Full text: the report on Iraq (a year later) by the Council on Foreign Relations). It predicts a foreign policy disaster if leaders don't shore up support.

Disney rides into trouble with story of cowboy who conquers the Middle East. It should not be surprising. Recent biographies of Walt Disney indicates that he was an FBI informer.

Abu Abbas died while in US custody. US officials are attributing his death to natural causes. You do not have to be an admirer of Abu Abbas (who was quite thuggish and aligned himself with Qadhdhafi and later Saddam Husayn) to be suspicious. His most recent letters to his family, as reported in Arabic press, indicated that his health was good.

We thought that law enforcement is busy with threat of Bin Laden. Apprently, they have something more important on their mind: Police secretly watching hip-hop artists. Police is investigating a link between P. Diddy and Abu Mus`ab Az-Zarqawi.

Full text: The Worldwide Threat 2004: Challenges in a Changing Global Context. Testimony of Director of Central Intelligence, George J. Tenet, before the Senate Armed Services Committee, 9 March 2004. Notice this excerpt: "Beyond these groups are the so-called "foreign jihadists"-individuals ready to fight anywhere they believe Muslim lands are under attack by what they see as "infidel invaders." They draw on broad support networks, have wide appeal, and enjoy a growing sense of support (my italics) from Muslims who are not necessarily supporters of terrorism. The foreign jihadists see Iraq as a golden opportunity." First, notice how in passing he mentions that those radical fundamentalists are drawing on "a growing sense of support". Why was he not challenged as to why there is a growing sense of support? How and why did the support grow? Also, casually, he mentions Iraq becoming a "golden opportunity." So this confirms the fears of those of us who opposed the war before it even started.

A Global Generation Gap

Neo-Cons Target Syria

Is Military Creeping Into Domestic Law Enforcement?

CRTD ‘Gender, Citizenship and Nationality Programme’; Denial of Nationality: The Case of Arab Women (thanks Lina)

An interesting detailed analysis of the "Iraqi" provisional constitution. I do not endorse the views. (thanks S.)

More Than 8.7M Cosmetic Plastic Surgeries in 2003, Up 32 Pct. Over 2002. The overall top five surgical cosmetic plastic surgery procedures in 2003 were nose reshaping (356,554), liposuction (320,022), breast augmentation (254,140), eyelid surgery (246,633), and facelift (128,667).

Angry Arab pontificates in San Francisco Chronicle

US favorite puppet, Hamid Karzai, speaks: Afghan president says men should let women vote, but tell them who to vote for (thanks anonymous)

A senior Saudi judge has blasted Al-Hurra, the US Congress-funded Arabic satellite channel, saying it is “waging a war against Islam and Americanizing the world.”

Syrian demonstrators arrested by Syrian police. Demonstrations are quite legal in Syria, provided they are in support of the government

Argentina followed the recipe of IMF and World Bank: look where it is now

A new survey of the Pacific Air Forces found serious flaws in the handling of sexual assault reports, including victim services

Hidden Truths, By Brian Urquhart

ARISTIDE SPEAKS

Faith Versus Reason: "There is another form of temptation, even more fraught with danger. This is the disease of curiosity. It is this which drives us to try and discover the secrets of nature, those secrets which are beyond our understanding, which can avail us nothing and which man should not wish to learn." Augustine, as cited in the new important book: Charles Freeman, The Closing of the Western Mind: The Rise of Faith and the Fall of Reason (NY: Knopf, 2003).

I have noticed this on US college campuses: Dissatisfied with President Bush, young voters are concerned about the economy and foreign policy, not social issues

Iraqi Jobless Association Owes Success to Hussein's Ouster, as Well as Frustration With Reconstruction

U.S. Marines Kill Gunman working for Abu Mus`ab Az-Zarqawi in...Haiti.

Full text: Iraq's Transitional Administrative Law. Excerpts: "CHAPTER NINE - THE TRANSITIONAL PERIOD. Article 59. (B) Consistent with Iraq's status as a sovereign state, and with its desire to join other nations in helping to maintain peace and security and fight terrorism during the transitional period, the Iraqi Armed Forces will be a principal partner in the multi-national force operating in Iraq under unified command pursuant to the provisions of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1511 (2003) and any subsequent relevant resolutions. This arrangement shall last until the ratification of a permanent constitution and the election of a new government pursuant to that new constitution. (C) Upon its assumption of authority, and consistent with Iraq's status as a sovereign state, the elected Iraqi Transitional Government shall have the authority to conclude binding international agreements regarding the activities of the multi-national force operating in Iraq under unified command pursuant to the terms of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1511 (2003), and any subsequent relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions. Nothing in this Law shall affect rights and obligations under these agreements, or under United Nations Security Council Resolution 1511 (2003), and any subsequent relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions, which will govern the multi-national force's activities pending the entry into force of these agreements." The multi-national force, of course, refers to Polish troops (and one Micronesian soldier) presently occupying Iraq.

So with all this talk about democracy, Bush was asked whether he will abandon the corrupt royals of the Middle East: "When you say you want this strategy, forward strategy of freedom, are you saying you're going to be abandoning the monarchies and, you know, those guys? THE PRESIDENT: No, of course not. I know them well. First of all, many of the countries in the Middle East are modernizing. And that's what I look for. I fully understand it takes time for free societies, truly free societies to evolve. I don't expect instant success. After all, in my own country it took a while for our current system to evolve. Take Saudi Arabia, for example -- first of all, I respect Crown Prince Abdallah, and like Crown Prince Abdallah. He's a man of great faith, and great integrity, who gave a speech the other day about the need to modernize and to reform Saudi society. I take him for his word. To me that was a positive development. "

Relatives of Prisoners at Guantánamo Bay Tell of Anger and Sadness at Detentions

The Wrong Way to Sell Democracy to the Arab World, By ZBIGNIEW BRZEZINSKI

Happy International Women's Day!

For More Afghan Women, Immolation Is Escape (thanks Walter)

Aristide maintains he was kidnapped from Haiti

To those dynamic internet searhers out there: may one of you kindly send me the transcript of Richard Perle's on C-Span's Booknotes. I wish to post his "brilliant" analysis of Palestinian anger at Israel.

Bush's box of candy: Ethnic divide deepens in new Iraq

A sharp jump in military spending under President Bush has lifted defense budgets to levels not seen since the height of the Reagan buildup of the early 1980s, prompting warnings by lawmakers and defense analysts that the surge may no longer be sustainable in a time of deepening deficits.

Syria's economy minister offers to shine George W. Bush's shoes.

Free at last, free at last: US oil chiefs expected in Libya

The U.S. military has closed an investigation into the January killings of four Iraqis whose deaths were blamed on American troops, saying it couldn't find the culprits, the Army said today. No one claimed responsibility for the Jan. 3 deaths of the Iraqis — a taxi driver and three passengers, including a woman and a 7-year-old boy — who were killed by heavy machine-gun fire as their cab traveled near Tikrit. The sole survivor, another passenger, blamed American troops.

Your tax dollars at work: 500,000 March in Venezuela Protest

China to Boost Defense Funds by 12%

"Saddam was no defender of women, but they have faced new miseries and more violence since he fell"

Full text: Human Rights Report on US forces' abuses in Afghanistan. (thanks Julie)

Do not pin your hopes on the new generation of politicians. A new study reveals that today's youngest politicians are very much like their predecessors: 86% are men, 81 % are white, and 29 % have a relative who served in office.

The San Francisco Chronicle is, by US standards, the most liberal big-city newspaper in US. It even occasionally carries pieces critical of Israel. But it still is an American newspaper containing the fundamental biases of US media against the Palestinians. This is from an obituary piece about a CBS newsperson. This is how the SF Chronicle characterizes the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, from which I barely survived. Israel advanced with its army INTO Lebanon, and the invasion killed some 20,000 Palestinians and Lebanese: "the PLO and Syria (war) against Israel in 1982."

According to one Arabic TV news program, Israel has managed to kill 50 Palestinians in the Gaza strip alone this week. Was that anywhere in US news?

Nearly three-quarters of Harvard University undergraduates are from families with earnings in the top quarter of American household incomes.

The new US ME propaganda TV, Al-Hurra. A sample of its tough and very objective reporting. Here is a question that its director, Mouafac Harb, asked George W. Bush: "Q You may be the only world leader today, and maybe the first American President, to pay a lot of attention to freedom and democracy in the Middle East. Why is that? Are you so committed to that?" This may have been the toughest questioning that Bush has ever been subjected to.