Peace and Justice Post

On the morning of an apparent cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah militants, 11-year-old Hadi Hattab played in the street for the first time since the monthlong war began in July 2006.

Seconds later, an explosion of ball bearings shot into his skull from one of more than 4 million cluster bombs fired into southern Lebanon by the Israeli military. The boy died a few hours later.

Since the end of the conflict, Hadi and 29 other Lebanese civilians have been killed and more than 200 injured by triggering some of the unexploded cluster bombs in southern Lebanon. The United Nations estimates that about 1 million of these bombs – mostly produced in the United States – failed to explode on impact, leaving roads, schools, homes and fields littered with lethal explosives. Most of the bombs were fired by the Israeli military in the last three days of the conflict after a cease-fire had been declared.

Conitnued . . .

The New York Review of Books, Vol. 55, No. 5, April 3, 2008

By David Bromwich

In Tacitus’ Agricola, a Caledonian rebel named Calgacus, addressing “a close-packed multitude” preparing to fight, declares that Rome has overrun so much of the world that “there are no more nations beyond us; nothing is there but waves and rocks, and the Romans, more deadly still than these— for in them is an arrogance which no submission or good behavior can escape.” Certain habits of speech, he adds, abet the ferocity and arrogance of the empire by infecting even the enemies of Rome with Roman self-deception:

A rich enemy excites their cupidity; a poor one, their lust for power. East and West alike have failed to satisfy them…. To robbery, butchery, and rapine, they give the lying name of “government”; they create a desolation and call it peace.

The frightening thing about such acts of renaming or euphemism, Tacitus implies, is their power to efface the memory of actual cruelties. Behind the façade of a history falsified by language, the painful particulars of war are lost. Maybe the most disturbing implication of the famous sentence “They create a desolation and call it peace” is that apologists for violence, by means of euphemism, come to believe what they hear themselves say.

Continued . . .

By Patrick Cockburn, CounterPunch. Posted March 17, 2008.

It reminds me of Iraq under Saddam,” said a militant opponent of Saddam Hussein angrily to me last week as he watched red-capped Iraqi soldiers close down part of central Baghdad so the convoy of Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki might briefly venture into the city.Five rears after the invasion of Iraq the US and the Iraqi government both claim that Iraq is becoming a less dangerous place, but the measures taken to protect Mr. Maliki told a different story. Gun-waving soldiers first cleared all traffic from the streets. Then four black armored cars, each with three machine gunners on the roof, raced out of a heavily fortified exit from the Green Zone, followed by sand-colored American Humvees and more armored cars. Finally, in the middle of the speeding convoy, we saw six identical bullet proof vehicles with black windows, one of which must have carried Mr. Maliki.

The precautions were not excessive since Baghdad remains the most dangerous city in the world. The Iraqi prime minister was only going to the headquarters of the Dawa party to which he belongs and which are only half a mile from the Green Zone but his hundreds of security guards acted as if they were entering enemy territory.

Five years of occupation have destroyed Iraq as a country. Baghdad is today a collection of hostile Sunni and Shia ghettoes divided by high concrete walls. Different districts even have different national flags. Sunni areas use the old Iraqi flag with the three stars of the Baath party and the Shia wave a newer version, adopted by the Shia-Kurdish government. The Kurds have their own flag.

Continued . . .

Khaleej Times, March 16, 2008

(AFP)

LONDON – Amnesty International on Monday said the rights situation in Iraq five years after the US-led invasion was “disastrous” and that the country had turned into one of the world’s most dangerous zones.

“Five years after the US-led invasion that toppled (former president) Saddam Hussein, Iraq is one of the most dangerous countries in the world,” it said in a 24-page report, entitled ”Carnage and Despair. Iraq Five Years On”.

Against a backdrop of insecurity, law and order and economic recovery were a “distant prospect” while most Iraqis were living in poverty, with food shortages, lack of access to safe drinking water and high unemployment.

More than four in 10 Iraqis lived on less than one US dollar a day — the UN standard for measuring poverty — while the health and education systems were at near collapse and women and girls at risk of violence from extremists.

“Saddam Hussein’s administration was a byword for human rights abuse,” said Amnesty’s director for Middle East and North Africa, Malcolm Smart. “But its replacement has brought no respite at all for its people.”

The failure to investigate alleged abuses “is one of the most worrying aspects for the future”, he added.

“Even when faced with overwhelming evidence of torture under their watch, the Iraqi authorities have failed to hold the perpetrators to account — and the US and its allies have failed to demand that they do so,” he said.

Amnesty also criticised the extensive use of the death penalty, the international community’s failure to cater for Iraqi refugees and despite the more stable situation, the lack of free speech in the Kurdistan region.

Continued . . .

Declan Walsh in Islamabad

The Guardian, Monday March 17, 2008

A salvo of suspected American missiles killed at least 20 people, including several al-Qaida militants, in Pakistan’s tribal areas yesterday, a day after a restaurant bombing in the capital, Islamabad, that wounded US and British officials. The bloody weekend underscored the extremist threat facing the new coalition government of erstwhile rivals Nawaz Sharif and Asif Zardari, which is due to be formed after parliament is sworn in today.

Tribesmen near Wana, the main town in South Waziristan, reported seeing up to seven missiles fired at two houses. Earlier they heard a buzzing noise – the signature sound of US Predator drones, which have carried out at least two attacks on suspected al-Qaida hideouts in the tribal areas this year.

The Pakistan army confirmed five or six explosions, but could not identify the source. The US and Pakistan have a policy of not officially recognising politically inflammatory Predator strikes.

Continued . . .

Press , March 17, 2008

Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has criticized US President George W. Bush for his latest remarks and called him a genocidal terrorist.

Chavez made the remarks on Sunday after President Bush accused him of supporting ‘terrorists’ in neighboring Colombia and fueling an anti-American campaign last week.

“The president of the United States himself has come out and attacked us and attacked me personally, calling me a demagogue. Well, I am calling him a terrorist and genocidal,” AFP quoted Chavez as saying.

“And now Bush says I have Venezuelans here going hungry,” he added, insisting Bush should take a look at the economic conditions in the United States.

“Venezuelan people today are better fed than ever,” Chavez said. “The people taking hits from their own government are in the United States, which has an economic crisis. ”

Last week, the US president said that Venezuela ‘has squandered its oil wealth to promote its hostile anti-American vision, and it has left its own citizens to face food shortages while it threatens its neighbors’.

AGB/RE

The Smirking Chimp, March 15, 2008

Robert Parry

Two seemingly disconnected events have created a suddenly dangerous turn regarding the future of U.S. wars in the Middle East.

One was the abrupt resignation of the person who has been the biggest obstacle to a U.S. military strike against Iran, Admiral William Fallon, the chief of Central Command which oversees U.S. military operations in the volatile region.

The second is the ugly direction that the Democratic presidential competition has taken, with Hillary Clinton’s campaign intensifying its harsh rhetoric against Barack Obama, reducing the likelihood that he can win the presidency – and thus raising the odds that the next president will be either John McCain or Sen. Clinton, both hawks on Iran.

Throughout the campaign, Clinton has mocked Obama as inexperienced for his desire to engage in presidential-level diplomacy with Iran and other adversarial states. And she recently judged him as unqualified to serve as Commander in Chief, while declaring that both she and Sen. McCain have crossed that “threshold.”

The cumulative effect of Clinton’s attacks on Obama’s qualifications – combined with her campaign’s efforts to turn many white voters against him as the “black candidate” – has buoyed Republican hopes for November.

Continued . . .

RINF.com, March 15, 2008


Thousands of anti-war protesters rallied to demand Britain withdraw its troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Activists urging an end to Britain’s role in overseas’ wars gathered in Trafalgar Square, central London, for a march on parliament.

The protest, organised by the Stop the War Coalition, was called to mark the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. Demonstrators called for no US attack on Iran and for an end to the “siege” of Gaza.

Organisers in London estimated up to 40,000 people joined the protest. Police said no arrests were made. They estimated numbers at 10,000.

The London protest was one of a number taking place in countries around the world on Saturday, organisers said. Protesters heard speeches from the leaders of a range of groups including CND, and the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign.

Former Labour cabinet minister Tony Benn said: “The troops in Iraq have caused devastation. It’s the same in Afghanistan.”

Green MEP Caroline Lucas called for the Prime Minister and his predecessor to be prosecuted for war crimes. She said: “Tony Blair and Gordon Brown should be tried for war crimes at the international court in the Hague.

“They need to know you cannot bomb your way to peace.”

Former CND leader Bruce Kent described the protest as an “orchestra of peace”.

“I think the common agreement is for a peaceful and just world. I am speaking about nuclear weapons but the war in Iraq is part of the same campaign.”

We have been engaged in an illegal war in Iraq for five years – and there is no accountability.

It is beyond doubt that our leaders lied us into this war – and there is no accountability.

More than four thousand American and coalition soldiers are dead – and there is no accountability.

Tens of thousands of American and coalition soldiers are seriously wounded – and there is no accountability.

Our surviving soldiers are coming home traumatized from the war without proper medical and psychiatric care – and there is no accountability.

More than a million Iraqis, mostly civilians, have been killed in this war and countless others wounded – and there is no accountability.

More than four million Iraqis are displaced as internal or external refugees of this war – and there is no accountability.

By using so-called “depleted uranium” weapons, we are poisoning the earth, air and water of Iraq, causing serious health problems to Iraqis and coalition soldiers – and there is no accountability.

America has become a nation that tortures – and there is no accountability.

America has become a nation that spies on its citizens – and there is no accountability.

America has become a nation that hides the body bags of its soldiers killed in action – and there is no accountability.

We are spending $12 billion a month on this war – and there is no accountability.

Reputable economists calculate that this war will cost American citizens more than $3 trillion – and there is no accountability.

This war is burdening unborn generations of Americans and Iraqis – and there is no accountability.

This war has brought respect for America to its lowest ebb throughout the world – and there is no accountability.

The war in Iraq has stretched our military forces to the breaking point, making us far less able to cope with real threats to our security – and there is no accountability.

The war in Iraq has been a training ground for terrorists, making us far less safe – and there is no accountability.

Accountability means holding to account those who are responsible for a war that is illegal under international law – in this case, it means holding to account those who have been irresponsible and criminal in their behavior. It means holding to account George Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Condoleezza Rice, Colin Powell and others. It means not just their disgrace, but trials to bring them to justice.

This is not a partisan issue – it is an issue of responsibility and accountability and, at a deeper level, an issue of restoring our decency, our dignity and our democracy.

Americans must hold those responsible for this war to account.

David Krieger is president of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation.