Guten Morgen Mr. Bush
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Published on Saturday, March 20, 2004 by the Inter Press Service
U.S. Arm-Twists Iraqis to Seek U.N. Help Before Jun. 30
by Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS - Despite a rash of suicide attacks and roadside bombings directed at U.S. troops and foreigners in Iraq, Secretary-General Kofi Annan is preparing to send a team of U.N. officials back to Baghdad to help Iraqis hold elections and form a new civilian government.
''We are all very conscious of the security conditions (in Iraq), and we would be very careful,'' Annan told reporters Friday, while admitting security will remain ''a constraint'' on the movements of his team.
He is hoping that both the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) and the U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council (IGC) ''will do their best to put the best available security team to protect the men and women I will be sending to assist them.''
Annan's decision to send a U.N. team is in response to a letter he received from the IGC seeking assistance to organize nationwide elections next year and to establish a legal framework. A similar letter was also sent to the U.N. chief by CPA head Ambassador Paul Bremer.
But the IGC letter, according to reports from Baghdad, was sent to Annan under heavy pressure from Bremer, who is planning to terminate operations Jun. 30, and wants to see a U.N. presence in Iraq as a political counterweight to the IGC.
''Bremer obviously does not want any IGC member to upset his plans,'' an African diplomat told IPS, speaking on condition of anonymity. ''So he forced them to send a letter seeking U.N. assistance.''
Lakhdar Brahimi, the U.N. special adviser on Iraq, told reporters Friday there are ''definitely'' two or three members in the IGC, ''who had doubts about how useful a U.N. role might be.'' But he said he is confident the overwhelming majority of the 25 IGC members want the United Nations to return to Iraq.
Asked if the Bremer-inspired IGC letter had dampened his enthusiasm to return to Baghdad, Brahimi said, ''I think the secretary-general has always said that we are not looking for a job, and we are not dying to go to Iraq?.
?If the United Nations is not needed, I think that is perfect from our point of view,'' he added.
Last month Brahimi lead a U.N. team to Iraq, which concluded that no elections were logistically feasible before Jun. 30. But he also ruled out a U.S. proposal to hold regional caucuses to elect an interim government in Baghdad.
The inadvertent use of the phrase ''dying to go to Iraq'' was not lost on the vice president of the U.N. Staff Union, Guy Candusso, who posed the question: ''Is Iraq better off now than before?'' But he left it unanswered.
Candusso said he understands the world body is only sending an assessment team to Iraq -- not returning the more than 1,000 international employees who were pulled out of the country after two deadly attacks on the U.N. compound last year, which claimed the lives of 22 staffers.
As security deteriorated in Iraq last year, the remaining international workers were temporarily relocated to Cyprus and Jordan.
Many of them work in U.N. humanitarian and development organizations, such as the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP), the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Programme (WFP). Their work is now being handled mostly by local employees, who number over a thousand.
A circular sent to U.N. divisional heads last month warned that no public reference should be made about the work of local staff lest their lives be jeopardized.
The warning came in the wake of deadly attacks on dozens of Iraqis who were accused of cooperating either with U.S. military forces or with non-governmental and humanitarian organizations still working inside Iraq.
The staff union, which represents the majority of the 14,000 U.N. employees worldwide, has continued to express strong reservations about the security environment in Iraq and the dangers it poses to international staff.
U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard told reporters Friday the security situation ''is still not good and it would be evaluated carefully before sending staff back''.
''Nonetheless, long-term planning for a return to Iraq continues, with special emphasis on security provisions,'' he added.
Eckhard also said he assumed the U.N. electoral team would have to travel outside the capital.
''The CPA had assured the United Nations that it would make all the necessary security arrangements for (the team's) activities'', Eckhard said, but he could not predict what those activities would be or where they might take place.
Told by a reporter that the ''vibes'' coming out of Iraq indicated that the United Nations was not welcome in Iraq, Brahimi said he did not subscribe to that view.
''A lot of Iraqis want the United Nations back,'' added Brahimi, who acknowledged newspaper reports that Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, a powerful Shia cleric, had objected to a U.N. role in Iraq.
''This is not correct,'' Brahimi said. ''The secretary-general has received a message directly from the ayatollah saying that he had nothing to do with these newspaper articles, and that, indeed, he wanted the United Nations to continue to play a role in Iraq''.
© Copyright 2004 IPS - Inter Press Service
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Taken for a Ride
by Paul Krugman
Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists." So George Bush declared on Sept. 20, 2001. But what was he saying? Surely he didn't mean that everyone was obliged to support all of his policies, that if you opposed him on anything you were aiding terrorists.
Now we know that he meant just that.
A year ago, President Bush, who had a global mandate to pursue the terrorists responsible for 9/11, went after someone else instead. Most Americans, I suspect, still don't realize how badly this apparent exploitation of the world's good will ? and the subsequent failure to find weapons of mass destruction ? damaged our credibility. They imagine that only the dastardly French, and now maybe the cowardly Spaniards, doubt our word. But yesterday, according to Agence France-Presse, the president of Poland ? which has roughly 2,500 soldiers in Iraq ? had this to say: "That they deceived us about the weapons of mass destruction, that's true. We were taken for a ride."
This is the context for last weekend's election upset in Spain, where the Aznar government had taken the country into Iraq against the wishes of 90 percent of the public. Spanish voters weren't intimidated by the terrorist bombings ? they turned on a ruling party they didn't trust. When the government rushed to blame the wrong people for the attack, tried to suppress growing evidence to the contrary and used its control over state television and radio both to push its false accusation and to play down antigovernment protests, it reminded people of the broader lies about the war.
By voting for a new government, in other words, the Spaniards were enforcing the accountability that is the essence of democracy. But in the world according to Mr. Bush's supporters, anyone who demands accountability is on the side of the evildoers. According to Dennis Hastert, the speaker of the House, the Spanish people "had a huge terrorist attack within their country and they chose to change their government and to, in a sense, appease terrorists."
So there you have it. A country's ruling party leads the nation into a war fought on false pretenses, fails to protect the nation from terrorists and engages in a cover-up when a terrorist attack does occur. But its electoral defeat isn't democracy at work; it's a victory for the terrorists.
Notice, by the way, that Spain's prime minister-elect insists that he intends to fight terrorism. He has even said that his country's forces could remain in Iraq if they were placed under U.N. control. So if the Bush administration were really concerned about maintaining a united front against terrorism, all it would have to do is drop its my-way-or-the-highway approach. But it won't.
For these denunciations of Spain, while counterproductive when viewed as foreign policy, serve a crucial domestic purpose: they help re-establish the political climate the Bush administration prefers, in which anyone who opposes any administration policy can be accused of undermining the fight against terrorism.
This week the Bush campaign unveiled an ad accusing John Kerry of, among other things, opposing increases in combat pay because he voted against an $87 billion appropriation for Iraq. Those who have followed this issue were astonished at the ad's sheer up-is-down-ism.
In fact, the Bush administration has done the very thing it falsely accuses Mr. Kerry of doing: it has tried repeatedly to slash combat pay and military benefits, provoking angry articles in The Army Times with headlines like "An Act of `Betrayal.' " Oh, and Mr. Kerry wasn't trying to block funds for Iraq ? he was trying to force the administration, which had concealed the cost of the occupation until its tax cut was passed, to roll back part of the tax cut to cover the expense.
But the bigger point is this: in the Bush vision, it was never legitimate to challenge any piece of the administration's policy on Iraq. Before the war, it was your patriotic duty to trust the president's assertions about the case for war. Once we went in and those assertions proved utterly false, it became your patriotic duty to support the troops ? a phrase that, to the administration, always means supporting the president. At no point has it been legitimate to hold Mr. Bush accountable. And that's the way he wants it.
Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company
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hab gerade noch einen schönen Spruch von Bush gefunden,es gibt da ein neues Buch:
George W. Bush to the Palestinian Prime Minister: "God told me to strike at al Qaeda and I struck them, and then he instructed me to strike at Saddam, which I did, and now I am determined to solve the problem in the Middle East. If you can help me, I will act, and if not, the elections will come and I will have to focus on them."
ist doch alles so einfach,wenn Gott es ihm befohlen hat...
aus "Take Them At Their Words: Shocking, Amusing and Baffling Quotations from the G.O.P and Their Friends, 1994-2004."
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President Bush believes that good stewardship of the environment is not just a personal responsibility, it is a public value. Americans are united in the belief that it is important to preserve our natural heritage and safeguard the land around us.
The President has launched initiatives that express this same commitment. His Administration has acted in a comprehensive way to achieve impressive results. By almost every indicator, environmental quality in the United States is improving with cleaner air, water, and land, and improved public health.
The President believes that the federal government has an important role to play in protecting our environment and he has introduced new and innovative policies to achieve these goals. The President favors common-sense approaches to improving the environment while protecting the quality of American life. Over the past two-and-a-half years, the Administration has introduced initiatives that have already begun to deliver significant environmental results for all Americans.
Hydrogen Fuel ? A Clean and Secure Energy Future
In his State of the Union address, President Bush announced a $1.2 billion hydrogen fuel initiative to reverse the nation?s growing dependence on foreign oil by developing the technology for hydrogen-powered fuel cells to power cars, trucks, homes and businesses with no pollution or greenhouse gases. The hydrogen fuel initiative will include $720 million in new funding over the next five years to develop the technologies and infrastructure to produce, store, and distribute hydrogen for use in fuel cell vehicles and electricity generation. Combined with the FreedomCAR (Cooperative Automotive Research) initiative, President Bush is proposing a total of $1.7 billion over the next five years to develop hydrogen-powered fuel cells, hydrogen infrastructure and advanced automotive technologies.
Under the President's hydrogen fuel initiative, the first car driven by a child born today could be powered by fuel cells. The hydrogen fuel initiative supplements the President's existing FreedomCAR initiative, which is developing technologies needed for mass production of safe and affordable hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicles. Through partnerships with the private sector, the hydrogen fuel initiative and FreedomCAR will make it practical and affordable for Americans to choose to use clean, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles by 2020. This will dramatically improve America's energy security by significantly reducing the need for imported oil, as well as help clean our air and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Clear Skies ? Clean Air for the 21st Century
Clear Skies, President Bush?s initiative to improve the nation?s air quality, is the most aggressive initiative in American history to cut power plant emissions, as well as a bold new strategy for addressing global climate change. Clear Skies would dramatically improve air quality by cutting power plant emissions of three critical pollutants ? sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and mercury ? by 70 percent, more than any other presidential clean air initiative. These reductions would be mandatory and would achieve 35 million more tons of reductions from Clear Skies in the next decade than what we could get under business as usual with the current Clean Air Act.
The President?s historic proposal would bring cleaner air to Americans faster, more reliably, and more cost-effectively than under current law. It would save Americans as much as $1 billion annually in compliance costs that are passed along to American consumers, while improving air quality and protecting the reliability and affordability of electricity for consumers. Clear Skies would cut pollution further, faster, cheaper ? and with more certainty ? eliminating the need for expensive and uncertain litigation as a means of achieving clean air.
Healthy Forests ? Safeguarding People, Wildlife and Ecosystems
Last year catastrophic wildfires burned more than 6 million acres of land, killed more than 20 firefighters, destroyed more than 2,000 buildings, and caused severe environmental damage. These catastrophic wildfires destroy everything in their path ? people, their property, wildlife habitats, watersheds and entire ecosystems. It can take decades for these forests to recover. For over a century, the federal government has done nothing to eliminate dense undergrowth and ladder fuels, and it has suppressed most of the natural fires that serve to clear out brush and undergrowth. As a result, about 190 million acres of our nation's forests are in bonfire conditions.
The President's Healthy Forests Initiative is returning the nation?s forests to their natural condition by reducing unnecessary regulatory obstacles that hinder active forest management. Healthy Forests will restore forests and rangelands to their natural, healthy, fire-resistant conditions and prevent these catastrophic wildfires to the benefit of communities, wildlife habitat and the landscape.
Brownfields Cleanup - Revitalizing Abandoned Sites in Our Cities and Towns
American cities have many such eyesores -- anywhere from 500,000 to a million brownfields are across our nation. These areas once supported manufacturing and commerce, and now lie empty -- adding nothing of value to the community, and sometimes only causing problems. Fulfilling an important campaign pledge, the President signed historic bipartisan brownfields reform legislation in January 2002. President Bush is committed to accelerating the cleanup and redevelopment of contaminated, underutilized industrial sites. The revitalization of brownfields serves to improve the environment, protect public health, create jobs, and revitalize communities. The President?s FY04 budget proposal provides $211 million ? almost 130 percent more than when President Bush took office ? for EPA?s brownfields cleanup program.
The President?s Farm Bill ? Helping America?s Farmers Conserve Their Land
The Administration believes that there are no better stewards of the land than people who rely on the productivity of the land. The President continues to implement a farm bill that enhances conservation and environmental stewardship. The legislation will greatly enhance the ability of America?s farmers and ranchers to protect wetlands, water quality, and wildlife habitat.
To help them live up to the newer and higher environmental standards, the President?s farm bill expands the ECP program, which provides financial assistance to our farmers and ranchers to encourage sound conservation. The farm bill will provide over $40 billion over the next decade in funds for conservation programs that will restore millions of acres of wetlands, conserve water, and improve streams and rivers.
Diesel Regulations ? Tackling Emissions for Cleaner Air
The Administration has aggressively tackled diesel emissions with modern regulations ? a new mandate on oil producers to reduce the sulfur in diesel fuel, an innovative program requiring cleaner diesel engines on new trucks, an initiative to cut diesel pollution from aging school bus fleets, and new rules to reduce emissions from non-road vehicles.
The President?s non-road diesel regulation has been widely praised by environmental groups, with some hailing it as providing potentially the greatest health benefits since lead was removed from gasoline some 20 years ago.
Global Environment ? Meeting the Challenge of Global Climate Change
President Bush has committed America to an aggressive strategy to meet the challenge of long-term global climate change by reducing the greenhouse gas intensity of our economy by 18 percent over the next 10 years. The Administration?s climate change policy is science-based; it encourages research breakthroughs that lead to technological innovation; and it takes advantage of the power of markets. It will encourage global participation and will pursue actions that will help ensure continued economic growth and prosperity for our citizens and for citizens throughout the world.
This goal is supported by a broad range of domestic and international climate change initiatives, including $4.4 billion in FY04 for climate change. This includes a significant investment of $1.75 billion in climate change science research to address critical gaps of understanding our global climate system and over $500 million in tax incentives to improve energy efficiency and promote renewable energy in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Our Oceans ? Improving Ocean Conservation in the National Park System
The National Park Service has begun restoring marine ecosystems in close cooperation with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and state and local governments. New management tools, including networks of marine reserves and natural area research have been established to restore coral reefs, kelp forests and their diverse communities of marine life.
The President?s Budget ? Funding Conservation for Today and Tomorrow
At $44.9 billion, the President?s FY04 environment and natural resources budget request is the highest ever. The Budget funds the nation?s priorities of protecting our drinking water, reducing pollution, cleaning up industrial waste sites, protecting our national parks and refuges, and helping farmers conserve on private lands as well.
The President?s budget proposal includes a $10 million increase for EPA from FY03 to strengthen EPA?s core operating programs for air, water, land and enforcement activities. The budget also includes $3.9 billion for the U.S. Department of Agriculture for farm conservation funding, over $500 million more than last year, and $4.4 billion for federal climate-related programs, a commitment unmatched by any other nation.
A Commitment to Protect our Environment
President Bush and his Administration are building on 30 years of successful environmental improvements. Our air is cleaner, our drinking water is purer, and our land is better protected.
There is a growing consensus in America in favor of common-sense approaches to improving the environment while protecting the quality of American life. The Bush Administration will continue to pursue the President?s comprehensive environmental agenda and provide the public and private resources needed to make new investments in environmental technologies and conservation.
Americans understand their obligation to the environment more so than in the years past. Americans understand that good stewardship is a personal responsibility, and a public value. The President believes that it is important for Americans to understand that each of us have a responsibility, and that it's a part of our value system in our country to assume that responsibility.
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gruß
proxi
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Die Welt ist ziemlich einfach:
Früher hieß es: wenn der Bierpreis steigt, fällt die Regierung.
Heute ist es genauso, nur geht es um den Benzinpreis.
Da können wir alle Analysten und Psychiater stanzen: wenns an den Geldbeutel geht, ist maue Luft angesagt´.
Jo, das ist Democracy: was Geld kostet ist Sozialismus, was einem morgen 10 cent mehr in der
tasche bringt, ist Kapitalsismus.
Gute Nacht, ich wünsche mir einen Atomkrieg, ohne Witz.
Gleiches Recht für alle, und das heißt: Faustrecht
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FBI-Überwachungsakten über Kerry gestohlen
Washington (dpa) - Überwachungsprotokolle der US-Bundespolizei FBI über Aktivitäten des künftigen demokratischen Präsidentenkandidaten John Kerry aus den siebziger Jahren sind bei einem Historiker angeblich gestohlen worden.
Wie der US-Nachrichtensender CNN in der Nacht zum Sonntag berichtete, seien dem Historiker Gerald Nicosia in San Francisco am Donnerstag Hunderte von Seiten der FBI-Protokolle entwendet worden. Die Einbrecher seien sehr professionell vorgegangen, sagte Nicosia dem Sender. Nicosia vermutet einen politischen Hintergrund für die Tat. Die Polizei habe am Haus des Historikers keine Einbruchsspuren feststellen können.
Etwa ein Fünftel der Papiere seien gestohlen worden, sagte Nicosia. Er selbst habe den vollständigen Inhalt der umfangreichen Akten noch nicht lesen können. Deshalb wisse er auch nicht, was in diesen Papiere stehe.
Das FBI hatte den ehemaligen hoch dekorierten Vietnamkämpfer Kerry wegen seines späteren Engagements gegen den Krieg in Südostasien intensiv überwacht. Kerry selbst hatte zwar seine FBI-Akte bereits vor Jahren erhalten, doch die von Nicosia in einem langwierigen Verfahren erstrittene Dokumente sind mit etwa 20 000 Seiten offenkundig weit umfangreicher als die Kerry bekannten.
© WELT.de (Ticker)
Gr. luki2
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From Suzanne Malveaux
CNN Washington Bureau
Saturday, April 10, 2004 Posted: 0751 GMT (1551 HKT)
CRAWFORD, Texas (CNN) -- -- The daily intelligence briefing delivered to U.S. President George W. Bush a month before the September 11 attacks warns of various scenarios of al Qaeda's intentions to strike inside the United States, sources confirm to CNN.
CNN confirmed highlights of the classified August 6, 2001 presidential daily briefing, or PDB, which is expected to be declassified and released in the next several days.
Highlights of the report entitled "Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the US" include:
-- An intelligence report received in May 2001 indicating al Qaeda was attempting to send operatives to the United States through Canada to carry out an attack using explosives. This information had been passed on to intelligence and law enforcement agencies;
-- Al Qaeda had been considering ways to hijack American planes to win the release of operatives who had been arrested in 1998 and 1999;
-- Osama bin Laden was set on striking the US as early as 1997 through early 2001;
-- Some intelligence suggested suspected al Qaeda operatives were traveling to and from the United States, were U.S. citizens, and may have had a support network in the U.S.;
-- At least 70 FBI investigations were underway in 2001 regarding possible al Qaeda cells/terrorist-related operations in the U.S.
Sources aware of the PDB say much of the intelligence is uncorroborated, and none of it is related to the eventual September 11 terrorist plot.
The White House continues to work with the 9/11 commission to declassify the two-page document which became the highlight of National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice's testimony before the commission on Thursday.
Officials say the PDB could be released as early as Saturday afternoon, but more likely the beginning of next week.
Rice told the commission Thursday that the August 6 briefing included mostly "historical information" and that most of the threat information in the summer of 2001 referred to overseas targets. She said she did not recall any reports about al Qaeda using aircraft as weapons before September 11.
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gruß
proxi
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Washington (rpo). Die Kommission zur Untersuchung der Anschläge des 11. September hat Einsicht in ein Regierungsdokument gefordert, das Warnungen vor einem El-Kaida-Anschlag in den USA enthalten haben soll. Laut "New York Times" sei US-Präsident George W. Bush darin über geplante Flugzeugentführungen und Anschläge informiert worden.
Das am 6. August 2001 für Bush erstellte Dokument trägt den Titel "Bin Laden zu Anschlag in den Vereinigten Staaten entschlossen". Das Weiße Haus erklärte am Freitag, man werde das Papier voraussichtlich Anfang der kommenden Woche herausgeben. Bushs Sicherheitsberaterin Condoleezza Rice hatte bei ihrer Anhörung vor der Kommission am Donnerstag ausgesagt, die vor den Anschlägen auf das World Trade Center bekannt gewordenen Warnungen hätten sich überwiegend auf US-Einrichtungen im Ausland bezogen.
Zu dem Papier vom 6. August 2001 erklärte sie, es habe sich um eine Zusammenstellung bereits bekannter Anschlagspläne des Terrornetzwerks El Kaida gehandelt. Neue Informationen über eine akute Bedrohung seien darin nicht enthalten gewesen.
Mehrere Personen, die mit dem Dokument vertraut sind, widersprachen gegenüber der Nachrichtenagentur AP Rice Aussagen. In dem Papier würden Informationen vom Mai 2001 zitiert, wonach El Kaida einen Sprengstoffanschlag in den USA plante, erklärten die Quellen.
Auszüge des Dokuments waren bereits im Herbst 2002 von einem Untersuchungsausschuss des US-Kongresses bekannt gemacht worden. Demnach wurde in dem Papier gewarnt, dass El-Kaida-Chef Osama bin Laden Flugzeuge entführen wolle, um in den USA inhaftierte Islamisten freizupressen. Der Kongress-Ausschuss hatte damals festgestellt, dass verschiedene Geheimdienste insgesamt zwölf Mal auf die Gefahr hinwiesen, dass Terroristen bei Anschlägen Flugzeuge als Waffen benutzen wollten.
Einem Bericht der US-Zeitung "New York Times" zufolge, wird in dem Bericht vor Plänen von Anhängern des Terroristenführers Osama bin Laden gewarnt. Von einem Sprengstoffanschlag in den USA und der Entführung von Flugzeugen ist die Rede, wie entführen die Zeitung am Samstag unter Berufung auf einen nicht namentlich genannten US-Regierungsvertreter.
Die Enthüllungen widersprechen nach Einschätzung des Blattes den Beteuerungen des Weißen Hauses, wonach die Regierung wenig Grund hatte, mit einem Anschlag von El Kaida innerhalb der USA zu rechnen.
Danach enthielt das Informationspapier auch Hinweise, denen zufolge Terroristen Flugzeuge zur Freipressung Ende der 90er-Jahre gefangen genommener El-Kaida-Mitglieder entführen wollten. Den Medienberichten zufolge enthält das Papier mit dem Titel ?Bin Laden zu Anschlägen innerhalb der USA entschlossen? unter anderem folgende Punkte:
? Im Mai 2001 erhielt ein US-Geheimdienst Informationen, ?die auf Versuche Bin Ladens hindeuteten, Terroristen zwecks Sprengstoffanschlägen über Kanada in die USA zu schicken?. Diese Informationen seien an Geheimdienste und Bundespolizei weitergegeben worden.
? El Kaida suchte nach Wegen, um amerikanische Flugzeuge zu entführen. Ziel sei die Freipressung von Terroristen gewesen, die 1998 und 1999 festgenommen worden seien.
? Bin Laden wollte schon in den Jahren 1997 bis 2001 Anschläge in den USA ausführen.
? Einige Geheimdienstinformationen deuteten darauf hin, dass mutmaßliche El-Kaida-Mitglieder in die und aus den USA gereist seien und möglicherweise auf amerikanischem Boden ein Netzwerk zur Unterstützung gehabt hätten.
? Im Jahr 2001 liefen mindestens 70 Ermittlungen des Bundeskriminalamts FBI mit Blick auf mögliche Operationen von El-Kaida-Zellen in den USA.
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Tax Day Update: Millions of Americans Benefit from the President?s Tax Relief as the U.S. Economy Grows Stronger
?The big issue for every American family is the federal tax burden. With the largest tax relief since Ronald Reagan was President, we've left more money in the hands that earned it. By spending and investing and helping to create new jobs, the American people have used their money far better than the federal government could have.?
-President George W. Bush, 3/25/04
April 15, 2004: Tax Day
As Americans across the country file their tax returns today, America?s families, small businesses, low income taxpayers, couples, seniors, and parents will see higher refunds or lower tax bills thanks to the tax relief signed into law by President George W. Bush.
As a result of the President?s Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 and Jobs & Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003, every American who would have paid income taxes before the tax relief was enacted in 2001 will receive a tax cut in 2004.
The President?s tax cuts mean significant tax relief for Americans this year:
111 million individuals and families will receive an average tax cut of $1,586 in 2004 because of the tax cuts of 2001 and 2003.
49 million married couples will have an average tax cut of $2,602.
43 million families with children will receive an average tax cut of $2,090.
14 million elderly individuals will see their taxes fall, on average, by $1,883.
25 million small business owners will receive an average tax cut of $3,001.
Nearly 5 million taxpayers, including 4 million taxpayers with children, will have their income tax liability completely eliminated in 2004. (Department of the Treasury, http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/
js1315.htm)
A Growing Economy Shows President Bush?s Policies Are Working
The tax relief proposed and signed into law by President Bush was the right action at the right time. Tax relief has reinvigorated the U.S. economy and is driving job creation.
By the last quarter of 2003, the tax relief signed by President Bush had:
Reduced the unemployment rate by nearly 1 percentage point below where it would have been otherwise;
Increased the jobs available to Americans by as many as 2 million; and
Increased real GDP by as much as 3 percent. (Department of the Treasury, http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/js1315.htm)
Recent economic data is a powerful confirmation that the pro-growth economic policies of this administration are working. There are hopeful signs for America?s workers, families, and small businesses:
The economy is now in a strong recovery, with a GDP growth rate of 6.1 percent in the last half of 2003 ? the fastest six-month growth rate in nearly 20 years. Leading private forecasts are projecting growth of four percent plus for the 2004 year, well above historical growth rates. The latest Blue Chip report forecast GDP would grow 4.6 percent in 2004, the highest in 20 years.
According to the payroll survey, 308,000 new jobs were created in March ? the largest monthly increase since April 2000 -- and 759,000 jobs have been added over the last 7 months.
The national unemployment rate was 5.7% in March ? far below its peak of 6.3% in June 2003, and below the average of the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s.
Oer the past year, the unemployment rate has fallen in 45 of the 50 states.
Productivity continues to fuel growth in the U.S. economy. Productivity growth from 2000 to 2003 was the fastest 3-year growth in more than 50 years.
Consumer confidence is above its mark a year ago, suggesting that Americans feel more secure about their finances and broader economic conditions.
Retail sales rose 1.8 percent in March, well above market expectations, in the biggest increase since March 2003.
Orders for durable goods ? costly manufactured products that are expected to last at least three years ? rose by 2.5 percent in February, the largest rise since July 2002.
The February increase in exports was the largest since the fall of 1996.
U.S. household wealth hit a record high at the end of 2003 ? passing the previous peak in the first quarter of 2000.
Inflation, interest rates and mortgage rates are near historic lows.
The U.S. manufacturing industry grew for the ninth straight month in February and approached a 20-year high.
Housing construction in 2003 was the strongest in 25 years, and homeownership levels are at historic highs.
Since calendar year 2001, the U.S. economy has grown more than twice as fast as the economies of the European Union and Japan, and faster than any other economy in the G7 group of industrialized countries including Canada, France, Italy, Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom.
John Kerry Would Raise Taxes on Hard-Working Americans
President Bush has provided the kind of steady, principled leadership on the economy that the American people are looking for. John Kerry, on the other hand, would raise taxes just as the economy is growing and creating new jobs.
Over the course of his career, John Kerry has voted for more spending not less, and higher taxes not lower. He has voted for higher taxes more than 350 times, and he has consistently flunked the scorecards of tax watchdog groups, including Americans For Tax Reform and the National Taxpayers Union Foundation.
Voters face a very clear choice ? between keeping the tax relief that is moving this economy forward, or putting the burden of higher taxes back on the American people.
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gruß
proxi
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Die "Global Peace Operations Initiative" solle sich insbesondere an afrikanische Staaten wenden.Das Programm lege zudem Gelder für Heere in Europa, Asien und Lateinamerika zur Seite.
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Colbert I. King empörte sich am 17. April in einem Kommentar für die Washington Post über die Einsatzverweigerung der irakischen Polizei- und Armeekräfte. Außer fehlender Loyalität (mit den USA!) wirft er ihnen auch noch »Mangel an Mut« vor. Und er stellt die Frage, die ähnlich auch schon eine Generation arroganter und stupider US-amerikanischer Intellektueller während des Vietnamkriegs stellte: »Wenn die Iraker nicht bereit sind, gegen irakische und andere arabische Aufständische Front zu machen, warum sollten dann Amerikaner für sie kämpfen und sterben?« Friedman formuliert den gleichen Gedanken so: »Wir können uns nicht stärker für einen anständigen Irak einsetzen als die schweigende Mehrheit der Iraker.«
Beide Kommentatoren meinen damit aber keineswegs: »Was haben wir überhaupt im Irak verloren, wenn uns dort offenbar niemand will?« ? Abzug der Truppen ohne Sieg kommt ihrer Ansicht nach nicht in Frage, und so drücken beide nur ein Gefühl des Mißfallens über die Undankbarkeit der Iraker aus. Mangelnde Dankbarkeit und Loyalität der Einheimischen, das weiß man seit Vietnam, rechtfertigen rücksichtsloses Vorgehen der amerikanischen Streitkräfte.
Die Verschärfung der militärischen Konfrontation im Irak fällt zeitlich mit einer noch stärkeren Unterstützung der US-Regierung für den Besatzungsterror Scharons gegen die Palästinenser zusammen. Beide Schauplätze ähneln sich immer mehr und verschmelzen in der Wahrnehmung der Betroffenen miteinander. Die Bilder, die das Fernsehen in arabische Wohnungen bringt, unterscheiden sich nicht mehr voneinander. Die Amerikaner sagen ganz offen, daß sie die seit 40 Jahren praktizierten Methoden Israels kopieren. In Wirklichkeit übertreffen sie diese sogar noch, wie die 600 Toten in der ersten Woche der Belagerung von Falludscha zeigen.
Die bisherige Planung der USA sieht vor, daß im Juni auf mehreren Konferenzen ? beginnend mit dem G-8-Gipfel, gefolgt von einem europäisch-amerikanischen Gipfeltreffen und einer NATO-Konferenz ? über eine gemeinsame »Initiative« gesprochen werden soll, die angeblich der wirtschaftlichen Förderung und der Demokratisierung eines Großraums dienen soll, der Nordafrika, den Nahen Osten sowie Iran und Afghanistan umfaßt. Am 30. Juni soll dann die feierliche Übergabe der »Macht« im Irak an die von den Amerikanern selbst ausgesuchte und eingesetzte »Übergangsregierung« erfolgen.
Dieses Ensemble von Ereignissen sollte Bush helfen, rechtzeitig vor der im November anstehenden Präsidentenwahl den Eindruck zu produzieren, die Entwicklung im Irak sei zuverlässig auf dem richtigen Weg, und die US-Regierung sei überdies dabei, mit einer großartigen Vision in der moslemischen, insbesondere der arabischen Welt verlorenes Vertrauen zurückzugewinnen und sich an die Spitze der Entwicklung zu stellen.
Auf einer Veranstaltung des National Endowment for Democracy, einem Propagandazentrum der sogenannten Neokonservativen, sagte Bush: Solange der Nahe Osten ein Ort bleibt, wo die Freiheit nicht blüht, wird er ein Platz der Stagnation, des Vorurteils und der zum Export bereiten Gewalt bleiben. Und angesichts der Verbreitung von Waffen, die unserem Land und unseren Freunden katastrophalen Schaden zufügen können, wäre es verantwortungslos, den Status quo zu akzeptieren.«
Gemäß dieser Doktrin sind die USA grundsätzlich legitimiert, in allen Ländern des Nahen und Mittleren Ostens den Status quo zu verändern. Nötigenfalls, sollte man ihren Forderungen nicht nachkommen, auch durch militärische Aggression.
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ganz besonders hübsch sind die durchschnittlichen ! steuererstattungen. sollen die etwa irgendeinen aussagewert haben ???
Who Really Pays Taxes in America?
by Cheryl Woodard
Recent news articles about skyrocketing tax fraud and corporate tax dodging have prompted a high level of public concern about the overall fairness and effectiveness of our current tax system. AskQuestions.org ? an online news site that addresses issues raised by public demand ? released a report today on ?Who Really Pays Taxes in America??
Drawn primarily from government statistics, the report describes not only how the tax burden has shifted from corporations to private citizens over the past 20 years, but also a disturbing new twist: the richest American households pay about 30 percent less tax ? which includes federal, state, and local taxes combined -- than middle-income households pay. And the public apparently understands what?s going on: an AP poll released Tuesday reports that 49 percent of Americans believe their taxes have gone up, not down, as a result of the Bush tax cuts, consider all the new local and state taxes imposed in response to withering Federal grants to the states. And new CNN/Money Magazine poll reports that, "60% of Americans said the Bush tax cut did not personally help them."
In his proposed budget for 2005, President Bush cuts another $6 billion in federal aide to states, even though 30 states already face shortfalls totaling about $40 billion next year and more cutbacks in state spending are inevitable, as well as more increases in local taxes. While there are no national statistics that add up the costs, anecdotal evidence is clear. One California couple received a $100 tax refund from President Bush for 2003, but paid $515 in new local taxes. A self-employed man living in Nassau County, NY got a $300 tax rebate last year, but his property taxes went up $2,250.
While honest taxpayers deal with their growing burden, the independent IRS Oversight Board reported that tax fraud is $311 billion dollars per year ? more than federal spending on Medicare in 2003 and greater than the gross revenues of either Walmart or General Electric. The Board continually requests funding to strengthen resources for IRS enforcement, but because some of the biggest campaign contributors may be the country?s worst tax cheaters, the incentives for auditing tax cheats is nil. As a result, audits are focused on those at the bottom of the income scale.
Yesterday, David Cay Johnston reported in The New York Times that corporate audit rates have dropped by half in recent years, and noted that in 2003 the IRS conducted face-to-face audits with only seven out of 1000 corporations (compared to 29 per thousand in 1992).
?If we simply collected the taxes cheaters are withholding from the system, we would have enough money to pay the college fees of every student in America, or to provide health insurance for small business employees,? says the AskQuestions.org report.
AskQuestions.org practices ?bottom-up? journalism by inviting the public to submit questions. The most popular questions are handed over to professional researchers and reporters. Answering ?Who Really Pays Taxes?? required the AskQuestions.org team to assemble a dozen practical suggestions from a range of experts about increasing the fairness of the tax code while also making it more effective at stimulating sustained economic growth.
Neither Presidential candidate is likely to talk about fraud and favoritism during the election campaign, but voters apparently want answers on these very issues. And the AskQuestions report frames the debate from a voter?s perspective, so that people will be armed with the information they need in order to raise their concerns with the candidates.
Authored by the Executive Director of AskQuestions.org, Cheryl Woodard, the full report is available online, along with the public questions and comments that prompted the article at http://www.askquestions.org/details.php?id=39
Woodard is a co-founder of several computer magazines, including PC Magazine and Macworld. A full-time business consultant to magazine publishers, Woodard sits on the board of directors at the Independent Press Association. The AskQuestions.org project is a collaboration between Woodard and journalist Mark Dowie, Berkeley city councilmember Linda Maio, and writer/publisher Ted Nace. Woodard's email is cheryl@askquestions.org.
Published on Friday, April 16, 2004 by CommonDreams.org
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Monday, May 03, 2004
DBunker Buster: Winning the War on Terror Tour Rolls On
Kerry's Claim: Bush-Cheney '04 changed the name of this week's campaign tour from the "Winning the War on Terror" tour to "Yes, America Can."
The Truth: No, actually we didn't.
The next stop on the "Winning the War on Terror" Tour is Albuquerque, New Mexico this Wednesday where Colonel Allen Weh (USMC, ret.) will highlight the F/A-18 Hornet and Superhornet, which Senator Kerry voted against at least eight times. Additional stops are scheduled for other cities highlighting key weapons systems in the War on Terror that Senator Kerry has either proposed cutting or has voted against funding.
Concurrent with the "Winning the War on Terror" Tour, the President is visiting cities throughout the Midwest on the separate "Yes, America Can" bus tour, highlighting America's strengthening economy.
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gruß
proxi
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- ohne Quellenangabe.
Deshalb:
http://www.uni-kassel.de/fb10/frieden/regionen/Irak/mellenthin.html
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Von Pennsylvania nach Abu Ghraib
Folter-Sergeant Graners Karriere als Gefängniswärter. Mißhandlung in Haft hat auch in den USA Methode
»Was sie getan haben, ist nicht typisch für das amerikanische Wesen«, so Präsident Bush am 8. Mai über die Soldaten, die für die Folterungen im Gefängnis von Abu Ghraib verantwortlich gemacht werden. Nun wurde nicht erst in den vergangenen Tagen und Wochen deutlich, daß in Irak und anderen sogenannten Krisenregionen neben der US-amerikanischen Militärmacht auch Mitglieder privater Sicherheitsfirmen sowie Angestellte staatlicher Wachdienste eingesetzt sind. Sergeant Charles A. Graner, der zur Zeit als Hauptverantwortlicher für die Folterungen in Abu Ghraib beschuldigt wird, ist einer jener 16 000 Angestellten der Nationalen Sicherheitskräfte in Pennsylvania, die hauptberuflich als Wärter in den Staatsgefängnissen Dienst tun. Er ist seit einem Jahr zusammen mit knapp 400 anderen Kollegen im Sondereinsatz im Irak, sein regulärer Arbeitsplatz jedoch ist der Todestrakt des Hochsicherheitsgefängnisses von Greene bei Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in dem Mumia Abu-Jamal einsitzt.
Greene, vor zehn Jahren erbaut als »schimmerndes Juwel unter den Strafanstalten«, war nahezu von Eröffnung an berüchtigt für Mißhandlungen. Skandale gab es viele. 1998 kam es zur ersten großen Anklage gegen Strafvollzugsbeamte, von denen zwei entlassen und 22 weitere versetzt, suspendiert oder im Rang zurückgestuft wurden, weil sie Gefangene geschlagen, getreten, gedemütigt oder anderweitig mißhandelt hatten. Charles A. Graner war einer von ihnen, was die Leitung von Greene derzeit allerdings offiziell bestreitet. Indes ergab eine Recherche des Nationalen Komitees von Pennsylvania zur Abschaffung der Todesstrafe: Graner war von April 1988 bis Mai 1996 Mitglied der US-Armee und steht seitdem auf der Gehaltsliste des Department of Corrections ? Ministerium für Strafanstalten in Pennsylvania. In dieser Funktion ist er Mitglied der 372. Polizeikompanie, die in Maryland stationiert und im Irak-Einsatz seine übergeordnete Dienststelle ist. Laut einem Armeebericht bekam er seine Aufsichtsfunktion im Gefängnis von Abu Ghraib aufgrund »seiner Erfahrung« in zivilen Gefängnissen.
Ein weiterer Beschuldigter in Abu Ghraib ist Sergeant Ivan Frederick aus Virginia, der im »Zivilberuf« ebenfalls Gefängniswärter ist. »Sie lernen eine Menge über andere Menschen und Kulturen, das sind Lektionen, die sie zu noch wertvolleren Arbeitnehmern machen«, sagte der Landesminister für die Strafanstalten in Pennsylvania, Jeffrey A. Beard, über die im Ausland eingesetzten Beamten noch vor kurzem.
und damit kunibert sich mal bilden kann den Link dazu:
http://www.jungewelt.de/2004/05-11/006.php
