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Last Updated: Jun 27th, 2008 - 08:26:58 |
US Holds $50 Billion of Iraq’s Financial Reserves Hostage
The Independent of London reports the United States is holding hostage some $50 billion of Iraq’s money in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to pressure the Iraqi government into signing an agreement to prolong the US occupation indefinitely. Patrick Cockburn reports the Federal Reserve continues to hold Iraq’s financial reserves as a legacy of the international sanctions against Saddam Hussein. US negotiators are threatening to remove tens of billions of dollars of Iraq’s money to settle outstanding court judgments dating back to the 1980s unless Iraq accepts the highly controversial military deal. The deal would allow the US to permanently keep more than fifty military bases in Iraq. American forces would also be able to continue to carry out arrests of Iraqi citizens and conduct military campaigns without consultation with the Iraqi government. American soldiers and contractors will enjoy legal immunity.
Iraqis: US Initially Demanded Control of 200 Military Bases in Iraq
Iraqi lawmakers continue to speak out over what they call unfair demands in talks with the Bush administration over a long-term compact with the United States. US officials have been silent on the negotiations. But Iraqis have leaked details of the US demands, which include immunity for American troops and contractors, a free hand to conduct military operations without Iraqi approval, control of Iraqi airspace, and maintaining fifty-eight permanent military bases in Iraq. On Tuesday, Democracy Now! spoke to visiting Iraqi lawmakers here in New York. Iraqi parliament member Khalaf Al-Ulayyan criticized the US proposals.
Iraqi parliament member Khalaf Al-Ulayyan: “I believe the parliament will not ratify the treaty in its current form, because it harms Iraqi sovereignty. Based on the details that have been leaked to the media, it seems that the deal will make Iraq not just an occupied country but an actual part of the US.”
Iraqi officials interviewed by the Washington Post say the US initially demanded control of more than 200 military bases. US officials also demanded the right to refuel the planes while in flight, stoking fears the US would use Iraq as a staging ground for an attack on Iran. The Independent of London reported last week the US is leveraging tens of billions of dollars in seized Iraqi assets to push through its demands. The Bush administration has angered Iraqi officials by refusing to lift support for Iraq’s UN designation as a threat to international security. The designation was imposed following Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990 and has been used to impose sanctions and restrict Iraq’s economy.
Obama’s Economic Adviser Draws Scrutiny for Wal-Mart Praise
On the campaign trail, Senator Barack Obama is coming under criticism in some circles for appointing an outspoken defender of the retail giant Wal-Mart as his chief adviser on economic policy. The adviser, Jason Furman, is a New York University scholar and former official in the Clinton administration. In 2005, he published a paper entitled “Wal-Mart: A Progressive Success Story” that argued Wal-Mart’s low-prices outweigh the negative effects of its low wages for its workers. Obama has criticized Wal-Mart on the campaign trail and made several references to former rival Senator Hillary Clinton’s time
Obama Backtracks on Jerusalem Comments Meanwhile, Senator Barack Obama has appeared to backtrack on controversial comments on the future status of Jerusalem. Speaking last week before AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, Obama said Jerusalem must remain undivided and under Israeli control. Israel has occupied East Jerusalem since 1967, and Palestinians see it as part of any future state. In a follow-up interview with CNN, Obama said it will be up to Israelis and Palestinians to negotiate.
Obama Calls for Oil Windfall Tax On the campaign trail, Democratic Senator Barack Obama kicked off his presidential campaign Monday as the presumptive Democratic nominee with a call for a new tax on windfall oil profits. Obama addressed supporters in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Senator Barack Obama: “I’ll shut down the corporate loopholes and tax havens, and I’ll use the money to help pay for a middle-class tax cut that will proved $1,000 of relief—$1,000 of relief—to 95 percent of workers and their families. I’ll make oil companies like Exxon pay a tax on their windfall profits, and we’ll use the money to help families pay for their skyrocketing energy costs and other bills.”
Obama’s pledge came as the price for gas reached a record-high $4 a gallon.
Relatives, Residents Mark 10th Anniversary of Jasper Lynching
In Texas, dozens of people gathered in Jasper on Sunday to mark the tenth anniversary of the dragging murder of James Byrd, J. An African American, Byrd was chained to a pickup truck by white assailants and dragged along a rural road, his body badly dismembered.
Senate Report: Bush Deliberately Distorted Pre-War Intelligence
A newly released Senate report has concluded President George Bush and his top policymakers deliberately distorted Saddam Hussein’s links to al-Qaeda and ignored doubts among intelligence agencies about Iraq’s arms programs as they made a case for war. Sen. John Rockefeller, the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee said the report shows the administration “led the nation to war on false premises.”
McClellan Agrees to Testify on Plame Case Former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan has agreed to testify before the House Judiciary Committee on the Bush administration’s role in the outing of CIA operative Valerie Plame. McClellan was asked to appear over his assertion in a new book that top White House aides deliberately misled him about their role in the leak of Plame’s identity. McClellan is expected to testify next week.
Senate GOPers Block Oil Profit Windfall Tax And on Capitol Hill, Senate Republicans have blocked a proposal to tax the windfall profits of major oil corporations. The measure would have taxed “unreasonable” profits and given the government more leeway to counter speculative practices on the oil market. But Democrats failed by a vote of 51-to-43 to get the sixty votes needed to overcome a Republican filibuster.
Number of “Underinsured” Americans Sees Sharp Increase As military spending rises, a new study shows the number of Americans lacking adequate healthcare has increased by 60 percent in the last four years. According to the Commonwealth Fund, the number of American adults deemed “underinsured” rose from 16 million in 2003 to 25 million last year. Taken together with the number of uninsured, at least 75 million Americans now go without healthcare for at least part of the year. On average, healthcare premiums have risen 91 percent since 2000, compared with just a 24 percent increase in wages.
Democrats Call for Pentagon Propaganda Ban And Democratic Senators have introduced a measure to bar the Pentagon’s domestic propaganda program. In April, the New York Times revealed the Pentagon has used retired military officers to generate positive news coverage and push for the war in Iraq. On Monday, Senators John Kerry, Robert Menendez, Byron Dorgan and Frank Lautenberg introduced a bill that would end the program and order a probe by both the Pentagon inspector general and the congressional investigative body, the Government Accountability Office. A similar House measure was introduced last month.
Kucinich Introduces Articles of Impeachment Against President Bush
On Capitol Hill, Democratic Congressmember Dennis Kucinich has introduced thirty-five articles of impeachment against President Bush. On Monday, Kucinich took to the House floor to accuse President Bush of war crimes and deceiving the public in the run-up to the Iraq invasion.
Rep. Dennis Kucinich: “All of these actions by the President and his agents and subordinates exhibit a disregard for the truth and a recklessness with regard to national security, nuclear proliferation and a global role of the United States military that is not merely unacceptable, but is dangerous in a commander-in-chief.”
Kucinich introduced a similar resolution against Vice President Dick Cheney last year. The measures have come in defiance of Democratic Party leadership, which has declared impeachment “off the table.”
Clinton Drops White House Bid, Endorses Obama One of the tightest primary seasons in US history officially came to a close Saturday when Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton dropped out of the race. Speaking to supporters in Washington, D.C., Clinton urged support for Senator Barack Obama.
Sen. Hillary Clinton: “The way to continue our fight now, to accomplish the goals for which we stand, is to take our energy, our passion, our strength and do all we can to help elect Barack Obama the next president of the United States. Today, as I suspend my campaign, I congratulate him on the victory he has won and the extraordinary race he has run. I endorse him and throw my full support behind him.”
Clinton was unable to overcome Obama’s lead, despite a string of victories near the end of the contest. She went on to address the historical significance of her campaign as a female candidate.
Sen. Hillary Clinton: “You can be so proud that, from now on, it will be unremarkable for a woman to win primary state victories, unremarkable to have a woman in a close race to be our nominee, unremarkable to think that a woman can be the president of the United States. And that is truly remarkable, my friends.”
Clinton had long been declared the front-runner and was even said to be virtually assured of the nomination. But her campaign is widely seen to have suffered over her 2002 vote authorizing the Iraq war and her refusal to apologize for it.
Domestic Workers Gather in NYC Domestic workers from around the world are gathering in New York for the first-ever National Domestic Workers Congress. The gathering is being organized by Domestic Workers United, a group that organizes New York nannies, housekeepers and elderly caregivers. Domestic Workers United is pushing New York lawmakers to sign a Domestic Workers Bill of Rights. In most states, domestic workers have no right to overtime, sick time, vacation, healthcare and workers’ compensation.
Stuntman Scales NYT Building to Protest Global Warming A French stuntman was arrested in New York Thursday after scaling the face of the New York Times building. After climbing fifty-two stories, Alain Robert released a banner that read "Global warming kills more people than 9/11 every week.”
Jury Awards Bush Protesters $750,000 for Illegal Strip Search A jury in Iowa has awarded two protesters $750,000 for being inappropriately strip-searched after demonstrating at a President Bush campaign rally in 2004. The women were arrested by the Secret Service and then strip-searched at a county jail.
More International News
Scientific Academies Urge Action on Global Warming In environmental news, the scientific academies of thirteen countries, including the United States, are urging intensified global action to combat global warming. In a joint statement posted by the US National Academy of Sciences, the academies say nations should move beyond last year’s pledge by the Group of Eight to consider halving carbon dioxide emissions by the year 2050.
WFP Extends Haiti Food Aid In Haiti, the World Food Program has announced it’s extending school feeding programs through the summer to deal with an ongoing crisis. WFP Haiti Country Director Mamadou Mbaye said the expansion of food was just a start for desperate need.
WFP Haiti Country Director Mamadou Mbaye: “We intend to increase those kind of—that program up to 450,000 children. If we have the resources, we will expand it progressively to cover new areas, which might cover also the northwest of the country.”
HRW Warns of Mental Problems for Gitmo Prisoners A new study says over two-thirds of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay suffer from or are at risk of mental damage because they are held in virtual isolation. According to Human Rights Watch, 185 prisoners spend twenty-two hours a day in solitary confinement with little light or fresh air. The vast majority have not been charged with any crime.
80,000 Protest US Beef Imports in South Korea In South Korea, public outcry over the lifting of a ban on US beef continues to bring the country to a standstill. On Tuesday, more than 80,000 people took to the streets of Seoul to demand the ban be reimposed. It was the largest rally so far since daily protests began more than a month ago. The entire South Korean cabinet has offered to resign in response to the protests. South Korean lawmaker Kang Gi-gap said the cabinet had been ignoring the people’s wishes.
Kang Gi-gap: “The South Korean people have asked (the government) to renegotiate, which is their constitutional right. But the government has not listened to the people’s voice, has not answered the people’s demands. They are just trying to tell a lie to the people.”
South Korea banned American beef five years ago after an outbreak of mad cow disease. But the ban was lifted last month, after US lawmakers threatened to withhold a pending trade deal.
Bolivians Protest Rumored US Asylum for Accused Leaders In Bolivia, thousands of people rallied outside the US embassy Monday amidst rumors the Bush administration has offered asylum to former top officials accused in a mass killing of protesters. Former President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, former Defense Minister Carlos Sanchez Berzain and another former minister, all living in the United States, are wanted for their roles in the Black February crackdown five years ago. Sixty-seven people were killed and more than 400 wounded. Last week, new controversy erupted after Berzain told a Bolivian radio station he had been offered asylum to remain in the United States. A Bolivian protester said the accused should be returned home to face trial.
Protester: “We want justice. We want Goni, Sanchez Berzain and all the crooks in the United States to be kicked out of the country. We know how to get them. We know what to do. We want justice. Look, Black February went unpunished by the courts, and they want to do this just the same. We can’t allow injustice here in Bolivia.”
The US embassy in La Paz has refused to confirm or deny if Berzain has been granted asylum, calling it a private immigration matter.
Palestinian Girl Killed in Israeli Attack In Israel and the Occupied Territories, a ten-year-old Palestinian girl has been killed in an Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip. The girl, Hadel Alfnere, died when an Israeli tank round hit her home in Khan Younis. Two members of her family were wounded. Israel says it was attacking Palestinian militants who were firing rockets into Israel.
20 Killed in Somalia Clashes Rohani’s death came one day after another BBC journalist was killed in Somalia. Nasteh Dahir Farah died Saturday after being shot by unknown assailants in southern Somalia. Somalia’s internal crisis is intensifying, following the deaths of more than twenty people Sunday in clashes between government troops and rebel forces.
Study: Global Military Spending Rises Nearly 50% in Last Decade
A new study shows global military spending has increased by nearly 50 percent over the last decade, with the United States accounting for half the total rise. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute says governments spent more than $1.3 trillion on arms and other military costs last year. US spending also accounted for nearly half, at almost $550 billion.
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