be just

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."