be just

Asia Times Online :: Middle East News, Iraq, Iran current affairs : "'Torture is un-lawful', are the first words of his keynote address, part of the 'War on Terror' lecture series presented by the Human Rights Center at Berkeley. In 2004 Taguba was lead investigator into conditions at the US military's Abu Ghraib facility in Iraq. His highly critical report was publicized throughout the world. The 6,000-page report gave evidence of torture, prisoner abuse, and a failure of leadership and responsibility at the highest levels of authority. The report was hailed as a thorough investigation completed in only 30 days. But in January 2006, Taguba received a phone call from the Army's Vice-Chief of Staff who offered no reason but said, 'I need you to retire by January of 2007.' This Taguba did after 34 years of active duty. The war in Iraq has thrust American soldiers of Asian ancestry into the limelight as no other US conflict has ever done before. Aside

Asia Times Online :: South Asia news, business and economy from India and Pakistan : "WASHINGTON - Forty-eight hours after Pakistani voters overwhelmingly repudiated the Bush administration's 'man in Islamabad', President Pervez Musharraf, Washington seemed uncertain about whether the election results marked a setback to US strategic interests or an advance. On the one hand, Washington will have to deal with a new government, some of whose likely leaders have publicly denounced US policy in Pakistan. This makes administration officials - who as recently as last month described Musharraf as 'indispensable' to the 'war on terror' - uneasy."

AlterNet: Blogs: Video : "Last night on Countdown, Keith Olbermann slammed Bill O'Reilly for saying on his radio show, 'I don't want to go on a lynching party against Michelle Obama unless there's evidence.' In an ironic twist, Olbermann used the words of President Bush — who just last week said, 'Some Americans do not understand the effect that references to nooses and lynching can still have' — to excoriate O'Reilly's insensitive remark.

allAfrica.com: Somalia: Two Ethiopian Soldiers Killed in Southwestern Town (Page 1 of 1) : "Armed groups have shot dead two Ethiopian soldiers in Baidoa town southwestern Somalia on Wednesday witnesses said. The killers armed with pistols hit several bullets on the soldier as they were attempting to swap over money in the town before the assailants attack them."

FACTBOX-Five facts about Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr : "Feb 20 (Reuters) - Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr will soon decide whether to extend or scrap his Mehdi Army militia truce, a move that will have major implications for security in Iraq. Following are five facts about Sadr:"

Aswat Aliraq : "Falluja, Feb 20, (VOI)- The new Iraqi flag will not be raised over the governmental buildings and institutions in Falluja city, a member of the local council said, noting that the council clings to the old flag. “All local council members agreed not to raise the new Iraqi flag on Falluja and this came in consistency with the desire of Anbar residents,” Sabah Nagi al-Ulwani told Aswat al-Iraq - Voices of Iraq (VOI). He said that the government should concentrate on dealing with the Iraqi citizen’s needs, describing the current crisis as the worse in the Iraqi history. The Iraqi parliament voted earlier this month with a majority of votes - 110 out of 165 - in favor of a draft to modify the national flag by removing the three stars from the old flag and keeping the words Allahu Akbar (God is Great)."

The Folly of Attacking Iran: "We had a democracy here, until America came over and crushed it"

Larijani: US root cause of terrorism worldwide : "Iranian Secretary of Iran's Human Rights Headquarters Mohammad-Javad Larijani said in Tokyo on Sunday that the US claims it has launched campaign against terrorism but the reality is that the country itself is the root cause of terrorism worldwide."

98 Palestinian patients, including 17 Children, die due to the Gaza siege - English / - International Middle East Media Center - IMEMC Palestinian medical sources announced on Tuesday evening that one child died at a Gaza hospital after the Israeli Authorities barred his transfer to a hospital abroad for further medical treatment as the siege on Gaza continued to cripple all hospitals in the coastal region. The child was identified as Sa’id Al Ayidy, 2, from Rafah in the southern part of the Gaza Strip. He suffered from a kidney infection. His death raised the number of Palestinian patient who died due to the siege to 98, including 17 children. Following are the names of children who died due to the ongoing blockade; 1. Sa’id Al Ayidy, 2. 2. Fatin Majdi Al Hafnawi, 10. 3. Ibrahim Abu Nahil, 1year and four months old. 4. Sana Mohammad Al Hajj, six months. 5. Rawan Diab, 13 months. 6. Hala Zannoun, 3 months. 7. Yousef Eyad Abu Mariam, 5 years old

ei: British police failed to arrest Israeli war criminal : "On 10 January 2002 Israeli bulldozers flattened 59 houses in the Rafah refugee camp on the Gaza Strip. Residents fled their homes in heavy rain, most losing all their possessions in the process. Among those made homeless were a number of children who were terrified and traumatized by what happened. It appears that the motive for the destruction was retaliation for an unrelated attack by militants that resulted in the death of four Israeli soldiers. The commanding officer who authorized the demolitions was Major General (Reserve) Doron Almog."

ei: A third way The "third way" that secular intellectuals defend, condemns terrorism and supports the fight against it. However, the criterion it follows is a universal one. That is, if the US is prepared to censure Israel for its illegal occupation of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, and for its massacres of civilian Palestinians and extra-judicial assassinations of political leaders, expropriation of Palestinian lands, demolishing of houses, building of illegal Jewish settlements, "third way" supporters should not have a moral problem supporting the "western" fight against terrorism. Further, if the US stops its support for imposed, corrupt dictators in the Arab world, and helps in nurturing better circumstances for millions of the oppressed and their democratic representatives (i.e., unions, women's movements, secular parties, etc.) there will be a limited base for "fundamentalism" to grow. Of course, whether Jewish, Islamic, Hindu, or C