Part of a statement from al-Awda and other groups, online at NYC Indymedia, Sept. 13:

We believe that it is critical, necessary and essential that the building of the antiwar movement in the United States take place in a manner that emphasizes political unity and political clarity - political unity that links communities and movements in common struggle against US imperialism and political clarity that defines that struggle and its component parts, placing the struggle of the Iraqi and Palestinian people for national liberation at the center of our demands, just as it is in the center of the crosshairs of imperialism and in the center of resistance; as well as the struggles of the people of the Philippines, Colombia, Afghanistan, Venezuela, Cuba, the Sudan, Haiti, Lebanon, Somalia and everywhere else in the world where imperialism is waging war and occupation and people are resisting, organizing and building. Similarly, the struggles of Black, Chicano, Latino, Asian, Arab, Native and other oppressed nations and communities within the US must be central to our work as an antiwar movement that has real meaning for those most directly affected here; for example, the struggle of Katrina victims to rebuild their communities in the face of racism and oppression, and the struggle of undocumented and other immigrants for full equality, legalization, and workers' rights.

The anarchist blog Three-Way Fight wants to know (despite leaving the question marks off their questions):

Why does the media - CNN, MSNBC, FOX, BBC, Harretz, etc - spend today going over and over again, with lots of video footage, of the bust of a supposed neo-Nazi group in Israel that beat up people and vandalized synagogues. [Sic] The group, made up of Russian emigres who had at least some direct relative who had been of Jewish religious/cultural descent, were videoed attacking people and sieg heiling in front of a German flag.

The Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR) claimed responsibility for Sept. 10 attacks on Pemex oil pipelines in the eastern Mexican state of Veracruz. Authorities say an inscription in red on a section of pipeline read: "They were taken alive, we want them alive—EPR-PDPR." This seems to be a reference to recently "disappeared" militants associated with the Popular Democratic Revolutionary Party (PDPR), the EPR's political wing.

The game of bait-and-switch goes on, without anyone seeming to notice. Following the Congressional testimony of his commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, Bush has reportedly embraced his recommendation that the US withdraw 30,000 troops—by next summer. Bizarrely, this is being portrayed as a de-escalation—even though it will leave 130,000 troops in Iraq. In other words, around the same as before the "surge." Also around the same as in May 2003 when Bush declared an end to "major combat operations"—at which time troop levels were ostensibly slated to be reduced by 100,000 over the next four months. (They now stand at 168,000.)

Everyone is talking about Robert Fisk's Sept. 11 column in The Independent, but nobody is noting what a cynical, disingenuous piece of self-serving propaganda it is. The most sickening thing about it is that he feels obliged to start out with a ritual put-down of the conspiracy vampires—and then goes on to legitimize their transparent claptrap. Here it is—with our corrections and deconstructions of Fisk's bunk interjected:

Politicians and labor leaders held a rally at Ground Zero Sept. 8 in support of efforts to get federal funding for first responders, construction workers, volunteers, residents, and students exposed to health risks in the 9-11 attacks and their aftermath. On the sixth anniversary of that day, three New York Congressman––Democrats Carolyn Maloney and Jerrold Nadler, and Republican Vito Fossella––are to introduce the 9-11 Health and Compensation Act, which would provide healthcare and monitoring to all those exposed to the environment of downtown Manhattan after the attacks.

Osama bin Laden's last communique of January 2006 attempted to exploit the writings of leftist icon William Blum—but, as we noted, rather garbled it. Now The Guardian calls him out on similarly exploiting—and garbling—the work of one of their reporters in his latest missive. From the Sept. 11 edition:

Bin Laden takes liberties with contents of Guardian video
To the long list of crimes committed by Osama bin Laden a new one can now be added: manipulation of the media. In his latest video address, released last Friday, the al-Qaida leader refers to a film made by the Guardian in Iraq and misquotes the contents of the documentary to suit his own dramatic effect.

Some 10,000 members of the Section 22 teachers union and the Popular People's Assembly of Oaxaca (APPO) marched in Oaxaca City Sept. 1 to demonstrate their rejection of Mexico's President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa, the same day he delivered his first address to Congress. Another 7,000 Oaxacans gathered in Mexico City's Plaza de la Constitución for a "contrainforme," a public speak-out conceived as a corrective to Calderón's address. (La Jornada, Sept. 2)