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Saturday, April 15, 2006

In an article published on Wednesday by The Washington Post, reporter Joby Warrick alleged that the Bush administration and the CIA “possessed powerful evidence” that contradicted assertions made by President Bush one month after the Iraqi war began, where trailers found in Iraq were said to have been mobile biological weapons labs.

On May 27, 2003, President Bush made public statements on these trailers by asserting that “We have found the weapons of mass destruction,” which coincided with the CIA publishing a whitepaper that detailed how the trailers were allegedly used to produce biological weapons.

Warrick’s news report revealed that evidence exists to support that two days before the presidential statements were made and the CIA whitepaper was published, that a fact-finding group reached an opposite conclusion.

The group was comprised of U.S. and British civilian experts that investigated the labs and concluded unanimously that they had nothing to do with biological weapons production. They relayed their results back to Washington, where Warrick said in the front page Washington Post article that the newspaper interviewed six of the nine group members.

According to The Washington Post, this preliminary report was followed up with a detailed 122 page final report three weeks later, titled “Final Technical Engineering Exploitation Report on Iraqi Suspected Biological Weapons-Associated Trailers.” The report remains classified to this date.

Reuters reported that an unnamed U.S. official confirmed the existence of the field report filed on May 27, 2003, and said that the field report had not been evaluated at the time of Bush’s statement. “You don’t change a report that has been coordinated in the (intelligence) community based on a field report,” he reportedly said. The Bush administration continued to make claims about having found mobile biological weapons facilities throughout 2003.

On June 8, 2003, an unnamed senior CIA official stood by the interpretation that the trailers were mobile bioweapons labs saying “It is what we think it is, to the best of our knowledge”.

Then Secretary of State Colin Powell claimed in June 2003 that “confidence level is increasing” that the trailers were intended for biological weapons production.

White House speaker Scott McClellan said on July 16, 2003, that “We’ve seen some of the evidence of his weapons of mass destruction program through two mobile biological weapon labs that have been discovered.”

Vice President Dick Cheney claimed in September 2003 that the trailers were “mobile biological facilities”. Then CIA director George Tenet claimed in a speech on February 5, 2004, that the trailers “could be made to work” as biological weapons labs.

The alleged existence of mobile biological weapons laboratories was one of the cornerstones in Colin Powell’s presentation in front of the United Nations to make the case for war on February 5, 2003. Much of the information came from an Iraqi defector dubbed Curveball who was an asset of the German BND. The credibility of this source was disputed by the BND.

The Iraq Survey Group reported in September 2004 that the trailers were “impractical” for biological agent production and “almost certainly” designed and built for the generation of hydrogen. Asked about the prospects to turn the trailers into biological weapons labs, Rod Barton, a member of the Iraq Survey Group, said “It would be easier to start all over with just a bucket”.

The Washington Post cites unnamed sources among officials and members of the initial survey group as claiming that the original classified report from May 27, 2003 and the classified final report three weeks later came to the same conclusions as the unclassified findings of the Iraqi Survey Group.

Scott Ritter, a former United Nations weapons inspector, wrote September 8, 2003:”However, it now is clear that these so- called labs were nothing more than hydrogen generation units based upon British technology acquired by Iraq in the 1980s, used to fill weather balloons in support of conventional artillery operations, and have absolutely no application for the production of biological agents.”

In the April 12, 2006 press conference, Scott McClellan said “I will point out that the reporting I saw this morning was simply reckless and it was irresponsible. The lead in The Washington Post left the impression for the reader that the President was saying something he knew at the time not to be true. … The President’s statements were based on the joint assessment of the CIA and DIA that was publicly released the day before [the President made his statements].”

He did not answer repeated questions whether the President knew of the secret report at the time he was asserting that “we found biological laboratories” on May 29, 2005. When asked why the secret report was not made public earlier McClellan responded by saying that “it takes a substantial amount of time to coordinate and run through a declassification process”.

A compilation of brief news reports for Wednesday, January 21, 2009.

One of President Barack Obama’s first acts of office was to request a suspension of the military commission hearings in Guantanamo Bay, a United States base on the island of Cuba.

The legal motion, signed last night by Obama and the US Department of Defense, is due to be heard today by two judges chairing the commissions. It requests that the hearings be halted until May 20.

The military commissions were created by the Bush administration, and are similar to military trials of alleged criminals. The accused were captured outside the United States, including in Afghanistan, on suspicion of involvement in terrorist or insurgent acts.Hundreds of enemy combatants have been imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay since the detention center opened 2002.

Related news

• “Obama will close Guantanamo Bay in his first week say advisers” — Wikinews, January 13, 2009
• “U.S. Supreme Court requests reconsideration of habeas petitions of Gitmo captives” — Wikinews, December 15, 2008

Sources

• “Obama acts on Guantanamo trials” — BBC News Online, January 21, 2009
• Agence-France Presse. “Obama seeks suspension of Guantanamo trials” — Google News, January 21, 2009

On Monday, the New York Jets hired Raven’s defensive coordinator, Rex Ryan, to be their new head coach. No further details were included in Monday’s announcement. The Jets failed to make the 2008–09 playoffs in American football’s National Football League (NFL).

Ravens linebacker, Bart Scott, stated “I think it’s a gain for them and a loss for us, but it’s well-deserved, it was a long time coming.”

Coming into New York, Rex is faced with his first challenge: the future of quarterback Brett Favre. Favre has already decided to take a few weeks to decide whether or not to stay in the NFL for the upcoming season.

Related news

• “Steelers, Cardinals win championship games to advance to Super Bowl XLIII” — Wikinews, January 19, 2009

Sources

• Associated Press. “Jets hire Ravens defensive coordinator Ryan to replace Mangini” — National Football League, January 19, 2009
• Simon Evans and John O’Brien, Reuters. “Jets appoint Rex Ryan as new head coach” — guardian.co.uk, January 19, 2009

On Monday, two earthquakes of magnitude greater than 6.0 struck the South Pacific. These are the strongest earthquakes since the magnitude 7.4 quake in the North Pacific last Thursday. No damage was reported.

First, an earthquake of 6.4 magnitude struck the Kermadec Islands, about 1000 kilometres (600 miles) north east of New Zealand’s North Island.The quake hit at 2.11 am local time, (1411 UTC Sunday), 95 km south of Raoul Island.Later, at 0335 UTC (2.35 pm New Caledonia time) a magnitude 6.5 quake occurred 120 km (75 miles) south east of Hunter Island in the Loyalty Islands, part of the French territory of New Caledonia.After the second quake, the United States Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a bulletin saying that “earthquakes of this size sometimes generate local tsunamis that can be destructive along coasts located within a hundred kilometers of the earthquake epicenter.”Both of the quakes began just 10 km below the surface.

Hunter Island (île Hunter in French) is an uninhabited island claimed by Vanuatu and France. It is about 600 km east of Nouméa, the New Caledonia capital, and 1600 km north of New Zealand. A magnitude 6.7 earthquake hit 145 km west of the island only last Thursday.

The Kermadec Islands, owned by New Zealand, are largely uninhabited, apart from Department of Conservation staff and volunteers. This is the fifth earthquake of magnitude greater than 6.0 to hit the islands in four months.

Related news

• “Strongest earthquake in 150 years hits Costa Rica” — Wikinews, January 10, 2009

Sources

• “Magnitude 6.5 – SOUTHEAST OF THE LOYALTY ISLANDS 2009 January 19 03:35:19 UTC” — USGS, January 20, 2009
• “Magnitude 6.4 – KERMADEC ISLANDS, NEW ZEALAND 2009 January 18 14:11:45 UTC” — USGS, January 20, 2009
• “Strong quake hits near New Caledonia” — TVNZ, January 19, 2009
• Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. “TSUNAMI BULLETIN NUMBER 001 ISSUED AT 0347Z 19 JAN 2009” — National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,
• Agence-France Press. “Strong quake jolts remote islands off New Zealand” — channelnewsasia.com, January 18, 2009

References and external links

• “7.0 quake hits Kermadec Islands” — Stuff.co.nz, December 9, 2008
• United States Geological Service. “Latest Earthquakes M5.0+ in the World – Past 7 days” — 

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Ray Scott is running for the Family Coalition Party in the Ontario provincial election, in the Algoma-Manitoulin riding. Wikinews’ Nick Moreau interviewed him regarding his values, his experience, and his campaign.

Stay tuned for further interviews; every candidate from every party is eligible, and will be contacted. Expect interviews from Liberals, Progressive Conservatives, New Democratic Party members, Ontario Greens, as well as members from the Family Coalition, Freedom, Communist, Libertarian, and Confederation of Regions parties, as well as independents.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

North America’s largest outdoor dog festival came back to Toronto last weekend for its fifth year. It ran from the 9th of June to the 10th of June at Toronto’s historical St. Lawrence Market. A Wikinews reporter was there on Sunday to report on some of the events that happened on the last day.

The “Woofstock” dog festival attracted as many as 140,000 people with their dogs. The festival had tons of accessories, sold under tents, to buy for dogs; food, toys, designer clothes, and more. About 400 vendors and exhibitors were there to promote their products, which also gave private dog companies or groups a chance to show their new products. The local SPCA and some animal rescues were under tents answering questions from visitors. While walking, all visitors could see the CN Tower and other very tall buildings.

One of the local TV stations, Citytv, was there. They hosted a live event at the show which was broadcast on TV. People came up on the stage and asked questions regarding their dogs and the host and co-host answered them.

A man, who called himself the “Chalk Master”, drew two pictures on pavement with chalk. He did it for free but donations were welcome. One was a picture of a girl’s head beside a dog’s head, and another with a wolf.

“Hello Humans. I’ve been invited here to provide your eyeball(s), with some pretty colours. I don’t get paid as I work this weekend strictly for tips… so, if you like what you see please make a DONATION. If you don’t like it simply reach into the pocket of the person next to you and give me their money. CHALK MASTER.”

A contest called “Canada’s top dog” had its own tent with a professional photographer taking pictures of dogs behind a white screen; the winning photo is to be published on the cover of “Puppy and dog basics” magazine.

Large “Gourmet” dog bones were also served from a cart and table.

Next year’s festival is expected to be bigger and better with even more attractions.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

In diplomatic cables released by the whistle blowing website Wikileaks on Friday, it is revealed that the United States embassy in Rangoon suspects the North Korean and Burmese military are participating in “covert military or military-industrial” activities. In the cables dating back as early as January 2004, the embassy reports the military activities could include the construction of a nuclear reactor in or near Minbu, along with “SAM missiles” and an underground facility with as many as 300 North Korean military personnel assisting the Burmese military in the construction. Burma is primarily controlled by its military.

In the January 2004 cable, a businessman reportedly told the U.S. embassy in Rangoon that “massive” barges were bringing in large pieces of equipment to Minbu from the Irawaddy River. He suggested that “the quantities involved as well as the diameter of the rebar suggested a project larger than ‘factories.'” In the same cable, the U.S. acknowledges that rumors of a nuclear reactor being constructed in the area date back to 2002, with suspected Russian involvement. “Rumors of ongoing construction of a nuclear reactor are surprisingly consistent and observations of activity such as that described [sic] appear to be increasing,” said Martinez, the reported cable author. According to a news report in March, The Irrawaddy claims Burma was close to completing at least three nuclear reactors. The country’s leadership claims the nuclear research that is taking place is to be used for peaceful purposes.

In August of the same year, the U.S embassy receives more information that North Korea military is assisting in the construction of “SAM missiles (surface to air missiles) of unknown origin” and an “underground, concrete reinforced” facility in Minbu. The construction allegedly includes buildings which would house at least “20 Burmese army battalions that will be posted near the site.” The correspondent again says that the report “tracks with other information Embassy Rangoon and others have reported in various channels.”

“This account is perhaps best considered alongside other information of various origins indicating the Burmese and North Koreans are up to something. Something of a covert military or military-industrial nature. Exactly what, and on what scale, remains to be determined,” said McMullen, the reported cable author. He also admits that the number of North Koreans thought to be assisting the Burmese military “is much higher than our best estimates of North Koreans in Burma.” According to the Agence France-Presse in 2002, citing an unnamed U.S State Department official, the U.S. warned Burma not to pursue a nuclear program saying that it expects Burma “to live up to its obligations [under the non-proliferation treaty] and to not pursue production of weapons grade fissile material.” However a 2008 cable says that Burma may already be in possession of weapons grade uranium. The cable reports that a civilian tried to sell 2,000 kilograms of uranium-238 which “could be dug up” from the ground at a site in Kayah State. Uranium-238 could be used in the construction of nuclear weapons.

“A Burmese civilian met with members of USDAO [United States Defense Attaché Office] Rangoon and offered to sell Uranium-238. The individual had initially contacted the USDAO eight days prior with the offer. The individual provided a small bottle half-filled with metallic powder and a photocopied certificate of testing from a Chinese university dated 1992 as verification of the radioactive nature of the powder,” said the cable. “The individual claimed to be able to provide up to 2000 kg of uranium-bearing rock from a location in Kayah State, and further stated if the U.S. was not interested in purchasing the uranium, he and his associates would try to sell it to other countries, beginning with Thailand,” it added. The cable adds that the Burmese government was unaware that such a transaction was taking place and that they “would likely seize any additional samples or stocks of the material if aware of their existence.” However, a cable in January of 2007 says that the Burmese military may have received a shipment of uranium at the end of that month. The “sensitive shipment” was said to have come from Singapore via shipping freighter.

“[An unnamed witness] claimed that metals are usually exported in blocks, whereas the bags in this shipment were filled with loose earth and mud. The source of the mixed ore, Maw Chi, is also a source for uranium, they claimed. Security was tighter than usual, surveillance was heavier, and officials paid closer attention to the movement of the shipment and activity at the port,” said the cable. The cable author, ‘Villarosa,’ later states that the embassy in Rangoon was given allegedly detailed information on the shipping methods, weight and cost. No further cables have yet to be released on the matter.

Monday, March 19, 2007

A 34 year old obstetrician from Forestville on Sydney’s Northern Beaches has escaped after he was robbed, car-jacked and locked in the boot (trunk) of his BMW, which was set alight. Police say the doctor was locked in the boot while his car was set alight, but was allowed to escape before flames engulfed the vehicle.

The Doctor was believed to have been heading to The Mater Hospital in North Sydney when he was waiting at the intersection of West and Falcon Streets in Chatswood around 3:15AM AEDT when a small red sedan with two men claiming to be police officers signalled him to stop. After crossing the intersection, the doctor stopped his car at the side of the road.

The doctor was then approached by the two men and when he asked to see identification, one man grabbed the keys from his car’s ignition before they both pulled the doctor out of his vehicle, hit him in the stomach with a hammer and stole his mobile phone and wallet. The robbers also demanded his key and credit cards along with their access codes before locking him in the boot.

Police allege that the men drove to several locations to withdraw cash and buy things before driving to Carisbook Street in Linley Point at around 4 a.m. local time where they set the car alight with the doctor still in the boot.

Crime Manager of the Harbourside Local Area Command, Detective Inspector Houlahan said that the doctor then “heard a click in the boot area and he heard someone call out: ‘Get out of the car'”

“When he pushed the boot up he found his car engulfed in flames.”

Det. Insp. Houlahan said the doctor told police he did not unlock the boot himself, and it appeared the man’s captors unlocked it before fleeing.

Det Insp Houlahan said that the doctor appeared to be “very distraught” and tired after the ordeal, and wanted to get home and see his wife and two young daughters.

He could only provide police with a vague description of his captors, but said the men were both Caucasian males aged in their 20s, and that one of them was about six feet tall (183cm) with short blond hair and medium build said Det. Insp. Houlahan.

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Ricky “The Hitman” Hatton regained the IBF light welterweight title belt he relinquished less than 12 months ago when he defeated Juan Urango in Las Vegas, Nevada tonight.

“The Hitman” won by unanimous decision, as the fight went to 12 rounds. Despite early match odds suggesting Hatton would dominate the fight, this was not the case. Each round was close, but most pundits and judges alike agreed that Urango only won 1 of the 12 rounds, with Hatton taking the other 11.

Despite the unfamiliar confines of Las Vegas, Hatton looked touched by the ringing of football fan-like chants, familiar in British boxing, that rang around the arena, as more than half of it was filled by traveling support from across the atlantic.

Many in the UK will hope Hatton has ended the “curse” that has seen names such as Frank Bruno, Naseem Hamed, Barry McGuigan and others fall short while headlining fights on “The Strip”.

From here, it is widely believed “The Hitman” will move on to fight Jose Luis Castillo in June, again likely in Vegas.