Telegraph, UK, March 16, 2008

By David Eimer in Beijing

Burnt-out overturned cars were scattered along the streets of central Lhasa on Saturday morning.

	Telegraph TV: Tibet riots

Along with still smouldering shops they had been set alight by protestors on Friday night – a clear sign of the scale of the violence of the demonstrations, as well as the anger of Tibetans who are demanding an end to Chinese rule.

The normally picture-postcard setting of the Tibetan capital had been transformed into something akin to a war zone. And like all war zones, there were reports that some, perhaps many, were dead. Two separate witnesses said more than 100 Tibetans had been killed.

Plumes of smoke rose above Lhasa’s buildings yesterday, as eyewitnesses reported that soldiers from the Chinese army, the PLA, had replaced police on the streets. The troops had formed a cordon around the Barkhor neighbourhood, the historic old quarter of Lhasa and the site of the protests, to prevent people from entering or leaving the area. Tanks and armoured vehicles, sporadically firing tear gas, rumbled down streets normally packed with visiting Tibet pilgrims.

Continued . . .

Tom Hayden | The Nation, March 13, 2008

The top counterinsurgency adviser to Gen. David Petraeus in Iraq advocates practicing a “global Phoenix Program,” alluding to the notorious Vietnam-era CIA operation that provoked a worldwide uproar because of the detention, torture and execution of thousands of Vietnamese.

The mainstream media has never reported on the use of the “global Phoenix program” in Iraq, perhaps because the explosive terminology has largely disappeared from the writings and résumé of Lt. Col. David Kilcullen after he first being referred to it in a forty-eight-page strategy paper, “Countering Global Insurgency” published in the obscure Small Wars Journal in September-November 2004.

Kilcullen, an Australian PhD who served for twenty-one years in the Australian army, was the “chief adviser on counterinsurgency operations” to Petraeus in planning the 2007 US troop surge. He also served as chief strategist in the State Department’s counterterrorism office in 2005 and 2006, and has been employed in Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, the Horn of Africa and Southeast Asia.

Continued . . .

Open Letter to the International Criminal Court of Justice

Spencer Spratley | Uruknet, March 14, 2008

Global Research, March 14, 2008 Prosecutor International Criminal Court of Justice The Hague The Netherlands To the Most Honourable Judge Luis Moreno-Ocampo, I am writing your honour to ask that the International Criminal Court of Justice investigate allegations that American military forces committed war crimes in Fallujah, Iraq in the year 2004. The crimes which allegedly occured there are numerous and disturbing to any sane, decent, and moral human being. There have been numerous reports that American military forces used chemical weapons during the assault on Fallujah (namely, white phospherous). It also appears that the American military killed large numbers of unarmed civilians (including many infants and young children). There have also been allegations that American miliatry forces denied or delayed medical care to the residents of the town of Fallujah. In addition, you may be aware that video footage exists of an American soldier shooting a wounded, unarmed Iraqi man in the town of Fallujah. There is also video and audio of an Apache helicopter pilot being given the order to “take out” a large number of unarmed people running down a road in Fallujah. And, surely, the destruction of so many homes, businesses, and mosques was unwarranted, a complete “overkill”, and constitutes a war crime. It left very large numbers of civilians homeless, without a livelihood and forced to face the painful reality that their places of worship lie in ruins. The links which follow are but a few of the sources and foundations for these allegations. I implore your honour, in the name of decency and justice, to open an investigation into this matter and bring to justice any, and all, individuals who are found responsible for commiting war crimes and crimes against humanity. 1) In Dahr Jamail’s website, ” MidEast Dispatches” http://dahrjamailiraq.com/, he provides a gallery of 72 photographs that he himself took in Fallujah. The gallery can be found here: http://dahrjamailiraq.com/gallery/album28?page=1 2) The Centre for Research on Globalisation website http://www.globalresearch.ca contains video of an Apache helicopter killing unarmed people who were running down a road. The video can be found here: http://globalresearch.ca/articles/FAL409A.html 3) There are two documentary videos which document what happened in Falujah in 2004. One is called “Fallujah: the Hidden Massacre”. In this video, a member of the Americna military recounts how the order to use white phospherous was broadcast over radios. The video also offers evidence of other crimes. Here is a link to the video: http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=8905191678365185391&q =Fallujah%3A+hidden+massacre&total=38&start=0&num=10&so=0&ty … The Seond video is entitled, “Fallujah, Operation Phantom Fury” and can be found here: http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=5763436135046925462&q = fallujah&total=2736&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=7 4) The following article from the Guardian newspaper also presents a compelling account of what happened in Fallujah in 2004: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/nov/22/usa.iraq1 5) The following is a link to the Democarcy Now website which contains video evidence of the execution of a wounded Iraqi. The linked page also contains a discussion between Amy Goodwin (the host) and attorney Jules Lobel of the Center for Constitutional Rights about potential crimes committed in Fallujah. Here is the link: http://i3.democracynow.org/2004/11/19/u_s_war_crimes_in_fall ujah 6) This is another video which documents the execution of a wounded person in Fallujah: http://www.metacafe.com/watch/145745/fallujah_raw_footage/ 7) The following is a video in which Dahr Jamil explains what happened in Fallujah: http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=6522901172037059005&q =fallujah+war+crimes&total=18&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=searc … 8) And yet another video which documents the crimes committed in Fallujah: http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=2563239062034747546&q =fallujah+ war+crimes&total=18&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=6 9) This news article contains eyewitness accounts of what happened in Fallujah, including reports of American soldiers shooting at ambulances. The article appeared in the NewsWales website: http://www.newswales.co.uk/?section=Politics&F=1&id=6831 10) The following website also contains information about a variety of crimes committed in Iraq since the beginning of the invasion: http://www.brusselstribunal.org/ I believe that there is sufficient evidence to launch an investigation into what happpened in Fallujah, Iraq in 2004. I pray that you will agree and take all necessary steps to ensure that justice is served. Thank you for your time and consideration. I have sent copies of this email to four individuals at media outlets and research centres as well as three private citizens due to a fear of retaliation by the United States governemnt. Sincerely, Spencer Spratley Mississauga, Ontario Canada L5J 2C7

Counterpunch, March 14, 2008

By DON SANTINA

As the Bush Administration’s economic stimulus plan sailed through Congress last month, a few Democratic senators timidly raised objections to the legislation that Nancy Pelosi’s House had approved, particularly in relation to certain provisions deleted by the House. These provisions, which would have provided critical assistance to people most hard hit by the continuing recession included an extension of unemployment insurance, expansion of food stamps, and rebates to the working poor whose incomes fall below the radar of income tax requirements.

They lost.

“There’s no reason for any more delay on this,” House Speaker Pelosi said as the Senate approved the plan.

In a not-surprising move earlier in the legislative process, Pelosi had surrendered those provisions during a joint session with president’s budget crew. It was not surprising because in her fourteen month reign as Speaker of the House, Pelosi has collaborated incisively and repeatedly with the policies of the Bush Administration.

The term “collaboration” is popularly considered to be a construct of WWII, but the phenomenon is certainly older than Judas and threads through recorded history to its penultimate high point in Vichy France after the German conquest in 1940. In Vichy France, the collaborators appeared in basically two forms: active and passive collaboration with the German masters. Simply stated, the active collaborators identified Jews and resisters for the Nazis to take to the concentration camps, and the passive collaborators watched it happen and made excuses about why they could do nothing about it.

Continued . . .

In the most recent edition of its annual “Contemporary Global Anti-Semitism” released Thursday, the State Department — and hence the U.S. government — moves ever more closely to a long-standing neo-conservative tenet: that criticism of Israel or Israeli policies often, if not always, equals anti-Semitism. The report also suggests that comparing Israel’s treatment of Palestinians in the Occupied Territories to South African apartheid — as former President Jimmy Carter did in his 2006 book Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid — also amounts to anti-Semitism. And it focuses on the United Nations as a breeding ground for anti-Semitism as expressed through criticism of Israel, another major neo-conservative theme that has intensified sharply over the past five years, notably through the efforts of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, the National Review Online and the Wall Street Journal’s editorial page.

Continued . . .

Amnesty International | 14 March 2008

An Indigenous Canadian community’s longstanding campaign to stop clear-cut logging on its land has prompted a multinational paper company to stop buying wood fibre from the area.

On 27 February, Boise Inc announced that it would “stand in support of Amnesty International’s recommendation” and not buy any wood fibre from the traditional territory of Grassy Narrows First Nation in northwest Ontario until the community has given its consent to logging.

“Boise has done the right thing,” says Craig Benjamin, campaigner for the human rights of Indigenous peoples for Amnesty International’s Canadian section. “The company has set an example that we hope other companies and the Province of Ontario will follow.”

The Anishnaabe people of Grassy Narrows rely on the forest for hunting, trapping, harvesting food and other activities central to their culture and their livelihood. In 1873, they signed Treaty No 3 with the Government of Canada, recognizing that they had the right to pursue those activities throughout their traditional land use area.

Continued . . .

Huffington Post | March 13, 2008 06:11 PM

President Bush let his inner adventurer out while discussing the state of the war in Afghanistan with military and civilian personnel. While those in Afghanistan detailed the logistical and diplomatic problems via teleconference, the President took a much more whimsical approach to their mission. Via Reuters:

“I must say, I’m a little envious,” Bush said. “If I were slightly younger and not employed here, I think it would be a fantastic experience to be on the front lines of helping this young democracy succeed.”
“It must be exciting for you … in some ways romantic, in some ways, you know, confronting danger. You’re really making history, and thanks,” Bush said.

Meanwhile, over 40 Taliban insurgents were killed in a battle in Southern Afghanistan, and six Afghani civilians were killed in a suicide bombing aimed at an American convoy.

Read Huffpost’s Warwire.

The Nation, March 13, 2008

Michael Zweig

The government treats its soldiers the way most corporations treat their workforce–as an invisible, disrespected, disposable means to an end that is contrary to workers’ interests. Members of the armed forces come mainly and disproportionately from the working class and from small-town and rural America, where opportunities are hard to come by. The “economic draft” operates, in effect, to recruit young people from these communities as they sign up to gain job skills, experience and educational opportunities absent from their civilian lives.

A number of parallel experiences link the lives of soldiers with those of working-class civilians, going well beyond their common discipline of following orders. Consider “stop-loss” as an example. The military reserves the right to extend the deployment time and active-duty status of every soldier beyond the service dates prescribed in their enlistment contracts and mobilization papers. Most soldiers were unaware of this as the Iraq War intensified, but by the start of 2006 the military had enforced its stop-loss provision on 50,000 of them. Outraged soldiers and their families challenged these extensions in court, but they were upheld.

Continued . . .

Amnesty International, 11 March 2008

Bulldozer destroys Palestinians’ property in Hadidiya, West Bank, 11 March 2008

© Amnesty International

Israeli soldiers and Palestinian residents amidst debris in Hadidiya, West Bank, 11 March 2008

© Amnesty International

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The family of Omar ‘Arif Mohammed Bisharat amidst the wreckage of their homes in Hadidiya, West Bank, 11 March 2008

© Amnesty International

 The Israeli army demolished more homes in Palestinian villages in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday morning. The homes and property of Palestinian families in the villages of Hadidiya, Jiftlik and Furush Beit Dajan, in the Jordan Valley area of the occupied West Bank, were demolished.

Amnesty International’s researcher on Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories witnessed the demolitions. Donatella Rovera described the scene:

“In all the places, most of the people are children. These homes mostly have three generations – the grandparents, parents and children. In Hadidiya, there were four families, in Furush Beit Dajan, five families.

Continued . . .

In the past five years more than four million Iraqis – 20 per cent of the entire population – have been driven from their homes as a result of the war and sectarian bloodshed. Two million have become exiles, living desperate lives across the border in Syria and Jordan. This edition of Dispatches investigates the biggest and most catastrophic refugee crisis in the Middle East since the Palestinian diaspora of 1948.

Iraq’s Lost Generation is the first film in the Happy Birthday Iraq season marking the fifth anniversary of the invasion – a series of penetrating programmes examining the devastating fall-out of the war for Iraq and the Middle East, America and Britain.

Award-winning journalist Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy travels to Syria and Jordan to investigate the plight of Iraqi refugees. These are the very people on whom the new, democratic Iraq was to be built – the professional middle classes – nearly half of whom now live as desperate refugees, driven out by the violence and civil breakdown.

Continued . . .