If you’ve ever wondered who the unluckiest person in the world is, I think I’ve found him. His name is Abdul Rahim. In January 2000, he was arrested in Afghanistan by the Taliban. They tortured him. They burned him with cigarettes, smashed his hand, deprived him of sleep, submitted him to water torture, and hanged him from the ceiling. Eventually he “confessed” to being a spy for the United States.
The US-led coalition in Afghanistan has distributed leaflets calling on people to provide information on al-Qaida and the Taliban or face losing humanitarian aid. The move has outraged aid organisations who said their work is independent of the military and it was despicable to pretend otherwise. – Guardian 2004-05-06
I’m sure there are some people who still doubt that Bush decided to attack Iraq immediately after 9/11, in spite of the fact that the 9/11 attackers were Saudi Arabian and Iraq had nothing to do with it at all. So: PRESIDENT George Bush first asked Tony Blair to support the removal of Saddam Hussein from power at a private White House dinner nine days after the terror attacks of 11 September, 2001.
Time for another boring little news summary, culled from diverse mainstream media outlets, with links to sources… Dick Cheney is being sued for possible involvement in accounting fraud while running Halliburton. The company is also being investigated by the SEC. Meanwhile, Halliburton has just won the contract to provide the support services for the US military in Afghanistan. Halliburton took part in Energy Task Force discussions about building an oil pipeline from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan and Pakistan, to Dabhol in India, to allow the tapping of the Central Asian oil reserves.
Some numbers: Amount of money raised by Red Cross for NYC terrorism victims: $530m Amount disbursed to terrorism victims: $40m Amount spent on “long term goals and administrative costs”: $225m [Source: Toronto Star] Percentage of Pakistanis who say they sympathize with the Taliban: 83% Percentage who sympathize with the USA: 3% Percentage of Pakistanis who see Osama bin Laden as a “holy warrior”: 82% Percentage who believe he is responsible for the 9/11 attacks: 12% [Source: Newsweek, via The Week]