How quickly the current deaths are forgotten.

1000

Al-Qaeda chief beheaded US soldiers: report

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/alqaeda-chief-beheaded-us-soldiers-report/2006/06/21/1150701561957.html

Iraqi insurgents have boasted that al-Qaeda's new leader in Iraq "slaughtered" two missing US soldiers, whose bodies were found yesterday.
The statement from an umbrella group for Iraqi insurgents suggested the soldiers had been beheaded by Abu Hamza al-Muhajer.
The bodies showed signs of "barbaric torture" when they were found by US and Iraqi troops, a senior Iraqi general told Reuters. "The two soldiers were found yesterday by a combined US-Iraqi force. We found they had been tortured in a barbaric fashion," Major General Abdul Aziz Mohammed said. Private Thomas Lowell Tucker, 25, from Madras, Oregon and Private Kristian Menchaca, 23, from Houston, Texas went missing at dusk on Friday after an ambush at a checkpoint in Yusufiya, a town in an area south of Baghdad some Iraqis call the "Triangle of Death".
The Arabic word used in the insurgents' statement, "nahr", is used for the slaughtering of sheep by cutting the throat and has been used in past statements to refer to beheadings.

DEMOCRATS 'think' for a living, Anderson. Something you are not used to !

1010

Web Post Says Russians Slain in Iraq; Workers Abducted, AP Says

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=a_qi3dAOT8Vk&refer=us

June 21 (Bloomberg) -- A group loyal to al-Qaeda in Iraq said it killed four kidnapped Russian diplomats, according to an Internet posting found by the Washington-based Search for International Terrorist Entities Institute.
The claim surfaced on a day in Iraq during which about 85 factory workers were kidnapped by gunmen and Saddam Hussein went on a hunger strike to protest the killing of one of his lawyers, according to the Associated Press.
The workers were abducted as they left work from a factory for metal doors, windows and pipes north of Baghdad, according to AP. About 30 women and children were later freed.
Iraq's new government is trying to clamp down on insurgent and sectarian violence to help forge national unity and economic growth.

1012

"LIE AND DIE"

Yep.

That's Bush. He's hasn't said a word of truth yet. And. He hasn't captured either Osama bin Laden OR the 20th hijacker.

'Al-Qaeda video' of 20th hijacker

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5101954.stm

A video said to be from al-Qaeda shows the man it says was the planned "20th hijacker" for the 9/11 US attacks.
The video, released by a US intelligence organisation, is of Saudi man, Fawaz al-Nashimi, who was killed in a shootout in Saudi Arabia in 2004.
The US has not commented and the video claim cannot be independently verified.
The identity of a 20th hijacker has been the subject of great debate, although there is no concrete evidence one was part of the plans for 9/11.

Al Qaeda has their own movie production company? Oh, really? Where exactly is this studio? Kabul?

Al-Qaeda’s al-Sahab Productions Releases New Zawahiri Video in Response to Kabul Riots
By SITE Institute

http://www.siteinstitute.org/bin/articles.cgi?ID=publications187506&Category=publications&Subcategory=0

A video of Ayman Al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda’s number two leader, was released today. Zawahiri’s statement on the video is a response to the rioting that occurred in Kabul, Afghanistan, on May 29, 2006, after three American military vehicles crashed into civilian cars during rush hour. The recording, almost four minutes, was likely recorded on May 30, 2006, as Zawahiri refers to “yesterday’s” events.
Zawahiri calls upon the Muslims in Kabuland elsewhere in Afghanistanto work with al-Qaeda against the Americans. This is the second message released by Zawahiri after Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s death on June 8, 2006. However, as the video was likely made before Zarqawi’s death, there is no mention of his death.

1018

commercials

1019

NEW AL QAEDA CHIEF: I SLIT THEIR THROATS
Sick claim as bodies of kidnapped troops found
By Mark Ellis, Foreign Editor
THE new head of al-Qaeda in Iraq personally slit the throats of two US soldiers whose bodies were found near Baghdad, it was claimed last night.
A statement on the internet gloated that Abu Hamza al-Muhajir had "implemented" sentence on the "two captive crusader parasites".
And it is feared al-Qaeda has scored a propaganda coup by carrying out the atrocity despite a huge US-led hunt for privates Thomas Lowell Tucker, 25, and Kristian Menchaca, 23.
More than 8,000 Iraqi and US troops, backed by fighter and spotter planes, searched for the soldiers who were snatched on Friday from a checkpoint in Yusifiya, 12 miles south of Baghdad.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=17264726&method=full&siteid=94762&headline=new-al-qaeda-chief--i-slit-their-throats--name_page.html

1022

more commercials

I GUESS THE BOYS REPEATED THEIR SKILLS . THEY ARE ON A ROLL. I was hoping they could duplicate their victory. I congratulate them. This time it was the Aussies.

US troops kill Zarqawi's 'right-hand man'
The US military says it has killed the "right-hand man" of slain Al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Major General William Caldwell says Iraqi Mansur Suleiman al-Mashhadani was killed on Friday by US forces in Yusifiyah, south of Baghdad.
"We do know that Sheikh Mansur was a key leader in Al Qaeda in Iraq with excellent religious, military and leadership credentials within that organisation," General Caldwell said.
He describes him as Zarqawi's right-hand man and a liaison between Al Qaeda and tribes in the restive area south of Baghdad.
The Mashhadani are a major tribe of Sunni Arabs.
"He was tied to the senior leadership, including having relationships with both Zarqawi and al-Masri," General Caldwell said, referring to Abu Ayub al-Masri, whom the US military claim to be Zarqawi's successor.
"We do think that his death will significantly continue to impact on the ability of this organisation to regenerate and organise itself."

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200606/s1667855.htm

1024


Campbell sees corruption in IWC practices

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200606/s1668876.htm

Federal Environment Minister Senator Ian Campbell has labelled some of the practices in the International Whaling Commission (IWC) as corrupt.
Senator Campbell is back in Australia after attending the commission's annual meeting, which was this year held on the Caribbean island of St Kitts.
There have been accusations of vote-buying and bullying, after pro-whaling nations led by Japan managed to pass a resolution to end a 20-year ban on commercial whaling by one vote.
Senator Campbell is disappointed with the outcome.
"I think that some of the practices within the IWC over many years could be called corrupt," he said.
"It's been happening in the last couple of years, these sorts of practices have been going on for many years."
Protesters fined
Meanwhile, a magistrate in St Kitts has fined six Greenpeace activists more than $12,000 for charges arising from a protest yesterday.
Five activists, who jumped from high-speed launches and waded through the surf to the beach beside the conference resort, were convicted of illegal entry and fined more than $A2,500 each.
The protesters, four from Brazil and one from Mexico, had boarded the launches from the nearby Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise, which had been banned from entering St Kitts' port during IWC talks.
They had planned to plant more than 800 banners in the sand in the shape of whale fins bearing the slogan "R.I.P." in memory of whales killed by Japan in the Southern Ocean during its "research whaling" program this year.
A sixth activist, Greenpeace spokesman Mike Townsley from Britain, was convicted of obstructing a police officer and fined $A500.
Prosecutors said Townsley was charged after telling other protesters not to give their names to a senior police officer.
A second charge of resisting arrest was dropped against him.
All six activists were remanded in custody until the fines were paid.

1029

NASA safety chief won't appeal shuttle launch order

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/nasa-safety-chief-wont-appeal-shuttle-launch-order/2006/06/22/1150845291372.html

NASA's top safety officer says he won't appeal a decision to clear shuttle Discovery for lift-off next week, even though he has nagging concerns about its safety.
On Saturday, following a two-day flight review, NASA safety chief Bryan O'Connor and chief engineer Chris Scolese declined to endorse the space agency's certification that Discovery was ready for launch.
At issue is whether additional modifications to the shuttle's external fuel tank were necessary before flights resume.
NASA redesigned the tank after the 2003 Columbia disaster, and then again after the first-post Columbia mission last July. Both times large pieces of insulating foam fell off the tank.
Columbia was hit and damaged by the falling debris, triggering the ship's break-up as it flew through the atmosphere for landing. Seven astronauts died in that accident.
Discovery escaped impact from the falling foam debris during its launch nearly a year ago, but NASA suspended flights for additional modifications.
Some engineers say the agency has not gone far enough, an opinion clearly shared by O'Connor and Scolese.
But both, speaking in a teleconference with reporters today, ruled out any last-minute appeals aimed at scuttling the planned July 1 launch of Discovery.

1043

Somalis head for Sudan talks to stave off war
1.00pm Thursday June 22, 2006By Mohamed Ali Bile
MOGADISHU - Sudan's president is to mediate in talks between Mogadishu's new Islamist rulers and Somalia's interim government on Thursday.
The Arab League-sponsored talks are aimed at heading off new war in the Horn of Africa nation.
Tensions have risen between the government and the Islamists since the latter kicked US-backed warlords out of Mogadishu on June 5 and went on to seize a strategic swathe of Somalia.
The government's call for international peacekeepers and its assertion that Muslim fundamentalists from around the world helped the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) secure its victory in Mogadishu have infuriated the Islamists.
The two sides seemed unlikely even to meet face-to-face.
Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir is to lead the Khartoum talks under the auspices of the Arab League.
President Abdullahi Yusuf, whose weak interim government is based in the provincial town of Baidoa, was on his way to Sudan for the talks. But ICU chairman Sheikh Sharif Ahmed was sending a 10-man delegation.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10387803


Zimbabwe to compensate foreigners for land
1.25pm Thursday June 22, 2006
HARARE - Zimbabwe will pay compensation in foreign currency for land seized from foreigners, but the land owners could still challenge the seizures in court, a cabinet minister has said.
Since 2000, President Robert Mugabe's government has taken over thousands of white-owned commercial farms after backing often violent invasions led by veterans of the country's 1970s struggle against white rule.
The government last August passed laws that nationalised all such farms, barring farmers from challenging the seizure of their property in courts. Many economists and critics say the programme has ruined a once-thriving agricultural sector.
Some of the confiscated land belonged to foreign countries despite being protected under bilateral agreements.
Security Minister Didymus Mutasa, who heads land reform and resettlement, said those with farms covered by such deals would receive full compensation and have the right to contest the seizures in court.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10387852

1046

THIS IS WHAT IS COMING ACROSS THE USA SOUTHERN BORDER.


Policemen beheaded in Mexico border city of Tijuana
2.20pm Thursday June 22, 2006
TIJUANA, Mexico - Three police officers and a fourth man were decapitated in the drug-plagued Mexican city of Tijuana on the US border, their heads and bodies dumped kilometres apart, authorities there have said.
Police found the heads of three municipal policemen and a man identified only as a friend of one of the officers in plastic bags under a Tijuana bridge hours after their corpses turned up in the outlying district of Rosarito, said Jaime Niebla, a senior Tijuana police official. The city is near San Diego.
Rosarito's police chief, Valente Montijo, citing witnesses, said men in federal police uniforms attacked the victims.
The killings were the latest in a spate of police killings along the US border in recent months. Officers often collude with drug traffickers, and shootouts between members of different police forces are common.
Drug violence has been rife along the border since President Vicente Fox declared "the mother of all battles" on drug cartels in January 2005 and sent hundreds of troops and federal police to border cities.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10387854


US and Colombia crack drug smuggling ring
11.20am Thursday June 22, 2006By Christine Kearney
NEW YORK - US and Colombian authorities have arrested 30 suspected members of one of Colombia's top trafficking rings, a US official said.
The traffickers secreted heroin and cocaine in the soles of sandals, furniture, the lining of golf bags, and used human carriers who swallowed heroin pellets packed in condoms and boarded commercial airlines, the official said.
The arrests "dismantled a drug trafficking organisation that operated from the darkened jungles of Colombia to the bright lights of New York City", US Drug Enforcement Administration special agent John Gilbride told a news conference in New York.
Twenty-one people were arrested in Colombia, including nine suspected leaders of the Jaime Ocampo-Marin operation. US authorities arrested two people in Florida and seven in New York, Gilbride said.
As part of the investigation, anti-drug agents seized more than 113 kg of heroin worth more than US$25 ($40.9) million in raids in the United States and Colombia between mid-2004 and December 2005, Gilbride said.
He described it as "one of the largest amounts of heroin seized in a single drug investigation".
Nine Colombian anti-narcotics police involved in the investigation were killed on May 22, giving authorities an incentive to crack the ring, Gilbride said.
Eight Colombian soldiers have been arrested in connection with the deaths. Colombian investigators say the soldiers were in the pay of right-wing paramilitary militias.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10387814

1050

Even mild injuries to brain add up

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2006-06-06-brain-damage_x.htm

By Gregg Zoroya, USA TODAY
After a land mine exploded under his armored vehicle last October in Barwana, Iraq, Marine Sgt. Devon Bradley remembers a deafening noise and a flash. Then nothing.
Seconds later, when he came to, Bradley grabbed his weapon and went back into the fight. He led his team for the next two months in efforts to clear insurgents from Barwana.
"We're hard dogs, and I kept pushing to be with my Marines," says Bradley, 29, who was on his third combat tour.
But something was wrong. In the weeks that followed the blast, he began forgetting what other Marines had just told him. He struggled to handle more than one task at once. Taste and smell disappeared. Worst of all, so did the name of his soon-to-be-born daughter, Addison. Bradley says he had to dig through letters from home to remember it.
He was eventually flown to a battlefield hospital where he was diagnosed with a concussion — his second in the Iraq war and the third of his life. Bradley learned that what he thought was post-nasal drip was actually leaking spinal fluid.
By January, he was back at Camp Pendleton in California. Doctors told him his brain may never fully recover, and his career in the Marine Corps is in doubt
After more than three years of war in Iraq, where bombs are the biggest threat to U.S. troops, military doctors are seeing a growing number of brain injuries among soldiers and Marines caught too close to a blast. The vast majority are mild concussions that cannot be detected even with a CT scan or MRI.

The same article was noted by Michael Moore.

Even mild injuries to brain add up
By Gregg Zoroya / USA Today
After a land mine exploded under his armored vehicle last October in Barwana, Iraq, Marine Sgt. Devon Bradley remembers a deafening noise and a flash. Then nothing.
Seconds later, when he came to, Bradley grabbed his weapon and went back into the fight. He led his team for the next two months in efforts to clear insurgents from Barwana.
"We're hard dogs, and I kept pushing to be with my Marines," says Bradley, 29, who was on his third combat tour.
But something was wrong. In the weeks that followed the blast, he began forgetting what other Marines had just told him. He struggled to handle more than one task at once. Taste and smell disappeared. Worst of all, so did the name of his soon-to-be-born daughter, Addison. Bradley says he had to dig through letters from home to remember it.
He was eventually flown to a battlefield hospital where he was diagnosed with a concussion — his second in the Iraq war and the third of his life. Bradley learned that what he thought was post-nasal drip was actually leaking spinal fluid.
By January, he was back at Camp Pendleton in California. Doctors told him his brain may never fully recover, and his career in the Marine Corps is in doubt.
After more than three years of war in Iraq, where bombs are the biggest threat to U.S. troops, military doctors are seeing a growing number of brain injuries among soldiers and Marines caught too close to a blast. The vast majority are mild concussions that cannot be detected even with a CT scan or MRI.

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=7180

THIS IS FROM January 2004. Once again the troops receive less than adequate protection from the Bush Administration.

Head Injuries Push Improvements In Gear

http://www.operation-helmet.org/head-injury.html

By Sandra JontzStars and StripesEuropean Edition January 30, 2004WASHINGTON — U.S. troops are suffering traumatic brain injuries in greater numbers in Iraq and Afghanistan than in previous wars, prompting studies on better helmets and improved medical treatment and recuperation care.
An area of scientific focus at the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center, headquartered at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., is how many traumatic brain injuries, or TBI, are direct results from the shock wave of a blast, and not just from the head impacting with the ground or other head and brain injuries wounds caused by shrapnel, for example, said Laurie Ryan, the center's assistant director for research.
In a preliminary study done among troops treated at Walter Reed, scientists analyzed 155 patients wounded in combat in Iraq to see if any showed signs of combat traumatic brain injury. Of the 155 troops, 96, or 62 percent, showed symptoms of minor to severe brain injuries. Of the 96, 88 likely had sustained an injury as a result of a blast, such as an explosion from a landmine, rocket propelled grenade or improvised explosive device, she said...

Original article

http://www.operation-helmet.org/documents/news-stories/Head-Injuries-Push-Improvements-In-Gear.pdf

1100

Large Incidents along the Southwest USA has increased exponentially since a week ago.

http://firemapper.sc.egov.usda.gov/

There is no sign of relief. The current turbulence is east of most of the fires. Drought.

http://weather.unisys.com/satellite/sat_wv_hem_loop-12.html

The Caribbean Sea was hot today. I can't believe the longevity of the Mid Atlantic vortex.

1108

I don't care to second guess the NECESSARY trials of our soldiers. We cannot allow a military to kill at will. For as much as it hurts to prosecute soldiers there has to be a brevity to their killing, otherwise, an event as the one that killed Pat Tillman will occur over and over again besides the deaths of innocent people. The USA military aren't supposed to be worse than the terrorists. I really think the USA military is out of control It's happening too frequently.

1110

I couldn't agree more. The Bush policy on most issues is inflammatory without resolve.

Bush policy a failure, says diplomat

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/bush-policy-a-failure-says-diplomat/2006/06/21/1150845247944.html

WASHINGTON: A former US diplomat who was deeply involved in North Korea policy said the Bush Administration's approach has been a failure that left Pyongyang to pursue its nuclear and missile programs.
In a rare public attack on the Administration by a foreign service officer, the retired head of the State Department's office of Korean affairs, David Straub, also questioned the decision-making on the issue by the Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice.
One fundamental failure of President George Bush's approach was the tendency to raise tensions and make South Korea nervous by stating that "all options" were on the table, a phrase underscoring US intentions to use force against North Korea if necessary, he said.
"Of course all options are on the table. No government ever takes any option off the table, but you don't have to talk about it all the time," Mr Straub said.

1123

The News Secretary finally.

This 'type' of incident of isolation leading to captured soldiers happened before with the squad of which Jessica Lynch was a memeber.

FIRST LYNCH



The truth about Jessica

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,956255,00.html

Her Iraqi guards had long fled, she was being well cared for - and doctors had already tried to free her. John Kampfner discovers the real story behind a modern American war myth Thursday May 15, 2003The Guardian
Jessica Lynch became an icon of the war. An all-American heroine, the story of her capture by the Iraqis and her rescue by US special forces became one of the great patriotic moments of the conflict. It couldn't have happened at a more crucial moment, when the talk was of coalition forces bogged down, of a victory too slow in coming.
Her rescue will go down as one of the most stunning pieces of news management yet conceived. It provides a remarkable insight into the real influence of Hollywood producers on the Pentagon's media managers, and has produced a template from which America hopes to present its future wars.

...In the early hours of April 2, correspondents in Doha were summoned from their beds to Centcom, the military and media nerve centre for the war. Jim Wilkinson, the White House's top figure there, had stayed up all night. "We had a situation where there was a lot of hot news," he recalls. "The president had been briefed, as had the secretary of defence."
The journalists rushed in, thinking Saddam had been captured. The story they were told instead has entered American folklore. Private Lynch, a 19-year-old clerk from Palestine, West Virginia, was a member of the US Army's 507th Ordnance Maintenance Company that took a wrong turning near Nassiriya and was ambushed. Nine of her US comrades were killed. Iraqi soldiers took Lynch to the local hospital, which was swarming with fedayeen, where he was held for eight days. That much is uncontested.

THE INCIDENT THAT KILLED THREE USA SOLDIERS

Left to die in ambush: army asks why

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/left-to-die-in-ambush-army-asks-why/2006/06/21/1150845247938.html

Major-General William Caldwell confirmed the bodies were believed to be the remains of Private First Class Kristian Menchaca, 23, and Private First Class Thomas Tucker, 25. General Caldwell said an autopsy would determine the cause of death and there would be DNA testing "to confirm that it is in fact them".
A third soldier, identified as Specialist David Babineau, 25, died in a gun battle that preceded the abduction. All three soldiers were guarding a canal bridge near their military camp.
The circumstances of the initial attack remain mysterious. In a country where military vehicles, even the most impervious tanks, rarely leave fortified areas unless in pairs, General Caldwell confirmed the soldiers were alone.
"We know that there was a single vehicle with three American soldiers when they came under attack," he said.
According to Iraqis living in the area, the three soldiers became isolated when their comrades pursued insurgents into the orchards off the roadside. Then, the Iraqis said, seven or eight masked guerillas attacked the three, killing Specialist Babineau and capturing the other two. The Iraqis said they believed insurgents had staged the first attack to divert most of the Americans and isolate the three.
General Caldwell said the two were killed in a violent way and had not died from battle wounds.
The Shura Council of the Mujahideen, an al-Qaeda-linked group, posted a message on a jihadist website taking responsibility for the killings, but offered no proof of involvement.
General Caldwell said US troops found the bodies on Monday night, but did not immediately recover them, fearing the area was booby-trapped.


'Far too few' soldiers sent to Iraq

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/far-too-few-soldiers-sent-to-iraq/2006/06/21/1150845247929.html

THE US deployed a disastrously undersized army to occupy Iraq because the Secretary of Defence, Donald Rumsfeld, wanted to prove a point about military theory, according to a former top Bush Administration official.
The deputy secretary of state in the first four years of the Bush Administration, Richard Armitage, said that the undersized troop commitment was one of four key US strategic errors.
With a debate raging in Washington over whether to withdraw from Iraq, and a vote in the US Senate due today, Mr Armitage said the Administration discarded an invasion plan for Iraq that deployed at least 380,000 troops in favour of a plan with two-thirds that size at 250,000.
The reason was that Mr Rumsfeld wanted to apply a doctrine of "transformation" of the military, a vaunted move away from traditional military practice towards more flexible and high-tech warfare.
This would represent a departure from the principle of overwhelming force known as the Powell doctrine, named after the former secretary of state and general Colin Powell, a rival of Mr Rumsfeld's within the Bush Administration.
"The largest strategic mistake we made is that we had enough soldiers to win the war, but we had far too few to secure the peace," Mr Armitage said in an interview with the Herald.

enough

When the program goes south, it goes south. Good night and good luck.

Who will get your attention today -- Anderson Cooper and Angelina Jolie, or Pfc Kristian Menchaca and Pfc Thomas Tucker? (click on title for article)

Today's New York Times and Los Angeles Times, plus who knows what other papers, carry half-page ads from CNN promoting Cooper's great get: his TELEVISION EXCLUSIVE interview with "Jolie - just back from Africa - on motherhood and her passionate fight for refugee relief." In politics, and in the entertainment business, these ads are known as "paid media." CNN is spending substantially in order to attract eyeballs to Cooper's show, whose ratings turn out not to be as high as Aaron Brown's, whom he replaced, despite Cooper's appearance in feature stories and on magazine covers ("free media") promoting his new book. Jolie is using her celebrity to get free media for refugees (and herself), just as the UN is using its prestige to get free media by declaring today World Refugee Day. CNN, in turn, is using Jolie's susperstar eye-candy in order to demonstrate to advertisers that it can pull decent enough Nielsens to justify paid media by HeadOn, ditech.com, the Schwarzenegger campaign and anyone else competing for your neurons.

Binary language. Easy to derail a democracy.

1000

I still don't understand the 'military' significance of looking for missing presonnel. These were young soldiers with little high level information. They were on a detail. The reason I state this is that I feel the military is being used for political outcomes. Building sympathy for the continued occupation based on finding lost soldiers.

The outcomes to any kidnapped people in Iraq is grim no matter whom they are. There are an additional five soldiers now dead from 'the search.' The military should explain the military science behind the search that justifies the loss of more soldiers. I really think Bush is behind the push for intensifying the focus on missing soldiers. The focus, if anything will cause greater peril and not less.




Majority Votes to Legalize Whaling
John Roach for National Geographic News
June 19, 2006
A slim majority of nations on the International Whaling Commission voted Sunday in support of legalizing commercial whaling.
The vote—33 for and 32 against, with one abstention—fell short of the three-quarters majority needed to overturn the 20-year ban on commercial whaling.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/06/060619-whaling-ban.html

1020

The war in Iraq is endless. There is 'winning' if that means dominating the politics. I don't know how Bush defines winning. The violence of the Middle East is turbulent.

1022

CNN is trying to bolster the culture of fear while redefining the war. No one has to answer the war head on. The Iraqi government needs to handle their own affairs. These folks at CNN are confused. This is not our war. It's an Iraqi Civil War. We are not the Middle East Police. Besides Bush today made a threat against Iran. He's a jerk. Anything to escalate and nothing to provide a road to peace.

1023

Global warming affects bird migration

Australia's migratory birds are arriving earlier and leaving later - most likely due to global warming, a new study has found.
Macquarie University PhD students Linda Beaumont and Ian McAllan, together with associate professor Lesley Hughes, have analysed the movements of migratory birds visiting south-eastern Australia since the 1960s.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/Global-warming-affects-bird-migration/2006/06/20/1150701529282.html

Anderson why don't you demonstrate what cyanide gas does to a CNN anchor. Oh, here we go. We are all supposed to be paranoid now with cyanide in our water, food, etc. Go to hell, Gupta.

1031

Hurry, buy stocks in Duct Tape, Gupta and Cooper are paranoid !

Duct tape sales rise amid terror fears

http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/02/11/emergency.supplies/

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Americans have apparently heeded the U.S. government's advice to prepare for terror attacks, emptying hardware store shelves of duct tape.
On Tuesday, less than 24 hours after U.S. Fire Administrator David Paulison described a list of useful items, stores in the greater Washington, D.C. area reported a surge in sales of plastic sheeting, duct tape, and other emergency items.
These items, Paulison said, can be helpful after a biological, chemical or radiological attack.

1035

We are making progress.

Former 'Belmarsh detainee' with Bin Laden links deported


HMP Belmarsh
A former "Belmarsh detainee" described as a senior member of a terrorist group linked with Osama Bin Laden has been deported from Britain, the Home Office said.
The man, who can only be identified by the initial "I", was returned to Algeria yesterday after voluntarily dropping his appeal against deportation moves by the Government.

http://www.24dash.com/content/news/viewNews.php?navID=57&newsID=7020

1041

No news secretary yet? Why? She rather not be affiliated with a terror program?

Autism groups want mercury banPreservative used in vaccines for children

http://www.telegram.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060618/NEWS/606180513/1116

A battle pitting many parents of autistic children against the bulk of the state’s medical establishment, with state lawmakers squarely in the middle, could spill onto the House floor this week as debate begins on a bill to ban mercury from children’s vaccines.

The bill itself is a decidedly watered-down version of what supporters originally wanted. That, though, has done little to stave off behind-the-scenes maneuvering by a number of official medical organizations. What spurred the proposed legislation is a rise in autism rates that coincides with an increase in the required number of children’s vaccines. Since 1989 the number of required injections is up from about 8 to 22. In that same time period, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, incidences of autism have risen from 2 in 10,000 to 1 in 166.

1047


Japan's Koizumi to announce troop withdrawal from Iraq
The Associated Press (apwire)
Email Article Print Article
Published 2006-06-20 10:54 (KST)
TOKYO Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi announced his plan Tuesday to withdraw troops from Iraq at a ruling party meeting, a party official said, moving to end Japan's largest military mission since World War II.The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of party protocol, said Koizumi told a meeting of the Liberal Democratic Party that he would make a public announcement of the pullout later in the day.''We've finished this chapter,'' Kyodo News agency quoted Koizumi as telling party executives.Japan has about 600 troops in the city of Samawah in southern Iraq. Although the mission is strictly non-combat and humanitarian, the deploymentbroke new ground as a symbol of Tokyo's more assertive military policy of recent years.

http://english.ohmynews.com/ArticleView/article_view.asp?no=299948&rel_no=1

1051

Israel's Olmert convenes ex-premiers on Iran
By Dan WilliamsReutersMonday, June 19, 2006; 2:25 PM
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Prime Minister Ehud Olmert held talks on Monday with three former Israeli premiers about Iran's nuclear program, signaling a drive for consensus on an issue the Jewish state calls a threat to its existence.
Olmert lacks the military pedigree common to most of his predecessors, as does Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz, a veteran trade unionist who won the key portfolio under a coalition deal between his Labor Party and the ruling Kadima.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/19/AR2006061900632.html

1054

The International Criminal Court: A Justice Network
Luis Moreno-Ocampo Al-Hayat - 12/06/06//
Six children walked down a road in the region of Ituri, Democratic Republic of Congo. They were on their way to school when a jeep packed with militiamen sped in front of them. Fighters bearing AK-47s ordered the terrified children into the jeep. They were transported to military training camps and forced to learn to fire machine guns. Three weeks later, the children were in the field, killing and being killed.Thomas Lubanga, leader of one of the most dangerous militias in the Congo, allegedly orchestrated crimes like the one described above. In March, the judges of the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant charging Lubanga with conscripting children under fifteen to use in active hostilities. A few days later, Lubanga was transferred from the Congo in a French military aircraft to a prison in The Hague.

http://english.daralhayat.com/opinion/contributors/06-2006/Article-20060612-c8e208f0-c0a8-10ed-0135-e112f538f0cf/story.html

1056


Israel honours memory of anti-Nazi "European Union"
19 Jun 2006 20:28:29 GMT19 Jun 2006 20:28:29 GMT ## for search indexer, do not remove-->
Source: Reuters
Printable view Email this article RSS [-] Text [+]
By Louis Charbonneau
BERLIN, June 19 (Reuters) - Israel's ambassador to Germany presented medals of honour on Monday to relatives of five members of the first "European Union" -- an anti-Nazi resistance group whose members hid and fed Jews during World War Two.
This European Union, which had the same name but nothing to do with the modern 25-nation bloc of European countries, was an underground, Marxist-oriented group with around 50 to 60 German members, according to a protocol prepared by Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust museum.
To honour them, Israel's ambassador to Germany Shimon Stein presented special Yad Vashem medals to surviving members of the families of "European Union" activists Georg and Anneliese Groscurth, Robert Havemann, Paul Rentsch and Herbert Richter at a ceremony at Stein's official residence in the German capital.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L19172990.htm

1100

2 U.S. Gulf Coast refineries hit by storms
Mon Jun 19, 2006 5:20pm ET

HOUSTON, June 19 (Reuters) - At least two U.S. Gulf Coast refineries said on Monday their production was interrupted by heavy rainstorms in Texas and Louisiana.
Refiners were using a Monday afternoon lull in torrential rains on Monday afternoon to get production back on-line before another round drenches the coast Monday night and Tuesday morning.
Texas public safety officials were warning municipal fire and police departments to expect up to 10 inches of rain overnight in saturated areas. At one location along Houston's refinery row, 11 inches of rain had already fallen by Monday afternoon.
Citgo Petroleum Corp. said on Monday afternoon it was restarting process units at its 440,000 barrel per day (bpd) refinery in Lake Charles, Louisiana, which malfunctioned due to heavy rains on Monday morning.

http://today.reuters.com/stocks/QuoteCompanyNewsArticle.aspx?view=CN&storyID=2006-06-19T212009Z_01_N19406878_RTRIDST_0_ENERGY-STORMS-REFINERIES.XML&rpc=66

1105

Recent Duke Study Links Global Warming, Increased Carbon Dioxide Levels with Poison Ivy PerilsMonday June 12, 10:07 am ET
Prevent Annoying Poison Ivy Itch and Rash with the ONLY FDA-Approved Product -- IvyBlock
LOS ANGELES, June 12 /PRNewswire/ -- A recent study conducted by Duke University researchers and published in the May 30 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has linked increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere with bigger, faster-growing poison ivy. According to researchers, the increased amount of CO2 also increases the virulence of the plant, enabling greater production of urushiol, the oil responsible for causing the uncomfortable itch, rash and irritation associated with poison ivy, oak and sumac. This could be bad news for the millions of Americans who work and play in areas where poison ivy, oak and sumac take hold.

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060612/cgm021.html?.v=54


1107

Castro gave Chavez the coordinates for the White House


Hugo Chavez Promises to Visit Iran, North Korea
Reuters
CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced on Sunday that he will visit Iran and North Korea, two nations at odds with Washington over nuclear development, at a time when Chavez is seeking to distance Venezuela from the United States.
Chavez, who has promised a socialist revolution to end poverty in the world’s fifth-largest oil exporter, has drawn fire from the State Department for building alliances with U.S. foes like Cuba and Iran.
“We will soon be in North Korea, we will soon be in Tehran, deepening our ... strategic alliances,” Chavez said during his weekly Sunday broadcast.
He said the tour will also include stops in China and Russia, where Venezuela will sign military cooperation agreements with the Russian government, following U.S. moves to block Chavez’s arms purchases from other countries.

http://www.sptimes.ru/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=17901

1108

Disinformation. That is putting it lightly.

1112

People profited by putting false information about a deadly trend in Earth's troposphere. They go unpunished and able to continue with their point of view.; It's a travesty. See, CNN still persists there is a debate in the face of Katrina and other scientific studies such as the one above. This is recreation for them, while doing so called serious discussions about Africa. Ever stop to ask what caused the drought in Ethiopia, Anderson? Go ahead, sell your soul.

1110

enough

1000

Protestors rally against Bush, Wilson Source: KRQE News 13
Watch Video

ALBUQUERQUE -- While President Bush had plenty of supporters at a campaign reception for Rep. Heather Wilson, there were hundreds of protestors across the street in Civic Plaza.
One Bush defender braved the crowd to support the president’s policies.
While the protestors brought different issues with them, they agreed on wanting Bush and his supporters, including Wilson, out of office.
Some were dressed in pink slips expressing their desire to give Bush and Wilson pink unemployment slips. Others carried black balloons and told KRQE News 13 the country is doomed as long as Bush remains in office.
“Heather has to go,” one protestor said. “She's too embedded with Bush.
“She votes for him down the line all the time. That has to end.”
Albuquerque police along with Bernalillo County sheriff's deputies guarded the front of the Hyatt Regency while Bush and Wilson attended a fundraising reception inside and protestors chanted outside. That didn’t stop the lone Bush supporter from challenging his critics.
“Everybody here is against bush so I just thought I had to say something for him,” Daniel Worley said.
One of the protestors apparently was arrested for not moving back after he was told to by police.
Otherwise the several hundred protestors were peaceful, and no violence was reported.

http://www.krqe.com/expanded.asp?RECORD_KEY%5BNews%5D=ID&ID%5BNews%5D=15778

1004

I think the 'dual' identity of Bush Republicans is hideous.

A House Republican whose subcommittee oversees the National Security Agency broke ranks with the White House on Tuesday and called for a full Congressional inquiry into the Bush administration’s domestic eavesdropping program.
The lawmaker, Representative Heather A. Wilson of New Mexico, chairwoman of the House Intelligence Subcommittee on Technical and Tactical Intelligence, said in an interview that she had “serious concerns” about the surveillance program.

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/02/08/bush-on-heather-wilson/



Poll: Madrid, Wilson in Dead Heat
Poll: Madrid, Wilson in Dead HeatNew Mexico's First Congressional District Definitely in Play
2/7/06
ALBUQUERQUE -- A recent poll by D.C.-based Lake Research Partners showed that Attorney General Patricia Madrid and Rep. Heather Wilson are in a statistical dead heat in the race to represent New Mexico's First Congressional District, according to an internal memo released Tuesday.
Specifically, the poll found that of the 400 district voters sampled 43 percent would vote for Madrid, 44 percent would vote for Wilson. Factoring in the margin of error, the two candidates are tied with the election nine months away.
Lake Research Partners' poll also found that Madrid's strong showing so early in the race was based on voters' positive feelings toward her performance as attorney general.
". . . fully 62 percent of voters are positive about the job that Madrid is doing as Attorney General," Lake Research Partners found.

http://www.madridforcongress.com/node/513


1009

Conozca a Patricia Madrid
Patricia Madrid ganó su primera campaña en 1978 cuando llegó a ser la primera mujer elegida como juez de juzgado de distrito en Nuevo México. En 1998, llegó a ser la primera mujer elegida fiscal del estado de Nuevo México y en 2002 continuó en el puesto cuando fue elegida de nuevo en una victoria arrolladora. Hace más de treinta años que está casada con un abogado de Albuquerque, L. Michael Messina, y tiene un hijo, Giancarlo, que se recibió de la Universidad de Nuevo México y ahora trabaja en Washington DC.

http://www.madridforcongress.com/enespanol/conozca

1014

This is from a Middle East newspaper. It's important to realize the 'approach.'

War crimes court finds multiple Darfur massacres

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) — The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said Wednesday his office had documented massacres with hundreds of victims in Sudan's war-torn Darfur region as well as hundreds of rape cases.
In a report to the UN Security Council, Luis Moreno-Ocampo said the office had documented "thousands of alleged direct killings of civilians by parties to the conflict," including "a significant number of large-scale massacres, with hundreds of victims in each incident." Ocampo told the council that his office was investigating allegations that some of the groups implicated in the Darfur crimes "did so with specific genocidal intent."
He said identifying those with the greatest responsibility for the most serious crimes in Darfur was a key challenge for his probe but said he would not draw any conclusions pending the completion of a "full and impartial investigation."

http://www.jordantimes.com/fri/news/news6.htm

1017

This is a vital aspect to seeking Iran's cooperation. Iran is convinced they are the ONLY Islamic nation capable of standing up to the West. If the West proves there is no reason to stand upto them it gives Iran no reason to resist peace over war.


EU approves mechanism for Palestinian aid
Agencies
Brussels: The European Union on Friday agreed on an aid scheme for Palestinians bypassing the Hamas-led government and said it was close to winning the backing of the United States and other peace brokers.
"The European Council has endorsed our proposal for a temporary international mechanism," European Commission spokeswoman Emma Udwin told a news briefing in Brussels.

http://www.gulfnews.com/region/Middle_East/10047570.html


1023

No. This is not from a New York Newspaper. It's from "The Arab News." I thought the Republicans during their rhetoric yesterday stated their debate narcisstically would be all over the Arab newspapers. It would not seem to be the case.

Govt Officials and FBI Agents Go Unpunished for Stealing

Once secret FBI documents obtained by The Associated Press show the FBI investigated how a company, Kieger Enterprises, KEI, of Lino Lakes, Minnesota, went unpublished for the Sept. 11, 2001 theft of 45 tons of donated water, clothing, tools and generators. The case was dropped after investigators also found that an FBI agent and other government officials had pilfered artifacts from Ground Zero.
As a result, most Americans were kept in the dark about a major fraud involving their donated goods even as new requests for charity emerged with disasters like Hurricane Katrina.
The government ultimately gave the whistle-blowers $30,000 each after expenses, their share in a civil settlement against KEI. They say the sum was hardly worth their trouble.
Federal prosecutors eventually charged KEI and some executives with fraud, including overbilling the government in several disasters, but excluded the Sept. 11 thefts.
AP reports that KEI worked for the government for years, providing disaster relief services during tornadoes, floods and other catastrophes. It was picked to manage the New York warehouse for the government’s main Sept. 11 relief contractor.

http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=83918&d=17&m=6&y=2006

It would seem the show that stated the Republicans were so concerned about their 'debate' causing problems doesn't care to follow up on it. Hm.

1030

commercials

1034

The Republicans. The Elitiists. The Party of Corruption.

GOP candidate McGavick got millions leaving Safeco
By CURT WOODWARDASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mike McGavick collected more than $28 million upon leaving his post as an insurance executive earlier this year, financial disclosures showed Friday.
Most of that 2006 compensation from Safeco Insurance Co. was stock and options, his campaign said. McGavick had served as the firm's chief executive since 2001, leaving early this year after a two-month transition period.
Washington state Democrats pounced on the tally, calling it proof their federal complaint about McGavick's "golden parachute" was on the mark.
McGavick's campaign dismissed that allegation as baseless: "They see the race getting close and these are very typical tactics, so we're not surprised," spokeswoman Julie Sund said.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420AP_WA_McGavick_Money.html

Hm? Why would a well paid executive leave his employer to enter government?

Global warming could burn insurersActivists call on industry to act
By JOHN IWASAKIP-I REPORTER
The alarm sounded by scientists about global warming has deep implications for the insurance industry and consumers, participants said Thursday at a climate change summit in Seattle.
Businesses and governments can do more to reduce carbon dioxide, promote renewable resources and take other environmentally friendly actions that would benefit the world as well as their bottom line, corporate executives and politicians said.
Dramatic climate changes have the potential to affect nearly all segments of insurance coverage, including agricultural, health, life and business, said Andrew Logan, program manager of CERES, a Boston-based national network of investment funds, environmental organizations and other public interest groups.
Natural and manmade catastrophic events have steadily increased since 1970, with eight of the 10 most expensive disasters in U.S. history occurring in the past four years, he said.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/274169_climate16.html?source=mypi

1039

commercials

WHOM are you keeping honest, Anderson? The ACTION in Seattle today was downtown.

Hundreds turn out to call for higher pay
By BRAD WONGP-I REPORTER
Wearing red T-shirts and blowing high-pitched whistles, hundreds of hotel workers rallied on Fifth Avenue in downtown Seattle on Thursday to call for better wages and benefits.

Karen Ducey / P-I

A rally for hotel workers in Seattle on Thursday attracts members of other unions, including Jonetta Green, left, Jackie Keen and DeAnna Botello, all of SEIU 775.
UNITE-HERE Local 8 organized the rally in front of the Westin Hotel, as part of a national "Hotel Workers Rising" campaign.
At least 300 people, including Mayor Greg Nickels, filled the sidewalk and street.
Richard Sawyer, Local 8 secretary treasurer, had pointed comments for the hotel industry, which he said pulls in billions of dollars each year. But, he added, many industry workers do not share in that prosperity.
"It's low pay, hard work and has a high rate of injuries," he said. "A large sector of this industry is below the poverty line."
In the Seattle area, he estimates there are about 10,000 hotel workers -- and many earn only $8.50 an hour. The federal poverty level for a family of four is $18,850.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/274177_hotelrally16.html

1042

Dead whale found in river, 1,000 miles inland
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- The carcass of a young beluga whale was found Thursday by canoeists on the Tanana River about 40 miles southwest of Fairbanks -- or nearly 1,000 river miles from the Bering Sea, the closest beluga habitat.
Sylvia Brunner, a marine mammals researcher at the University of Alaska Museum of the North in Fairbanks, identified the decomposing carcass and oversaw its recovery Wednesday.
What the 8-foot-long whale was doing that far inland on a freshwater river, part of a system that drains much of the vast interior of Alaska, remains a mystery. But Link Olson, curator of marine mammals at the museum, said he was confident the animal swam from the ocean.
"What are the alternatives?" he said. Perpetrating a hoax along a remote section of river with a whale carcass was highly unlikely, he said: "If you were ever close to a dead marine mammal, even for a few hours, you would know why no one in their right mind would do that."
It could have died in the river last fall and frozen, Brunner said, or it could have entered the river this spring seeking fish.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/274171_whale16.html

1044

Greater Seattle area, state plans reviewed by feds
By PEGGY ANDERSENASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
SEATTLE -- The Department of Homeland Security on Friday rated Washington state and the Greater Seattle area sufficient or partly sufficient in all categories of catastrophic disaster planning except one: evacuation from Seattle.
Evacuation is a good strategy for an impending storm, which can be seen approaching for days, said Barb Graff, Seattle's emergency planning director.
But in this city, a catastrophic disaster would likely involve a major earthquake. "Our challenge would be getting resources to the area after," using a relatively fragile transportation system, Graff said.
Planners around the country were asked about preparedness for a catastrophic, Katrina-level disaster, which in the Northwest would likely be an earthquake far stronger than those that rattled the area in 1949, 1965 and 2001.
"What prompted all this was Katrina, and of course evacuation was a big issue on Katrina and then Rita," said Eric Holdeman, King County's emergency services director, of the Gulf Coast devastation. "They were asking hurricane questions in earthquake territory."

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420AP_WA_Disaster_Plans_Wash.html

ANDERSON is surprised there is a horse patrol on the USA/Canadian Border. It's not a new concept !

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police

http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/news/newsroom_e.htm

1054

Western Water Supple Forecasts

http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/cbrfc/westernwater/map.php?map=wsup

I don't like the way this looks. Early signs of drought, both short term with cummer coming and a longer term trend.

1056

commercials

1059

Explosion fatalities first of kind for oil companyBy Nikki Davis Maute

Three employees who died in an explosion near Raleigh on Monday were the first fatalities reported by the Columbia oil field services company where the men worked.

“We’ve never had this happen before, and we opened in 1980,” said Horace English, manager of Stringer’s Oilfield Service Inc. “It was just a freak accident. We’ve done that kind of job a million times.”

The three workers were preparing an empty petroleum tank to hold oil from an adjacent well. Two other nearby tanks that were thought to be empty exploded after apparently being ignited by a spark from a welding machine.

Killed in the accident were Nicholas Wayne Pounds, 23, of Foxworth; Kody Scarborough, 18, of Foxworth; and George B. Jefferson, 53, of Columbia.

The surviving crew member, Huey Duncan, 72, of Columbia, was listed in stable condition at Wesley Medical Center in Hattiesburg on Tuesday.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s Web site says that the oil services industry in Mississippi has had eight fatalities in the last 10 years. Stringer’s was not among the companies that had fatalities.

Nationwide during the same time period, OSHA said, 404 fatal accidents were reported.

Several state and federal agencies – including OSHA, the Mississippi Oil and Gas Board, the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board and the state Fire Marshal’s Office – are investigating the explosion.

John Parker, a board member with the state Oil and Gas Board, expects a report at the board’s June 21 meeting. But federal investigations are expected to take longer.

Clyde Payne, who heads Jackson’s OSHA office, said it could take up to six months to complete the agency’s investigation. OSHA can and does issue civil citations and fines if a company involved in an investigation violates OSHA rules.

In the eight fatal accidents OSHA reported since 1996, six of the companies were cited for OSHA violations.

Mississippi companies listed by OSHA included T.K. Stanley Inc., two deaths; Rapad Oil Field Services, one death; Rapad Drilling & Well Services Inc., one death; D&D Drilling and Exploration Inc., one death; Coastal Petroleum Services Inc., one death; Well Data Services, one death; and Triple S Well Service Inc., one death.

A spokesman for the federal Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board said a decision will be made after a preliminary review of the Raleigh explosion to determine if the agency will investigate further

.Among the factors that will determine whether the agency does a full investigation, spokesman Sandy Gilmore said, is whether there are lessons to be learned and if the results could have a relevance to the rest of the industry.

Originally published June 7, 2006

1105

The Republicans have no RESOLVE to their RESOLVE. There is no remorse about the deaths of soldiers after a huge mistake of the invasion in the first place. The only people whom observed the 2500th death in Iraq were Democrats. The only Federal legislators that spoke out regarding the deaths of our soldiers yesterday were Democrats.

The Bush Economy is based on spending the USA treasury dry.

1111

BP faces criminal inquiry in Alaska

PRUDHOE BAY DISASTER: The probe into the spill of 1.2 million liters of crude oil could lead to company officials facing criminal charges, prison terms and fines

THE GUARDIAN , LONDON
Saturday, Jun 10, 2006,Page 10

The reputation of oil giant BP -- and its share price -- took a beating on Thursday when it admitted it was facing a criminal inquiry into a massive oil spill in Alaska.

BP received a subpoena on April 26 from a US federal grand jury in Alaska but only revealed the investigation -- which could lead to prison sentences -- after an internal e-mail was leaked to journalists.

Shares in Britain's biggest company slumped 3 percent in early trading on Thursday on the back of the latest safety problem, which threatens to undermine its carefully crafted image as an environmentally responsible operator.

Revelations about the investigation into the spill of 1.2 million liters of crude into the Prudhoe Bay area follows a fire and 15 deaths at its Texas City refinery and a rig capsizing in the Gulf of Mexico.

There is already another US grand jury investigation into the refinery blast, which injured an estimated 500 staff, and the company has already been fined US$21 million for 300 violations uncovered by the UD Department of Labor.

Environmentalists called the Alaskan spill in March -- the largest ever in the North Slope region -- a "catastrophe."

BP blamed it on internal corrosion creating a 65mm hole.

A BP spokesman said in London on Thursday: "We are fully cooperating with the investigation and we are carrying out our own investigation into what caused the corrosion. We believe that our actions were at all times proper."

Initial news of the subpoena came after Steve Marshall, BP's head of exploration in Alaska, sent an e-mail to staff saying he had been asked for "a variety of documents and data from BP Alaska concerning the transit line and certain other operational areas."

Marshall urged his staff to treat the matter as confidential and added: "I believe that the information we provide will show that the actions of BP Alaska were, at all times, proper."

The pipeline problems were relatively small compared with Alaska's worst oil spill on March 24, 1989 when the Exxon Valdez tanker ran aground in Prince William Sound, near Anchorage.

About 2,092km of coastline were contaminated by the spill, killing hundreds of thousands of fish, seabirds, otters, seals and whales.

Exxon has always had a troubled relationship with environmental activists but BP has worked hard to cultivate a different one, emphasizing actions to help tackle climate change and promising to go "beyond petroleum."

Allegations of poor safety or maintenance systems are particularly sensitive issues for oil companies at a time when they are making record profits and facing criticism from politicians.

Problems in Alaska will not help oil companies such as BP in their attempts to fight off the threat of higher taxes in the state.

Nor will it help the oil company, led by the chief executive, Lord Browne, win a contract for a ?20 billion (US$37 billion) planned gas link in Alaska.

Fadel Gheit, an analyst with the New York brokerage firm Oppenheimer & Co, said the wave of problems threatened to damage the good standing that BP had developed in the US.

"A company this size with operations all over the world is always vulnerable to things going wrong but a lot seems to have gone wrong in this case and its [good] public image is being eroded," Gheit said.

"BP has sowed seeds of goodwill by bringing in a respected politicians like James Baker at Texas City and has been bombarding the public with green messages through advertising," he said.
"Without this, things could have been much worse but it needs to stop shooting itself in the
foot," he said.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/worldbiz/archives/2006/06/10/2003312739

The Third Person Omnipotent

1122

Oil worker deaths ‘could have been avoided’

http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/64042.html


AT NO TIME does this 'Risk Assessment' ever value the lives of citizens of Nigeria. Never once are the oil personnel at fault. There is no accountability for the deaths the oil companies caused in slaughtering villiages of Nigerians. This discussion is REMOVED from anything except 'cautioning' the dangers of the Nigerian oil supply. It is cold and produced to be calculating AGAINST the citizenry of Nigeria. Amnesty International also makes an example of some of the severe laws of the government. That severity 'lends' to the conflict between business and citizens. That severity enables the government to oppress and victimize people against their will. These are simple people. They seek nothing from oil. They want to live in peace on their land.

The situation in the oil-producing Delta region deteriorated; women seized several oil flow stations to demand jobs and proper compensation for land acquisition and for environmental damage caused by oil companies.

http://web.amnesty.org/report2003/nga-summary-eng

June 14, 2006]
Nigeria risk: Security risk
(RiskWire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)

COUNTRY BRIEFING

FROM THE ECONOMIST INTELLIGENCE UNIT

RISK RATINGS

SUMMARY

Nigeria is an insecure environment for commercial operations. Security risk arises on three levels. The first comes from the high level of violent crime. This can be simple armed robbery (especially of mobile phones), but can also involve car jacking and violent attacks. The risk is especially common when travelling between major cities. Second, companies can be subjected to direct attack or blackmail. This occurs overwhelmingly in the oil producing states and is directed at multinational oil companies, where facilities can be vandalised and staff kidnapped. Third, incidences of inter-communal violence have risen since the return to civilian rule. While foreigners are not usually the direct object of attack in such cases, incidents can quickly spiral out of control and engulf bystanders. In a recent government survey, 80% of companies cited the lack of security for their staff and property as a serious constraint on business.

SCENARIOS

Oil firms suffer kidnapping of staff and vandalism against premises (High Risk)
Kidnapping of staff and vandalism against premises and oil producing infrastructure is commonplace in Delta, Rivers and Bayelsa states (the heart of so-called Delta region), which are the centre of Nigerias onshore oil industry. Shell estimates that around 50-70 members of staff are kidnapped every year. Although most are usually released unharmed once a ransom is paid or concessions agreed with the local community, the experience may be traumatic and employers should consider training staff on how best to cope with being abducted. Although expatriates in Nigeria have traditionally only been the target of kidnappings in the Niger Delta, and to date have been released without harm, the shooting dead of two US citizens working for ChevronTexaco in an ambush in the Delta in April 2004 was a worrying development. Since then, the incident has not been repeated (bar what seems to be an isolated shooting of an expatriate worker in Port Harcourt in May 2006 which seems to have been a personal vendetta), and it seems increasingly likely that it was just a one-off, but if tensions were to rise markedly a repeat cannot be ruled out. Vandalism of company equipment and infrastructure is also common which can have important safety implications.

Unrest in the Delta region persists (High Risk)

There has been a major upsurge in clashes between various gangs and ethnic groups in the crucial oil producing Delta region following the disputed April 2003 elections and this now seems set to increase sharply in the run up to the April 2007 elections. Although many gangs claim to be fighting for the rights of the poor and indigenous inhabitants in the region, many are little more than criminal groups. Inter-gang fighting has led to an increase in violent clashes, which often spill over into wider violence. The situation has been compounded by the high global oil price which has made stealing oil more lucrative and because the government has increased its battle against corruption in the Delta region which has raised the political stakes. The situation has also become more worrying in the last year with the recent emergence of a new group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND). This seems to be more organised than many previous groups, as shown by its ability to detonate a number of car bombs and the kidnapping of larger groups of expatriate workers. Shell, one of the leading oil companies working in the region, has already announced plans to significantly step up security provision to its workers in the region for the coming year and any company operating in the region, or in Port Harcourt would be well advised to think carefully about security issues. Another side of the growing lawlessness is the problem of piracy in Nigerian waters. Most attacks on vessels are in the area around the mouth of the Niger river and are related to the illegal trade in oil. Any firm working in the region, or just offshore, is strongly advised to ensure that its security policy assumes the worst if a boat is missing for a prolonged period.

Firms see premises and equipment stolen or vandalised (High Risk)

Vandalism of company equipment and infrastructure is common throughout the country and will continue to have an adverse impact on the cost of operations. Most business premises are heavily fenced (with considerable barbed wire at a minimum on high fences) and most companies either employ a security company to guard premises, or directly employ their own security guards. They also carry high stock levels of equipment to ensure that damaged equipment can be quickly repaired and operations re-started (this is especially the case if the goods need to be imported, with all the associated delays at the ports).

Individuals are victims of armed robbery (High Risk)

Although the government has increased spending on the police in recent years, the police force is still very poorly paid, inefficient and highly corrupt. Meanwhile, armed robbery is a problem, especially on most major roads in the country (some roads are more notorious than others). Cars are either stopped by measures which cause a tyre puncture (nails in orange skins left in the road, for example) or by roadblocks (criminal groups often wear official police or army uniforms to dupe drivers into stopping). Employing an experienced driver able to spot suspicious roadblocks and able to tell whether a puncture is likely to have been caused by sabotage is advisable. Mobile phone theft is widespread and you are advised to simply give over the phone if confronted. Being caught in the police crossfire at an incident is also a concern. A recent Human Rights Watch report estimated that 3,100 people where killed in gunfights with the police in 2003. As if to emphasise the potential dangers, a dispute between a police and army officer in Lagos in October 2005, led to a running gunfight and three civilian deaths.

BACKGROUND

(Background material is updated twice yearly. Last update: June 12th, 2006)
Armed conflict

It is estimated that at least 50,000 people have been killed in various incidents of ethnic, religious and communal violence since the return to civilian rule in May 1999. This gives Nigeria a casualty rate from internal conflict that is one of the highest in the world--and the country is not fighting a civil war. Although most of the conflicts have been between civilians, there have also been some serious clashes between security forces and civilians and militants.

Unrest and kidnapping

Probably the most serious challenge to the governments authority has come from rebellious groups in the oil-producing Niger Delta. Since the mid-1990s a number of militant groups, angry at their peoples political alienation and economic exploitation, have waged an increasingly violent struggle against the state and multinational oil companies operating in the area. The most high profile of these is probably the Niger Delta Peoples Volunteer Force. Fighting between the various groups and with the Nigerian military has led to the deaths of thousands of people. In 2004, with the fighting between various gangs escalating, the government substantially increased its military presence in the region. In addition, it has sought to agree ceasefires between the various groups and with the government itself. Whether these will hold for a prolonged period remains unclear, given the complex nature of conflict in the region and the lack of progress with promoting economic development. To date, none of the groups organising the protests have coalesced into a coherent political force.

In addition to the fighting between groups, oil facilities and their personnel have been targeted by militant youths from disgruntled communities trying to squeeze money, jobs and social amenities from wealthy, though vulnerable, oil multi-nationals. An increasing number of oil workers have been kidnapped, including foreigners who work in isolated areas in the difficult-to-police swampy terrain of the Niger Delta. Oil workers are usually seized in large groups from isolated locations, held for short periods and freed unharmed. In the case of Shell, the number of community-related disruptions (which include the closure of production facilities, seizure of assets, blockade of access and disruption of drilling activities) increased by 10% to 176 in 2004, compared with 2003. Armed gangs also stole crude oil from the company, although the number of such incidents fell by 20%, to 71, in 2004.

In other parts of the south, ethnic nationalist groups have sprung up in recent years, reflecting a growing feeling of frustration with central government and the political domination of the numerically superior north. The authorities have been unable to contain militant nationalist groups, such as the Yoruba separatist movement, the Oodua Peoples Congress, the Ijaw Egbesu in the Niger Delta, the Bakassi Boys in the south-east and the Arewa Peoples Congress in the north, all of whom are linked to ethnic disturbances and anti-government activities. Many of these groups are well armed. Although the aggression of Nigerias militant groups is usually directed at the failures of post-independence nation-building, outbreaks of ethnic-religious fighting, particularly in cities, could increase the sense of insecurity for foreign residents.

The worst fighting of ethno-religious origin, that between mainly Christian local farmers and predominantly Muslim settler herdsmen, has taken place in the middle-belt Plateau State, where, according to an official report, nearly 54,000 people died in sectarian clashes between September 2001 and May 2004. Acts of violence involving Christians and Muslims also followed the introduction of Sharia (Islamic law) in 12 predominantly Muslim states in the north. In February and May 2000 more than 2,000 people were reported killed in clashes in Kaduna over plans to introduce Sharia in a state with a large Christian minority. This was the worst incident of religious violence since more than 4,000 people were killed in the uprising of the Maitatsine cult in Kano in 1980. In November 2002 more than 200 people died in religious riots in Kaduna sparked by the aborted Miss World contest in the capital, Abuja. In May 2004, a state of emergency was imposed in Plateau State to quell ethnic-religious fighting that had caused the deaths of at least 1,000 people. In December 2003 and September 2004 security forces clashed with self-styled Taliban Islamic militants who attacked police stations in the northern states of Borno and Yobe; these groups have sought to exploit local grassroots discontent with the perceived failings of the secular federal government.

Violent crime

Violent robbery has been a major problem in Nigeria since the emerging oil boom of the 1970s raised expectations of quick wealth among different classes of the population. Over the years the criminals have become increasingly brutal, better armed, audacious and contemptuous of Nigerias ill-equipped police force, which has been ineffective in stemming the crime wave. Rich and poor communities in urban areas have been terrorised by armed robbers, and households and companies have had to install elaborate security systems to protect themselves against attacks. The police have intensified their campaign against violent crime. According to the crime statistics of the Lagos State Police Command, 287 armed robbers were killed in 2002 in Nigerias commercial capital, compared with 257 in 2001. The statistics showed that 34 civilians were killed in 2002 compared with 70 in 2001, whereas 45policemen died in shoot-outs with armed bandits, up from 16 in 2001. There is roughly one policeman to every 1,300 citizens in Nigeria, compared with the UN-recommended ratio of 1:400. However, the shortage of resources has not been the only constraint on the fight against crime: some police and soldiers have participated in crime themselves, including setting up illegal roadblocks.

Organised crime

Nigeria has in recent years become synonymous with organised drug-trafficking groups, international prostitution networks, money-laundering and 419 scams. (419 scams involve unsolicited letters being sent to individuals to ask for the use of a bank account and for money to be sent to Nigeria to help to release funds, of which a percentage will then be paid to the person who has helped to release the funds. The person receives nothing. The swindle is named after the relevant section of the Nigerian penal code.) Although each is a problem in its own right, together they do not pose a specific threat to conducting business in Nigeria. The civilian government is committed to tackling all these problems--in November 2003 the president, Olusegun Obasanjo, inaugurated a committee headed by his national security adviser to fight 419 internet fraud--but it is constrained by lack of resources and other more pressing problems. Progress is likely to be slow.

http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2006/06/14/1683314.htm

enough

Iraqis have never been great soldiers.

1000

Anderson and Count Frankenstein can't stay honest themselves and they are going to keep others honest?

1001

The Dam Has Broken.

The House FINALLY faces 'reality.'

It's coming around.

"A healthy venting."

Finally. Let's get this over with.

Maxine Waters is correct, it's an election year mess. John Kerry rules !!

1005

Dennis is and has been right. He's right, the invasion has 'branded' this country as an aggressor nation. The mission is already complete. Saddam Hussein is removed from power. There are no weapons of mass destruction. There is no winning the war. The people of Iraq aren't going to capitulate for a democracy to the extent everyone wants to believe in this country. They follow their holy men. Iraqis have NEVER been great soldiers and given the anger they feel toward this country's military while oppressed into service we better hope they don't get better at being soldiers so much aa people who follow their religious leaders. There is no winning in Iraq.

Okay. DEFINE WINNING.

"You don't think this won't be all over the television in the Arabian nations tomorrow?"

So, what?

I would hope so. At least they know all the people in this country aren't war mongers.

THE WAR against al Qaeda is in Afghanistan. I think the Republicans are confused.

With 2500 dead Americans and over 15 thousand maimed Americans, I don't believe any one is going to come home 'happily.' The Republicans aren't capable of leadership. They are only capable of politics. They don't care about National Security, They care about their own security at the cost of the nation.

1011

"We believe this is the end of al Qaeda in Iraq." They just named a new leader. Let's say it is, then what? There is still a Civil War. The USA better not enter into ethnic cleansing. If they do they are doing the work of Iran without Iran raising a finger or falling under scrutiny. This is hideous.

You know what was really hideous on CNN? When Zarqawi was killed they showed all of SIX people leaping in joy with guns and the like. SIX PEOPLE. Not crowds. Not the masses of people. SIX PEOPLE. They did it not once but over and over and over again., all day long.

Who needs it? This is some of the most moronic crap I have ever heard including the Republican rant.

enough.

June 11, 2006.
Louisville, Kentucky.

Sleeping with one eye open.