A Matter of Loot

Global Eye

Blood and Gravy

By Chris Floyd

August 5, 2005


http://www.npr.org/programs/totn/
features/2005/falcon/falcon200-2.jpg


It's easy to forget sometimes -- amid all the lofty talk of geopolitics, of apocalyptic clashes between good and evil, of terror, liberty, security and God -- that the war on Iraq is "largely a matter of loot," as Kasper Gutman so aptly described the Crusades in that seminal treatise on human nature, "The Maltese Falcon." And nowhere is this more evident than in the festering, oozing imposthume of corruption centered around the Gutman-like figure of Vice President Dick Cheney.

Yes, it's once more unto the breach with Halliburton, the gargantuan government contractor that still pays Cheney, its former CEO, enormous annual sums in "deferred compensation" and stock options -- even while he presides over a White House war council that has steered more than $10 billion in no-bid Iraqi war contracts back to his corporate paymaster. This is rainmaking of monsoon proportions. Indeed, the company's military servicing wing announced a second-quarter profit spike of 284 percent last week -- a feast of blood and gravy that will send Cheney's stock options soaring into the stratosphere.


But although Halliburton has already entered the American lexicon as a byword for rampant cronyism, the true extent of its dense and deadly web of graft is only now emerging, most recently in a remarkable public hearing that revealed some of the corporation's standard business practices in Iraq: fraud, extortion, brutality, pilferage, theft -- even serving rotten food to U.S. soldiers in the battle zone.

By piecing together bits from the fiercely suppressed reports of a few honest Pentagon auditors and investigators, a joint House-Senate minority committee (the Bushist majority refused to take part) has unearthed at least $1.4 billion in fraudulent overcharges and unsourced billing by Cheney's company in Iraq. Testimony from Pentagon whistleblowers, former Halliburton officials and fellow contractors revealed the grim picture of a rogue operation, power-drunk and arrogant, beyond the reach of law, secure in the protection of its White House sugar daddy.

One tale is particularly instructive: Halliburton's strenuous efforts to prevent a company hired by the Iraqis, Lloyd-Owen International, from delivering gasoline into the conquered land from Kuwait for 18 cents a gallon. Why? Because LOI's cost-efficient operation undercuts Halliburton's highway-robbery price of $1.30 a gallon for the exact same service.

But how is Halliburton able to interfere with the sacred process of free enterprise? Well, it seems that Cheney's firm, a private company, has control over the U.S. military checkpoint on the volatile Iraq-Kuwait border, and it also has the authority to grant -- or withhold -- the Pentagon ID cards that are indispensable for contractors operating in Iraq. (Even contractors who, like LOI, are working for the supposedly sovereign Iraqi government.) Halliburton used these powers to block LOI's access to the military crossing -- which provides quick, safe delivery of the fuel -- for months. Then the game got rougher.

In June, Cheney's boys blackmailed LOI into delivering some construction materials to a Halliburton project in the friendly confines of Fallujah: no delivery, no "golden ticket" Pentagon card, said Halliburton. They neglected to tell LOI that convoys on the route had been repeatedly hit by insurgents in recent days. And sure enough, LOI's delivery trucks were ripped to shreds just outside a Halliburton-operated military base. Three men were killed and seven wounded. But that's not all. An e-mail obtained by investigators revealed that Halliburton brass had expressly prohibited company employees from offering any assistance to the shattered convoy.

Halliburton extended this milk of human kindness to its food services as well. The firm had to bring in Turkish and Filipino guest workers to feed U.S. soldiers, because the happily liberated Iraqis couldn't be trusted not to blow up their benefactors. The Cheneymen treated these coolies as befitted their lowly station: They packed them into tents with sand floors and no beds, and literally fed them scraps from the garbage. When the peons complained, Halliburton sacked the subcontractor, who had been buying bargain produce and meat from the locals, and hired an American crony to ship in food all the way from Philadelphia.

U.S. soldiers weren't treated much better. Employees testified that Halliburton brass had ordered them to serve spoiled and rotten food to soldiers, day in and day out. Meanwhile, Halliburton brass were reserving choice cuts for the big beer-soaked barbecues they threw for themselves two or three times a week. They also billed the taxpayer for 10,000 "ghost meals" per day at a single base: The food was phantom, but the rake-off was real. Meanwhile, any employee who made noises about exposing the fraud to auditors was threatened with transfer to a red-hot fire zone, like Fallujah or Saddam's hometown, Tikrit.

All of this criminal katzenjammer -- and much, much more -- was authorized at the highest levels, as top procurement brass and Pentagon officials confirmed. Cheney's office kept tabs on Halliburton's bids while Pentagon warlord Don Rumsfeld "violated federal law," the committee noted, by directly intervening in the procurement process to eliminate all possible rivals and to make sure Cheney's employer got the guaranteed-profit gig. Rumsfeld's office also removed oversight procedures for the dirty deals and ignored repeated warnings from Pentagon auditors about Halliburton's blatant, persistent, pervasive fraud. And the money keeps rolling in. Just last month, Don and Dick ladled another $1.75 billion dollop of pork gravy into Halliburton's bowl.

For this they have made a holocaust in the desert sands, sacrificing tens of thousands of innocent lives: for cheap, greasy graft; for grubby pilfering; for the personal profit of Richard B. Cheney and the whole pack of Bushist jackals gorging themselves on blood money.

Annotations

Halliburton's Questioned and Unsupported Costs in Iraq Exceed $1.4 Billion
House-Senate Minority Staff Repot, June 27, 2005

Halliburton Overcharges in Iraq: Transcript of Hearing
Federal News Service, June 27, 2005

Halliburton announces 284 percent increase in war profits
Halliburton Watch, July 25, 2005 http://www.halliburtonwatch.org/news/earnings072205.html

Contract Abuse Alleged in Iraq
Los Angeles Times, June 28, 2005

Cheney's Boundless War Profiteering
The Age (Australia), July 30, 2005

It's All Gravy

Global Eye

Blood and Gravy
By Chris Floyd
the moscowtimes.colm
August 5, 2005

It's easy to forget sometimes -- amid all the lofty talk of geopolitics, of apocalyptic clashes between good and evil, of terror, liberty, security and God -- that the war on Iraq is "largely a matter of loot," as Kasper Gutman so aptly described the Crusades in that seminal treatise on human nature, "The Maltese Falcon." And nowhere is this more evident than in the festering, oozing imposthume of corruption centered around the Gutman-like figure of Vice President Dick Cheney.

Yes, it's once more unto the breach with Halliburton, the gargantuan government contractor that still pays Cheney, its former CEO, enormous annual sums in "deferred compensation" and stock options -- even while he presides over a White House war council that has steered more than $10 billion in no-bid Iraqi war contracts back to his corporate paymaster. This is rainmaking of monsoon proportions. Indeed, the company's military servicing wing announced a second-quarter profit spike of 284 percent last week -- a feast of blood and gravy that will send Cheney's stock options soaring into the stratosphere.



But although Halliburton has already entered the American lexicon as a byword for rampant cronyism, the true extent of its dense and deadly web of graft is only now emerging, most recently in a remarkable public hearing that revealed some of the corporation's standard business practices in Iraq: fraud, extortion, brutality, pilferage, theft -- even serving rotten food to U.S. soldiers in the battle zone.

By piecing together bits from the fiercely suppressed reports of a few honest Pentagon auditors and investigators, a joint House-Senate minority committee (the Bushist majority refused to take part) has unearthed at least $1.4 billion in fraudulent overcharges and unsourced billing by Cheney's company in Iraq. Testimony from Pentagon whistleblowers, former Halliburton officials and fellow contractors revealed the grim picture of a rogue operation, power-drunk and arrogant, beyond the reach of law, secure in the protection of its White House sugar daddy.

One tale is particularly instructive: Halliburton's strenuous efforts to prevent a company hired by the Iraqis, Lloyd-Owen International, from delivering gasoline into the conquered land from Kuwait for 18 cents a gallon. Why? Because LOI's cost-efficient operation undercuts Halliburton's highway-robbery price of $1.30 a gallon for the exact same service.

But how is Halliburton able to interfere with the sacred process of free enterprise? Well, it seems that Cheney's firm, a private company, has control over the U.S. military checkpoint on the volatile Iraq-Kuwait border, and it also has the authority to grant -- or withhold -- the Pentagon ID cards that are indispensable for contractors operating in Iraq. (Even contractors who, like LOI, are working for the supposedly sovereign Iraqi government.) Halliburton used these powers to block LOI's access to the military crossing -- which provides quick, safe delivery of the fuel -- for months. Then the game got rougher.

In June, Cheney's boys blackmailed LOI into delivering some construction materials to a Halliburton project in the friendly confines of Fallujah: no delivery, no "golden ticket" Pentagon card, said Halliburton. They neglected to tell LOI that convoys on the route had been repeatedly hit by insurgents in recent days. And sure enough, LOI's delivery trucks were ripped to shreds just outside a Halliburton-operated military base. Three men were killed and seven wounded. But that's not all. An e-mail obtained by investigators revealed that Halliburton brass had expressly prohibited company employees from offering any assistance to the shattered convoy.

Halliburton extended this milk of human kindness to its food services as well. The firm had to bring in Turkish and Filipino guest workers to feed U.S. soldiers, because the happily liberated Iraqis couldn't be trusted not to blow up their benefactors. The Cheneymen treated these coolies as befitted their lowly station: They packed them into tents with sand floors and no beds, and literally fed them scraps from the garbage. When the peons complained, Halliburton sacked the subcontractor, who had been buying bargain produce and meat from the locals, and hired an American crony to ship in food all the way from Philadelphia.

To Our Readers

Has something you've read here startled you? Are you angry, excited, puzzled or pleased? Do you have ideas to improve our coverage?
Then please write to us.
All we ask is that you include your full name, the name of the city from which you are writing and a contact telephone number in case we need to get in touch.
We look forward to hearing from you.

Email the Opinion Page Editor
U.S. soldiers weren't treated much better. Employees testified that Halliburton brass had ordered them to serve spoiled and rotten food to soldiers, day in and day out. Meanwhile, Halliburton brass were reserving choice cuts for the big beer-soaked barbecues they threw for themselves two or three times a week. They also billed the taxpayer for 10,000 "ghost meals" per day at a single base: The food was phantom, but the rake-off was real. Meanwhile, any employee who made noises about exposing the fraud to auditors was threatened with transfer to a red-hot fire zone, like Fallujah or Saddam's hometown, Tikrit.

All of this criminal katzenjammer -- and much, much more -- was authorized at the highest levels, as top procurement brass and Pentagon officials confirmed. Cheney's office kept tabs on Halliburton's bids while Pentagon warlord Don Rumsfeld "violated federal law," the committee noted, by directly intervening in the procurement process to eliminate all possible rivals and to make sure Cheney's employer got the guaranteed-profit gig. Rumsfeld's office also removed oversight procedures for the dirty deals and ignored repeated warnings from Pentagon auditors about Halliburton's blatant, persistent, pervasive fraud. And the money keeps rolling in. Just last month, Don and Dick ladled another $1.75 billion dollop of pork gravy into Halliburton's bowl.

For this they have made a holocaust in the desert sands, sacrificing tens of thousands of innocent lives: for cheap, greasy graft; for grubby pilfering; for the personal profit of Richard B. Cheney and the whole pack of Bushist jackals gorging themselves on blood money.

Annotations

Halliburton's Questioned and Unsupported Costs in Iraq Exceed $1.4 Billion
House-Senate Minority Staff Repot, June 27, 2005

Halliburton Overcharges in Iraq: Transcript of Hearing
Federal News Service, June 27, 2005

Halliburton announces 284 percent increase in war profits
Halliburton Watch, July 25, 2005 http://www.halliburtonwatch.org/news/earnings072205.html

Contract Abuse Alleged in Iraq
Los Angeles Times, June 28, 2005

Cheney's Boundless War Profiteering
The Age (Australia), July 30, 2005

Discovery's Test Tonight

Discovery's Test Tonight


http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/
41380000/jpg/_41380943_shuttle_land_203.jpg

Astronauts on the shuttle Discovery are preparing for re-entry into Earth's atmosphere early on Monday.

The shuttle is expected to land early on Monday morning at Kennedy Space Center near Cape Canaveral. The touchdown time, weather permitting, has been set for 0446 EDT (0946 BST; 0846 GMT).

Nasa has declared the shuttle safe to withstand the burning descent that shattered Columbia in February 2003. On Saturday, Discovery undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) before flying around the space lab to check it for wear and tear. 'Mission accomplished'

"I think Discovery is in absolutely great shape," said Discovery Commander Eileen Collins on Sunday. "It performed well in ascent.

"This morning we did a flight control system checkout. Everything checked out fine. I'm pretty confident about re-entry, I'm thinking about the landing.

"We're going to have thoughts about Columbia, but we'll be very focused on the job at hand."
Flight director LeRoy Cain said the weather forecast looked good for Monday's pre-dawn landing at Cape Canaveral.

It is Nasa's first landing since Columbia broke apart on re-entry as a result of damage sustained during its launch. But Mr Cain said Nasa cannot dwell on Columbia's failure. "We're looking forward, we're not looking back," he said.

Crew members and Nasa manager hailed what they said was the complete success of the mission, largely aimed at testing changes made to the spacecraft since Columbia. Discovery's visit to the ISS may be the last shuttle mission for some time. Nasa has grounded the fleet until it fixes the flying debris problem, which destroyed Columbia and resurfaced at Discovery's launch on 26 July.

Because of safety measures put in place after Columbia, Discovery has been videotaped, photographed and laser-inspected. In a shuttle program first, it has also been repaired by Steve Robinson and Japanese crew member Soichi Noguchi during one of their three spacewalks.
The men removed two loose cloth strips, which were protruding from the shuttle's belly.

NASA No News Good News?

NASA No News Good News or NO?

PEJ News - C. L. Cook - Considering the possible magnitude of the Space Shuttle Discovery's predicament, it's receiving amazingly thin coverage in the Corporate media. Yes, there are snippets, almost uniformly covering peripheral factums of the mission, but it seems they're willing to wait silently while the drama unfolds in outer space. The last shuttle mission, flown by Columbia more than two years ago, experienced similar technical problems before its fateful re-entry mishap. Though NASA spoke, in the tech-troubled weeks prior to Discovery's launch this week, of contigencies to avoid the loss of another seven astronauts, the announced "grounding" of the shuttle fleet today seems to rule out rescue should the heat shielding's damage compromise a landing attempt. For now, it's wait and see.

www.pej.org

Discovery Scheduled to meet International
Space Station Tomorrow (JY 28)

Wednesday, July 27, 2005 – 4 p.m. CDT
Mission Control Center, Houston, Texas
07.27.05
STATUS REPORT: STS-114-03

STS-114 MCC Status Report #03



http://www.nasa.gov/worldbook/
intspacestation_worldbook.html

[NASA] - Discovery crewmembers completed a camera survey of the heat shields of the leading edges of the orbiter's wings and its nose cone Wednesday. They also began preparations for Thursday's docking with the International Space Station and the mission’s spacewalks.

Commander Eileen Collins, Pilot Jim Kelly and Mission Specialists Soichi Noguchi, Steve Robinson, Andy Thomas, Wendy Lawrence and Charlie Camarda downlinked imagery taken of the External Tank after launch. The crew also photographed the Orbital Maneuvering System pod tile areas and sent down those files. Most of the heat shield survey, taking a close look at the reinforced carbon-carbon of Discovery's wings and nose was sent down live. The rest was sent down before the crew went to bed about 2:40 p.m. CDT.

The data was gathered by the new Orbiter Boom Sensor System (OBSS) laser-scanner. Kelly, Thomas and Camarda, with some help from other crewmembers, operated the Discovery's Canadarm and the 50-foot boom extension at its end for the survey. The OBSS was reberthed and Canadarm and its cameras were used to survey the tile area around the crew cabin.

Preparations for docking included a checkout of rendezvous tools, and the extension of the Orbiter Docking System ring that will make first contact with the Station. The approach will include the first Rendezvous Pitch Maneuver, a slow back flip by Discovery about 600 feet below the Station immediately before the 6:18 a.m. CDT docking.

The maneuver will allow Station Commander Sergei Krikalev and NASA Science Officer John Phillips to photograph Discovery's thermal protection system with 400mm and 800mm lenses. The images, taken through windows in the Station's Zvezda Service Module, are expected to be downlinked before hatches between Discovery and the Station are opened.

Today’s imagery and laser scans will be compiled with other imagery taken during launch, and with data collected by wireless impact sensors in each panel of the wings’ leading edges. Downlink of both preliminary and raw data from the sensors also was completed today. A team of about 200 people across the country are working to analyze imagery from the early part of Discovery's mission, the most photographed Shuttle flight in history.

The crew also completed the checkout of tools and two spacesuits to be used during the mission’s three spacewalks. Two suits were also prepared for delivery to the Station for future Quest airlock spacewalks.

The next STS-114 mission status report will be issued after crew wakeup, or earlier if events warrant.

- end -

Jolly Roger!

http://www.poster.net/symbols/symbols-jolly-roger-
pirate-symbol-blacksilver-4003680.jpg


Global Eye

Master Plan
By Chris Floyd

July 22, 2005

The United States long ago ceased to be anything like a living, thriving republic. But it retained the legal form of a republic, and that counted for something: As long as the legal form still existed, even as a gutted shell, there was hope it might be filled again one day with substance.

But now the very legal structures of the Republic are being dismantled. The principle of arbitrary rule by an autocratic leader is being openly established, through a series of unchallenged executive orders, perverse Justice Department rulings and court decisions by sycophantic judges who defer to power -- not law -- in their determinations. What we are witnessing is the creation of a "commander-in-chief state," where the form and pressure of law no longer apply to the president and his designated agents. The rights of individuals are no longer inalienable, nor are their persons inviolable; all depends on the good will of the Commander, the military autocrat.


President George W. Bush has granted himself the power to declare anyone on earth -- including any U.S. citizen -- an "enemy combatant," for any reason he sees fit. He can render them up for torture, he can imprison them for life, he can even have them killed, all without charges, with no burden of proof, no standards of evidence, no legislative oversight, no appeal, no judicial process whatsoever except those that he himself deigns to construct, with whatever limitations he cares to impose. Nor can he ever be prosecuted for any order he issues, however criminal; in the new American system laid out by Bush's legal minions, the Commander is sacrosanct, beyond the reach of any law or constitution.

This is not hyperbole. It is simply the reality of the United States today. The principle of unrestricted presidential power is now being codified into law and incorporated into the institutional structures of the state, as the web log Deep Blade Journal reports in a compendium of recent outrages against liberty.

For example, last Friday, a panel of federal judges -- including John Roberts, nominated for the Supreme Court this week -- upheld Bush's claim to dispose of "enemy combatants" any way he pleases, The Washington Post reports. In a chilling decision, the judges ruled that the Commander's arbitrarily designated "enemies" are nonpersons: Neither the Geneva Conventions nor American military and domestic law apply to such garbage. Bush is now free to subject anyone he likes to his self-concocted "military tribunal" system, a brutal sham that retired top U.S. military officials have denounced as a "kangaroo court" that tyrants around the world will cite in order to hide their oppression under U.S. precedent.

The kowtowing court ruling ignores the fact that the Geneva Conventions -- which lay down strict guidelines for the handling of any person detained by military forces, regardless of the captive's status -- have been incorporated into the U.S. legal code, Deep Blade points out. They cannot be abrogated by presidential fiat. And anyone who commits a "grave breach" of the Conventions by facilitating the killing, torture or inhuman treatment of detainees (e.g., stripping them of all legal status and subjecting them to rigged tribunals) is subject to the death penalty under U.S. law.

This is why the Bush Faction labored so mightily to advance the absurd fiction that the Geneva Conventions are somehow voluntary -- while simultaneously promulgating the sinister Fuhrerprinzip of unlimited presidential authority. The fiction was a temporary sop to the crumbling legal form of the Republic, a cynical perversion of existing law to keep justice at bay until the Fuhrerprinzip could be firmly established as the new foundation of the state.

It doesn't matter anymore if the president's orders to suspend the Conventions, construct a worldwide gulag, torture captives, spy on Americans, fabricate intelligence and wage aggressive war are illegal under the "quaint" strictures of the old dispensation; the courts, packed with Bushist cadres, are now affirming the new order, the "critical authority" of the Commander, beyond law and morality, on the higher plane of what Bush calls "the path of action."

This phrase -- with its remarkable Mussolinian echoes -- was incorporated into the official "National Security Strategy of the United States," promulgated by Bush in September 2002. That document in turn was drawn largely from a manifesto issued in September 2000 by a Bush Faction group whose members included Dick Cheney, Don Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz and Jeb Bush. Their detailed plan envisioned the transformation of America into a militarized state: planting "military footprints" throughout Central Asia and the Middle East, invading Iraq, expanding the nuclear arsenal, massively increasing the defense budget -- and predicating all these "revolutionary" changes on the hopes for "a new Pearl Harbor" that would "catalyze" the lazy American public into supporting their militarist agenda.

This agenda is designed, the group said, to establish "full spectrum dominance" over geopolitical affairs, assuring control of world energy resources and precluding the rise of "any potential global rival" that might threaten the unchecked wealth and privilege of the U.S. elite. The rule of law could only be a hindrance to such a scheme, hence its replacement by the Fuhrerprinzip and the "path of action."

There has been virtually no institutional resistance to this open coup d'etat. It's now clear that the American Establishment -- and a significant portion of the American people -- have given up on the democratic experiment. They no longer wish to govern themselves; they want to be ruled by "strong leaders" who will "do whatever it takes" to protect them from harm and keep them in clover. They have sold their golden birthright of American liberty for a mess of coward's pottage.



Annotations


Court Rules Military Panels to Try Detainees
Washington Post, July 16, 2005

Domination by Detention
Deep Blade Journaly, July 16, 2005

Dark Passage: The Bush Faction's Blueprint for Empire
Excerpt from the book, Empire Burlesque

Ruling Lets U.S. Restart Trials at Guantanamo
New York Times, July 16, 2005

Alberto Gonzales' Tortured Arguments for Reigning Above the Law
LA Weekly, Jan. 14-20, 2005

Torture Treaty Doesn't Bar `Cruel, Inhuman' Tactics, Gonzales Says
Knight-Ridder, Jan. 26, 2005

Bush Has Widened Authority of CIA to Kill Terrorists
New York Times, Dec. 15, 2002

Special Ops Get OK to Initiate Its Own Missions
Washington Times, Jan. 8, 2003

Coward's War in Yemen
Spiked, Nov. 11, 2002

Drones of Death
The Guardian, Nov. 6, 2002

Pig's Revenge

China's hitherto fame as the breeding ground of the killer "bird flu virus," now introduces another species crossing horror, something so far described by experts as a form of Streptococcus that's symptoms more resemble ebola. - ape

http://www.hedweb.com/animimag/pigkiss.jpg

Pig Bacteria Blamed for Mysterious Outbreak

BEIJING, July 26 -- The mysterious deaths of 19 farmers in Southwest China's Sichuan Province were caused by Streptococcus suis, a bacteria carried by pigs, the Ministry of Health said yesterday.

By noon on Sunday, 80 cases, 67 confirmed and 13 suspected, had been reported, according to a ministry statement.

Since the disease was found in humans about one month ago, the bacteria has killed 19. At the moment 17 patients are in a critical condition in hospital.

After an emergency investigation, a group of experts organized by the ministries of health and agriculture confirmed the epidemic was caused by the bacteria which can be passed to humans from pigs.

Experts found that the farmers infected had all slaughtered or processed infected pigs.

The official investigation result dispels concerns that the outbreak was avian influenza or SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome).

The cases were scattered among 75 villages in four districts of Ziyang and Neijiang cities.

No human-to-human infection has been found, the ministry statement said, adding that the disease has a latency period of two to three days.

Those infected develop acute symptoms such as high fever, listlessness, vomiting and bleeding from vessels beneath the skin.

About half of patients also go into severe shock, and the death rate of the disease is quite high, investigating experts said.

Four people infected during the current outbreak have recovered and been released from hospitals.

Central and local government officials are working on an epidemic analysis, identifying patients, destroying infected pigs, eradicating contagious channels and treating patients.

Farmers have been forbidden from slaughtering and processing infected pigs.

In normal practice, meat-processing factories examine pigs from big farms or single households before they buy them. When they refuse a pig because it is infected, sometimes the farmer will take it home and process it for consumption by his own family.

It is rare for the bacteria to infect a human being. The first ever recorded case was in Denmark in 1968, the ministry said.

Records show that at least 200 human cases of the infection have been reported, mainly in countries and regions breeding pigs and eating pork in Northern Europe and Southern Asia.

Experts are researching how the bacteria spreads from pigs to humans, said ministry spokesman Mao Qun'an.

Mao said he doubted reports that the bacteria can be spread through mosquito bites.

"If so, there would be many more people infected with the disease," Mao told China Daily.

Hong Kong and Macao health authorities have warned residents to be careful of mosquito bites if they go to Sichuan.

(Source: China Daily)

Strategy of Tension Tautens in Egypt

Sharm el-Sheik and the Strategy of Tension

Sunday July 24th 2005, 9:36 am

“Officials believe the mastermind behind [the Sharm el-Sheik] attacks could be linked to the attacks in October on resorts in the Sinai Peninsula resorts. The deadly tally in those attacks that entailed three explosions that destroyed hotels in Taba and two other Sinai resorts: 34 people, most of them Israelis,” writes Joe Gandelman in a news round-up. It is said the Abdullah Azzam Brigades of al-Qaeda in Syria and Egypt claimed responsibility for the Taba and Ras Shitan bombings.

Abdullah Azzam’s name rings a bell. A Palestinian university professor and member of the CIA-penetrated Muslim Brotherhood, Azzam set up the Services Office (Maktab al-Khadamat) a CIA- and Saudi-sponsored support organization for the mujahideen (through Prince Turki of Saudi intelligence) fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan, providing a network infrastructure based in Peshawar, Pakistan, that would later form the basis for al Qaeda, itself a CIA-ISI contrivance (see Gerecht, Atlantic Monthly, July 2001).

In short, the Sharm el-Sheik operation smells of CIA (in the current context, “CIA” translates into cooperation between several intelligence agencies—CIA, U.S. and British military intelligence, and Mossad—and “black” covert ops such as the bombings at Sharm el-Sheik are entirely off the books and use long-groomed assets such as al-Qaeda and other “Islamic terror” groups spawned by the long-compromised Muslim Brotherhood).

Soon after the Sharm el-Sheik bombings, NATO secretary general Jaap de Hoop Scheffer chimed in with an obligatory statement: the bombings “demonstrate that people of all nations and of all faiths are victims of the indiscriminate threat of terrorism. They also confirm the need for the international community to stand together to defend against this threat.” It is, to say the least, disingenuous of NATO to make such a proclamation, considering it provided financial and military support to al-Qaeda in Kosovo and Bosnia (a well-documented fact although never mentioned here in the United States—see Isabel Vincent, U.S. supported al-Qaeda cells during Balkan Wars). In short, we should take note when a terrorist-funding organization such as NATO issues statements in the wake of terrorist events. In addition to funding and supporting al-Qaeda in the Balkans, NATO worked closely with British intelligence agents and the CIA to create Operation Gladio (the Italian variant of a wide-ranging series of fascist, anti-communist covert paramilitaries)

As Daniele Ganser writes, Gladio-like operations spanned across Europe and beyond: “…in Belgium, the secret NATO army was code-named SDRA8, in Denmark Absalon, in Germany TD BDJ, in Greece LOK, in Luxemburg Stay-Behind, in the Netherlands I&O, in Norway ROC, in Portugal Aginter, in Switzerland P26, in Turkey Counter-Guerrilla, and in Austria OWSGV. However, the code names of the secret armies in France, Finland, Spain, and Sweden remain unknown… In order to guarantee a solid anti-communist ideology of its recruits, the CIA and MI6 generally relied on men of the conservative political Right. At times, former Nazis and right-wing terrorists were also recruited, and eventually these “right-wing terrorists” engaged in bombings and assassinations subsequently blamed on the left, part of a “strategy of tension” (from 1969 to 1974). Ganser writes:

In this age of global concern about terrorism, in which secret services are thought of as part of the solution and not as part of the problem, it is greatly upsetting to discover that Western Europe and the United States collaborated in establishing secret armed networks which in the majority of countries are suspected of having had links to acts of terrorism. In the United States, such nations have been called rogue states and are the object of hostility and sanction. Can it be that the United States itself, potentially in alliance with Great Britain and other NATO members, should be on the list of states sponsoring terrorism, together with Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Iran? Or, alternatively, is it plausible to assume the secret NATO armies operated for years beyond the control of legitimate political authorities?

For Ms. Ganser, this may be upsetting, but for many of us it is all too typical of the way the fascist and neolib (and neocon faction) state does business. Islamic terrorism, created in large part by the state (as amply documented), is a new (or extended) Gladio black op on steroids.

“Throughout history governments have used terrorism against their own people and created paper tiger enemies as a means of obtaining and retaining the trust of the masses in the process of gradually enslaving them,” write Paul Joseph Watson and Alex Jones. “The Anglo-American establishment that controls the military-industrial complex of the West has been caught over a hundred times carrying out bombings and other terrorist attacks around the world to further their corporate aims and to blame their enemies… How many of the family members of the London subway bombing victims are aware of the fact that in a 2000 investigation the Italian Senate concluded that the 1980 Bologna train bombing [a Gladio op] that killed 85 people was carried out by ‘men inside Italian state institutions and … men linked to the structures of United States intelligence’?”

It is impossible to ignore (unless you get your news exclusively from Fox) the links between Islamic terrorism and “structures of United States [and British and Italian] intelligence.” It makes absolutely no sense for “al-Qaeda” (and its variants) to kill innocent civilians at Sharm el-Sheik or in the subways of London—unless we are to presume, as the state and its various corporate media propaganda ministries would have us believe, that Muslims simply embrace an “evil ideology” and engage in senseless and pointless violence without logical political objectives. It should be obvious this violence benefits the United States and its collaborators in a well-orchestrated effort to build a military and police super-state (a “New World Order,” for lack of a better term). Sharm el-Sheik is but another step in a global strategy of tension (and terror) designed to build a frightened and thus illogical consensus for repressive police state tactics.

» Home > Politics > Sharm el-Sheik and the Strategy of Tension

11 Comments so far
Leave a comment

I am pleased to be the first that can comment on this, as usual, excellent piece. Thank you Kurt for mentioning the destruction brought to Bosnia and Kosovo which means in essence to the Serbs as an entire people, just like it’s happening with the people in Iraq. In an interview with Saddam Hussein from a few years ago, I did read a very interesting thing: “Kuwait has always been an Iraqi-settled land and we went in there to secure it from foreign domination”. Knowing that Bosnia has been a Serb land since time immemorial (at least 910!) and that Kosovo is the very cradle of the 8000-year-old Serbian civilization, I think I have estabilished a link between two genocides as the West, ignorant of the history of other people as always, first goes around the world to grab lands from older civilizations and then at home, it keeps the public tense, scared and frightened. For example, those 200 pounds for an ID card must be terribly good for the UK state coffers. All Western nations live beyond their means and Peak Oil is here so any money they can make from the common working people is like gold! I fully agree on both political sides (left and right) in this country (Italy) being for this “war” and being part of the larger machinery. I also fully agree with Italy being directly linked with all the other spy agencies Kurt mentioned. The Bologna bombing is a perfect example as my relatives are saying, taking the train in this country right now isn’t a comforting thought if you are going on vacation. The shocking thing is you listed 15 European countries with stay-behind NATO armies! I had read that article, by the way but just re-reading it is sobering because you realize that safety in Europe is a hoax. In closing, thank you for the link to that perfectly truthful article on the Yugoslav wars against the Serbs. A truth that must be told and repeated since that scheme is simply a set-up genocide from which the West has engineered a pattern that can be used for all these acts of state-sponsored terrorism. I will be glad to see what you think of my comment and once more Kurt, congratulations, great work!

Comment by Marco 07.24.05 @ 9:51 am

More good links [gladio], just google … links to
globalresearch.ca are a warranty of high-level articles
[globalresearch.ca links to Kurt’s articles by the way]

** The Provocateur State: Is the CIA Behind the Iraqi
“Insurgents”–and Global Terrorism? Frank Morales,
http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/MOR505A.html

** The Pentagon’s ‘NATO Option’, Lila Rajiva,
http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0210-22.htm

** NATO*s secret armies linked to terrorism? Daniele
Ganser,
http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/GAN412A.html

** Coup d’*tat in Disguise: Washington’s New World Order
“Democratization” Template, Jonathan Mowat,
http://globalresearch.ca/articles/MOW502A.html

Gorilla Radio for Monday, July 25th, '05

Gorilla Radio for Monday, July 25th, 2005

This week on GR, Kathy Kelly of Voices in the Wilderness on their campaign to aid the people of Iraq and other places where oppression persists.

And, Jean Saint-Vil on the horror that is Haiti today, and Canada's complicity in the misery of the people there.

And, Janine Bandcroft, brings us up to speed with all that's good to do in and around Victoria this week.

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, airing live every Monday, 5-6pm Pacific Time. In Victoria at 101.9FM, 104.3 cable, and on the internet at: http://cfuv.uvic.ca He also serves as a contributing editor at the progressive web news site: http://www.pej.org.

You can check out the GR blog at: http://GorillaRadioBlog.blogspot.com

Gorilla Radio for July 25th, 2005

by Ape


How far would you be willing to go in defying an injustice so grotesque it would allow for the mass murder of hundreds of thousands of innocent children? How many of us would risk imprisonment defying a government determined to continue such policies?

Kathy Kelly is the founder of Voices in the Wilderness, a group that worked tirelessly to end the U.S./U.N. sanctions against Iraq, and opposed the invasion and subsequent occupation of that benighted country. She’s a three-time Nobel peace prize nominee, and multiple offender in the eyes of American Justice.

She’s the author of the book detailing her experiences, ‘Other Lands Have Dreams: From Baghdad to Pekin Prison’

She and Voices in the Wilderness recently were in court, again to answer to charges of breaking the U.S./U.N sanctions against Iraq by personally delivering medicines there. She’s just back form Switzerland, where she participated in a 15 day fast in front of the offices of the United Nations.

Kathy Kelly and fast action on Iraq in the first half.

And; few Canadians are aware of the great injustice being perpetrated in their name. In February of 2004, the Canadian government, in collusion with the administrations of France and the United States, staged a coup d’etat against the democratically elected government of Haitian president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

Aristide was spirited out of the country by U.S. military personnel and taken to the Central African Republic. In his stead, Gerard Latortue, a known gangster and murderer was installed. His gangs now run rough-shod over the rights of the people, terrorizing especially the slums.

But they are not alone in their marauding; the United Nations too has joined the killing.

In the wee hours of July 6th, several hundred U.N. troops assaulted the Cite Soleil neighbourhood in the Haitian capital, killing at least two dozen people, and wounding many more. Though the U.N. denies a massacre occurred that day, much of the aftermath was caught on tape and aired by Democracy Now! Calls of “massacre” are yet being denied by the U.N.

Jean Saint-Vil is an Ottawa-based activist and journalist and member of Haiti Solidarity Committee. He also hosts Rendez-Vous Haitien on CKCU FM.

Jean Saint-Vil and Haiti’s long dark night in the second half.

And; Janine Bandcroft will be here at the bottom of the hour to bring us up to speed with all that’s good to do in and around Victoria this week. But first, sanctions buster, Kathy Kelly.

G-Radio is dedicated to social justice, the environment, community, and providing a forum for people and issues not covered in the mainstream media.

Some past guests include: M. Junaid Alam, Joel Bakan, Maude Barlow, David Barsamian, William Blum, Vincent Bugliosi, Helen Caldicott, Noam Chomsky, Michel Chossudovsky, Diane Christian, Juan Cole, David Cromwell, Jon Elmer, Reese Erlich, Jim Fetzer, Laura Flanders, Susan George, Stan Goff, Robert Greenwald, Denis Halliday, Chris Hedges, Julia Butterfly Hill, Robert Jensen, Dahr Jamail, Diana Johnstone, Kathy Kelly, Naomi Klein, Anthony Lappe, Frances Moore Lappe, Dave Lindorff, Jim Lobe, Wayne Madsen, Stephen Marshall, Linda McQuaig, George Monbiot, Loretta Napoleoni, John Nichols, Kurt Nimmo, Greg Palast, Michael Parenti, William Rivers Pitt, Sheldon Rampton, Paul de Rooij, John Ross, Danny Schechter, Vandana Shiva, Norman Solomon, Starhawk, Grant Wakefield, Bernard Weiner, Mickey Z., Dave Zirin, and many others.

Haiti's Canada-backed coup: Interview with Jean Saint-Vil
Submitted by Anthony on July 3, 2005 - 12:45pm.
A&S News Wire

Haiti's Canada-backed coup: An Interview with Haiti solidarity activist Jean Saint-Vil
New Socialist

On February 29th, 2004 progressive and popular Haitian president Jean Bertrand Aristide was ousted from power in a military coup that was (and remains) actively assisted by the US, France and Canada. Kevin Skerrett interviewed Jean Saint-Vil about the current situation in Haiti and Canada's involvement.

KS: Recent human rights reports describe a very grim situation in post-coup Haiti. Independent investigative reports from the University of Miami and Harvard, and now Amnesty International and United Nations (UN) investigators, all are concluding that the human rights situation in the country is a disaster. The Harvard report describes a campaign of terror by the Haitian National Police against the residents of poor neighbourhoods known for supporting President Aristide and the Lavalas movement the mass movement to which Aristide's party belongs —NS. Can you update us on the current picture?

JSV: Well it is still a situation of terror. There have been many attempts to have demonstrations in Haiti demanding the return of the President and constitutional government. Every time there is a demonstration, there is a high likelihood that people are going to get killed. So the repression is continuing.

And the UN is participating in this. During the daytime, you do not see UN forces actually shooting at people. You have the Haitian police doing the shooting and the UN forces providing back-up.


KS: You mention the role of the UN as problematic. My sense is that at times it has played a positive role, protecting demonstrations, but other times it has blocked demonstrations or even stood by while Haitian police carry out attacks. It’s almost like there's a struggle going on over what the UN forces are going to do.

JSV: There has been a struggle like this from the beginning. There’d be statements from the UN commander that he is receiving significant pressure from Canada and the US to use more violence, and then next thing you know there’s an escalation in violence. Then, when the University of Miami and Harvard reports came out, the UN forces worked to reduce violence by demanding that the Haitian National Police stay away from demonstrations. With UN protection, demonstrations happened without anyone being shot. Because of this, the UN was even being applauded by people in the poor neighbourhoods. But this honeymoon lasted about a week and then the UN returned to their previous role.

KS: Let's talk about Canada’s involvement. A lot of Canadian money is being sent to support the coup. What muddies the situation is that this aid is being channeled through development agencies and NGOs that are otherwise very progressive and part of the anti-war movement. These groups are linked in Haiti to individuals and groups on the ground who supported the coup. They see themselves supporting a unanimous social and popular movement of opposition to Aristide who had lost all of his support. How would you explain this drastic mis-reading of the situation?

JSV: It's amazing to me that these groups don't understand what’s happening in Haiti, given that a very similar thing happened in Venezuela, where the US worked to foment opposition to Chavez by working through NGOs. Haiti is seeing the same kind of infiltration by NGOs we saw in Venezuela. The model of US imperialism is no longer what it was in 1980, where the military just goes in, conducts the coup and then gets out. Imperialism today is conducted behind the illusion of humanitarianism, and that’s why NGOs are important and why imperialists have infiltrated them.

The involvement of NGOs and development agencies in the imperialist agenda is partly explained by how Aristide was represented in the media. Aristide was portrayed as someone who climbed to power because of his personal charisma and ability to manipulate the public. This played into racist and classist perspectives that see the Haitian people as unintelligent and easily duped. It also hid the fact that the coup involved not only the overthrow of the President, but also of seven thousand other elected officials.

KS: And that's seven thousand officials whose election was never questioned even by the OAS (Organization of American States) and pro-US international observer groups.

JSV: No. Supporters of the coup have been claiming that the election that put Aristide’s people in power was never legitimate to begin with. But we may reply that if Aristide had stolen the election in 2000, who did he steal it from? There’s no figure emerging in the post-coup situation, no political party, nothing. People knew that if Aristide was forced out of power there would be chaos in Haiti because it would create a complete vacuum. All you have now are people from the "Republic of Port-au-Prince" claiming to represent people who don’t see them as their representatives: essentially petty bourgeois politicians, all Port-au-Prince based, without connections with the peasantry claiming to represent the majority of the population in the inner country or in the poor urban areas, like Bel-Air and Cite Soleil.

In Haiti, there is very little connection between the peasantry, the middle class and the rich. People are basically in their different corners. Lavalas, back in 1990, had clear connections between the peasantry and the middle class, and even some people like Jean Dominique, who were actually part of the rich class.

KS: It was a multi-class movement at that point?

JSV: Absolutely. And it had a future, if it wasn't for the military coup of 1991.

KS: So you're saying what was once a multi-class coalition in the early Aristide period was abandoned by the middle class and bourgeois elements, leaving Lavalas and Aristide with a political movement which was narrowed to the peasant class and the poor (which of course still constitutes a huge percentage of the population)?

JSV: Yes, Aristide's social base became that huge percentage of the population comprised of peasants and the poor. But it is a population that doesn’t have access to state power. Those who left Aristide blamed him for indirectly orchestrating that shift by relying increasingly on mob violence or whatever — views that express strong class biases. When the coup took place, some in the poor neighbourhoods managed to get guns from the police who were abandoning their posts. With guns in their hands, these people were defending themselves. Now, we can say that they are not supposed to be using violence, but this is a case of self-defense.

KS: We just had May 18, Haiti's Flag Day, marked by coordinated political demonstrations across Canada and the US in solidarity with the people of Haiti. I wonder if you can update us on the state of the solidarity movement — where its going, how it can intervene, and what kind of demands it can articulate?

JSV: The solidarity movement can do a lot, because while the conflict has a national dimension, its international dimension is even more important. Haiti's national budget is utterly dependent on IMF/WB loans and grants, so Haiti remains incredibly dependent on the US, Canada, France, EU, etc.

I think the movement outside Haiti is significant because one of the key things that has to happen if Haiti is to get out of this hell is the complete cancellation of Haiti’s $1 billion-plus (US) foreign debt. This debt has to go, given that most of it is leftover from the thirty-year Duvalier dictatorship. Organizations representing the interests of international capital keep the people poor while claiming to advance the fight against corruption.

KS: This connects to my next question. Elections are planned for October, November and December. There is a risk that we’ll see another sham exercise, as we have seen to different degrees in Afghanistan and Iraq. There is a pattern of setting up internationally-monitored elections in places where regime change has taken place, as a way to legitimize and sanction that change. How can solidarity activists intervene?

JSV: The main thing we need to do is focus on certain principles. Until we get a legitimate leadership elected in Haiti, until we get Haiti in the hands of Haitians — not the sham we have now where you have the US, Canada and France running the country through a puppet — you are going to have violence. You cannot be talking about real elections when Yvon Neptune, Aristide's Prime Minister — the only legitimate one — is in jail. The fact that he has been detained for almost a year without charges, shows that he should be released.

Of course, the Haitian bourgeoisie doesn’t want real elections, because if they take place the Lavalas candidate is going to win. And since the demographic of Haiti isn’t going to change, there's no way around the problem. The only option for the bourgeoisie is to try to institute a dictatorship. But if there’s a move in that direction, I can guarantee you there’s going to be a fight from the population.

KS: Because it will be a class dictatorship, a coalition of the very wealthy, with some elements of the middle class.

JSV: Yes, and unfortunately there have been recent signals that the US, Canada and France want to prop up the Haitian elite.
And you know, there's also a racial undertone to this that’s very dangerous. A lot of the members of this Haitian elite are not of African origin. 97% or 98% of the population is of African origin, so the elites are playing with fire. What do you think is going to happen if you keep pitting this one group of Haitians against the vast majority who happen to be impoverished, who happen to be blacker than the group who is enjoying power?

We have to make sure that international solidarity activists are well-informed to influence the politicians to do the right thing. If we don't learn from what happened in Haiti, and if organizations such as the NGOs, peace activists, the labour movement and the NDP don’t get their act together, we will find ourselves in a situation where coups led by the US against countries like Cuba or Venezuela will take place with Canadian complicity again.

Resources on the current situation in Haiti: www.zmag.org and www.haitiaction.net

To subscribe to the email info-list for the Canada-Haiti Action Network (CHAN), email Kevin Skerrett at kskerrett@cupe.ca

Kevin Skerrett is an activist with the Ottawa anti-war group Nowar-Paix, and the Ottawa Haiti Solidarity Committee (Kozayiti).

Jean Saint-Vil is an Ottawa-Gatineau based activist and journalist, a member of the Ottawa Haiti Solidarity Committee (Kozayiti) and L'association Canado-Haitien pour sauvegarder la souverainete d'Haiti (Lachasausha). He has been a featured political analyst on CBC television's (now cancelled) Counterspin, CPAC’s Talk Politics, and CBC Radio's The Current. He is also the host of CKCU-FM's "Rendez-Vous Haitien" and CHUO-FM's "Bouyon-Rasin."

The Other Occupation: Haiti Under the Guns

Latest Update on the case of Pere Jean-Juste
Voices in the Wilderness
July 22, 2005

Latest Update on the case of Pere Jean-Juste, now incarcerated in the National Penitentiary, in Haiti

Several hours after receiving Bill Quigley’s latest update, below, word arrived that Haitian human rights advocate Fr. Jean-Juste is in a one-person cell at the National Penitentiary in Haiti. Florida Congressman Kendrick Meek’s office has asked for a U.S. civilian officer to be at the site where Fr. Jean-Juste is jailed to make sure that his civil rights are not violated. Please continue building pressure to demand protection for Fr. Jean Juste.

Long time friend and lawyer for Voices in the Wilderness, Bill Quigley, sends us this urgent message asking you to call your Senators and Representatives (Find contact information for your congress persons) and ask them to do all they can to protect Fr. Gerard Jean-Juste. There are more suggested actions given at the end of this update.

Notes from Bill Quigley, professor of law at Loyola University New Orleans School of Law.
A half an hour ago, over a dozen masked police officers with machine guns forced a handcuffed Fr. Jean-Juste into a police van and sped away.

As he was being put into the police wagon he yelled to the officers and the onlookers “Where is the justice in Haiti? I am a priest. Why do you treat people like this? Vive Aristide!”

No one yet knows where Fr. Jean-Juste has been taken. No written charges have been made against him.

Earlier this afternoon Fr. Jean-Juste was still in Petionville jail, where he shared a single toilet with over 40 prisoners. There were no beds and no running water.

He then had a quick hearing with a justice of the peace, who refused to wait until Mario Joseph, his Haitian lawyer, could be present. No written charges were shared - again questions were: What party do you belong to? Can you explain your presence at the funeral of Jacques Roche? Do you know why the bandits killed him? Do you visit the poor neighborhood of Bel-Air frequently?

At the conclusion of the meeting with the justice of the peace, we took a harrowing ride with police bearing machine guns downtown to the prosecutor’s office where no questions were asked and no conversation was held. Papers were signed and Fr. Jean-Juste was placed in handcuffs, as described above, and taken away.

Mario Joseph (of the Institute of Justice and Democracy in Haiti) and I will continue to try to find out where Fr. Jean-Juste is over the weekend and will report what we know.
The only thing we know for certain is the answer to Fr. Jean-Juste’s cry to the soldiers, “Where is justice in Haiti?” If there is to be justice in Haiti, it rests with those who are willing to struggle for human rights for all.

Freedom is coming, but only if we keep up the pressure.


Haitian Priest Assaulted by Mob at Funeral and Arrested for Murder
By Bill Quigley, in Port au Prince.

[Bill is a law professor at Loyola University New Orleans and is co-counsel with Mario Joseph and the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti. Mario Joseph can be reached at 509.554.4284. Bill can be reached in Haiti at 509.401.4822 and in U.S. at 504.861.2709.
Please note: Bill Quigley urges all who receive this letter to contact their elected representatives and urge them to assure protection for Fr. Jean-Juste.]


On Thursday July 21, 2005, Fr. Gerard Jean-Juste went to St. Pierre’s Catholic Church to be one of the priests participating in the funeral of Haitian journalist Jacques Roche. Fr. Jean-Juste is a cousin of the Roche family and members of the Roche family protected him from a mob earlier in his life. He went to express spiritual comfort and reconciliation to the family.
The tragic kidnapping and death of Jacques Roche has been taken up as a cause by those opposed to the Lavalas party. Jacques Roche was identified as a supporter of the people calling themselves the group of 184, who overthrew by force the democratically elected government of President Aristide, the leader of the Lavalas party, in February 2004.

Opponents of Aristide say that, because the body of Jacques Roche was found in a poor neighborhood, he was executed by the Lavalas party, which is very strong in the poorest neighborhoods. For those of us in the US, this is much like blaming John Kerry for inner city deaths because most of the people in the inner city vote democratic.

Fr. Jean-Juste went to the funeral expressly to pay his respects to the family and express his open remorse and opposition to any killing of anyone, no matter their political affiliation.
Jacques Roche’s coffin was in the chapel next to the sacristy and main area of the church. At 10 o’clock the bishop and about seven priests robed in white with purple stoles or sashes paraded out of the sacristy of the church to the chapel next to the main area of the church to say blessings over the coffin of Jacques Roche.

When Fr. Jean-Juste walked out, people started yelling at him in the chapel. They called him “assassin” and “criminal” and yelled out to “arrest and kill the rat.”

Fr. Jean-Juste has been publicly accused in the last several days of “a plot against the security of the state,” of smuggling money and guns into the country, and of being behind all the kidnappings. All clearly false charges but widely reported by unfriendly press.

People knew Fr. Jean-Juste was coming to the funeral because that was printed on the front page of a conservative paper the day before.

As the well-dressed people continued yelling at Fr. Jean-Juste, the prayer service nearly turned into a riot. The other priests turned to leave and a well-dressed crowd of screaming people surrounded him.

I went out to be by his side. Some plainclothes security people and a few priests surrounded us and helped push us through the increasingly hostile crowd back into the church sacristy.
The other priests then persuaded Fr. Jean-Juste not to continue in the funeral service. So we stood aside as the priests and the funeral crowd filed past us into the main church.

Well-dressed men and women continued to scream and threaten Fr. Gerry as they moved by us into the church. Then a crowd of 15 or 20 or more young men, not dressed at all for the funeral came into the sacristy and the mood turned uglier and more menacing.

At that point, the security forces melted away.

The young men continued the screaming started by the well-dressed people and then started pushing and hitting Pere Jean-Juste. At that point a young woman came out of the funeral crowd and embraced Fr. Jean-Juste, shielding him with her body from the blows and the increasingly loud and angry young men. She started praying loudly and saying “mon pere, mon pere.”

A man in a suit, who identified himself as head of security for the funeral, rushed back in from the church area - only a few feet away and in plain view -and told Fr. Gerry these people were going to kill him there in the sacristy unless he fled. Fr. Jean-Juste knelt to pray and the woman and I knelt with him in the middle of the growing crowd.

At that point people started slapping Fr. Jean-Juste on the head and face and spitting on him and the other two of us. Something then hit Fr. Jean-Juste in the head. Someone punched him in the eye. We stood up and a few UN CIVPOL officers showed up to help us leave the sacristy of the church. As we tried to get to the stairs people continued pushing and screaming and shouting threats. They continued to call out “assassin,” “criminal,” and “kill the rat.” The crowd now overwhelmed the police. More people spit on us and hit Fr. Gerry, even in the face, while others were grabbing his church vestments trying to drag him off the church steps.

The CIVPOL were trying to hold back the crowd but were still well outnumbered and were not able to halt the mob. We moved up the steps into a narrow dark corridor while the crowd pushed and shoved and spit and hit. We then retreated into a smaller corridor and finally to a dead end that contained two small concrete toilet stalls.

The three of us were pushed into the stalls as the crowd banged on the walls and doors of the stalls and continued screaming. The woman held the door closed and prayed loudly as the people outside roared and the CIVPOL called for reinforcements.

After a few minutes, reinforcements arrived and the hallway was finally cleared of all but us and the authorities. A man in a suit identifying himself as secretary for security for Haiti told us that he was going to have to arrest Fr. Jean-Juste because public clamor had identified him as the assassin of journalist Jacques Roche. The police would bring him to the police station for his own safety. Fr. Jean-Juste told the man that he was in Florida when the journalist was killed and he wanted to return to St. Claire’s, his parish. The man left escorting out the woman who helped us.
In a few minutes, CIVPOL police, including troops from Jordan, surrounded Fr. Jean-Juste and me and ran us out of the church to a police truck. The truck with police with machine guns sped away from the church and took us not to Fr. Gerry’s parish but to the police station in Petionville.

For the next seven or eight hours we were kept in a room while the UN forces and the Haitian forces negotiated about what to do. Fr. Gerry read his prayer book while we waited. We were told informally that the UN wanted to escort Fr. Jean-Juste back to his parish but the Haitian government was insisting that he be arrested.

The attackers were allowed to go free and not arrested, but they wanted to arrest the victim!

Fr. Gerry told me “This is all a part of the death sentence called down upon me on the radio in Miami. The searches at the airport, the visits to the police stations, the mandate to appear before a criminal judge yesterday, and now this. It is all part of the effort to silence my voice for democracy.”

At about 6pm, several Haitian officers came into our room and ordered Fr. Gerry and me and Haitian attorney Mario Joseph to come with them.

The officers held out a piece of paper that they said was an official complaint against Fr. Gerry, accusing him of being the assassin of Jacques Roche. The complaint was based on “public clamor” at the funeral identifying him as the murderer. They refused to let Fr. Jean-Juste or the lawyers see this paper. It was their obligation, they said, to investigate this public clamor identifying him as the murderer. If Fr. Jean-Juste chose not to talk with them, they would put him in jail immediately.

Fr. Jean-Juste agreed to the interrogation and it went on for over three hours. He was growing increasingly sore and tired from the beating he took, but was not bleeding externally. When the lawyers argued with the police, Fr. Gerry read his prayer book.

The police already knew that Fr. Jean-Juste had been in Florida at the time of the kidnapping and death of the journalist, because the police had already interviewed him several times in the last few days in connection with the other false allegations against him, but asked him many questions anyway. How many cell phones did he have? What was his exact relation to Jacques Roche? Why had he gone to the funeral? Could he prove he was in Florida? Since he’d been on the news in Florida could he provide a copy of the news tape showing he was in Florida? When Aristide was president was he provided with armed security? What happened to the pistols that his security had? Could he find out and have any pistols returned to the government? Why had he gone to the funeral? Did Lavalas promise Aristide to execute someone from the group of 184 in retaliation for them taking power? When was the last time he’d been in the US? Had the Catholic sisters in Bel-Air been with him when he went to demonstrations there?… and on and on.

After over three hours, the interrogation ended.

With great solemnity the police told Fr. Jean-Juste that he was being charged with participating in the death of Jacques Roche and not returning state property. They said the law ordered that he would be brought before a judge within 48 hours for further decision.

At exactly 10pm, Fr. Gerry handed me his keys and church vestments and was locked into the jail cell at Petionville with many, many others. He was holding a pink plastic rosary, his prayer book and a roll of toilet paper.

He flashed a tired smile and told me: “Now you see what we are up against in Haiti. If they treat me like this, think how they treat the poor people. Tell everyone that with the help of God and everyone else I will keep up the good fight. Everyone else should continue to fight for democracy as well. The truth will come out. I am innocent of all charges. I will be free soon. Freedom for Haiti is coming. The struggle continues.”

As I left him, a very tired Fr. Gerard Jean-Juste was being greeted by all the prisoners in the very crowded jail cell as “mon pere!”

Action: Write or fax UN Special Representative
Juan Gabriel Valdés, urging him to release MINUSTAH’s
prison report immediately, and to resist pressure from
the Haitian police to minimize the number of
casualties presented in that report. Mr. Valdés
speaks English, French and Spanish. His fax number is
(dial 011 first from the US for an international line)
509 244 3512.

Mr. Juan Gabriel Valdés
Special Representative of the Secretary-General
United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti
387, avenue John Brown
Port-au-Prince, Haiti

Contact Information:
U.S. Ambassador to Haiti, James B. Foley
United States Embassy
Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Telephones: 011-509-223-4711, or 222-0200 or 0354
Fax: 011-509-223-1641 or 9038
Email to Dana Banks, Human Rights Officer:
BanksD@state.gov

Canadian Ambassador to Haiti, Claude Boucher
Embassy of Canada
Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Telephone: 011-509- 249-9000
Fax: 011-509-249-9920
Email: prnce@international.gc.ca

Ambassador of France in Haiti, M. Yves GAUDEUL
Embassy of France
51 place des Héros de l’Indépendance - BP 312
Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Telephone: 011-509-222-0952
Fax : 011-509-223 5675

Haiti Authorities:
Fax. No. 011-509-245-0474
Me. Henri Dorléans
Ministre de la Justice et de la Sécurité Publique
Ministère de la Justice
19 Avenue Charles Sumner
Port-au-Prince, Haiti

Open Season on Non-White Males in London

Targeted Assassination in London

Kurt Nimmo
Saturday July 23rd 2005, 8:40 am

“We need to await the inquiry to learn the full facts. But if this man [executed in Stockwell] was unarmed and not carrying a bomb, it will raise worrying questions—not least that if we behave as badly as the terrorists don’t we risk losing the moral high ground in the war against them?” opines the Daily Mail. It appears he was not only not carrying a bomb or armed but he was chased by “undercover” cops, that is to say cops dressed in civvies. “It is not true to say that police officers must identify themselves or shout a warning when confronting a suspect believed to pose a grave and imminent threat,” notes the BBC, citing a manual published by the Association of Police Officers. “The manual says that that procedure ’should be considered’ but recognizes that the key aim of an operation is to ‘identify, locate, contain and neutralize’ the threat posed.”

In other words, execution is not only permitted, but in this case, for a South Asian man we are told was followed from a house connected to “suicide bombings,” it was the preferred method for “confronting a suspect believed to pose a grave and imminent threat,” even if the available evidence reveals he wasn’t a grave and imminent threat. “The appropriateness of the tactics deployed at Stockwell and the intelligence on which they were based will now be considered by the Independent Police Complaints Commission,” reports the BBC. “Its inquiry may well redefine the ground rules for the use of lethal force to protect Britain against the threat from suicide terrorism.” In short, targeted assassination will now likely become routine in Britain, as it is in Israel. It sends the preferred message to Muslims. “The tragedy is that when indiscriminate murder is planned by fanatics in our midst, the security authorities are increasingly likely to be forced into such life-or-death decisions,” concludes the Daily Mail. Of course, we have no idea who planned this “indiscriminate murder” and the Brit authorities have no conclusive evidence it was the work of suicide bombers.

Next up: targeted assassination of “militants” in “Londonistan” of the caliber of targeted assassinations in the West Bank and Gaza. Recall the “Right Honorable” David Blunkett, Labor Party politician, telling us he “didn’t give a damn” how many foreign suspects (or for that matter South Asian British citizens) are detained without due process in Britain (under the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act) and insinuating that the “airy-fairy, libertarian” views of human rights advocates endanger Britain. “The terrorist attacks in London on 7 July and today provide an opportunity for us to reflect on our systems and practices to ensure they are sufficient to counter such unprecedented events,” declared Ken Jones, Chairman of the ACPO Terrorism and Allied Matters Committee, and Chief Constable of Sussex, after meeting with Tony Blair yesterday. It now appears, after the incident at Stockwell, the “practices… sufficient to counter such unprecedented events” will include targeted assassination of individuals who do not pose a threat to the people of Britain. However, in the expanding “war on terrorism,” in essence a war on Islam at the behest of a small camarilla of Straussian-Machiavellian neocons, all Muslims are a threat and will be eliminated accordingly.

Can't Take it Anymore?

Fake al-Qaeda Claims Responsibility
for Fake Bombings

Kurt Nimmo
kurtnimmo.com
Friday July 22nd 2005,

2:50 pm

Remember Howard Beale, in Sidney Lumet’s classic movie Network, screaming at the top of his lungs that he can’t take it anymore? Well, that’s how I feel about the corporate media these days, especially in the last few days, as the lies, distortions, and scary campfire stories about al-Qaeda gone wild spread unchecked like a nasty viral infection.

“An Al-Qaeda-linked group said today it carried out the latest attempted bomb attacks in London yesterday, warning it will not relent until all ‘infidel’ forces leave Iraq, according to an internet statement,” reports Forbes, a behemoth media corporation you’d think would know better.
In short, they will pull off ineffectual “suicide bombings” (spreading unidentified white powder and giving people asthma attacks) until the infidels are petrified—or stampeded into allowing the state to completely trash the Bill of Rights and set up an authoritarian dictatorship.

But let’s get serious here.

It appears the “terrorists” who “failed to detonate bombs” yesterday did so because they didn’t want to wreck more expensive mass transit machinery. In other words, the real “terrorists” (not the Stepford Muslim pasties) work for the state and there is no sense destroying more stuff unless absolutely necessary, especially considering how this would negatively impact the stockholders of Metronet (a consortium of corporations).
Government knows what side of its bread gets the butter. So it is off to al-Qaeda fairyland again with fallacious “internet statements” and the like. You’d think people would simply refuse to put up with this nonsense anymore. You’d think they’d throw open the windows and scream, like Howard Beale, they’re not going to take it anymore. Instead, there is a deafening silence, or at best an outraged murmur growing in the background.

As We Prepare for War

As Canada Prepares for Battle

As Canada again prepares to do battle as a proxy force for its Imperial masters,
perhaps it's wise we know exactly what we're in for.

http://home.ca.inter.net/~dmonet/cartoon/archive/aa4.gif

As Canada Prepares for Battle
C. L. Cook

July 21, 2005

In recent months, the Canadian government has rejigged foreign policy; foreign policies that have stood since the end of the Second War, more than sixty years ago. "Integration" is the catchword here, and whether through NATO, or directly with the U.S. as in the Northern Command and Missile Defense, it means suborning both our soldiers and diplomats to the dictats of the United States and their "national interest."

This new direction for Canada is most perfectly illustrated by both the redefining of Canada's mission in Afghanistan, seeing thousands of reinforcements beginning to be shipped out this week (JUL 21) and the redeployment of the current force in-country from the relative stablity of the Kabul area to the volatile west and southern reaches, (where a resergence in Taliban resistance to the occupation makes Afghanistan look more like Iraq every day) and through the public displays of our new number one military man, General Rick Hillier. Hiller held forth recently before the press, veritably foaming at the mouth with his anxiousness to go get the Afghani "scumbags." By that of course, he means "send someone's sons and daughters to "Go Gittim!" Hillier will be directing the charge from the comfortable rear in Otta/Washington.

"Peacekeep THIS mo' fo!"

Up 'til now, Canadian soldiers serving in Afghanistan have been fortunate, not in small part due to the nature of their mission, locale, and perhaps because Canadians have so far taken a different approach to rapproachement with the people; different that is from the generally witnessed "shoot 'em all and let God sort 'em out!" American philosophy. There have been Canadians killed, most tragically when bombed accidentally by a speed-crazed reservist pilot who just couldn't Say No to dropping his bombs on a field training exercise, despite desist orders. But, our government's mission redefinition promises to change that luck.

Well, if we are to become our southern cousin's little emulator, perhaps we can first learn from their myriad missteps. You know, do a little homework on our enemy-to-be, BEFORE we make one of them.

There has been a marked upsurge in violent, "Iraq-style" attacks in Afghanistan over the last few months. As ever, our "public" broadcaster has been loathe to bring bad news into your living room, (try a CBC.ca search on Canada-Afghanistan) the fact is: We are marching our young men and women into a fully blossoming Iraq sequel, (do Canadians really want a part of that? Who asked you!) best described by one of the men leading it.

Mullah Dadullah, the Taliban "military coordinator" talked to the camera's of Al-Jazeera a couple days back and had some interesting things to say. They were not available on Canadian airwaves, the CRTC ruling our collective ears too sensitive for the likes of foreign sourced news. Pity, because Ottawa's nabobs may have found it instructive.

When asked, "What is the rational behind the sudden escalation of Taliban operations in Afghanistan?" Dadullah said,

"Mullah Omar and other Taliban leaders have already stated that attacks against the infidels and the apostate government of Afghanistan would escalate as soon as the harsh winter weather gives way to warmer one. There have also been significant changes in tactics, types of weapons, financial support, and support of the Afghan people."

The "significant" change in "types of weapons" may be point to stress to the troops before their Private Lyin' landing on the beaches of Afghanistan. At least two U.S. helicopters have "crashed" in recent weeks. The Taliban press pool bragged of "new weapons" after a Chinook carrying a near-platoon of special force types was shot down a few weeks back, but the U.S. flacks decided it was likely a Rocket Propelled Grenade's "lucky" shot that brought down the chopper. Another Chinook "crashed" last week. Luckily, Canada doesn't have many helicopters capable of sustained flight, so that may not be a worry; unless, those freakishly-fortunate "RPG's" get pointed at other stuff.

But, you may say: "The States are an ally. They wouldn't lie. Would they?"

The Mullah thinks so. He informed Al-Jazeera:

"Americans have lied from the beginning and continue to lie, especially about their casualties. The number of Americans killed by Mujahideen in Afghanistan is much greater than what the American media disclose."

One unfortunate American scout captured by the "Mujahideen," (remember Sly Stallone's Rambo Does Afghanistan? The Mujahideen are those guys. The ones that toppled the other evil empire.) rumoured by the Pentagon as having been rescued brought this response from the dubious Dadullah:

"The Americans did not ask for his release and we knew that they would not because they do not want to admit to the fact that we captured one of their own and they are not able to free him. It is part of hiding their casualties and part of their false propaganda about winning the war in Afghanistan.

Propaganda galore; enough for all sides. Which side do you want to believe?

The Bush administration's credibility is certainly no greater than Mullah Dadullah's: We know they've lied about...Everythng! Knowing your enemy is always a good idea, but knowing your allies is even more vital.

Back to General Hillier and his Pattonesque enthusiasm for the coming carnage. Who will those scumbags be that Canadians will bomb, bag, and bugger for Uncle Sam? Mullah Dadullah explains:

"All Afghan people are Muslims; they all have weapons and know how to use their weapons. The majority of them are supporter of Taliban and their Jihad against the enemies of Islam. Few have been drawn to the dollars. There are also Arab Mujahideen in Afghanistan. Faithful Muslims will always join the fight to eradicate the enemies of Allah."

Great.

The real tragedy of all this is not that it never need have happened, but now that it has, the best we can come up with after two generations of knife-edged Cold War diplomacy and third world despotism is Rick Hillier's mad dog antics for the camera, and Mullah Dadullah. Quite a pair. They should take their act on the road.

There are solutions to the problems dividing the peoples of the world; solutions that allow we all live and thrive in peace, but are there the people to pick them up and employ them?

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, broad/webcast from the University of Victoria, Canada. He also serves as contributing editor to PEJ.org.

Killing the 'Good Earth'

http://www.iisg.nl/~landsberger/images/ard05.jpg

Killing the 'Good Earth': China's Peasant Uprising

PEJ News - C. L. Cook - The fouling of China's rural water and airsheds by factories situated near villages far from the furtile real estate markets of the city threatens to kill the "Good Earth' and the long-enduring way of life it sustains. Frustrated with government inaction, the "peasants" have taken the fight to the gates of the offending factories, where demonstration has led to riots and death on both sides. And, the movement is spreading.

Killing the 'Good Earth'
Unrest in China's Countryside
C. L. Cook

PEJ News
July 20, 05

China's rapid industrial development has brought with it all the banes familiar to the rest of the post-industrial world: Crowding, sprawl, poverty and crime. But, it's not in the cities where the worst side-effects of the mushrooming manufacturing economy are being felt. Much of the damage being done is to the environment, and most acutely experienced in China's agricultural heartland, where the tillers and toilers see little benefits to the destruction of their fields and livelihood.

Chinese authorities spent the weekend battling with farmers and citizens protesting a local factory's pollution is destroying them. Xinchang is a few hundred kilometers down-wind of Shanghai, where a local pharmaceutical plant has been repeatedly cited by the population as posing an environmental threat to them. They've been assured by bribed officials their concerns will be addressed, but frustrated with protracted inaction, they've taken things in hand.

Rural insurrection is in the air right now throughout China, and the residents of Xinchang, knowing of similar civil actions taken in neighbouring areas suffering similar problems and the fate of those demos, were wily in their approach to this event.

Crossing the fields and backways, more than fifteen thousands managed to elude road blocks and other impediments to gather at the gates of the Jingxin Pharmaceutical Company, the site of a recent deadly explosion and release of poison gas. Met with riot police and tear gas, the protesters fought back, killing an admitted six police, wounding many others.

No details on civilian casualties are presently verifiable.

The explosion proved the spark for an already primed atmosphere where crop failures and illness are being blamed on the plant's variously toxic effluents. An unidentified woman living near the plant, (locals say they're afraid to reveal their identity for fear of arrest), says: "Our fields won’t produce grain anymore... We don’t dare to eat food grown from anywhere near here.”

Last Sunday, (JY 17) pitched battles broke out between demonstrators and authorities bussed in to the scene. The crowd overturned police cars, threw stones and bottles, and engaged police. Monday, crowds returned, though in lesser numbers, vowing a determination to continue blockades until the plant is shut-down.

China's political environmental too is to millions a disaster. Occuring throughout China's "miracle economy" are masses of dispossessed peasants, driven from the land to a Dickensian industrial nightmare, destined to toil endlessly for survival in conditions promising less. Staying in the country often means victimization at the hands of local crony pols, the remnants of China's communist legacy now comprising a network of 21st century company towns.

But that network has been shaken by thousands of big and small expressions of resistance.

The Xinchang rebellion is just the latest and biggest of a wave of militant responses to the radical restructuring of Chinese society seen in recent years. As Reuters reports, last year there were 74,000 "incidents" of insurrection reported. They attribute the heightened social unrest with the failure of the central government to deal with local grievances, most concerned local corruption. And, the usually tacit central authority is listening.

Earlier this month, the Party's deputy director, Li Jingtian, criticized elements of the Party's "grassroots cadres," saying: "some of them are probably less competent, and they are not able to dissipate these conflicts or problems."

Not exactly fighting words, but self-criticism is neither a common sight for the Party, that remains the first and last word in China.

Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, a weekly public affairs program, broad/webcast from the University of Victoria, Canada. He's also a contributing editor at PEJ.org.

Gorilla Radio for July 18th, 2005

Gorilla Radio for Monday, July 18, 2005

This week former Wall Street Journal columnist and reporter, Paul Craig Roberts on the Bush legacy in America.

And; Dave Zirin on the politics of professional sport past and present.

And too, Janine Bandcroft bringing us up to speed with all the good things going in and around the south island.


Chris Cook hosts Gorilla Radio, airing live every Monday, 5-6pm Pacific Time. In Victoria at 101.9FM, 104.3 cable, and on the internet at: http://cfuv.uvic.ca He also serves as a contributing editor at the progressive web news site: http://www.pej.org.

You can check out the GR blog at: http://GorillaRadioBlog.blogspot.com

If there is still anyone with the merest modicum of intelligence on this planet who still believes George W. Bush’s “rationale” for beginning the bloody war and occupation of Iraq was for any other than the basest, self-serving motives, today’s show should dispel you your illusions.

That every single thing the current administration has said in reference to Iraq has proven false; every word a lie designed to deceive the American people and the world comes as no surprise to my first guest. Paul Craig Roberts is an economist, journalist, and co-author of the book, ‘The Tyranny of Good Intentions.’ Roberts describes himself still as a conservative Republican, though left behind by what the Bush administration and its policies are making of America.

Paul Craig Roberts in the first half.

And; ding dong the strike is dead! Yes, after sacrificing the 2004-5 hockey season, the NHLPA and The League have inked a deal to play hockey next season. The strike has divided sports fans, leaving the burning question: Does anyone give a damn about hockey?

Dave Zirin is a columnist and editor for the Prince George’s Post newspaper, and author. His Edge of Sports column is a unique marriage of sport and politics that reminding of the tradition of gritty, lay journalism that’s widely republished from football.com to The International Socialist Review.

His new book, ‘What’s My Name, Fool!: Sports and Resistance in the United States’ is fresh off the press and published by Haymarket Books.

Dave Zirin and “Whither sport?” in the second half.

And, Janine Bandcroft may be here at the bottom of the hour, reporting from her annual pilgrimage to the Vancouver folk festival, held over the weekend.

But first, Paul Craig Roberts and the tyranny of good intent.

G-Radio is dedicated to social justice, the environment, community, and providing a forum for people and issues not covered in the mainstream media.

Some past guests include: M. Junaid Alam, Joel Bakan, Maude Barlow, David Barsamian, William Blum, Vincent Bugliosi, Helen Caldicott, Noam Chomsky, Michel Chossudovsky, Diane Christian, Juan Cole, David Cromwell, Jon Elmer, Reese Erlich, Jim Fetzer, Laura Flanders, Susan George, Stan Goff, Robert Greenwald, Denis Halliday, Chris Hedges, Julia Butterfly Hill, Robert Jensen, Dahr Jamail, Diana Johnstone, Kathy Kelly, Naomi Klein, Anthony Lappe, Frances Moore Lappe, Dave Lindorff, Jim Lobe, Wayne Madsen, Stephen Marshall, Linda McQuaig, George Monbiot, Loretta Napoleoni, John Nichols, Kurt Nimmo, Greg Palast, Michael Parenti, William Rivers Pitt, Sheldon Rampton, Paul de Rooij, John Ross, Danny Schechter, Vandana Shiva, Norman Solomon, Starhawk, Grant Wakefield, Bernard Weiner, Mickey Z., Dave Zirin, and many others.