Archive for July, 2008

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

250 Afghan civilians killed, injured in last 6 days

July 10, 2008

Alarm over Afghan civilian deaths

BBC, July 9, 2008

British troops in Afghanistan

Troops and militants are blamed for civilian deaths

At least 250 Afghan civilians have been killed or wounded in insurgent attacks or military action in the past six days, the Red Cross says.

It has called on all parties to the conflict to avoid civilian casualties.

Nato said separately that more than 900 people including civilians had died in Afghanistan since the start of 2008.

On Monday a suicide bombing in Kabul killed more than 40 people, while officials say two coalition air strikes killed dozens at the weekend.

The issue of civilian casualties is hugely sensitive in Afghanistan.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has repeatedly urged foreign forces to exercise more care.

‘Constant care’

The statement released by the International Committee of the Red Cross say that civilians “must never be the target of an attack, unless they take a direct part in the fighting”.

The coffin of an Indian official killed in Monday's Kabul suicide attack

More and more civilians are being killed in Afghanistan

The organisation’s chief representative in Kabul, Franz Rauchenstein, made his findings public following Monday’s suicide car bomb attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul and reports that a US-led coalition air strike had killed members of a wedding party in the east of the country.

“We call on all parties to the conflict, in the conduct of their military operations, to distinguish at all times between civilians and fighters and to take constant care to spare civilians,” Mr Rauchenstein said.

His report said that parties to the conflict “must take all necessary precautions to verify that targets are indeed military objectives and that attacks will not cause excessive civilian casualties and damage”.

The statement also expressed concern “about the reportedly high number of civilian casualties resulting from the recent [coalition] air strikes in the east of the country”.

The Taleban has denied involvement in Monday’s bombing, which killed 41 people, while the US-led coalition has disputed claims that its recent airstrikes killed civilians.

Mr Karzai has ordered an investigation into one of the bombings, in eastern Nangarhar province. Locals there said at least 20 people had been killed on Sunday at a wedding party.

US forces rejected the claims, saying those killed were militants involved in previous mortar attacks on a Nato base.

The UN said recently that the number of civilians killed in fighting in Afghanistan had jumped by nearly two thirds compared to last year.

Tags:, , , , , ,
Posted in Afghanistan, Human rights, US policy | Leave a Comment »

Iraq toughens stance on U.S. troop withdrawal

July 10, 2008

China View, July 10, 2008

BEIJING, July 9 (Xinhua) — Iraq’s stance in negotiations with the U.S. over the country’s security has been getting tougher, a trend obviously seen when a Iraqi security officer demanded a definite deadline of U.S. troops’ withdrawal.

Iraq will reject any security pact with the United States unless a specific date for withdrawal of U.S.-led troops is set, Iraqi national security advisor Muwafaq al-Rubaie said in Najaf on Tuesday.

Iraq's stance in negotiations with the U.S. over the country's security has been getting tougher, a trend obviously seen when a Iraqi security officer demanded a definite deadline of U.S. troops' withdrawal.

Iraq’s President Nuri al-Maliki speaks during a visit to Kerbala, 80 km southwest of Baghdad, June 20, 2008. (Xinhua/Reuters File Photo)
Photo Gallery>>>

“Our stance in the negotiations with the Americans will be strong. We will not sign any memorandum of understanding without specifying a date for the withdrawal of foreign troops from Iraq,” al-Rubaie told reporters in the Shi’ite holy city.

As security conditions in Iraq improve, the Iraqi government’s stance in negotiations with the U.S. have become tougher. al-Rubaie’s remarks were the toughest since the beginning of negotiations on a security pact between the two countries in March, analysts say.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki publicly announced Monday that his country was seeking a timeline for the withdrawal of U.S. troops.

“The current trend is to reach either a memorandum of understanding for the departure of the troops, or a memorandum of understanding for setting a timetable for their withdrawal,” al-Maliki said during a meeting with a group of Arab ambassadors in Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates,

Baghdad and Washington are currently holding talks aimed at reaching a deal on continued U.S. military presence in Iraq after a UN mandate expires in December.

Continued . . .

Tags:, , , ,
Posted in Iraq, US policy | Leave a Comment »

It’s the Oil, stupid!

July 10, 2008
BY NOAM CHOMSKY | Khaleej Times, 8 July 2008

The deal just taking shape between Iraq’s Oil Ministry and four Western oil companies raises critical questions about the nature of the US invasion and occupation of Iraq — questions that should certainly be addressed by presidential candidates and seriously discussed in the United States, and of course in occupied Iraq, where it appears that the population has little if any role in determining the future of their country.

Negotiations are under way for Exxon Mobil, Shell, Total and BP — the original partners decades ago in the Iraq Petroleum Company, now joined by Chevron and other smaller oil companies — to renew the oil concession they lost to nationalisation during the years when the oil producers took over their own resources. The no-bid contracts, apparently written by the oil corporations with the help of U.S. officials, prevailed over offers from more than 40 other companies, including companies in China, India and Russia.

“There was suspicion among many in the Arab world and among parts of the American public that the United States had gone to war in Iraq precisely to secure the oil wealth these contracts seek to extract,” Andrew E. Kramer wrote in The New York Times.

Kramer’s reference to “suspicion” is an understatement. Furthermore, it is highly likely that the military occupation has taken the initiative in restoring the hated Iraq Petroleum Company, which, as Seamus Milne writes in the London Guardian, was imposed under British rule to “dine off Iraq’s wealth in a famously exploitative deal.”

Later reports speak of delays in the bidding. Much is happening in secrecy, and it would be no surprise if new scandals emerge.

The demand could hardly be more intense. Iraq contains perhaps the second largest oil reserves in the world, which are, furthermore, very cheap to extract: no permafrost or tar sands or deep sea drilling. For US planners, it is imperative that Iraq remain under U.S. control, to the extent possible, as an obedient client state that will also house major U.S. military bases, right at the heart of the world’s major energy reserves.

Continued . . .

Tags:, , , , , , ,
Posted in Iraq, US policy | Leave a Comment »

All should urge US, UK to dismantle their nuclear weapons

July 10, 2008

RINF.COM, Wednesday, July 9th, 2008

Kuala Lumpur | President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday that the governments and nations should urge the US and Britain to annihilate their nuclear weapons.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the D8 summit in Malaysia, he said “Iran never yields to any illegal and unjust word, no matter it comes from group 5+1, 10+10 or 2+2. We call for dialogue and never makes demand beyond our legitimate rights.”

The fact is that no nations let alone Iranian nation trust them, he said, adding that to prove this claim “I advise them to hold referendum in the world to find out the realities.”
People in the US and Britain do not trust their governments, he said adding that “We think it is time for some governments to win confidence of the Iranian nation.” “We hope they can make good on their misdeeds,” he said.

“As I have already said the era of domination, unilateralism, discrimination and bullying is now over.”
“Why should the US administration be allowed to produce nuclear bombs and use it against people but other nations should be deprived of benefiting from peaceful nuclear energy?” he asked.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has time and again declared that Iran’s nuclear activities are of peaceful nature, he said.

“The time is ripe for world nations to urge the US and UK to destroy their nuclear weapons and if this happens there will remain no concern about existence of nuclear weapons in the world,” he said.

Tags:, , , , ,
Posted in Iran | Leave a Comment »

Israeli troops kill Palestinians

July 10, 2008
Al Jazeera, July 10, 2008

Israeli soldiers keeping a vigil over
Palestinians [File Photo: AFP]

Israeli security forces have shot and killed a Hamas member who tried to escape arrest near the occupied West Bank town of Jenin, the Israeli army says.

Another Palestinian was shot and killed along the border in the southern Gaza Strip on Thursday, officials said.

“The operative, Talal Sa’ad Talal Abed, was initially critically wounded and received medical treatment at the scene, but died on the way to a hospital” after the shooting on Wednesday, the Israeli army statement said.

“Abed, 32, a resident of Kafr Dan, was a member of Hamas’s terror infrastructure in the village, an infrastructure that attempted to dispatch a suicide bomber into Israel,” it said.

“After the failed attempt, cell members were arrested by Palestinian security forces. Despite this, the group continued to be involved in terror, and had been planning an imminent terror attack.”

‘Guidance and directions’

The statement said the cell received “guidance and directions from terrorist leaders” in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.

Speaking about the second shooting, an Israeli army spokesman told the AFP news agency: “At around 3 o’clock an army force identified a suspicious person crossing the fence from Gaza into Israel near Kissufim.

“The force called on him to stop and fired warning shots but he did not stop and the soldiers fired at him and killed him. When they approached his body they saw he was unarmed.”

The spokesman added that there had been several attempts by Palestinian militants to plant bombs in the border area.

The head of Gaza emergency services, Muawiya Hassanin, confirmed that a Palestinian was shot and killed in the Kissufim area.

The killings are the first fatalities since a truce went into effect three weeks ago, officials said.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

Fidel Castro and the FARC

July 9, 2008

Eight Mistaken Thesis of Fidel Castro

By James Petras

08/07/08 “ICH” — – I have been a supporter of the Cuban Revolution for exactly fifty years and recognize Fidel Castro as one of the great revolutionary leaders of our time. But I have never been an uncritical apologist: On several crucial occasions I have expressed my disagreements in print, in public and in discussions with Cuban leaders, writers and militants. Fidel Castro’s articles and commentaries on the recent events in Colombia, namely his discussion of the Colombian regime’s freeing of several FARC prisoners (including three CIA operatives and Ingrid Betancourt) and his critical comments on the politics, structure, practices, tactics and strategy of the FARC and its world-renowned leader, Manuel Marulanda, merit serious consideration.

Castro’s remarks demand analysis and refutation, not only because his opinions are widely read and influence millions of militants and admirers in the world, especially in Cuba and Latin America, but because he purports to provide a ‘moral’ basis for opposition to imperialism today. Equally important Castro’s unfortunate diatribe and critique against the FARC, Marulanda and the entire peasant-based guerrilla movement, has been welcomed, published and broadcast by the entire pro-imperialist mass media on five continents. Fidel Castro, with few caveats, has uncritically joined the chorus condemning the FARC and, as I will demonstrate, without reason or logic.

Eight Erroneous Theses of Fidel Castro

1. Castro claims that the ‘liberation’ of the FARC political prisoners “opens a chapter for peace in Colombia, a process which Cuba has been supporting for 20 years as the most appropriate for the unity and liberation of the peoples of our America, utilizing new approaches in the complex and special present day circumstances after the collapse of the USSR…” (Reflections of Fidel Castro, July 4, 2008).

What is astonishing about this thesis (and the entire essay) is Castro’s total omission of any discussion of the mass terror unleashed by Colombia’s President Uribe against trade unionists, political critics, peasant communities and documented by every human rights group in and out of Colombia in both of his recent essays. In fact, Castro exculpates the current Uribe regime, the most murderous regime, and puts the entire blame on ‘US Imperialism’. Since the “collapse of the Soviet Union”, and under the US-led military offensive, a multitude of armed revolutionary movements have emerged in Lebanon, Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan, Nepal, and other pre-existing armed groups in Colombia and the Philippines, have continued to engage in struggle. In Latin America, the “new approaches” to revolution were anything but peaceful – massive popular uprisings overthrowing corrupt electoral politicians in Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, Venezuela…costing many hundreds of lives.

Continued . . .

Tags:, , , , , , , ,
Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

U.S. mercenaries in Iraq

July 9, 2008

Jeremy Scahill | Socialist Worker, July 9, 2008

Jeremy Scahill, an investigative journalist and author of the award-winning book Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army, spoke at Socialism 2008 on the spread of privatized war corporations and the struggle against them.

Blackwater's heavily armed security forces

I GAVE a talk the other day in San Francisco in front of an audience primarily of military people. I was invited by the Marines’ Memorial Association of San Francisco, and I was actually introduced by Major Gen. Mike Myatt, who was one of the commanders of the 1991 Gulf War.

This was hardly an antiwar crowd, but as an indication of how serious the problem of mercenaries and private forces in Iraq has become, many from within the established military are now starting to speak out about it.

So I was honored to be in a room full of people, regardless of their perspective on the war, who take this issue seriously enough to do something about it–who realize that this is an incredible problem. We didn’t share the same global outlook and certainly not the same opinion about the U.S. occupation of Iraq, but on this issue, we’re hearing more and more voices coming from the established military.

Series: From Socialism 2008

Some 1,000 people from across the U.S. gathered for a weekend of left politics and discussion at the Socialism 2008 conference on June 19-22 in Chicago. SocialistWorker.org will be publishing some of the presentations from the weekend, so stay tuned for more.

I’m going to spend time talking about what’s at stake not just with mercenaries in Iraq, but also with the election. But I want to begin by telling a story that makes up part of a substantial investigation I did for the update of my book Blackwater. I have over 110 new pages of material in this book, and I also went through and substantially updated it based on some of the important investigations that have been conducted and are ongoing into Blackwater’s activity.

I open the book with a new investigation of an incident that I know everyone in this room remembers well–the Nisour Squre shootings last September. What I want to do right now is begin by giving you a narrative overview of what exactly happened there–what we understand from eyewitness testimony and from investigations that have been done. Because it really is a horrifying story. I think it’s important not just that we know that Blackwater killed 17 Iraqi civilians, but the nature of that crime, and what the response of the Bush administration was after it.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

ON THAT morning of September 16, 2007, a young 20-year-old Iraqi medical student, Ahmed Haithem Ahmed, was with his mother and father. Ahmed was driving; his mother Mohassin was in the passenger seat. They dropped off his father at the local hospital where he worked, and then they went to go run some errands.

What else to read

Jeremy Scahill’s Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army climbed into the New York Times best-seller list on its release. Now the book has been republished in paperback, with indispensable additional materials.

Scahill documents Blackwater’s latest venture, a private spy company run by the shadowy J. Cofer Black, in “Blackwater’s Private Spies” in the Nation. Scahill’s “Blackwater: From the Nisour Square Massacre to the Future of the Mercenary Industry” is an extended interview with Amy Goodman on Democracy Now!

For more on the rise of the mercenaries, see “Blackwater’s Heart of Darkness” in the International Socialist Review, an article based on an earlier speech by Scahill.

Among the errands that they were running was dropping off college applications for Ahmed’s younger sister. This was an extraordinary family. They very much had medicine in their DNA; they were a family of doctors. They had an opportunity to leave Iraq when the U.S. invasion was imminent, but they ultimately decided as a family that they were going to stay in their country, because they felt that more than ever in the history of their nation, the country was going to need doctors because of the incredible violence and bloodshed that was going to be unleashed. So they stayed in Iraq.

Ahmed and his mother were driving, and they pulled into an area of Baghdad known as the Monsour district. I had been there many times in my travels to Iraq. It used to be an upscale section of the city, where there were markets and cafes and restaurants. Now it’s a hollow shell of its former self.

Continued . . .

Tags:, , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Iraq, Uncategorized, US policy, USA, War Criminals | Leave a Comment »

Russia threatens military response to US missile defence deal

July 9, 2008

The Times, July 9, 2008

David Charter, Europe Correspondent

Russia threatened to retaliate by military means after a deal with the Czech Republic brought the US missile defence system in Europe a step closer.

The threat followed quickly on from the announcement that Condoleezza Rice signed a formal agreement with the Czech Republic to host the radar for the controversial project.

Moscow argues that the missile shield would severely undermine the balance of European security and regards the proposed missile shield based in two former Communist countries as a hostile move.

“We will be forced to react not with diplomatic, but with military-technical methods,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The ministry did not detail what its response might entail.

Dr Rice, the US Secretary of State, hailed the agreement as a step forward for international security.

After 14 months of negotiations, the US is struggling to clinch agreement with its other proposed partner – Poland – where it hopes to locate the interceptor missiles designed to shoot down any incoming rockets.

Washington insists that the system will not be targeted at Russia, but will act as a safeguard for Europe against regimes such as Iran. The plan was endorsed by Nato in April.

Continued . . .

Tags:, , , , ,
Posted in US policy | Leave a Comment »

Human rights: Saudis treat domestic staff like ‘virtual slaves’

July 9, 2008

· Migrant women routinely abused, says watchdog

· Call for labour law to protect household staff

Asian domestic workers in Saudi Arabia face routine human rights abuses that in some cases amount to slavery, with employers often escaping any punishment, according to a new report.

Abuses include months or years of unpaid wages, forced confinement and physical and sexual violence, while some workers suffer imprisonment or lashings for spurious charges of theft, adultery, or “witchcraft”, says Human Rights Watch.

Saudi households employ an estimated 1.5 million domestic workers, mostly from Indonesia, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, and Nepal. Thousands of complaints of abuse are made every year.

“In the best cases, migrant women in Saudi Arabia enjoy good working conditions and kind employers, and in the worst they’re treated like virtual slaves. Most fall somewhere in between,” said Nisha Varia, senior researcher in HRW’s Women’s Rights Division. “The Saudi government should extend labour law protection to domestic workers and reform the visa sponsorship system so that women desperate to earn money for their families don’t have to gamble with their lives.”

Excessive workloads and unpaid wages, for periods ranging from a few months to 10 years, are among the most common complaints. The Saudi labour law excludes domestic workers, denying them rights guaranteed to other workers, such as a weekly rest day and overtime pay. Many domestic workers must work 18 hours a day, seven days a week.

A restrictive sponsorship system ties workers’ visas to their employers, which means employers can prevent workers changing jobs or leaving the country. Employers often take away passports and lock workers in the home, increasing their isolation and risk of psychological, physical and sexual abuse. After interviewing 86 foreign domestic workers, HRW concluded that 36 faced abuses that amounted to forced labour, trafficking, or slavery-like conditions.

Poor investigations and criminal proceedings that often last for years mean that abusive employers are rarely punished. For example, after three years of proceedings, a Riyadh court dropped charges against the employer of Nour Miyati, despite the employer’s confession and medical evidence. Miyati, an Indonesian domestic worker, had her fingers and toes amputated as a result of being starved and beaten daily by her employers.

Haima G, a Filipina, said her employer called her into his bedroom soon after she had arrived and told her she had been “bought” for 10,000 riyals (£1,350). “The employer raped me many times. I told everything to madam. The whole family, madam, the employer, they didn’t want me to go. They locked the doors and gates,” she told HRW.

Rather than seeing their abusers brought to justice, domestic workers are more likely to face counter-accusations of witchcraft, theft, or adultery, said the report. And in such cases, domestic workers often face severe delays in getting access to interpreters, legal aid, or consular assistance, or are denied help.

Witchcraft and moral crimes such as being in the presence of unrelated men are punishable by up to 10 years’ imprisonment and 60 to 490 lashes, so many women decide not to seek justice.

Continued . . .

Tags:, , , , , , ,
Posted in Human rights | Leave a Comment »

BBC Hit Piece Edits Silverstein Comment In Dirty Tricks Scam

July 8, 2008

Glaring and damning errors already apparent in new BBC WTC 7 hit piece

No BBC, WTC 7 Did Not Collapse “Due To Fire” & The Final 9/11 Mystery Is Not Solved

Movies I Made To Counter The BBC’s Argument That “The Final Mystery Of 9/11″ Has Been Solved

WTC 7 isn’t the final mystery, it is one in a row of mysteries

BBC Set To Launch New Smear Attack On 9/11 Truth

Paul Joseph Watson | Prison Planet | Tuesday, July 8, 2008

The BBC’s embarrassing attempt to dig itself out of a hole that keeps getting deeper was again exemplified during their latest yellow journalism hit piece on 9/11 truth, in which they played Larry Silverstein’s “pull it” comment but edited out the most important part of the statement, and in doing so changed its context altogether.

An army of informed truth activists are almost tripping over each other to point out the gargantuan number of errors, ad hominem smear tactics, bias and shoddy investigative techniques displayed in the program which aired Sunday in the UK.

Just one such example concerns WTC complex leaseholder Larry Silverstein’s infamous “pull it” comment which can be viewed in its entirety below with other clips included for context in confirming that the term “pull it” is industry jargon for deliberately demolishing a building.

Watch the clip.

However, in the BBC’s attempt to convince the viewer that “pull it” meant to withdraw firefighters from the building, despite the fact that according to NIST’s WTC collapse lead investigator Shyam Sunder, “There was no firefighting in WTC 7,” and additionally the FEMA report, which stated “No manual firefighting actions were taken by FDNY,” the editors carefully snipped out the last portion of Silverstein’s comments where he states, “and then we watched the building collapse.”

Cycle through to 20 minutes into the clip to spot the edit.

[to be added later]

By deliberately removing “and then we watched the building collapse,” the BBC has performed a hatchet job on the whole context of the statement by censoring the fact that the collapse of WTC 7 was a consequence of the decision to “pull” the building.

The BBC’s zealous efforts to redeem its name by ceaselessly attacking the 9/11 truth movement accelerated after the broadcaster was shamed when footage from 9/11 emerged of their correspondent Jane Standley reporting that WTC 7 had collapsed even as it remained standing in the shot behind her head.

Questions as to how this could have happened and allegations that news corporations, whether wittingly or unwittingly, were being fed a script on the day of 9/11 as it unfolded were met with hostility, and the BBC claimed it had “lost” the tape.

The tape was miraculously “discovered” again on the eve of the broadcast of their latest hit piece but the footage was not shown in the program, presumably to avoid further embarrassment.

Below you can read articles concerning the mountain of other lies contained in the hit piece and watch a discussion about the program with Alex Jones and Jason Bermas.

We will be picking apart the BBC’s latest atrocious effort to claim they have “solved the final mystery of 9/11″ over the course of this week with multiple investigative reports and as we did last time – debunk this latest hit piece as nothing more than the revolting stench of yellow journalism.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »