Babylonian Times...

IRAQ: POWER TO THE...ER
On June 30th, sovereignty was officially transferred from the US led Coalition Provisional Authority to the interim Iraqi government. Or, as the CPA's statement put it, 'full governance authority of Iraq will transfer to the Iraqi Interim Government on that date'. On November 11th a Corporate Watch reader accessed the CPA's website to find the following message: 'Due to the dissolution of the CPA, this site for the CPA-Iraq Coalition will no longer be updated'. For current information on 'the new sovereign Iraq' readers were directed to http://iraq.usembassy.gov. Or, if they preferred, http://baghdad.usembassy.gov instead.

IRAQ 2: Extortion is US
Readers of Naomi Klein in the Guardian might already know that, out of the $1.8 billion in 'reparations' the Iraqi people have paid out since the invasion, US $189,449 has gone to Toys R Us.

IRAQ 3: COMING TO A PRISON NEAR YOU
The American prison company whose director set up Iraq's infamous Abu Ghraib jail for use by the US military is bidding to run a number of prisons in Britain. The Utah-based Management and Training Corporation (MTC) has set up a London headquarters and is in advanced negotiations to operate at least one prison in Britain. It is also planning bids to build and manage a number of other jails, including the extension of Belmarsh in south-east London, Britain's maximum security prison, where terrorist suspects are being held without trial.

SICK OF SLAUGHTER? TRY 'LESS LETHAL' WEAPONS!
It was all jolly humanitarian fun at the 'Less Lethal Weapons Conference 2004', which was actually was held in Dublin in October. Senior officers from the LAPD and the UK attended the conference. Tasers, CR gas, electro-shock batons, and sonic bombs, which have been successfully deployed to 'disperse' (puncture the eardrums of) crowds in Iraq were all on display and for sale, along with pepper spray, plastic bullets and stun-guns. 'Less lethal' is a moot term, considering that 61 US citizens were killed by police using pepper spray in the first five years of its deployment. Tasers, meanwhile, fire two barbed darts into the victim, after which a 50,000 volt electric shock travels down the wires attached to the gun. They have, it is interesting to note, recently been issued to British police. The CEO of Taser International Inc, a major supplier of weaponry to the occupation forces in Iraq, was also a speaker at the event.

ASDA/WAL-MART SPONSOR 'CHILDREN IN NEED' - HEROD SPONSORS CHILDCARE
Only one of these statements is true...Furiously polite emails have been flying from the readers of Medialens to the BBC for a while (see www.medialens.org for details) but the latest concerns all the family. Or rather, the Wal-Mart family. 'I was quite disturbed' wrote one Medialenser 'to see Asda, owned by Wal-Mart, at the top of (the BBC's) list of corporate sponsors for Children in Need. In light of their terrible record of workers' rights and child labour activities, I would request that you refuse their sponsorship and issue a public statement'. The BBC did neither, but in an email back, said that they had contacted Asda, who had come up with a lengthy statement. 'Be assured that we take allegations like this extremely seriously' it said, adding that child labour was 'not tolerated'. The company, however, refuses to reveal its contractors, and will not allow independent inspections. It was recently the only company to be awarded an 'F' by Co-op America, in that organisation's survey on labour standards and human rights, due to its 'documented business transactions' with sweatshop factories in Central America and South East Asia.

LOOK AWAY IF YOU'RE SQUEAMISH
The vegan myth that cows' milk is allowed to contain up to 20% worth of pus was exploded when Corporate Watch contacted a helpful official at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Shaun Whelan, the senior press officer, was pretty sure that there was no pus allowed in milk, but checked anyway. When he came back he sounded rather sick. "As you thought" he confirmed in a subsequent email "there are limits for somatic cells in milk. Essentially, the level is set at less than or equal to 400,000 somatic cells per ml.". Somatic cells are pus cells, caused by teat infections from overmilking and poor conditions. So every millilitre of milk you drink can contain up to 400,000 pus cells. It's the right stuff!