What if the next attack is the last?

Homeland Security NTARC News
WND.com
It's easy to forget the Islamic terror attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C. In fact, the bulk of Americans already have.

Our government has precipitated this view by requiring nothing of ordinary citizens. There are no gasoline or ration coupons, there are no long lines to buy tires or other products used in the war, and there is no military draft. In fact, for the bulk of Americans, 9-11 was a television mini-series that played way back when. It drew oohs and ahhs when it ran, but now it's over.

It is the military alone that has paid the price. And for the bulk of Americans, that suits them quite well.

It is possible – and I have held this view – that such complacency was a testimony to the effectiveness of our intelligence agencies. The NSA in particular, it seems, had the capability of listening in on certain terrorist telephone calls about where the next bomb would be detonated. Thus the work of the FBI and Homeland Security became considerably easier, and more pre-emptive.

It's also possible that this view is wrong.

Recently, I have found myself wondering: What if the next attack on American soil – the one so many experts say they feel is inevitable – is not a single attack? What if, instead, it is a widespread, crippling blow designed to finish the United States as a world power? What if it destroys 8-12 of America's cities with nukes that were gradually put in place during the time interval since 9-11? What if it releases a follow-on biological attack?

Put another way, what if the reason there have been no attacks following 9-11 is that there have been no attacks following 9-11?

Despite the fact that 9-11 failed in its goals, it is impossible not to admire bin Laden as a military strategist. The concept: Hit the financial center in New York and the federal government in Washington, D.C. Remove the capability of the U.S. to respond militarily by crippling the Pentagon. Throw the government into turmoil by destroying the White House and the Capitol building.

We don't honor the people on the plane that went down in that Pennsylvania field nearly often enough. Nor do we appreciate that grounding and diverting civilian airliners that day prevented other attacks. The character of the 9-11 attack increasingly leads me to believe that the next attack on the United States will be a large, crippling attack beyond the comprehension of most Americans.

For the left, ending the war on terror is easy. Quit fighting. Give the Islamists what they want, which is commonly perceived to be Israel (there they go again, giving away something that isn't theirs to give). For those of us who know the cycle of aggression and appeasement, the answers are not quite so easy. A nuclear North Korea and probably within another year Iran indicate that most of the world is ready to accept "nukes are us" franchises in terrorist nations. Civilization cannot survive this, simply to give aging leftist boomers another few years of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll.

Amnesty Opens Door For Foreign Occupation Of U.S.

Reform Bill drafted in secret by foreign stakeholders, not even provided to Senators to read
infowars.net
The Senate is on the verge of passing a bill that has been written in secret and has not even be read which provides total amnesty for 12 million (if you are to believe official figures) illegal aliens already inside the US, allows them to bring in their entire families from outside and ultimately paves the way for foreign occupation of the United States.

The immigration reform bill, which has been hailed by President Bush, has been denounced by many commentators and Senators as total amnesty by stealth.

Listen To Alex Jones' impassioned rant on this subject from today's show.

It has been drafted in total secrecy with the help of liberal think tanks and Latino national interest groups such as the National Council of La Raza and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which as the Washington Post reported now have virtual veto power in the immigration debate. Some of these groups are notoriously racist and have openly called for revolution.

On Wednesday conservative web site redstate reported:

The issue boils down to whether Senate Republicans leaders, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and Conference Chairman Jon Kyl (Ariz.), will give Democrats a free pass to bring up the bill without ever giving Republicans a chance to review it. Sen. Teddy Kennedy (D.-Mass.) is leading negotiations for the Democrats, and has so far negotiated a favorable deal for Democrats, according to sources close to the negotiations.

A motion to proceed is a procedural step to start debating the legislation. It would allow leadership to present a bill to the Senate with no time for senators to actually read the legislation.
“There is concern among conservatives on the Hill that leadership will cave in on the motion to proceed on a bill that they’ve never seen,” one senior Senate aide told me. “Conservatives don’t want to do this because they don’t trust that the negotiators will produce a bill that will be satisfactory to conservatives.”

The legislation would grant undocumented workers who came into the country before January a permit to remain. They could then apply for a new, four-year "Z Visa," renewable indefinitely, as long as they pay a $5,000 fine, a $1,500 processing fee, show a clean work record and pass a criminal background check (even though they entered the US illegally, so are criminals).

The "Z visas" also pave the way for "chain immigration" allowing an immigrant to bring in relatives. Previously chain immigration was limited to immediate family members. New legislation will open it to include possibly more than 11 family members of any relation. Once those family members become resident they too will be able to bring in their extended families and so on.

Advocates of the bill are claiming that this can only happen in tandem with a total crackdown on border control. In other words before those immigrant-rights measures could go into effect, the government must deploy 18,000 new Border Patrol agents and four unmanned aerial vehicles; build 200 miles of vehicle barriers, 370 miles of fencing, and 70 ground-based radar and camera towers; provide funds for the detention of 27,500 illegal immigrants a day; and complete new identification tools to help employers screen out illegal job applicants.

Given that the government has not been able to build a simple fence in six years how is it going to be able to achieve all this within eighteen months? We have also seen in the past how "immigration control efforts" such as Real ID, boosting troops on the borders and building fences are simply smoke and mirrors behind which lie methods of control, outrageous elitist profiteering and the destruction of freedom.

This is not the first time the Bush administration has moved to aid the benefits of Mexicans illegally working working in the US. In 2005, the New York Times reported that the Bush administration had initiated a program to start paying hospitals and doctors for providing emergency care to illegal immigrants. Members of Congress from border states had sought the money, totaling $1 Billion. They said treatment of illegal immigrants imposed a huge financial burden on many hospitals, which are required to provide emergency care to patients who need it, regardless of their immigration status or ability to pay. The administration had previously abandoned a proposal that would have required many hospitals to ask patients if they were U.S. citizens or legal immigrants.

Add to this previous mainstream reports of banks and lenders opening their doors to illegal immigrants, facilitated by government agencies, such as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. As reported in the Wall Street Journal, the FDIC is encouraging banks to lend and invest in undeserved markets regardless of customers' immigration status.

Given these facts why should anyone now believe that the real agenda is to create a system that is tough on illegal immigrants?

In 1986 Reagan announced an amnesty of one million illegals which ended up being between three and six million with the promise of tougher border control which never materialized. There are now officially twelve million illegals in the country, however this figure is universally thought to be flawed as it is based primarily on the national census, to which illegals are most likely not to partake in. Higher estimates put the figure at over twenty million, with three or four million a year now entering the US.

The new bill's authors "seem to think that they can dupe the American public into accepting a blanket amnesty if they just call it 'comprehensive' or 'earned legalization' or 'regularization,' " commented Rep. Tom Tancredo "The president is so desperate for a legacy and a domestic policy win that he is willing to sell out the American people and our national security."

“It is unconscionable that with an issue of this magnitude and complexity that the Senate would proceed to legislation without any text available to review by senators,” another senior Senate source said.

U.S. Senator DeMint commented "I hope we don't take a thousand page bill written in secret and try to ram it through the Senate in a few days. This is a very important issue for America and we need time to debate it." DeMint denounced the "Z visas" stating "This rewards people who broke the law with permanent legal status, and puts them ahead of millions of law-abiding immigrants waiting to come to America. I don't care how you try to spin it, this is amnesty."

Indeed it is amnesty, but it seems this time it will be much much more as well.

The AP is reporting that the Santa Fe Police Department is considering the possibility of recruiting Mexican nationals to fill vacant police jobs. Current regulations prohibit non-citizens from serving as police officers, but as a total amnesty would legalize all illegals this problem would dissolve.

Law departments are arguing that they, like the armed forces, should be allowed to recruit foreign nationals into vacant positions.

The US armed forces has also seen an influx of foreign troops, an average of 20% of ground troops in Iraq are now non citizens, this is set to rise to 50% over the next year with foreign recruitment stations facilitating the supply.

There now exists a situation in the US where foreigners are being recruited to the armed forces and soon enough to law enforcement.

Add to all this the fact that there is a huge push for a North American Union underway, which is continuing apace in relative secrecy and without Congressional oversight. We have issued several reports, the latest here, covering the fact that a wide range of US administrative law is being re-written in stealth under this program to "integrate" and "harmonize" with administrative law in Mexico and Canada, just as has become commonplace within the EU.

As this issue has raged on and tensions have continued to mount we have also seen that 'Immigration Protests' are being used as a cover for a racist ethnic cleansing movement. The fallout of increased tensions could lead to rioting and may provide the perfect pretext to begin round-up and internment procedures that have been previously outlined in the REX 84 program and were cited in the recent Kellogg Brown and Root contract to construct detention camps which was given to them by Homeland Security.

Social, political and economic forces are pulling America apart and driving her toward a bloody conflict that may fracture and Balkanize the nation. The move to cement a legal force of underling workers that will do the dirty work for America while at the same time wiping out middle class opulence and sustainability is a direct avocation of a creation of a massive underclass of illegal, third world, uneducated and poor slaves.

This only serves to benefit one section of society, the elite.

We urge you to flood the switch boards of the Senate and Congress and vent anger at the fact that the latest immigration reforms are set to be passed without even being read. We ask you to demand to know why the legislation has been drafted in secret under the direct influence of foreign stakeholders. And we ask you to demand your Senators and Congressmen to halt this blind overhauling of American security and to restore the system of constitutional debate before it is too late.

202-225-3121 Congress Switchboard

202-224-3121 Senate Switchboard

www.congress.com

Michigan GOP Move To Kick Ron Paul Out Of Debates Dropped

prisonplanet

Another crushing victory for free speech as RNC overwhelmed with thousands of calls, 20,000+ petition signatures

Freedom of speech has just registered a crushing victory after it was announced that the Michigan GOP have dropped their move to have Congressman Ron Paul kicked out of the Republican debates.

Though we still have to be wary that other factions within the GOP could seek to bar Ron Paul, we have shot down this trial balloon for now.

The RNC and the Michigan GOP received thousands of calls after we quickly organized a campaign and a petition in opposition to Michigan head Saul Anuzis' action to circulate a petition calling for Ron Paul to be removed from all future debates. Others also circulated online petitions to counter the move, totaling over 20,000 signatures between all the petitions.

Anuzis was angry that the Texas Congressman had dared to suggest that bombing Middle Eastern countries causes anger and blowback at the Republican candidate debate on Tuesday evening.

"After consulting with my fellow RNC members, I believe there isn’t anything to be gained by advancing a petition aimed solely at removing Congressman Paul from the debates. The primary is and will continue to work itself out," writes Anuzis on his blog.

Anuzis also protests that his intention was never to censure free speech but in moving to kick Ron Paul out for something he said that offended the Neo-Con leadership of the Michigan GOP, this was clearly an attempt to stifle a candidate who has made himself a frontrunner and won all the debate polls by simply telling the truth.

Judging by this call (MP3 link) to the RNC, both the Republican National Committee and the Michigan GOP have been flooded by complaints over the last couple of days and their only recourse was to submit to the will of the people and drop the idea altogether.

This is another victory for free speech and another example of how we can make a difference and make our voices heard in the political process.

FOX's Gibson Stretched Thin Over Rosie's 'Imagination'

jones report
O'Donnell Allegedly Pushing Phony Numbers for Iraqi Deaths, Found Guilty for Not Believing in Bogeymen "Terrorists" and 'Imagining' Government-Sponsored False-Flag Attacks by U.S.

Rosie is attacked by FOX's John Gibson for making more provocative statements about government-sponsored terrorism yesterday on The View . Gibson objected to the insinuation that the United States has engaged in state-sponsored terrorism and considered absurd Rosie's statement that "most Americans don't fall for the trick of the bad 'terrorists' anymore" as she emphasized the word 'terrorists' by making a quote mark gesture.

Gibson and his guest also accuse her of using bad figures for the number of Iraqis killed, though the real number is much higher than the 655,000 estimate Rosie quoted-- which was based on an MIT study that mainstream-media TV news and the Bush Administration tried to refute. That number itself now more than 6 months old.

In addition Documents obtained by the BBC under a Freedom Of Information Act request have proven that despite public dismissal of last year's Iraq Death Toll study, published in The Lancet Medical Journal, British Government officials actually backed the methods used by scientists who concluded that more than 600,000 Iraqis have been killed since the invasion.

Regardless, Rosie is branded "anti-American" and full of "hate."

"The vast majority of Americans no longer are falling for the trick of the bad 'terrorists'," making a quotation gesture during the word terrorists.

Gibson questioned "By what stretch of the imagination" could the U.S. government perpetrate state-sponsored terrorism and terrorists be imaginary?

LINKS IN SUPPORT OF ROSIE'S ARGUMENT

Bush's War on Perception; the bombing of the Golden Mosque

False Flag Terror of the New World Order

Rumsfeld's Replacement Nurtured Bin Laden and Pivotal in Iran-Contra

Brzezinski Suggests False Flag Event Could Kick-Start Iran War

Brzezinski: How Jimmy Carter and I Started the Mujahideen

Zbigniew Brzezinski with Osama bin Laden in 1979.

PHONY TERRORISM

Former CIA Analyst: Government May Be Manufacturing Fake Terrorism

How the CIA Created Osama bin Laden

Bin Laden Tape Betrays 'Phony Hijacker' Contradiction

Hijack 'Suspects' Alive and Well

World Net Daily: Terror Alerts Manufactured for Political Effect?

More Evidence "al-Qaeda" is a CIA-ISI Contrivance"

A War in the Planning for Four Years

FBI Director Mueller acknowledged in 2002 There Was No "Legal Proof to Prove the Identities of the Hijackers"

Another Phony Al-Qaeda Group Claims Responsibil ity for Latest London Bombings

CNN: 'Hijacker' Visa Found in Flight 93 Wreckage

RELATED TO PHONY: 9/11 Prior Knowledge Archive

Street lockdowns proposed for Baltimore

ap
BALTIMORE - A city council leader, alarmed by Baltimore's rising homicide rate, wants to give the mayor the power to put troubled neighborhoods under virtual lockdown.

"Desperate measures are needed when we're in desperate situations," City Council Vice President Robert W. Curran told The (Baltimore) Sun. He said he would introduce the legislation next week.

Under Curran's plan, the mayor could declare "public safety act zones," which would allow police to close liquor stores and bars, limit the number of people on city sidewalks, and halt traffic during two-week intervals.

Police would be encouraged to aggressively stop and frisk individuals in those zones to search for weapons and drugs.

Baltimore has tallied 108 homicides already this year, compared to 98 over the same period last year. Police and prosecutors also say they are facing a "stop snitching" culture that discourages victims and witnesses from cooperating with investigators trying to get criminals off the streets.

Councilman Keiffer J. Mitchell Jr., a mayoral hopeful, said Curran's idea was an interesting concept but it raised questions about civil liberties.

"We have to make sure we're not declaring martial law," he said.

Mayor Sheila Dixon had a lukewarm response after meeting with Curran on Wednesday, but she said she might support the idea with some changes.

"We're already currently in those communities. We're bringing the resources and services to the communities," Dixon said. "I want him to build on what we're attempting to do."

Curran said he modeled his plan after an approach advocated by Philadelphia mayoral candidate Michael Nutter, who won the Democratic nomination Tuesday. Nutter has called for declarations of a "state of emergency" in high-crime neighborhoods, where police would conduct aggressive stop-and-frisk searches and impose curfews.

Curran, who also sponsored Baltimore's recently passed smoking ban, said he expects opposition.

"Some of the critics of the smoking ban were telling me, 'If you want to save lives in Baltimore, do something about the murder rate, do something about the gun violence,'" he said. "I'm trying to stop the murders, to reduce the mortality rate from gun violence in this town."

Armed police raid home after mistaking Lara Croft dummy for gunman

uk daily
When police spotted a gun-wielding suspect lurking in the shadows of a suburban front room, their response was swift.

Armed officers burst into the house, shouted at the owner to lie on the floor, and ordered him to surrender his weapon.

But efficiency turned to embarrassment when the "gunman" turned out to be a life-sized model of the video game character Lara Croft, complete with trademark outsized pistols.

Computer shop owner David Williams, 42, had taken the dummy home to put it up for sale on the auction site eBay.

As the source of the confusion dawned on all concerned, it might have been the moment for an apology from the police.

Instead, however, Mr Williams was taken to the cells and held for more than 13 hours before being released.

He is now on bail for a suspected firearms offence, and Lara Croft remains impounded as evidence.

"It would have been laughable if it hadn't been so terrifying," he said yesterday. "One of the police held a gun and yelled, 'Where's the weapon, where's the weapon?'

"I didn't have a clue what was going on, I assumed they'd got the wrong house. I couldn't believe it when I realised they'd mistaken a Lara Croft dummy for someone with a gun."

Father-of-two Mr Williams had phoned police after receiving nuisance phone calls, and officers arrived at his house in Dukinfield, near Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester, shortly before midnight.

He says he did not hear them arrive, but unknown to him one officer had seen the dummy's silhouette through the front window and called for armed back-up.

Soon afterwards, the street was cordoned off and a team of armed officers burst in through Mr Williams's back door.

A spokesman for Greater Manchester Police said officers peered inside after Mr Williams failed to answer his front door.

"They believed they saw a silhouette of a person pointing what appeared to be a firearm inside the house," she said.

They followed "correct procedure" by withdrawing to await armed officers, she added.

"Officers then went into the house and found a mannequin holding a toy weapon."

Mr Williams, who says he is speaking to lawyers about a possible claim for wrongful arrest, will hear whether he faces further action when he answers bail next month.

Global net censorship 'growing'

bbc
The level of state-led censorship of the net is growing around the world, a study of so-called internet filtering by the Open Net Initiative suggests.

The study of thousands of websites across 120 Internet Service Providers found 25 of 41 countries surveyed showed evidence of content filtering.

Websites and services such as Skype and Google Maps were blocked, it said.

Such "state-mandated net filtering" was only being carried out in "a couple" of states in 2002, one researcher said.

"In five years we have gone from a couple of states doing state-mandated net filtering to 25," said John Palfrey, at Harvard Law School.
Mr Palfrey, executive director of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society, added: "There has also been an increase in the scale, scope and sophistication of internet filtering."

ONI is made up of research groups at the universities of Toronto, Harvard Law School, Oxford and Cambridge.

It chose 41 countries for the survey in which testing could be done safely and where there was "the most to learn about government online surveillance".

A number of states in Europe and the US were not tested because the private sector rather than the government tends to carry out filtering, it said.

Countries which carry out the broadest range of filtering included Burma, Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen, the study said.

Full list of countries from the survey that filter content
The filtering had three primary rationales, according to the report: politics and power, security concerns and social norms.

The report said: "In a growing number of states around the world, internet filtering has huge implications for how connected citizens will be to the events unfolding around them, to their own cultures, and to other cultures and shared knowledge around the world."
Jonathan Zittrain, Professor of Internet Governance and Regulation at Oxford University, said the organisation was also looking at the tools people used to circumvent filtering.

"It's hard to quantify how many people are doing this. As we go forward each year we want to see if some of these circumvention technologies become more like appliances and you just plug them in and they work," he added.

"Few states restrict their activities to one type of content," said Rafal Rohozinski, Research Fellow of the Cambridge Security Programme.

He added: "Once filtering is begun, it is applied to a broad range of content and can be used for expanding government control of cyberspace. "Cyberspace has become a strategic forum of competition between states, as well as between citizens and states."

Mr Palfrey said the report was an attempt to shine a spotlight on filtering to make it more transparent.

"What's regrettable about net filtering is that almost always this is happening in the shadows. There's no place you can get an answer as a citizen from your state about how they are filtering and what is being filtered."

Ron Paul: First Bush Was Working Towards New World Order

infowars
Presidential candidate Ron Paul (R-TX) was asked a question about the New World Order's agenda for a one-world government during a campaign stop in Austin, Texas on Saturday, amidst tremendous turnout and support.

Taking the second tier seriously - Politics - MSNBC.com

Taking the second tier seriously - Politics - MSNBC.com

Taking the second tier seriously
Are the maverick GOP hopefuls having an effect on the presidential race?
By Tom Curry
National affairs writer
MSNBC
Updated: 5:55 p.m. ET May 18, 2007

WASHINGTON - Is Republican presidential contender Ron Paul destined to be remembered for saying that terrorists attacked the United States on Sept 11, 2001 “because we've been over there; we've been bombing Iraq for 10 years”?

It was a critical moment in Tuesday night’s GOP presidential candidates’ debate in South Carolina.

Paul gave former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani the opportunity to rebuke him and dominate the news coverage of the event.

But Paul’s passionate supporters don’t think Giuliani was the winner — and their man the loser — in that skirmish.

In fact, Paul said Thursday that in the hours immediately after Tuesday night’s debate, supportive phone calls to his campaign and donations via his web site soared.

“I was amazed. People donate money in the middle of the night, so all that night there was money coming into our website,” Paul said in an interview with MSNBC.com.

Every four years, under-funded and relatively little-known presidential hopefuls such as Paul enter the race for their party’s nomination. You may recall some other long-shot contenders of past elections:
# Former Delaware governor Pierre “Pete” du Pont IV in 1988, who advocated allowing younger workers to set up voluntary retirement accounts as an alternative to Social Security.
# South Carolina Sen. Ernest “Fritz” Hollings in 1984, whose broad Southern accent led Sen. Ted Kennedy to call him “the first non-English speaking candidate for president.”
# Virtuoso orator Allan Keyes in 2000 who thrilled conservative audiences by demanding abolition of the income tax and repeal of the 16th Amendment.

'Pierre... a nutty idea'
Sometimes these candidates serve as unwitting foils for their party’s frontrunners.

During a 1987 debate among the six GOP contenders, Vice President George Bush snidely pointed out du Pont’s aristocratic heritage by criticizing du Pont’s proposal for private retirement accounts as an alternative to Social Security.

"Pierre, let me help you on some of this,” Bush snapped. “I think it's a nutty idea to fool around with the Social Security system and run the risk of the people who've been saving all their lives.”

The poll numbers of contenders such as du Pont or Paul in the early stage of the nomination contest suggest they have no chance to win.

But then again, they just might. The best case of a seemingly out-of-the-running candidate who surprised everyone and became the front-runner was Howard Dean four years ago.

In early 2003 the former Vermont governor keenly sensed the frustration Democrats felt about the Iraq war and he was exactly the right candidate for that moment.

Apart from their function as the idiosyncratic “character actors” of presidential debates, do these second-tier candidates have an impact on their party’s nominees and their policies?

Varied messages and motives
If they have little chance of sitting in the Oval Office, why do they run? In the case of this year’s crop of GOP long-shot contenders, the motives and messages vary:
# Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado: Long the leading voice in his party for keeping out illegal immigrants, Tancredo has spread his immigration message through his political action committee, trying to defeat fellow Republican Rep. Chris Cannon, in 2004, for example. A presidential bid is a natural extension of Tancredo’s advocacy and his presence in debates will ensure that the pressure is on Giuliani and McCain on the immigration issue.
# Rep. Duncan Hunter of California: Like Tancredo, Hunter speaks for the frustrated immigration hawks in his party. He’s also using his presidential bid to sound the alarm about the Chinese regime which, he said in his debut television ad, is “cheating on trade and they’re buying ships, planes and missiles with our money, as well as taking millions of jobs.”
# Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee: Having finished 11 years as governor, Huckabee was free to show off his relaxed talents as a presidential candidate, which he’d already been doing as a public health crusader. “Quit Digging Your Grave with a Knife and Fork,” he pleaded in his book and in speeches warning of soaring incidence of diabetes and obesity.
# Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas: His candidacy ensures that social conservatives will have their voice heard on protection of fetal life in the womb and preservation of heterosexual marriage.
# Tommy Thompson: He served 15 years of governor of Wisconsin, implemented successful welfare reform in his state, and contemplated seeking the GOP presidential nomination in 2000. But he yielded to a less experienced governor from Texas. On the campaign trial Thompson touts the significance of Wisconsin and its ten electoral votes and guarantees that he’d carry it for Republicans.

An unsuccessful bid can put a contender in the running for a future job, either as vice president, or as in the case of 1988 Democratic long-shot Bruce Babbitt who ended up as Bill Clinton’s Secretary of Interior.

Sometimes, as in the case of Paul, these second-tier candidates represent a category-busting type of thinking that cannot find a comfortable resting place in either major party.

Is Paul having an impact?
Asked Thursday what impact he is having on the Republican presidential race, Paul said, “I think it might be significant that one of the so-called front-runners needed to attack me on national television. They must think I’m having enough of an impact that they have to try to discredit me. That was the purpose of the (Giuliani) attack: to discredit me so that my foreign policy challenge wouldn’t be heard.”

He added, “What annoys them the most is that I don’t criticize foreign policy from the Left; I criticize it from the Right, from a conservative viewpoint, from a constitutional viewpoint. It drives them nuts.”

Paul, a ten-term House member from Texas and the 1988 Libertarian candidate for president, admits most Republican voters don’t agree with his non-interventionist approach to foreign policy.

“I think the majority of Republicans right now are in the camp of intervention — but they’re also asking a lot of questions because of what happened in last year’s election and they know that they lost the election over foreign policy,” he said.

Complete U.S. exit from Iraq
Paul supports withdrawing all U.S. troops from Iraq — not leaving some behind for counter-terrorism operations and training Iraqi soldiers, as advocated by Democratic contenders Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama.

And what of the consequences of U.S. exit from Iraq?

“It may be much better,” Paul said. “The Arab League may take over. Israel may be much more of a player there rather than us suppressing Israel. There’s all kinds of good things that could come of it.”

Paul will probably not be able to persuade Sen. John McCain to adopt a non-interventionist foreign policy. But in the long run, a contender can see vindication.

Case in point: Pete du Pont saw some of his ideas — considered extreme and unorthodox in 1988 — become mainstream.

In 1988 du Pont called for:
# Requiring welfare recipients to work, an idea which was incorporated into the 1996 welfare reform bill signed into law by President Clinton.
# Creating voluntary individual retirement accounts as an alternative to Social Security, a proposal which President Bush championed and tried to get Congress to enact in 2005.
# Withholding drivers’ licenses from high school students who test positive during mandatory random drug testing.
# Offering vouchers to parents so they could send their children to private schools, if local public schools were dysfunctional.

Discounted as an iconoclast who had little chance to become the 1988 GOP nominee, du Pont proved to be ahead of his time. So, too, could be today’s crop of contenders.
© 2007 MSNBC Interactive© 2007 MSNBC Interactive

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18727094/page/2/

London dirty-bomb tests start this weekend

the register
Home Office counter-terror boffins from the chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) Science and Technology Programme will carry out "tracer gas trials" in London starting this weekend.

Tony McNulty, the minister in charge of security spooks and special-powers cops, revealed the plans to Parliament yesterday.

"The trials will improve our understanding of the movement of air-borne material in the urban environment and will enable enhancements in public protection to be developed," he said.

"It will improve the UK's ability to deal with the consequences of a CBRN release."

The trials will involve the release of small amounts of "non-toxic, odourless gases" in the Marylebone area starting on Sunday, and will run for a four to six week period. The Press Association reports that about 20 scientific monitoring stations will be set up in the area.

The government terrorist-busting eggheads will use the data gleaned from the trials to develop computer models of dirty-bomb or urban chemical-weapons attacks. These are expected to form part of security plans for the 2012 Olympics, perhaps even feeding into the design and location of sports facilities.

Mr McNulty also revealed that similar tracer trials have already taken place in the London Underground during March and April.

Even so, it could be that if you build it (a big CBRN-response organisation) the dirty-bomb and chemical weapons terrorists may not come. Not if they know what they're doing, anyway.

The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission says that: "Most [dirty bombs] would not release enough radiation to kill people or cause severe illness - the conventional explosive itself would be more harmful to individuals than the radioactive material. However, depending on the scenario, a [dirty bomb] explosion could create fear and panic. Making prompt, accurate information available to the public could prevent the panic sought by terrorists.

"Immediate health effects from exposure to the low radiation levels expected from a [dirty bomb] would likely be minimal."

As ever, plain old explosives are the big worry. As for chemicals, compare the effects of the Tokyo subway gas attack (10 terrorists, five attacks each involving 1kg of hard-to-get sarin nerve gas, 12 dead total) with a typical backpack-bomb attack (London 7/7: four terrorists, four simple home made devices, 52 dead). Only a stupid attacker would bother with chemicals. Real pros like the IRA, for instance, never have.

Still, nobody ever made a mistake over-estimating the ability of Western citizens and in particular their media to get in a panic.

Pakistan warns against attacking Iran

press tv
Pakistan says military strike on Iran over its peaceful nuclear activities would be "catastrophic" hoping US-Iranian talks to ease tensions.

"The use of force to solve this issue will have catastrophic implications for the whole Ummah (Muslim nations) and for the whole world," said Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz a press conference in Amman on Friday.

"We are pleased to see that Iran will be engaging in a dialogue with the United States and we hope that leads to a reduction of tensions in the region," said Aziz, who is in Jordan to attend a G11 summit of developing countries.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki announced in Islamabad on Thursday that envoys from Iran and the United States are to meet in Iraq on May 28 for talks on the country's security crisis.

"Nothing but Iraq is on the agenda for Iran and US talks," he said.

Elsewhere in his remarks, the Pakistani Premiere said Islamabad has no plans to set up diplomatic ties with Israel.

"Our stand on relations with Israel is very clear. Once the Palestinian issue is resolved we will consider further steps but we are not planning any diplomatic relations "Aziz said.

"The Palestinian people deserve a homeland and the right to live in peace," he added.

Cops spied on hippies, hip-hoppers

NYPD eyed everyone from stars to pols before '04 GOP bash in city
ny daily news

The NYPD kept tabs on the biggest names in hip hop as well as peaceniks, anarchists, anti-war bloggers, a city councilman and at least one hippie pie-tosser as cops girded for protests at the 2004 Republican National Convention.

The list of the spied upon was revealed yesterday in 600 pages of secret NYPD intelligence files released by the New York Civil Liberties Union, which is suing the city on behalf of hundreds of demonstrators arrested during the convention.

Sean (Diddy) Combs, Jay-Z, LL Cool J and Alicia Keys were among the notables the NYPD monitored in the months before the convention arrived in New York. Each was expected to attend a protest rally during the convention staged by the Hip Hop Summit Action Network.

Among the activists eyed by the NYPD was Aron Kay, aka the Yippie Pie Man, who earned his moniker by tossing pies into the faces of authority for more than two decades.

Mostly, the NYPD intelligence squad crisscrossed the Internet, peeking in on Web sites like one for Camp Shut Down that urged viewers to Resist the GOP and offered advice for those caught up in an NYPD dragnet.

The cops kept tabs on anti-Bush groups like Cabbies Against Bush and Bands Against Bush, as well as Billionaires for Bush, a group not really for Bush at all.

Police also were watching City Councilman Charles Barron (D-Brooklyn), a onetime mayoral candidate who was expected to demand that the GOP hold the convention elsewhere "unless the RNC indicates that it is willing to address issues of the impoverished, such as HIV/AIDS, housing and welfare."

The NYCLU says cops went too far in their surveillance of lawful political activism, while the city says the work of the intelligence unit justified the cops' high profile during the convention.

"The surveillance spanned the globe," said Donna Lieberman, director of the New York Civil Liberties Union.

But Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said, "I think a close examination of those documents will show the NYPD did an outstanding job of protecting the city during the convention."

The city tried unsuccessfully to block the documents' public release. Two weeks ago, Manhattan Federal Judge James Francis dismissed city claims that potential jurors in the NYCLU case will be prejudiced by their release.

The NYPD posted all of the documents, as well as a 26-page overview, on its Web site last night.

ID cards 'will be gold standard for forgers'

london telegraph
Criminals will target ID cards as the ''gold standard'' of identity theft, a police chief said yesterday.

The assumption that they are foolproof will make them more enticing for forgers, said Colin Langham-Fitt, acting chief constable of Suffolk.

He also questioned the erosion of individual liberties and privacy.

"There should be a debate about the ongoing erosion of civil liberties in the name of the fight against terrorism and crime,'' he said.

"Are we all happy to have our cards monitored wherever we go, to be on CCTV and to have our shopping tracked?''

Mr Langham-Fitt added: "With all this surveillance available, the question needs to be asked - are we happy with that? Does it make us feel better and safer?

"I haven't got the answers but I would welcome the debate beyond the cliched response of, 'If you have done nothing wrong you have nothing to worry about'."

His comments undermine Government claims that the police support ID cards and other surveillance measures.

Mr Langham-Fitt, in an interview with the East Anglian Daily Times, said the cards could become "the gold standard of ID crime" and "it could raise the standards and stakes for those who wish to clone them or subvert the system".

A Suffolk police spokesman said Mr Langham-Fitt was not representing the views of the force but expressing "personal" opinions.

A Home Office spokesman said: "The Government recognises that some people are concerned about the scheme infringing their civil liberties - that is why there are stringent safeguards built into the Identity Cards Act.''

Further questions were raised over the security of confidential information with the disclosure that the personal details of Indians applying for British visas could be obtained via the Foreign Office website. Channel 4 News reported that an identity thief or a terrorist could obtain sensitive information that could be used to apply for an ID card.

Damian Green, the Tory immigration spokesman, said: "This is yet another IT shambles from the Government with serious implications for security."

Mr Green added: "This Government cannot even run a simple online visa application system without betraying all the sensitive information.

''What hope has it got of protecting the integrity of the National Identity Card Register?"

Mexican migrants fear U.S. immigration proposal

Houston Chron
MONTERREY, Mexico — Congress' new immigration plan was bad news for tens of thousands of poor Mexicans who depend on a U.S. guestworker program for temporary jobs in agriculture and other seasonal work, such as landscaping and construction.

Millions of would-be migrants have been holding tight to President Bush's promise that they could one day apply for temporary visas to get a glimpse of the American dream.

At the U.S. Consulate in Monterrey, which hands out more temporary visas than any other consulate or embassy in the world, Edmundo Bermudez, a 36-year-old from the northern city of Durango, said the plan rewards those who have already entered the United States illegally, while shutting out those who stayed home hoping to gain legal passage.

He was especially offended by the plan to give preference to migrants with degrees and skills.

"The United States already has enough people with college degrees. Who is going to cut their tobacco?" asked Bermudez, who has been working intermittently in the U.S. for the past eight years. In Mexico, he makes about $10 a day, while in the U.S. he earns almost that — $8 — in an hour.

The proposal, unveiled Thursday in Washington, is devoid of Bush's original plan to grant three-year visas to migrants living in their native countries. Instead, it focuses on securing the border and giving illegal residents a path toward legal residency, while gradually giving preference for new visas to those with advanced degrees and highly specialized skills.

Many in Mexico — and U.S. employers who say they need workers for low-skilled jobs — had hoped Congress would expand the guestworker program and allow more to cross legally, work a few months and then return home with their savings to build homes and businesses.

Gilberto Escalante, a 41-year-old fisherman from Topolobampo in Sinaloa state, said the current temporary visa program is better than the congressional plan because it gives Mexicans the option to freely enter and leave the U.S. while maintaining their lives in Mexico — instead of forcing them to choose between the two countries.

"We don't want the house or the latest car in the U.S. We want to go and work so that our families can have a good life in Mexico," said Escalante, who came to the industrial hub of Monterrey to apply for a visa to work on fish and shrimp boats off the coast of Mississippi.

Yet the congressional plan came as welcome news to the millions of Mexicans who depend on the $23 billion sent home each year by Mexicans living in the U.S., many illegally.

The proposal would allow illegal immigrants to obtain a "Z visa" and, after paying fees and a $5,000 fine, ultimately get on track for permanent residency, which could take between eight and 13 years. Heads of households would have to return to their home countries first.

It is also good news for the Mexican government, which has spent years lobbying the U.S. for a comprehensive immigration reform that allows more people to work legally in the U.S. Many had feared the U.S. would only approve more border security measures, such as adding to National Guard troops at the border and other high-tech security measures.

Victor Aviles, a spokesman for Mexico's Foreign Relations Department, cautiously welcomed the initiative.

"The Mexican government hopes that the different actors involved in the debate and eventual approval of this initiative take advantage of the opportunity it presents," he said in a statement.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said debate would begin on Monday, but he cautioned, "I don't know if the immigration legislation is going to bear fruit and we're going to be able to pass it."

Miguel Garcia, 35, of Maravatio in the western Mexican state of Michoacan, said he was glad that the U.S. was giving illegal migrants a chance at fixing their status.

"They shouldn't punish people who are just trying to get ahead," he said.

In the small, northern desert town of Huachichil, migrant recruiter Rene Urbano encouraged Mexicans who work in potato fields and apple orchards to continue signing up for possible visas, arguing that he would work to find them jobs with U.S. employers.

"They are rewarding those who are doing things wrong and abandoning my boys who need work," he said, adding that there are millions of migrants waiting for U.S. jobs.

One of his clients, Gustavo Ruiz, a 31-year-old father of two small children, is normally working in U.S. fields by now. But today he is still waiting for an offer at the one-bedroom concrete home he built on the edge of the Mexican desert, with money he earned picking tobacco, cucumber and sweet potatoes.

He said he would not mind moving his family to the U.S. and trying to become legal residents, but his wife refuses.

"My roots are here," Elidia Moncada said. "My family is here. They say it's nice there, but I don't want to leave."

Iran tells US to admit 'failure' in Iraq

middleeast online
Iranian FM says talks can progress if Americans show serious will to correct their ‘failed’ policies in Iraq.

TEHRAN - Iran said on Friday the United States should admit to the "failure" of its Iraq policies at the upcoming Tehran-Washington meeting on Iraqi security if it wants the talks to make progress.

"If the Americans admit to the failure of their policies in Iraq, have a serious will to correct the current situation, and help the Iraqi people and government to implement security there, these talks can progress and create hope," Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told reporters.

US and Iranian envoys are to meet in Baghdad on May 28 for talks on Iraq's security in what is believed to be the first official ambassadorial encounter between the arch-foes in three decades.

Iran will send an "experienced diplomat who has been an ambassador" to meet US ambassador to Baghdad Ryan Crocker, Mottaki said.

Both sides insist the talks would be limited to the security of Iraq and Mottaki said they would not discuss the release of seven Iranians seized by US forces in northern Iraq in January.

"The May 28 talks will only revolve around the issue of Iraq and a step towards helping security there," Mottaki said after meeting the families of the detainees who Iran insists were diplomats working for a consulate.

He said it was up to Iraqi officials to press for the release of the men accused by the United States of being intelligence agents.

Mottaki noted that Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari during a visit to Tehran last month had signalled the detainees could be freed in the Iranian month of Khordad (May 22 to June 21).

"Mr Zebari said the Americans would seek to release them in Khordad."

Mottaki added that the Iranian foreign ministry was preparing "to claim compensation from the Americans for raiding the consulate in Arbil, the detention of diplomats and the losses caused by the closure of the place."

The United States accuses Shiite-majority Iran of stirring sectarian violence in Iraq. It also charges that Tehran is supplying Iraqi fighters with roadside bombs, which have killed and maimed large numbers of US soldiers.

Iran denies the allegations and blames the US "occupiers" for the insecurity and instability of Iraq.

Fake Zombie news

fake bbc zombie news
This fake is well done, but the URL gives it away. Just wanted to post this up. There are NO zombies in Cambodia.

EU calls on World Bank to quickly name successor to Wolfowitz

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - The European Commission wants the World Bank to name a successor to outgoing President Paul Wolfowitz as soon as possible.

The E-U says "stable and strong political leadership" at the bank is important.

Wolfowitz announced yesterday he'll resign at the end of June. His leadership has been undermined by a furor over the compensation he arranged in 2005 for his girlfriend, a bank employee.

The White House says it'll move quickly to name a replacement candidate, which must be approved by the World Bank's board.

Former Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick; Robert Kimmitt, the second in command at the Treasury Department; and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson are thought to be possibilities.

%@AP Links

GRAPHICSBANK 969866 (05/17/07)>> 1500x1125

Paul Wolfowitz headshot, as World Bank President, over logo with RESIGNATION lettering, finished graphic

Jesuits agree to sex case payout

LA TIMES
The Jesuit order has agreed to a tentative payout of $16 million to settle claims that one of its priests sexually abused nine Los Angeles children over 16 years ending in 1975.

Mark Falvey was accused of molesting four girls and five boys between 1959 and 1975 at Blessed Sacrament Roman Catholic Church in Hollywood. Falvey died 31 years ago and was never charged with a crime.

"One of his victims, an 8-year-old girl, tried to commit suicide," said the lawyer for the victims, Raymond P. Boucher.

"This guy brought a lifetime of misery to a group of young children. They'll never get over it," Boucher said.

The agreement in principle was confirmed by the Rev. Alfred Naucke of the California Province of the Society of Jesus. All of the parties still must sign the pact to make it official. Each victim will receive between $1.4 million and $1.6 million.

"I look forward to meeting the victims to apologize to them on behalf of the Society of Jesus," the Rev. John P. McGarry, who heads the order in California and the West Coast, said in a phone interview.

"We wish these brave victims well and hope that others who were hurt by clergy — Jesuits or others — will come forward so they can heal," said Barbara Blaine, an official with SNAP, a support group for victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests.

"We also hope that anyone with suspicions or knowledge of Falvey's crimes will call the police. Even though he is deceased, prosecution of church officials who may have covered up his crimes may still be possible," Blaine said.

The Archdiocese of Los Angeles, which has been sued by more the 500 people claiming they were victims of clergy sexual abuse, did not contribute to the settlement.

Falvey served in Asia and was assigned in 1959 as assistant pastor at Blessed Sacrament in Hollywood, where he apparently served until 1975, when he died.

The legal issues in the Falvey case, like in other clergy abuse lawsuits, turned on what the Jesuit order knew about the priest's sexual proclivities, and what its hierarchy did to protect churchgoers in Hollywood.

The evidence against the order was strong, Boucher said.

One victim was ready to testify that while he was being molested by Falvey in Hollywood, another priest blundered into the room.

"Why don't you close the door," Boucher said the priest scolded Falvey.

Boucher, who is the lead lawyer for all of the Los Angeles victims, called Falvey "one of the most evil priests that has ever walked the halls of a church."

"I agree with Mr. Boucher that Father Falvey was not handled correctly by the Jesuit order," McGarry said.

"He should have been removed from ministry" after the first victim.

Mogadishu seriously damaged as Ethiopia tries to end resistance

MEDIA MONITORS
by M A Shaikh
(Thursday, May 17, 2007)

"It is true that the international community and media have on the whole ignored the Somali conflict, concentrating their attention on Darfur (Sudan) instead. But the indiscriminate bombing by the Ethiopian army of Mogadishu, which in a short time destroyed many of its buildings, killed thousands of its inhabitants and injured many more, and forced most of them to flee, could not fail to draw attention to the mayhem. However, that attention was very little compared to the concentration of the West on Darfur, despite the fact that a UN agency pointed out that the Somali conflict is far bloodier and more costly."

Somalia’s transitional government (TG) claimed the victory when the shelling of Muqdisho (Mogadishu, the capital) by the Ethiopian army during the recent ten-day confrontation with supporters of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) came to an end on April 27. But even one day earlier the interim prime minister, Ali Mohamed Ghedi, announced that the fighting was over and that “we have won it against the insurgents”. The fact that the next day the Ethiopian army unleashed on the north of Muqdisho – “the hiding place of the ICU militias”, according to some media reports – one of its most devastating raids, and that the head of the African Union called for additional African Union (AU) ‘peacekeepers’ shows that the conflict was still raging. But that did not discourage Ghedi or his colleagues from making further claims of victory.

Nor did the fact that some members of the international media and NGOs had already dismissed their claims as unfounded, the raids as war crimes and the Ethiopians and the TG as “US stooges” bent on backing its ‘war on terrorism’ in the Horn of Africa. Undoubtedly the TG was encouraged by the continued support of Western governments and their allies worldwide, by the silence (and by implication complicity) of members of the Arab League, the Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC) and the AU, despite the fact that Somalia is a member of each of these bodies. As an American professor quoted in the Arabic daily al-Hayat has pointed out, the international community tied its hands by backing a government (the TG) that enjoys no local support whatsoever.

The professor, who is an expert on Somalia, was also quoted as saying that the TG is “a total failure and that is the essence of the matter.” He added that “nevertheless, the Western leaders cannot retract and it is in their interest not to draw the attention of the international community to Somalia.” But, in any case, “most of the international media and the international leaders have undoubtedly set aside the Somali issue,” he said.

It is true that the international community and media have on the whole ignored the Somali conflict, concentrating their attention on Darfur (Sudan) instead. But the indiscriminate bombing by the Ethiopian army of Mogadishu, which in a short time destroyed many of its buildings, killed thousands of its inhabitants and injured many more, and forced most of them to flee, could not fail to draw attention to the mayhem. However, that attention was very little compared to the concentration of the West on Darfur, despite the fact that a UN agency pointed out that the Somali conflict is far bloodier and more costly.

Germany was only major power to acknowledge the seriousness of the bombings, by means of an official letter sent by Walter Lindner, its ambassador to Somalia, to Abdullahi Yusuf, the TG president. The letter, which was made public on April 25, condemned the indiscriminate use of air strikes and heavy artillery in densely populated areas of Muqdisho. It also condemned the rape of women, the blocking of urgently needed food and humanitarian supplies, and the bombardment of hospitals. But Germany was only commenting because, as the current holder of the presidency of the EU, it was embarrassed by the seriousness of events in Muqdisho, which had been widely publicised. But it did not exploit its presidency of the EU to propose action or even official censure by the EU of Ethiopia and the TG. The fact that it merely sent a letter is an indirect indication that Ethiopia and the TG do not need to take Germany’s concerns seriously.

Nor do they need to heed the statement by Sir John Holmes, the UN humanitarian affairs chief, on April 26, simply because he accused all sides to the conflict of being responsible for what he described as war crimes. “The rules of humanitarian law are being flouted by all sides... all factions are equally guilty of indiscriminate violence in a civilian area,” he said. “Civilians in Mogadishu are paying an intolerable price for the absence of political progress and dialogue and the failure of all parties to abide by the rules of warfare.” The UN refugee agency also made a statement on the situation in Muqdisho but did not apportion blame for the mayhem. “At least half of the capital is deserted, slowly turning it into a ghost city,” it said.

The UN agencies should have put the blame on Ethiopia, whose force of 20,000 in Somalia is responsible for the destructive bombing, and on the TG, which invited Ethiopia to intervene and takes part in the fighting, although its 5,000 troops can only play a relatively minor role. But the bombing by the Ethiopians is assisting the TG’s troops to carry out its clan and anti-Islamic war on the ground and inside the city to make sure that supporters of the ICU and their allies do not escape the lethal bombing.

But the UN agencies should have put the main blame on the US, which encouraged, and finances, the invasion of Somalia by the Ethiopian army. One reason that they will not do so is that both the UN security council and the secretariat are determined to avoid any criticism of Washington’s role in the Somali conflict, and of the TG, which it backs. At the same time they are happy to censure Sudan in connection with the unrest in Darfur and impose sanctions on it at the behest of the US government. In fact it was the security council which in December passed the resolution that sanctioned the despatch of the Ethiopian army into Somalia.

One of the consequences of the interference of the US and UN in Somalia is widespread anger among Somalis at both, and the Somalis’ determination to support the Islamic Courts Union come what may. Clearly, Somalia faces a protracted conflict and illegal continued intervention by the US and its allies.

Wolfowitz resigns after scandal over girlfriend's pay rise

TIMESONLINE
Paul Wolfowitz resigned as president of the World Bank last night, ending weeks of turmoil over the lavish pay rise he arranged for his girlfriend that triggered the worst crisis in the institution’s history.

Mr Wolfowitz’s departure was announced by the Bank’s 24-member board, which had spent two days negotiating a “face-saving” deal for the embattled president, after an ethics panel found him guilty on Monday of breaking institution rules over the $50,000 (£25,000) a year, tax-free pay rise he negotiated for Shaha Riza, his British-born girlfriend.

In a statement released by the board, Mr Wolfowitz, the former US deputy Defence Secretary and a controversial World Bank head after his role as one of the chief architects of the Iraq war, said that he would resign on June 30.

In its statement, the board appeared to fall short of Mr Wolfowitz’s demands of the past 48 hours that he be exonerated by the Bank before he agreed to go, in particular his request that the institution took partial responsibility for poor advice given to Mr Wolfowitz before he dictated the terms of Ms Riza’s pay rise.

“He assured us that he acted ethically and in good faith in what he believed were the best interests of the institution and we accept that,” the board said in its announcement of Mr Wolfowitz’s resignation. But it did concede that the advice given to Mr Wolfowitz was “not a model of clarity”.

Mr Wolfowitz said in his statement: “The poorest people in the world . . . deserve the very best we can deliver. Now it is necessary to find a way to move forward.” He said he was pleased the bank had accepted his assurance that he had acted ethically and in good faith.

The deal means that the board, which in the Bank’s 63-year history has never dismissed a president, did not have to put Mr Wolfowitz’s fate to a vote. Several European nations, particularly Britain, were thus spared having to publicly wield the knife against a close ally of President Bush.

Until Monday Mr Bush had refused to budge on the question of Mr Wolfowitz. The US President, and many US conservatives, viewed the fate of Mr Wolfowitz as a proxy battle — fuelled by European anti-Americanism — against the Administration’s policies.

But Mr Bush, during a White House press conference with Tony Blair hours before Mr Wolfowitz’s announcement, made clear that he could no longer save him. “I regret that it’s come to this,” he said.

The US has traditionally chosen the head of the World Bank, and there were signs last night that part of the deal — despite recent calls by European members that the practice should end — would allow Washington to choose Mr Wolfowitz’s successor.

Henry Paulson, the US Treasury Secretary, said that it was important for an American to continue to be appointed World Bank president. Early speculation on US candidates centred on Robert Kimmitt, the Deputy Treasury Secretary, and Robert Zoellick, the former Deputy Secretary of State.

Mr Wolfowitz dictated the terms of his girlfriend’s pay rise, but maintained in an impassioned plea before the board on Monday night that he intervened in her job status only after being requested by the bank’s ethics committee, and after he had sought its advice on how he should act.