Iraq war based on “lies” - new Spain PM

Spain’s new leader promised Monday to withdraw his nation’s 1,300 troops from Iraq and called the war “an error” based on “lies.”

He lashed out at Bush and Blair, saying they needed “to engage in some self-criticism” over their conduct of the war. “You can’t bombard a people just in case they pose a perceived threat,” Zapatero said, referring to the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. “You can’t organize a war on the basis of lies.”

Wars like the one in Iraq “only allow hatred, violence and terror to proliferate,” he added.

“This is the third big ally which has had an election in which those who ran against Bush’s foreign policy won: Germany in 2002, South Korea in 2003 and now Spain in 2004,” said Ivo Daalder of the Brookings Institution in Washington.

Although U.S. officials played down the significance of Zapatero’s threat, independent analysts called the electoral defeat of Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar’s Popular Party a disaster for the Bush administration.

Disastrous policies generally do have disastrous consequences.

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Be scared, be very scared

The average worker’s desk is contaminated with more germs than a toilet seat, according to a University of Arizona study.

The report, by University of Arizona microbiologist Dr. Charles Gerba, says that there are about 400 times the number germs at computer workstations in the US than there are on a toilet seat.

The dirtiest spot on the desktop is the phone, the report said, where about 25,127 microbes live per square inch. The next filthiest area is the desk surface, where 20,961 invisible nasties can be found living and breathing on every square inch.

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This Saturday, March 20. Global day of action

Bring the troops home now!
End colonial occupation from Iraq to Palestine and everywhere!
Money for jobs, education, healthcare and housing - Not war!
Stop the attacks on civil rights and civil liberties

A quick scan of the national ANSWER website shows demonstrations will be taking place this Saturday in over 35 countries and 175 cities!

Here in L.A., we’ve distributed thousands of flyers, hundreds of posters, have dozens of endorsing organizations, and report backs indicate this could be a sizable demo.

If you live in LA, check the ANSWER LA website for logistics. Speakers include Ron Kovic and Fernando Suarez, as well as Radical Teen Cheer. There will be an opening rally at the assembly point, as well as after the march, with speakers and music by 6-7 bands.

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Terry Baum

Green Party candidate Terry Baum has qualified as a write in candidate to run for Congress in the California 8th district. receiving 1, 641 write-in votes, just over the 1,605 needed to qualify.

She is the first 3rd party candidate in California to win a write-in primary since 1968!

( Psst, Terry, do something about your website. It, um, needs work…)

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Why US Occupation continues after June

Bush wants to claim that with the new Constitution passed, power will be turned over to Iraqis after June of this year.

It’s a lie.

The new government under the new constitution will be barred from overturning any laws that the US has imposed on the country since the Occupation.

And, among other things, the laws the US have imposed on Iraq specifically deal with privatizing industries that the previous Iraq Constitution specifically prohibited privatizing. Like energy and oil. I knew you’d be shocked.

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