SEPTEMBER 2005

Doremus Jessup, editor of the Fort Beulah The Daily Informer, in Sinclair Lewis' famous book "It Can't Happen Here", at its conclusion, "drove out, saluted by the meadow larks, and onward all day, to a hidden cabin in the Northern Woods where quiet men awaited news of freedom.....still Doremus goes on, into the sunrise, for a Doremus Jessup can never die......
Confirmation of previous rumour reported in August Stoppress Handstand.

Published: Monday, August 22, 2005
Bylined to: Bob Chapman

All US military leave has been cancelled ... something big is in the works!

THE INTERNATIONAL FORECASTER editor Bob Chapman writes:  The US military is building a new base and conducting secretive operations in Paraguay ... our Embassy there refuses to acknowledge a base exists and describes the military activity as routine.

The base is in Mariscal Estigarribia, 200 km (127 miles) from the Bolivian border and will handle large aircraft and accommodate 16,000 troops.

There are now 500 of our troops there with planes, weapons, equipment and ammunition. Either before, during, or after the coming presidential election we expect the US to intervene or better put, invade Bolivia to control its natural gas reserves.

Paraguay has approved of the troops being there and given them total immunity, free from Paraguayan law and the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court. George and the neocons have threatened to withdraw $24.5 million in aid to Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela and Paraguay if they didn’t grant immunity to the US military.

You cannot believe a word Washington says about the base being a humanitarian undertaking, when they are struggling to fill the ranks in Iraq.

Why would they be on a humanitarian mission in Paraguay?

They said the same thing in Manta, Ecuador, which houses an $80 million US military base. The US is preparing for war in South America -- make no mistake about it.

• In Bolivia if Evo Morales, or someone like him is elected, then you can expect a US invasion.

Paraguay, bordered by Brazil and Argentina is one of the wildest places on earth. This is a very aggressive move by the US and all South American governments should be very concerned. George Bush and the neocons are using international terrorism as an excuse to appropriate natural resources and subject people to their brand of democracy, which is corporatist fascism.

All military leaves for September and October have been cancelled ... something big is in the works ... there is a buildup of material and equipment ... personnel at draft board offices are waiting for the word to activate.

USA UNIONS AND WORKERS:
Lost amidst the publicity about the breakup of the AFL-CIO at its convention last month were two events that, in their own ways, could point to a radically new foreign policy for American unions and workers.  

The first was the convention’s passage of a resolution placing organized labor squarely behind a rapid withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq—the first time that the AFL-CIO has ever taken a public stance against an ongoing U.S. war.  

The second event unfolded on the conference floor in the waning hours of the convention, and went virtually unmentioned in the mainstream and left-wing press. This was an unsuccessful resolution, advanced by the California Federation of Labor with the support of a dozen other labor councils, calling on the AFL-CIO to make a thorough examination and public explanation of its foreign policy activities, from the Cold War to the present, and to “exercise extreme caution” about seeking or receiving money from instruments of U.S. foreign policy, particularly the National Endowment for Democracy and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). Together, these two agencies account for more than 90 percent of the funds provided to the American Center for International Labor Solidarity (ACILS—aka the Solidarity Center).
Tim Shorrock www.fpif.org