All Entries in the "Mid East" Category
Think tank: Israel faces global delegitimization campaign
- Haaretz -
Israel is facing a global campaign of delegitimization, according to a report by the Reut Institute, made available to the cabinet on Thursday. The Tel Aviv-based security and socioeconomic think tank called on ministers to treat the matter as a strategic threat.
The report cites anti-Israel demonstrations on campuses, protests when Israeli athletes compete abroad, moves in Europe to boycott Israeli products, and threats of arrest warrants for Israeli leaders visiting London.
Reut says the campaign is the work of a worldwide network of private individuals and organizations. They have no hierarchy or overall commander, but work together based on a joint ideology – portraying Israel as a pariah state and denying its right to exist.
Full Story Think tank: Israel faces global delegitimization campaign – Haaretz – Israel News.
How Much Military Aid to Israel?
How Much Military Aid to Israel… …Do You Provide?
Between 2009-2018, the United States is scheduled to give Israel–the largest recipient of U.S. aid–$30 billion in military aid. Through its illegal 42-year military occupation of the Palestinian West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza Strip, Israel misuses U.S. weapons in violation of U.S. law to kill and injure Palestinian civilians, destroy Palestinian civilian infrastructure, blockade the Gaza Strip, and build illegal settlements in West Bank and East Jerusalem.
How much of this total will your community provide? Is this a good use of your tax dollars? What else could your taxes be used for in your community?
Find out on the interactive map below.
Full Story US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation : How Much Military Aid to Israel?.
Netanyahu: Israel Open To Peace Talks With Syria
Israel’s prime minister attempted to end a war of words with Syria on Sunday, saying his country is open to peace talks with its longtime enemy.
Israeli and Syrian officials have traded threats over the past week, raising concerns of an escalation between two countries that have officially been at war for more than 60 years.
Israel desires peace agreements with “all of its neighbors,” Netanyahu told his weekly Cabinet meeting.
Full Story Netanyahu: Israel Open To Peace Talks With Syria.
HRW says Israel ‘failed’ to probe Gaza war crimes
“Israel claims it is conducting credible and impartial investigations, but it has so far failed to make that case,” said Joe Stork, HRW’s New York-based group’s deputy director for the Middle East.
“An independent investigation is crucial to understand why so many civilians died and to bring justice for the victims of unlawful attacks,” Stork said in a statement.
About 1,400 Palestinians were killed during the 22-day onslaught launched by Israel on December 27, 2008, aimed at halting rocket attacks from the Islamist Hamas-ruled enclave. Thirteen Israelis were killed in the fighting.
Full Story AFP: HRW says Israel ‘failed’ to probe Gaza war crimes.
Blasts kill 32 at height of Iraq Shiite pilgrimage
A twin car bombing Friday targeted a crowd of Shiite pilgrims packing a highway as they walked to a holy city south of Baghdad for a major religious ceremony, killing at least 32 and wounding 154 people, Iraqi ministry officials said.
It was the third deadly bombing this week hitting the ceremony in which hundreds of thousands of Shiites have been converging on the city of Karbala. Friday’s attack struck during the culmination of the pilgrimage.
This week’s violence took place as Iraqi politicians argued over an effort to bar hundreds of candidates from running in the March 7 parliamentary elections because of suspected ties to Saddam Hussein’s regime. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Thursday he would not allow the U.S. ambassador to meddle in the dispute, which Washington fears could frustrate Sunni-Shiite reconciliation.
Full Story Blasts kill 32 at height of Iraq Shiite pilgrimage.
Prof. Francis Boyle: Israel Is Committing Genocide
`What we’re seeing in Gaza now, is pretty much slow-motion genocide against the 1.5 million Palestinians who live in Gaza…. If you read the 1948 Genocide Convention, it clearly says that one instance of genocide is the deliberate infliction of conditions of life calculated to bring about the physical destruction of a people in whole or in part,” stated Francis A. Boyle, professor of International Law at the University of Illinois in Champaign. “And that’s exactly what has been done to Gaza, since the imposition of the blockade by Israel; then the massacre of 1,400 Palestinians, two-thirds of whom were civilians, in Operation Cast Lead. And that also raises the element in the Genocide Convention, of murder, torture, and things of that nature.”
Boyle spoke to {EIR} on Jan. 15, 2010, giving his assessment of Gaza, one year after the Israeli attacks. He stressed that he was speaking only for himself.
While the Israelis stopped the artillery bombardment and air strikes just before the inauguration of President Barack Obama in 2009, the deaths of Palestinians continue–from lack of medicines, infrastructure, clean water, and everything else that the world community–as shown in emergency aid to Haiti–{knows} is necessary to sustain human life.
Full Story Scoop: Prof. Francis Boyle: Israel Is Committing Genocide.
Israel feels under siege. Like a victim. An underdog
Anyone who is anyone in Israel will come to Herzliya this week for a conference about the state of the Jewish nation. Our correspondent joined them and found a climate of unprecedented insecurity – and paranoia
So the propaganda war is on. Forget Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in 1982 and the 15,000 Lebanese and Palestinian dead. Forget the Sabra and Shatila massacre that same year by Israel’s militia allies as their troops watched. Erase the Qana massacre of 1996 – 106 Lebanese killed by Israeli shellfire, more than half of them children – and delete the 1,500 in the 2006 Lebanon war. And forget, of course, the more than 1,300 Palestinians slaughtered by Israel in Gaza last year (and the 13 Israelis killed by Hamas at that time) after Hamas rockets fell on Sderot. Israel – if you believe the security elite of Israel’s right wing here in Herzliya – is now under an even more dangerous, near-unprecedented attack.
Britain – this came yesterday from Israel’s ambassador in London, no less – is “a battlefield” in which Israel’s enemies wish to “de-legitimise” the 62-year-old Jewish state.
Even Israel’s erstwhile friend, that fine Jewish judge Richard Goldstone, is now, in the words of one of Israel’s staunchest American-Jewish supporters, Al Dershowitz, an “absolute traitor to the Jewish people” and “an evil, evil man”. (Headlines for this, of course, in Israel yesterday.)
A misreading of Iran that risks a fatal replay of Iraq
There is no evidence at all that Iran colluded with al-Qaida
Since its misfired election last June, Iran increasingly resembles a curled-up hedgehog: preoccupied with its own difficulties, while projecting general hostility to the outside world. I only hope the impression of introversion is true, because Tehran has been the target of some deeply misguided words, and perhaps also deeds, in recent days. Just now, it would be better if Iran were not listening.
From Washington come reports that the US is sending Patriot missiles to the Gulf States, and keeping two warships in the region capable of shooting down Iranian missiles. Now Patriots are neither state-of-the-art nor offensive weapons and deploying two warships is hardly the most aggressive stance a superpower can take. But the deployments – or their threat, it is not entirely clear which – hardly send a friendly message, especially not as “spun” to the US media. They speak of contingency planning and expecting the worst.
Afghan ‘Geological Reserves Worth a Trillion Dollars’
Karzai exclaims ‘very good news for Afghans’, but perhaps history tells us that regular Afghans should be very cautious of such news
Afghanistan, one of the world’s poorest countries, is sitting on mineral and petroleum reserves worth an estimated one trillion dollars, President Hamid Karzai said Sunday.
The war-ravaged nation could become one of the richest in the world if helped to tap its geological deposits, Karzai told reporters.
“I have very good news for Afghans,” Karzai said.
“The initial figures we have obtained show that our mineral deposits are worth a thousand billion dollars — not a thousand million dollars but a thousand billion,” he said.
Full Story Afghan ‘Geological Reserves Worth a Trillion Dollars’ | CommonDreams.org.
OPS: Here’s why we are in Afghanistan. We want to steal their resources
Why does the US turn a blind eye to Israeli bulldozers?
Robert Fisk:
Most of the West Bank is under rule which amounts to apartheid by paper
“Palestine” is no more. Call it a “peace process” or a “road map”; blame it on Barack Obama’s weakness, his pathetic, childish admission – like an optimistic doctor returning a sick child to its parents without hope of recovery – that a Middle East peace was “more difficult” to reach than he imagined.
But the dream of a “two-state” Israeli-Palestinian solution, a security-drenched but noble settlement to decades of warfare between Israelis and Palestinians is as good as dead.
OPS: Because AIPAC is funding Congress?
He didn’t expect this question!Obama Ignores Key Afghan Warning
Nothing highlights President Barack Obama’s abject surrender to Gen. David Petraeus on the “way forward” in Afghanistan more than two cables U.S. Ambassador Karl Eikenberry sent to Washington on Nov. 6 and 9, 2009, the texts of which were released by the New York Times.
Ray McGovern
No longer is it possible to suggest that Obama was totally deprived of good counsel on Afghanistan; Eikenberry got it largely right.
Sadly, the inevitable conclusion is that, although Obama is not as dumb as his predecessor, he is no less willing to sacrifice thousands of lives for political gain.
Ambassador Eikenberry, a retired Army Lt. General who served three years in Afghanistan over the course of two separate tours of duty, was responsible during 2002-2003 for rebuilding Afghan security forces. He then served 18 months (2005-2007) as commander of all U.S. forces stationed in the country.
Full Story Consortiumnews.com.
Israel Jails Palestinian Peace Activists
Israel has long argued that Palestinians should pursue their political objectives in a non-violent way. However, several prominent Palestinian peace activists have recently been arrested and jailed for doing just that.
Abdallah Abu Rahme, 39, the coordinator of the Bi’lin Popular Committee, which has challenged Israel’s illegal expropriation of Palestinian land both in an Israeli court and a Canadian one, has been charged with “illegal arms possession, stone throwing and incitement.”
The “illegal arms possession” charge relates largely to a protest exhibition Abu Rahme had made out of spent tear-gas canisters and plastic-coated rubber bullets, shot by Israeli soldiers, and assembled to form a large peace sign.
Full Story MIDEAST: Israel Jails Palestinian Peace Activists – IPS ipsnews.net.
Israeli Threats Against Gaza Grow
Israel’s hawks are starting to make frightening noises.
If Israel attacks Gaza again, Maj. Gen. Yoav Galant will run the operation. Galant recently said that right now “the sun is shining – but one can see dark clouds in the distance.” His soldiers are training to face trouble ahead, and “civilians are rightly preparing themselves for another round of fighting.”
A few days later, Galant’s predecessor, Maj. Gen. Yom Tov Samia (who still heads the reserves who would invade Gaza), sounded even more ominous: “We are before another round in Gaza,” he predicted. “I am very skeptical about the possibility that Hamas will suddenly surrender or change its ways without being hit much more seriously than it was during Cast Lead.” Israel must carry out “a more focused strike with long-lasting results.”
Full Story t r u t h o u t | Israeli Threats Against Gaza Grow.
Israelis reject George Mitchell loan guarantee ‘threat’
Israeli officials have shrugged off a suggestion that the US could withhold loan guarantees to pressure Israel over the Middle East peace process.
The finance minister said Israel did not need the guarantees, while the prime minister accused the Palestinians of holding up peace negotiations.
US envoy George Mitchell said this week the US could withhold loan guarantees to extract concessions from Israel.
The guarantees allow Israel to raise money cheaply overseas.
‘Doing fine’
Full Story BBC News – Israelis reject George Mitchell loan guarantee ‘threat’.
Blackwater wants $1 billion to train the new Afghan police force
That’s right. $1 billion:
Blackwater Worldwide’s legal woes haven’t dimmed the company’s prospects in Afghanistan, where it’s a contender to be a key part of President Barack Obama’s strategy for stabilizing the country.
Now called Xe Services, the company is in the running for a Pentagon contract potentially worth $1 billion to train Afghanistan’s troubled national police force. Xe has been shifting to training, aviation and logistics work after its security guards were accused of killing unarmed Iraqi civilians more than two years ago.
Yet even with a new name and focus, the expanded role would seem an unlikely one for Xe because Democrats have held such a negative opinion of the company following the Iraqi deaths, which are still reverberating in Baghdad and Washington.
Blackwater was basically kicked out of Iraq for wantonly killing civilians in Baghdad while providing “security” for the State Department in 2007. Even though a US court failed to bring them to justice, Iraq is still pursuing the case and has so little trust in Blackwater or the people it hires that the government has explicitly said former Blackwater employees are not welcome in the country.
Full Story The Seminal » Blackwater wants $1 billion to train the new Afghan police force.
Iraq to sue Israel over destroyed reactor
An Iraqi parliament member said Tuesday that Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki plans to sue Israel for damages done to his country following its destruction of the Tammuz nuclear reactor.
The Air Force bombed the site in 1981. Now, 29 years later, al-Maliki has instructed the Foreign Ministry in Baghdad to clarify with the UN whether it would be possible to extract compensation from Israel.
An Iraqi source told the German DPA that MP Mohammad Naji said UN Resolution 487, approved after the strike, allowed his country to sue Israel.
“Al-Maliki’s appeal follows an answer received from the UN Secretariat by the government of Iraq on November 25, which says Iraq has a right to demand compensation for the damage Israel did to it with the attack on the reactor, through a neutral committee which will assess the extent of the damage,” the report says.
Full Story Iraq to sue Israel over destroyed reactor – Israel News, Ynetnews.
Israel’s 10 worst errors of the decade
- Haaretz -
In the Mideast, dreams can only end badly. Not because messianic messages are, in and of themselves, bad dreams, but because of the nature of this place, the history which is as much imagination as it is record, as much sacred hallucination as it is shared memory. And because the dreamers of this place fail again and again because they are under the illusion that they are realists.
The decade just passing is one in which Middle East dreams came to die. It began, appropriately, with an Israeli leader who saw his place in history as dependent on imposing a peace plan on the entire Arab world, and a Palestinian icon who saw his place in history as dependent on saying no.
In no decade of the modern Middle East has the roll of failure been so democratic. The titans Arafat and Sharon fought their battle to the death, and both lost. Bill Clinton, Ehud Barak, Hassan Nasrallah, Ahmed Yassin, hilltop youth, Al Aqsa Martyrs, Yossi Beilin, the Yesha Council, even Jimmy Carter – all dreamed Icarus dreams and realized, only too late, that in the brilliant sun of the Holy Land, wings of feathers and wax reveal their true selves, which is to say, nothing more than feathers and wax.
It was a decade framed by a fundamentalist Palestinian belief in salvation through suicide and a fundamentalist Israeli belief in salvation through brutality.
Full Story Israel’s 10 worst errors of the decade – Haaretz – Israel News.
Israeli court orders opening of segregated road
Rights campaigners were last night celebrating the end of “Apartheid Road” after Israel’s supreme court ordered the military to open up to Palestinians a major highway that cuts through the West Bank, rather than reserving it exclusively for Israelis.
Ending two years of legal sparring between the military and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), which challenged the ban on behalf of six Palestinian villages, the court ruled that the Army had not taken into account the harm to the daily lives of the Palestinians caused by the closure.
ACRI spokeswoman Melanie Takefman said the ruling was “a huge victory” and one that could impact on other road closures. “We hope this will be the end of the segregated roads,” she said.
Full Story Israeli court orders opening of segregated road – World – NZ Herald News.
Setback for Israeli housing plan
Israel announced yesterday that it is building nearly 700 new apartments for Jews in east Jerusalem, where Palestinians hope to set up the capital of a future state.
The United States, Palestinians and the European Union condemned the plan, a fresh setback to American efforts to restart Mideast peace talks.
The Palestinians have said they will not resume talks without an Israeli settlement freeze, and criticised what they said was another show of bad faith by Israel.
“With each individual action it undertakes on the ground, Israel is saying no to meaningful negotiations,” said Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat.
President Barack Obama’s Mideast envoy, George Mitchell, who is trying to find a formula for reviving negotiations, is due in Israel and the West Bank in the second week of January.
Full Story Setback for Israeli housing plan – World – NZ Herald News.
The Iranian Nuke Forgeries
CIA Determines Documents Were Fabricated
U.S. intelligence has concluded that the document published recently by the Times of London, which purportedly describes an Iranian plan to do experiments on what the newspaper described as a “neutron initiator” for an atomic weapon, is a fabrication, according to a former Central Intelligence Agency official.
Philip Giraldi, who was a CIA counterterrorism official from 1976 to 1992, told me that intelligence sources say that the United States had nothing to do with forging the document, and that Israel is the primary suspect. The sources do not rule out a British role in the fabrication, however.
The Times of London story published Dec. 14 did not identify the source of the document. But it quoted “an Asian intelligence source” – a term some news media have used for Israeli intelligence officials – as confirming that his government believes Iran was working on a neutron initiator as recently as 2007.
The story of the purported Iranian document prompted a new round of expressions of U.S. and European support for tougher sanctions against Iran and reminders of Israel's threats to attack Iranian nuclear programme targets if diplomacy fails.
Full Story Gareth Porter: The Iranian Nuke Forgeries.
White House opposes new Jerusalem-area construction
The White House called on Monday for Israel to halt construction of new homes for Jews in East Jerusalem and urged Israel and the Palestinians to return to the negotiating table as soon as possible.
“The United States opposes new Israeli construction in East Jerusalem,” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said in a statement.
Israel announced plans earlier on Monday to build nearly 700 new homes for Jews in areas of the occupied West Bank it considers part of Jerusalem, a city it has excluded from a limited moratorium on settlement construction.
A spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the plan, saying new building on territory occupied by Israel since the 1967 Middle East war was illegal.
“Neither party should engage in efforts or take actions that could unilaterally preempt, or appear to preempt, negotiations. Rather, both parties should return to negotiations without preconditions as soon as possible,” Gibbs said.
Full Story White House opposes new Jerusalem-area construction | Reuters.
Afghan civilian casualties up 10 percent: UN
The war in Afghanistan is becoming deadlier, killing 10 percent more civilians during the first 10 months of 2009 compared to the previous period last year, according to UN figures.
Figures released to AFP by the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) show civilian deaths in the first 10 months of 2009 at 2,038, up from 1,838 for the same period of 2008 — an increase of 10.8 percent.
The figures show that the vast majority, or 1,404 civilians, were killed by insurgents, who are fighting for the overthrow of the government of President Hamid Karzai and to eject Western troops.
UNAMA said that 468 deaths were caused by pro-government forces, including NATO and US-led forces, and 166 by “other actors”.
Full Story Afghan civilian casualties up 10 percent: UN – Yahoo! News.
OPS: SO, how many more suicide bombers will this create? How many more Al Qaeda recruits
Israel summons envoys from all over the world
Israel’s ambassadors and consuls generals from all over the world have been summoned to attend a conference to be held over global challenges facing Israel.
The meeting to be attended in Jerusalem Al-Quds on December 27-31 is hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, headed by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, the ministry reported on its website.
“The idea is to facilitate direct dialogue with the country’s leaders, mutual updates on major diplomatic issues, and a discussion of action plans to deal with the challenges awaiting Israel in the international arena in the coming year, including the Iranian threat,” it said.
Full Story Israel summons envoys from all over the world.
McClatchy blog: Checkpoint Kabul
For a good example of how difficult it will be for the US military to regain the momentum in Afghanistan, check out this graphic on the military counterinsurgency (aka COIN) strategy.
The graphic from the Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff looks like a tangled ball of multicolored yarn, or perhaps it is the military’s depiction of the all-powerful, all-knowing Flying Spaghetti Monster…
Whatever the case, it documents the complex relationships between Tribal leaders, soldiers, aid workers, drug dealers, militants, ethnic groups, government leaders, etc.
“For some military commanders, the slide is genius,” wrote NBC’s Richard Engel, “an attempt to show how all things in war – from media bias to ethnic/tribal rivalries – are interconnected and must be taken into consideration. It represents a new approach to war fighting, looking beyond simply killing enemy fighters. It underscores what those fighting wars have long known, that everything matters.”
Full Story McClatchy blog: Checkpoint Kabul.
Gaza must be rebuilt now
Jimmy Carter
We can wait no longer to restart the peace process. The human suffering demands urgent relief
It is generally recognised that the Middle East peace process is in the doldrums, almost moribund. Israeli settlement expansion within Palestine continues, and PLO leaders refuse to join in renewed peace talks without a settlement freeze, knowing that no Arab or Islamic nation will accept any comprehensive agreement while Israel retains control of East Jerusalem.
US objections have impeded Egyptian efforts to resolve differences between Hamas and Fatah that could lead to 2010 elections. With this stalemate, PLO leaders have decided that President Mahmoud Abbas will continue in power until elections can be held – a decision condemned by many Palestinians.
Even though Syria and Israel under the Olmert government had almost reached an agreement with Turkey’s help, the current prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, rejects Turkey as a mediator on the Golan Heights. No apparent alternative is in the offing.
Full Story Gaza must be rebuilt now | Jimmy Carter | Comment is free | The Guardian.
Iran Test-Fires Its Most Advanced Missile
Iran on Wednesday test-fired an upgraded version of its most advanced missile, which is capable of hitting Israel and parts of Europe, in a new show of strength aimed at preventing any military strike against it amid the nuclear standoff with the West.
The test stoked tensions between Iran and the West, which is pressing Tehran to rein in its nuclear program. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said it showed the need for tougher U.N. sanctions on Iran.
“This is a matter of serious concern to the international community and it does make the case for us moving further on sanctions. We will treat this with the seriousness it deserves,” Brown said after talks with U.N. chief Ban Ki-Moon in Copenhagen.
Full Story Iran Test-Fires Its Most Advanced Missile.
People Speak tells extraordinary works of “ordinary people”
For many people, history class was a lesson in keeping one's eyes open. Or as writer Anthony Arnove puts it: “It was rote recitation of facts, military battles, great people elevated in society… It had nothing to do with me and my experience.”
He is among a group of people hoping to change that. Arnove, partnering with famed historian and author Howard Zinn, are behind “The People Speak,” a documentary which depicts pivotal moments in American history from ordinary people. Bringing it to life are a host of noted musicians and actors, including Viggo Mortensen, Bruce Springsteen, Danny Glover, Marisa Tomei and Matt Damon, one of the producers of the film.
“The People Speak,” which airs Sunday night on The History Channel, was based on Zinn’s books, “A People’s History of the United States” and “Voices of a People’s History of the United States,” the latter co-written with Arnove.
Full Story People Speak tells extraordinary works of “ordinary people” | ajc.com.
Hellen Thomas: This sure seems like Vietnam
President Barack Obama insists that his decision to escalate the war in Afghanistan by sending in 30,000 more troops is not Vietnam all over again.
Well, it sure reminds me of the perils and the price of that unwinnable war and the political chaos it wreaked at home.
In Afghanistan, the designated enemies are remnants of the weakened al-Qaida network and the native Taliban, which has been growing in strength despite the eight-year war started by President George W. Bush in the aftermath of the 9/11 catastrophe.
Obama is too young to remember the national turmoil during the Vietnam War that resulted in the deaths of more than 58,000 Americans and thousands of Vietnamese. That war also ended the political career of President Lyndon Johnson, who decided not to seek re-election in 1968.
In his remarks Tuesday, Obama rejected any comparison between Afghanistan and Vietnam, calling it “a false reading of history.” He claimed that the U.S. effort in Afghanistan is supported by “a broad coalition of 43 nations,” that “unlike Vietnam, we are not facing a broad-based popular insurgency” and, unlike Vietnam, “the American people were viciously attacked from Afghanistan.”
Well, yes and no.
Full Story Albany, N.Y.: Timesunion.com – Print Story.
Report: Situation for Afghan women may ‘deterioriate’ as war is escalated.
Yesterday, the international human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a new 96-page report titled “We Have the Promises of the World: Women’s Rights in Afghanistan,” which documents the poor state of women’s rights in Afghanistan. As The Guardian notes, the report concludes that the “plight of women in Afghanistan risks deteriorating further” as the U.S. and its allies prepare to ramp up their forces in the country:
The already dire plight of women in Afghanistan risks deteriorating further as the US and its allies take steps to turn around the war against the Taliban, according to a report by Human Rights Watch today.
Eight years after the Taliban were ousted from power, rapists are often protected from prosecution, women can still be arrested for running away from home, and girls have far less access to schools than boys, the report says. [...]
Full Story Think Progress » Report: Situation for Afghan women may ‘deterioriate’ as war is escalated..
Afghanistan: What Obama and the US Media Aren’t Telling Us
If you pay attention only to the commercial and so-called “public” media in the United States, you’d get the impression that the response around the world to President Obama’s proposed escalation of the decades old U.S. war on Afghanistan has ranged from tepid to positive.
Inside Afghanistan – well; when do we ever hear from anyone actually in Afghanistan? I mean the Afghans themselves? Obama claims, as the Bush administration did, that The U.S. will be heading an international peacekeeping force representing more than 40 nations in an all-out effort to, in the words of both Obama and Bush “get the job done”. What job? That’s a question the media, by and large seems reticent to ask.
In the few days immediately following 9-11 ( September 11th, 2001, that is) I had occasion to be in New York City. The Pacifica Radio network was in a state of crisis as self-appointed rogue national board of directors had assumed control of the 5-station network and was busy scuttling its best programs and dismantling Pacifica station by station.
Pacifica’s flagship program, Democracy Now, was being produced in exile and had been banned at all 5 Pacifica stations by the national program director. Long-time dedicated Pacifica employees and volunteers, with precious few resources were trying to provide coverage of the tragic events while reporting at each of the 5 stations suffered, beginning, even, to resemble the sensationalist yet shallow treatment being offered on the commercial networks.
Full Story The Free Press — Independent News Media – International Issues.
US Marines Launch Large Offensive In Afghanistan
U.S. Marines and Afghan troops on Friday launched the first offensive since President Barack Obama announced an American troop surge, striking against Taliban communications and supply lines in a southern insurgent stronghold, a military spokesman said.
Hundreds of troops from the 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines and the Marine reconnaissance unit Task Force Raider were dropped by helicopter and MV-22 Osprey aircraft behind Taliban lines in the northern end of the Now Zad Valley of Helmand province, scene of heavy fighting last summer, according to Marine spokesman Maj. William Pelletier.
A U.S. military official in Washington said it was the first use of Ospreys, aircrafts that combine features of helicopters and fixed wing aircraft, in an offensive involving units larger than platoons.
Full Story US Marines Launch Large Offensive In Afghanistan.
US Marines Launch Large Offensive In Afghanistan
U.S. Marines and Afghan troops on Friday launched the first offensive since President Barack Obama announced an American troop surge, striking against Taliban communications and supply lines in a southern insurgent stronghold, a military spokesman said.
Hundreds of troops from the 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines and the Marine reconnaissance unit Task Force Raider were dropped by helicopter and MV-22 Osprey aircraft behind Taliban lines in the northern end of the Now Zad Valley of Helmand province, scene of heavy fighting last summer, according to Marine spokesman Maj. William Pelletier.
A U.S. military official in Washington said it was the first use of Ospreys, aircrafts that combine features of helicopters and fixed wing aircraft, in an offensive involving units larger than platoons.
Full Story US Marines Launch Large Offensive In Afghanistan.
President Obama’s Secret: Only 100 al Qaeda Now in Afghanistan
With New Surge, One Thousand U.S. Soldiers and $300 Million for Every One al Qaeda Fighter
As he justified sending 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan at a cost of $30 billion a year, President Barack Obama’s description Tuesday of the al Qaeda “cancer” in that country left out one key fact: U.S. intelligence officials have concluded there are only about 100 al Qaeda fighters in the entire country.
A senior U.S. intelligence official told ABCNews.com the approximate estimate of 100 al Qaeda members left in Afghanistan reflects the conclusion of American intelligence agencies and the Defense Department. The relatively small number was part of the intelligence passed on to the White House as President Obama conducted his deliberations.
President Obama made only a vague reference to the size of the al Qaeda presence in his speech at West Point, when he said, “al Qaeda has not reemerged in Afghanistan in the same number as before 9/11, but they retain their safe havens along the border.”
Full Story President Obama’s Secret: Only 100 al Qaeda Now in Afghanistan – ABC News.
OPS: Well, if this was a secret to you, or even news, Stop Watching ABC and start watching Rachel Maddow, Keith Olbermann , and start listening to Thom Hartmann and spend more time at The One Penny Sheet.
Americans Are Deeply Involved In Afghan Drug Trade
Glen Ford –
“U.S.-allied drug dealers are put in charge of the police and border patrol, while their rivals are placed on American hit lists.”
If you’re looking for the chief kingpin in the Afghanistan heroin trade, it’s the United States. The American mission has devolved to a Mafiosi-style arrangement that poisons every military and political alliance entered into by the U.S. and its puppet government in Kabul. It is a gangster occupation, in which U.S.-allied drug dealers are put in charge of the police and border patrol, while their rivals are placed on American hit lists, marked for death or capture. As a result, Afghanistan has been transformed into an opium plantation that supplies 90 percent of the world’s heroin.
An article in the current issue of Harper’s magazine explores the inner workings of the drug-infested U.S. occupation, it’s near-total dependence on alliances forged with players in the heroin trade. The story centers on the town of Spin Boldak, on the southeastern border with Pakistan, gateway to the opium fields of Kandahar and Helmand provinces. The chief Afghan drug lord is also the head of the border patrol and the local militia. The author is an undercover U.S.-based journalist who was befriended by the drug lord’s top operatives and met with the U.S. and Canadian officers that collaborate with the drug dealer on a daily basis.
Full Story Americans Are Deeply Involved In Afghan Drug Trade | Black Agenda Report.
Mysterious ‘Saddam Channel’ appears on Iraqi televisions
Turning on their TVs during the long holiday weekend, Iraqis were greeted by a familiar if unexpected face from their brutal past: Saddam Hussein.
The late Iraqi dictator is lauded on a mysterious satellite channel that began broadcasting on the Islamic calendar’s anniversary of his 2006 execution.
No one seems to know who is bankrolling the so-called Saddam Channel, although the Iraqi government suspects it’s Baathists whose political party Saddam once led. The Associated Press tracked down a man in Damascus, Syria named Mohammed Jarboua, who claimed to be its chairman.
The Saddam channel, he said, “didn’t receive a penny from the Baathists” and is for Iraqis and other Arabs who “long for his rule.”
Full Story Mysterious ‘Saddam Channel’ appears on Iraqi televisions | Raw Story.
Iran OKs 10 new enrichment plants
Announcement comes days after the U.N. nuclear watchdog rebuked Tehran
The Iranian government approved a plan Sunday to build 10 new uranium enrichment
facilities, a dramatic expansion in defiance of U.N. demands it halt the program.
The decision comes only two days after the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency censured Iran, demanding it immediately stop building a newly revealed enrichment facility near the holy city of Qom and freeze all uranium enrichment activities. The rebuke infuriated Iran, with lawmakers threatening to consider pulling the country out of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in retaliation.
The enrichment announcement is likely to stoke already high tensions between Iran and the West over its controversial nuclear activities. The U.S. and its allies have hinted of new U.N. sanctions if Tehran remains defiant.
Full Story Iran OKs 10 new enrichment plants – Iran- msnbc.com.
U.S. troops to free up Canadians for rebuilding
Canadian Forces to focus on ‘reconstruction and development’s; once additional U.S. soldiers arrive in southern Afghanistan
The coming U.S. troop surge around Kandahar city will liberate Canadian troops to focus more of their energies on development programs and training of local Afghan forces, Canadian government officials and experts said.
U.S. President Barack Obama is scheduled to lay out his new Afghan strategy next week, sending another 25,000 to 34,000 troops who are expected to be heavily concentrated in Kandahar, where the Canadian Forces are currently operating.
The reinforcements will be politically useful for the Harper government, which is getting ready to pull out of combat operations in Afghanistan in 2011.
“Canada welcomes the arrival of additional troops, especially in the south of the country,” a Canadian official said. “The increased presence in the south has allowed the Canadian Forces to consolidate their efforts in key districts, and to help Canada focus on its priorities, namely reconstruction and development.”
Full Story U.S. troops to free up Canadians for rebuilding – The Globe and Mail.
OPS: So Canada will do the building and the US will do the Destroying – great.
Prison has few Taliban die-hards General says
The U.S. military says the vast majority of the 700 detainees at the prison at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan “could eventually be released because they’re fighting more for money than ideology.” Brig. Gen. Mark Martins said that 10 to 20 percent of the inmates at Bagram are considered hard-core or “irreconcilable” Taliban fighters.
General says U.S. may free the ‘accidental guerrillas’
BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan — The U.S. military says the vast majority of the 700 detainees at its biggest prison in Afghanistan could eventually be released because they’re fighting more for money than ideology.
That means it may prove easier than previously thought to make peace with some Taliban insurgents through job projects and other economic development efforts, experts said.
Brig. Gen. Mark Martins told USA TODAY that 10% to 20% of the inmates at the U.S.-run prison in Bagram are considered hard-core, or “irreconcilable,” Taliban fighters. The rest of them are candidates for eventual rehabilitation and release, he said.
“There are some of those caught up in this armed conflict who are … accidental guerrillas,” said Martins, who is overseeing a review of U.S. detainee policy here.
The U.S. military shifted its focus this year to trying to win the loyalty of the Afghan people, even those who formerly took up arms against the Afghan government.
President Obama is deliberating an increase of up to 40,000 troops to implement the strategy and turn back a resurgent Taliban.
Full Story USATODAY.com.
U.S. “would veto” Palestinian state move: Senators
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – The United States would veto a Palestinian declaration of statehood in the United Nations Security Council, U.S. senators visiting Israel said Monday.
They said the threat by Palestinian officials to take the issue to a United Nations resolution was a waste of time and would go nowhere. They urged Arab states to stop it. “It would be D.O.A. – dead on arrival,” Democratic Party Senator Ted Kaufman (DE) told a news conference in Jerusalem. “It’s a waste of time.”
Senator Joseph Lieberman (CT), an independent, said “an essentially unilateral” declaration of statehood was the one thing that would not move the stalled peace process forward.
“I hope and presume that the United States would veto such a move if it ever came to the Security Council,” Lieberman said. The only way to end the Middle East conflict was an agreement reached through bilateral negotiations, he added.
The Palestinians should “give the new government of Israel an opportunity at the negotiating table,” he said.
via U.S. “would veto” Palestinian state move: Senators | TPM News Pages.
U.S., Russia agree on dissatisfaction with Iran
Obama meets with Medvedev at the APEC summit in Singapore, with both saying Iran has limited time to accept a proposal to outsource enrichment. Obama then moves on to Shanghai
Reporting from Singapore, Shanghai and Beirut – Presenting a united front on Iran’s nuclear energy program, President Obama and Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev warned Sunday that they were losing patience with Tehran and wouldn’t wait much longer for it to accept a proposal to resolve the dispute.
After an hourlong meeting in Singapore on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, the two leaders expressed dissatisfaction with Iran’s response to a proposal to ship its enriched uranium abroad to be refined further for use in an Iranian reactor to produce medical isotopes. In Geneva last month, Iran agreed to the deal in principle, but Western officials said Iranian leaders have since put up obstacles.
“Unfortunately, so far at least, Iran appears to have been unable to say yes to what everyone acknowledges is a creative and constructive approach,” Obama said after meeting with Medvedev. Obama called the offer to Iran a fair one.
via U.S., Russia agree on dissatisfaction with Iran — latimes.com.
Palestinian push for an independent state causes Israeli alarm
Netanyahu to denounce Prime Minister’s drive to sidestep Israel and secure support from UN Security Council
Palestinian leaders from President Mahmoud Abbas down have alarmed Israeli ministers by swinging their weight behind a planned effort to secure UN backing for a unilaterally declared independent state in the West Bank and Gaza.
In an innovative strategy which would not depend on the success of currently stalled negotiations with Israel, the leaders are preparing a push to secure formal UN Security Council support for a Palestinian state based on 1967 borders as a crucial first step towards the formation of a state.
Although there is no fixed timetable,
AFP: Three Americans killed in Afghanistan
Three Americans including two members of the NATO-led force in Afghanistan have been killed by homemade bombs, the military said Saturday.
The other casualty was a civilian worker, it said without giving further detail.
One of the soldiers died in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast in southern Afghanistan, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said in a statement.
“In a separate incident an ISAF service member and a civilian contractor, both from the United States, died in an IED strike in eastern Afghanistan,” the statement said, without elaborating.
Friday’s casualties bring to 470 the number of foreign soldiers killed in Afghanistan since the start of the year. More than half the dead are Americans.
IEDs are the number one killer of international troops, who are battling a Taliban insurgency at its worst since US-led troops overthrew the Taliban regime in 2001.
US President Barack Obama on Friday promised a decision soon on whether to send thousands more US troops to Afghanistan, where they would join more than 100,000 foreign soldiers already in the country.
Full Story AFP: Three Americans killed in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan’s Sham Army
American military commanders measure progress by the swelling size of the Afghan army, although the force is said to be poorly trained, sympathetic to the Taliban and the scourge of local populations.
Chris Hedges
Success in Afghanistan is measured in Washington by the ability to create an indigenous army that will battle the Taliban, provide security and stability for Afghan civilians and remain loyal to the puppet government of Hamid Karzai. A similar task eluded the Red Army, although the Soviets spent a decade attempting to pacify the country. It eluded the British a century earlier. And the United States, too, will fail.
American military advisers who work with the Afghan National Army, or ANA, speak of poorly trained and unmotivated Afghan soldiers who have little stomach for military discipline and even less for fighting. They describe many ANA units as being filled with brigands who terrorize local populations, exacting payments and engaging in intimidation, rape and theft. They contend that the ANA is riddled with Taliban sympathizers. And when there are combined American and Afghan operations against the Taliban insurgents, ANA soldiers are fickle and unreliable combatants, the U.S. advisers say.
American military commanders in Afghanistan, rather than pump out statistics about enemy body counts, measure progress by the swelling size of the ANA. The bigger the ANA, the better we are supposedly doing. The pressure on trainers to increase the numbers of the ANA means that training and vetting of incoming Afghan recruits is nearly nonexistent.
Full Story Truthdig – Reports – Afghanistan’s Sham Army.
Peace Activist Confronts Netanhayu on War Crimes During Plenary of United Jewish Federations
Peace Activist Confronts Netanhayu on War Crimes During Plenary of United Jewish Federations
WASHINGTON – November 9 – At the Annual Conference of the United Jewish Federations in Washington, DC, during the plenary session today, November 9, by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, CODEPINK peace activist Midge Potts stood up with a banner that said “End the Siege of Gaza” and shouted “Stop the blockade of Gaza, Shame on you, Netanyahu.” She was dragged out of the meeting by security guards.
“When I heard that Netanyahu was speaking in Washington DC, I felt compelled to do something,” said Potts, a Navy veteran, resident of Springfield, Missouri and candidate for U.S. Senate. “Netanyahu’s Washington visit comes just after our Congress overwhelmingly passed a resolution rejecting the Goldstone report, a UN report that aimed to hold Israel accountability for its actions during the 22-day invasion of Gaza that left over 1,400 dead. As an American whose government is giving free rein to Israel’s war crimes and is paying—through our taxes—for the bombs and bullets that are killing Palestinians, I had to stand up. I hope my symbolic action will show the people of Palestine that there are many Americans who believe in human rights for all and are determined to change our government’s policy to reflect these values.”
During his talk, PM Netanyahu lauded the Israeli Defense Forces, saying the Israeli army was “as moral as any army on earth” and thanked both President Obama and the U.S. Congress for rejecting the Goldstone report. “It is appalling to us, as peace activists, that Israel committed such atrocities against the people of Gaza and that the U.S. Government is trying to cover up those crimes. As defenders of human rights, we must stand up and demand accountability.”
As part of CODEPINK’s commitment to human rights, it is working with a broad coalition to organize, in the spirit of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, a massive march on December 31 from inside Gaza to the Israeli border. The March calls on Israel to lift the inhumane siege that is keeping 1.5 million people imprisoned. Already, participants have signed up from 32 countries. They include writers (U.S. Alice Walker), actors (Syrian Duraid Lahham), members of Parliament (from France to the Philippines), diplomats (from Japan to the Netherlands), as well as doctors, lawyers, professors and students.
For more information see www.gazafreedommarch.org .
###
CODEPINK is a women-initiated grassroots peace and social justice movement working to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, stop new wars, and redirect our resources into healthcare, education, green jobs and other life-affirming activities. CODEPINK rejects foreign policies based on domination and aggression, and instead calls for policies based on diplomacy, compassion and a commitment to international law. With an emphasis on joy and humor, CODEPINK women and men seek to activate, amplify and inspire a community of peacemakers through creative campaigns and a commitment to non-violence.
Gorbachev gives Obama advice on Afghanistan : Get Out
Washington (CNN) – As the American public and the global community await the completion of the Obama administration’s extensive review of U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan, Mikhail Gorbachev, the former president of the Soviet Union, said Sunday that, instead of sending more troops, Obama should begin to the lay the groundwork to withdraw from Afghanistan.
“I think that what’s needed is not additional forces,” the former Soviet leader said through a translator, “this is something that we discussed, too, years ago but we decided not to do it. And I think our experience deserves attention.”
WATCH: The entire Gorbachev interview
Instead of more troops, Gorbachev said the Soviets decided to emphasize domestic development in Afghanistan and promoting national reconciliation between the various clans in the country. In deciding how to proceed in Afghanistan, Gorbachev said the Soviet Union also consulted with other countries including the United States, Iran, Pakistan, and India.
Afghanistan: Time to leave
Patrick Cockburn, our award-winning reporter who has covered the region for more than 30 years, explains why it is best for the world, and Afghanistan, if our troops are brought home
Britain should start withdrawing, not reinforcing, its troops in Afghanistan. Sending extra troops is unnecessary and will prove counter-effective. The additional number of British troops is small, but the US is poised to send tens of thousands more soldiers to the country. The nature of the conflict is changing. What should be a war in which the Afghan government fights the Taliban has become one which is being fought primarily by the American and British armies. To more and more Afghans, this looks like imperial occupation.
With regard to disputes in Washington and London about sending more troops, it is seldom mentioned that Afghans are against the deployment. Contrary to Western plans, just 18 per cent of Afghans want more US and Nato/Isaf forces in Afghanistan, according to an opinion poll carried out earlier this year by the BBC, ABC News and ARD of Germany. A much greater number of Afghans – 44 per cent – want a decrease in foreign forces.
It is hardly surprising, therefore, that the Taliban have been able to win some support. The cruelty of their rule before 2001 is becoming a distant memory and they are successfully portraying themselves as the defender of the country against foreign occupation. Matthew P Hoh, the senior American civilian representative in Zabul Province east of Kandahar, resigned last week convinced that the US military should not be in Afghanistan. As a former US marine officer who served in Iraq, he says in his resignation letter that the US has joined in on one side in a 35-year-old civil war between the traditional Pashtun community and its enemies. “The US military presence in Afghanistan greatly contributes to the legitimacy and strategic message of the Pashtun insurgency,” he says. “Our backing of the Afghan government in its current form continues to distance the government from the people.”
Full Story Afghanistan: Time to leave – Asia, World – The Independent.
Prospect of More U.S. Troops Worries Afghan Public
As Americans, including President Obama’s top advisers, tensely debate whether to send more American troops to Afghanistan, Afghans themselves are having a similar discussion and voicing serious doubts.
In bazaars and university corridors across the country, eight years of war have left people exhausted and impatient. They are increasingly skeptical that the Taliban can be defeated. Nearly everyone agrees that the Afghan government must negotiate with the insurgents. If more American forces do arrive, many here say, they should come to train Afghans to take over the fight, so the foreigners can leave.
“What have the Americans done in eight years?” asked Abdullah Wasay, 60, a pharmacist in Charikar, a market town about 25 miles north of Kabul, expressing a view typical of many here. “Americans are saying that with their planes they can see an egg 18 kilometers away, so why can’t they see the Taliban?”
Full Story Prospect of More U.S. Troops Worries Afghan Public – NYTimes.com.
Reviews Raise Doubt on Training of Afghan Forces
A series of internal government reviews have presented the Obama administration with a dire portrait of Afghanistan’s military and police force, bringing into serious question an ambitious goal at the heart of the evolving American war strategy — to speed up their training and send many more Afghans to the fight.
As President Obama considers his top commander’s call to rapidly double Afghanistan’s security forces, the internal reviews, written by officials directly involved in the training program or charged with keeping it on track, describe an overstretched enterprise struggling to nurse along the poorly led, largely illiterate and often corrupt Afghan forces.
In September, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the top American and allied commander in Afghanistan, recommended increasing the Afghan Army as quickly as possible — to 134,000 in a year from the current force of more than 90,000, instead of taking two years, and perhaps eventually to 240,000. He would also expand the police force to 160,000. The acceleration is vital to General McChrystal’s overall counterinsurgency plan, which also calls for more American troops but seeks more protection against the Taliban for the Afghan population than the Pentagon could ever supply.
Full Story Reviews Raise Doubt on Training of Afghan Forces – NYTimes.com.
UN endorses Gaza war crimes report
The United Nations General Assembly has voted in favour of resolution endorsing a UN-sponsored report into war crimes committed during Israel’s war on Gaza.
The Goldstone report, which accuses both Israel and Hamas of war crimes, was endorsed by the assembly on Thursday by a margin of 114 to 18, after two days of debate.
Forty-four member-nations abstained from voting.
The report, which was compiled by a panel led by Richard Goldstone, a South African judge, had already been endorsed by the UN Human Rights Council, which sponsored the fact-finding commission.
Full Story Al Jazeera English – Americas – UN endorses Gaza war crimes report.
Hillary Clinton: US Wants Israel To Stop Building West Bank Settlements ‘Forever’
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton defended the U.S. stance toward Israeli settlement building to worried Arab allies on Wednesday, saying Washington does not accept the legitimacy of the West Bank enclaves and wants to see their construction halted “forever.”
Still, she said an Israeli offer to restrain – but not halt – construction represents “positive movement forward” toward resuming Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations.
Clinton met for an hour with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak during a hastily arranged stopover in the Egyptian capital to soothe Arab concerns that Washington is backing off demands for an Israeli settlement halt. The fears were sparked on Saturday when Clinton, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at her side in Jerusalem, praised his government’s offer as unprecedented.
Full Story Hillary Clinton: US Wants Israel To Stop Building West Bank Settlements ‘Forever’.
An unexpected bold proposal from Israeli MK Shaul Mofaz: an immediate Palestinian state
Most people outside of Israel don’t know much about MK member Shaul Mofaz, and it’s not surprising. He’s one of the few ‘non-European’ Jews in Israel to have become a Knesset member, and who dared to challenge former presidential candidate Tzipi Livni, and lost.
There is an entire dynamic, which is an undercurrent in Israeli society, that Jews from North Africa who emigrated to Israel are grossly misrepresented in government, policy making, negotiations with friends and foes alike. However, here is a perfect example of how ‘Arab Jews’ can play a pivotal role in the peace making process with the Palestinians.
According to a report in Israel’s daily ‘Ma’ariv’, as reported by the Mideast Peace Pulse, Mofaz is putting forth the idea of the immediate formation of a Palestinian state which would require the demolition of Israeli settlements which translates into displacing some 70,000 people. Those settlers would be compensated as described below:
Full Story An unexpected bold proposal from Israeli MK Shaul Mofaz: an immediate Palestinian state.
Why and to what end in Afghanistan
Ralph Nader
Matthew P. Hoh, a former U.S. combat marine captain and Department of Defense civilian in Iraq starting in 2004 and until September a political officer in the Foreign Service stationed in Afghanistan is giving some consternation to President Obama’s advisors as the Commander in Chief considers sending more soldiers to that war-torn country next to Pakistan.
Mr. Hoh wrote a letter of resignation to the State Department in September. His four page letter frames his doubts about what he said is the “why and to what end” behind “the strategic purposes of the United States’ presence in Afghanistan. He notes that like the Soviets’ nine year occupation, “we continue to secure and bolster a failing state, while encouraging an ideology and system of government unknown and unwanted by its people.”
Mr. Hoh focuses on the giant Pashtun society composed of 42 million people and moves to his conclusions. Read his words:
“The Pashtun insurgency, which is composed of multiple, seemingly infinite, local groups, is fed by what is perceived by the Pashtun people as a continued and sustained assault, going back centuries, on Pashtun land, culture, traditions and religion by internal and external enemies. The U.S. and NATO presence and operations in Pashtun valleys and villages, as well as Afghan army and police units that are led and composed of non-Pashtun soldiers and police, provide an occupation force against which the insurgency is justified. In both RC East and South, I have observed that the bulk of the insurgency fights not for the white banner of the Taliban, but rather against the presence of foreign soldiers and taxes imposed by an unrepresentative government in Kabul.
Full Story Why and to what end in Afghanistan – The Nader Page.
UN Assembly Draft Urges Action on Gaza ‘War Crimes’
Arab U.N. delegates circulated a draft resolution on Monday that would require Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to bring a U.N. report alleging war crimes in the Gaza Strip before the Security Council.
A special meeting of the 192-nation assembly on Wednesday will debate the U.N. report on the December-January war in the Gaza Strip and vote on the draft resolution.
That report accused Israel and Palestinian Hamas militants of war crimes and was prepared by a U.N. fact-finding commission led by South African jurist Richard Goldstone.
The Arab draft resolution, obtained by Reuters, says the assembly “requests the Secretary-General to transmit the report … to the Security Council.” It also urges Israel and the Palestinians to comply with the report’s recommendations for launching investigations into allegations of war crimes.
The draft also tells Ban to report back to the assembly within three months on implementation of the resolution.
Full Story UN Assembly Draft Urges Action on Gaza ‘War Crimes’ | CommonDreams.org.
Matthew Hoh: ‘I Firmly Believe That We Are Taking Part In A Civil War’ In Afghanistan
Last week, former Marine captain and State Department employee Matthew Hoh made headlines when he went public with his resignation from the administration over his opposition to the continuation of the war in Afghanistan. In a four-page letter he sent to the State Department, he explained his resignation by writing that the U.S. presence in Afghanistan serves to “bolster a failing state, while encouraging an ideology and system of government unknown and unwanted by [the Afghan] people.”
This past Sunday, CNN’s Fareed Zakaria interviewed Hoh about his views on the war. During one segment of the interview, Zakaria asked Hoh why he feels the U.S. should begin to draw down its troops from the country. Hoh replied that he doesn’t see the Afghan conflict as one between the U.S. and the Taliban, but rather as a 35-year long “civil war” between rural Pashtuns “who want to be left alone” and an urban government the U.S. is backing:
HOH: I firmly believe that we are taking part in a civil war. We are on the same side of the civil war that the Soviets intervened on.
ZAKARIA: So, you have a divide among the Pashtuns. There’s the urban middle class. And Karzai, presumably, who is a Pashtun, comes from this urban middle class.
HOH: Correct.
ZAKARIA: Many of them left the country after the — during the years of the civil war. And the ones who have stayed to fight, who fought the Soviet Union and who are now fighting us, are the rural, mountain tribe Pashtuns who resent the central government and its intrusions.
HOH: Who want to be left alone.
Watch it:
Full Story Think Progress » Matthew Hoh: ‘I Firmly Believe That We Are Taking Part In A Civil War’ In Afghanistan.
Karzai elected as Afghan poll called off
Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan’s president, was declared the winner of the country’s presidential elections on Monday by the election commission following the decision of his main rival to withdraw from a planned run-off.
Abdullah Abdullah, Mr Karzai’s main rival, effectively handed Mr Karzai victory on Sunday when he said he would not participate in a planned second round on November 7 because he could not be sure the vote would be free and fair.
Azizullah Lodin, the head of the Independent Election Commission, declared Mr Karzai the winner at a news conference in Kabul, saying he had won the majority of votes in the first round.
Full Story FT.com / Asia-Pacific – Karzai elected as Afghan poll called off.
Afghanistan poll chaos as Abdullah quits run-off
President Karzai’s opponent in Saturday’s presidential election run-off pulled out of the race today in protest over the Afghanistan Government’s refusal to meet his demands to tackle the massive fraud that tainted the first round in August.
Abdullah Abdullah stopped short of calling for his supporters to boycott the vote and urged them not to take to the streets in protest, leaving a window open for a power-sharing deal to be brokered by the international community.
“In protest against the illegal actions of the Government and the electoral commission, I will not participate in the run-off of the second round of the presidential election,” Dr Abdullah told a gathering of several hundred supporters in a huge tent in Kabul.
Full Story Afghanistan poll chaos as Abdullah quits run-off – Times Online.
US bid to revive Mideast talks falters over settlements – Yahoo! News
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Saturday failed to convince Palestinians and Israelis to revive stalled peace talks, with the issue of Jewish settlements remaining a main stumbling block.
Washington’s top diplomat was holding talks with Israel’s foreign and defence ministers and was to meet with hawkish Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later in the night.
Clinton’s visit comes after repeated rounds of shuttle diplomacy by US Middle East envoy George Mitchell in recent months yielded little progress in the US push to get Israelis and Palestinians back to the negotiating table.
Earlier on Saturday Clinton held “difficult” talks with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in Abu Dhabi, but failed to convince him to resume negotiations with Israel without a complete Israeli freeze on settlement activity, officials said.
Full Story US bid to revive Mideast talks falters over settlements – Yahoo! News.
Afghan challenger threatens to quit run-off unless demands are met
Abdullah Abdullah was poised on Saturday to quit Afghanistan’s run-off presidential election unless incumbent Hamid Karzai has a last minute change of heart and bows to a series of demands from his rival.
Officials in Abdullah’s campaign team said the former foreign minister would announce he was pulling out of the November 7 contest on Sunday in the absence of any U-turn by Karzai on measures to combat fraud.
“If by the end of today we do not receive a positive response to our conditions from the government, then Dr. Abdullah himself will announce his reaction to it tomorrow,” Sayed Aqa Fazel Sancharaki, a spokesman for Abdullah’s campaign, told AFP.
Abdullah is due to make his announcement at an address in Kabul at 9:30 am (0500 GMT) on Sunday, which the media have been invited to attend.
Following widespread fraud in the August first round, Abdullah has demanded Karzai sack the head of the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) and suspend four ministers who campaigned for the incumbent.
Full Story Afghan challenger threatens to quit run-off unless demands are met | Raw Story.
McChrystal Doesn’t Get It—Does Obama?
By Scott Ritter
There is a curious phenomenon taking place in the American media at the moment: the lionization of Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the American military commander in Afghanistan. Although he has taken a few lumps for playing politics with the White House, McChrystal has generally been sold to the American public as a “Zen warrior,” a counterinsurgency genius who, if simply left to his own devices, will be able to radically transform the ongoing debacle that is Afghanistan into a noble victory that will rank as one of the greatest political and military triumphs of modern history. McChrystal’s resume and persona (a former commander of America’s special operations forces, a tireless athlete and a scholar) have been breathlessly celebrated in several interviews and articles. Reporters depict him as an ascetic soldier who spouts words of wisdom to rival Confucius, Jesus and Muhammad.
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff sent Gen. McChrystal to “fix” the war in Afghanistan in the way that his boss, that earlier military prophet Gen. David Petraeus, “fixed” Iraq. Whether by accident or design, McChrystal’s mission became a cause célèbre of sorts for an American media starved for good news, even if entirely fabricated, coming out of Afghanistan. One must remember that the general has accomplished little of note during his short tenure to date as the military commander in Afghanistan. His entire reputation is built around the potential to turn things around in Afghanistan. And to do this, McChrystal has said he needs time, and 40,000-plus additional American troops. There are currently around 68,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan. McChrystal’s request would raise that number to around 110,000 troops – the same number as the Soviets had deployed in Afghanistan at the height of their failed military adventure some 20 years ago.
Full Story Truthdig – Reports – McChrystal Doesn’t Get It—Does Obama?.
Remember the Women?
Women are made for homes or graves. –Afghan saying
Gen. Stanley McChrystal says he needs more American troops to salvage something like winning in Afghanistan and restore the country to “normal life.” Influential senators want to increase spending to train more soldiers for the Afghan National Army and Police. The Feminist Majority recently backed off a call for more troops, but it continues to warn against US withdrawal as an abandonment of Afghan women and girls. Nearly everyone assumes troops bring greater security; and whether your touchstone is military victory, national interest or the welfare of women and girls, “security” seems a good thing.
I confess that I agonize over competing proposals now commanding President Obama’s attention because I’ve spent years in Afghanistan working with women, and I’m on their side. When the Feminist Majority argues that withdrawing American forces from Afghanistan will return the Taliban to power and women to house arrest, I see in my mind’s eye the faces of women I know and care about. Yet an unsentimental look at the record reveals that for all the fine talk of women’s rights since the US invasion, equal rights for Afghan women have been illusory all along, a polite feel-good fiction that helped to sell the American enterprise at home and cloak in respectability the misbegotten government we installed in Kabul. That it is a fiction is borne out by recent developments in Afghanistan–President Karzai’s approving a new family law worthy of the Taliban, and American acquiescence in Karzai’s new law and, initially, his theft of the presidential election–and by the systematic intimidation, murder or exile of one Afghan woman after another who behaves as if her rights were real and worth fighting for.
via Remember the Women?.
Eugene Robinson – There’s no middle road on Afghanistan: It’s in or out
Bring the troops home
Barack Obama didn’t set out to be a “war president,” but that’s what history compels him to be. The nation and the world are fortunate that he doesn’t have the reckless, ready-fire-aim mentality of George W. Bush. But Afghanistan doesn’t present the kind of “false choices” that Obama, by nature, habitually rejects. The choices are real and awful, and no amount of reframing and rephrasing will make them go away.
Monday’s tragic events — 14 Americans killed in helicopter crashes in Afghanistan — remind us of the decisions Obama faces. At least he seems to recognize that he can’t just let the situation drift.
But it looks as if Obama’s inclination is to disappoint both hawks and doves — and, yes, I’m consciously using Vietnam-era language. The debate over whether we stay or leave is bound to become sharper and more passionate as American casualties continue to mount.
via Eugene Robinson – There’s no middle road on Afghanistan: It’s in or out – washingtonpost.com.
October deadliest month for US in Afghan war
Roadside bombs — the biggest killer of U.S. soldiers — claimed eight more American lives Tuesday, driving the U.S. death toll to a record level for the third time in four months as President Barack Obama nears a decision on a new strategy for the troubled war.
The homemade bombs, also called improvised explosive devices or IEDs, are responsible for between 70 percent and 80 percent of the casualties among U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan and have become a weapon of “strategic influence,” said Lt. Gen. Thomas Metz in Washington.
The attacks Tuesday followed one of the deadliest days for the U.S. military operation in Afghanistan — grim milestones likely to fuel the debate in the United States over whether the conflict is worth the sacrifice.
Obama has nearly finished gathering information on whether to send tens of thousands more American forces to quell the deepening insurgency, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said. A meeting Friday with the Joint Chiefs of Staff will be among the last events in the decision-making process, Gibbs said.
via October deadliest month for US in Afghan war – Yahoo! News.
Report: Palestinians denied water
Israel is denying Palestinians access to even the basic minimum of clean, safe water, Amnesty International says.
In a report, the human rights group says Israeli water restrictions discriminate against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
It says that in Gaza, Israel’s blockade has pushed the already ailing water and sewage system to “crisis point”.
Israel says the report is flawed and the Palestinians get more water than was agreed under the 1990s peace deal.
‘Basic need’
In the 112-page report, Amnesty says that on average Palestinian daily water consumption reaches 70 litres a day, compared with 300 litres for the Israelis.
via BBC NEWS | Middle East | Report: Palestinians denied water.
Beware a Times/Pentagon ‘Virtual Coup’ on Aghanistan
Some military coups are still done the old-fashioned way. Tanks surround the capital, generals grab the radio station, the slaughter begins.
Here, the Declaration of Independence scorned King George III for elevating his army over our colonial legislatures. The Founders opposed a standing army. Our first Commander George Washington warned against military entanglements. So did Dwight Eisenhower nearly two centuries later. These “quaint” monuments to civilian rule form the core of our constitutional culture.
So when the Pentagon wants to trash inconvenient opposition and escalate yet another war, it seeks subtler means. For example: the “virtual coup” now being staged in league with the New York Times, aimed at plunging us catastrophically deeper into Afghanistan.
It’s how they drove us into the abyss in Vietnam and Iraq. It demands we decide who will rule—the Pentagon, or the public.
Full Story: Beware a Times/Pentagon ‘Virtual Coup’ on Aghanistan | CommonDreams.org.
UN Nuclear Inspectors Head To Iran To Visit Site
Israeli forces stormed Jerusalem’s holiest shrine Sunday, firing stun grenades to disperse hundreds of stone-throwing Palestinian protesters in a fresh eruption of violence at the most volatile spot in the Holy Land.
A wall of Israeli riot police behind plexiglass shields closed in on the crowd, sending many protesters – overwhelmingly young men – running for cover into the black-domed Al-Aqsa mosque. The mosque is one part of the compound known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary.
Dozens of protesters remained holed up inside the mosque for several hours, occasionally opening shuttered doors to throw objects at police. The Israeli forces did not enter the building, and the protesters eventually left peacefully and the compound was closed, police said. There were no serious injuries.
Full Story: UN Nuclear Inspectors Head To Iran To Visit Site.
Baghdad Car Bombs Kill Over 130
BAGHDAD, Iraq — Two powerful suicide car bombs blew up outside the Justice Ministry and city government offices in downtown Baghdad Sunday, killing at least 136 people in the worst attack in more than two years. Iraqi leaders said the attacks aimed to disrupt political progress in the months leading up to January’s crucial elections.
While violence has dropped dramatically in the country since the height of the sectarian tensions, the latest bombings underscored the precarious nature of the security gains and the insurgency’s abilities to still pull off devastating attacks in the center of what is supposed to be one of Baghdad’s most secure areas.
The street where the blasts occurred had just been reopened to vehicle traffic a few months ago when blast walls were repositioned to allow traffic closer to the government buildings. Such changes were touted by Iraq’s prime minister as a sign that safety was returning to the city
Full Story: Baghdad Car Bombs Kill Over 130.
Karzai Rival Says Won’t Join Afghan Government
Abdullah Abdullah, Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s rival in next month’s run-off election, said he would not join Karzai’s government if the incumbent won.
Asked in a CNN interview about comments by Karzai that he would welcome his rival in his government, Abdullah said he had “absolutely no interest in such a scenario.”
Abdullah, a former foreign minister, said his intention in seeking the presidency was to bring change to the impoverished country, not to be “part of the same deteriorating situation.”
Full Story: Karzai Rival Says Won’t Join Afghan Government – NYTimes.com.
US says it can wait ‘a few days’ for Iran nuclear response
The United States can wait a few days for Iran’s response to a UN-brokered deal on its nuclear program, President Barack Obama’s administration said Friday, signaling it would not wait indefinitely.
France, Russia and the US have all backed a proposal whereby the Russians will enrich the uranium Iran needs for a research reactor, but are still waiting to hear back from Tehran.
“I think we can stretch things a few days,” said US State Department spokesman Ian Kelly. “But we’re not going to wait forever.”
The UN watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said that Iran had asked for more time and planned to respond by the middle of next week, but that it was looking favorably at the deal.
Western diplomats had initially said the international powers would not accept any attempt to drag out negotiations beyond Friday.
Full Story: US says it can wait ‘a few days’ for Iran nuclear response – Yahoo! News.
Karzai forced to accept new Afghan poll
Second round run-off scheduled for November 7
Hamid Karzai, the Afghanistan president, on Tuesday bowed to international pressure and agreed to a run-off presidential election against challenger Abdullah Abdullah.
The announcement came in a press conference where Mr Karzai, flanked by US Senator John Kerry, said the run-off was both “legal and constitutional”.
It came less than 24 hours after a UN-backed electoral body – which had been investigating fraud allegations that followed the August 20 election – said that Mr Karzai had failed to secure enough votes for an outright victory.
Full Story: FT.com / Asia-Pacific – Karzai forced to accept new Afghan poll.
Iran Suicide Bomb: Senior Revolutionary Guard Commanders Killed In Iran Bomb
A suicide bomber killed five senior commanders of the powerful Revolutionary Guard and at least 37 others Sunday near the Pakistani border in the heartland of a potentially escalating Sunni insurgency.
The attack – which also left dozens wounded – was the most high-profile strike against security forces in an outlaw region of armed tribal groups, drug smugglers and Sunni rebels known as Jundallah, or Soldiers of God.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad promised sharp retaliation. But a sweeping offensive by authorities is unlikely.
Full Story: Iran Suicide Bomb: Senior Revolutionary Guard Commanders Killed In Iran Bomb.
Code Pink Delivers Afghan Petition To President
Using a meet-and-greet at a Democratic fundraiser Thursday night, Code Pink co-founder Jodie Evans hand delivered a petition to President Barack Obama allegedly signed by Afghani women who want an end to the war in their country.
Evans was among those attending a sold-out Democratic Party fundraiser at San Francisco’s Westin St. Francis Hotel, with a Code Pink supporter paying $30,400 for a pair of tickets to the dinner. The tickets included a photo opportunity with the President.
She said she had collected signatures of Afghani women during a trip there last week on a petition that asked for a role in the peace process and demanding that the U.S. abandon plans to send in additional troops.
“The women there are really upset that they are not at the negotiating table,” said Evans, who was wearing a pink shirt with “End The Afghan Quagmire” stenciled on it. “He said: ‘What do you mean, I have (Secretary of State) Hilliary (Clinton)?’… I said no the Afghan women want to be at the negotiating table. He looked at me and said: ‘Oh.’”
Evans also said she showed Obama the message her t-shirt.
Full Story: Code Pink Delivers Afghan Petition To President – News Story – KTVU San Francisco.
Rampant corruption in Afghanistan is key issue: top general
The top commanding officer in Afghanistan has revealed a belief that “rampant government corruption” has given the Taliban and al-Qaeda an edge in the war. The conclusion came in a recent secret document put together by Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, U.S. officials told the Associated Press. Though the document requests more troops, it warns that more troops may not prevent the Taliban from taking back Afghanistan.
Corruption in Afghanistan became public knowledge after the presidential election in Afghanistan was revealed as rigged by independent election observers. Fraud investigations discovered that 1.1 million ‘questionable votes’ were given to President Hamid Karzai, and that the subtraction of these votes was enough to push Karzai below 50 percent.
Though McChrystal states that fewer troops will bring less risks, he believes that any new deployment has a high risk of failure. The report outlines three deployment options, the largest hypothetical deployment being one of 80,000 new soldiers. There are now 67,000 American troops in Afghanistan, with 1,000 more coming in December. McChrystal prefers the ‘compromise’ option of a 40,000 troop increase.
Full Story: Rampant corruption in Afghanistan is key issue: top general | Raw Story.
Saying ‘No’ to a Wider Afghan War
Editor’s Note: President Obama is under growing pressure from Washington power centers to escalate the war in Afghanistan and accept the recommendation from his field commander, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, for about 40,000 more troops.
From the Washington Post to Sen. John McCain, Obama is getting excoriated simply for taking time to weigh the various options. However, in this guest essay, the Independent Institute’s Ivan Eland says the President should resist the pressure and just say “no.”
Although the politicians, media and public believe few things are more important than preventing another al-Qaeda attack on America, defending the founding principles of the republic would seem to be one of them.
The conventional wisdom is that the war in Afghanistan is a “war of necessity” that cannot be lost if the war against al-Qaeda is to be won. This proposition is only now being questioned because the fraud-plagued Afghan election makes a legitimate government almost impossible and because the war in Afghanistan has turned into an eight-year quagmire that is getting worse by the day.
Not only is the conventional wisdom wrong, but Gen. Stanley McChrystal should be fired, even if it means losing the war.
Full Story: Consortiumnews.com.
British have covered up hundreds of Iraqi casualties, ex-officer says
The British military’s chain of command has instructed the country’s top investigators not to examine hundreds of incidents involving Iraqi deaths and serious injury, a former British military police officer told the BBC Sunday.
“I’ve seen documentary evidence that there were incidents running into the hundreds involving death and serious injury to Iraqis where the chain of command of the Army had decided that the circumstances did not warrant a Royal Military Police investigation,” the former British Army officer, whose face was obscured, told a BBC interviewer. “And if you look at the general picture that the media says, Afghanistan seems a lot quieter in terms of alleged misconduct of British troops, that to me is quite concerning, because it tells me that the Army hasn’t suddenly gotten a lot better. It tells me that the Royal Military Police are very efficiently toeing the party line for the Army.”
The BBC interview has received scant attention, meriting only a brief mention in the UK Guardian and little coverage by outlets cataloged in Google News. Video of the interview is available here.
Full Story: British have covered up hundreds of Iraqi casualties, ex-officer says | Raw Story.
US disappointment reason for joint maneuver cancellation
A joint military exercise that Israel, the US, NATO, Turkey and Italy were scheduled to conduct this week, was taken off the table because of American disappointment with Ankara’s decision to withdraw from the maneuver due to Israel’s planned participation, Israeli defense officials said Sunday.
Turkey informed Israel of the cancellation of the Anatolian Eagle exercise last week, saying this was because the planes that Israel was going to send likely bombed Hamas targets during Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip earlier this year.
According to officials quoted by Israel Radio, the cancellation of the exercise came after both the US and NATO threatened to pull out if the IAF did not participate.
Full Story: US disappointment reason for joint maneuver cancellation | International News | Jerusalem Post.
Rethink Afghanistan (Part 4): Civilian Casualties
When foreign policy is well-reasoned, we see attention given to humanitarian issues like housing, jobs, health care and education. When that policy consists of applying a military solution to a political problem, however, we see death, destruction, and suffering. Director Robert Greenwald witnessed the latter during his recent trip to Afghanistan–the devastating consequences of U.S. airstrikes on thousands of innocent civilians.
The footage you are about to see is poignant, heart-wrenching, and often a direct result of U.S. foreign policy.
We must help the refugees whose lives have been shattered by U.S. foreign policy and military attacks. Support the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan, an organization dedicated to helping women and children, human rights issues, and social justice. Then, become a Peacemaker. Receive up-to-the-minute information through our new mobile alert system whenever there are Afghan civilian casualties from this war, and take immediate action by calling Congress.
http://rethinkafghanistan.com/
Full Story: YouTube – Rethink Afghanistan (Part 4): Civilian Casualties.
Israeli, US army chiefs hold secret talks on Iran
Israeli Army Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi and his American counterpart Admiral Mike Mullen have held secret talks in France with a special focus on Iran.
The two officials, who met in the northern French region of Normandy on Sunday, also discussed the Middle East, reports say.
Ashkenazi also discussed the developments in Iran with French Armed Forces Chief of Staff General Jean-Louis Georgelin.
The meeting comes ahead of the US and Israel’s largest military drill, which is scheduled for later this month. The maneuver is planned to simulate missile strikes on Israel.
Full Story: Israeli, US army chiefs hold secret talks on Iran.
Galbraith Was Ordered to Cover Up Karzai Fraud
Fired Envoy: One in Three Karzai Votes Was Fraudulent
Former US Ambassador Peter Galbraith, who was fired from his role as second ranking official at the UN Mission to Afghanistan last week, says he was ordered by mission chief Kai Eide to cover up the extent of the voter fraud by Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
Galbraith says his public falling out with Eide was a result of repeated orders by Eide to keep secret data that the mission had gathered regarding the enormity of Karzai’s voting fraud. Eide reportedly told Karzai after the vote that he supported the president’s re-election campaign.
Full Story: Galbraith Was Ordered to Cover Up Karzai Fraud — News from Antiwar.com.
Tehran allows IAEA inspection of Qom site
FT.com / Iran on Sunday agreed that it will allow inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency to visit a hitherto secret uranium enrichment facility in three weeks’ time, amid western hopes that this will be the first in a series of confidence building measures from Tehran.
Mohamed ElBaradei, the IAEA’s director-general, said inspection of Iran’s second enrichment plant near Qom will take place on October 25 to ensure the new site is being built for peaceful purposes.
Full Story: FT.com / Iran – Tehran allows IAEA inspection of Qom site.
Iran agrees to UN inspections
FT.com - GENEVA, Oct 1 – European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana said on Thursday Iran planned to co-operate fully with the International Atomic Energy Agency on inspections of a new enrichment facility.
Solana told a news conference after talks between Iran and six world powers that Saeed Jalili, Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, had promised that Iran would allow inspections within ”a few weeks” and ”soon”.
”This is only a start and we shall need to see progress, some of the practical steps we have discussed today (regarding the new enrichment plant),” he said.
The United States also said it held the highest level direct talks with Iran in three decades to try to put to rest Western suspicions Tehran is planning a nuclear bomb.
Full Story: FT.com / Iran – Iran agrees to UN inspections.
Palestinians call for Israel to be ‘punished’ for Gaza offensive
(CNN) — Palestinians on Tuesday urged the United Nations to “punish” Israel as a scathing U.N. report accused the nation of war crimes during its military offensive in Gaza last winter.
But Israel rejected the investigation as one-sided and shameful.
The report accused Israel of committing “actions amounting to war crimes, possibly crimes against humanity” during its military incursion into Gaza from December 27 to January 18.
Richard Goldstone, the South African judge who headed the U.N. investigation into the conflict, demanded that someone be held responsible for crimes committed during it.
“The lack of accountability for war crimes and possible crimes against humanity has reached a crisis point,” Goldstone said Tuesday. “This is the time of action.”
He formally presented the report to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland on Tuesday.
Full Story: Palestinians call for Israel to be ‘punished’ for Gaza offensive – CNN.com.
Bold Feingold Could Lead the Way Out of Afghanistan
The LA Progressive – The United States Senate is our version of a house of lords, where time slows down in the name of a “deliberative process” even when the world seems on fire to the ordinary eye.
And so the other day, with concern about Afghanistan rising, with American troops dying at record rates, with the U.S.-supported Kabul regime in tatters, it was typical of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to declare that “the thing I’m going to do and recommend to my caucus is let’s just take it easy. I’m going to wait until the president makes up his mind as to what he thinks should be done.”
Then there is Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold. By everyday standards, he is a cautious person, calling for a “flexible timetable” for American troop withdrawals but also for “continued strikes on Taliban and al-Qaida leaders.” Sounds like an uncertain trumpet. But in the culture of the Senate, Feingold is considered downright hyperactive, often accused of being a loner who doesn’t play well with the senior oligarchs.
Full Story: Bold Feingold Could Lead the Way Out of Afghanistan | The LA Progressive.
Iran to allow UN inspectors at its new nuke site
Associated Press: TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s nuclear chief says his country will allow the U.N. nuclear agency to inspect its newly revealed, still unfinished uranium enrichment facility.
Ali Akbar Salehi didn’t specify when inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency could visit the site. He says the timing will be worked out with the U.N. watchdog.
Iran’s newly revealed site is said to be in the arid mountains near the holy city of Qom, inside a heavily guarded, underground facility.
The pilot plant will house 3,000 centrifuges that could soon produce nuclear fuel — or the payload for atomic warheads. Salehi spoke on state TV Saturday.
He says Iran has “pre-empted a conspiracy” against Tehran by the U.S. and its allies by reporting the site voluntarily to the IAEA.
Full Story: The Associated Press: Iran to allow UN inspectors at its new nuke site.
You can’t build and destroy in Afghanistan at the same time.
When will we ever learn that you can’t build and destroy in Afghanistan at the same time.
Sen. Ernest F. “Fritz” Hollings - economyincisis.org
Editor’s Note: The following article was contributed by Former Senator Ernest F. “Fritz” Hollings, author of Making Government Work.
During the war in Vietnam, Peter, Paul and Mary sang a song that asked the question: “When will they ever learn?” Going to Vietnam in 1966, I was briefed by Cy Vance, Deputy Secretary of Defense. Vance cautioned that General Westmoreland would be asking for more troops. We were trying to secure Vietnam, a country of 16 million, with 535,000 troops and, sure enough, the first thing General Westmoreland asked for was 35,000 more troops. With 35,000 more troops, Westmoreland said, we’ll have “Operation Meatgrinder” and bring this war to an end. The strategy in Vietnam was to build and destroy — never securing the country. And the measure of success was body count. Westmoreland was proud that we were killing 10 to 1 – ten Vietnamese killed to one GI lost. We ended up with about 600,000 troops in Vietnam.
Now in Afghanistan, we’re trying to secure a country of 31 million with 64,500 troops – and think that 40,000 more will do the job. It’s the same strategy of build and destroy and body count, with GIs expendable. After eight years, we’re now going to be more careful to kill less civilians. In short, GIs are expendable so long as we kill less civilians. When will we ever learn that a majority of a country will sacrifice for a government over democracy. Take a trip to Hanoi. The people are happy. You can walk around the streets at night with no concern for safety – something you can’t do in Washington, D.C. And when will we ever learn that you can’t build and destroy at the same time. It’s a flawed strategy. You must totally secure the place – “own it” as we said in World War II – before you do anything; or today hold elections. After eight years the Afghan election is a fraud.
Full Story: Economyincrisis.org – America’s Economic Report – Daily.
Olmert goes on trial for corruption Friday
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert goes on trial in Jerusalem on Friday, battling the corruption allegations that forced him to resign last year .
He is charged with taking cash payments from a U.S. businessman, advancing the interests of clients of a former law partner and double-billing Israeli charities for overseas travel expenses during fund-raising trips.
The 64-year-old politician, a former mayor of Jerusalem who underwent treatment a few months ago for prostate cancer, denies any wrongdoing.
Full Story: Olmert goes on trial for corruption Friday | International | Reuters.
US, UK and France tell Iran to open nuke site
President Barack Obama and the leaders of France and Britain demanded Friday that Iran fully disclose its nuclear ambitions “or be held accountable” to an impatient world community. They threatened new sanctions after the disclosure of a secret Iranian nuclear facility.
“Iran is breaking rules that all nations must follows,” Obama said in the opening moments of the G-20 economic summit.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Iran has until December to comply or face sanctions. “This is for peace and stability,” the French leader said. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown accused Iran of “serial deception.”
Full Story: US, UK and France tell Iran to open nuke site – Yahoo! News.
NZ Confirms SAS Sent to Afghanistan
New Zealand has confirmed it has sent SAS troops into Afghanistan, the first time elite NZ troops have served in the country since 2006.
NZ Prime Minister John Key announced Monday that 71 New Zealand Special Air Service (SAS) troops have already arrived in the war-torn country, the first stage of three rotations of SAS troops during the next 18 months.
Mr Key, who is to meet NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen to discuss Afghanistan later this week, said the assignment was dangerous and told the NZ people to prepare for possible casualties.
He confirmed that the elite troops were being deployed to support the current Afghan government which has been accused of widespread voter fraud in recent elections, adding there was little choice.
“Yes, we are supporting that administration,” he told reporters.
Full Story: NZ Confirms SAS Sent to Afghanistan | theangle.org.
Gaza’s Water Supply Near Collapse
RAMALLAH, (IPS) – The International Committee of the Red Cross has warned that Gaza’s access to safe supply of drinking water could cease at any time. The World Health Organisation (WHO) says outbreaks of disease could be triggered as a consequence.
The warnings follow a United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report Monday that “Gaza’s underground water system is in danger of collapse after recent conflict compounded by years of overuse and contamination.”
“An outbreak of Hepatitis A and parasitic infections could occur at any time,” Mahmoed Daher from WHO in Gaza told IPS. “Already the number of people, especially children, suffering from diarrhoea has risen dramatically.”
“We have noticed an increase in people suffering from kidney diseases from water contaminated with toxins, as well as babies born with an unnatural blue tinge,” Munther Shoblak from Gaza’s Coastal Municipalities Water Utility (CMWU) told IPS.
The UNEP report focuses on a rise in saltwater intrusion from the sea caused by over-extraction of ground water, and pollution from sewage and agricultural run-off, with toxic levels high enough to put infants at risk of nitrate poisoning.
Full Story: MIDEAST: Gaza’s Water Supply Near Collapse – IPS ipsnews.net.
Israel Defence Chief – Iran Not An Existential Threat
– NYTimes.com - Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak was quoted Thursday as saying he does not view Iran as a threat to the existence of the Jewish state, a view that would seem to depart from Israeli statements of the recent past.
Israel’s mass-circulation Yedioth Ahronoth daily quoted Barak, the head of Israel’s centre-left Labour party, as saying “Iran does not constitute an existential threat against Israel.”
In response to a question about Tehran’s nuclear program which Israel has said it sees as destined to produce atomic weapons that could put its existence at risk, Barak said in an interview with the paper:
“I am not among those who believe Iran is an existential issue for Israel.”
Barak said “Israel is strong, I don’t see anyone who could pose an existential threat,” although he did add that he viewed Iran as a challenge to the whole world.
Full Story: Israel Defence Chief – Iran Not An Existential Threat – NYTimes.com.
Sanders’ call for Afghanistan exit strategy draws cheers
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has joined Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold in declaring that the United States needs to start thinking about how to extract its military from Afghanistan.
While almost 100 members of the House (including many conservative Republicans) have signed on to Massachusetts Congressman Jim McGovern’s call for the development of an Afghanistan exit strategy, Feingold has been a relatively lonely Senate advocate for a rethink of the eight-year occupation.
At the annual Fighting Bob Fest gathering in Baraboo, however, Sanders drew cheers from the crowd of 8,000 when he said, “We need to take a very, very hard look at our war in Afghanistan. We need to be clear in our goals and we need a real discussion about an exit strategy to bring our troops home.”
Full Story: Sanders’ call for Afghanistan exit strategy draws cheers.
IAEA Conceals Evidence Iran Documents Were Forged
(IPS) - The International Atomic Energy Agency says its present objective regarding Iran is to try to determine whether the intelligence documents purportedly showing a covert Iranian nuclear weapons programme from 2001 to 2003 are authentic or not. The problem, according to its reports, is that Iran refuses to help clarify the issue.
But the IAEA has refused to acknowledge publicly significant evidence brought to its attention by Iran that the documents were fabricated, and has made little, if any, effort to test the authenticity of the intelligence documents or to question officials of the governments holding them, IPS has learned.
The agency has strongly suggested in its published reports that the documentation it is supposed to be investigating is credible, because it “appears to have been derived from multiple sources over different periods of time, is detailed in content and appears to be generally consistent”.
IAEA Safeguard Department chief Olli Heinonen signaled his de facto acceptance of the “alleged studies” documents when he presented an organisational chart of the purported secret nuclear weapons project based on the documents at a February 2008 “technical briefing” for member states.
Full Story: POLITICS: IAEA Conceals Evidence Iran Documents Were Forged – IPS ipsnews.net.
War Drums Begin Beating in Washington
WASHINGTON, 11 Sep (IPS) – As nuclear negotiations between Iran and the West continue to move slowly, U.S. President Barack Obama is coming under growing pressure from what appears to be a concerted lobbying and media campaign urging him to act more aggressively to stop Iran’s nuclear programme.
Obama has given Tehran an end-of-September deadline to respond substantively to his offer of diplomatic engagement. But already hawks in the U.S. – backed by hardline pro-Israel organisations – have pressed him to quickly impose “crippling” economic sanctions against Tehran, and some are arguing that he should make preparations for a military attack on Iranian nuclear facilities.
The pressure campaign kicked off in earnest this week. On Thursday, hundreds of leaders and activists from the U.S. Jewish community descended on Washington to lobby for harsher sanctions, while widely-publicised media reports suggested that Iran is already nearing the verge of a nuclear capability.
Full Story: US-IRAN: War Drums Begin Beating in Washington.
Report: Blackwater guard saw Iraqi killings as 9/11 revenge
By Stephen C. Webster – Raw Story »
Did Blackwater mercenaries murder Iraqis to satiate their thirst for 9/11 revenge?
According to Department of Justice files, at least one did, noted Mother Jones associate editor Daniel Schulman on Tuesday morning.
The revelation was torn from documents relative to the prosecution of Blackwater Worldwide guards involved in a 2007 Baghdad massacre that left 17 dead.
According to the documents Schulman pulled, guards “routinely acted in disregard of the use of force policies,” and one, known as “Raven 23,” allegedly bragged that disregard for Iraqi lives stemmed from a desire for revenge after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
via Raw Story » Report: Blackwater guard saw Iraqi killings as 9/11 revenge.
Civilian casualties in Afghanistan ‘a real problem’: Gates
Civilian casualties in Afghanistan ‘a real problem’: Gates – The Raw Story |
US Defense Secretary Robert Gates
acknowledged in an interview with Al Jazeera that civilian casualties have become “a real problem” for the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan.
Gates’ remarks, in an interview to be aired Monday by the Qatar-based Arabic satellite news channel, came amid a raging controversy over an air strike that killed scores of people Friday in northern Afghanistan.
“I think it’s a real problem, and General McChrystal thinks it’s a real problem, too,” Gates said, referring to Stanley McChrystal, the commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan.
According to a transcript of the interview posted on Al Jazeera’s website, Gates said the Taliban actively targeted civilians or put them at risk in other ways.
via The Raw Story | Civilian casualties in Afghanistan ‘a real problem’: Gates.
Taliban’s bombs came from US, not Iran
Taliban’s bombs came from US, not Iran - Asia Times Online ::
By Gareth Porter
WASHINGTON – In support of the official United States assertion that Iran is arming its sworn enemy, the Taliban, the head of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), Dennis Blair, has cited a statement by a Taliban commander last year attributing military success against North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) forces to Iranian military assistance.
But the Taliban commander’s claim is contradicted by evidence from the US Defense Department, Canadian forces in Afghanistan and the Taliban themselves that the increased damage to NATO tanks by Taliban forces has come from anti-tank mines provided by the United States to the jihadi movement against the Soviets in Afghanistan in the 1980s.
The Taliban claim was cited by the ODNI in written responses to
questions for the record from the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence following testimony by Blair before the committee on February 12, 2009. The responses were released to the Federation of American Scientists under the Freedom of Information Act on July 30.
via Asia Times Online :: Middle East News, Iraq, Iran current affairs.
Water shortage threatens two million people in southern Iraq
Water shortage threatens two million people in southern Iraq - | guardian.co.uk
Electricity supply to Nasiriyah has dropped by 50% because of falling levels of Euphrates river
A water shortage described as the most critical since the earliest days of Iraq‘s civilisation is threatening to leave up to 2 million people in the south of the country without electricity and almost as many without drinking water.
An already meagre supply of electricity to Iraq’s fourth-largest city of Nasiriyah has fallen by 50% during the last three weeks because of the rapidly falling levels of the Euphrates river, which has only two of four power-generating turbines left working.
If, as predicted, the river falls by a further 20cm during the next fortnight, engineers say the remaining two turbines will also close down, forcing a total blackout in the city.
via Water shortage threatens two million people in southern Iraq | World news | guardian.co.uk.
-
If we don't change our ways soon...
A new report by the Royal Society, chaired by Nobel prize-winning biologist Sir John Sulston warns that world population must be stabilized and consumption in wealthy nations must be reduced or the entire planet is in big trouble. As the report reads: "The number of people living on the planet has never been higher, their levels of consumption are unprecedented and vast changes are taking place in the environment. We can choose to rebalance the use of resources to a more egalitarian pattern of consumption... or we can choose to do nothing and to drift into a downward spiral of economic and environmental ills leading to a more unequal and inhospitable future."This is the same warning that President Jimmy Carter gave Americans back in the 1970's - but it was ignored when Ronald Reagan came to power with a "more positive" message basically telling Americans we can do whatever we want. And then after 9/11 - Bush told us all we should go shopping and consume ever more.And now with corporations calling the shots in Washington - long-term sustainability of the planet takes a back seat to short-term profits. If we don't change our ways soon - and embrace clean, alternative energy and educate women around the plant - then we all could be headed for a rough century.-Thom(Is there any chance we will learn in time? Tell us here.) -
LEGALIZE Democracy
" We the corporations" On January 21, 2010, with its ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the Supreme Court ruled that corporations are persons, entitled by the U.S. Constitution to buy elections and run our government. __________
MOVE to AMEND
a project of the CAMPAIGN TO LEGALIZE Democracy
Help end Corporate personhood
-
The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. 
moveon.org
