Stories from 2002-07-11

"Small groups of about a half-dozen men in Seattle, Chicago, Detroit and Atlanta are under surveillance by FBI and other intelligence agencies and are thought to be part of Osama bin Laden's terrorist network, said intelligence officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity." [more]

"Since the United States military campaign began in Afghanistan, the unmanned spy plane has gone from a bit player to a starring role in Pentagon planning. Rather than the handful of 'autonomous vehicles,' or A.V.'s, that snooped on Al Qaeda hideouts, commanders are envisioning wars involving vast robotic fleets on the ground, in the air and on the seas ó swarms of drones that will not just find their foes, but fight them, too." [more]

"In 1988, Saddam launched a series of biological and chemical attacks against the Kurds, the tragic long-term effects of which are only now becoming apparent. British filmmaker Gwynne Roberts shot inside Iraqi Kurdistan for five years to prepare this unique report on a group who may play a crucial role, equivalent to that of Afghanistan's Northern Alliance, in any military attempt to overthrow Saddam's bloody regime." [more]

"Over 50 years of Arab and Palestinian dealings with the US have ended in the rubbish bin, so that Bush and his advisers could convince themselves and much of the electorate that they had a god-given mission to exterminate terrorism, which means essentially all the enemies of Israel. A quick survey of those 50 years shows dramatically that neither a defiant Arab attitude nor a submissive one have made any changes in US perceptions of its interest in the Middle East, which remain the quick and cheap supply of oil and the protection of Israel as the two main aspects of its regional dominance." [more]

The AU "would commit every nation on the continent to the fundamental democratic principle that governments exist to serve their people, not to be served by them. And it would give to all the right to intervene to end gross violations of human rights and the democratic principle in any." [more]

"The BBC this week broadcast footage of the gruesome incident, showing the tank firing two shells at the terrified children who were at close range. In a filmed interview, the murdered boys' father, Youssef Abu Aziz, told the BBC that his kids had gone outside to buy chocolate, thinking the Israeli curfew had been lifted. The Israeli army never really explained why a tank would fire artillery shells at children." [more]