| contents | No. 317, Feb. 10 - 16, 2005 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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WINNER OF NINE PROJECT CENSORED AWARDSPentagon's Guantanamo courts ruled illegal
Detainees await their uncertain future at the US military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Photo courtesy Deutsche Welle By Jim Lobe Washington, DC, Jan. 31 (IPS) -- A US federal court judge has ruled that military tribunals initiated by the Pentagon to determine the status of terrorist suspects held at the naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, are unconstitutional because they do not satisfy minimal due-process requirements. The long-awaited decision by veteran judge Joyce Hens Green deals a new setback to the George W. Bush administration’s claims of broad executive authority to conduct its global “war on terrorism” and will almost certainly be appealed to a higher court. “We respectfully disagree with the decision,” said White House spokesman Scott McClellan after the ruling was made public. He pointed to a Jan. 19 ruling by another federal judge, Richard Leon, that concluded that detainees held at Guantanamo had no legal way to challenge their detention in federal court. Bush’s budget ax to fall on poorCompiled by Eamon Martin Feb. 9 (AGR)-- US president George W. Bush sent a $2,500billion budget to Congress on Feb. 7 that seeks deep cuts in social spending while boosting funding for the military and homeland security. Bush is proposing to reduce spending on public health and social welfare in the US to mainly help pay for tax cuts and the war in Iraq, according to reports of the budget. About 150 programs in all would be shuttered or radically cut back. In an attempt to keep government spending under control at a time of record deficits, Bush’s proposals to Congress will include cuts in public housing subsidies, in health projects aimed at diseases related to poverty, and in food stamps, which help the United States’ poorest buy groceries. Bush inherited a budget surplus from former president Bill Clinton but is now running record deficits of over $400billion a year. The turnaround is partially due to huge tax cuts which disproportionately benefit the wealthiest 1% of Americans, and the war in Iraq, for which the administration has asked for another $81billion this year. Chavez weighs sale of US oil plantsCompiled by Eamon Martin Feb. 8 (AGR) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez said his government may sell eight US refineries as part of a strategy by the world’s fifth-largest supplier of oil to reduce dependency on sales to the United States. “Not one Venezuelan works at these refineries,” Chávez said in Buenos Aires on Feb. 1, according to Venezuela’s Communication and Information Ministry. “They don’t give us one cent of profit. They don’t pay taxes in Venezuela. This is economic imperialism.” Chávez, who on Jan. 30 signed agreements with China to boost sales of gas and oil, also said he may sell refineries in Germany, Sweden and the United Kingdom, according to the ministry’s website. Tapes reveal Enron’s secret role in California’s power blackoutsBy Julian Borger Washington, DC, Feb. 5 -- Newly discovered tapes have revealed how the energy corporation Enron shut down at least one power plant on false pretenses, deliberately aggravating California’s crippling 2001 blackouts with the aim of raising prices. The tapes also show that Enron, whose bankruptcy three years ago was the biggest corporate scandal of recent times, manipulated energy markets in Canada and was planning to rig the Californian market even before deregulation in 1998, for which the Texan corporation actively campaigned. The most damning revelations concern Enron’s secret role in creating artificial power shortages in California, helping to trigger an energy crisis in 2000 and 2001 which cost residents billions of dollars in surcharges. In The News This WeekQuote of the Week“"Actually, its a lot of fun to fight. You know, it's a hell of a hoot. I like brawling… You go into Afghanistan, you got guys who slap women around for 5 years because they didn't wear a veil. You know, guys like that ain't got no manhood left anyway. So it's a hell of a lot of fun to shoot them.”— Lt. Gen. James Mattis, in reference to fighting insurgents in Iraq, during a panel discussion in San Diego; quoted by NBC, Feb. 2 
Letters: We prisoners back you up 110 percent Commentary: A campaign of fabrications and gross distortions National News: Posse Comitatus Act remains obscured World News: US agents 'kidnapped militant' for torture in Egypt Labor: Labor protests raise doubts over France's EU vote Environment: The ghosts of Ground Zero Culture: Repression and resistance in Aceh Media Watch: Money, media, and the mess in America Noticias Español: Sombras sobre Flores |
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