American Warcrime Scenery: Fragging the Matrix

Ode to Building 7:
Remembering the Embers

B. Z. Bendigedig, P.I.

Oh mighty Temple of Security in death,
Hidden fortress of ultimate deception:
Your worms of molten thermite breath,
Ashes of twisted evil corruption
Beneath the apocalypse gloom,
Behind the surge of lies and daily doom--
Building 7 is there imploding into infinity
On that fateful dark day of deadly destiny
When America's dreams melted into insanity.

Solid and secure center of rich cities
Standing witness September 11th in New York
When crashing airplanes interrupted our work:
Building 7 stood amongst the sad debris.
One-way windows reflecting flames,
Deflecting detection amidst the war games--
Then disintegrating conveniently to dust
Swept behind the scenes hidden with our trust
Icon of inevitability mystery and warlust.

Your shadow haunts our sweaty nights,
Reinforced command and control center,
24 hour blinking spymaster lights your
Clouds of death cough in wasting winter.
Cold silent surreality
Masquerading news amidst parades and militarity
Repression suppression repetition of authority--
Yet Building 7 collapses in a perfection of conspiracy
As Silverstein boasts of pulling away history.

"Most of the greatest evils that man has inflicted upon man have come through people feeling quite certain about something which, in fact, was false."
-- Bertrand Russell

B. Z. Bendigedig, P.I.
Perception Recovery Collective
http://bombshelter.org/

"What a stupendous, what an incomprehensible machine is man! Who can endure toil, famine, stripes, imprisonment & death itself in vindication of his own liberty, and the next moment inflict on his fellow men a bondage, one hour of which is fraught with more misery than ages of that which he rose in rebellion to oppose."
-- Thomas Jefferson

The new DVD 9/11 GUILT: THE PROOF IS IN YOUR HANDS by Don Paul, Jim Hoffman, and Celestine Star proves that the Twin Towers and WTC Building 7 were destroyed through planned demolitions, and shows who benefited most from these crimes. Go to:
http://www.wtc7.net/


http://www.sept15.org/

Declare It Now! Wear Orange The Orange Revolution has begun ...
http://911truth.org/


Painful 9/11 Truth
September 5th, 2007

BY Joel S. Hirschhorn author of Delusional Democracy and Friends of the Article V Convention

Many technical analyses cast doubt on the official explanation of the collapse of three World Trade Center buildings, including those presented by an impressive new group: Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth. More difficult than discovering the truth, however, is convincing most of the public to accept the bitter truth.

Americans easily block out painful truths. Powerful societal forces keep much of the population distracted and uninterested in complex issues. Entertainment-oriented mainstream media contribute to mass ignorance. And the political establishment often buries the truth, uses propaganda and manipulates citizens. Intelligent, strong-willed people can fight all these.

But on a deeper level, many truths are blocked psychologically, because they produce too much pain. This results when truths sharply disagree with strongly held beliefs. The conflict produces cognitive dissonance that can block full acceptance of the disturbing truth. People fall victim to self-manipulation and self-delusion. Truths are dismissed and false beliefs remain embedded.

When it comes to 9/11, we face the strong belief that only Al-Qaeda caused 9/11. But analyses by many experts reveal the collapse of three WTC buildings was not caused by the two airplanes exploding into the two towers. Without getting into details that one can spend many hours examining on a number of websites, the general view is that the buildings were brought down by controlled demolition.

If correct - IF - the immediate reaction is like a cosmic big bang. It would have taken considerable effort by a number of people with expertise and access to the buildings to rig them so that they could be intentionally collapsed when the two jets hit the towers. Tough questions flood in: Who could have engineered all this? Could foreign agents accomplish such complex actions - and if they did, why not take credit for it? If Americans did it, why would they intentionally inflict inevitable mass death and devastation? Worse, they seemingly knew about the plan to fly the jets into the towers.

Post-9/11, why have the government and official investigations not come to the same controlled demolition conclusion? This might be explained if the government was involved.

Pull one string and the whole 9/11 story unravels as your imagination triggers unending questions. Can Americans support a reinvestigation and rethinking of the 9/11 event? Or would they rather avoid even more pain and preserve the official account that places all blame on Al-Qaeda? So easy to criticize those who offer different explanations as conspiracy nuts.

After all, the new truth would be so shocking that we would have to question our political and government system. Could there have been such malevolence somewhere in our government? Did a monumental conspiracy push us into attacks on Afghanistan and Iraq? Did petroleum and corporate interests shape 9/11?

Like other groups, Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth wants a new, honest and comprehensive study that considers all the evidence for controlled demolition. First, let the technical truth emerge. Then, if necessary, cope with the inevitable political, conspiracy and other questions. But let us not allow a possible painful truth block the primary task of determining once and for all what caused the collapse of the WTC towers and building no. 7.

If there were non-Muslim forces - possibly U.S. government ones - that played a major role in the WTC catastrophe, then let us have the courage to face the truth. Suppose some element of our government played a secret, awful role. If we do not uncover it, then we are vulnerable to repeat nefarious and unimaginable activity in the future - possibly to impact the 2008 presidential election. Discovering 9/11 truth would enshrine the wisdom of the old adage: the truth hurts. That means suffering the pain of revealing lies and cover-ups. Mourning over the deaths of building victims and heroic first responders would expand with new anger. And another reason to hate and oppose the Iraq war would surface.

If those that believe the official 9/11 story - especially elected officials - trust their views, then let them support a serious investigation to test the validity of the controlled demolition hypothesis. If they fear and reject doing so, then let us see that as suspicious and unacceptable.

As a former engineering professor with growing skepticism about the official WTC story, I joined Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth; you can learn about the controlled demolition findings and other similar truth-seeking efforts at http://www.911truth.org/. You choose: seek the truth yourself or take the easy way and just criticize those who question the official story.

To sum up, horrific possible answers can cause us to shun a question. But clearing our minds of fears of painful truths is essential to clearing our nation of destructive lies. Otherwise, we stay stuck in a delusional democracy.

http://www.bestcyrano.org/avenger212/?p=89




Federal Reserve Plantation Nation:
American Warcrime Scenery

B. Z. Bendigedig, P.I.

"Who controls the money controls the world."
-- Henry Kissinger

Once the Rockefellers and Rothschilds sold it all
Bushes and Reagans bought it for their boys
A mafioso bill of bloody gaming the world
Monopoly matrix mind numbing marketing of Life

Exchanging dead Presidents from a paper past
(Federal banking elite Reserve cartel notes)
To which our future was mortgaged like a mall
for which our children will march to murder

Our chains are in the brains of thee masses
newspeak traded for reality generations ago

Welcome to our wonderful world of wealth
our 100% sold-out center of money magic
Where a soul's value is converted to numbers
millions upon billions now trillions of tokens

Causing the crowded consumers to follow through
open market new plantation choose chains of gold
Fragments of what was once real behind wAlls
controlled policed secured in our big city state

Our chains are in the brains of thee masses
newspeak traded for reality generations ago

Whispers of revolution creep around wild edges
yet tomorrow again we go on with our business
Pledging allegiance even though our truth is stolen
paying death taxes for oil wars in a prison nation


B. Z. Bendigedig, P.I.
Perception Recovery Collective
http://bombshelter.org/

"For in a Republic, who is 'the country?' Is it the Government which is for the moment in the saddle? Why, the Government is merely a servant - merely a temporary servant; it cannot be its prerogative to determine what is right and what is wrong, and decide who is a patriot and who isn't. Its function is to obey orders, not originate them." -- Mark Twain



Fragging the Simulation:
Revolution Ineditable

"The shepherd always tries to persuade the sheep that their interests and his own are the same."
-- Marie Beyle

Pardon me for interrupting your "perfect life"
of entertainment, parties, awards and games
crackling ads for war topped with sugar pops
your good luck hard work money of freedom

Just a harmonic hello from a friend
around the bend and this warning

You are operating as a character of imitation
a version of yourself within a larger simulation
trapped in an even more vast machinery
all embedded in an elemental reality

Atoms and electrons humming within
worlds in collusion and collision

Trouble is brewing around the system
social simulations cranked into crashdown
popping electronica climbing to climax
selling the hype within a shitstorm

Tomorrows tornadoes twist into today
state of emergency elemental apocalyptica

Burning battlezones bulldozed under bullshit
by the bozos hired to cover the Big Lies
it's a planetary parasitic militaristic
infection of fascistic plastic "Security"

Blowing away in the wind my friend the End
answers crying for questions then song

Your beliefs in big money and popularity
the perfect playmakers on the viddy
or the "Founding Fathers" and nationality
all a surreal simulation in the crashing

Smashed dazed confused crumbling bumbling
memories haze away like the smog in tears

Humanity geared up as machines clawing
buzzing burning speeding on oily ways
spewing trashing shooting days away
citizens programmed to kill on command

Newest most deadly gaming system today
realistic blood splatters now on sale!

We interrupt this bulletin for an Elemental Alert
solar storms and burning blazes swarm
planetary meltdown swelling oceans
erupting overwhelming your cityscapes

Cheering and chattering drone down momentarily
crowds connected simulating intelligence

Super spies and eyes in the sky say CIA
NSA Echelon MIB OSS MI5 Interpol
prison planet nowhere left to hide
bamboos and forests a final sanctuary

9-11 was an inside job knocked upside your knob
wake the fuck up from their war of the living dead

On the ape ranch in dark space at the edge
of the galaxy an invasion of serpentine coils
as colonies are fattened in our urban pens
humans ready for harvesting our precious fluids

Blood and plasma pumping and flexxing
magical timespace energies in us

What we believe is real doesn't matter to a star
or how far or big we decide to make the world
why we follow inbred images and icons
all background for further layers of sim

Simulation nation pledge allegiance replay
pay to play every day "what they say" is our way

"To sim or not to sim, to question what is real?"
-- Perception Recovery Collective

B.Z. Bendigedig, P.I.
WoodenPoetry GearBox 008
http://bombshelter.org/

"They could be made to accept the most flagrant violations of reality, because they never fully grasped the enormity of what was demanded of them, and were not sufficiently interested in public events to notice what was happening."
-- George Orwell, 1984

Atomic Weapon Tested in Hawai'i: Army Bombing Continues

Army Survey Confirms Use of Nuclear Weapon System in Hawaii:
Formerly Classified "Davy Crockett" Cannon at Pohakuloa

Tuesday, August 21st, 2007
Associated Press

Radioactive depleted uranium has been found at the U.S. Army's Pohakuloa Training Area, the Army announced Monday.

Military contractor Cabrera Services has also determined that a formerly classified weapon capable of firing atomic rounds, the "Davy Crockett", was used at the Big Island military base, the Army said in a two-page news release.

"The depleted uranium (DU) that was found does not pose a health danger," said Army spokeswoman Stefanie Gardin.

The material, the same as previously discovered at the Army's Schofield Barracks on Oahu, was found in an area where there is no public access.

The PTA training range covers about 55,000 acres, Gardin said.

The contractor collected soil samples that have been sent to an independent laboratory for analysis, the Army said in its written statement.

"Now that DU has been confirmed at Pohakuloa, the Army will coordinate with the State of Hawaii and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to determine the next steps," the statement added.

That plan will include an "extensive" survey and monitoring of PTA, Schofield and Oahu's Makua Military Reservation. The Army said it also will partner with state officials "in the planning and execution of a mutually agreed upon response."

"This is obviously going to be the first step in the process," Gardin said of the aerial testing Cabrera Services conducted Thursday through Saturday.

She did not immediately know the cost of the survey, or why the Army had to hire a contractor to determine what was used on its firing range.

DU is the byproduct of producing nuclear energy. The military uses it in armor-piercing munitions because the material has about twice the density of lead and can ignite on impact.

Breathing the "weakly radioactive" material allows it to be absorbed into the blood faster than by ingestion, according to the World Health Organization's Web site. People exposed to DU would have to breathe grams of the material to trigger the risk of lung cancer, according to the WHO.

DU is considered to be a "chemical health hazard" that has not been known to cause "observable health or reproductive effects," according to the Army's news release.

"Now that DU has been confirmed at Pohakuloa, the Army will coordinate with the State of Hawaii and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to determine the next steps," the Army's news release added.

That plan will include an "extensive" survey and monitoring of PTA, Schofield and Oahu's Makua Military Reservation. The Army said it also will partner with state officials "in the planning and execution of a mutually agreed upon response."

http://www.erdc.usace.army.mil/



History Lesson 13 - The Davy Crockett

After World War 2, the nuclear weapon was going to save the United States from future wars, and guarantee that we would never again need the massive armed forces required to fight previous wars. There was some speculation that we could eliminate most of the military and its expense. All military branches were feeling the pressure of being downsized, and were developing new weapons to insure their continued existence as an atomic force. With all new technologies, there is a period of exploration on how to properly use it. Thus there were many proposals for the best applications, both peaceful and for warfare. Many were proposed by the lunatic fringe, including the nuclear powered ramjet cruise missile that would have sprayed radiation over the landscape.


The army developed a mobile tactical 280mm (about 11") "atomic" canon in the early fifties that could deliver a 15-kiliton weapon at approximately 18 miles. Weighting 83 tons and requiring a large support organization, this glamorous weapon was obsolete when introduced. Never the less, twenty were made at great expense, and served until the early sixties.

Realizing that it needed a more practical weapon, the army developed the man portable Davy Crockett. This small unit weapon consisted of an atomic projectile launched from either a 120mm or 155mm recoilless rifle, both common "bazooka" style firing mechanisms in the inventory of the day. The 120mm had a range of 1¼ mile, while the 155mm had a range of 2½ miles. The warhead assembly weighed 76 pounds, was 30 inches long and 11 inches in diameter.

The explosive part of the warhead used on the Davy Crockett weighed just 51 pounds and was the smallest and lightest fission bomb (implosion type) ever deployed by the United States, with a variable explosive yield of 10 – 20 tons of TNT. The 10-ton version could destroy a two-block area. This would be approximately two to four times as powerful as the ammonium nitrate bomb that destroyed the Alfred P. Murrah federal building. The Davy Crockett was deployed with U.S. Army forces from 1961 to 1971. Between 1956 and 1963, 2,100 were produced at an estimated cost (excluding the warhead) of $540 million.

This weapon was not popular with the troops, and it is unlikely that it would have been used except as a weapon of last resort. With an effect range of 1500–2000 yards and a potential blast radius of 3000 yards, taking cover immediately after firing was a necessity. Commanders didn’t trust putting nuclear weapons in the hands of the troops. Troops didn’t like the idea of carrying a nuclear weapon into battle. And since this was a tactical battlefield weapon, there was the chance of it being captured and turned against us.

Although the weapon system was questionable, the warhead has been used for a variety of applications by every branch of the U.S. armed forces. Built in versions up to 1–kiloton, the warhead is considered small enough to be deployed as a SADM (Special Atomic Demolition Munition) or so called "Backpack Nuke". It was the closest thing the U.S. is known to have to developed to a so-called "suitcase bomb".



One of the smallest nuclear weapons ever built, the Davy Crockett was developed in the late 1950s for use against Soviet troops in West Germany. Small teams of the Atomic Battle Group (charged with operating the device) would be stationed every few kilometers to guard against Soviet attack, using the power of their nuclear artillery shells to kill or incapacitate advancing troop formations and irradiate the area so that it was uninhabitable for up to 48 hours, long enough to mobilize NATO forces.

The M-388 round used a version of the W54 warhead, a very small sub-kiloton fission device. The Mk-54 weighed about 51 lb (23 kg), with a selectable yield of 10 or 20 tons (very close to the minimum practical size and yield for a fission warhead) up to .5 kiloton. The complete round weighed 76 lb (34.5 kg). It was 31 in. (78.7 cm) long with a diameter of 11 in. (28 cm) at its widest point; a subcaliber piston at the back of the shell was actually inserted into the launcher's barrel for firing.

The Davy Crockett could be launched from either of two launchers: the 4-inch (120 mm) M28, with a range of about 1.25 mi (2 km), or the 6-in (155 mm) M29, with a range of 2.5 mi (4 km). Both weapons used the same projectile, and could be mounted on a tripod launcher or carried by truck or armored personnel carrier. They were operated by a three-man crew.

Both recoilless guns proved to have poor accuracy in testing, so the shell's greatest effect would have been its extreme radiation hazard. Even at a low yield setting, the M388 would produce an almost instantly lethal radiation dosage (in excess of 10,000 rem) within 500 feet (150 m), and a probably fatal dose (around 600 rem) within a quarter mile (400 meters).

A common myth is that with no shielding or protection from either blast or radiation, a Davy Crockett crew would have been unlikely to survive any engagement, also claiming that the blast area of the warhead was greater than the range of the weapon. In fact, though the device could be fired to a dangerously short range by an inept crew, the maximum range of both versions is far longer than the distance at which dangerous direct radiation, thermal, shockwave/blast, or debris are likely to endanger the crew. At a range of as little as half of the maximum range for the 120mm version (1 kilometer) no immediate ill effects are likely.

Production of the Davy Crockett began in 1956, with a total of 2,100 being made. The weapon was deployed with U.S. Army forces from 1961 to 1971.

Versions of the W54 warhead were also used in the Special Atomic Demolition Munition project and the AIM-26A Falcon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davy_Crockett_(nuclear_device)

In the video game Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, a Russian colonel of the GRU by the name of Colonel Volgin fires a "Davy Crockett" from a helicopter, at a research base controlled by a rival Russian faction, obtained by a US agent who defects to the Russians. This takes place during the Cold War.




America's Army to Declare War on Ganzia in New Game

BY Elizabeth M. Lorge

Washington (Army News Service, Aug. 13, 2007) – America's Army will declare war on the fictional country of Ganzia Sept. 27 when it launches "True Soldiers" for X-Box 360, the latest evolution of the popular Army-sponsored computer game.

Players create a Soldier, go to basic and advanced weapons training, then deploy to Ganzia, an American ally overrun by a rebel militia. Each mission comes complete with a set of battle orders providing background information, objectives and intelligence.

True to its name, "True Soldiers" accurately depicts the Army, from the smallest unit patch to the shadow of a Raven unmanned aerial vehicle. Players can even give each other "coins" for saving a battle buddy and receive awards for valor.

Training and marksmanship tests reflect real Army standards, and uniforms, guns and other equipment model the real thing.

"We have all these weapons in our studio and artists can actually model them and texture them to make them look as real as possible," said Randy Greenback, creative director for the game. "Thanks to the Army, all of our developers were trained on how to reload and fire weapons, and we actually went out and did some training at Fort McClellan, Ala. We put everything we learned and experienced into the game."

The game focuses on leadership and teamwork so groups play together as units, but players may also participate individually.

"True Soldiers" is filled with background information on ranks, units, specialty occupations and the core Army values of loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity and personal courage.

"True Soldiers" also tells the stories of "America's Army: Real Heroes," six real Soldiers who received a Silver Star or Bronze Star with Valor for heroism in combat. The program is scheduled to release four action figures of the Soldiers in Toys "R" Us stores by the end of August and two more later this year.

"It's a great way to tell our stories," said Real Hero Sgt. Tommy Rieman, who will literally be the face of the game. "It's an honor and it's pretty cool."

"This is all very authentic, even down to the face paint, the goggles," he added. "This is one portion we bring to the table. We show them this is what a Soldier looks like and then the designers go in and put it into the game and you have the United States Army."

Parents concerned that the game is a little too life-like can set the program to use non-lethal training ammunition only. Enemy soldiers will simply sit down after being shot.

For more information about America's Army, visit
www.americasarmy.com

Heroic Actions on the Fringes: Rallying for the Future

World Leaders Create Freelance Global Diplomatic Team:
"The Elders" Repped by Mandela, Branson

By MICHAEL WINES
The New York Times

JOHANNESBURG — Melding serious statesmanship and a dose of audacity, the former South African president, Nelson R. Mandela, and a clutch of world-famous figures plan to announce on Wednesday a private alliance to launch diplomatic assaults on the globe's most intractable problems.

The alliance, to be unveiled during events marking Mr. Mandela's 89th birthday, is to be called the Elders. Among others, it includes the retired Anglican archbishop Desmond Tutu; former President Jimmy Carter; the former United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan; and the human-rights activist and former Irish president Mary Robinson.

Many, including Mr. Mandela, have been early and harsh critics of President Bush and American foreign policy, particularly toward Iraq and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The group's members and backers insisted in interviews, however, that they were guided neither by ideology nor by geopolitical bent.

Mr. Mandela, in remarks prepared for Wednesday, said that since members no longer held public office, they could work solely for the common good, not for outside interests.

"This group can speak freely and boldly, working both publicly and behind the scenes on whatever actions need to be taken," he wrote.

"Together we will work to support courage where there is fear, foster agreement where there is conflict and inspire hope where there is despair."

Whether governments that become the objects of the Elders' freelance diplomacy would agree remains to be seen. One of the group's founders and principal financial backers, the British tycoon Richard Branson, said leaders he had briefed — including Britain's prime minister, Gordon Brown, and South Africa's president, Thabo Mbeki — "very much support the initiative."

"There will always be skeptics of any positive initiatives, but these are people giving up their time for nothing," Mr. Branson said. "Most individuals in the world would welcome a group of people who are above ego, who, in the last 12 or 15 years of their lives, are above partisan politics."

The Elders would not try to solve all the world's problems, he said, but would work "stone by stone" on those issues where they can do some good.

At least one veteran crisis-solver, the former American secretary of state Madeleine Albright, said the idea should not be dismissed.

"It's worth having people with experience see what they can do," Ms. Albright, reached by telephone in Paris, said Tuesday. "So much of diplomacy is having an outsider lay out what the issues are — having a wider outside view."

She added that having said that, much of diplomacy also requires the weight of nations like the United States to succeed. "Whether these people would be representing a country or themselves will make a difference," she said.

That may depend on the situation. The Elders may sometimes complement the efforts of a government to solve a crisis, Mr. Annan said Tuesday, but also may make what he called timely interventions when official efforts have failed.

Asked how that differed from what United Nations diplomats were supposed to do, Mr. Annan replied: "We are not out to defend the positions of any institution or government. We're ordinary global citizens who want to help with the problems of the world."

None of the problems the Elders will tackle have been selected. Indeed, not all of the members, who will eventually number about a dozen, have been chosen.

"The Elders won't get involved in delivering bed nets for malaria prevention," Mr. Carter said. "The issue is to fill vacuums — to address major issues that aren't being adequately addressed."

If the concept and the name seem a bit outsize — a diplomatic league of superheroes, one might say — it may be because of the group's ties to Mr. Branson, a friend of Mr. Mandela who rarely does things in a small way.

Mr. Branson said he began thinking about the notion in 2003, after he sought to persuade Mr. Mandela and Mr. Annan to travel to Baghdad to ask Saddam Hussein to relinquish power in Iraq. The two agreed, but war broke out before arrangements were completed.

Later, after working on a concert for one of Mr. Mandela's charities, Mr. Branson flew home with Peter Gabriel, the British rock star and human-rights activist. "I was talking about the need for a group of global elders to be there to rally around in times of conflict," he said, "and Peter said he'd had a similar idea."

Thus was born the Elders, named after the pre-eminence of elders in African village societies. Over the past year or so, Mr. Branson held a series of meetings at which members and backers were recruited.

The remaining announced members of the group are Graça Machel, Mr. Mandela's wife and a noted Mozambican human-rights activist; Muhammad Yunus, the Bangladeshi who won the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for his work in extending loans to impoverished borrowers; Ela Bhatt, a women's trade union leader in India; and Li Zhaoxing, who was China's foreign minister until this year.

Mr. Branson and Mr. Gabriel contributed money to begin the project. Asked how much it would cost, Mr. Branson replied, "Obviously, it's not cheap." But enough donors have given money to finance the Elders' first four years of work, he said, and he anticipated that raising more would not be difficult.

"It's an organization that's set up to be there in a hundred years' time," he said.





Darfur campaign starts Olympic torch genocide tour
Mon Aug 13, 2007 8:23AM EDT

By Stephanie Hancock

OURE CASSONI REFUGEE CAMP, Chad (Reuters) - Actress Mia Farrow and fellow campaigners have begun an Olympic-style torch relay through countries that have suffered genocide to press China to help end abuses in the Darfur region of its ally Sudan.

Farrow, a goodwill ambassador for U.N. Children's Fund UNICEF and outspoken critic of abuses in western Sudan, lit a torch just across the border in Chad almost exactly a year before the Beijing Olympics are due to open on August 8, 2008.

"This flame represents and honors all those who have been lost, and all those who still suffer," said Farrow as she held the symbolic torch in Oure Cassoni refugee camp, 3 miles from Chad's border with Sudan.

"This flame celebrates the courage of those who survived and represents the hope we all share for an end to the violence, and a safe return home," she said.

During a fierce rain and dust storm which engulfed the camp, the actress then wrapped up the ceremony by symbolically leading away a refugee boy into the distance, still holding the torch high in her other hand, to cheers from fellow activists.

Human rights campaigners accuse Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir's government of supporting abuses by his armed forces and allied Arab militia known as the "Janjaweed" and accuse China, Sudan's most powerful ally and top oil customer, of shielding Khartoum from international action.

Washington brands Darfur's war genocide. International experts estimate 200,000 people have died in Darfur, though Sudan puts the toll much lower at about 9,000.

OLYMPIC OPPORTUNITY

China hopes the Olympics will showcase its growing industrial and economic might, and campaigners trying to exert pressure on Beijing over alleged human rights abuses by it or its allies have seized on the Games as a publicity opportunity.

Critics who accuse China of widespread human rights violations at home against groups such as outlawed Falun Gong spiritual group began a rival torch relay in Athens, on Friday, the same day Farrow lit the Darfur torch in Chad.

Organizers requested details of the controversial ceremony in Chad be published only after they had left for Rwanda, where an estimated 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were slaughtered in a 1994 genocide.

"The Olympic torch travels the world before the games to represent peace and brotherhood. We are doing this torch ... to also represent peace and brotherhood for the people of Darfur," Jill Savitt, of Organizers Dream for Darfur, told reporters.

Ruth Messinger, president of the American Jewish World Service, and Ira Newble, an NBA basketball player with the Cleveland Cavaliers, also took part in last week's ceremony.

Eastern Chad is home to 230,000 Darfuri refugees as well as 170,000 more Chadian civilians forced from their homes by inter-ethnic attacks similar to those which have plagued neighboring Darfur.

The Dream for Darfur torch is due to continue to visit genocide sites in Rwanda, Armenia, Bosnia, Germany and Cambodia as well as touring nearly two dozen cities across the United States ahead of next year's Olympics.

The U.N. Security Council has authorized a joint U.N.-African Union operation of 20,000 peacekeepers and 6,000 civilian police for Darfur. Sudan at first resisted the proposal, but backed down. The new force will absorb a 7,000-member African peacekeeping force now in Darfur, and was to be in place by year's end.

The school where Farrow appeared Wednesday is Ecole Technique Officielle, where 2,000 Rwandans were executed during the country's genocide.

The killing started within hours after the president's plane was mysteriously shot down over Kigali late on April 6, 1994. Hutu militiamen, known as interahamwe, set up roadblocks across Kigali and on April 7 began hunting down Tutsis and moderate Hutus and killing them.

The Darfur torch relay will also go to Armenia, Bosnia, Germany, Cambodia and finally in December to Hong Kong.

Mia Farrow:
http://www.miafarrow.org

SaveDarfur:
http://www.savedarfur.org/torchrelay




Fringe actor with sword foils gang of thieves

GARETH EDWARDS
Edinburghnews.com

A GANG of teenage robbers targeted the wrong Fringe performer when they stole from a broadsword-wielding Greek warrior.

The mythical hero Odysseus - also known as student Tom Clews - chased them down, brandishing his solid-steel sword and in full costume.

The 20-year-old managed to hold three of them for the police and get his money back, despite being hit on the head with a bottle.

Police said the gang was wanted in connection with other robberies from Fringe performers in the city centre and praised the student for his actions.

The drama unfolded when members of the Live Wire Theatre group were walking through the Grassmarket on their way back to their hostel in the early hours of Thursday.

As they approached the hostel, one of the cast handed Tom £20 to buy some food. The youths barged into them, snatched the money and ran off.

Tom, who practises the martial art Tai Kwando and is a skilled swordsman, shrugged off his heroics.

He said: "I didn't really think, it was just a surge of adrenaline and fear and I just took off after them.

"Something hit me on the head and it smashed like a bottle, but I don't have any cuts or anything, which is quite lucky.

"I don't really know what I was doing but I had the sword, which is really heavy, and so I tried to trip them up with it and managed to take the legs away from a few of them.

"It's hard to describe what it was like but I certainly didn't feel heroic. It would sound good to say I was in character as Odysseus and that's why I chased them, but I think I was just angry that they'd taken the money. I did think I would get in trouble with the police for having the sword but they said these guys were wanted for other robberies and thanked me."

A spokeswoman for Live Wire Theatre said she was stunned anyone had tried to rob the actor from Oxford while he was in full costume and carrying a sword.

"He doesn't exactly look like the sort of person you would rob anyway, let alone when he's in character, and these young guys really did pick on the wrong man," she said.

"As a company we have been noted for our sword fighting, and we use real, heavy steel swords on stage, so it is very physical.

"Because of the amount of practice he has done, Tom is very used to taking knocks, so he claims he hardly even felt the bottle, just heard the glass smashing, and carried on chasing the guys down.

"He has been to the Fringe with us before, last year when he played Hector in the Iliad, so he's used to playing heroes, but now he can say he really is one."

The story is in marked contrast to a promotional stunt by the theatre company last year that landed it on the wrong side of the law.

The group was cautioned by officers a day after a widespread terror alert after they were spotted wielding a crossbow outside the Palace of Holyrood House while the Queen was staying there.