Sandyenglish’s NewsCloud Journal

A lengthy article by veteran journalist Seymour Hersh published in the New Yorker on Sunday provides further confirmation of the Bush administration’s well-developed military and political preparations for attacking Iran. According to Hersh, the Pentagon has drawn up new war plans, the CIA has allocated substantial extra resources and the White House has already sounded out US allies, including Israel, Britain and Australia, for support in any military strike.

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The transcript of February 2003 discussions between US President George W. Bush and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar published Wednesday by Spain’s largest daily, El Pais, provides fresh documentary confirmation of what is already a widely known historical fact. That is: the Bush administration was determined to wage a war of aggression to conquer Iraq and was not about to allow international law or compromise settlements to interfere with its long-planned invasion.

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An 80-page study written by two British security analysts and released on August 28 makes a chilling estimation of the overwhelming force that the US would use in the event of any attack on Iran. “The US has made military preparations to destroy Iran’s WMD, nuclear energy, regime, armed forces, state apparatus and economic infrastructure within days, if not hours, of President George W. Bush giving the order,” the paper declared.

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Police in the Australian state of New South Wales launched a major operation yesterday aimed at intimidating high school students protesting against the Iraq war and US President George Bush. Along with 20 other world leaders, Bush is in Australia for this week’s Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit.

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In his second foreign policy speech in less than a week, President Bush Tuesday portrayed the ongoing US military occupation in Iraq as part of a broader regional struggle to defend vital US interests against “radicals and extremists.”

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Although an appeal has been filed in the Saudi Arabian Supreme Court, the fate of Sri Lankan maid Rizana Nafeek hangs in the balance. She was sentenced to death in June for the murder of her employer’s child.

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The world’s largest toy maker, Mattel Corporation, announced August 14 that it was recalling nearly 19 million toys worldwide, half of them in the US, because of the dangers they pose to children. Some 436,000 toy cars made in China were withdrawn because they are covered in lead paint, while more than 18,000,000 other toys, also made in China, are being recalled because they contain small, powerful magnets that could do great damage if swallowed.

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Green parties worldwide are already synonymous with spectacular renunciations of principle. Policies advocated, perhaps for decades, are dropped within hours of entering government. In return for some minor adjustments of environmental policy, Greens have assumed responsibility for aggressively advancing the interests of their own capitalists.

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Last week, Iraq’s National Library and Archive (INLA), who had been burned and looted four years ago, was stormed by armed Iraqi security forces, Director Saad Eskander said windows and doors were smashed, and staffers threatened during the two-day siege.

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Sri Lankan police again appeared before court last week with nothing to show in the case of missing Socialist Equality Party (SEP) member Nadarajah Wimaleswaran and his friend Sivanathan Mathivathanan, and asked for another extension of time.

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