Mr. Obama created last year, have said are essential.
The president's budget will reflect the five-year domestic spending freeze, through the 2015 fiscal year, that he proposed last month in his State of the Union address to save an estimated $400 billion over the coming decade.
In the Republican response to Mr. Obama's national address on Saturday, Senator Orrin G. Hatch of Utah disparaged that approach. "The president's proposal for a freeze in government spending might give the White House a nice talking point," he said. "But it is a totally inadequate solution to our nation's spending problems."
But Mr. Obama would propose deeper cuts in some programs, including many that he supported in the past - like energy aid for low-income families, community services and development grants and assistance to restore the Great Lakes - to make room for the spending increases he wants in education, research and infrastructure.
While the Pentagon is not subject to the freeze, Mr. Obama's budget reduces the department's previous spending plans by $78 billion over five years. It would cut several weaponry programs guarded by the individual armed services and their patrons in Congress, including a Joint Strike Fighter engine and a Marine expeditionary vehicle. Separately, projected war costs are declining because of the reduction of troop levels in Iraq.
Together, Mr. Obama's budget and House Republicans' early moves suggest that at least for the coming fiscal year, overall nonsecurity spending is likely to be cut somewhat below the president's proposal to freeze it at last year's levels.
Even if House Republicans bridged their evident differences over their larger spending cuts package, it would not survive opposition from Mr. Obama and the Democratic-controlled Senate. Over time, the budget history of past decades suggests that neither side could sustain the cuts each is proposing in so-called nonsecurity discretionary spending, which is just over a tenth of the federal budget but covers most government programs from air traffic control to national parks and cancer research.
Typically, nonsecurity discretionary spending has grown faster than inflation, but not nearly as fast as the much bigger programs whose costs are driving projections of federal debt to dangerous levels in coming decades: the military; the entitlement programs Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security; and interest on the debt.
In his Saturday address, Mr. Obama said his freeze would reduce nonsecurity domestic spending, measured against the size of the economy, to the lowest level since President Dwight D. Eisenhower left office in 1961. Separately, he has said Republicans should work with him on a compromise to rein in future entitlement spending and to overhaul the tax code.
Mr. Obama's budget will incorporate some ideas from the bipartisan debt-reduction commission he created last year, but he will stop far short of embracing the commission majority's overall recommendation for a comprehensive overhaul of all spending and taxes to save $4 trillion over 10 years.
That caution reflects a scaling back of the fiscal-reformist ambitions Mr. Obama brought to office, because of resistance in both parties. For example, Mr. Obama considered proposing changes in Social Security to make it solvent over 75 years, but Congressional Democrats objected.
Yet even some deficit hawks are sympathetic to the president's caution, given the likelihood that at least for now House Republicans would reject any such compromise.
"In this highly partisan environment, if the president proposes something, there is automatically some group that is opposed," said Senator Kent Conrad, Democrat of North Dakota and chairman of the Senate Budget Committee. "It may be better for him to play the role of referee."
"To get a result," Mr. Conrad added, "the president has got to be part of a larger process that involves Republicans and Democrats, House and Senate. How one gets to the table is not just one move, it's a series of moves. And it's very, very difficult."
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2) It Ain't Just Mubarak -- 7 of the Worst Dictators the U.S. Is Backing to the Hilt
By Joshua Holland, AlterNet
Posted on February 5, 2011, Printed on February 12, 2011
http://www.alternet.org/story/149805/
Embattled Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, whose regime has received billions in U.S. aid, has been in the global media spotlight of late. He's long been "our bastard," but he's not alone.
Let's take a look at the other dictators from around the planet who are fortunate enough to be on Uncle Sam's good side.
1. Paul Biya, Cameroon
Biya has ruled Cameroon since winning an "election" in 1983. He was the only candidate, and did pretty well, getting 99 percent of the vote.
According to the country's Wikipedia entry, "The United States and Cameroon work together in the United Nations and a number of other multilateral organizations. While in the UN Security Council in 2002, Cameroon worked closely with the United States on a number of initiatives. The U.S. government continues to provide substantial funding for international financial institutions, such as the World Bank, IMF, and African Development Bank, that provide financial and other assistance to Cameroon."
Amnesty International details unlawful executions, journalists being thrown in jail and a host of other nasty business.
As part of a strategy to stifle opposition, the authorities perpetrated or condoned human rights violations including arbitrary arrests, unlawful detentions and restrictions on the rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly. Human rights defenders and journalists were harassed and threatened. Men and women were detained because of their sexual orientation.
2. Gurbanguly Berdymuhammedov (or Berdymukhamedov), Turkmenistan
Berdymuhammedov came to power in 2006 when his predecessor died and the constitutionally mandated successor was thrown in jail.
According to the State Department, "For several years in the 1990s, Turkmenistan was a key player in the U.S. Caspian Basin Energy Initiative, which sought to facilitate negotiations between commercial partners and the Governments of Turkmenistan, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Turkey to build a pipeline under the Caspian Sea and export Turkmen gas to the Turkish domestic energy market and beyond--the so-called Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline (TCGP)." Parade Magazine's list of the world's worst dictators notes that "the U.S. continues to import oil from Turkmenistan ($100 million worth in 2008), while Boeing provides airplanes to the Turkmen government. Chevron ... opened an office in Turkmenistan's capital, Ashgabat."
Human Rights Watch says that while Berdymuhammedov has taken some steps "to reverse some of the most ruinous social policies" of his predecessor's rule, "the government remains one of the most repressive and authoritarian in the world."
3. Teodoro Obiang Nguema, Equatorial Guinea
Thirty-two years ago, Obiang Nguema deposed - and then executed -- his uncle, Francisco Macías, in a bloody coup. Peter Maas called him not only "Africa's worst dictator," but a man whose life "seems a parody of the dictator genre."
Obiang ... had promised to be kinder and gentler than his predecessor, but in the 1990s, even the U.S. ambassador to Equatorial Guinea received a death threat from a regime insider, the ambassador has said, and had to be evacuated. Not long after that, offshore oil was discovered, but the first wave of revenues-about $700 million-was transferred into secret accounts under Obiang's personal control.
According to Parade, "The U.S. imported more than $3 billion in petroleum products from Equatorial Guinea" in 2008.
4. Idriss Deby, Chad
We also imported $3 billion worth of oil from Chad that year. According to the State Department, "The United States enjoys cordial relations with the Deby government. Chad has proved a valuable partner in the global war on terror, and in providing shelter to approximately 200,000 refugees of Sudan's Darfur crisis along its eastern border."
Amnesty International's 2010 report on Chad paints quite a picture:
Civilians and humanitarian workers were killed and abducted; women and girls were victims of rape and other violence; and children were used as soldiers. The authorities failed to take adequate action to protect civilians from attacks by bandits and armed groups. Suspected political opponents were unlawfully arrested, arbitrarily detained and tortured or otherwise ill-treated. Harassment and intimidation of journalists and human rights defenders continued. Demolition of houses and other structures continued throughout 2009, leaving thousands of people homeless.
Despite the fact that Chad's military has been accused of using child soldiers, Parade notes that "the U.S. continues to train Chadian commandos."
5. Islam Karimov, Uzbekistan
The thing that makes Karimov so special is his (alleged) penchant for boiling his political opponents to death.
Karimov has been president of Uzbekistan since 1990, when he won the first of a number of rigged elections by a huge margin. Torture, arbitrary detentions and massive roundups of religious minorities are commonplace in Uzbekistan, according to Human Rights Watch. But the country has been a key partner of the U.S. in its "war on terror," hosting U.S. troops at the Karshi-Khanabad airbase until 2005. Relations cooled somewhat after Karimov encouraged the U.S. to abandon the base, but as Parade notes, "U.S. trade with Uzbekistan doubled in 2008, as Americans continue to import huge amounts of Uzbek uranium, which is used for nuclear power plants and weapons." The following year "Uzbekistan Airways ordered Boeing jetliners worth about $600 million."
6. Meles Zenawi, Ethiopia
Zenawi has ruled Ethiopia for 20 years. Just last year, after what Human Rights Watch called "months of intimidation of opposition party supporters," Zenawi's party, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front, won 99.6 percent of the vote. Legitimacy!
Ethiopia is a key strategic partner in the "war on terror," and contributes significantly to African peace-keeping operations. According to the U.S. Agency for International Development, the United States is the largest donor to Ethiopia. Congress passed a law, over the objections of the Bush administration, that restricts military aid to the country until it has a free press and the Zenawi regime improves its human rights record, but - and this is a big but - it exempts aid for "counter-terrorism." So despite the fact that, according to Amnesty International, Ethiopian opposition groups are illegal, NGOs have been banned and Ethiopians often disappear without trial, the U.S. continues to train Ethiopian troops.
7. King Abdullah Bin Abdul-Aziz, Saudi Arabia
Apparently, when a theocratic Islamic state does horrible things to its citizens, it's only a big deal if that state is named Iran. Saudi Arabia, of course, is among the United States' most important allies - the U.S. government has provided security for the Saudi royal family for decades, in exchange for which ... oil.
Abdullah has instituted some reforms since taking power in 2005, but Human Rights Watch says the "initiatives have been largely symbolic, with only modest concrete gains or institutional protection for rights." Amnesty International's 2010 report charges that the Saudi authorities continue to use "a wide range of repressive measures to suppress freedom of expression and other legitimate activities."
Hundreds of people were arrested as suspected terrorists. Thousands of others arrested in the name of security in previous years remained in jail; they included prisoners of conscience. Some 330 security suspects received unfair trials before a newly constituted but closed specialized court; one was sentenced to death and 323 were sentenced to terms of imprisonment.
There you have it -- a grand collection of bastards, yes. But remember: they're our bastards!
Joshua Holland is an editor and senior writer at AlterNet. He is the author of The 15 Biggest Lies About the Economy (and Everything else the Right Doesn't Want You to Know About Taxes, Jobs and Corporate America).
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3) Soldier May Testify Against Comrades in Afghan Killings, Lawyer Says
By WILLIAM YARDLEY
February 11, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/12/us/12soldiers.html?ref=world
SEATTLE - The cases against four of the Army soldiers accused of killing three unarmed Afghan civilians for sport last year could hinge on a fifth soldier whose lawyer said he was prepared to plead guilty to the crimes and testify against the others.
The fifth soldier, Specialist Jeremy N. Morlock, 22, who is accused in all three deaths, has signed a detailed confession as part of his effort to avoid a life sentence. Specialist Morlock, who is scheduled to face a court-martial on March 3, is seeking a sentence of 24 years.
The lawyer, Geoffrey Nathan, said prosecutors had agreed to the deal, though Army officials said Friday that they would not comment on the matter. A military judge would have to approve any plea deal and could alter any sentence in it.
A copy of the so-called stipulation of fact accompanying the plea offer and obtained by The New York Times is signed by Specialist Morlock and an Army defense lawyer but not by an Army prosecutor. The Washington Post has previously reported that a plea agreement is in place.
Specialist Morlock and Staff Sgt. Calvin R. Gibbs are the only two soldiers who have been accused in all three killings, which took place in January, February and May of last year. In the stipulation of fact, Specialist Morlock repeated his assertions that Sergeant Gibbs was the ringleader. All five soldiers, members of a Stryker Brigade from Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington State who were based near Kandahar, Afghanistan, are accused of faking combat situations to justify killing Afghans with grenades and guns.
"During the entire incident, the Accused knew that the Afghan was unarmed and no threat to himself or any of his fellow Soldiers," the stipulation says, referring to the killing in May. "There was no lawful justification or excuse for the killing or any of the actions taken by the Accused during the shooting of the Afghan male."
Specialist Morlock, who is from Wasilla, Alaska, has previously implicated himself and other soldiers in the killings, including in video statements that were broadcast on television last fall. His lawyers had sought to discredit those statements, saying that Specialist Morlock was under the influence of prescription medications and not mentally competent at the time.
"He knows what he's up against," Mr. Nathan, a civilian lawyer, said in explaining why his client is now pursuing the plea deal. "We have fully educated him as to his risk factors."
All five of the soldiers have been referred for court-martial. Two of them, Specialist Michael Wagnon and Pfc. Andrew Holmes, were referred only recently, around the time that Specialist Morlock's stipulation was drafted on Jan. 28.
Last year, Specialist Morlock initially did not implicate Specialist Wagnon in the killings, but later said he had been involved in the February shooting.
According to Specialist Morlock's signed stipulation, when Sergeant Gibbs asked him to participate, Specialist Wagnon responded, "This isn't my first rodeo; I'm in."
Colby Vokey, a civilian lawyer for Specialist Wagnon, said his client is innocent. "In order to get a deal," he said. "Morlock is compelled to offer testimony against others, including Wagnon."
"We are definitely going to trial," he added. "Michael Wagnon has not had anything to do with any kind of planned killing of any person whatsoever."
Lawyers for the other defendants also said they expected their cases to go to trial. A lawyer for Specialist Adam C. Winfield, who is accused in the May killing, said that his client had pursued a plea deal but had been unable to come to terms with Army prosecutors.
Lawyers in the case say two photographs show Specialist Morlock and Specialist Holmes holding up the heads of dead Afghans as their bodies lie on the ground. But they dispute how effective the photographs would be as evidence. Physical evidence in the case is limited, with investigators admitting they did not do detailed crime scene investigations out of concern that Afghan villagers would become angry if they learned the killings were suspicious.
"Their own mouths convicted them, their own statements," Mr. Nathan said. "Other than that, there's no evidence. There are no bodies."
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4) Wisconsin May Take an Ax to State Workers' Benefits and Their Unions
By MONICA DAVEY and STEVEN GREENHOUSE
February 11, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/12/us/12unions.html?ref=us
Citing Wisconsin's gaping budget shortfall for this year and even larger ones expected in the years ahead, Gov. Scott Walker proposed a sweeping plan on Friday to cut benefits for public employees in the state and to take away most of their unions' ability to bargain.
The proposal by Mr. Walker, a Republican who was elected in November after pledging that he would get public workers' compensation "into line" with everyone else's, is expected to receive support next week in the State Legislature, where Republicans also won control of both chambers in the fall.
The prospect left union leaders, state and local employees and some Democrats stunned over the plan's scope and what it might signal for public-sector unions in the state. Union leaders began planning rallies in Madison and contacting lawmakers, pressing them to reject the idea.
Mr. Walker said Wisconsin was prepared for any fallout, noting in an interview that the National Guard was ready to step in to handle state duties, if need be.
"I'm just trying to balance my budget," Mr. Walker said. "To those who say why didn't I negotiate on this? I don't have anything to negotiate with. We don't have anything to give. Like practically every other state in the country, we're broke. And it's time to pay up."
State leaders across the country have talked about solving budget woes with actions that in other climates might have been politically impossible: cutting the salaries and pensions of government workers and limiting the power of labor unions.
But the plan in Wisconsin, which faces a $137 million shortfall in the current budget and a gap in the billions for the coming cycle, is among the most far-reaching of such proposals to be delivered to lawmakers. Mr. Walker expects swift approval.
Among key provisions of Mr. Walker's plan: limiting collective bargaining for most state and local government employees to the issue of wages (instead of an array of issues, like health coverage or vacations); requiring government workers to contribute 5.8 percent of their pay to their pensions, much more than now; and requiring state employees to pay at least 12.6 percent of health care premiums (most pay about 6 percent now).
Mike Imbrogno, a cook at the University of Wisconsin in Madison who belongs to a union and said he earns $28,000 a year, described the move as an "attack" on working people.
"He's basically trying to smash the last remaining organized upward pressure on wages and benefits in Wisconsin," Mr. Imbrogno said. Governor Walker's proposal would specifically remove the right of the university's faculty and staff to bargain collectively.
Mr. Walker made several proposals that will weaken not just unions' ability to bargain contracts, but also their finances and political clout.
His proposal would make it harder for unions to collect dues because the state would stop collecting the money from employee paychecks.
He would further weaken union treasuries by giving members of public-sector unions the right not to pay dues. In an unusual move, he would require secret-ballot votes each year at every public-sector union to determine whether a majority of workers still want to be unionized.
He would require public-employee unions to negotiate new contracts every year, an often lengthy process. And he would limit the raises of state employees and teachers to the consumer price index, unless the public approves higher raises through a referendum. Exempted from those changes would be firefighters and law enforcement personnel.
"We think that the proposal that's put forward, it just goes too far," said Phil Neuenfeldt, president of the Wisconsin A.F.L.-C.I.O. "The right to negotiate wages and benefits for a union is a fundamental underpinning of the American middle class."
But Mr. Walker and Republican leaders said disassembling unions was not the point at all. The intent, Mr. Walker said, was to avoid balancing the budget some other way: by laying off some 6,000 state workers, and taking away Medicaid coverage for hundreds of thousands of children.
Wisconsin officials say Mr. Walker's plan would save the state $30 million in the current budget, and $300 million in the next budget. "In these tough times, I think people are going to feel that this is not that much to ask," said Jeff Fitzgerald, the Republican speaker of the State Assembly. "Everyone is going to have to pitch in."
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5) U.S. Approves Corn Modified for Ethanol
By ANDREW POLLACK
February 11, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/12/business/12corn.html?ref=us
A type of corn that is genetically engineered to make it easier to convert into ethanol was approved for commercial growing by the Department of Agriculture.
The decision, announced Friday, came in the face of objections from corn millers and others in the food industry, who warned that if the industrial corn cross-pollinated with or were mixed with corn used for food, it could lead to crumbly corn chips, soggy cereal, loaves of bread with soupy centers and corn dogs with inadequate coatings.
"If this corn is comingled with other corn, it will have significant adverse impacts on food product quality and performance," the North American Millers' Association said in a statement on Friday.
The corn, developed by Syngenta, contains a microbial gene that causes it to produce an enzyme that breaks down corn starch into sugar, the first step toward making ethanol. Ethanol manufacturers now buy this enzyme, called alpha amylase, in liquid form and add it to the corn at the start of their production process.
Syngenta says that having the crop make the enzyme for its own breakdown - self-processing corn, as it were - will increase ethanol output while reducing the use of water, energy and chemicals in the production process. The company, a seed and pesticide manufacturer based in Switzerland, said it would take various measures to prevent the corn from getting into the food supply.
The corn, which is called Enogen, is one of the first crops genetically engineered to contain a trait that influences use of the plant after harvest. Virtually all past biotech crops have had traits like insect resistance, aimed at helping farmers more than manufacturers or consumers.
Enogen is also one of the first to be engineered solely for industrial purposes.
The Agriculture Department said the corn met the statutory requirements for approval, in that it was not a pest that would harm plants. The Food and Drug Administration had previously found the corn safe to eat.
The Agriculture Department said the food processors should work with Syngenta to address their concerns. "We are pleased that these segments of industry continue to dialogue with Syngenta on research and testing efforts," the department said in a press release.
The corn approval is the third recent one in which the Agriculture Department has had to weigh the risks of the spread of a genetically engineered trait.
Two weeks ago, it approved the unrestricted cultivation of biotech alfalfa over the objections of some environmental groups and the organic food industry. Last week, it cleared biotech sugar beets for planting, with some restrictions. Both the alfalfa and beets have a gene making them tolerant of the herbicide Roundup.
With Syngenta's corn, however, the opponents are not only the usual anti-biotechnology groups but also a powerful industry that is normally receptive to biotechnology. The millers' association, which has led the opposition, represents 43 companies, including giants like General Mills, ConAgra Mills and ADM Milling.
The association said that Syngenta's own data indicated that as little as one amylase corn kernel mixed with 10,000 conventional kernels could be enough to weaken the corn starch and disrupt food processing operations.
Another concern of some in the food industry is that if the amylase corn is found in food supplies it could lead to recalls or disrupt exports.
Syngenta says the amylase enzyme is not active when the kernel is intact. It is most active, the company said, at certain levels of temperature, acidity and moisture found in ethanol factories but rarely in factories that make corn starch, corn syrup or corn chips.
Syngenta also said the corn would be grown only in the vicinity of ethanol plants. Farmers would be under contract and have financial incentives to sell their output only to that plant. Other steps would be taken to limit cross-pollination or inadvertent mixing in grain elevators.
But food processors and environmental groups said that some spread was inevitable.
"This is StarLink all over again," said Margaret Mellon of the Union of Concerned Scientists. She was referring to the situation in 2000 when a genetically modified corn approved only for animal use got into the human food supply, prompting huge recalls and disrupting American exports.
One difference, however, is that unlike StarLink, Syngenta's new corn is approved for food use. Other alpha amylase enzymes are already used in food processing.
The Center for Food Safety, an advocacy group, said it was preparing to sue. The group persuaded a court to temporarily revoke the approvals of the biotech alfalfa and sugar beets because the Agriculture Department had not done a full environmental impact statement. The department, which has been reviewing Syngenta's application since 2005, did not prepare such a statement for Syngenta's corn.
Syngenta said that this year it expected the corn to be grown on fewer than 25,000 acres, in the western parts of Kansas and Nebraska. However, use could expand greatly in the future. As much as 40 percent of the nation's corn crop last year is going into ethanol production.
The National Corn Growers Association applauded the corn's approval.
The corn contains a synthetic gene derived from micro-organisms that live near hot-water vents on the ocean's floor. The enzyme is stable at the high temperatures used in making ethanol. The liquid amylase now used by ethanol plants is made in other micro-organisms.
Syngenta said that use of its corn increased ethanol production by 8 percent and reduced natural gas consumption 8 percent in a test at an ethanol plant in Oakley, Kan.
"We don't ever want to go back to a liquid amylase product," Steve McNinch, the chief executive of Western Plains Energy, the owner of the plant, said in a statement issued by Syngenta.
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6) Oregon: Man Dies Yards From Emergency Room Door
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
February 11, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/12/us/12brfs-MANDIESYARDS_BRF.html?ref=us
A man died early Friday in a Portland hospital's parking garage, just 100 feet from the emergency room's entrance, and the police said no one from the staff of Portland Adventist Medical Center helped as officers tried to revive him. The man, Birgilio Marin-Fuentes, 61, suffered a heart attack in his car. Mr. Marin-Fuentes had driven to the hospital, then crashed into a pillar and wall of the parking garage. Sgt. Pete Simpson, a police spokesman, said that the only medical help the officers received was from an ambulance crew after hospital staff members told an officer to call 911. Hospital officials say they dispatched security officers trained in first aid and a paramedic.
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7) Egypt's military, an economic giant, now in charge
Andrew S. Ross
Sunday, February 13, 2011
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/02/13/BU1V1HLVP6.DTL
It owns companies that sell everything from fire extinguishers and medical equipment to laptops, televisions, sewing machines, refrigerators, pots and pans, butane gas bottles, bottled water and olive oil.
Its holdings include vast tracts of land, including the Sharm el-Sheikh resort, where ex-President Hosni Mubarak now resides in one of his seaside pala-ces. Bread from its bakeries has helped head off food riots.
"It's a business conglomerate, like General Electric," said Robert Springborg, professor of national security affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, referring to the Egyptian military. "It's represented in virtually every sector of the economy."
So is what's good for Egypt's GE good for the country, now that the military is, at least temporarily, in formal control?
In a September 2008 classified cable recently released by WikiLeaks, U.S. Ambassador to Egypt Margaret Scobey wrote, "We see the military's role in the economy as a force that generally stifles free market reform by increasing direct government involvement in the markets."
The cable noted "the military's strong influence in Egypt's economy," with military-owned companies, often run by retired generals, "particularly active in the water, olive oil, cement, construction, hotel and gasoline industries."
As for the civilian government's privatization initiatives - headed by Mubarak's son Gamal before he was ousted from his party post - they were viewed "as a threat to (the military's) economic position, (which) therefore generally opposes economic reforms," according to the cable.
Springborg, who has written widely on Egypt and met with the nation's military, doubts the military's increased responsibilities will change that position.
"It's been steadfastly opposed to liberalization and got rid of everybody in Mubarak's government who supported it," he said.
Among those gone, to Springborg's consternation, is industry and trade minister Rachid Mohamed Rachid, who was reportedly being investigated last week for alleged corruption, an allegation he has vehemently denied.
"Not only was Rachid known as an honest man, he was one of the best businessmen in the Middle East. He was a key figure in talks with foreign investors," Springborg said. "I think his removal sends a chilling message to the global business community."
"Awash with cash": Reporting on the military is a crime in Egypt, and estimates of its share of the Egyptian economy - ranging from 5 to 40 percent - are "absolute guesswork," Springborg said. "No one has the books on their companies."
Egypt's Ministry of Military Production, which has its hand in numerous business pursuits, including building water treatment stations, has 40,000 civilians on the payroll and takes in approximately $345 million a year, according to its head, former Gen. Sayed Meshal.
A reporter for the online publication Slate who interviewed Meshal last year described the ministry's "lavish headquarters," with "golden handrails" and "fancy custom-made drink coasters - the place is awash with cash."
In the interview, Meshal "gleefully" told the reporter that Egypt's well-known bottled water, Safi, produced by a military factory formerly run by Meshal, was named after his daughter.
Open for investments?: One sector that appears not, as yet, to have caught the military's business eye is high tech. "They are very low-tech, interested mostly in laser beams and night-vision goggles," Springborg said.
But high tech has been a source of foreign investment, which Egypt could definitely use as it seeks to put its economy back together.
"The new government could pursue a more open economic policy to attract foreign investment," said an analysis by Stratfor, a geopolitical consultancy in Austin, Texas. In the short term, it would help in "maintaining subsidies as well as fulfilling economic promises, such as a 15 percent increase in public employees' salaries to ease the current social unrest."
Perhaps Israel, an emerging high-tech power, along with Silicon Valley, could be interested if the atmosphere were right. After all, it was the 1979 peace treaty with Israel that spurred Egypt's military-business complex to diversify into more consumer-oriented fields, in part to employ soldiers no longer at war.
"Israel is transforming its economy through high tech. Egypt has wanted to do the same," said Keith Watenpaugh, associate professor of modern Islam at UC Davis.
We probably shouldn't hold our breath for that. And it might be a while before overseas investors in general open their wallets, should the military rulers pursue a more "nationalistic" economic course.
"I don't think we are going to have neoliberal, Western-style economic reform in Egypt," Rashid Khalidi, a professor of Arab studies at Columbia University, told Time magazine this month. "I think there is going to be a return to some aspect of state-led development so the part of the economy that is controlled by the military may well be reinforced for some time."
At this point, would Springborg invest in Egypt, assuming he had the means? "No, absolutely not," he replied.
Blogging: www.sfgate.com/columns/bottomline. Facebook page: sfg.ly/doACKM. Tweeting: @andrewsross. E-mail: bottomline@sfchronicle.com.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/02/13/BU1V1HLVP6.DTL
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8) Egypt's Military Dissolves Parliament; Calls for Vote
By ANTHONY SHADID and J. DAVID GOODMAN
February 13, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/14/world/middleeast/14egypt.html?hp
CAIRO - The Egyptian military consolidated its control Sunday over what it has called a democratic transition from three decades of President Hosni Mubarak's authoritarian rule, dissolving the country's feeble parliament, suspending the constitution and calling for elections in six months in sweeping steps that echoed protesters' demands.
The statement by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, read on television, effectively put Egypt under direct military authority, thrusting the country into territory uncharted since republican Egypt was founded in 1952. Though enjoying popular support, the military must now cope with the formidable task of negotiating a post-revolutionary landscape still basking in the glow of Mr. Mubarak's fall but beset by demands to ameliorate hardships that percolated across Cairo on Sunday.
Since seizing power from Mr. Mubarak on Friday, the military has sought to strike the right note, responding in words and action to the platform articulated by hundreds of thousands in Tahrir Square. But beyond more protests, there is almost no check on the sweep of military rule, and while opposition leaders welcomed the moves, some have quietly raised worries about the future role of an institution that has long played a crucial behind-the-scenes role in preserving its vast business interests and political capital.
But others were more optimistic. Ayman Nour, who lost to Mr. Mubarak in the 2005 election, said that the military's actions should be enough to satisfy the protesters, some of whom nevertheless refused to leave Tahrir Square and resisted soldiers' attempts to evict them.
The military's statement did not address another major opposition demand to lift emergency rule. In previous statements, the council had promised to take that step once the security situation improved. Confirming earlier statements, the council said that the civilian cabinet would remain in place over the next six months, though it did not rule out further ministerial changes.
The military said it would form a committee to amend the constitution, which includes the emergency law despised by many protesters, and that the amendments would be approved by popular referendum. While opposition leaders had pledged to layout proposals for a transitional government on Sunday, they canceled a news conference and offered no timetable for disclosing their plans.
But even as calm seemed to be settling over Egypt, antigovernment demonstrations erupted in Yemen, with protesters clashing violently with security forces on Sunday. A small group tried to rush the palace of President Ali Abdullah Saleh but were beaten back by riot police.
Cairo on Sunday witnessed scenes that juxtaposed a more familiar capital with a country forever changed by the fall of Mr. Mubarak on Friday. Hundreds of policemen, belonging to one of the most loathed institutions in Egypt, rallied in downtown Cairo to demand better pay and treatment, while a short walk away, traffic returned to Tahrir Square, a symbol of the revolution, navigating through lingering protesters and jubilant sightseers, many of whom flocked to pictures of dead protesters that hung from clotheslines at one end of the square.
The police, civilians and soldiers with guns slung over their shoulders arranged themselves in human chains, in an ad hoc effort at crowd control aimed at keeping the crowds from spilling into traffic.
In a burst of civic duty, youthful volunteers swept streets, painted fences and curbs, washed away graffiti that read, "Down with Mubarak," and planted bushes in a square many want to turn into a memorial for the greatest uprising in modern Egyptian history. Soldiers drove a truck mounted with speakers that blared, "Egypt is my beloved."
"Egypt is my blood," said Oummia Ali, a flight attendant for EgyptAir who skipped work to paint the square's railing green. "I want to build our country again."
As she spoke, a boisterous crowd marched down the street away from Tahrir Square, Liberation in Arabic and named for the fall of the Egyptian monarchy in 1952. "Let's go home," they chanted, "we got our rights." Though hundreds, perhaps more vowed to stay until more reforms were enacted, tents were dismantled, banners taken down and trucks piled with blankets that kept protesters warm over the 18 days of demonstrations that began Jan. 25, the date organizers have given to their revolution.
The military's statement was the clearest elaboration yet of its plans for Egypt, as the country's opposition forces, from the Muslim Brotherhood to labor unions, seek to build on the momentum of the protests and create a democratic system with few parallels in the Arab world. The moves to suspend the constitution and to dissolve parliament, chosen in an election deemed a sham even by Mr. Mubarak's standards, were expected. It said it would form a committee to draft constitutional amendments - pointedly keeping it in its hands, not the opposition's - though it promised to put them before a referendum.
The statement declared that Egypt's defense minister, Field Marshal Tantawi Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, would represent the country abroad and that the supreme command would issue laws in the transitional period before elections.
It remains unclear whether the opposition will be content to see leading figures from the Mubarak cabinet, like Vice President Omar Suleiman and Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq, preside over the transition. In its statement, the Supreme Council said it would determine Mr. Suleiman's role in the coming days.
The impact of Egypt's uprising continued to ripple across the Arab world as protesters turned out not just in Yemen but in Algeria, where the police arrested leading organizers. The Palestinian leadership responded by announcing that it planned to hold presidential and parliamentary elections by September. And in Tunisia, which inspired Egypt's uprising, hundreds demonstrated to cheer Mr. Mubarak's ouster.
Reporting was contributed by David D. Kirkpatrick, Kareem Fahim, Mona El-Naggar, Dawlat Magdy and Scott Nelson from Cairo Thomas Fuller from Tunis and J. David Goodman from New York.
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9) Young Protesters Revolt in Yemeni Capital
By LAURA KASINOF and J. DAVID GOODMAN
February 13, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/14/world/middleeast/14yemen.html?hp
SANA, Yemen - Young protesters in Yemen squared off against security forces on Sunday, and some marched on the presidential palace in Sana, witnesses said, as a third day of demonstrations sought to emulate the revolution in Egypt.
The protests, organized largely via text message, were the largest yet by young Yemenis, with more than 1,000 marching. And it appeared to mark a rift with opposition groups who had organized previous demonstrations that wrested significant concessions from President Ali Abdullah Saleh, including the promise that he would give up power in 2013.
Those established opposition groups did not join the crowd on Sunday, who were calling for the immediate ouster of the president. After the initial demonstration, a smaller group of young protesters peeled off and marched towards the presidential palace, only to be violently beaten back by armed security forces, both uniformed and in plain-clothes, with some armed with stun guns, witnesses said. There were reports of several injuries but no deaths in the clashes.
Unlike the earlier protests in Yemen, which were highly organized and marked by color-coordinated clothing and signs, the spontaneity of the younger demonstrators appeared to have more in common with popular uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, where opposition groups watched from the sidelines as leaderless revolts grew into revolutions.
The Joint Meetings Parties, a coalition of opposition parties, said at a news conference in Sana on Sunday that it welcomed the new street protests but cautioned that violence could quickly erupt if mass uprisings took hold in Yemen, a country with a well-armed populace. "If the people on the streets take the lead, we will say thank you for that," said Yassin Saeed Noman, a socialist party leader, adding that the opposition "should deal wisely with this big movement."
The opposition group said that 120 people had been arrested in protests on Saturday and Sunday in Taiz, a poverty-stricken town with a relatively educated populace about a four-hour drive south of the capital, as wave of youthful unrest spread through the fractured country.
Mr. Saleh, a strongman and key ally of the United States in the fight against terrorism, has in recent weeks sought to defuse a rising tide of opposition and preserve his three-decade-long rule by raising army salaries, cutting income taxes in half and ordering price controls, among other concessions.
"This is a revolution across the whole Arab world," said Jalal Bakry, an unemployed protester near the Yemeni capital's central square. "If those in Tahrir Square want to kill me, that's okay. We will still be peaceful."
Even before protests began in January, a rebellion in the north and a struggle for secession in the south have threatened Yemen's fragile stability. The government's precarious hold on control has been a source of concern for the United States, which has received support from Mr. Saleh to root out the active Yemeni branch of Al Qaeda.
In a visit to Sana earlier this month, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, urged dialogue between Mr. Saleh and the opposition in the interest of preserving stability.
At its news conference on Sunday, the opposition coalition said it would be willing to restart a talks with the ruling party if specific conditions are met, such as including members of the southern separatist movement in the dialogue.
Laura Kasinof reported from Sana, Yemen, and J. David Goodman from New York.
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10) Mubarak Family Riches Attract New Focus
By NEIL MacFARQUHAR, DAVID ROHDE and ARAM ROSTON
February 12, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/13/world/middleeast/13wealth.html?hp
After Hosni Mubarak's younger son, Gamal, left his job as an executive with Bank of America in London in the mid-1990s, he joined forces with Egypt's largest investment bank. Today he has a significant stake in a private equity company with interests throughout the Egyptian economy, from oil to agriculture to tourism, corporate records and interviews show.
During President Hosni Mubarak's nearly 30-year rule, he and his family were not flamboyant with their wealth, particularly by the standards of other leaders in the Middle East. While there is no indication that Gamal Mubarak or the bank were involved in illegal activity, his investments show how deeply the family is woven into Egypt's economy.
Now with Hosni Mubarak out of power, there are growing calls for an accounting to begin.
Within hours of Mr. Mubarak's resignation on Friday, Swiss officials ordered all banks in Switzerland to search for - and freeze - any assets of the former president, his family or close associates. In Egypt, opposition leaders vowed to press for a full investigation of Mr. Mubarak's finances.
Tracing the money is likely to be difficult because business in Egypt was largely conducted in secret among a small group connected to Mr. Mubarak.
"Now we open all the files," said George Ishak, head of the National Association for Change, an opposition umbrella group. "We will research everything, all of them: the families of the ministers, the family of the president, everyone."
Estimates of the Mubaraks' fortune vary wildly, including a widespread rumor that they are worth as much as $70 billion. United States officials say that figure is vastly exaggerated and put the family's wealth at $2 billion to $3 billion.
Gamal Mubarak, who was being groomed to be the next president, and his older brother Ala'a, were considered major figures in the business elite.
Gamal Mubarak's private equity business came through his ties to EFG-Hermes, the largest investment bank in Egypt. EFG-Hermes, which listed assets of $8 billion on its 2010 financial statement, was pivotal in Egypt's privatization program, in which state companies were sold to politically connected businessmen.
The connection to EFG-Hermes reaches back to the mid-1990s. After Gamal Mubarak left Bank of America, he set up an investment firm called Medinvest Associates in London in 1996 with two partners. Medinvest, in turn, is owned by an international securities fund in Cyprus called Bullion Company Ltd. According to EFG-Hermes, Gamal Mubarak owns half of Bullion, and records in Cyprus show that his brother Ala'a is on the board.
Bullion owns 35 percent of the private equity operation, which has $919 million under management, according to the chief executive of EFG-Hermes, Hassan Heikal. The equity fund invests in oil and gas, steel, cement, food and cattle.
Mr. Heikal said that other than the private equity investment, Gamal Mubarak had no other ties "directly, indirectly, offshore or through family" to the bank. He said the fund constituted only 7 percent of the bank's business. Questioned about the size of Gamal's initial investment in the 1990s, Mr. Heikal declined to elaborate.
A spokeswoman for EFG-Hermes said in a statement that the bank "has received no special privileges or consideration from the Egyptian government and has always operated under legal and transparent best-practices." Calls to Medinvest's office in London and Bullion's office in Cyprus last week were not returned. In the past, Gamal Mubarak has denied any wrongdoing and said he was involved in legitimate business activities.
For years, opposition groups have contended that since Egypt privatized its economy in the 1990s, the Mubaraks and a few dozen elite families have held stakes in the sale of state assets and in new business ventures. Later, some of these businessmen were appointed to government positions overseeing the very businesses they ran. Connections to the presidential palace brought benefits like the opportunity to develop government real estate and access to easy bank loans.
"The corruption of the Mubarak family was not stealing from the budget, it was transforming political capital into private capital," said Samer Soliman, a professor of political economy at American University in Cairo.
Occasionally, members of the ruling elite who fell out of favor were suddenly convicted of financial corruption charges, but generally, the inner workings of the system have remained hidden.
One businessman who won government approval for various major development projects is Magdi Rasekh, Ala'a Mubarak's father-in-law. Mr. Rasekh is chairman of the board of Sixth of October Development & Investment Company, which built one of a series of sprawling new developments in the desert outside Cairo. The government-backed development, Sixth of October City, is home to 500,000 people, an entirely new satellite city with an industrial park, a hospital, villas and middle-class apartments. Efforts to reach Mr. Rasekh were not successful.
As attention turns to tracking the Mubaraks' purported wealth, rumors of vast real estate holdings by the family have swirled. But the only property outside of Egypt that has emerged is the London townhouse at 28 Wilton Place in Knightsbridge where Gamal Mubarak lived when he was an investment banker there.
But determining the precise ownership of the house shows why investigating the family's wealth is complicated. A woman answering the front door of the house said the Mubaraks had sold it, but property agents said there was no record of a sale, and neighbors said they had seen Gamal Mubarak and his family entering it several times recently.
According to British records, the home is owned by a company called Ocral Enterprises of Panama. The registered agent for the company in Panama is a local law firm. A lawyer at the firm said that he could not reveal Ocral's owner. The lawyer said his firm received its instructions regarding Ocral from a company in Muscat, Oman, which he declined to identify.
Though Swiss banks have begun the search for Mubarak family assets, experts said any money would be returned to Egypt only if its new government formally demanded them.
"Egypt has to run a criminal investigation," said Daniel Thelesklaf, director of the International Center for Asset Recovery in Switzerland. "A lot will depend on the new Egyptian government."
As the protest intensified last week, government prosecutors froze the assets of five government ministers and imposed a travel ban on them. The move appeared to be an effort by Mr. Mubarak to distance himself from the wealthy businessmen who had become the focus of public ire over corruption. It is unclear whether the military, which now runs the government and has vast business holdings itself, will allow a full inquiry into the Mubarak family's wealth.
Perhaps the most difficult question to answer is the level of corruption involving Hosni Mubarak himself. Former American diplomats said he appeared to live relatively simply, particularly by the standards of rulers in the region. His main residence outside Cairo was a villa in a private compound in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el Sheik, where he went after resigning the presidency on Friday. Diplomats said the villa was not particularly grand for the neighborhood, smaller than the nearby home of Bakr bin Laden, a member of the wealthy Saudi construction clan and a half-brother of Osama bin Laden.
Mr. Mubarak's villa is in a compound developed by Hussein Salem, an Egyptian businessman and close friend of the former president. Mr. Salem pleaded guilty in 1983 to overcharging the Pentagon $8 million for shipping military equipment to Egypt. Despite the conviction, he prospered in Mr. Mubarak's Egypt and heads a lucrative business that ships natural gas to Israel.
Eric Schmitt and Mark Mazzetti contributed reporting.
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11) For Some Troops, Powerful Drug Cocktails Have Deadly Results
By JAMES DAO, BENEDICT CAREY and DAN FROSCH
February 12, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/13/us/13drugs.html?hp
This article was reported by James Dao, Benedict Carey and Dan Frosch and written by Mr. Dao.
In his last months alive, Senior Airman Anthony Mena rarely left home without a backpack filled with medications.
He returned from his second deployment to Iraq complaining of back pain, insomnia, anxiety and nightmares. Doctors diagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder and prescribed powerful cocktails of psychiatric drugs and narcotics.
Yet his pain only deepened, as did his depression. "I have almost given up hope," he told a doctor in 2008, medical records show. "I should have died in Iraq."
Airman Mena died instead in his Albuquerque apartment, on July 21, 2009, five months after leaving the Air Force on a medical discharge. A toxicologist found eight prescription medications in his blood, including three antidepressants, a sedative, a sleeping pill and two potent painkillers.
Yet his death was no suicide, the medical examiner concluded. What killed Airman Mena was not an overdose of any one drug, but the interaction of many. He was 23.
After a decade of treating thousands of wounded troops, the military's medical system is awash in prescription drugs - and the results have sometimes been deadly.
By some estimates, well over 300,000 troops have returned from Iraq or Afghanistan with P.T.S.D., depression, traumatic brain injury or some combination of those. The Pentagon has looked to pharmacology to treat those complex problems, following the lead of civilian medicine. As a result, psychiatric drugs have been used more widely across the military than in any previous war.
But those medications, along with narcotic painkillers, are being increasingly linked to a rising tide of other problems, among them drug dependency, suicide and fatal accidents - sometimes from the interaction of the drugs themselves. An Army report on suicide released last year documented the problem, saying one-third of the force was on at least one prescription medication.
"Prescription drug use is on the rise," the report said, noting that medications were involved in one-third of the record 162 suicides by active-duty soldiers in 2009. An additional 101 soldiers died accidentally from the toxic mixing of prescription drugs from 2006 to 2009.
"I'm not a doctor, but there is something inside that tells me the fewer of these things we prescribe, the better off we'll be," Gen. Peter W. Chiarelli, the vice chief of staff of the Army who has led efforts on suicide, said in an interview.
Growing awareness of the dangers of overmedicated troops has prompted the Defense Department to improve the monitoring of prescription medications and restrict their use.
In November, the Army issued a new policy on the use of multiple medications that calls for increased training for clinicians, 30-day limits on new prescriptions and comprehensive reviews of cases where patients are receiving four or more drugs.
The Pentagon is also promoting measures to prevent troops from stockpiling medications, a common source of overdoses. For instance, the Navy, which provides medical care for Marines, has begun pill "give back" days on certain bases. At Camp Lejeune, N.C., 22,000 expired pills were returned in December.
The Army and the Navy are also offering more treatments without drugs, including acupuncture and yoga. And they have tried to expand talk therapy programs - one of which, exposure therapy, is considered by some experts to be the only proven treatment for P.T.S.D. But shortages of mental health professionals have hampered those efforts.
Still, given the depth of the medical problems facing combat veterans, as well as the medical system's heavy reliance on drugs, few experts expect the widespread use of multiple medications to decline significantly anytime soon.
The New York Times reviewed in detail the cases of three service members who died from what coroners said were toxic interactions of prescription drugs. All were classified accidents, not suicides.
Airman Mena was part of a military police unit that conducted combat patrols alongside Army units in downtown Baghdad. He cleaned up the remains of suicide bombing victims and was nearly killed by a bomb himself, his records show.
Gunnery Sgt. Christopher Bachus had spent virtually his entire adult life in the Marine Corps, deploying to the Middle East in 1991, Iraq during the invasion of 2003 and, for a short tour, Afghanistan in 2005. He suffered from what doctors called survivor's guilt and came back "like a ghost," said his brother, Jerry, of Westerville, Ohio.
Cpl. Nicholas Endicott joined the Marines in 2003 after working as a coal miner in West Virginia. He deployed twice to Iraq and once to Afghanistan, where he saw heavy combat. On one mission, Corporal Endicott was blown more than eight feet in the air by a roadside bomb, medical records show. He came home plagued by nightmares and flashbacks and rarely left the house.
Given the complexity of drug interactions, it is difficult to know precisely what killed the three men, and the Pentagon declined to discuss their cases, citing confidentiality. But there were important similarities to their stories.
All the men had been deployed multiple times and eventually received diagnoses of P.T.S.D. All had five or more medications in their systems when they died, including opiate painkillers and mood-altering psychiatric drugs, but not alcohol. All had switched drugs repeatedly, hoping for better results that never arrived.
All died in their sleep.
Psychiatry and Warfare
The military medical system has struggled to meet the demand caused by two wars, and to this day it still reports shortages of therapists, psychologists and psychiatrists. But medications have always been readily available.
Across all branches, spending on psychiatric drugs has more than doubled since 2001, to $280 million in 2010, according to numbers obtained from the Defense Logistics Agency by a Cornell University psychiatrist, Dr. Richard A. Friedman.
Clinicians in the health systems of the Defense and Veterans Affairs Departments say that for most patients, those medications have proved safe. "It is important not to understate the benefit of these medications," said Dr. Robert Kerns, the national director of pain management for the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Paradoxically, the military came under criticism a decade ago for not prescribing enough medications, particularly for pain. In its willingness to prescribe more readily, the Pentagon was trying to meet standards similar to civilian medicine, General Chiarelli said.
But the response of modern psychiatry to modern warfare has not always been perfect. Psychiatrists still do not have good medications for the social withdrawal, nightmares and irritability that often accompany post-traumatic stress, so they mix and match drugs, trying to relieve symptoms.
"These decisions about medication are difficult enough in civilian psychiatry, but unfortunately in this very-high-stress population, there is almost no data to guide you," said Dr. Ranga R. Krishnan, a psychiatrist at Duke University. "The psychiatrist is trying everything and to some extent is flying blind."
Thousands of troops struggle with insomnia, anxiety and chronic pain - a combination that is particularly treacherous to treat with medications. Pairing a pain medication like oxycodone, a narcotic, with an anti-anxiety drug like Xanax, a so-called benzodiazepine, amplifies the tranquilizing effects of both, doctors say.
Similarly, antidepressants like Prozac or Celexa block liver enzymes that help break down narcotics and anxiety drugs, extending their effects.
"The sedation is not necessarily two plus two is four," said Cmdr. Rosemary Malone, a Navy forensic psychiatrist. "It could be synergistic. So two plus two could be five."
Commander Malone and other military doctors said the key to the safe use of multiple prescriptions was careful monitoring: each time clinicians prescribe drugs, they must review a patient's records and adjust dosages to reduce the risk of harmful interactions. "The goal is to use the least amount of medication at the lowest doses possible to help that patient," she said.
But there are limits to the monitoring. Troops who see private clinicians - commonly done to avoid the stigma of seeking mental health care on a base - may receive medications that are not recorded in their official military health records.
In the case of Sergeant Bachus of the Marines, it is far from clear that he received the least amount of medication possible.
He saw combat in Iraq, his brother said, and struggled with alcoholism, anxiety, flashbacks, irritability and what doctors called survivor's guilt after returning home.
"He could make himself the life of the party," Jerry Bachus recalled. "But he came back a shell, like a ghost."
Sergeant Bachus received a diagnosis of P.T.S.D., and starting in 2005, doctors put him on a regimen that included Celexa for depression, Klonopin for anxiety and Risperdal, an antipsychotic. In 2006, after a period of stability, a military doctor discontinued his medications. But six months later, Sergeant Bachus asked to be put on them again.
According to a detailed autopsy report, his depression and anxiety worsened in late 2006. Yet for unexplained reasons, he was allowed to deploy to Iraq for a second time in early 2007. But when his commanders discovered that he was on psychiatric medications, he was sent home after just a few months, records show.
Frustrated and ashamed that he could not be in a front-line unit and unwilling to work behind a desk, he applied in late 2007 for a medical retirement, a lengthy and often stressful process that seemed to darken his mood.
In early March 2008, a military doctor began giving him an opiate painkiller for his back. A few days later, Sergeant Bachus, 38, called his wife, who was living in Ohio. He sounded delusional, she told investigators later, but not suicidal.
"You know, babe, I am really tired, and I don't think I'll have any problems falling asleep tonight," he told her. He was found dead in his on-base quarters in North Carolina nearly three days later.
According to the autopsy report, Sergeant Bachus had in his system two antidepressants, the opiates oxymorphone and oxycodone, and Ativan for anxiety. The delirium he experienced in his final days was "most likely due to the interaction of his medications," the report said.
Nearly 30 prescription pill bottles were found at the scene, most of them recently prescribed, according to the report.
Jerry Bachus pressed the Marine Corps and the Navy for more information about his brother's death, but received no further explanations. "There was nothing accidental about it," he said. "It was inevitable."
Self-Medicating
The widespread availability of prescription medications is increasingly being linked by military officials to growing substance abuse, particularly with opiates. A Defense Department survey last year found that the illegal use of prescription drugs in the military had tripled from 2005 to 2008, with five times as many troops claiming to abuse prescription drugs than illegal ones like cocaine or marijuana.
The problem has become particularly acute in specialized units for wounded troops, where commanders say the trading of prescription medications is rampant. A report released last month by the Army inspector general estimated that up to a third of all soldiers in these Warrior Transition Units are overmedicated, dependent on medications or have easy access to illegal drugs.
Some of that abuse is for recreational purposes, military officials say. In response, the Army has taken several steps to tighten the monitoring of troops on multiple prescriptions in the transition units.
But in many cases, wounded troops are acquiring drugs improperly because their own prescriptions seem ineffective, experts say. They are self-medicating, sometimes to death.
"This is a huge issue, and partly it's due to the availability of prescription drugs among returning troops," said Dr. Martin P. Paulus, a psychiatrist at the University of California, San Diego, and the V.A. San Diego Medical Center. "Everyone knows someone who'll say, 'Hey, this worked for me, give it a try.' "
Corporal Endicott, for instance, died after adding the opiate painkiller methadone to his already long list of prescribed medications. His doctors said that they did not know where he got the narcotic and that they had not authorized it.
Corporal Endicott, who survived a roadside bomb explosion, was in heavy fighting in Afghanistan, where he saw other Marines killed. After returning from his third deployment, in 2007, Corporal Endicott told doctors that he was having nightmares and flashbacks and rarely left his house. After a car accident, he assaulted the other driver, according to medical records. Doctors diagnosed P.T.S.D. and came to suspect that Corporal Endicott had a traumatic brain injury.
Over the coming year, he was prescribed at least five medications, including the antidepressants Prozac and Trazodone, and an anti-anxiety medication. Yet he continued to have headaches, anxiety and vivid nightmares.
"He would be hitting the headboard," said his father, Charles. "He would be saying: 'Get down! Here they come!' "
On Jan. 29, 2008, Corporal Endicott was found dead in his room at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., where he had checked himself in for anger management after another car accident. He was 26.
A toxicologist detected at least nine prescription drugs in his system, including five different benzodiazepines, drugs used to reduce anxiety or improve sleep. Small amounts of marijuana and methadone - a narcotic that is particularly dangerous when mixed with benzodiazepines - were also found in his body.
His death prompted Marine Corps officials at Bethesda and Walter Reed Army Medical Center to initiate new procedures to keep Marines from inappropriately mixing medications, including assigning case managers to oversee patients, records show.
Whether Corporal Endicott used methadone to get high or to relieve pain remains unclear. The Marine Corps concluded that his death was not due to misconduct.
"He survived over there," his father said. "Coming home and dying in a hospital? It's a disgrace."
Trying to Numb the Pain
Airman Mena also returned from war a drastically changed man.
He had deployed to Iraq in 2005 but saw little action and wanted to go back. He got the chance in late 2006, when sectarian violence was hitting a peak.
After coming home, he spoke repeatedly of feeling guilty about missing patrols where a sergeant was killed and where several platoon mates were seriously wounded. Had he been driving on those missions, he told therapists, he would have avoided the attacks.
"On my first day, I saw a total of 12 bodies," he said in one psychological assessment. "Over there, I lost faith in God, because how can God allow all these dead bodies?"
By the summer of 2008, he was on half a dozen medications for depression, anxiety, insomnia and pain. His back and neck pain worsened, but Air Force doctors could not pinpoint a cause. Once gregarious and carefree, Airman Mena had become perpetually irritable. At times he seemed to have hallucinations, his mother and friends said, and was often full of rage while driving.
In February 2009, he received an honorable discharge and was given a 100 percent disability rating by the Department of Veterans Affairs, meaning he was considered unable to work. He abandoned plans to become a police officer.
Now a veteran, his steady medication regimen continued - but did not seem to make him better. His mother, Pat Mena, recalls him being unable to sleep yet also listless, his face a constant shade of pale. Shocked by the piles of pills in his Albuquerque apartment, she once flushed dozens of old prescriptions down the toilet.
Yet for all his troubles, he seemed hopeful when she visited him in early July 2009. He was making plans to open a cigar store, which he planned to call Fumar. His mother would be in charge of decorating it.
The night after his mother left, he put on a new Fentanyl patch, a powerful narcotic often used by cancer patients that he had started using just five weeks before. The Food and Drug Administration issued warnings about the patches in 2007 after deaths were linked to it, but a private clinic in Albuquerque prescribed the medication because his other painkillers had failed, records show.
With his increasingly bad memory, he often forgot what pills he was taking, his mother said. That night when he put on his new patch, he forgot to remove the old one. He died early the next day.
Was the Fentanyl the cause? Or was it the hydromorphone, another narcotic found in his system? Or the antidepressants? Or the sedative Xanax? Or all of the above?
The medical examiner could not say for sure, noting simply that the drugs together had caused "respiratory depression."
"The manner of death," the autopsy concluded, "is accident."
Toby Lyles contributed research.
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12) Eat The Future
By PAUL KRUGMAN
February 13, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/14/opinion/14krugman.html?_r=1&hp
On Friday, House Republicans unveiled their proposal for immediate cuts in federal spending. Uncharacteristically, they failed to accompany the release with a catchy slogan. So I'd like to propose one: Eat the Future.
I'll explain in a minute. First, let's talk about the dilemma the G.O.P. faces.
Republican leaders like to claim that the midterms gave them a mandate for sharp cuts in government spending. Some of us believe that the elections were less about spending than they were about persistent high unemployment, but whatever. The key point to understand is that while many voters say that they want lower spending, press the issue a bit further and it turns out that they only want to cut spending on other people.
That's the lesson from a new survey by the Pew Research Center, in which Americans were asked whether they favored higher or lower spending in a variety of areas. It turns out that they want more, not less, spending on most things, including education and Medicare. They're evenly divided about spending on aid to the unemployed and - surprise - defense.
The only thing they clearly want to cut is foreign aid, which most Americans believe, wrongly, accounts for a large share of the federal budget.
Pew also asked people how they would like to see states close their budget deficits. Do they favor cuts in either education or health care, the main expenses states face? No. Do they favor tax increases? No. The only deficit-reduction measure with significant support was cuts in public-employee pensions - and even there the public was evenly divided.
The moral is clear. Republicans don't have a mandate to cut spending; they have a mandate to repeal the laws of arithmetic.
How can voters be so ill informed? In their defense, bear in mind that they have jobs, children to raise, parents to take care of. They don't have the time or the incentive to study the federal budget, let alone state budgets (which are by and large incomprehensible). So they rely on what they hear from seemingly authoritative figures.
And what they've been hearing ever since Ronald Reagan is that their hard-earned dollars are going to waste, paying for vast armies of useless bureaucrats (payroll is only 5 percent of federal spending) and welfare queens driving Cadillacs. How can we expect voters to appreciate fiscal reality when politicians consistently misrepresent that reality?
Which brings me back to the Republican dilemma. The new House majority promised to deliver $100 billion in spending cuts - and its members face the prospect of Tea Party primary challenges if they fail to deliver big cuts. Yet the public opposes cuts in programs it likes - and it likes almost everything. What's a politician to do?
The answer, once you think about it, is obvious: sacrifice the future. Focus the cuts on programs whose benefits aren't immediate; basically, eat America's seed corn. There will be a huge price to pay, eventually - but for now, you can keep the base happy.
If you didn't understand that logic, you might be puzzled by many items in the House G.O.P. proposal. Why cut a billion dollars from a highly successful program that provides supplemental nutrition to pregnant mothers, infants, and young children? Why cut $648 million from nuclear nonproliferation activities? (One terrorist nuke, assembled from stray ex-Soviet fissile material, can ruin your whole day.) Why cut $578 million from the I.R.S. enforcement budget? (Letting tax cheats run wild doesn't exactly serve the cause of deficit reduction.)
Once you understand the imperatives Republicans face, however, it all makes sense. By slashing future-oriented programs, they can deliver the instant spending cuts Tea Partiers demand, without imposing too much immediate pain on voters. And as for the future costs - a population damaged by childhood malnutrition, an increased chance of terrorist attacks, a revenue system undermined by widespread tax evasion - well, tomorrow is another day.
In a better world, politicians would talk to voters as if they were adults. They would explain that discretionary spending has little to do with the long-run imbalance between spending and revenues. They would then explain that solving that long-run problem requires two main things: reining in health-care costs and, realistically, increasing taxes to pay for the programs that Americans really want.
But Republican leaders can't do that, of course: they refuse to admit that taxes ever need to rise, and they spent much of the last two years screaming "death panels!" in response to even the most modest, sensible efforts to ensure that Medicare dollars are well spent.
And so they had to produce something like Friday's proposal, a plan that would save remarkably little money but would do a remarkably large amount of harm.
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13) Young Protesters Clash With Police in Bahrain
By MICHAEL SLACKMAN and NADIM AUDI
February 14, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/15/world/middleeast/15bahrain.html?hp
MANAMA, Bahrain - The police officers, 20 of them, raised their weapons and fired rubber bullets and canisters of tear gas directly into a small group of protesters chanting slogans and holding signs. One man fell instantly and was shot at as he squirmed on the ground. Another was trapped against a wall and writhed as an officer shot rubber bullets at him. again.
That scene, on Avenue 28 with a police car supervising at about 5:30 pm, was played out all over this island nation on Monday as police attacked peaceful protesters, men, women and children, chasing them down, firing at them with rubber bullets and overwhelming them with tear gas. At times the tear gas was so heavy, and fired with such abandon, that the police also succumbed, dropping to the ground to vomit.
The King of Bahrain, Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa, and government officials had said that peaceful protests would be tolerated in what organizers had called Bahrain's "Day of Rage," modeled on the protests in Egypt last month. But they were not. From early in the morning until well past sundown, police attacked without warning any group that dared gather in the street.
Organizers had hoped to join in one large demonstration at a central traffic circle beneath a mammoth statue of a pearl.
But they never had the chance.
"They're shooting at us like we were some sort of terrorists," said Sharifeh al-Gharbil, 30, one of about 20 Shiite women and a scattering of men who gathered at the Duraz traffic circle. "But we're Bahrainis. We're not Sunni, we're not Westerners, we're not Jordanian, so we're nothing. I have no job, I have no hope and my family is hungry."
Ms. Ghabril and the other women wrapped themselves in their black chadors. One woman draped the red and white Bahraini flag over her shoulders and stepped into traffic. They all chanted in support of Bahrain and in opposition to their government, not their king.
The police poured into the circle in their Land Cruisers, rushing the women, making a circle around them and fired tear gas canisters, the crack of their weapons echoing in the narrow streets behind them. The women sat down, refusing to move even as the painfully acrid gas enveloped them, until it was so thick the police ran, and the women ran, too.
"They shot me," said Muhammad Shabar, 55, as he limped away from the Duraz circle, his right calf swollen and turning deep red and blue after being blasted with a rubber bullet. His offense, chanting slogans.
This small nation in the Persian Gulf, with only about 1 million residents, half of them foreign workers, has long been among the most politically volatile in the region. The principal tension is between the king, , the royal family and ruling elites, who are mostly Sunnis, and the approximately 70 percent of the local population that is Shiite. Occupying mostly rundown villages, defined by cinderblock buildings and little else, many Shiites charge systemic discrimination in employment, housing, education and governance.
It appeared that all of the protests on Monday were in Shiite communities. The demands were both economic and political. Young people said they mostly wanted jobs and a chance at a better life. But protesters young and old called for a new constitution and democratic changes to allow for a more effective representative parliament and government. The king has been promising to open up the political system for a decade, but the progress has been slow.
"We want real reforms, a real parliament elected by the people with real legislative power," said Maryam al-Khawaja, 23, with the Bahrain Center for Human Rights. "We want a constitution written by the people."
The protests had been organized in the wake of the momentous events in Tunisia and Egypt, where young people using tools like Twitter and Facebook managed to spark a general public uprising that forced out two of the region's most entrenched and autocratic leaders. Organizers here also created a Facebook page which drew thousands of followers. They created telephone chains to post updates on Twitter and to e-mail pictures and post them on the Internet.
But unlike Egypt and Tunisia, Bahrain has a divided population. Part of that is religious. But like other newly built Persian Gulf states, it is also geographically divided. With communities separated by roads, bridges and massive malls, there are few public spaces, making it almost impossible for like-minded people to find a place to gather.
The authorities used that to their strategic advantage on Monday, blocking roads and literally sealing people behind walls of tear gas whenever they tried to move. Instead of one large protest, demonstrators were restricted to villages around the captial city, with a few scattered protests in the city center. The Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights reported protests in at least 16 villages.
In a statement, the government said Monday night that it has a long history of allowing peaceful protests, and that any improper police activity would be investigated.
"Bahrain has long recognized peaceful and legal protest as a democratic right underpinning freedom of expression," said a prepared statement issued by Shaikh Fawaz al-Khalifa, president of the Information Affairs Authority. "However, in some incidents there has been a flagrant disregard for a well established process to allow demonstrators to voice any grievances. The authorities are actively managing the situation in a manner that allows others to continue their daily lives while respecting the legal right and approach to peaceful protest."
In the past, Bahrain's protests often devolved into violence, with demonstrators eventually hurling rocks at the police, burning tires and sometimes furniture in the road. But in another sign of the impact of the Egypt protests, demonstrators on Monday chanted the "peaceful," even as they came under attack by the police.
One young man was shot and killed by the police, his family said, when he stepped into the street just to see what was going on. Hundreds of distraught friends and family gathered at the hospital where he was taken, chanting "Death to Khalifa" before being dispersed by the police armed with tear gas.
In the village of Beni Jamar, a few hundred demonstrators gathered behind a large sign displaying three portraits: Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr. and Gandhi. They marched toward the road chanting slogans when without warning, the police charged in, firing a barrage of tear gas and rubber bullets into the crowd. The demonstrators scattered.
Abbas Mehdi, 25, and Sayed Ali, 11, were themselves overwhelmed with tear gas as they collapsed in an empty field not far from the police. The child was crying and gagging as Mr. Mehdi tried to help, rubbing, a small onion across his face and nose.
The police attacked again as six tear slammed down beside them. Furious, a young man beside Mr. Mehdi started hurling rocks at the riot police
Mr. Mehdi took the onion away from the child's face for a moment and started screaming: "Don't throw rocks at them. We're peaceful. Stop! We have to remain peaceful. We're just here to explain how we feel. We want to make our voices heard. In any case, we don't have a single weapon. The other side has them all."
..
Nadim Audi contributed reporting.
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14) Iranian Police Fire Tear Gas at Protesters
By ALAN COWELL
February 14, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/15/world/middleeast/15iran.html?hp
PARIS - Hundreds of black-clad riot police officers, some in bullet-proof vests, deployed in key locations in central Tehran on Monday and fired tear gas to thwart an Iranian opposition march in solidarity with the uprising in Egypt, news reports and witnesses' accounts from Iran said.
At the same time a reformist Web site reported that phone lines to the home of one opposition leader, Mir Hussein Moussavi, had been cut and that several cars had blocked access to his home, preventing him from leaving. Restrictions have also been imposed on the movements and communications of another opposition leader, Mehdi Karroubi, and the authorities refused an opposition request for a permit for a demonstration.
In the city center the police gathered in small groups at some intersections but numbered around 200 in the major squares that carry symbolic importance for Iranians and are named Revolution and Freedom. Some security forces were on motorcycles and carried paintball guns to fire at opponents, news reports said.
Despite the presence of security forces, Reuters reported, thousands of Iranians marched toward the central Enghelab, or Revolution, Square, but their way was blocked by the police and security forces. The report quoted unidentified witnesses because the authorities had apparently revived regulations barring reporters from the streets to cover such protests.
The restrictions were first invoked in the tumult that followed Iran's disputed 2009 presidential election, when vast crowds challenged the victory of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and faced a prolonged crackdown characterized by killings and mass arrests.
Demonstrators chanted "Death to the dictator," a reference to Mr. Ahmadinejad, and were met with volleys of tear gas, news reports said.
Monday's clashes erupted as the Turkish president, Abdullah Gul, arrived in Iran on a visit, accompanied by a large business delegation, news reports said.
The authorities had made no secret of their resolve to stop the march planned for today and to deny the protesters a permit to demonstrate.
"These elements are fully aware of the illegal nature of the request," Mehdi Alikhani Sadr, an Interior Ministry official, said in comments published Sunday by the semiofficial Fars news agency. "They know they will not be granted permission for riots."
The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps was blunt.
"The conspirators are nothing but corpses," Hossein Hamadani, a top commander of the corps, said Wednesday in comments published by the official IRNA news agency. "Any incitement will be dealt with severely."
But opposition supporters, hoping the democratic uprisings in the region will rejuvenate their own movement, insisted the march would go forward. "There are no plans to cancel it," Ardeshir Amir Arjomand, senior political adviser to Mr. Moussavi, said in a statement published Sunday on opposition Web sites.
The opposition hopes to capitalize on the contradiction between Iran's embrace of democracy movements abroad - Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi referred Friday to "the brave and justice-seeking movement in Egypt" - and its crackdown on a kindred movement at home.
"If they are not going to allow their own people to protest, it goes against everything they are saying, and all they are doing to welcome the protests in Egypt is fake," Mr. Karroubi, the opposition leader, said in an interview last week.
The United States has also seized on the apparent hypocrisy, issuing a statement on Sunday that seemed intended to encourage a revival of the protests in Iran. "By announcing that they will not allow opposition protests, the Iranian government has declared illegal for Iranians what it claimed was noble for Egyptians," the White House statement said. "We call on the government of Iran to allow the Iranian people the universal right to peacefully assemble, demonstrate and communicate that's being exercised in Cairo."
Even as President Ahmadinejad was welcoming the emergence of what he called a "new Middle East" on Friday his government had already taken steps to quash the protest planned here.
In the week since opposition leaders filed the request for the march the government has detained at least 30 journalists, student activists and family members of figures close to the opposition leadership, according to opposition Web sites. There was also a vigilante attack on a senior reformist figure.
While the pro-democracy movement here professes political goals similar to those elsewhere, the differences are critical. The so-called Green movement here is, as the government points out, inherently counterrevolutionary; while democracy movements toppled secular dictatorships in Tunisia and Egypt, Iran's Islamic revolution did that here in 1979. The Iranian leaders praising the revolts of recent weeks claim them as their political progeny.
The democracy movement here has also been shaped, and battered, by recent experience. After the disputed election of June 2009 hundreds of thousands of Iranians took to the streets in protest, deploying their own social networks in what was then called "the Twitter revolution." By the end of the year the government crackdown had largely curtailed the movement's public actions.
With those memories still fresh opposition supporters are caught between fear and hopelessness on one hand, and the urge to seize what feels like a historic opportunity on the other.
"Things are far more complicated in Iran than Egypt," said an online activist using the pseudonym Zahra Meysami. "People need to believe that things are possible. We desperately need hope. People need to see, not just believe, that the movement is alive."
In the background has been a steady drumbeat of executions. International rights groups say 66 prisoners have been hanged this year, at least 3 of them arrested during the 2009 protests.
Mr. Moussavi and Mr. Karroubi have condemned the executions for creating an atmosphere of "terror in society." Some activists have called them a deliberate ploy to neutralize dissent.
Still, opposition Web sites announced protest routes for more than 30 cities.
"The victory of the freedom-seeking movement in Egypt and Tunisia can open the way for Iran," read a statement from an association of Tehran University student political groups. "Without a doubt, the starting point of these protests was the peaceful freedom-seeking movement of Iran in 2009."
But some of the movement's foot soldiers learned other lessons from 2009.
"Many people suffered in the 2009 unrest," Leyla, 27, said. "They don't want one martyr to become two."
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15) Protesters Clash With Government Supporters in Yemen
By LAURA KASINOF and J. DAVID GOODMAN
February 14, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/15/world/middleeast/15yemen.html?hp
SANA, Yemen - More than 100 pro-government demonstrators clashed with hundreds of student protesters on Monday at a sit-in at Sana University that called for an end to the authoritarian rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
As antigovernment protests continued for a fourth straight day, state-run media reported that Mr. Saleh would cancel a planned trip to the United States at the end of February "due to circumstances in the region" after the revolution in Egypt.
In the capital, Sana, the police stepped in to separate the rival groups as pro-government demonstrators - some carrying posters of the president - beat the young protesters with sticks near the university's main gate. The clashes erupted after the two groups faced off shouting slogans at each other.
"The people want to expel Ali Saleh!" students shouted, adapting a chant commonly heard during demonstrations in Egypt.
The pro-government group chanted in response, borrowing the same rhythm: "The people want to start dialogue!"
Similar clashes occurred in the southern city of Taiz, where pro-government men have periodically attacked hundreds of antigovernment protesters who are camping out in the streets - some since Friday - and vowing not to go home until Mr. Saleh steps down.
At one point on Monday the police in Taiz, unable to control the rival groups as crowds swelled to more than 1,000, fired shots in the air to separate them. At least 21 people were injured, but hundreds of young protesters said they would continue to camp out, emulating the determination of the Egyptians who occupied Cairo's central square for more than two weeks.
As protests spread to new areas, the fragile status of Yemen, one of the poorest countries in the Middle East, was a source of concern for the United States, which has received support from Mr. Saleh to fight the Yemeni branch of Al Qaeda.
Monday's protests sought to keep up the momentum after the largest demonstrations yet by young Yemenis on Sunday, with more than 1,000 marching. Those protests appeared to mark a rift with opposition groups who organized previous demonstrations that wrested significant concessions from Mr. Saleh, including the promise that he would yield power in 2013.
Those established opposition groups, who did not join the crowds on Sunday or Monday, have said that they welcomed the new protests but also appeared concerned about what might happenif mass uprisings took hold in Yemen, a country with a well-armed populace.While opposition leaders have said they would prefer to move slowly and extract concessions from Mr. Saleh, many young protesters are more impatient for a change in the country's leadership.
Mr. Saleh, an important ally of the United States in the fight against terrorism, has in recent weeks sought to counter a rising tide of opposition and preserve his three-decade rule by raising army salaries, halving income taxes and ordering price controls, among other concessions.
Since Friday, police officers have prevented protesters from gathering in Sana's central Tahrir Square.
It remained unclear to what degree a widening popular uprising could set off renewed armed clashes in the secessionist south. Demonstrations throughout the southern port city Aden have increased in number over the past two weeks and continued on Monday despite high security citywide, even as the aims of Yemen's southern secessionist movement differ from the political opposition's in Sana.
Laura Kasinof reported from Sana, and J. David Goodman from New York.
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16) Egypt's Ruling Generals Meet With Opposition
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK and ANTHONY SHADID
February 14, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/15/world/middleeast/15egypt.html?hp
CAIRO - Egypt's military leaders have told a coalition of young opposition leaders that they plan to convene a panel of distinguished jurists to submit a package of constitutional amendments within 10 days for approval in a national referendum within two months, setting a breakneck schedule for the transition to civilian rule.
Confronting more immediate challenges, the governing Supreme Military Council issued a communiqué on Monday urging labor leaders to end the strikes that have broken out in the aftermath of the revolution.
The statement, read on state television, seemed aimed not just at strikes against private industry but also at a fresh wave of smaller demonstrations by state employees, including ambulance drivers, journalists, police officers and transport workers, demanding better pay and working conditions. Several hundred police officers demonstrated in the square - not, as at the beginning of the revolt, to suppress protest, but to seek better working conditions and public sympathy.
The Egyptian government has also issued a formal request to Britain to freeze the assets of all the senior officials of the Mubarak regime, the British foreign minister, William Hague, told the House of Commons. Mr. Hague said an investigation would be conducted by the Serious Organized Crime Agency to look into "assets acquired through corruption," the Guardian newspaper reported on its Web site. The paper says the European Union has received a similar request.
Mr. Hague also said that the Egyptian prime minister, Ahmed Shafiq, had told him that he planned to reshuffle his cabinet, bringing opposition figures into the government.
How completely the military will deliver on its promises of a transition to a constitutional democracy will not be clear until the election, currently set for six months from now. But the young revolutionaries - most in their early 30s - were clearly impressed by the deference they received from the two military officials, Maj. Gen. Mahmoud Hijazi and Maj. Gen. Abdel Fattah.
The two generals sat down Sunday night to talk about their country's future with seven of the revolution's young organizers - including the Google marketing executive Wael Ghonim - and the young activists posted their notes on the meeting directly to the Internet for the Egyptian public to see.
"We all sensed a sincere desire to preserve the gains of the revolution and unprecedented respect for the right of young people to express their views," two of the young organizers, Mr. Ghonim and Amr Salama, wrote in their Facebook posting, with the disclaimer that they were speaking only for themselves. They noted that the generals spoke without any of the usual "parental tone (you do not know what is good for you, son)," and called the encounter "the first time an Egyptian official sat down to listen more than speak."
There were indications Monday that Egypt's ousted president, Hosni Mubarak, could be having medical problems. Egypt's ambassador to the United States, Sameh Shoukry, said in an interview on the Today Show that Mr. Mubarak was "possibly in somewhat of bad health."
The former president, 82, has had health problems in recent years, and had his gallbladder removed last year in Germany. Yet he had appeared vigorous in public appearances before the start of the uprising that ended his nearly three decades in power.
There were conflicting reports about his condition in the Egyptian news media on Monday, with some papers reporting that he was depressed, refusing medication and slipping in and out of consciousness at his home in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, The Associated Press reported. Others had him flying to the United Arab Emirates for medical attention, while still others said he was in Germany, something the German government strongly denied.
Mr. Mubarak's ouster spread shock waves around the region, as many autocratic regimes braced for the possibility of protests modeled on the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia.
In Bahrain, skirmishes broke out early Monday between heavily armed police and scattered groups of young people in villages outside the capital. Shops stayed closed and shuttered, the streets were clear of cars and there were calls for universities to close in anticipation of what organizers here have called Bahrain's own "Day of Rage." Young protesters took to the streets for a fourth successive day in Yemen.
In Iran, the authorities deployed hundreds of riot police to thwart plans by the opposition to hold its first major rally on Monday since the government quashed a wave of protests after the disputed presidential elections in 2009. A reformist Web site said Iranian authorities cut the phone lines of an opposition leader, Mir Hussein Moussavi, and cordoned off his house on Monday.
Opposition groups in Algeria met Sunday and vowed to hold weekly protests against the government in the capital, Algiers, said the head of the Algerian League for the Defense of Human Rights, Mustapha Bouchachi. About 300 people were arrested Saturday at a demonstration in the heart of the city that was stifled by a heavy police presence, the human rights league and other opposition groups said.
Algeria's foreign minister dismissed the protests as the actions of a small minority, and not the start of a popular uprisings like those in Tunisia or in Egypt that overthrew long-standing Arab rulers. "Algeria is not Tunisia, " the foreign minister, Mourad Medelci, told Europe 1 radio, The Associated Press reported. "Algeria is not Egypt."
Since Sunday, Egypt has been effectively under direct military authority, thrusting the country into territory uncharted since republican Egypt was founded in 1952. Though enjoying popular support, the military must cope with the formidable task of negotiating a post-revolutionary landscape still basking in the glow of Mr. Mubarak's fall, but beset by demands to ease Egyptians' many hardships.
Since seizing power on Friday, the military has struck a reassuring note, responding in words and actions to the platform articulated by hundreds of thousands in Tahrir Square. But beyond more protests, there is almost no check on the sweep of military rule. While opposition leaders in Egypt welcomed the military's moves, some have quietly raised worries about the future role of an institution that has been a pillar of the status quo, playing a crucial behind-the-scenes role in preserving its vast business interests and political capital.
Nevertheless, the military's statement on Sunday was the clearest elaboration yet of its plans for Egypt, as the country's opposition forces, from the Muslim Brotherhood to labor unions, seek to build on the momentum of the protests and create a democratic system with few parallels in the Arab world.
The moves to suspend the Constitution and to dissolve Parliament, chosen in an election deemed a sham even by Mr. Mubarak's standards, were expected. The statement declared that the supreme command would issue laws in the transitional period before elections and that Egypt's defense minister, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, would represent the country, in a sign that the 75-year-old loyalist of Mr. Mubarak's had emerged to the forefront. Protesters - and some classified American diplomatic cables - have dismissed him as a "poodle" of Mr. Mubarak's. But some senior American officers say he is a shrewd operator who played a significant role in managing Mr. Mubarak's nonviolent ouster.
The military's communiqué was welcomed by opposition leaders as offering a specific timetable for transition to civil rule. Ayman Nour, a longtime opponent of Mr. Mubarak's, called it a victory for the revolution. "The statement is fine," said Ahmed Maher, a leading organizer. "We still need more details, but it was more comforting than what we heard before." But still unanswered are other demands of the protesters, among them the release of thousands of political prisoners. The military's position on the emergency law, which gave Mr. Mubarak's government wide powers to arrest and detain people, has remained ambiguous. The military said earlier that it would abolish it once conditions improved, but has yet to address it since. Essam al-Arian, a prominent Brotherhood leader, echoed those demands, saying their fulfillment "would bring calm to the society."
"To be able to trust the army completely and do what it says completely is impossible because the country has had corrupted institutions for 30 years working in every sector," said Tamer el-Sady, one of the young organizers at Sunday's meeting. The military has said the government of Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq, appointed Jan. 29, will remain in place as a caretaker cabinet in the transition, though it reserved the right to dismiss some of the ministers. The cabinet met Sunday for the first time since Mr. Mubarak's fall, notably with his once-ubiquitous portrait nowhere to be seen.
Other than Mr. Tantawi and Sami Anan, the army chief of staff, the military's council remains opaque, with many in Egypt unable to identity anyone else on it. Omar Suleiman, the former vice president, has not appeared since Friday, and Mr. Shafiq said that the military would determine his role.
Reporting was contributed by Michael Slackman from Manama, Bahrain, William Yong from Tehran and Kareem Fahim, Mona El-Naggar and Liam Stack from Cairo.
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17) Wall Street's Dead End
By FELIX SALMON
February 13, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/14/opinion/14Salmon.html?hp
THE stock market has been big news in recent days. Last week's report that Deutsche Börse, a giant German exchange, intends to buy the New York Stock Exchange, creating a company worth some $24 billion, arrived shortly after the Dow broke the 12,000-point barrier for the first time since before the financial crisis.
These developments drew headlines because they seemed to exemplify significant trends in the American economy. But look at America's stock exchanges more closely, and there's less to them than meets the eye. In truth, the stock market is becoming increasingly irrelevant - a trend that threatens the core principles of American capitalism.
These days a healthy stock market doesn't mean a healthy economy, as a glance at the high unemployment rate or the low labor-market participation rate will show. The Tea Party is right about one thing: What's good for Wall Street isn't necessarily good for Main Street. And the Germans aren't buying the New York Stock Exchange for its commoditized, highly competitive and ultra-low-margin stock business, but rather for its lucrative derivatives operations.
The stock market is still huge, of course: the companies listed on American exchanges are valued at more than $17 trillion, and they're not going to disappear in the foreseeable future.
But the glory days of publicly traded companies dominating the American business landscape may be over. The number of companies listed on the major domestic exchanges peaked in 1997 at more than 7,000, and it has been falling ever since. It's now down to about 4,000 companies, and given its steep downward trend will surely continue to shrink.
Nor are the remaining stocks an obvious proxy for the health of the American economy. Innovative American companies like Apple and Google may be worth hundreds of billions of dollars, but most of them don't pay dividends or employ many Americans, and their shares are essentially speculative investments for people making a bet on how we're going to live in the future.
Put another way, as the number of initial public offerings steadily declines, the stock market is becoming little more than a place for speculators and algorithms to compete over who can trade his way to the most money.
What the market is not doing so well is its core public function: allocating capital efficiently. Apple, for instance, is hugely profitable and sits on an enormous pile of cash; it is thus very unlikely to use its highly rated stock to pay for any acquisitions. It hasn't used the stock market to raise money since 1981, and there's a good bet it never will again.
Meanwhile, the companies in which people most want to invest, technology stars like Facebook and Twitter, are managing to avoid the public markets entirely by raising hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars privately. You and I can't buy into these companies; only very select institutions and well-connected individuals can. And companies prefer it that way.
A private company's stock isn't affected by the unpredictable waves of the stock market as a whole. Its chief executive can concentrate on running the company rather than answering endless questions from investors, analysts and the press.
There's much less pressure to meet quarterly earnings targets. When the stock does trade, the deals can be negotiated quietly, in private markets, rather than fall victim to short-term speculation from the high-frequency traders who populate public markets. And companies love how private markets allow them to avoid much of the regulatory burden of being public.
That burden comes largely from the Securities and Exchange Commission, which was created in the wake of the 1929 stock-market crash to protect small investors. But if the move to private markets continues, small investors aren't going to need much protection any more: they'll be able to invest in only a relative handful of companies anyway.
Only the biggest and oldest companies are happy being listed on public markets today. As a result, the stock market as a whole increasingly fails to reflect the vibrancy and heterogeneity of the broader economy. To invest in younger, smaller companies, you increasingly need to be a member of the ultra-rich elite.
At risk, then, is the shareholder democracy that America forged, slowly, over the past 50 years. Civilians, rather than plutocrats, controlled corporate America, and that relationship improved standards of living and usually kept the worst of corporate abuses in check. With America Inc. owned by its citizens, the success of American business translated into large gains in the stock portfolios of anybody who put his savings in the market over most of the postwar period.
Today, however, stock markets, once the bedrock of American capitalism, are slowly becoming a noisy sideshow that churns out increasingly meager returns. The show still gets lots of attention, but the real business of the global economy is inexorably leaving the stock market - and the vast majority of us - behind.
Felix Salmon is the finance blogger at Reuters.
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18) A Tunisian-Egyptian Link That Shook Arab History
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK and DAVID E. SANGER
February 13, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/14/world/middleeast/14egypt-tunisia-protests.html?hp
CAIRO - As protesters in Tahrir Square faced off against pro-government forces, they drew a lesson from their counterparts in Tunisia: "Advice to the youth of Egypt: Put vinegar or onion under your scarf for tear gas."
The exchange on Facebook was part of a remarkable two-year collaboration that has given birth to a new force in the Arab world - a pan-Arab youth movement dedicated to spreading democracy in a region without it. Young Egyptian and Tunisian activists brainstormed on the use of technology to evade surveillance, commiserated about torture and traded practical tips on how to stand up to rubber bullets and organize barricades.
They fused their secular expertise in social networks with a discipline culled from religious movements and combined the energy of soccer fans with the sophistication of surgeons. Breaking free from older veterans of the Arab political opposition, they relied on tactics of nonviolent resistance channeled from an American scholar through a Serbian youth brigade - but also on marketing tactics borrowed from Silicon Valley.
As their swelling protests shook the Egyptian state, they were locked in a virtual tug of war with a leader with a very different vision - Gamal Mubarak, the son of President Hosni Mubarak, a wealthy investment banker and ruling-party power broker. Considered the heir apparent to his father until the youth revolt eliminated any thought of dynastic succession, the younger Mubarak pushed his father to hold on to power even after his top generals and the prime minister were urging an exit, according to American officials who tracked Hosni Mubarak's final days.
The defiant tone of the president's speech on Thursday, the officials said, was largely his son's work.
"He was probably more strident than his father was," said one American official, who characterized Gamal's role as "sugarcoating what was for Mubarak a disastrous situation." But the speech backfired, prompting Egypt's military to force the president out and assert control of what they promise will be a transition to civilian government.
Now the young leaders are looking beyond Egypt. "Tunis is the force that pushed Egypt, but what Egypt did will be the force that will push the world," said Walid Rachid, one of the members of the April 6 Youth Movement, which helped organize the Jan. 25 protests that set off the uprising. He spoke at a meeting on Sunday night where the members discussed sharing their experiences with similar youth movements in Libya, Algeria, Morocco and Iran.
"If a small group of people in every Arab country went out and persevered as we did, then that would be the end of all the regimes," he said, joking that the next Arab summit might be "a coming-out party" for all the ascendant youth leaders.
Bloggers Lead the Way
The Egyptian revolt was years in the making. Ahmed Maher, a 30-year-old civil engineer and a leading organizer of the April 6 Youth Movement, first became engaged in a political movement known as Kefaya, or Enough, in about 2005. Mr. Maher and others organized their own brigade, Youth for Change. But they could not muster enough followers; arrests decimated their leadership ranks, and many of those left became mired in the timid, legally recognized opposition parties. "What destroyed the movement was the old parties," said Mr. Maher, who has since been arrested four times.
By 2008, many of the young organizers had retreated to their computer keyboards and turned into bloggers, attempting to raise support for a wave of isolated labor strikes set off by government privatizations and runaway inflation.
After a strike that March in the city of Mahalla, Egypt, Mr. Maher and his friends called for a nationwide general strike for April 6. To promote it, they set up a Facebook group that became the nexus of their movement, which they were determined to keep independent from any of the established political groups. Bad weather turned the strike into a nonevent in most places, but in Mahalla a demonstration by the workers' families led to a violent police crackdown - the first major labor confrontation in years.
Just a few months later, after a strike in Tunisia, a group of young online organizers followed the same model, setting up what became the Progressive Youth of Tunisia. The organizers in both countries began exchanging their experiences over Facebook. The Tunisians faced a more pervasive police state than the Egyptians, with less latitude for blogging or press freedom, but their trade unions were stronger and more independent. "We shared our experience with strikes and blogging," Mr. Maher recalled.
For their part, Mr. Maher and his colleagues began reading about nonviolent struggles. They were especially drawn to a Serbian youth movement called Otpor, which had helped topple the dictator Slobodan Milosevic by drawing on the ideas of an American political thinker, Gene Sharp. The hallmark of Mr. Sharp's work is well-tailored to Mr. Mubark's Egypt: He argues that nonviolence is a singularly effective way to undermine police states that might cite violent resistance to justify repression in the name of stability.
The April 6 Youth Movement modeled its logo - a vaguely Soviet looking red and white clenched fist-after Otpor's, and some of its members traveled to Serbia to meet with Otpor activists.
Another influence, several said, was a group of Egyptian expatriates in their 30s who set up an organization in Qatar called the Academy of Change, which promotes ideas drawn in part on Mr. Sharp's work. One of the group's organizers, Hisham Morsy, was arrested during the Cairo protests and remained in detention.
"The Academy of Change is sort of like Karl Marx, and we are like Lenin," said Basem Fathy, another organizer who sometimes works with the April 6 Youth Movement and is also the project director at the Egyptian Democratic Academy, which receives grants from the United States and focuses on human rights and election-monitoring. During the protesters' occupation of Tahrir Square, he said, he used his connections to raise about $5,100 from Egyptian businessmen to buy blankets and tents.
'This Is Your Country'
Then, about a year ago, the growing Egyptian youth movement acquired a strategic ally, Wael Ghonim, a 31-year-old Google marketing executive. Like many others, he was introduced into the informal network of young organizers by the movement that came together around Mohamed ElBaradei, the Nobel Prize-winning diplomat who returned to Egypt a year ago to try to jump-start its moribund political opposition.
Mr. Ghonim had little experience in politics but an intense dislike for the abusive Egyptian police, the mainstay of the government's power. He offered his business savvy to the cause. "I worked in marketing, and I knew that if you build a brand you can get people to trust the brand," he said.
The result was a Facebook group Mr. Ghonim set up: We Are All Khalid Said, after a young Egyptian who was beaten to death by police. Mr. Ghonim - unknown to the public, but working closely with Mr. Maher of the April 6 Youth Movement and a contact from Mr. ElBaradei's group - said that he used Mr. Said's killing to educate Egyptians about democracy movements.
He filled the site with video clips and newspaper articles about police violence. He repeatedly hammered home a simple message: "This is your country; a government official is your employee who gets his salary from your tax money, and you have your rights." He took special aim at the distortions of the official media, because when the people "distrust the media then you know you are not going to lose them," he said.
He eventually attracted hundreds of thousands of users, building their allegiance through exercises in online democratic participation. When organizers planned a "day of silence" in the Cairo streets, for example, he polled users on what color shirts they should all wear - black or white. (When the revolt exploded, the Mubarak government detained him for 12 days in blindfolded isolation in a belated attempt to stop his work.)
After the Tunisian revolution on Jan. 14, the April 6 Youth Movement saw an opportunity to turn its little-noticed annual protest on Police Day - the Jan. 25 holiday that celebrates a police revolt that was suppressed by the British - into a much bigger event. Mr. Ghonim used the Facebook site to mobilize support. If at least 50,000 people committed to turn out that day, the site suggested, the protest could be held. More than 100,000 signed up.
"I have never seen a revolution that was preannounced before," Mr. Ghonim said.
By then, the April 6 movement had teamed up with Mr. ElBaradei's supporters, some liberal and leftist parties, and the youth wing of the Muslim Brotherhood to plaster Cairo with eye-catching modernist posters advertising their Tunisia-inspired Police Day protest. But their elders - even members of the Brotherhood who had long been portrayed as extremists by Mr. Mubarak and the West - shied away from taking to the streets.
Explaining that Police Day was supposed to honor the fight against British colonialism, Essem Erian, a Brotherhood leader, said, "On that day we should all be celebrating together.
"All these people are on Facebook, but do we know who they are?" he asked. "We cannot tie our parties and entities to a virtual world."
'This Was It'
When the 25th came, the coalition of young activists, almost all of them affluent, wanted to tap into the widespread frustration with the country's autocracy, and also with the grinding poverty of Egyptian life. They started their day trying to rally poor people with complaints about pocketbook issues: "They are eating pigeon and chicken, but we eat beans every day."
By the end of the day, when tens of thousands had marched to Tahrir Square, their chants had become more sweeping. "The people want to bring down the regime," they shouted, a slogan that the organizers said they had read in signs and on Facebook pages from Tunisia. Mr. Maher of the April 6 Youth Movement said the organizers even debated storming Parliament and the state television building - classic revolutionary moves.
"When I looked around me and I saw all these unfamiliar faces in the protests, and they were more brave than us - I knew that this was it for the regime," Mr. Maher said.
It was then that they began to rely on advice from Tunisia, Serbia and the Academy of Change, which had sent staff members to Cairo a week before to train the protest organizers. After the police used tear gas to break up the protest that Tuesday, the organizers came back better prepared for their next march on Friday, the 28th, the "Day of Rage."
This time, they brought lemons, onions and vinegar to sniff for relief from the tear gas, and soda or milk to pour into their eyes. Some had fashioned cardboard or plastic bottles into makeshift armor worn under their clothes to protect against riot police bullets. They brought spray paint to cover the windshields of police cars, and they were ready to stuff the exhaust pipes and jam the wheels to render them useless. By the early afternoon, a few thousand protesters faced off against well over a thousand heavily armed riot police officers on the four-lane Kasr al-Nile Bridge in perhaps the most pivotal battle of the revolution.
"We pulled out all the tricks of the game - the Pepsi, the onion, the vinegar," said Mr. Maher, who wore cardboard and plastic bottles under his sweater, a bike helmet on his head and a barrel-top shield on his arm. "The strategy was the people who were injured would go to the back and other people would replace them," he said. "We just kept rotating." After more than five hours of battle, they had finally won - and burned down the empty headquarters of the ruling party on their way to occupy Tahrir Square.
Pressuring Mubarak
In Washington that day, President Obama turned up, unexpectedly, at a 3:30 p.m. Situation Room meeting of his "principals," the key members of the national security team, where he displaced Thomas E. Donilon, the national security adviser, from his seat at the head of the table.
The White House had been debating the likelihood of a domino effect since youth-driven revolts had toppled President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali in Tunisia, even though the American intelligence community and Israel's intelligence services had estimated that the risk to President Mubarak was low - less than 20 percent, some officials said.
According to senior officials who participated in Mr. Obama's policy debates, the president took a different view. He made the point early on, a senior official said, that "this was a trend" that could spread to other authoritarian governments in the region, including in Iran. By the end of the 18-day uprising, by a White House count, there were 38 meetings with the president about Egypt. Mr. Obama said that this was a chance to create an alternative to "the Al Qaeda narrative" of Western interference.
American officials had seen no evidence of overtly anti-American or anti-Western sentiment. "When we saw people bringing their children to Tahrir Square, wanting to see history being made, we knew this was something different," one official said.
On Jan. 28, the debate quickly turned to how to pressure Mr. Mubarak in private and in public - and whether Mr. Obama should appear on television urging change. Mr. Obama decided to call Mr. Mubarak, and several aides listened in on the line. Mr. Obama did not suggest that the 82-year-old leader step aside or transfer power. At this point, "the argument was that he really needed to do the reforms, and do them fast," a senior official said. Mr. Mubarak resisted, saying the protests were about outside interference.
According to the official, Mr. Obama told him, "You have a large portion of your people who are not satisfied, and they won't be until you make concrete political, social and economic reforms."
The next day, the decision was made to send former Ambassador Frank G. Wisner to Cairo as an envoy. Mr. Obama began placing calls to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey and other regional leaders.
The most difficult calls, officials said, were with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and Mr. Netanyahu, who feared regional instability and urged the United States to stick with Mr. Mubarak. According to American officials, senior members of the government in Saudi Arabia argued that the United States should back Mr. Mubarak even if he used force against the demonstrators. By Feb. 1, when Mr. Mubarak broadcast a speech pledging that he would not run again and that elections would be held in September, Mr. Obama concluded that the Egyptian president still had not gotten the message.
Within an hour, Mr. Obama called Mr. Mubarak again in the toughest, and last, of their conversations. "He said if this transition process drags out for months, the protests will, too," one of Mr. Obama's aides said.
Mr. Mubarak told Mr. Obama that the protests would be over in a few days.
Mr. Obama ended the call, the official said, with these words: "I respect my elders. And you have been in politics for a very long time, Mr. President. But there are moments in history when just because things were the same way in the past doesn't mean they will be that way in the future."
The next day, heedless of Mr. Obama's admonitions, Mr. Mubarak launched another attack against the protesters, many of whom had by then spent five nights camped out in Tahrir Square. By about 2:30 p.m., thousands of burly men loyal to Mr. Mubarak and armed with rocks, clubs and, eventually, improvised explosives had come crashing into the square.
The protesters - trying to stay true to the lessons they had learned from Gandhi, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Gene Sharp - tried for a time to avoid retaliating. A row of men stood silent as rocks rained down on them. An older man told a younger one to put down his stick.
But by 3:30 p.m., the battle was joined. A rhythmic din of stones on metal rang out as the protesters beat street lamps and fences to rally their troops.
The Muslim Brotherhood, after sitting out the first day, had reversed itself, issuing an order for all able-bodied men to join the occupation of Tahrir Square. They now took the lead. As a secret, illegal organization, the Brotherhood was accustomed to operating in a disciplined hierarchy. The group's members helped the protesters divide into teams to organize their defense, several organizers said. One team broke the pavement into rocks, while another ferried the rocks to makeshift barricades along their perimeter and the third defended the front.
"The youth of the Muslim Brotherhood played a really big role," Mr. Maher said. "But actually so did the soccer fans" of Egypt's two leading teams. "These are always used to having confrontations with police at the stadiums," he said.
Soldiers of the Egyptian military, evidently under orders to stay neutral, stood watching from behind the iron gates of the Egyptian Museum as the war of stone missiles and improvised bombs continued for 14 hours until about four in the morning.
Then, unable to break the protesters' discipline or determination, the Mubarak forces resorted to guns, shooting 45 and killing 2, according to witnesses and doctors interviewed early that morning. The soldiers - perhaps following orders to prevent excessive bloodshed, perhaps acting on their own - finally intervened. They fired their machine guns into the ground and into the air, several witnesses said, scattering the Mubarak forces and leaving the protesters in unmolested control of the square, and by extension, the streets.
Once the military demonstrated it was unwilling to fire on its own citizens, the balance of power shifted. American officials urged the army to preserve its bond with the Egyptian people by sending top officers into the square to reassure the protesters, a step that further isolated Mr. Mubarak. But the Obama administration faltered in delivering its own message: Two days after the worst of the violence, Mr. Wisner publicly suggested that Mr. Mubarak had to be at the center of any change, and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton warned that any transition would take time. Other American officials suggested Mr. Mubarak might formally stay in office until his term ended next September. Then a four-day-long stalemate ensued, in which Mr. Mubarak refused to budge, and the protesters regained momentum.
On Thursday, Mr. Mubarak's vice president, Omar Suleiman, was on the phone with Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. at 2 p.m. in Washington, the third time they had spoken in a week. The airwaves were filled with rumors that Mr. Mubarak was stepping down, and Mr. Suleiman told Mr. Biden that he was preparing to assume Mr. Mubarak's powers. But as he spoke to Mr. Biden and other officials, Mr. Suleiman said that "certain powers" would remain with Mr. Mubarak, including the power to dissolve the Parliament and fire the cabinet. "The message from Suleiman was that he would be the de facto president," one person involved in the call said.
But while Mr. Mubarak huddled with his son Gamal, the Obama administration was in the dark about how events would unfold, reduced to watching cable television to see what Mr. Mubarak would decide. What they heard on Thursday night was a drastically rewritten speech, delivered in the unbowed tone of the father of the country, with scarcely any mention of a presumably temporary "delegation" of his power.
It was that rambling, convoluted address that proved the final straw for the Egyptian military, now fairly certain that it would have Washington's backing if it moved against Mr. Mubarak, American officials said. Mr. Mubarak's generals ramped up the pressure that led him at last, without further comment, to relinquish his power.
"Eighty-five million people live in Egypt, and less than 1,000 people died in this revolution - most of them killed by the police," said Mr. Ghonim, the Google executive. "It shows how civilized the Egyptian people are." He added, "Now our nightmare is over. Now it is time to dream."
David D. Kirkpatrick reported from Cairo, and David E. Sanger from Washington. Kareem Fahim and Mona El-Naggar contributed reporting from Cairo, and Mark Mazzetti from Washington.
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: February 14, 2011
A previous version of this article misspelled the name of the city of Mahalla, Egypt.
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18) Egypt rebellion spreads to sprawling state economy
* Industrial action sweeps through Egypt state sector
* "Leave, leave, leave!" workers tell their bosses
By Tom Perry
Sun Feb 13, 2011 8:19pm GMT
http://af.reuters.com/article/egyptNews/idAFLDE71C08G20110213
CAIRO, Feb 13 (Reuters) - The spirit of rebellion that toppled Hosni Mubarak has swept through Egypt's vast public sector, inspiring workers fed up with meagre wages and poor working conditions to take to the streets in protest.
From state-owned financial institutions in Cairo to Alexandria's seaport, workers went on strike on Sunday, disrupting operations and forcing the central bank to declare an unscheduled bank holiday on Monday.
The chant of "Leave, leave, leave!" moved from Tahrir Square, the epicentre of the protest movement that overthrew the president, into the surrounding streets of Cairo's financial district as workers demanded their bosses' ouster too.
Outside a state-owned insurance company just a few metres from the square, hundreds of workers were demanding the departure of managers they blame for grievances such as the enormous gap between high and low earners.
"I have been working for five years in the company," said Hala Fawzi, a mother of two. "Finally we have been encouraged to come out and speak," she said, waving a letter written a year ago laying out her grievances against her employer.
For her 28-hour a week job, Fawzi, 34, said she is paid 100 Egyptian pounds ($20) a month -- low even by the standards of a public sector which pays teachers about 400 pounds a month.
Apart from a meagre wage, Fawzi complained that her employer, The Insurance Holding Company, had failed to give her a formal contract after more than four years of work. "We want equality," she said. "We want the head of the holding company held to account, the previous one and the current one," said Sayyed Abdullah, 35.
The state employs at least 5.7 million in a sprawling public sector criticised by economists as an unproductive relic of the statist economic polices of former President Gamal Abdel Nasser, who led Egypt after the army first seized power in 1952.
Annual average gross domestic product per capita is just over $2,000. Poverty contributed to the revolt against Mubarak. A fifth of the population lives on less than a $1 a day.
SIT-INS, STRIKES
Tunisia, whose popular uprising inspired the Egyptian revolt, has also experienced a wave of industrial action since President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali was toppled.
In Egypt, there have been reports of protests, sit-ins and strikes at state-owned institutions including the stock exchange, textile firms, media organisations, steel firms, the postal service and railways, the police and the health ministry.
The workers cite an array of grievances. What unites them is a new sense of being able to speak out in the post-Mubarak era.
Tarek Amer, chairman of state-owned National Bank of Egypt, the country's biggest commercial bank, submitted his resignation on Sunday after angry employees prevented him from reaching his office, bankers said. He could not be reached for comment.
The central bank, which appoints state bank chairmen, had not yet accepted the resignation, the bankers added. Private banks have been largely unaffected so far. Outside the headquarters of Banque Misr, another state-owned institution, a 10-minute walk from Tahrir Square, chants of "Leave, leave, leave" echoed into the night.
"The people's demands are legitimate: wage increases, fixed contracts," said bank employee Ahmed Abdul Fattah, dressed in a suit and tie as he watched the protest.Demonstrators held aloft signs demanding full contracts and an end to outsourcing.
Ahmed Qais, 39, a bank worker employed by an outsourcing company, earns 500 pounds for cleaning and working in the bank's stores. More than half of his pay is absorbed by his rent, he said. "I want to be an employee of the bank, to get a contract, like any other colleague, so I can live." (Additional reporting by Patrick Werr; Editing by Elizabeth Fullerton)
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19) Wisconsin Demonstrates Against Scott Walker's War on Unions
"About ten thousand currently surround Walker's capitol office and are streaming into the dome. Walker should be extra-worried to know that the Super Bowl Champion Green Bay Packers and its former stars, the most important political lobby in the state, have come out against him."
by Abe Sauer
February 15th, 2011
http://www.theawl.com/2011/02/wisconsin-demonstrates-against-scott-walkers-war-on-unions
Yesterday we noted the details of a bill introduced by Wisconsin's new Tea Party Republican Governor Scott Walker that would increase payments from public sector employees while eliminating collective bargaining powers for unions (including teachers)-while also introducing unprecedented executive powers to terminate state employees with little due process. In passing, Walker mentioned plans to call in the National Guard, if necessary. It's an announcement that rankled many (maybe intentionally), including the 100,000-member "voice of America's 21st century patriots" organization VoteVets: "Veterans are strongly objecting to Governor Scott Walker's inappropriate threat...."
Today, response to Walker's bill has been... unfavorable. About ten thousand currently surround Walker's capitol office and are streaming into the dome. Walker should be extra-worried to know that the Super Bowl Champion Green Bay Packers and its former stars, the most important political lobby in the state, have come out against him.
And what is the brave Republican Governor, who calls himself "tough," doing in response? He is standing up to his critics by moving his legislative budget address to the compound of a private corporation.
Even in biting wind, protesters are continuing to surround the capitol. Firefighters and police, whose unions are exempted from the collective bargaining elimination, have come out in support of their state colleagues. At top, a photo from inside the capitol dome. Meanwhile, the line for those waiting to speak at a an open session of the Joint Finance Committee meeting, which began today at 10 a.m., snakes through the capitol's stone corridors. All of this on a state primary day for candidates running for Madison mayor, Dane County executive and State Supreme Court.
Yesterday we noted the details of a bill introduced by Wisconsin's new Tea Party Republican Governor Scott Walker that would increase payments from public sector employees while eliminating collective bargaining powers for unions (including teachers)-while also introducing unprecedented executive powers to terminate state employees with little due process. In passing, Walker mentioned plans to call in the National Guard, if necessary. It's an announcement that rankled many (maybe intentionally), including the 100,000-member "voice of America's 21st century patriots" organization VoteVets: "Veterans are strongly objecting to Governor Scott Walker's inappropriate threat...."
Today, response to Walker's bill has been... unfavorable. About ten thousand currently surround Walker's capitol office and are streaming into the dome. Walker should be extra-worried to know that the Super Bowl Champion Green Bay Packers and its former stars, the most important political lobby in the state, have come out against him.
And what is the brave Republican Governor, who calls himself "tough," doing in response? He is standing up to his critics by moving his legislative budget address to the compound of a private corporation.
Even in biting wind, protesters are continuing to surround the capitol. Firefighters and police, whose unions are exempted from the collective bargaining elimination, have come out in support of their state colleagues. At top, a photo from inside the capitol dome. Meanwhile, the line for those waiting to speak at a an open session of the Joint Finance Committee meeting, which began today at 10 a.m., snakes through the capitol's stone corridors. All of this on a state primary day for candidates running for Madison mayor, Dane County executive and State Supreme Court.
Instead of holding the address in the state capitol, Walker has moved the event to Vita Plus, a large private manufacturer of livestock feed and supplements. Walker waited until today to announce the move. His excuse for holding a refugee session?
"I am giving my budget address outside of the Capitol to highlight the goal of my administration, ensuring Wisconsin has a business climate that allows the private sector to create 250,000 new jobs by the end of my first term."
Recently unemployed Russ Feingold has joined the fray, rallying supporters to oppose the governor.
In cities all over Wisconsin, protests are popping up. In the capitol building itself, "solidarity" signs could be seen in some windows.
The bill, introduced just this week, is already up for a planned vote on Thursday. State Senator Robert Jauh (D-Poplar) asked for more time, saying "Even God took seven days."
But Walker knows time is his enemy. With opposition to his bill growing, even from inside his own party, Walker has to ram this thing through now. And ram it through he might. Word on the street is that Walker has the votes.
Yesterday we noted the details of a bill introduced by Wisconsin's new Tea Party Republican Governor Scott Walker that would increase payments from public sector employees while eliminating collective bargaining powers for unions (including teachers)-while also introducing unprecedented executive powers to terminate state employees with little due process. In passing, Walker mentioned plans to call in the National Guard, if necessary. It's an announcement that rankled many (maybe intentionally), including the 100,000-member "voice of America's 21st century patriots" organization VoteVets: "Veterans are strongly objecting to Governor Scott Walker's inappropriate threat...."
Today, response to Walker's bill has been... unfavorable. About ten thousand currently surround Walker's capitol office and are streaming into the dome. Walker should be extra-worried to know that the Super Bowl Champion Green Bay Packers and its former stars, the most important political lobby in the state, have come out against him.
And what is the brave Republican Governor, who calls himself "tough," doing in response? He is standing up to his critics by moving his legislative budget address to the compound of a private corporation.
Even in biting wind, protesters are continuing to surround the capitol. Firefighters and police, whose unions are exempted from the collective bargaining elimination, have come out in support of their state colleagues. At top, a photo from inside the capitol dome. Meanwhile, the line for those waiting to speak at a an open session of the Joint Finance Committee meeting, which began today at 10 a.m., snakes through the capitol's stone corridors. All of this on a state primary day for candidates running for Madison mayor, Dane County executive and State Supreme Court.
Instead of holding the address in the state capitol, Walker has moved the event to Vita Plus, a large private manufacturer of livestock feed and supplements. Walker waited until today to announce the move. His excuse for holding a refugee session?
"I am giving my budget address outside of the Capitol to highlight the goal of my administration, ensuring Wisconsin has a business climate that allows the private sector to create 250,000 new jobs by the end of my first term."
Recently unemployed Russ Feingold has joined the fray, rallying supporters to oppose the governor.
In cities all over Wisconsin, protests are popping up. In the capitol building itself, "solidarity" signs could be seen in some windows.
The bill, introduced just this week, is already up for a planned vote on Thursday. State Senator Robert Jauh (D-Poplar) asked for more time, saying "Even God took seven days."
But Walker knows time is his enemy. With opposition to his bill growing, even from inside his own party, Walker has to ram this thing through now. And ram it through he might. Word on the street is that Walker has the votes.
The unheard of move to take government functions to private industry locations could not be more perfect symbolism for what Walker and the GOP intends to accomplish over the next four years-first in Wisconsin and then in your town. With his choice of words explaining his move of the event, the governor has launched the culture war for the next political cycle, pitting publicly employed Americans against their private counterparts in a battle where the only assured outcome is losses by both sides.
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20) Protesters in Bahrain Refuse to Back Down
By Hadeel Al-Shalchi
Feb 16, 2011 - 10:56 AM
http://www.aolnews.com/2011/02/16/protesters-in-bahrain-refuse-to-back-down/?icid=maing|main5|dl1|sec1_lnk2|44354*
MANAMA, Bahrain -- Protesters demanding sweeping political reforms from Bahrain's rulers held their ground Wednesday in an Egypt-style occupation of the capital's landmark square, staging a third day of demonstrations that have brought unprecedented pressure in one of Washington's most strategic allies in the Gulf.
Security forces have pulled back sharply - apparently on orders to ease tensions - after clashes that left at least two people dead and dozens injured. Police helicopters, however, flew low over a major funeral procession for one of those killed in which mourners called him a "martyr" and pledged more protests in the island nation - home to the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet.
Thousands of people spent the night in a makeshift tent camp in Manama's Pearl Square, which has been swarmed by demonstrators. One demonstrator used a bullhorn to urge protesters to remain until their demands are met, as the Arab wave for change takes hold in the Gulf.
The protests began Monday as a cry for the country's Sunni monarchy to loosen its grip, including hand-picking most top government posts, and open more opportunities for the country's majority Shiites, who have long complained of being blocked from decision-making roles.
But the uprising's demands have steadily reached further. Many protesters are calling for the government to provide more jobs and better housing and free all political detainees. Increasingly, protesters are also chanting slogans to wipe away the entire ruling dynasty that has led Bahrain for more than 200 years.
Social networking websites were abuzz with calls to press ahead with the protests as well as insults from presumed government backers calling the demonstrators traitors and agents of Shiite powerhouse Iran.
As night fell Wednesday, the mood suggested protesters were settling in for the long haul. People sipped tea, snacked on donated food and smoked apple- and grape-flavored tobacco from water pipes. The men and women mainly sat separately - the women a sea of black in their traditional dress.
The leadership of the protesters is still unclear and disorganized. A few scuffles have broken out between some of the people in the main area near the speakers' platform.
Prayers were held in the Shiite manner and an imam made a sermon about the strength of the Bahraini youth.
"This square is a trust in your hands and so will you whittle away this trust or keep fast?" the imam said. "So be careful and be concerned for your country and remember that the regime will try to rip this country from your hand but if we must leave it in coffins then so be it!"
The head of the largest Shiite political bloc, Sheik Ali Salman, said there are no demands for an Islamic role in politics.
"We are not looking for a religious government like Iran's, but we demand a civil government" that represents Shiites and Sunnis, he told a news conference.
The group, Al Wefaq, has 18 seats in the 40-member parliament, but it is boycotting the chamber to protest the violence against demonstrators.
Bahrain's state TV gave limited reports on the protests.
The pan-Arab broadcaster Al-Jazeera, founded by the emir in nearby Qatar, also gave sporadic coverage. That compares with nearly round-the-clock attention to Egypt's turmoil, suggesting worry by Qatar's Sunni rulers about the unrest coming to their doorstep.
Britain's minister for Middle East and North Africa, Alistair Burt, said he "concerned by the reports of excessive use of force by police" in Bahrain.
"I call on all sides to exercise restraint and refrain from violence," said Burt.
U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said Tuesday the Obama administration is "very concerned" about violence against protesters.
"The United States welcomes the government of Bahrain's statements that it will investigate these deaths, and that it will take legal action against any unjustified use of force by Bahraini security forces," Crowley said. "We urge that it follow through on these statements as quickly as possible."
Bahrain is a linchpin to the U.S. military framework in the Gulf. The 5th Fleet base is considered one of the Pentagon's major counterweights against Iran's growing military reach in the region.
Although Bahrain is sandwiched between two of OPEC's heavyweights, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, it has limited oil resources and depends heavily on its role as a regional financial hub and playground for Saudis, who can drive over a causeway to enjoy Bahrain's Western-style bars, hotels and beaches.
On Tuesday, Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa made a rare nationwide TV address to offer condolences for the deaths, pledge an investigation into the killings and promise to push ahead with reforms that include loosening state controls on the media and Internet.
But the funeral procession Wednesday for a 31-year-old man, Fadhel al-Matrook, quickly turned political. Mourners chanted for the immediate resignation of Prime Minister Sheik Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa.
Al-Matrook was killed Tuesday as police tried to disperse people gathered for the funeral march of the first victim to die in the unrest. Both were Shiites, feeding the resentment in a community that represents 70 percent of Bahrain's 500,000 citizens but has long alleged systematic discrimination.
A wave of arrests last year against Shiite activists touched off riots and protest marches. But authorities are moving ahead with a highly sensitive trial of 25 Shiites accused of plotting against the ruling system. The next court session is scheduled for Feb. 24.
In the past week, Bahrain's rulers have tried to defuse calls for reform by promising nearly $2,700 for each family and pledging to loosen state controls on the media.
Similar concessions have been made by leaders in the Gulf to try to pre-empt protests.
In Oman, the ruling Sultan Qaboos Bin Said announced Wednesday an increase in the minimum monthly salary for private sector workers from 140 rials ($365) to 200 rials ($520). Last month, the sultan met with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to discuss the growing political unrest in the Arab world.
Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague visited Bahrain for talks last week.
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21) FBI harasses Michigan anti-war activist
By Tom Burke
February 13, 2011
Read more articles in FBI Repression
Via Email
Kalamazoo, MI - FBI agents continue to harass anti-war and international solidarity activists, this time in Michigan. On Feb 3., longtime Michigan peace activist Dave Staiger received a phone call from the FBI. Special agent Karlie Wood asked to interview Dave in person. Staiger told the agent, "My policy is to contact a lawyer if the FBI or police want to talk to me." The agent said, "Contacting a lawyer is not necessary," and that Staiger was not in any trouble. Special Agent Wood then stated that she wanted to talk about matters relating to the Grand Jury subpoenas and FBI investigation in Minneapolis and Chicago.
On Sept. 24, 2010
Sixty cities and campuses across the country and some overseas held protests Jan. 25. The original 14 and the new nine activists subpoenaed all refuse to speak at Fitzgerald's Grand Jury. The Grand Jury is a secret court of inquisition, handpicked by Fitzgerald's office, with no judge. Those called before a Grand Jury have no right to a lawyer in the room with them and no press is allowed to witness the proceedings.
Dave Staiger said he participated in the recent National Call-In Day to Fitzgerald, U.S. Attorney General Holder and President Obama, asking them to stop the FBI raids and shut down Fitzgerald's Grand Jury. This helped him in knowing what to say to the FBI and to not be intimidated.
Staiger states, "This is an attack on free speech and it is undemocratic. It is starting to remind me of the 1950s and the McCarthy era."
Mick Kelly, of the Committee to Stop FBI Repression
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22) Bahrain Protests Expand on Third Day
By MICHAEL SLACKMAN
February 16, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/17/world/middleeast/17bahrain.html?ref=world
MANAMA, Bahrain - Propelled by the funeral of a slain protester, thousands of people poured into this nation's symbolic center, Pearl Square, and flooded the streets on Wednesday, dramatically expanding pro-democracy protests on their third straight day.
Emulating the occupation of Cairo's Tahrir Square that helped toppled Hosni Mubarak as president, news reports said, around 2,000 people camped out at the major road junction in the city center demanding a change in the government of this strategically placed Persian Gulf kingdom that is home to the United States Navy's 5th Fleet. Hundreds more joined a procession to mourn one of the two protesters slain in confrontations with the authorities since Monday.
The police massed near Pearl Square but did not intervene, apparently anxious to avoid further violence.
The renewed unrest was the latest in a wave of dissent spreading from the shores of the Gulf as far west as the Mediterranean coastline of Libya where, for the first time, demonstrations were reported to have broken out overnight in the second city of Benghazi. Police reinforcements also took to the streets of Sana, the Yemeni capital, as hundreds of demonstrators for and against the pro-American government massed for a sixth consecutive day. And there were reports of fresh clashes in Iran between government forces and protesters at the funeral of a demonstrator killed on Monday.
Late on Tuesday in Bahrain, protesters entered Pearl Square in a raucous rally that again demonstrated the power of popular movements that are transforming the political landscape of the Middle East.
In a matter of hours on Tuesday, this small monarchy experienced the now familiar sequence of events that has rocked the Arab world. What started as an online call for a "Day of Rage" progressed within 24 hours to an exuberant group of demonstrators, cheering, waving flags, setting up tents and taking over the grassy traffic circle beneath the towering monument of a pearl in the heart of Manama, the capital.
The crowd grew bolder as it grew larger, and as in Tunisia and Egypt, modest concessions from the government only raised expectations among the protesters, who by day's end were talking about tearing the whole system down, monarchy and all.
Then as momentum built up behind the protests on Tuesday, the 18 members of Parliament from the Islamic National Accord Association, the traditional opposition, announced that they were suspending participation in the legislature.
The mood of exhilaration stood in marked contrast to a day that began in sorrow and violence, when mourners who had gathered to bury a young man killed by the police the night before clashed again with the security forces.
Mr. Matrouq was killed in that melee, also by the police.
"We are going to get our demands," said Hussein Ramadan, 32, a political activist and organizer who helped lead the crowds from the burial site to Pearl Square on Tuesday. "The people are angry, but we will control our anger, we will not burn a single tire or throw a single rock. We will not go home until we succeed. They want us to be violent. We will not."
Bahrain is known as a playground for residents of Saudi Arabia who can drive over a causeway to enjoy the nightclubs and bars of the far more permissive kingdom. Its ruler, King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa, is an important ally of the United States in fighting terrorism and countering Iranian influence in the region.
A spokeswoman for the United States military in Bahrain said the unrest has not affected its base nor any of its roughly 6,100 military and civilian personnel stationed there.
"The U.S. is not being targeted at all in any of these protests; this is strictly a Bahrain issue," said the spokeswoman, Jennifer Stride, in a telephone interview, the sound of Al Jazeera English audible in background.
It is far too soon to tell where Bahrain's popular political uprising will go. The demands are economic - people want jobs - as well as political, in that most would like to see the nation transformed from an absolute monarchy into a constitutional one. But the events here, inspired by the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, have altered the dynamics in a nation where political expression has long been tamed by harsh police tactics and prison terms.
In a rare speech to the nation, the king expressed his regret on national television over the two young men killed by the police and called for an investigation into the deaths. But in an unparalleled move he also instructed his police force to allow more than 10,000 demonstrators to claim Pearl Square as their own.
As night fell Tuesday and a cold wind blew off the Persian Gulf, thousands of demonstrators occupied the square or watched from a highway overpass, cheering. Where a day earlier the police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at any gatherings that tried to protest, no matter how small, or peaceful, people now waved the red and white flag of Bahrain, gave speeches, chanted slogans and shared food.
The police massed on the other side of a bridge leading to the square. A police helicopter never stopped circling, but took no action, to the protesters' surprise.
By 10 p.m., many of the people headed home from the square, with many saying they had plans to return the next day. A core group planned to spend the night there in tents.
"Now the people are the real players, not the government, not the opposition," said Matar Ibrahim Matar, 34, an opposition member of Parliament who joined the crowd gathered beneath the mammoth statue. "I don't think anyone expected this, not the government, not us."
Bahrain's domestic politics have long been tangled. The king and the ruling elite are Sunni Muslims. The majority, or about 70 percent, of the local population of about 500,000, are Shiite Muslims. The Shiites claim they are discriminated against in jobs, housing and education, and their political demands are not new.
The demonstrators have asked for the release of political prisoners, the creation of a more representative and empowered Parliament, the establishment of a constitution written by the people and the formation of a new, more representative cabinet. They complain bitterly that the prime minister, Khalifa bin Salman al-Khalifa, the king's uncle, has been in office for 40 years.
They also want the government to stop the practice of offering citizenship to foreigners willing to come to Bahrain to serve as police officers or soldiers, a tactic they say is aimed at trying to reduce the influence of Shiites by increasing the number of Sunnis.
While the demands are standard here, what is new is the way the demonstrations have unfolded, following the script from Egypt and Tunisia. Young people organized a protest using online tools like Twitter and Facebook. They tapped into growing frustrations with economic hardship and political repression but were not aided by the traditional opposition movements.
On Tuesday, the day began with about 2,000 mourners lining up in a parking lot at the Salmaniya Medical Complex behind a truck that on its roof carried the coffin of Ali Mushaima, 21, who died the night before from a shotgun wound to his back.
As soon as the procession exited the hospital grounds, a young man, Mr. Matrouq, bolted from the crowd and charged at the police standing nearby. He threw a rock and the police fired tear gas into the crowd. They fired other weapons, too, and Mr. Matrouq was killed.
Nadim Audi contributed reporting from Bahrain, Alan Cowell from Paris, and J. David Goodman from New York.
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23) Students in Iran Clash at Funeral
By NEIL MacFARQUHAR and ALAN COWELL
February 16, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/17/world/middleeast/17iran.html?ref=world
Two days after the largest antigovernment protest in Iran in more than a year, supporters and opponents of the authorities fought Wednesday in a battle for the memory of a slain protester, state media and an opposition Web site reported.
The clashes erupted at Tehran University during the funeral of Saane Zhaleh, one of two students reported killed during protests on Monday.
Images on the Web site of the state broadcaster IRIB showed a throng of people surrounding a coffin, wrapped in the green, white and red Iranian flag, as it was carried above the heads of the crowd. But the opposition Kaleme Web site said the university's arts campus had been taken over by pro-government forces who beat and arrested anti-government students.
The contest to claim Mr. Zhaleh as a martyr reflected divisions that seemed to have emerged once more into the open following the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt.
The authorities said Mr. Zhaleh, a Kurdish student, was a Basij, one of the student vigilantes on many campuses, who was shot by a government opponent. Opposition accounts said plainclothes security officers roaming the streets beat him to death and claimed that he had joined the antigovernment protest.
With the fighting on Wednesday both sides seemed to be seeking to claim him as one of their own.
"Students and the people attending the funeral ceremony of the martyred student Saane Zhaleh have clashed with a limited number of people apparently linked to the sedition movement and forced them out by chanting slogans of death to hypocrites," IRIB's Web site was quoted as saying.
The protests on Monday in Tehran and other cities were taken by the opposition as a sign that it has resurfaced after the huge crackdown on its followers following Iran's disputed presidential election in 2009.
But on Tuesday, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad dismissed opposition attempts to revive mass demonstrations as doomed to fail, while members of the Iranian Parliament clamored for the two most prominent leaders of the protest movement to be executed.
Critics have called in the past for the two men, Mir Hussein Moussavi and Mehdi Karroubi, to be prosecuted for alleged crimes that would carry the death penalty. The calls for punishment on Tuesday, however, appeared to be the most strident yet, with members of Parliament shouting in unison, "Moussavi, Karroubi should be hanged!"
But while the government has tried and convicted many opposition members since large street protests in 2009, it has so far shied away from putting the two men on trial, perhaps fearing that would lead to further unrest.
On Wednesday, Mr. Karroubi's Web site reported that the house of his eldest son, Hossein Karroubi, had been raided and damaged by security officers seeking to arrest him.
The government tried to squelch reports about the Monday demonstrations, arresting or sequestering critics on Tuesday and revoking the working credentials of about a dozen foreign correspondents who had been ordered not to cover the protests.
Opposition supporters were elated about the demonstrations, saying they felt people's willingness to come out despite beatings by the police proved that the antigovernment movement born after Mr. Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election was still alive after 20 months of brutal government suppression.
"The friends I talked to in Iran were so happy that people had shown up after months of nothing going on," said Sadra M. Shahab, who helped spread the word about the demonstrations from overseas.
Mr. Karroubi, who has been under house arrest since the eve of the protests, said Tuesday that "the government should take the cotton out of its ears and hear the voice of the people," according to a statement posted on Saham News, his Web site.
"Violent and aggressive actions in response to the will of the people can halt continuing protests up to a point," he said, addressing the government, "but you should learn from the history of the governments that have fled." He was referring to the leaders of Tunisia and Egypt, who were recently driven out by street protests.
Mr. Karroubi did not mention any future plans, and it is unclear if the opposition has a clear idea of what to do next. Organizers of a special Facebook page dedicated to the protests in Iran said the authorities would never allow Iranian demonstrators to set up the type of permanent encampment that came to represent the tenacity of the Egyptians in Tahrir Square in Cairo as they called for Hosni Mubarak to leave.
There were reports at least two people died in the protests in Iran on Monday. Few reporters were able to cover the demonstrations, but witness accounts and some news reports suggested that perhaps 20,000 to 30,000 people took to the streets in several cities, including Tehran.
Mr. Ahmadinejad, in a live interview on state television, pursued the government line that such demonstrations were foreign attempts to undermine a great nation, according to reports by the official news agency, IRNA.
"The Iranian nation is like the sun in that it is so brilliant. And of course this brilliance has enemies and they make true efforts," he said. "but ultimately their efforts are like throwing dirt at the sun. It falls right back on them."
By chanting against the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on Monday, protesters were demanding that the entire government system should go, rather than simply attacking Mr. Ahmadinejad. In doing so, they forged rare unity between him and Parliament, which have been at odds over domestic policy.
Of the 290 Parliament members, 222 signed a statement on Tuesday demanding that the government prosecute Mr. Moussavi and Mr. Karroubi, according to IRNA. It was at least the third time that the two men have been threatened publicly with prosecution.
"They would like to provide an atmosphere for the government to take harder action against the opposition leaders," said Fatemeh Haghighatjoo, an exiled former member of Parliament now at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. "But I do not think they could do anything like execute the leaders - even if they arrested them, it would motivate a new round of the uprising."
On Tuesday, pro-government demonstrators staged a sit-in at Mr. Karroubi's house, according to opposition Web sites.
President Obama, speaking Tuesday at a Washington news conference, expressed support for the courage of the Iranian demonstrators and criticized the Tehran government's response.
"I find it ironic that you've got the Iranian regime pretending to celebrate what happened in Egypt," he said, "when in fact they have acted in direct contrast to what happened in Egypt by gunning down and beating people who were trying to express themselves peacefully in Iran."
The leadership of the Islamic republic has been hailing the demonstrations in the Arab world, saying they show the triumph of popular support for Islam, even though Islamists had a low profile in both the Tunisian and Egyptian uprisings.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton also denounced Iran in a speech on Internet freedom, criticizing its government for using the Web to hunt down critics.
Reports of the number of people arrested over the latest protests in Iran varied, with the official number put at 150 and the opposition's estimate at 1,500.
The protesters who died Monday were identified as Mr. Zhaleh and Mohammad Mokhtari, 22, a student at Islamic Azad University in Shahrood.
Neil MacFarquhar reported from New York, and Alan Cowell from Paris. Artin Afkhami contributed reporting from Washington.
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24) Police Try to End Clashes in Yemen
By LAURA KASINOF and J. DAVID GOODMAN
February 16, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/17/world/middleeast/17yemen.html?ref=world
SANA, Yemen - Large numbers of police officers took up positions around the capital here on Wednesday in an attempt to end six days of running street battles between small groups of pro- and antigovernment protesters. Students again organized protests at the capital's central university calling for the ouster of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Mr. Saleh attributed the effort to drive him and other regional leaders from office to "foreign agendas," according to the state-run Saba news agency, quoting a telephone conversation between Mr. Saleh and the king of Bahrain, King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa, who is also facing widespread street protests.
"There are schemes aimed at plunging the region into chaos and violence targeting the nation's security and the stability of its countries," Mr. Saleh told the king, the state agency reported.
Several hundred students marched against the Yemeni leader through the streets from Sana University, the gathering point for many young protesters who have sought to emulate the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt. The police moved to block students from demonstrating near the university, Reuters reported, but the demonstrators broke free. There was no indication of violence against them.
In the southwestern city of Taiz, thousands of students who have occupied the streets in overnight protests that began on Friday vowed to remain there until Mr. Saleh stepped down. The police have arrested more than 100 demonstrators and around 30 have been injured in skirmishes with pro-government groups who have periodically set upon the antigovernment encampment wielding sticks and hurling stones.
There were also fresh protests by southern secessionists in Aden, the port city east of Taiz, where demonstrations have been notably more violent. One protester, about 20 years old, was said to have been shot to death in battles with the police on Wednesday, according to reports from the city, as hundreds took to the streets in several neighborhoods.
Though Yemen's southern secessionists have also sought inspiration from a regional wave of protests, their demand for independence is longstanding and their goals differ from those of the students protesting against Mr. Saleh in Sana and other areas, including Taiz, which is not part of the area that secessionists have claimed.)
Since Sunday, when police officers in Sana attacked more than 1,000 young protesters with batons and stun guns, the police have mostly refrained from attacking them, instead stepping in to break up skirmishes between rival groups.
Despite the increased police presence on Wednesday, the two groups clashed at the university and there were reports of several injuries as government supporters attacked students with batons. Reuters reported that the police had fired shots in the air to separate the groups, and that some of those protesting in favor of the government were picked up by luxury cars and sped away.
Several foreign journalists were singled out and set upon by pro-government groups, Reuters reported. Since the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, security forces have made scattered efforts to prevent foreign journalists from covering the spread of demonstrations, which have taken on a younger and more spontaneous cast in recent days.
Indeed, a rift is emerging between the student organizers, who have called for the president to step down immediately, and the established opposition groups, who have wrested significant concessions from Mr. Saleh - including a promise that he would give up power in 2013 - but who would prefer to move more slowly toward political reform.
Mr. Saleh, an important ally of the United States in the fight against terrorism, has in recent weeks sought to counter the rising tide of opposition and preserve his three-decade rule by raising army salaries, halving income taxes and ordering price controls, among other concessions. But as protests by young Yemenis continued, it was clear that those efforts were not stemming the unrest.
Student protesters have begun organizing online, with large numbers joining the social media site Twitter and posting updates on their activities to Facebook in recent days. Several Facebook pages have been created calling on mass protests for either Thursday or Friday of next week.
Government supporters and armed police officers continued to occupy Sana's central square - which, like its Cairo counterpart, is called Tahrir Square. The pro-government men, mostly from the outskirts of the capital and some carrying weapons, have pitched tents in the square and vowed to remain until the unrest ends. Police officers moved to restrict access with concertina wire to prevent antigovernment protesters from gathering there.
Laura Kasinof reported from Sana, Yemen, and J. David Goodman from New York.
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25) Unrest Reported in Libyan City of Benghazi
By ALAN COWELL
February 16, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/17/world/middleeast/17libya.html?ref=world
PARIS - The wave of turmoil and protests sweeping the Middle East appeared on Wednesday to have reached Libya, ruled for four decades by Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, according to news reports.
The eruption of violence in Libya's second city, Benghazi, was not reported in the state-run media, which said rallies would be held Wednesday in support of Colonel Qaddafi - a tactic reflecting the pro-government demonstrations unleashed on protests in Egypt and Yemen.
Resorting to a time-honored technique among Arab leaders, Colonel Qaddafi tried to deflect attention to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, delivering a speech Wednesday urging Arabs to join in a mass march on Israel. He also reportedly said he would like to join the Libyan protesters himself, to improve the performance of a government that he professes not to have a hand in running.
Quryna, a privately owned newspaper in Benghazi, said a crowd armed with gasoline bombs and rocks protested outside a government office to demand the release of a human rights activist, Reuters reported. The demonstrators, numbering at least several hundred and possibly more, went to the central Shajara Square and clashed with police.
The fighting coincided with news reports of demonstrators massing for a third successive day on the easternmost rim of the Arab world in the Persian Gulf kingdom of Bahrain, while clashes were reported in Iran and Yemen.
The eruption in Libya was highly unusual since a pervasive security apparatus keeps dissent in check and protects Colonel Qaddafi against perceived foes, including Islamists. Reuters quoted a Benghazi resident as saying the protesters were led by relatives of prisoners slain 15 years ago in a massacre of more than 1,000 detainees at the notorious Abu Salim jail in Tripoli.
The Associated Press quoted Ashur Shamis, a Libyan opposition activist in London, as saying demonstrators chanted, "No God but Allah, Muammar is the enemy of Allah," and "Down, down to corruption and to the corrupt."
Some analysts said Benghazi has long been regarded as having a political dynamic that sets it apart from the rest of the country.
Libyan state television showed images of a pro-Qaddafi rally in Tripoli, the capital, where demonstrators chanted slogans critical of Al Jazeera, the Qatar-based satellite broadcaster that provided close coverage of events in Tunisia and Egypt, speeding images of uprising that rattled the autocratic leaders of the Arab world.
As in other parts of the Arab world, protesters had used social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook to call for demonstrations, but they had not been scheduled until Thursday.
The BBC quoted witnesses as saying the unrest in Benghazi was inspired by the arrest of a lawyer who has criticized the government. Around 2,000 people took part, the BBC said, quoting witnesses as saying police used water cannon, tear gas and rubber bullets.
Al Jazeera said on its Web site that the detained lawyer, Fathi Terbil, a spokesman for the families of those killed in 1996 at Abu Salim prison, had been released.
The region's turmoil began in Tunisia, where the former president, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, was forced into exile in Saudi Arabia in mid-January. It spread to Egypt where an 18-day uprising ousted President Hosni Mubarak after almost three decades in power.
Protests have erupted in Yemen, Bahrain and Iran.
Colonel Qaddafi took power in a bloodless coup in 1969 and has ruled his oil-exporting country with an iron fist, seeking to spread Libya's influence in Africa. He has been accused in the West of sponsoring terrorism.
Apart from his security forces, Colonel Qaddafi has built his rule on a cult of personality and a network of family and tribal alliances supported by largesse from Libya's oil revenues.
Internationally, he is regarded as an erratic and quixotic figure who travels with an escort of female bodyguards and likes to live in a large tent of the kind used by desert nomads.
Starting in 2003, he moved to refurbish his image abroad, renouncing both terrorism and a program to build nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. He also pledged to pay compensation to victims of a disco bombing in Berlin in 1986 and the Lockerbie bombing of 1988.
While those moves eased some strains in his relationship with the outside world, Western governments have continued to question his human rights record.
None of that weakened his hold on power.
The turmoil in the Middle East, however, has shaken his immediate neighbors to the east in Egypt and to the west in Tunisia, prompting him to lower food prices to pre-empt popular discontent. The high cost of food was one of the factors contributing to the explosion in Tunisia.
Like Mr. Mubarak in Egypt and other rulers, Colonel Qaddafi has sought to build a dynasty to succeed him, with speculation currently centering on his son Seif al-Islam el-Qaddafi.
The son was the focus of international attention when he flew to Scotland in August 2009 to repatriate Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, the only person convicted in the Lockerbie airliner bombing, after the Scottish government ordered his release on compassionate grounds. Mr. Megrahi, a former Libyan intelligence agent suffering from prostate cancer, had served 8 years of a 27-year minimum sentence on charges of murdering 270 people in Britain's worst terrorist attack.
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26) Egypt Leaders Found 'Off' Switch for Internet
By JAMES GLANZ and JOHN MARKOFF
February 15, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/16/technology/16internet.html?ref=world
Epitaphs for the Mubarak government all note that the mobilizing power of the Internet was one of the Egyptian opposition's most potent weapons. But quickly lost in the swirl of revolution was the government's ferocious counterattack, a dark achievement that many had thought impossible in the age of global connectedness. In a span of minutes just after midnight on Jan. 28, a technologically advanced, densely wired country with more than 20 million people online was essentially severed from the global Internet.
The blackout was lifted after just five days, and it did not save President Hosni Mubarak. But it has mesmerized the worldwide technical community and raised concerns that with unrest coursing through the Middle East, other autocratic governments - many of them already known to interfere with and filter specific Web sites and e-mails - may also possess what is essentially a kill switch for the Internet.
Because the Internet's legendary robustness and ability to route around blockages are part of its basic design, even the world's most renowned network and telecommunications engineers have been perplexed that the Mubarak government succeeded in pulling the maneuver off.
But now, as Egyptian engineers begin to assess fragmentary evidence and their own knowledge of the Egyptian Internet's construction, they are beginning to understand what, in effect, hit them. Interviews with many of those engineers, as well as an examination of data collected around the world during the blackout, indicate that the government exploited a devastating combination of vulnerabilities in the national infrastructure.
For all the Internet's vaunted connectivity, the Egyptian government commanded powerful instruments of control: it owns the pipelines that carry information across the country and out into the world.
Internet experts say similar arrangements are more common in authoritarian countries than is generally recognized. In Syria, for example, the Syrian Telecommunications Establishment dominates the infrastructure, and the bulk of the international traffic flows through a single pipeline to Cyprus. Jordan, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern countries have the same sort of dominant, state-controlled carrier.
Over the past several days, activists in Bahrain and Iran say they have seen strong evidence of severe Internet slowdowns amid protests there. Concerns over the potential for a government shutdown are particularly high in North African countries, most of which rely on a just a small number of fiber-optic lines for most of their international Internet traffic.
A Double Knockout
The attack in Egypt relied on a double knockout, the engineers say. As in many authoritarian countries, Egypt's Internet must connect to the outside world through a tiny number of international portals that are tightly in the grip of the government. In a lightning strike, technicians first cut off nearly all international traffic through those portals.
In theory, the domestic Internet should have survived that strike. But the cutoff also revealed how dependent Egypt's internal networks are on moment-to-moment information from systems that exist only outside the country - including e-mail servers at companies like Google, Microsoft and Yahoo; data centers in the United States; and the Internet directories called domain name servers, which can be physically located anywhere from Australia to Germany.
The government's attack left Egypt not only cut off from the outside world, but also with its internal systems in a sort of comatose state: servers, cables and fiber-optic lines were largely up and running, but too confused or crippled to carry information save a dribble of local e-mail traffic and domestic Web sites whose Internet circuitry somehow remained accessible.
"They drilled unexpectedly all the way down to the bottom layer of the Internet and stopped all traffic flowing," said Jim Cowie, chief technology officer of Renesys, a network management company based in New Hampshire that has closely monitored Internet traffic from Egypt. "With the scope of their shutdown and the size of their online population, it is an unprecedented event."
The engineers say that a focal point of the attack was an imposing building at 26 Ramses Street in Cairo, just two and a half miles from the epicenter of the protests, Tahrir Square. At one time purely a telephone network switching center, the building now houses the crucial Internet exchange that serves as the connection point for fiber-optic links provided by five major network companies that provide the bulk of the Internet connectivity going into and out of the country.
"In Egypt the actual physical and logical connections to the rest of the world are few, and they are licensed by the government and they are tightly controlled," said Wael Amin, president of ITWorx, a large software development company based in Cairo.
One of the government's strongest levers is Telecom Egypt, a state-owned company that engineers say owns virtually all the country's fiber-optic cables; other Internet service providers are forced to lease bandwidth on those cables in order to do business.
Mr. Cowie noted that the shutdown in Egypt did not appear to have diminished the protests - if anything, it inflamed them - and that it would cost untold millions of dollars in lost business and investor confidence in the country. But he added that, inevitably, some autocrats would conclude that Mr. Mubarak had simply waited too long to bring down the curtain.
"Probably there are people who will look at this and say, it really worked pretty well, he just blew the timing," Mr. Cowie said.
Speaking of the Egyptian shutdown and the earlier experience in Tunisia, whose censorship methods were less comprehensive, a senior State Department official said that "governments will draw different conclusions."
"Some may take measures to tighten communications networks," said the official, speaking on the condition of anonymity. "Others may conclude that these things are woven so deeply into the culture and commerce of their country that they interfere at their peril. Regardless, it is certainly being widely discussed in the Middle East and North Africa."
Vulnerable Choke Points
In Egypt, where the government still has not explained how the Internet was taken down, engineers across the country are putting together clues from their own observations to understand what happened this time, and to find out whether a future cutoff could be circumvented on a much wider scale than it was when Mr. Mubarak set his attack in motion.
The strength of the Internet is that it has no single point of failure, in contrast to more centralized networks like the traditional telephone network. The routing of each data packet is handled by a web of computers known as routers, so that in principle each packet might take a different route. The complete message or document is then reassembled at the receiving end.
Yet despite this decentralized design, the reality is that most traffic passes through vast centralized exchanges - potential choke points that allow many nations to monitor, filter or in dire cases completely stop the flow of Internet data.
China, for example, has built an elaborate national filtering system known as the Golden Shield Project, and in 2009 it shut down cellphone and Internet service amid unrest in the Muslim region of Xinjiang. Nepal's government briefly disconnected from the Internet in the face of civil unrest in 2005, and so did Myanmar's government in 2007.
But until Jan. 28 in Egypt, no country had revealed that control of those choke points could allow the government to shut down the Internet almost entirely.
There has been intense debate both inside and outside Egypt on whether the cutoff at 26 Ramses Street was accomplished by surgically tampering with the software mechanism that defines how networks at the core of the Internet communicate with one another, or by a blunt approach: simply cutting off the power to the router computers that connect Egypt to the outside world.
But either way, the international portals were shut, and the domestic system reeled from the blow.
The Lines Go Dead
The first hints of the blackout had actually emerged the day before, Jan. 27, as opposition leaders prepared for a "Friday of anger," with huge demonstrations expected. Ahmed ElShabrawy, who runs a company called EgyptNetwork, noticed that the government had begun blocking individual sites like Facebook and Twitter.
Just after midnight on Jan. 28, Mahmoud Amin's iPhone beeped with an alert that international connections to his consulting company's Internet system had vanished - and then the iPhone itself stopped receiving e-mail. A few minutes later, Mr. ElShabrawy received an urgent call telling him that all Internet lines running to his company were dead.
It was not long before Ayman Bahaa, director of Egyptian Universities Network, which developed the country's Internet nearly two decades ago, was scrambling to figure out how the system had all but collapsed between the strokes of 12 and 1.
The system had been crushed so completely that when a network engineer who does repairs in Cairo woke in the morning, he said to his family, "I feel we are in the 1800s."
Over the next five days, the government furiously went about extinguishing nearly all of the Internet links to the outside world that had survived the first assault, data collected by Western network monitors show. Although a few Egyptians managed to post to Facebook or send sporadic e-mails, the vast majority of the country's Internet subscribers were cut off.
The most telling bit of evidence was that some Internet services inside the country were still working, at least sporadically. American University in Cairo, frantically trying to relocate students and faculty members away from troubled areas, was unable to use e-mail, cellphones - which were also shut down - or even a radio frequency reserved for security teams. But the university was able to update its Web site, hosted on a server inside Egypt, and at least some people were able to pull up the site and follow the emergency instructions.
"The servers were up," said Nagwa Nicola, the chief technology officer at American University in Cairo. "You could reach up to the Internet provider itself, but you wouldn't get out of the country." Ms. Nicola said that no notice had been given, and she depicted an operation that appeared to have been carried out with great secrecy.
"When we called the providers, they said, 'Um, hang on, we just have a few problems and we'll be on again,' " she said. "They wouldn't tell us it was out."
She added, "It wasn't expected at all that something like that would happen."
Told to Shut Down or Else
Individual Internet service providers were also called on the carpet and ordered to shut down, as they are required to do by their licensing agreements if the government so decrees.
According to an Egyptian engineer and an international telecom expert who both spoke on the condition of anonymity, at least one provider, Vodafone, expressed extreme reluctance to shut down but was told that if it did not comply, the government would use its own "off" switch via the Telecom Egypt infrastructure - a method that would be much more time-consuming to reverse. Other exchanges, like an important one in Alexandria, may also have been involved.
Still, even major providers received little notice that the moves were afoot, said an Egyptian with close knowledge of the telecom industry who would speak only anonymously.
"You don't get a couple of days with something like this," he said. "It was less than an hour."
After the Internet collapsed, Mr. ElShabrawy, 35, whose company provides Internet service to 2,000 subscribers and develops software for foreign and domestic customers, made urgent inquiries with the Ministry of Communications, to no avail. So he scrambled to re-establish his own communications.
When he, too, noticed that domestic fiber-optic cables were open, he had a moment of exhilaration, remembering that he could link up servers directly and establish messaging using an older system called Internet Relay Chat. But then it dawned on him that he had always assumed he could download the necessary software via the Internet and had saved no copy.
"You don't have your tools - you don't have anything," Mr. ElShabrawy said he realized as he stared at the dead lines at his main office in Mansoura, about 60 miles outside Cairo.
With the streets unsafe because of marauding bands of looters, he decided to risk having a driver bring $7,000 in satellite equipment, including a four-foot dish, from Cairo, and somehow he was connected internationally again by Monday evening.
Steeling himself for the blast of complaints from angry customers - his company also provides texting services in Europe and the Middle East - Mr. ElShabrawy found time to post videos of the protests in Mansoura on his Facebook page. But with security officials asking questions about what he was up to, he did not dare hook up his domestic subscribers.
Then, gingerly, he reached out to his international customers, his profuse apologies already framed in his mind.
The response that poured in astonished Mr. ElShabrawy, who is nothing if not a conscientious businessman, even in turbulent times. "People said: 'Don't worry about that. We are fine and we need to know that you are fine. We are all supporting you.' "
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27) Police Fire on Protesters in Iraq
By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT and DURAID ADNAN
February 16, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/17/world/middleeast/17iraq.html?ref=world
BAGHDAD - Security forces in the eastern Iraqi city of Kut on Wednesday fired on a group of protesters calling for the provincial governor to step down, killing at least three people, according to a local government official.
After the security forces opened fire the protesters stormed the governor's headquarters and his home, burning both buildings, according to the official. At least 27 people were injured in the violence, including one security officer, the official said.
"They burned all the rooms in the buildings and all the generators. They also burned the cars of the employees," said the official, who was in Kut at the time the violence erupted. "We were able to take the deputy and the employees out the back door. Some of the employees were women, and they were choked by the fires."
The melee was the most violent protest in Iraq since unrest began in the Middle East last month. Until now there have been several small scattered demonstrations in Iraq calling for better government services.
Wednesday's protests were organized by a group called the Youth of Kut, which wants the governor of the province to step down because they say he has failed to create jobs and increase the supply of electricity. The protesters also say that the governor, Latif Hamad al-Tarfa, has stolen money from the government.
The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he did not want to jeopardize his access to sensitive information, said Mr. Tarfa was in Baghdad on Wednesday.
The protest began around 10 a.m. with people gathering in the center of the city.
"We had a delegation that went up and asked for the governor to step down ," said Ali al-Wasity, one of the protesters. "They refused to come out and talk to us."
The protesters then began throwing rocks, bricks and concrete blocks at the governor's offices.
Mr. Wasity said security officers responded with gunfire. "When they opened fire on us, I was feeling that we are not a free country," he said. "We are under a dictatorship system. I tell them one thing: we will not stop going out on protest unless the governor steps down and leaves us."
The official said the government forces had used tear gas to try and disperse the crowd.
"The situation now is going to be bad here," the official said. "The forces have imposed a curfew on the city."
Television images showed a large cloud of smoke billowing from the governor's headquarters and images of protesters flinging rocks at the building and waving the Iraqi flag.
"We have received many calls from all around the province and they told us that they will be joining us," Mr. Wasity said. "Now there is a curfew but we will not stop. We will do it again and again."
Kut, a mostly Shiite city of about 850,000, is close to Iraq's border with Iran and has a large Iraqi military base that was heavily bombed during Iraq's eight-year war with Iran and during the 1991 Persian Gulf war.
Khalid D. Ali contributed reporting.
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28) In One Slice of Egypt, Daily Woes Top Religion
By ANTHONY SHADID
February 15, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/16/world/middleeast/16islam.html?ref=world
CAIRO - A generation ago, Ahmed Mitwalli's parents were Islamists in this neighborhood along the Nile once nicknamed the Islamic Republic of Imbaba. But their son is not, and his convictions, echoed in the caldron of frustrations of one of the world's most crowded quarters, suggest why the Muslim Brotherhood is not driving Egypt's nascent revolution.
"Bread, social justice and freedom," the 21-year-old college graduate said. "What's religious about that?"
Egypt's revolution is far from decided, and the Muslim Brotherhood remains the most popular and best-organized opposition forces in the country, poised to play a crucial role in the transition and its aftermath. But in a neighborhood once ceded to militant Islamists, who declared their own state within a state in the early 1990s, sentiments here are most remarkable for how little religion inflects them. Be it complaints about a police force that long resembled an army of occupation, smoldering class resentment or even youthful demands for frivolity, a growing consciousness has taken hold in a sign of what awaits the rest of the Arab world after President Hosni Mubarak's fall on Friday.
Three times more crowded than Manhattan, Imbaba offers a window on the shift away from religious fervor. A fiery preacher, derided as a drummer-turned-cleric, imposed his rule on Imbaba's streets for years until the government drove him and his followers out after a long siege in 1992. With American largess, the government tried to wrangle a city still not recognized on its maps back on the grid. By the accounts of residents, it failed, eventually withdrawing from a sea of resentment that neither the Muslim Brotherhood nor anyone else has managed to channel.
"The last thing youth are thinking about is religion," said Mr. Mitwalli, who hides his cigarettes from a family where all the women wear the most conservative veil. "It's the last thing that comes up. They need money, they need to get married, a car, and they don't have anything to do with anything else. They'll elect whoever can deliver that."
Though parts of Imbaba are upscale, much of it feels like the countryside washing across the pretenses of a city, unfinished red-brick buildings overlooking markets disgorged in the streets. Three-wheel buggies known as tuk-tuks, blaring the latest pop song of Amr Diab, an ageless Egyptian pop star, navigate a mélange of overflowing trash bins, mannequins in the median and racks of clothes in the street.
Mr. Mubarak's government long stigmatized neighborhoods like Imbaba as a netherworld of crime and danger. There is that, though its people extol their own sense of community, where streets band together at the slightest provocation. When the uprising devastated the economy, vendors brought down prices to help people cope. And in almost every conversation, residents, especially the young, frame their plight as us against them.
"There was no dialogue," said Walid Sabr, a 29-year-old who works at a shoe store. "There was force and there was bullying. Dialogue with that? It's impossible."
Samih Ahmed, a vendor down the street, added, "This isn't the Jan. 25th revolution," calling the uprising by its most popular name. "This is a revolution of dignity."
Everyone in the neighborhood had a story about officials - a $2 bribe to enter a hospital to see a relative, a $20 fine imposed for stealing electricity, a $10 payoff to a municipal official to get an identity card. Mr. Sabr talked about getting arrested for trying to report a traffic accident. Ibrahim Mohamed complained that he had been thrown in jail after the police planted hashish on him. Umayma Mohamed, a 23-year-old woman carrying her 3-month-old baby, begged for help in getting her brother released after a fight.
"You raise your voice," Mohamed Ali said, "and they answer by beating you."
Egypt is deeply devout, and imposing labels often does more to confuse than illuminate. Amal Salih, who joined the protests against her parents' wishes, dons an orange scarf over her head but calls herself secular. "Egypt is religious, regrettably," she said. Mr. Mitwalli wears a beard but calls himself liberal, "within the confines of religion." A driver, Osama Ramadan, despises the Muslim Brotherhood but has jury-rigged his car to blare a prayer when he turns on the ignition.
Defining sentiments is no more precise. Youths defiant in their praise of Mr. Mubarak only last week joined the celebrations on Friday, some bringing flags and fireworks to Tahrir Square. Residents say some of the most ardent Islamists here had the best connections with the police, who sought to cultivate them as informants. But in streets suffused with trash, occasionally drawing flocks of sheep, a common refrain is that political Islam, as practiced by the Muslim Brotherhood, does not offer the kind of solutions that may decide an election.
"We don't need prayers, sheiks and beards," said Mr. Mohammed, standing with the angry crowd on a street filled with trash. "We've had enough of the clerics."
The Islamic Group, known in Arabic as Al Gamaa al-Islamiyya, waged an intermittent insurgency against the government in the 1990s, and Mr. Mitwalli's uncle was one of its leaders. He was jailed for 13 years. A man known as Sheik Gaber belonged to the same group, and he and his followers imposed their notion of order here, drawing thousands to sermons where they occasionally - and triumphantly - broadcast a tape of President Anwar el-Sadat's assassination in 1981. They arbitrated disputes and provided for the poor, while sauntering through the slum to drive away prostitutes and drug dealers, to impose the veil, to burn shops that rented Western videos, and to force Christians to pay a religious tax.
An embarrassed government eventually sent in 12,000 soldiers and armored cars in a crackdown that began a six-week occupation. With the help of American aid, it flooded the neighborhood with investment for a time, paving roads and bringing sewerage, telephones and electricity. Just last year, the governor of Giza, which oversees Imbaba's side of the Nile, pledged it would soon look like one of Cairo's wealthier neighborhoods.
It does not. In fact, Imbaba feels overwhelmed, as the rich flee to suburbs with names like Dreamland, Beverly Hills and the European Countryside, and a new government faces its predecessor's failure to provide housing for a population where nearly 7 in 10 are under the age of 34, numbers that mirror much of the Arab world.
"The youth today think this way: let me live my life today, and I don't care if you kill me tomorrow," said Mohammed Fathi, a 23-year-old friend of Mr. Sabr's at the shoe store. "Next year isn't important. All I'm thinking about is getting by today."
In Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and grim stretches of urban Iraq, populist clerics often manage to channel youthful anger. But the leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood is perhaps most distinguished for representing the demands of an aspiring middle class; it counts some of Cairo's wealthiest among its ranks. No one in Imbaba mentioned a religious figure as an inspiration. Asked about their choice for a new president, many shrugged or offered up Amr Moussa, the aging departing secretary general of the Arab League.
The biggest draw here seemed to be one of Imbaba's favorite sons, the Little Arab, a pop singer who runs a cafe on Luxor Street decorated with his own pictures.
"I don't want to be pinned down by any political tendency," Ms. Salih said.
It remains an oddity of the long struggle between the government and the Muslim Brotherhood that both an aging opposition and a corrupt state spoke the same language of moral conservatism. It has left Egypt more ostensibly religious over the years. Measured by sentiments here, it may have also provoked a backlash among youth recoiling at the prospect of yet more rules promised by an even more stringent application of Islamic law.
"In my view?" asked Osama Hassan, a high school student who joined the protests in their climactic days. "We need more freedom not less. The whole system has to change."
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29) Lawsuit Says Military Is Rife With Sexual Abuse
By ASHLEY PARKER
February 15, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/16/us/16military.html?ref=us
WASHINGTON - A federal lawsuit filed Tuesday accuses the Department of Defense of allowing a military culture that fails to prevent rape and sexual assault, and of mishandling cases that were brought to its attention, thus violating the plaintiffs' constitutional rights.
The suit - brought by 2 men and 15 women, both veterans and active-duty service members - specifically claims that Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and his predecessor, Donald H. Rumsfeld, "ran institutions in which perpetrators were promoted and where military personnel openly mocked and flouted the modest Congressionally mandated institutional reforms."
It also says the two defense secretaries failed "to take reasonable steps to prevent plaintiffs from being repeatedly raped, sexually assaulted and sexually harassed by federal military personnel."
Myla Haider, a former Army sergeant and a plaintiff in the suit, said she was raped in 2002 while interning in Korea with the military's Criminal Investigative Command. "It is an atmosphere of zero accountability in leadership, period," she said an interview.
Ms. Haider, who appeared with other plaintiffs at a news conference earlier Tuesday at the National Press Club, said: "The policies that are put in place are extremely ineffectual. There was severe maltreatment in these cases, and there was no accountability whatsoever. And soldiers in general who make any type of complaint in the military are subject to retaliation and have no means of defending themselves."
In the complaint, Ms. Haider said she did not report her rape because she "did not believe she would be able to obtain justice." But she said she joined the suit because she wanted to "address the systematic punishment of soldiers who come forward with any type of complaint," whether it involves sexual assault or post-traumatic stress disorder related to combat.
The plaintiffs' stories in the complaint include accounts of a soldier stripping naked and dancing on a table during a break in a class on preventing sexual assault, physical and verbal harassment, and the rape of a woman by two men who videotaped the assault and circulated it to the woman's colleagues.
Geoff Morrell, a Pentagon spokesman, said in a statement that "sexual assault is a wider societal problem" and that Mr. Gates was working to ensure that the military was "doing all it can to prevent and respond to it."
"That means providing more money, personnel, training and expertise, including reaching out to other large institutions, such as universities, to learn best practices," Mr. Morrell said. "This is now a command priority, but we clearly still have more work to do in order to ensure all of our service members are safe from abuse."
Though the suit, which was filed in Federal District Court in Virginia, seeks monetary damages, those involved with the case said their goal was an overhaul of the military's judicial system regarding rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment.
"You should not have to be subjected to being raped or sexually assaulted because you volunteered to serve this nation," said Susan L. Burke, the plaintiffs' lead lawyer.
At the news conference Tuesday, Anuradha Bhagwati, a former Marine captain and executive director of the Service Women's Action Network, called for a new system to improve accountability and provide other avenues for filing complaints.
"There are veterans who, after service, are literally reeling from post-traumatic stress" as a result of rape and sexual assault, she said in an interview. "It can be a lifelong process. We hear from veterans who are in their 50s and 60s who are still coping with the trauma of having been psychologically and physically tortured."
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30) Freed Man's Suit Accuses Brooklyn Prosecutors of Misconduct
By JOHN ELIGON
February 16, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/17/nyregion/17brooklyn.html?ref=nyregion
When Brooklyn prosecutors vacated his murder conviction last year, granting him freedom after 16 years behind bars, Jabbar Collins was naturally elated.
That turn of events, however, still left him unfulfilled. Mr. Collins and his lawyer were about to present to the court accusations of misconduct against the Brooklyn district attorney's office. But the dismissal of the conviction ended the court proceeding and prevented a public hearing of a case where the district attorney's handling was described by the judge as "shameful."
Mr. Collins, 38, has found a new vehicle to air his accusations: a civil lawsuit, filed on Wednesday in Federal District Court in Brooklyn, in which he accused the Brooklyn district attorney's office of a wide range of unethical, and in some cases illegal, conduct, and blamed the district attorney himself, Charles J. Hynes, for fostering the wrongdoing.
Many of the accusations touched on issues that were already raised in Mr. Collins's previous efforts to get his conviction overturned. Among them: Michael F. Vecchione, a top assistant in the district attorney's office, was accused of improperly using court orders to detain witnesses, physically threatening them and coercing them into providing false testimony that would benefit the prosecution's case.
But the lawsuit, which seeks $150 million, also alleges that such tactics were standard practice for the office under Mr. Hynes, detailing several other cases in which Brooklyn prosecutors took similar steps to elicit witness testimony. Several prosecutors, including Mr. Vecchione, were listed as defendants; Mr. Hynes was not among them.
The lawsuit also raised new accusations that Mr. Vecchione, a glib and sometimes controversial advocate, submitted affidavits in various cases to the court that he did not sign and that were falsely notarized, which would violate ethics rules and the law.
Mr. Hynes "maintained a policy, custom and/or practice of deliberate indifference to violations by his employees of the constitutional rights of individuals who were investigated and criminally prosecuted," Mr. Collins's lawyer, Joel B. Rudin, wrote in the 106-page complaint.
A spokesman for the district attorney's office declined to comment.
Mr. Collins, a father of three from Williamsburg, Brooklyn, was arrested in March 1994 on charges that he shot and killed Abraham Pollack, a landlord, during an attempted robbery a month earlier.
The prosecution relied on three main witnesses to convict Mr. Collins, who said he was innocent. Each of those witnesses, the lawsuit said, was compelled to testify by Mr. Vecchione, who was the head of the homicide bureau at the time but is now in charge of the rackets bureau.
According to the lawsuit, Mr. Vecchione used a subpoena to get one of the witnesses, Angel Santos, to come to his office, where he tried to convince him to cooperate with the prosecution, threatening at one point to hit Mr. Santos over the head with a coffee table. Mr. Santos was said to have seen Mr. Collins running from the scene after the shooting, though Mr. Santos had told investigators that his drug use made it difficult to recall events and that there were inconsistencies in his story, the complaint said.
After Mr. Santos refused to cooperate, Mr. Vecchione ratcheted up the pressure by obtaining a court order that allowed him to put Mr. Santos in jail, the lawsuit said. Mr. Santos buckled and agreed to testify, according to the lawsuit.
Mr. Santos could not be reached for comment, but his account in the lawsuit was taken from testimony he gave during Mr. Collins's habeas hearing last year.
Mr. Rudin said the example of Mr. Santos illustrated how the district attorney's office used subpoenas and material witness warrants to pressure witnesses to cooperate.
While subpoenas are supposed to compel a witness to come to court to testify, the district attorney's office routinely uses them to direct witnesses to come to the office, where the authorities may try to convince witnesses to cooperate, Mr. Rudin wrote. In one case in 1994, Justice Abraham G. Gerges criticized a Brooklyn prosecutor for subpoenaing a witness to appear on a day there was no testimony "in the hope that it would coerce the witness into consenting to be interviewed prior to testifying." Justice Gerges wrote that the "practice should not be replicated."
Material witness warrants are orders that judges issue for the arrest of witnesses who otherwise might ignore subpoenas to testify. But those orders stipulate that the witnesses be brought before a court, where they are assigned a lawyer and have an opportunity to be released or have bail set.
In the complaint, Mr. Rudin said the district attorney's office regularly brought witnesses picked up on warrants to their office for interrogation, rather than directly to court. During a post-conviction hearing in a 1991 murder case, an assistant district attorney, Stan Irvin, testified that the office usually brought witnesses picked up on warrants to their office first to assess their potential testimony and to determine whether they required further detention.
After prosecutors got a warrant to pick up Mr. Santos, they had him locked up without presenting him before a judge, according to the complaint.
The complaint also accused Mr. Vecchione of allowing subordinates to sign his name for him, and it cited a report from a handwriting expert who found that Mr. Vecchione's signature on sworn affidavits in multiple cases did not match his actual signature. Some of the signatures that the complaint said were false were notarized by other assistant district attorneys, meaning that if Mr. Vecchione did not sign his name himself, the notaries were breaking ethics rules and the law.
Lawyers can be reprimanded, suspended and, in rare cases, disbarred for submitting sworn statements with signatures that do not belong to them.
"It's a cardinal rule; it's not debatable," said Stephen Gillers, a professor of legal ethics at New York University Law School.
If lawyers were allowed to have colleagues sign their affidavits for them, it could foster laziness in which lawyers submit statements they have not thoroughly reviewed, Mr. Gillers said.
"The reason we want lawyers to sign affidavits that contain their names is to avoid any risk that facts will be presented to the court that the lawyer does not support," he said.
Reached by telephone on Wednesday, Mr. Vecchione referred all inquiries to the district attorney's press office. "Whatever the press office said is what I'm saying," he said.
Mr. Vecchione has been accused by defense lawyers and former colleagues of overstepping the bounds of legal propriety. One of his notable failures was the case against Roy Lindley DeVecchio, a former F.B.I. agent whose murder prosecution fell apart after it became apparent that Mr. Vecchione withheld information that seriously questioned the credibility of his star witness.
Still, Mr. Hynes has stuck with Mr. Vecchione through the criticism, even awarding him with the Thomas E. Dewey Medal for outstanding state prosecutors in 2008. After prosecutors decided to vacate Mr. Collins's conviction during a habeas corpus hearing last year, Mr. Hynes said it had nothing to do with the accusations of misconduct and called Mr. Vecchione "a very, very principled lawyer."
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