If you're like me and had to look up Myanmar to find out that it is also called Burma, and that it is where Ang San Suu Kyi is from and lives under house arrest, now's your chance to learn about it. Kind of like learning about the Ninth Ward.
The Burmese government has refused emergency disaster aid from the US (which is stupid-- people are dying. kind of like how new york refusing money from the gulf was stupid.) I'm curious as to the reason they give for the refusal, and whether it's related more to the US's sanctions on Burma and interference in Burmese affairs, or whether it's because of the havoc we tend to cause in the world. I'm inclined to think it is most likely due to the previously existing strained relationship.
Eventually I hope that we are able to help, and I wish we actually had money to help with and that it wasn't all dumped into destroying Iraq. Check out this site: how fast can you spend 3 trillion dollars, which is the amount spent on the Iraq War. It takes a long time! 3 trillion dollars would be health care for us and disaster aid for New Orleans AND Burma, and much more.
In keeping with tradition, Easter has yet again been cancelled in Palestine. Jesus of Nazareth somehow secured a permit to enter Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, provided he enter on a donkey.
Jesus applied in June of 2007 for a permit to enter Jerusalem on Palm Sunday 2008. The past two years of cancellations had made him determined to be prepared this year. Due to his inability to provide proof of his Jewish heritage, he was thus banned from entering Jerusalem for the past two years. And so it seemed as though this year would be different; Good Friday processions and the Sunday resurrection occurred as planned.
However, hours after the resurrection at dawn on Sunday, Jesus was fatally shot as he walked with his disciples toward a military checkpoint dividing Bethlehem from Jerusalem. Chaim Sugarman reports from the ground that a new military order authorizing IDF troops to use lethal force against unarmed protesters was announced last week.
The IDF is prevented from using lethal force against groups of protesters that include Israelis and internationals. Unfortunately, as Jesus had been down in Hell since Friday, he was unaware of the new requirement to have a non-indigenous escort when approaching the Apartheid Wall if you want to stay alive.
Sugarman further reported that at a post resurrection/shooting Easter brunch to which he was privy, the disciples mentioned a plan in the works to move the Easter celebration altogether out of Palestine. "There are hardly any Christians left in Palestine. The only Christians able to celebrate in Jerusalem are from the US and Europe now- why keep making them come here?"
The disciples were referring to the mass exodus of Christians from Palestine. According to Dr. Bernard Sabella of Bethlehem University, 37% of Christian Palestinians fled in 1948 with the original refugees, and 20% of the remaining population emigrated between 1967-1994. Now, due to the hardship imposed by the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, and especially the imposition of the Wall around Bethlehem, many more left between 2000 and 2004.
For equally serious, more personal sidenotes from the past holy week:
Unlike the children's processions on Palm Sunday in many Palestinian areas in northern Israel, Bethlehem on that day was quiet but for the funeral tent in Manger Square of the four who were assassinated days before.
The Bethlehem terminal through the wall to Jerusalem (and certainly not only this one) should have international observers. When I entered Bethlehem with family members on Palm Sunday, a female soldier was shouting over a loudspeaker in Hebrew, interspersed with seconds of blaring Nancy Ajram music. When we left, a male soldier was shouting at us in Hebrew, and three young women dressed up for church were standing and waiting for passage to pray in Jerusalem while a soldier, who had taken their purses, sat at a glass-enclosed desk ignoring them for over an hour.
Judging from our company in the terminal to Bethlehem, the main purpose is to allow Palestinian workers through within working hours, and to return to their lives under military occupation at night. This provides Israel with very cheap labor, while Israeli citizens never have to see their living conditions. The same goes for nearly the entirety of the Wall in the north of the West Bank- passage is closed to all except for laborers, and there are many.
The Bethlehem terminal through the wall has the distinct feel of a place you would hold cattle, complete with metal grate corridors and walkways above.
Violations include firing on ambulances, preventing ambulances from reaching injured civilians, preventing the EMTs from going with the ambulance, firing tear gas canisters into ambulances, stopping ambulances and detaining the wounded from inside the vehicle, and holding the IDs of medical crews.
Prince Harry of Great Britain... recently "outed" as a soldier in Afghanistan. It becomes nobility so to wear their political colors on the back of their heads. This is the same guy who wears nazi outfits, smokes weed, feels girls up at clubs, and acts a terror on the streets of London. He's the cute 'bad boy' of the royal family, unleashed on another country, the same way the British dumped those criminals on Australia way back when. I wonder what the venerable Lady Di would think of her son, all grown up...
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.
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!
Jamal S. Baadani, President and Founder of The Association of Patriotic Arab Americans in Military (APAAM), recently sent an email to his organizational listserv asking for assistance in preventing the deportation of an active-duty Arab sergeant in the US Army, Hicham Benkabbou. Baadani writes:
I don't understand how it is conceivable to deport a patriotic American who is fighting and helping his fellow soldiers to keep us safe from terrorist attack.
Included in the email were two letters – the original plea for help from Sergeant Benkabbou and a letter of recommendation from his company commander, Captain Mcgee.
Sergeant Benkabbou writes:
I have had my citizenship application pending for close to two years now. It was awaiting my FBI name-check for sometime, and just recently, through Mr. James Windle in the Nebraska office, we found out that my name-check has finally been completed and cleared. My chain of command and I have been in contact with Mr. windle in efforts to schedule me for an interview here in Afghanistan (I'm currently deployed). I am in desperate need of assistance with my citizenship matter for it will have a great impact on my life at this point. A deportation case was initiated against me after I had submitted my citizenship application, and the head counsel and the judge in Atlanta informed us that being naturalized would terminate the case in court. I am also, with full support of my chain of command, being recommended to submit an officer candidate packet and will undergo a security clearance check soon, but I must be naturalized in order to commission.
Finally, I am a proud and highly decorated and awarded Paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division, United States Army. I do not think I deserve to get deported after serving honorably during a time of war! I can read, write and speak Arabic, French and English. I have earned the utmost respect and confidence of my superiors and I shall be a great asset for our country if given the opportunity to become a United States citizen. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Captain McGee adds:
SGT Benkabbou's chain of command has pushed at every level to get his naturalization moved forward. Both myself and the Battalion Commander, LTC Peterman, have contacted senators, ICE (local, state, and federal levels), the prosecuting office in Atlanta, and the POC for naturalization while deployed. We have written letters of commendation extolling SGT Benkabbou's performance both in garrison and in combat. So far, we have had little apparent success.
I have known SGT Benkabbou since he came to the unit from AIT almost three years ago and he has been a consistent, exceptional Paratrooper in all respects. I am as anxious to see this thing through for SGT Benkabbou as he is himself. He deserves to be awarded his citizenship.
As always, I am willing to assist him in any way I can. Let me know exactly what it is you are looking for and we will go from there.
Benkabbou's case raises numerous questions related to immigration-at-large, Arab immigration in a post-911 context, and what role Arab-Americans should play in American society.
Admittedly, I take issue with some of the positions and language that APAAM uses – which I’ll make the subject of future post – but I am in no way opposed to Arab-Americans joining the US military and/or intelligence communities. This position, however, remains a controversial one among Arab-Americans - and was even the topic of a recent NAAP conference panel, Collaborators or Patriots?
I’m interested in hearing what the KABOBcommunity thinks about Arab-American military service, the deportation of active-duty soldiers, or any other question/point that this case raises. Yallah - sound off!
By the way, if you can help Sergeant Hicham Benkabbou contact APAAM.
Yawn. This story's getting old. Here are the highlights:
* Egypt and Israel sign a peace deal in 1979.
* Israel is rewarded up to $2.4 billion in annual US military aid.
* Egypt is rewarded up to $1.3 billion in annual US military aid.
Fast-forward to 2007. The US military has its hands full in Iraq, and announces a $20 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia and other US allies in the Gulf.
Not to be outdone by the Saudis, Egypt and Israel are offered new arms deals of their own, totalling $13 billion and $30 billion respectively.
So what can a few billion dollars buy you at a Pentagon closeout sale??
Washington eyes big arm sales to Israel, Egypt Fri Aug 24, 2007 5:49PM EDT By Jim Wolf
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Defense Department said Friday it was proposing to sell Israel advanced missiles and aviation fuel worth up to $642 million and tank kits to Egypt worth up to $847 million.
Israel has requested as many as 200 Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air missiles manufactured by Raytheon Co., the Pentagon's Defense Security Cooperation Agency told Congress.
Israel is also interested in up to 30 Harpoon anti-ship missiles built by Boeing Co. and 500 AIM-9M Sidewinder short-range air-to-air missiles built by Raytheon, the notice said.
Taken together, the cost of the three missile packages could be as high as $334 million if all options are exercised.
In addition, Israel is seeking up to 90 million gallons of JP-8 aviation fuel and 42 million gallons of diesel fuel at an estimated combined cost of $308 million, the defense agency said.
The proposed sale of the aviation fuel will enable Israel, the closest U.S. Mideast ally, to maintain its aircrafts' operational capabilities, the agency said.
It said Egypt was seeking up to 125 MIA1 Abrams tank kits, including thermal viewers, firepower enhancements and armor upgrades, potentially worth up to $847 million.
The proposed sale would boost the output of an Abrams tank co-production program, started in 1988, from its current 880 tanks, to 1,005, the agency said. The prime contractor would be General Dynamics Corp., it said.
The United States has longstanding commitments to Israel and Egypt, which in 1979 became the first Arab state to make peace with Israel.
Earlier this month, the Bush administration offered Israel a record $30 billion, 10-year military aid package described as strengthening a regional bulwark against Iran.
The planned U.S. funding increase could finance purchases such as those now being considered. The notification to Congress of a potential sale is required by law. It does not mean a sale has been completed.
The Washington Post reported on Wednesday that the Bush administration is seeking to designate State actors as "terrorists" now, stripping exclusive labeling and marketing rights away from the regular freelance, non-State terrorists.
Through use of special powers found in Executive Order 13224, George W. Bush is set to label Iran's elite military branch, the Revolutionary Guard, a "specially designated global terrorist."
"If confirmed," the BBC reports, "it would be the first time official armed units of a sovereign state have been included in the US list of banned terrorist groups." This stands in direct opposition to the US list of permitted terrorist groups not officially referred to as terrorist groups, but more colloquially: "Israel", "Britain", the "U.S." and "that handful of islands in the South Pacific that disappear during high tide."
The controversial move will elevate Iran from mere "sponsor of terrorism" status to actual "terrorist" status, subjecting it to all the sex, drugs and rock and roll that come with the territory.
The Freelance Terrorist Association could not be reached for a comment, but we hear they're really pissed.
Israel signs off on U.S. arms sale to Saudis [AP/MSNBC] Israel Approves Of Arms Deal To Gulf States [AHN] Israel agrees with US on Saudi arms [St. Petersburg Times] Israel not opposed to arms deal [People's Daily Online] Israel Backs Us Arms Sale To Saudis [AP/Guardian] Israel OK with US arms sale to Saudis [LA Times] Israel Says No Objections to US Gulf Arms Deal [Voice of America] Christian Group Warns U.S. Against Pressuring Israel... [Fox News] US promises Israel much more military aid[Telegraph] Israel gets 30 billion dollar US defence aid [Middle East Online] Olmert: US dedicated to our military supremacy [Jerusalem Post]
The former Saudi Arabian ambassador to the United States, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, allegedly received up to $2 billion in confidential payments from a British defense firm, BAE Systems, over a period of nearly 20 years, according to two British media reports.
Through a statement by his lawyer, given to the British Press Association, Prince Bandar "categorically denied" receiving any "backhanders" - secret payments - and called the the reports "serious allegations." According to the Guardian newspaper and the BBC, the payments were channeled to at least one Saudi embassy account at a now-defunct Riggs Bank in Washington.
The prince is a close friend of George W. Bush. I am very tempted to call this affair another Bush administration scandal, except I really don’t what take away from its Saudiness and royalness.
I wonder if the Saudi religious and ethics police, the Mutawaa, will implement the appropriate sharia law provision that they never hesitate to apply to the “commons” and foreign nationals in their country? If I’m not mistaken, the punishment for this offence/sin is the severing of the hand from the wrist…I personally would be satisfied if they just clean-shave this motha fucka.
Actually, what adds insult to injury is why with all this money the dude could not spend $400 on a hair cut with John Edwards' barber.
It's a bizarre time to be living in Washington DC. Ahead of next year's presidential election, and amid a firestorm of criticism surrounding the war in Iraq, the political mud-slinging has gotten ugly, with half the government facing the prospect of being ousted in '08.
It's a regime change of sorts. Visible on the horizon, but still shrouded in uncertainty. The city's oldest, richest power gluttons have started trembling in their boots.
Of course no one wants to be associated with the Bush administration -- the further distance from the president the better. But withboth parties guilty of trumpeting the war in its early stages, and in the absence of any kind of viable exit strategy, PR machines are working overtime to dig up scandals where they can be found.
In the years immediately following 9/11, with support for the US-led wars in Afghanistan and Iraq at an all-time high, it seemed the military was one of the only institutions that was somehow haram to criticize. Support Our Troops, they told us.
And as recently as November, Senator John Kerry -- still considered a Democratic golden boy at the time -- created a media stir by suggesting that the troops were uneducated. Or at least that's how Fox News spun it. Kerry's camp attempted damage control by saying the comment was intended as a joke. It was good excuse, and perhaps a truthful one, but it went down as political suicide nonetheless.
Fast-forward to today. The latest casualty of so-called troop-bashing is not a Washington politician (though both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are taking heat for voting against the latest incarnation of the Iraq war spending bill.)
Instead conservative pundits will spend their Memorial Day holiday toasting the downfall of a media powerhouse. She's probably one of the only talk-show hosts in history to actually improve a network's television ratings, and still be sent heading for the hills.
I'm of course talking about Rosie O'Donnell.
After more than eight months of loud-mouthed political commentary that added some much-needed relevance to The View, it was O'Donnell's statements about the Iraq war that apparently crossed the line:
O’DONNELL: I just want to say something. 655,000 Iraqi civilians are dead. Who are the terrorists? HASSELBECK: Who are the terrorists? O’DONNELL: 655,000 Iraqis — I’m saying you have to look, we invaded – HASSELBECK: Wait, who are you calling terrorists now? Americans? O’DONNELL: I’m saying if you were in Iraq, and the other country, the United States, the richest in the world, invaded your country and killed 655,000 of your citizens, what would you call us? HASSELBECK: Are we killing their citizens or are their people also killing their citizens? O’DONNELL: We’re invading a sovereign nation, occupying a country against the U.N. "655,000 Iraqi civilians have died. Who are the terrorists?"
Critics jumped all over this one. On Wednesday the sh*t hit the fan when O'Donnell called her co-host Elisabeth Hasselbeck "cowardly" for not saying anything in her defense.
"Do not call me a coward, because number 1, I sit here every single day, open my heart and tell people what I believe," Hasselbeck retorted.
Their catfight continued despite failed attempts by their co-hosts to cut to commercial.
So much for the liberal media. The next day O'Donnell was gone.
If Americans are ever going to wake up to the reckless, exploitative reality of US foreign policy in the Middle East, it's time to drop the social taboos, to let the debate go on uncensored.
It's time for a reality check. No more sacred cows.
Israeli soldiers harass and humiliate Palestinians in route to and from school and work. The daily affair which graduates Israel's future leaders who will maintain a policy of Apartheid, occupation, and oppression... Saying "for the love of it" is simplistic, but those sadist fascists seem to enjoy this torture and humiliation of civilians a bit too much.
As always, procrastinators, including my self, are holding war back. Get off your bums and file you 1040WAR today, courtesy of SUSTAIN-NYC/1040WAR Collective, for a fun day at the post office.
AMERICAN forces in Germany have placed newspaper advertisements seeking Arabs to join them in war games before troops are shipped out to Iraq.
In Berlin and other large towns this week, the US military set up a casting agency to hire 600 Arabic speakers.
From March 20 to April 11 at a base in Germany, the American army is creating a "mini-Iraq", with the emphasis being on making it as close to the real thing as possible. Arabs who sign up will live for three weeks at the High Rock Combat Manoeuvre Training Centre between Nuremberg and Regensburg.
Ten villages have been erected on the 20,000-hectare training area to resemble Iraqi communities. "Volunteers are required to play the role of Arabs in Iraq for 24 hours a day," the newspaper ads say.
But recruiting hasn't been easy. Germany in general, and its Muslim population in particular, oppose the war in Iraq. Media reported many Muslims walking away from the agencies in disgust when they found out what they were being asked to do.
The "extras" for this US Army Hollywood-style effort have been told that all women must wear head scarves and all men turbans. A mosque, a brothel, barracks of the sort US troops occupy in Iraq and many other features have been built to mimic daily life in the war zone.
Some Arabs will play the bad guys — laying roadside mines, attempting suicide bombings — others will play the good ones, teaching "grunts" how to behave and to respect the traditions of Islam and the Iraqi people. Most of the 19-to-24-year-old soldiers to be trained have never left America before. "The Arabic speakers are seen as an essential component in training these troops for their role in the country," a US military spokesman said.
Those signing up for the short-term service of Uncle Sam will receive 90 euros ($A150) a day.
One fear expressed by Arabs about the scheme is what happens if things go wrong? One Lebanese man told a Berlin newspaper: "What if we get shot accidentally? What guarantees do we have that we will be helped? What do the Americans care about another dead Arab, whether it's in Iraq or Germany?"
A lawyer employed by the US military at the recruiting agency in Berlin said: "The highest standards of safety will apply." But he said no media would be allowed into the training area while the role playing goes on.
Palestinian Mohamad Kabouli is one of the few who agreed to the terms this week. Aged 27 and jobless, he said: "I just want to make some money and go home."
Timothy Good, responsible for the "civilians on the battlefield" plan, is not too optimistic that all the places will be filled. "There is a lot of animosity towards the US," he admits.
In Iraq, US forces said they killed 13 insurgents in an air strike targeting a "senior foreign fighter facilitator" north-east of the town of Ameriya.
A doctor at a local hospital said 30 bodies, including those of seven children, had been brought in from a village near Ameriya.
With REUTERS
So, now our war-mongering government, with the help of the corporate forces that be, have contributed to a further blurring of the lines between life and "simulation" and also between "fun and games" and "tactical training" so reminiscent of "Ender's Game." These barely-wet behind the ears 19-24 year-olds who "have never left America" and were probably raised on a daily dose of sugary, corn syrup-laden cereals, Flintstone FD & C #3 red-coated vitamins (that candy treat that artificially combats nutrient deficiencies engendered from consumption of genetically modified food masquerading as a health aid), and a heavy helping of "War Craft" and gratuitous video/computer games of the like, all of which have contributed to a polluting of a sense of taste and feeling; this new generation of desensitized youth, ones robbed of senses, have been properly groomed to be insensate killing machines.
What is even more depressing and disturbing about this story, besides the work the tandem forces of violent real-life video games and oh-so-real simulations do to train the country's new force of insensate soldiers, is the role of the 600 Iraqis to be cast for this pre-war project. One of my uncompromising fist-in-the-air, slightly judgemental in a diehard Che-worshipper type way, revolutionary friends was critical about this move he regarded as "selling out." However, for Arabs to feel the need to chuck and jive and endanger their lives, to reinforce stereotypes like "turban" and "hijab" wearing, to participate in a simulation aimed at strengthening the efficacy of the American war machine, to aid the expansion of the American empire in the region and the death of more Iraqis out of a need for money, for that 90 euros, is not necessarily ignominious in my books, but saddening.
