Sunday, November 20, 2005

One of the most important arguments in the run-up to the Iraq war made by Colin Powell in his United Nations speech and President Bush in his State of the Union address was that Iraq had an active biological weapons program and possessed mobile biological weapons labs. According to an investigation by the Senate Intelligence Committee, the main source for this information was an Iraqi defector codenamed Curveball who was a source for the German central intelligence agency BND.

Several German intelligence officials responsible for Curveball have now told the LA Times that the Bush administration and the CIA have repeatedly exaggerated his claims and ignored warnings of the BND that the source was unreliable. Recounting his reaction after seeing Powell’s United Nations speech one German intelligence officer said: “We were shocked. Mein Gott! We had always told them it was not proven…. It was not hard intelligence.” This corroborates reporting by the German weekly newspaper Die Zeit from 2003 and 2004 based on statements of unnamed senior German intelligence officials.

Nine months earlier, in May 2002, a fabricator warning was posted in Curveball’s file in U.S. intelligence databases. Powell was never warned that his United Nations speech contained material that both the DIA and CIA had determined was false, even though several people present at Powell’s CIA meetings were fully aware of this.

At this time German intelligence officers would not let the CIA meet directly with Curveball, but allowed a CIA doctor to draw blood samples. Questioning the validity of Curveball’s information in front of his CIA supervisor, the doctor was advised to “Keep in mind that this war is going to happen regardless of what Curveball said or didn’t say and the Powers That Be probably aren’t terribly interested in whether Curveball knows what he’s talking about.”

Shortly after Powell’s UN speech and several days before the invasion, United Nations weapons inspectors attempted to directly verify several key claims made by Curveball, but concluded that they were unsustainable. The White House insisted on its WMD claims based on Curveball’s information.

Even after the invasion, when more and more of Curveball’s accounts were shown to be pure fabrication, the CIA and the Bush administration relied on Curveball’s information. When U.S. forces discovered trucks with lab equipment and Curveball claimed that these were identical to the ones he has been reporting about, the CIA rushed to publish a White Paper claiming that these trucks were part of Saddam Hussein’s secret biological weapons program and Bush claimed publicly that “We found the weapons of mass destruction.” Several days later, twelve of the thirteen WMD experts who analyzed the trucks agreed that the equipment was not suited for biological weapons production, with the only dissenting voice coming from the author of the original White Paper.

The White Paper remains posted on the CIA website to this date, and President Bush has not yet retracted his statement that Iraq produced “germ warfare agents” made in his State of the Union address or his postwar assertions that “we found the weapons of mass destruction.”

Tuesday, February 1, 2005

BAQDAD, Iraq –The Iraqis turned out in large numbers to the national election of January 30, 2005, risking their lives and ignoring the threats and attacks of terrorist groups. The rebels caused at least 44 deaths during the election. Ten of the deaths were caused by suicide attacks. The Al-Qaeda organization announced on a website that 13 suicide attackers participated in the attacks.

Despite the violence, a ‘loosely estimated’ 60% of the 14 million registered electors appeared to vote, according to the Electoral Commission. Proportional representation was the voting method used to select the members for a 275-strong assembly that will then draw up a constitution. The Iraqis faced up to threats, attacks, and the inconvenience of long lines caused by the security measures at polling booths.

This was the first free election held in Iraq in over 50 years. The 2005 Iraq election was very different than the previous one in 2002 during the regime of Saddam Hussein. At that time the Iraq elector was offered “yes” or “no” choices in a referendum for the only candidate, Saddam Hussein. The results of that election showed 100 percent in favor of Hussein in a 100 percent turnout. That election was called the mother of all election frauds, since any Iraqi elector who didn’t appear and vote for Hussein was condemned to death. [1], [2]

Mahdeya Saleh, an 80 year old Iraqi citizen said: “I had often been forced to vote under Saddam Hussein. Today I come out of my own will to choose freely the candidate of my choice for the first and last time in my life.” [3]

“Why should I be afraid?” Arifa Abed Mohamed told a Christian Science Monitor reporter at a Baghdad polling station. “I am afraid only from God.”

Other Iraqis expressed a similar disregard for the rebels’ threats. “I would have crawled here if I had to,” Samir Hassan told a Reuters reporter. “I don’t want terrorists to kill other Iraqis like they tried to kill me.” Hassan lost his leg in an October 2004 car-bomb attack.

Saturday, August 6, 2005

The Finnish police isolated the ports of Katajanokka and Länsisatama on Saturday. The ports were isolated at around 9.30 p.m. local time and the isolation was called off at around 11.30 p.m.

Finnish police received reports from Estonia that a shipping container loaded with explosives could be coming from Estonia Saturday evening. They checked every truck that passed the ports with the assistance of the Border Guard Service. There are still two ships due to arrive in Helsinki tonight, but they were already checked in Tallinn.

Monday, July 20, 2009

On Saturday, the Taliban released a video showing Pfc. Bowe Bergdahl, the U.S. solider captured in Paktika, Afghanistan on June 30. In the film, Bergdahl, of Ketchum, Idaho, is shown eating a meal cross-legged on the floor. He appears clothed in a grey shalwar khameez, with a shaved head. In the presence of his jailers, he states, “I have a very, very good family that I love back home in America, and I miss them every day that I’m gone. I miss them and I’m afraid I might never see them again and that I’ll never be able to tell them I love them again.” He says he is frightened and asks that the United States, “Please, please bring us home so we can be back where we belong and not over here […]”; U.S. sources have argued that this statement was made under duress.

The events leading to Bergdahl’s abduction remain somewhat unclear. Taliban commander Mulvi Sangeen claimed that Bergdahl had gone to a military post on his own, became intoxicated, and was ambushed on the way back to his vehicle. The U.S. military has dismissed this; an anonymous source said, “The Taliban are known for lying and what they are claiming (is) not true.” In the video, Bergdahl himself says he had been taken after falling behind on patrol. Anonymous U.S. officials continue to state that he simply left his remote base unarmed on his own. U.S. sources believe that after being captured, Bergdahl was sold up the chain, eventually to a clan leader, Siraj Haqqani.

His family is praying for his, “safe return to his comrades and then to our family.” Meanwhile, Navy Lt. Robert Carr, a spokesman for the U.S. military in Afghanistan, says the U.S. is “continuing to do everything possible to recover the soldier and are using all available assets to get him back safely and unharmed.” Retired Army Maj. Gen. Bill Nash predicts that U.S. forces will act on several fronts, including intelligence-gathering and counter-insurgency operations. Already, U.S. forces have begun dropping two sets of pamphlets, one stating, “One of our American guests is missing. Return the guest to his home.” and the other, “If you do not release the U.S. soldier then […] you will be hunted.” The mayor of Ketchum has said that, “As the mayor, I can say this is a community situation. […] I trust the leadership of this country, the wisdom of the people who are serving and the decisions that led up to the situation.”

Wednesday, November 8, 2006

As of 10:00 p.m EST November 8, 2006, the Democratic Party is projected to have gained control of both the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate in the 2006 United States general elections. MSNBC projects that the Democrats now control 234 seats in the House of Representatives, 16 more seats than the 218 needed to control the House of Representatives as all 435 seats were up for election. In the Senate, where the balance of power is closer, one-third of all seats were up for grab. As of 10:00 p.m. EST, AP and Reuters were projecting that the Democrats had picked up all six seats they needed to retake the Senate, including the seats of incumbents Rick Santorum (Penn.), Lincoln Chafee (R.I.), Jim Talent (Missouri), Mike DeWine (Ohio), John Tester (Montana), and Jim Webb (VA). The Tester victory by less than 3,000 votes was projected at approximately 2 p.m. EST after the State of Montana announced the results of overnight recounts. Democrat Jim Webb has prevailed in that race by slightly more than 7,000 votes, though his opponent has not conceded and a recount may still occur.

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

eBay and VeriSign announced an agreement late Monday for eBay to acquire VeriSign’s debit and credit card processing division. This division would become a part of eBay’s PayPal.

eBay will pay VeriSign $370 million in cash and stock for this division. Starting in the coming year eBay will begin using two-factor authentication from VeriSign. Two-factor authentication is a type of transaction protection that gives users digital certificates or one-time passwords helping to protect against identity theft.

“This acquisition allows PayPal to give our customers more choice in payment services and grow our merchant services business even more quickly,” said president of PayPal Jeff Jordan.

“In working with PayPal and eBay, we are going to be offering them our security technology, allowing them to offer their users stronger forms of authentication,” said VeriSign CEO Stratton Sclavos.

Last year VeriSign’s gateway business processed $40 billion in transactions. It is expected to generate an additional $100-million revenue for eBay in 2006. It is also expected to increase the customer base by 100,000. The acquisition is expected to close this quarter.

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

In Seattle, on Sunday, Seattle Sounders FC beat the Portland Timbers 1–0 in the Cascadia Cup battle. Stefan Frei notched his fourth shutout this season while Clint Dempsey scored the winning goal in the 77th minute with an assist from Andy Rose. Seattle is now 1–0 in the cup while Portland falls to 0–2.

Portland almost scored minutes later when sub Fanendo Adi rattled the crossbar in the 81st minute. The Timbers also led the Sounders in shots with 11–10. Seattle was glad to have points before hitting the road. Head Coach Sigi Schmid added “We’ve got 13 points now in seven games, so we’re happy with that and we want to come back from these three road games with as many as possible.”

The total crowd on Sunday was tallied at 41,451. Seattle now stands at 4-2-1 with Portland struggling at 2-3-3. Portland hosts the Vancouver Whitecaps next weekend and Seattle travels to face New York City FC.

Friday, January 28, 2005

New York –American manufacturing giant Proctor & Gamble (P&G) plans to acquire Gillette Co. for US$57 billion in stock. The purchase plan calls for P&G to swap 0.975 shares of its stock per share of Gillete Co. P&G also announced a stock buyback program in which they would purchase up to US$22 billion of shares over the next 18 months. Including the stock buyback program, the merger is being financed by 60 percent stock and 40 percent cash.

P&G is known for brands such as Ariel and Tide washing powder, Max Factor cosmetics, Pringles potato crisps (chips) and Hugo Boss and Lacoste perfumes.

Gillette, known for brands such as Gillette razors, Oral B dental care, and Duracell batteries, has had growing problems with the growth of private labels and price cuts demanded by large supermarkets.

After the acquisition is completed, Gillette’s CEO James Kilts will be P&G’s vice-chairman. Kilts said that he expects that this acquisition will cause additional mergers to take place.

“I believe the consumer product industry needs to consolidate,” said Kilts, “we believe we can bring these companies together and create a juggernaut.”

P&G and Gillette have a combined market capitalization of about $185 billion US, which will make it the largest in the sector.

The early morning announcement states that 6,000 employees will be eliminated. Most of the layoffs will result from reducing overlapping management positions and other supporting positions within the combined company.

Antitrust regulators in the US and Europe plan to review the acquisition, to determine whether the combined company will have too much power over pricing and shelf space.

P&G plans to provide additional details about the merger Friday morning (East Coast time) in New York.