Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from January 28, 2008

VOA News - Religion Alone Not Responsible for Suicide Bombings

VOA News - Religion Alone Not Responsible for Suicide Bombings : "Three countries suffering from the scourge of terrorism -- Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan -- are expressing concern over the spread of extremism in their regions, saying terrorism cannot be defeated just by force alone. They say the international community must also focus on eradicating poverty and illiteracy. VOA's Ravi Khanna has more"

The Raw Story | 'Straight talk' from Senator McCain: More wars to come

The Raw Story | 'Straight talk' from Senator McCain: More wars to come : "Speaking in Polk City, Florida, U.S. Senator and 2008 presidential candidate John McCain (R-AZ) pledges expansion of access to health care for soldiers injured physically and psychologically not only in the current war, but in wars he says are sure to follow. This video is from CNN Newsroom, broadcast January 27, 2008."

AlterNet: War on Iraq: "Jackasses with Guns": Mercenaries Terrorize Iraq

AlterNet: War on Iraq: "Jackasses with Guns": Mercenaries Terrorize Iraq Out of the dozens upon dozens of reports of abuses by private contractors as part of the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, only one prosecution of a contractor has taken place. This, says a new report from Human Rights First, epitomizes the woefully insufficient response by the U.S. government to hold private contractors accountable for abuses against local nationals. "Holding contractors responsible for criminal abuses has not been a high priority of the U.S. government," said the report, "Private Security Contractors at War: Ending the Culture of Impunity," which is based on interviews, court records, government reports, declassified documents and other documentary sources. "At times the government has appeared to view this issue with shocking indifference."

TALES OF IRAQ WAR by LATUFF: Sectarian war in Iraq

TALES OF IRAQ WAR by LATUFF: Sectarian war in Iraq

Kenya death toll near 800 in a month

Kenya death toll near 800 in a month : "Gangs of youths armed with machetes and clubs fought running battles with police on Sunday and burned tribal rivals alive in their homes in western Kenya, pushing the death toll from a month of escalating ethnic violence to nearly 800."

Return to Fallujah - Middle East, World - Independent.co.uk

Return to Fallujah - Middle East, World - Independent.co.uk : "Fallujah is more difficult to enter than any city in the world. On the road from Baghdad I counted 27 checkpoints, all manned by well-armed soldiers and police. 'The siege is total,' says Dr Kamal in Fallujah Hospital as he grimly lists his needs, which include everything from drugs and oxygen to electricity and clean water. The last time I tried to drive to Fallujah, several years ago, I was caught in the ambush of an American fuel convoy and had to crawl out of the car and lie beside the road with the driver while US soldiers and guerrillas exchanged gunfire. The road is now much safer but nobody is allowed to enter Fallujah who does not come from there and can prove it through elaborate identity documents. The city has been sealed off since November 2004 when United States Marines stormed it in an attack that left much of the city in ruins."

Suharto, the Model Killer, and His Friends in High Places - by John Pilger

Suharto, the Model Killer, and His Friends in High Places - by John Pilger In my film Death of a Nation, there is a sequence filmed on board an Australian aircraft flying over the island of Timor. A party is in progress, and two men in suits are toasting each other in champagne. "This is an historically unique moment," says one of them, "that is truly uniquely historical." This is Gareth Evans, Australia's foreign minister. The other man is Ali Alatas, principal mouthpiece of the Indonesian dictator, Gen. Suharto. It is 1989, and the two are making a grotesquely symbolic flight to celebrate the signing of a treaty that allowed Australia and the international oil and gas companies to exploit the seabed off East Timor, then illegally and viciously occupied by Suharto. The prize, according to Evans, was "zillions of dollars." Beneath them lay a land of crosses: great black crosses etched against the sky, crosses on peaks, crosses in tiers on the hillsides