be just

A veteran American journalist has been fired after referring to Israel's occupation of Palestinian and Syrian land as "brutal." Sunni Khalid, managing news editor at WYPR-FM in Baltimore, was dropped by the public radio station on Thursday after more than nine years on the job. He had been on probation following criticism of comments he made on Facebook about Israel's continued illegal occupation of Palestine. "I, for one, have had enough of this pandering before the Israeli regime," he wrote. "The war-mongering toward Iran has, once again, distracted the world from Israel's brutal military occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights." Khalid, who previously worked for National Public Radio, has also written for Time Magazine, The Washington Times, and USA Today. Israel maintains a siege of Gaza and a military occupation in the West Bank, with devastating consequences for the indigenous Palestinian population. Rights grou...

'Belambai' is Afghanistan's 'My Lai'  : Information Clearing House March 23, 2012 "Al Jazeera" - - San Pedro, CA - I immediately thought of the My Lai Massacre when I heard the news of a US Army sergeant who murdered at least 16 civilians, including nine children and three women, burning most of their bodies after murdering them, in their homes near Belambai in Kandahar, Afghanistan. As with My Lai - where 504 unarmed civilians were murdered on March 16, 1968 - it was a single bloody incident that seemed to epitomise the entire misbegotten war.  Whatever illusions or delusions might have been harboured early on, had by then either faded or been violently stripped away. The massacre of innocents came as no real surprise, however much some might still pretend to be shocked or surprised. Also like My Lai, Belambai is clearly a massacre after the war has already been lost, but before the generals and politicians are prepared to admit it. To be honest, b...

Government Now Allowed to Store Info on Innocent Americans -- News from Antiwar.com The U.S. intelligence community can now store information innocent Americans for up to five years under new Obama administration rules, expanding previous authority to hold details on individuals with no ties to terrorism.

Mali Coup Leader: President Has Been Arrested -- News from Antiwar.com The leader of the military coup in Mali said Friday that the president and other top government officials have been arrested and will soon be handed to the courts for trial, but refused to reveal their whereabouts. photo via BBC News “These people are safe and sound. We will not touch a hair on their heads. I will hand them over to the courts so that the Malian people know the truth,” Captain Amadou Sanogo said. Sanogo and the rebel troops he leads toppled the democratically elected government in Mali this week after tensions arose over how to fight the Tuareg insurgents in the north of the country. Mali’s army had grown upset with President Amadou Toumani Toure for not arming them sufficiently enough to quell the Tuareg fighters who had recently returned from fighting for Gadhafi’s side in Libya. Mali appears to be very unstable from this week’s events. Looting has spread throughout the country and Tuareg...

The Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia (left), the country’s top Islamic cleric, has declared that it is “necessary to destroy all the churches of the region,” placing Christian places of worship throughout the Arabian Peninsula in potential jeopardy. Since Christianity is already forbidden in Saudi Arabia and no churches exist there, the implications of the cleric’s words were that the church ban should extend to other countries in the region, including Yemen, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates. According to the Arabic Christian news site Linga.org, Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah made the controversial statement during a meeting with a delegation from the Kuwait-based Society of the Revival of Islamic Heritage, in response to a query about Sharia law concerning the construction of churches in Islamic countries. As reported by the Christian Post, the question was in reference “to a recent controversial statement by a Kuwaiti member of parliament who reportedly called f...

Afghan Massacre Soldier ‘Doesn’t Remember’ Killings -- News from Antiwar.com Adding further intrigue to the impending charges against Staff Sgt. Robert Bales for the massacre of 16 Afghan civilians in Kandahar Province, his lawyer now says Bales “doesn’t remember” carrying out any massacres that night.

Ret. Gen.: Massacre Could Force US From Afghanistan in Weeks -- News from Antiwar.com Speaking to CNN on Sunday, Retired Major General James A. Marks, the senior intelligence officer during the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, said that the fallout from last weekend’s massacre could force a withdrawal from Afghanistan in a matter of weeks. “It’s not inconceivable that that could happen,” Marks said, noting that Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s demand for occupation troops to remain confined to base could dramatically change the mission. Karzai demanded NATO confine its troops on Thursday, during a meeting with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta. Panetta has been among the officials who insist that there will be no policy changes because of the massacre. But they may not have a choice in the matter, as reports emerge that the Afghan parliament unanimously passed a resolution to abandon the current agreed upon terms of engagement for US troops (the Afghan War’s equivalent of a Status of Force...