The dips at the end of the chart are because 2008 is only half way over. As you can see, the levels are more than half last year's level. As Bush administration spin declares increasing success in Iraq, the Air Force is dropping more bombs. Afghanistan, where they claimed success long ago, is only progressively getting worse -- an observation not even the administration denies. Officials speak of moving brigades from Iraq to Afghanistan. Each extra bomb dropped is one more act of desperation. Civilians die automatically -- collateral damage -- yet are never "targetted". Let the bombs symbolize President Bush's destructive legacy.
Showing posts with label iraq. Show all posts
Showing posts with label iraq. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
The Surge (in bombs)
Friday, July 04, 2008
Obama says Iraq trip could refine his policy
This is something to keep our eye on.
In an issue piece on his campaign web site, "Planning for Ending the War in Iraq" (retrieved July 4, 2008) Obama has said he will, "immediately begin to remove our troops from Iraq. He will remove one to two combat brigades each month, and have all of our combat brigades out of Iraq within 16 months. Obama will make it clear that we will not build any permanent bases in Iraq."
An AP article is now reporting that yesterday, Obama warned his upcoming trip to Iraq might change a couple of things to "refine" his policy there. Arriving in Fargo [for a townhall meeting with veterans], Obama hastily called a news conference to discuss news of a sixth straight month of nationwide job losses, but the questioning turned to Iraq policy and his impending trip there.
"I am going to do a thorough assessment when I'm there," he said. "I'm sure I'll have more information and continue to refine my policy."
He left the impression that his talks with military commanders there could refine his promise to remove U.S. combat troops within 16 months of taking office.
Less than four hours later, after the town hall meeting, Obama appeared before reporters for another statement and round of questions to "try this again."
"Apparently I was not clear enough this morning," he said. He blamed any confusion on the McCain campaign, which he said had "primed the pump with the press" to suggest "we were changing our policy when we haven't."
"I have said throughout this campaign that this war was ill-conceived, that it was a strategic blunder and that it needs to come to an end," he said. "I have also said I would be deliberate and careful about how we get out. That position has not changed. I am not searching for maneuvering room with respect to that position."
He promised to summon the Joint Chiefs of Staff on his first day in office "and I will give them a new mission and that is to end this war, responsibly and deliberately, but decisively."
He said that when he talked earlier about refining his policy after talking with commanders in Iraq, he was referring not to his 16-month timeline, but to how many troops may need to remain in Iraq to train the local army and police and what troop presence might be needed "`to be sure al-Qaida doesn't re-establish a foothold there."
"I will bring our troops out at a pace of one two brigades a month" which would mean the United States would be totally out of Iraq in 16 months. "That is what I intend to do as president of the United States."
But later in the session, he said it is possible the 16-month timeline could slip if the pace of withdrawal needs to be slowed some months to ensure troop safety. "I have always said ... I would always reserve the right to do what's best," Obama said.
[Associated Press]
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Two-Hundred-Fifty-Six
I came across this doing my daily fix. I can't believe that, the dudes that committed the atrocious murder and rape in MAHMUDIYA, Iraq were let off the hook due to legalities. and THIS dude makes the headlines? Motherfunk Freedom. [CNN]
"You wanna pull my mic jack? Blood on the dancefloor hymns...You got more love for a man's Dog? Damn Dawg!"
Friday, May 30, 2008
Get Your 2008 Commemorative Iraq Jesus Coin
Whoever said the United States has not brought anything good to Iraq is eating their words now. Some American Marines occupying Fallujah are apparently handing out **FREE** coins emblazoned with evangelizing Christian messages. Wow, they are free! Who cares if the US destroyed your economy!
The coin asks, "Where will you spend eternity?"
The other side of the coin, the 'tails side,' says the answer, and it's not "Under US Occupation."
It reads, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. John 3:16."
If that Christian soldier who distributed the coin believes he has "eternal life," what does he need a rifle and flak jacket for?
Though the mostly Muslim residents of the city resent this armed proselytizing, along with an American sniper's recently-exposed use of the Koran for target practice, the American government can redeem itself: let the coins be used at the skeeball machines at any local Chuck E. Cheese's restaurant.
For all the billions the United States spends on trying to convince the Muslim world of its good intents, it only takes two Marines -- one with a rifle, a Koran, and boredom, and another with pocket full of Jesus coins -- to undermine all the public diplomacy work.
Who really cares, though, it's idiotic to think bad policies in the Middle east, such as supporting Israel, can be whitewashed by entertaining music on Radio Sawa and exchange programs. And Muslims publics will still disappoint, with their greater empathy for religious issues and symbols than for the human suffering involved. They will riot over cartoons before taking to the streets against their governments.
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Iraq Left Out of the Horse Race
In this month's LeMonde Diplomatique, Dahr Jamail wrote that in the perpetual press frenzy that is the US Presidential elections, critical coverage of the American mess in Iraq has withered.
He argues that not only have the candidates taken softer positions on Iraq, with less talk of withdrawal, but that US media have not taken them to task on it. Despite Obama's solid position on Iraq and lobbying against the invasion, his campaign has been less forthright. Still, Crazy Ol' Man McCain and Billary Clinton offer much worse prospects, he writes.
Jamail notes that most Americans and an even higher percentage of Iraqis seek a quick end to the American occupation. You wouldn't know that from watching CNN.
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
Shoot First, Renew the Contract Later
Blackwater disclosed that it engaged in 195 shootings since 2005, wherein its personnel shot first 84% of the time.The security contractor Blackwater has been running loose in Iraq above the law and to the detriment of ordinary Iraqis. Amnesty International is calling for greater accountability in the contracting of such entities.
On September 16, 2007, private contractors working for the U.S.-based company Blackwater Worldwide shot and killed 17 Iraqi civilians in streets near Nisour Square, Baghdad. The shootings occurred while Blackwater was under a contract with the U.S. State Department.
So pleased the government is with this excellent track record, it renewed Blackwater's contract.
It probably sounds like I am being a bit hyperbolic. The government takes no pride in such slaughter, right?
The State Department did conduct "investigations" -- probably so it could say it did -- but it also gave Blackwater contractors immunity for providing information about the shootings. "Just admit you did it, and we won't punish you... we'll even renew your contract."
Amnesty is calling for the contract's suspension.
Friday, April 11, 2008
Sinan Antoon Breaks it Down on Charlie Rose
Someone beat Rose's ass before the show, it seems.
[tarboush tip: Non-Arab Arab]
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Obama, the Disappointment
Henceforth, March 4th is a day that shall live in infamy. I have always respected Barack Obama, ever since he burst into the national spotlight, literally, on the stage of the Democratic National Convention in Boston. I esteemed him for his judgment on the Iraq war and admired his courage to speak out against the war when America was at its peak national hysteria.
While emasculated media organizations and frightened, disheveled Democrats tried to out-Rove Karl, Obama said, “I don’t oppose all wars. What I am opposed to is the attempt by political hacks like Karl Rove to distract us from a rise in the uninsured, a rise in the poverty rate, a drop in the median income – to distract us from corporate scandals and a stock market that has just gone through the worst month since the Great Depression.”
Yes, on October 2nd, 2002, a mere nine days before 77 senators committed our nation to a fight on the other side of the world against a secular dictatorship, hated by and itself at war with Islamists, a dictatorship with no connections to the September 11 attacks or AlQaeda, Obama said, “I don’t oppose all wars. What I am opposed to is the cynical attempt by Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz and other arm-chair, weekend warriors in this Administration to shove their own ideological agendas down our throats, irrespective of the costs in lives lost and in hardships borne.”
Yes, even then I loved Barack Obama. More recently I am inspired by his talk of hope. I am heartened by his high-mindedness even amid the vitriol being unleashed by the Clinton campaign. I am moved by his quiet anger at Clinton’s mud-slinging style of politics.
And until last night, I felt that Obama was graced by God, himself. I admit it. Perhaps it is because the problems we face are so monumental and overwhelming. Because the injustice that we are provoking and incurring is so damning that we need a Moses, a Mohammed, a Jesus or a Buddha to extricate ourselves from burning Baghdad, bondaged Palestine, bottomless deficits, Chinese lenders, stagflation, overcrowded prisons and crumbling America. Obama spoke to us in the language of kindness. He preached hope and unity. He extolled African Americans in the Ebenezer Baptist Church, a shrine of Martin Luther King and the civil rights movement, for tolerating homophobia and anti-Semitism. He is a product of Christianity and Islam, of whites and blacks, of Old World and New World, he is God’s gift to a tried and tired nation.
That is, until March 4th when he lost Texas, Rhode Island and Ohio to a mere mortal and not a magnanimous one at that. It was easy to forgive him his early losses: he was an unknown battling against the heir to the throne. He was David battling Goliath and a redeemed Ishmael under Abraham’s knife. He was the disparate Arab Armies of Mecca that defeated the Persians and the Romans. He was the American pilgrims who won the revolutionary war against all odds. Yes, his wins in Iowa and Super Tuesday were miraculous, nothing short of divine intervention. Obama’s win was simply a matter of people acquainting themselves with him and falling under his baraka, blessings in Arabic.
On March 4th, Obama broke my heart. I thought of him as I thought of myself once; if someone got to know me and what I was about, he would not turn away. I was wrong on both accounts. Like a jilted lover I saw the illusion of destiny vaporized before my eyes.
I wanted so badly to believe and so I did but I forgot that I am not a believer but naturally a skeptic. I don’t believe in the prophets before Obama and I don’t believe in his prophecy. And so I will still support him, not as a Godsend but as the human that he is. He gets my vote because he understands that the war in Iraq is why our economy is on its knees, our health is poor and our infrastructure is crumbling. He gets my vote because in a field of presidential contenders whose byline reads “complicit in Bush’s war,” his reads, “I don’t oppose all Wars. What I am opposed to is a dumb war.”
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Iraq Loses Veteran Journalist
Sadly, he is just one more casualty resulting from America's disastrous invasion of Iraq. His death, however, stands for the loss of much more -- journalistic freedom.
Shihab al-Tamimi, the head of the Iraqi Journalists Syndicate, died from injuries he sustained in an assassination attempt last Saturday. He was a vocal critic of the American invasion. Since 2003, he served ad the head of the Iraqi journalists' union.
He often received direct threats against his life. Once, he went into hiding for a month in 2005. Journalists, artists, and intellectuals have been primary targets for different factions. The perpetrators of his murder are unknown.
CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon said, "His death serves as a stark reminder of the dangers journalists face daily in Iraq as the press continues to be targeted by various groups."
The CPJ reports that at least 126 journalists and 50 media support workers have been killed since the U.S.-led war began in March 2003. In such conflicts, too many have a stake in erasing those who report what's going on. This is a tragic loss for Iraq, and those watching it from the outside.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Saddam #2
The Egyptian (relatively) independent newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm (The Egyptian Today) has a variety piece on an Alexandrian by the name of Mohammed Bashar, 58 who happens to be a "screaming lookalike" (shabah saarikh) of Saddam Husain. Many a time has he walked down the street and people stare at him, then ask God to have mercy on his soul. In addition people have started to call him Abu Oday and Qusay (Saddam's two sons).
This fame, however, has resulted to him being chased by the "mafia of Saddam autobiographies and its brokers" who will just not leave him alone. A director had offered him the sum of money of his choice to act in a film about his lookalike, however after his initial acceptance he pulled out when he found that the film wanted to distort the sex life of the dear departed president.
Apparently this screaming resemblance did not kick in until he hit his fifties (and the American occupation of Iraq) and resulted in him being chased by Gulfies to be photographed together with Saddam.
And his wife's response to all of his: "Better that he resembles Saddam and not Bush, or he would be beaten up in the street!"
Speaking of which, does anyone have a link to the story of the Iraqi who resembled Bush? He seemed to be having an OK time of it.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Turkey's War on the Kurds Hits Iraq
The Iraqi government is not too happy that Turkey is staging attacks on Kurdish rebels holed up in Northern Iraq. The Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK), which is considered a terrorist organization by the United States and many European states, has been launching attacks against Turkish people and military targets from bases in Kurdish Iraq.
The Turkish military's cross-border incursion began Thursday night. They claim to have killed 153 rebels and lost 19 soldiers. The PKK says they killed 81 soldiers. The truth is somewhere in between. Kurdish rebels did shoot down a Turkish helicopter and kill more soldiers using booby-trapped corpses of their fallen brethern... what a grim thought.
Ankara's response is that the Iraqi government has done nothing to prevent the PKK from using the area. Because the Iraqi government has so much control over the Kurdish areas, let alone the rest of the country. Despite this, the U.S. green-lighted the attacks, once again siding with state terrorism.
ON KURDISH SELF-DETERMINATION
I am not sure about popular Kurdish opinion in Southeastern Turkey, but I believe in self-determination. Turkish nationalism has left out too many people despite efforts by the government to give nominal concessions to the Kurds. Yeah, it gave the state an ethno-ideological basis after the fall of the Ottoman empire, but then you can't be surprised that non-Turks wouldn't want to live under such a state's power.
If a critical mass of Kurds in that part of Turkey want statehood, they should get it. I cannot help but think the region may be a little better off with a Kurdistan on pieces of Turkey, Iraq and Iran. According to the BBC, "more than 30,000 people have been killed since the PKK began fighting for a Kurdish homeland in south-eastern Turkey in 1984." The vast majority of them were Kurds.
As a Palestinian, I've always felt solidarity with the Kurds, even though it rankled some of my pan-Arab nationalist friends. But screw it, if the states they live in do not give them the level of autonomy and cultural recognition they need, they should have a place to call home -- even if that means adding another, possibly pro-Israel, pro-West and militarized, state to the volatile cocktail in the region.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Like Seriously, Thank God for America
While driving home from work today, I heard a really inspirational story on NPR’s "All Things Considered" about a U.S. marine whose dying wish was to have two dogs he found in Baghdad transported to America for his family to care for. Long story short, his grieving family fought against all odds to realize his dream and in the end succeeded. Today, Mumma and Renold (I think that was their names) reside in a cookie cutter suburban town somewhere in the good ol’ U.S. of A.
Feel warm inside? Really, you don’t? Ok you heartless bastard, how about this…
Last Thursday, on Valentine’s Day, the SPCA International Baghdad Program (yes, there is such a thing) brought Charlie, a border collie mix, to the U.S after Watson, the active-duty soldier who found him in Iraq, couldn’t bare to give him up. According to Watson, “It’s probably going to be a real shock for him to see such beauty and great monuments after knowing nothing but the slums of Baghdad.” Charlie is currently on route from DC to Phoenix.
Isn’t that cute? I think so! Especially since this is what the doggies really want…
Just ask Nubbs. He currently lives in San Diego. An Iraqi by birth, he was transported to the U.S. after Major Brian Dennis rescued him in the Al Anbar province of Iraq. After finding Nubbs and nursing him back to health, Dennis was dispatched to a military outpost 70 miles away from where Nubbs resided. Nubbs, however, loved Dennis so much that he tracked him across the desert. Though Dennis couldn’t keep him, he was touched enough to arrange for the pup to be transported to the United States (via the "No Buddy Left Behind" initiative). A reunion is currently in the works for the Ellen Degeneres show.
And it doesn’t end there folks….
Eleven other dogs and two cats adopted by service members in Iraq or Afghanistan are in the pipeline for rescue, said Stephanie Scroggs, a spokeswoman for SPCA International. The SPCA will pay about $4,000 per rescue, Scroggs said. She acknowledged that the sum could aid many more stateside animals but said the program also supports the troops. [Washington Post]In fact, Liberty and K-Pot are scheduled to arrive in the United States tomorrow. I can't wait!
Thursday, February 07, 2008
Statement Against Mosul Attack
A US military invasion of Mosul is coming. US and Iraqi officials are saying Al-Qaeda re-grouped there after being driven from Baghdad.
This statement from individuals from around the world is calling attention to the likely outcome of such an attack -- more bloodshed and suffering. This war has been characterized by trade-offs in savagery. As an outsider, I have seen no compelling humanity or vision from either American military forces, their Iraqi allies, or any Iraqi or Arab insurgents.
Attacks like this are unlikely to help Iraq in the long run. They only seem to sow the seeds of future conflict. That is why foreign interventions like this do not work. They engender resentment.
Instead of fueling Iraq's economy and building is infrastructure, the US military focuses on what it is better at: killing and occupying. "For five years Mosul has been occupied by the US and the Iraqi military and still we have no electricity, no water. We have nothing," a journalist in Mosul said.
As the people of Mosul prepare for siege and continue to live in fear, I wonder if any will be appreciative.
An Emergency Statement of Intellectuals and Activists
No Attack on Mosul!
Tue Feb 5, 2008
Bush´s failure in Iraq requires a new "success". While the blood-soaked US occupation in Iraq declares one victory after another sincenearly five years, it stages massacre after massacre of the people ofIraq.
Now the occupation declares a new "decisive" success is imminent, this time against the population of Mosul, the third largest city in Iraq. Its pretext is always the same: to eradicate "Al-Qaeda", while Al-Qaeda from its mouth means Sunnis, Baathists, Arabs and all patriotic Iraqis.
Although the occupation has on many occasions declared its victory, the fact that it needs to attack yet again an entire city and its population proves that it couldn´t and cannot eradicate the legal resistance of the Iraqi people. The only thing decisive is that the occupation by its tactics announces its defeat.
The occupation has escalated its air bombing campaigns by 400 per cent [1] in the past year and openly promises more indiscriminate attacks on populated urban areas. It uses disproportionate force indiscriminately against civilian populations in a pattern of actions that constitutes genocide under international law.
The imminent attack on Mosul - another urbicide following the ones of holy Najaf, martyred Fallujah, Al-Qaim, Tel Afar, Haditha, and whole neighbourhoods of Baghdad, among others - will only result, as with its precedents, in horrific killings, destruction and mass population displacement, thereby changing the historical, sociological and demographic makeup of the city.
This imminent attack is a pre-announced genocide. It is blood, death and destruction for oil. As the spreading of the resistance to Southern and Northern provinces proves, this new attack is in vain. The Iraqi people rejects - and will always reject - the criminal US occupation.
This imminent attack should raise condemnation, disgust and protest from peace loving people and human rights defenders worldwide. Five years of destruction and death should have taught the Bush administration that its litany of killing serves no purpose and leads only to moral suicide for the United States.
Humanity is in distress in Iraq. Our role and duty is to save it.
Act to stop the massacre in Mosul!
5 February 2008
Abdul Ilah Albayaty, member of the BRussells Tribunal Executive Committee - Iraq / France.
Hana Al Bayaty, coordinator, Iraqi International Initiative on refugees - Iraq / Egypt.
Margarita Papandreou, Former First Lady of Greece, Peace activist and honorary president of Center for Research and Action on Peace - Greece.
Dr. Saadallah Al-Fathi, former head of the Energy Studies Department at OPEC - Iraq.
Prof. Em. François Houtart, Director of the Tricontinental Center - Cetri, co-founder of the World Social Forum.
Sara Flounders, Co-Director, International Action Center.
Dr. James E. Jennings, PhD, President Conscience International - USA.
David Swanson, Co-Founder AfterDowningStreet coalition - USA.
Dr. Gerri Haynes, past president, Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility, Kirkland, Washington.
Dr. Hassan Aydinli, President, Committee for the Defence of the Iraqi Turkmens´ Rights.
Niloufer Bhagwat, Vice President of Indian Lawyers Association - Mumbai / India.
Dr. Curtis F.J. Doebbler, International Human Rights Lawyer - USA.
Karen Parker, Attorney, Association of Humanitarian Lawyers - USA.
Prof. Kazashi Nobuo, Faculty of Letters, Kobe University, NO DU Hiroshima Project - Japan.
Carlos Varea, Coordinator of CEOSI - Spanish Campaign against Occupation and for the Sovereignty of Iraq - Spain.
Marion Küpker, International Coordinator against nuclear-and uranium weapons for GAAA and DFG-VK, Germany.
Dr. Ian Douglas, editor and correspondent for the Cairo-based Al-Ahram Weekly and visiting professor in the Department of Political Science at An-Najah National University in Nablus, Palestine.
Dr. Imad Khadduri, former nuclear scientist - Iraq.
Dirk Adriaensens, member of the BRussells Tribunal Executive Committee, Coordinator SOS Iraq.
John Catalinotto, International Action Center - USA.
Dr. Dahlia Wasfi, M.D., Anti-war activist, speaker, Global Exchange - Iraq / USA.
Merry Fitzgerald, Committee for the Defence of the Iraqi Turkmens´ Rights.
Michael Parenti, Author and scholar - USA.
Prof. Em. Edward S. Herman, writer, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
Dr. Imad Khadduri, former nuclear scientist - Iraq.
Prof. Stephen Soldz, Director, Center for Research, Evaluation, and
Program Development Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis, Psychoanalysts for Peace and Justice - USA.
Prof. Em. Gideon Polya, retired senior biochemist, author: biochemical scientific publications and global avoidable mortality - Australia.
Prof. David Miller, Professor of Sociology at Strathclyde University, co-founder of Spinwatch - UK.
Prof. Paola Manduca, Geneticist, University of Genoa, Newweapons working group - Italy.
Prof. Glen D. Lawrence, Long Island University, USA.
Prof. Dr. Jean Bricmont, scientist, specialist in theoretical physics, U.C. Louvain-La-Neuve, Belgium.
Prof. Stephen Eric Bronner, Professor of political science, Rutgers University - USA.
Dr. Thomas M. Fasy, MD PhD, Clinical Associate Professor, Mount Sinai
School of Medicine - USA.
Dr. Pol De Vos, Tropical Institute Antwerp, chair, Stop USA - Peace movement, Belgium.
Anne Burns, U.S. Academics For Peace / Conscience International - USA.
David Peterson, writer and researcher, Chicago, USA.
Comaguer, Anti-war Committee Marseille - France.
Sarah Meyer, Independent researcher living in Sussex - UK.
Cynthia Banas, Iraq Peace Team member, 2002-2003.
Ludo De Brabander, chair, Vrede - Peace Movement, Belgium.
Hans Lammerant, chair, Vredesactie - Peace movement, Belgium.
Frank Vercruyssen, Actor, TG Stan - Belgium.
Karen Hoover, USA.
Frans Dumortier / Charles Ducal, Poet - Belgium.
Suror Merza
Zuhair Alkadiri
Othman Al-Rawi
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Breaking F@#kin' News: Bush And Co. Lied
Seriously, apparently Bush and top administration officials have made false statements as the fabricated evidence and a pretense for invading Iraq.
A study by two nonprofit journalism organizations found that President Bush and top administration officials issued hundreds of false statements about the national security threat from Iraq in the two years following the 2001 terrorist attacks.
The study concluded that the statements "were part of an orchestrated campaign that effectively galvanized public opinion and, in the process, led the nation to war under decidedly false pretenses."
The study was posted Tuesday on the Web site of the Center for Public Integrity, which worked with the Fund for Independence in Journalism.
The study counted 935 false statements in the two-year period. It found that in speeches, briefings, interviews and other venues, Bush and administration officials stated unequivocally on at least 532 occasions that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction or was trying to produce or obtain them or had links to al-Qaida or both.
What amazes me is that the vast majority of those journalists and journalism nonprofits knew before the war that Bush & co. were lying, they either did not have enough balls to oppose and criticize them, or they held off the anti-war stories simply because they had a pro-war agenda. Their motivations may have ranged from political loyalties to the neo-cons and Israel to their desire for busy news season. The price of a few hundred thousand Iraqi lives seemed reasonable to them.
Anti-war activists and a handful of academics spoke out against the fabrications Bush & co. pushed through the news pipeline. However, they were vilified, accused of treason and supporting terrorism, silenced and intimidated by the Bush administration with the help of the media, similar attacks were carried out on charities and institutions that criticized Bush’s McCarthyism and march to war.
The facts did not change; what we knew to be a lie prior to 2003 is what’s being documented and chronicled in those new studies. Yet the media outlets and individuals complicit in fabricating the war pretense relied on a dumb and ignorant public that is incapable of drawing parallels when those tactics are being used to invade a nation, shut down a charity, or sensor and academic, a public that seems to suffer collective amnesia when the same fabrications and tactics are employed only a few years later, and goes in a state of severe denial when the government of its “greatest country in the world” turns out to be no better than the most corrupt dictatorships whom they grown accustomed to uncritically condemning.
At this rate, it appears that it will be a few years before some media watchdogs or the academia come out to critique the immorality and lack of ethics inherent to the war pretense, even had the claimed made by Bush et al been vindicated.
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
Lantos to Retire, Finally
I do not wish cancer on anyone, even someone as obnoxiously willing to use military force against third world nations as Rep. Tom Lantos (D-CA). The Congressman just announced that he will not seek re-election due to medical reports that he developed esophagul cancer. Lantos is practically the Knesset's representative in Congress, pushing for aid to Israel constantly, making the case for the invasion of Iraq, and now, Iran, and working to weaken Arab and Muslim American political input.
He will not be missed.
As we pointed out in a post last year, this Congressman thought his status as a Holocaust survivor gave him moral license to call for actions that would lead to the collective demise of others -- a flatly hypocritical creed.
Though I am sorry this 80 year-old, anti-Arab politician faces dire health risks, his resignation from American politics is long overdue. Then again, he will probably use his new civilian status to lobby his former colleagues as much as he can. He could be to the pro-Israel lobby what Al Gore is for the environment, or a smaller, more outwardly sinister version of the ex-veep. Such ideologues do not rest on their laurels, especially when policies that entail killing Arabs and Muslims need the kind of political capital he has.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Zionuts and American Jewish Opinion
In a new Salon article, Glenn Greenwald analyzes a new survey of American Jewish opinion, released by the American Jewish Committee. He argues the study:
demonstrates several important propositions: (1) right-wing neocons (the Bill Kristol/Commentary/ AIPAC/Marty Peretz faction) who relentlessly claim to speak for Israel and for Jews generally hold views that are shared only by a small minority of American Jews; (2) viewpoints that are routinely demonized as reflective of animus towards Israel or even anti-Semitism are ones that are held by large majorities of American Jews; and (3) most American Jews oppose U.S. military action in the Middle East -- including both in Iraq and against Iran.This study will rankle the feathers of the Zionuts running around claiming to speak on behalf of the Jewish community. They are vocal, but still a minority of a minority.
Sunday, December 09, 2007
Iraqi Refugee Situation Part II: The Strain on Syria
A country that vehemently opposed the war and didn't bend it's Arab ass to be used as a military outpost, is paying the heaviest price for it-and a poor Arab country at that! Syria! I mean it's pockets are lined with...wait what does Syria have in plentiful production? Oh yeah, fisto ahdar! Suffices to say, they not are sitting on comfy cushions rested on top of oil fields or piles of dough from USAID-ahem Mubarassment and King Abdummba!
In an article on the Seattle Post Intelligencer's website entitled "Syria sinking in flood of refugees from Iraq," astonishing figures regarding the refugee situation in a Syrian context are brought to light:
So, if there are an estimated 2.6 million Iraqi refugees, and approximately 1.5 million have settled in Syira, that comes to over 50%-around 57-58% of the worldwide population(yeah Arab math genes for quicker-than-an-abacass- "in my head" calculations!) of Iraqi refugees living in Syria right now. This is a startling statistic considering other statistics Syria is trying to grapple with-namely limited resources. Let me not forget to mention the fact that when when I last visited Damascus, there was a water and electricity shortage situation (exceeding regional averages in power outages and water shortages by almost double), that limited the use and access of aforementioned utilities. How is Syria going to handle a ballooning population with such limited resources and aid? And why is a country with abundance only accepting 1,608 Iraqi refugees for a war it started to "save the Iraqi people"????
- 2.6 million Iraqis have fled their homeland since the start of the war in 2003.
- Syria has taken in 1.5 million Iraqi refugees from 2003 to present
- Iraqi refugees make up about 10 percent of Syria's population.
- There are 1 million refugees alone in Syria's capital, Damascus.
- The refugees are costing the government $1.6 billion per year in free education, health care and other benefits.
- Of the 1,608 Iraqi refugees admitted by the United States (as Hanaan mentioned),, only 242 came from Syria.
- While the UNHCR referred 4,004 Iraqi refugees in Syria for resettlement in the United States in 2007.
- The United States is spending $1 billion a day on the war in Iraq, while it has contributed only $70 million to aid refugees.
Monday, November 26, 2007
Meanwhile in Iraq...
things are looking good. There were only two "major" bombings in the past two days. Hey, at least democracy's brought the savages something worthwhile... Sean Paul. WHOOHOO LIBERATION!!!
Friday, November 23, 2007
The War on Journalism
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, the U.S. military is prosecuting an award-winning Associated Press photographer, Bilal Hussein. The forces of freedom and democracy and other good things have detained Hussein for more than 19 months without charge for alleged links to Iraqi insurgents. Of course, the U.S. military has not revealed evidence of the journalist's alleged criminal wrongdoing.
Hussein, an Iraqi citizen, worked as a freelance photographer for the AP in the volatile cities of Ramadi and Fallujah. His work brought the AP a Pulitzer Prize for photography in 2005. He was taken by U.S. forces and held in a U.S. prison in Iraq. Since Hussein's detention, U.S. officials have made numerous, shifting allegations against the journalist.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Protester with blood-colored hands confronts Rice
Code Pink protestor Desiree Farooz confronted Condoleeza Rice with "blood-stained" hands as Rice was preparing to testify before the House Foreign Affairs Committee yesterday. Farooz called the Secretary of State a "war criminal" who should be tried at the Hague. She was immediately detained by police, but not before Charles Dharapak of the Associated Press was able to snap this pic.
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