NOAM CHOMSKY: “Gaza: One Year Later”

DemocracyNow!
December 29, 2009

On December 27, 2008, Israel began one of the bloodiest attacks on Gaza Since 1948. The three week assault killed some 1400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis. One year later, little to no rebuilding has taken place and the siege in Gaza continues.

Speaking in Watertown, Massachusetts on December 6, 2009, linguist and social critic Noam Chomsky delivered a talk entitled “Gaza: One Year Later.”

Click on Title above to continue

President Obama Wins Nobel "Peace Prize": “The Instruments of War Do Have a Role to Play in Preserving the Peace”

DemocracyNow!
December 10, 2009

President Obama accepted the Nobel Peace Prize today in Oslo, Norway, less than two weeks after he ordered 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan. In a possible attempt to avoid questions about the Afghan war, the White House has canceled the traditional press conference held by Nobel Peace Prize winners. In addition, the White House has canceled other events held every year, including a dinner with the Norwegian Nobel Committee, a television interview, appearances at a children’s event promoting peace, as well as a visit to an exhibition in his honor at the Nobel Peace Center...

Click on Title above to continue

Before Obama escalates the Afghan war, he must tell us who we are fighting

By Peter Chamberlin
Online Journal Contributing Writer
November 27, 2009

...“Al Qaida,” the base, in Arabic, is not the great threatening beast that has been used to frighten the little children. “Al Q” is a group of a few hundred Arab terrorists, gathered together by America and Saudi Arabia in a network that was overseen by Osama bin Laden in Peshawar, Pakistan. The CIA network recruited anti-Soviet fighters from all over the world, to serve agency interests. They were never under bin Laden’s command. American propagandists have created the illusion of a terrorist army of thousands of fighters, by lumping together bin Laden’s small group with the massive intelligence network that brought them all to Afghanistan, under the single rubric of “al Qaida.”...

Click on Title above for full article

Obama's Profile in Courage Moment

By Ray McGovern
Consortium News
November 24, 2009

“It took a lot of courage on Kennedy’s part to defy the Pentagon, defy the military — and do the right thing,” said Col. Larry Wilkerson, USA (ret.), according to Robert Dreyfuss in his recent Rolling Stone article “The Generals’ Revolt.”...

Click on Title above for full article

Israel Under Widespread International Criticism for Settlement Expansion Plan

DemocracyNow!
November 20, 2009

Israel is coming under widespread international criticism for its plan to engage in a new round of illegal settlement expansion on occupied Palestinian land. Israel says it will build 900 new housing units in the East Jerusalem settlement of Gilo. Meanwhile, Palestinian Authority leaders began a renewed effort last week to win international support for formal Security Council endorsement of a Palestinian state based on 1967 borders. We speak with UCLA professor Saree Makdisi, author of Palestine Inside Out: An Everyday Occupation...

Click on Title above to continue

In Afghanistan, the Pentagon Digs in

Tomgram: Nick Turse, In Afghanistan, the Pentagon Digs in
by Nick Turse
November 5, 2009
TomDispatch.com

In our day, the American way of war, especially against lightly armed guerrillas, insurgents, and terrorists, has proved remarkably heavy. Elephantine might be the appropriate word. The Pentagon likes to talk about its "footprint" on the geopolitical landscape. In terms of the infrastructure it's built in Iraq and Afghanistan, perhaps "crater" would be a more reasonable image...

Click on Title above to continue

Pakistan's Forgotten Crisis

International Rescue Committee
November 2, 2009

While hundreds of thousands have returned to rebuild their lives in Pakistan's conflict-ridden Swat Valley, some of the poorest people in the country are unable to return to their destroyed homes and crops...

Click on Title above for full article

Rethink Afghanistan: Filmmaker Robert Greenwald Launches Film Opposing Escalation of War

DemocracyNow!
October 2, 2009

As the eighth anniversary of the US-led bombing of Afghanistan draws closer, the Obama administration continues to debate the best way to fight this ongoing war. Senate Democrats voted Thursday to delay a Congressional briefing by General Stanley McChrystal, the top US commander in Afghanistan. Meanwhile a NATO airstrike on a compound in southern Afghanistan has reportedly killed a family of six. As the civilian death toll in Afghanistan continues to rise we turn now to an excerpt from a new documentary by filmmaker Robert Greenwald of Brave New Films. Its called “Rethink Afghanistan” and premieres today in New York...

Click on Title above to continue

At Historic Summit, Security Council Passes Resolution to Limit Nuclear Proliferation

DemocracyNow!
September 25, 2009

The UN Security Council has unanimously passed a US-drafted resolution aimed at shoring up the international commitment to limiting the spread of nuclear weapons. But critics say it failed to include mandatory provisions that would have required nuclear states to take concrete disarmament steps. We speak to John Burroughs, executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee on Nuclear Policy. He recently met with several UN missions of Security Council members regarding the nuclear vote...

Click on Title above for full story

Let Us Not Become the Evil We Deplore

by Amy Goodman
TruthDig
September 15, 2009

On Sept. 14, 2001, the U.S. House of Representatives considered House Joint Resolution 64, “To authorize the use of United States Armed Forces against those responsible for the recent attacks launched against the United States.” The wounds of 9/11 were raw, and the lust for vengeance seemed universal. The House vote was remarkable, relative to the extreme partisanship now in evidence in Congress, since 420 House members voted in favor of the resolution. More remarkable, though, was the one lone vote in opposition, cast by Barbara Lee of San Francisco. Lee opened her statement on the resolution, “I rise today with a heavy heart, one that is filled with sorrow for the families and loved ones who were killed and injured in New York, Virginia and Pennsylvania.” Her emotions were palpable as she spoke from the House floor...

Click on Title above to continue

AP photo of dying Marine draws fire from Pentagon

By Matthew Shaer | 09.04.09
Christian Science Monitor


Defense Secretary Robert Gates has condemned the Associated Press decision to release a photograph of a US Marine wounded during a battle in the Helmand province of southern Afghanistan. The Marine, Lance Cpl. Joshua M. Bernard of New Portland, Maine, was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade in a Taliban ambush on Aug. 14. He later died of his wounds...

Click on Title above to continue

“The Safe Haven Myth”–Harvard Prof. Stephen Walt Takes on Obama’s Justification for Escalating the Afghanistan War

DemocracyNow!
August 25, 2009

US military commanders have reportedly told the US special envoy to the region, Richard Holbrooke, that they need more troops to fight the Taliban in Afghanistan. Last week, President Obama defended the expansion of the war, calling it a “war of necessity.” We speak with Harvard professor Stephen Walt, who argues that the President’s “safe haven” argument for expanding the US military presence in Afghanistan should be viewed with skepticism...

Click on Title above to continue

Quittin' time in Afghanistan

By ERIC MARGOLIS
23rd August 2009
Toronto Sun

An election held under the guns of a foreign occupation army cannot be called legitimate or democratic.

This week's stage-managed vote in Afghanistan for candidates chosen by western powers is unlikely to bring either peace or tranquility to this wretched nation that has suffered 30 years of war...

Aiding and Abetting War Crimes

By Frida Berrigan
August 19, 2009
In These Times

The Israeli military tested new weapons in Gaza with U.S. support...Richard Falk, the UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, says that of the 1,434 Palestinians killed in Gaza, 960 were civilians, including 121 women and 288 children....

Click on Title above to continue

Demand Fair Reporting on Honduras

JustForeignPolicy

Could you urge the Miami Herald and McClatchy News to report on repression in Honduras since the coup and calls in Congress for the Obama Administration to take further measures against the coup regime?

Click on Title above to take action

INDIA/PAKISTAN: A Fresh Approach to Peace

By Ranjit Devraj
IPS
July 17, 2009

If the leaders of India and Pakistan were looking for out-of-the-box solutions to their long-standing dispute over Kashmir and the related issue of cross-border terrorism, they could hardly have done better than the joint statement they released this week after their meeting at the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh...

Click on Title above to continue

Sri Lankan Tamils Ponder Future

by Philip Reeves
All Things Considered
National Public Radio
June 18, 2009

A month has elapsed since the war ended in Sri Lanka. Yet people on that island nation are still trying to piece together their lives. Many have been celebrating the government's stunning defeat of the Tamil Tiger separatist rebels who it fought for nearly three decades, but the war has left many scars and much unsettled business...

Obama’s Pick to Lead Afghan War Linked to Abuse of Prisoners & Secret Assassination Unit

DemocracyNow!
June 9, 2009

Lieutenant General Stanley McChrystal formerly served as commander of the Joint Special Operations Command from 2003 to 2008. During that time, he oversaw a secretive program to hunt down and assassinate suspected terrorists around the globe. Last year, lawmakers delayed Stanley McChrystal’s nomination for a key position because of questions about prisoner abuse by forces under his command. Many of the reports of abuse center on Camp Nama, a US base near Baghdad’s airport where Special Operations troops ran an interrogation and detention center...

After Iraq, it's not just North Korea that wants a bomb

Seumas Milne
guardian.co.uk
Wednesday 27 May 2009

The nuclear weapons states are the main drivers of proliferation. Only radical disarmament can halt their spread

U.N. Chief Calls Tour Of Sri Lankan Camp 'Sobering'

by The Associated Press
NPR.org, May 23, 2009 · U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon flew over the scorched and deserted landscape of Sri Lanka's last battlefield Saturday, and urged the government to let more aid reach displaced Tamils complaining of hunger and separation from their families.

Howard Zinn: Changing Obama's Military Mindset

We are citizens, and Obama is a politician. You might not like that word. But the fact is he’s a politician. He’s other things, too—he’s a very sensitive and intelligent and thoughtful and promising person. But he’s a politician.

If you’re a citizen, you have to know the difference between them and you—the difference between what they have to do and what you have to do. And there are things they don’t have to do, if you make it clear to them they don’t have to do it...

“Get out of Iraq. Get out Afghanistan. Come home America.”

Congressman Dennis Kucinich:

“America went to war against Iraq based on a lie. We were told back in 2002 that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. The previous administration even pursued torture to try to extract false confessions in order to justify the war. It is time to tell the truth. The truth is we should not have prosecuted a war against the Iraqi people. The truth is the Democratic Senate could have stopped the Iraq war in 2002. The truth is we Democrats were given control of Congress in 2006 to end the war. The truth is this bill continues a disastrous war, which has cost the lives of thousands of our soldiers. The truth is the occupation has fueled the insurgency. The truth is the Iraq war will cost the American and the Iraqi people trillions of dollars and as many as a million innocent Iraqis have lost their lives as a result of this war...

Pentagon Pundits: New York Times Reporter David Barstow Wins Pulitzer Prize for Exposing Military’s Pro-War Propaganda Media Campaign

In his first national broadcast interview, New York Times reporter David Barstow speaks about his 2009 Pulitzer Prize-winning expose of the Pentagon propaganda campaign to recruit more than seventy-five retired military officers to appear on TV outlets as military analysts ahead of and during the Iraq war. This week, the Pentagon inspector general’s office admitted its exoneration of the program was flawed and withdrew it...

Why Are Army Recruiters Killing Themselves?

The Nacogdoches, Texas, recruiting office where Larry Flores and Amanda Henderson worked

By MARK THOMPSON Thursday, Apr. 02, 2009
Time Magazine

When Army Staff Sergeant Amanda Henderson ran into Staff Sergeant Larry Flores in their Texas recruiting station last August, she was shocked by the dark circles under his eyes and his ragged appearance. "Are you O.K.?" she asked the normally squared-away soldier. "Sergeant Henderson, I am just really tired," he replied. "I had such a bad, long week, it was ridiculous." The previous Saturday, Flores' commanders had berated him for poor performance. He had worked every day since from 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m., trying to persuade the youth of Nacogdoches to wear Army green. "But I'm O.K.," he told her...

Waiting To Cross No Man's Land

By Eric Westervelt
April 8, 2009
NPR

Most every Palestinian in the West Bank says the biggest obstacles to a better economic life are the hundreds of military roadblocks and barriers that separate the West Bank from Israel. Israel's wall and fence project has dramatically reduced suicide bombings and other attacks inside the country. But the barrier, which will stretch some 450 miles when completed, also has had a severely negative effect on the lives of ordinary Palestinians. NPR's Eric Westervelt and David Gilkey traveled the length of the barrier to explore how it has affected the lives of people on both sides.

American NLG Lawyers Release New Findings that Israel Violated International Law, US Domestic Law in Gaza

National Lawyers Guild Press Release
For Immediate Release – April 2, 2009

Israel violated international law by targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure, misusing weapons, deliberately denying medical care to the wounded and attacking medical personnel, the National Lawyers Guild Delegation to Gaza said today upon releasing a 37 page report containing new evidence on the facts surrounding Israel’s 22 day military offensive in Gaza. The full report can be viewed at www.nlg.org. Photos are also available upon request....

Don't Go There Mr. President!

by Tom Hayden
Op Ed News
March 27, 2009

...A regional diplomatic and political solution is possible, but not by imposing US-NATO dominance...

The United States has been at war for six long years. Today, March 19th, will be the 6th anniversary of the start of an illegal war against the people of Iraq.

Throughout these years, our government lied, and disregarded human rights and the rule of law. The Iraqi death toll continues to rise, and massive destruction has left Iraq in ruins. The war has drained our national treasury while the profits of oil companies and war profiteers have soared.

Global Exchange and our partners at United For Peace and Justice call on groups large and small across the country to take public action on the 6th anniversary of the war.

We call for the war and occupation to end now and for all the troops and contractors to be brought home!

Find an action local to you here:

http://www.unitedforpeace.org/article.php?list=type&type=28

Rethink Afghanistan

Video from Rethink Afghanistan from Brave New Foundation. Robert Greenwald of BNF is heading to Afghanistan soon and invites everyone to suggest questions he should ask while he’s there. Go here to learn more and make suggestions and to join BNF’s campaign to get hearings and a new approach to Afghanistan.

Testimony of Spc. Brandon Neely

On December 4, 2008, Specialist Brandon Neely approached CSHRA with testimony he wished to contribute to the Guantánamo Testimonials Project. He believed that insufficient attention had been paid to "the hell that went on at Camp X-Ray." He would be in a position to know, as he arrived in Guantánamo while the cages of Camp X-Ray were still being welded, and escorted the second detainee to hit the prison grounds. In this interview, Specialist Neely provides testimony of the arrival of the detainees in full sensory-deprivation garb, sexual abuse by medical personnel, torture by other medical personnel, brutal beatings out of frustration, fear, and retribution, the first hunger strike and its causes, torturous shackling, positional torture, interference with religious practices and beliefs, verbal abuse, restriction of recreation, the behavior of mentally ill detainees, possible isolation regime of the first six children in GTMO, utter lack of preparation for guarding individuals detained during the War on Terror, and his conversations with prisoners David Hicks and Rhuhel Ahmed...

http://humanrights.ucdavis.edu/projects/the-guantanamo-testimonials-project/testimonies/testimonies-of-military-guards/testimony-of-brandon-neely

Americans should see the 'high cost' of war

By LEONARD PITTS JR.
February 20, 2009
Miami Herald

...I submit that the cost of war -- whether the one everyone supports or the one no one does -- is not something to be hidden from the people of a democracy. To the contrary, it is something they should never be allowed to forget. We need to know it. Otherwise, war becomes little more than a video game, death tolls just columns of numbers, and we forget to be judicious with the lives of our fellow citizens, forget to hold political and military leaders accountable for how and when and why those lives are spent.

The Obama administration has promised transparency. To continue this ban would do violence to that pledge. Let the coffins be borne from the planes, and let the cameras record it -- and let the people see it and grow reverent and wise. Let them pause in their shopping and be touched and reminded that there is, indeed, ''a high cost'' to war...

http://www.miamiherald.com/living/columnists/leonard-pitts/story/908823.html

Who Profits?

About the Project | Israeli and international corporations are directly involved in the occupation: in the construction of Israeli colonies and infrastructure in the occupied territories, in the settlements’ economy, in building walls and checkpoints, in the supply of specific equipment used in the control and repression of the civilian population under occupation.

http://www.whoprofits.org/index.php

Obama and the Drug of Hope

Obama's audacious attacks only days within office run counter to the hope and change policies that he had mightily professed. Even the executive orders for the closure of Gitmo and other prisons still cannot abolish torture and illegal detention, in stark contrast to what CNN lackeys had prematurely parroted during the inauguration.

Does Iran's President Want Israel Wiped Off The Map - Does He Deny The Holocaust?

An analysis of media rhetoric on its way to war against Iran - Commenting on the alleged statements of Iran's President Ahmadinejad.

U.N. investigator: Evidence of Israeli war crimes

No specific author listed
January 22, 2009
Jewish Telegraphic Agency

...U.N. investigator Richard Falk, whose official title is U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, called for an independent inquiry into the issue on Thursday, Reuters reported.

Falk, who is Jewish, compared Israel's operation in civilian areas and its sealing of Gaza's borders to the Warsaw Ghetto....

Inside A Congolese Displaced Persons Camp: Children Cling To Our Arms, Begging For Human Touch (PHOTOS)

by Georgianne Nienaber
January 21, 2009
Huffington Post

Australian journalist Helen Thomas was the first to ask the question. "Do you find it hard to believe that we are able to function here and do our work?"

We were wading through a literal sea of humanity housed on a volcanic landscape that mirrored Dante's Inferno. Children clung to our arms as if our limbs were the branches of trees. The doctor warned us to avoid touching, since disease was present in every snotty nose and dirty hand that reached for comfort. You cannot say no to the begging for human touch, and soon rivers of green, yellow, and brown fluids from runny noses cover arms and hands and clothing, and eventually you give up trying to clean it off. The stench is overpowering--13,360 adults and 7,000 children crammed into huts unfit for animals. It is a little over a week since Christmas day and it occurs to you that even HE was born into better conditions than this...