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Garowe Online - Home BELETWEIN, Somalia Sep 13 (Garowe Online) - Ethiopian troops withdrew from the central Somali town of Beletwein overnight Friday, after controlling the key town since July 24, Radio Garowe reported. Hundreds of locals took to the streets and walked by areas where Ethiopian soldiers used to patrol, including the main administration building and the police station. It was not clear why the Ethiopian army pulled out of Beletwein, which has the third-largest concentration of Ethiopian forces deployed in Somalia after Mogadishu and Baidoa. But the region's traditional elders have been negotiating with Ethiopian commanders to leave Beletwein during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Islamic Courts officials claimed victory, saying the Ethiopian troops withdrew after loosing many soldiers in insurgent attacks. Beletwein residents told Radio Garowe that Islamist fighters had entered the town and took control of strategic areas, including two key bridges. Officials app...

Progressive Historians: History For Our Future : "Most people think that all you need to maintain an empire is guns, bombs, and soldiers. They are wrong. To maintain an empire what you need above all else is money. Lots and lots of money. A victorious army in the field is useless without the wealth behind it. A good example of this is the Suez Crisis of 1956, which marked the end to the British Empire. America is following in Britain's footsteps. Britain's attempt to strong-arm Egypt had indirectly caused a nationalist backlash and Gamal Abdul Nasser's rise to power. When Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal, Israel, France, and Britain invaded and quickly routed the Egyptian army. But they had forgotten to do one thing - clear it with America. Eisenhower was afraid the middle east would embrace the Soviet Union. But what could America do to stop it from the other side of the world? Plenty, as it turned out. When the U.S. tried to pass a resolution through the U.N. Secur...

The Raw Story | Muslim groups condemn 'Muslim Massacre' video game : "A crudely-done video game titled 'Muslim Massacre' The Game of Modern Religious Genocide' is arousing the ire of Muslim groups, who would like to see action taken against it. The game, which features 80's-era graphics and audio, announces as its theme that 'The United States of America has declared war on Islam! Take control of the American hero and wipe out the Muslim race with an arsenal of the world's most destructive weapons.' The action consists of having your character run around and reduce everyone on the screen to a bloody smear on the pavement. Britain's Independent Television News reports that some justify the game as a satirical commentary on American attitudes, but Mohammed Shafiq of the Ramadhan Foundation believes that is just an excuse. He told ITN, 'They glorify the killing of Muslims. ... If it was they other way around, and if this was a Muslim game a...

The Raw Story | ACLU challenges FISA update with first legal brief : "The ACLU filed the first legal challenge to the constitutionality of the FISA Amendments Act Friday, criticizing the law as a infringement of U.S. residents' right to privacy. The latest step in the ACLU's prolonged lawsuit against the FISA bill, the brief accuses the federal government of broadening its surveillance far past what is needed to defend the country from terrorists, according to a press release from the organization. 'The FISA Amendments Act allows the mass acquisition of Americans' international e-mails and telephone calls,' said Jameel Jaffer, Director of the ACLU National Security Project. 'The administration has argued that the law is necessary to address the threat of terrorism, but the truth is that the law sweeps much more broadly and implicates all kinds of communications that have nothing to do with terrorism or criminal activity of any kind. The Fourth Amendment was...

The Raw Story | Andover law school convenes Bush War Crimes Conference - WATCH LIVE Saturday morning, the dean of Massachusetts School of Law at Andover will convene a two day planning session with a single focus: To arrest, put to trial and carry out sentence on criminals in the Bush Administration. The conference, arranged by Lawrence Vevel, cofounder of the Andover school, will focus on which of Bush's officials and members of Congress could be charged with war crimes. The plan also calls for "necessary organizational structures" to be established, with the purpose of pursuing the guilty "to the ends of the Earth." "For Bush, Richard Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and John Yoo to spend years in jail or go to the gallows for their crimes would be a powerful lesson to future American leaders," Velvel said in a media advisory.