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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (682927)	5/20/2005 2:03:49 PM
From: TideGlider	Respond to of 769667

Yes, that is true. I suppose they improperly reported it on the radio. They said embryo.

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (682927)	5/20/2005 2:21:50 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	Respond to of 769667

Bin Laden is on the run, Pakistani official says Al-Qaida network paralyzed, according to foreign minister Updated: 1:56 p.m. ET May 20, 2005ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Osama bin Laden is on the run with a small band of fighters, but his al-Qaida network has been paralyzed by Pakistani government forces, the country’s foreign minister was quoted as saying Friday. Foreign Minister Khursheed Kasuri declined to say whether Pakistan had specific information on the whereabouts of the world’s most wanted fugitive, accused by the U.S. of orchestrating the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and the Pentagon. “Osama bin Laden is alive and moving around from place to place, but not with a large group of people,” Kasuri was quoted as saying in the English-language newspaper The News. Kasuri said Pakistan’s army had “paralyzed al-Qaida’s communication network” and vastly reduced its capability to strike, the newspaper reported. Pakistan’s intelligence service captured Abu Farraj al-Libbi, reputed to be al-Qaida’s No. 3 leader, on May 2. Al-Libbi — who remains in Pakistan’s custody — was wanted for allegedly masterminding two December 2003 assassination attempts against President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, who escaped unharmed. Seventeen other people were killed, however. Key ally in war on terror Pakistan, a key ally of the United States in its war on terror, has handed over more than 700 al-Qaida suspects to U.S. officials, including al-Qaida’s former No. 3, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who was arrested in March 2003 during a raid near Islamabad. Two other alleged al-Qaida leaders, Ramzi Binalshibh and Abu Zubaydah, were also arrested in Pakistan. Pakistan has also deployed about 70,000 troops in its tribal regions — considered possible hiding places for bin Laden — to track down suspected terrorists. On Friday, tribal elders set fire to the homes of two pro-Taliban clerics for allegedly sheltering militants in the northwestern Pakistan town of Bajor, according to residents. The action came weeks after Pakistani intelligence agents raided the homes of Faqir Ahmad and Mohammed Bashir and arrested 11 terror suspects, some of them foreigners. No one was inside the homes when the elders burned them — apparently to satisfy the government, which has said it will take stern action against those who would shelter terrorists.

To: Kenneth E. Phillipps who wrote (682927)	5/20/2005 4:20:30 PM
From: DuckTapeSunroof	Respond to of 769667

Neighbors spying on neighbors? Mothers forced to turn in their sons or daughters? These are images straight out of George Orwell's 1984, or a remote totalitarian state. We don't associate them with the land of the free and the home of the brave, but that doesn't mean they couldn't happen here. A senior congressman, James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), is working quietly but efficiently to turn the entire United States population into informants--by force. Spy vs. Spy By Bill Piper, AlterNet Posted on May 18, 2005, Printed on May 20, 2005 alternet.org Sensenbrenner, the U.S. House Judiciary Committee Chairman, has introduced legislation that would essentially draft every American into the war on drugs. H.R. 1528, cynically named "Safe Access to Drug Treatment and Child Protection Act," would compel people to spy on their family members and neighbors, and even go undercover and wear a wire if needed. If a person resisted, he or she would face mandatory incarceration. Here's how the "spy" section of the legislation works: If you "witness" certain drug offenses taking place or "learn" about them, you must report the offenses to law enforcement within 24 hours and provide "full assistance in the investigation, apprehension and prosecution" of the people involved. Failure to do so would be a crime punishable by a mandatory minimum two-year prison sentence, and a maximum sentence of 10 years. Here are some examples of offenses you would have to report to police within 24 hours: * You find out that your brother, who has children, recently bought a small amount of marijuana to share with his wife; * You discover that your son gave his college roommate a marijuana joint; * You learn that your daughter asked her boyfriend to find her some drugs, even though they're both in treatment. In each of these cases you would have to report the relative to the police within 24 hours. Taking time to talk to your relative about treatment instead of calling the police immediately could land you in jail. In addition to turning family member against family member, the legislation could also put many Americans in danger by forcing them to go undercover to gain evidence against strangers. Even if the language that forces every American to become a de facto law enforcement agent is taken out, the bill would still impose draconian sentences on college students, mothers, people in drug treatment and others with substance abuse problems. If enacted, this bill will destroy lives, break up families, and waste millions of taxpayer dollars. Despite growing opposition to mandatory minimum sentences from civil rights groups to U.S. Supreme Court Justices, the bill eliminates federal judges' ability to give sentences below the minimum recommended by federal sentencing guidelines. This creates a mandatory minimum sentence for all federal offenses, drug-related or not. H.R. 1528 also establishes new draconian penalties for a variety of non-violent drug offenses, including: * Five years for anyone who passes a marijuana joint at a party to someone who, at some point in his or her life, has been in drug treatment; * Ten years for mothers with substance abuse problems who commit certain drug offenses at home (even if their children are not at home at the time); * Five years for any person with substance abuse problems who begs a friend in drug treatment to find them some drugs. These sentences would put non-violent drug offenders behind bars for as long as rapists, and they include none of the drug treatment touted in the bill's name. At a time when everyone from the conservative American Enterprise Institute to the liberal Sentencing Project is slamming the war on drugs as an abject failure, Sensenbrenner is trying to escalate it, and to force all Americans to become its foot soldiers. Instead of enacting new mandatory minimums, federal policymakers should look toward the states. A growing number have reformed their drug sentencing laws, including Arizona, California, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, New Mexico, New York and Texas, and they have proved it is possible to both save money and improve public safety. Simply put, there is no way H.R. 1528 can be fixed. The only policy proposal in recent years that comes close to being as totalitarian as this bill is Operations TIPS, the Ashcroft initiative that would have encouraged -- but not required -- citizens to spy on one another. Congress rightfully rejected that initiative and they should do the same with H.R. 1528. Big Brother has no business here in America. Bill Piper is director of national affairs for the Drug Policy Alliance. © 2005 Independent Media Institute. All rights reserved. View this story online at: alternet.org