U.S. Had Key Role in Iraq Buildup

The mainstream news has finally caught up with a story that broke this summer about Donald Rumsfeld's meetings with Saddam Hussein during the 80s. While Iraq was dropping poison gas on northern Kurd separatists, Rumsfeld was meeting with Tariq Aziz and Saddam Hussein in Baghdad.
See the full WashPost story here.

I have doubts that another Iraq war will liberate the Kurds. This oppressed minority is a useful talking point for Washington hawks, yet Kurdistan includes parts of eastern Turkey, our NATO ally. Will Turkey stop their repression of the Kurds? Will Turkey be willing to give up land? Doubtful, as the US will certainly not call for it. See the Human Rights Association of Turkey for more background on Turkish repression of their own Kurdish minority.

Alternative Tentacles Goes Beyond Music

Always political, esteemed punk label Alternative Tentacles Records has released a series of spoken work discs featuring Jello Biafra, Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn and Alexander Cockburn. These are perfect late gifts for conservative relatives and friends who need a little eye opening. Or for your progressive comrades who may need a little rallying to arms.

Now available are :
Machine Gun In The Clown's Hand by Jello Biafra
New War on Terrorism by Noam Chomsky
Artists in the Time of War by Howard Zinn

Listen, change, think and take action.

Stopping Spam at the desktop

Today I found an Outlook add-on that filters spam by sharing spam "signatures" with other users of the application. Spamnet comes from Cloudmark and so far so good.

It installed easily, added a few buttons and created a new folder called "Spam". As messages are received, Spamnet compare the messages with it's list of messages identified by other users. Matches are moved to the Spam folder for verification.

This works because a quarter million users are all personally identifying spam. This isn't a keyword trick or an ISP black list, but a collaborative identification system. Receive a spam that wasn't filtered, just click the Block button and a mathematical signature of the message is generated and distributed to other Spamnet users. How clever!

I receive hundreds of spams per day courtesy of 2 primary email accounts that I've had for years. So, this could be the most important email tool of the decade for me. I'll post updates here of my experience.

Perpetual War Portfolio

Here's an interesting website showing 5 companies that stand to profit greatly from the "War" on Terrorism and their direct connections to Washington DC.
Perpetual War Portfolio

Joe Strummer is dead

The Clash certainly had influence far beyond punk music. It was just good old rock and roll.

The Clash's Joe Strummer dead at age 50

A brief message

Miniature Earth is a short informative movie about the population of the world and the distribution of wealth. Enjoy.

Bush Administration to Propose System for Monitoring Internet

The Bush administration is planning to propose requiring Internet service providers to help build a centralized system to enable broad monitoring of the Internet and, potentially, surveillance of its users.

The proposal is part of a final version of a report, "The National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace," set for release early next year, according to several people who have been briefed on the report. It is a component of the effort to increase national security after the Sept. 11 attacks.

More on Iraq report to UNMOVIC

from the Independent of UK :
Leaked Report Says German and US Firms Supplied Arms to Saddam

Censored UN Report Revealed

The 12,000 pages of documents that Iraq provided to UNMOVIC has been heavily censored by the US. UNMOVIC turned the documents over to the US who agreed to "make copies" for the rest of the security council. This week, the documents were distributed with considerable redaction by the US inspiring the Syrian embassador to declare that the US has violated UN Resolution 1441. Among the information censored is a list of international companies that have done business with Iraq. This list is available here courtesy of the German newspaper Die Tageszeitung.

Pentagon OSI Lives

The Pentagon Office of Stategic Influence was to be the in house public relations firm, with the task of planting stories in the foreign press to sway world opinion in favor of the US. Rumsfeld reluctantly shut down the project after knowledge of it became public. Yet, is it possible that the office simply went underground and exists as some black budget covert operation hiding behind the thin shroud of 'national security'. This story from the Bankok Times sure reads like something the OSI would have written.

`Soldiers' flocking to al-Qaeda

Human Rights Day

Today is International Human Rights Day. The UN's Declaration of Human Rights is a contemporary expansion of our own Bill of Rights. It's a significant statement of self-determination and the limits of state powers.


Article 1.


All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.


Article 18.


Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.

Philip Berrigan, Peace Activist

Philip Berrigan, veteran, peace activist, and anti-nuke activist died from cancer on December 6, 2002.


Several excellent obituaries:

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=37&ItemID=2719

http://www.webactive.com/pacifica/demnow/dn20021209.html

http://www.sunspot.net/news/local/bal-te.ob.berrigan07dec07,0,2318029.story?coll=bal

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/12/08/obituaries/08BERR.html?pagewanted=1

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A24780-2002Dec7.html

http://counterpunch.org/cockburn1207.html

http://counterpunch.org/hughes1209.html

Total Information Awareness Awareness

Eyeballing Total Information Awareness

Two interesting items popped up last week. First, John Pondexter's home phone number popped up on the net. And then was followed by aerial photos of his house.

Photographer Arrested For Taking Pictures of Vice President's Hotel

http://www.2600.org/news/display/display.shtml?id=1441

PHOTOGRAPHER ARRESTED FOR TAKING PICTURES OF VICE PRESIDENT'S HOTEL

Posted 5 Dec 2002 06:03:48 UTC

An amateur photographer named Mike Maginnis was arrested on Tuesday in his
home city of Denver - for simply taking pictures of buildings in an area
where Vice President Cheney was residing. Maginnis told his story on
Wednesday's edition of Off The Hook.
http://www.2600.com/offthehook/2002/1202.html

http://www.2600.org/news/display/display.shtml?id=1441

PHOTOGRAPHER ARRESTED FOR TAKING PICTURES OF VICE PRESIDENT'S HOTEL

Posted 5 Dec 2002 06:03:48 UTC

An amateur photographer named Mike Maginnis was arrested on Tuesday in his
home city of Denver - for simply taking pictures of buildings in an area
where Vice President Cheney was residing. Maginnis told his story on
Wednesday's edition of Off The Hook.
http://www.2600.com/offthehook/2002/1202.html

Maginnis's morning commute took him past the Adams Mark Hotel on Court
Place. Maginnis, who says he always carried his camera wherever he went,
snapped about 30 pictures of the hotel and the surrounding area - which
included Denver police, Army rangers, and rooftop snipers. Maginnis, who
works in information technology, frequently photographs such subjects as
corporate buildings and communications equipment.

The following is Maginnis's account of what transpired:

As he was putting his camera away, Maginnis found himself confronted by a
Denver police officer who demanded that he hand over his film and camera.
When he refused to give up his Nikon F2, the officer pushed him to the
ground and arrested him.

After being brought to the District 1 police station on Decatur Street,
Maginnis was made to wait alone in an interrogation room. Two hours later,
a Secret Service agent arrived, who identified himself as Special Agent
"Willse."

The agent told Maginnis that his "suspicious activities" made him a threat
to national security, and that he would be charged as a terrorist under the
USA-PATRIOT act. The Secret Service agent tried to make Maginnis admit that
he was taking the photographs to analyze weaknesses in the Vice President's
security entourage and "cause terror and mayhem."

When Maginnis refused to admit to being any sort of terrorist, the Secret
Service agent called him a "raghead collaborator" and a "dirty pinko faggot."

After approximately an hour of interrogation, Maginnis was allowed to make
a telephone call. Rather than contacting a lawyer, he called the Denver
Post and asked for the news desk. This was immediately overheard by the
desk sergeant, who hung up the phone and placed Maginnis in a holding cell.

Three hours later, Maginnis was finally released, but with no explanation.
He received no copy of an arrest report, and no receipt for his confiscated
possessions. He was told that he would probably not get his camera back, as
it was being held as evidence.

Maginnis's lawyer contacted the Denver Police Department for an explanation
of the day's events, but the police denied ever having Maginnis - or anyone
matching his description - in custody. At press time, the Denver PD's Press
Information Office did not return telephone messages left by 2600.

The new police powers introduced by the USA-PATRIOT act, in the name of
fighting terrorism, have been frightening in their apparent potential for
abuse. Mike Maginnis's experience on Tuesday is a poignant example of how
this abuse is beginning to occur. It suggests that a wide range of
activities which might be considered "suspicious" could be suddenly labeled
a prelude to terrorism, and be grounds for arrest.

We will continue to post updates to this story as we learn them.