Det danske Fredsakademi
Kronologi over fredssagen og international politik 26. september 2007 / Timeline September 26, 2007
Version 3.525. September 2007, 27. September 2007
09/26/2007
Project Censored Releases Censored 2008 and its pick of the most
important under-covered news stories of 2006-07
Project Censored announces its selection of the Top Censored News
Stories of the 2006-2007 cycle. Each year since 1976, hundreds of
student researchers, faculty, and volunteer members come together
to select the most important news stories that were under-covered,
glossed over or ignored by the country’s major media
outlets.
The 25 stories make up the first chapter of the Censored 2008
yearbook published by Seven Stories press. Following chapters
provide updates on previous stories, review the growth of grass
roots Media Democracy, the year’s Junk Food News, and Ten
Signs of Hope that corporate media ignored. Censored 2008 also
offers real news about internet freedom, images of the war, and the
impact of Big Media on children.
With an introduction by Dennis Loo and the political cartoon
commentary of John Jonik throughout, this year’s book covers
some of the most critical issues facing the American people today.
The Top 25 stories focus on issues such as civil rights, politics,
economics, foreign policy, food and health, the environment,
energy, domestic policy, and the military.
“Corporate media in the United States are interested
primarily in entertainment news to feed their bottom-line
priorities,” states Peter Phillips, Director of the Project.
“Some of the most important news stories that should reach
the American public falls on the cutting room floor to be replaced
by sex-scandals and celebrity updates.”
The Sonoma State University research group is composed of over 200
faculty, students and community experts who review hundreds of
story submissions for coverage, content, reliability of sources and
national significance. The top 25 stories are submitted to a panel
of judges who then rank them in order of importance. Current and
former judges include Michael Parenti, Cynthia McKinney, Howard
Zinn, Noam Chomsky, and 20 other national journalists, scholars and
writers.
Censored 2008, now available in bookstores nationwide, can also be
purchased on the project’s website at
www.projectcensored.org.
Project Censored will host the award winning authors of the
Censored 2008 stories at the second annual Media Accountability
Conference October 26-27 at Sonoma State University. Conference
Information on line at:
http://www.projectcensored.org/conference/07MAConf.htm
Censored 2008 was edited by Peter Phillips and Andrew Roth
professors of Sociology at Sonoma State University.
For on-air interviews contact publicist interns:
Margo Tyack: tyack@sonoma.edu
Gabrielle Robinson: Gabrielle CMrobinson@hotmail.com
A statement on contemporary censorship in the US written by Peter
Phillips follows below:
Top Censored Stories of 2006-2007
#1 No Habeas Corpus for “Any Person”
The Military Commissions Act of 2006 (MCA) ushered in military
commission law for US citizens and non-citizens alike. Text in the
MCA allows for the institution of a military alternative to the
constitutional justice system for “any person”
arbitrarily deemed to be an enemy of the state, regardless of
American citizenship.
“Who Is 'Any Person' in Tribunal Law?” Robert Parry,
Consortiumnews.com, 10/19/2006
http://consortiumnews.com/2006/101906.html
“Still No Habeas Rights for You” Robert Parry,
Consortium, 2/3/2007
http://consortiumnews.com/2007/020307.html
“Repeal the Military Commissions Act and Restore the Most
American Human Right” Thom Hartmann, Commondreams,
2/12/2007
http://www.commondreams.org/views07/0212-24.htm
#2 Bush Moves Toward Martial Law
The John Warner Defense Authorization Act of 2007 allows the
president to deploy military troops anywhere in the United States
and take control of state-based National Guard units without the
consent of the governor or local authorities in order to "suppress
public disorder.”
“Bush Moves Toward Martial Law” Frank Morales, Uruknet,
10/ 26/2006
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=27769
#3 AFRICOM: US Military Control of Africa’s Resources
In February 2007 the White House announced the formation of the US
African Command (AFRICOM), a unified Pentagon command center in
Africa. Presented as a humanitarian guard in the Global War on
Terror, the real objective is procurement and control of
Africa’s oil and its global delivery systems.
“Understanding AFRICOM” Parts 1-3, b real,
MoonofAlabama.org 2/21/2007
http://www.moonofalabama.org/2007/02/understanding_a_1.html
#4 Frenzy of Increasingly Destructive Trade Agreements
The US and European Union (EU) are vigorously pursuing increasingly
destructive trade and investment agreements outside the auspices of
the WTO, resulting in unprecedented exploitation, loss of
livelihood, displacement, and degradation of human rights and
environments.
“Signing Away The Future” Emily Jones, Oxfam,
3/2007
http://www.oxfam.org/en/policy/briefingpapers/bp101_regional_trade_agreements_0703
“Free Trade Enslaving Poor Countries” Sanjay Suri, IPS
coverage of Oxfam Report, 3/20/2007
http://ipsnews.org/news.asp?idnews=37008
#5 Human Traffic Builds US Embassy in Iraq
The enduring monument to US liberation and democracy in Iraq is
being built by forced labor. Contractors subcontracting to the US
State Department are using bait-and-switch recruiting practices to
smuggle Asian workers into brutal and inhumane labor campsin
the middle of the US-controlled Green Zone.
“A U.S. Fortress Rises in Baghdad: Asian Workers Trafficked
to Build World's Largest Embassy” David Phinney, CorpWatch,
10/17/2006
http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=14173
#6 Operation FALCON Raids
Under Operation FALCONFederal and Local Cops Organized
Nationallymore than 30,000 “fugitives” were
arrested in the largest dragnets in the nation's history. Over 960
state, local and federal agencies were directly involved. Only
promotional coverage supplied by the DOJ was ever aired. We have
yet to be told who these fugitives were and what became of
them.
“Operation Falcon and the Looming Police State” Mike
Whitney, Ukernet, 2/26/2007
http://uruknet.info/?p=m30971&s1=h1
“Operation Falcon” , Artificial Intelligence,
SourceWatch, Updated 11/18/2006
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Operation_FALCON
#7 Behind Blackwater Inc.
Blackwater, the most powerful mercenary firm in the world, is the
company that most embodies the privatization of the military
industrial complex. Bush’s contracts with Blackwater have
allowed the creation of a private army of more than 20,000
soldiers, operating with almost no oversight or effective legal
constraints, to deploy in nine countries and aggressively expand
its presence inside US borders.
“Our Mercenaries in Iraq: Blackwater Inc and Bush's
Undeclared Surge” Jeremy Scahill, Democracy Now! 1/26/07
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/01/26/1559232
#8 KIA: The US Neoliberal Invasion of India
The Knowledge Initiative in Agriculture, quietly signed by Bush and
India’s Prime Minister Singh, trades India’s
agricultural sector for US nuclear technology. The KIA allows for
the grab of India’s seed sector by Monsanto, its trade sector
by giant agribusiness ADM and Cargill, and its retail sector by
Wal-Mart.
“Vandana Shiva on Farmer Suicides, the U.S.-India Nuclear
Deal, Wal-Mart in India” Democracy Now! 12/13/2006
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/12/13/1451229
“Genetically Modified Seeds: Women in India take on
Monsanto” Arun Shrivastava, Global Research, 10/9/06
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=ARU20061009&articleId=3427
“Sowing Trouble: India's ‘Second Green
Revolution’” Suman Sahai, SciDev.Net, 5/9/06
http://www.scidev.net/content/opinions/eng/sowing-trouble-indias-second-green-revolution.cfm
#9 Privatization of America’s Infrastructure
More than 20 states have enacted legislation allowing
public-private partnerships to build and run highways. We will soon
be paying Wall Street investors, Australian bankers, and Spanish
contractors for the privilege of driving on American roads.
“The Highwaymen” Daniel Schulman with James Ridgeway.
Mother Jones, 2/2007
http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2007/01/highwaymen.html
“Bush Administration Quietly Plans NAFTA Super Highway”
Jerome R. Corsi, Human Events, 6/12/2006
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=15497
#10 Vulture Funds Threaten Debt Relief for Poor Nations
Vulture funds, as defined by the IMF, are companies that buy up the
debt of poor nations cheaply, when it is about to be written off,
and then sue for the full value of the debt plus interestwhich
might be ten times what they paid for it. Otherwise known as
“distressed-debt investors,” these companies profit off
plunging impoverished nations into crippling debt.
“Vulture Fund Threat to Third World” Greg Palast with
Meirion Jones for BBC Newsnight, 02/14/2007
Statement by Project Censored Director Peter Phillips Regarding the
Importance of the 2008 Censored Stories and the Nature of
Censorship Today.
We need to broaden our understanding of censorship in the US. No
longer is the dictionary definition of direct government control of
news adequate. The private corporate media in the US significantly
undercover and/or deliberately censor numerous important news
stories every year.
The systemic erosion of human rights and civil liberties, in the
US, is the common theme of many of the most censored stories of
2006-07.
The corporate media last year ignored that habeas corpus can now be
suspended for anyone by order of the President. With the approval
of Congress, the Military Commissions Act (MCA) of 2006, signed by
Bush on October 17, 2006, allows for the suspension of habeas
corpus for US citizens and non-citizens alike. While media,
including a lead editorial in the New York Times October 19, 2006,
have given false comfort that American citizens will not be the
victims of the measures legalized by this Act, the law is quite
clear that ‘any person’ can be targeted. The text in
the MCA allows for the institution of a military alternative to the
constitutional justice system for “any person”
regardless of American citizenship. The MCA effectively does away
with habeas corpus rights for all people living in the US deemed by
the President to be enemy combatants.
Laws enacted last year allowing the government to more easily
institute martial law is another civil liberties story ignored by
the corporate media in 2006-07. The John Warner Defense
Authorization Act of 2007 allows the president to station military
troops anywhere in the United States and take control of
state-based National Guard units without the consent of the
governor or local authorities, in order to "suppress public
disorder." The law in effect repealed the Posse Comitatus Act,
which had placed strict prohibitions on military involvement in
domestic law enforcement in the US since just after the Civil
War.
Additionally, under the code-name Operation FALCON (Federal and
Local Cops Organized Nationally) three federally coordinated mass
arrests occurred between April 2005 and October 2006. In an
unprecedented move, more than 30,000 “fugitives” were
arrested in the largest dragnets in the nation's history. The
operations, coordinated by the Justice Department and Homeland
Security, directly involved over 960 agencies (state, local and
federal) and are the first time in US history that all of the
domestic police agencies have been put under the direct control of
the federal government.
Finally, the term “terrorism” has been dangerously
expanded to include any acts that interfere, or promote
interference with the operations of animal enterprises. The Animal
Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA), signed into law on November 27,
2006 expands the definition of an “animal enterprise”
to any business that “uses or sells animals or animal
products.” The law essentially makes many protesters,
boycotters or picketers of businesses in the US potential
terrorists.
Most people in the US believe in our Bill of Rights and value
personal freedoms. Yet, our corporate media in the past year failed
to inform us about serious changes in our civil rights and
liberties. Despite our busy lives we want to be informed about
serious decisions made by the powerful and rely on the corporate
media to keep us abreast of important changes. When a media fails
to cover these issues, what else can we call it but censorship?
A broader definition of censorship in America today needs to
include any interference, deliberate or not, with the free flow of
vital news information to the American people. With the size of the
major media giants in the US, there is no excuse for consistently
missing major news stories that affect all our lives.
Peter Phillips e-mail: peter.phillips@sonoma.edu
Andrew Roth e-mail: rotha@sonoma.edu
Project Censored
Sonoma State University
1801 East Cotati Ave.
Rohnert Park, CA 94928
(707) 664-2500
09/26/2007
Additional Pentagon Budget Request Reflects Petraeus'
Recommendations
By Sgt. Sara Wood, USA
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Sept. 26, 2007 - The additional budget request for the
war on terror that Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates will present
to Congress today reflects troop-level recommendations made by the
senior U.S. commander in Iraq, a Pentagon spokesman said today.
Gates will present a $42.3 billion addition to the 2008 global war
on terror supplemental request when he testifies before the Senate
Appropriations Committee today, Geoff Morrell, Pentagon press
secretary, told reporters. This brings the overall request to just
under $190 billion, after a $5.3 billion procurement request for
armored vehicles was added to the $141.7 billion original
request.
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