16
Feb
A World of Trouble
IN THE EMPIRE
“An Australian scientist involved in the US search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq has said the CIA censored his reporting so that it suggested the weapons existed.”
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=4130247
Peace Breaks Out in Latin America
BBC reports: Venezuela’s Chavez and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe have “decided to turn the page” after weeks of tension over a diplomatic row.
“Mr Chavez said he and Mr Uribe had cleared things up in a meeting that lasted more than four hours.
“Venezuela froze links with its neighbor last month after Colombian officials admitted paying to help catch a Colombian rebel leader in Venezuela. Ties had improved since Mr Uribe vowed to respect Venezuela’s sovereignty.”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/click/rss/1.0/-/2/hi/americas/4268619.stm
FUNERAL IN LEBANON — TENSION WITH SYRIA
The US has withdrawn its Ambassador from Syria in the aftermath of the assassination of a Lebanese leader Rafik Hariri. A massive funeral was held today. Demands for Syrian withdrawal are mounting. Who was Harriri? The Independent’s Robert Fisk knew him.
“I had sat with him many times, for interviews, at press conferences, at lunches and dinners. He once spoke most movingly about the son he lost in a driving accident in America. He had said he believed in the afterlife. He had many enemies. Political enemies in Lebanon, Syrians who suspected - correctly - that he wanted them out of Lebanon, real estate enemies - for he had personally purchased large areas of Beirut - and media enemies because he owned a newspaper and a television station.
“But he could be a good and kind man, even if he was a ruthless businessman; I once compared him to the cat which eats the canary then cheerfully admits that it tasted good. He sent the quotation off to his friends. His hand was one of the mightiest I had ever shaken….
“The perpetrators were ruthless men, heedless of the innocent. They wanted to kill Rafik Hariri. Nothing else mattered. In the surrounding streets, men and women were emerging with blood all over their clothes. Thousands of windows had smashed into them and they stood there, dribbling blood on to their shoes and trousers and skirts as the first ambulance men screamed at the firemen to clear their hoses from the pavements.”
http://www.counterpunch.org/fisk02152005.html
