#84 Nov/Dec 2006
The Washington Free Press Washington's Independent Journal of News, Ideas & Culture
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SPECIAL REPORT: GLOBAL WARMING

Are You Even Close to being Kyoto Compliant?
And even if you were, would it help much?
by Doug Collins cartoons by John Jonik and George Jartos

I'd like to be less responsible for global warming...
...but finding the most climate-friendly option is not always simple
INCLUDES CARBON DIOXIDE CALCULATOR
by Doug Collins

How Does a Gallon of Gas Produce 20 Pounds of Carbon Dioxide?
from fueleconomy.gov

TOP STORIES

Untold Death in Iraq
Media pundits routinely underestimate civilian casualties
by Norman Solomon

The Perils of Power
A parable inspired by the Military Commissions Act of 2006
by Bruce Toien

TRANSPORTATION

Climb Aboard The (Rapid) Bus!
by Brian King

Highway 99: Not Too High, Not Too Low, Please
The no-viaduct, no-tunnel option gains steam in Seattle
opinion by Cary Moon and Julie Parrett, People's Waterfront Coalition

FREE THOUGHTS

READER MAIL
Cow Hormones, Watada, Election Computers, and Bush

Does the World Trade Center Study Add Up?
by Rodger Herbst

The Cholesterol Myth
Part 3 (conclusion): The dangers of "healthy eating"
by Barry Groves, PhD

POLITICS

MEDIA BEAT
Saddam's Unindicted Conspirator: Donald Rumsfeld
by Norman Solomon

WA Candidates Mostly Avoid Giving Voters Information
But in federal races WA Repubs far outscored Dems in responding to an issues survey
by Doug Collins

Want Some Dough? Try Running Against Maria Cantwell!
by Doug Collins

Dems Pose as Anti-Bush
opinion by John Jonik

Bush Breaks Economic Records
by Don Monkerud cartoon by John Jonik

CONTACTS & ACTIVISM

DO SOMETHING CALENDAR

NORTHWEST NEIGHBORS

NORTHWEST & BEYOND
Olympia 22 Trial Postponed
Movie About Seattle WTO Protests, Filmed in Canada
compiled by Doug Collins

CULTURE

Parenting for Passivity
Who we are is related to how we've been raised
by Doug Collins

Robert Pavlik Looks at Restaurant Signs
photos by Robert Pavlik

RIGHT BRAIN

THE WANDERINGS AND THOUGHTS OF KIP KELLOG
by Vincent Spada, #8

PUMPKIN EDDIE'S LIGHTNING POEMS
by Vincent Spada

Second Thoughts
poem by Bob Markey

Presidential Thinking
cartoon by Andrew Wahl

Media Beat

by Norman Solomon

Saddam's Unindicted Conspirator: Donald Rumsfeld

 

Saddam Hussein has received a death sentence for crimes he committed more than a year before Donald Rumsfeld shook his hand in Baghdad. Let's reach back into history and extract these facts:

* On Dec. 20, 1983, the Washington Post reported that Rumsfeld "visited Iraq in what U.S. officials said was an attempt to bolster the already improving U.S. relations with that country."

* Two days later, the New York Times cited a "senior American official" who "said that the United States remained ready to establish full diplomatic relations with Iraq and that it was up to the Iraqis."

* On March 29, 1984, the Times reported: "American diplomats pronounce themselves satisfied with relations between Iraq and the United States and suggest that normal diplomatic ties have been restored in all but name." Washington had some goodies for Saddam's regime, the Times account noted, including "agricultural-commodity credits totaling $840 million." And while "no results of the talks have been announced" after the Rumsfeld visit to Baghdad three months earlier, "Western European diplomats assume that the United States now exchanges some intelligence on Iran with Iraq."


Now that Donald Rumsfeld has some free time, he can catch up on some reading

* A few months later, on July 17, 1984, a New York Times article with a Baghdad dateline sketchily filled in a bit more information, saying that the U.S. government "granted Iraq about $2 billion in commodity credits to buy food over the last two years." The story recalled that "Donald Rumsfeld, the former Middle East special envoy, held two private meetings with the Iraqi president here," and the dispatch mentioned in passing that "State Department human rights reports have been uniformly critical of the Iraqi President, contending that he ran a police state."

* Full diplomatic relations between Washington and Baghdad were restored 11 months after Rumsfeld's December 1983 visit with Saddam--who went on to use poison gas later in the decade, actions which scarcely harmed relations with the Reagan administration.

* As the most senior U.S. official to visit Iraq in six years, Rumsfeld had served as Reagan's point man for warming relations with Saddam. In 1984, the administration engineered the sale to Baghdad of 45 ostensibly civilian-use Bell 214ST helicopters. Saddam's military found them quite useful for attacking Kurdish civilians with poison gas in 1988, according to U.S. intelligence sources. "In response to the gassing," journalist Jeremy Scahill has pointed out, "sweeping sanctions were unanimously passed by the U.S. Senate that would have denied Iraq access to most U.S. technology. The measure was killed by the White House."

These are facts that the public should know about the recently resigned defense secretary of the United States.

 

Norman Solomon's latest book, "War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death," is out in paperback. For information, go to www.warmadeeasy.com
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