be just

Claremont Neocon: Iran Plays Tiddlywinks with “al-Qaeda” : Another Day in the Empire : "In an effort to pave the way for the total destruction of Iran, the neocon think-tanks are marching out “experts” to convince us, the mostly clueless and witless American public, that Iran is the epicenter of evil in the world, thus its hospitals, kindergarten classrooms, and water treatment plants justly deserve to be bombed."

Muslimedia.com : "Beyond these assumptions lies an even more disturbing thought pattern that has failed to grasp the true nature of the political system in Pakistan. Just because Pakistan was created in the name of Islam and its rulers have Muslim names, no-one should assume that they abide by any Islamic principles. After all, Imam Husain (ra) and his companions were not martyred by mushriks; those who carried out the massacre at Karbala were people with Muslim names who probably offered salah both before and after perpetrating the crime. There is no reason to believe that they did not also fast in the month of Ramadan and fulfil other basic Islamic obligations. The present-day Muslim rulers are much more removed from Islam, despite their Islamic credentials or pretensions, because they are subservient to the kuffar and dependant on them to stay in power."

Free Iraq: The forked tongue of Adel Abdul Mahdi .. Lies and Grease .. زيف عادل عبد المهدي

AlterNet: War on Iraq: The Mega-Lie Called the "War on Terror": A Masterpiece of Propaganda : "The military incursions into Afghanistan and Iraq were not done in retaliation for 9/11. The Bush administration had them clearly in mind upon taking office, and they were set in motion as early as Feb. 3, 2001. That was seven months prior to the attacks on the Trade Towers and the Pentagon, and the objectives of the wars had nothing to do with terrorism."

The Daily Star - Politics - Insurgent attack kills four soldiers in Mogadishu : "MOGADISHU: Four Somali soldiers were killed and several wounded when an army truck was ambushed in the capital, where the government is battling an insurgency, an official and witnesses said Friday. The soldiers were heading to reinforce their colleagues in Mogadishu's Suqaholaha district overnight when they came under attack by rocket-propelled grenades, they said."

US Politicians, Not Ahmadinejad, Have Blood on Their Hands - by Charley Reese : "Whether you agree with Iran's president or not, he's the wrong guy to try to demonize. First of all, he is not a dictator. He is an elected president with very little power. He has to get past the legislature, and the real power rests with the senior cleric, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Khamenei controls foreign policy and is commander in chief of all of Iran's armed forces. The legislature rejected nearly all of Ahmadinejad's recommendations for ministers. When he tried to allow women to attend soccer games, the clerics overruled him."

Two Different Accounts of Deadly Airstrike in Baghdad - New York Times As the teams lined up Thursday for the game, neighborhood residents said, a crowd of men gathered to watch. They lighted a large oil lamp which illuminated the street, a small shopping area where grocers and fruit vendors stay open late this time of year. Two American helicopters hovered overhead, witnesses said. Moments after the game began, the helicopters opened fire on the crowd, the witnesses said. Seven men were killed, Sayyid Malik Abadi, the head of the district security committee, who arrived at the scene shortly after the episode, said Friday. He said perhaps an eighth man had died as well, but too many body parts were scattered about to be certain exactly how many were killed.

Iran labels CIA 'terrorist organization' - Yahoo! News : "TEHRAN, Iran - Iran's parliament on Saturday approved a nonbinding resolution labeling the CIA and the U.S. Army 'terrorist organizations,' in apparent response to a Senate resolution seeking to give a similar designation to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The hard-line dominated parliament cited U.S. involvement in dropping nuclear bombs in Japan in World War II, using depleted uranium munitions in the Balkans, Afghanistan and Iraq, supporting the killings of Palestinians by Israel, bombing and killing Iraqi civilians, and torturing terror suspects in prisons. "The aggressor U.S. Army and the Central Intelligence Agency are terrorists and also nurture terror," said a statement by the 215 lawmakers who signed the resolution at an open session of the Iranian parliament. The session was broadcast live on state-run radio."

Abu Aardvark: Some Iraqi Sunni political projects

Dare To Compare - Israel : "I do not compare Israel with Nazi Germany. Israel is a Zionist settlers’ colony founded on land theft and terror against the Palestinian people; Nazi Germany was not. However, I do – like most people – compare Israeli policies in Palestine with those of the Nazis. If you deny what happened in Palestine in 1948 (Nakba) when thousands of Palestinians were murdered, and an estimated 800,000 Palestinians were terrorised and ethnically cleansed from their homeland in a deliberate and systematic policy of mass expulsion by Jewish terrorist organisations, you deny “the holocaust” ever took place.I do not compare Israel with Nazi Germany. Israel is a Zionist settlers’ colony founded on land theft and terror against the Palestinian people; Nazi Germany was not. However, I do – like most people – compare Israeli policies in Palestine with those of the Nazis. If you deny what happened in Palestine in 1948 (Nakba) when thousands of Palestinians were murdered, and a...

Prison Planet.com COPWATCH : "Epidemic Of Police Brutality & Harassment Sweeps America & UK "

'A Coup Has Occurred' Let me simplify this and not just to be rhetorical: A coup has occurred. I woke up the other day realizing, coming out of sleep, that a coup has occurred. It’s not just a question that a coup lies ahead with the next 9/11. That’s the next coup, that completes the first. The last five years have seen a steady assault on every fundamental of our Constitution, … what the rest of the world looked at for the last 200 years as a model and experiment to the rest of the world – in checks and balances, limited government, Bill of Rights, individual rights protected from majority infringement by the Congress, an independent judiciary, the possibility of impeachment. There have been violations of these principles by many presidents before. Most of the specific things that Bush has done in the way of illegal surveillance and other matters were done under my boss Lyndon Johnson in the Vietnam War: the use of CIA, FBI, NSA against Americans.

Bush Threatened Nations That Did Not Back Iraq War Prior to the US-led invasion of Iraq on March 20, 2003, Washington unsuccessfully lobbied the 15 members of the UN Security Council for a second resolution paving the way for military action against Iraq if Saddam Hussein failed to comply with demands to disarm. But during the meeting with Aznar, Bush made it clear the US would invade Iraq by the end of March 2003 whether or not there was a UN resolution to authorize it, El Pais reported. “We have to get rid of Saddam. There are two weeks left. In two weeks we will be ready militarily. We will be in Baghdad at the end of March,” Bush said in the transcript which was translated into Spanish by the newspaper. Victory would come “without destruction”, he added. The meeting between Aznar and Bush came just days after a massive protest in Madrid by more than a million people against the invasion which Aznar’s conservative government backed.

America’s Police Brutality Pandemic : "The only terrorist most Americans will ever encounter is a policeman with a badge, nightstick, mace and Taser. A Google search for “police brutality videos” turns up 2,210,000 entries. Some entries are foreign and some are probably duplications, but the number is so large that a person could do nothing but watch police brutality videos for the rest of his life. A search on “You Tube” alone turned up 2,280 police brutality videos. PrisonPlanet has a selection of the most outrageous recent cases. [http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/september2007/210907_b_brutality.htm]The only terrorist most Americans will ever encounter is a policeman with a badge, nightstick, mace and Taser. A Google search for “police brutality videos” turns up 2,210,000 entries. Some entries are foreign and some are probably duplications, but the number is so large that a person could do nothing but watch police brutality videos for the rest of his life. A search o...

ei: West Bank camp incursion causes destruction, fear : "EIN BEIT ALMA, 26 September (IRIN) - Residents of the Ein Beit Alma refugee camp began to pick up the pieces after an intense Israeli military incursion last week left dozens homeless, and many very frightened, especially children. The fighting with Palestinian militants also caused damage to sewer systems, residents said. Muhammed Msaimi, aged 26, hid for over a day with his wife and three children in the bathroom because of gunfights which took place outside their apartment. However, the bullets found their way into that room as well, and they crawled behind a thick wall, Msaimi, a registered refugee, said."

Free Press : The Jena 6 and the Media : "Eugene Robinson’s Sept. 21 op-ed, “Drive Time for the Jena 6,” rightly concluded that black radio played a critical role in bringing to light what happened in Jena, La. These radio hosts are to be commended. But I worry that as the media grow ever more consolidated, they are doing less and less to serve people of color."

RTE::Righttoenter : "Enaya Samara is a 56-year-old US national of Palestinian origin. For 31 years she lived in Ramallah with her husband, Adel Samara, who is a resident of the OPT, and their two children. For three decades she had to travel abroad every three months to renew her tourist visa. The family’s repeated attempts to obtain family unification and establish Enaya Samara’s right to reside in the OPT were unsuccessful. On 26 May 2006, after more than 120 trips, she was denied entry when she tried to return home to the OPT. She did not see her family until 23 February 2007 when the Israeli Interior Ministry allowed her a three-month visa. She does not know if it will be renewed."

Al Jazeera English - News - Myanmar Monks' Three Demands : "The first step is to reduce all commodity prices, fuel prices, rice and cooking oil prices immediately. 'The second step – release all political prisoners, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and all detainees arrested during ongoing demonstrations over the fuel price hike. 'The third step – enter a dialogue with pro-democracy forces for national reconciliation immediately, to resolve the crisis and difficulties facing and suffered by the people."

Blackwater ‘may be worse than Abu Ghraib’ - The Carpetbagger Report : "“This is a nightmare,” said a senior U.S. military official. “We had guys who saw the aftermath, and it was very bad. This is going to hurt us badly. It may be worse than Abu Ghraib, and it comes at a time when we’re trying to have an impact for the long term.”"

The Greater Depression : "Another general definition of a depression is this: a period of time when most people's standard of living goes down significantly. Now, for the long run, there's no question in my mind the standard of living of everybody on earth is going to go up immensely over the next hundred years. Immensely. But that doesn't mean that we're not going to have setbacks, and I think we're looking at one: A severe standard of living drop. So the economic picture is not going to be good… So what should you be doing about all this? I suggest you really internationalize yourself. I think what you ought to have is your citizenship in one country, your bank account in another country, your investments in a third, and live in a fourth. You've got to internationalize yourself. Most people out there are like medieval serfs, psychologically and physically: they're born some place, they don't go very far from it and that's where they die, and ...

Why Did Israel Attack Syria? The reasoning was simple: before an attack on Iran could be countenanced, Hizbullah in Lebanon had to be destroyed and Syria at the very least cowed. The plan was to isolate Tehran on these two other hostile fronts before going in for the kill. But faced with constant rocket fire from Hizbullah last summer, Israel's public and military nerves frayed at the first hurdle. Instead Israel and the US were forced to settle for a Security Council resolution rather than a decisive military victory. The immediate fallout of the failed attack was an apparent waning of neocon influence. The group's program of "creative destruction" in the Middle East -- the encouragement of regional civil war and the partition of large states that threaten Israel -- was at risk of being shunted aside.

Chaos and unity in a fragmented Iraq - The Boston Globe : "WHAT GENERAL PETREAUS and his master, President Bush, would like us to believe is that recent American policy in Iraq can be seen as a military success but a political failure judged in terms of the inability of the country's sectarian leaders to unite. What they cannot see is that the two are much more closely related than they are willing to admit." One factor is that by arming and financing the Sunni tribes in Anbar Province as local militias, the American military is both recognizing the lack of central government control and helping to undermine it still further. But there is much more to it than that.

US Senate votes to divide Iraq | The Australian

Soldier tells of shooting unarmed Iraqi - Yahoo! News : "BAGHDAD - A U.S. soldier cried Thursday as he told a court-martial that his staff sergeant ordered him to shoot an unarmed Iraqi. He said the sergeant then laughed and told the trooper to finish the job as the dying man convulsed on the ground." Vela said Staff Sgt. Michael Hensley of Candler, N.C., told him to shoot the man, who had stumbled upon their snipers' hideout, although he was not armed and had his hands in the air when he approached the soldiers. "He (Hensley) asked me if I was ready. I had the pistol out. I heard the word shoot. I don't remember pulling the trigger. It took me a second to realize that the shot came from the pistol in my hand," he said, crying. Vela said that as the Iraqi man was convulsing on the ground, "Hensley kind of laughed about it and hit the guy on the throat and said shoot again." "After he (the Iraqi man) was shot, Hensley pulled an AK-47 out of his...

Israel kills 12 Palestinians in Gaza in 24 hours - Yahoo! News : "GAZA CITY (AFP) - The Israeli military killed three Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, bringing to 12 the death toll in one of the bloodiest 24 hours in the Hamas-run territory in recent months."

10 die in Somalia

McClatchy Washington Bureau | 09/27/2007 | Blackwater guards killed 16 as U.S. touted progress As Hussein walked out of the customs building, an embassy convoy of sport-utility vehicles drove through the intersection. Blackwater security guards, charged with protecting the diplomats, yelled at construction workers at an unfinished building to move back. Instead, the workers threw rocks. The guards, witnesses said, responded with gunfire, spraying the intersection with bullets. Hussein, who was on the opposite side of the street from the construction site, fell to the ground, shot in the leg. As she struggled to her feet and took a step, eyewitnesses said, a Blackwater security guard trained his weapon on her and shot her multiple times. She died on the spot, and the customs documents she'd held in her arms fluttered down the street.

globeandmail.com: Afghans block highway shouting 'Death to Canada' KANDAHAR, AFGHANISTAN — The death of two Afghan clerics in an overnight raid has ignited an unusual protest against foreign troops and sharply increased the volatility of a district that is critical to Canadian success in southern Afghanistan. Shouts of "Death to Canada!" were heard among the clamour yesterday on the main highway west of Kandahar city, as an estimated 300 to 400 protesters voiced their anger against the violent searches of local homes.

State Dept: Corruption in Iraq is Classified Corruption in the Iraqi government--it's classified information. So says the State Department.

Eritrea reacts coolly to Ethiopia's threat to end peace pact - Yahoo! News ASMARA (AFP) - Eritrea on Wednesday reacted coolly to a threat by its arch-foe Ethiopia to abandon a peace agreement that ended their 1998-2000 war and whose implementation has stalled. Eritrean Information Minister Ali Abdu insisted Ethiopia must implement the peace accord by accepting a 2002 ruling that awarded the flashpoint border town of Badme to Asmara. "The Eritrea Ethiopia Boundary Commission (EEBC) is entitled and mandated to demarcate the border, but the Ethiopian regime is refusing to abide by the rule of law," Ali told AFP.

Blog: Inside Iraq They crossed the high seas; they poured out their billions; they sacrificed their sons … to "liberate" Iraqis … but what we, the women of Iraq got, is article 41. In 1959 the Iraqi government amended the Personal Status Law. Article 118 came into being as part of our constitution. It gave the women of Iraq the most progressive of all Arab and Islamic women's rights legislation until this very day. No discrimination in salaries, no discrimination in uniforms, the separated Mums get to keep the home until the children are of age, and so many other items that made the female community of Iraq one of the most progressive female communities within the Arab, Islamic and regional states – from that time … until we got "liberated". Now we have article 41. In brief, it says go to your cleric and he will deal with whatever issues you have

Iran leader says nuclear issue is closed - Yahoo! News : "Ahmadinejad remained in the General Assembly for Bush's speech, but a U.N. diplomat in the chamber said he pulled out his translation earpiece before Bush started to talk. In an angry defense of Iran, Nicaragua's leftist President Daniel Ortega chastised the U.S. for seeking to restrict its right to enrich uranium, which is allowed under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. Ortega said the United States, as 'the only country in the world to have dropped nuclear bombs on innocent people,' had no right to question the right of Iran and North Korea to pursue nuclear technology for 'peaceful purposes.' Ahmadinejad also indirectly accused the United States and Israel of violating human rights by setting up secret prisons, abducting people, holding trials and enacting secret punishments without any regard to due process, and tapping phone conversations. 'They use various pretexts to occupy sovereig...

Al Jazeera English - News - Anti-Oslo Palestinian Official Dies Abdel Shafi was known as a die-hard critic of Yasser Arafat, the late Palestinian leader, and his concessions to the Israelis in peace talks. In 1996, Abdel Shafi, a legislator at the time, walked out of a meeting of the Palestinian legislature to protest Arafat's decision to amend the charter of the Palestine Liberation Organisation to recognise Israel when the Jewish state did not give the Palestinians independence.

Natorei Karta: Ahmadinejad man of peace | Jerusalem Post : "Natorei Karta spokesman Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss on Tuesday called Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad 'an advocate of peace,' prior to the group's meeting with the controversial leader in New York. Weiss said in a statement that "this will be the third time we're meeting with [Ahmadinejad]. … Every time, we stressed to the Iranian leadership that despite … the declarations by Jews who don't understand the essence of the matter, we have found the Iranian people and their leaders friendly and respectful."

McClatchy Washington Bureau | 09/25/2007 | Round-up of Daily Violence in Iraq - Tuesday 25 September 2007 : "A road side bomb targeted a police vehicle in Al Shuhada district south Fallujah today. Three policemen were killed and one was injured."

Emboldened Taliban Reflected In More Attacks, Greater Reach - washingtonpost.com : "While the number of attacks around the capital has been small compared with the number of attacks in other areas of the country, McCreary wrote, the data showed that the Taliban this summer 'held the psychological initiative. They still lack the ability to threaten the government, but moved closer to achieving it than they have in six years.' Analyses by the Afghanistan NGO Safety Office, a project funded by the European Commission to advise private aid groups about security conditions across the country, found 'a significant monthly escalation in conflict' in the first half of the year. Attacks by armed opposition groups increased from 139 in January to 405 in July, according to the project's director, Nic Lee. 'Every month there's a 20 to 25 percent increase in offensive activity,' he said, adding that attacks in June and July were 80 to 90 percent higher than th...

Al Jazeera English - News - Three Egyptian Journalists Jailed : "A Egyptian court has sentenced three journalists to two years in jail for 'damaging the image of justice'. Anwar al-Hawari, the editor of Al-Wafd, a newspaper for the opposition party of the same name, was jailed for publishing 'untrue information which damaged the reputation of the justice system and the justice ministry', the court ruled."

ei: Bush peace confab a swan dive or belly flop? : "WASHINGTON, 21 September (IPS) - This past summer, President George W. Bush extended a hand where he never has before, calling for a Middle East conference to find a solution to the long-moribund Palestinian-Israeli peace process. This time, says US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, her boss expects results. Yet as with most of Washington's diplomatic overtures to the region over the last seven years, Bush's recent demands for a 'viable Palestinian state' -- which critics argue simply aim to spit-shine an already tarnished presidential legacy -- may crumble under the weight of stark realities on the ground."

Military is ‘baiting’ insurgents in Iraq - Washington Post - MSNBC.com : "A Pentagon group has encouraged some U.S. military snipers in Iraq to target suspected insurgents by scattering pieces of 'bait,' such as detonation cords, plastic explosives and ammunition, and then killing Iraqis who pick up the items, according to military court documents. The classified program was described in investigative documents related to recently filed murder charges against three snipers who are accused of planting evidence on Iraqis they killed."

Neocons Insult Ahmadinejad at Columbia : Another Day in the Empire : "In other words, thousands of people are outraged by something Ahmadinejad never said, a lie fabricated by MEMRI, a Mossad front designated to provide propaganda to convince Americans they are obliged to squander their hard-earned money and precious lives for the sake of Israel’s territorial ambitions, although of course this is rarely mentioned. Instead we are warned ad nauseam the Arabs and Muslims “hate us for our freedom”—to shop until we drop and run up the credit cards—and are keen to slaughter our grade schoolers, thus we have to fight them over there before they swarm over us like “Islamofascist” vermin here with a sword in one hand and a Koran in the other. If you sincerely believe you are free, attempt to question the Holocaust and see how far you get. "

Senate to vote on Iraq division plan : "WASHINGTON - The US Senate is expected to vote as early as Tuesday on a Bosnia-style plan to subdivide Iraq on ethnic lines, touted by backers as the sole hope of forging a federal state out of sectarian strife. "

Voices - GAZA MUST LIVE! In 1996 the Palestinians, voting massively for Fatah, expressed their hope for a just peace with Israel. This hope has, however, been frustrated by Israel’s systematic violation of the Oslo Accords, which stipulated that Israel should withdraw its troops from and dismantle its settlements on 90% of the Occupied Territories. Having taken office after his provocative stride across the Aqsa esplanade, Sharon stopped the withdrawal of the army and further increased the pace of settlement construction exacerbating a tendency prevailing from the very beginning of the accords. Palestine became a completely segregated country, where settlers armed to the teeth operate as auxiliary militias for the Israeli army. Not satisfied, Sharon started the construction of the Apartheid wall resulting in the annexation of a further 7% of the Palestinian land.

Tomgram: Bush's Free World and Welcome to It : "'I saw women and children jump out of their cars and start to crawl on the road to escape being shot, but still the firing kept coming and many of them were killed. I saw a boy of about 10 leaping in fear from a minibus, he was shot in the head. His mother was crying out for him, she jumped out after him, and she was killed. People were afraid.' This is the testimony of Hassan Jabar Salman, a lawyer 'shot four times in the back, his car riddled with eight more bullets' as he attempted to escape a fusillade from Blackwater hired guns guarding a U.S. convoy in the middle of Baghdad. Only the latest of many Blackwater 'incidents,' 'Bloody Sunday' -- depending on which report you read, between eight and 28 Iraqi men, women, and children died -- brought into sharper focus the Free World that L. Paul Bremer III had helped create at the behest of his President."

Saudi Women Petition for Right to Drive - washingtonpost.com : "DHAHRAN, Saudi Arabia, Sept. 23 -- For the first time since a demonstration in 1990, a group of Saudi women is campaigning for the right to drive in this conservative kingdom, the only country in the world that prohibits female drivers. After spreading the idea through text messages and e-mails, the group's leaders said they collected more than 1,100 signatures online and at shopping malls for a petition sent to King Abdullah on Sunday."

Kuna site|Story page|Israeli settlers stab Palestinian boy ...9/23/2007 : "Israeli settlers stabbed and wounded a 15-year-old Palestinian in the West bank's region of Hebron on Sunday, medical sources said. Mohammad Aseellah was admitted to hospital with blood-oozing cuts after being stabbed with a sharp object by the Jewish settlers near the settlement of Keryat Arbaa in the Hebron region. Five settlers attacked the boy as he was walking close to the settlement, witnesses said."

Hamas says pro-Abbas security nabs its 17 members in West Bank : " RAMALLAH, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- Hamas said Sunday that 17 members of the Islamic movement, including a local leader, were arrested in the West Bank earlier in the day by security forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas."

Baghdad security guard by day, insurgent by night - Yahoo! News : "BAGHDAD (AFP) - By day Ahmed works for an Iraqi security company. By night the stocky 30-year-old fights the "American occupier" in his Baghdad neighbourhood. Ahmed admits he is a member of what the US military terms 'Special Groups' -- secret Shiite cells it says wage acts of 'terrorism' in Iraq with the financial and military backing of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards units. 'Our mission,' Ahmed tells AFP during a discreet interview in a Baghdad hotel car park: 'Kill the Americans, as many Americans as possible.' He says he is proud to have been chosen, along with other fighters from his district of Bayaa, to do a one-month course on explosives and guerrilla tactics."

Bush to ask 195 billion to fund Iraq, Afgan wars: report - Yahoo! News : "WASHINGTON (AFP) - The White House will ask Congress next week to approve another massive spending measure for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan totaling nearly 200 billion dollars, The Los Angeles Times reported on its website late Saturday."

Iraqi militia leader's death shatters truce Such sentiments mattered little for those such as Abu Yasser, who no longer felt comfortable in Washash, where he has lived for more than 50 years. On Friday, he spoke to the U.S. military and then Iraqi army officers about whether he should flee his home. Abu Yasser said one Iraqi officer told him: "What are you still doing in the middle of this Shiite area? Why haven't you left already? You are bringing us all troubles." He agreed and joined a caravan of cars escorted by the Iraqi army. "We left our houses. We only took the important small things and some clothes," he said. "I don't think we will ever go back to our houses, especially after what happened."

TALES OF IRAQ WAR by LATUFF: Palestine: The Trademark of Resistance

Iraq: Videotape of Blackwater Attack — Jaafari Maneuvers in Najaf — Pentagon Report :: from www.uruknet.info :: news from occupied Iraq - it : "Iraqi authorities said Saturday that they have a videotape of the shootings in Nisur Square last Sunday by Blackwater security guards, which shows that they fired without provocation. The company has maintained that its personnel were responding to incoming fire. There is now talk in Baghdad of trying the guards, though a decree by US viceroy Paul Bremer may hold the US nationals harmless. "

BBC NEWS | Africa | UN seeks Ethiopia abuses inquiry : "The UN has called for an independent investigation into reports of human rights abuses in Ethiopia's predominantly Somali Ogaden region."

Democracy, not terror, is the engine of political Islam | Comment | Guardian Unlimited Politics : " Neocon policies designed to promote liberal opinion in the Middle East have in fact played into the hands of the religious parties "

Israel's Right of Self-Defense - by Gordon Prather : "Israeli officials ain't talking, but the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) is reporting that 'government sources' in the United States and elsewhere 'suggest' that two weeks ago a squadron of Israeli fighter-bombers attacked 'a nuclear facility in northern Syria storing – or processing – nuclear materials provided by North Korea.'"

Asia Times Online :: Middle East News : Iran-bashing in the US reaches fever pitch : "Iranophobic US politicians and pundits have no doubt been heartened by the simultaneous attack on Mohamed ElBaradei, the director general of the UN's atomic watchdog agency, the IAEA, by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who has in undiplomatic tone warned ElBaradei to 'butt out of Iran diplomacy"

Al Jazeera English - News - New Missile Unveiled At Iran Parade The missile, known as the Ghadr - meaning power - has a 1,800km range, officials say, putting US military bases in the Gulf within range. Experts say the missile appears to be an upgrade of Iran's existing long-range missile, the Shahab-3, which has a 1,300km range, according to Tehran. Addressing the parade, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, said: "Iran is an influential power in the region and the world should know that this power has always served peace, stability, brotherhood and justice. "Those who think, that by using such decayed tools as psychological warfare and economic sanctions, they can stop the Iranian nation's progress are making a mistake,"

Making a killing: how private armies became a $120bn global industry - Independent Online Edition > Middle East : "In Nigeria, corporate commandos exchange fire with local rebels attacking an oil platform. In Afghanistan, private bodyguards help to foil yet another assassination attempt on President Hamid Karzai. In Colombia, a contracted pilot comes under fire from guerrillas while spraying coca fields with pesticides. On the border between Iraq and Iran, privately owned Apache helicopters deliver US special forces to a covert operation. This is a snapshot of a working day in the burgeoning world of private military companies, arguably the fastest-growing industry in the global economy. The sector is now worth up to $120bn annually with operations in at least 50 countries, according to Peter Singer, a security analyst with the Brookings Institution in Washington.In Nigeria, corporate commandos exchange fire with local rebels attacking an oil platform. In Afghanistan, private ...

"Giuliani Advisor: Raze Palestinian Villages" by Ken Silverstein (Harper's Magazine)

Rather: Government influencing newsrooms - 09/21/2007 - MiamiHerald.com : "NEW YORK -- Dan Rather said Thursday that the undue influence of the government and large corporations over newsrooms spurred his decision to file a $70 million lawsuit against CBS and its former parent company. 'Somebody, sometime has got to take a stand and say democracy cannot survive, much less thrive with the level of big corporate and big government interference and intimidation in news,' he said on CNN's 'Larry King Live.'"

Blackwater back on the streets of Baghdad - Yahoo! News : "BAGHDAD (AFP) - Despite opposition from Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, US security company Blackwater was back on the streets of Baghdad on Friday, four days after being grounded over a fatal shooting incident."

ei: A bankrupt Ramadan in Gaza : "Just a couple of hours before Iftaar, the time of day after sunset when Muslims break their fast during the holy month of Ramadan, Muslims around the globe shop to prepare. Gaza's crowded Khan Younis is no exception. However, though they may be thronged with people, Gaza's markets are lacking any holiday festivity or commerce. In the middle of Khan Younis' Jalal Street, shopkeeper Ahmad al-Agha idly sat in silence, playing with his mobile phone. "

ei: Hamas supporters tortured by West Bank security forces : "The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights is deeply concerned by the continuation of detentions by Palestinian security forces in the West Bank against Hamas activists and supporters, and interrogating them on their relationship with Hamas and the Interior Ministry Executive Force. In addition, they are coerced into signing commitments to cut off their ties with Hamas. The Centre is also concerned by the continuation of torture and abuse against the detainees and their families, as well as the physical and psychological pressure exerted on them to maintain silence. PCHR's fieldworkers face difficulties in convincing victims to submit statements. In addition, the victims request that their names are not published. The Centre fears that these victims are threatened by security forces if these violations are reported to human rights organizations."

Free Press : Chicago's Media: Big, But Not Diverse : "The Tribune Company dominates the Chicago media landscape, owning the area’s most-read newspaper, most listened-to radio station, popular TV stations, the area’s only 24 hour local cable news channel and more. Past the Tribune, Chicago media outlets are mainly owned by other large conglomerates like News Corp, GE, CBS, Clear Channel and Bonneville International."

'Too late to avoid global warming,' say scientists - Independent Online Edition > Climate Change : "A rise of two degrees centigrade in global temperatures – the point considered to be the threshold for catastrophic climate change which will expose millions to drought, hunger and flooding – is now 'very unlikely' to be avoided, the world's leading climate scientists said yesterdayA rise of two degrees centigrade in global temperatures – the point considered to be the threshold for catastrophic climate change which will expose millions to drought, hunger and flooding – is now 'very unlikely' to be avoided, the world's leading climate scientists said yesterday"

Four Palestinians killed in IDF raid in Gaza Strip - Haaretz - Israel News : "By Amos Harel and Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz Correspondents and News Agencies Israel Defense Soldiers soldiers killed four Palestinians during an incursion in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, hospital officials said. "

A "trophy" video appearing to show security guards in Baghdad randomly shooting Iraqi civilians has sparked two investigations after it was posted on the internet, the Sunday Telegraph can reveal. The video has sparked concern that private security companies, which are not subject to any form of regulation either in Britain or in Iraq, could be responsible for the deaths of hundreds of innocent Iraqis.

U.S. Army Awards Iraq Security Work To British Firm - washingtonpost.com : "The U.S. military confirmed yesterday that it awarded the largest security contract in Iraq to a private British firm, Aegis Defence Services, in a deal worth up to $475 million over two years."

Hessians Redux: Blackwater, U.S. and England  It's strange that most of our American brethren have forgotten the Hessians, the mercenaries the British hired to fight against us in the Revolutionary War. You may recall that George Washington and his small band of patriots, men who were fighting for their country, crossed the Delaware River during the icy winter season in small boats and caught the Hessians unaware in Trenton and defeated them and broke the spirit of the British regulars who had depended on the famed Hessian mercenaries to finish off General Washington and his troops. .........One of the reasons our military went on a major bombing and killing spree in the early days of the Iraq occupation was that 4 mercenaries were attacked and brutally killed. These men knew they were taking risks for a huge salary—some of these 3 men were reputed to make thousands of dollars per day, and they were on missions to kill Iraqis. I hate to see anyone killed for any reason. But, in thi...

Student Tasered for Asking Wrong Question : Another Day in the Empire : "As the video below demonstrates, we now live in a fascist dictatorship, and if you ask the wrong question at a forum or public event, you will be tasered by the police, who are basically thugs, no different than Hitler’s brown shirts. In the video, a student is molested and violently assaulted by the police for asking John Kerry if he was a member of Skull and Bones. It is interesting to note a couple things in this video: 1) the police, or campus security, are several feet away from the microphone, posed to attack anybody who dares ask an inappropriate question, 2) notice the almost complete lack of response on the part of the audience when the student making the mistake of asking the wrong question is attacked, and 3) Kerry, as well, does not seem to be bothered by the tasering, as it is now quite normal to be assaulted for exercising your First Amendment right in public, never mind more than 200 people hav...

Iraqi Resistance Report for events of Wednesday, 19 September 2007 :: from www.uruknet.info :: news from occupied Iraq - it : "Iraqi puppet regime backs away from reports it was rescinding license of mercenary security company 'Blackwater' following Sunday massacre of civilians in west Baghdad. In a dispatch posted at 12:52pm Baghdad time midday Wednesday, the Association of Muslim Scholars of Iraq (AMSI) reported that the US-installed regime of 'Prime Minister' Nuri al-Maliki backed away from its earlier announcement that it had withdrawn the license of the American mercenary security contractor 'Blackwater' to operate in Iraq following Sunday’s massacre of Iraqi civilians in western Baghdad."

GOP Rep. : There Are 'Too Many Mosques In This Country' Earlier, King had said in an interview with radio and television host Sean Hannity that 85 percent of the mosques in this country are controlled by “extremist leadership,” a comment that prompted strong condemnations from many religious organizations and from the Democratic National Committee.

At What Price, Safety? : "One of the more morally reprehensible notes from the supporters of death I receive is the one that goes something like this: “I am for peace, too, but not at the expense of my family.” These people are saying that it is okay to ruin my family and thousands of other families in the US who have been torn apart like the bodies of our loved ones to keep other families “safe.” I have news for these people, as bad as the sacrifices have been for some families in America, the people of Iraq have suffered far more for the deceptions and greed of BushCo. Think about this: America killed over a million Iraqis between Gulf I and this current occupation, and that did not keep my family safe, or the families of the people killed in 9-11. How can one sleep at night thinking that her family is safe when so many people are devastated by the policies that she thinks is keeping her family safe? Never mind the National Intelligence Estimates that have rightly showed that ou...

Checkbook Imperialism : "Were there even the faintest trace of Iraqi independence rising from the ashes of this failed American imperialist venture, Blackwater would have to fold its tents and go, if only in the interest of keeping up appearances. After all, the Iraqi Interior Ministry claimed that the Blackwater thugs guarding a U.S. State Department convoy through the streets of Baghdad fired 'randomly at citizens' in a crowded square on Sunday, killing 11 people and wounding 13 others. So the Iraqi government has ordered Blackwater to leave the country after what a government spokesman called a 'flagrant assault ... on Iraqi citizens.' But who told those Iraqi officials that they have the power to control anything regarding the 182,000 privately contracted personnel working for the U.S. in Iraq? Don't they know about Order 17, which former American proconsul Paul Bremer put in place to grant contractors, including his own Blackwater bodyguards, immunity fro...

Several Somali elders in Dire Dawa arrested » Ethiopian Review 1. ADEN ALALEH ABDI 2. MOHAMED AHMED HOUSSEIN 3. MOHAMED KALIF HOUSSEIN 4. ABDILLAHI MOHAMED OMAR 5. ABDI WALLI HASSAN 6. ABDIRAHMAN HOUSSEIN ABDI 7. MOUSSEH ABDILLAHI HASSAN 8. MOHAMED BOUDEYE MOHAMOUD 9. MOHAMED HASSAN OMAR 10. IBRAHIM AHMED ABDILLAHI 11. ABDILLAHI IBRAHIM MAHAD 12. HACHINE ABDI ADEN 13. HINDA ABDILLAHI HASSAN (the only lady in the group) 14. KOSA OMAR BODEH 15. HOUSSEIN ALALEH ALI

Sunni Patients Fear Baghdad Wards : "Last December, a Sunni surgeon was quoted in The Sunday Times as saying that in some hospitals porters and cleaners who support the Mahdi army, a militia loyal to the Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, offered doctors 300 US dollars to identify Sunni patients. 'I found that many patients were dying. Most were well and ready to walk out of the hospital. Instead, they left in wooden boxes,” the surgeon told the newspaper. "

The Crime Against Debbie Almontaser -- In These Times On Aug. 20, at a Debbie Almontaser rally held outside the old Tweed Courthouse near City Hall, demonstrators tried to understand how a right-wing newspaper in a city like New York could force the resignation of a respected community figure by tarring her with the “terrorist” brush. Deborah Howard, who worked with Almontaser to get the Khalil Gibran academy off the ground, asked, “Once the tabloids came out with their smear campaign”—the neo-conservative New York Sun also played its part—”where was the counter-media? If this is a Department of Education school, why aren’t they standing behind Debbie?”

Free Iraq: Repugnant Black Water ... سـِيـَان

NPR : U.S. Military Surge Faces Challenges in Sadr City

allAfrica.com: Congo-Kinshasa: Government Forces Commit Worst of Widespread Abuses - UN Report (Page 1 of 1) : "Government soldiers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) remain responsible for the country's worst human rights abuses, carrying out arbitrary executions and raping, robbing or extorting civilians, according to the latest report by the United Nations peacekeeping mission."

'Shiite Taliban' rises as British depart Basra | csmonitor.com : "Basra, Iraq - The billboard in Umm al-Broom Square was meant to advertise a cellphone service. Instead, it has become a message to those who dare to resist the rising tide of fundamentalist Islam in Iraq's second largest city. The female model's face is now covered with black paint. Graffiti scrawled below reads, 'No! No to unveiled women.'"

It is the death of history : "2,000-year-old Sumerian cities torn apart and plundered by robbers. The very walls of the mighty Ur of the Chaldees cracking under the strain of massive troop movements, the privatisation of looting as landlords buy up the remaining sites of ancient Mesopotamia to strip them of their artefacts and wealth. The near total destruction of Iraq's historic past – the very cradle of human civilisation – has emerged as one of the most shameful symbols of our disastrous occupation."

Here's what you need to know that NPR won't tell you. 1. Sheik Abu Risha wasn't a sheik. 2. He wasn't killed by Al Qaeda. 3. The new alliance with former insurgents in Anbar is as fake as the sheik - and a murderous deceit.

NPR : What Was Blackwater's Role in Iraq?

UN nuclear boss warns warmongers over Iran | Iran | Guardian Unlimited

Blackwater license being revoked in Iraq - Yahoo! News : "BAGHDAD - The Iraqi government said Monday that it was revoking the license of an American security firm accused of involvement in the deaths of eight civilians in a firefight that followed a car bomb explosion near a State Department motorcade."

Asia Times Online :: Middle East News, Iraq, Iran current affairs : "The Izzat Douri branch of Ba'ath announced that it is 'more than willing to work with Allawi, because we see him as a nationalist and Iraqi patriot, and not a sectarian figure'. Although its members do not agree with all that he did when serving as prime minister in 2004, 'we have no doubt that he would represent the interests of Iraq, not of Shi'ites, or Sunnis, or any other group', a clear reference to Maliki. More than ever before, Muqtada is proving to be a pragmatic politician who has surpassed all expectations. Who is the mastermind behind his political scheming, however, is unclear, since Muqtada clearly could not formulate strategy and take political initiatives of the sort he is doing without the advice of seasoned statesmen. When he rose to fame in 2004, many speculated that he was a temporary star, a radical cleric wanna-be who would never become a serious player in Iraqi poli...

Insurgent spokesman says Iraq is currently occupied by Iran and U.S. - International Herald Tribune Al-Shammari said it was "impossible for the Iranian Mahdi Army" to come to any agreement with the Sunni insurgents who are "fighting to liberate Iraq from the Americans and the Iranians." "Iraqi is subjected to two occupations but the more dangerous is the Iranian occupation. If the Americans withdraw from Iraq and the Iranians stay, we will fight them," al-Shammari said.

Sabra And Shatila - On Massacres, Atrocities And Holocausts :: from www.uruknet.info :: news from occupied Iraq - it : "It happened twenty-five years ago ­ 16 September 1982. A massacre so awful that people who know about it cannot forget it. The photos are gruesome reminders ­ charred, decapitated, indecently violated corpses, the smell of rotting flesh, still as foul to those who remember it as when they were recoiling from it all those years ago. For the victims and the handful of survivors, it was a 36-hour holocaust without mercy. It was deliberate, it was planned and it was overseen. But to this day, the killers have gone unpunished."

U.S. Mercenaries Kill 9 Iraqi Civilians Iraqi police say security contractors open fire in western Baghdad, killing at least 9 By The Associated Press 09/16/07 "AP"-- -- -BAGHDAD: Security contractors opened fire in western Baghdad on Sunday, killing at least nine civilians and wounding 18, Iraqi police said. The U.S. Embassy said contractors working for the State Department were involved in an incident but provided no further details.

Victims of the death squads: One family's harrowing story of kidnap and murder in Iraq : "Anyone who believes that the American-led 'surge' in Iraq is succeeding should hear the story of Mohammed and Nadia al-Hayali. Both fluent in English – Nadia, who was born in Montpellier, also speaks French – they were the kind of well-educated, modern Iraqis who should have been the driving force behind a new secular democracy. Yet Mohammed is believed dead at the hands of kidnappers who seized the whole family, and Nadia is living the miserable half-life of the exile with their two children in Jordan."

Alan Greenspan claims Iraq war was really for oil: Lambasts Bush on economy : "AMERICA’s elder statesman of finance, Alan Greenspan, has shaken the White House by declaring that the prime motive for the war in Iraq was oil."

Bill Maher: Corporate “Comic” and Shill for the Official 9/11 Fable : Another Day in the Empire : "I’m not sure why I bothered to watch the video posted on Raw Story , as the outcome was wholly predictable. “Crazy people who still think the government brought down the Twin Towers in a controlled explosion have to stop pretending that I’m the one who’s being naive,” joked Bill Maher on HBO, the “vertically integrated” supposed “entertainment” corporation owned by Time Warner. “How big a lunatic do you have to be to watch two giant airliners packed with jet fuel slam into buildings on live TV, igniting a massive inferno that burned for two hours, and then think ‘Well, if you believe that was the cause…’ Stop asking me to raise this ridiculous topic on the show and start asking your doctor if Paxil is right for you.”

Al Jazeera English - News - Sabra Shatila Massacre Recalled : "Twenty-five years after surviving the massacre at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in Beirut, Jamila Khalife still mourns family members who were killed at the hands of Phalangist Lebanese forces"

Voices - Abolish the Fed, for a Start : "The Federal Reserve Bank should be abolished. It is a private institution, not a branch of the federal government, given the right to print money and so control our economy. It was established in defiance of the constitution and the intentions of our founding fathers, who rebelled against the central bank of England as much as against King George. The Fed is responsible for our system of debt financing, which is nothing more than a legalized pyramid scheme."

Volunteers collect Baghdad's nameless dead - CNN.com : "CNN's Michael Ware visits with one Sheik who risks everything to make sure Baghdad's unclaimed dead get a proper burial."

allAfrica.com: Somalia: Opposition Group Elects Leaders. (Page 1 of 1) The newly-set up Somali opposition group in Asmara has elected sheekh shariif sheekh Ahmed, former top leader of the defeated Islamic courts as the executive leader of the group while fprmer parliament speaker Shariif Hassan was elected was elected to lead the central committee of the group. The opposition group calling its self, Alliance for the Liberation of Somalia consists of 191 members including Somalis in the Diaspora, former MPs of the current Somali parliament and leaders of the Islamic courts they have vowed to drive Ethiopian forces out of Somalia soon after they were formed out of a week long convention in the Eritrean capital city of Asmara.

allAfrica.com: Africa: African Maids Face Abuse in Lebanon (Page 1 of 1) : "Driven by poverty and conflict in their home countries, women from Africa travel to Lebanon only to find themselves hungry, abused, raped and subjected to conditions akin to slavery. Amira is 25 years old. She comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo. 'One time, Madame found dust on the furniture. She told me that the house was dirty like my skin.' For four years Amira has been confined to the apartment of her employers -- only leaving to take out the trash. She came to Lebanon as a domestic worker on a six-year contract due to ongoing conflict in her country. Awakened daily at 5.30 am, she is subjected to 18 hours of back-breaking labour without time off."

IRIN Africa | Southern Africa | Mozambique | MOZAMBIQUE: Religious leaders dampen rising tension | Governance | News Item : "JOHANNESBURG, 14 September 2007 (IRIN) - Religious leaders in northern Mozambique are making attempts to prevent any possible outbreak of communal violence after three mosques were burnt in a matter of weeks in Lichinga, capital of Niassa Province. The police are investigating arson attacks on the mosques, one of which was set alight last week. The incidents are highly unusual in Mozambique, where religious tolerance is the norm. A suspect has been arrested. "

Muslimedia.com : "The oil-rich countries in the Gulf region as a whole are well-known for employing and abusing huge numbers of foreign workers, who contribute to and sustain the boom in their economic, industrial and building development. Yet the international community (including the UN), press and broadcast media have ignored the plight of these workers even though in many cases they outnumber the indigenous populations. Even human-rights organisations seldom pay enough attention to what amounts to serious denials of basic human rights – and indeed torture– of so many 'guest workers'. But now there is even greater need to not ignore the issue, as the guest-workers in the UAE have directed attention to their conditions themselves by challenging the ruling sheikhs in a conflict that has so far led to a few negligible concessions and very little media coverage."

9/11 Explains the Impotence of the Anti-war Movement : "The anti-war movement has proven impotent to stop the war in Iraq despite the fact that the war was initiated on the basis of lies and deception. The anti-war movement stands helpless to prevent President Bush from attacking Iran or any other country that he might demonize for harboring a future 9/11 threat. September 11 enabled Bush to take America to war and to keep America at war even though the government’s explanation of the events of September 11 is mired in controversy and disbelieved by a large percentage of the population."

Facts Belie Petraeus’ Case, Say Humanitarian Groups : " A joint ABC/BBC poll released this week shows 70 percent of Iraqis believe security has deteriorated since the Bush administration increased the number of troops in Iraq this Spring. Some 60 percent believe attacks on U.S. forces are justified, a number that includes 93 percent of Sunnis. According to the poll, only 29 percent of Iraqis now think the situation will get better, compared to 64 percent who shared that optimism before the so-called “surge” of troops began."

The General Lies : "OF COURSE, Gen. David Petraeus predicts success in the Iraq war. What wonders couldn't generals achieve with more troops and more time? The battle is always going well until it is lost, and then they blame defeat on the politicians and the public. There's no shortage of retired generals who will tell you we could have won in Vietnam, if only we had sent more troops, or bombed the dikes in the North, or been willing to kill more than the 3.4 million Vietnamese who died along with 59,000 American soldiers. Instead, the politicians and public, led by that bleeding heart President Richard Nixon, lost the will to win. Thus, the dominos fell to communism, and Red China and Red Vietnam now rule the world by dint of military force. Have you been to Wal-Mart lately? The triumph of communism is total."

Poll: Civilian Death Toll in Iraq May Top 1 Million : "A car bomb blew up in the capital’s Shiite Muslim neighborhood of Sadr City on Thursday, killing at least four people, as a new survey suggested that the civilian death toll from the war could be more than 1 million. The figure from ORB, a British polling agency that has conducted several surveys in Iraq, followed statements this week from the U.S. military defending itself against accusations it was trying to play down Iraqi deaths to make its strategy appear successful. The military has said civilian deaths from sectarian violence have fallen more than 55% since President Bush sent an additional 28,500 troops to Iraq this year, but it does not provide specific numbers. According to the ORB poll, a survey of 1,461 adults suggested that the total number slain during more than four years of war was more than 1.2 million."

Bush calls for permanent US military occupation of Iraq "President Bush’s nationally televised speech, delivered Thursday evening from the Oval Office, was the low point of a week of lies and absurdities designed to justify the United States’ bloody colonial war in Iraq. The ugly farce began with the congressional testimony Monday and Tuesday of Gen. David Petraeus, the top US commander in Iraq, and US Ambassador Ryan Crocker. Bush cited their fraudulent assessment of the “success” of the military “surge” to outline a perspective for continuing the American occupation of Iraq and transforming the country into a permanent American protectorate, whose vast oil resources will be exploited by US oil companies, and whose territory will be used as a staging ground for military attacks on Iran and a strategic base for American domination of the Middle East."

Sunni World | The American Prospect : " The cheerleaders for the surge have constructed a Disney-esque fantasy of Iraq which might as well be in Orlando for all it has to do with the grim reality on the ground. And Abu Risha's assassination isn't likely to dim that fantasy."

Asia Times Online :: Middle East News - Mr Bush, your sheikh is dead : "Abu Risha may have also been killed by one of the top Sunni Iraqi-nationalist guerrilla groups for which throwing the occupation out remains the top priority - way beyond fighting the Shi'ite-dominated government in the Green Zone or Shi'ite militias. Al-Qaeda may boast a maximum of 800 or so jihadis in Iraq. The Sunni resistance has more than 100,000 fighters. The White House hurricane of spinning has simply erased the anti-occupation Sunni resistance masses from the ground. "

Smearing Israel’s Critics -- In These Times : "DePaul University canceled courses taught by Norman Finkelstein, the controversial political science professor known for his forthright criticism of Israel, just a week before classes resumed in June. Finkelstein, who taught at DePaul for six years, was denied tenure at the Chicago school but permitted to teach for the one year remaining on his contract."

Rising violence in Russia's Ingushetia | csmonitor.com "What makes this situation so dangerous is that the federal forces ... are killing randomly and calling the victims terrorists," says Yulia Latynina, one of the few investigative journalists still reporting on the northern Caucasus. "An uprising is drawing near." The Moscow-based international human rights group Memorial, nominated for this year's Nobel Peace Prize, says at least 400 people disappeared without a trace in Ingushetia between 2002 and 2006, and the pace of repression has since accelerated. "How can we talk about human rights if security forces can burst into private houses at night and seize peaceful people, and can stop a person at night on a street to beat or even to kill without ever presenting any identification document or without presenting any charges?" says Memorial activist Usam Baisayev, reached by phone in Nazran, Ingushetia.

An assassination that blows apart Bush's hopes of pacifying Iraq - Independent Online Edition > Middle East : "In reality al-Qa'ida is only a small part of the insurgency, with its fighters numbering only 1,300 as against 103,000 in the other insurgent organisations according to one specialist on the insurgency. Al-Qa'ida has largely concentrated on horrific and cruel bomb attacks on Shia civilians and policemen and has targeted the US military only as secondary target. The mass of the insurgents belong to groups that are nationalist and Islamic militants who have primarily fought the US occupation. They were never likely to sit back while the US declared victory in their main bastion in Anbar province."

The Surge Scam: Getting Rid of the Goat - by Leon Hadar There is an old Jewish story about a man who lives in a very small house with his wife, many children, no space, and very little money. So the man goes to his rabbi for advice: "Rabbi, you are so wise, and here I am living in a small house, with no light and little space. And I am so poor. What can I do?" The rabbi listens and instructs the man: "Go to the market, buy a goat, and put the goat inside the house with you for a week and then come back to me." The man is shocked: "But, rabbi, as I told you, I have very little space and money. If I buy a goat, I won't have any space and I'll lose all my money." But the rabbi insists: "Get that goat!" So the man buys the goat. He takes it home with him. The goat eats the furniture. It's too big and takes up all the space in the small home. The man's life is miserable. After a week, he goes to the rabbi and cries: "Rabbi, I put ...

Despite Backlash, Many Jews Are Questioning Israel - by Tony Karon and Tom Engelhardt "By then, I was an activist in the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa, which was consuming most of my energies. Having been an active left-Zionist in my teenage years, I had, however, retained an interest in the Middle East – and, of course, we all knew that Israel was the South African white apartheid regime's most important ally, arming its security forces in defiance of a UN arms embargo. Even back then, the connection between the circumstances of black people under apartheid, and those of Palestinians under occupation in the West Bank and Gaza, seemed obvious enough to me and to many other Jews in the South African liberation movement: Both were peoples harshly ruled over by a state that denied them the rights of citizenship."

Report from Anbar U.S. Fueling Sectarian Civil War in Anbar by Funding Former Insurgents to Fight Al Qaeda Video

The World’s Ingredients: Injustice, Hypocrisy, and Hope One part injustice. One part hypocrisy. One part hope. Imagine this as the recipe that makes up our world, with the proportions free to change but with no part free to vanish. Injustice is a priori the product of a competitive world. Hypocrisy is the rational response to injustice by the strong. Hope is the irrational response to injustice by the weak.

Al Jazeera English - News - Ethiopia Receives Somali Ultimatum : "Somali opposition leaders have formed a new political alliance, warning Ethiopian troops to 'leave now or never' at the conclusion of a conference in the capital of Eritrea. The group, which includes the Islamic Courts' Union, is called The Alliance for the Liberation of Somalia and has vowed to overthrow the current transitional government."

The greedy tribal Sunni leader who shook the hand of the terrorist George W. Bush was eliminated! How sweet it is! How an Iraqi makes a deal with an evil man who destroyed his country and killed millions of his fellow citizen is beyond my belief. Good riddance.

Bush rating on Iraq improves, new poll finds - Yahoo! News : "Just 30 percent of Americans approve of Bush's handling of Iraq, but that was an 8-point jump from July, said the latest NBC/Wall Street Journal poll."

Al-Jazeera man 'close to death' at Guantanamo Bay - Independent Online Edition > Americas : "An al-Jazeera journalist captured in Afghanistan six years ago and sent to Guantanamo Bay is close to becoming the fifth detainee at the US naval base to take his own life, according to a medical report written by a team of British and American psychiatrists"

World Blog : Baghdad combat hospital busy again : "A sophisticated trap They had been working in one of the Baghdad neighborhoods considered a hotbed of insurgents. At 3:30 a.m. they took up positions in a house to observe the area. Toward daybreak they heard somebody break in the house. When they went to check if the person was carrying a weapon, they saw a man with a gun run out. It turned out to be a sophisticated trap. Just as the men went out to pursue the armed man, one of the soldiers stepped on a hidden bomb that had been placed right where the insurgents knew the troops would go. He was the one with the extensive injuries. Many others were knocked unconscious from the blow."

Reason Magazine - The No-Exit Strategy : "We can't leave, because the civil war will escalate, terrorists will be emboldened, and Iraq will break into hostile fiefdoms. We can't stay, because the U.S. occupation is inciting violence, discouraging political accommodation, draining our treasury, straining our armed forces, and costing the lives of American soldiers. Yet those are the only two options, and there is little reason to think they will look any better in one year or five or 10."

Evidence of torture used in Iraq | Special Reports | Guardian Unlimited Politics : "The Foreign Office says the 'government, including its intelligence and security agencies, never use torture for any purpose' ( MI5 and MI6 to be sued for first time over torture, September 12). The evidence in the public domain from the court martial into the death of Baha Mousa and the serious abuse of 10 other Iraqi civilians is clear in establishing this is not true. UK armed forces went into Iraq with a written policy that allowed hooding, and with a policy of training interrogators to use hooding, stressing and sleep deprivation to gain intelligence. Iraqi civilians were routinely hooded in up to three sandbags - and even old plastic cement bags. When Baha Mousa died in September 2003, partly as a result of abuse while hooded, common sense dictates that at least at that point those in positions of responsibility within the civil service and military would have acted to change the poli...

What the Warfare State Really Costs by Thomas E. Woods, Jr. : "Estimates of the cost of the Iraq war continue to escalate to levels well beyond what its optimistic architects once promised. Most notable, perhaps, has been the estimate of Columbia University’s Joseph Stiglitz, who, in a January 2006 paper with Harvard’s Linda Bilmes, put the full cost at around $2 trillion. By the end of the year, the two had grown even more pessimistic: The $2 trillion number – the sum of the current and future budgetary costs along with the economic impact of lives lost, jobs interrupted and oil prices driven higher by political uncertainty in the Middle East – now seems low."

Scholars for 9/11 Truth - Home : "Scholars for 9/11 Truth"

The Coming U.S. Hard Landing : "The utterly ugly employment figures for August (a fall in jobs for the first time in four years, downward revisions to previous months’ data, a fall in the labor participation rate, and an even weaker employment picture based on the household survey compared to the establishments survey) confirm what few of us have been predicting since the beginning of 2007: the U.S. is headed towards a hard landing. "

: "Do you know what this (expletives deleted) Bush is trying to do now?' growled Mustafa, my walking partner as we made our way around the block one warm evening. ‘He is trying to sell us $20 billion worth of arms that we don't need. And to top it off, he is using his taxpayers' money to fund Israel with $30 billion in the same bill. Now what does this region need with more arms?'"

Here’s the Smell of the Blood Still : "When Martin Luther King Jr. publicly referred to “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today — my own government,” he had no way of knowing that his description would ring so true 40 years later. As the autumn of 2007 begins, the reality of Uncle Sam as an unhinged mega-killer haunts a large minority of Americans. Many who can remember the horrific era of the Vietnam War are nearly incredulous that we could now be living in a time of similarly deranged official policy."

Pigs of War Pigs of War come in both political colors of red and blue. We are all unfortunately very familiar with the red pigs. The pigs of war who manipulated, cherry-picked, stove-piped and manufactured intelligence to suggest to the world that Saddam had mushroom cloud producing WMD and something to do with the tragic events of 9-11 that occurred six years ago now. Many blue politicians are pigs of war and they willingly went along with the deceptions and even parroted red pig talking points whenever they got a chance but now claim that the “fiendishly clever” George fooled them into believing the nearly unbelievable. I don’t know about you, but I take small comfort in that excuse. When we have a system of government where our supposed public servants can profit off of war along with the corporations that pad their bank accounts both blue and red pigs benefit and young people needlessly lose their lives sometimes killing other humans in the process.