And yet another excellent op-ed essay by Anne Applebaum, about Democracy Under The Veil, in the Islamic world.

Hooray for this Washington Post editorial ('American Gulag') condemning the head of Amnesty International's recent naming of the U.S. detention camp at Guantanamo Bay the "gulag of our times." One does not have to admire what we have done there (or at Abu Ghraib or other U.S. detention facilities) to object to AI's false equivalence with the gulag of the Soviet Union. The Post editorial says:

But we draw the line at the use of the word "gulag" or at the implication that the United States has somehow become the modern equivalent of Stalin's Soviet Union. Guantanamo Bay is an ad hoc creation, designed to contain captured enemy combatants in wartime. Abuses there - including new evidence of desecrating the Koran - have been investigated and discussed by the FBI, the press and, to a still limited extent, the military. The Soviet gulag, by contrast, was a massive forced labor complex consisting of thousands of concentration camps and hundreds of exile villages through which more than 20 million people passed during Stalin's lifetime and whose existence was not acknowledged until after his death. Its modern equivalent is not Guantanamo Bay, but the prisons of Cuba, where Amnesty itself says a new generation of prisoners of conscience reside; or the labor camps of North Korea, which were set up on Stalinist lines; or China's laogai, the true size of which isn't even known; or, until recently, the prisons of Saddam Hussein's Iraq.

The convenient left-wing orthodoxy, on the other hand, regards only the U.S. embargo of Cuba as unjust, without ever considering the lack of freedom, injustice, and oppression of the Cuban regime itself.

Now, I don't care about these people at all, but I do love this headline - Paris Hilton Engaged To Paris . She is now engaged to someone named Paris Latsis.



On another note, I just returned from a fun visit to New York City over the Memorial Day weekend. I went to the Jewish Museum and saw two exhibits - on the Jewish salon women (of the 18th-20th centuries), people like Rahel Levin Varnhagen and Gertrude Stein, and one on the art of Maurice Sendak, which was really fun. The weekend also included enjoyable Shabbat meals with friends, and a barbecue yesterday with more friends. I'm now back in Ithaca, where it appears that my grass grew several inches in my absence, where the peonies are now blooming, the lettuce is big enough to eat (planted a few weeks ago), and everything looks intensely green.

DeLay shielding MTBE polluters

How Congressional Republicans have shielded MTBE polluters from liability

   
It is hopeful that the senate will continue to oppose any excuses for the companies responsible for the pollution of ground water by MTBE.   Please contact your senator and make sure they continue this battle against corruption.

Getting Away With It :: link



By Erik Kancler



May 24, 2005



Since the late 1970s, gasoline producers have been adding a fuel additive known as Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether, or MTBE, to American car fuel. Its use rose steadily through the late 1990s, part of an effort to create cleaner-burning gasoline and improve the general air quality. But as a result of leaky underground fuel-storage tanks, MTBE has found its way into the water supply of over 45 million Americans. Although the substance itself isn't considered a health hazard, it does help transport known carcinogens like benzene that otherwise wouldn't pose a threat to humans. What’s more, a few drops of MTBE can make an entire water supply undrinkable. The cost to clean up public water supplies across the country has been estimated at $30 billion.



Seventeen states have now voted to ban the use of MTBE in gasoline, but the battle over phasing it out nationwide has been held up in Congress by disagreements over who should pay for the mess. Companies responsible for MTBE pollution are counting on congressional allies, not least House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, to make sure things stay that way.



In late 2001, the California Supreme Court heard a case, South Lake Tahoe Public Utility District vs. Atlantic Richfield Co., to determine whether twelve oil and gas companies—including ARCO, Shell Oil, and Lyondell—knowingly distributed MTBE-laced gasoline that they knew would contaminate drinking water and pose health risks for millions of Americans. During the trial, a slew of incriminating documents and depositions forced the oil companies to admit they had deliberately kept the dangers of MTBE secret, even as they were lobbying Congress to draft laws that would increase production of fuel laden with the stuff. Caught in the act, the twelve defendants finally agreed to pay $69 million in cleanup costs. In 2003, 18 companies were again brought to court by the city of Santa Monica, and eventually settled for what would ultimately amount to close to $300 million in cleanup costs. A precedent was being set.



:: http://www.motherjones.com/news/update/2005/05/mtbe.html

Rep. Peter King backed Tom Delay rather than NY



Double Talking Simmons and ARMPAC Members



Energy Bill Offers Loophole for MTBE Polluters, Government



Pelosi: 'Republicans Are Not Even Giving MTBE Polluters a Slap on the Wrist;
They Are Giving Them a Pat on the Back'



Tom DeLay Polluter Lapdog Scorecard



Schumer calls gas additive cleanup bill 'giveaway to polluters'



Energy Bill Is Passed By House



MTBE immunity for oil companies? No way, victims say



http://www.citizenscampaign.org/news/news042205.htm



http://www.ewg.org/issues/mtbe/20031021/index.php

Kossack headed to Iraq

Nameless Soldier : Leaving for Iraq

   
This Nameless Soldier is headed to Iraq.   It will be interesting to follow his journey (hopefully safe and sound) thru Iraq.   He has some very interesting views which you can find at his DailyKOS dairy.   He also has his own blog :: American Hajji from which he expects to post a few times a week.   I wish him the best and hope for his safety as well as all the other folks on the ground in Iraq, fighting Bush's Illegal War.

My Conflict :: link



I got orders yesterday that tell me that I'm officialy going to Iraq. I've known for awhile that it was going to happen, and I'm not leaving for awhile, but it still gave me a strange feeling. I joined the army right out of high school the summer after 9/11. I expected to fight terrorism, but I haven't seen any real connection between Iraq and terrorism in the years before the attack. I've looked too, trying desperately to justify our prescence their.



When I joined it was for, honestly, fery patriotic reasons. When the planes hit I was a senior in highschool with no idea what I wanted to do. I was interested in music and politics, but I didn't know if I wanted to pursue a career in either. The day of the attack I decided that I should join the army. A lot of my close friends and family told me that it was the wrong choice, that I could do more good somewhere else, but I joined anyway so that I could protect our freedoms.

http://americanhajji.blogspot.com/



http://nameless-soldier.dailykos.com/



http://www.dailykos.com/user/Nameless%20Soldier

Blogging : the future

Is it hype or hip...

   
As the this medium is getting more and more attention, it is also being scrutinized by the ad agencies.   As many people have noticed, it is still dirt cheap to advertise on the blogs.   Limited audiance but highly sought after demographic.   Things have started to change and the liberal advertising network has been created to take advantage of it.   Sites like DailyKOS and MyDD and others provide a community of liberals and progressives with much to contribute to the present political arena.   TalkingPointsMemo's Josh Marshall is creating another community at the TPMCafe and should be online soon.   As you can see from the quote from the liberal ad network below, it is not just a matter of a few hundred hits per day that the major blogs are drawing nowdays.   Through comments and diaries (blogs within a blog community) people are afforded a outlet that carries more weight than individual blogs like mine that do not get as much exposure.   This also means diversified content and more meaniful reactions than message forums and bulletin board systems considering the extra exposure to more people.

The Liberal Advertising Network :: link


   
By bringing together more than fifty of the most highly trafficked, regularly updated and politically focused liberal and progressive blogs, the Liberal Blog Advertising Network now makes it possible for advertisers to reach virtually the entire liberal and progressive political blogosphere at once. Simply put, no other advertising opportunity can offer an audience so dedicated to liberal and progressive causes. Advertise here, and reach the people who manufacture the liberal and progressive zeitgeist.


   
Combined, these blogs receive more than one million page views per day from highly informed, dedicated, and influential liberals and progressives. Over 75% of the audience of these blogs either donated to or volunteered for a campaign in 2004. With a median income of $75K, and a median age of 40, readers of these blogs tend to be affluent and young. Click-thru rates also tend to be twice the typical online average.



Note : A very interesting list of blogs on this page...

Nukular Deal

Win, Lose or Draw?

   
I think it was a win for america.   For one thing it cemented the filibuster into the Senate.   By giving it legitamacy in their acceptance of the deal, it will be harder to be dismissed as un-constitutional.   Another point is emphesizing that it only be used in extraordinary circumstances, it may stand a chance of weathering a showdown when it is brought up again when the expected scotus position comes open in the future.   It can be argued that this case (scotus) is a more appropriate "extraordinary circumstance" thereby making a more stable presentation to preserve the filibuster.   I am not one to really assign much weight to the Win - Lose contest type frame.   As was pointed out by Olbermann tonight, one of his first thoughts last night was that a republican party with such a large majority to have conceded anything is a loss.   The flip side of that coin is that a democratic party with such a small minority to have gained any deal has to be looked at as a win situation.   My way of thinking says that working things out is much preferable to destrucion of rules meant to protect a minority.   To me the public is the winner.   This is only the end of the beginning and a reference point for the further unfolding story to be played out in the future.   The affect the deal has on the factions within the republican party is not to be dismissed either.   Although both parties are affected, the dobson constituancy that backs frist can only be disappointed.   How this plays out for the republicans will be very interesting.   Their further self destruction from within can only be viewed as a victory for all of us.  

HISTORICAL, PICTORIAL proof of WAR CRIMES

Links from my friend 'Desperado'

   
Thise pages are not for the squemish!   Those offended by the war crimes need to see what the people of Iraq see and feel from the receiving end of these atrocities.

   
HISTORICAL, PICTORIAL proof of WAR CRIMES...


http://robert-fisk.com/

http://www.antiwar.com/news/?articleid=2444

http://www.thememoryhole.org/war/iraqis_tortured/

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article6316.htm

http://www.albasrah.net/images/iraqi-pow/iraqi-pow1.htm


...the pictures covering the TORTURE by the Bush Coalition can also be "Yahooed" to reliable and credible sources...Vanity Fair being the first (?) to publish said proof of torture


http://www.albasrah.net/index1.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2884769.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/photo_gallery/2888307.stm

http://www.ccmep.org/iraq.html

http://www.iraqvictims.com

www.marchforjustice.com


OTHER PHOTO LINKS:


Photo Gallery: www.theage.com.au

Click Here for Pictures from www.scoop.co.nz

http://scoop.co.nz/mason/features/?s=warimages


Click here for Weapons of Mass Destruction


http://www.marchforjustice.com/shock&awe.php

http://www.thenausea.com/usa-iraq.html



WAR CRIMES COMMITTED IN IRAQ


http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article3450.htm

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/index.html

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article3458.htm


The Evidence File


http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article2604.htm

http://www.thefourreasons.org/crimes.htm

http://www.ccmep.org/iraq.html

http://www.robert-fisk.com/iraqwarvictims_mar2003.htm


Murder Weapons

Death & Destruction of 'Operation Iraqi Freedom":


http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/wallofshame/index.html

http://www.thememoryhole.org/war/gulfwar2/civilians.htm

http://www.einswine.com/atrocities/misc/

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article3458.htm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/photo_gallery/2944387.stm

http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0304/S00005.htm

http://www.rense.com/general37/taji.htm



WAR CRIMES COMMITTED IN AFGHANISTAN



http://www.robert-fisk.com/pictures_civilian_casualities.htm

http://www.robert-fisk.com/pictures_destruction.htm

http://www.robert-fisk.com/pictures_afgan_refugees.htm

http://www.robert-fisk.com/pictures_murder_arabs.htm

http://www.robert-fisk.com/with_love_from_america.htm



Google the following (include 'video')




IRAQ: CIVILIAN CASUALITIES - APRIL 2003 >>Video
MORE THAN 50 CIVILIANS KILLED IN BAGHDAD MARKET >>Video
TEARS, DEATH AND ISRAELI TERROR >>Video
PEOPLE AND THE LAND >>Video
THE APARTHEID WALL >>Video
ISRAELI TERROR SQUADS >>Video
IRAQ: THE WAR AGAINST THE PEOPLE >>Video
ON THE STREET IN BAGHDAD >>Video
US MILITARY KILLING IRAQI CIVILIANS >>Audio
DAILY VIDEO REPORTS FROM THE GUARDIAN >>Video
REPORT ON DEATHS OF IRAQI CIVILIANS >>Audio
MASS GRAVES AT BAGHDAD HOSPITAL >>Video
BODIES STACKED AT BAGHDAD HOSPITAL >>Video
AN IRAQI CITIZEN SPEAKS OUT ON THE US/UK LED WAR ON IRAQ FROM BAGHDAD >>Audio
The reality of Iraqi children >>Video
An Iraqi ambulance under fire >>Video
Civilian bus attack near Baghdad >>Video
Plundering a hospital in Baghdad >>Video

Thanks again to my friend Desperado for the above links...


More info :


--------------------------------

Articles on    ------------------

Torture and Rendition --------

--------------------------------


links to articles on US Torture

Body and Soul : Torture

http://newsfare.com/no-to-gonzales/

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/1/25/15437/3930

http://www.hermes-press.com/impintro1.htm




--------------------------------

Articles of    --------------------

I m p e a c h m e n t    --------

--------------------------------



Prosecute George W. Bush
for War Crimes


---------------------------------

More online petitions and activism links

Petitions and Activism

Do More Than Vote Every Four Years!

   
This petition at MoveOn is time-limited!   Please act now!

This is it - they've pulled the trigger.



On Tuesday May 24th, the Senate will vote on a motion to end debate on judicial nominations, and when that motion fails Senator Bill Frist will launch the "nuclear option" - an unprecedented parliamentary maneuver to break the rules of the Senate and seize absolute control over lifetime appointments to the highest courts in the land. The vote is going to be incredibly close, and there are as many as 6 votes still up in the air - more than enough to win. We must act now.



We've launched an emergency petition and, starting Monday, we'll deliver your signatures and comments to the Senate floor every three hours until the vote is complete. As the debate rages on, Senators fighting to preserve our independent courts will read your statements from the floor of congress. And every senator, every 3 hours, will receive thousands of pages from their constituents demanding that they stand up and do the right thing.



We have less than 72 hours to win this vote and save our courts. Please sign today.



MoveOn Petition Link

Other Online Petitions and Activism


•
impeach central
•
petition to impeach
•
prosecute for war crimes
•
bush is insane - 25th amendment
•
democrats.com - organize
•
citizens for legitimate government - action
•
rootstalk - wiki
•
robert fisk - the evidence

The Ithaca Journal devoted its entire editorial page today to responses to Sandy Wold's column two weeks ago. In their own editorial, they bravely argued for the value of free speech, invoking the names of Locke and Voltaire - but without considering the professional responsibility of a newspaper to edit articles responsibly. Sandy Wold apologized for her remarks, saying that:

Rather than defend or explain myself to my critics, I decided to listen and understand, and I was surprised to see how complacent I had become with my point of view. Reading letters that came from around the world, investigating their sources, discovering new ones, questioning my assumptions, and the assumptions of my sources, I had periodic moments of feeling duped. So I went back and studied my original sources and their sources so I could feel reaffirmed. Finally, I came across an example of a battle between Palestinians and Israelis that happened over 50 years ago. According to the media representation, the Palestinians were "massacred," and according to the Israeli source I read, the Israelis were acting in "self-defense." Apparently, the media left out the bigger picture, which was that the Israelis were being blockaded by the Palestinians and facing near starvation. Also, a Red Cross witness to the aftermath of the "massacre" only verified Palestinian gore. I believe that such series of misrepresentation, misunderstanding and media bias is common to all conflict. It is no wonder many of us feel so confused and unable to help.

I commend her for her willingness to listen to and think about the remarks people made to her - some of which were fairly hostile, judging from the Honest Reporting web site, which publicized her column to their subscribers. On the other hand, she does need to do more homework on the Arab-Israeli conflict. For example, in the quoted paragraph, what battle is she referring to? The siege of Jerusalem in 1948? And another quibble: over 50 years ago, when people referred to "Palestinians," they meant Palestinian Jews, not Palestinian Arabs. She should have used the term "Arabs." (With this comment, I'm not denying the existence of a Palestinian people today.)

The Journal also published many letters from people around the world who were outraged by Wold's comments - most of whom probably knew about her column from the story about it on the Honest Reporting web site, or perhaps from LGF.

A letter that I wrote also appeared in the print version of the newspaper, but for some reason doesn't seem to have made it onto the electronic version. This is the text:

I am writing in response to Sandy Wold’s article, “Mothers can make healing a priority,” published on Saturday, May 7, 2005. I identify as a “Zionist Jew,” and ally myself with the Jews who established the state of Israel, whom Sandy Wold condemns as having “occupied Palestinian land in the name of God and victimhood.” I’m not sure exactly where to start in response to her poorly thought-out and inflammatory remarks. The Zionist movement, which fought to establish first a Jewish homeland in Palestine and then an independent state, was founded in the late 1800s, long before the Holocaust. The founders of the state were predominantly secular Jews who wanted to establish a place where Jews could find refuge from anti-semitism in Europe and build their own modern Jewish culture. Far from “getting stuck in the victim role,” as Wold accuses “Zionist Jews” of having done, the Zionist movement very actively tried to solve the problems of Jewish life through the creation of their own national movement – a nationalist movement very akin to the Palestinian national movement, which in parallel to Zionism has the aim of creating a Palestinian state.

Wold also accuses Israel of “terrorist attacks and slaughter of the Palestinians” and says that anyone who criticizes Israel is “guilt-inflicted for the Holocaust without any regard for Palestinian suffering.” This statement minimalizes the suffering that Jews went through in the Holocaust and completely avoids mentioning the Israeli victims of Palestinian violence. Is it only Palestinians who suffer in the ongoing conflict? What of the many terrorist attacks inflicted upon Israeli civilians by Palestinian suicide bombers from Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and the Al-Aksa Martyrs Brigades?

Wold seems to have taken sides in the ongoing conflict, squarely on the side of the Palestinians – but does this really advance the “self-healing” agenda that she argues for in her article? Isn’t it time for both Israelis and Palestinians (and their supporters in the United States) to recognize the complexity of the situation and admit that there is right in the claims, and the historical memory, of both sides? In my view, the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip should end, making it possible for a viable Palestinian state to be founded alongside Israel. This would not salve all wounds, but it would make a new beginning possible, where both peoples would suffer less than they have in the past, and perhaps begin the long process of reconciliation with each other.

My letter was also the only one written by someone living in Ithaca, who would read it in its paper form, rather than learning about it from an internet source. I'm disappointed that other people in Ithaca didn't feel motivated, or capable, of writing a response to her, but I am glad they published mine (and thus far I've only gotten positive responses to it).

Desecrating The Qur'an

The Beginning

   

    On Anderson Cooper 360 Khan was asked about his statement concerning the Newsweek article that he quoted as confirming the desecration of the Qur'an.   His news conference is supposedly the beginning of the Newsweek ordeal and was and is still being reported by some news outlets as the major reason for the rioting there and the following riots and deaths in Afghanistan.   Asked if he thought mentioning the article was the major contributing factor, he said : (paraphrased)
No.   The statements about the abuse of the Qur'an was public knowledge and had been raised by former prisoners for months, a fact widely known thoughout the middle east.
Asked if he felt responsible for the rioting, he responded : No.   He said he felt he had a responsiblity to speak out about the issue.

Juan Cole :: link


There are 1.2 billion Muslims in the world. Most Muslims were not upset by the news or took no action about it. Pakistani politician and ex-cricketer Imran Khan couldn't get out more than a couple hundred people in Lahore, Pakistan, for a peaceful demonstration. Nobody much cared. Even in Afghanistan, go back and read the reports (links at the bottom). A lot of the people killed were not killed by rioters. They were demonstrators shot by local Afghan police, police who may have been over-reacting in some cases, and who had been installed in power by the United States. For this, you blame the Muslim religion per se and the whole Muslim world?

Imran Khan :: wikipedia   ::   answers.com


Wikipedia :   Since retiring from Pakistani Test cricket, Khan has been devoting most of his time to the Shaukat Khannum Memorial Hospital, a state-of-the-art charitable Cancer Hospital that he established using donations in Lahore. In recent years he has started a socio-political movement in Pakistan known as 'Tehrik-i-Insaf' or 'Movement for Justice' and ran for office in the National Elections. He became a Member of Parliament for Mianwali in the October 2002 elections.

Newsweek :: link



The spark was apparently lit at a press conference held on Friday, May 6, by Imran Khan, a Pakistani cricket legend and strident critic of Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf. Brandishing a copy of that week's NEWSWEEK (dated May 9), Khan read a report that U.S. interrogators at Guantánamo prison had placed the Qur'an on toilet seats and even flushed one. "This is what the U.S. is doing," exclaimed Khan, "desecrating the Qur'an." His remarks, as well as the outraged comments of Muslim clerics and Pakistani government officials, were picked up on local radio and played throughout neighboring Afghanistan. Radical Islamic foes of the U.S.-friendly regime of Hamid Karzai quickly exploited local discontent with a poor economy and the continued presence of U.S. forces, and riots began breaking out last week.

From timesonline.co.uk :: link



Although the original report in Newsweek was small, it was re-broadcast by television networks such as al-Jazeera and al-Arabiya and in Pakistan it was quoted by Imran Khan, the cricketer-turned-politician, at a press conference. He said it would strengthen the impression that America's War on Terror was against Muslims.

newsweek ::
wapo ::
cnn ::
bbc ::
bbc ::
afghania portal ::
afgha.com



Tehrik-i-Insaf : Movement for Justice



rediff.com   ::  
global security   ::  
newsline.pk   ::  
economist




Pakistani Politics



dawn wire service   ::  
pakistan link   ::  
middle east institute


pehchaan.com/forum   ::  
pakistan facts   ::  
khaleej times


khilafah.com   ::  
jang.com.pk   ::  
1947 - 1958

Iraq : The Untold Story

Their Catch 22

   

I think we have set them up just like we did Iran under the shaw. When he fell we left dozens of F-14 Tomcats in their hangers. We took the techs that kept them flying along with their support equipment and spare parts. They are still in their hangers, rusting to the ground.



What was the first thing we destroyed in the Shock and Awe...? Their communications system. We replaced their telephones with GE and other american company equipment. We only allow certain cellphones to work there. We redid all the Electric system (stil working on that one). We have got them exactly where we want them. We are building 12-14 airbases which the insurgency cannot get to.



Why did we send more troops over there? To protect the arab street? I think not. We are protecting the things we are working on and the oil infrastructure. It's simple... If they tell us to leave they go back to living in tents and riding camels.



I am sure you have heard of "back doors" in software. A means for a networked component to be accessed by the makers of the software without the user knowing. Microsoft went thru a flap where the pentagon/cia wanted them to build back doors into their products so the government could eavesdrop on people without them knowing it. I suspect everything we have done over there can be un-done in a heart beat.



There is little likelyhood that will happen if the puppets that are in the gov over there now stay in power. That is the 64 thousand dollar question. If it turns into a vietnam like exit, they have no idea what is coming down the pike to them. I posted on Election04 bbs an overview that a poster at digby wrote and our friend Juan Cole has even more info on the forces that are working to tear them apart as we speak. They are no longer a soverign nation. They are a puppet state completely dependant on our technology.

Newsweek Flap

Scapegoat for Bush

   

From an article By Thomas L. Friedman

The best way to honor the Koran is to live by the values of mercy and compassion that it propagates.



If that aint the pot calling the kettle black...

Where is the indignation of our supposedly religious leaders that choose an illegal invasion of iraq, killing thousands in the process. "Thou shall not kill".



The reality that is not being addressed is that the fundie muslims do the same thing that our religious people do.   They pick and choose verses of their holy book to justify desecrating the rest of it's teachings.   Very few in the world understand this or just choose not to.   As stated in the Koran and the fatwah of bin Laden, as long as there are foreigners on their land, they are justified in fighting with any means available.   This includes anyone who aids the infidels even if it means killing other muslims.   The muslim world understands this, therefore we have not one arab nation in our coalition of the gullable, nor any arab/muslim condemnation of these acts.   The muslim world has more sense than we give them credit for.



Our fundie warmongers are no better than they are.   "Bring me bin Laden's head in a box packed in dry ice and cut the heads off the rest and put them on pikes."   We have no high moral ground on which to stand.   As an athiest it seems to me that both sides are in a deadly pissing match that will never end.   Being brought up in a southern baptist environment it seems that I have more respect for the holy books than most of the people that profess to be saved by their god.



Change must come from within. (Another statement by Friedman)



Man did he hit the nail on the head with this one.



"Let he who is free from sin cast the first stone."

In re the Newsweek story (now retracted) about a Koran being put into a toilet at Guantanomo Bay, the Washington Post reports that Desecration of Koran Had Been Reported Before. Perhaps Newsweek got the wrong story from their particular source, but it does seem to have corroboration from many other sources. Is such behavior a matter of policy - i.e., was it decided upon specifically in order to break the spirit of the detainees there? Or is this a by-product of the type of behavior we see at the U.S. Airforce Academy - evangelical Christian cadets, chaplains, and school administration harassing Jews and other, non-evangelical Christians by insulting them and saying that they "will burn in the fires of hell." Or perhaps a combination - they disrespect every other religion than their own, and decide specifically because of this disrespect to mistreat the inmates in this particular way? In either case, this is disgusting. Is this what we're coming to?

Haaretz reports that 5 Jews arrested for planning to attack the Temple Mount. Four of the men charged apparently were plotting to launch an anti-tank missile at the Temple Mount, while the other one was detained "over an alleged plan to fly a model aircraft fitted with a camera over the Mount and over Arab population areas as a provocation." All five men were released from detention. The intention seems to have been to provoke a renewed intifada and stall the planned disengagement from Gaza.

This is very scary - what I don't understand is why these people were released from detention. Surely, if they had been Palestinians threatening Jews, they would not be "freed with limitations," and not face charges "on the grounds that they had been unable to implement their plan and had decided not to carry it out." Doesn't that suggest that they might try to figure out some other way to implement their plans. The police and Shin Bet also said "there was not enough evidence to charge them." When has that stopped the police and Shin Bet when it comes to Palestinian threats to Israeli security?

The reactions by two right-wing MKs also strike me as very peculiar responses to the arrests:

In response to the reports, MK Uri Ariel (National Union) said, "This is a clear attempt to stain a loyal and law-abiding community struggling justly and fairly for its values."

The chairman of the National Union Knesset faction, Zvi Hendel, accused the Shin Bet of planting an agent provocateur, as it had done with Avishai Raviv prior to the assassination of prime minister Yitzhak Rabin.

Does Uriel really think that planning to lob an anti-tank missile at the Temple Mount is part of a "just struggle"? And what does Hendel mean by accusing the Shin Bet of planting an agent provocateur. Who is the provocateur in this case?

I certainly hope the Shin Bet is keeping an eye on these men and their associates!

Downing Street Memo

Ignoring the smoking gun

   
There has been a website created to gather signatures to send to the president asking him to explain this memo.   Please visit downingstreetmemo.com and take action to force an explanation from the bush administration.   The petition has been signed by many of our elected officials.   Eighty eight members of congress have asked the president (pdf file) to explain this memo to the american people.   I think we deserve to know the truth.

The secret Downing Street memo




SECRET AND STRICTLY PERSONAL - UK EYES ONLY



DAVID MANNING

From: Matthew Rycroft

Date: 23 July 2002

S 195 /02



cc: Defence Secretary, Foreign Secretary, Attorney-General, Sir Richard Wilson, John Scarlett, Francis Richards, CDS, C, Jonathan Powell, Sally Morgan, Alastair Campbell



IRAQ: PRIME MINISTER'S MEETING, 23 JULY



Copy addressees and you met the Prime Minister on 23 July to discuss Iraq.



This record is extremely sensitive. No further copies should be made. It should be shown only to those with a genuine need to know its contents.



John Scarlett summarised the intelligence and latest JIC assessment. Saddam's regime was tough and based on extreme fear. The only way to overthrow it was likely to be by massive military action. Saddam was worried and expected an attack, probably by air and land, but he was not convinced that it would be immediate or overwhelming. His regime expected their neighbours to line up with the US. Saddam knew that regular army morale was poor. Real support for Saddam among the public was probably narrowly based.



C reported on his recent talks in Washington. There was a perceptible shift in attitude. Military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy. The NSC had no patience with the UN route, and no enthusiasm for publishing material on the Iraqi regime's record. There was little discussion in Washington of the aftermath after military action.



CDS said that military planners would brief CENTCOM on 1-2 August, Rumsfeld on 3 August and Bush on 4 August.



The two broad US options were:



(a) Generated Start. A slow build-up of 250,000 US troops, a short (72 hour) air campaign, then a move up to Baghdad from the south. Lead time of 90 days (30 days preparation plus 60 days deployment to Kuwait).



(b) Running Start. Use forces already in theatre (3 x 6,000), continuous air campaign, initiated by an Iraqi casus belli. Total lead time of 60 days with the air campaign beginning even earlier. A hazardous option.



The US saw the UK (and Kuwait) as essential, with basing in Diego Garcia and Cyprus critical for either option. Turkey and other Gulf states were also important, but less vital. The three main options for UK involvement were:



(i) Basing in Diego Garcia and Cyprus, plus three SF squadrons.



(ii) As above, with maritime and air assets in addition.



(iii) As above, plus a land contribution of up to 40,000, perhaps with a discrete role in Northern Iraq entering from Turkey, tying down two Iraqi divisions.



The Defence Secretary said that the US had already begun "spikes of activity" to put pressure on the regime. No decisions had been taken, but he thought the most likely timing in US minds for military action to begin was January, with the timeline beginning 30 days before the US Congressional elections.



The Foreign Secretary said he would discuss this with Colin Powell this week. It seemed clear that Bush had made up his mind to take military action, even if the timing was not yet decided. But the case was thin. Saddam was not threatening his neighbours, and his WMD capability was less than that of Libya, North Korea or Iran. We should work up a plan for an ultimatum to Saddam to allow back in the UN weapons inspectors. This would also help with the legal justification for the use of force.



The Attorney-General said that the desire for regime change was not a legal base for military action. There were three possible legal bases: self-defence, humanitarian intervention, or UNSC authorisation. The first and second could not be the base in this case. Relying on UNSCR 1205 of three years ago would be difficult. The situation might of course change.



The Prime Minister said that it would make a big difference politically and legally if Saddam refused to allow in the UN inspectors. Regime change and WMD were linked in the sense that it was the regime that was producing the WMD. There were different strategies for dealing with Libya and Iran. If the political context were right, people would support regime change. The two key issues were whether the military plan worked and whether we had the political strategy to give the military plan the space to work.



On the first, CDS said that we did not know yet if the US battleplan was workable. The military were continuing to ask lots of questions.



For instance, what were the consequences, if Saddam used WMD on day one, or if Baghdad did not collapse and urban warfighting began? You said that Saddam could also use his WMD on Kuwait. Or on Israel, added the Defence Secretary.



The Foreign Secretary thought the US would not go ahead with a military plan unless convinced that it was a winning strategy. On this, US and UK interests converged. But on the political strategy, there could be US/UK differences. Despite US resistance, we should explore discreetly the ultimatum. Saddam would continue to play hard-ball with the UN.



John Scarlett assessed that Saddam would allow the inspectors back in only when he thought the threat of military action was real.



The Defence Secretary said that if the Prime Minister wanted UK military involvement, he would need to decide this early. He cautioned that many in the US did not think it worth going down the ultimatum route. It would be important for the Prime Minister to set out the political context to Bush.



Conclusions:



(a) We should work on the assumption that the UK would take part in any military action. But we needed a fuller picture of US planning before we could take any firm decisions. CDS should tell the US military that we were considering a range of options.



(b) The Prime Minister would revert on the question of whether funds could be spent in preparation for this operation.



(c) CDS would send the Prime Minister full details of the proposed military campaign and possible UK contributions by the end of the week.



(d) The Foreign Secretary would send the Prime Minister the background on the UN inspectors, and discreetly work up the ultimatum to Saddam.



He would also send the Prime Minister advice on the positions of countries in the region especially Turkey, and of the key EU member states.



(e) John Scarlett would send the Prime Minister a full intelligence update.



(f) We must not ignore the legal issues: the Attorney-General would consider legal advice with FCO/MOD legal advisers.



(I have written separately to commission this follow-up work.)



MATTHEW RYCROFT



(Rycroft was a Downing Street foreign policy aide)

FEC Project :: Update

Action Alert

   

From a link at dailykos concerning the FEC and it's probe into politics on the internet comes a questionare at the Center for Democracy and Technology (a site of the Institute for Politics Democracy & the Internet).   All bloggers in the political arena should participate in this information gathering effort.   It is crucial that the FEC allow freedom of speech on the internet to include political activism.   They have a list of Priciples that they are sending to the FEC along with the data collected from the bloggers.  

Christian Fundamentalist Terrorism

Isolated Incident or Trend?

   

It is debated that the incident in N.C. where the pastor required the congregation to pledge support for Bush, repent for voting Democratic or leave the church, is a sign of things to come or just a loose cannon.  
The fundie wingnuts are terrorising their own neighbors in the name of the Dominionist agenda.   It is amazing that this is happening in this country.   As some have explained, the support of candidates from the pullpit (the church in general) has gone on forever, but to the extent of requiring them to sign a pledge to vote a certain way and then to actually expell members for non-compliance is a step too far.   What is new is the dominatrix ideals that the religious right have professed under their poster children - Bush, Frist, DeLay.   They are not happy just controling their own lives, they want to dominate the entire country with their pablum.   Force feeding does go well in this country as has been exposed by the schiavo ordeal, the social security witch hunt and the attempt to change the rules of the senate on the fly.   The wheels of the Rove pr machine became unbalanced thru these escapades, noticebly enough for the public to respond negatively on all these subjects.   Kinda like a log wagon going down the road with a retread coming apart.   Over 80% of this country now has pulled up beside this bushwagon and hollered out the window to them, warning of imminent disater.   Like the tried and true con men that they are, they just smirk and wave back, insisting that every thing is just fine, especially considering they have other scapegoats to blame (eg. Chan Chandler, the ex-pastor in N.C.).   They want to distance themselves from this terrorism, even tho they gladly take these fanatic's votes and then turn around and deny that they have fanned these flames of controversy in their quest for power.   Denial of accountability is the staple of the propoganda that has been coming from bush and rove.   Actually bush as the bobblehead front for the neocons has pretty well been established since his re-election, since he proves time and time again that he is not smart enough to come up with all this.   Got Wood?   He sure better hope that there is plenty of chainsawing left in Crawford, because nobody in their right mind would let him loose on their property with one.   If not for the recent fiasco on top of fiasco, he would still be mouthing how great things are in this country.   Actually they still are but fewer and fewer people are believing the rethoric now, which is a sign of hope.



The religious right fundamintalist terrorism that has surfaced recently cannot stand scrutinty in the light of day.   They have botched it and now are in the spin/damage control mode.   Their fear mongering and 'end of time' scenarios don't play well to the public when all is told.   Terrorism is a blight on humanity whether it comes from muslims, chritians or zionists.   Not an exclusive list but by far the most worrisome and the most powerful.   With the continued subsidisation of the these groups, there will never be an end to terrorism.   Bush's pandering to the Dominionists, support for anything Israeli and holding hands with the family Saud ensure there will be wars and rumors of wars until the true end of time.   Nothing like a good war to vulcanise a populace.   It looks like we have a more important war on terror right here in this country.   A war to regain the progressive roots that were grown nationwide in the last half a century, which bush and his neocons have tried to destroy.   They can not win.   We dare not let them.   Have you removed your bush-blinders yet?   Quite a few people have in the last few months and more are seeing daily that it is time to wake up and take action to stop the terrorism here at home, before we have no home to worry about.

Via DovBear, a despicable article by Pat Buchanan on Was World War II worth it? Apparently we (and the Brits) should have let Germany and the Soviet Union carve up eastern Europe between them - and as a bonus get rid of all those pesky Jews! Appeasement, 60 years on. And this man is still considered a serious person to listen to?

The Association for Jewish Studies today sent out a message to all its members protesting the British Association of University Teachers' boycott of Haifa and Bar Ilan Universities in Israel. This is the text:

The American Academy of Jewish Research, the oldest body of North American scholars of Jewish studies, and the Association for Jewish Studies, the learned society of academic Jewish studies, condemn the British Association of University Teachers’ decision to boycott two Israeli universities for their alleged complicity in governmental policies and their purported discrimination against a faculty member on political grounds. The boycott is an egregious assault on academic freedom and a woeful misreading of the role of Israeli academics and the Israeli university. Academics have an obligation to support the free exchange of ideas and to participate in international dialogue, not to shun and restrain them. Israeli universities are an important source of the robust discussion and critical evaluation of governmental policy that characterize Israeli society. It is indeed, ironic, and offensive, that in a world where many governments muzzle their faculties, and academic freedom is rare, the AUT should focus solely on Israeli universities, which have maintained academic freedom and diverse student and faculty communities under difficult circumstances. It is also distressing that in a world where, sadly, war and the killing of civilians are far too common only one country is singled out for ostracism.



The AUT has been ill-served by leaders who pushed through the motion without proper investigation of the “facts” on which the decision was purportedly based, and without open debate within the Association itself. Academics should govern ourselves according to the standards of fairness and free discussion we expect from the larger society.



We stand in solidarity with our fellow Israeli academics. We also welcome the criticism of the AUT decision by many British university administrators and by the Times of London as well as the planned reconsideration of the boycott by the AUT. We are confident that the AUT’s declaration of a boycott will be understood internationally to reflect less upon the reality of Israeli universities than upon the politicization of certain leaders of the British academic community. We call on academics throughout the world to refrain from participating in international conferences from which Israeli scholars have been banned.



Paula E. Hyman

American Association for Jewish Research



Sara R. Horowitz

Association for Jewish Studies

The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) also issued a condemnation of the AUT's boycott.

U.S.A. History of War

U.S.A. - Warmongers?

   

During Bush's trip to Europe I heard him chastising Putin about democracy in the balkin states and the sitiuation of democracy in Russia.   It seems that Bush has not done a really bang-up job of dealing with his own neighbors and his spreading democracy in the Middle East.   I am sure Putin took his words with a grain of salt and the hollow rethoric that they were.   As evidence of Bush's trouble at home is the border/immigration issue with Mexico, covered by Lou Dobbs Tonight for several weeks.   The Canadians not only refused to enter the farse that is Iraq, also refused to sign onto the Missle Defense Program that bush has shoveled billions of dollars into and which still does not work.   When attention turns to Bush's War on Terror and the debachle that is the occupation of Iraq, the scenario turns even darker with lies, deceit and incompetence.   When you view my featured page Details of the New Iraq Flag, a failed attempt by the interem Iraq goverenment ran by Paul Bremmer to change the Iraq Flag, it is easy to dispell the propoganda that Iraq was not about "oil" or "money".   A healthy dose of imperialism and bully pulpit "my way or the highway" intimidation is at the forefront also.


It you step back a bit from the modern "War on the Cheap" - "They will greet us with Flowers" spin and lies covering up the facts that there were no WMD's or threat from Saddam, It pays to look back at our history of war in this country.   It is not just the idea of that there are no justification for the wars that have been waged since the beginning of time.   As the article below points out, there have been other instances in our long history of warfare that were created for dubious reasons.   In that respect George W. Bush has not created an entirely new precedent.   What is disgusting is the fact that we are moving into the 21st Century while dragging our reputation and credibility back into the Dark Ages.

• 4 bloody lies of war, from Havana 1898 to Baghdad 2003
• by Harvey Wasserman
• 5/08/05


The Bush Administration's lies about its rationales for attacking Iraq fit a pattern of deceit that has dragged America into at least three other unjust and catastrophic wars.


The "smoking gun" documents that emerged in the recent British election confirm the administration had decided to go to war and then sought "intelligence" to sell it.



But conscious, manipulative lies were also at the root of American attacks on Cuba in 1898, US intervention into World War I in 1917 and in Vietnam. These lies are as proven and irrefutable as the unconscionable deception that dragged the US into Iraq in 2003.



In each case, these lies of war have caused horrific human slaughter, the destruction of human rights and liberties, and financial disaster.



In Cuba, the 1898 sinking of the battleship Maine brought the US into war with Spain. The people of Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines were in revolt against the crumbling Spanish empire. Media baron William Randolph Hearst, the era's Rupert Murdoch, wanted a war to sell papers and promote "jingo" power. He portrayed the Spaniards barbaric rapists and worse. In the name of democracy and freedom, Hearst and pro-war fanatics like Theodore Roosevelt demanded US intervention.



Republican President William McKinley, personal hero of today's White House dirty trickster Karl Rove, dutifully sent the battleship Maine into Havana harbor. Suddenly, it blew up, killing some 250 American sailors.



Spain was blamed, and Hearst got his war. Having just conquered and annexed what had been the sovereign monarchy of Hawaii, the Americans now annexed Puerto Rico and installed colonial regimes in Cuba and the Philippines.



But Filipino guerillas waged a jungle resistance that dragged into the new century. Thousands died in the quagmire. An angry anti-imperial movement sprung up here amongst farmers, labor unions and intellectuals like Samuel Clemens, whose writings under the pen name Mark Twain remain among the fiercest critiques of the perils of empire.



And guess what! New underwater technology has shown that the Maine actually blew up from the inside. Definitive scientific analysis says the Spaniards could not have sunk it. The explosion that brought it down most likely came from a faulty boiler or a munitions misfire, but definitely not from a Spanish mine or torpedo.



The Spanish-American War, with all its bloody imperial slaughter, had been sold on a lie.



As was US intervention in World War I. In 1915, as part of a blockade against Great Britain, the Germans downed the passenger ship Lusitania, on its way from New York to London. More than a thousand people died, many of them Americans.



President Woodrow Wilson screamed that Germany had violated international law. As Hearst had done to the Spaniards, Wilson portrayed "the Huns" as merciless, bloodthirsty barbarians.



The Germans argued that the Lusitania had been carrying weapons, and that they were within their rights to sink her. A substantial majority of Americans angrily opposed US intervention, saying only bankers would profit and that war would divert us from the real issues of unionization, poverty and Robber Baron domination of American industry.



In the face of an anti-imperial majority, Wilson withdrew troops he had sent into Mexico, then ran as a "peace candidate" in 1916 on the slogan "He Kept Us Out of War".



But in April 1917, reviving bloody images of the Lusitania, Wilson dragged the US into the slaughter. More than 100,000 Americans died. Under cover of war, federal marshals burned and blew up offices of the Socialist Party and radical unions like the Industrial Workers of the World. Wilson shredded the Bill of Rights and jailed, deported or killed thousands of organizers. Eugene V. Debs, the beloved leader of the American labor movement, was thrown in federal prison. The ideological left was crushed.



Wilson did tip the military balance for Britain and France. But his high-minded rhetoric about a League of Nations and a balanced peace fell into chaos. The Allies demanded reparations which helped feed the Nazi movement and an even greater slaughter in World War II. Wilson suffered a stroke and left the country in shambles.



And guess what! Deep sea divers recently found the Lusitania, its sunken hull laden with illegal armaments. As the Germans had claimed, the ship was violating international law. Like McKinley, Wilson had duped America into a catastrophic intervention based on a "faulty intelligence."



Likewise, Vietnam, which hysterical cold warriors portrayed as the key domino in a global struggle against communism. The US had cancelled 1956 elections which would have given to Ho Chi Minh control of a unified Vietnam. But nationalist guerillas were clearly on the brink of wresting South Vietnam from western control.



In 1964 North Vietnamese allegedly fired on two US ships in the Gulf of Tonkin. While campaigning as a peace candidate, Lyndon Johnson used the incident to win Congressional approval for unlimited intervention. By 1967 he'd sent some 550,000 US troops into Southeast Asia.



A mirror image of the earlier war in the Philippines, Vietnam may rank as the greatest of all modern American catastrophes. It split and alienated a generation, poisoned American politics, spawned a toxic cadre of dirty tricksters and marked the downturn of the American economy. The war destroyed Johnson's Great Society, and has rendered every American tangibly poorer in more ways than can be counted.



And guess what! The Gulf of Tonkin incident probably never happened. According to then-Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, the Vietnamese may never actually have fired shots that may or may not have put a few bullet holes in one or two US ships. Even if they did, any such attack had zero military significance.



Like the Maine and Lusitania, the guns of Tonkin were nothing more than lies of war.



Bitter debate still also rages over the origins of World War II and Korea. Many argue that Franklin Roosevelt knew the Japanese were going to attack Pearl Harbor, and that he let it happen. Some also say that South Korea attacked North Korea, not vice-versa.



At least in terms of public consensus, these two stories still lack definitive smoking guns. But the Maine, the Lusitania and the Tonkin Gulf are known, irrefutable quantities.



To which we now must add George W. Bush's lies of Iraq. The war was primarily sold as a way to destroy Saddam Hussein's Weapons of Mass Destruction. The world was also told Saddam was involved in the 9/11 attacks on the US, and was trying to get nuclear bombs.



These were all lies. The British memos proving the Bush and Blair Administrations knew Saddam did not have WMDs, was not involved in 9/11 and had no way to make atomic weapons are now public monuments. Like the Maine, Lusitania and Tonkin, the proofs are tangible and irrefutable.



What happened to the perpetrators of those previous lies?



In 1901, William McKinley became the third sitting president (after Lincoln and Garfield) to be assassinated. Theodore Roosevelt then dragged the Philippine slaughter to its tragic conclusion. Only when his young son Quentin was killed in World War I did TR question the glories of imperial conquest.



Woodrow Wilson's debilitating stroke came as he imposed the most intense attack on civil liberties in US history destroying the Socialist Party and the ideological left. He was succeeded by the affable Warren G. Harding, who freed Eugene V. Debs from federal prison, then himself died in office (of apparent food poisoning) amidst the a sea of scandal.



After Tonkin, Lyndon Johnson's presidency descended into Wilsonian chaos. A ferocious anti-war movement forced him to duck out of running for re-election. Richard Nixon then took the lies of war to a whole new level, expanding the slaughter in Southeast Asia and becoming the first US president to resign in disgrace.



Nixon's "dirty trickster" disciples Karl Rove and Dick Cheney have now poisoned this nation with yet another ghastly lie of war. Their hopeless Iraqi slaughter has become the modern definition of cynical deceit, human butchery and economic ruin.



Exactly what will happen to us and to the liars that have dragged us into this latest bloody quagmire remains to be seen.



But history does not indicate a pretty outcome.

History of American Warfare

The American Revolution                             1775-1783
The Indian Wars                                     1775-1890
Shay's Rebellion                                    1786-1787
The Whiskey Rebellion                               1794
Quasi-War With France                               1798-1800
Fries's Rebellion "The Hot Water War"               1799
The Barbary Wars                                    1800-1815
The War of 1812                                     1812-1815
Mexican-American War                                1846-1848
U.S. Slave Rebellions                               1800-1865
"Bleeding Kansas"                                   1855-1860
Brown's Raid on Harper's Ferry                      1859
United States Civil War                             1861-1865
U.S. Intervention in Hawaiian Revolution            1893
The Spanish-American War                            1898
U.S. Intervention in Samoan Civil War               1898-1899
U.S.-Philippine War                                 1899-1902
Boxer Rebellion                                     1900
The Moro Wars                                       1901-1913
U.S. Intervention in Panamanian Revolution          1903
The Banana Wars                                     1909-1933
U.S. Occupation of Vera Cruz                        1914
Pershing's Raid Into Mexico                         1916-1917
World War I                                         1917-1918
Allied Intervention in Russian Civil War            1919-1921
World War II                                        1941-1945
The Cold War                                        1945-1991
The Korean War                                      1950-1953
The Second Indochina War "Vietnam War"              1956-1975
U.S. Intervention in Lebanon                        1958
Dominican Intervention                              1965
The Mayaguez Rescue Operation                       1975  May 15
Iranian Hostage Rescue                              1980  April 25
U.S. Libya Conflict                                 1981, 1986
U.S. Intervention in Lebanon                        1982-1984
U.S. Invasion of Grenada                            1983
The Tanker War "Operation Earnest Will"             1987-1988
U.S. Invasion of Panama                             1989
Second Persian Gulf War                             1991
"No-Fly Zone" War                                   1991-2003
U.S. Intervention in Somalia                        1992-1994
NATO Intervention in Bosnia                         1994-1995
U.S. Occupation of Haiti                            1994
U.S. Embassy bombings and strikes on Afghanistan and 
Sudan (The bin Laden War)                           1998  August
The embassy bombings in August,                     1998  by Osama bin Laden 
caused hundreds of deaths in Kenya and Tanzania.
The U.S. retaliated by launching Tomahawk Cruise Missiles 
at suspected terrorist targets in Afghanistan and Sudan.
"Desert Fox" Campaign (part of U.S./Iraq Conflict)  1998  December
Kosovo War                                          1999
Attack on the USS Cole                              2000  October 12
Attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon   2001  September 11
Afghanistan War                                     2001- Present 
Third Persian Gulf War                              2003- Present
Intervention in Haiti March,                        2004

Depleted Uranium : Revisited

Illegal Radioactive Warfare

   

On this past Mothers Day 2005 when we thanked our mothers for the concern they show their children, it may have been appropriate to express the concern of those who have sons, daughters or spouses who have been returned to them from Iraq/Afghanistan only to deal with the illegal, immoral and unethical use of and subsequent deadly health problems arrising from radioactive munitions in Bush's war on terror.   This important topic needs to be exposed for the true problem it has become and the crisis it will continue to be in the future, for soldiers and civilians alike.   As stated in this dated but timely article Weapons of Self-Destruction -- Is Gulf War syndrome - possibly caused by Pentagon ammunition - taking its toll on G.I.'s in Iraq? :

Even before Desert Storm, the Pentagon knew that D.U. was potentially hazardous. Before last year's Iraq invasion, it issued strict regulations designed to protect civilians, troops, and the environment after the use of D.U. But the Pentagon insists that there is little chance that these veterans' illnesses are caused by D.U.



The U.S. suffered only 167 fatal combat casualties in the first Gulf War. Since then, veterans have claimed pensions and health-care benefits at a record rate. The Veterans Administration reported this year that it was paying service-related disability pensions to 181,996 Gulf War veterans - almost a third of the total still living. Of these, 3,248 were being compensated for "undiagnosed illnesses." The Pentagon's spokesman, Dr. Michael Kilpatrick, deputy director of its Deployment Health section, says that Gulf War veterans are no less healthy than soldiers who were stationed elsewhere.

This article highlights the ordeal that Sgt Ramos has had to go through after serving in Gulf War 2.

A 20-year veteran of the New York National Guard, Ramos had been mobilized for active duty in Iraq in the spring of 2003. His unit, the 442nd Military Police company, arrived there on Easter, 10 days before President Bush's mission accomplished appearance on the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln. A tall, soft-spoken 40-year-old with four children, the youngest still an infant, Ramos was proud of his physique. In civilian life, he was a New York City cop. "I worked on a street narcotics team. It was very busy, with lots of overtime-very demanding." Now, rising unsteadily from his armchair in his thickly carpeted living room in Queens, New York, Ramos grimaces. "The shape I came back in, I cannot perform at that level. I've lost 40 pounds. I'm frail."



At first, as his unit patrolled the cities of Najaf and al-Diwaniyya, Ramos stayed healthy. But in June 2003, as temperatures climbed above 110 degrees, his unit was moved to a makeshift base in an abandoned railroad depot in Samawah, where some fierce tank battles had taken place. "When we first got there, I was a heat casualty, feeling very weak," Ramos says. He expected to recover quickly. Instead, he went rapidly downhill.



By the middle of August, when the 442nd was transferred to Babylon, Ramos says, the right side of his face and both of his hands were numb, and he had lost most of the strength in his grip. His fatigue was worse and his headaches had become migraines, frequently so severe "that I just couldn't function." His urine often contained blood, and even when it didn't he would feel a painful burning sensation, which "wouldn't subside when I finished." His upper body was covered by a rash that would open and weep when he scratched it. As he tells me this, he lifts his shirt to reveal a mass of pale, circular scars. He was also having respiratory difficulties. Later, he would develop sleep apnea, a dangerous condition in which he would stop breathing during sleep.

Sgt. Ramos is not alone in his misery. The following excerpt from the article is very disturbing if you or someone you know has served in the Gulf Wars.

Members of the 442nd have vivid memories of being exposed to D.U. Sergeant Hector Vega, a youthful-looking 48-year-old who in civilian life works in a building opposite Manhattan's Guggenheim Museum, says he now struggles with chest pains, heart palpitations, headaches, urinary problems, body tremors, and breathlessness-none of which he'd ever experienced before going to Iraq. He recalls the unit's base there: "There were burnt-out Iraqi tanks on flatbed trucks 100 yards from where we slept. It looked like our barracks had also been hit, with black soot on the walls. It was open to the elements, and dust was coming in all the time. When the wind blew, we were eating it, breathing it. It was everywhere." (The Department of Defense, or D.O.D., says that a team of specialists is conducting an occupational and environmental health survey in the area.)



Dr. Asaf Durakovic, 64, is a retired U.S. Army colonel and the former head of nuclear medicine at a veterans' hospital in Wilmington, Delaware. Dr. Durakovic reports finding D.U. in the urine of 18 out of 30 Desert Storm veterans, sometimes up to a decade after they were exposed, and in his view D.U. fragments are both a significant cause of Gulf War syndrome and a hazard to civilians for an indefinite period of time. He says that when he began to voice these fears inside the military he was first warned, then fired: he now operates from Toronto, Canada, at the independent Uranium Medical Research Centre.



In December 2003, Dr. Durakovic analyzed the urine of nine members of the 442nd. With funds supplied by the New York Daily News, which first published the results, Durakovic sent the samples to a laboratory in Germany that has some of the world's most advanced mass-spectrometry equipment. He concluded that Ramos, Vega, Sergeant Agustin Matos, and Corporal Anthony Yonnone were "internally contaminated by depleted uranium (D.U.) as a result of exposure through [the] respiratory pathway."



The Pentagon contests these findings. Dr. Kilpatrick says that, when the D.O.D. conducted its own tests, "our results [did] not mirror the results of Dr. Durakovic." "Background" sources, such as water, soil, and therefore food, frequently contain some uranium. The Pentagon insists that the 442nd soldiers' urinary uranium is "within normal dietary ranges," and that "it was not possible to distinguish D.U. from the background levels of natural uranium." The Pentagon says it has tested about 1,000 vets from the current conflict and found D.U. contamination in only five. Its critics insist this is because its equipment is too insensitive and its testing methods are hopelessly flawed.

This problem is only going to get worse and with a government that accepts no responsiblity for it's actions, hope is very limited that anything will be done in the short term.   This is not just a problem that is Bush's responsibility but one that Democratic and Republican Administrations share over the last decade and a half.   Bush is responsile for the continued use of the materials and the proliferation of non-provoked invasions of soverign contries.   His lack of concern only underscores his right wingnut agenda and to hell with the cost in innocent lives, including those of our soldiers, coalition troops and iraqi civilians.   With almost a third of all living Gulf War 1 veterans suffering disabilities, and the growing number of Gulf War 2 vets that are just now starting to suffer from these symptoms, this problem is only going to grow.   With underfunded veteran programs that have suffered under the Bush Administration, the outlook for vets returning from Iraq now seems even more bleak.   Pain, suffering and a leadership in a state of denial is all they have to look forward to.   And "More of the Same".

::

Depleted Uranium Information
Military Toxics Project Nat Gulf War Resource Center Am Gulf War Vets Assoc : D.U. Uranium Medical Research Centre - ca umrc afghan trip 2	Nuclear Information and Resource Service Radiation and Public Health Project nuclear press Breathing Uranium Oxides: Global Medical Crisis of Depleted Uranium

The quantitative analysis of depleted uranium isotopes in British, Canadian, and U.S. Gulf War veterans. Did the US use tactical nuclear weapons in Afghanistan? environmental risks associated with u.s. army use of du and ways to reduce their long-term effects fed of am scientists - topic : D.U. Breathing Uranium Oxides: Global Medical Crisis of Depleted Uranium
Depleted Uranium	"Poison Fire, USA" - Russell Hoffman
Depleted uranium: - Moret	world depleted uranium conference"
American Free Press - C. Bollyn	traprock peace - DU Links
Criminal World - axis of logic	3 questions about DU - TrapRock Peace
D.U. Education Project	Gulf War Illness Office - D.U
D.U. Fed of Am Scientists	Gulf War Illness Office
D.U. - BBC - uk	D.U. - The Silver Bullet
D.U. - Sunday Herald	D.U. - The World Health Org
BetterWorldLinks - D.U.	Traprock Misleads Public
Safety and D.U.	Am Nuclear Scociety Links

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