US Chose to Ignore Rwandan Genocide
Rory Carroll, the Guardian, Wednesday March 31, 2004

President Bill Clinton's administration knew Rwanda was being engulfed by genocide in April 1994 but buried the information to justify its inaction, according to classified documents made available for the first time.

Senior officials privately used the word genocide within 16 days of the start of the killings, but chose not to do so publicly because the president had already decided not to intervene.

Intelligence reports obtained using the US Freedom of Information Act show the cabinet and almost certainly the president had been told of a planned "final solution to eliminate all Tutsis" before the slaughter reached its peak.

It took Hutu death squads three months from April 6 to murder an estimated 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus and at each stage accurate, detailed reports were reaching Washington's top policymakers.

Anonymous Comrade writes "In Army Survey, Troops in Iraq Report Low Morale



By Thomas E. Ricks

Washington Post Staff Writer

Friday, March 26, 2004; Page A18

A slim majority of Army soldiers in Iraq -- 52 percent -- reported that their morale was low, and three-fourths of them said they felt poorly led by their officers, according to a survey taken at the end of the summer and released yesterday by the Army.

In addition, seven in 10 of those surveyed characterized the morale of their fellow soldiers as low or very low. The problems were most pronounced among lower-ranking troops and those in reserve units.

"Nearly 75% of the groups reported that their battalion-level command leadership was poor" and showed "a lack of concern" for their soldiers, said an Army report accompanying the data. "Unit cohesion was also reported to be low."

"The Resurrection of Jacqueline and Other Ghosts"

Ricardo Alarcón de Quesada, Prensa Latina

A new style is making headway in US journalism: to reveal
that some of its main stories were the spurious work of
frauds violating every ethical principle in order to lie,
falsify and plagiarize.

"G.I.'s Padlock Baghdad Paper Accused of Lies"

Jeffrey Gentleman, NY Times, March 29, 2004

AGHDAD, Iraq, March 28 — American soldiers shut down a popular Baghdad
newspaper on Sunday and tightened chains across the doors after the
occupation authorities accused it of printing lies that incited violence.

"Billionaires for Bush? Well, Yes and No"

Donovan Slack, Boston Globe

There was a fraction of a moment when no one knew how to react. Outside the Park Plaza Hotel — where a boisterous crowd of protesters was chanting, beating drums, and bristling with antiwar signs meant for President Bush — a group of about a dozen approached. They were in ball gowns and suits and drinking champagne. "Bush and Cheney are good for us," they chanted.
 

"Look at all these liberal hippies coming around with their boo-hoo signs," said one of them, a woman in a silver lame wrap and designer sunglasses.

Some of the protesters turned, stunned. But then someone pointed to the signs the fancy-dresssed group was carrying — "Free the Enron Seven" and "Corporations are People Too!" — and the crowd erupted with shouts of approval. "We should let them get up front," somebody shouted, telling the crowd to part and let them pass toward the hotel.

Full story: Boston Globe

Oliver Stone's Castro Film to Air Only in Canada

Simon Houpt, Toronto Globe and Mail, Sat., March 20, 2004

[Oliver Stone spent three days in Cuba with Castro talking about youth,
power, everything from Fidel's failings as a father to drinking nights with
Krushchev. The result is a film HBO won't show, perhaps because it puts a
human face on the U.S.'s eternal enemy. But the CBC isn't afraid to air it.]

NEW YORK -- The phone line to Los Angeles is weak and crackling, and Oliver
Stone asks me to call him back. "I thought maybe our phone was being tapped
by the Bush Administration," I say when I finally reach him. "Huh huh," he
chuckles without mirth. "Huh huh. Huh huh. I don't know if that's funny or
not."

jim writes:

"Liberal Talk Radio Network to Launch March 31, 2004"

Air America Radio, a progressive talk radio network, announced today it will hit the airwaves on March 31st. "Air America Radio is launching in the top U.S. markets with leading talent that will provide compelling and entertaining programming on the radio, on satellite feeds, and on the web," said Mark Walsh, Chief Executive Officer of Air America Radio. "We aim to build an important new media franchise that delivers results."

Bottled Tap Water Withdrawn After Cancer Scare
Felicity Lawrence, The Guardian

First, Coca-Cola's new brand of "pure" bottled water, Dasani, was revealed earlier this month to be tap water taken from the mains. Then it emerged that

what the firm described as its "highly sophisticated purification process", based on Nasa spacecraft technology, was in fact reverse osmosis used in many modest domestic water purification units.

Journalists Walk Out on Powell in Baghdad

Protest Alleged Killing of Arab Correspondents by U.S. Troops

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN), Friday, March 19, 2004 -- Several Iraqi and other international journalists walked out of a coalition news conference with U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell on Friday in Baghdad over the alleged killing of two Arabic-TV network journalists by U.S. soldiers.

U.S. Videos, for TV News, Come Under Scrutiny

Robert Pear, The New York Times

WASHINGTON, March 14 -- Federal investigators are scrutinizing television segments in which the Bush administration paid people to pose as journalists praising the benefits of the new Medicare law, which would be offered to help elderly Americans with the costs of their prescription medicines.