[Needtoknow] Bush's morals, Iraq inspections, Surveillance technology

[NeilESL at aol.com]

http://www.onlinejournal.com/Commentary/Conover120502/conover120502.html

"....it has been evident to us that there is something missing in George W. 
in terms of his lack of compassion and empathy. As governor of Texas, he set 
a record in signing death warrants—154 in five years. He even made fun of the 
way convicted killer Karla Faye Tucker begged for her life. If we believe the 
psychiatrists, a sign of a future serial killer is a child who delights in 
torturing and killing animals. George W., as a child, did exactly that. In a 
May 21, 2000, New York Times' puff piece about the values Bush gained growing 
up in Midland, Texas, Nicholas D. Kristoff quoted Bush's childhood friend 
Terry Throckmorton: "'We were terrible to animals,' recalled Mr. 
Throckmorton, laughing. A dip behind the Bush home turned into a small lake 
after a good rain, and thousands of frogs would come out. 'Everybody would 
get BB guns and shoot them,' Mr. Throckmorton said. 'Or we'd put firecrackers 
in the frogs and throw them and blow them up.'"
"While we, in two articles before the 2000 election—Sept. 21 and Oct. 23—
noted Bush's penchant for blowing up frogs, the corporate media blew it off, 
just as it had no interest in what he was trying to hide by obtaining a new 
Texas driver license and his 1976 drunk driving conviction, or the fact he 
was AWOL from the Texas Air National Guard. Instead, they bought into his 
nonsensical claim of being a "compassionate conservative" and "a uniter not a 
divider" who was going to "restore honor and dignity to the White House."   

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2002-12/10/content_656131.htm
Iraq accuses US of seeking to test hi-tech weaponry
Xinhuanet 2002-12-10 06:32:51
CAIRO, Dec. 10 (Xinhuanet) -- A visiting Iraqi official on Tuesday accused 
the United States of seeking to test its hi-tech weaponry in a war on his 
country.   "The United States does not want to see UN arms inspectors 
succeed, therefore, it could attack Iraq and test new weapons, even though 
Iraq honors its commitments," Hassan Abdul Moneem al-Khattab, president of 
the Iraqi planning committee, told reporters.   "Iraq is in favour of any 
solution which keeps the region free from any war," said al-Khattab, who made 
a stopover here on his way to Morocco. 

www.europarl.eu.int/stoa/publi/166499/execsum_en.htm
STOA Political control technologies - Summary of Interim Study - An appraisal 
of technologies of political control (Executive Summary of STOA Interim 
Study).htm
STOA PUBLICATIONS  STOA Interim Study · Executive Summary · September 1998  
PE 166.499/Int.St./Exec.Sum./en AN APPRAISAL OF THE TECHNOLOGIES OF POLITICAL 
CONTROL  Updated Executive Summary prepared as a background document for the 
September 1998 part-session
Surveillance technology can be defined as devices or systems which can 
monitor, track and assess the movements of individuals, their property and 
other assets. Much of this technology is used to track the activities of 
dissidents, human rights activists, journalists, student leaders, minorities, 
trade union leaders and political opponents. A huge range of surveillance 
technologies has evolved, including the night vision goggles; parabolic 
microphones to detect conversations over a kilometre away; laser versions, 
can pick up any conversation from a closed window in line of sight; the 
Danish Jai stroboscopic camera can take hundreds of pictures in a matter of 
seconds and individually photograph all the participants in a demonstration 
or March; and the automatic vehicle recognition systems can tracks cars 
around a city via a Geographic Information System of maps.
New technologies which were originally conceived for the Defence and 
Intelligence sectors have after the cold war rapidly spread into the law 
enforcement and private sectors. It is one of the areas of technological 
advance, where outdated regulations have not kept pace with an accelerating 
pattern of abuses. Up until the 1960s, most surveillance was low-tech and 
expensive since it involved following suspects around from place to place, 
using up to 6 people in teams of two working 3 eight hour shifts. All of the 
material and contacts gleaned had to be typed up and filed away with little 
prospect of rapidly cross checking. Even electronic surveillance was highly 
labour intensive. The East German police for example employed 500,000 secret 
informers, 10,000 of which were needed just to listen and transcribe 
citizens' phone calls.
By the 1980s, new forms of electronic surveillance were emerging and many of 
these were directed towards automation of communications interception. This 
trend was fuelled in the US in the 1990's by accelerated government funding 
at the end of the cold war, with defence and intelligence agencies being 
refocussed with new missions to justify their budgets, transferring their 
technologies to certain law enforcement applications such as anti-drug and 
anti-terror operations. In 1993, the US department of defence and the Justice 
department signed memoranda of understanding for "Operations Other Than War 
and Law Enforcement" to facilitate joint development and sharing of 
technology. According to David Banisar of Privacy International, "To 
counteract reductions in military contracts which began in the 1980's, 
computer and electronics companies are expanding into new markets - at home 
and abroad - with equipment originally developed for the military. Companies 
such as E Systems, Electronic Data Systems and Texas Instruments are selling 
advanced computer systems and surveillance equipment to state and local 
governments that use them for law enforcement, border control and Welfare 
administration."What the East German secret police could only dream of is 
rapidly becoming a reality in the free world."
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