Stories from 2002-06-26

"One scenario involves ambushing cops. An apparently disabled vehicle is parked just before a freeway ramp, with shooters hidden inside. When the police officer pulls up, someone inside blows the horn and the shooters burst out firing. Then there's the residential assassination, where someone knocks on the door of a home, then empties his gun into whoever answers. There's also the golf-course assassination, where an RPG-type rocket is lobbed onto a golf green, taking out the security vehicle and leaving the golfers to be mowed down by rifle fire." [more]

"Said Karzai, "In Afghanistan, we have the loya jirga. In the United States, you have your own process -- as we understand, it's traditional over there for corporations to play a large part in electing officials and writing legislation. We're very interested in looking into that kind of system ourselves."" [more]

"Mr Bush's call for a new Palestinian leadership was rejected not only by the Palestinian Authority but by a wide range of world leaders. Kofi Annan, secretary general of the UN, warned last night that President Bush's call for the removal of Mr Arafat could backfire if a more hardline leader was elected. The former US senator George Mitchell, who tried last year to broker a Middle East peace deal, expressed similar worries that Islamic Jihad or Hamas could take over from the PLO leader." [more]

"Israel needs the West Bank and Palestinians need Israel. Rather than a stand-alone Palestinian state, PNS Associate Editor Andrew Reding sees a federal structure — such as that found in Switzerland, Belgium and Canada — as a real solution for two warring peoples." [more]

"In September 2001, CNN changed its policy on how to characterize Gilo: 'We refer to Gilo as "a Jewish neighborhood on the outskirts of Jerusalem, built on land occupied by Israel in 1967." We don't refer to it as a settlement,' said the order from CNN headquarters. CNN denies that its decision was a concession to outside pressure, but according to veteran Middle East reporter Robert Fisk, sources within the network said that the switch followed 'months of internal debate in CNN, which has been constantly criticized by CNN Watch, honestreporting.com and other pro-Israeli pressure groups.' " [more]

"Shall we count the ways in which this is completely absurd? George Bush is demanding that Palestine become Sweden before it can become Palestine: it must be stable, prosperous and boast constitutional arrangements which still elude Britain — our judiciary and legislature are not separate — let alone the Arab world before it can become even a state-in-waiting." [more]

"What, I wonder, does this mean? Do these 'certain aspects' include the continuation of illegal Jewish settlement building? Or the absence of any international guarantees for this interim/provisional state? Or perhaps a get-out clause for the United States to wash its hands of the whole shebang if Israel decides to annex the entire West Bank?" [more]

"The decision covered one narrow aspect of a case that poses numerous constitutional questions about the reach of the president's authority over the rights of an American citizen in a time of war. Those questions include whether an American citizen who is accused by the president of being an enemy combatant has a right to a lawyer and whether the United States may detain that person indefinitely without charging him with a crime." [more]

"Officials in Pakistan say 10 soldiers and militiamen have been killed in a battle with suspected al-Qaeda fighters near the border with Afghanistan." [more]

"Under DeWine's proposal, authorities would still have to prove a link to a foreign power. But instead of showing 'probable cause' that a link exists, it would only have to show a 'reasonable suspicion' in the case of noncitizens." [more]

"Syria's support for the Lebanese Hizbullah organization has brought hostile scrutiny from the US. In his Mideast policy speech delivered Monday, President Bush demanded that Syria 'must choose the right side in the war on terror by closing terrorist camps and expelling terrorist organizations.' In this climate, neutralizing US and Israeli allies in the region is a priority for Damascus. And that includes Turkey, which agreed in 1997 to a military alliance with Israel, Syria's archenemy." [more]

"The tit-for-tat exchanges, which started after Western aircraft began patrolling northern and southern no-fly zones in Iraq after the 1991 Gulf War, have increased in recent months amid speculation that Washington is preparing for a possible invasion of Iraq to oust President Saddam Hussein." [more]

"So, no Palestinian state unless Arafat goes. There were no Bush conditions for Israel. He did not secure an end to the continuing building of Jewish settlements for Jews and Jews only on Arab (that is somebody else's) land. Nor did he secure a halt to continuing Israeli military 'incursions' how I love that word 'incursions'." [more]