be just

blackagendareport.com - Barack Obama and the African American as World Citizen As one of many who worked day and night for three years in the early 1980s to elect Chicago's first black mayor, I can understand the undefineable tears shed by many last November, and the shiver some felt when Barack Obama laid his hand on Abe Lincoln's bible. We danced and wept and prayed and rejoiced in Chicago a generation ago, and in other places too. But eventually the party was over, and this one will soon be too, for most of us. For many of us, it's already time to take stock. Were the hopes and dreams and prayers and effort put behind the Obama campaign a wise investment? And what does the election of Barack Obama mean for the position of African Americans as global citizens? Until now, black Americans have always enjoyed, on the world stage, a presumption that we as a people and as individuals were not responsible for the lawless and criminal acts of the US government around th...

Free Iraq: "If one leader dies, a 1000 leaders are ready to take his position" "Prominent Hamas figure Salah al-Bardaweel accuses Mahmoud Abbas of direct involvement in the Gaza war through his spies in the region. Bardaweel said Monday that Abbas, the acting Palestinian Authority Chief, played key role in the war and in assassinating Hamas' senior political leaders, through his spies in the costal strip. The Hamas figure alleged that the spies passed strategic intelligence to Israeli soldiers attacking Gaza, The News reported. "We had arrested a number of them (Abbas' spies) prior to the Israeli assault, and we found with them plans showing homes of Hamas' leaders, and places where Hamas stores it weapons. They (the spies) have admitted their guilt and told us names of their masters, who would, in turn, inform the Israeli intelligence apparatuses of that information in order to facilitate the Israeli mission," Bardaweel added.

Canadian sent to Syria after tip-Guantanamo hearing | Antiwar Newswire : "GUANTANAMO BAY U.S. NAVAL BASE, Cuba (Reuters) - U.S. authorities apparently were acting on a tip from a 15-year-old captive when they sent a Canadian software engineer to Syria, where he was imprisoned and tortured as a suspected terrorist, according to testimony at the Guantanamo war crimes tribunal Tuesday. Canadian captive Omar Khadr identified a drivers license photograph of Canadian software engineer Maher Arar as someone he thought he had seen at an al Qaeda safe house run by a Syrian man in Afghanistan in late September or early October 2001, FBI special agent Robert Fuller testified."

Former Somali president seeks asylum in Yemen | Antiwar Newswire : "Somalia's former president, an ex-warlord who was forced from government, sought political asylum in Yemen, arriving Tuesday in a private jet from his impoverished homeland, an aide and a Yemeni security official said." One of the former president's aides confirmed that Abdullahi Yusuf was offered a permanent home in Yemen, which lies across the Gulf of Aden from Somalia

Gaza: 'I watched an Israeli soldier shoot dead my two little girls' - Middle East, World - The Independent : "A Palestinian father has claimed that he saw two of his young daughters shot dead and another critically injured by an Israeli soldier who emerged from a stationary tank and opened fire as the family obeyed an order from the Israeli forces to leave their home."

US Military Analysts Chide Israel For ‘Restraint’ Shown in Gaza | News From Antiwar.com : "Just one day into their three day fact-finding mission to Israel, some high profile US military analysts have taken Israel to task for its behavior in its war on the Gaza Strip. Not for all those people they killed, but rather for all those people they left alive. “I think you were too restrained and could have gone deeper into Gaza,” retired Lt-Gen Thomas McInerney, a military analyst for Fox News noted, saying the Israeli public’s universal approval for the onslaught could have muted global opinion, and that it would have made it “more difficult for Europeans, the Left or the Arab media to counter that.” McInerney also chided Israel’s leadership, saying they are “too sensitive about world opinion.” In 22 days, the Israeli military killed over 1,300 people, the vast majority of them civilians. Human rights groups have noted that they deliberately fired white phosphorus into densely populate...

Al Jazeera English - War on Gaza - Palestinian factions united by war : "The al-Aqsa Martyr's Brigade, an armed wing of Fatah, once threatened to kill Khalid Meshaal, the leader of Hamas. However, from the beginning of the war on Gaza up to the ceasefire called by Palestinian factions on Sunday, it was fighting shoulder to shoulder with its former rival, lobbing rockets into Israel from the beleaguered coastal strip, Fatah representatives in Damascus say. Israel says it has dealt Hamas a crippling blow, but its 22-day onslaught that killed around 1,300 civilians and injured at least 6,000 more has brought together a slew of Palestinian factions, many of them previously sworn enemies of Hamas. Many observers are left wondering if the Hamas-allied coalition will be a new front against Israel and whether Hamas will be able to prevent other factions from launching attacks from Gaza, breaking the fragile calm. 'Israel's aggression on Gaza has unified the Palestinian groups ...

Israel's military power hasn't improved its strategic position and friends of the Jewish state must point out its mistakes--beginning with Gaza - By Stephen M. Walt | Stephen M. Walt : "The moral of this story is that there is no reason to think that Israel always has well-conceived strategies for dealing with the problems that it faces. In fact, Israel's strategic judgment seems to have declined steadily since the 1970s -- beginning with the 1982 invasion of Lebanon -- perhaps because unconditional U.S. support has helped insulate Israel from some of the costs of its actions and made it easier for Israel to indulge strategic illusions and ideological pipe-dreams. Given this reality, there is no reason for Israel's friends -- both Jewish and gentile -- to remain silent when it decides to pursue a foolish policy. And given that our 'special relationship' with Israel means that the United States is invariably associated with Jerusalem's actions, American...

Thousands in Chechnya Protest After Lawyer Is Killed - NYTimes.com MOSCOW — Thousands of people attended a rally in Chechnya’s capital, Grozny, on Tuesday to protest the killing of a prominent human rights lawyer who had represented the family of a Chechen teenager killed by a former Russian officer.