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After September 11
Your Thoughts * Archived Articles
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Select Articles of Interest
Disclaimer: The Jefferson County Green Party does not endorse any of the ideas or suggestion advocated in the following articles. We simply provide them for educational and informational purposes only.
November 9
How Dare They? -- An AlterNet EditorialBy Don Hazen
Weapons of Mass Destruction By Laura Flanders - "They have the destructive power of an atomic bomb, but they can barely make a dent in U.S. news coverage. I'm talking about the 15,000-pound bombs the United States is using against Afghanistan this week. The so-called Daisy Cutters, named BLU-82, are the world's biggest non-nuclear device."
Women and the Future of Afghanistan By Tamara Straus - "According to RAWA's literature, approximately 35,000 children live in the streets of Kabul, Afghanistan's capital, and 72 percent of Afghan children have experienced the death of a family member in the past four years, with 40 percent having lost a parent. Afghanistan is also, according to international human rights groups, the second hungriest country in the world, with the second largest refugee population and the world's highest mortality rate. The average age for death of men is 43; for women it is 40. Only 17 percent of Afghans have access to safe water, and only 10 percent to adequate sanitation. As Zieba Shorish-Shamley, director of the Women's Alliance for Peace and Human Rights in Afghanistan, put it recently: 'If you could think of a worst nightmare, Afghanistan is it.'"
November 5
Where are you?
By Geov Parrish - "Seven and a half million people at risk of dying in a matter of months. That's three times the number of people Pol Pot took years to kill. Thirty-five times the number that died in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, combined. If 5,000 died on September 11, we're talking the equivalent number of deaths to ten World Trade Centers, every day, for 150 days. Slow, painful deaths. Entirely avoidable deaths. Deaths whose sole cause is not the United States, but most of which can still be prevented -- except that the United States is refusing to allow them to be prevented."
Ill-Fated Path to America, Jail and Death By Somini Sengupta - "No one seriously questions that Mr. Butt's death was anything but natural. But it does give a rare glimpse into the process by which the government has detained hundreds of people since the attacks and how little information is publicly known about them. For some, including consular officials and Mr. Butt's relatives, discovering the details surrounding his death only underscores how little they had been told about his life in I.N.S. custody."
November 2
Yes, This Is About Islam By Salman Rushdie - "'This isn't about Islam.' The world's leaders have been repeating this mantra for weeks, partly in the virtuous hope of deterring reprisal attacks on innocent Muslims living in the West, partly because if the United States is to maintain its coalition against terror it can't afford to suggest that Islam and terrorism are in any way related. The trouble with this necessary disclaimer is that it isn't true."
OCTOBER 31
Stiglitz Roars Back by Tim Shorrock - "Two days after winning the Nobel Prize for economics last week, Joseph Stiglitz was back in Washington doing what he does best: skewering the power elite. His main target was the $100 billion stimulus bill sailing through the Republican House. "Just think about the inequity," Stiglitz said of its key provision, which accelerates tax reductions for middle- and high-income taxpayers from 28 percent to 25 percent. How much will a worker making $50,000 a year, say a New York City firefighter, get from this? "Zero. But a modest person trying to get along on a $5 million income? Over four years they'll save $600,000."
OCTOBER 30
This Isn't the Speech I Expected to Give Today... by Bill Moyers - "This isn't the speech I expected to give today. I intended something else. For the last several years I've been taking every possible opportunity to talk about the soul of democracy. 'Something is deeply wrong with politics today,' I told anyone who would listen. And I wasn't referring to the partisan mudslinging, or the negative TV ads, the excessive polling or the empty campaigns. I was talking about something deeper, something troubling at the core of politics. The soul of democracy-the essence of the word itself-is government of, by, and for the people. And the soul of democracy has been dying, drowning in a rising tide of big money contributed by a narrow, unrepresentative elite that has betrayed the faith of citizens in self-government. "
OCTOBER 29
The New York Times and the dirty secret of US-Saudi relations By David Walsh - "An editorial in the October 14 New York Times ("Reconsidering Saudi Arabia") partially lifts the veil on one of the dirtiest secrets of US foreign policy: the sordid nature of the relationship that Washington has maintained for more than half a century with the semi-feudal Saudi Arabian regime."
Taking Care of Business by Paul Krugman - "Cynics tell us that money has completely corrupted our politics, that in the last election big corporations basically bought themselves a government that will serve their interests. Several related events last week suggest that the cynics have a point."
Protecting Pharmaceutical Companies from the Threat of Bio-Terrorismby Mark Weisbrot - "Some principles are so important that they cannot be violated even in a time of national emergency. One of those, it now appears, is the principle of patent rights for multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical companies."
It's Time to Ask "Borderless" Corporations: Which Side Are You On? by William Greider - "A recent New York Times headline asked an insinuating question: "After the Attacks, Which Side Is the Left On?" The Times should find the nerve to put the same question to the major players of business and finance. Which side is Citigroup on? Or General Electric and Boeing? Where does loyalty reside for those American corporations that have rebranded themselves as "global firms"?"
OCTOBER 25
Pentagon Approves Super Strain by Julian Borger - "The Pentagon has approved the development of a genetically modified "super-anthrax" bacteria to test US defenses against biological attack, overriding concerns that the research could violate a 1972 germ warfare treaty, it was reported yesterday."
Professors Plead for Academic Freedom by Meg McSherry Breslin and J. Linn Allen - "The statement from the professors group came after it received complaints from a number of academics who said they were reprimanded by administrators or received threatening letters for expressing anti-patriotic views or opinions that made students uncomfortable, according to association President Jane Buck. . . In particular, the statement cited comments by trustees at the City University of New York on a controversial Oct. 2 teach-in. Two trustees drafted a resolution that blasted professors for "selfish, tasteless, and unjustified conduct" that had "brought shame" on the institution."
OCTOBER 23
High Cipro Prices Bring Drug Patent Issue Home By Liz Highleyman - "at the heavily discounted government bulk price of about $2 per pill, the allocation would buy roughly 321.5 million doses, enough for a full course of anthrax treatment for about 2.6 million people. At the Indian price of $20 for a full course of generic ciprofloxacin, or roughly 17 cents per pill, the government could purchase about 3.8 billion doses, enough to treat 31.5 million people for the same outlay. . . Thompson has hesitated to approve the purchase of generic ciprofloxacin, claiming the U.S. does not have the legal authority to do so. Nonsense, counters James Love of Ralph Nader’s Consumer Project on Technology (CPT). Love cites a federal law -- 28 USC section 1498 -- that allows the government to purchase products for official use from alternative sources with the payment to the patent holder of a royalty fee determined by a judge. ."
Indonesian refugee boat sinks, hundreds drown By Chris Brummitt - "Thousands of migrants head for Australia every year from Southeast Asia. Leaky, unseaworthy vessels overloaded with passengers and cargo routinely leave Indonesian ports without working radios or enough lifejackets. "
Taliban should be overthrown by the uprising of Afghan nation - RAWA statement on the US strikes on Afghanistan
U.N. Scrambling to Aid Pregnant Afghan Women
By Reuters - "The birthing kits, which fit into a small plastic pouch, contain a plastic sheet for the woman to lie on as she gives birth, a sterile razor blade to cut the umbilical cord, a piece of string to tie off the cord, and antiseptic swabs."
OCTOBER 22
The War Prayer Dictated by Mark Twain [Samuel Clemens] in 1904 in advance of his death in 1910. During his writing career, he had criticized perhaps every type of person or institution either living or dead. But this piece was just a little too hot for his family to tolerate. Since they believed the short narrative would be regarded as sacrilege, they urged him not to publish it. However, Sam was to have the last word, and even the word after that. Having directed it to be published after his death, he said, "I have told the truth in that... and only dead men can tell the truth in this world." - William H. Huff
FBI Considers Torture as Suspects Stay Silent by Damian Whitworth - "AMERICAN investigators are considering resorting to harsher interrogation techniques, including torture, after facing a wall of silence from jailed suspected members of Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network, according to a report yesterday."
Where the bodies are By Geov Parrish - "The civilian death toll is probably in the thousands, and sure to rise with two new developments. U.S. Air Force pilots may now fire "at will" -- at anything they desire, without pre-authorization from strategists peering at satellite and surveillance photos. In fact, there are now regions of the country that have been designated "kill boxes," reminiscent of Vietnam's "free-fire zones" but without benefit of advance warning to Afghanis. Kill boxes are patrolled night and day by low-flying aircraft with the mission to shoot anything that moves within the area."
OCTOBER 21
One Guy, One Rifle and an Oil Pipeline by Bill McKibben - "It's truly scary to imagine someone cooking up batches of anthrax and sending it through the mail. But the United States' deepest vulnerability to terrorism may have been exposed earlier this month not by a mad scientist or a suicide bomber but by a single drunken hunter with a .338-caliber rifle."
Why This War Will Not Work by Jason Burke, an expert on Afghanistan, has covered the conflict since day one. From Peshawar he warns that the Alliance strategy is fatally flawed.
OCTOBER 18
Three Arguments Against the War by Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman - "But bombing a desperately poor country under the yoke of a repressive regime is a wrongheaded response. The U.S. bombing of Afghanistan should cease immediately. . . It is a policy that will diminish U.S. security, ignores overriding humanitarian concerns, and precludes more sensible approaches to achieving justice and promoting security in the United States and around the world."
The Pentagon censures satellite pictures of Afghanistan By Reporters Sans Frontieres
- "In a letter addressed to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Reporters sans frontières (Reporters without borders, RSF) protested against the exclusive rights contract signed by the Pentagon with Space Imaging, which deprives the media from pictures of Afghanistan taken by Ikonos, the most efficient civilian satellite."
'Watch What You Say ...'- Open Letter to US By Johann P Fritz, director, International Press Institute in a letter from the International Press Institute to United States Secretary of State Colin Powell - "The International Press Institute (IPI), the global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists, is becoming increasingly dismayed at attempts by the US State Department to influence the flow of news in the Middle East."
OCTOBER 15
Women & Development Aid
By Ritu R. Sharma, Women’s EDGE - "The Women’s EDGE coalition, together with over 60 organizations, has developed a blueprint for a gendered development assistance portfolio. This blueprint will be introduced into Congress as the GAINS for Women and Girls Act (Global Action and Investments for New Success for Women and Girls). It is the most comprehensive legislation on international women’s issues ever introduced. . . The GAINS Act proposes concrete and pragmatic changes to adequately address women’s concerns in ten major areas of U.S. development programming: gender integration, poverty reduction and economic growth, education, health care, agriculture and food security, human rights, violence, conflicts and peace building, leadership and participation, and environmental protection."
OCTOBER 14
The Progessive Caucus Stimulus Package - "The Congressional Progressive Caucus has designed a package of immediate spending and targeted tax cuts to stimulate the economy. Most important is its size: $200 billion. . . Beyond being of adequate size, the Progressive Caucus stimulus package is designed to boost the purchasing power of people who will spend it, and thereby boost the economy. That means a significant increase in unemployment benefits, a tax rebate to all those tax filers who did not qualify for the tax rebate offered earlier this year. It also means job creation to enhance the productive capacity of the U.S. economy over the long-term. . . "
ACLU "Bitterly Disappointed" in House-Senate Joint Passage of Anti-Terrorism Legislation By ACLU - "This bill has simply missed the mark of maximizing security and, at the same time, minimizing any adverse effects on America's freedoms," said Laura W. Murphy, Director of the ACLU Washington National Office. "Most Americans do not recognize that Congress has just passed a bill that would give the government expanded power to invade our privacy, imprison people without due process and punish dissent." Take Action!
OCTOBER 13
Bush’s war at home: government censorship, secrecy, and lies By Patrick Martin - "The month since the terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington has seen dramatic changes in the day-to-day functioning of the US government and the open emergence of powerful tendencies toward antidemocratic and dictatorial methods of rule."
FPIF Four-Part Policy Framework: A New Agenda to Counter Terrorism By Foreign Policy In Focus - "America needs a new agenda for combating terrorism--one that secures us against terrorist attacks and that integrates the use of force within an international legal and policy framework. This agenda must bring international terrorists to justice, debilitate their capacity to wage terrorism, and undermine the political credibility of terrorist networks by addressing related political grievances and injustices. Below, we outline a four-part framework for a new national security policy that counters terrorism and propagates justice . . ." Take Action!
OCTOBER 12
UN's Robinson Calls for Suspension of Air Strikes By Reuters - "United Nations Human Rights Commissioner Mary Robinson called on Friday for a suspension of air strikes against Afghanistan in order to provide aid to civilians before the onset of winter."
Delay, Dilute and Discard: How the Airline Industry and the FAA Have Stymied Aviation Security Recommendations By Public Citizen - "Through an extensive investigation of the FAA rulemaking process – and a careful examination of the docket for proposed rules – Public Citizen’s report exposes the following about the industry’s and FAA’s roles in delaying, diluting and discarding security improvements . . . "
New York City protest opposes war in Afghanistan By WSWS Reporter - "Over 10,000 people turned out in New York City on Sunday, October 7 to oppose the Bush administration’s so-called war on terrorism. The demonstration, which had been planned for several weeks by a coalition of pacifist and activist groups, was expected to draw only a few thousand but grew in size as word spread that the US had begun bombing Afghanistan."
OCTOBER 11
Declaration of the Essential Rights of Afghan Women as drafted in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, June 28, 2000 - ". . . those rights include the right to personal safety, the right to physical and mental health, the right to institutional education, and the right to equal protection under the law."Take Action!
Media Fear Censorship as Bush Requests Caution
by Gayle MacDonald - "The request from the White House was polite and guarded, but the message was crystal-clear: U.S. television networks should think long and hard before beaming another prerecorded rant from Osama bin Laden or his al-Qaeda terrorist network to hundreds of millions of viewers around the world."
OCTOBER 10
Fighting the Looming Recession By Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) - "In response to this looming recession the 55 member House Progressive Caucus has developed a $200 billion initiative to revitalize the economy and, at the same time, to protect Social Security and Medicare. This program has four parts . . ."
All I Am Saying Is Give War a Chance By Michael Moore - "It's about time! I was beginning to worry that George II didn't have it in him, that he might wander off to vacation in Omaha again. But finally, the bombs are raining down on Afghanistan and, as Martha Stewart says, that's a good thing.
"
US Supreme Court Justice O’Connor says "personal freedom" will be curbed By - John Andrews "We’re likely to experience more restrictions on our personal freedom than has ever been the case in our country."
Widespread violations of civil liberties in US dragnet By Kate Randall - "Although the Justice Department is releasing little information about the individuals being held, none of them has been publicly charged in connection with the terror attacks. FBI Director Robert Mueller told the press that about half of those being detained are in INS custody for immigration violations, such as expired visas or false identification. The rest are in either state or federal law enforcement custody as material witnesses, or have been charged with a variety of unrelated criminal charges."
OCTOBER 9
Killer Food Drops - By Laura Flanders - "According to the International Campaign: "Afghanistan remains one of the most mine and UXO [unexploded ordnance] affected countries in the world. According to the United Nations Mine Action Program for Afghanistan (MAPA), landmines and UXO contaminate 724 million square meters of land....Mined areas are still being discovered at a rate of 12 to 14 million square meters per year." Says the Campaign: "In the year 2000, an average of about eighty-eight casualties per month were attributed to landmines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) in Afghanistan." -- Alex Renton works for Oxfam International in Islamabad, Pakistan. "I cannot overstate how lethal it is to drop anything on Afghanistan," Renton said today.
-- Bush and co will do that part of the story-telling that suits them. It is up to us to do the rest."
Water Problems Will Be the Cause of War - or Peace - in the Middle East By Paul Simon - "A few weeks ago I went to Jordan and Syria at the request of the State Department to talk to the leaders of those two nations about the possibility of working together with Israel and the Palestinians on that area's increasingly crucial issue of water. . . Residents of Amman, the capital of Jordan, can turn their tap water on only one day a week. Syria faces problems almost as severe, and Israel has had to curtail water use dramatically. . . "
OCTOBER 4
Afghan Women Speak from Behind the Media Veil By Laura Flanders - "Now that U.S. leaders are selling the nation on war against the Taliban, there are a lot of pictures of silent, shrouded Afghan women on the news. But the U.S. media veil Afghan women, too. You sure don't get to hear what any of them have to say."
Arrested Italian Cell Sheds Light
On Bin Laden’s European Network By Leo Sisti and Maud Beelman - ". . . a 100-page Italian investigative report, obtained by the Center for Public Integrity’s International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, tells a stunning story of cooperation among suspected Bin Laden cells in Europe and includes chilling wiretaps among the "brothers."
Survivors of Terrorist Victims Granted Domestic Partnership Benefits
By Matt Pyeatt - "Homosexual partners of those who died in the September 11 terrorist attacks are now eligible to receive relief funds from organizations who, along with Congress, are beginning to redefine the definition of family in the United States."
Wyden fears federal bailout could stifle airline competition By Jim Barnett - "The General Accounting Office has raised concerns that a $15 billion aid package will give big airlines new leverage to buy smaller rivals, stifle competition and raise fares, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said Tuesday."
Your Thoughts * Archived Articles
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