be just

blackagendareport.com - ‘Progressives for Obama’ Fool Themselves : "Barack Obama's rush to disavow the 'tag' of the 'Left' should surprise no one. The only people who pretend that Obama is a 'progressive' are a few Leftists, and Right-wingers that hate Leftists. 'But the most important reason that ‘Progressives for Obama' should have never existed is its utter lack of content.' Progressives have been playing 'make-believe' with the Obama campaign, dubbing it both 'progressive' and a 'movement' when there is no movement or progressive content to the campaign. Some progressives are guilty of providing 'a veneer of progressive credibility to a candidate who was nothing of the kind."

allAfrica.com: Somalia: Puntland Troops Prepare to Regain Town From Somaliland (Page 1 of 1) : "A full-scale war could break out within days between Puntland and its neighboring breakaway republic of Somaliland following Somaliland troops have seized the coastal town of Lasqoray from Puntland forces. Residents told Shabelle English service that Somaliland troops entered in the town without resistance. Heavily armed Puntland troops have started to move out to the seized town where additional Somaliland troops as well arrived in to stand firm against their rivals."

Somali insurgents attack government base : "Somali insurgents killed at least two people in an overnight attack on an army base 15 miles (24 kilometers) northeast of the government headquarters in Baidoa, a village chairman said Thursday. The Islamist Al-Shabab militia claimed responsibility for the latest in a string of hit-and-run attacks on government targets and said its fighters beheaded several soldiers. The claims could not immediately be verified. Village chairman Mohamed Isaq said one of the dead was a soldier, and two civilians were wounded. Al-Shabab spokesman Sheikh Muqtar Robow said the fighters also seized weapons and burned water tankers. 'Our fighters launched an attack and briefly took over Daynunay military base and beheaded number of the so-called government soldiers on the spot,' he said."

Gulfnews: Al Sistani's role divides parties Baghdad: A strong political debate is being waged in Baghdad on the role the Shiite supreme religious authority in Najaf, Grand Ayatollah Ali Al Sistani, played in negotiations between Iraq and the US on a memorandum of security. Al Sistani insisted on including a timetable for the withdrawal of American forces. This intervention by Al Sistani has brought to the fore the differences between the major political parties in the Iraqi government. The Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council led by Abdul Aziz Al Hakim has accepted Al Sistani's demand for a definite timetable for the withdrawal of US forces in Iraq. But the position of the mainly Sunni Iraqi Accord Front and the Kurdish bloc was that the subject of withdrawals was not to be raised in the current negotiations, Kurdish political sources told Gulf News. Mahmoud Othman, leader of the Democratic Patriotic Alliance of Kurdistan, told Gulf News: "The Political Council for National Secur...

Sorry, We’re Not Done Liberating You: Bush Administration Refuses To Yield To Iraqi Demand for Withdrawal « JONATHAN TURLEY : "In a curious move, the Bush Administration is now refusing a demand from the duly elected Iraqi government for a date of withdrawal. It appears that we are not done rescuing the Iraqis — no matter what the Iraqis may think. So it appears that a continued open-ended occupation now opposed by a majority of voters, a majority in Congress, and a majority of Iraqis will continue until the White House is satisfied. It appears that all that business about the freely elected government was simply aspirational. State Department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos issued the rejection: “The US government and the government of Iraq are in agreement that we, the US government, we want to withdraw, we will withdraw. However, that decision will be conditions-based.” One condition is apparently not the will of the Iraqi people or its government. While the Bush Administration insi...

Ex-Professor In Terror Probe Freed on Bond - washingtonpost.com : "A federal judge yesterday ordered the release on bond of a former Florida professor charged with refusing to testify before a grand jury investigating whether Islamic charities in Northern Virginia were financing terrorists. As conditions of his release, U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema ruled, Sami al-Arian must submit to electronic monitoring and live under house arrest with his adult son until his Aug. 13 jury trial. But Arian's status with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement trumps his immediate release. Ernestine Fobbs, an ICE spokeswoman, said Arian will be in ICE custody if he posts bond."

Press TV - Israeli jets using Iraq's airspace? : "The US has allowed Israeli jets to use US airbases in Iraq and fly over Iraqi airspace for a likely attack against Iran, Iraqi media say. It is more than a month that some Israeli planes belonging to Israeli air force use the US military bases in Iraq to land and take off, Iraqi Nahrainnet news network said Wednesday, quoting informed sources close to Iraq's Defense Ministry. The activities and traffic of warplanes- especially at nights- has lately increased in the US air bases in Nasiriya southeast of Baghdad and Haditha a city in the western Iraq province of Al Anbar, the Iraqi residents and sources said. They said the US fighters, cargo planes, helicopters and unmanned planes have intensified their flights in the last three weeks. The US military officials have imposed severe security measures around the bases, they said. They said some aircraft suspected to be Israeli warplanes coming from Jordan, have landed in the US ...

BBC NEWS | South Asia | US 'killed 47 Afghan civilians' : "A US air strike in eastern Afghanistan on Sunday killed 47 civilians, 39 of them women and children, an Afghan government investigating team says. Reports at the time said that 20 people were killed in the airstrike in Nangarhar province. The US military said they were militants. But local people said the dead were wedding party guests. Correspondents say the issue of civilian casualties is hugely sensitive in Afghanistan. President Hamid Karzai has said that no civilian casualty is acceptable. Demand for trial Mr Karzai set up a nine-man commission to look into Sunday's incident. The commission is headed by Senate deputy speaker, Burhanullah Shinwari whose constituency is in Nangarhar province. He told the BBC: ''Our investigation found out that 47 civilians (were killed) by the American bombing and nine others injured. "There are 39 women and children" among those killed, he said. The eight ...

ei: Israeli soldiers torture 10-year-old in his home : "A 10-year-old boy was subjected to physical abuse amounting to torture for 2.5 hours by Israeli soldiers who stormed his family's shop on 11 June, seeking information on the location of a handgun. The boy was repeatedly beaten, slapped and punched in the head and stomach, forced to hold a stress position for half and hour, and threatened. He was deeply shocked and lost two molar teeth as a result of the assault. On Wednesday 11 June 2008, at around 10:30am, 10-year-old Ezzat, his brother Makkawi (7) and sister Lara (8) were in their father's shop selling animal feed and eggs in the village of Sanniriya, near the West Bank city of Qalqiliya. The children were suddenly startled to see two Israeli soldiers storm in to the shop."

ei: West Bank village sues corporations over settlement construction In a continuation of their struggle for justice in the face of unlawful appropriation of their land, the people of Bil'in village yesterday commenced legal proceedings before the Superior Court of Quebec against Green Park International Inc. and Green Mount International Inc. The defendants are Canadian corporations registered in the Province of Quebec that have been involved in constructing, marketing and selling residential units in the illegal Jewish-Israeli settlement of Modi'in Illit in the occupied West Bank, on the land of the village of Bil'in. The land in question has been appropriated by the Israeli military authorities in violation of the laws of occupation. The defendants, on their own behalf and as de facto agents of the State of Israel, are constructing residential units on this Palestinian land for the purpose of housing Israeli settlers. The petition, filed by the Village Council's lawy...