U.S., U.K. Waged War on Iraq Because of Oil, Blair Adviser Says --The U.S. and U.K. went to war against Iraq because of the Middle East country's oil reserves, an adviser to British Prime Minister Tony Blair said.

Iraq war helps BP gush to record £2.3bn profit --BP announced its biggest ever profit bonanza yesterday, making $3.7bn (£2.3bn) in the first quarter of the year, or $41m a day.

BP posts best-ever quarterly profit --BP, Britain's biggest company, today reported its biggest-ever quarterly profit as the war in Iraq, strikes in Venezuela and unrest in Nigeria pushed oil prices up.

Oil price drives BP to record profits --Oil major BP revealed yesterday that it has no plans to sell any more North Sea assets, as it reported its biggest-ever quarterly profit, boosted by oil and fuel prices sent higher by the war in Iraq.

Shell 1st-Qtr Profit Rises as War Boosted Oil Price --Royal Dutch/Shell Group, Europe's largest oil company, said first-quarter net income more than doubled, capping a week of record oil-industry profit as the war in Iraq caused prices to jump.

War propels Exxon profits to record $7bn --ExxonMobil, the world's biggest privately owned oil group and a target of street protesters, celebrated May Day by reporting the largest quarterly corporate profits in history at $7.04bn (£4.4bn).

Dept. of Connections --The Contractors --by Jane Mayer "[Osama] Bin Laden’s estranged family, a sprawling, extraordinarily wealthy Saudi Arabian dynasty, is a substantial investor in a private equity firm founded by the Bechtel Group of San Francisco. Bechtel is also the global construction and engineering company to which the U.S. government recently awarded the first major multimillion-dollar contract to reconstruct war-ravaged Iraq... When the contract was awarded, two weeks ago, the Administration did not mention that the bin Laden family has an ongoing relationship with Bechtel."

Ex-Reagan aide to head civilian administration --Paul Bremer, who was Ronald Reagan's counter-terrorism adviser and now runs a "crisis consulting" company, will be Iraq's civilian administrator, it was reported yesterday. However, the role of civilian administrator may prove to be a poisoned chalice as Iraqis grow restive under foreign occupation. The killing of at least 15 demonstrators by US troops during protests in Falluja this week illustrate how quickly the occupation can turn bloody.

Iraqis vow revenge as hatred of US grows --Hatred of the Americans is boiling on the streets of Falluja, where Iraqis lobbed grenades into the US military compound yesterday, wounding seven and damaging vehicles. Outside the mayor's office, which is next to the American compound, staff had hung an uncompromising banner: "Sooner or later, US killers, we will kick you out." [I suspect the anger is boiling against Amerika on other streets, as well. --Lori Price]

Americans split over marine's 'war crimes' --A US marine under investigation for war crimes, after he told his local newspaper that he had executed an Iraqi soldier, has become a cause célèbre in his home town, Las Vegas, and has announced his intention to become a policeman. [?!?!!!]

Marine investigated for war crimes after newspaper interview --A US Marine sergeant is under investigation for possible war crimes committed in Iraq based on statements he made to his hometown newspaper, military officials said today.

Pictures of massacre at Fallujah, Iraq

Diminishing Returns in Al Fallujah --by Sam Hamod "...to hear Rumsfeld, Cheney and Franks and some of the other generals speak, without giving any apologies for these killings but instead always blaming the civilians, I can start to believe that our men are getting orders to shoot live bullets into crowds; this is a strange new method of crowd control. If not, then why were there children killed in the last few days in Al Fallujah?" http://www.legitgov.org/essay_hamod_diminishing_returns_in_al_fallujah_050103.html

Pentagon was told to pour praise on Canberra --A report to the Pentagon in March advised that Australia and New Zealand be handled differently over war on Iraq, with praise being heaped on the Canberra leadership, a New Zealand newspaper reported yesterday.

Media bosses admit pro-war bias in coverage of Iraq --Two leading media bosses have admitted what has been increasingly evident throughout the month-long war in Iraq: the American broadcast media systematically distorted the news of the war and functioned as an electronic arm of the Pentagon and the Bush dictatorship.

San Francisco newspaper fires antiwar reporter --The firing on April 21 of technical reporter, Henry Norr, by the San Francisco Chronicle, ostensibly for falsifying a timesheet, is the latest incident in the ongoing struggle between free speech and the suppression of dissent.

Critic Accuses Media of Aiding U.S. War Propaganda --It is one of the most famous images of the war in Iraq: a U.S. soldier scaling a statue of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad and draping the Stars and Stripes over the black metal visage of the ousted president. But for Harper's magazine publisher John MacArthur, that same image of U.S. military victory is also indicative of a propaganda campaign being waged by the Bush dictatorship. [*See picture of the staged propaganda stunt here.]

Vilified weapons inspectors may have got it right --Condoleezza Rice has talked her way into a U-turn, writes Marian Wilkinson. "President [sic] George Bush's National Security Adviser, Condoleezza Rice, is now acknowledging that Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program is less clear-cut, and probably more difficult to establish, than the White House portrayed before the war... But the US's refusal to accept a role for Dr Blix and his team to verify what actually made up Iraq's WMD program in the last years will only encourage scepticism of all the coalition [sic: US-UK invaders'] claims."

Star scoop exposes both sides of the story --by Antonia Zerbisias "Both http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/ and http://www.legitgov.org/ attempted to poke holes in our stories and the discovery of the documents, suggesting that the media had been set up. ...Maybe if we had all been told the truth by the White House from the get-go, folks wouldn't be sitting around impugning motives to rival media, speculating without any hard facts or coming up with conspiracies today."

Back-Slapping Bush Revels in Carrier Landing --There appeared to be no happier man aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln on Thursday than Dictator Bush as he joked with pilots and posed for photographs with flight crew members.

Bush promises unending war in Iraq and internationally --by Bill Vann "The speech that George Bush delivered on the USS Aircraft Carrier Abraham Lincoln Thursday night constituted a warning to the world that the carnage unleashed in Iraq is the only the beginning of worldwide eruption of US militarism."

Bush tops deck of cards playing on nuclear arms --Greenpeace deals out decks at nonproliferation conference --In a play on the deck of cards distributed to U.S. troops in Iraq, Greenpeace has issued its own variation based on nuclear weapons — with Dictator Bush replacing Saddam Hussein as the ace of spades.

Rummy's North Korea Connection --What did Donald Rumsfeld know about ABB's deal to build nuclear reactors there? And why won't he talk about it? --by Richard Behar "What's even more surprising about Rumsfeld's silence is that he sat on the board of the company that won a $200 million contract to provide the design and key components for the reactors."

Cuba's Castro Says U.S. Is Provoking War --Fidel Castro, addressing a May Day rally of hundreds of thousands of people, accused the United States on Thursday of trying to provoke a war with Cuba.

Appetite for Authoritarianism Spawns an American Gulag --by Jonathan Turley "In keeping with the other shadowy facts about this camp, it is not clear how large the children's wing at Camp Delta has become... Camp Delta was originally justified as a holding area for alleged war criminals from the Afghanistan conflict. The administration now has broadened its use to include anyone whom it defines as a terrorist suspect or a person suspected of aiding or abetting terrorists. Of course, suspicion in the Bush administration is as good as a conviction because the vast majority will never be submitted to a tribunal, let alone a legitimate court of law." [a must read]

Broad Domestic Role Asked for C.I.A. and the Pentagon --The Bush dictatorship and leading Senate Republicans sought today to give the Central Intelligence Agency and the Pentagon far-reaching new powers to demand personal and financial records on people in the United States as part of foreign intelligence and terrorism operations, officials said.

A Recent Judicial Reprimand of Attorney General Ashcroft Exposes a Pattern of Gag Order and Ethics Violations By His Office --by Elaine Cassel "On April 18, Attorney General John Ashcroft was reprimanded by a federal judge for his failure to comply with a 'gag order' - a standing court order requiring attorneys not to make public comments about the case. ...But what is particularly upsetting is that this is not the first time."

U.S. warns Canada against easing pot laws --A top White House drug policy official is threatening retaliation from the U.S. if Canada relaxes its laws against marijuana possession. ["Will Bush invade Canada?"--CLG member, John]

Resident Dictator Bush's Latest Proclamation: Loyalty Day, 2003 --By the President [sic] of the United States of America --A Proclamation --"The Congress, by Public Law 85-529, as amended, has designated May 1 of each year as 'Loyalty Day,' and I ask all Americans to join me in this day of celebration and in reaffirming our allegiance to our Nation. NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President [sic] of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim May 1, 2003, as Loyalty Day..." [...whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its Foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such Form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. --Action of Second Continental Congress, July 4, 1776 --The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen United States of America --It is alter and abolish time, folks. --Lori Price] ["Everyday is blind obeisance day under the Bush junta for the majority of Americans." --CLG member, Thomas M. Fiddler, of Kentucky]

Should the Ostrich Be Our New National Bird? --by Mary MacElveen "It just seems to me that Americans have learned to accept what is thrown their way, don't ask questions and move on. We have become a nation where our new national bird has become the ostrich." http://www.legitgov.org/essay_macelveen_ostrich_be_our_national_bird_050203.html

Democrats block 2nd Bush nominee --Senate Democrats blocked Priscilla Owen, an associate justice on the Texas Supreme Court, from being confirmed to a federal appeals court Thursday, the second time they have thwarted Dictator Bush and majority Republicans in a confrontation over federal judgeships.

Sen. Kerry Says Will Take Years to Balance Budget --U.S. presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry said on Thursday that it would take any president years to balance the federal budget, which until recently reflected a surplus.

U.S. jobless rate jumps in April --Unemployment hits 6 percent as payrolls decline 48,000 --The nation’s unemployment rate jumped to 6 percent in April and companies slashed jobs for the third straight month — particularly in manufacturing, airlines and department stores — as the fragile economy continued to quash hiring prospects.

New report airs Houston's failure to get rid of smog --Houston's air is just as smoggy as ever, according to a report released Thursday by the American Lung Association, which gave the city's air quality a failing grade for the fourth straight year.

Monsanto may face disaster - Greenpeace report --A report on the prospects for the genetic engineering giant Monsanto, which has 91% of the world's market in GM seeds, says the company "could be another financial disaster waiting to happen".

New York Times reporter resigns; accused of appropriating material --A New York Times reporter resigned Thursday after he was accused of appropriating without attribution material in a San Antonio Express-News story about a Texas woman whose son was killed in combat in Iraq.

Radio 'No Factor': Cable King O'Reilly Disaster on the Dial --Barf [Bill] O'Reilly's Radio Ratings Revealed Publicly For The First Time --Just released ARBITRON radio ratings show Faux News Channel and bestselling author Barf O'Reilly in near-collapse, just one year after launching a nationally syndicated rival to Rush Limbaugh.

Faux Sports Host Faces Harassment Suit --A hairstylist on Faux Sports Network's "The Best Damn Sports Show Period" has filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against co-host and former NBA player John Salley and others involved with the show.