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AUSTIN, Texas -- Say, that was some "historical memo" there, containing, as the president said, no "intelligence that said there was going to be an attack on America." Except for the title and contents, of course.

            It's always hard to put yourself back in time and pretend you don't know what you know. Hard to say if such a memo just got lost in a continuous flow of information about potentially dangerous situations or if, given the other 40 warnings about Al Qaeda, it should have set your hair on fire, to coin a fresh phrase.

            Meanwhile, in the larger world, it is hard to tell what is happening in Iraq -- is it going south, gone south or are we just slipping a few inches after the dumb decision to close a newspaper?

Washington, DC-Win Without War called today for an end to the US led military occupation of Iraq and for the United States to seek an immediate transfer of authority to the United Nations to oversee the transition to Iraqi self-rule.  The mainstream coalition of 42 national organizations called for the convening of an emergency session of the UN Security Council and an international summit on Iraq.  

"Our nation is in a death-spiral in Iraq that continues to be fueled by a stunning degree of arrogance and ignorance by our government," said Win Without War National Director Tom Andrews.  "From insulting our allies, dismissing the United Nations, declaring 'Mission Accomplished' last May, goading Iraqi insurgents to 'Bring 'em on!' to shutting down a Baghdad newspaper ten days ago, it is clear that this government hasn't a clue and that is has become a dangerous impediment to resolving the tragedy in Iraq."  

All links to articles as summarized below are available: legitgov.org/index.html#breaking_news

Bush Was Warned of Possible Attack in U.S., Official Says --Dictator Bush was told more than a month before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, that supporters of Osama bin Laden planned an attack within the United States with explosives and wanted to hijack airplanes, a government official said Friday.

Secret memo shows Bush knew about hijack plot before 9/11 --Forced on to the defensive by talk of a cover-up, the White House yesterday agreed to publish a top secret memorandum which warned Dictator George W Bush a month before the September 11 attacks that terrorists might be preparing to hijack aircraft. The Aug 6, 2001 memo is a Presidential Daily Briefing (PDB) titled "Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States".

My friend wrote a letter and my thinking is as same as her saying. Her letter is on the web site of Aljazeera. english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/D2F8C568-2363-498B-B45D-2224282CEE90.htm I'd like you to air the news that they are not fighters but aid workers also.

The 3 Japanese Hostages are facing to death in hours. I know the one of them and must help them. A politician went to Amman to contact to the kidnapers and want some supporters to help him, so please tell me any contact address If you know somebody who is in Amman and possible to help our action.

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URGENT STATEMENT
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1. The three Japanese civilians who were forcibly abducted on the 8th of April in Iraq have no relationship whatsoever to the Japanese government or the Coalition Provisional Authority. Rather, they have consistently opposed the Anglo-American invasion of Iraq as well as the Japanese government's support of the invasion and dispatch of Japan Self-Defense Force (JSDF) troops.

HEBRON- Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) has learned that ten days ago, the Abdul Jawad Jabber family suffered another ruinous attack on their fields by reportedly forty Israeli settlers, many of them armed. At about noon March 28, the settlers, escorted and guarded by three jeeploads of Israeli soldiers, invaded a Jabber grape arbor at the corner of the settlers-only entrance road to Harsina Settlement and Highway 60 and began to systematically saw down--level with the ground--twenty three grape vines. Some of the vines were thirty years old and about three inches across at the cut.

CPTers learned of the destruction while making a collegial visit to their long time Ba'qaa Valley friends. While sitting on the porch of the Jabber home, overlooking the ruins of the house of one of Adbul Jawad's middle aged sons, Joudy, and which was demolished by the Israeli Army sixteen months ago, family members sadly told CPTers about their latest ordeal.

President Bush told us how he wasn't going to allow the world's most destructive weapons to fall into the hands of terrorists and along with freeing the Iraqi people these were justifications for us to remove Saddam Hussein from power by any means necessary.  Over the past few weeks the world has witnessed a steady increase in clashes reported in Iraq.  The decision to close a Baghdad weekly affiliated with Shiite Cleric Muqtada al-Sadr sparked a new round of protests from thousands of Shiite Iraqis.  We were told we'd be welcomed with open arms.

With warfare escalating in Iraq, syndicated columnist George Will has just explained the logic of the occupation. “In the war against the militias,” he wrote, “every door American troops crash through, every civilian bystander shot -- there will be many -- will make matters worse, for a while. Nevertheless, the first task of the occupation remains the first task of government: to establish a monopoly on violence.”

     A year ago, when a Saddam statue famously collapsed in Baghdad, top officials in Washington preened themselves as liberators. Now, some of the tyrant’s bitterest enemies are firing rocket-propelled grenades at American troops.

AUSTIN, Texas -- You may be wondering why House Majority Leader Tom DeLay is raising money for a legal defense fund and telling his fellow Republicans in Washington to be prepared to name his replacement in the event he is indicted. DeLay and Texas House Speaker Tom Craddick may have achieved the near-impossible by breaking Texas campaign finance laws. Since Texas essentially has no campaign finance laws, this is no mean feat.

            In Texas, anyone can give any amount of money to any candidate -- the sky's the limit -- you just have to report it. You would think that pretty much solves any legal or ethical complaints, but there is just this one little tiny rule: no corporate or union cash to candidates.

It's been a bad 12 months for American journalism. Given fourth estate gullibility regarding Bush's WMD claims, plus fictioneering at The New York Times and USA Today, I'd been hoping (with the dulled, hopeless hope that people on Death Row clutch to their bosoms) that maybe this year the Pulitzer Board would give its prizes a pass, at least so far as the press is concerned.

            But the Pulitzer industry, eternally clubby and corrupt, is designed in part to reassure the citizens that, all available evidence notwithstanding, the press is a vigilant watchdog for our liberties and fully deserves those Constitutional protections that guarantee it a 20 percent rate of return on capital invested.