Date: Fri, 07 May 1999 18:02:36 -0700 From: Sid Shniad <•••@••.•••> Subject: For globalism to work "For globalism to work, American can't be afraid to act like the almighty superpower that it is....The hidden hand of the market will never work without a hidden fist — McDonald's cannot flourish without McDonnell Douglas, the designer of the F-15. And the hidden fist that keeps the world safe for Silicon Valley's technologies is called the United States Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps." -- "What the World Needs Now," Thomas Friedman, New York Times, March 28, 1999 ************************************************************** From: "Carolyn Ballard" <•••@••.•••> Subject: Fw: Will Our Media Tell Us This? Date: Thu, 6 May 1999 15:45:50 -0400 ---------- From: Ed Haynes <•••@••.•••> To: •••@••.•••; •••@••.••• Subject: Will Our Media Tell Us This? Date: Thursday, May 06, 1999 12:23 PM SERMEISS Members: This item comes from the London INDEPENDENT, through a faculty member at University of Houston. I would only add that it is Ms Albright and her allies who craft our foreign policies, and they who see bombing as a major tool of foreign policy. Mr Clinton apparently gives certain actions priority in terms of his perception of American domestic concerns. John A. Williams NOT TO BE MENTIONED IN OUR MEDIA... IF YOU SEE IT, LET ME KNOW. From: •••@••.••• (Herb Rothschild) Date: Wed, May 5, 1999, 1:49 PM No doubt this testimony to the folly of Bill Clinton's chief tool of foreign policy--just bomb anyone you don't like as long as they are too weak to bomb you back--will not make the evening news in the U.S. US admits Sudan bombing mistake The Independent(U.K.) 5/4/99 Andrew Marshall in Washington In an admission that last year's missile attack on a factory in Sudan was a mistake, the US has cleared the man who owned the plant of any links to terrorism. The embarrassing reversal means that the US has virtually no evidence to support its claim that the missile attack was a strike against terrorism. Most of those who have investigated the case have concluded that the US acted on faulty intelligence and that key procedures were overriden by officials in the White House. The affair is already the subject of congressional inquiries and may result in the departure of some senior White House officials. America launched cruise missiles against targets in Afghanistan and Sudan in August last year after bomb attacks on its embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam. It blamed the bombings on Osama bin Laden, the former Saudi who it accuses of backing many attacks on US targets. It said that the pharmaceutical plant in Khartoum was linked to Mr bin Laden and was used to produce chemical weapons. The US was forced to admit within hours that the plant was not a Sudanese government facility, but a private factory belonging to Salah Idris, a Saudi businessman. But it then said that Mr Idris was himself linked to terrorism and to Mr bin Laden. It froze all of his bank accounts, including money held at Bank of America in London. Yesterday, with no public announcement or fanfare, it unfroze the accounts, admitting that no evidence existed to accuse Mr Idris. Mr Idris hired Akin, Gump Strauss, Hauer & Feld, a top Washington law firm, to press his case. He sued Bank of America and the US government, and hired Kroll Associates, the top private investigators, to clear him. Kroll found no evidence of any links between Mr Idris and Mr bin Laden. Yesterday, the US was due to reply to Mr Idris's law suits, but instead chose to retreat and unfreeze the accounts. "Today's order lifting all restrictions on the Bank of America accounts also effectively removes any suggestion that Mr Idris has, at any time, maintained a relationship with Osama bin Laden or any terrorist group or organisation," said Akin, Gump in a statement. Spokesmen for Mr Idris said they were "jubilant," but that there could still be a law suit to recover compensation. "I am grateful that the United States has taken the honourable course and has corrected, in part, the serious harm that has been done to my family and our good name," said Mr Idris yesterday from Sudan. "While I understand that the United States must wage a vigorous fight against terrorism, in this case a grave error has been made." Britain never supported the idea that Mr Idris had links to Mr bin Laden,and he was permitted to enter and leave London (where he maintains a flat) freely. The widespread view outside the US was that the White House had insufficient evidence for the attack. ************************************************************** From: "Carolyn Ballard" <•••@••.•••> Subject: THAT GODAWFUL Y2K Date: Fri, 7 May 1999 19:45:00 -0400 Deseret News Archives, Monday, May 3, 1999 The government's secret Y2K plans By Jack Anderson, and Jan Moller The story our government doesn't want you to know was broken not by a major TV network or national newspaper. It was encapsulated instead by a front-page picture, which ran in February on the front page of a small Virginia paper called "The Potomac News." Captioned "Y2K riot training," the photo depicted a Marine private trying to "force herself backward through a line of Marines during a civil unrest exercise at Quantico Marine Corps base" outside Washington. In this case, unfortunately, a picture was not worth a thousand words. In fact, a Quantico spokesman denied the story and says the Marines were not, in fact, preparing for civil unrest. But the reporter (and photographer), Dave Ellis, stands by his story. "They told me what the exercise was about and then asked me not to report it," he told us. "(The Marines) were worried that people would think they were painting helicopters black and training for a huge government crackdown at the millennium." Such is the great dilemma behind preparation for the phenomenon know as Y2K: No one knows exactly what will happen to our technologically dependent lives when computer dates roll forward from "99" to "00" at midnight on Dec. 31. Yet planning for the worst-case scenario carries the danger of inciting panic and becoming a self-fulfilling prophesy. This might explain why most military folks we talked to claimed no knowledge of any Y2K-specific preparations. But we have learned that the U.S. military is quietly planning a sophisticated social-response network in case civil unrest should erupt. It was confirmed to us recently by Sen. Robert Bennet, R-Utah, who chairs a special Y2K Technology Problem Committee. "This problem is everywhere and nowhere all at once," Bennett told us. "We can only take a snapshot of portions of infrastructure and attempt to provide the most accurate information we can. But there is simply not sufficient time to understand where all the problems are going to surface, so we must be practical and prepare for the worst." In the worst-case scenario, public alarm spreads rapidly as vital services such as health care, public safety and utilities are temporarily disrupted by computer breakdowns. The stress, of course, is on "temporary." Most experts suggest that people prepare for Y2K like they might prepare for a winter storm. Thomas Barnett, director of the Y2K security project, says his team has been coaching every branch of the military -- indeed even the Marines -- since last fall, planning drills and simulating Y2K breakdowns. Just this week, Barnett plans to take some military and FBI people to the World Trade Center to develop possible responses to a stock market crash. Later this month, the Federal Emergency Management Agency will also hold a national "table top" simulated scenario drill -- similar to the "war games" played out in the military -- which will pull together all emergency and military resources. FEMA, along with the National Guard, is responsible for coordinating state and local responses to Y2K problems while the State Department will cover international social problems. But it is a small agency within the FBI, quietly created by Janet Reno recently, that will be the federal authority for any national Y2K repercussions. The agency, The National Domestic Preparedness Office, is now up and running -- and preparing -- despite the fact they don't officially exist; Congress has yet to approve its budget. © 1999 Deseret News Publishing Co.