News Archive

GOP plan uses smoke and mirrors to take workers' benefits
By Molly Ivins
Contra Costa Times May 8, 2003
Boy, there is no shortage of creatively terrible ideas from the Republican Party these days. Those folks are just full of notions about how to make people's lives worse -- one horrible idea after another bursting out like popcorn -- and all of them with these sickeningly cute names attached to them.

Jim Crow Revived in Cyberspace
By Martin Luther King III and Greg Palast
Baltimore Sun
Thursday 08 May 2003
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Astonishingly, and sadly, four decades after the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. marched in Birmingham, we must ask again, "Do African-Americans have the unimpeded right to vote in the United States?"

Sign the Petition (leaves CFWP site)

Operation Homeland Resistance
May 6, 2003
50 protestors arrested in New York
May 6, 2003 Fifty protestors were arrested Monday, May 5 at the entrance of 26 Federal Plaza. They are part of group called Operation: Homeland Resistance. They will return on Tuesday, May 6 with even more protestors. More arrests are expected. Civil Disobedience actions will take place at 26 Federal Plaza starting at 11am on the morning of Tuesday, May 6. In addition, spontaneous resistance actions will be taking place in various parts of the city over the next few days. Operation Homeland Resistance calls attention to the fact that the that war and occupation abroad, as well as a war at home against immigrants, people of color, and poor people have only just begun despite President s Bush s declaration that war is over

Iraqi rage grows after Fallujah massacre
By Phil Reeves in Fallujah
UK Independent
04 May 2003
Nearly a week after troops from the 82nd Airborne Division randomly opened fire on a crowd of demonstrators here, prompting the US military to announce an inquiry, commanders have yet to speak to the doctors who counted the bodies.

Dead cameraman 'carried white flag'
By Justin Huggler in Rafah, Gaza Strip
UK Independent
04 May 2003
Israeli soldiers who killed a British television cameraman, James Miller, in southern Gaza could have been in no doubt about his identity as a journalist, according to witnesses. They said yesterday that he was shot at close range while in a group carrying a large white flag and shouting repeatedly that they were journalists.

Torrance woman fights for rehab center
By David Zahniser
COPLEY NEWS SERVICE Saturday, May 03, 2003
LAWSUIT: Susan Rodde, herself disabled, cites rejections from health care providers as the reason Rancho Los Amigos must stay open.

Proud to be American? Not While it Chooses Bombs Over Bread
by Frida Berrigan
Published on Friday, May 2, 2003 by CommonDreams.org

Pope Appeals Anew for World Peace
5/3/3
By VICTOR L. SIMPSON
MADRID, Spain (AP) - Pope John Paul II urged hundreds of thousands of young people Saturday to be ``artisans of peace,'' telling a rally outside Madrid that violence and terrorism are sowing hatred and death in the world.

Nurse Staffing: Curing the Crisis
AFL-CIO
Inadequate hospital staffing is jeopardizing quality patient care and driving experienced, committed nurses from their profession.

8.8 Million Now Officially Jobless–More Like 15 Million
AFL-CIO
The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics April jobs report confirmed what millions of U.S. workers know all-too well: The nation’s job crisis is bleak and getting bleaker.

Some 8.8 million jobless workers are counted in the official U.S. unemployment rate of 6 percent, up from 5.8 percent in March, according to the May 2 report.

Even the dismal 6 percent unemployment rate is worse than it looks. In addition to the 8.8 million, another 1.4 million jobless Americans looked for jobs in the past year but now are so discouraged they have not looked recently. Added to these 10.2 million jobless workers are an additional 4.8 million who are involuntarily working part-time because their hours were cut or they have been unable to find full-time employment. They bring the total number of unemployed and underemployed to some 15 million.

At Home, No Superpower
By Ruth Rosen, San Francisco Chronicle
May 1, 2003
To most of us, national security means protection from external enemies — other countries or terrorists. But there is another kind of national security — the well-being of a country's citizens.
So how do we rank in terms of our domestic national security?
Poorly.

Moving From Protest to Politics: Dumping Bush's Regime in 2004
By Carl Davidson and Marilyn Katz
Portside.

Revealed: How the Road to War was Paved with Lies
By Raymond Whitaker
The Independent UK: Sunday 27 April 2003

War Spurs Big Layoffs and Concessions for Airline Workers
by Jennifer Biddle May 2003
Labor Notes
Just a few short days after the United States launched its invasion of Iraq, United Airlines announced that 2,000 flight attendants, 1,148 mechanics, and thousands more non-union salaried employees would be forced to take time off with no pay as a direct result of the war.

Fury As Us Strips Thieves
Mirror UK
Saturday 26 April 2003
America was at the centre of a new human rights row last night after four alleged Iraqi thieves were paraded naked in a Baghdad park by US troops.

Turner Calls Rival Media Mogul Murdoch 'Warmonger'
Reuters: Fri Apr 25, 2:49 AM ET
Add Entertainment - Reuters to My Yahoo!
By Duncan Martell
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Ted Turner said on Thursday too few people owned too many media organizations and called rival media baron Rupert Murdoch a warmonger for what he said was Murdoch's promotion of the U.S. war in Iraq.

Dyke attacks American media networks for 'gung-ho' coverage of Gulf conflict
By Ian Burrell Media and Culture Correspondent
UK Independent
25 April 2003
Greg Dyke, director general of the BBC, attacked American television and radio networks for their "shocking" and "gung-ho" coverage of the Iraq conflict yesterday. He also issued a warning against US companies being allowed greater ownership of British media.

Bush on a revenge mission
By Rupert Cornwell in Washington
UK Independent; 26 April 2003
American anger at France over its refusal to support war in Iraq reached new heights yesterday when President George Bush took a direct swipe at President Chirac.

Why The Anti-war Movement Was Right (and Will Keep Fighting)
by Adele Oliveri
ZNet - April 24, 2003

Corporate Colonialism
Companies . . . March!
Village Voice
Mondo Washington April 23 - 29, 2003
by James Ridgeway
Like one of the 19th-century European colonial empires, the Bush government is calling on Bechtel, Halliburton, and other major corporations to take over the job of running the Iraqi colony. These companies are to act in the name of the government. They are to be paid out of our taxes. It might just as well be the British East India company. The colonial corporations become the instrument of the nation-state, in this case to undertake the reconstruction of Iraq. They, not the government, are the purveyors of laws and customs and democratic ideals.

A New War in Washington
By Jim Lobe, AlterNet
April 22, 2003
It's been barely a week since the U.S. took control of Baghdad, but the Pentagon is already embroiled in a new war, this time with the State Department.

Down for the Count
By G. Beato, AlterNet
April 23, 2003
According to the Washington Post, the Pentagon announced last Monday that it "has no plans" to count civilian casualties. Previously, U.S. officials expressed similar sentiments regarding Iraqi military casualties. "We do not look at combat as a scorecard," Captain Frank Thorp, chief military spokesman of Central Command, told the New York Times. "We are not going to ask battlefield commanders to make specific reports on enemy casualties."

US Detains Children At Guantanamo Bay
Guardian UK - Wednesday 23 April 2003
The US military has admitted that children aged 16 years and younger are among the detainees being interrogated at its prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The Elusive Weapons Of Mass Destruction
By William O. Beeman, Pacific News Service
April 17, 2003
The stated purpose of the war in Iraq was to defend the United States from Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction. Thus far no weapons have been found. Moreover, according to United Nations weapons inspector Hans Blix and two top Iraqi scientists who have given themselves up, there are none of any significance to be found.

US should be "embarrassed" over failure to find WMDs: ex-spies
(18/04/2003)
WASHINGTON (AFP) The US government should be "embarrassed" over the apparent failure to uncover weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, the main justification for going to war, retired intelligence officials said Thursday.

A crusade after all?
Plans of some Christians to evangelize as they offer aid pose dilemma for Iraqi reconstruction.
from the April 17, 2003 edition
By Jane Lampman | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

More die as troops open fire on Mosul crowd
Michael Howard in Mosul and Rory McCarthy in Camp as-Sayliya, Qatar
Thursday April 17, 2003
The Guardian

US Troops Shoot to Death 10 Iraqi protesters
15.04.2003 [19:55]
Agence France Presse
MOSUL, Iraq (AFP) - At least 10 people were shot dead and scores wounded in the northern Iraqi town of Mosul, a hospital doctor said, with witnesses claiming US troops had opened fire on a crowd after it turned against an American-installed local governor

Talking Points Regarding Syria
by Stephen Zunes
from ZNet April 15, 2003

We're Looking for a Few Poor Men
By Ted Rall, AlterNet
April 14, 2003
Not everyone loves the war, but everyone loves the troops. So why, in the words of my pal Bill Maher, do we pay them like chumps?

US Marines Raid Rooms at Media Hotel in Baghdad
ChannelNewsAsia
Wednesday 16 April 2003
Masked US marines who said they were searching for weapons raided rooms at a prominent Baghdad media hotel Tuesday, fueling rising tensions between the military and the press.

Police Open Fire At Anti-War Protest, Longshoremen Injured
Martha Mendoza
Associated Press

Simpson: 'This Is Like A Scene From Hell. There Are Bodies All Around'
John Simpson
Independent UK 
Monday 7 April 2003

ISM Update of 7 April 2003
Rachel Corrie Appeal (for US Supporters)

Cronies Set To Make A Killing
Oliver Morgan and Ed Vulliamy
The London Observer 
Sunday 6 April 2003

Red Cross: Iraq Wounded Too High to Count
Associated Press
Sunday 6 April 2003

After Protest Arrest, Soldier's Mother Says, `I'm Doing What David Is Doing. I'm Fighting A War.'
Helen O'Neill
Associated Press 
Friday 4 April 2003

Iraq Is A Trial Run
By Noam Chomsky

US forces use schools for cover
By Russell Skelton in northern Iraq
The Sydney Morning Herald, April 4 2003

Bush approves use of tear gas in battlefield
Only to save civilian lives, military says
Weapons experts fear violation of law
Apr. 2, 2003. 12:29 AM
NICHOLAS WADE AND ERIC SCHMITT
NEW YORK TIMES

The flowering of fascism
Silencing dissent is extremist and un-American
April 4, 2003, Creative Loafing Atlanta
by John Sugg

Anti-war boycott message spreads
Tuesday, 1 April, 2003
By Richard Black 
BBC World Service
People who disapprove of the US-led invasion of Iraq are finding a new way to protest - a consumer boycott.

Pressure on Artists to Not Protest
Compiled by portside@yahoogroups.com
Wed, 02 Apr 2003 02:30:52 -0500

Marine who said no to killing on his conscience
Fighting not to fight
Duncan Campbell in Los Angeles
Tuesday April 1, 2003
The Guardian

Kucinich Takes to The House Floor
To Call For An End to The War:

Israel, China Cited for Right Abuses
By SONYA ROSS
The Associated Press
Tuesday, April 1, 2003; 2:31 AM

Israeli Army Retracts Claim that ISM Sheltered Armed Man
"International Solidarity Movement" ISM Updates of 31 March 2003: Jenin

Honesty: The Worst Policy When Telling The Truth Will Get You Fired From The Networks
By Doug Ireland
Tom Paine - Common Sense A Public Interest Journal
Mar 31 2003, Published on www.tompaine.com

US Marines Turn Fire on Civilians at the Bridge of Death
Mark Franchetti, Nasiriya
The Times UK, Sunday 30 March 2003

US arms trader to run Iraq
Exclusive: Ex-general who will lead reconstruction heads firm behind Patriot missiles
Oliver Morgan, industrial editor
Sunday March 30, 2003
The Observer

Antiwar Effort Emphasizes Civility Over Confrontation
By Kate Zernike and Dean E. Murphy
New York Times
Saturday 29 March 2003

Resignation Letter from U.S. Diplomat
Mary A. Wright, FO-01
Deputy Chief of Mission
US Embassy, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
Saturday 29 March 2003

Military Families Unite in Protest
By Nancy Cacioppo 
The Journal News,  Saturday 29 March 2003

'Die-Ins' Target War and News Media
By Richard Cowen
North Jersey News, Saturday March 29, 2003

Bush Proposal Would End Overtime Pay for Millions of Workers
Working Families e-ActivistNnetwork
March 27

Soldiers at the Door
By Amy Goodman, Democracy Now!
March 27, 2003

Myriad Forms of Ethnic Cleansing
Gaza City - Thu, 27 Mar 2003
Kristen Ess

When are facts facts? Not in a war
Claims and counter claims made during the media war in Iraq
Chris Tryhorn
Guardian Unlimited Wednesday March 26, 2003

Nobel Winners Arrested at White House War Protest
Rueters Wed March 26, 2003 03:18 PM ET
By Sue Pleming

Prisoners of Hypocrisy
By Anthony Lappé,
Guerrilla News Network March 25, 2003

Salon.com
Reservist families face healthcare jam
By Janelle Carter
Tuesday 25 March 2003

Pope Endorses Antiwar Movement
Associated Press
Tuesday 25 March 2003

Channels of Influence
By PAUL KRUGMAN
NEW YORK TIMES - March 25, 2003

"Shut your mouth"
As radio giants censor antiwar musicians, TV networks bully pro-peace actors, and Attorney General John Ashcroft prepares a new assault on civil liberties, a climate of intimidation creeps over America.
By Tim Grieve
Salon.com Tuesday 25 March 2003

Report from Voices in the Wilderness
A conversation with Kathy Kelly and Ramzi Kysia in Baghdad
Mon, 23 Mar 2003

Arrogance of Power
Today, I Weep for my Country...
By US Senator Robert Byrd
Statement on the floor of the senate. March 19, 2003