================================================
01 Aufruftext fuer eine antirassistische Demonstration
+ Anreisebeschreibung aus Wien
Von: novak@nix.at <novak@nix.at>
================================================
Article by: da novak
Wednesday 16 Oct 2002
Summary:Hier ein kurzer Aufruftext fuer eine antirassistische Demonstration
am
Donnerstag, 17. Oktober in Traiskirchen + Anreisebeschreibung aus Wien.
Reference at indymedia website:
http://at.indymedia.org:8081//front.php3?article_id=16470
Article:
NEIN ZU RASSISMEN!
BLEIBERECHT FÜR ALLE!
Die Regierung setzt Flüchtlinge auf die Strasse!
Die FPÖ demonstriert gegen Flüchtlinge!
Wir demonstrieren gegen Rassismen und Intoleranz!
Treffpunkt: Do, 17. Oktober 2002, 16:30
Traiskirchen - Badnerbahnstation
Unter dem Motto \"Gegen die versäumte Asylpolitik" soll(te?) am 17. Oktober
eine
Demonstration gegen Flüchtlinge und AsylwerberInnen vor dem Flüchtlingslager
Traiskirchen stattfinden. Die FPÖ und eine "überparteiliche Plattform"
woll(t?)en um 17.00h vor dem Flüchtlingslager "gegen die Asylpolitik der
Regierung", der die FPÖ selbst angehört, demonstrieren! Als ob diese
menschenverachtende Politik noch immer zu liberal sei? Aufgrund von
Protesten
hat zumindest die FPÖ die Demonstration mittlerweile für abgesagt erklärt.
Rassistische Aussagen behaupten eine angebliche Gefährdung der Region
Traiskirchen/Baden und allgemein die immer wieder in Zusammenhang mit
Flüchtlingen genannte "Gefährdung unserer Sicherheit\". Die katastrophale
Situation, unter der Flüchtlinge in Traiskirchen untergebracht werden, wird
ebenso ausgelassen, wie der Umstand, dass hunderte Leute vor die Tür gesetzt
werden, obwohl es genügend Unterkunftsplätze gibt.
Die Asylpolitik von Blau-Schwarz und zuvor die von SPÖ und ÖVP ist (um den
Aufruf der FPÖ zu zitieren) tatsächlich am besten mit dem Wort \"versäumt\"
zu
beschreiben; jedoch mobilisiert die FPÖ für eine weitere rassistische
Verschärfung ebendieser.
Vergessen darf nicht werden, dass sich der Rassismus in der österreichischen
Fremden- und Asylpolitik seit Jahren in eine Richtung bewegt, die rein gar
nichts mit sogenannten Menschenrechten zu tun hat. Die SPÖ verschärfte in
den
80er und 90er Jahren mit Unterstützung der ÖVP ständig die Sonderregeln von
Personen ohne österreichischem bzw- EU-Pass. Es wurden Selektionskriterien
geschaffen und den Leuten grundlegende Rechte verwehrt.
Vielen Flüchtlingen und MigrantInnen ist es nicht erlaubt, einer
Erwerbsarbeit
nachzugehen, sie erhalten meist keine staatliche Unterstützung und werden
sehr
oft illegalisiert. Der sogenannte "Integrationsvertrag", der mit 1. Jänner
2003
in Kraft treten wird, wird die Ungleichbehandlung weiter verstärken - eine
Entwicklung, die überall in Europa zu sehen ist.
Die antirassistische Demonstration in Traiskirchen richtet sich nicht "nur"
gegen die Provokation der FPÖ und der "überparteilichen Plattform".
Gefordert
werden ein grundsätzliches Umdenken in der europäischen Migrationspolitik.
Alle
Menschen sollen die Möglichkeit haben, sich selbst einen Platz zum Leben zu
suchen und nicht der staatlichen Willkür ausgeliefert sein, ständig bedroht
von
rassistischen Übergriffen, sozialer Ausgrenzung, Internierung und
Deportation.
Wir fordern die Abschaffung von Abschiebungen und Schubhaft und rufen dazu
auf,
Flüchtlinge und MigrantInnen aktiv zu unterstützen. Für die BEENDIGUNG DER
PERMANENTEN RASSISTISCHEN HETZE gegen AsylwerberInnen!
KEIN MENSCH IST ILLEGAL!
FÜR EINE WELT OHNE RASSISMUS!Weitere Informationen:
http://no-racism.net
http://at.indymedia.org
Weiterer Text + Diskussion auf Indymedia:
FPÖ ruft zu Demonstration gegen das Traiskirchner Flüchtlingsheim auf
http://at.indymedia.org:8081/front.php3?article_id=16355

Anreise aus Wien:
Am besten mit der Badner Bahn - fährt alle 15. Minuten vom Karlsplatz (U1,
U2,
U4) ab. Von der Oper bzw. Karlsplatz wird empfohlen, eher nicht wegzufahren,
da
die Badner Bahn in Wien nur im Straßenbahntempo vorwärts kommt und bis nach
Traiskirchen so fast eine Stunde braucht...
BESSER: Zusteigen bei der U6-Station Philadelphiabrücke (Bhf. Wien
Meidling)!
Dort entweder bei der Station \"Meidlinger Hauptstraße\" oder bei der
Station
\"Schedifkaplatz\" in die Badner Bahn Richtung Baden einsteigen (geht alle
15
Minuten: immer -:02, -:17, -:32, -:47). Von dort sind es nur rund 30 Minuten
nach Traiskirchen.
Ein idealer Treffpunkt für die aus Wien kommenden wäre der Schedifkaplatz in
1120 Wien - am besten schon gegen 16:00 Uhr!
ACHTUNG! ACHTUNG! ACHTUNG! Nur in Bahnen mit dem Ziel \"Baden\" einsteigen -
die
anderen sind Kurzzüge und enden schon in Wr. Neudorf. Wenn ihr falsch
eingestiegen seid, ist das aber auch kein Problem. Dann wartet ihr in Wr.
Neudorf 7 Minuten auf die Nächste - mit der kommt ihr sicher nach
Traiskirchen.

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02 FPÖ-Demo abgesagt; SLP tritt in Wien an!
Von: Franz Breier jun. <slp@slp.at>
================================================
Pressemitteilung der Sozialistischen LinksPartei (SLP)
* FPÖ-Demo in Traiskirchen abgesagt!
* SLP tritt in Wien an: Liste 6!
Erfreut gibt die SLP die schriftliche Absage der Demo der FPÖ Traiskirchen
sowie unser Antreten bei den Wahlen in Wien (Liste 6) bekannt.
Die Ankündigung einer Gegenmobilisierung war erfolgreich. Wir werden dennoch
unsere Kundgebung am Donnerstag ab ca. 16.30 in Traiskirchen abhalten und
mit der Bevölkerung das Gespräch suchen. Die FPÖ-Propaganda stellt uns als
"linke Gewalttäter" dar. Dies ist eine Lüge!
Gewalt an ArbeitnehmerInnen, Arbeitslosen und Asylsuchenden ging und geht
vor allem von dieser FPÖVP-Regierung aus. Hunderte Millionen Euros wurden in
den letzten Jahren auf Kosten der arbeitenden Bevölkerung eingespart.
Menschen werden eiskalt in Länder abgeschoben, in denen ihnen Folter und Tod
drohen.
Katastrophale Asylpolitik
Die Asylpolitik der Regierung (und die der SPÖVP-Regierungen zuvor) war und
ist eine Katastrope. Dies gilt sowohl für die TraiskirchnerInnen und im
Speziellen für die Flüchtlinge!
Für die angespannte Situation und eventuelle Übergfife in der Zukunft ist
diese rassistische und Sozialabbau-Politik verantwortlich. Der Zynismus der
FPÖ und der ÖVP kennt keine Grenzen: am Beginn der kalten Jahreshälfte
werden Asylsuchende auf die Strasse gesetzt!
Arbeitsplätze statt AusländerInnen-Hetze!
Die SLP ruft den ÖGB dazu auf, im Interesse österreichischer und aller
"ausländischen" Beschäftigten gegen den sozialen Kahlschlag zu mobilisieren.
Wer hat in Traiskirchen die Semperit-Arbeitsplätze zerstört? Es war die
Unternehmer-Politik des Continental-Konzerns unter Duldung der etablierten
Politiker.
Die SLP tritt bei den Neuwahlen in Wien an. Dieses Thema wird in unserem
Wahlkampf eine große Rolle spielen. Wir fordern:
* Gemeinsame Aktionen gegen die unmenschlichen Bedingungen in Traiskirchen
im Interesse der Asylsuchenden und der Traiskirchner Bevölkerung!
* Sofortiges Recht auf Arbeit für alle in Österreich lebenden Menschen!
* Nein zur Ghetto-Bildung in Traiskirchen - Aufteilung der Betroffenen auf
Betreuungseinrichtungen im ganzen Bundesgebiet.
* Abschaffung der Schubhaft!
* Bleiberecht für Alle!
* Rücknahme aller rassistischen Gesetze der 90er Jahre!
* Nein zu jeglichem Sozialabbau - Holt euch das Geld bei den Konzernen und
Superreichen!
Mehr Informationen: 0699 120 44 002 (Franz Breier jun.; SLP-Bundessekretär)

Weitere Infos und Koordination auch von:
ARGE Wehrdienstverweigerung
siehe Infos unterr: http://www.8ung.at/fpoe.traiskirchen/
http://www.austria.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=16355

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AKTIONEN UND ANKüNDIGUNGEN
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03 mach mit am fußballplatz gegen homophobie
Von: Grüne Andersrum <andersrum.wien@gruene.at>
================================================

Aufforderung an alle: Zeig Homophobie die Rote Karte!
Grüne Andersrum mit lesBiSchwulen Sportvereinen am Sportklub-Platz
- auch mit Dir?
Wiener Sportklub gegen FC Lustenau: Das Spiel der 1. Division ist nicht nur
ein Spiel, wie sonst. Der Fanclub des Wiener Sportklubs "Freunde der
Friedhofstribüne" (der freilich auch Freundinnen angehören) lädt gemeinsam
mit lesbischwulen Vereinen aus Sport und Politik zum Aktionstag gegen
Homophobie.
Der Tag steht im Zusammenhang mit FARE (Football Against Racism in Europe),
dessen Wiener VerteterInnen von "Fair Play" sich nun zunehmend auch dem
Thema der Homophobie am Fußballplatz annehmen wollen.
Die Grünen Andersrum laden daher alle ein, der Homophobie (aber auch dem
Rassismus) die Rote Karte zu zeigen, und beim Aktionstag am Wiener
Sportklub-Platz teilzunehmen. Macht Euch sichtbar, zeigt die Regenbogenfahne
und beweist, dass Homophobie im Fußball keinen Platz mehr hat!
Diese Einladung bitte zahlreich weiterleiten, damit viele Rote Karten
vergeben werde können, und lesBiSchwule & TransGender überall sichtbar
werden - auch an angeblich heterosexuell dominierten Orten wie
Fußballplätze! Wer kommen kann, bitte unbedingt rückmelden an
andersrum.wien@gruene.at oder bei Hansi Eitler im Rathausklub der Grünen
unter 4000-81813
In der Pause des Fußballspiels wird Abgeordnete zum Nationalrat Ulrike
Lunacek, einzig offen lesbische Spitzenpolitikerin Österreichs, ein paar
Worte zu den SchlachtenbummmlerInnen sprechen!
lesbischwule und Transgender-Vereine, Gruppen und Einzelpersonen, die ihre
Anliegen dort loswerden wollen: Bitte Euer Info-Material mitnehmen!
Freitag, 18. Oktober, Anpfiff 19 Uhr,
LesBischwuler Info-Stand ab 18.30
Sportklub-Platz
Alszeile 19
1170 Wien
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Die superüberdrübergrüne LesBiSchwule- & TransGender-Organisation
http://wien.gruene.at/andersrum/
-----------------------------------------------------------------

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04 SCHÖNE NEUE WELT?! Sofa-Talk am 20.10.02 -
Respect! Fortschrittliche Asylpolitik...?
Von: Marie Ringler <marie@t0.or.at>
================================================
...freu mich euch zu sehen!
lg marie
>>>> SCHÖNE NEUE WELT?!
>>>> Sofa-Talk statt Podiumsdiskussion Sonntag, 20. Oktober 2002, 19:00 Uhr
WIRR, Burggasse 70, 1070 Wien >> "RESPECT- JUST A LITTLE BIT!"
>> Fortschrittliche Asylpolitik?! Was kann ich tun?
Am 20.10.2002 findet der vorläufig letzte Sofa-Talk zur Globalisierung
statt. Dieses Mal diskutieren wir mitten im Wahlkampf das brisante Thema
Asylpolitik. >> Es diskutieren:
August Gächter, Institut für Höhere Studien
Herbert Langthaler, asylkoordination Österreich
Alev Korun, Kandidatin der Wiener Grünen zur Nationalratswahl
Moderation: Marie Ringler, Landtagsabgeordnete der Wiener Grünen >> Die Sofa-Talk-Reihe
Die Sofa-Talks bieten Info aus erster Hand zu den Themen
Weltwirtschaft,
Überwachung, Asylpolitik, Biotechnologie und globaler Kultur. Neben
ExpertInnen aus dem Inland kommen auch internationale Gäste - wie
Andy
Müller-Maghun,
Faith Wilding oder Joana Breidenbach - nach Wien.
>> Die Grünalternative Jugend Wien lädt alle ein, die ihre Gedanken,
Wünsche,
Meinungen pro und contra Globalisierung diskutieren und selber aktiv
werden
wollen.
>> Homepage zur Veranstaltungsreihe: http://www.gajwien.at/sofa
>> Eine Veranstaltung der Grünalternativen Jugend Wien.
Konzipiert in Zusammenarbeit mit Marie Ringler, Wiener Gemeinderätin
und
Landtagsabgeordnete, Kultursprecherin der Wiener Grünen. >> Weitere Infos:
Christa Hauk, 0699/121 373 06

DAMIT MORGEN NICHT VORGESTERN WIRD: http://marie.gruene.at###
Marie Ringler
Wiener Gemeinderätin
und Landtagsabgeordnete
Der Grüne Klub im Rathaus
Rathaus, A-1082 Wien
fon: +43 1 4000 81800
http://wien.gruene.at
marie.ringler@gruene.at
###

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05 Kunstauktion für Flüchtlinge
Von: asyl-in-not <asyl-in-not@asyl-in-not.org>
================================================

Kunstauktion für politische Flüchtlinge,
Donnerstag, 24. Oktober 2002, 19 Uhr, MUMOK
Pressetext
Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren !
Asyl in Not führt am Donnerstag, 24. Oktober 2002, um 19 Uhr im Museum
moderner Kunst (Stiftung Ludwig) - Museumsquartier - die siebente
Kunstauktion für politische Flüchtlinge durch. Diese nun schon traditionelle
Veranstaltung dient der Finanzierung unserer Arbeit für die Menschenrechte
in Zeiten, wo staatliche Förderungen mehr und mehr durch privates Sponsoring
ersetzt werden müssen.
Wir danken besonders dem UNO-Hochkommissariat für die Flüchtlinge, dessen
Wiener Büro auch in diesem Jahr die Schirmherrschaft über unsere Auktion
übernommen hat. Wir danken auch ganz herzlich Frau Mag. Andrea Jungmann
(Sotheby's), die die Versteigerung durchführen wird.
Die jüngsten Ereignisse - massenhafte Entlassungen aus der Bundesbetreuung,
geplante Schnellverfahren - zeigen mehr denn je, wie unentbehrlich Asyl in
Not für die Verteidigung des Rechtsstaates ist. Asyl in Not steht als
Markenzeichen für konsequente und kompetente Rechtsvertretung im
Asylverfahren, allen Schwierigkeiten und Verschärfungen zum Trotz.
Seit Jahresbeginn 2002 haben wir 21 Asylverfahren gewonnen (davon 19 im
Berufungsverfahren vor dem Unabhängigen Bundesasylsenat); plus 14 Angehörige
(EhepartnerInnen und minderjährige Kinder). Jeder dieser (oft hart
erkämpften) Erfolge beruht auf der präzisen, kompetenten Arbeit unseres
Rechtsberaterteams. Falldokumentationen schicken wir Ihnen auf Wunsch gerne
zu.
Täglich kommen neue Menschen auf der Flucht vor Unterdrückung, Krieg und
Tod. Wir danken allen denen, die uns helfen, unsere Arbeit für die
Menschenrechte weiterzuführen.
Auch diesmal haben uns über hundert namhafte Künstler wertvolle Werke
überlassen - unter ihnen Herbert Brandl, Günter Brus, Gunter Damisch,
Veronika Dirn- hofer, Heinrich Dunst, Tone Fink, Adolf Frohner, Bruno
Gironcoli, Peter Kogler, Peter Ma(h)ler, Otto Mühl, Muntean/Rosenblum,
Oswald Oberhuber, Markus Prachensky, Franz Ringel, Franz West, Otto Zitko,
um nur einige aufzuzählen. Wir bedanken uns auch bei einigen bekannten
Galerien (Sur, Heike Curtze, Georg Kargl, Feichtner & Mizrahi, Edition
Splitter, Galerie am Stubentor) für ihre großzügige Unterstützung.
Wir bitten Sie, diese Veranstaltung anzukündigen und darüber zu berichten.
Der Kauf eines Bildes hilft uns nicht nur, Menschenleben zu retten, sondern
ist zugleich auch eine Investition mit sicherem und steigendem Wert.
Den Katalog schicken wir Ihnen auf Anfrage gerne zu. Die Bilder sind auch im
Internet auf der Website von Asyl in Not (http://asyl-in-not.org) zu sehen.
Mit freundlichen Grüßen
Michael Genner
(Geschäftsführer von Asyl in Not)

================================================
06 Podiumsdiskussion Bildungspolitik
Von: maria seisenbacher <maria.seisenbacher@gmx.at>
================================================
Podiumsdiskussion Bildungspolitik
Wann: 22.Oktober 2002, 20:30
Wo: Audimax Hauptuni Wien
"Was wird uns diesmal vorgesetzt"
mit:
BM Lisi Gehrer (ÖVP angefragt)
Kurt Grünewald(Wissenschaftssprecher, DIE GRÜNEN)
Erwin Niederwieser (Wissenschaftssprecher, SPÖ)
Kurt Wendt (langjähriger ÖH - Aktivist, KPÖ)
Moderation: Veronika Weidinger (FM4)

================================================
07 ESF-Pressekonferenz
Von: ESF Vienna <office@esf-vienna.org>
================================================

Subject: ESF-Pressekonferenzzur info: ESF-Pressekonferenz
Donnerstag 17.10.: Pressekonferenz zum Europäischen Sozialforum
Das Wiener Koordinationsbüro des ESF veranstaltet am Donnerstag, den
17.10.2002, um 10 Uhr im Café Landtmann (Landtmannsaal) eine
Pressekonferenz. Thema ist die Konstituierung des European Social Forum
Anfang November in Florenz.
Es sprechen:
Peter Schissler, Bundessekretär der Gewerkschaft der Chemiearbeiter
Hermann Dworczak vom DÖW
Andrea Mautz, Vorsitzende der ÖH
Monika Grubbauer von Attac
Moderation: Leo Gabriel
Unter dem Motto ""Zug für ein anderes Europa in einer anderen Welt" " hat
die Gewerkschaft der EisenbahnerInnen einen Sonderzug für die 540
TeilnehmerInnen aus Österreich organisiert.
Die zentralen Themen in Florenz werden Globalisierung und Neoliberalismus,
Krieg und Frieden sowie Demokratie, Grund- und Menschenrechte sein. Es
wird 4 Konferenzen und über 200 Workshops geben. Erwartet werden mehrere
zehntausend TeilnehmerInnen.
Zeit: Donnerstag, 17.10.2002, 10 Uhr
Ort: Café Landtmann (Landtmannsaal), Dr. Karl Lueger Ring 4, 1010 Wienby:
ESF Koordinationsbüro
c/o sozialistsiche jugend oesterreich
neustiftgasse 3
1070 wien
tel: +43 (1) 523 41 23
fax: +43 (1) 523 41 23 - 85
mail: office@esf-vienna.org
web: www.esf-vienna.org
web: www.fse-esf.org

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MELDUNGEN UND KOMMENTARE
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08 Solidarität mit dem Streik der Eisenbahner/innen!
Von: KOMAK - ML <komakwien@hotmail.com>
================================================

Solidarität mit dem Streik der Eisenbahner/innen!
Mehr Personal statt dauernd Überstunden!
Für Warnstreiks zur Unterstützung der KV-Verhandlungen bei Metall,
Elektro/Elektronik, Papier,
Handel und im öffentlichen Dienst!
Seit Freitag, 11. Oktober bestreiken die Lokführer der ÖBB alle Überstunden
und sofort brach Chaos im Zugsbetrieb aus, weil insgesamt 1200 Posten allein
in diesem Bereich fehlen. Schon am Montag sind mindestens 80 Züge
ausgefallen, wenn sich die Betroffenen weigern, weiterhin die zig-Tausend
Überstunden wöchentlich zu leisten, um die Fahrpläne einhalten zu können...
Ab Mittwoch 16.11. wird der Bummelstreik ("Dienst nach Dienstplan") auf die
Werkstätten ausgedehnt, und ab Donnerstag soll das gesamte Personal des
Personen- und Güterverkehrs einschließlich der Zugbegleiter ("Schaffner")
und Schalterbeamten in den Kapmf gegen die unzumutbaren Arbeitsbedingungen
einbezogen werden.
In den letzten Jahren ist vom neuen Management der Personalstand bei den ÖBB
von etwa 65.000 auf derzeit 47.000 Beschäftigte gekürzt worden. Die
Offensive gegen die Beschäftigten geht mit Zwangspensionierungen,
Änderungskündigungen, Karenzierungen und Ausgliederungen weiter, bis im Jahr
2007 nur noch 40.000 ÖBB-Beschäftigte den Großteil der bisherigen Arbeit
schaffen sollen. Die Kolleg/innen sind für das Management nur
"Personalkosten" und was sich in der Dienstzeit nicht ausgeht, muss in
Zwangsüberstunden erledigt werden. Allein im Lokführer-Bereich wurden mehr
als 1 Million Überstunden gearbeitet, manche Kollegen haben schon bis jetzt
bis zu 700 Überstunden geleistet - kein Wunder, dass es da nach 50 Stunden
Dienst zu Unfällen aus "menschlichem Versagen" kommt! Die Schuld liegt dabei
eindeutig beim Management!
Unmittelbarer Auslöser für den jetzigen Bummelstreik war übrigens ein
Gerichtsurteil, wo ein Lokführer-Kollege vom Gericht als "mitschuldig" an
einem Unfall verurteilt wurde, weil dieser "in seiner Freizeit freiwillig
gearbeitet" habe! Das ist ein empörendes Musterurteil auch für alle
Branchen! Auf der einen Seite werden wir immer wieder zu Überstunden
gezwungen, wenn was passiert, sind wir auch an unserer Erschöpfung noch
"mitschuldig"!!!
Der Streik der Eisenbahner/innen hat deshalb auch große Bedeutung für den
Kampf der gesamten Arbeiter/innenklasse für die Einhaltung des
Normalarbeitstags, der Wochenendruhe und das Recht auf Freizeit zur
Erholung! Nicht erst seit dem EU-Beitritt macht das österreichische
Monopolkapital und sein Staat immer schärfere Vorstöße, um die Profitrate
auf Kosten der Arbeiter/innenklasse zu erhöhen, unter anderem durch
Flexibilisierung und damit Verlängerung des Arbeitstags nach den Interessen
des Kapitals. Auch in anderen Branchen (z.B. im Handel) werden wir in
"Stehzeiten" nach Hause geschickt und müssen dafür zu Spitzenzeiten noch und
noch Mehrarbeit ohne Zuschläge leisten.
Der Streikkampf der Eisenbahner/innen ist völlig gerecht und verdient die
breite Solidarität der gesamten Arbeiter/innenklasse und Werktätigen. Dass
es zu Beginn des Arbeitskampfes teilweise zu Unmut von betroffenen
Kolleg/innen anderer Branchen gekommen ist, die auf Bahnsteigen warteten,
ohne von der Gewerkschaft irgendwelche Informationen über Zugsverspätungen
zu bekommen - geschweige denn über die Forderungen des "Bummelstreiks" -
liegt an der völlig unzureichenden Streikvorbereitung durch die
Gewerkschaftsbürokraten. Diese Herren um Haberzettel & Co. haben nach dem
einstündigen "Warnstreik" vor einem halben Jahr praktisch keine ernsthafte
Streikvorbereitung gemacht. Am Montag, dem 4. Streiktag, wusste in den
meisten ÖBB-Dienststellen, z.B. im Schalterdienst oder in der
Verwaltung,niemand, nicht einmal die Vertrauensleute bescheid. Es gab bis
Dienstag weder ein internes Informationsschreiben noch Plakate oder ein
Flugblatt, das an den wichtigsten Bahnhöfen an die wartenden Passagiere
verteilt werden konnte, um die Hauptforderungen bekannt zu machen und zur
Solidarität aufzurufen. Die Art und Weise, wie der Bummelstreik in den
ersten Tagen begonnen wurde, wirft ein bezeichnetes Licht auf die
arbeiteraristokratische Gewerkschaftsführung, die tagein tagaus nichts
anderes im Kopf hat, als die Kolleg/innen zu beschwichtigen und "der Firma"
ja nicht zu schaden, weil sie ja selber bei der nächsten Beförderungsrunde
(oder mit "golden hand-shake") in Führungsetagen aufsteigen könnten. Manche
ÖBB-Kolleg/innen haben gemeint: "Das ist von den Gewerkschaftsbonzen, aus
Blödheit oder Sabotage, so lätschert angegangen worden, dass da nichts
herauskommen kann... Die wollen vielleicht eh nur Wahlkampf für die SPÖ
führen..."
So sind sie gleich am Montag zu ihren Vertrauensleuten gegangen und haben
Informationen verlangt. Das ist richtig! Wir müssen die Gewerkschaftsführung
von unten unter Druck setzen, damit ein ordentlich organisierter Streikkampf
zustande kommt. Auch die ständigen Beteuerungen von Haberzettel & Co., es
sei gar kein Streik, sondern nur ein "Dienst nach Dienstplan" schwächt die
Bewegung und verhindert Solidarität.
Es ist eine wichtige Aufgabe von aktiven und kämpferischen Kolleg/innen, an
den Dienststellen Aktions- und Streikkomitees aufzubauen. Nur die
verlässlichsten Kolleg/innen sollen da reingewählt werden, und sie müssen
die Aktivitäten planen, koordinieren (z.B. Flugblätter, die an den Bahnhöfen
verteilt werden, Delegationen zu anderen Dienststellen und Betrieben) und
auf eine Ausdehnung des Streiks hinarbeiten.
Ein Streik ist kein spaßiger Versuch, die Unternehmer zu beeindrucken und an
den Verhandlungstisch zu bringen, sondern ein Kräftemessen mit dem
Management und dem Staat, wo die Beschäftigten ihr einziges wirkliches Atout
ausspielen, das sie haben: Ohne unsere Arbeitskraft sind die Unternehmer
hilflos, können sie keine Gewinne erwirtschaften. In jedem Streik wird das
Kapital versuchen, den ökonomischen Schaden so gering wie möglich zu halten.
Sie werden versuchen, mit Zuckerl und Peitsche den Streik abzuwürgen, aber
sie werden genau nachrechnen, ob sie der Arbeitsausfall mehr kostet als eine
Erfüllung der Streikforderungen.
In vielen Branchen stehen derzeit Kollektivvertrags-Verhandlungen an:
205.000 Metaller/innen samt dazugehörige 46.000 Industrieangestellte;
350.000 Handelsangestellte und dazu 100.000 Beschäftigte in Vereinen und
Verbänden; die Elektro- und Elektronikindustrie, die Papierindustrie und die
450.000 im öffentlichen Dienst (von denen viele gar keine "Beamte", sondern
Vertragsbedienstete sind).
So sehr sich die konkreten Forderungen auch unterscheiden, es geht immer
auch um die Verteidigung der Reallöhne und um verbesserte
Arbeitsbedingungen. Wenn die 3 Millionen Lohnabhängigen unter Führung der
klassenkämpferischsten Kolleg/innen - und nicht am Gängelband der
Arbeiteraristokraten - möglichst geschlossen und gemeinsam auftreten, können
gerade die Vorwahlzeiten für schlagkräftige Aktionen und erfolgreiche
KV-Ergebnisse genutzt werden. Warnstreiks zur Unterstützung der
KV-Verhandlungen machen den Kapitalisten Dampf! Was wir bis zu den Wahlen
Ende November (auch gegen die berufsmäßigen im ÖGB-Demagogen und
Beschwichtiger) nicht erkämpfen wird auf der langen Bank liegen bleiben...
KOMAK-ML, 16.10.02
====================================
Kommunistische Aktion - marxistisch-leninistisch
Postfach 127, A-1090 Wien,
E-Mails: komakwien@hotmail.com & komak-ml@gmx.at
http://www.komak-ml.tk
====================================

================================================
09 Österreichs Grüne unter Antisemitismusverdacht
Von: Karl Pfeifer
================================================
Kein Nachspiel: Österreichs Grüne unter Antisemitismusverdacht
Von Karl Pfeifer
Kann man in einem Land, in dem laut einer repräsentativen Umfrage 24
Prozent der Befragten der Meinung sind, es wäre besser, keine Juden im Land
zu haben und in dem 25 Prozent meinen, die Juden wären am Antisemitismus
"nicht ganz unschuldig" einseitige "antizionistische" Veranstaltungen
durchführen und Boykott von israelischen Produkten fordern ohne dass man
von der falschen Seite Zuspruch erhält? Man möchte meinen dass dieses
Problem auch Ulrike Lunacek, der außenpolitischen Sprecherin der Grünen in
Österreich, hätte klar sein sollen.
Doch wie schon berichtet lud sie zwei prononcierte "Antizionisten" im
August zu einer Diskussion über "Krieg im Heiligen Land" nach Wien.
Gekommen war nur Felicia Langer, die einen langen Vortrag halten durfte und
u.a. Jürgen Möllemann bestätigte, nicht antisemitisch gehandelt zu haben,
als er Ariel Scharon und Michel Friedman für Antisemitismus in Deutschland
verantwortlich machte. Das war dann zuviel für einige Zuhörer und die
Veranstaltung mußte unterbrochen werden. Man hatte den Grünen vorgeschlagen
einen anderen Diskutanten einzuladen, doch Ulrike Lunacek war es wichtig,
ihre Vorurteile gegen Israel bestätigt zu bekommen.
Dieser Skandal wurde in einigen österreichischen websites abgehandelt, das
war aber kein Anlaß für die Grünen Stellung zu beziehen. Erst nachdem das
Wochenmagazin "Format" Anfang Oktober darüber berichtete, stürzte sich
ausgerechnet die Regierungspartei ÖVP, die mit Jörg Haider vor zweieinhalb
Jahren eine Koalition einging, darauf, um den Grünen "Antisemitismus"
vorzuwerfen. Erst danach kam es zu einer Reaktion der Grünen. Das ist
natürlich kein Zufall. Antisemitismus merkt man in Österreich grundsätzlich
nur bei den anderen Parteien. Laut allen Meinungsumfragen ist der
Prozentsatz der Antisemiten unter den Grünen am niedrigsten. Aber das heißt
nicht, dass es unter ihnen keine Antisemiten gibt, oder dass grüne
Politiker immer sensibel handeln.
Doch Ulrike Lunacek hat ihr unsensibles Handeln nicht geschadet, bei der
letzten Parteikonferenz der Grünen wurde sie an dritter Stelle für die
Bundeswahlliste gewählt. Am 14.10. wehrt sie sich sogar in einem Leserbrief
im "Standard" gegen den Vorwurf der Einseitigkeit, sie hätte doch "u.a mit
Israels Außenminister Peres und Palästinenserpräsident Arafat" Gespräche
geführt. Und bemerkt dazu "Das ist wirklich einseitig". Das erinnert an die
bekannte Argumentation, einige meiner besten Freunde sind Juden.
Im Dezember 2001 richteten einige linksextremistische Gruppen einen Brief
an das offizielle Organ der Israelitischen Kultusgemeinde (IKG) Wien, der
auch von der grünen Landtagsabgeordneten Susanne Jerusalem unterzeichnet
war. In diesem Brief wird der IKG vorgeworfen, sie hätte "jedwede Kritik"
an Israel als "antisemitisch gebrandmarkt", nur weil diese Zeitschrift
einen Bericht über eine Palästinademo publizierte und einiges sachlich
kritisierte. "Es ist zu befürchten" schrieben die Unterzeichner, "dass die
Vorgangsweise Ihrer Publikation, anstatt Antisemitismus zu verhindern, im
Gegenteil dazu beiträgt, die Herausbildung eines unbefangenen und
vorurteillosen Umgangs der österreichischen Bevölkerung mit dem Judentum
und den jüdischen Mitbürgerinnen und Mitbürgern zu erschweren..." Das kann
nur mit dem Wort "Chuzpe" charakterisiert werden. Lange bevor es einen
Staat Israel gab, hat es schon einen tief verwurzelten Antisemitismus in
Österreich gegeben, der auch nach dem Holocaust nicht aus Politik und
Medien verschwunden ist. Aber eine grüne Landtagsabgeordnete unterzeichnet
einen Brief, in dem Juden die Verantwortung für den Antisemitismus
unterschoben wird und man hört von den Grünen keinen Hauch einer Kritik.
Ein Grüner hat aber gehen müssen. Wilfried Bader, Leiter der Grünen
Bildungswerkstatt (Grübi) in Tirol. Die Bundesvorsitzende der Grübi,
Daniela Graf, erklärte, Bader habe ein "vereinsschädigendes Verhalten" an
den Tag gelegt und eine Statutenverletzung begangen. "In unserem Statut
steht, dass wir die Grünen Grundwerte zu beachten haben. Zum Beispiel den
Grundwert der Gewaltfreiheit. Es entspricht nicht den grünen Grundsätzen,
in den Irak zu fahren und Tarek Aziz, der einem mörderischen Regime
angehört, die Hand zu schütteln. Und ich brauche auch den Satz nicht, dass
er nicht dafür ist, die Israelis ins Meer zu schmeißen, und wir sind auch
davon überzeugt, dass es keinerlei Legitimierung der palästinensischen
Selbstmordattentate gibt, bei allem Verständnis für die schwierige Lage und
die Kritik an der Regierung Sharon", so Graf.
· Sommergespräch der Wiener Grünen:
Felicia Langer gibt Möllemann Recht
hagalil.com 15-10-02

================================================
10 Weise Maenner(I)/Religion: Buddhistischer Djihad? - Zum Kalachakra Tantra
Von: akin <akin.buero@gmx.at>
================================================

**********************************************************
akin-Pressedienst.
Elektronische Teilwiedergabe der
nichtkommerziellen Wiener Wochenzeitung 'akin'.
Texte im akin-pd muessen aber nicht wortidentisch
mit den in der Papierausgabe veroeffentlichten sein.
Nachdruck von Eigenbeitraegen mit Quellenangabe erbeten.
Namentlich gezeichnete Beitraege stehen in der
Verantwortung der VerfasserInnen.
Ein Nachdruck von Texten mit anderem Copyright
als dem unseren sagt nichts ueber eine
anderweitige Verfuegungsberechtigung aus.
**********************************************************
Aussendungszeitpunkt: Dienstag, 15. Oktober 2002; 13:25
**********************************************************
Weise Maenner(1)/Religion:
Derzeit findet in Graz bekanntermassen eine tibetisch-buddhistische
Grossveranstaltung unter dem Titel "Kalachakra" statt, die leider auch im
Alternativbereich so manchen Mitmenschen in Verzueckung geraten laesst.
Deswegen bringen wir an dieser Stelle einen Text von COLIN GOLDNER zum
Thema, den uns das "Forum Kritische Psychologie", Muenchen, zugeschickt hat:
> Buddhistischer Djihad?
Das Kalachakra Tantra
Das groesste Kultspektakel des tibetischen Buddhismus, das sogenannte
"Grosse Kalachakra-Tantra", wird in unregelmaessigen Abstaenden und an
unterschiedlichen Orten in aller Welt in Szene gesetzt, geleitet jeweils von
"Seiner Heiligkeit" dem Dalai Lama hoechstpersoenlich, der sich als oberster
Repraesentant des "spirituellen Tibet" versteht.
Worum es bei dem in der Regel zwoelftaegigen Brimborium geht, ist schwer
nachzuvollziehen. Es stelle, wie in einschlaegigen Verlautbarungen
nachzulesen ist, einen "Buddhaaspekt" dar, eine "Manifestation des
erleuchteten Bewusstseins, die zum Wohle aller Wesen taetig ist" (Klell).
Was immer das heissen soll.
Naeheren Aufschluss geben die dem Ritual zugrunde liegenden Originaltexte,
sowie die Interpretationen und Handlungsanweisungen, die der Dalai Lama
selbst und von ihm bevollmaechtigte Autoren (z.B. A.Berzin) dazu vorgelegt
haben.
Angeblich geht das Kalachakra-Tantra - ein Tantra ist ein Text mit Methoden
zur Erlangung der Buddhaschaft - auf Buddha selbst zurueck. Am Tag nach
seiner Erleuchtung, laut Legende am Vollmondtag im Mai des Jahres 509
v.u.Z., habe er es in 100.000 Strophen vorgetragen. Von einem seiner
Nachfolger sei das Ganze auf gut 1000 Strophen verkuerzt und von einem
weiteren mit einem Kommentar versehen worden. Text und Kommentar seien dann
jahrhundertelang verschwunden gewesen, bis letzterer Ende des 10. Jhdts.
u.Z. in Indien wieder aufgetaucht sei, um als Grundlage zu dienen fuer die
Entwicklung des heute noch bestehenden Initiationsrituals. Anfang des 11.
Jhdts. u.Z. sei das Kalachakra nach Tibet gelangt, wo es zahllose
Umformungen und Erweiterungen erfahren habe. Besonders die
Gelugpa(=Gelbmuetzen-)Sekte, als deren Anfuehrer der jeweilige Dalai Lama
firmiert, befasste sich seit je mit Exegesen des Kalachakra. Die heute
gueltige Fassung stammt im wesentlichen aus dem fruehen 18. Jhdt. Der
aktuelle 14. Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, hat das Ritual seit 1970 an mehr als
zwanzig Orten auf der ganzen Welt aufgefuehrt und dabei Hunderttausende
"eingeweiht".
Die mehrtaegige Veranstaltung, der der Dalai Lama vorsitzt und die von ihm
in tibetischer Sprache angeleitet wird, wird fuer Teilnehmer, die des
Tibetischen nicht maechtig sind, simultan uebersetzt. Das Ganze beginnt mit
rituellen Verbeugungen, Niederwerfungen und Opferungen, gefolgt von endlosen
Mantren-Rezitationen in Sanskrit (z.B. "Om a a am ha ha ham hah hoh phrem
dasha-paramita paripurani svaha") sowie einer Unzahl an Geluebden und
Selbstverpflichtungen (z.B. den Anweisungen eines Lama nicht zuwider zu
handeln); dazu gibt es Belehrungen ueber allgemeine buddhistische
Weltanschauung, ueber Wiedergeburt, Karma, Alchemie, Astrologie etc., sowie
auch und insbesondere ueber korrektes Sexualverhalten (z.B. ueber die
Vermeidung des "orgastischen Abflusses", sprich: der Ejakulation).
Zentraler und zeitaufwendigster Bestandteil des Kalachakra-Rituals ist indes
die Anleitung, vor dem geistigen Auge einen gigantischen Mandala-Palast zu
visualisieren. Dieser Palast - am ehesten vorstellbar wie ein riesiges
Lego-Gebaeude in Form einer vierstoeckigen Stufenpyramide - umfasse im
Erdgeschoss eine Grundflaeche von 350x350 Metern. Die hoeheren Stockwerke
seien jeweils halb so gross wie die darunterliegenden, so dass das
Obergeschoss immerhin noch eine Grundflaeche von rund fuenfzehntausend
Quadratmetern aufweise. Der Palast sei in jeder baulichen Einzelheit,
beschrieben en detail vom vorsitzenden Dalai Lama, zu visualisieren.
Desgleichen die 720 Wesenheiten, die sich als verschiedene Aspekte des
Buddhabewusstseins (Mitgefuehl, Weisheit Vollkommenheit etc.) darin
aufhielten. Diese Wesen, allesamt mit mehreren Koepfen und Armen sowie
verschiedensten Attributen, seien ebenso zu visualiseren, wie ein Hauptpaar
im Zentrum des obersten Geschosses: Kalachakra, der Gott der Zeit (und
niemand anderer als der Dalai Lama selbst), in sexueller Vereinigung mit
seiner Gefaehrtin Vishvamata. Kalachakra, schwarz von Gestalt, habe vier
Gesichter, ein weisses, rotes, schwarzes und gelbes. An der Stirn jedes
Gesichts zeige sich je ein weisses OM-Zeichen, ein rotes AH an der Kehle,
ein blaues HUM auf der Brust, und ein gelbes HOH am Nabel. Auf dem Kopf
trage er eine juwelenbesetzte Tiara, um den Hals eine Girlande aus
Totenkoepfen. Er habe insgesamt vierundzwanzig Arme, mit Haenden in rot,
blau, schwarz, gelb und gruen, in denen er todbringende Waffen (Schwert,
Dreizack, Keule, Lanze, Axt) halte, dazu die tantrischen Symbole fuer
Phallus (Diamantszepter) und Vulva (Glocke). An jedem Finger steckten Ringe,
denen verschiedenfarbiges Licht entstroeme. Mit seinen beiden Hauptarmen
umfasse er Vishvamata, die, von safrangelber Farbe, ebenfalls vier
Gesichter, aber nur nur acht Arme aufweise. In den Haenden halte sie u.a.
ein Hackmesser und eine mit Blut gefuellte Schaedelschale. Beide trampelten
auf ihren besiegten Feinden (bzw. deren Goettern) herum.
Nach endlosen Ehrerbietungs- und Hingabezeremonien seien nun "Lichtstrahlen
vom Herzen Kalachakras" zu visualisieren, die "uns in seinen Mund ziehen.
Wir schmelzen zu einem Tropfen (...), gehen durch sein Vajra- Organ (=Penis)
hindurch und gelangen in den Lotosschoss (=Vagina) Vishvamatas. Dort (...)
entstehen wir zunaechst als ein weisses OM, dann als ein weisser Lotos und
schliesslich als ein weisser Vajra-Koerper, mit ueberkreuzten Beinen
sitzend, drei Gesichtern und sechs Armen und eine rote Pandarvasin (=
Gefaehrtin) umarmend, die ebenfalls drei Gesichter und sechs Arme hat"
(Berzin). Undsoweiterundsofort ueber zwoelf Tage hinweg.
Und wozu das Ganze? Zwoelf Tage Psychiatrie? Nein, wer das gesamte Ritual
durchlaufe und saemtliche erforderlichen Geluebde ablege, erwerbe dadurch
die Berechtigung, als "Shambhala-Krieger" wiedergeboren zu werden, um in
einem apokalyptischen Endkampf gegen die Feinde des Buddhismus, prophezeit
fuer das Jahr 2424, diese vernichtend zu schlagen. Diese Feinde seien, in
Kurzform, jene, deren Fuehrer "Adam, Henoch, Abraham, Moses, Jesus (...)
Mohammed und Mathani" heissen, sprich: die Angehoerigen jeder Religion
semitischen Ursprungs. Als Hauptgegner werden die Anhaenger des Islam
herausgestellt. Feldherr dieses Endkampfes - einer Art buddhistischen
Djihads (= Heiliger Krieg) - werde ein gewisser Rudra Chakrin sein, wiederum
niemand anderer als der Dalai Lama selbst in kuenftiger Inkarnation
(Berzin).
Die Frage ist nun, was es den Rest der Welt angeht, wenn ein paar tausend
Spinner dem Dalai Lama huldigen und unter seiner Anleitung und fuer viel
Geld irgendein durchgeknalltes Ritual inszenieren. Eigentlich nichts. Egal
ob da Richard Gere, Madonna oder Pierre Brosnan teilnehmen. Vordergruendig
stellt das Kalachakra-Tantra in der Tat nichts anderes dar, als just einen
weiteren Aufguss aus Religionsversatz, Folklore und offener Psychiatrie, wie
er auf Esoterikmessen landauf und landab zu finden ist. Bei genauerer
Hinsicht allerdings beunruhigt die versteckte antisemitische Propaganda. Und
natuerlich der Umstand, dass diese Massenkonditionierung auf komplett
irrationale Denkfiguren von hoechsten gesellschaftlichen und politischen
Kreisen ausdruecklich gefoerdert wird.
Im uebrigen stellte auch der japanische Giftgas-Guru Shoko Asahara, ein
langjaehriger Protegé des aktuellen 14. Dalai Lama, ausdruecklich auf den
Shambhala-Mythos ab. Seine Anschlaege auf die Tokyoter U-Bahn im Maerz 1995
waren ein Versuch, die anstehende Apokalypse nebst darauffolgender
Buddhokratie - mit ihm selbst als Weltenherrscher - zu beschleunigen. Auch
in rechten Esoterik- und Okkultgruppierungen, Stichwort: "Esoterischer
Hitlerismus" (Miguel Serrano), hat dieser Mythos hohe Wertigkeit. All die
Behauptungen, es seien die Doktrin und die Handlungsanweisungen des
Kalachakra-Tantra nur "symbolisch" zu verstehen, als Kampf gegen die "die
inneren barbarischen Kraefte der stoerenden Gefuehle" (Berzin) oder als
Methode, "sich von der Ich-Illusion zu loesen" (Riedl), finden hier ihre
fatale Widerlegung: Zwoelf Tote und mehr als 5000 teils Schwerstverletzte
als Folge buddhokratischen Weltenherrschaftswahns zeigen, was "Frieden fuer
die Welt" aus buddhistischem Munde heissen kann.
Religioes begruendete Wahnsysteme koennen jederzeit in
(staats-)terroristische und/oder expansionistische Gewalt umschlagen. Der
Buddhismus, insbesondere in seiner tibetischen Variante des Vajrayana (=Weg
des Szepters [=Phallus]), ist insofern keine Ausnahme. Die Blutspur, die die
Diktatur der Lamas in der Geschichte Tibets hinterlassen hat, belegt dies
nur zu deutlich. ###Quellen u.a.:
Bernbaum, E.: Der Weg nach Shambhala. Hamburg, 1982.
Berzin, A.: Kalachakra: Das Rad der Zeit. Muenchen. 2002.
Dalai Lama: Kalachakra-Tantra. Berlin, 2002.
Dhargye, T.: Konfliktfaktoren entgegenwirken - Frieden foerdern (Interview).
In: Ursache&Wirkung, 3/ 2002, 18-19.
Henns, M.: Kalachakra: Ein tibetisches Einweihungsritual. Zuerich, 1985.
Klell, M.: Kalachakra Graz 2002. In:
http://www.kalachakra-graz.at.
Mullin, G.: The Practice of Kalachakra. Ithaka, NY, 1991.
Riedl, P.: Kalachakra fuer den Westen. In: Ursache&Wirkung, 3/2002, 40-41.
Trungpa, C.: Shambhala: The Secret Path of the Warrior. Boston, MA, 1984.
Zangl, H.: Die Welt, in der wir leben: Eine Einfuehrung in die Lehren des
Aeusseren Kalachakra. In: Ursache&Wirkung, 3/2002, 20-22.
Kritik am Kalachakra (und sonstigen Praktiken des tibetischen Buddhismus)
u.a.:
Goldner, C.: Dalai Lama: Fall eines Gottkoenigs. Aschaffenburg, 1999 (Kritik
aus gesellschaftspolitischer Sicht [mit einem umfaenglichen Kapitel zu den
Verbindungen des Dalai Lama zu Shoko Ashara]).
Sierksma, F: Tibet's Terrifying Deities: Sex and Aggression in Religious
Acculturation. The Hague, 1966 (Kritik aus kulturanthropologischer Sicht).
Trimondi V./Trimondi, V. (H.u.M.Roettgen): Hitler, Buddha, Krishna: Eine
unheilige Allianz vom Dritten Reich bis heute. Wien, 2002 (Kritik aus
religionsphilosophischer Sicht).
Waldvogel-Frei, B.: Und der Dalai Lama laechelte: Die dunklen Seiten des
tibetischen Buddhismus. Berneck, 2002 (Kritik aus evangelischer Sicht).
Weiter Texte des Forums Kritische Psychologie zum Thema:
http://www.fkpsych.de/pub_tibetischerbudd.html

*************************************************
'akin - aktuelle informationen'
a-1170 wien, Lobenhauerngasse 35/2
vox: ++43 (0222) 535-62-00
(anrufbeantworter, unberechenbare buerozeiten)
http://akin.mediaweb.at
eMail redaktion und termine: akin.buero@gmx.at
eMail abo: akin.abo@gmx.at
Bank Austria, BLZ 12000,
223-102-976/00, Zweck: akin

================================================
11 Graz/302 "Kulturbauten"/Nasszellen/Kaltenegger
Von: Parteder Franz <Franz.Parteder@stadt.graz.at>
================================================

PRESSEMITTEILUNG DES GRAZER KPÖ-GEMEINDERATSKLUBS
Mittwoch, 16. Oktober 2002Graz: 302 "Kulturbauten" sind schon fertig
Projekt "Nasszelleneinbau"In städtischen Wohnhäusern

Der Grazer Wohnungsstadtrat Ernst Kaltenegger KPÖ präsentierte am Mittwoch
den Zwischenstand des Projektes: "Ein Bad für jede Gemeindewohnungen", das
Teil des Programms von Graz Kulturhauptstadt 2003 ist. Exakt 302
Gemeindewohnungen wurden bereits mit Duschgelegenheiten nachgerüstet. Ernst
Kaltenegger: "Die Wohnkultur ist ein wichtiger Bestandteil einer
europäischen Kulturhauptstadt. Man darf den Kulturbegriff nicht auf einige
Großbaustellen beschränken, von denen ganze Bevölkerungsschichten kaum etwas
haben."

Im Rahmen dieses Projektes werden bis zum Beginn des Jahres 2003 insgesamt
176 Wohnungen durch den Einbau von zeitgemäßen Bädern verbessert. Die
durchschnittlichen Kosten belaufen sich auf 10.696,- Euro pro Nasszelle. Die
Finanzierung wird seitens des Landes Steiermark im Rahmen des
steiermärkischen Wohnbauförderungsgesetzes durch Annuitätenzuschüsse
gefördert.
Von den insgesamt 176 verbesserten Wohnungen befinden sich
* 123 im Bereich der Triestersiedlung,
* 37 im Bereich Schönaugasse - Neuholdaugasse,
* 5 im Bereich Grazbachgasse,
* je 2 in der Eggenbergerstraße und in der Mariatrosterstraße,
* je 1 in der Gabelsbergerstraße, Willi Thalerstraße
(Grünangersiedlung) und in der Floßlendsiedlung, sowie
* 4 in der Wienerstraße.
Weitere 126 Naßzellen wurden im Rahmen von umfassenden Sanierungen nach dem
Steiermärkischen Wohnbauförderungsgesetz in städtischen Wohnungen sowohl in
der Triester- als auch in der Kienzlsiedlung errichtet.
Damit darf sich Graz über die ersten 302 fertiggestellten Kulturbauten im
Rahmen von Graz 2003 freuen!
Alle Nasszellen sind mit Waschbecken, Brausetasse, WC, Abluftventilator,
Waschmaschinenanschluss und einem Heizstrahler ausgestattet. Boden und Wände
sind verfließt. Die Duschen sind mit einer Abtrennung (Spritzwasserschutz)
versehen.
Insgesamt wurden bisher 39 vorwiegend heimische Fachbetriebe mit der
Durchführung der Arbeiten beauftragt.
Das Programm der Nachrüstungen von Gemeindewohnungen soll nach dem Willen
von Stadtrat Kaltenegger auch nach dem Kulturhauptstadtjahr 2003
weitergeführt werden.

><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><
SOLIDARITÄT WELTWEIT
><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><

================================================
12 FREE MARIA do CEU
Von: selbstbestimmungsrechtderfrau@gmx.net
================================================
BITTEN UM REGE BETEILIGEN UND WEITERLEITUNG IN EUREN VERTEILERN!
ABTREIBUNG IST FRAUENRECHT!!! ABTREIBUNG IST FRAUENRECHT!!! ABTREIBUNG IST
FRAUENRECHT!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
#########################################################
--- Weitergeleitete Nachricht / Forwarded Message ---
Date: Wed, 16 Oct 2002 21:05:56 +0200
> >Subject: Fwd: Petition for Maria do Ceu, Portuguese nurse in jail
> >
> >
> >>User-Agent: Microsoft-Entourage/10.0.0.1309
> >>Date: Wed, 16 Oct 2002 18:34:19 +0200
> >>Subject: Petition for Maria do Ceu, Portuguese nurse in jail
> >>Von: Women on Waves <info@womenonwaves.org>> >>To whom it might concern,
> >>
> >>A few days ago Women on Waves received the following email with a call
> to
> >>sign a petition to free Maria do Ceu, the Portuguese nurse that has been
> >>imprisoned for 8 1/2 year on the charges of performing abortions.
> >>
> >>It is outrageous and a huge scandal that even within the European Union
> >>medical professionals are still imprisoned for performing abortions.
> >>
> >>We would like to ask you to sign the petition and the media to give
> >>attention to this issue.
> >>
> >>On behalf of Women on Waves, thank you
> >>
> >>
> >>Translation of original letter that can be found below:
> >>
> >>FREEDOM FOR MARIA DO CEU
> >>
> >>Friends, if you agree with the subscription bellow, please write down
> your
> >>name on it. You can also send a message to abaixo-assinado@clix.pt
> >>I would be very grateful if you would forward this message. Thank you!
> >>Ines Pedrosa.
> >>
> >>AN OPEN LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT OF PORTUGAL.
> >>FREEDOM FOR MARIA DO CEU
> >>
> >>The subscribers of this letter wish to ask the President of Portugal to
> give
> >>his pardon to the nurse Maria do Ceu, and set her free. She has been
> >>sentenced to eight and a half years of prison for the practice of
> abortion,
> >>in the Maia judgment. We remind you that all the women accused of using
> her
> >>services were rehabilitated, what made Maria do Ceu the true victim of a
> >>very awkward legal situation. In Portugal, the practice of abortion is a
> >>crime, but nobody - not even the ones to condemn it - consider the women
> who
> >>do it to be criminals. Thus, when the denunciation becomes public and
> the
> >>cases are brought to judgment, the whole weight of the accusation falls
> on
> >>the one who technically practices the abortion, acquitting the woman who
> >>requests it. This is an extreme hypocrite and unjust situation. We all
> know
> >>that the conviction of Maria do Ceu will not stop the practice of
> abortion
> -
> >>it will only push it into even more dangerous clandestine practices,
> which
> >>is the cause of deaths or permanent infertility. In fact, the severity
> of
> >>Maria do Ceu’s conviction serves only to keep the true professionals -
> >>doctors and nurses - away from the practice of clandestine abortion,
> what
> >>makes it even more tragic than it already is. In Portugal there are
> >>murderers and rapists that have much lighter punishments than Maria do
> Cue.
> >>Noteworthy here is that the evidence which is considered as aggravating
> >>circumstances in her crime - that is, illegal obtaining receipts and
> >>medicines – was done only because she wanted to give some security and
> >>comfort to the women who sought her help. Maria do Ceu has been punished
> >>because she provided the abortions in the best possible conditions for
> the
> >>women that requested it. To maintain this punishment will be the same as
> >>punishing the poor women who do the abortion (because the ones who are
> >>better off do it in all security and legality not so far from here, in
> >>Badajoz). These poor women do it in the hands of abortion providers
> without
> >>any professional credits or scruples. To maintain this punishment means
> to
> >>accept that this hypocrisy and witch-hunt will win from clarity and
> justice.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>Actualizado em 10-09-2002
> >>
> >>abaixo-assinado@clix.pt
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>------ End of Forwarded Message
> >
> >
> >"Ich hasse Frauen, die glauben, Feministinnen sind eine Truppe von
> >Schäferhunden, die man auf die Männer loslassen kann,
> >ohne sich selbst die Pfoten schmutzig zu machen." (Elfriede Hammerl, Aug.
>
> >2002)
> >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
--
Aktionskomitee für das Selbstbestimmungsrecht der Frau, Wien
Selbstbestimmungsrechtderfrau@gmx.net
(detailierte Infos auch in einem Artikel von Viktoria Roth:
http://wolfsmutter.frauenweb.at/news/prolife.html#geschichte )_________________________________

//Anmerkung der Redaktion:
Dieser Beitrag enthielt noch die portugiesische Fassung dieses offenen
Briefes und
eine über 1000 Zeilen lange Unterschriftenliste.
Aus Platzgründen leite ich diesen Teil des Beitrags nicht weiter.
Um diesen offenen Brief zu unterzeichnen und an den port. Präsidenten zu
senden,
geht bitte auf die Original-Webseite dieser Initiative und setzt euren Namen
dort ein.
Hier ist die URL der Webseite: http://mariadoceu.planetaclix.pt/
Auf dieser Seite ist das Unterschriftenforumular:
http://mariadoceu.planetaclix.pt/assinar.htm
//

================================================
13 gipfelinfo 16.10.2002
öffentlicher rundbrief der infogruppe [berlin]
Von: gipfelsoli@gmx.de
================================================>
>- PRESSEERKLÄRUNG ZU AHMEDS PROZESS
>- PRESS RELEASE TO THE TRIAL OF AHMED
>- VON BERLIN NACH FLORENZ - UND WAS WOLLEN WIR DORT?
>
>PRESSEERKLÄRUNG ZU AHMEDS PROZESS
>8. Oktober 2002
>
>Während des internationalen Grenzcamps (No-Border-
>Camp) vom 18.-28. Juli2002 in Straßburg wurden
>Dutzende Personen verhaftet. Angeklagt wurden sieben
>Leute, sechs davon haben Gerichtstermine zwischen
>dem 22. und 28.Februar 2003.
>Ahmed wurde bereits - ungerechtfertigterweise -
>verurteilt, zu acht Monaten Gefängnis, davon drei
>ohne Bewährung. Von seiner Einlieferung im Gefängnis
>von Elsau an wurde er 38 Tage lang in Einzelhaft
>gehalten. Fast anderthalb Monate lang wurde ihm
>jedes Besuchsrecht verweigert. Jetzt darf er seine
>Familie sehen, aber nicht seine Freundin.
>Seine Berufungsverhandlung fand am 8. Oktober in
>Colmar statt. Trotz der Widersprüche der Anklage und
>trotz entlastender Zeugenaussagen wurde seine Strafe
>bestätigt, so daß er den falschen Schuldspruch nicht
>mehr anfechten kann. Ahmed wird am Dienstag morgen
>(15. Oktober) aus dem Gefängnisentlassen. Auch wenn
>ihm nun die Untersuchungshaft auf die
>Strafeangerechnet wurde, hat Ahmed für die
>repressive Politik des Staates teuerbezahlt.
>Das Straßburger Beispiel zeigt klar den Willen des
>Staates, seinen Herrschaftsanspruch durchzusetzen.
>Außer Ahmed und den anderen sechs Angeklagten vom
>Grenzcamp haben zwanzig weitere Leute Verfahren
>laufen. 17 von ihnen besetzten ein Straßburger Büro
>des Justizministeriums, um zu fordern, daß Ahmeds
>Isolationshaftaufgehoben wird und daß er eine
>Besuchserlaubnis bekommt; auch drei Leute, die sich
>außerhalb des besetzten Gebäudes aufhielten, wurden
>verhaftet.
>
>Das ist nur ein Beispiel für die staatliche
>Repressionspolitik zur Niederschlagung sozialer
>Bewegungen durch Zwang oder Gewalt; andere Beispiele
>sind die Bauernunion, Yves Payrat, Alain Hebert in
>Cherbourg, Batasuna, Paolo Persechitti, die
>Verhaftungen bei dem Soli-Konzert in Saint-Etienne
>und viele andere.
>Repression erlaubt es denen, die die wirtschaftliche
>und politische Machthaben, ihre Eigeninteressen zu
>wahren und ein System von Herrschaft undUnterwerfung
>aufrechtzuerhalten.
>
>Neben AktivistInnen sind junge Leute, ImmigrantInnen
>und Leute, die durch die Bezeichnung "untere
>Klassen, gefährliche Klassen" stigmatisiert werden,
>täglich dieser Repression ausgesetzt. Dazu bedient
>sich der Staatrepressiver Gesetze (wie
>Computersicherheitsgesetze, Gesetze über die
>alltägliche Sicherheit und Sarkozy-Projekt) und
>seiner "Wachhunde": Polizei, Nationalgarde, BAC
>[Anti-Kriminalitäts-Brigaden, eine Truppe, die die
>Probleme der Vorstadtghettos mit Gewalt lösen soll
>und durchzahlreiche willkürliche, vor allem
>rassistische, Übergriffe auffällt] und CRS
>["Republikanische Sicherheitskompanie",
>Aufstandsbekämpfungspolizei].
>
>Wir fordern,
>- daß alle Verfahren gegen die AktivistInnen
>eingestellt werden,
>- daß die BAC aufgelöst werden,
>- daß alle rassistischen Sicherheitsgesetze und die
>rassistische Praxisder Doppelbestrafung (erst Haft,
>dann Abschiebung) abgeschafft werden.
>
>Wir lassen uns nicht terrorisieren!
>
>[Unterstützungskomitee für Ahmed]
>
>
>PRESS RELEASE, OCTOBER 8, 2002
>
>During the international No Border Camp that took
>place from July 18 to282002 in Strasbourg, dozens of
>people were arrested. Charges are presed against
>seven people, six of whom will have charges between
>february 22and 28 2003.
>Ahmed has already been condemned, falsely, to 8
>months in prison with parole after 3 months. Since
>his arrival at the Elsau jail, and for 38 days
>afterward, he was held in solitary confinement. For
>almost a month and a half, he was denied all
>visitation rights. He can now see his family, but
>not his girlfriend.His appeal was held on October 8
>in the appeals court in Colmar. Despite the
>inconsistencies of the accusation and the supporting
>testimonies,his sentence was confirmed, making it
>impossible for him to contest the false verdict of
>guilt. Ahmed wlil be released from prison Tuesday
>morning, October 15. Despite the fact that his
>sentence was converted to time served (with his time
>in pretrial preventative detention included)Ahmed
>has paid heavily for the State's repressive policy.
>
>The example of Strasbourg clearly shos the State's
>will to control. Besides Ahmed and the six other
>defendants from the camp, 20 other people have
>charges pending. Seventeen of them occupied an
>office of the Ministry of Justice in Strasbourg to
>demand that Ahmed be released from solitary
>confinement and have access to visits: three people
>present outside the occupied building were also
>arrested.
>
>This is only one example of the State's policy of
>repression, to beat down social movements through
>force or through violence: other examples include
>the Peasants' Union, Yves Payrat, Alain Hebert in
>Cherbourg, Batasuna,PaoloPersechitti, the arrestees
>at the concert in Saint-Etienne, and manymore.
>Repression allows those who hold economic and
>political power to preserve their own self-interest
>and maintain a system of dominanance and submission.
>Besides activists, young people, immigrants, and
>people stigmatized by the label of "popular classes,
>dangerous classes" are attacked daily by this
>repression. To do this, the State uses repressive
>laws (such as theComputer Security Laws, the Daily
>Security Laws, and the Sarkozyproject)and its "guard
>dogs": the police, the national guard, the Anti-
>Criminal Brigade, and the Republic Security Company
>(CRS - riot police).
>
>We demand:
>that all charges against the activists be dropped,
>that the Anti-Criminal Brigade be dissolved,
>that all racist security laws and the racist
>practice of "doublepenalty"(incarceration followed
>by deportation) be abolished.
>
>We will not be terrorized.
>
>[Committee to Support Ahmed]
>
>
>VON BERLIN NACH FLORENZ - UND WAS WOLLEN WIR DORT?
>Perspektiven linker Globalisierungskritik auf dem
>Europäischen Sozialforum
>
>Die globalisierungskritische Bewegung ist an einem
>neuen Punkt angekommen: Nicht mehr nur Protest und
>Verhinderung von Gipfelveranstaltungen der Reichen
>und Mächtigen stehen auf der Tagesordnung, sondern
>es geht um die Frage, wie eine andere Welt möglich
>zu machen ist. Vom 6. bis zum 10. November 2002
>findet in Florenz das Europäische Sozialforum statt,
>bei dem sich bis zu 30 000 Menschen unter der
>Überschrift "gegen Krieg und Neoliberalismus" mit
>dem Stand und der Zukunft der
>globalisierungskritischen Bewegung(en) befassen
>werden. Das Spektrum der Beteiligten reicht von
>ATTAC bis kanak attak, von PDS bis Linksruck, von
>Konferenzredner Oskar Lafontaine bis hin zu denen,
>die ihn am liebsten mit Tomaten bewerfen würden. PGA
>und andere Basisnetzwerke planen einen "autonomous
>space" parallel zum offiziellen Sozialforum.
>
>Jenseits des Tomatenwerfens: Welche Möglichkeiten
>inhaltlicher Intervention aus linker
>globalisierungskritischer Perspektive gibt es auf
>dem Europäischen Sozialforum? Diese und ähnliche
>Fragen werden in der italienischen Linken zur Zeit
>heiß diskutiert. Wir denken, dass diese Diskussion
>auch in Berlin geführt werden sollte.
>Informations- und Diskussionsveranstaltung am
>Mittwoch, 23. Oktober 2002, 19 Uhr, im
>Versammlungsraum des Mehringhofs, Gneisenaustr. 2a,
>U-Bhf. Mehringdamm (ReferentInnen: Monika Bricke,
>Till Baumann u. a.). Eine zweite Veranstaltung
>findet nach dem Europäischen Sozialforum am 15.
>November am gleichen Ort statt.
>
>
>INFOGRUPPE BERLIN
>
>Die Berliner Gipfelsoli-Infogruppe ist
>hervorgegangen aus der Infogruppe der
>Genuagefangenen. Wir sind unter gipfelsoli@gmx.de zu
>erreichen. Wir haben einen Email-Verteiler angelegt,
>über den aktuelle Nachrichten zu Prozessen in
>Göteborg und Genua (und andere Aktivitäten wie z.B.
>die Mobilisierung zu EU-, G 8- oder Nato-Gipfeln
>oder internationalen Camps) verschickt werden.
>Die AutorInnen der Beiträge, so sie nicht von uns
>verfasst sind, sind mit eckigen Klammern versehen.
>Wir können leider keine Verantwortung für die
>Richtigkeit der Beiträge garantieren.
>Wenn ihr in den Verteiler aufgenommen (oder
>gelöscht) werden wollt, schickt einfach eine Mail.

================================================
14 Kundgebung gegen Rechtsextreme am 19.10. in Offenhausen!
Von: Infoladen Wels <infoladen-wels@liwest.at>
================================================

Die AfP gilt aus staatspolizeilicher als "aktivstes und größtes
Sammelbecken der rechtsextremen Szene in Österreich" und agiert unter
dem Deckmantel der Legalität. (Profil Nr. 38, 16. September 2002)
Vom 18.-20. Oktober findet in Offenhausen im einschlägig bekannten
"Gasthof Lauber" (siehe Dichterstein-Treffen und den Widerstand dagegen)
die "37. politische Akademie" der "Arbeitsgemeinschaft für demokratische
Politik" statt. Das Programm der Veranstaltung haben wir bereits beim
Aufruf zum Vorbereitungsplenum für Gegenaktivitäten veröffentlicht, bei
Bedarf schicken wirs gerne zu.
Wir haben für Samstag, 19. Oktober ab 14:00 Uhr am Marktplatz
Offenhausen eine Kundgebung angemeldet, geplant sind
Straßentheateraktionen, Redebeiträge, etc.
Für Leute ohne eigenen PKW: der einzige Bus nach Offenhausen fährt um
12:20 Uhr vom Welser Busbahnhof weg, es gibt aber keinen Bus mehr
zurück. D.h.: Meldet euch bei uns im Infoladen, wenn ihr eine
Mitfahrgelegenheit braucht, wir werden versuchen, einen Shuttle-Dienst
mit Privatautos aufzustellen.
Am Abend findet in Offenhausen zusätzlich das "Offenhausener Hallenfest"
statt, es ist also auch mit Stiefelnazis zu rechnen.
Erfahrungsgemäß riegelt die Polizei schon vor Offenhausen alle
Zufahrtsstraßen ab und kontrolliert jede/n, der/die potentiell eine Demo
besuchen könnte (vom körperlichen her).
Es wird auch eine Rechtshilfe geben, die Nummer ist: 07242/910432, die
ab 12:00 Uhr aktiv ist.
Noch was zwecks Vermummung: Verkleidet euch kreativ, wir wollen der
Polizei ja keinen Anlaß zur Auflösung der Kundgebung geben; die
Straßentheaterleute z.B.: werden Trachtengwand, Burschi-Uniformen,
Anzüge, etc. tragen, also seid kreativ!
Beteiligt euch zahlreich an der Kundgebung, falls ihr eigene Aktionen
plant, wärs nett, sich mit uns in Verbindung zu setzen zwecks
Koordination.
Kein ruhiges Hinterland für FaschistInnen!

================================================
15 RAWNEWS on Iraq - 15/10/02
Von: RAWNEWS <rawnews@btopenworld.com>
================================================
RAWNEWSon Iraq - 15/10/02
1) U.S. Has a Plan to Occupy Iraq, Officials
Report. Excerpts - NYT
2) Iraq: With Moscow Standing Firm, Will U.S. Go It Alone? -
Stratfor
3) Blair suffers 'humiliating rebuff' from Putin over Iraq - Agence
France-Presse
4) IF US LAUNCHES WAR EVERY CITIZEN HAS RIGHT TO WAGE WAR AGAINST USA -
RIA NOVOSTI
5) RUSSIAN EXPERT BELIEVES US MAY USE NUCLEAR WEAPONS - RIA NOVOSTI
6) Nonaligned Nations Ask for Iraq Meet - Associated Press
7) Opposition to war grows across Europe - World Socialist Web
Site
8) Iraq invites US to inspect two suspect sites, US bombs Basra
airport - Agence France-Presse
9) Iraq reports four killed, 10 wounded in US-British air raids - The
Hindustan Times
10) Bush's televised address attacked by US intelligence. - The
Guardian
11) Russian experts warn unilateral U.S. action against Iraq will hit
ties - The Canadian Press
12) Editorial - Blocking Inspections - The Times of India
13) 20,000 UK troops destined for Iraq - The Scotsman
14) The president's real goal in Iraq - The Atlanta
Journal-Constitution
15) Inspection as invasion - The Guardian
16) Did the United States Expose Iraqi Civilians to Radiation? -
MSN
17) War Fears, Port Closures Could Revive Global Recession - Stratfor

U.S. Has a Plan to Occupy Iraq, Officials Report.
Excerpts.
NYT. 11 October 2002.
WASHINGTON -- The White House is developing a detailed plan, modeled on
the postwar occupation of Japan, to install an American-led military
government in Iraq if the United States topples Saddam Hussein, senior
administration officials said today.
The plan also calls for war-crime trials of Iraqi leaders [in the
ICC???!] and a transition to an elected civilian government that
could take months or years.
In the initial phase, Iraq would be governed by an American military
commander -- perhaps Gen. Tommy R. Franks, commander of United States
forces in the Persian Gulf, or one of his subordinates -- who would
assume the role that Gen. Douglas MacArthur served in Japan after its
surrender in 1945.
In contemplating an occupation, the administration is scaling back the
initial role for Iraqi opposition forces in a post-Hussein government.
Until now it had been assumed that Iraqi dissidents both inside and
outside the country would form a government, but it was never clear when
they would take full control.
Today marked the first time the administration has discussed what could
be a lengthy occupation by coalition forces, led by the United States.
Officials say they want to avoid the chaos and in-fighting that have
plagued Afghanistan since the defeat of the Taliban.
Mr. Bush's aides say they also want full control over Iraq while
American-led forces carry out their principal mission: finding and
destroying weapons of mass destruction.
The description of the emerging American plan and the possibility of
war-crime trials of Iraqi leaders could be part of an administration
effort to warn Iraq's generals of an unpleasant future if they continue
to support Mr. Hussein.
Asked what would happen if American pressure prompted a coup against
President Hussein, a senior official said, "That would be
nice."
But the official suggested that the American military might enter and
secure the country anyway, not only to eliminate weapons of mass
destruction but also to ensure against anarchy after Mr. Hussein's
departure.
The revelation of the occupation plan marks the first time the
administration has described in detail how it would administer Iraq in
the days and weeks after an invasion.
It would put an American officer in charge of Iraq for a year or more
while the United States and its allies searched for weapons and
maintained Iraq's oil fields.
For as long as the coalition partners administered Iraq, they would
essentially control the second largest proven reserves of oil in the
world, nearly 11 percent of the total.
Officials said the administration is studying the military occupations of
Japan and Germany.
But they stressed a commitment to keeping Iraq unified, as Japan was, and
avoiding the kind partition that Germany underwent when Soviet troops
stayed in the eastern sector, which set the stage for the cold war.
In a speech on Saturday, Zalmay Khalilzad, the special assistant to the
president for Near East, Southwest Asian and North African affairs, said
the administration's long-term goal would be to have a
"representative democratic government" in Iraq.
But, he said, "we will get to that through some phases."
Iraqis, perhaps through a consultative council, would assist an
American-led military and, later, a civilian administration, a senior
official said today.
Only after this transition would the American-led government hand power
to Iraqis.

Iraq: With Moscow Standing Firm, Will U.S. Go It Alone?
Stratfor - 11 October 2002
British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Russian President Vladimir Putin
went out of their way to demonstrate cordiality during Blair's Oct. 10-11
visit to Moscow. But the message Blair brings back to U.S. President
George Bush is that Russia is unlikely to support a U.N. Security Council
resolution authorizing a war against Iraq.
With France and China, the other two permanent Security Council members,
objecting to such a resolution as well, the best Washington likely can
hope for during voting in the United Nations next week is a
French-authored two-resolution compromise. Under this plan, one
resolution would set out conditions for Iraqi cooperation with weapons
inspectors and a second would threaten force if those conditions are not
met.
But since the first resolution is not as tough as Washington wants, the
Bush administration -- determined to attack Iraq and with
Congress on its side -- may opt for unilateral action in the
end.
During a press conference following the meeting with Blair, Putin
suggested a shift in Russia's position on Iraq when he said, "I do
not rule out reaching a joint position, including a U.N.
resolution," the BBC reported. But this shift is not nearly as
dramatic as it should be for Washington to get Security Council approval
for an attack on Iraq. Putin also repeated that there are no legal
grounds for military action against Baghdad and that Russia "does
not have in its possession any trustworthy data which would support the
existence of nuclear weapons or any other weapons of mass destruction in
Iraq."
Putin's statements suggest Russia probably will support the French
compromise. And although Moscow is not likely to veto a U.S.-British war
resolution, Russia's vote probably would help push the French measure
through -- since China, as well as a majority of the 10 non-permanent
council members, also are likely to support France. This might have
turned another way had Moscow given Blair support for force against
Hussein.
An hour or so after the talks ended, Russia's deputy foreign minister
said what Putin likely did not want to, so as not to offend Blair:
"The U.S. draft resolution cannot be accepted as a basis for a
future U.N. Security Council resolution on Iraq, as it contains clearly
unfulfillable demands."
Moscow's position will encourage France, China and other Council members
to further resist U.S. plans to attack Iraq. Had Moscow given in, Paris
and Beijing would find it much more difficult to resist U.S. pressure,
but since Moscow still opposes the use of force and the French
resolutions will not subject Iraq to the kind of conditions that the
United States wants, Washington still could decide to sidestep the United
Nations altogether.
http://www.stratfor.com/fib/topStory_view.php?ID=206874

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/021012/1/33oh9.html
Blair suffers 'humiliating rebuff' from
Putin over Iraq
Agence France-Presse - Saturday
October 12
A number of British newspapers are claiming British premier Tony Blair
suffered a humiliating setback on his visit to Russia during which he
hoped to persuade President Vladimir Putin to back a tough UN resolution
threatening force against Iraq. The right-wing Daily Mail reported that
Blair had suffered a "humiliating rebuff in his crusade against
Saddam Hussein," adding that "his upbeat optimism that Moscow
would back Britain and the US over action ... was embarrassingly
dashed."
The tabloid said in an editorial: "Yesterday's debacle in Russia is
a damning indictment of the Foreign Office that so incompetently misread
the situation in Moscow."
The Sun, Britain's biggest selling daily tabloid, said Putin's "slap
in the face for Tony Blair and (US President) George Bush is just the
news Saddam Hussein wants. "The more the world seems disunited in
its approach to Iraq, the more Saddam will feel he can call our
bluff."
Putin agreed Friday with Blair on the need for a tougher UN resolution on
weapons inspections in Iraq, but -- crucially -- rejected the threat of
force. After hours of closed-door talks that began Thursday, Putin said
Russia shared "apprehensions" about Baghdad's suspected
nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs and thought a deal
could be struck on a new UN Security Council resolution. However, just
after the talks ended, Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Yury Fedotov said
Moscow would not accept a US-British draft resolution threatening Iraq
with military action if it does not cooperate with weapons
inspections.
Blair had been "publicly rebuffed", according to the
left-of-centre Daily Mirror. But the tabloid, which warned that Bush was
becoming increasingly isolated in favouring an attack on Iraq to achieve
"regime change", added: "President Putin's 'no' is not a
defeat for the prime minister. It is a victory for common sense and Mr
Blair should accept it as that."
"Putin puts down Blair over Iraq," was the headline of The
Times, while the Independent said Blair's Russian mission had failed. It
added: "A downcast prime minister flew back from Moscow knowing he
had a diplomatic mountain to climb to persuade UN Security Council
members to issue an ultimatum for the Iraqis to comply with weapons
inspections."
The left-wing Guardian said it was "not entirely clear" what
the trip had achieved.http://en.rian.ru/rian/index.cfm?prd_id=160 msg_id=2781745 startrow=1
date=2002-10-11 do_alert=0
IN CASE OF WASHINGTON'S AGGRESSION AGAINST
IRAQ EVERY CITIZEN HAS RIGHT TO WAGE LEGAL WAR AGAINST USA
RIA NOVOSTI
MOSCOW, OCTOBER 11, 2002. /FROM A RIA NOVOSTI CORRESPONDENT
In case of Washington's aggression against Iraq
any citizen of the world gains the right to wage a legal war against the
USA. Vice-President of the Academy of Geopolitical Problems Colonel
General Leonid Ivashov expressed this opinion at a press conference in
RIA Novosti on Friday.
"If the USA launches an operation against Iraq it itself will ruin
all the principles of the United Nations Organization," he
explained.
"The world's political forces may unite in order to put a barrier on
the way of the forceful dictatorship, Washington's attempts to unify the
world," Ivashov pointed out when making a forecast concerning the
form of a possible retaliatory war against the USA. Moreover, the expert
believes, "the number of terrorist acts and guerrilla operations may
increase".
"The moment the USA begins a war against Iraq, the world will lose
its deterrents," Ivashov stressed.http://en.rian.ru/rian/index.cfm?prd_id=160 msg_id=2781673 startrow=11
date=2002-10-11 do_alert=0
RUSSIAN EXPERT BELIEVES AMERICA MAY USE
NUCLEAR WEAPONS AGAINST IRAQ
RIA NOVOSTI
MOSCOW, OCTOBER 11TH, 2002 /FROM A RIA NOVOSTI CORRESPONDENT
Vice President of the Academy of Geopolitical
Studies, Colonel General Leonid Ivashov believes the USA may use nuclear
weapons during its possible military aggression against Iraq.
"It is possible to use weapons of mass destruction, primarily
tactical nuclear weapons in the Middle East," Ivashov said when
speaking at a press conference in RIA Novosti on Friday.
Ivashov believes that "propaganda facts and signs of preparation for
a military operation" show that in case Iraq shows resistance, the
USA will find an excuse to use nuclear weapons. This excuse will be of a
provocative character, according to the expert. For
example, it may be the fact that Iraq has chemical weapons.
"Such a possibility really exists," the Colonel General
stressed.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10031-2002Oct10.html
Nonaligned Nations Ask for Iraq Meet
Associated Press - By Edith M.
Lederer - October 10, 2002; 11:21 PM
UNITED NATIONS -- Some 130 nations pressing for a peaceful solution in
Iraq asked the U.N. Security Council on Thursday to hold an emergency
open meeting before it votes on a new resolution that could authorize
military action against Saddam Hussein's government.
The move by the Nonaligned Movement, whose members are mainly from
developing countries, would put the U.S. and British demands for military
authorization under a microscope by shifting what have been closed-door
talks into a public format.
Council members supported the request for an open meeting and council
president Martin Belinga-Eboutou of Cameroon told members he would set a
date after consultations.
Diplomats said the open meeting will not be held Friday, as France
wanted, but will likely take place sometime next week. It will definitely
be held before the council votes on a new resolution, diplomats said, but
it wasn't clear whether it would take place before or after a new
resolution is formally introduced to the council.
The five veto-holding members remain divided on key issues and have been
meeting privately to thrash out concepts, but diplomats report little
progress and no new meeting has been scheduled.
The United States and Britain have circulated a draft that would toughen
inspections and authorize the use of force if Iraq doesn't comply with
inspectors. France, Russia and China oppose a green light to attack
before Iraq has a chance to cooperate, and are supporting a rival French
proposal.
"We think it's a good idea to have an open meeting at the right
time," U.S. deputy ambassador James Cunningham said after Thursday's
council meeting. He refused to say when that might be.
U.S. spokesman Richard Grenell said the United States always assumed
there would be an open debate at the appropriate time.
"I think it will take place next week, open for all members,"
said Russia's deputy U.N. Ambassador Gennady Gatilov.
"It's a very good thing, because the Security Council, while taking
the decisions, should represent the opinions and positions of all members
of this organization," he said.
Secretary of State Colin Powell discussed the resolution several times
with British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, State Dept. spokesman Richard
Boucher said in Washington.
Asked if Powell had shown flexibility in his talks with other foreign
ministers, Boucher said he was not going to get into the details of
Powell's conversations but said the talks were about how to make clear
that there will be consequences if Iraq should violate the
resolution.
South Africa, the current Nonaligned Movement chairman, sent a letter to
the Security Council president saying an emergency meeting is
"imperative" so council members can hear the views of the wider
United Nations membership before it adopts a resolution.
The resolution, South Africa's U.N. Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo wrote,
includes issues "that are of importance to ... the future role of
the United Nations in the maintenance of international peace and
security."
At an open Security Council meeting, any of the 191 members of the United
Nations can speak. Many are likely to use the opportunity to address the
issues surrounding Iraq's acceptance of the return of U.N. inspectors
after nearly four years - and the majority are expected to back the
French and Russian position.
French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin reiterated Thursday that
the council should first send a message to Saddam to let inspectors do
their job "without conditions or restrictions."
"We do not think that it is necessary to resort to the use of force
at this first resolution," he said.Opposition to war grows across Europe
World Socialist Web Site - By Steve James - 12
October 2002
The imminent war against Iraq has met with rising public opposition in
Europe. Large anti-war demonstrations have been held in many cities, as
well as protests at the US military outposts, listening stations and
airbases that litter the continent. Many more demonstrations are planned
for the coming weeks against what is broadly perceived as a war for
control of Iraq's oil fields.
Simultaneous with the 350,000 strong demonstration in London on September
28, up to 150,000 marched around the ancient centre of Rome in protests
which also reflected deepening opposition to the Italian government of
Silvio Berlusconi.
One week later, more demonstrations were held in Rome, Naples, Milan,
Florence, Bologna, Catania, Bergamo and Venice. Some estimates of the
total number of people involved were as high as 1.5 million. According to
anti-war groups, 100 cities held protests.
The demonstrations were organised by various anti-war organisations,
trade unions and anti-capitalist groups and political parties. In
Florence 15,000 marchers were greeted with church bells and a banner,
"Florence Open City Repudiates the War." The British Consulate
in Venice was briefly occupied. In Rome, riot police cordoned off the US
embassy, although the demonstrations passed without serious
confrontations. Portraits of British premier Tony Blair, US President
George W. Bush and Berlusconi were burnt in Milan.
A demonstration in Madrid, Spain, September 29 attracted 30,000 people,
according to its organisers-a coalition of anti-war and human rights
groups and the United Left. Statements were read from British Labour MP
George Galloway and former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark. Protesters
held placards opposing US terrorism and equating Bush with Adolf
Hitler.
On October 6 in Rethymno, on the Greek island of Crete, confrontations
broke out between 300 demonstrators opposing an attack on Iraq and
hundreds of police surrounding a hotel being used by European Union
defence ministers. The ministers were discussing plans for a European
Rapid Reaction Force, due to be operational in 2003, and their attitude
to war against Iraq.
Demonstrations have also been held in Helsinki, Finland, demanding the
government stay out of a military campaign against Iraq, and in Geneva,
Switzerland, where 2,000 people demonstrated simultaneously with the
large protests across the border in Italy.
Military bases have also been the focus of protests. Three thousand
people marched through Dublin, Eire, September 28, in a march organised
by the Irish Anti-War Movement, which is opposing the Irish government's
intention to allow Shannon Airport to be used during an attack on Iraq.
Anti-war activists have documented US military use of the airport as a
stopover during the attack on Afghanistan. Individuals in the area trying
to monitor US flights have reported increased police and airport security
harassment in recent weeks. Military use of Shannon airport destroys the
Irish government's claim to be upholding the country's
neutrality.
Two thousand people rallied near British bases on the island of Cyprus in
the Eastern Mediterranean, which could be used to support an attack on
Iraq. Cyprus's parliamentary speaker and Communist Party member Demetris
Christofias called for the "total abolition of the bases and the
total demilitarisation of Cyprus." The rally was jointly organised
by the Green Party and peace groups and was held near Akrotiri, where the
British military are building communications masts. The parliament in
Cyprus opposes the masts.
On October 6, 1,117 people were arrested inside an airbase at Kleine
Brogel, in Belgium, where the Belgian Airforce and NATO store nuclear
weapons. Hundreds more, including pacifist campaigners from across Europe
and several members of the Dutch and Belgian parliaments, demonstrated
outside the base.
Media reporting of the extent of hostility to war against Iraq has been
much restricted. Jeremy Dear, leader of the British National Union of
Journalists (NUJ), issued a press release prior to the September 28
demonstration in London, warning that BBC journalists had been informed
by managers they would be showing bias by reporting anti-war events. The
London demonstration, the largest left-wing demonstration seen in the
British capital since the 1980s, and perhaps since the 1930s, was not
reported at all by the Washington Post or the New York Times, and was
thinly reported in Britain.
Nevertheless, there is widespread scepticism about the war that goes far
beyond those actually participating in demonstrations. An ICM/Guardian
poll found that only 33 percent of the British population support an
attack on Iraq, while 44 percent oppose it. The percentage of respondents
supporting the war had fallen by four percent in one week-immediately
after Tony Blair's dossier of "evidence" was released.
According to an Irish Times/MRBI poll, only 22 percent of the Irish
population supported the war, while 68 percent opposed it. Fifty nine
percent thought the Irish government should oppose action in the United
Nations, even if Iraq failed to comply with UN resolutions. Most decisive
was opinion in Spain, where, according to a poll held by Instituto Opina
and El Pais, 87 percent opposed war, while a mere 9.3 percent supported
it.
STOP THE WAR Information
www.puntosdevista.cafeprogressive.com/photo4.html

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/021010/1/33muw.html
Iraq invites US to inspect two suspect
sites, US bombs Basra airport
Agence France-Presse - Thursday
October 10, 21:10 PM
Iraq's arms programme chief invited the US administration to inspect two
alleged secret weapons sites, shortly before Baghdad reported a fresh US
air strike on a southern airport. US warplanes attacked Basra
international airport, destroying its radar system and damaging buildings
used by passengers, in the third strike on the facility since September,
an official spokesman told state television.
Before the raid, in which no casualties were immediately reported, oil
prices in London had eased with Baghdad's latest bid to head off war.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, meanwhile, headed for Russia as part
of a diplomatic drive to close ranks on Iraq among the Big Five with veto
powers in the UN Security Council.
"The American administration can send whoever it wants to visit the
An-Nasr and Al-Furat sites, which it suspects of being used to produce
weapons of mass destruction," Abdel Tawab Mulla Howeish told a
Baghdad press conference.
"If the American administration wants to see the two sites, we urge
them to inspect them immediately," said Howeish, who is also Iraq's
military industries minister.
The two sites were named in a dossier Blair has released on Iraq's
arsenal, while US President George W. Bush showed a satellite photograph
of Al-Furat in a speech this week while threatening to disarm Baghdad by
force, if necessary.
"All we have done is rebuild the An-Nasr site without enlarging it,
while we have undertaken no work at the Al-Furat site, which was being
constructed when it was destroyed in 1991 and which was never used,"
Howeish said.
"We do not have weapons of mass destruction. We do not have
programmes or plans to produce them and we have not violated UN Security
Council resolutions relating to this issue in the absence of
inspectors," stressed Howeish.
After the press conference, Iraqi authorities took journalists on a tour
of the two sites. On September 16, Iraq accepted the unconditional return
of UN weapons inspectors after a hiatus of nearly four years.
But the inspectors' mission is on hold while Washington and London
wrangle with the other three permanent members of the Security Council --
France, Russia and China -- over the need for a tough new resolution. In
London, the price of oil slipped in early trading Thursday before the new
raid on Basra. The price of benchmark Brent North Sea crude for November
delivery fell to 27.75 dollars a barrel in early deals from 28.13 dollars
at the close of trading on Wednesday.
Tony Machacek, an oil broker with Prudential Bache, said the Iraqi offer
to the US administration had pushed crude oil prices lower. "The
aggressive war talk seems to be a little bit abated at the moment,"
he said.
But the US Congress was still mobilising for possible war.
The House of Representatives was expected to vote Thursday to authorize
Bush to unilaterally go to war if the United Nations fails to rid Iraq of
its alleged mass destruction weapons.
Beside pressing congressmen to grant the president the special powers,
the White House has also called for Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to be
brought before a special war crimes tribunal.
The House was scheduled to vote between 1800 GMT and 2000 GMT, according
to a spokesman for Speaker Dennis Hastert. More than 300 of the 435 House
members are expected to support the measure. In the Senate, where at
least 60 of the 100 senators back the measure, a vote on limiting debate
to 30 hours was also scheduled for Thursday. Senator Robert Byrd, 84, a
Democrat from West Virginia, passionately argued against limiting the
debate time. "This is a fateful decision," he said.
"What's the hurry? The Senate is being stampeded on this
vote."
The London Times reported Thursday that 52 bishops of the Church of
England had warned that war against Iraq without further backing from the
United Nations was unacceptable.
"We nonetheless hold that to undertake a preventive war at this
juncture would be to lower the threshold for war unacceptably," The
Times quoted the churchmen as saying in an unprecedented document.
Britain's prime minister left for Russia for two days of talks with
Russian President Vladimir Putin aimed at narrowing differences over
Iraq.
"We regard Russia very much as our partner in this issue and I am
hopeful that we can resolve it in such a way that we meet the concerns of
everybody," Blair told the BBC's Russian service on the eve of his
departure.
In talks with British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw late Wednesday, Iran's
President Mohammad Khatami voiced doubts over the threat posed by Saddam
and hit out at the West for supplying Iraq with chemical arms in the
first place. Accusing US leaders of "arrogance and haste",
Khatami warned Straw that Washington's "political conduct can only
result in the strengthening of extremist movements' activities in the
Islamic world."
Straw visited four countries in a bid to rally their support for the
British-backed US tough line on Iraq. Instead of any public endorsement,
he ran into a wall of scepticism and vocal opposition to a war that
regional leaders said would risk destabilising the
whole Middle East.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_81962,00050004.htm
Iraq reports four killed, 10 wounded in
US-British air raids
The Hindustan Times
Baghdad, October 10
Four Iraqis were killed and 10 injured today as US and British warplanes
bombed Nineveh province, 400 km north of Baghdad, an Iraqi military
spokesman said.
"Enemy (US and British) warplanes bombed civilian and service
installations in Nineveh province, killing four civilians and wounding
10," the spokesman said, quoted by the official INA news
agency.
The aircraft, which flew in from Turkish airspace, "staged 16 armed
sorties" over seven other regions of northern Iraq, the spokesman
said.
"(Surface-to-air) missiles and ground defences opened up on the
planes, forcing them to flee to their bases
in Turkey," he said.
"The US administration of evil and its British subordinate thus
added a new crime to their criminal record against our people," the
spokesman added.
The US military earlier said American warplanes attacked an Iraqi
surface-to-air missile system in northern Iraq with precision-guided
munitions.
It said the missile system was northwest of the town of Mosul in a
"no-fly" zone which is enforced by US and British aircraft
flying out of Incirlik air base in Turkey.
Iraq reported on October 3 that five civilians were killed and 11 others
wounded when US and British warplanes bombed the south of the
country.

Bush's televised address attacked by US intelligence.
The Guardian. 9 October
2002
WASHINGTON -- President Bush's case against Saddam Hussein, outlined in a
televised address to the nation on Monday night, relied on a slanted and
sometimes entirely false reading of the available US intelligence,
government officials and analysts claimed yesterday.
Officials in the CIA, FBI and energy department are being put under
intense pressure to produce reports which back the administration's line,
the Guardian has learned. In response, some are complying, some are
resisting and some are choosing to remain silent.
"Basically, cooked information is working its way into high-level
pronouncements and there's a lot of unhappiness about it in intelligence,
especially among analysts at the CIA," said Vincent Cannistraro, the
CIA's former head of counter-intelligence.
In his address, the president reassured Americans that military action
was not "imminent or unavoidable," but he made the most
detailed case to date for the use of force, should it become necessary.
But some of the key allegations against the Iraqi regime were not
supported by intelligence currently available to the administration. Mr
Bush repeated a claim already made by senior members of his
administration that Iraq has attempted to import hardened aluminium tubes
"for gas centrifuges, which are used to enrich uranium for nuclear
weapons". The tubes were also mentioned by Tony Blair in his dossier
of evidence presented to parliament last month.
However, US government experts on nuclear weapons and centrifuges have
suggested that they were more likely to be used for making conventional
weapons.
"I would just say there is not much support for that [nuclear]
theory around here," said a department of energy specialist.
David Albright, a physicist and former UN weapons inspector who was
consulted on the purpose of the aluminium tubes, said it was far from
clear that the tubes were intended for a uranium centrifuge.
Mr Albright, who heads the Institute for Science and International
Security, a Washington thinktank, said: "There's a catfight going on
about this right now. On one side you have most of the experts on gas
centrifuges. On the other you have one guy sitting in the CIA."
Mr Albright said sceptics at the energy department's Lawrence Livermore
national laboratory in California had been ordered to keep their doubts
to themselves. He quoted a colleague at the laboratory as saying:
"The administration can say what it wants and we are expected to
remain silent."
There is already considerable scepticism among US intelligence officials
about Mr Bush's claims of links between Iraq and al-Qaida. In his speech
on Monday, Mr Bush referred to a "very senior al-Qaida leader who
received medical treatment in Baghdad this year."
An intelligence source said the man the president was referring to was
Abu Musab Zarqawi, who was arrested in Jordan in 2001 for his part in the
"millennium plot" to bomb tourist sites there. He was
subsequently released and eventually made his way to Iraq in search of
treatment. However, intercepted telephone calls did not mention any
cooperation with the Iraqi government.
There is also profound scepticism among US intelligence experts about the
president's claim that "Iraq has trained al-Qaida members in
bomb-making and poisons and deadly gases."
Bob Baer, a former CIA agent who tracked al-Qaida's rise, said that there
were contacts between Osama bin Laden and the Iraqi government in Sudan
in the early 1990s and in 1998: "But there is no evidence that a
strategic partnership came out of it. I'm unaware of any evidence of
Saddam pursuing terrorism against the United States."
A source familiar with the September 11 investigation said: "The FBI
has been pounded on to make this link."
In making his case on Monday, Mr Bush made a startling claim that the
Iraqi regime was developing drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs),
which "could be used to disperse chemical or biological weapons
across broad areas."
"We're concerned that Iraq is exploring ways of using these UAVs for
missions targeting the United States," he warned.
US military experts confirmed that Iraq had been converting eastern
European trainer jets, known as L-29s, into drones, but said that with a
maximum range of a few hundred miles they were no threat to targets in
the US.
"It doesn't make any sense to me if he meant United States
territory," said Stephen Baker, a retired US navy rear admiral who
assesses Iraqi military capabilities at the Washington-based Centre for
Defence Information.
Mr Cannistraro said the flow of intelligence to the top levels of the
administration had been deliberately skewed by hawks at the Pentagon.
"CIA assessments are being put aside by the defence department in
favour of intelligence they are getting from various Iraqi exiles,"
he said.
"Machiavelli warned princes against listening to exiles. Well, that
is what is happening now."

http://therecord.com/news/world/w100609A.html
Russian experts warn unilateral U.S. action
against Iraq will hit ties
The Canadian Press - Monday October
06, 2002 - FRED WEIR
MOSCOW (CP) - Russia's post-Sept. 11 commitment to the U.S.-led
anti-terrorist coalition may unravel if President George W. Bush decides
to attack Iraq without full backing from the United Nations, Russian
experts have warned. "The question is, are we part of a
law-governed international community, or is the U.S. just a unilateral
superpower?" said Alexander Konovalov, director of the independent
Institute of Strategic Assessments in Moscow.
"We very much want to be a constructive partner of the U.S., but
that implies that our views and interests should be taken account
of."
Russia, a veto-wielding member of the UN Security Council, has argued
that the weapons inspectors should be given a full chance to investigate
U.S. claims that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein may be close to developing
nuclear arms, before any decision is made about using force.
Along with fellow Security Council member France, Russia has angered and
frustrated Washington by threatening to block any resolution that would
give legal sanction to a U.S.-led military assault on Iraq.
Russian diplomats, with long-standing political and economic ties in
Baghdad, may even have played a key role last month in convincing Iraq to
accept a new inspection regime on its soil - a move that caught U.S.
officials flatfooted.
Moscow now insists that the inspectors already have an adequate Security
Council mandate to do their job.
"We consider it very important that inspectors should return to Iraq
as quickly as possible," Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said Saturday.
"Nothing should hinder this."
Following the terrorist outrages of Sept. 11, President Vladimir Putin
moved Russia into the global anti-terrorist coalition and gave the U.S.
substantial assistance in its subsequent war against Taliban and al-Qaida
forces in Afghanistan.
But even without the current debate over attacking Iraq, that partnership
has lately begun to show strains.
"What we have learned in the past year is that the U.S. will take
everything we offer, and give nothing in return," said Alexei
Pushkov, a leading Russian TV commentator on foreign affairs.
"We have supported the U.S. in a war, while they still maintain Cold
War-era economic discrimination against us," he said, referring to
the Jackson-Vanik Amendment, a 1970s law that denies Russia trade access
to the U.S. market.
The Kremlin casts its opposition to U.S. war preparations as a matter of
principle, and some Russian experts even suggest that the current crisis
is as much about compelling Washington to obey international law as it is
about bringing Saddam to heel.
"Russia has no love for Saddam Hussein, and as much reason as anyone
else to fear weapons of mass destruction in his hands," said Viktor
Sheinis, a professor at the Institute of World Economy and International
Relations, which trains Russian diplomats.
"Decisions should be made jointly, through democratic and legal
processes. We are ready to play a constructive role, but not to be
someone's puppet."
But skeptics point out that Moscow's insistence on respecting the
Security Council may be connected with the fact that Russia's permanent
seat on that body, inherited from the former USSR, is practically its
only remaining source of superpower-style influence in the world
community.
Moreover, they say, Russia acts much like the U.S. in its own region and
listens to the UN only when it is convenient.
For example, Putin has been threatening to launch a pre-emptive military
strike against the neighbouring republic of Georgia, which Russia accuses
of harbouring Chechen rebel fighters.
Yet the Kremlin has made no move to ask the Security Council to
investigate the issue or to sanction Russian action against Georgia.
"Russia needs to clarify its position on many things that are
happening, and to work out consistent principles," said Sheinis.
"At the moment, we do not have a single line."
Another murky element is the extent of Russia's economic interests in
Iraq, and how that may be influencing its opposition to U.S. military
strikes.
Experts say the Kremlin is quite concerned that any post-Saddam regime
installed by the U.S. may renounce Iraq's $8 billion US Soviet-era debt
to Russia.
Moscow may also fear that a unilateral U.S. occupation of Iraq may sweep
away up to $40 billion in business contracts Baghdad has promised to sign
with Russian companies, including major Iraqi purchases of agricultural
products, engineering goods and oil drilling equipment.
The chief of Russia's partly state-owned petroleum giant LUKoil, Vagit
Alekperov, told a Moscow newspaper over the weekend that he has received
official pledges that the Kremlin will strongly defend the company's $6
billion concession in Iraq's West Kurna oil field and other Iraqi
investments.
Cynics say Moscow may ultimately agree to cast a pro-U.S. vote on the
Security Council in exchange for American guarantees that Russian
economic positions in a post-Saddam Iraq will be preserved.
But most Russian foreign policy experts insist that the quality of the
East-West relationship is what's at stake.
"The outcome of this debate will show whether our post-September 11
partnership with the U.S. was just an illusion," said Yevgeny
Kozhokin, director of the independent Institute of Strategic Studies in
Moscow.
"The issue that concerns Russia is whether we are building a
democratic world order together, one based on respect for international
law and community opinion. Isn't it obvious that unilateral military
strikes by one powerful state have no place in such a world?"http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/articleshow?artid=24398412
Editorial - Blocking Inspections
The Times of India - October 7,
2002
It's the Bush doctrine's first outing, and it is already clear that the
aim of Washington's pre-emptive war is to deal not only with threat of
weapons of mass des-truction but also the threat of diplomacy. After
making an issue of getting international weapons inspectors back into
Iraq, the US is now determinedly preventing a prompt resumption of
inspections.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the UN Monitoring,
Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) have reached agreement
with Iraq for the return of inspectors later in October, but Washington
now insists on the inspection mission being backed by a tough new mandate
from the UN Security Council. Clearly, the US intends for the mandate to
ensure, not the efficacy of inspections, but the certainty of a
confrontation with Iraq.
For, the draft US resolution envisages a heavily armed inspection force
staffed primarily by US troops which could, at will, declare any part of
Iraqi territory an 'exclusion zone' for the Iraqi government. Any protest
by Baghdad would constitute a ''material breach of Iraq's obligations''
and ''authorise member states to use all necessary means to restore
international peace and security''. The last phrase, of course, is a
euphemism for military force.
Fortunately, Russia, France and China appear firm in their resolve to
block this obnoxious resolution. There is already in place a framework
capable of enforcing Iraq's disarmament obligations, provided the US
allows it to work objectively. Earlier, Washington
had used UNSCOM, UNMOVIC's predecessor organisation, to fulfil the
political goal of crippling the Saddam Hussein regime through prolonged
sanctions. Indeed, UNSCOM allowed itself to be used for espionage, made
unreasonable and provocative demands, and refused to acknowledge the
success it had achieved in verifiably eliminating more than 98 per cent
of Iraq's weapons capabilities.
In early 1998, the IAEA certified Iraq's nuclear programme as completely
and irrevocably dismantled, and UNSCOM knew by December 1998 that Iraq
could no longer make chemical or biological weapons. Any stocks left over
from earlier production were - to quote former UNSCOM inspector Scott
Ridder - ''worthless goo''. True, Iraq might have restarted its
programmes. If so, the world has the right to ensure this is not the
case.
That is why UNMOVIC must return swiftly to Iraq and do its work within
the timeframe envisaged by Security Council resolution 1284. The UN is
welcome to consider a fresh resolution in case UNMOVIC is unable to
function. By advocating a draconian new resolution as a precondition for
the return of inspectors, the US is only trying to provide itself the
fig-leaf of a casus belli. The international community must not
oblige.

http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/index.cfm?id=1113702002
20,000 UK troops destined for Iraq
The Scotsman - October 8, 2002 - Tim
Ripley and Foreign Staff
TONY Blair is to authorise the sending of an expeditionary force of up to
20,000 servicemen and women to the Middle East for a US-led war against
Iraq.
Senior Whitehall sources said the Prime Minister's decision, expected at
the end of the month, comes amid growing concern among defence chiefs at
the lack of strategic direction from the government to allow them to
prepare troops for any mission to Iraq.
Mr Blair kept war planning within a small group of civil servants and
military officers working in the Cabinet Office to prevent leaks prior to
the Labour Party conference.
"Now the conference is out of the way, the Prime Minister feels more
confident to start winding up military preparations," said one
source. "Up to now, the line has been that no decisions have been
made about war. This will start to change ."
Last month, Geoff Hoon, the Defence Secretary, visited Donald Rumsfeld,
his US counterpart, to offer British troops for an Iraqi campaign.
However, defence sources said that since then, there had been little
feedback from the US on what type of troops they want and how they would
be used.
The sources said a prompt decision from the government was needed to
allow the army to begin training for desert warfare. The "big"
British contribution would involve heavy armoured forces to fight
alongside US divisions currently gathering in Kuwait.
An enlarged armoured brigade with Challenger 2 tanks and Warrior troop
carriers will be the core of the UK force. Most of the units will be
drawn from the 1st Armoured Division and 7th Armoured Brigade, based in
Germany.
Two Scottish regiments, the Black Watch and Scots Dragoon Guards, are
currently assigned to the Desert Rats Brigade and will play a key role in
any desert deployment. Up until last month, they were on stand-by for
firefighting duty, but were then told to return to normal military
training. Military sources described this ring-fencing of Germany-based
combat units as prudent contingency planning to allow initial
preparations to be made in the run-up to Mr Blair's deployment
announcement.
A strong RAF contingent is also expected to be sent to the Middle East to
join Tornado squadrons from RAF Lossiemouth, in Morayshire, and RAF
Leuchers, in Fife, that are already in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia on no-fly
zone patrol duty.
President George Bush was last night preparing to make what White House
aides described as his most comprehensive case yet on the threat posed by
Iraq and why a US-led war on Saddam Hussein's regime may be necessary.
Ari Fleischer, the White House spokesman, meanwhile urged the Iraqi
military to defy Saddam if he orders attacks on US forces: "The
message to Iraqi commandersis, 'Think before you act. You do not have to
obey the orders Saddam Hussein gives you and the United States takes very
seriously the criminal nature of these acts, particularly acts that would
involve the use of chemical and biological weapons.'"
The US has an estimated 2,400 troops in Oman. About 500 more are based in
the United Arab Emirates and the US navy's 5th Fleet is based in Bahrain.
Another 3,300 US soldiers are stationed in neighbouring Qatar, where the
US recently upgraded its al-Udeid air base, the forward command centre
for any US war on Iraq.

The president's real goal in Iraq
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
9/29/02 - By JAY BOOKMAN
(Deputy Editorial Page Writer at the AJC)
The official story on Iraq has never made sense. The connection that the
Bush administration has tried to draw between Iraq and al-Qaida has
always seemed contrived and artificial. In fact, it was hard to believe
that smart people in the Bush administration would start a major war
based on such flimsy evidence.
The pieces just didn't fit. Something else had to be going on; something
was missing.
In recent days, those missing pieces have finally begun to fall into
place. As it turns out, this is not really about Iraq. It is not about
weapons of mass destruction, or terrorism, or Saddam, or U.N.
resolutions.
This war, should it come, is intended to mark the official emergence of
the United States as a full-fledged global empire, seizing sole
responsibility and authority as planetary policeman. It would be the
culmination of a plan 10 years or more in the making, carried out by
those who believe the United States must seize the opportunity for global
domination, even if it means becoming the "American
imperialists" that our enemies always claimed we were.
Once that is understood, other mysteries solve themselves. For example,
why does the administration seem unconcerned about an exit strategy from
Iraq once Saddam is toppled?
Because we won't be leaving. Having conquered Iraq, the United States
will create permanent military bases in that country from which to
dominate the Middle East, including neighboring Iran.
In an interview Friday, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld brushed aside
that suggestion, noting that the United States does not covet other
nations' territory. That may be true, but 57 years after World War II
ended, we still have major bases in Germany and Japan. We will do the
same in Iraq.
And why has the administration dismissed the option of containing and
deterring Iraq, as we had the Soviet Union for 45 years? Because even if
it worked, containment and deterrence would not allow the expansion of
American power. Besides, they are beneath us as an empire. Rome did not
stoop to containment; it conquered. And so should we.
Among the architects of this would-be American Empire are a group of
brilliant and powerful people who now hold key positions in the Bush
administration: They envision the creation and enforcement of what they
call a worldwide "Pax Americana," or American peace. But so
far, the American people have not appreciated the true extent of that
ambition.
Part of it's laid out in the National Security Strategy, a document in
which each administration outlines its approach to defending the country.
The Bush administration plan, released Sept. 20, marks a significant
departure from previous approaches, a change that it attributes largely
to the attacks of Sept. 11.
To address the terrorism threat, the president's report lays out a newly
aggressive military and foreign policy, embracing pre-emptive attack
against perceived enemies. It speaks in blunt terms of what it calls
"American internationalism," of ignoring international opinion
if that suits U.S. interests. "The best defense is a good
offense," the document asserts.
It dismisses deterrence as a Cold War relic and instead talks of
"convincing or compelling states to accept their sovereign
responsibilities."
In essence, it lays out a plan for permanent U.S. military and economic
domination of every region on the globe, unfettered by international
treaty or concern. And to make that plan a reality, it envisions a stark
expansion of our global military presence.
"The United States will require bases and stations within and beyond
Western Europe and Northeast Asia," the document warns, "as
well as temporary access arrangements for the long-distance deployment of
U.S. troops."
The report's repeated references to terrorism are misleading, however,
because the approach of the new National Security Strategy was clearly
not inspired by the events of Sept. 11. They can be found in much the
same language in a report issued in September 2000 by the Projectfor the
New American Century, a group of conservativeinterventionists outraged by
the thought that the United States might be forfeiting its chance at a
global empire.
"At no time in history has the international security order been as
conducive to American interests and ideals," the report said. stated
two years ago. "The challenge of this coming century is to preserve
and enhance this 'American peace.' "
Familiar themes
Overall, that 2000 report reads like a blueprint for current Bush defense
policy. Most of what it advocates, the Bush administration has tried to
accomplish. For example, the project report urged the repudiation of the
anti-ballistic missile treaty and a commitment to a global missile
defense system. The administration has taken that course.
It recommended that to project sufficient power worldwide to enforce Pax
Americana, the United States would have to increase defense spending from
3 percent of gross domestic product to as much as 3.8 percent. For next
year, the Bush administration has requested a defense budget of $379
billion, almost exactly 3.8 percent of GDP.
It advocates the "transformation" of the U.S. military to meet
its expanded obligations, including the cancellation of such outmoded
defense programs as the Crusader artillery system. That's exactly the
message being preached by Rumsfeld and others.
It urges the development of small nuclear warheads "required in
targeting the very deep, underground hardened bunkers that are being
built by many of our potential adversaries." This year the GOP-led
U.S. House gave the Pentagon the green light to develop such a weapon,
called the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator, while the Senate has so far
balked.
That close tracking of recommendation with current policy is hardly
surprising, given the current positions of the people who contributed to
the 2000 report.
Paul Wolfowitz is now deputy defense secretary. John Bolton is
undersecretary of state. Stephen Cambone is head of the Pentagon's Office
of Program, Analysis and Evaluation. Eliot Cohen and Devon Cross are
members of the Defense Policy Board, which advises Rumsfeld. I. Lewis
Libby is chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney. Dov Zakheim is
comptroller for the Defense Department.
'Constabulary duties'
Because they were still just private citizens in 2000, the authors of the
project report could be more frank and less diplomatic than they were in
drafting the National Security Strategy. Back in 2000, they clearly
identified Iran, Iraq and North Korea as primary short-term targets, well
before President Bush tagged them as the Axis of Evil. In their report,
they criticize the fact that in war planning against North Korea and
Iraq, "past Pentagon wargames have given little or no consideration
to the force requirements necessary not only to defeat an attack but to
remove these regimes from power."
To preserve the Pax Americana, the report says U.S. forces will be
required to perform "constabulary duties" -- the United States
acting as policeman of the world -- and says that such actions
"demand American political leadership rather than that of the United
Nations."
To meet those responsibilities, and to ensure that no country dares to
challenge the United States, the report advocates a much larger military
presence spread over more of the globe, in addition to the roughly 130
nations in which U.S. troops are already deployed.
More specifically, they argue that we need permanent military bases in
the Middle East, in Southeast Europe, in Latin America and in Southeast
Asia, where no such bases now exist. That helps to explain another of the
mysteries of our post-Sept. 11 reaction, in which the Bush administration
rushed to install U.S. troops in Georgia and the Philippines, as well as
our eagerness to send military advisers to assist in the civil war in
Colombia.
The 2000 report directly acknowledges its debt to a still earlier
document, drafted in 1992 by the Defense Department. That document had
also envisioned the United States as a colossus astride the world,
imposing its will and keeping world peace through military and economic
power. When leaked in final draft form, however, the proposal drew so
much criticism that it was hastily withdrawn and repudiated by the first
President Bush.
Effect on allies
The defense secretary in 1992 was Richard Cheney; the document was
drafted by Wolfowitz, who at the time was defense undersecretary for
policy.
The potential implications of a Pax Americana are immense.
One is the effect on our allies. Once we assert the unilateral right to
act as the world's policeman, our allies will quickly recede into the
background. Eventually, we will be forced to spend American wealth and
American blood protecting the peace while other nations redirect their
wealth to such things as health care for their citizenry.
Donald Kagan, a professor of classical Greek history at Yale and an
influential advocate of a more aggressive foreign policy -- he served as
co-chairman of the 2000 New Century project -- acknowledges that
likelihood.
"If [our allies] want a free ride, and they probably will, we can't
stop that," he says. But he also argues that the United States,
given its unique position, has no choice but to act anyway.
"You saw the movie 'High Noon'? he asks. "We're Gary
Cooper."
Accepting the Cooper role would be an historic change in who we are as a
nation, and in how we operate in the international arena. Candidate Bush
certainly did not campaign on such a change. It is not something that he
or others have dared to discuss honestly with the American people. To the
contrary, in his foreign policy debate with Al Gore, Bush pointedly
advocated a more humble foreign policy, a position calculated to appeal
to voters leery of military intervention.
For the same reason, Kagan and others shy away from terms such as empire,
understanding its connotations. But they also argue that it would be
naive and dangerous to reject the role that history has thrust upon us.
Kagan, for example, willingly embraces the idea that the United States
would establish permanent military bases in a post-war Iraq.
"I think that's highly possible," he says. "We will
probably need a major concentration of forces in the Middle East over a
long period of time. That will come at a price, but think of the price of
not having it. When we have economic problems, it's been caused by
disruptions in our oil supply. If we have a force in Iraq, there will be
no disruption in oil supplies."
Costly global commitment
Rumsfeld and Kagan believe that a successful war against Iraq will
produce other benefits, such as serving an object lesson for nations such
as Iran and Syria. Rumsfeld, as befits his sensitive position, puts it
rather gently. If a regime change were to take place in Iraq, other
nations pursuing weapons of mass destruction "would get the message
that having them . . . is attracting attention that is not favorable and
is not helpful," he says.
Kagan is more blunt.
"People worry a lot about how the Arab street is going to
react," he notes. "Well, I see that the Arab street has gotten
very, very quiet since we started blowing things up."
The cost of such a global commitment would be enormous. In 2000, we spent
$281 billion on our military, which was more than the next 11 nations
combined. By 2003, our expenditures will have risen to $378 billion. In
other words, the increase in our defense budget from 1999-2003 will be
more than the total amount spent annually by China, our next largest
competitor.
The lure of empire is ancient and powerful, and over the millennia it has
driven men to commit terrible crimes on its behalf. But with the end of
the Cold War and the disappearance of the Soviet Union, a global empire
was essentially laid at the feet of the United States. To the chagrin of
some, we did not seize it at the time, in large part because the American
people have never been comfortable with themselves as a New
Rome.
Now, more than a decade later, the events of Sept. 11 have given those
advocates of empire a new opportunity to press their case with a new
president. So in debating whether to invade Iraq, we are really debating
the role that the United States will play in the years and decades to
come.
Are peace and security best achieved by seeking strong alliances and
international consensus, led by the United States? Or is it necessary to
take a more unilateral approach, accepting and enhancing the global
dominance that, according to some, history has thrust upon us?
If we do decide to seize empire, we should make that decision knowingly,
as a democracy. The price of maintaining an empire is always high. Kagan
and others argue that the price of rejecting it would be higher
still.
That's what this is about.
http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/opinion/bookman/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,806585,00.html
Inspection as invasion
The Guardian - George Monbiot -
Tuesday October 8, 2002
The US has been seeking to prevent a resolution of the Iraq crisis for
the past eight years
There is little that those of us who oppose the coming war with Iraq
can now do to prevent it. George Bush has staked his credibility on the
project; he has mid-term elections to consider, oil supplies to secure
and a flagging war on terror to revive. Our voices are as little heeded
in the White House as the singing of the birds.
Our role is now, perhaps, confined to the modest but necessary task of
demonstrating the withdrawal of our consent, while seeking to undermine
the moral confidence which could turn the attack on Iraq into a war
against all those states perceived to offend US strategic interests. No
task is more urgent than to expose the two astonishing lies contained in
George Bush's radio address on Saturday, namely that "the United
States does not desire military conflict, because we know the awful
nature of war" and "we hope that Iraq complies with the world's
demands". Mr Bush appears to have done everything in his power to
prevent Iraq from complying with the world's demands, while ensuring that
military conflict becomes inevitable.
On July 4 this year, Kofi Annan, the secretary-general of the United
Nations, began negotiating with Iraq over the return of UN weapons
inspectors. Iraq had resisted UN inspections for three and a half years,
but now it felt the screw turning, and appeared to be on the point of
capitulation. On July 5, the Pentagon leaked its war plan to the New York
Times. The US, a Pentagon official revealed, was preparing "a major
air campaign and land invasion" to "topple President Saddam
Hussein". The talks immediately collapsed.
Ten days ago, they were about to resume. Hans Blix, the head of the UN
inspections body, was due to meet Iraqi officials in Vienna, to discuss
the practicalities of re-entering the country. The US airforce launched
bombing raids on Basra, in southern
Iraq, destroying a radar system. As the Russian government pointed out,
the attack could scarcely have been better designed to scupper the talks.
But this time the Iraqis, mindful of the consequences of excluding the
inspectors, kept talking. Last Tuesday, they agreed to let the UN back
in. The State Department immediately announced, with more candour than
elegance, that it would "go into thwart mode".
It wasn't bluffing. The following day, it leaked the draft resolution on
inspections it was placing before the UN Security Council. This resembles
nothing so much as a plan for unopposed invasion. The decisions about
which sites should be "inspected" would no longer be made by
the UN alone, but also by "any permanent member of the security
council", such as the United States. The people inspecting these
sites could also be chosen by the US, and they would enjoy
"unrestricted rights of entry into and out of Iraq" and
"the right to free, unrestricted and immediate movement" within
Iraq, "including unrestricted access to presidential sites".
They would be permitted to establish "regional bases and operating
bases throughout Iraq", where they would be "accompanied... by
sufficient US security forces to protect them". They would have the
right to declare exclusion zones, no-fly zones and "ground and air
transit corridors". They would be allowed to fly and land as many
planes, helicopters and surveillance drones in Iraq as they want, to set
up "encrypted communication" networks and to seize "any
equipment" they choose to lay hands on.
The resolution, in other words, could not have failed to remind Iraq of
the alleged infiltration of the UN team in 1996. Both the Iraqi
government and the former inspector Scott Ritter maintain that the
weapons inspectors were joined that year by CIA covert
operations specialists, who used the UN's special access to collect
information and encourage the republican guard to launch a coup. On
Thursday, Britain and the United States instructed the weapons inspectors
not to enter Iraq until the new resolution has been adopted.
As Milan Rai's new book War Plan Iraq documents, the US has been
undermining disarmament for years. The UN's principal means of persuasion
was paragraph 22 of the security council's resolution 687, which promised
that economic sanctions would be lifted once Iraq ceased to possess
weapons of mass destruction. But in April 1994, Warren Christopher, the
US secretary of state, unilaterally withdrew this promise, removing
Iraq's main incentive to comply. Three years later his successor,
Madeleine Albright, insisted that sanctions would not be lifted while
Saddam remained in power.
The US government maintains that Saddam Hussein expelled the UN
inspectors from Iraq in 1998, but this is not true. On October 30 1998,
the US rejected a new UN proposal by again refusing to lift the oil
embargo if Iraq disarmed. On the following day, the Iraqi government
announced that it would cease to cooperate with the inspectors. In fact
it permitted them to continue working, and over the next six weeks they
completed around 300 operations.
On December 14, Richard Butler, the head of the inspection team,
published a curiously contradictory report. The body of the report
recorded that over the past month "the majority of the inspections
of facilities and sites under the ongoing monitoring
system were carried out with Iraq's cooperation", but his
well-publicised conclusion was that "no progress" had been
made. Russia and China accused Butler of bias. On December 15, the US
ambassador to the UN warned him that his team should leave Iraq for its
own safety. Butler pulled out, and on the following day the US started
bombing Iraq.
From that point on, Saddam Hussein refused to allow UN inspectors to
return. At the end of last year, Jose Bustani, the head of the
Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, proposed a means of
resolving the crisis. His organisation had not been involved in the messy
business of 1998, so he offered to send in his own inspectors, and
complete the jobthe UN had almost finished. The US responded by demanding
Bustani's dismissal. The other member states agreed to depose him only
after the United States threatened to destroy the organisation if he
stayed. Now Hans Blix, the head of the new UN inspectorate, may also be
feeling the heat. On Tuesday he insisted that he would take his orders
only from the security council. On Thursday, after an hour-long meeting
with US officials, he agreed with the Americans that there should be no
inspections until a new resolution had been approved.
For the past eight years the US, with Britain's help, appears to have
been seeking to prevent a resolution of the crisis in Iraq. It is almost
as if Iraq has been kept on ice, as a necessary enemy to be warmed up
whenever the occasion demands. Today, as the economy slides and Bin
Laden's latest mocking message suggests that the war on terrorism has so
far failed, an enemy
which can be located and bombed is more necessary than ever. A just war
can be pursued only when all peaceful means have been exhausted. In this
case, the peaceful means have been averted.
· www.monbiot.com

http://slate.msn.com//?id=2072026
Did the United States Expose Iraqi Civilians
to Radiation?
MSN
Slate
October 7, 2002 - By Brendan I. Koerner
The Iraqi government has long claimed that uranium-tipped American shells
used during the Gulf War are to blame for an upsurge in cancer deaths and
birth defects among Iraqi civilians. Did the United States expose Iraqis
to radiation?
The United States did, indeed, shower Iraq with well over 300 tons' worth
of depleted uranium ordnance during the Gulf War. Because of its high
density, DU-a byproduct of the uranium enrichment process at nuclear
reactors-is particularly effective in piercing armored vehicles. DU
shells incinerate on impact, leaving behind a dusty residue that is
primarily composed of the isotope Uranium-238. The Gulf War marked the
first widespread use of DU ordnance; they've since been fired in Kosovo
and Bosnia-Herzegovina by NATO forces. An estimated 15 nations, primarily
in the West, are believed to possess DU weapons.
Many scientists fear that this dust, when inhaled or ingested via
contaminated water, emits radiation inside the lungs or lymph nodes,
leading to cancer and other severe ailments. Iraq's health ministry
claims that cancer rates have soared by 400 percent since 1991, and
victims of "Gulf War syndrome" in the United States and Europe
have frequently ascribed their maladies to DU exposure. Last year, Doug
Rokke, former head of the Pentagon's Depleted Uranium Project, told the
British Parliament that one-fifth of his Gulf War team-which examined
Iraqi vehicles hit by DU fire-has since died of various lung diseases.
Late last month, during his visit to Baghdad, Rep. David Bonior, D-Mich.,
characterized DU's long-term impact on Iraq as "horrific and
barbaric."
The Pentagon has dismissed a direct link between DU residue and cancer.
It often points to a 1999 RAND Corp. study that monitored the health of
Gulf War veterans exposed to DU and concluded that no link between kidney
disease and DU had been found. The Department of Defense also argues that
DU dust is less toxic than naturally occurring uranium, of which there is
typically 2 to 4 tons per square mile of top soil. A British researcher
has theorized that any up-tick in Iraqi cancer rates is due not to DU
pollution but rather to Saddam Hussein's use of sulfur mustard gas during
the Iran-Iraq War.
The World Health Organization published its own report in April of 2001.
The organization agreed that a link between DU exposure and cancer has
yet to be established but cautioned that its study relied heavily on
military data. "Some scientists would like to see a larger body of
independently-i.e., non-military-funded studies to confirm the current
viewpoint," the WHO paper stated. Researchers should have plenty of
time to accumulate the necessary data; the half-life for Uranium-238 is
4.4 billion years.

War Fears, Port Closures Could Revive Global Recession
Stratfor - 4 October 2002
Summary
Concerns about a U.S. war with Iraq and a lengthening labor dispute on
the American West Coast are threatening to reignite the past year's
global recession. The danger is clear, but it is uncertain whether the
Bush administration will act in time to prevent such an outcome.
Analysis
When the U.S. Bureau of Economic Statistics releases its estimate of
third-quarter U.S. GDP growth at the end of October, the report most
likely will highlight that the fragile U.S. recovery is gradually
gathering steam. Under normal conditions, a strengthening American
rebound should percolate throughout the rest of the world, engendering a
broader global recovery.
However, two issues could prevent such a widespread recovery from
occurring and, combined, they are capable of pulling the global economy
-- the United States included -- back into recession. The Bush
administration has the ability to deal with both issues decisively, but
it is not yet clear if it has the political freedom and economic
foresight to do so.
The first issue is, of course, Iraq. The United States has been on the
rhetorical warpath for the better part of eight months now.
Concerns that a war would drastically affect energy markets have sent
energy prices steadily upward, despite the fact that actual U.S. troop
deployments to the region have been sporadic.
The higher prices -- Brent crude closed at more than $29 per barrel Oct.
2 -- are not yet indicative of any imbalance between supply and demand.
They are instead almost entirely a reflection of concerns over
war-induced complications. The overall consensus among analysts,
including at STRATFOR, is that this "war premium" -- the amount
added to oil prices after supply and demand factors are figured in -- is
now worth about $8 per barrel.
OPEC states have pledged to raise production should prices go higher, but
this promise is irrelevant. Between new non-OPEC production this year and
attempts by OPEC members to skirt production quotas, global supplies are
already 3 million barrels-per-day higher now than they were Feb. 1 -- yet
oil prices continue their upward climb due to war fears.
Expensive oil does have a negative effect on the U.S. economy, but the
impact is felt more keenly overseas, where developing states in
particular have much more energy-intensive economies than the United
States, and nearly all of the other industrialized states import much
more to satisfy their energy needs.
For example, Japan, South Korea, France and Germany must import nearly
all of their oil and natural gas, while the United States imports only 55
percent of its oil and 15 percent of its natural gas. Compounding matters
is the fact that oil markets operate in dollars. Since the dollar tends
to strengthen in times of conflict, oil importers that operate in other
currencies suffer a double hit.
This trend shows no sign of ending. The Bush administration has staked a
great deal of political capital on ousting Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein,
and oil prices will remain high until it is clear that future military
operations are meeting with success. Aside from some equipment shipments,
there are still few signs that the United States has begun a buildup in
the Persian Gulf region in earnest.
The second factor that could bring about a global recession is a homemade
American mess, in the form of an old-fashioned labor dispute that has
shut down the 29 major West Coast ports.
The Pacific Maritime Association manages the transit of about $300
billion in cargo shipments annually through the ports. The PMA's contract
with the 10,500 port workers represented by the International Longshore
and Warehouse Union expired July 1. Disagreements about a new contract
led both sides to resort to strikes and lockouts, and as of Oct. 4 the
entire West Coast port cargo infrastructure has been shut down.
Oil imports are proceeding normally, but nearly all container traffic in
the area is being affected. The immediate cost to the United
States runs about $1 billion each day; West Coast shipping traffic
accounts for 3 percent of U.S. GDP, and the country's two largest
cargo-receiving ports are on the West Coast. Shutting down that trade for
a prolonged period would be more than enough to hurl the American economy
back into recession.
The port closures already are forcing shutdowns in U.S. plants that use
just-in-time inventory planning, particularly in the bedrock automotive
and computer manufacturing sectors. Retailers are facing similar
problems; October is the time when they normally build stocks for the
Christmas season, and right now needed stocks simply cannot arrive.
Alternative shipping routes, whether via air or the East or Gulf coasts,
can mitigate the shipping problem, but only at considerable additional
cost -- a cost that the fragile U.S. economy has little ability to
handle.
At this point there is no end to the labor dispute in sight. The PMA
wants to integrate new technologies into existing procedures, a concept
that the union is fine with so long as it controls the new jobs. For both
sides, the issue is zero-sum; each wants to gain permanent leverage over
the other. Unsurprisingly, there is no indication that the two players
will resolve the issue themselves. The last time such a strike occurred
was in 1971; it lasted 214 days.
There is, however, a mechanism the government can use to step in. The
Labor Management Relations Act of 1947 (commonly known as the
Taft-Hartley Act) allows the president to force unions back to work in
instances where labor disputes "imperil the national
health."
The economic danger is very clear. Interest rates are at a 40-year low,
and a fat stimulus package is already working its way through the
legislative system. A protracted shipping crisis would cripple broad
segments of the economy, and there is little room for either fiscal or
monetary policy to inject additional stimuli without robbing the private
sector of capital to fund massive deficit
spending.
Invoking Taft-Hartley in this case would clear up the situation and avert
the crisis, and Bush has shown little compunction in the past about
battling with unions -- having moved to break up two airline strikes in
the past year.
But does Bush, whose administration has been weaker on economic issues
than other policies, fully understand the crisis the mid-size strike is
provoking? And will a president who repeatedly has sacrificed economic
policies in favor of political considerations -- such as implementing
controversial steel tariffs earlier this year, or negotiating free-trade
agreements with anti-terrorism partners like Morocco -- dare act against
organized labor with contentious mid-term elections a mere one month
away?
Furthermore, even invoking Taft-Hartley is no guarantee of success. It
was last invoked 24 years ago, and when former President Richard Nixon
used it, the strike simply resumed after the 80-day
"cooling-off" period Taft-Hartley requires.
Regardless of how soon the port dispute ends, by the time the broader
U.S. economy feels the pinch, it will already be too late for Asia.
Economists at Morgan Stanley have warned that all of East Asia will face
a full-blown recession should the port closures last a month. All of the
East Asian economies combined are smaller than the American economy, and
of the roughly $1.7 trillion in exports from the states of East Asia,
more ends up at the U.S. West Coast than anywhere else. Or, at least, it
used to.
http://www.stratfor.com/standard/analysis_view.php?ID=206600

================================================
16 RAWNEWS on NATO - 15/10/02
Von: RAWNEWS <rawnews@btopenworld.com>
================================================
RAWNEWSon NATO - 15/10/02
1) Investigation points to NATO exercise in mass whale beaching -
Environmental News Network
2) NO to NATO. . . NO to NATO . . . NO to NICE - Saoirse Irish Freedom
3) US, Georgian Defense Officials Negotiate on Future Cooperation - Civil
Georgia
4) RUSSIA WARNS IT WILL TAKE COUNTERMEASURES IF GEORGIA JOINS NATO -
Eurasia.net
5) ITALIAN MILITARY CONTINGENT HAS ARRIVED IN KIRGIZIA BISHKEK - RIA NOVOSTI
6) ROMANIA WANTS TO BE 'LOCOMOTIVE' OF NATO EXPANSION - Radio Free
Europe/Radio Liberty
7) Gen. Ozkok completes Bulgaria visit - Turkish Daily News
8) BRITAIN TO SUPPORT BULGARIA'S BID FOR NATO, EU ACCESSION - Radio Free
Europe/Radio Liberty
9) Tvrdik seeks missile defense - The Prague Post
10) Pratt Gets Presence In Poland - The Hartford Courant
11) NATO LAUNCHES WARM-UP TO IRAQ WAR - Middle East Newsline
12) NATO peace support exercises - NATO Online
13) GEORGIA'S KURDS STAGE ANTI-NATO PROTEST - Eurasia.net
14) Bulgaria To Cover NATO Southeast Flank - Seeurope.net
15) Finland's President says country open to NATO membership - AFP
16) Nicolas Burnes Arrives To An Important Visit In Bulgaria On Monday -
Seeurope.net

http://www.enn.com/news/wire-stories/2002/10/10102002/ap_48667.asp
Investigation points to NATO exercise in mass whale beaching
Environmental News Network
Thursday, October 10, 2002 - By Jerome Socolovsky, Associated Press
MADRID, Spain - Preliminary scientific tests on dead whales point to
undersea noise from naval maneuvers by Spain and other NATO countries as the
likely cause of the mass stranding of 15 whales in the Canary Islands, a
scientist said Wednesday.
The tests, commissioned by the regional government of Spain's Canary
Islands, is strengthening suspicions that powerful sonar equipment used in
these and other naval exercises may interfere with the sound waves emitted
by the species known as the beaked whale, which they use to locate food.
"This would be the seventh time there is a coincidence ... between NATO
exercises and the stranding of beaked whales" since 1985, said Michel Andre,
a veterinary scientist leading the tests.
Nine Cuvier's beaked whales were found dead on Sept. 24-25 after they washed
up on the Canary Islands of Fuerteventura and Lanzarote. Six more beached
whales were released back into the sea while another two were spotted
floating lifeless off the coast. At the same time, 10 NATO countries -
Germany, Belgium, Canada, France, Greece, Norway, Portugal, Britain, Turkey,
and the United States - were conducting a multinational exercise known as
Neo Tapon
2002. The maneuvers are meant to practice securing the strategic Strait of
Gibraltar, 900 kilometers (550 miles) northeast of the islands, according to
the Spanish Defense Ministry. Defense Minister Federico Trillo, responding
to aquestion in the Senate from a Canary legislator, said the ministry was
investigating the beachings. He added that there were no plans to suspend
the annual exercise.
Andre, a veterinary researcher at the University of Las Palmas de Gran
Canaria, stressed that the findings did not establish a direct relationship
between sonar from the NATO vessels and the stranding. However, he added
that after preliminary tests "the only cause which we cannot rule out ... is
acoustic impact."
The researcher said autopsies on the dead whales found brain damage
consistent with impacts from military sonar signals. The tests also
demonstrated the whales were otherwise "healthy and in good shape" before
their deaths. A second set of tests focussing on the inner ears, expected to
take a few weeks, is expected to establish the cause of the beaching with
greater certainty, he said.
The Cuvier's beaked whale is a toothed cetacean found around the world,
usually in groups of up to 25 family members. Adults range from five to
eight meters (17 to 26 feet) in length. Beachings of beaked whale groups
coinciding with military exercises have previously occurred in the Bahamas,
Greece, and one other time in the same Canary Islands, according to Andre.
Last weekend, more than 1,000 people demonstrated in front of a Spanish
government building, demanding that the waters around the islands be
declared a whale sanctuary off limits to military maneuvers, according to
Spanish press reports. Richard Page of the environmental group Greenpeace
said military exercises are just another environmental threat - along with
oil drilling, shipping, and industrial pollution - that "are pushing animals
out of their preferred feeding and breeding places."

http://www.iol.ie/~saoirse/current/saoirse.htm
NO to NATO. . . NO to NATO . . . NO to NICE
Saoirse Irish Freedom - October 10, 2002
"THE people of the 26 Counties had shouted 'stop' to the ever-tightening EU
grip
in June 2001 when they voted down the Nice Treaty by 54% to 46% -- yet this
decisive rejection has been ignored by the establishment politicians," said
Ruairé Ó Brádaigh, President of Republican Sinn Féin, at a press conference
in
Dublin on September 24, to launch the organisation's campaign for a 'No'
vote in
the Nice referendum on October 19 next.
Republican Sinn Féin called on the people to repeat this rejection of EU
militarisation, centralisation and domination by the larger states:
The centralisation of power through the abolition of the veto power of
member-states in 30 different areas removes a vital protection for Irish
interests. Nice involves domination by the larger states, Germany, France,
Britain and Italy by a decisive shift away from equality among the
member-states. The four large states will have their voting power trebled
while
the remainder will have theirs doubled. Nice is another step undermining
neutrality and towards the creation of a nuclear-armed superstate, a new
European Empire. It consolidates progress towards and creation of a European
Army Rapid Reaction Force which can operate 2,500 miles beyond the borders
of
the EU. Republican Sinn Féin does not oppose new members joining the EU.
Five
can do so immediately. Others can join individually as happened down the
years.
But we oppose building a union dominated and militarised by the large states
before the new members are admitted. "It is time to teach those politicians
a
lesson," Ó Brádaigh said, "and to show them that the building of a European
superstate at the expense of smaller nations is not the way to go in the
long-term."
The Republican Movement's view of the Europe of the future has always been a
"Europe of peoples and not of the existing states," many of which are
multi-national in character,
James Connolly advocated a "free federation of free peoples" for Europe and
it
was in keeping with this concept that the Movement had approached the
European
ideal down the decades.
"Deeper EU integration" is the catchphrase of Germany, Britain, France and
Italy
and it is past time to halt this process.
Denmark had secured a Protocol when it rejected Maastricht, releasing it
from EU
military commitments, Britain was absolved from the Social Chapter of
Maastricht
and with several other states was not part of the Euro common currency.
Far from asserting its independence following the people's rejection of
Nice,
the 26-County State had got merely a non-binding "declaration". The proposed
constitutional amendment did not provide for a referendum before neutrality
was
finally abandoned.
Observer status at the Western European Union, a pillar of the NATO
alliance;
membership of the Partnership for Peace without the guaranteed referendum,
the
Rapid Reaction Force, US war-planes at Shannon Airport and other moves
clearly
indicated that neutrality was being gradually sliced away.
This is not what the people of Ireland want. It is time to say "No" once
more
and bring the arrogance of the Establishment to a halt. Republican Sinn Féin
is
distributing tens of thousands of leaflets and displaying posters as part of
its
ongoing "No to Nice" campaign.http://www.civil.ge/cgi-bin/newspro/fullnews.cgi?newsid1034152013,75971,
US, Georgian Defense Officials Negotiate on Future Cooperation
Civil Georgia - October 10, 2002
(Tbilisi, Civil Georgia, October 9, 2002) - US Deputy Assistant Secretary of
Defense for Eurasian International Security Policy, Mira Ricardel and the
group
of the Defense Department visit Georgia on October 8-9. Yesterday they held
talks with Georgian Defense Minister Davit Tevzadze focusing on current and
future security cooperation initiatives.
Representation of the Turkish Defense Ministry will join the talks today and
it
will focus on trilateral assistance defense cooperation between Turkey, US
and
Georgia. "We consider Turkey as one of our most important partners",
Ricardel
stated on October 8.
The American delegation tours the National Military Command Center in the
Georgian Defense Ministry, receive briefings on the Anti-terrorist operation
in
Pankisi gorge and situation in Abkhazia.
The US side assesses the Georgia Train and Equip Program as part of its
security
assistance efforts for Georgia.
-------------------------------------------------------
http://www.eurasianet.org/resource/georgia/hypermail/news/0026.shtml
RUSSIA WARNS IT WILL TAKE COUNTERMEASURES IF GEORGIA JOINS NATO
Eurasia.net (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty) - October 9, 2002
Interfax on 7 October quoted Russian First Deputy Foreign Minister Valerii
Loshchinin as saying that while Moscow was not surprised by the Georgian
parliament's recent proposal to expedite Georgia's efforts to join NATO (see
"RFE/RL Newsline," 16 September 2002), Russia has the right "to protect its
national interests" by taking whatever measures it deems necessary to
counter
that decision.

Russia in Central Asia: http://en.rian.ru/rian/index.cfm?prd_id=160
msg_id=2778867 startrow=61 date=2002-10-10 do_alert=0
ITALIAN MILITARY CONTINGENT HAS ARRIVED IN KIRGIZIA BISHKEK, OCTOBER 10,
2002.
FROM RIA NOVOSTI CORRESPONDENT YULIA ORLOVA/.
On Thursday the Italian Air Forces contingent arrived at the air military
base
belonging to the antiterrorist coalition forces, which is situated at
international airport "Manas" of Kirgizia's capital.
Now the republic has received 40 soldiers and officers of the Italian Air
Forces, said the air base public relations official. By the end of the next
week
twenty more military men are expected to join them.
The antiterrorist forces' base at Manas airport is currently housing about
1,800
soldiers and officers from eight countries and several dozens of military
planes
belonging to the coalition member-states' Air Forces.http://www.rferl.org/newsline/2002/10/4-SEE/see-091002.asp
ROMANIA WANTS TO BE 'LOCOMOTIVE' OF NATO EXPANSION
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty - October 10, 2002
Foreign Minister Mircea Geoana said on 8 October that the resolution passed
by
the U.S. House of Representatives on 7 October, which recommended a "big
bang"
NATO expansion at the Prague November summit on 21-22 November, is a "good
signal," Mediafax reported. Geoana said Romania's record on military reform
and
recent performance on the international stage could well transform a country
whose prospects for joining NATO were questionable not long ago into "the
locomotive" of the next wave of expansion, just as Poland was in the first
wave.
In a resolution approved on 8 October, the government "saluted" the U.S.
House
decision. President Ion Iliescu the same day said the House resolution
"cannot
but provide us with grounds for satisfaction," but added that "the game is
not
yet over." An invitation in Prague, Iliescu said, "does not yet mean our
integration, which would be accomplished only when all NATO members'
parliaments
approve it," Romanian Radio reported. Also on 8 October, the Permanent
Committee
of NATO's Parliamentary Assembly approved a resolution calling for the
admission
of seven states at the Prague summit, Romania included. MS

http://www.turkishdailynews.com/FrTDN/latest/for.htm#f14
Gen. Ozkok completes Bulgaria visit
Turkish Daily News - October 10, 2002
Chief of General Staff General Hilmi Ozkok who was in Bulgaria to hold talks
possible military cooperation with the country and Bulgaria's NATO
membership,
completed his official visit.
Ozkok met with Bulgarian President Georgi Pirvanov and Bulgarian Defense
Minister Nikolay Sivinarov. Military cooperation possibilities, latest
developments in the region and Bulgaria's NATO membership issues were
discussed
during the meetings.
Ozkok also visited Bulgaria Military Academy in Veliko Tirnovo city and
Panorama
museum.
General Ozkok expected to tour historical and touristic places in the
capital
city and return to Turkey, today.http://www.rferl.org/newsline/2002/10/4-SEE/see-091002.asp
BRITAIN TO SUPPORT BULGARIA'S BID FOR NATO, EU ACCESSION
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty - October 10, 2002
After meeting with Prime Minister Simeon Saxecoburggotski in London on 8
October, British Prime Minister Tony Blair expressed confidence that
Bulgaria
will receive an invitation to join NATO at the alliance's summit in Prague
on
21-22 November, BTA reported. "I have no doubt at all, as a result of the
changes that are being made in Bulgaria by the government, as a result also
of
the tremendous endeavor by the people in Bulgaria, that the vision of a
Bulgaria
in NATO and the European Union can indeed be achieved," Blair said. Blair
also
lauded Bulgaria's role as a nonpermanent member of the UN Security Council.
"We
thank [Saxecoburggotski] and Bulgaria for your support in the Security
Council
on difficult issues that we are handling at an international level at the
moment," Blair said.

http://www.praguepost.com/P03/2002/Art/1009/news3.php
Tvrdik seeks missile defense
The Prague Post - October 10, 2002 - By Sam Beckwith
Minister says U.S. should deploy shield system on Czech soil
The Czech Republic will play a role in the United States' controversial
missile
defense program if Defense Minister Jaroslav Tvrdik has his way.
Tvrdik recently proposed Czech involvement in the program at a meeting with
U.S.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his deputy Richard Armitage at the
Pentagon.
"I expressed the interest of the Czech Republic in joining this program,"
Tvrdik
told reporters. "I offered the United States the opportunity to deploy the
missile defense system on Czech soil."
The cost of repairing damage caused by August's floods has forced the Czech
government to scrap its planned purchase of 24 Jas-39 Gripen fighter jets.
The
fighters would have cost around $60 million (1.86 billion Kc). The defense
minister said that the U.S. program "can enable the Czech Republic to ensure
a
considerably higher level of protection with the same or lower costs."
Although the cost of the missile defense shield is in the tens of billions
of
dollars, the U.S. government has offered its allies the chance to
participate
through "non-monetary contributions."
"This could be the active participation of [Czech] experts [in the project]
or
the possibility of us allowing [U.S.] radars or information sensors on our
territory," Tvrdik explained.
Although Tvrdik has discussed the possibility of Czech participation in the
program with Prime Minister Vladimir Spidla and President Vaclav Havel, he
must
receive parliamentary approval if the Czech government is to make a formal
offer
of assistance.
The Russian and Chinese governments have criticized the missile defense
project
and some of the United States' European allies have publicly doubted whether
the
project is feasible.
Tvrdik's proposal attracted predictably fierce criticism from the Communist
Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSCM). Deputy Chairman Vojtech Filip said that
the
defense minister should offer his resignation.
Defense Ministry spokesman Milan Repka emphasized that negotiations remain
at a
very early stage.
"It is not as if he has offered Czech territory in Hradec Kralove, Olomouc
and
Cesky Krumlov for U.S. missiles and radars," he said. "Tvrdik only called
the
scheme a very interesting one in which he is willing to participate."

http://www.ctnow.com/business/hc-pratt1010.artoct10,0,4196597.story?coll=hc%
2Dheadlines%2Dbusiness
Pratt Gets Presence In Poland
The Hartford Courant - October 10, 2002
Union Fears A Big Shift In Workload Overseas
Pratt Whitney's purchase of a Polish company with 5,000 employees and more
than
a million square feet of manufacturing space has unnerved Pratt's local
suppliers - and angered unions that represent Pratt workers. The jet-engine
company quietly bought an 85 percent stake in PZL Rzeszow, an aerospace
manufacturer in southern Poland, for $70 million in March. As part of the
deal,
Pratt promised the Polish government it would invest another $70 million to
update the formerly state-run plant. The purchase boosts Pratt's global
employment 16 percent, to 35,000. Pratt will want to use the lower-wage
Polish
workforce and the huge plant, Connecticut suppliers reason. They suspect the
company will "ratchet up" its efforts to send work overseas. "This is an
awfully
bold step. It's a big step for them to buy this plant," said one supplier
speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of jeopardizing his relationship
with Pratt. "The chat in the industry is that they want to make everything
there
- everything."
The unions say some in-house work is already going to Poland, and Pratt says
it
might use the Rzeszow plant to assemble engines for 48 F-16 fighters the
Polish
government is considering buying. That work would normally be done at
Pratt's
Middletown plant. But industry observers point out that if the assembly
weren't
done in Poland, Pratt probably wouldn't get the contract. Such "offset"
arrangements are common in aerospace, and some industry observers said fears
of
a dramatic shift in workload might be overblown - just as worries about a
wholesale shift to China proved unfounded when Pratt expanded there 10 years
ago. Industry consultant Mark A. Bobbi believes Pratt will move work on many
parts there, but said it's too early to know the impact. The Polish plant
isn't
able to do the most sophisticated machining work, so the plant might not be
as
competitive as some people think, he said. After signing a deal with Pratt,
Polish Treasury Minister Wieslaw Kaczmarek told reporters that the company
agreed to double sales and invest $70 million in the plant over five years,
according to Reuters. A Pratt memo prepared before the sale went through
shows
that the East Hartford company planned to reach the sales goal in part by
moving
its own work to Poland. Pratt spokesman Mark Sullivan said the company does
intend to move more work to the Rzeszow plant because costs there are low
and
quality is high. "We do hope to see the sales of that plant grow," Sullivan
said. The factory in southeastern Poland was built in the 1930s. During the
Cold
War, it produced engines for Russian MiG fighters. In the late 1970s, the
government began developing alliances with western companies, including
Pratt,
Honeywell International Inc. and Volvo. Poland joined NATO three years ago
and
is privatizing its defense industry. Contractors from around the world have
been
eager to buy Polish firms and win government contracts as Poland brings its
military up to Western standards. Pratt's main rival in bidding for the
Rzeszow
plant, pronounced ZHEH-zhoff, was Italy's Fiatavio. Pratt's investment in
Poland
comes at the same time that a downturn in the aerospace industry has cost
jobs
and contracts. Rejean Bournival, president of Canadian Auto Workers local
that
represents 2,300 employees at Pratt's small-engine operation in Longueil,
Quebec, worries that when orders pick up, Pratt will expand in places like
Poland rather than in North America. "Our big fight long-term is the plan
for
Pratt Whitney Canada," he said. "The way we see it, it's getting smaller and
smaller all the time." John Lavieri, president of Sterling Engineering in
Barkhamstead, said manufacturers in all industries are under enormous
pressure
to cut costs by moving work overseas. "Pratt's not alone," he said. But
aerospace suppliers here worry that the Rzeszow acquisition will exacerbate
the
downturn in their business, he said. Doug Rose, president of Aero Gear Inc.
in
Windsor, said Connecticut suppliers believe they can compete for
high-precision
work when the total cost of doing a job overseas is taken into account.
Companies like Aero Gear might act as intermediaries that take orders for
components, are responsible for completing them, and manufacture parts that
can't be made overseas, Rose said. "We want to be active in the transition
rather than be left out," he said. "We're trying to be proactive."

http://www.menewsline.com/stories/2002/october/10_09_1.html
NATO LAUNCHES WARM-UP TO IRAQ WAR
Middle East Newsline - October 9, 2002
ANKARA [MENL] -- NATO allies have launched a naval exercise in the
Mediterranean
that could be a warm-up to an international effort to topple the regime of
Iraqi
President Saddam Hussein.
The exercise, entitled Destined Glory-2002, is meant to test the air, naval
and
marine capabilities of NATO allies. The exercise began on Saturday and
includes
Britain, Canada, Germany, Greece, Italy, Norway, Spain, Turkey and the
United
States.
For Turkey, the 10-day exercise is regarded as a key opportunity for
training. A
Turkish General Staff statement said Ankara has contributed a missile
frigate, a
tank-transport vessel, an amphibious infantry company, an undersea attack
unit
and eight F-16 warplanes.
In all, NATO has contributed 70 naval vessels, 170 warplanes and 8,000
troops.
The exercise takes place off the coast of Italy.

http://www.nato.int/docu/update/2002/10-october/e1005a.htm
NATO peace support exercises
NATO Online - October 9, 2002
Three NATO military exercises are simultaneously taking place at the moment,
covering an area stretching across from Estonia to Western Ukraine and down
as
far as the Ionian Sea.
Exercise Destined Glory 2002, which started on 5 October and is to end on
15, is
an amphibious, maritime and power projection exercise held once a year. It
involves land forces that will be operating in both Monte Romano near Rome
and
Capo Teulada, Sardinia, and maritime forces training in the Tyrrhenian Sea
and
the Ionian Sea. The twelve NATO member countries participating in the
exercise
are providing high readiness forces to tackle a peace support and crisis
response scenario. The exercise is scheduled by Allied Forces Southern
Europe
(AFSOUTH), Naples.
Exercise Cooperative Support 2002 is taking place in the Estonian capital
Tallinn from 9 to 15 0ctober. It is a joint logistics exercise, organised
around
a seminar that is focusing on a peace support operation. There are ten NATO
member countries and fifteen Partner countries participating in this
exercise,
as well as one of NATO's Mediterranean Dialogue partners - Jordan- which is
attending as an observer. The overall aim of the exercise is to improve
military
cooperation and interoperability between participants.
The third exercise, Exercise Cooperative Adventure Exchange 2002, is being
held
at the Yavoriv Training Centre in Western Ukraine, 7-18 October. The
exercise
brings together NATO and Partner mobile land forces to work with other
headquarters and units, within a peace support operation scenario. Military
personnel from 12 NATO and six Partner countries are participating in this
exercise, which comes under the command of Joint Command Southeast, Izmir,
Turkey.
The Yavoriv Training Centre is one of NATO's Partnership for Peace (PfP)
training centres and was officially designated as such in March 1999. These
centres offer courses and training facilities for NATO and Partner countries
to
conduct military exercises together. So far, six other centres of this kind
have
been set up in Austria, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and Romania
respectively.
http://www.eurasianet.org/resource/georgia/hypermail/news/0032.shtml
GEORGIA'S KURDS STAGE ANTI-NATO PROTEST
Eurasia.net - October 10, 2002
Some 50 members of Georgia's estimated 25,000-strong Kurdish minority staged
a
demonstration in Tbilisi on 8 October to demand that the Georgian government
abandon its ongoing military cooperation with Turkey and its plans to seek
NATO
membership, Caucasus Press and Russian news agencies reported. They
explained
that the fear that if Georgia joins NATO, Turkey will establish military
bases
in Georgia, which will lead to reprisals against Georgia's Kurds. They
threatened mass protests if the Georgian leadership fails to meet their
demand
within two weeks. LF
http://www.seeurope.net/en/Story.php?StoryID=32712 LangID=1
Bulgaria To Cover NATO Southeast Flank
Seeurope.net - October 9, 2002
Bulgaria and Romania are to cover NATO southeast flank and that is why their
NATO accession is very important. This said Bulgarian PM Simeon
Saxe-Coburg-Gotha for SNN. He added that Bulgaria would play a positive role
in
the region.
On the question of Bulgarian position towards an eventual war against Iraq
PM
stated that all the ways of diplomacy and peace needed to be used before
declaring war.
PM also said the Bulgaria would do its best to become an EU member in 2007.
http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/cs/Qfinland-nato.RvqR_CO8.html
Finland's President says country open to NATO membership
LISBON, Oct 8 (AFP) - Finland is open to joining the military alliance,
NATO,
the country's president said in an interview published Tuesday in a
Portuguese
daily.
"We have excellent relations with NATO, we participate in operations in
times of
crises," Tarja Halonen told Publico. "NATO has its doors open to us, maybe
one
day we will apply for membership."
Finland's armed forces have participated so far in three NATO-led
operations,
two in the former Yugoslavia and one Afghanistan.
In September, a senior Finnish military official said the country's armed
forces
were now compatible withthose of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization
(NATO)
and ready to join the alliance if such a political decision were taken.
But the majority of Finns -- two-thirds according to recent opinion polls --
are
against the idea of abandoning their long-standing neutrality and joining
NATO.
Finland, which for decades lived under Moscow's shadow, joined the European
Union in 1995 and later became a member of the euro zone.
Some Finns have now been pushing for NATO membership, arguing the country
would
then be represented in all forums that decide on Europe's future.
But with parliamentary elections scheduled for March of next year, the
government is not expected to broach the NATO question any time soon.
Portuguese president Jorge Sampaio began a four-day official visit to
Finland on
Tuesday, becoming the first Portuguese head of state to make an official
visit
to the nordic country.http://www.seeurope.net/en/Story.php?StoryID=32540 LangID=1
Nicolas Burnes Arrives To An Important Visit In Bulgaria On Monday
Seeurope.net - October 6, 2002
On Monday the resident representative of USA to NATO Ambassador Nicolas
Burnes
will come for a short visit to Bulgaria within the frames of his visits in
the
NATO aspiring countries before the Prague Summit in November. This was
reported
by Darik Radio. The visit of Ambassador Burnes is extremely important. It
aims
at drawing a conclusion about the readiness of the NATO aspiring countries
with
reference to taking the final decision of the American administration about
which will be the countries to be invited in November.
The delegation will include also two deputies US assistant state secretary,
deputy assistant of the state secretary of defense and other officials from
the
State department. _______________________________________________

================================================
17 On the front lines in Florida
Von: ajbonowitz <abe@cuadp.org>
================================================
Hello all,
We're tired, but we're here in Lakeland, Florida. We'll be on the
front line in Bartow this afternoon. See the press release below,
and the media coverage so far at
<http://www.fadp.org/news/newsindex.html>.
We're dangerously short of funds, and no suitable housing has been
offered in the Tampa area. The past three nights have been spent in
motels, and the next few nights appear to be similar. If you can
help with housing in the Tampa area (Cat-free for tonight - cats OK
after tonight), please call 561-371-5204. If you can help us buy
gas, food, and a place to sleep as we continue the Florida Innocence
Tour, please visit <http://www.cuadp.org/support.html>. Thanks!
--abe

*****
PRESS RELEASE
FLORIDIANS FOR ALTERNATIVES
TO THE DEATH PENALTY (FADP.org)
16 October 2002
Contact: Abe Bonowitz - 561-371-5204
JUAN MELENDEZ RETURNS TO THE SCENE OF THE CRIME
FADP Calls for immediate release of Billy Kelly.
Juan Melendez (http://www.fadp.org/24threlease.html),
the 24th man exonerated from Florida's death row, will
join Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty
(FADP) for a press conference at 2pm on Wednesday,
October 16, in front of the Office of the State
Attorney for the 10th Judicial Circuit at 255 N.
Broadway in Bartow, Florida. This is the office of
Hardy Pickard, the rogue Assistant State Attorney who
lied to the court and hid evidence showing that
Melendez was innocent, instead pressing forward with a
trial that resulted in Melendez being sent to
Florida's death row for more than 17 years.
Melendez will be joined by FADP Director Abe Bonowitz
and murder victim family members SueZann Bosler and
Bill Pelke. The group will demand the immediate
release of Billy Kelly, another Florida death row
inmate whose conviction was won *only* because of the
prosecutorial misconduct of Assistant State Attorney
Hardy Pickard.
QUOTING FROM THE ORDER of Judge Roettger, in which he
recently overturned the conviction of Billy Kelley.
"This case presents many incidences of prosecutorial
misconduct. Hardy Pickard, Assistant State Attorney,
has a habit of failing to turn over exculpatory and
impeachment evidence."
".because the state failed to disclose materially
exculpatory evidence as required by Brady and its
progeny, thus undermining confidence in the outcome of
Kelley's trial. Therefore, it is ORDERED AND ADJUDGED
that the petition for habeas corpus pursuant to 28
U.S.C. § 2254 is GRANTED. Petitioner's conviction is
REVERSED, and a new trial is ordered."
"The undersigned judge is not a foe of capital
punishment and has granted only three § 2254's in
thirty-plus years on the District Court bench."
****
Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty will
reiterate its call for an immediate TIME-OUT! on
executions in Florida. They will also discuss FADP's
legislative agenda for the coming session, including:
&#9658; Ending immunity for law enforcement officials
who knowingly send an innocent person to prison;
&#9658; Establishing a compensation fund for persons
wrongly convicted and imprisoned in Florida;
&#9658; Various additional legislative reforms to
Florida's death penalty and criminal justice statutes
to ensure a fair and accurate system.
"Florida's death penalty system is broken. We lead the
nation in wrongful convictions, and the Governor is in
denial that Florida needs an immediate and formal
"Time-Out" on executions," said Juan Melendez.
WHO: Juan Melendez and Floridians for Alternatives to
the Death Penalty
WHAT: Press Conference / Visit to Governor's Office
WHEN: 2pm, 16 October 2002
WHERE: Office of the State's Attorney, 10th Judicial
Circuit, 255 N. Broadway Ave., Bartow, Florida
WHY: In pursuit of JUSTICE.
Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty
(FADP)
800-973-6548 www.FADP.org
PMB 297, 177 U.S. Highway #1, Tequesta, FL 33469
Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty works
for restorative justice in the
form of effective alternatives to the death penalty.
It does so by
&#9658; supporting and coordinating the work of
organizations and individuals
&#9658; educating and energizing the general public
and state legislators
&#9658; supporting the many persons affected by
capital crime and punishment
&#9658; advocating specific legislative improvements

To Unsubscribe, send a blank message use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/

================================================
18 Unzensuriert aus dem Todestrakt von Texas September 2002
Von: Sabine Hauer <no.conditions@teleweb.at>
================================================
UNZENSURIERT AUS DEM TODESTRAKT VON TEXAS
Von Paul Colella
September 2002
1. September
Nun, es sieht nicht so aus, als ob sich irgendwelche drastische
Änderungen ergeben würden. Zeller ist noch immer da, also haben die
Gerüchte scheinbar nicht gestimmt. VERDAMMT!
Wir hatten erwarten, dass es zur gründlichen Durchsuchung des
Gefängnisses einen Lockdown geben wird, aber da die Leute von der
amerikanischen Gefängnisassoziation nächste Woche kommen, wird er wohl
nicht stattfinden. Ich bin mir aber sicher, dass es trotzdem bald einen
geben wird.
2. September
Diese Tage vergehen so langsam. Heute ist Labor Day, also gibt es keine
Post. Ich erwarte, dass ich innerhalb dieser Woche ins Level I kommen
werde. Es ist für den 17. vorgesehen, doch sie bringen die Leute jetzt
wieder schneller hinauf. Obwohl, mich wahrscheinlich nicht, wegen des
Vorfalles mit dem Direktor. Es ist wirklich schwer zu sagen. Level I
bedeutet ja nicht so viel für mich, außer mehr Besuchen, worauf ich mich
wirklich schon sehr freue.
Es gibt jetzt wieder jede Menge neuer Wärter, was nicht gut ist, da sie
alle mit einem überheblichen Verhalten hier ankommen, als ob sie
unbesiegbar wären. Manchmal bin ich schon froh, dass ich für eine Weile
damit aufgehört habe, Widerstand zu leisten, denn sonst müsste ich ihnen
noch zeigen, dass sie es nicht sind. Es macht doch wirklich keinen Sinn,
sich so aufzuführen. Ich bin mir sicher, dass wenn ich hier als Wärter
arbeiten würde, ich meine acht Stunden abdienen und dann heimgehen
wollte. Ich würde mir den Tag so einfach wie möglich machen. Ich
verstehe es einfach nicht.
3. September
Heute ist Klassifikationstag. Kein Level I für mich. Mann darf doch noch
hoffen, oder? Ich habe in der letzten Zeit eine Menge sportlicher
Übungen gemacht und versucht, mir die Zeit zu vertreiben. Es ist hier so
langweilig. Es gibt einfach nicht viel mehr, das man tun kann. Ich habe
auch eine Menge geschlafen, was nicht gut ist. Selbst aus dem Fenster zu
sehen, ist langweilig geworden. Sieht so aus, als ob die heißen
Sommertage das ganze Leben in der Natur vertrieben hätten. Die einzigen
Tiere, die ich gesehen habe, sind die kleinen Spatzen, die immer da
sind. Dafür hatten wir ein paar schöne Sonnenaufgänge. Die waren die
einzigen Highlights in diesen düsteren Tagen.
4. September
Heute Morgen ging ich zur Erholung. Ungefähr zu dem Zeitpunkt, an dem
meine Stunde vorbei war, öffnete der Wärter irrtümlicherweise meine
Türe. Der Wärter geriet in Panik. Wäre ich nicht so kurz davor, ins
Level I zu kommen, hätten sie mich hier abholen müssen, doch weil ich ja
jetzt ein vorbildlicher Gefangener bin, schloss ich die Türe einfach
wieder, damit niemand in Schwierigkeiten geriet. Der Wärter hätte eine
Disziplinarstrafe bekommen oder auch eine Lohnkürzung und Bewährung.
Aber ich bin ja nicht immer ein Arschloch. Ich bin mir aber sicher, dass
er mir nicht dankbar ist. Ich hätte auf jeden Fall einige
Schwierigkeiten machen können.
D Loc blockierte für eine kurze Weile die Dusche, doch er kam heraus,
als Lt. Price kam und mit ihm sprach.
Stellt Euch diesen Scheiß vor: Die neuen Regeln besagen, dass man jedes
Mal nur dreißig Briefmarken kaufen kann. Als es noch fünfzig hieß,
konnten wir fünfzig Marken zu 37 Cent und fünfzig zu 4 Cent kaufen.
Jetzt dürfen wir laut Major Lester nur noch INSGESAMT dreißig kaufen.
Einige/die meisten von uns haben europäische Brieffreunde, die uns 80
Cent kosten, was zwei 37 und zwei 4 Cent Marken bedeutet. Dieses Limit
von dreißig Marken lässt uns viel weniger Briefe schicken. Wenn wir
sieben Überseebriefe schreiben, sind das insgesamt 28 Marken. Also
können wir in zwei Wochen nur sieben Briefe nach Übersee schreiben. Die
Spiele, die diese Leute spielen, sind dazu gedacht, uns verrückt zu
machen. Die Absicht hinter der Reduzierung der Marken war, dass sie uns
damit vom Handeln abhalten wollten. Doch jetzt wird halt mit 4 und 1
Cent Marken gehandelt. Und was sollte irgendjemand davon abhalten, jetzt
Geschäfte mit irgendwelchen anderen Gegenständen aus dem Einkauf zu
handeln? Diese Leute sind dumm und übertreiben in ihrer Auslegung der
Regeln. Der Einkaufstyp sagte, dass sie es auf die alte Weise machen
würden, dreißig und dreißig, doch nein, Major Lester entschied insgesamt
dreißig. Was für ein Rudel stinkender Buh-buhs.
5. September
Sie verlegten das gesamte Level II aus der Sektion F zurück in Sektion
C. Ich hatte Glück und landete in der selben Zelle wie vor der
Verlegung. Ich wusste, dass sie uns vor dem 9. September, dem
Ankunftstag der Gefängnisassoziation verlegen. Sie hatten zwei
Reinigungstrupps, die alles sauber Machten und die Schmutzflecken
übermalten. Das ist genau der Grund, warum die Assoziation ihren Besuch
nicht ankündigen hätte dürfen. Wenn ich weiß, dass die Bullen kommen,
lasse ich auch keine Drogen überall herumliegen, oder?
Doch so funktioniert die texanische Gefängnisverwaltung bei Inspektionen.
6. September
Es gibt zwei neue Gefangene hier in Sektion C. Stellt Euch vor, einer
von ihnen kam für seine vulgäre Sprache ins Level II, was ein minder
schwerer Fall ist, wenn es überhaupt einer ist. Dieser Typ hatte seit
mehr als zwei Jahren kein Disziplinarverfahren mehr. Wo ist da das
Kriterium des chronischen Regelverletzers? Der Todestraktplan sagt, dass
das Level II für nicht aggressive, nicht angreifende chronische
Regelverletzer wäre. Tja, so leitet der erstaunliche Major Timothy
Lester die Dinge auf seine eigene Art.
8. September
Oh ja. Die Hölle ist nicht mehr zugefrohren. Paul Colella und Richard
Cartwright haben ihr Level I erreicht. Yipeeee!
Ja, wirklich. Das wurde an einem Sonntag durchgeführt. Glaubt Ihr, dass
es was damit zu tun hat, dass morgen die amerikanische
Gefängnisassoziation kommt? Wir werden es niemals erfahren. Egal, ich
endete also im D Pod, Chitown im E Pod. Ihr seht, sie trennen uns von
einander. Rick und BD sind im A Pod. Sie haben auch K Loc, Kenny Parr,
sein Level I erreichen lassen. Er ging in den C Pod.
Ich bin noch keine 24 Stunden hier, also gibt es nicht viel, worüber es
sich zu Schreiben lohnen würde. Ich endete in einer guten Sektion in der
Nähe von einigen guten Leuten, wofür ich echt dankbar bin. Es ist der
selbe Pod, in dem ich war, bevor ich ins Level wanderte.
Jetzt wird sich jeder wundern, warum ich das Level I erreichen wollte.
Das hat persönliche Gründe. Ich habe mich in eine schöne Frau verliebt
und ihre Besuche sind für mich sehr wichtig, auch wenn sie versteht,
dass ich tun habe, was getan werden muss. Ich liebe sie genug, um brav
zu bleiben. Zumindest für eine Weile. Smile. Dann ist da natürlich auch
meine wunderbare beste Freundin, Sabine, die mich besuchen will und ich
denke, sie würde mir in den Arsch treten, wenn ich ihren Besuch in
Gefahr bringe. Smile.
Ja, ich fühle mich wirklich gut, auch wenn ich all die Typen vermisse
und auch das Gefühl, dass mir die kleinlichen Regeln egal sein können.
Jetzt muss ich ein guter Insasse sein und aufpassen, was ich mache. Ich
weiß, dass sie beim ersten Ausrutscher mit ihren Stiften und Papieren da
sein werden, um meinen Arsch direkt zurück ins Level II zu rollen.
Ich habe jedem erzählt, dass dieser Ort auseinander fällt. Nun, diese
Sektion hat einen Riss in der Mauer und ich kann sehen, wie Wasser
durchfließt und in die Zelle eines Typen rinnt. Ich bin so froh, dass es
die letzten Tage - während die Leute von der Gefängnisassoziation da
waren - geregnet hat. Diese Typen hier haben alle diese kleinen gelben
Schilder, "Nasser Boden" aufgestellt. Die Bodenarbeiter laufen herum und
versuchen, die Lacken so klein wie möglich zu halten. Ich muss sie
loben. Sie sind sehr flott. Smile.
16. September
Ich kann mich für eine Weile nicht mehr darüber beschweren, dass ich
mich langweile. Ich habe drei Tage mehr Erholung, ein Radio und kann
zeichnen, um mich zu beschäftigen.
Die Leute von der Gefängnisassoziation tauchten niemals in diesem Pod
auf. Also hatte ich keine Möglichkeit, mit ihnen zu sprechen. Ich hatte
bereits eine lange Ansprache bereit für jeden, der zugehört hätte.
Das Essen hat sich nicht sehr gebessert, während sie hier waren, was
eine Überraschung war.
Es war eine gute Woche hier im Level I. Ich konnte Typen sehen und
sprechen, die ich schon lange nicht mehr gesehen habe.
Einer sticht vor allem heraus. Ich lebte im Ellis Unit die letzten
beiden Jahren neben ihm und habe ihn nicht mehr gesehen, seit wir hier
sind. Sie brachten ihn zu unserem Tagesraum und ich hatte gar nicht
gewusst, wie sehr ich ihn vermisst habe, bis sie ihn zurück in seine
Zelle brachten. Als er wegging, fühlte ich eine überwältigende
Traurigkeit und Verlust. Alles was ich denken konnte war, wann ich ihn
wohl wiedersehen werde. Er ist einer meiner besten Freunde.
Sie haben heute drei weitere Männer ihr Level I erreichen lassen.
Miller-El ist einer von ihnen und er ist in einer Zelle unter mir. Auch
ihn kenne ich schon eine sehr lange Zeit.
Ich habe mit einem anderen Typen gesprochen. Er erzählte mir, dass er
gerade ein Disziplinarverfahren bekommen hat, weil er sich geweigert
hat, eine DNA Probe abzugeben. Das ist ein totaler Scheißfall, doch ich
wette, dass man ihn schuldig sprechen wird. So sind diese Leute einfach.
22. September
Eine weitere Woche ist vorbei. Nichts Großes ist geschehen. Direktor
Zeller schickte eine interne Kommunikation los, in der sich bei allen
für ihre Anstrengungen bedankte, zu zeigen, dass das Gefängnis den
Standards genügt. Was für ein Scherz.
Ernsthaft, die sollten einfach irgendwann erscheinen. Dann würden sie
das wirkliche Polunsky Unit erleben.
24. September
Ich sah vor einigen Tagen etwas, was mich wirklich berührt hat. Da gibt
es einen Wärter, der nicht jünger sein kann als 75. Fragile Statur und
er tut sich sehr schwer beim Gehen. Es war Postausteilung und er nahm es
auf sich, die großen Dinge, Zeitungen, Magazine und große Kuverts,
auszuteilen. Es war ein großer Stapel und sichtbar schwer. Er humpelte
die Stufen hinauf und als er die oberste erklimmte, fiel er durch das
Gewicht nach vorne und verstreute dabei die Zeitungen und anderen
Poststücke. Er hob alles wieder auf und da lag noch ein Magazin. Als er
sich bückte, um es aufzuheben, fiel er wieder.
Manche sagen, dass es im Todestrakt keine Menschlichkeit gibt, doch ich
ewig verdammt sein, wenn das wahr ist, denn als er fiel, begannen ALLE
in Reihe 2 Sektion A um Hilfe für diesen alten Kerl zu rufen.
Er lag auf der Seite, errötete, als wir riefen, kam auf und begann,
alles wieder einzusammeln. Endlich kam ein etwa 20jähriger Wärter und
half ihm dabei.
Dieser Vorfall berührte mich, da ich immer eine sanfte Stelle für die
Älteren hatte und ihn zu sehen, wie er fiel, aufstand und wieder fiel
hat mir einfach weh getan. Es gab nichts, das ich für ihn tun konnte,
außer um Hilfe zu rufen. Die kam dann auch sehr langsam.
Es wurde gesagt, dass er ja nichts gesagt hätte. Ich denke, dass sein
Job aufgrund seines Alters und seiner Schwäche nicht sicher ist. Deshalb
hat er wohl nicht um Hilfe gebeten.
Wenn ich das hier aufschreibe, mag er deshalb auch nicht seinen Job
behalten, doch ganz ehrlich, er sollte hier auch gar nicht sein. Seine
Sicherheit ist bedroht und er hätte keine Chance, sich gegen einen von
uns zu wehren, wenn etwas geschieht. Ich wünsche dem alten Knaben nicht,
dass er seinen Job verliert, doch hier bei uns sollte er nicht sein.
Nun Leute, das war es für diesen Monat. Seid gut, bleibt stark.
Im Kampf
Paul Colella
# 999045
Polunsky Unit
3872 FM 350 South
Livingston, Texas 77351
USA
http://www.deathrow.at/paul
paul@deathrow.at

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DIVERSE HINWEISE
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================================================
19 niemand braucht tshirts
Von: juja <starsky@mail.sil.at>
================================================
ihr lieben!
wahlkampf is:
und niemand möchte seinen beitrag dazu leisten!
niemand druckt also neuerdings tshirts
es gibt bereits eine auswahl von sprüchen
aus denen ihr die besten auswählen könnt...
ihr wählt
wir drucken:
http://www.dada.at/niemand/
http://www.mond.at/leibal/
anregungen, wünsche und beschwerden sind herzlich willkommen
niemand wird sie ernst nehmen
niemand vertritt deine interessen, wenn du es nicht selber tust!

================================================
20 Wahlveranstaltungstermin der SPÖ
Von: Plisic Marianne <Marianne.Plisic@spoe.at>
================================================
DIE SOZIALDEMOKRATISCHE PARLAMENTSFRAKTION
PRESSEAUSSENDUNG
16.Okt.02

Freitag, 18. Oktober: SPÖ-Justizsprecher Jarolim bei Aktion
"Sicherheit statt Strasser" =
Wien (SK) Wir erlauben uns, die VertreterInnen der Medien
über folgenden Termin zu informieren: SPÖ-Justizsprecher Hannes
Jarolim nimmt kommenden Freitag, 18 Oktober 2002, an einer
Informations- und Aktionsveranstaltung, teil. Bei dieser Aktion in
der Leopoldsgasse vor dem Kommissariat soll auf die aus Sicht der SPÖ
nicht mehr akzeptablen Aktivitäten des Innenministers hingewiesen
werden. Die Aktion "Sicherheit statt Strasser" verfolgt auch das
Ziel, die Konsequenzen aus der von Strasser erzwungenen Sperre des
Koats Leopoldstadt aufzuzeigen und das Ärgste zu verhindern. ****
Zeit: Kommenden Freitag, 18. Oktober 2002, 10 Uhr
Ort: vor dem Kommissaritat Leopoldstadt, Leopoldgasse 18
Die VertreterInnen der Fotoredaktionen sind herzlich eingeladen.Rückfragehinweis: Pressedienst der SPÖ
Tel.: (++43-1) 53427-275
http://www.spoe.atMit freundlichen Grüßen
(Schluss)