You might remember earlier this year when US reporters and pundits debating whether or not the US government should use torture or sanction the use of torture by allied nations to extract information from Al Qaeda and Taliban detainees. Jerks like Alan Dershowitz came down firmly in the "yes" camp, tossing the Bill of Rights and the Geneva Conventions out the window without a second thought. Now it turns out that the Pentagon and the CIA have taken this to heart and are busy using "stress and duress tactics"--methods that our own State Department terms torture--at secret bases in foreign countries. In addition, CIA and Pentagon officials admit that US government policy is to surrender terrorism suspects to foreign military and police agencies that are known torturers. The CIA even goes to great lengths to "suggest" to other nations that they file charges against a suspect in order to get him transferred into their hands for questioning. This news was broken by two reporters at the Washington Post, Dana Priest and Barton Gellman, who conducted interviews with intelligence specialists and US government officials, most of whom declined to be named for obvious reasons. While the story was picked up in abbreviated form in various media around the country, the original article is well worth reading and passing around to your friends and family: www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37943-2002Dec25.html. Add it to your file on crimes committed by the Bush administration.--Maria Tomchick

The never-ending oil spill continues, with a huge slick threatening to wash ashore in southern France. But an even bigger mess is brewing among European Union nations. After the sinking of the single-hull oil tanker Prestige off the coast of Spain in November, France and Spain took action to ban single-hull tankers from their waters. In the weeks before Christmas, France turned away three Greek tankers, sparking a diplomatic row with the Greek government. Spain and France's ban means that the only large ports in northern and western Europe open to single-hull tankers are in Britain, and the British government is considering joining the ban. Greece, which has the largest tanker fleet in the world, is extremely alarmed and is accusing France of violating international maritime law. Next stop: WTO?--M.T. Source: "French ban on oil tankers breaks law, warns Greece," John Lichfield, The Independent, 12/27/02, http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/story.jsp?story=364546.

Some English-speaking folks have been curious about Al-Jazeera TV for a long time. In the past year, I wished more than once that I could get access to an English-language version of their coverage of the Afghanistan war, despotic Middle Eastern governments, and interviews with Al Qaeda figures (all of which have made them enemies in the US government and throughout the Middle East). Now the Qatar-based TV station has announced that it will set up an English-language website starting in early 2003 and distribute English-language TV news programming by late 2003. I can't wait!--M.T.

A raft of anti-war groups and groups opposed to war have formed an Anti-War Emergency Response Network to plan Seattle's public response in the event of an open assault on the people of Iraq. The No War Against Iraq Coalition, Not in our Name, Green Party of Washington State, Sound Non-Violent Opponents of War (SNOW), and the Church Council of Greater Seattle have come together to plan rallies on the day of and day after an escalation of war. The plan is for folks to gather at the Federal Building at 915 Second Avenue at 5:00 PM, with a march to Westlake at 7:00 PM on the day that either: (1) A declaration of war is made, (2) US bombing of Iraq increases significantly, or (3) US troops are deployed in Iraq. The day after, gather at the Federal Building starting at noon, & march to Westlake Park for a rally at 4:30 PM. Several independent feeder marches will be organized by students & different groups to meet at Westlake for the rally. Plans are also under way for day-time vigils at the Federal Building for the first 7 days of war. The Emergency Response Network is looking for endorsements and participation by as many organizations as possible. E-mail Jody Haug at jodyhaug@hotmail.com, with a copy to Megan Cornish at mcornish@igc.org, or call Jody Haug at 206-789-3620 or Megan Cornish at 206-240-6463. The group reports that the atmosphere at ERN meetings has been positive, inclusive and united.--ETS! New Services

Last issue we reported on the November 15th anti-privatization victory in El Salvador's health care industry. Our jubilation was shorter lived than expected. The right wing ARENA party, which had been the only party to vote against the State Guarantee of Health and Social Security, convinced a smaller, also right leaning party to change its vote. The new majority overturned the anti-privatization provisions on December 20. The ARENA party, which holds the presidency and has ties with El Salvador's notorious death squads, most active in the 1980s, offered to give the PCN party some of its pet projects in the 2003 budget in return for switching its vote. The El Salvador solidarity group CISPES reports that the PCN now intends to introduce its own bill to allow concession of key healthcare services to for-profit national and multinational corporations.

Workers from the healthcare industry and allied unions returned to the streets in protest and vowed to continue their three-month-old labor actions in opposition to the "pay or die," health care system proposed by the right. Union members stormed the Legislative Assembly, while the left opposition FMLN party took over the podium and denounced what they called an underhanded maneuver and predicted that the ARENA and PCN parties would answer to the people on election day. Health care workers again barricaded themselves inside hospitals across the country and thousands of people took to the streets, often facing riot police as they have throughout the strike, often with violent outcomes. The legislature has in the meantime adjourned until the new year.

The US government maintains its longstanding support for the right wing government and its privatization efforts. The Bush-run State Department has dismissed union leaders' reports of death threats as "unconfirmed rumors," and otherwise has behaved in opposition to the interests of the people of El Salvador (as usual). Salvadoran activists are asking US citizens to support their struggle against this privatization plan, and against CAFTA, the Central Area Free Trade Agreement.

CISPES suggests sending faxes (011-503-243-9947) or emails (fmelgar@presidencia.gob.sv) to President Flores demanding that he restore the "State Guarantee of Health and Social Security" in its original language, end attempts to privatize health care, guarantee the safety of striking workers, investigate death threats, and grant general amnesty to all striking workers and end the illegal firings of unionized workers.

They also suggest calling Andrea Rodriguez, the El Salvador Desk Officer at the US State Department, at (202) 647-3505 or send faxes to (202) 647-2597 asking her to convey the same demands to President Flores.

As always you can contact the White House and your representatives and oppose CAFTA, and insist that the US not negotiate free trade in the face of ongoing labor and human rights violations in El Salvador and elsewhere in Central America. Find more info and sample letters at www.cispes.org--Troy Skeels

Proving that vast government authority and delusions of grandeur aren't necessarily all they're cracked up to be, DARPA has apparently been rethinking its public relations strategy. Things took an unexpected turn for John Poindexter, the semi-felon who was tapped to run the high tech snooping project known as Total Information Awareness, after some of his personal information was recently published in the San Francisco Weekly and elsewhere. Activists and assorted smart-alecks have published information about Poindexter, including satellite photos of his house, as a way of giving the Pentagon's Snoop Czar a taste of his own medicine. Now the TIA project's website has been shrinking, as information, apparently having been reconsidered, was removed. First, swaths of Poindexter's resume disappeared from the site. Now the lurid logo of the project, with its all-seeing eye x-raying the planet has been yanked, along with the motto (in Latin) "Knowledge is Power." The agency so far hasn't explained what happened to the missing information. Perhaps it was found to compromise sensitive intelligence sources and methods.--TS

Times are changing at Dow Jones, parent company of the likes of the Wall Street Journal and Barron's. At a series of company-wide meetings in early December, senior executives were confronted by angry employees, including some who reportedly questioned the very validity of capitalism as an economic system.

Things began to go awry when company president Peter Kann answered questions about layoffs and other cost- and employee-cutting measures. One awakening worker asked why only non-executive employees were downsized and why stockholders didn't have to "suffer any pain." Kann responded that his corporation "is not an egalitarian place. No corporation is." When the employee asked "why not?" Kann spilled the secret kept from the once elite journalists all these years. "Well, that's one of the dangers you face living in a capitalist society," he said.--TS