U.S. warplanes have carried out hundreds of airstrikes in Iraq in the past two years, bombing and strafing insurgent fighters and targets almost daily. And the air war, which has gone largely unnoticed at home, could intensify once American ground forces start to withdraw. Since Iraq doesn't have a working air force, U.S. jets are expected to provide air cover for Iraqi troops for at least several more years. Some analysts have raised questions about how effective air power can be in a counterinsurgency war. A key fear is that Iraq's mostly Shiite Muslim and Kurdish army will use American and allied bombing missions for revenge attacks on the Sunni Muslim Arab minority, which provides most of the insurgency's fighters. "If we allow that to happen, then in essence we'll be doing the same thing we accused Saddam Hussein of doing," said Larry C. Johnson, a former CIA and State Department official. "We'll just be substituting one tyranny for another." ... http://www.realcities.com censor News |
Editor - 00:39:00 01-11-06 |
British men face trial over "Jazeera bombing" leak |
A British court on Tues ordered 2 men to face trial on charges of leaking a memo that a lawmaker said described a plan by U.S. President George W. Bush to bomb Arabic television station Al Jazeera. The defendants, civil servant David Keogh and Leo O'Connor, a researcher who worked for a former British lawmaker, face a preliminary hearing on January 24 on charges of breaking the Official Secrets Act and their lawyers are pushing for the secret document to be disclosed. A British newspaper reported last year that the memo of a meeting between Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair in April 2004 detailed a proposal by Bush to bomb Al Jazeera but said Blair had persuaded him against the plan. The story was dismissed as "outlandish" by the White House and Blair denied receiving details of any U.S. proposal to bomb Al Jazeera. Question: If the Bush White House says it didn’t happen, then how could anyone be charged with a crime leaking something, they claim didn’t happen? Hmmm ... http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=10808993&src=rss/topNews
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Editor - 00:10:00 01-11-06 |
China reports new bird flu outbreak |
China has confirmed a fresh outbreak of bird flu among quail on a farm in the poor, southwestern province of Guizhou, the Agriculture Ministry said, as two more human victims were reported to have died. The outbreak early this month killed 16,000 quail near Guizhou's capital of Guiyang. They were later confirmed to have the H5N1 strain of the virus, and another 42,000 birds were culled to prevent its spread."After the outbreak happened, the Agriculture Ministry immediately sent an expert group to lead the prevention and control work," the Agriculture Ministry report, posted late on Tuesday, said.The outbreak had been brought under control, the report added.But scientists fear the H5N1 strain, which had killed more than 70 people since late 2003 and is endemic in poultry across parts of Asia, could mutate into a form that can spread easily between people, leading to a human pandemic.... http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060111/ts_nm/birdflu_china_dc
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Editor - 21:07:00 01-10-06 |
Bush warns Democrats about criticizing Iraq policy |
Bush, in full campaign mode, warned Democratic critics of his Iraq policy on Tuesday to watch what they say or risk giving "comfort to our adversaries" and suffering at the ballot box in November. Democrats said Bush should take his own advice. There are 10 months before congressional elections in which polls indicate the president's Republican Party could lose its dominance of Capitol Hill. But Bush is wasting no time engaging the battle. In his first speech of 2006 on the road, last week in Chicago, he aggressively challenged Democrats on the economy. Tuesday's equally sharp message represented an attempt by the president to neutralize Democrats' ability to use Iraq – where violence is surging in the wake of December parliamentary elections and messy negotiations to form a new coalition government – as an election-year cudgel against Republicans. Its time to get rid of both parties this time and vote for someone not connected to either of these totally corrupted parties... http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/politics/20060110-1318-bush.html
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Editor - 21:02:00 01-10-06 |
Bird Flu Jitters Across Europe |
Turkey raced to contain an outbreak of bird flu Tuesday, destroying 300,000 fowl and blaring warnings from mosque loudspeakers, after preliminary tests showed at least 15 people have been infected with the deadly H5N1 strain. As the country recorded the first human deaths outside eastern Asia, jittery European governments stepped up border checks and hosed down Turkish trucks with disinfectant. On Tuesday, an eight-year-old Turkish girl was infected with bird flu after she hugged and kissed her ailing chickens. Fifteen cases in one week is a record for the current bird flu outbreak. Never before has such a high number of cases been seen in such a short time in Asia, where 76 people have died since 2003. ... http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/01/10/health/main1198865.shtml?CMP=OTC-RSSFeed&source=RSS&attr=World_1198865
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Editor - 20:52:00 01-10-06 |
Police: Schwarzenegger riding motorcycle illegally |
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was riding his motorcycle illegally over the weekend when he collided with a car in his Los Angeles neighborhood, police said Tuesday. Los Angeles Police Lt. Paul Vernon said Schwarzenegger does not have the proper endorsement on his California driver's license to operate a motorcycle. Vernon said police did not ticket the governor for a violation because they arrived after the accident, which left Schwarzenegger with a cut on his upper lip that required 15 stitches. Instead, officers referred their findings to the Los Angeles city attorney's office, which will determine whether the governor should be cited for an infraction. Driving a motorcycle without the proper license can result in fines ranging from $100 to $250 or more. ... http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-01-10-schwarzenegger-license_x.htm?csp=34
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Editor - 20:44:00 01-10-06 |
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