NEXT BAUAW MEETING:
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 3, 3:00 p.m.
1380 Valencia Street
(Between 24th & 25th Streets, S.F.)
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
VOTE YES ON PROP. 'N'! BRING OUR TROOPS HOME NOW!
HELP GET THE WORD OUT ABOUT THIS CHOICE IN THE UPCOMING
ELECTIONS! HELP US WIN BY A LANDSLIDE!
Come to the
BRING OUR TROOPS HOME NOW COMMITTEE MEETING
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 7:00 p.m.
AFSC - First Floor
65 NINTH STREET
(1/2 block from Market St., SF)
Help get the word out about Prop. 'N'. Bring your ideas for
community outreach, media, action, and more to make sure
we win by a landslide!
No matter who wins the elections this year, the war will not
be over. This ballot initiative will set the example for cities across
the country to do the same in future elections.
Pick up material to distribute!*
PROPOSITION 'N' ON THE NOVEMBER 3
SAN FRANCISCO BALLOT DECLARES:
"It is the policy of the people of the City and County of
San Francisco that: The Federal government should take
immediate steps to end the U.S. occupation of Iraq and
bring our troops safely home now."
Visit: www.yesonn.net
* Material costs money. Already thousands of brochures have
been printed and we need more! We need posters and buttons--
we need to cover the city with YES on 'N' campaign material!
Please send a contribution to help with these costs!
Make your check payable to:
Bring Our Troops Home Now
and mail to :
David Looman, Treasurer
325 Highland Ave.
San Francisco, CA 94110
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
1) Powell Says Iraqi Security Situation Worsening
By Tabassum Zakaria
WASHINGTON (Reuters)
Sun Sep 26, 2004 12:38 PM ET
http://www.reuters.com/
newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6334211&src=eDialog/
GetContent§ion=news
2) U.S. on Terror Offensive Ahead of Election- Report
WASHINGTON (Reuters)
Mon Sep 27, 2004 05:32 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/
newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6339311&src=eDialog/
GetContent§ion=news
3) Army May Reduce Length of Tours in Combat Zones
By THOM SHANKER and ERIC SCHMITT
WASHINGTON, Sept. 26 - MILITARY
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/27/international/middleeast/27army.html?hp
4) "I Won't be Quiet Until Everyone Knows How Badly It Hurts"
By KARYN STRICKLER
Weekend Edition: Counterpunch
September 25 / 6, 2004
http://www.counterpunch.org/strickler09252004.html
5) Even Near Home, a New Front Is
Opening in the Terror Battle
By ERIC LIPTON and ERIC LICHTBLAU
CLIFTON, N.J.
September 23, 2004
WEB WAR
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/23/international/worldspecial2/23qaeda.html?h
p
6) U.S., Bowing to Court, to Free 'Enemy Combatant'
By ERIC LICHTBLAU
WASHINGTON
September 23, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/23/politics/23hamdi.html?hp
7) U.S. Plans to Offer Guidance for a Dirty-Bomb Aftermath
By MATTHEW L. WALD
WASHINGTON
September 27, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/27/politics/27nukes.html
8) ALL STAR ARTISTS PERFORMING FOR MILLION WORKER MARCH
9) The Dignity of the Cuban People:
The Legacy of the Revolution
10) J4NA Weekly News Bulletin September 24, 2004
As Alan Dershowitz wrote at the culmination of the
Wen Ho Lee Bail Hearings: "Plead innocent, stay in jail.
Plead guilty, be released."
How Soviet. Espionage case ends with Syrian American
Al Halabi pleading guilty on three minorcharges [ReadMore]
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
1) Powell Says Iraqi Security Situation Worsening
By Tabassum Zakaria
WASHINGTON (Reuters)
Sun Sep 26, 2004 12:38 PM ET
http://www.reuters.com/
newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6334211&src=eDialog/
GetContent§ion=news
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Secretary of State Colin Powell on
Sunday said anti-American sentiment in the Muslim world had
increased and the insurgency in Iraq was worsening, but the
United States was taking action to improve security ahead of
elections.
Afghanistan and Iraq, where U.S.-led military forces
toppled the former leadership, both plan to hold elections in
the next several months.
"We have seen an increase in anti-Americanism in the Muslim
world ... I'm not denying this," Powell said on ABC's "This
Week" program.
"But I think that that will be overcome in due course
because what the Muslim world will see as well as the rest of
the world is that in Afghanistan 10 million people who have
registered to vote will vote on the ninth of October and bring
in place a freely elected president, and I think we're going to
do the same thing in Iraq if we stay the course, if we defeat
this insurgency," Powell said.
Iraq plans to hold elections in January, but U.S. officials
warn that insurgents will aim violence at preventing voting,
including shooting at polling places.
"We are fighting an intense insurgency," Powell said. "Yes
it's getting worse and the reason it's getting worse is that
they are determined to disrupt the election."
"And because it's getting worse we will have to increase
our efforts to defeat it, not walk away and pray and hope for
something else to happen," Powell said.
His comments were less optimistic than those of President
Bush, who as recently as last Thursday insisted Iraq was moving
slowly toward better days. Democratic presidential candidate
Sen. John Kerry says Bush is refusing to accept the reality of
the situation.
U.S. forces have launched a military offensive on areas
considered strongholds of insurgents and foreign fighters. Over
the weekend, the U.S. military conducted several air strikes on
Falluja aimed at militants loyal to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the
most wanted man in Iraq.
"There is a military offensive under way now, you can see
the aggressive action we've been taking in Falluja lately,
there is a political and military offensive under way to take
back Samarra," Powell said on CNN's "Late Edition."
"What we're going to do over the next several months is to
go into these areas and bring them back under government
control," Powell said. "Now it remains to be seen how
successful we will be, but right now we are moving to have
elections at the end of January of 2005."
Last week, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld suggested
partial elections might be acceptable. Powell said it was
premature to suggest there would not be full elections.
On "Fox News Sunday," Powell said the administration was
"getting the U.N. to stand up its electoral support activity.
We're going to provide security to U.N. personnel, so that the
numbers could be increased in the country." He gave no further
details.
Gen. John Abizaid, head of U.S. Central Command that covers
Iraq and Afghanistan, said he was confident elections would be
possible in the "vast majority" of Iraq.
He said U.S. troop strength would mainly be current force
levels with additional Iraqi troops.
Abizaid, speaking from Doha, Qatar, told NBC's "Meet the
Press" that the number of foreign fighters in Iraq was probably
less than 1,000.
"We're under no illusions about the entire country being
stable and we're also under no illusion that the entire country
is dangerous," Abizaid said.
"It is a very complex environment," with stable areas in
the north and south and dangerous ones in Falluja and elsewhere
in the majority Sunni Muslim area, he said.
(c) Copyright Reuters 2004.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
2) U.S. on Terror Offensive Ahead of Election- Report
WASHINGTON (Reuters)
Mon Sep 27, 2004 05:32 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/
newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6339311&src=eDialog/
GetContent§ion=news
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government begins an
unusually open offensive this week aimed at disrupting
potential terrorist plots before and during the November
election, The Washington Post reported Monday.
The effort includes heavy surveillance by the FBI,
increased checks of terrorism watch lists by local police and
heightened security at polling places on Nov. 2, the newspaper
reported, citing U.S. officials.
Officials said they had no new or specific intelligence
about plans for an attack, the Post said. But by publicizing
the government's actions, authorities hope to forestall any
plans by al Qaeda or others who might try to influence the
presidential election, the newspaper reported.
A national election security planning bulletin will be sent
Monday to the 50 states and Washington, with guidelines for
coordination of law enforcement, polling place and
ballot-counting security, according to the Post.
An FBI spokesman was not immediately available for
comment.
The newspaper said authorities were focused on several
dates, starting with the annual meetings that begin Friday at
the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
State and federal officials said the threat window will
remain open through the presidential inauguration in January,
the newspaper reported.
(c) Copyright Reuters 2004.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
3) Army May Reduce Length of Tours in Combat Zones
By THOM SHANKER and ERIC SCHMITT
WASHINGTON, Sept. 26 - MILITARY
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/27/international/middleeast/27army.html?hp
WASHINGTON, Sept. 26 - Fearing a sharp decline in recruiting
and troop retention, the Army is considering cutting the length
of its 12-month combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, senior
Army officials say.
Senior Army personnel officers, as well as top Army Reserve
and National Guard officials, say the Army's ability to recruit
and retain soldiers will steadily erode unless combat tours are
shortened, to some length between six and nine months,
roughly equivalent to the seven-month tours that are the
norm in the Marine Corps.
But other Army officials responsible for combat operations
and war planning have significant concerns that the Army -
at its current size and as now configured - cannot meet projected
requirements for Iraq and Afghanistan unless active duty and
reserve troops spend 12 months on the ground in those
combat zones.
Officials say it is too early to predict if or when a new deployment
policy might take effect or how it would be carried out. But the
proposal to shorten combat tours collides with the immediate
need to maintain current troop strength in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Army planners say they must at least prepare for the possibility
that it will be necessary to keep troops at the current levels in
Iraq - 138,000 - through 2007, even though no political decision
has been made in that regard.
"All the Army leadership agrees that 12 months is too long,"
said Lt. Gen. H Steven Blum, chief of the National Guard Bureau,
which oversees 460,000 members of the Air and Army National
Guard.
"We need to move to a shorter rotational base," General Blum
said in an interview last week.
The prospect of lengthy combat tours already appears to be
affecting recruitment. For example, the Guard had set a goal
of 56,000 recruits for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, but is
likely to end up with about 51,000, he said. It would be the first
time since 1994 that the Guard has missed its signup goal.
"Twelve months is an awfully long time to be in a hostile
environment," said General Blum, adding that he and other
senior commanders hear growing complaints from soldiers,
their families and employers.
Since the Vietnam War, the Army has largely deployed its forces
in overseas combat situations in six-month tours of duty. The
major exception has been in South Korea, where soldiers serve
for one year. The 12-month deployment was introduced last year
after the end of major combat operations in Iraq, when a vigorous
insurgency persuaded the military that it would need to maintain
large numbers of troops in the country. The Army decided then
that only 12-month tours would meet its needs.
Pentagon and Army officials said a major force driving the
consideration of shorter combat tours was Defense Secretary
Donald H. Rumsfeld, who sent personal queries to the Army
and Marine Corps about a month ago.
According to two Army officials and a Pentagon adviser to
Mr. Rumsfeld, those memorandums - known as "snowflakes" within
the Pentagon, although they land with anything but the silent
gracefulness of their namesake - demanded a clear justification
for why the two armed services that supply American ground
forces - the Army and the Marines - have different tour lengths
in Iraq.
Army war planners and combat commanders do not discount
General Blum's assessment of the impact of 12-month tours
on morale and recruitment, even as they say that demands of
the missions in Iraq and Afghanistan will require 12-month
tours for now.
But those same officers say that assessment may change as
security improves in those countries, as the number of
sufficiently trained and equipped Iraqi and Afghan security
forces grows, and as an Army plan to increase the number
of brigades that can be deployed to combat zones comes
to fruition.
Those officers also say that longer deployments give troops
more time at home between tours, and ensure they have
enough time to rearm, reequip and train for their next
mission. Moreover, the 12-month tours allow troops to gain
more expertise about local conditions and insurgents, and
pass that knowledge on to their replacements.
"Twelve-month rotations give you continuity in the area
you're dealing with," a senior Army official said.
But several factors are pushing the service toward shortening
the 12-month rotation cycles that the Army adopted last
summer as the military reversed its initial plan to decrease
American combat forces in Iraq, and instead decided to sustain
the current level.
One factor, which senior Army officers disclosed last week, is
how to preserve the ability to maintain the current level of
American troops in Iraq at least through 2007, if longer tours
of duty end up discouraging recruitment and re-enlistment.
"Our all-volunteer force is the issue here," one Army officer
said. "The volunteer forces and their families - when will
they draw the line? That's the question uppermost on our
mind."
On the campaign trail, Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts,
the Democratic presidential candidate, has repeatedly
promised he would end what he calls the "backdoor draft,"
a reference to the long overseas tours now required of Reserve
and National Guard soldiers, as well as "stop-loss" orders,
which halt retirements or transfers of active-duty troops in
units ordered to Iraq or Afghanistan.
Army officials have steadfastly denied that their consideration
of shorter combat tours was influenced in any way by the
heated campaign debate, and they insist that those changes
are being driven by an internal analysis that has been under
way for weeks. But there is little doubt that Mr. Kerry's
statements have kept the issue front and center.
The varying length of combat tours has also become a point
of public friction between Army and Marine personnel in Iraq
and Afghanistan, although Army officials note that their service
is responsible for supplying much of the Marines' long-term
logistical needs in Iraq.
Marine units rotate more frequently, after seven months on
the ground, to fit the service's training and worldwide
deployment schedules of a force that historically has been
more expeditionary. The Army historically has prepared to
sustain longer campaigns, although both services are
reconfiguring how they deploy to meet current demands.
Army officials say 12-month deployments will decrease as a
restructuring is completed during the next few years to increase
the number of combat brigades to 43, and perhaps to 48, from
the current 33.
That would produce a significant increase in combat units that
could be deployed, offering the opportunity of shortening
deployment as more brigades were readied to move into and
out of Iraq and Afghanistan. But Army officers warned that
similar changes must be made to increase the ability to deploy
units that perform combat service and service support duties,
as the Army is committed to a single deployment term regardless
of whether a soldier is in a combat or a support role.
During a visit on Sept. 14 to Fort Campbell, Ky., home of the
Army's 101st Airborne Division, Mr. Rumsfeld was quizzed by
a soldier who advocated a switch to six-month deployments.
The soldier's question was greeted with applause from the
assembled troops.
Mr. Rumsfeld responded that the length of combat tours
depended on the security situation on the ground and the
number of other coalition and Iraqi forces willing to pick up
responsibilities.
"One would hope that as the need on the ground, the
circumstances on the ground, the security situation, permitted
a reduction in coalition forces, we would see a reduction in
U.S. forces in addition to the reduction in other coalition
countries' forces," Mr. Rumsfeld said.
"As that happened, the need for people there lessened, it is
possible it could be met in one of two ways," he continued.
"The Army could decide that they want to either shorten the
periods somewhat and come down closer to where the
Marines are at seven months, or to just have people go
back fewer times. And at the present time, the Joint Staff,
and the Army particularly, are working on the rhythm to
determine how to do that."
Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
4) "I Won't be Quiet Until Everyone Knows How Badly It Hurts"
By KARYN STRICKLER
Weekend Edition: Counterpunch
September 25 / 6, 2004
http://www.counterpunch.org/strickler09252004.html
The inclination of a mother to protect her children is instinctual
and when violated, renders a pure form of justice that is powerful,
swift and decisive. George W. Bush's illegitimate war in Iraq is
becoming the corporeality that got between the proverbial mother
bear and her cub. Threaten a Grizzly bear's cub and with unblinking
furor, momma will take your head off with one swipe of her paw--
just lookin' out for her baby. Nature expects nothing less, neither
should humankind.
Bush has raised the ire of the mommas who are sacrificing their
babies as cannon fodder in his imperial oil war. As the death toll
rises, so do the voices of the mommas who aren't mincing words
in opposition to George W. Bush for killing their babies.
First Lady Laura Bush was interrupted at a campaign event at a
Hamilton, NJ firehouse last week by Sue Niederer. Mrs. Niederer,
a member of Military Families Speak Out, was wearing a shirt with
a picture of her son Army Lt. Seth Dvorin that read "President Bush
You Killed My Son." Dvorin died in Iraq in February, 2004.
After Neiderer wondered out loud at the rally about why the Bush
children and the kids of other politicians are not serving in Iraq,
she was descended upon by people in black suits with earphones,
pushed, shoved and arrested for trespassing. Sue Niederer said
she had tickets to the event.
Seth Dvorin was 24 years old and joined the Army in order to
enhance his employment prospects with the FBI or CIA. Seth
was married to Kelly Harris just before he departed for Iraq.
Seth, whose only training was on-the-job, was assigned to
find bombs similar to the one that killed him in February.
Mrs. Neiderer was never a fan of the war, but when she heard
that the entire "weapons of mass destruction" justification for
going to war was a sham, she told Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg
during an interview for CounterPunch , "I wanted to rip the
president's head off. Curse him, yell at him, call him a self
righteous bastard and a lot of other words. I think if I had him
in front of me I would shoot him in the groin area. Let him suffer...
Put him through misery, like he's doing to everyone else. He
doesn't deserve any better."
Rosemarie Dietz Slavenas, mother of an Illinois National Guard
pilot, 1st Lt. Brian Slavenas killed in Iraq in 2003, emerged from
her son's funeral to tell the press that she holds George W. Bush
personally responsible for her son's death. She would not allow
military trappings of any sort at the funeral. Speaking of her baby,
she said, "George [W.] Bush killed my son. I request in Brian's
name a stop to the killing. No more preemptive wars."
Brian's mom spoke out bravely, even in opposition to other
family members who publicly disagreed with Rosemarie's
conclusion that Bush killed her son. In an interview with
Socialist Worker Online, the long-time peace activist said,
"There is...one man who's responsible for it, and that's George
Bush. I hope he will live in history as George V. Bush--for
George 'Vendetta' Bush. Or 'Bush the Barbarian' works for me.
Or 'Bush the Baby Butcher'--he butchered my baby."
Celeste Zappala lost her son Sgt. Sherwood Baker, a husband
and father who died In Iraq on April 27, 2004. In an interview
with The New Standard , Zappala said, "What about all the others
who have died since [my son] and will keep on dying? I want to
see it stop for all the families and the soldiers most of all. How sad.
How sad that we are still letting this go on. Our voices must make
an impression on the people. They have to hear us because we are
the ones suffering the most."
In the same interview, Jane Bright of California, who lost her
son, Sergeant Evan Ashcraft, on July 24, 2003, said she feels
compelled to speak out as a way of coping with her loss. She
refuses to "move on," as if she did not lose her son and says,
"I won't be quiet until everyone knows how bad it hurts. I won't
be able to 'get over it' as long as more of our children are dying
in Iraq."
Lila Lipscomb, from Michael Moore's hometown of Flint,
Michigan has emerged as one of the most powerful players
in both the documentary film, Fahrenheit 911 and as a
spokesperson against Bush's bungled foray into Iraq. In the
film, Lipscomb reads a letter from her oldest son Michael
Pedersen, written just days before his death. It urges his family
to work for Bush's defeat. Michael Pedersen wrote: "We are just
out here in the sand and windstorms waiting. What in the world
is wrong with George (trying to be like his dad) Bush? He got us
out here for nothing whatsoever. I am so furious right now,
Momma. I really hope they don't re-elect that fool . . ."
Lipscomb's experience has transformed her from an
unquestioning matriot into a passionate, anti-war activist,
who also works with Military Families Speak Out. In an
interview in the The Guardian Unlimited , the mom from
Michigan says that her entire world view was shattered as
a result of the loss of her son and she is teaching her
grandchildren to question authority.
Mommas of America are wise to Dubblyak. They know that
they are sacrificing their babies to a war that violates
precedent that has guided America's entry into war from
the beginning of our nation's history. A declaration of war
is usually spurred, either by a direct attack on the United
States or our allies; or a broad consensus among our allies;
or an imminent threat to our national security. None of these
conditions existed for war in Iraq. Secretary-General of the
United Nations Kofi Annan, recently told the BBC that he
believe that this war is "illegal," under the U.N. Charter.
This historically unprecedented war is brought to those
sacrificing their children, by a man who would not deign to
put his regal butt in harms way during the Vietnam War,
going AWOL while he was supposed to be serving in the
National Guard. There are no weapons of mass destruction
and no connection between 9-11 and the war in Iraq. Our
children are dying for no legitimate reason.
Mother Freedom is shaking her fist at the President of the
United States of America for needlessly sacrificing our
children in the Iraq war. Right now the ranks of the armed
forces are being filled by volunteers, many of whom have
no alternative route out of poverty. Mommas of every income-
level, shape, size, color, creed, and national origin need to join
together and loudly resist this war. Because as the death toll rises,
the situation in Iraq becomes increasingly chaotic, more people
are needed and fewer people volunteer, George W. Bush is likely
to advocate a national draft, putting all of our children at risk.
He's got nothing to lose.
Karyn Strickler is a political activist, and writer living outside
Washington, DC. You can reach her at fiftyplusone@earthlink.net .
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
5) Even Near Home, a New Front Is
Opening in the Terror Battle
By ERIC LIPTON and ERIC LICHTBLAU
CLIFTON, N.J.
September 23, 2004
WEB WAR
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/23/international/worldspecial2/23qaeda.html?h
p
CLIFTON, N.J. - The flags that sprouted after the Sept. 11 attacks
still flap on lawns and flutter on poles outside well-tended homes
here, about 15 miles from Manhattan. Looming above them is a
concrete tower that houses a real-estate firm, an office supplies
company - and, until recently, investigators fear, an outpost of
Al Qaeda.
On the second floor, an Internet company called Fortress ITX
unwittingly played host to an Arabic-language Web site where
postings in recent weeks urged attacks against American and
Israeli targets. "The Art of Kidnapping" was explained in electronic
pamphlets, along with "Military Instructions to the Mujahedeen," and
"War Inside the Cities." Visitors could read instructions on using a
cellphone to remotely detonate a bomb, and one even asked for
help in manufacturing small missiles.
"How can this be?" asked Cathy Vasilenko, who lives a few doors
away from the Fortress ITX office. "How can this be going on in
my neighborhood?"
Federal investigators, with the help of a small army of private
contractors monitoring sites around the clock and across the world,
are trying to find out. Ever since the United States-led coalition
smashed Al Qaeda's training grounds in Afghanistan, cyber
substitutes, which recruit terrorists and raise money, have
proliferated.
While Qaeda operatives have employed an arsenal of technical
tools to communicate - from e-mail encryption and computer
war games to grisly videotapes like the recent ones showing
beheadings believed to have been carried out by Jordanian militant
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi - investigators say they worry most about
the Internet because extremists can reach a broad audience with
relatively little chance of detection.
By examining sites like those stored inside the electronic walls
of the Clifton business, investigators are hoping to identify who
is behind them, what links they might have to terror groups, and
what threat, if any, they might pose. And in a step that has raised
alarms among civil libertarians and others and so far proven
unpersuasive in the courtroom, prosecutors are charging that
those administering these sites should be held criminally
responsible for what is posted.
Attempting to apply broad new powers established by the
Patriot Act, the federal government wants to punish those who
it claims provide "expert advice or assistance" and therefore
play an integral part of a global terror campaign that increasingly
relies on the Internet. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz,
in testimony before the House Armed Services Committee recently,
called such Web sites "cyber sanctuaries."
"These networks are wonderful things that enable all kinds of
good things in the world," Mr. Wolfowitz said of the Internet.
"But they're also a tool that the terrorists use to conceal their
identities, to move money, to encrypt messages, even to plan
and conduct operations remotely."
Many question the government's strategy of trying to combat
terrorism by prosecuting Web site operators. "I think it is an
impossible task," said Thomas Hegghammer of the Norwegian
Defense Research Establishment, an agency that monitors the
use of the Internet by Al Qaeda. "You can maybe catch some
people. But you will never ever be able to stem the flow of
radical Islamic propaganda."
He pointed out that it is difficult to distinguish between a real
terrorist and a make-believe one online. "You would end up
prosecuting a lot of angry young people who do this because
it is exciting, not because they want to actually participate in
terrorist attacks," he said. "I don't think it helps you fight
Al Qaeda."
The government faces many hurdles in pursuing virtual
terrorists. While many militant Islamic message boards
and Web pages reside on computer servers owned by
North American Internet companies, outfits like Fortress
ITX say it would be impractical - and unethical, given that
the company sells server space to clients who then resell
it - for them to keep track of all of the content stored
within their equipment.
"It is hideous, loathsome," said Robert Ellis, executive vice
president of Fortress, after viewing postings from the Abu
al-Bukhary Web site his company hosted. "It is the part of
this business that is deeply disturbing." His company shut
down the site within the last month after learning of it from
a reporter. The intense focus on Muslim-related sites like
Abu al-Bukhary, in an era when domestically produced
anarchist manuals are commonly available on the Web, has
provoked charges that the anti-cyber sanctuary effort is
really a misguided anti-Muslim campaign that is
compromising important First Amendment rights.
This effort "opens the floodgates to really marginalizing a
of the free speech that has been a hallmark of the American
legal and political system," said Arsalan Iftikhar, legal director
for the Council on American-Islamic Relations. "Globally it
really does nothing but worsen the image of America in the
rest of the world."
Tracking Cyber-Terror
The detective work begins in a northeast city in a compact
office set up by a self-proclaimed terrorist hunter. This is
the headquarters of Rita Katz, an Iraqi-born Jew whose father
was executed in Baghdad in 1969, shortly after Saddam
Hussein's Baath Party came to power.
Finding terrorists has become a crusade for Ms. Katz, who
began going to pro-Palestinian rallies and fund-raisers
disguised as a Muslim woman in the late 1990's, then
presented information to the federal government in an
effort to prove there were ties between Islamic fundamentalist
groups in the United States and terror organizations like
Hamas or Al Qaeda.
Federal agencies, including the National Security Agency, the
F.B.I. and the Department of Homeland Security, monitor
suspected terror sites on the Internet and sometimes track
users. Private groups like Ms. Katz's Search for International
Terrorist Entities Institute and The Middle East Media Research
Institute are also keeping track of the ever-changing content
of these sites. Ms. Katz's institute, which relies on government
contracts and corporate clients, may be the most influential
of those groups, and she is among the most controversial of
the cyberspace monitors. While some experts praise her
research as solid, some of her targets view her as a vigilante.
Several Islamic groups and charities, for example, sued for
defamation after she claimed they were terrorist fronts, even
though they were not charged with a crime.
Sitting under wall maps of Europe, the Middle East and the
United States - including one pinpointing locations of suspected
terror cells or possible supporters - Ms. Katz and her team of
computer technicians and researchers spend their days searching
the Internet for any new messages from militant groups and
new addresses for terror sites. Her institute, based in a city she
does not disclose, also has a small crew in Israel, which allows the
organization to monitor sites around the clock.
"We are trying to think the way terrorist organizations think,"
said Ms. Katz, "The Internet today has become a front in the
war itself."
Keeping tabs on these jihadist sites - several hundred exist -
requires vigilance, as videos and statements uploaded by different
groups often appear only briefly. A recent Tuesday was a particularly
busy day. The Islambouli Brigade, a militant Islamic group, turned to
one popular message board site called islamic-minbar.com, operated
out of the Netherlands, to release the names of two women it said were
responsible for the Aug. 24 explosions of two Russian planes and to
claim responsibility for an attack at a Moscow subway station. "When
we pledge to avenge our Chechen brothers, we do not break our
promise," the Aug. 31 posting said.
Jaish Ansar al-Sunna, a group that has surfaced in Iraq, posted a
video on its Internet site showing the bodies of 12 Nepali contractor
workers who it had taken hostage and killed. The site was taken
down that same day, but then reappeared on a computer server
of a Utah-based Web hosting company.
While staffers at Ms. Katz's office rushed to translate these postings,
others were busy snooping by using a special software program to
electronically suck up more than 15,000 computer files from a Web
site, or referring to a custom-made database to identify sites with
common administrators, an assignment initiated by a government
request. This week, they watched postings on the Web site
Ansarnet.ws/vb alerting followers that a hostage had been killed,
then directing them to a video showing the beheading of an
American engineer held hostage in Iraq.
A crucial question, of course, is whether a site is simply offering
inspirational rhetoric or is genuinely linked to terror strikes. Often,
Web site exhortations are followed by acts of violence, but that
doesn't necessarily mean they are connected.
In late May, for example, shortly after a kidnapping guide appeared
on an online magazine called Al Battar, a wave of kidnappings and
beheadings started in Saudi Arabia and Iraq. Last December, a
42-page essay published on a Web site called Global Islamic Media
observed that "the Spanish government could not tolerate more than
two, maximum three blows, after which it will have to withdraw as a
result of popular pressure" from Iraq. Three months later, bombs tore
apart trains in Madrid, resulting in the eventual departure of Spanish
troops from Iraq.
In Clifton, the digital images and terrorist manuals from
Abu al-Bukhary's site resided, like data from thousands of other
Internet pages hosted at Fortress ITX, inside a sprawling computer
room. Pointing to the wall of boxes with blinking lights, Fortress
executives said they did not know who controlled most of the
Web sites on their servers, as they sell space to clients who then
resell it to countless others. "It is like an orange you buy at the
supermarket," Mr. Ellis said. "Try figuring out what farm that
came from."
Strategy of Prosecution
Knocking militant groups off the Internet for a day or two by
urging individual Web hosting companies to shut down the
sites didn't accomplish much, Ms. Katz believed. So the
government, in an unusual alliance with Ms. Katz, has been
testing a different strategy in the last year.
Sami Omar al-Hussayen would be their first target. The
35-year-old father of three had arrived at the University of
Idaho in 1999 to pursue a doctorate in computer science. In
his spare time, Mr. Hussayen, who lived in Moscow, Idaho,
established a series of Internet sites with names like
liveislam.net or alasr.ws ("the generation") and served as a
regional leader of the Islamic Assembly of North America, a
group that described itself as a charitable organization, but
which prosecutors said recruited members and instigated "acts
of violence and terrorism."
Along with news from the Middle East and interviews with
scholars, the sites included more disturbing information.
Videos displayed the bodies of dead suicide attackers as a
narrator declared "we had brethren who achieved what they
sought, and that is martyrdom in the cause of Allah." Requests
were posted for donations to Chechen groups that were trying
to "show the truth about Russian terrorism." Clerical edicts
appeared on topics including "suicide operations against the
Jews."
The Justice Department, which declined to comment for this
article, did not claim that Mr. Hussayen had authored the most
militant items. Instead, by registering the Web sites, paying for
them and posting the material, he was charged with providing
material support to a banned terrorist group.
But Mr. Hussayen's lawyers said their client was expressing
his free-speech rights. The Internet is the modern equivalent
of the soap box, said David Z. Nevin, one of the lawyers. "They
were wildly too zealous," Mr. Nevin said about Ms. Katz and the
Justice Department. "This was not within a country mile of the
kind of behavior that this nation has any business trying to
criminalize."
The jury was unconvinced by the government's case, and
acquitted Mr. Hussayen in June after a monthlong trial. "We
went through files and files and files of evidence - transcripts
of telephone calls, bank statements, all the e-mails, information
from the Internet - and we could not substantiate that he was
directly involved with a terrorist organization," said Claribel
Ingraham, one of the jurors. "It just wasn't there."
The setback in Idaho has not stopped the government from
pursuing similar cases. In late July, a warrant was issued in
Connecticut for Babar Ahmad, resulting in his arrest in
London Aug. 5. The 30-year-old computer technician at a
London college is accused of setting up Internet sites from
1997 to 2003, most prominently azzam.com, to recruit
terrorists and raise money for them. "If you're going to use
cyberspace, we're there and we're paying attention," said
Kevin J. O'Connor, the United States Attorney from Connecticut,
after Mr. Ahmad's arrest.
The trial has not started - the United States is trying to persuade
British authorities to extradite him - but already Muslim groups
and civil libertarians in Britain are assailing the case. In a letter
from his prison cell that was posted on the Internet, Mr. Ahmad
asserted that he was imprisoned "to strike terror and fear into
the hearts of the docile, sleeping Muslim community."
Ms. Katz said she was not discouraged by the criticism of the
prosecutions. "When you call for the death of people and then it
results in actions - that is beyond the First Amendment," she said.
"You are organizing a crime."
Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
6) U.S., Bowing to Court, to Free 'Enemy Combatant'
By ERIC LICHTBLAU
WASHINGTON
September 23, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/23/politics/23hamdi.html?hp
WASHINGTON, Sept. 22 - Yaser E. Hamdi, an American citizen
captured in Afghanistan and once deemed so dangerous that the
American military held him incommunicado for more than two years
as an enemy combatant, will be freed and allowed to return to Saudi
Arabia in the next few days, officials said Wednesday.
After weeks of negotiations over his release, lawyers for the Justice
Department and Mr. Hamdi announced an agreement requiring him
to renounce his American citizenship. The agreement also bars him
from leaving Saudi Arabia for a time and requires him to report
possible terrorist activity, his lawyer said, although legal analysts
said the arrangement would be difficult for the United States to
enforce.
The agreement was driven by a Supreme Court decision in June.
In the ruling, a major setback for the Bush administration, the
court found that Mr. Hamdi and enemy combatants like him had
to be given the chance to challenge their detention. The court
declared that "a state of war is not a blank check for the president."
The administration decided that rather than give Mr. Hamdi a
hearing, it would simply negotiate his release.
Mr. Hamdi will probably be flown back to Saudi Arabia on an
American military aircraft by early next week, said a government
official who asked not to be identified. Although Mr. Hamdi was
born in 1980 in Louisiana, where his father worked for an oil
company, the family left the United States when he was a toddler
and returned to Saudi Arabia. He lived there most of his life, and
most of his family remains there.
The agreement freeing Mr. Hamdi reflects a striking reversal in
a hotly debated test case regarding the limits of the Bush
administration's powers in its pursuit of terror suspects.
Mr. Hamdi was captured on the battlefield in Afghanistan in late
2001 after the fall of the Taliban and imprisoned by the American
military, first at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba and most recently in a
Navy brig in South Carolina. But the military gave few details about
his suspected links to the Taliban, and the discovery that he was
born in Louisiana and retained his American citizenship set off
a public debate about his rights to due process and the
government's power to incarcerate prisoners in wartime.
The Bush administration declared Mr. Hamdi an enemy combatant
and denied him the chance to contest the accusations against him
at a judicial hearing. He has been held in solitary confinement and
was denied access to a lawyer until recently, in part because of what
officials described as national security concerns.
In a statement Wednesday announcing the agreement to free
Mr. Hamdi, the Justice Department said: "Like many other enemy
combatants captured and detained by U.S. armed forces in Afghanistan
who have been subsequently released, the United States has
determined that Mr. Hamdi could be transferred out of United
States custody subject to strict conditions that ensure the interests
of the United States and our national security. As we have repeatedly
stated, the United States has no interest in detaining enemy combatants
beyond the point that they pose a threat to the U.S. and our allies.''
One final point of discussion resulted in the agreement to have
Mr. Hamdi renounce any claims to his American citizenship upon
his arrival in Saudi Arabia, where he remains a citizen.
The citizenship issue was not a terribly important one to
Mr. Hamdi, his lawyer, Frank W. Dunham Jr., said in an interview.
"He has always thought of himself as a Saudi citizen, and he
wasn't willing to spend an extra day in jail over it," Mr. Dunham said.
Travel arrangements for Mr. Hamdi's return are still being
completed, officials said. But Mr. Dunham said that "as long as
they put him in civilian clothes and don't put a bag over his head
and give him some ice cream for the ride, I don't care how they
get him back there."
When Mr. Hamdi was told in recent days that he was on the
verge of release, he smiled and said, "That's what I'm talking
about!" Mr. Dunham recounted.
Mr. Hamdi will also have to abide by what the Justice Department
described as "strict travel restrictions" in Saudi Arabia.
Mr. Dunham said the agreement required Mr. Hamdi to remain
within Saudi Arabia for a set period before being allowed to
travel outside the country, but he would not discuss precise
details because the pact has not yet been filed in federal court.
Saudi officials were unavailable for comment on the agreement
late Wednesday.
Mr. Hamdi would also be obligated to report certain suspicious
activity, Mr. Dunham said. "If somebody recruits him to become
a terrorist, he's got to tell somebody that," he said.
Civil liberties advocates and some legal analysts said Mr. Hamdi's
release underscored weaknesses in the administration's rationale
for locking up terror suspects and could have implications for
other suspects held in Cuba and elsewhere.
"It's quite something for the government to declare this person
one of the worst of the worst, hold him for almost three years
and then, when they're told by the Supreme Court to give him
a fair hearing, turn around and give up,'' said David Cole, a law
professor at Georgetown University who has been critical of the
administration.
Anthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties
Union, added in an interview that "this clearly shows that the
government was not able to meet the burden of proof that the
Supreme Court had set for it, and rather than risk further
embarrassment in a failed prosecution, they've decided to just
send him out of the country."
"The whole case makes you wonder," he added, "why was he
really being held in the first place?"
Espionage Charge Dropped
SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 22 (AP) - A military judge dropped an
espionage charge on Wednesday against Senior Airman Ahmad
al-Halabi, an interpreter accused of spying at the camp for terror
detainees at Guantánamo Bay. The decision all but resolved a case
that once carried the potential for the death penalty.
It was the third Guantánamo spy case to fall apart this year. A fourth
case is pending in Boston.
The airman pleaded guilty to four "minor infractions," his lawyer,
Donald Rehkopf Jr., said. Specifically, the lawyer said, he admitted
taking two photographs and lying about taking those pictures. He
also mishandled classified documents, which led to a fourth guilty
plea, to a charge of "conduct prejudicial to good order and discipline."
Airman al-Halabi, 25, a naturalized American born in Syria, was a
supply clerk at Travis Air Force Base in California until the military's
demand for Arabic speakers increased sharply and he was sent to
Cuba for temporary duty. He was arrested in July 2003 as he headed
to Syria to get married.
Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
7) U.S. Plans to Offer Guidance for a Dirty-Bomb Aftermath
By MATTHEW L. WALD
WASHINGTON
September 27, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/27/politics/27nukes.html
WASHINGTON, Sept. 26 - The federal government is preparing to
publish advice for state and local governments on how to react if
terrorists set off a "dirty bomb," including how much radiation
exposure from such an attack is acceptable for the public.
The document is intended for the officials who would oversee public
health and safety after such an attack, to help them decide when
activity could return to normal.
"There's a lot of consternation over what the cleanup levels should
be," Brooke Buddemeier, a radiation specialist for the Department
of Homeland Security, told a group of nuclear specialists during
a presentation last week. "We had a pretty good idea what they
should be for Superfund sites or a Nuclear Regulatory Commission
power plant release."
But an attack using conventional explosives to spread radioactive
materials - a dirty bomb - would probably occur in a far more
prominent location than a toxic-waste site or a power plant, and
the need to resume using the site would be higher, said
Mr. Buddemeier, in his presentation to a National Academy
of Sciences group.
When balancing the risk of radiation exposure against the benefit
of returning to normal activity, the government safety
recommendations will weigh the importance of the
contaminated location to economic or political life, said
a radiation scientist who works for one of seven federal
agencies drafting the document.
Thus a major train station, cargo port or building in Lower
Manhattan might be reoccupied sooner than a suburban
shopping mall, said the scientist, who asked not to be
identified because the document had not yet been published.
The federal government already has guides for use by local
officials in case of accidental release of radioactive material
from a nuclear power plant or fuel fabrication plant.
One reason for drafting advice on radiological bombs now,
participants say, is to reinforce the idea that a dirty bomb is
primarily a psychological weapon that distributes radiation in
quantities too small to make any measurable difference to health.
In fact, the effect of small radiation doses is a highly charged
subject, usually coupled with a debate over nuclear power.
Opponents of power reactors argue that even tiny doses of
radiation raise long-term risks of cancer and birth defects
and are not worth the benefits of power generation.
In the current effort, however, the balance would be completely
different.
Federal officials stumbled upon this problem in May 2003 when
they conducted a drill to practice their communications and
decision-making for cleaning up after a terrorist attack. The
drill, called "Top Off 2," which simulated a release of radioactive
materials in Seattle, revealed confusion about how the radioactive
materials would spread and how decisions should be made about
when it would be safe to return to normal.
The radiation scientist said, "Do you really want to shut down the
port of Seattle because you don't want to get 5 or 10 million millirem
of dose? Do you want to economically cripple an entire country
because of that, an infinitesimally small risk, if it is any risk at all?"
The exposures contemplated for the public would be small relative
to the average dose received from natural sources, perhaps 10 times
as large, experts say. The biggest health risk of a dirty bomb would
most likely be from the blast itself, and outside the blast area doses
would be quite small.
But people involved in drafting the document say that public fear of
radiation may make it hard to communicate that idea.
The document is part of a much larger effort to prepare for all kinds
of attacks and accidents. It is to be published as a draft, for public
comment, and when completed would still be only advisory.
Don Jacks, a spokesman for the Federal Emergency Management
Agency, said that the document was now in the hands of the
director of the agency and would go from there to the secretary
of homeland security, Tom Ridge, and then to the White House's
Office of Management and Budget before publication. Mr. Jacks
said he hoped it would be published by the end of this year.
Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
8) ALL STAR ARTISTS PERFORMING FOR MILLION WORKER MARCH
Where: First Congregational Church of Oakland
2501 Harrison Street at 27th Street
Oakland, CA
Accessible from the 19th Street BART and
AC Buss Lines 41, 11, 40, and 43
When: Saturday, October 2, 2004
Time: 12 Noon to 10 PM
Cost: $10 all-day show
$20 all-day show and dinner
Contact: Ray Turner (510) 835-5348 raymond@upsurgejazz.com
Some of the San Francisco Bay Area's brightest stars will shine on
Saturday, October 2, 2004 from moon until 10 PM at the First
Congregational Church of Oakland in a benefit for the nations
Million Worker March.
An all-day stage will host an incredible array of music, theatre,
speakers, and kids activities. ASAP! Promises to have something
for every family member.
Performing Artists: Asheba, Yancy Taylor, Annie and the Vets,
Richard Howell, Destiny, Wayne Wallace, Judith Kate Friedman,
EW Wainwright of African Roots of Jazz. John Santos of Machete
Ensemble, ILWU Drill Team, Robert Temple, Rhythm Doctors,
Dr. Anthony Brown, Street Sounds, UpSurge!
Theatrical performances: Michael Lange
Storytelling: Marijo
Hard-hitting social critics: Ralph Schoenman
(Pacific Radio's "Taking Aim"),
Leo Robinson (anti-apartheid labor activist), and the "real"
Clarence Thomas(ILWU Local 10), will speak on issues facing
and impacting the working-class communityÃOakland's schools,
the current homicide crisis in the city, etc.
Powerful short film: "The Making of a March"
The Million Worker March's agenda is to reshape America,
restore democracy, and secure power for the overwhelming
majority of working people.
Endorsed by Danny Glover, Dick Gregory, Casey Kasem and
many others; peace and justice coalitions nationally, along
with many, many union organization locals across the country.
The historic Million Worker March takes place in Washington, DC
October 17, 2004 at the Lincoln Memorial.
For more information on the Million Worker March
E-mail: mwm_committee@yahoo.com Web:
www.millionworkermarch.org
Telephone: (415) 771-2028
Raymond Turner, Chairperson
ASAP for Million Worker March
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
9) The Dignity of the Cuban People:
The Legacy of the Revolution
An exhibit of photographs by ANSWER activist
and social documentary photographer
Bill Hackwell
Reception; Wednesday September 29, 8pm-10pm
The Transfer
198 Church (at Market)
San Francisco
To subscribe to the list, send a message to:
To remove your address from the list, just send a message to
the address in the ”List-Unsubscribe'' header of any list
message. If you haven't changed addresses since subscribing,
you can also send a message to:
For addition or removal of addresses, We'll send a confirmation
message to that address. When you receive it, simply reply to it
to complete the transaction.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
10) J4NA Weekly News Bulletin September 24, 2004
As Alan Dershowitz wrote at the culmination of the
Wen Ho Lee Bail Hearings: "Plead innocent, stay in jail.
Plead guilty, be released."
How Soviet. Espionage case ends with Syrian American
Al Halabi pleading guilty on three minorcharges [ReadMore]
AlHalabi unfairly singled out, defense [ReadOut
ThousandsArrested, Few Convicted in U.S. Terror War [ReadMore]
MuslimChaplain James Yee will receive honorable discharge effective
January2005[Read More
Photosof J4NA Benefit Concert to commemorate the 4th
Anniversary of Wen Ho LeeReturn to Freedom
[ReadMore
Justice for New Americans P.O. Box 120, Fremont, Ca 94537
510 537-2929
www.j4na.org All Rights Reserved
J4na mailing list
J4na@justicefornewamericans.org
http://justicefornewamericans.org/mailman/listinfo/j4na
1 comment:
ghd hair straightener duophxou ghd australia leaeiium ghd hair straighteners eacldhwg
Post a Comment