Attorney general shows himself as a menace to liberty, L.A. Times
Even moderates are speaking out against Ashcroft, as witness this L.A. Times op-ed piece.

Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft’s announced desire for camps for U.S. citizens he deems to be “enemy combatants” has moved him from merely being a political embarrassment to being a constitutional menace.

Ashcroft’s plan, disclosed last week but little publicized, would allow him to order the indefinite incarceration of U.S. citizens and summarily strip them of their constitutional rights and access to the courts by declaring them enemy combatants.

The proposed camp plan should trigger immediate congressional hearings and reconsideration of Ashcroft’s fitness for this important office. Whereas Al Qaeda is a threat to the lives of our citizens, Ashcroft has become a clear and present threat to our liberties

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Yet another failed business Dubya was involved with
It appears Dubya is a even worse businessman than Bill Simon, even if both politicians want us to think otherwise.

DAVID IGNATIUS, INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE - It’s not something George W. Bush talks about much - indeed, it has been virtually purged from his official biography - but for four years in the early 1990s, Bush was a director of a company that ultimately collapsed under the weight of its junk-bond financing and management mistakes. The privately held company, called Caterair International, was created in 1989 when Marriott Corp. spun off its airline catering business to investors organized by a Washington investment bank, the Carlyle Group.
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What intrigued the Dallas newspaper was that Bush had dropped the Caterair connection from his official campaign resume in August 1994.

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27 Percent Drop in Immigration to Israel

‘Only 14,900 new immigrants arrived in Israel in the first half of 2002 - a 27 percent drop compared to the corresponding period in 2001 and 45 percent below the number that arrived in 2000 during the same period, according to figures released yesterday by the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics,’ the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported.

The ‘security situation and the economic recession were noted as the main deterrents to immigration‘, the daily newspaper added.  Palestine News Roundup [Palestine Chronicle]

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Afghanistan is on the brink of another disaster
Another Vietnam in the making?

Kabul is alive with the kind of rumours that can never be substantiated but that stick in the mind, just as the dust of Kandahar stays in the throat and on the lips of all who go there. “The British forces were right to leave,” a British humanitarian worker announced over dinner in Kabul one night. “They realised that the Americans had no real interest in returning this country to law and order. They knew that the Americans were going to fail. So they got out as soon as they could. The Americans say they want peace and stability. So why don’t they let Isaf (the international force in Kabul) move into the other big cities of Afghanistan? Why do they let their friendly warlords persecute the rest of the country?” 

The truth is that Afghanistan is on the brink of another disaster. Pakistan is now slipping into the very anarchy of which its opposition warned. And the Palestinian-Israeli war is now out of control. So we really need a war in Iraq, don’t we? 

link

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Bush goes hunting for himself

Bush vows to ‘hunt down’ errant CEOs

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Follow the Bush family money to Sept 11?
This long, meticulously documented article details Bush family money, Dubya’s tangled financial dealings, and wonders if 9/11 could have been prevented.

There is a thread running through George W. Bush’s biography that connects family to power to wealth. With no assets but his name and connections, Bush became a wealthy man, and a governor, and now a President. Without those connections, he’d be nothing.

Reporters finally are questioning the President’s financial integrity. But there is one big, fat question nobody is asking: Is there a connection between Bush’s financial interests and the September 11 attacks?
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Conjecture (choose one):

- He knew there would be terrorist attacks but didn’t imagine they would be as bad as September 11 actually was. His approval numbers at the time were nothing to be proud of; perhaps he thought a small tragedy would work to his advantage.

- In spite of all the warnings, the Bush Administration just wasn’t focused on terrorism and paid no attention.

A great deal has been made of bungling by bureaucrats in the intelligence agencies. Certainly a great deal of old-fashioned incompetence played a part in the tragedy of September 11. But it seems to me that if a directive had come down from the top that intelligence on al Qaeda was to be given top priority … it would have been given top priority.  

UQ Wire: The Loyalties of George W. Bush. Scoop Aug 14 2002 [Moreover - moreover...]

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