By Propaganda Monster posted 2 December 05
Indonesian police say a man they have been holding in connection with the Bali bombings in October is now suspected of direct involvement.
But Indonesian police make up the story as they go along particularly when they hear dissenting views coming from independent news in Australia challenging their independent views that they only ever managed to be able to get those who assisted in bombings.
They have to countermand that now because the Indonesian authorities attempt to clean up their act as they go along.
We had the second Bali bomb blast on the dance floor in 2002, and while working in the Embassy in 2004, both blasts using 'military hardware' and then the 2005 Bali blasts in the cafes with home made bombs to make it look like a 'home grown attack' - that could only have been carried out by suicide bombers and peasant scapegoats, those the authorities seek to blame it on.
We've also got the story of the alleged capture of Azahari after police allegedly let him go the first time and a bent story that was changed the following day to go along with his alleged capture and killing!
Then the subsequent drip-fed propaganda, video's, books, maps, plots etc beaming into Australia everyday from the mainscream pro-government media to mind-set the propaganda, like it's the real deal?
No doubt the pro-government media's aim in Australia is to beam in any bombing, threat, terrorist, plot, plan, video, or conspiracy theory from around the world, at this time, but in particular Indonesia, to boost the fear factor in the newly to be introduced Ant-Terrorism Bill here.
Bali police spokesman Antonius Reniban says the 33-year-old, known as Wiwid, was arrested just over a week ago and was facing up to 15 years in prison under Indonesia's 2002 anti-terrorism laws.
But that's nothing; you can get that if police say they found two pills on you in Indonesia, just ask Michelle Leslie!
Police 'believed' Wiwid harboured those suspected of carrying out the bombing.
But they now 'believe' he knew of the bombing plan and was part of it.
One wonders what they will believe tomorrow?
And that may depend on what we say here in Australia today. Because the Australian government is complicit in the fear campaign, no doubt! And has in its history being complicit with the Indonesian government to commit war crimes and state sanctioned terror!
But you just can't believe anything coming out of corrupt Indonesia, especially when it is also in the Australian governments best interests!
The spokesman says Wiwid was taken into custody in Semarang in Central Java.
He is now being questioned at Bali's central police headquarters, along with two other suspected scapegoats allegedly linked to the Malaysian bomb expert Azahari.
Azahari was allegedly killed in November and his accomplice Noordin Top is allegedly still on the run.
Because Noordin Top is going to be behind the next major bombing?
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By elliot_k posted 4 December 05
December 3, 2005: Double murderer Kenneth Lee Boyd has became the 1,000th prisoner executed in the United States since 1976. Another man was put to death on Friday for the 1994 murder of a store clerk, becoming the 1,001st person executed in the United States since capital punishment was reinstated 28 years ago. The somber moment drew a sizeable crowd to Central Prison in Raleigh, N.C., to protest capital punishment...
Don't Kill For Me!
Kenneth Lee Boyd, 57, of Rockingham, N.C., died by lethal injection for the 1988 shootings of his estranged wife, Julie Curry Boyd, who was 36, and her father, Thomas Dillard Curry, 57. Members of both families had asked to be present.
Shawn Humphries, 34, mouthed "I'm sorry" to his victim's two sisters before fatal chemicals were pumped into his veins. His death came about 16 hours after North Carolina executed Kenneth Lee Boyd.
Humphries' attorney said he had told her "he would rather be 1,000 because if he has to die, No. 1,000 will be remembered. No. 1,001 won't." Boyd told Associated Press in a prison interview that he wanted no part of the infamous numerical distinction of being the 1000th prisoner executed.
"I'd hate to be remembered as that," Boyd said on Wednesday. "I don't like the idea of being picked as a number."
Boyd's attorney, Thomas Maher, had hoped to win a stay for his client, who he said had an I.Q. of 77. The cutoff for mental retardation, a mitigating factor in some capital cases, is 75. Others argue that the death penalty should be reconsidered because it is so arbitrarily applied. He also hoped the U.S. Supreme Court and North Carolina Governor Mike Easley would consider that before these murders, Boyd had no history of violent crime, and that he had volunteered to go to war in Vietnam.
"The vast majority of those sentenced to death for their crimes are impoverished and live in the South," said Stephen B. Bright, director of the Southern Center for Human Rights and a long time advocate for death row inmates.
"Texas has put 355 people to death in the last 30 years, with just one county in Texas, Harris County, accounting for more executions than the entire states of Georgia or Alabama. Where is the justice in that?" questioned Bright.
Boyd's son, Kenneth Smith, 35, who visited his dad every day for the last two weeks, said in an interview on Thursday that he felt the attention paid to the milestone had hurt his father's chances for clemency. Smith also said his dad was deeply troubled that he might only be remembered as a grim hash mark in the history books.
"He didn't want to be 999, and he didn't want to be 1001 if you know what I mean," said Smith. "He wanted to live."
Belinda J. Foster, District Attorney for Rockingham, N.C., who prosecuted Boyd, said she felt confident that the death penalty was warranted in this case.
"There are cases that are so horrendous and the evidence so strong it just warrants a death sentence," Ms. Foster said.
Michael Paranzino, president of the pro-death penalty group Throw Away the Key, agreed.
"You'll never stop crimes of passion, but I do believe the death penalty is a general deterrent, and it expresses society's outrage," Paranzino said. An October 2005 Gallup poll found that 64 percent of all Americans support capital punishment in murder cases.
Boyd never denied his guilt, but said he couldn't remember killing anyone and didn't know why he did it.
"We believe this occasion is the perfect time to reconsider the whole issue of execution," said William F. Schulz, executive director of Amnesty International, a group that has sought to end the practice of using executions as a punishment for crime around the world.
"Since 1976, about one in eight prisoners on death row in the U.S. has been exonerated. That should raise serious questions about ending a person's life," Schulz said.
North Carolina executed two prisoners last month, as well as two others earlier in the year.
Debate over capital punishment
The grim milestone has prompted global outcry from human rights advocates. In a media statement the European Union also condemned the execution, calling for the end of the death penalty worldwide:
"We consider this punishment cruel and inhuman. It does not act as a deterrent and any miscarriage of justice - which is inevitable in any legal system - is irreversible."
Boyd's death rallied death penalty opponents, and about 150 protesters gathered outside the prison. After watching Boyd die, Rockingham County (N.C.) Sheriff Sam Page said the victims should be remembered.
"Tonight, justice has been served for Mr. Kenneth Boyd. What I would ask you to do is not forget the victims of this crime..." Page said. "Pray for them. Pray for them and their healing."
"This is one small step for humankind - backwards," said veteran American campaigner Clive Stafford Smith in an interview with Reuters. "The death penalty makes us all far more barbaric. I have watched a lot of people die, and when you come out from watching someone being executed it certainly isn't a better world."
According to Kenyan National Human Rights Commission Chairman Maina Kiai, "[It is] a great pity that the US can keep on executing people [when much of the developed world had already ended the death penalty]."
"Also, the fact that in the US a lot of death sentences that are carried out invariably affect people of colour and poor people, it's an issue of great concern," Kiai said.
In Singapore, where a 25-year-old Australian was hanged just hours before Boyd's execution, Sinapan Samydorai, president of the think-tank Think Centre, said there was no justice without life.
"The US is supposed to be a champion of human rights and democracy, yet they do not recognise the right to life," he said. Singapore has a mandatory death sentence for crimes such as murder, firearms offences and drug trafficking, and has hanged 420 people since 1991, mainly for drug trafficking.
"It is a scandal that the death penalty still exists in a civilised country like the United States of America," said Petra Herrmann, chairwoman of the German group Alive e V.
In Japan, where the death penalty is widely supported, Akiko Takada of anti-capital punishment group Forum 90 said despite frequent use of the death penalty in the United States, "crime there shows no signs of diminishing, so ultimately the death of these people has no effect."
Thirty-eight of the 50 US states and the federal government permit capital punishment.
Only China, Iran and Vietnam had more executions in 2004 than the United States, according to rights group Amnesty International.
Sources
"U.S. reaches death penalty milestone". The New York Times, December 2, 2005
"Death penalty foes slam US over 1,000th execution". New Kerala, December 3, 2005
"Capital punishment at 1,000 and counting". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, December 3, 2005
"S.C. Man Apologizes Before He's Executed". CBS News, December 3, 2005
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By Alan Travis posted 4 December 05
* Assessment for treatment for all who test positive
* Thresholds for illegal possession may be raised
UK: All suspects arrested for drug-related crime - currently 240,000 a year - are to be tested for heroin, cocaine and crack by the police under a scheme starting today and those whose results are positive will be required to undergo a compulsory assessment for treatment.
This expansion in compulsory drug testing comes as ministers are considering specific thresholds for the personal possession of different drugs. Carry more and the police will assume you are a dealer. Home Office officials said last night that the government was "minded to set" the limits at 4ozs of cannabis resin, half a kilo of cannabis leaf, 10 ecstasy tablets, or 7g of heroin or crack cocaine.
The Home Office estimates that the expansion of the police compulsory testing programme from those who are charged with drug-related crimes to all those arrested for such offences means the numbers tested will rise from 80,000 to more than 240,000 a year. More than 2,200 people entered the drug treatment programme by this route last month.
The scheme comes into force today in Manchester, Nottingham and South Yorkshire and will follow in the rest of the country next March. First-time drug using offenders will be tested if they are arrested for "trigger offences" including street robbery, burglary, theft and handling stolen goods.
Those who test positive will be required to attend a drug assessment even if they are not charged. A Home Office spokesman said those who refused to provide a sample or undergo the assessment would face a fine of up to £2,500 or three months in prison. The courts are also able to deny bail to someone who refuses assessment or the follow-up treatment and support.
The expansion of the drug intervention programme was announced yesterday by the home secretary, Charles Clarke, in a speech to the national drugs conference in London. It came as Home Office ministers launched a consultation on whether specific limits should be set for the personal possession of heroin, cocaine, crack, ecstasy, amphetamines and cannabis.
The draft limits are based on an informal agreement between Nottinghamshire police and the Crown Prosecution Service. They are: heroin: 7g or 10 or more "wraps" containing 0.1g. Crack cocaine: 7g or 10 wraps of 0.1g. Cocaine: 7g or 10 wraps of 1g. Ecstasy: 10 tablets. Amphetamines: 14g or 10 wraps of 1g. Cannabis: resin - 4ozs or 10 individual pieces; leaf - 0.5 kilos or more than 20 "2 x 2" bags.
The police have resisted setting a specific threshold for cannabis, arguing that it would only lead to street dealers carrying around smaller amounts than the prescribed limits.
Opposition politicians said that the draft thresholds were so high they would make the fight against illegal drug use even harder. "A lot of dealers are going to be let off the hook," said the Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman, Alistair Carmichael.
It emerged yesterday that Brixton police in south London intend to arrest anyone caught with even a small amount of cannabis from December 12 in a drive to tackle the growing number of drug dealers on Brixton high street.
Brixton was the first London area to pilot the police policy of cautioning but not arresting people possessing small amounts of cannabis.
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By aljazeera posted 22 November 05
The memo has been described as 'hugely damaging to Bush'
US President George Bush planned to bomb Aljazeera, British newspaper the Daily Mirror has reported, citing a Downing Street memo marked top secret.
The five-page transcript of a conversation between Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair reveals that Blair talked Bush out of launching a military strike on the station, unnamed sources told the daily.
The transcript of the pair's talks during Blair's 16 April 2004 visit to Washington allegedly shows Bush wanted to attack the satellite channel's headquarters in Doha, Qatar.
Blair allegedly feared such a strike, in the capital of Qatar, a key Western ally in the Gulf, would spark revenge attacks.
Aljazeera has said in a news statement that it is investigating the report and urged the US and British governments to challenge it.
A British civil servant has been charged under the Official Secrets Act for allegedly leaking the government memo.
________________
Civil servant accused
Cabinet Office civil servant David Keogh is accused of passing the memo to Leo O'Connor, who formerly worked for former British lawmaker Tony Clarke.
Both Keogh and O'Connor are scheduled to appear at London's Bow Street Magistrates Court next week.
According to the Daily Mirror, Clarke returned the memo to Blair's office. Clarke could not immediately be contacted for comment on Tuesday.
The Mirror on Tuesday quoted an unnamed British government official as saying Bush's threat was "humorous, not serious".
Aljazeera's coverage of the war in Iraq had drawn criticism from Washington after the US-led March 2003 invasion.
A source told the Mirror: "The memo is explosive and hugely damaging to Bush.
"He made clear he wanted to bomb Aljazeera in Qatar and elsewhere. Blair replied that would cause a big problem.
"There's no doubt what Bush wanted to do - and no doubt Blair didn't want him to do it."
____________
Deadly serious
Another source said: "Bush was deadly serious, as was Blair. That much is absolutely clear from the language used by both men."
A spokesman for Blair's Downing Street office said: "We have got nothing to say about this story. We don't comment on leaked documents."
Clarke, the former lawmaker, told Britain's domestic Press Association news agency that O'Connor had done "exactly the right thing" in bringing it to his attention.
The Mirror said such a strike would have been "the most spectacular foreign-policy disaster since the Iraq war itself".
The newspaper said that the memo "casts fresh doubt on claims that other attacks on Aljazeera were accidents". It cited the 2001 direct hit on the channel's Kabul office in Afghanistan.
In April 2003, an Aljazeera journalist died when its Baghdad office was struck during a US bombing campaign. Nabil Khoury, a US State Department spokesman in Doha, said the strike was a mistake.
In November 2002, Aljazeera's office in Kabul, Afghanistan, was destroyed by a US missile. None of the crew was at the office at the time. US officials said they believed the target was a terrorist site and did not know it was Aljazeera's office.
_____________________
Downing Street challenged
Blair's former defence minister Peter Kilfoyle challenged Downing Street to publish the transcript.
"I believe that Downing Street ought to publish this memo in the interests of transparency, given that much of the detail appears to be in the public domain," Kilfoyle told the Press Association.
"I think they ought to clarify what exactly happened on this occasion. If it was the case that President Bush wanted to bomb Aljazeera in what is after all a friendly country, it speaks volumes and it raises questions about subsequent attacks that took place on the press that wasn't embedded with coalition forces."
Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Sir Menzies Campbell told the Press Association: "If true, then this underlines the desperation of the Bush administration as events in Iraq began to spiral out of control.
"On this occasion, the prime minister may have been successful in averting political disaster, but it shows how dangerous his relationship with President Bush has been."
______________________
Abd al-Bari Atwan's reaction
Speaking to Aljazeera from London on Monday, Abd al-Bari Atwan, chief editor of the London-based Al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper, said: "The issue of Bush's plan to bomb Aljazeera's headquarters in Doha will be widely discussed in Washington and London.
"Reporters in the US and Britain are enraged by reported US plans to use force against media organs.
"Arab and international media organs are now under a terrorist campaign launched by the US as it does not want the truth to be revealed.
"This [US] administration has been disgraced as it has used immoral and illegal ways to occupy and tear out a country, kill more than 100,000 and wound more than 400,000 of its people.
"The results of the war, being revealed now in Iraq, have forced reporters to ask why they have been misled.
"New York Times has apologised, saying it has misled public opinion when it did not accurately investigate the objectives of the US administration.
"I believe that considering use force against a media station is the worst kind of media terrorism practised by a country which pretends to lead the free world, democratic values and media freedom."
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