Recap

I am still quite busy, so posting will be sporadic for the next week+. With that in mind, here's some stuff from the past few days.

* An international court has "convicted three Rwandan news media executives of genocide for helping to incite a killing spree by machete-wielding gangs who slaughtered about 800,000 Tutsis in neighboring Rwanda in early 1994," the NY Times reports. "'The power of the media to create and destroy human values comes with great responsibility,' the court said in a 29-page summary of its judgment. 'Those who control the media are accountable for its consequences.'" This is an historic decision and, considering how the bulk of the media performed in the run up to war in Iraq, one with quite interesting implications.

* Wagging the Bird: Bush's trip to Iraq on Thanksgiving featured a fake Turkey and a bogus story about a mid-air encounter with a British Airways flight.

* Why are the Bushies reluctant to ask the UN for help in Iraq? Two words: military bases.

* David Walsh dissects the massacre in Samarra. Oh, and are we doing body counts, now?

* Getting tough in Iraq: "'You have to understand the Arab mind,' Capt. Todd Brown, a company commander with the Fourth Infantry Division, said as he stood outside the gates of Abu Hishma. 'The only thing they understand is force — force, pride and saving face.'" I can hear Edward Said gritting his teeth in heaven from here.

* It'll be interesting to see how the occupational authorities tap dance around the growing calls for elections in Iraq. This was allegedly a war to bring democracy, not impede its progress, right?

* According to the French magazine Le Canard Enchaine, 1,700 US soldiers have deserted their posts in Iraq, many of them going AWOL once they returned to the US for leave.

* UN: Where's that weapons report, Mr. Kay?

* George Monbiot says the world is running out of oil, but nobody dares mention this fact in public. Monte Paulsen addresses this issue in relation to two recent books on the topic.

* "Federal authorities this year mounted one of the most extensive investigations of domestic terrorism since the Oklahoma City bombing," a Texas TV station reports. Yet this plot is being generally ignored by the rest of the media.

* Maher Arar was sent off to Syria to be tortured by the US government. Another victim of "post-9/11 panic," Benamar Benatta, "spent the past 26 months in federal prisons, much of that time in solitary confinement -- even though the FBI formally concluded in November 2001 that he had no connection to terrorism," according to the Washington Post.

* The US is facilitating the use of torture worldwide by exporting over $20 million in equipment that can be used to abuse detainees, according to Amnesty International. The US has also gained the reputation since the initiation of the "war on terror" for handing over suspects to governments which typically engage in human rights abuses.

* Amnesty International is also criticizing the US for whitewashing the deaths of two prisoners who were held (and likely tortured to death) at the Bagram air base in Afghanistan.

* James Meek of the Guardian details the situation inside the Guantanamo Bay detention facility via interviews with former prisoners. Check out part I and part II of his report.

* How is Bush going to try to get re-elected? Ivan Eland says by generating crises and winning votes by pretending to solve them.

* "A study that compared humans with other species concluded there are 1,000 times too many humans to be sustainable," writes Jennifer Viegas of Discovery News.

* Reuters reports that two of the top climate experts in the US have remarked that there is "no doubt" that the threat of global warming is real and that the consequences are grave. Michael McCarthy of the Independent provides even more evidence.

* A UN report has found that, after a steady decline throughout the first half of the 1990s, the number of people suffering from chronic hunger rose by 18 million in 2000. 842 million people currently suffer from the crisis, with approximately 25 million dying each year. The numbers of afflicted are also climbing at the rate of about 5 million per year.

* Some other numbers to think about: 14 million, 35.9 billion, and one.

* If you're looking for a gift for your children this holiday season, why not give them a postcard with the estimates of the national deficit they'll be dealing with once they reach adulthood.

* Federal spending has risen by more than 16% since Dubya arrived in DC. Some conservatives aren't very happy about this.

* Clueless George: "In order to understand why George W. Bush doesn't get it, you have to take several strands of common Texas attitude, then add an impressive degree of class-based obliviousness," writes Molly Ivins. "What you end up with is a guy who sees himself as a perfectly nice fellow -- and who is genuinely disconnected from the impact of his decisions on people."

* "America is a country that now sits atop the precarious latticework of myth," writes Anna Quindlen. "It is the myth that work provides rewards, that working people can support their families. It’s a myth that has become so divorced from reality that it might as well begin with the words 'Once upon a time.'"

* "Democrats and a legal watchdog group have asked Attorney General John Ashcroft to investigate allegations that Republicans offered a House member $100,000 in contributions for his son's election campaign if he would vote for a Medicare prescription drug benefit passed by Congress last month," USA Today reports. Slate's Timothy Noah follows up with an analysis, "Who Tried To Bribe Rep. Smith?"

* How's the economy doing? Mark Weisbrot takes a closer look.

* "The Geneva Initiative shows that a comprehensive negotiated peace between Israelis and Palestinians is possible," declares Stephen Zunes. "The question is whether the United States will allow it to happen." Ali Abunimah, on the other hand, isn't quite so optimistic.

* The EUMC has published its controversial report on anti-semitism. A friendly reminder: anti-Zionism is not anti-semitism.

* Henry Kissinger greenlighted Argentina's "dirty war." Yet more evidence that this man should be tried for "crimes against humanity." Read the case against Kissinger penned by Christopher Hitchens in Harper's: part I; part II.