down with murder inc

Mass resignations?

Secretary of State Colin L. Powell [...] announced his resignation, prompting President Bush to ask National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice to replace him in a move the president plans to announce today.
Mr. Powell was the most prominent of four Cabinet secretaries who announced their resignations yesterday. The other three were Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, Agriculture Secretary Ann M. Veneman and Education Secretary Rod Paige.
Already gone before yesterday were Attorney General John Ashcroft and Commerce Secretary Donald L. Evans in what is shaping up as a major reshuffle of Mr. Bush's team for his second term, with more changes considered likely...washtimes

John Bolton resigns...
According to a January 11 article in The Boston Globe, John Bolton will not be continuing as the Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs in the second Bush administration. The Globe reported that Bolton will be replaced by Robert G. Joseph, the former special assistant for national security. Joseph's international record – although not unblemished – could constitute a marked improvement for globally-minded citizens concerned about the unilateral direction of US foreign relations under President Bush.
Bolton, who once remarked that "The Secretariat building in New York has 38 stories. If it lost ten stories, it wouldn't make a bit of difference," is now one of the State Department's loudest and most hawkish voices. He has been a fierce opponent of U.S. multilateral engagement. Global solutions
Douglas J. Feith resigns
Douglas J. Feith, the controversial policy advisor to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and a hawkish proponent of the war in Iraq, plans to return to the private sector this summer, the Defense Department said Wednesday.
As undersecretary of Defense for policy, Feith, 51, is the Pentagon (news - web sites)'s third-ranking civilian official. He directs a staff of 1,500 employees who develop the Pentagon's policies for countries in every corner of the world.
It was Feith's advocacy of a hard line toward Saddam Hussein after the Sept. 11 attacks that turned his office into the nerve center for U.S. policy toward Iraq. The changeover caused frequent clashes between his staff, on one side, and the CIA and the State Department, on the other.
A Pentagon announcement gave no specifics about Feith's resignation, saying only that he made his decision for "personal and family reasons." - bluebus blog
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er...Now it gets real scary

Bush promotes 'nuclear hawks'
February 1 2005 - A group of hardline officials known as "nuclear hawks" is being promoted in a shake-up of the Bush administration's arms control and non-proliferation teams, according to officials close to the administration.
The latest appointment, announced by President George W. Bush on Monday, saw Jack Crouch, the ambassador to Romania, become deputy national security adviser. Mr Crouch, who served in the Pentagon from 2001 to 2003 as assistant secretary of defence for international security policy, has a long background in arms control. In his Senate confirmation hearing in 2001 he was questioned on his support for US testing of nuclear weapons, his 1995 recommendation for destruction of North Korea's nuclear complexes in the absence of a satisfactory agreement, and the mistake he said was made by George H.W. Bush when president in withdrawing US nuclear weapons from South Korea.
Also entering the National Security Council is John Rood, a senior Pentagon official who replaces Bob Joseph as special adviser. Mr Joseph is expected to move to the State Department to replace John Bolton, undersecretary for arms control.
Mr Bolton had the reputation for being the hawk of hawks in the Bush administration, but one adviser, who asked not to be named, said European governments were naive to believe that his resignation signalled a moderate approach. The promoted officials, he said, had less regard for arms controls and more commitment to building new generations of nuclear weapons and missile defence systems. - FT.COM

Bush: Iran attack 'ridiculous'
23/02/2005 - Brussels - US President George W Bush said on Tuesday that the idea that the United States was preparing to attack Iran was "ridiculous".
But he reiterated that no options could be ruled out.
"This notion that the United States is getting ready to attack Iran is simply ridiculous. Having said that, all options are on the table," he told reporters at the end of a summit with European Union (EU) leaders.
Iran was among the top issues on the agenda during Bush's back-to-back summits with fellow NATO and EU leaders on his first trip to Europe since his re-election last November.
Bush voiced support for an ongoing attempt by British, French and German diplomats to get Tehran to renounce its feared pursuit of nuclear weapons in return for trade and economic incentives.
'Good advice' "You know, we've talked about Iran," said Bush, referring to his two days of discussions in Brussels.
"That's a place where I'm getting good advice from European partners.
"After all, Great Britain, Germany and France are negotiating with the ayatollahs with a common objective - and that is for them not to have a nuclear weapon."
"It's in our interests for them not to have a nuclear weapon," he said.
"It's also in our interest for them not to continue to fund terrorist organisations like Hezbollah, which has the desire to stop the Middle East peace process from going forward," he continued.
"So these are great interlocateurs on behalf of the position we share.
"There's an example of concrete (transatlantic) action." Bush famously identified Iran during his first term in the White House as part of an "axis of evil" that also included North Korea and Saddam Hussein's Iraq. - source

Iran to stand by Syria if attacked
26th February, 2005
Iran's Supreme National Security Council chief Hasan Rohani said his country will stand by Syria if the Arab state is attacked.
"We have always maintained excellent relations with Syria, and in case it is attacked, it can always depend on the solidarity of its friends, and Iran is a faithful friend," Rohani was quoted as saying Friday in French daily Le Monde.
Asked to comment on the possibility of an Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear facilities, Rohani said: "I do not believe Israel will take such a decision, and if it did it will regret it a lot."
"If they threaten us we will threaten them," he said, adding, "If Israeli planes can reach Iran, Iranian planes can also reach Israel." - Big News Network.com

US [Halliburton] energy deal with Iran
Feb. 16 2005 - Only weeks before Halliburton made headlines by announcing it was pulling out of Iran-a nation George W. Bush has labeled part of the "axis of evil"-the Texas-based oil services firm quietly signed a major new business deal to help develop Tehran's natural gas fields.
Halliburton's new Iran contract, moreover, appears to suggest a far closer connection with the country's hard-line government than the firm has ever acknowledged.
The deal, diplomatic sources tell NEWSWEEK, was signed with an Iranian oil company whose principals include Sirus Naseri, Tehran's chief international negotiator on matters relating to the country's hotly-disputed nuclear enrichment program-a project the Bush administration has charged is intended to develop nuclear weapons. - MSNBC
Russia and Iran sign deal
MOSCOW - Russia and Iran have signed a key deal for Russia to supply Iran with nuclear fuel to the Bushehr nuclear plant, Russia's Itar-Tass news agency has reported.
The deal, which also provides for Iran to return spent nuclear fuel to Russia, had been expected to be signed on Saturday but was delayed by 24 hours as talks continued.
Tass on Sunday said Russia's nuclear energy chief Alexander Rumyantsev and the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, Gholamreza Aghazadeh, had signed the document at the plant in Iran.
"We signed a confidential protocol in which the schedule for delivering fuel to Bushehr is fixed," Tass quoted Rumyantsev as saying.
"Because the protocol is confidential, I can only say that the order and schedule for delivery completely correspond with the technological process of building a station."
The deal to supply fuel for Iran's Russian built 1,000-megawatt Bushehr nuclear plant was expected to pave the way for the country's only reactor to go on line later this year and reach full capacity in 2006.
The United States, strongly opposing the deal, says it fears the Bushehr reactor could be used as a cover by Tehran to build atomic weapons. Iran denies this, saying it needs nuclear power to generate electricity.
A key part of the agreement is aimed at addressing U.S. concerns, obliging Tehran to repatriate all spent nuclear fuel to Russia.
Moscow hopes this will allay U.S. worries that Tehran may use the spent fuel, which contains potentially weapons-grade uranium, to develop arms - via BNN

'War on Terror' now a 'War on Tyranny'?
World domination plan?
According also to former US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) official Vince Cannistraro, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's new war agenda includes a list of 10 priority countries. In addition to Iran, it includes Syria, Sudan, Algeria, Yemen and Malaysia. According to a report in the January 23 Washington Post, General Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), also has a list of what the Pentagon calls "emerging targets" for preemptive war, which includes Somalia, Yemen, Indonesia, the Philippines and Georgia, a list he has sent to Rumsfeld.
While Georgia may now be considered under de facto North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) or US control since the election of President Mikheil Saakashvili, the other states are highly suggestive of the overall US agenda for the new "war on tyranny". If we add Syria, Sudan, Algeria and Malaysia, as well as Rice's list of Cuba, Belarus, Myanmar and Zimbabwe, to the JCS list of Somalia, Yemen, Indonesia and the Philippines, we have some 12 potential targets for either Pentagon covert destabilization or direct military intervention, surgical or broader. And, of course, North Korea, which seems to serve as a useful permanent friction point to justify US military presence in the strategic region between China and Japan. Whether it is 10 or 12 targets, the direction is clear. - William Engdahl - Asia Times

Bush tells Middle East regimes to change their ways
WASHINGTON - In his most uncompromising tones yet, President Bush told repressive regimes in the Middle East - some of them long-standing US allies - that they must change their ways and meet the popular demands for reform suddenly emerging across the region. "Authoritarian rule is not the wave of the future, it is the last gasp of a discredited past," Mr Bush declared, serving notice that in his second term he intends to step up the pressure from Washington for democratic change throughout the Middle East.
As proof - and even as hundreds of thousands of people took part in a pro-Syrian demonstration in Beirut denouncing Western "interference" - the President for the first time gave Damascus a specific two-month deadline to withdraw its forces from Lebanon.
President Bashar Assad had an "important" choice to make, the President declared in a wide-ranging speech to the National Defence University here.
Either it could withdraw all military and intelligence personnel before the presidential election in May, or face "even greater isolation from the world." - New Zealand Herald
Oh No! Bolton is Back!
U.N. top envoy pick elicits praise, worry
Wednesday 9th March, 2005 - President Bush's nomination of John Bolton as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations is provoking strong reactions.
Liberals argue Bolton, the man who was quoted once as saying, There's no such thing as the United Nations, is a pro-unilateral hawk who is unfit to help the U.N. carry out painful reforms expected later this year. - BNN

Resistance is futile.
The most prominent Democrat to speak out against Bolton in the past four frightening years was Paul Wellstone. But the outspoken liberal senator from Minnesota is dead, and because of Bolton's appointment as U.N. ambassador, the rest of us have an increased chance of joining Wellstone sooner than we want to. - Village Voice
Rightweb profile

What the Fuck?!! - Bush nominates Paul Wolfowitz to head World Bank
16th March, 2005 - President George W Bush Wednesday nominated U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz to be the next head of the World Bank.
The brash announcement caught many off guard as Wolfowitz, 61, a key hawk in the administration, has attracted considerable criticism over his role in events leading to the Iraq war.
Wolfowitz, together with Vice President Dick Cheney, is credited with being the main driving force behind the U.S. invasion of Iraq. He advocated regime change in that country in the 1990s and was a signatory to a letter to President Clinton in 1998 calling for military action to effect a regime change then.
President Bush Wednesday said Mr Wolfowitz was a "compassionate, and decent man" who would do a fine job. "He is a man of good experience, a skilled diplomat," said the president. He "helped manage a large organisation" during his time at the Pentagon, he added. Big News Network.com

WB approves Wolfowitz as new president

The World Bank has approved the nomination of US Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz to beits next president, succeeding James Wolfensohn from June.
"The executive directors unanimously selected Mr. Paul Wolfowitz, effective June 1, 2005, to succeed Mr. Wolfensohn as president of the World Bank, when the latter retires on May 31, 2005," the 184-nation development bank said in a statement on Thursday.
Wolfowitz, 61, was nominated by President George Bush to take the helm of the bank earlier this month. The nomination surprised the international community as Wolfowitz was an architect of the Iraq war and his hard-line foreign policy stance has made him a target of critics at home and abroad.
xinhuanet

[did i wake up in the twilight zone?]

The U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt is on the move in Atlantic Ocean and is possibly headed towards the Mediterranean Sea. The convergence of three carrier groups in the corridor of the Middle East will send very strong message to the Syrians and Iranians. There are indications that soon US is moving two more aircraft carrier battle groups to the Eastern Mediterranean Sea and the Persian Gulf. This will spell a formidable strike force for Iran and Syria who are in defiance on issues of Lebanon and Nuclear weapons development. India Daily

US hints at attacking Iran
JERUSALEM: Amid efforts by the EU to come to an agreement with Iran on nuclear policy, the United States has said it will not wait forever and will foil the Islamic republic's nuclear ambitions.
United States doesn't have unlimited patience with Iran and does not dismiss the possibility of carrying out a strike on its nuclear facilities, US Ambassador to Israel Dan Kurtzer said.
Kurtzer said that the US would not wait forever for the Europeans to come to an agreement with Tehran and would take steps to foil the Islamic republic's nuclear ambitions.
"The missiles haven't yet been fired, but that doesn't mean they won't be if the Iranians don't stop their attempt to develop nuclear weapons," Kurtzer said. -

Secretary-General Appoints Detlev Mehlis as Head of UN International Independent Investigation Commission
NEW YORK, 13 May (UN Headquarters) -- The Secretary-General today sent a letter to the President of the Security Council informing the Council of his intention to appoint Detlev Mehlis of Germany as the Commissioner of the UN International Independent Investigation Commission into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
Mr. Mehlis is currently the Senior Public Prosecutor in the Office of the Attorney General in Berlin. He has 25 years of prosecutorial experience and has led numerous investigations into serious, complex transnational crimes.
Mr. Mehlis has been a senior public prosecutor since 1992 and has, over the course of his career, been responsible for prosecuting terrorism and organized crime cases. Since 1998, he has been the Chief of the Contact Office of the European Judiciary Network and Coordinator for the fight against organized crime in the State of Berlin.
Mr. Mehlis will travel to Beirut as soon as possible to begin the Commission's investigation. - un vienna