Posted: December 16, 2003

Canadians should be happy to pass up Pentagon contracts and sidekick status - Linda McQuaig
  Let Iraqis rebuild their country - for a lot less than what Bush's corporate friends are getting paid.

Missile defence needs Parliamentary debate - Maude Barlow and Steven Staples
  Most Canadians don't even know we're in negotiations, only scraps of information.
 

Hussein's capture doesn't vindicate the war - Ish Theilheimer
  Coup obscures true problems and ignores the real question - what's the right way to get rid of human rights abusers and promote lasting justice?

Community, rights and change
Manji's vision of modern, Western Islam is a hard sell - Reuel S. Amdur
  A review of the book The Trouble with Islam, by Irshad Manji.

US claims right to torture - Reuel S.Amdur
  Paul Cellucci informs us his country reserves the right to deport our citizens to third countries when they find it appropriate.

Laureate blasts West over rights - Toronto Star
  Shirin Ebadi first Muslim woman to win Nobel award.

Iraq analysis
Saddam gone - David Corn, The Nation
  The celebratory tone accompanying much of the media coverage of Hussein's apprehension, though, may be more triumphal than warranted.

Funny how time slips away - CNN Presents/New York Times
  Documentary recalls formerly close relationship between US and Hussein, including famous handshake with Rumsfeld.
 

Saddam sideshow obscures reality - David B. Livingstone, AlterNet
  How long will Haliburton remain forgotten?

'Five Lies' excerpt: Bait and switch - Christopher Scheer, Robert Scheer and Lakshmi Chaudhry, AlterNet
  Exploiting 9/11 and five key lies about Iraq, the White House convinced Americans that Baghdad posed both an imminent threat and a moral imperative.

Afghanistan: the forgotten war - Kim Sengupta, The Independent
  While the eyes of world are on Iraq, the Taliban are reborn across much of this country and their al-Qa'ida allies are once more in the ascendant.

Media files
Clone website to hold Martin up to scrutiny
  PaulMartinTime.ca unspins the new PM.

We don't do scandals - Ahmed Amr, mediamonitors.net
  24 full-fledged, rip-roaring American scandals overlooked by major media.

New political news website: US Politics Today
  Constant updates, 750 subject areas.

Hot headlines
Canada rolls over for US on softwood lumber - Doug McArthur, Globe and Mail
  Those who believe the US intends to use trade agreements to take away Canada's sovereign control over policy in this country will find lots of confirmation in this deal.

Growing social divide between US, Canada, pollster says - Shawn McCarthy, Globe and Mail
  Americans from the Northern states often have more values in common with their Canadian neighbours than they do with their cousins from Southern states.

Nobody's really interested in a military showdown over Taiwan - Gwynne Dyer
  It sounds almost like a real crisis, but it's all just a charade.
 

Lies, damned lies and finance ministers - Dru Oja Jay, PaulMartintime.ca
  Liberal tax cuts have helped the wealthy most, contrary to stated views of Ralph Goodale.