Daily Archives: November 19, 2004

7 posts

Iraq War Topping $5.8 Billion A Month

18 Nov. 2004 | United Press International WASHINGTON – The Pentagon is spending more than $5.8 billion a month on the war in Iraq, according to the military’s top generals. That is nearly a 50 percent increase above the $4 billion-a-month benchmark the Pentagon has used to estimate the cost of the war so far. The Army alone is spending $4.7 million a month while the Air Force is spending $800 million a month transporting soldiers and flying combat missions. The Marine Corps is spending $300 million a month, the four service chiefs told the House Armed Services Committee Wednesday. […]

Seven retired military leaders discuss what has gone wrong in Iraq

3 Nov. 2004 | Rolling Stone by PAUL ALEXANDER The nineteen months since the war in Iraq began, some of the most outspoken critics of President Bush’s plan of attack have come from a group that should have been the most supportive: retired senior military leaders. We spoke with a group of generals and admirals that included a former supreme Allied commander and a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and they all agreed on one thing: Bush screwed up.

Police scoff at Ashcroft speech

18 Nov. 2004 | USA Today by Kevin Johnson A day after Attorney General John Ashcroft told the nation’s largest association of law enforcement executives that the Bush administration had made the nation more secure from terrorist attacks and violent criminals, the group lashed back at the White House on Tuesday. The International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) said that cuts by the administration in federal aid to local police agencies have left the nation more vulnerable than ever to public safety threats. The 20,000-member group also said in a statement that new anti-terrorism duties for local cops — […]

US media applauds destruction of Fallujah

excerpted from 17 November 2004 | World Socialist Web Site by David Walsh Not a single major voice has been raised in the American media against the ongoing destruction of Fallujah. While much of the world recognizes something horrifying has occurred, the US press does not bat an eye over the systematic leveling of a city of 300,000 people…. In none of the US media commentaries is there a single expression of concern about not merely the moral, but the legal issues involved in the attack on Fallujah. The American military operation in the city is an illegal act of […]

Children pay price of US offensive

[ In an astonishing attempt to play to the U.S. propaganda media machine, “The Iraqi Interim prime minister Eyad Allawi alleged that he does not believe that there are civilians who were killed in the attack” on Fallujah (16 Nov. 2004, ArabicNews.com). “A high-ranking official with the Red Cross in Baghdad told IPS that ‘at least 800 civilians’ have been killed in Fallujah so far.” (16 Nov. 2004, Inter Press Service). Amnesty International and others have of course confirmed the civilian deaths. But in the U.S., a disingenuous public is eager to hear it is not so. –BL ] 16 Nov. […]

UC Berkeley Research Team Sounds ‘Smoke Alarm’ for Florida E-Vote Count Statistical Analysis – the Sole Method for Tracking E-Voting – Shows Irregularities May Have Awarded 130,000 – 260,000 or More Excess Votes to Bush in Florida

November 18 Research Team Calls for Investigation BERKELEY, CA — Today the University of California’s Berkeley Quantitative Methods Research Team released a statistical study – the sole method available to monitor the accuracy of e- voting – reporting irregularities associated with electronic voting machines may have awarded 130,000-260,000 or more excess votes to President George W. Bush in Florida in the 2004 presidential election. The study shows an unexplained discrepancy between votes for President Bush in counties where electronic voting machines were used versus counties using traditional voting methods – what the team says can be deemed a “smoke alarm.” […]

“For Republicans to deny Americans the opportunity to `buy American’ at the grocery store is anti-consumer, anti-farmer and anti-rancher”

GOP Looking to Repeal Food Labeling Law November 18, 2004 | Associated Press by LIBBY QUAID WASHINGTON – Telling consumers where their meat, fruit and vegetables came from seemed such a good idea to U.S. ranchers and farmers in competition with imports that Congress two years ago ordered the food industry to do it. But meatpackers and food processors fought the law from the start, and newly emboldened Republicans now plan to repeal it before Thanksgiving.