EAW's Breaking News archive

Blackwater Mercenaries Kill 17 Iraqis; US Renews Firm's Contract
(Matt Apuzzo, Lara Jakes Jordan / Associated Press & James Risen / The New York Times)

Blackwater Worldwide, the security contractor blamed by an angry Iraqi government for the shooting deaths of 17 civilians last year, is not expected to face criminal charges — all but ensuring the company will keep its multimillion-dollar contract to protect US diplomats.
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Abuse Claims Mount Against Pentagon, Contractors
(William Fisher / Inter Press Service)

The ACLU) has filed a equest with the Departments of Justice and Defence demanding release of a report on the unlawful interrogations of detainees in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantánamo Bay, which the group says has been completed for months but blocked by the Defence Department. Meanwhile, new torture claims were leveled at US contractors by a former Abu Ghraib "ghost" detainee who was wrongly imprisoned and later released without charge.
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Rearming the World
(Joshua Kurlantzick / The New York Times)

Last summer, as the US focused on the surge in Iraq, most ignored a military exercise with a potentially more far-reaching impact. In a remote location in the Ural Mountains, Russia, China, and several Central Asian nations gathered for a massive war game. The exercise highlighted an alarming new reality. With much less fanfare than the early days of the Cold War, the world is entering a new arms race, and with it, a dangerous new web of military relationships.
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ACTION ALERT: Stopping Rape as a Weapons of War
(Irene Khan / Amnesty International)

Rape is a weapon of war in so many countries around the world, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Colombia and Sudan. And one thing is clear — the problem of violence against women vastly exceeds the resources currently devoted to stopping it. Amnesty International's Stop Violence Against Women campaign is leading an effort to end this systematic violation of women's basic human rights. Support the International Violence Against Women Act.
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A Secret Afghanistan Mission Prepares for War with Iran
(William M. Arkin / Washington Post)

Those predicting war with Iran or some Bush-Cheney October surprise attack on Tehran are constantly looking for signs of military preparations. A secret mission conducted last August over Afghanistan tells us everything we need to know about the ability of the US military to conduct a bolt-out-of-the-blue attack in Iran. It also tells us how useless such a strike might be.
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Abuse Claims Mount Against Pentagon, Contractors
(William Fisher / Inter Press Service)

eport on a long-running investigation of the role of the FBI in the unlawful interrogations of detainees in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantánamo Bay, new torture claims were leveled at two US military contractors by a former Abu Ghraib "ghost" detainee who was wrongly imprisoned and later released without charge.
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Why does the US overthrow regimes in other countries?
(Eric Black Ink / Forum: Eye on Gambling)

Why does the US overthrow regimes in other countries? How does the United States come to arrogate to itself the right and the need to overthrow the governments of countries that have not attacked ours? New York Times foreign correspondent. Kinzer has written book-length treatments of some of those overthrows – most recently and notably, the CIA's overthrow of the democratic government of Iran in 1953.
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The US War on Journalists
(Amy Goodman / TruthDig.com)

Targeting journalists, the Bush administration has engaged in direct assault, intimidation, imprisonment and information blackouts to limit the ability of journalists to do their jobs. The principal target these past seven years has been Al-Jazeera, the Arabic television network based in Doha, Qatar. US tactics targeting the media have included arrests, illegal detentions, torture and murder.
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US Spy Base Attacked, Deflated
(Stuff.co.nz & The New Zealand Herald)

Three men accused of deflating a dome at the Waihopai spy base last week were granted bail on the condition they stay out of Marlborough. The Christian Ploughshares war protest group allegedly broke into the base last week and used a sickle to pierce one of two 30-metre rubber domes that protect the satellite dishes.
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Somalis Protest against US Missile Strike
(BBC World News)

At least 1,000 residents of the central Somali town of Dusamareb have held a protest against a deadly US attack. The missile strike on Thursday killed the leader of a group which the US links to al-Qaeda. At least 10 others died when a house in the town was hit. Protest organisers said people feared further strikes by US forces on the town.
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Ghana Halts Military Protection for Mining Companies
(FIAN International)

Human rights violations in communities affected by mining have featured prominently during Monday’s discussion of the report submitted by Ghana to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. The expansion of mining operations and the related deployment of the military and police to the mining areas has led to serious human rights violations in many mining communities in Ghana.
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The Historic Wronging of Palestine
(David Morrison / The Village Magazine)

The state of Israel came into existence 60 years ago on 14 May 1948. In the months before and after this declaration, Jewish forces drove around 750,000 Palestinians from their homes. Over 500 villages were emptied of their Palestinian population and most of them were destroyed so that those expelled had no homes to return to. Anybody who doubts that ethnic cleansing took place on this scale should read "The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine" by Israeli historian, Ilan Pappe.
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Democrats OK Funds for Covert Ops as Secret Bush "Finding" Widens War on Iran
(Andrew Cockburn / CounterPunch)

ix weeks ago, President Bush signed a secret finding authorizing a covert offensive against the Iranian regime that, according to those familiar with its contents, "unprecedented in its scope" — authorizing overs actions across a huge geographic area – from Lebanon to Afghanistan. Bush's secret attack plan is said to include "the assassination of targeted officials."
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Doubting the Evidence against Iran
(Mark Kukis and Abigail Hauslohner/ Time Magazine)

Washington is not pleased with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's plan for a special panel to investigate allegations of Iranian interference in Iraq. For years, U.S. officials have aired accusations against Iran. The Iraqi government, however, remains unconvinced — with good reason.
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Iran Rejects Nuclear Inspections unless Israel Allows Them
(Alexander G. Higgins / Associated Press)

An Iranian envoy said Monday his government will not submit to extensive nuclear inspections while Israel stays outside the global treaty to curb the spread of atomic weapons. "The existing double standard shall not be tolerated anymore by non-nuclear-weapon states," Ambassador Ali Asghar Soltanieh told a meeting of the 190 countries that have signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
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Doing the Troops Wrong
(Bob Herbert / New York Times Op-Ed)

Commentary: Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton support calls for a new "GI Bill," as do Harry Reid and Hose Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Who wouldn’t support an effort to pay for college for GI’s who have put their lives on the line, who in many cases have served multiple tours in combat zones and in some cases have been wounded? Well, you might be surprised at who is not supporting this effort. The Bush administration opposes it, and so does Senator John McCain.
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Iraq: Corruption Eats Into Food Rations
(Ali al-Fadhily and Dahr Jamail / Inter Press Service)

Amidst unemployment and impoverishment, Iraqis now face a cutting down of their monthly food ration — much of it already eaten away by official corruption. "When the Americans came to occupy Iraq, they promised us a better life," Ina'm Majeed, a teacher at a girls school told IPS in Fallujah. "After killing our sons and husbands, they are killing us by hunger now."
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‘Perhaps 60% of Today’s Oil Price Is Pure Speculation’
(F. William Engdahl / Global Research)

The price of crude oil today is not made according to any traditional relation of supply to demand. It’s controlled by an elaborate financial market system as well as by the four major Anglo-American oil companies. As much as 60% of today’s crude oil price is pure speculation driven by large trader banks and hedge funds. It has nothing to do with the convenient myths of Peak Oil. It has to do with control of oil and its price.
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Bush Admits He Approved Torture
(Helen Thomas / Seattle Post-Intelligencer)

Earlier this month, George W. Bush admitted to ABC that he knew about “enhanced interrogation” of detainees, including “waterboarding” or simulated drowning. “As a matter of fact,” Bush added, “I told them it was legal.” Helen Thomas asks: “Is Congress so cowed that it accepts the statements of a president who has little regard for the truth? Where are the voices of the other presidential candidates who will inherit the Bush legacy of torture? Why the silence?”
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In Lebanon, Hezbollah Arms Stockpile Bigger, Deadlier
(Sebastian Rotella / Los Angeles Times)

Almost two years after its war with Israel, Hezbollah has rearmed and is stronger than before the conflict, according to Israeli and Western officials and the Lebanon-based Shiite Muslim group itself. The militia acknowledges that it has rearmed since the 2006 war with Israel, but denies Western allegations that it is getting weapons smuggled from Iran and Syria.
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Hundreds Killed by US Strikes in Sadr City
(Pepe Escobar / The Real News.com)

Eyewitness Commentary: "Take a very good look at these images. Yes, they are disturbing. You won’t see them on Western TV networks. These are innocent civilians — poor Shi’ite Arabs living in the three million-strong Sadr City in Baghdad, one of the largest slums in the world. 1745 Iraqi civilians were killed in April — against 159 policemen and 104 soldiers. Over 400 people were killed in Sadr City alone. Only 10% were 'guerrillas.'"
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Baghdad Hospital Damaged by US Missile, Dozens Injured
(Shashank Bengali | McClatchy Newspapers)

A major hospital in Baghdad's Sadr City slum was damaged Saturday when an American military strike targeted a militia command center just a few yards away, the US military said. The rocket strike near Sadr Hospital injured 30 people, shattered the windows of ambulances and sent doctors and hospital staff fleeing the scene.
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Shadowing Slaughter in Sadr City
(Hala Jaber / The Times)

As the first UK journalist to be embedded with the rebel Mahdi Army, Hala Jaber reports on its terrifying battle: “On Wednesday afternoon, Zaydan was still waiting for seven family members to be disinterred from the rubble. The other three were in the morgue, among them a nephew, aged three, lying on a trolley in a puddle of blood. The child was another helpless victim of a clash between titanic powers which has killed 935 people and wounded 2,605.”
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US Navy Revives
(Lamia Oualalou / Le Figaro & Specialist 1st Class Michael E. Miller Jr. / USS Boxer)

The Pentagon is going to resuscitate its WW-II-era “Fourth Fleet,” with the mission of patrolling the waters of Latin American and the Caribbean. In recent days, the US Navy has dispatched fleets of warships — including a nuclear aircraft carrier — to the waters off Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guatemala, El Salvador and Peru. Operation Continuing Promise 2008 involves a Humanitarian Civic Assistance mission in the Pacific Ocean off Central and Latin America.
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Empty Promises — The Lure of the GI Bill
(Patrick Campbell / San Francisco Chronicle)

Commentary: The GI Bill isn't what it used to be. The education benefits for troops are so low that they either never enrolled, or dropped out of school because they couldn't handle working two part-time jobs or living back home on Mama's couch to afford to attend school.Service members are forced to take out loans just to start classes, and then wait months to get any reimbursement. Even then, the benefit only covers 60 to 70 percent of the cost of a four-year public university.
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China Builds Secret Nuclear Submarine Base
(Jane's Intelligence Review & Thomas Harding / The Telegraph)

Jane's Intelligence Review, a respected defence periodical, reports that China is building a major underground nuclear submarine base on the southern tip of Hainan Island. Satellite images of the base from imagery provider DigitalGlobe were the first confirmation of the existence of the massive coastal base.
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British Academics Warn US is Preparing “Shock and Awe” Attack on Iran
(Peter Symonds /Global Research)

An 80-page study written by two British security analysts and released on August 28, 2007 makes a chilling estimation of the overwhelming force that the US would use in the event of any attack on Iran. “The US has made military preparations to destroy Iran’s WMD, nuclear energy, regime, armed forces, state apparatus and economic infrastructure within days, if not hours, of President George W. Bush giving the order,” the paper declared.
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Consider the Consequences of Bombing Iran’s Nuclear Power Plants, and Pray
(Floyd Rudmin / Global Research,)

If the USA or Israel deliberately bomb Iran's nuclear enrichment facilities, radioactive elements would be released into the environment. There would be horrific deaths for families in the immediate vicinity. An estimated 3 million deaths would result in 3 weeks from bombing the enrichment facilities near Esfahan. The fallout would cover Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India and the contamination would last 700 million years. McCain, Clinton and the media seem to think that's not a bad idea.
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Israel Threatens Syria; US Threatens Iran
(Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya / Global Research & Uri Avnery / Gush-Shalom)

In June, 2007, an inner circle of Israeli officials formed a “war cabinet” on tjhe presumption that a war with Syria would absolutely involve Iranian military intervention. It is now 2008 and the spectre of war has remerged in the Middle East. Despite Tehran’s position that the US would not dare attack Iran, the Iranian military is on standby. The Lebanese military and Hezbollah have also been placed on alert. Meanwhile, an Israeli peace activist warns: "War is the height of stupidity!"
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The Real Matrix: The Pentagon Invades Your Life
(Nick Turse / TomDispatch.com)

Most Americans mistakenly believe the military-industrial complex is a discrete entity far removed from everyday life but a new book reveals the disturbing truth — the military and its corporate cronies now control or produce our means of communication, our appliances, our toys, education, entertainment choices, video games, cosmetics. our children's toys, our food. The truth is that, at every turn, in countless, not-so-visible ways our life is wrapped up with the military.
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War and the Morality of Americans
(Joseph Potter / Lew Rockwell.com)

The US has used "Weapons of Mass Destruction" around the world on innocent civilian populations. These are American bombs, both nuclear and conventional, used indiscriminately for no military objective. The targets are civilian centers and the victims are simply called "collateral damage."
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US Weighing Readiness for Military Action Against Iran
(Ann Scott Tyson / Washington Post Staff Writer)

The nation's top military officer has said that the Pentagon is planning for "potential military courses of action" as one of several options against Iran, criticizing what he called the Tehran government's "increasingly lethal and malign influence" in Iraq.
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Iraq War News for Friday, May 02, 2008
(War News Today.blogspot.com)

#1: Twelve people were wounded in overnight clashes in Sadr City, police and health officials said. Seven people were killed and nine others were wounded in clashes overnight between US forces and Mehdi army fighters in Sadr City. #2: US forces said they killed two gunmen in separate air strikes in Sadr City in eastern Baghdad. #3: Clashes erupted overnight between US forces and Mehdi army militants in al-Amil district in southwestern Baghdad. And the list goes on....
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Iraqi Leaders: "US Repeats Halabja Massacre in Baghdad’s Sadr City"
(Alaa al-Tameemi / Azzaman & CNN)

In 1988, former leader Saddam Hussein gassed his own people in the city of Halabja. Today, the power that helped Saddam build the same chemical weapons he dropped on Halabja is reported to be carrying out a repeat of his crimes in Baghdad's Sadr City. Iraqi member of parliament Falah Hassan declared the "operations the US is carrying out in Sadr city are similar to what happened in Halabja.” CNN report provides graphic video evidence of shattered homes and dying children.
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Is There an Army Cover-Up of Rape and Murder of Women Soldiers
(Col Ann Wright (US Army, Ret.) / t r u t h o u t | Perspective)

The Department of Defense statistics are alarming — one in three women who join the US military will be sexually assaulted or raped by men in the military. But, now, even more alarming, are deaths of women soldiers in Iraq and in the United States following rape. The military has characterized each death of women who were first sexually assaulted as deaths from "noncombat related injuries," and then added "suicide."
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US Air Force Planned Nuclear Strike on China over Taiwan: Report
(Agence France-Presse)

The United States Air Force had considered a plan to drop nuclear bombs on China during a confrontation over Taiwan in 1958 but it was overruled, recently declassified documents reveal. To the dismay of military leaders, the initial plan to drop 10-15 kiloton bombs on airfields in Amoy (now called Xiamen) , was vetoed by President Dwight Eisenhower who was concerned that fallout would affect the civilian population centers in Taiwan.
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West Coast Dockworkers Strike 'Over Iraq': Labor Rises to Challenge Power
(Agence France-Press & Los Angeles Times & John V. Burke)

Around 25,000 workers at 29 ports along the western US coastline went on strike on Thursday to demand an end to the war in Iraq, union officials said. A job action against the Vietnam War would have been not only a challenge to the law but a sharp break with the postwar "social compact." The first big crack in the ice is the ILWU's planned coastwide work stoppage. It may get ugly; I don't think there are any US Attorneys dumb enough to try to indict the ILWU leadership,
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US Releases al-Jazeera Cameraman after Six Years in Gitmo
(Martin Hodgson / The Guardian & Al Jazeera)

Sami al-Haj, an al-Jazeera cameraman detained by American forces in Afghanistan was last night released after spending nearly six years imprisoned without charge at Guantánamo Bay. Speaking to the press on his arrival in Sudan, al-Haji stated: ""In Guantanamo ... rats are treated with more humanity. But we have people from more than 50 countries that are completely deprived of all rights and privileges."
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Are the CIA's Syrian Nuclear Pictures Faked?
(Ewen MacAskill / The Guardian)

Analysis: Last week, the CIA published three aerial photographs purporting to show a Syrian nuclear reactor bombed by Israel last September. But are the pictures all that they seem? Professor William Beeman, head of anthropology at the University of Minnesota, questioned why the alleged reactor had no air defences, no military checkpoints. Turning to two shots of the bombed building, he notes that the first shows a rectangular building and the second a square one.
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Rev. Jeremiah Wright's Address to the National Press Club
(Transcript / Chicago Tribune)

The comments of Rev. Jeremiah Wright have been selectively quoted for partisan purposes. Here is the complete, unedited transcript of Rev. Wright's remarks to the National Press Club in which he declared: "We have troops stationed all over the world, just like Rome had troops stationed all over the world, because we run the world. That notion of imperialism is not the message of the Gospel of the Prince of Peace nor God, who loves the world."
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ACTION ALERT: MAY DAY: A Call To Action
(After Downing Street.org)

May 1st is shaping up to be a day of anti-war resistance, with strikes by the ILWU and other unions, plus immigrant rights rallies, and peace and impeachment activities — across the US and abroad.
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National Level Exercise 2-08: US to Stage Week-long "Terror Exercise"
(Department of Homeland Security & FEMA & NORAD)

Beginning on May 1, the Bush administration will conduct a combined exercise "to test hurricane preparedness planning, assess federal interagency Continuity of Operations procedures, exercise a response to terrorist attacks in Washington State and test Defense Support of Civil Authorities." The last three of the four elements involve exercises related to the declaration of a state of emergency and the institution of martial law.
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Tehran Calls Clinton's "Obliteration" Threat a Violation of UN Charter
(BBC World News)

Tehran has complained to the UN about Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton's threat that the US could "totally obliterate" Iran if it attacked Israel. In a letter to the UN Secretary General, Iran's deputy UN ambassador said Clinton had "unwarrantedly and under erroneous and false pretexts threatened to use force against the Islamic Republic of Iran" and called the remarks "a flagrant violation" of the UN Charter. Meanwhile, the UN has imposed new sanctions on Iran.
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Real Women Don't Throw Bombs
(Olga Bonfiglio / OpEd News.com)

Commentary: Shirin Ebadi won the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts to promote democracy and human rights, especially for women and children in Iran. She was the first Muslim woman to receive the award. Ebadi, an Iranian lawyer, writer, teacher and former judge recently told an American audience: "Never have the problems of any country been solved through war." That same week, Hillary Clinton, proclaimed that the US could "obliterate Iran" with nuclear weapons.
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West Coast Dockworkers Strike 'Over Iraq': Labor Rises to Challenge Power
(Agence France-Press & Los Angeles Times & ohn V. Burke)

Around 25,000 workers at 29 ports along the western US coastline went on strike on Thursday to demand an end to the war in Iraq, union officials said. A job action against the Vietnam War would have been not only a challenge to the law but a sharp break with the postwar "social compact." The first big crack in the ice is the ILWU's planned coastwide work stoppage. It may get ugly; I don't think there are any US Attorneys dumb enough to try to indict the ILWU leadership,
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15 Reasons Why an Attack on Iran May Be Imminent
(Dan Hamburg / Mirror Contributing Writer)

A former member of Congress warns: "George W. Bush is poised to order a massive aerial bombardment — possibly including tactical nuclear weapons — of up to 10,000 targets in Iran. The attack would be justified on grounds that Iran is interfering with US efforts in Iraq and that Iran is developing a nuclear weapon, a charge that was debunked last fall in the National Intelligence Estimate."
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MAYDAY ALERT! Military Experts Warn US Terror Drills Could 'Go Live!'
(Dr. James H. Fetzer, Major William B. Fox, Captain Eric H. May & SFC Donald Buswell / IndyMedia)

The name "false flag" comes from the old pirate's ruse of flying another country's flag during an attack, thereby shifting blame for the attack to a party that had nothing to do with it. Governments use false flag attacks to push their nations into dictatorship or war. As military experts, we fear that national terror drills, scheduled for May 1-8, could be used to camouflage a false flag attack in the United States.
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"Hostile" Iran Sparks US Attack Plan
(David Martin / CBS Evening News)

A second American aircraft carrier steamed into the Persian Gulf Tuesday as the Pentagon ordered military commanders to develop new options for attacking Iran. CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reports that the planning is being driven by what one officer called the "increasingly hostile role" Iran is playing in Iraq — smuggling weapons into Iraq for use against American troops.
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US Supplies Weapons to Terrorists in Mideast Civil War
(Ezra HaLevi & Hana Levi Julian / IsraelNN.com & Khaled Abu Toameh / The Jerusalem Post & Christopher Brauchli / CounterPunch.org)

The US is preparing to attack Iran, claiming that iran's Quds Force is smuggling weapons into Iraq to support the insurrection. At the same time, the US is opening sending tons of deadly weapons through Israel and into the hands of Fatah fighters to stoke the ongoing civil war betweenFatah and Hamas. The same day Washington accused Iran of "meddling" in Iraq, the Pentagon delivered "thousands of M-16 assault rifles" to Fatah — home of the Al-Aksa Brigade terror group.
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TV Networks Silenced Anti-War Voices
(Jeff Cohen / Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting)

Commentary: "In the fall of 2002, week after week, I argued vigorously against invading Iraq in debates televised on MSNBC. I used every possible argument that might sway mainstream viewers — no real threat, cost, instability. But as the war neared, my debates were terminated."
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Documents Obtained By ACLU Describe Charges Of Murder and Torture Of Prisoners In US Custody
(American Civil Liberties Union)

The American Civil Liberties Union obtained documents today from the Department of Defense confirming the military’s use of unlawful interrogation methods on detainees held in US custody in Afghanistan. The newly released government documents show Special Forces used illegal interrogation techniques on individuals detained in Afghanistan.
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US Kills 800 in Sadr City, Leaves 500 Children Disabled in Fallujah
(Laith Jawad, Haqi Ismael, Omer al-Mansouri & Fatih Abdulsalam / Azzaman)

Sheikh Salaman al-fariji said the US troops have killed more than 800 and injured more than 1,800 people in three weeks of fighting, causing large-scale destruction of private property and the city’s infrastructure. Alaa Hamed of the Society for the Welfare of Children said the US-led military operations in the city have left behind “massive destruction and at least 500 mentally or physically handicapped children.”
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Former Prime Minister Wants Bush Tried for War Crimes
(Agence France-Presse)

In a speech at Imperial College, London, Former Indonesian Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has called for an international tribunal to try Western leaders with war crimes over the war in Iraq. Mahathir told an overflow crowd of students that George W. Bush, Tony Blair and John Howard should all be tried for war crimes for their role in the invasion, destruction and occupation of Iraq.
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President Karzai Escapes Fourth Assassination Bid, Three Killed
(Matt Dupee / The Long War Journal / Afgha.com)

fghan President Hamid Karzai escaped a barrage of automatic gunfire and mortar shells fired on a ceremony he attended in Kabul. State run television captured the pandemonium showing hundreds of visiting dignitaries, soldiers and journalists running for cover after the gun fire began. In all, 11 people suffered serious wounds, including two MP’s, and a local Shiite cleric and small child died in the attack.
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US Marines Deploying in Afghanistan for 1st Time in Years
(Jason Straziuso / Hampton Roads.com / Associated Press)

US Marines are crossing the sands of southern Afghanistan for the first time in years, providing a boost to a NATO coalition that is growing but still short on manpower. They hope to retake the 10 percent of Afghanistan the Taliban holds.
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Suspected US Chemical Shells Dug up in Okinawa
(The Asahi Shimbun)

Seventy-six unexploded US mortar shells, including 22 that may contain chemical toxins, were found in a densely populated residential area in Okinawa Prefecture. Japanese officials have asked the US military to dispose of the 22 shells, fearing that they may contain illegal chemicals banned under the Geneva Protocol.
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Amnesty International Unveils Shock 'Waterboarding' Film
(Nigel Morris, Home Affairs Correspondent)

Malcolm Nance, an American expert in torture techniques has denounced his government for allowing "waterboarding" to be practised against terror suspects, just as a graphic advertisement showing the brutal reality of the technique is unveiled to British cinema-goers.
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The Pentagon Strangles Our Economy: Why the US Has Gone Broke
(Chalmers Johnson / Le Monde Diplomatique)

The military adventurers in the Bush administration have much in common with the leaders of the defunct energy company Enron. We are spending insane amounts of money on "defense" projects that bear no relation to the national security while the White House practices "military Keynesianism" in the mistaken belief that huge expenditures on weapons and large standing armies can indefinitely sustain a wealthy capitalist economy. The opposite is actually true.
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Skepticism toward Bush Claims about Syria and North Korea
(Glenn Greenwald / Salon.com)

Analysis: here are multiple reasons why substantial skepticism is warranted concerning the Bush administration's claims that the structure which Israeli jets destroyed inside Syria last September was a nuclear reactor Syria was developing with the aid of North Korea. Such skepticism, however, is difficult to find in most (though not all) American press accounts, which do little other than repeat Government claims without challenge.
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Israelis Claim Secret Agreement With US
(Glenn Kessler / Washington Post)

A letter that George W. Bush personally delivered to then-Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon four years ago has emerged as a significant obstacle to Bush's efforts to forge a peace deal between the Israelis and Palestinians. Current Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert said this week that Bush's letter gave the Jewish state permission to expand the West Bank settlements, even though Bush's peace plan officially calls for a freeze of Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory.
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Petraeus Promotion Ensures Future for Bush War Policy
(Julian E. Barnes / The Los Angeles Times)

The promotion of a like-minded general to a post lasting into the next administration could help perpetuate high troop levels in Iraq and heighten attention on Iran.
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ACTION ALERT: Cluster Bomb Ban: Paul McCartney Calling
(Friends Committee on National Legislation)

The world community is calling for a ban on cluster bombs. On May 19, representatives of more than half the world's nations will gather in Dublin, Ireland, to hammer out the final details of a treaty banning the use and export of all or most cluster bombs.
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Widows Endure Hardships as War Claims their Men
(Ernesto Londono / Washington Post)

Thousands of Iraqi women have in recent years embraced new roles as violence has claimed their men. Nearly 1 million women in Iraq are widows or divorcees, or their husbands are missing, according to Samira al-Mosawi, a Shiite member of parliament who heads the women's affairs committee.
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"Just as the Wall is Called a Fence, So are the Mercenaries Called Contractors"
(An Interview with Robert Fisk by Dan Glazebrook / CounterPunch)

"You have this business where television will not show what we see, for reasons of so-called "bad taste". I remember once being on the phone to a TV editor in London when Jazeera were asked to feed some tape of children killed and wounded by British shell fire in Basra, and the guy started saying, "there's no point feeding us this, we can't show this."
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ACTION ALERT:

Unequal distribution of global resources, increasingly controlled by large multinational companies, global debt policy and unfair international trading practices ultimately could not be maintained without military security. The terror attacks of September 11, 2001 are increasingly used to justify systematic surveillance and the dismantling of constitutional rights.
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Ex-Mossad Head Defends Meshaal Assassination Plot
(Laila El-Haddad / Al-Jazeera)

Danny Yatom has held key military, security and political posts during major junctures in Israel's history. But he is perhaps best known for his stint as the director of Mossad, Israel's intelligence agency, and the organisation's botched assassination attempt on Khaled Meshaal, Hamas's political leader. Yatom says the plot to kill Meshaal — by injecting poison into the Hamas leader's ear — was "a failure" but not "a mistake".
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UN Humanitarian Lawyer, Karen Parker, On the Violation of Human Rights in California
(Cathy Garger / Axis of Logic.com)

A raging human rights battle brewing between the federal Department of Energy and the people of California will soon be coming to a head. Citizen activists and environmental rights groups are up in arms over the right of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) — previously called the Lawrence Livermore Nuclear Weapons Laboratory, and before that, Lawrence Radiation Laboratory — to explode toxic and radioactive materials into California’s air.
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Breaking the Silence - Israeli Soldiers Speak
(Stephen Lendman / OpEd News.com)

They're called "Refuseniks" but not for refusing to serve. They've done it proudly and courageously, and here's how "Courage to Refuse" members state their position: "We, reserve officers and soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF)....have always served in the front lines....were first to carry out any mission, light or heavy, (and we did it) to protect the State of Israel and strengthen it....We hereby declare that we shall not continue to fight this War of the Settlements."
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US Planes and Choppers Cross Pakistan Border,
(Muhammad Khurshid / OpEd News.com)

US-led NATO forces, Pakistani troops and militants have started exchanging fire in Bajaur Agency, tribal areas situated on Pak-Afghan border. The clashes, which claimed the live of dozens of people, have created great terror and fear in the areas. This time the coalition against terrorism is in disarray as NATO forces and Pakistani troops also exchanged firing.
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Conservation Coordinator Signs Up to Rebuild Farms in Iraq
(Lee Juillerat / The Capital Press)

Oregon state conservationist Jim Vancura volunteered to spend a year in Iraq as an agricultural specialist because his daughter, Amy, is in the Air National Guard. His interest is agriculture, but Jim Vancura is outfitted in full body armor whenever he's away from the base. He's lost 50 pounds since arriving in Iraq. Vancura is learning about life and agriculture in Iraq, but not the way he expected.
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The Shambles of US Nuclear Weapons Security
(Victoria Samson / Center for Defense Information)

Last summer, a B-52 crew unknowingly flew across the United States with nuclear cruise missiles, the US nuclear weapons establishment underwent a very public mea culpa. The American public was reassured that it was a one-time deal and that the US nuclear arsenal was under control. But as we found out recently, this is not necessarily the case. In 2006, the US accidentally sent Taiwan four fuses that were intended for its nuclear weapons.
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Clinton Proposes Nuclear Genocide
(Robert Scheer / Creators Syndicate)

Commentary: "Seizing upon a question of how she would respond to a nuclear attack by Iran, which doesn't have nuclear weapons, on Israel, which does, Clinton mocked reasoned discourse by promising to "totally obliterate them," in an apparent reference to the population of Iran. That is not a word gaffe; it is an assertion of the right of our nation to commit genocide on an unprecedented scale."
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Iran Says US Aids Rebels at its Borders
(Borzou Daragahi / Los Angeles Times)

A series of conflicts with insurgent groups along Iran's borders may be impelling Tehran to back its own allies in Iraq in what it regards as a proxy war with the US, according to security experts and officials in the US, Iran and Iraq.
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Ecuador’s Leader Purges Military and Moves to Expel American Base
(Simon Romero / New York Times)

Chafing at ties between American intelligence agencies and Ecuadorean military officials, President Rafael Correa is purging the armed forces of top commanders and pressing ahead with plans to cast out more than 100 American military personnel from an air base here in this coastal city.
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The Bush Legacy: Losing Latin America ... All the Way to Tierra del Fuego
(John Ross / CounterPunch)

For George Bush, the March 1 anti-terror strike by the Colombian air force under US guidance on a FARC guerrilla camp deep in the Ecuadorian jungle had everything to do with legacy. During eight years in the White House, Bush's war on Iraq so absorbed his attention that, for once in three centuries, Latin America has breathing room to shore up common defenses against the Colossus of the North and even elect some social democratic presidents.
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Oil Bill Protest Shuts Mexican Congress
(James C. McKinley Jr. / New York Times)

For eight days, leftist lawmakers have paralyzed both houses of Congress with a sit-in to stop a proposal by President Felipe Calderón that would revamp PEMEX, the state-owned oil monopoly, and allow it greater freedom to hire private companies to build and operate refineries, find undersea oil fields and transport oil.
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Trying to Hold Together Iraq's Army
(Mark Kukis/Time Magazine)

Reports of desertions, retreats and insubordination by Iraqi forces deployed against the Mahdi Army have become commonplace, as fighting between the two sides continues in Baghdad and southern Iraq. An estimated 1,300 Iraqi soldiers refused to fight or even switched sides during confrontations between Iraqi forces and the Mahdi Army in Basra last month. And twice in recent days, Iraqi troops were reported to have abandoned posts in Sadr City.
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Does Global Warming Compromise National Security?
(Bryan Walsh/ TIME Magazine)

If we want to survive the future, we'll need to learn how. But the two sides — climate and defense — needn't be opposed. In a recent paper, James Woolsey imagined a dialogue between John Muir, the founder of the Sierra Club, and General George Patton on climate change.
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VA Goes on Trial for Mistreating War Vets
(Lyanne Melendez / KGO TV & Paul Elias / Monterey County Herald)

One of the most important trials ever involving America's veterans began today in San Francisco federal court. Two veterans groups are suing the government to improve the treatment of vets suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
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Veteran’s Administration Hid Suicide Risk, Internal E-Mails Show
(Armen Keteyian / CBS Evening News)

The VA is facing a lawsuit by veterans rights groups accusing the agency of not doing enough to stem a looming mental health crisis among veterans. VA chief Dr. Ira Katz has publicly declared there is “no epidemic in suicide” among vets but CBS obtained emails from Katz, including one titled "Not for the CBS News Interview Request," that begins with the word "Shh!" — as in keep it quiet — and asks: "Is this something we should (carefully) address … before someone stumbles on it?"
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Producing Peace: Converting a Permanent War Economy
(Andrew Norman / The Reader.com)

In 2007, the previously mentioned 42.2 percent of every income tax dollar comes to 28.7 percent for current military and war spending, 10 percent for interest on military debt and 3.5 percent for veterans' benefits; while 8.7 percent of every dollar went toward anti-poverty programs, 4.4 percent toward education training and social services, and 2.6 percent toward the environment, energy and science programs.
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Winter Soldier Testimony Now Online
(World Can't Wait & WBAI & Iraq Veterans Against War)

Despite a nearly universal black-out by the corporate media, some of us have seen, heard, or read portions of the testimony provided by soldiers attending the Winter Soldier hearings in March. Now, the full testimony is available online. Audios at WBAI; Videos at World Can’t Wait.
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Wars Begin in High School Cafeterias
(David Swanson / After Downing Street.org)

Citizens in a number of school districts around the country have dramatically reduced military recruitment through simple procedures that anyone can do. No marching or civil disobedience is required. You might, however, have to chat with a principal at a football game or write a couple of letters. Why aren't more of us doing more of this?
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May it Please Your Majesty: About those 8,000 US Marines in Curacao...
(Hugh O'Shaughnessy / The New Statesman)

Military officials have called Curaçao a “forward operating location" in Washington's on-going attempts to harass, destabilize, and overthrow the democratically elected government in oil-rich Venezuela. In the past three years, the Pentagon has moved spy planes, landing craft and a US aircraft carrier to Curacao, along with 35 helicopters, 85 fighter jets and nearly 8,000 Marines. An armed US nuclear submarine cruises in the waters off Venezuela.
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Doctors Report Dozens of Civilians Wounded Following US Military Air Strike on Baghdad Neighbourhood
(Doctors for Iraq / Baghdad)

Doctors for Iraq has received reports from the Imam Ali hospital in Sadar City, of dozens of civilian casualties following US military air strikes on the densely populated neighborhood. According to doctors. 30 people were killed in the attacks and dozens injured in fighting between the Iraqi and US military and the Mehdi army militia. A US missile killed 13 civilians, ncluding a number of children, according to hospital sources.
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Sadr Threatens Open War as US Attacks

The siege of Baghdad's Sadr City district has been called a 'large humanitarian crisis.' An Iraqi Parliament Member stated: "The hospitals are jammed with dead bodies... The occupation forces open fire at any convoy trying to deliver humanitarian aid. The occupation forces have burnt the city's markets." Meanwhile, followers of anti-U.S. Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr denounced the American military's construction of a concrete wall through their Sadr City stronghold in Baghdad.
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New US Weapon: Hand-held Lie Detector
(Bill Dedman / MSNBC)

The Pentagon will issue hand-held lie detectors this month to US Army soldiers in Afghanistan, pushing to the battlefront a century-old debate over the accuracy of the polygraph. ‘Red’ means you're lying
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Gender in the Ranks
(Maya Schenwar / t r u t h o u t | Report)

Unlike many of the other panels at Winter Soldier, the one devoted to gender and sexuality in the military featured no gory videos. The testimonies included many secondhand accounts, especially when the subject came around to rape and sexual assault. And though it was the only panel in which none of the speakers divulged personal acts of violence, it was one that, at times, betrayed a raw sense of shame.
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Food Crisis Points to 'Imminent Massacre,' UN Official Says
(KavkazCenter.com & Islam Online)

The United Nations Special Rapporteur for the Right to Food has blasted the booming industry of biofuel for diverting fertile land from essential food production. "Producing biofuels today is a crime against humanity," Jean Ziegler told the German radio station Bayerischer Runfunk.
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Dockers Refuse to Unload China Arms Shipment for Zimbabwe
(Philippe Naughton, and Jane Macartney / Times Online)

South African dock workers are refusing to unload a Chinese cargo ship carrying 77 tons of small arms destined for Zimbabwe. The arms, including three million rounds of ammunition suitable for AK47s and 1,500 rocket-propelled grenades, were ordered by the Zimbabwean military at the time of the March 29 election — which Britain and other Western powers have accused Robert Mugabe of trying to rig.
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Longshoremen to Close Ports on West Coast to Protest War
(Jack Heyman / San Francisco Chronicle)

Dockworkers of the IILWU have voted to stop work in all US West Coast ports on May 1, International Workers' Day, to call for an end to the war. This decision came after an impassioned debate where the union's Vietnam veterans turned the tide of opinion in favor of the anti-war resolution. The motion called the war an imperial action for oil in which the lives of working-class youth and Iraqi civilians were being wasted and declared May Day a "no peace, no work" holiday.
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US Strategic Command is the Main Threat to Peace in Korean Peninsula
(Ko Young-dae / Solidarity for Peace and Reunification of Korea)

The Bush administration has formulated a nuclear war strategy plan with North Korea and Iran as the main targets, thereby making the Korean Peninsula the most dangerous region in the world, with the US nuclear weapons playing a part in military strategy. This nuclear war plan is called CONPLAN 8022, which combines five regional theatres into a single unit and articulates the idea of a global strike, where by the US can strike at any region within one hour.
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Yoo’s Presence and the Faculty’s Silence
(Gray Brechin / Berkeley Daily Planet)

Commentary: The recent disclosure of a memo by Boalt Law School faculty member John Yoo has given that school and the University of California itself a long overdue public relations nightmare. The memo reveals Professor Yoo's role in justifying the Bush regime’s claims to the dictatorial powers. That Professor Yoo has not yet been convicted of criminal acts is no reason to remain silent on the possibility of his having done so.
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Body of War: The Powerful Film that Salutes a War Survivor
(Phil Donahue / Body of War.com)

On April 4, on his first mission to Sadr City, Tomas Young was was shot just above his left collarbone. He was instantly paralyzed. In his very brief tour of duty, he had not fired a single shot. Paralyzed and unconscious, Tomas was first evacuated to Kuwait, then Germany and finally moved to Walter Reed Army Medical Center. As he slowly came back to consciousness and a new life paralyzed from the chest down, he began to question the entire premise of the Iraq war.
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In Protest Against War, Some Decline To Pay Taxes
(Jacqueline Johnston / The Daily Californian)

The day before the April 15 Tax Day, Northern California War Tax Resistance, a Berkeley-based group of conscientious war tax resistors awarded $10,000 in grants to activist groups that promote peace and social justice. "I'm not opposed to taxes at all," said Berkeley resident Martha Cain. "I just completely disagree with the way in which those taxes are spent."
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Petraeus Points to War with Iran: Bush's Plan to Elect John McCain?
(Patrick J. Buchanan / San Francisco Chronicle)

It is not Iran that wants a war with the US. It is the US that has reasons to want a short, sharp war with Iran. This is Bush's last chance to strike and, when Iran responds, are Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney likely to pass up this last chance to destroy Iran's nuclear facilities and effect the election of John McCain? For any attack on Iran's "terrorist bases" would rally the GOP and drive a wedge between Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
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Torturers in the White House
(Ruth Conniff / The Progressive)

The biggest news of the last week went virtually uncovered by the mainstream, print media. ABC News first reported last Wednesday that top Bush Administration officials, including Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice, John Ashcroft, and George Tenet, Colin Powell, and Donald Rumsfeld met to discuss which particular torture techniques should be used against Al Qaeda suspects in U.S. custody.
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ACTION ALERT: Condoleeza Rice Lied about Torture: Bush Now Admits He “Approved” It
(Robert Greenwald / Brave New Films & Democrats.com)

Thanks to a new report from ABC News, we now know that Condoleezza Rice led White House meetings authorizing torture that were so detailed, "the interrogation sessions were almost choreographed." Sign the "Condi Must Go" Petition. George W. Bush also informed ABC that he personally approved the torture technique known as waterboarding. Bush should be impeached.
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Body of War: Phil Donahue's Anti-War Documentary
(Body of War.com)

Body of War, a powerful new documentary by Phil Donahue and Ellen Spiro, is an intimate and transformational feature about the true face of war. Tomas Young, 25 years old, paralyzed after a bullet pierced his spine on his fifth day in Iraq, has become an eloquent voice against war and a galvanizing advocate for veterans' rights. "Body of War" has been acclaimed as "The Best Documentary of the Year." It opens across the nation this week.
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The End of the World as We Know It
(Michael Klare / Tom Dispatch.com)

Rising energy demand, the emergence of powerful new energy consumers, and the contraction of the global energy supply is demolishing the world we are familiar with and creating a new world order characterized by fierce global competition for dwindling stocks of oil, natural gas, coal, and uranium, and a tidal shift in power and wealth from energy-deficit states like China, Japan, and the US to energy-surplus states like Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela.
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