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Date: 21-26 JULY 2006 |
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Date: 26 July 2006 www.informationclearinghouse.info/article2564.htm === RSS FEED www.informationclearinghouse.info/rssfeed.xml News Syndication You can include the headlines from this newsletter on your own website free of charge === Number of U.S. Military Personnel Sacrificed (Officially acknowledged) In Bush’s War 2570 The War in Iraq Costs === Cowards – Cowards – Cowards World Leaders Cower Before U.S. Power Diplomats Back Troops, but Not Cease-fire, for Mideast By HELENE COOPER In the face of United States opposition, an international conference here today stopped short of calling for an immediate cease-fire in the Lebanon crisis. The conference instead adopted more nebulous language that reflected America’s desire to give Israel time to continue its bombardment of Hezbollah targets. === === By John Pilger The US role in supporting Israel’s military assault on Lebanon falls into a pattern of imperial tyranny, where history is rewritten to suit America’s needs while Europe stands cravenly by. === By Randa Takieddin Did the American people see on CNN the child whose face was burnt by Israeli phosphorous bombs in Lebanon? Did they hear him screaming in pain at Sidon Hospital, with his mother falling to pieces in agony beside him because of the injury he sustained from the terrible bombs? How can the American people accept their elected President George W. Bush’s rejection of a ceasefire? === By Reuters “I am shocked and deeply distressed by the apparently deliberate targeting by Israeli Defence Forces of a UN Observer post in southern Lebanon,” Mr Annan said. === By Associated Press U.N. peacekeepers in southern Lebanon called the Israeli military 10 times over a six-hour period to ask it to halt its nearby bombing before their observation post was hit, killing four people, according to details of a preliminary U.N. report on the incident released to The Associated Press on Wednesday. === By Robert Fisk The United States sees this bloodbath as an ‘opportunity’ rather than a tragedy, a chance to humble Hizbollah’s supporters in Tehran and help to shape the ‘new Middle East’ of which Ms Rice spoke so blandly yesterday. In fact it will more likely to prove to be Syria’s attempt to humble Israel and the United States in Lebanon. === This is a must listen interview with Tina Naccache in Beirut The Silence of the good people of the United States is deafening! How can they not do anything? === What exactly is being defended? Is it the citizens of Israel or the nature of the Israeli state? By Oren Ben-Dor Silence about the immoral core of Israeli statehood makes us all complicit in breeding the terrorism that threatens a catastrophe which could tear the world apart. === By Jonathan Cook So the chronology of war has been reorganized: now we are being told that Israel was forced to attack Lebanon to defend itself from the barrage of Hezbollah rockets falling on Israeli civilians. The international community is buying the argument hook, line, and sinker. “Israel has the right to defend itself,” says every politician who can find a microphone to talk into. === By Nasim Zehra The world has facilitated Israel’s continuing crime. As always the muted Arab and Muslim response are inconsequential. UN’s early murmurings against disproportionate response, were initially ignored. Led by the United States the international community has given Israel a carte blanche to do whatever Israel considers necessary to promote its security. This was conveyed by the mild worded G-8 summit statement. C === Video News Reports – Warning – This video contains images depicting the reality and horror of war and should only be viewed by a mature audience. Click here to watch. === A well-connected former CIA officer has told me that the Bush Administration is in fact considering exactly such a deployment. === Hezbollah inflicted heavy casualties on Israeli troops as they battled for a key hilltop town in southern Lebanon for a fourth day Wednesday, with as many as 14 soldiers reported killed. Lebanese official === “We are entering a new phase in the confrontation, the phase of (striking) beyond Haifa,” Nasrallah said in a televised speech referring to Israel’s main northern city. === “People are afraid, and in need, and we are protecting them and helping care for the refugees created by this Zionist aggression,” he told IPS. “The longer this fight continues, the more support we will have. We are prepared to fight to the very end.” === Hamas and Hizbullah campaigns are legitimate resistance operations fighting a colonial army of occupation. Instead, by labeling their actions as “terrorism”, it effectively denies them the rights we all enjoy, namely, the right to be free, democratic and live in security without occupation. === Israeli ambassador to Washington Danny Ayalon, said that the US government would not pressure Israel to halt its operations in Lebanon. === An Irish army officer in south Lebanon warned Israel six times that air strikes threatened the lives of U.N. observers there before four staff were killed in a direct hit, Ireland’s Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday. === US. Sending Bombs To Israel Through The UK: === Among hundreds of thousands of refugees scattered across city parks, schools and abandoned buildings in Beirut, new and chilling words have been doing the rounds. === The United States wants to destroy Hizbollah, partly to prevent it from menacing Israel but also to humble the group’s “founding patron Iran and its ally Syria”, whose actions Washington says threaten the entire Middle East. === King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has promised to give $500m to Lebanon to pay for reconstruction. === Israeli occupation forces killed 19 Palestinians in fighting across the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, including at least 10 civilians, three were children and one a handicapped man, medics and witnesses said. === Fighting in southern Afghanistan killed 22 suspected Taliban militants, officials said Wednesday === Fighting in eastern provinces left a U.S. soldier and seven suspected Taliban dead, officials said. === Gunmen dressed in police uniforms kidnapped 17 people, including five women and two children, from an apartment building in central Baghdad, an interior ministry source said. === Each refrigerator holds about 25 bodies, and they’re fully stocked; leftover corpses, and even some solitary limbs, pile up nearby. Morgue staff go about their business among swarms of black flies. It’s just another day in Baghdad === The two leaders disagreed on calls for a ceasefire, with Maliki emphasizing “the importance of immediate ceasefire” and Bush sticking by his view that a ceasefire can come only as part of a long-term solution. === N.J. Congressmen Boycott Iraqi Leader’s Speech : Democratic Representatives Frank Pallone and Bill Pascrell Junior skipped the session because of al-Maliki’s negative remarks about Israel and for not condemning Hezbollah militants. At the heart of the Lebanon crisis lie the lethal mistakes of George Bush : Instead of pursuing a Middle East peace deal, the White House’s big idea has been to bomb people into democracy === Even before the bombs fell on Baghdad, a group of senior Pentagon officials were plotting to invade another country. Their covert campaign once again relied on false intelligence and shady allies. But this time, the target was Iran. === Britain should take a much more robust and independent approach to the United States, according to a Guardian/ICM poll published today, which finds strong public opposition to Tony Blair’s close working relationship with President Bush. === An exposé of the close relationship between President Bush and Italy’s Silvio Berlusconi — Big B and little b — reveals that country to be our willing partner in our dirty ‘war on terror.’ === As the Senate prepares to consider anew the nomination of John Bolton as United Nations ambassador, Senators Schumer and Clinton are facing increasing pressure from pro-Israel groups to renounce another Democratic filibuster in light of the escalating war in the Middle East. === It has everything to do with 2008, Hillary, AIPAC, and Israel. === A private US-Israeli company, Security Solutions International, is responding to the need for better quality training by sponsoring a training missions to Israel for US law enforcement and security officers. === The FBI paid almost $56,000 to two confidential informants who are key to the case against seven men accused of being involved in a terrorist plot to blow up the Sears Tower in Chicago and other targets. === Nothing could be further from the truth. Republicans are not the party of security. They are the party of fear. From their colorized terrorism alerts to their exaggerated threats of Iraqi WMDs, the Republican party wants us to feel afraid. === The Power of Nightmares: In the past our politicians offered us dreams of a better world. Now they promise to protect us from nightmares. The most frightening of these is the threat of an international terror network. But just as the dreams were not true, neither are these nightmares. === Citing national security, a federal judge Tuesday threw out a lawsuit aimed at blocking AT&T Inc. from giving telephone records to the government for use in the war on terror. === Jose Torero, professor of fire safety engineering at the University of Edinburgh, conducted the experiment on a 24-storey tower block in Dalmarnock. === Date: 25 July 2006 === RSS FEED www.informationclearinghouse.info/rssfeed.xml News Syndication You can include the headlines from this newsletter on your own website free of charge === Number of U.S. Military Personnel Sacrificed (Officially acknowledged) In Bush’s War 2567 The War in Iraq Costs === Ali Shaito, Implores his mother, Muntaha, to stay conscious as she lays near death from shrapnel wounds === Video Report The doctor treating the family says that there is phosphorus in the weapons that cause extremely painful burns on it’s victims.: – WARNING – Graphic images . Click here to view === By Megan K. Stack Six Red Cross volunteers were wounded in the Sunday attack, and the injured family they were ferrying to safety suffered fresh agonies. A middle-age man lost his leg from the knee down. His mother was partially paralyzed. A little boy’s head was hammered by shrapnel. === The wounded cry out for slain loved ones By Anthony Shadid “Where’s my father? Where’s my father?” asked Mahmoud Srour, an 8-year-old whose face was burned beyond recognition after an Israeli missile struck the family’s car Sunday. His mother, Nouhad, lurched toward his hospital bed, her eyes welling with tears. === By Patrick Seale Its strategy in Lebanon seems to be to empty the south of its population, driving the Shi’ites out of their traditional homeland, where they have lived for centuries, in much the same way as it continues its pitiless onslaught on Gaza. In Lebanon, some 600,000 people have already been displaced, while the entire country is being brutalized and strangled. === Why did you allow the Secretary of State to visit Beirut? By Mike Whitney What type of man would put out the “red carpet” for his enemy while his people are still being slaughtered in the field? === By Pepe Escobar As southern Lebanon is turned into a wasteland mirroring the Gaza gulag, Washington neo-cons may stridently celebrate the contours of a final solution for the Hamas-Hezbollah “problem”. Or should they? === Uncensored News Reports From Across The Middle East Video News Reports Warning This video contains images depicting the reality and horror of war and should only be viewed by a mature audience. === The U.S. military killed two civilians on Monday after a roadside bomb exploded near their patrol in Saqlawiya, near Falluja, police said. === Reports allege that tactics for operations, interrogations led to continued prisoner abuse, wrongful deaths. === President George W. Bush said on Tuesday the United States would boost the presence of U.S. troops and Iraqi security personnel in Baghdad in an effort to curb the violence in the capital. === A top Iraqi military officer yesterday drew a dark picture of the security situation in his war-torn country while on a visit to Washington and said the current US strategy lacked vision and had failed. === 50 percent of U.S. thinks Iraq had WMDs: : Half of Americans now say Iraq had weapons of mass destruction when the United States invaded the country in 2003 — up from 36 percent last year, a Harris poll finds. === Democrats Blast Iraqi Prime Minister on Israel Statements: Congressional Democrats voiced alarm on Tuesday over Iraq’s denunciation of Israel in the Mideast conflict, and some said Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s upcoming address to Congress should be canceled unless he apologizes. === “It’s Time To Let The Israelis Take Off The Gloves,” === Israeli troops sealed off a Hezbollah stronghold and warplanes killed six people in a market city in southern Lebanon on Tuesday, while Beirut was pounded by new air strikes. Guerrillas fired rockets at northern Israel, killing a girl === An Israel “:Defense Forces” officer and a soldier were killed and 14 soldiers were wounded, two of them seriously, in a battle yesterday with Hezbollah in the town of Bint Jbail, in the central sector in South Lebanon. === A US-based human rights group has accused Israel of using artillery-fired cluster grenades against a Lebanese village last week during its assault against Hezbollah. === Israel Must Not Use Indiscriminate Weapons === Knesset member Azmi Bishara (Balad) has accused Israel of such massive use of force in the conflict with Hizbullah that “it’s like a nuclear bomb falling on Lebanon – the whole country is destroyed.” === – – WARNING – Graphic images depicting the reality and horror of Israel’s Invasion and destruction of Lebanon. === According to a well-worn script that Israel has grown accustomed to over the years, the arrival of the US secretary of state during wartime means an end to Israeli military advances. But this time the script is different. === Israel says it will keep control over an area in southern Lebanon until an international force can be deployed. === Hezbollah’s war with Israel, so far, has been a rare military accomplishment in the history of the Middle East conflict, analysts say. But they doubt whether the Islamist militia can endure sustained and intensive warfare. === “I think it’s preposterous. From the beginning this is a plan that cannot be achieved,” former Egyptian foreign minister Ahmed Maher told Reuters. === Yadlin emphasized that “neither Syria nor Israel are interested in a military clash but the situation is explosive and the events may potentially be incorrectly interpreted. This could entangle Syria up in a battle against us.” === In a statement read out on state television on Tuesday, King Abdullah said, “If the option of peace fails as a result of Israeli arrogance, then the only option remaining will be war, and God alone knows what the region would witness in a conflict that would spare no one.” === The United States is using authoritarian Arab leaders, who fear that Iran could export its revolutionary political model to their disgruntled populations and are concerned about Washington’s reprisal against them a la Saddam Hussein in Iraq === Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniya said the US view of a new Middle East was one that began with “destroying Lebanon” and with killing the maximum number of Palestinians. === A 5-year old child was killed and three members of her family were injured in Beit Lahia in the northern part of the Gaza Strip. In a separate incident, a child and his grandmother were killed; three residents were injured in the northern part of the Gaza Strip. === UN humanitarian coordinator Jan Egeland today criticised Israel’s strike last month on the sole power plant in impoverished Gaza as a “clear” example of disproportionate use of force. === According to the Israeli human rights group, B’tselem, six civilians including two minors were subjected to the illegal tactic during an invasion into the town of Beit Hanoun last week. === Without warning, the telephone or cellular phone rings in a Palestinian home. The caller is an Israeli intelligence officer who speaks weak Arabic. He speaks little and has only specific words to say, “We are from the Israeli Defence Force. Leave the house – we will destroy it in half an hour.” === A Date With Bevin: Jewish insurgents, who had long been fighting a bloody insurgency campaign against British troops in Palestine, were about to take their war to London. === A U.S. soldier and seven insurgents have been killed in two separate clashes in Afghanistan, coalition forces said on Tuesday, in the latest spate of violence in the country. === Bomb kills 2 in Kabul: The bomb on a busy Kabul road — the latest in a series of blasts that have rattled the capital — killed a man and woman in the taxi and wounded four other people === Three men have been cleared of trying to procure a substance which police claimed could have made a “dirty bomb”. === “Innocent passengers are being entered into an international intelligence database as suspicious persons, acting in a suspicious manner on an aircraft … and they did nothing wrong,” said one federal air marshal. www.thedenverchannel.com/news/9559707/detail.html?taf=den === In case you missed it. The Power of Nightmares: In the past our politicians offered us dreams of a better world. Now they promise to protect us from nightmares. The most frightening of these is the threat of an international terror network. But just as the dreams were not true, neither are these nightmares. === A former CIA contract employee facing charges he beat a suspected insurgent in Afghanistan who later died will not be forced to rebut allegations that he was a violent man who also beat his young stepson. === NOBEL peace laureate Betty Williams displayed a flash of her feisty Irish spirit yesterday, lashing out at US President George W.Bush during a speech to hundreds of schoolchildren. === he American Bar Association said Sunday that President Bush was flouting the Constitution and undermining the rule of law by claiming the power to disregard selected provisions of bills that he signed. === Date: 24 July 2006 === RSS FEED www.informationclearinghouse.info/rssfeed.xml News Syndication You can include the headlines from this newsletter on your own website free of charge === Number of U.S. Military Personnel Sacrificed (Officially acknowledged) In Bush’s War 2565 The War in Iraq Costs === Fleeing civilian killed by Israel By Nicholas Blanford in Tyre and Ned Parker in Jerusalem One man, his face half torn off by a missile, sat in his seat, his yellowing hand hanging from the window. Beside him, covered in the dead man’s blood, a woman moved slightly back and forth. === By Robert Fisk This mother and son were in a convoy fleeing danger yesterday when the Israeli air force bombed the rear minibus, causing carnage. === By Aljazeera “Army chief of staff Dan Halutz has given the order to the air force to destroy 10 multi-storey buildings in the Dahaya district (of Beirut) in response to every rocket fired on Haifa,” a senior air force officer told army radio on Monday. === By Associated Press White House officials said President Bush remains opposed to an immediate cease-fire to stop violence in the Middle East, despite personal pleas from ally Saudi Arabia that he help stop the bloodshed. === By Paul Craig Roberts There never was any doubt of the Bush Regime’s complicity in Israel’s naked aggression against the Lebanese civilian population. Bush has protected Israel from world condemnation. Bush has blocked those who attempted to bring a stop to Israel’s bombing of residential neighborhoods and civilian infrastructure, and now Bush rushes more bombs for Israel to drop on Lebanon. === WSJ Editor: U.S. Missiles Save Lebanese Lives One Minute Video On Fox News Sunday, Paul Gigot, of the Wall Street Journal, indicated his support for rushing U.S. more missiles to Israel. Gigot argued that precise targeting abilities of U.S. missiles would reduce the number of civilian casualties.. === By Mike Whitney Was it wrong for Hezbollah to defend their country and chase Israel from Lebanese soil? Is that terrorism? === Are Iran and Syria Next? by Stephen Lendman By any interpretation of international law, Israel today is committing massive and egregious war crimes and crimes against humanity against the defenseless people of Palestine and Lebanon. It’s doing it with the full support and encouragement of the US and willful compliance of the West, most of the Arab world. === By Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed In the last few days, I learned from a credible and informed source that a former senior Labour government Minister, who continues to be well-connected to British military and security officials, confirms that Britain and the United States. – “… will go to war with Iran before the end of the year.” === Who Benefits from the Israel-Lebanon Flare-Up? By Jorge Hirsch Members of the Jewish faith and others correctly point out that Jews are often blamed for the sins of others. They may be about to be proven right again, in a big way. The current conflict may escalate to the point where the US will use nuclear weapons against Iran, in what will be the first use of nuclear weapons in war since Nagasaki. And the world will blame it on the Jews. === Outside their Sadr City home, relatives wept as their slender bodies were placed into makeshift wooden coffins and strapped side by side atop a minibus for the perilous trip through Sunni Arab country to the Valley of Peace cemetery in Najaf, where Shiites bury many of their dead. Their father beat his chest and wailed in misery, his white dishdasha robe covered in his sons’ blood. === Five Iraqi soldiers were killed and four wounded when a car driven by a suicide bomber exploded near their patrol in the northern city of Mosul === The Defense Ministry said Monday that eight “insurgents” were killed and 42 others were arrested during several operations conducted by Iraqi Army forces. === Sectarian break-up of Iraq is now inevitable, admit officials === Official statistics tell only part of the story of a slide into civil war — for the rest, just listen to ordinary Iraqis. === Israel preparing for occupation in Lebanon: Maj.-Gen. Udi Adam acknowledged in a briefing at Northern Command headquarters in Safed on Sunday afternoon that the commander of the IOF’s civil administration unit had already begun preparations toward the possibility of instituting a military administration in areas captured by the IDF over the last week. === The Islamic guerrilla group’s rocket barrage against Israel has shown no sign of subsiding. That was clear Sunday in Haifa, the country’s third-largest city, when 10 rockets exploded, killing two people and wounding more than a dozen. === Two airmen were also killed when a military helicopter crashed near Israel’s border with Lebanon on Monday === An IDF officer and a soldier were killed in fierce battles in Bint Jbail on Monday morning, the IDF announced Monday night. === The Bush administration’s contempt for the United Nations Charter, the Fourth Geneva Convention and the other fundamental principles of international law has once again been laid bare by its defense of the ongoing Israeli assault against Lebanon. === A VAST auditorium being used to house emergency aid in Beirut lay empty last night as relief agencies criticised Britain and other Western countries for their lame response to Lebanon’s worsening refugee crisis. === How Israel Air Strikes Have Caused a Humanitarian Crisis for Hundreds of Thousands of Refugees. Audio and transcript === In the first incident on Monday an IDF shell landed near a crowd of people standing outside an apartment building in the northern Gaza town of Beit Lahia, killing three people, Palestinian hospital officials said. Two were civilians, residents of the building, and the third was an off-duty police officer, residents said. === Israel has issued new censorship guidelines banning reporting of the “use of unique kinds of ammunition and weaponry” in Lebanon. === Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell has called for an end to the export of British arms to Israel. === It is essential for the US and its allies to abide by the same rules they seek to impose on others. This principle is being flouted === Braving extreme heat, a crowd of Israel’s supporters estimated at several thousand clogged Wilshire Boulevard, waving Israeli and American flags and cheering speakers who included Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Both lamented civilian casualties in Lebanon but expressed strong support for Israel. === Combatants For Peace Yonatan is a former Captain in the Israeli Air Force Reserves. In 2003, Yonatan initiated a group of Israeli Air Force pilots to sign a declaration refusing to participate in aerial attacks on Palestinian territories. Yonatan is also a co-founder of the group Combatants for Peace. === Video: Peace, Propaganda & the Promised Land: How Israel manipulates and distorts American public perceptions === US embassy put on terror alert: The next few days are likely to be very tense for the US embassy here. For a top IB official has sent a letter to security agencies with a chilling message the American embassy is expected to be targetted any time between now and July 30 by terrorists owing allegiance to an Iranian terror group. === Security agents in Jordan are torturing terrorism suspects on behalf of the United States in hopes of forcing confessions, the human rights watchdog Amnesty International contended in a new report Monday. === Alan “Torture is OK” Dershowitz is annoyed that the Israelis have been accused of killing innocent civilians. He is now arguing that there are degrees of “civilianity.” He wonders how many innocent civilians killed by Israel in Lebanon would still be innocent if we could make finer distinctions. === Six people have been killed and two coalition soldiers sustained injuries in two suicide attacks and firing by Afghan and ISAF soldiers === Suicide bombers killed eight people, including two Canadian coalition soldiers, in Kandahar, officials said. A purported Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for the blasts and warned of more as NATO prepares to take control of the volatile southern Afghan region. === Pakistan is reported to be building a nuclear reactor that could produce enough plutonium for up to 50 nuclear weapons a year. === Kremlin will favour Norwegian firms to develop Barents Sea field after differences with Bush scupper Russia’s bid to join WTO === Bush told to plan for Chávez oil shock: “Venezuela’s leverage over global oil prices and its direct supply lines and refining capacity in the US give Venezuela undue ability to impact US security and our economy,” Mr Lugar wrote in his letter to Ms Rice. === President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela is currently on a world tour that is likely to widen the rift with the United States – but may win him further support for a non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. === The United States is actively working to thwart Venezuela’s bid to obtain the rotating seat currently held by Bolivia and instead supports Guatemala’s candidacy, reported ANSA. === A judge in Spain has issued arrest warrants for eight former Guatemalan officials, including a former president, Efrain Rios Montt for crimes committed during what is known by many as the Guatemalan Genocide. === POLICE could be forced to shoot members of the public to maintain order in the event of a terrorist “dirty bomb” or biological attack on Britain, it was claimed yesterday. === Tony Blair flies to California this week to address the annual get-together of News Corporation – led by one Rupert Murdoch. From Europe to broadcasting, terrorism to the direction of the nation, what is the truth about one of the most intriguing relationships in British public life? === Antiwar critics running against Sen. Maria Cantwell lost one of their candidates this month when the Washington Democrat hired him to work in her campaign for $8,000 a month. === An independent investigation has found that imprisoned former Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham took advantage of secrecy and badgered congressional aides to help slip items into classified bills that would benefit him and his associates. === The U.S. military has awarded a contract for the design of a tiny flying drone that can gather battlefield intelligence and even snoop around inside buildings. === Date: 23 July 2006 === RSS FEED www.informationclearinghouse.info/rssfeed.xml News Syndication You can include the headlines from this newsletter on your own website free of charge === Number of U.S. Military Personnel Sacrificed (Officially acknowledged) In Bush’s War 2564 The War in Iraq Costs === By Aljazeera A senior United Nations official has accused Israel of breaking humanitarian law as he toured ruins in Beirut left by devastating Israeli air raids on residential areas. === By Mike Whitney Make no mistake, the vast destruction of the once-bustling metropolis and the ocean of suffering caused by the unprovoked Israeli air-assault, is a joint-operation facilitated by the Washington warlords as much as anyone in Tel Aviv. === Picture: A medic grabs the hand of Selaiman Chidiac, who was killed, from the wreckage of the building of mobile and television masts that was targeted by Israeli air strikes in Fatka, north Lebanon July 22, 2006. REUTERS/Adnan Hajj (LEBANON) === By Robert Fisk I watch Israel’s consul general, Arye Mekel, telling the BBC that Israel is “doing the Lebanese a favour” by bombing Hizbollah, insisting that “most Lebanese appreciate what we are doing”. So now I understand. The Lebanese must thank the Israelis for destroying their lives and infrastructure. They must be grateful for all the air strikes and the dead children. === By Al-Jazeera Hezbollah is not fighting for the sake of Syria or the sake of Iran. It is fighting for the sake of Lebanon. Yes, the result of this battle in Lebanon will be seen in Palestine. If it ends in victory, it will be victory there too; and if, God forbid, it ends in defeat, then the Palestinian brothers will face difficult and tragic conditions. But, God willing, there will only be victory. === The Bush Administration’s Grand Strategy and the Birth Pangs of Terror By Juan Cole “More than a year ago, a senior Israeli army officer began giving PowerPoint presentations, on an off-the-record basis, to U.S. and other diplomats, journalists and think tanks, setting out the plan for the current operation in revealing detail.” === By xymphora The Hariri assassination, immediately blamed on Syria (with no evidence other than the lies promoted by Mehlis), led directly to Syria being forced to withdraw its troops from Lebanon. It is obvious that that step was a necessary precondition of Israeli involvement in Lebanon. === By William Blum Israel has created its worst enemies — they helped create Hamas as a counterweight to Fatah in Palestine, and their occupation of Lebanon created Hezbollah. The current terrible bombings can be expected to keep the process going. C === The attack in the Shiite district of Sadr City happened shortly after 9 a.m., as the market was starting to get crowded, said police Lt. Kadhim al Garawi. === At least 20 people were killed and 70 wounded when a car bomb exploded near a court house in Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, police said. === Two American soldiers were killed Saturday in Baghdad, seven Shiite construction workers were gunned down and five Sunni civilians were blown up, deepening the capital’s security crisis. Shiite politicians called on the prime minister to cancel his visit to Washington to protest Israel’s attacks in Lebanon. === At least 36 and possibly as many as 55 Sunni Arab men were executed in what appears to have been a revenge operation condoned or even overseen by law enforcement officials. === Iraq’s parliament speaker Mahmud Mashhadani bitterly criticized US forces in Iraq, accusing them of “butchery” and demanded that they pull out of the country === Torture and other abuses against detainees in U.S. custody in Iraq were authorized and routine, even after the 2004 Abu Ghraib scandal, according to new accounts from soldiers. === Soldiers’ Accounts of Detainee Abuse in Iraq: Full report === The accounts reveal that detainee abuse was an established and apparently authorized part of the detention and interrogation processes in Iraq for much of 2003-2005. They also suggest that soldiers who sought to report abuse were rebuffed or ignored. === Hundreds of radical Shiite Muslims, some wielding assault rifles and rocket launchers, marched Friday in support of the Hezbollah movement and its leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, in the capital’s Sadr City district, home to loyalists of Shiite fundamentalist cleric Muqtada Sadr. === “The US military are force-feeding the president to break his will and end his hunger strike to protest against the trial and its illegality,” Khalil Dulaimi told Reuters === Israeli occupation forces killed four civilians and One Hamas fighter === Hezbollah rockets kill 2 in Haifa === PM opts for hostility rather than justice for Palestinians, says Haroon Siddiqui === On the eve of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s visit to Jerusalem, senior officials believe Israel has an American nod to continue operations against Hezbollah Lebanon at least until next Sunday. === Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz and his advisers have been stunned by the failure of Israel’s air war against Hizbullah, which has shrugged massive air bombings on its headquarters in Beirut to maintain the rocket war against the Jewish state. === “If Israel invades Lebanon and nears us, Syria will not sit quietly. It will join the conflict,” Bilal vowed. === A Syrian minister warned Israel in an interview published Sunday that a major ground incursion into Lebanon would draw his country into the Middle East conflict. === Britain has dramatically broken ranks with George Bush over the Lebanon crisis, publicly criticising Israel’s military tactics and urging the Americans to ‘understand’ the price being paid by ordinary Lebanese civilians. === === As tensions in the Middle East rise, calls are mounting for Switzerland to stop its military collaboration with Israel and other countries in the region. === According to the exclusive report, Israeli troops has started constructing a temporary detention compound at a military base in northern Israel, which is to be used for holding hundreds of Lebanese detainees taken during the future operations in southern Lebanon. === This war must be stopped now and immediately. From the start it was unnecessary, even if its excuse was justified, and now is the time to end it. = The brutal and indiscriminate attack upon the people and infrastructure of Lebanon by the Zionist State “Israel” is a crime against all basic standards of decency and humanity. === More than 2,500 people on Saturday attended a mass demonstration against the war in Lebanon, marching from Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square to a rally at the Cinemateque plaza. === Compensation claim against Lebanese gov’t in works Attorneys Yehudah Talmon, Yoram Dantziger, and Nitzah Libai preparing symbolic lawsuit to be presented in US against Lebanese government for compensation to be paid to Israeli businesses, citizens for war damages === Two Canadian soldiers and six Afghan civilians have died in a double attack by suicide bombers in the city of Kandahar in southern Afghanistan. === Unexpected Russian opposition to key wording of a U.S.-backed Security Council draft resolution is straining international unity on how to deal with Iran’s nuclear defiance, U.N. diplomats said Saturday. === It’s hard to imagine something more cynical than the White House exploiting Middle East convulsions — in which many innocents on all sides are dying in real time — to divide Americans at home in order to try and squeeze through the Senate confirmation of the pugnacious radicalizer and international de-stabilizer, John Bolton === I need your help to offset the costs associated with site hosting and bandwidth usage. If you find this site informative please help by clicking here === Date: 22 July 2006 === RSS FEED www.informationclearinghouse.info/rssfeed.xml News Syndication You can include the headlines from this newsletter on your own website free of charge === Number of U.S. Military Personnel Sacrificed (Officially acknowledged) In Bush’s War 2561 The War in Iraq Costs === They put the 86 corpses into plain wood caskets. Many were just big enough to fit a small child By Clancy Chassay in Tyre In the driveway of Tyre’s Government hospital yesterday the sour smell of rotting flesh mingled with spray paint as the chief coroner wrote the names of the dead on their coffins. === U.S. Rushes Bombs to Israel By DAVID S. CLOUD and HELENE COOPER The decision to quickly ship the weapons to Israel was made with relatively little debate within the Bush administration, the officials said. Its disclosure threatens to anger Arab governments and others because of the appearance that the United States is actively aiding the Israeli bombing campaign in a way that could be compared to Iran’s efforts to arm and resupply Hezbollah. Click here to view the results achived by Americas bombs === By Aljazera Condoleezza Rice has described the plight of Lebanon as a part of the “birth pangs of a new Middle East” and said that Israel should ignore calls for a ceasefire. === How U.S. Weapons Manufacturers Profit From Middle East Conflict Much has been made of the Syrian and Iranian origin of weaponry used by Hezbollah but there has been little discussion of where Israel’s weapons come from. A new report by the World Policy Institute examines how the United States provides billions of dollars of military aid to Israel each year and how their current arsenal is composed of U.S. made equipment. This a must listen report. Audio and transcript === By Dahr Jamail Anger is spilling over against the U.S. government – and its citizens. Ola Saleh, a 25-year-old civil rights volunteer from Latakia said: “In Syria people used to differentiate between the Bush regime and the American people. But now not only do Syrians not respect the Bush regime, they no longer respect the American people for allowing this to happen.” === By Paul Craig Roberts Does it make you a Proud American that “your” president gave Israel the green light to drop bombs on convoys of villagers fleeing from Israeli shelling, on residential neighborhoods in the capital of Beirut and throughout Lebanon, on hospitals, on power plants, on food production and storage, on ports, on civilian airports, on bridges, on roads, on every piece of infrastructure on which civilized life depends? Are you a Proud American? Or are you an Israeli puppet? === By Matthew Kalman, Chronicle Foreign Service Israel’s military response by air, land and sea to what it considered a provocation last week by Hezbollah militants is unfolding according to a plan finalized more than a year ago. === The exchange rate for Lebanese vs Israeli deaths now stands at 10 to one By Robert Fisk As many lies are now falling upon Lebanon as bombs. The explosions are easy to count – three on the southern suburbs of Beirut yesterday morning and many on the main highway to Syria, destroying more of the great viaduct at Mdeirej along with three passengers buses which were returning to Lebanon after carrying foreigners to Damascus. The lies were less obvious but just as powerful. === By Aljazeera US forces have committed butchery in Iraq and should leave, the speaker of the country’s parliament has said. === By Mariam Karouny Iraqi leaders have all but given up on holding the country together and, just two months after forming a national unity government, talk in private of “black days” of civil war ahead. === By Associated Press Four U.S. soldiers accused of murdering suspected insurgents during a raid in Iraq said they were under orders to “kill all military age males,” according to sworn statements obtained by The Associated Press. === Orwell Rolls in His Grave This is a must watch documentary “Could a media system, controlled by a few global corporations with the ability to overwhelm all competing voices, be able to turn lies into truth?…” Click here to view === The stench of death seeped into the warm seaside air as the dead were brought out. Children pinched their noses; the men’s faces grew a little stonier. Men and boys jostled on the streets and hoisted themselves up hospital walls to better view the spectacle. === The death toll has surpassed the 400 figure with four times that number injured. Over half a million have been displaced, many of whom encountered horrific escapes from Israeli shelling. The human tragedy is mounting by the hour and its magnitude is lost on those who oppose a cease-fire, professing that Israel needs more time to finish the job. === Note that in a national emergency when 500,000 persons have been rendered homeless and the number is growing, when there are hundreds of dead and thousands of wounded, national media such as television and radio are absolutely essential to relief efforts and to avoiding further mass casualties. === In all, up to 2,000 Israeli troops entered the area Saturday, but some returned to Israel during the day. No Israeli or Hezbollah casualties were immediately reported. === Australian Video Report === They have warned of a humanitarian disaster unless their stockpiles of relief supplies are allowed through. === – WARNING – Graphic images depicting the reality and horror of Israel’s Invasion and destruction of Lebanon. === === Read the list and call them. === Indonesia and Malaysia said they could send troops as part of a UN deployment to the Middle East as Asia showed mounting concern and urged the international community to intervene. === Four policemen and three civilians were killed when a roadside bomb went off in a local market in Baquba, police sources said. A U.S. soldier was killed when his vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb, the military said === Four U.S. soldiers accused of murdering suspected insurgents during a raid in Iraq said they were under orders to ‘’kill all military age males.’’ === Occupation and Afghan forces backed by helicopter gun ships killed 19 suspected Taliban in southern Helmand province, a local official said on Saturday. === Eight people were killed, including two foreign soldiers, in a two-pronged suicide attack in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar on Saturday, police and a coalition spokesman said. === This week, George Bush used his presidential veto to block a bill on stem cell research, saying he couldn’t support the ‘taking of innocent human life’. In Iraq, six civilians are killed by a US air strike, while casualties in Lebanon and Israel mount. George Bush (and Tony Blair) oppose UN calls for an immediate ceasefire === I defy you to watch this 48 minute documentary and not be outraged about the depth of corruption and deceit within the highest ranks of our government. === US to sell arms worth over $ 6 bn to Saudi Arabia : The United States Defence Department has notified Congress of possible arms sales such as helicopters, radios and armoured vehicles to Saudi Arabia worth over $ 6 billion. === Russia Signed USD 1 Bln Aircraft Contract With Venezuela: Russia has signed a contract on supplies of military planes and helicopters to Venezuela worth over USD1 billion, the defense minister said Friday. === The US has promoted its ally Guatemala as a rival candidate to Venezuela for a seat on the council and Chavez has accused Washington of trying to persuade Latin American countries to vote against him. === U.S. officials condemn ‘meddling’ by “third parties” in Cuba: – U.S. officials on Friday condemned potential outside interference in Cuba’s future by those who don’t support democratic elections there—singling out Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez as ``meddling’’ in Cuban affairs. === I Testimony from FBI agents in Miami revealed Tuesday that Miami terror suspect Jose Padilla was never told he had the right to walk out of his interview with agents, all while testifying that he was originally cooperative with them. === An Italian court has requested the extradition of 26 CIA agents . The court in Milan, which is leading the investigation, sent an extradition request to the public prosecutor’s office which would then pass it to Justice Minister Clemente Mastella, the daily said. Mastella should then in turn send it to his US counterpart. === The man who discovered America for Europe routinely tortured slaves and starved his subjects in colonies on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola. === I need your help to offset the costs associated with site hosting and bandwidth usage. If you find this site informative please help by clicking here === |
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