Free Internet Press Newsletter - Thursday May 24 2007 - (813)

Thursday May 24 2007 edition
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Oil Industry Says Biofuel Push May Keep Gas Prices Up 2007-05-24 01:54:31 Gas prices are spiking again - to an average of $3.22 a gallon, and close to $4 a gallon in many areas. Some oil executives are now warning that the current shortages of fuel could become a long-term problem, leading to stubbornly higher prices at the pump. They point to a surprising culprit: uncertainty created by the government’s push to increase the supply of biofuels like ethanol in coming years. In his State of the Union address in January, President Bush called for a sharp increase in the use of biofuels, along with some improvement in automobile fuel efficiency to reduce America’s use of gasoline by 20 percent within 10 years. Congress is considering legislation calling for a nearly fivefold increase in the use of ethanol. Read The Full Story Analysis: On War Funding, Democrats Saw No Option But To Cede To Bush 2007-05-24 01:53:58 Congressional contortions over the Iraq spending bill could end up with most House Democrats momentarily occupying the position they were so desperate to vacate: the minority. The decision by the Democratic majority to strip the measure of a timetable for troop withdrawal has raised the prospect that it could be approved mainly by Republicans with scattered Democrat support. The idea that many Democrats would be left on the losing side in a consequential vote has exposed a sharp divide within the party, drawn scorn from antiwar groups, confused the public and frustrated the party rank and file. In recounting the leadership’s thinking, senior Democrats and other officials said that by early this week they had concluded there was no alternative but to give ground to President Bush despite their view that he had mishandled the war and needed to be put under tighter Congressional rein. Read The Full Story U.S. FDA Was Warned Years Ago Of Avendia's Risks 2007-05-24 01:53:18 A leading diabetes doctor sent the U.S. Food and Drug Administration a letter seven years ago that warned of the heart risks of the drug Avandia. And in the next year, the F.D.A. reprimanded the drug’s maker for playing down safety concerns, according to documents from 2000 and 2001. The documents, found in a reporter’s search of the F.D.A.’s database, indicate that the agency had been warned of safety concerns with the Type 2 diabetes treatment Avandia, and that the drug’s maker, GlaxoSmithKline, was seeking to minimize Avandia’s risks, before some of the same cardiovascular concerns were brought to public attention on Monday in an article and an editorial in the New England Journal of Medicine.  The F.D.A. has acknowledged that the company alerted the agency to concerns about a cardiovascular risk as early as 2005, based on the company’s analysis. Read The Full Story Insurers To Pay $4.55 Billion For World Trade Center Destruction 2007-05-24 01:52:16 The administration of New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer announced the settlement of all insurance claims at ground zero Wednesday, ensuring that $4.55 billion will be available for rebuilding the World Trade Center site. The agreement, which the insurers described as the largest single insurance settlement ever undertaken by the industry, ended a protracted legal battle with insurers over payouts related to the terrorist attack. New York State and Port Authority officials said Wednesday that the deal removed any uncertainty over how much money would be available for rebuilding and would enable them to obtain private financing for the $9 billion project. Officials had worried that the insurance dispute might drag on for years, eating up millions of dollars in lawyers’ fees and potentially delaying reconstruction. The settlement is the culmination of a two-month campaign by the state insurance superintendent, Eric R. Dinallo, and involved meetings in Geneva, Paris and Delaware. Read The Full Story British Judges Rule Diego Garcia Natives Can Return Home, Say Britain Abused Power 2007-05-23 22:42:12 Hundreds of Indian Ocean islanders who were forcibly deported from their homeland by Britain 40 years ago won a battle Wednesday which could see them set sail for an emotional return within days. The court of appeal in London found the British government guilty of "abuse of power" for attempting to prevent the Chagos Islanders from reclaiming land leased from under their feet by Britain to the U.S. in the 1960s. Three judges upheld a ruling in the islanders' favor last year, ordered the government to pay their legal costs and withheld support for an appeal to the House of Lords. Giving his reason for the ruling Lord Justice Sedley wrote: "Few things are more important to a social group than its sense of belonging, not only to each other but to a place. What has sustained peoples in exile, from Babylon onwards, has been the possibility of one day returning home." The judge added: "The barring of that door, however remote or inaccessible it may be for the present, is an act requiring overwhelming justification." Read The Full Story Oxford Theologian Damns Ninety-Five Percent Of Britons To Hell 2007-05-23 22:41:15 Ninety-five per cent of Britons are heading for Hell, according to the principal of Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, who has been under fire from some staff for taking one of the leading Anglican theological training colleges in a conservative direction. Dr. Richard Turnbull, appointed two years ago, made the claim in a speech to the annual conference of Reform, a conservative evangelical pressure group within the Church of England. If he truly believes it, the figure would encompass at least all non-evangelical Christians, including many members of the Church of England, and those of all other religions and none. A recording of the speech, made in October last year and seen by the Guardian, was posted last night on the Thinking Anglicans liberal website. Read The Full Story Interview: Blackwater Runs Deep 2007-05-23 18:30:55 Intellpuke: In the following interview, Christopher Brown talks with investigative journalist and author Jeremy Scahill about his new book "Blackwater: The Story of the Most Powerful Mercenary Firm In The World". Mr. Brown is an independent journalist based in San Francisco, California, and produces a podcast show called "Crossing the Line: Life in Occupied Palestine." His interview with Mr. Scahill, which appears in the OhmyNews edition for Wednesday, May 23, 2007, follows: On March 31, 2004, four Americans were ambushed and burned near their jeeps by an angry mob in the Sunni stronghold of Fallujah. Two of the charred corpses were hung from a bridge over the Euphrates River. The ensuing slaughter by U.S. troops would fuel the fierce Iraqi resistance that haunts the occupation forces to this day. But the men that died that day were neither American government troops nor civilians. They were highly trained private soldiers sent to Iraq by a secretive mercenary company based in the North Carolina countryside. Blackwater USA is a powerful private army that the U.S. government has quietly hired to operate in international war zones and on American soil. Blackwater is the elite Praetorian Guard for the global war on terror - with its own military base, a fleet of 20 aircraft, and 20,000 troops at the ready. It is run by a multi-millionaire Christian conservative who bankrolls President George W. Bush and his allies. Its forces are capable of overthrowing governments. But most Americans have never heard of Blackwater. I spoke with award-winning investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill about this private army that he wrote about in his acclaimed first book, Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army. Scahill is a Puffin writing fellow at the Nation Institute and a frequent contributor to The Nation magazine. Read The Full Story Europe's Energy Giants Call For Business As Usual With Russia 2007-05-23 18:30:23 Europe's three largest natural gas companies called Wednesday for greater political support for increased business ties with the Russian energy giant Gazprom, saying growing tensions between Moscow and the European Union should not be allowed to jeopardize energy security. The blunt assessment from Eni of Italy, Gaz de France and E.ON Ruhrgas of Germany came as the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, arrived in Vienna for a state visit a week after the collapse of an European Union-Russia summit meeting. Putin raised the energy issue himself, praising Austria as a model partner, but failed to win support for setting aside political differences. As E.U. and Russian leaders continue to disagree, the bloc's big energy companies are making their own deals with Gazprom. With Russia as Europe's most important supplier of natural gas - demand for which is expected to rise sharply over the coming 10 years - officials at an energy conference in Berlin, sponsored by the Russian Gas Society said both sides had an interest in increasing energy security. Read The Full Story Commentary: 'Cowboy Up,' Alberto Gonzales 2007-05-23 17:49:20 Intellpuke: The following commentary by former U.S. attorney for New Mexico David C. Iglesias  appears in the Los Angeles Times edition for Wednesday, May 23, 2007. What happens in a presidential administration when loyalty, to borrow a phrase from "Star Trek," becomes the "prime directive"? What happens when its all-encompassing fog obscures all other values - such as fealty to the Constitution, the rule of law or simple humanity? What happens is that terrible decisions are made, repeated and then justified by this shibboleth. That's just one of the lessons that has emerged from the U.S. attorney scandal. This week, the Senate is threatening to vote on a resolution of no-confidence in U.S. Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales. Today, the House Judiciary Committee is scheduled to hear testimony from Monica Goodling, the attorney general's former aide, who will be asked why at least eight U.S. attorneys, including me, were put on a list to be forced from office. What has become clear already is that the "loyalty uber alles" mentality has infected a wide swath of the Bush administration. Simple notions like right and wrong are, in their eyes, matters of allegiance, not conscience. Read The Full Story FAA Warns Of Increasing Flight Delays 2007-05-23 13:59:15 Although airlines experienced their worst flight delays ever last summer, this year so far looks even worse, Federal Aviation Administration officials said today. But government and airline executives said they hoped that innovations in air traffic software would minimize delays caused by weather. For all of 2006, there were almost half a million delays of 15 minutes or more for airplanes flying under the jurisdiction of air traffic controllers, said Marion Blakey, the agency’s administrator, speaking at the F.A.A.'s  Strategic Command Center in Herndon, Virginia. For the first four months of 2007, there were 142,000 delays, up from 126,000 in the comparable period last year, she said. “It wasn’t good news when we learned just yesterday from the National Weather Service that in fact we’re also looking at a very tough weather season for this summer,” she said. Compared with last year, the forecasters are predicting more hurricanes and more tropical storms strong enough to be named. Read The Full Story Former Gonzales Aide Monica Goodling Says McNulty Misled Congress 2007-05-23 13:30:35 Deputy Attorney General Paul J. McNulty knew about extensive White House involvement in the firings of U.S. attorneys before he provided inaccurate information about the issue to Congress, a former senior Justice aide testified this morning. Monica M. Goodling, speaking publicly for the first time about her role in the prosecutor firings, also said McNulty urged her not to attend a private Senate briefing, saying that her status as White House liaison would raise questions among lawmakers about possible White House involvement in the dismissals. "I believe the deputy was not fully candid about his knowledge of the White House's involvement," Goodling testified at the House Judiciary Committee, which has granted her immunity from prosecution in exchange for her testimony. The statements from Goodling, a former senior counselor to Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, provides dramatic new evidence of the growing rifts between current and former Justice officials involved in the firings. The testimony also provides another serious challenge for McNulty, who announced last week that he was resigning later this summer. Read The Full Story Body Found In Iraq River May Be U.S. Soldier Taken Hostage 2007-05-23 13:30:10 A body found floating in the Euphrates river south of Baghdad is feared to be one of three U.S. soldiers abducted by militants earlier this month. The discovery came as the U.S. said nine servicemen had been killed across Iraq in several attacks. Separately, the White House last night released intelligence claiming Osama bin Laden ordered terrorist attacks on the United States in 2005. The release has been seen as an attempt to bolster flagging public support for the Iraq war. Iraqi police said they had found a body in the Euphrates, and there were unconfirmed reports the bodies of the two others were found floating nearby. Read The Full Story Bush May Turn To U.N. In Search Of An Iraq Solution 2007-05-23 02:41:49 The Bush administration is developing plans to "internationalize" the Iraq crisis, including an expanded role for the United Nations, as a way of reducing overall U.S. responsibility for Iraq's future and limiting domestic political fallout from the war as the 2008 election season approaches. The move comes amid rising concern in Washington that President George Bush's controversial Baghdad security surge, led by the U.S. commander, General David Petraeus, is not working and that Iran is winning the clandestine battle for control of Iraq. "Petraeus is brilliant. But he is the captain of a sinking ship," said a former senior administration official who questioned whether Iraq's divided political leadership could prevent a descent into chaos. "Iraq's government is a mobile phone number that doesn't answer. Iraq probably can't be fixed." Although sectarian killings have fallen in Baghdad since the surge began in February, the level of violence across the country remains broadly unchanged. But the White House is fiercely resisting calls from Democrats and some Republicans to scrap the operation and set a timetable for a troop withdrawal. (Intellpuke: The Democrats did scrap the timetable. You can read a separate article on that elsewhere on today's Free Internet Press mainpage.) Read The Full Story U.S. Senate Votes To Keep Temporary Worker Program 2007-05-23 02:41:21 A comprehensive immigration bill survived a significant test on Tuesday as the Senate voted to keep a provision that would let hundreds of thousands of temporary foreign workers enter the country each year. If the guest worker program, part of the “grand bargain” negotiated with the Bush administration by a bipartisan group of 12 senators, had been stripped from the bill, the fragile deal could have collapsed. Despite the vote on Tuesday, supporters of the bill were clearly on the defensive. Senator Mel Martinez, Republican of Florida, who helped write the bill, said eliminating the guest worker program would be a “huge problem” for the architects of the proposal. Read The Full Story Democrats Drop Timeline From Iraq Spending Bill 2007-05-23 02:40:45 Democrats gave up their demand for troop-withdrawal deadlines in an Iraq war spending package Tuesday, abandoning their top goal of bringing U.S. troops home and handing President Bush a victory in a debate that has roiled Congress for months. Bush, who has already vetoed one spending bill with a troop timeline, had threatened to do the same with the next version if it came with such a condition. Democratic leaders had moved ahead anyway, under heavy pressure from liberals who believe that the party won control of Congress in November on the strength of antiwar sentiment. But in the end, Democrats said they did not have enough votes to override a presidential veto and could not delay troop funding. The spending package, expected to total $120 billion when the final version is released today, would require Bush to surrender virtually none of his war authority. Democrats were working to secure two other priorities that the president had previously resisted: an increase in the minimum wage and funding for domestic programs, including veterans' benefits, Hurricane Katrina relief and agricultural aid. Read The Full Story Bubonic Plague Kills A Monkey At Denver Zoo 2007-05-23 02:39:46 The death of a monkey at the Denver Zoo from bubonic plague has prompted officials to change the habitats of some zoo animals and renew efforts to keep visitors from feeding the urban wildlife here. The animal, an 8-year-old female hooded capuchin monkey named Spanky, was the first zoo animal to be infected with the plague since an outbreak was detected last month in squirrels and a rabbit in City Park, just outside the zoo. Bubonic plague, which came to be called the Black Death as it killed millions of people throughout Europe in the 14th century, is carried by fleas that infect rodents. Today, it is found mainly in rural areas of the West. While it can be deadly in humans and some animals, bubonic plague is treatable. Read The Full Story New Iraq Strategy Nearly Ready 2007-05-23 02:38:36 Top U.S. commanders and diplomats in Iraq  are completing a far-reaching campaign plan for a new U.S. strategy, laying out military and political goals and endorsing the selective removal of hardened sectarian actors from Iraq's security forces and government. The classified plan, scheduled to be finished by May 31, is a joint effort between Gen. David H. Petraeus, the senior American general in Iraq, and U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker. More than half a dozen people with knowledge of the plan discussed its contents, although most asked for anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about it to reporters. The overarching aim of the plan, which sets goals for the end of this year and the end of 2008, is more political than military: to negotiate settlements between warring factions in Iraq from the national level down to the local level. In essence, it is as much about the political deals needed to defuse a civil war as about the military operations aimed at quelling a complex insurgency, said officials with knowledge of the plan. Read The Full Story	Rules Skirted, Millions Wasted On U.S. Navy Boat Barriers 2007-05-24 01:54:15 The men from al-Qaeda guided their bomb-laden skiff through the harbor and drew near the USS Cole, detonating a quarter-ton of C-4 plastic explosive that killed 17 sailors and tore a 40-foot hole in the side of the Navy destroyer. Pentagon officials vowed that nothing like the Oct. 12, 2000, attack in the Yemeni port of Aden would happen again. The Naval Criminal Investigative Service embarked on a plan to shield U.S. ships around the world with rings of floating, rubberized barriers. The investigative service is responsible for security and probing criminal wrongdoing, including fraud in Navy contracts, but auditors concluded that NCIS hired companies that did little or no significant work on the boat barriers yet collected millions of dollars in fees. Invoices, e-mails and audit documents obtained by the Washington Post also show that the General Services Administration, the agency that awards and oversees federal contracts, allowed the Navy to sidestep federal procurement rules designed to ensure competition and protect taxpayers from abuse and fraud. Read The Full Story Morgue Data Show Increase In Iraq Sectarian Killings 2007-05-24 01:53:45 More than three months into a U.S.-Iraqi security offensive designed to curtail sectarian violence in Baghdad and other parts of Iraq,Health Ministry statistics show that such killings are rising again. From the beginning of May until Tuesday, 321 unidentified corpses, many dumped and showing signs of torture and execution, have been found across the Iraqi capital, according to morgue data provided by a Health Ministry official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information. The data showed that the same number of bodies were found in all of January, the month before the launch of the Baghdad security plan. Such killings are a signature practice of Shiite militias, although Sunni insurgents are also known to execute victims. The number of found bodies is a key indicator of the level of sectarian violence, but the statistics also include some who died from causes unrelated to the political situation. Read The Full Story Candidate To Lead U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission Withdraws Nomination 2007-05-24 01:52:54 A senior lobbyist at the National Association of Manufacturers withdrew his nomination to head the Consumer Product Safety Commission on Wednesday as a growing number of senators questioned both his suitability and a $150,000 departure payment that the association was preparing to give him. Administration officials and Congressional leaders said that the lobbyist, Michael E. Baroody, decided to step aside after it became clear that his nomination would be rejected by the Senate commerce committee. It was scheduled to hold a confirmation hearing on Thursday. Senator Bill Nelson, the Florida Democrat who earlier this month put a hold on the nomination, said in an interview Wednesday afternoon that he believed that Baroody withdrew because he did not want to make public the details of his $150,000 severance package, as several senators had demanded. Read The Full Story Body Found In Euphrates River That Of Kidnapped U.S. Soldier 2007-05-23 22:42:24 The family of a U.S. Army private from California Wednesday night confirmed that his body had been pulled out of the Euphrates river, nearly two weeks after the kidnapping of three soldiers in Iraq. Military officials told the family of Private Joseph Anzack that a commanding officer had identified his body, but that DNA tests were still pending. "They told us, 'We're sorry to inform you the body we found has been identified as Joe,"' Debbie Anzack, the soldier's aunt, told the Associated Press. "I'm in disbelief." About 4,000 U.S. and Iraqi troops have been searching for the missing soldiers. Read The Full Story Putin Denounces U.S. Missile Shield - Again 2007-05-23 22:41:31 President Vladimir Putin travelled to the heart of Europe Wednesday to denounce the Bush administration's plans to deploy a missile defense shield in the region. In his fourth anti-U.S. salvo in as many months, the Russian leader took the floor in Vienna, Austria's Hofburg Palace, former seat of Austro-Hungarian emperors, to ask why the Americans were threatening the peace of central Europe by putting new radars and a silo of missile defense rockets in the Czech Republic and Poland. "What is happening in Europe that is so negative that we need to fill eastern Europe with new forms of weapons?" he asked. "What has happened that has worsened the situation in Europe and demands such actions? Nothing." Read The Full Story Zut Alors! Le Monde Journalists Vote To Oust Director 2007-05-23 22:40:59 The future of France's Le Monde newspaper has been plunged into uncertainty following a vote by journalists to oust its director, Jean-Marie Colombani, whose name had become synonymous with the influential but loss-making journal. Colombani, the editorial figurehead, was seeking a further six-year mandate. Although he was the sole candidate for the post of chairman of the management board, only about 47% of reporters and editors, whose backing he needed, voted for him to stay. The 58-year-old had needed at least 60% in the secret ballot, held on Tuesday, to remain in the job. Shareholders and executives had balloted in favor of his reappointment, but editorial staff had the right of veto. Read The Full Story Bush Policies Increase Pentagon's Role In U.S. Government 2007-05-23 18:30:36 Under the guise of the war on terror the Bush administration has managed to set in motion the process of militarizing the United States by completely undermining the United States Constitution, dividing the nation, and restructuring the intelligence and defense department positions to appoint military officers to key leadership positions Since 9/11, Bush has signed the Patriot Act and the Homeland Security Act of 2002, giving federal law enforcement agencies broad powers to monitor citizens. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and human rights group opposed both laws, arguing: "These acts infringe on Americans' civil liberties and constitutional rights such as the rights to freedom of speech, religion, assembly and privacy; the rights to counsel and due process; and protection from unreasonable searches and seizures. By taking away people's liberties, the acts help advance the process of militarization. Read The Full Story Scientists Warn Of Himalaya Warming 2007-05-23 18:30:08 The retreating of the glaciers of the Himalayas, the roof of the world, has been increasing at a high rate because of warming due to climate change. "Through the warming of the Himalayan region, the snow of Rika Samba Glacier in the Hidden Valley, Kaligandaki basin, will disappear by 2060," said Om Ratna Bajracharya, Senior Hydrologist, Department of Hydrology and Meteorology (DHM). The rapid rate of snowmelt in the high Himalayas is expected to create and/or expand glacial lake outburst (GLOF), increasing river water flows. Glaciers are an important storage place for fresh water in Nepal, as they accumulate mass in monsoon and winter seasons at higher altitudes and provide melt water at lower elevations. Read The Full Story U.S. House OKs Penalty For Gasoline Price Gouging 2007-05-23 13:59:30 The U.S. House of Representatives, eager to do something about record high gasoline prices in advance of the Memorial Day weekend, voted narrowly Wednesday to approve stiff penalties for those found guilty of gasoline price gouging. The bill directs the Federal Trade Commission and Justice Department to go after oil companies, traders or retail operators if they take "unfair advantage" or charge "unconscionably excessive" prices for gasoline and other fuels. The White House called the measure a form of price controls that could result in fuel shortages. It said President Bush would be urged to veto the legislation should it pass Congress. The bill needed the approval of two-thirds of the members of the House because the leadership considered it under an expedited legislative process. Thus, the 284-141 vote was only one vote over the threshold for passage. A similar measure is being considered by the Senate. Read The Full Story Wealthy New York Couple Charged With Slavery 2007-05-23 13:59:01 A millionaire couple accused of keeping two Indonesian women as slaves in their luxurious Long Island home and abusing them for years have been indicted on federal slavery charges. Varsha Mahender Sabhnani, 35, and her husband, Mahender Murlidhar Sabhnani, 51, operate a worldwide perfume business with factories in Singapore and Bahrain. The two were arrested last week after one of their servants was found wandering outside a doughnut shop on Long Island, wearing only pants and a towel. The woman was believed to have fled the home when she took the trash out the night before. The couple pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court, and a magistrate judge set bail at $3.5 million and imposed home detention with electronic monitoring. Read The Full Story IAEA Report: Defiant Iran Expanding Nuclear Activities 2007-05-23 13:30:24 Iran has stepped up its defiance of the United Nation by expanding its nuclear enrichment activities, the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog said Wednesday. The International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) findings have set the stage for further sanctions against Iran, which insists its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. "Iran has not suspended its enrichment-related activities," said an IAEA report. "[They] have continued with the operation of their pilot fuel enrichment plant and with construction of their [planned industrial underground] enrichment plant." The U.N. Security Council has twice imposed sanctions on Iran, starting last December, when Tehran rejected an offer of aid in exchange for a halt in uranium enrichment. With the council's latest deadline for Iranian compliance ending Thursday, Wednesday's report could pave the way for a new round of talks on fresh measures within days. Read The Full Story Survey: U.S. Muslims Assimilated, Opposed To Extremism 2007-05-23 13:29:45 Unlike Muslim minorities in many European countries, U.S. Muslims are highly assimilated, close to parity with other Americans in income and overwhelmingly opposed to Islamic extremism, according to the first major, nationwide random survey of Muslims. The survey by the Pew Research Center found that 78 percent of U.S. Muslims said the use of suicide bombings against civilian targets to defend Islam is never justified. But 5 percent said it is justified "rarely," 7 percent said "sometimes," and 1 percent said "often"; the remaining 9 percent said they did not know or declined to answer. By comparison, Muslims in France, Spain and Britain were almost twice as likely to say suicide bombing is sometimes or often justified, and public acceptance of the tactic is even higher in some countries with large Muslim populations, such as Nigeria, Jordan and Egypt. Read The Full Story Refugees Plead To Be Saved As Lebanese Troops Besiege Camp 2007-05-23 02:41:36 In the middle of the road into the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon, scene of fierce fighting for the past three days, a woman lay shot, her body convulsing, unreachable by the army and Red Cross as snipers continued to fire over her. Inside the devastated camp, residents waited without water or electricity for a ceasefire to come into effect. Coming under sniper fire from two positions, a woman clutching her child screamed, "Take us out of here, please take us out of here, they are going to kill us." Peering out from a doorway, an older woman cried out, ducking as the bullets cracked and hissed through the air. "We have children in here, they need milk. Help us." Many of the villagers wanted to flee but said they were refugees and had nowhere to go, even if they were able to escape the camp. Late Tuesday night thousands were on the move - women clutching children and piling up in pickup trucks, some waving white flags, others fleeing on foot. Ambulances could be seen evacuating the wounded. United Nations relief officials said they expected up to 10,000 refugees to flee the camp through the night. Read The Full Story Commentary: Don't Get Fooled Again 2007-05-23 02:40:59 Intellpuke: In the following commentary, D.D. Guttenplan writes that the Bush Administration is trying to blame its failure in Iraq on Iran ... and that a lot of propaganda out of the administration is now setting the stage for this. Mr. Guttenplan's commentary, which appears in the Guardian edition for Tuesday, May 22, 2007, follows: History really does repeat itself. Either that or the Bush administration has decided to show its commitment to the environment by recycling lies. Those are the only firm conclusions to be drawn from the Guardian's front page story Tuesday morning. Iran, we are told, has a secret plan to force the U.S. and Britain to withdraw from Iraq. Not only that, but "Iran has reversed its previous policy in Afghanistan" and is now supporting the Taliban. So when George Bush's famous "surge" - a desperate gambit to prop up a bankrupt policy - fails to usher in the cooperative commonwealth in Iraq, we Guardian readers will know it's really all Tehran's fault. Attentive readers may have noticed that the story itself - though obviously based on a single anonymous "senior U.S. official in Baghdad" and "a senior administration official in Washington" - was carefully drafted to include Iranian denials and the acknowledgement that even most of the U.S. Congress believe Iraq is in the grip of a civil war. No, what struck me about the story wasn't its credulous tone so much as the sense, as the great philosopher and N.Y. Yankee backstop Yogi Berra once said, of deja vu all over again. Read The Full Story Changes Spurred GSA Buying, Abuses - Taxpayers Overcharged Millions In Sun Deal 2007-05-23 02:40:19 In February 2005, an auditor at the U.S. General Services Administration presented evidence to agency leaders that one of the government's top technology contractors was overcharging taxpayers. GSA auditor James M. Corcoran reported that Sun Microsystems had billed the government millions more for computer software and technical support than it charged its commercial customers. If true, the allegation was grounds to terminate the contract and launch a fraud investigation. Instead, senior GSA officials pressed last summer to renew the contract. That decision meant the government's leading contracting agency would be able to continue collecting millions of dollars in what are called industrial funding fees from Sun under rules that permit the GSA to take a percentage of every sale made to the government. It also meant that taxpayers would pay millions more than necessary, according to congressional investigators. Read The Full Story Top British Judges Revolt Over Ministry Of Justice Changes 2007-05-23 02:38:55 Britain's most senior judges last night moved into open revolt against the government after eight weeks of talks broke down over safeguards for the independence of the judiciary following the creation of the Ministry of Justice. Amid a growing constitutional crisis, the lord chief justice, Lord Phillips, told Parliament members the department was only created to "clear the decks" so that the home secretary, John Reid, could mount a "concerted attack on terrorism". Lord Phillips also claimed that the lord chancellor, Lord Falconer, was so far removed from the original decision that he only learned about it from an article by Reid in a Sunday newspaper. Lord Phillips said the two sides were "poles apart" with the government refusing judges' demands for a "fundamental review" of their constitutional position. The judges fear that the ministry will be swamped by the demands for resources from prisons and probation, and want the courts to be given special protection as an arms-length executive agency with a ring-fenced budget to protect their independence. Read The Full Story
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