British Take a Blunter Approach to War News. The New York Times contrasts American and British press coverage, finds a “wider scope” and “less defensive tone” in the latter, “an essential supplement to (American) tunnel vision”. [via randomWalks]. In contrast, rc3 points to a Trevor Butterworth article in Salon Premium suggesting that British journalistic standards are lower than at major US papers because they have to attract readers in a more highly segmented and competitive market. ‘No facts, please — we’re British…

Americans are flocking to feisty British papers for news about the war. But there’s a reason the U.S. media fails to follow up on the Brits’ “scoops” — they’re frequently not true.’

Hanan Ashwari: ‘It’s time for U.S. to broker Mideast peace’. ‘(The) longtime Palestinian leader and spokesperson for Yasser Arafat called Monday on the United States to immediately broker a peace settlement between the Palestinians and the Israelis. Asserting that the unresolved plight of the Palestinians was “one of the major causes of extremism in the world,” she asked, “How do we move beyond the pain of the moment towards an American involvement that is positively intrusive?” (She also) ‘… tells Osama bin Laden he does “not have the right to use” the Palestinian plight “for your ends.” ‘ Salon

Officers kill militia voice; deputy shot. ” William Milton Cooper, 58, whose apocalyptic, constitutionalist shortwave radio programs were a major influence on Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, was shot to death after Cooper shot and critically wounded an Apache County sheriff’s deputy who had tried to arrest him, officers said.” Via the null device, which adds that Cooper’ “is perhaps best known for popularising the greys/MJ-12/alien-contactee world-government conspiracy mythos, and was an influence on the likes of X Files creator Chris Carter.”

Robert Fisk: Hypocrisy, hatred and the war on terror

: ‘So why on earth are all my chums on CNN and Sky and the BBC rabbiting on about the “air campaign”, “coalition forces” and the “war on terror”? Do they think their viewers believe this twaddle?”Independent UK

‘Tourist Guy’: Is He or Isn’t He?: ‘After the Sept. 11 attacks, the tourist guy became the subject of dozens of doctored photographs. Inspired by the original picture that put him at the WTC attacks, Web surfers quickly turned him into the Forrest Gump of the Internet, placing him at the scene of major, minor and just plain inane events in history.’ Wired

Splits open in UK-US alliance Private frustration expressed by gov’t ministers “…over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; the bombing strategy; perceived lack of US consultation with its allies; and insufficient US focus on the humanitarian crisis… There is also rising anxiety within Whitehall that after Afghanistan the Bush administration may turn its sights on Iraq.

Mr Bush said on Wednesday that the bombing of Afghanistan was just the start of the war on terrorism.” Guardian UK

Tactics readied for a smallpox fight. A centers for Disease Control conference, with many of the infectious disease experts who participated in the effort to eradicate smallpox more than twenty years ago, has pulled together a protocol to deal woth an outbreak scenario. The CDC will make the plan public in 2-3 weeks after final revisions by public health officials around the country. The controversial — and perhaps unworkable — aspect of the plan is to vaccinate not only the ring of people who had come in contact with an infected individual or individuals, but to identify and vaccinate a second ring — those who had come into contact with the first circle of people. CDC officials say it is essential. Boston Globe

Meanwhile, the Shrub administration seems intent on vaccinating the entire populace. HHS Sec’y Tommy Thompson is pushing pharmaceutical companies to gear up manufacture of smallpox vaccine to have enough on hand for everyone. Shrub revelaed during yesterday’s visit to the CDC in

Atlanta that he is considering making the immunization program compulsory Times of London, despite the fact that hundreds would likely die from the vaccinations themselves.Smallpox immunization ended in the US in 1972; studies vary on whether those vaccinated 30 years ago would have any lingering protection against new exposure. The last naturally occurring case of smallpox occurred in Somalia in 1977, although two English laboratory workers were infected with smallpox in 1978 after an accidental exposure. Current stockpiles of smallpox virus are known to exist only in the US and the former Soviet Union.

WTO: Splinter Groups Breed as Activists Fracture — ‘Activists worldwide are hosting solidarity protests this weekend against the World Trade Organization meeting in Qatar. The demonstrations are occurring under the shadow of a zero-tolerance policy taken by European and American security officials since the Sept. 11 attacks. But activist groups are under greater threat from internal rifts, which may lead to the formation of a more violent anarchist faction.’ StratFor

The ‘war on terrorism’ is a war on freedom (ours): U.S. Will Monitor Calls to Lawyers: Most egregious action yet by Ashcroft; I agree with stunned defense attorneys who have characterized this as a blatant assault on constitutionally guaranteed right to counsel and a “terrifying precedent.”

The Justice Department has decided to listen in on the conversations of lawyers with clients in federal custody, including people who have been detained but not charged with any crime, whenever that is deemed necessary to prevent violence or terrorism.

Attorney General John D. Ashcroft approved the eavesdropping rule on an emergency basis last week, without the usual waiting period for public comment. It went into effect immediately, permitting the government to monitor conversations and intercept mail between people in custody and their attorneys for up to a year at a time. Washington Post

Equally frightening, this proposal, which has been mentioned before but now appears to enjoy the support of the heavyhitters of the airline industry, represents a step toward an all-encompassing central database:

The airline industry on Thursday formally called for a massive screening system that would subject passengers to intensive background checks, providing a boost to one of the more controversial security ideas under discussion since Sept. 11.

Under the Air Transport Assn. proposal, all reservations would be checked against a new government database that would include arrest records, intelligence information, immigration files and financial data. This master database, constantly updated, would be used to identify individuals who merit closer screening at the airport. LA Times

The CIA is gaining sweeping new centralized authority over intelligence gathering, in a proposed reorganization:

(A) presidential panel prepared to recommend an overhaul of U.S. intelligence agencies. The plan would consolidate often disparate and competing spy resources under the stewardship of the CIA director, officials said.

The panel, expected to deliver its recommendations to President Bush next month, would give the CIA new authority over spy satellites and electronic intercepts, officials said.

The CIA chief would gain control over three large military intelligence agencies that now are part of the Defense Department, according to a U.S. official familiar with the draft proposals.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the agencies include the National Security Agency, which oversees electronic intercepts; the National Reconnaissance Office, which designs and operates intelligence-gathering satellites; and the National Imagery and Mapping Agency, which interprets satellite photos and creates military maps.

And the FBI is going to be recast on a (permanent?) war footing, Ashcroft assures us. New York Times

London urged to give Dome to New York: “The troubleshooter brought in to rescue the Millennium Dome urged Tony Blair last night to give the structure to New York to conceal the horrors of the salvage operation at the World Trade Centre site.” The Times of London

Zbigniew Brzezinski, former national security advisor under President Carter: A New Age of Solidarity? Don’t Count on It: “Is it, therefore, the dawn of a new age, born in the ruins of the World Trade Center and the exploding bombs in Afghanistan? A closer look justifies a great deal of skepticism. The solidarity is genuine, but it is a solidarity more of words than of deeds. Moreover, the underlying realities of power have not been changed… There is no Europe as such that is joining America in its long-term campaign; individual European states are doing what they can… While Putin was sympathetic, it is still an open question whether Russia has made a historic choice in favor of the West or is seeking to exploit America’s preoccupation to extract specific concessions… In the Middle East there is nothing even remotely resembling the anti-Iraq coalition of 1991.. In brief, the “coalition” against terrorism does not even share a common definition of the threat…” Washington Post