be just

BAGHDAD - Thousands of Iraqi Shi'ites rallied on Friday in the country's biggest demonstration yet to support fellow Shi'ite protesters confronting troops from Sunni Arab states in Bahrain. The movement of troops from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states to help Bahrain's Sunni royal family quell the protests has galvanized Shi'ites in Iraq, Lebanon and Iran. Around 10,000 followers of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr demonstrated in Baghdad's Sadr City neighborhood after Friday prayers over the situation in Bahrain, which risks exacerbating Iraq's own sectarian divide. The Iraqis waved Bahraini and Iraqi flags and chanted "Yes, yes to Bahrain. No, no to the Saud family." "These protests are the beginning of support for the Bahraini people and if the Saudi and Bahraini rulers won't respond, we will act, even if we are forced to go and be human shields," said Muhanad al-Gharrawi, a Sadr aide in Sadr City.

Sana'a - Police opened fire on hundreds of thousands of anti-government protesters Friday killing at least 50 people and wounding 240 in the capital, Sana'a.

By Xinhua March 18, 2011 "Xinhua" -- The death toll has kept rising as more information came in from the remote area with inadequate communication facilities. Some local media reports said the target of the U.S. drones is a house at a village in the Datta Khel area in which a meeting was being held by local Taliban militants while others reported that the target was actually a tribal "jirga" or council of elders to resolve dispute over the ownership of minerals in the mountains in North Waziristan tribal region. According to a tribal elder who asked to remain anonymous in a telephone interview from Miranshah, center of North Waziristan, the tribesmen from Madda Khel tribe were holding a meeting at Nawai Adda area, some 25 kilometers from Miranshah, when two U.S. drones fired four missiles at the participants of the tribal council at 11:30 am (local time) The elder said that the strike killed 41 people including six tribal elders and some children. The injured were l...

War On The Poor: Minnesota Republicans Want To Bust Poor People Who Carry Cash  :      Information Clearing House: ICH March 18, 2011 "CAL" -- They're not just crazy, they're evil -- and un-Christian, should they have the audacity to claim otherwise. If only we could force them to live like this, they wouldn't last a week: St. Paul, MN – Minnesota Republicans are pushing legislation that would make it a crime for people on public assistance to have more $20 in cash in their pockets any given month. This represents a change from their initial proposal, which banned them from having any money at all. On March 15, Angel Buechner of the Welfare Rights Committee testified in front of the House Health and Human Services Reform Committee on House File 171. Buechner told committee members, “We would like to address the provision that makes it illegal for MFIP [one of Minnesota’s welfare programs] families to withdraw cash from the cash portion of the MFIP grant - and in f...

`Blood Money Was Paid By S. Arabia`  :      Information Clearing House: ICH Did US permit Saudi Arabia to invade Bahrain in return of Saudi paying "blood money" for release of CIA agent in Pakistan? `Blood Money Was Paid By S. Arabia` By Anwar Iqbal March 18, 2011 "Dawn" --- WASHINGTON: Saudi Arabia is believed to have arranged the blood money that allowed CIA contractor Raymond Davis to go home after nearly two months in a Lahore jail, diplomatic sources told Dawn. They said that the Saudis joined the efforts to resolve the dispute late last month after it became obvious that Davis`s continued incarceration could do an irreparable damage to US-Pakistan relations. The Saudis agreed to pay the money, “at least for now”, to get Davis released, the sources said, but did not clarify if and how would the Saudis be reimbursed. “This is something that needs to be discussed between the United States and the Kingdom,” one source said. “Mr Davis`s surprise departure from Pak...

Getting Away With Murder   :      Information Clearing House: ICH March 18, 2011 "Information Clearing House" -- There was never any doubt that CIA contractor and killer, Raymond Davis, would be freed by Pakistani authorities. The only question was how much political capital the Obama administration would have to spend to secure his release. As it happens, the price turned out to be quite high. Not only were the family members of the men who Davis gunned down awarded a $2.3 million settlement, but, more importantly, a constellation of US powerbrokers were forced to step out of the shadows and reveal their tacit support for a covert war that is inciting widespread social unrest, fueling terrorism, and destabilizing US-ally Pakistan. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Admiral Mike Mullens, Robert Gates, Leon Panetta and Sen John Kerry all came to the defense of a career mercenary who shot two men (allegedly Pakistan Intel-agents) in broad daylight on a crowded street in Lahore and ...