Submitted by Bob Burton on
The food company Chiquita Brands International, Inc. has pleaded guilty to funding a Colombian paramilitary group designated by the U.S. government as a terrorist organization. According to U.S. Department of Justice prosecutors, the company's Colombian subsidiary, Banadex, paid approximately $1.7 million to the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) between 1997 and 2004.
Blogger Atrios lamented today that the Wikipedia entry for "Friedman (unit)" has been targeted for deletion through a merger into the "Atrios" article. A "Friedman", in the parlance of pundits and politicians discussing the Iraq War, is six months. Atrios coined the term on his blog to deal with New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman's constant invocation of "just six more months" to see how things were going in Iraq, something he began doing on November 30, 2003 and continued to do as late as May 11, 2006. While Friedman has lately moved on to saying that the U.S. should stay in Iraq for "10 months or 10 years," many government officials, pundits and politicians continue to move the goalposts on when it is acceptable to ascertain true progress in Iraq, and six months is an eerily common benchmark.
(NOTE: See an update on this issue at: https://www.prwatch.org/node/6081 )
This week marks the fourth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. To commemorate the occasion, the online advocacy group MoveOn.org is organizing more than 1,000 candlelight vigils throughout the United States. "We’ll solemnly honor the sacrifice made by more than 3,000 servicemen and women, and we'll contemplate the path ahead of us," states MoveOn's website. "We cannot send tens of thousands of exhausted, under-equipped, and unprepared troops into the middle of an Iraqi civil war. ... Honor the sacrifice. Stop the escalation. Bring the troops home."
MoveOn's 3.2 million members strongly oppose any continuation of the war, and the language above seems to suggest that MoveOn's leadership agrees. But MoveOn's organizing around Iraq has become notably ambiguous lately. Although it talks in general terms about bringing the troops home, specific timetables or meaningful steps in that direction are nowhere discussed. Most strikingly, MoveOn has adamantly refused to support the Iraq amendment from Congressional Progressive Caucus leaders Barbara Lee, Lynn Woolsey and Maxine Waters, which calls for "a fully funded, and systematic, withdrawal of U.S. soldiers and military contractors from Iraq" by the end of 2007.
Submitted by John Stauber on
Author Norman Solomon editorializes that "Nancy Pelosi is speaker of the House, and Harry Reid is majority leader of the Senate. But neither speaks for, much less leads, the antiwar movement that we need.
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
While fleeing an ambush in Afghanistan, U.S. soldiers reportedly opened fire on civilian cars and pedestrians and then destroyed photos and video taken at the scene by freelance journalists.
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
The Washington Times reports on the U.S.
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
"General James L. Jones, who retired last month as Supreme Allied Commander of NATO forces in Europe, has joined the U.S. Chamber of Commerce as a lobbyist," reports O'Dwyer's.
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
"Soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center's Medical Hold Unit say they have been told they will wake up at 6 a.m. every morning and have their rooms ready for inspection at 7 a.m., and that they must not speak to the media," reports Kelly Kennedy.
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