U.S. jets bomb Iraq
Two U.S. F-16 jet fighters fired missiles on southern Iraq
November 2 and November 4 in a provocation against Baghdad. U.S.
defense secretary William Perry warned the Iraqi regime that
U.S. fighter pilots are "very well armed" and "authorized to
launch" attacks if they think they are being tracked by radar.
The warplanes were patrolling the "no-fly zone" imposed on Iraq
by Washington after the U.S.-led slaughter of the Iraqi people
in 1991. U.S. pilots claimed they fired missiles this month
because their jets were targeted by Iraqi radar. The Pentagon
said the bombings were a mistake, due to false alarms, but soon
changed its story and backed the pilots claims.
Meanwhile, the U.S.-led sanctions continue to decimate Iraqi
children. According to UNICEF, the UN aid agency, 4,500
children are dying of hunger and disease each month because of
restrictions on obtaining funds for purchasing food and
medicines.
Israeli army bombs Lebanon
Israeli troops and their allied South Lebanon Army, made up
of rightist Lebanese militias, launched tank and artillery
bombardment of villages in southern Lebanon November 9. Tel Aviv
claimed the assault came in retaliation for an attack by
Lebanese rebels. Hezbollah guerrilla fighters fired six missiles
at an Israeli military camp in southern Lebanon that day,
according to Associated Press, killing one Israeli soldier and
wounding two. Hezbollah has waged a campaign to drive the
Zionist occupation force from a so-called security zone in
southern Lebanon. Tel Aviv established the zone after the 1982
invasion of Lebanon.
Civil war rages in Afghanistan
The civil war wracking Afghanistan has continued unabated as
Taliban troops exchanged artillery fire November 6 with the
forces of the coalition of opposition groups trying to retake
Kabul, the country's capital. The Taliban, which control two-
thirds of the country, seized Kabul in late September. Officials
of the former regime fled.
The commander of the ousted government forces, Ahmad Masoud,
formed an anti-Taliban alliance with the northern Uzbek leader
Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum. The alliance stepped up assaults on
Taliban troops October 31 "to advance as far forward as
possible," Mehrabuddin Masstan, a spokesperson for Massoud, told
London's Financial Times. Officials in Massoud's headquarters
have stressed that recapturing Kabul was politically and
militarily vital.
Russians strike for back wages
More than half of the mines in Russia were shut down November
5 as thousands of workers throughout the country went on strike
demanding the government pay overdue wages. Millions of workers
have not been paid for several months. Demonstrations were
organized in hundreds of cities, while Russian president Boris
Yeltsin underwent a multiple bypass heart operation. "I don't
care what happens to him," Maria Mikhailovna, a retired
engineer, told the Washington Post. "He's helped many people to
leave this life [in the war in Chechnya], especially young
people, the pillars of our society. Many people have suffered
terribly, and our president and our parliament are to blame for
this."
Canberra refuses visa to Adams
Australia's federal government refused entry visa to Sinn
Fein president Gerry Adams on November 8. Sinn Fein is the main
nationalist party leading opposition to British occupation to
Northern Ireland and demanding unification of Ireland. According
to London's Financial Times, Australia's federal immigration
minister Philip Ruddock justified the decision on the grounds
that Adams is allegedly "associated with an organization which
has been or is involved in criminal conduct."
Adams was scheduled to visit Australia in mid-November to
promote his autobiography. A representative of Reed Books, a
Melbourne publisher, told the Times, "The Australian public has
been denied the opportunity to hear Mr. Adams discuss and debate
the books's contents in person."
U.S.-German trade relations sour
A U.S. shipment of genetically engineered soybeans sparked
demands that the new product be labeled to distinguish the beans
from ordinary ones. "We would like to see the food industry
voluntarily label all products that include genetically modified
ingredients," said Juergen Ruettgers, German minister for
science and technology.
U.S. government officials have adamantly opposed the
labeling, asserting that it could become a trade barrier and
jeopardize nearly $2 billion worth of exports to Europe.
Companies such as Nestlé SA and Unilever have canceled more
than $100 million in soybean orders within the past month
because U.S. companies refuse to identify the true nature of
their beans. "There is a slew of new products... that have
genetically changed material," declared George Pope, chief
agricultural officer at the U.S. mission to the European Union.
"If the Europeans just try to single out soybeans, it would look
pretty much like an anti-American ploy."
U.S. officers charged with rapes
In a widening scandal, some 30 women soldiers have charged
that they were raped or sexually harassed at the U.S. Army's
Ordnance Center and School at Aberdeen Proving Ground in
Aberdeen, Maryland. One trainer, Staff Sgt. Delmar Simpson has
been charged with rape, forcible sodomy, so-called adultery, and
obstruction of justice and is now held in a military jail.
Similar charges have been filed against company commander Capt.
Derrick Robinson. The military brass is also preparing to file
charges against a third trainer, Sgt. Nathanael Beach, according
to the Wall Street Journal.
The investigation began in September. It has included
interviews with the nearly 1,000 women who have been through the
school since 1995. Army lawyers say they will investigate the
cases of 19 women who went AWOL possibly because of sexual
abuse. "This is going to grow," one general told the Journal.
"And it's not going to be fun for the army."
Racial scandal rocks Texaco
In an attempt to appease outrage over a racial scandal, the
Texaco oil company suspended two executives on November 6. The
two participated in a meeting to plan how to destroy documents
demanded in a discrimination lawsuit. The company also cut off
some benefits for two other officials caught on an audiotape of
the meeting using racial slurs to describe Black employees.
According to a transcript of the tapes obtained by the New York
Times, the officials referred to employees who are Black as
"black jelly beans" and "niggers" and derided the African-
American celebration of Kwanza. The November 11 Times reported
that an electronic examination of the tapes allegedly shows that
the Texaco official did not use the word "nigger" but the word
"Nicholas." Richard Lundwall, former senior coordinator of
personnel services, secretly made the tapes in 1994 and turned
them over to an attorney suing Texaco for discrimination.
Lundwall lost his severance package after being forced out in a
corporate downsizing.
Texaco's chairman, Peter Bijur, announced the moves at a news conference and considered reaching an out-of-court settlement with the six plaintiffs who filed a $520 million discrimination suit. Texaco had appealed another discrimination case where a Los Angeles Superior Court jury awarded Janella Martin $20 million. Martin, who charged the company with failure to promote her because of her gender, agreed to a settlement last December reported to be more than $1 million.
- Maurice Williams