Maisa Abu Ghazala – Palestine News Network - Translated by; Saed Bannoura - IMEMC

Posted September 22, 2008

The daughter of Mariam Ayyad, 60, tells the story of her mother’s last moments – she describes an argument that ensued when Israeli soldiers broke into her home in Abu Dis, east of Jerusalem, and repeatedly hit the 60-year old woman and threw her on the ground until she dropped dead in front of her children and grandchildren.

Mariam died on Saturday evening after a lengthy argument with Israeli soldiers and border policemen who invaded Abu Dis. The argument ended with the soldiers beating her and throwing her to the ground, killing her.

Her daughter, Hiba, 21, was standing next to her when she died. She could not express her feelings in words and with her eyes filled with tears she said, "Yesterday my mother became a martyr, as she died at the hands of the occupiers. And it wasn’t enough for them to kill her in cold blood! They also barred the ambulance from reaching our home!"

"Dozens of soldiers came yesterday evening to our apartment building, supposedly in order to kidnap students of the Al Quds University who live in the same residential building we live in", Hiba stated. "When the soldiers got to the floor where my brother lives with his wife and children, my mother told them that her daughter in law is alone at home with her kids. "Please, for God’s sake do not go in there, leave them alone, the kids will be terrified", the mother told them.

Hiba added that the soldiers did not care to what her mother said, and one of them pushed her to the ground. Another soldier checked her vitals and said that she is still alive. At that moment, I tried to rush to the street to ask the neighbors to call for an ambulance, and they did. But while the army blocked the ambulance from arriving, the soldier told me that she was dead."

"I was shocked, really shocked, I could not believe this is happening. Everything happened so fast, but now she is dead and there’s no bringing her back.", the daughter added, "My mother died strong, as a martyr, but if the soldiers did not obstruct the ambulance, she would be alive now, we would have been able to save her life".

In deep sorrow she added, "my sister Fida’, who lives in Jordan, could not say farewell to her, my mother was buried at 1 in the morning, because we did not let the soldiers take her body to Israel".

Thousands of residents of Abu Dis, Al Sawahra and al Ezariyya (Bethany) participated in her funeral.

"We are currently in the holy month of Ramadan, so my mother spent her last days fasting and praying", Hiba stated, saying she is glad for that fact and sure her mother is in heaven. But she added, in sorrow, "How will my days, and my life be without her?!"

She also said that the soldiers broke into their apartment building several times in recent months, conducting raids of the apartments in an attempt to kidnap Al Quds University students who live there.

Mousa Daoud, , head of the Al Makkased Charitable Society Clinic in Abu Dis, said that the body of Mariam Ayyad was brought to the hospital in a Red Crescent Society ambulance, and that the autopsy revealed that she suffered a fracture in her lower skull which also lead to brain hemorrhage.

"She was already dead by the time she got here, there was nothing that we could do to save her life", Daoud stated, "Her skull was fractured when her head hit the ground".

Fateh legislator, Jihad Abu Zeid, slammed the Israeli crime and said that the Israeli occupation is ongoing with its violations and crimes in direct violation of international laws and the basic principles of human rights.

"They committed this crime in Ramadan, this holy Muslim month. This latest crime has revealed the real face of the occupation and its plans to avoid achieving peace and stability in the region – this is what they are doing on the ground at the same time that Israeli and Palestinian negotiators are attempting to reach a peace deal", Abu Zeid added.

She also stated that the occupation is actively acting against any opportunity for peace in spite of the international efforts to achieve a peace deal.

She voiced an appeal to the international community and human rights groups to intervene and expose the Israeli crimes and oblige Israel to respect human rights and be committed to the international treaties and principles.

"They should oblige Israel to respect human rights, they should force Israel to stop its illegal assaults against our people", Abu Zeid said.

Ramzy Baroud

Palestinian children 'need safety, security, protection and a promise for a better future.' September 26, 2008 I was ecstatic as I read an email sent by a manager at a Canadian toy company. The company donates a large number of toys each year to inner city kids throughout North America, using various NGOs. A few years ago, they decided to ship several thousand toys to Palestinian children. They asked for my help. The feeling of joy that I felt that day was unparalleled. Rarely do I experience in my job as a writer, whose main focus is war and conflict, this overpowering sense of elation. I had to tell someone that 11,000 toys would be shipped to Palestinian refugee camps before the Muslim holiday. This will certainly be a memorable Eid for so many children denied the simple pleasure of holding a teddy bear, or watching a toy police car running in circles with blazing sirens. My friend, Mohammed, a reporter from Egypt, however, was not very impressed. "Toys?" he asked with an irritated tone. "What Palestinian children need is weapons, to defend themselves," he exultantly explained, as various colleagues nodded their head with agreement. His statement mixed truth with bizarre logic. True, Palestinian children needed to be protected, but to expect a child to further abandon his childhood and to carry a weapon was most cruel, insensitive. I revisited the subject with my friend an hour later, this time armed with all sorts of print outs. "The Convention on the Rights of the Child," I lectured, asserted that "every child has the inherent right to life…survival and development," that "children must be protected from 'injury or abuse, that  "a child who is seeking refugee status or who is…a refugee … [shall] receive appropriate protection and humanitarian assistance." He seemed equally unimpressed. Later that evening I found my friend with a shopping cart, loaded with toys, candies, and all the rest, as he and his entire family were cheerfully finishing their shopping for the Muslim holiday. His children were eagerly pointing at every dazzling toy they find, and he, happily obliged. I still wonder if he had ever figured out the irony in denying Palestinian children toys for the holiday and hauling, on the very same day, every toy his kids requested? This episode took place several years ago, but I am still as resentful as ever, resentful of the notion that Palestinians, mostly in refugee camps, are entrusted with the daunting task of withstanding the awesome military might of Israel, entirely alone. While some Arab media are tirelessly singing the praise of heroic Palestinians, the governments of these same countries are ensuring that the siege of Gaza is complete, that the 'punishment’ of Palestinians is perfected, that starvation, misery and despair continue to prevail. This decade-long hypocrisy is symptomatic, and is inherit in the relationship between many Arab states and Palestinians: the 'guardians’ of the Holy Land, those who resist, suffer and often die alone. But even a child, in a most atrocious war zone is still a child. No matter how much fear and grief prevail in her life, she still longs for a toy monkey that flips around on the push of a button. In fact, that was one of very a few toys that I have ever received growing up as a child in Gaza. The bond that grew between me and the flipping monkey was legendary. I often checked on him, tucked neatly into a drawer in my mom’s closet following every Israeli raid, before I left for school and when I came back. It gave me a sense of comfort amid a dreadful and terrifying life. In Gaza, parents hardly worry themselves with such minor subjects as buying toys. When flour and sugar are missing, rubber ducks and water guns can wait. For children however, even those who survive the most appalling violence, or even those who sustain an injury or a lifetime disability, only a teddy bear can bring a smile, only a toy monkey can somehow restore the sense of loss. Palestinian children deserve to enjoy the edicts of UN conventions. Palestinian children don’t need rhetoric nor wish to be designated as anyone’s 'guardians’ and 'heroes’; they need safety, security, protection and a promise for a better future. When Playgrounds for Palestine - http://www.playgroundsforpalestine.org - was first founded by activist and writer, Susan Abulhawa, I remember thinking: this is the most thoughtful idea I have heard in a long, long time. When Abulhawa led a group of activists to the refugee camp of Jenin in 2002 and organized play workshops for the devastated camp’s children, the organization and its founder grew in my eyes immeasurably. It’s easy to theorize endlessly about the 'violent tendencies’ of Palestinian children, and sermonize incessantly of the need to send weapons to children, already battered by war and violence. But, thankfully, there are those with the passion to understand that what Palestinian children need the most is their freedom, their milk, their school uniforms and supplies, their innocence, their giggles as they go down the slide of a jungle gym. On November 23, Susan Abulhawa and I, joined by a few others, will be running the Philadelphia Marathon. Our goal is to raise 12,000 dollars to build a playground for Palestinian children. The organization has already erected several playgrounds throughout the Occupied Territories (it’s also building three playgrounds in Lebanon’s refugee camps and sending 152 soccer balls) that has served thousands of children. But more is needed, and we need your help. Please visit this link and contribute. You can also join us, or run your own race to raise awareness and funds for Palestinian children and Playgrounds for Palestine. Palestinian children deserve more than words of sympathy. They deserve their childhood back. Thank you for your help.

Desertpeace

September 26, 2008

Another tale from the hospital…..

Ma'an news

September 28, 2008 Nablus - Ma'an - Israeli settlers executed an 18-year-old shepherd boy in the fields outside Aqraba, a town in the Nablus district of the northern West Bank. Village municipal affairs representative Ghassan Douglas identified the young man as Yahya Atta Riahin. Douglas said that a gang of Israeli settlers from Itamar settlement shot the boy at least 20 times at close range. Yahya did not return home with his sheep for the fast-breaking meal, Iftar. His family alerted the neighbors and the whole village organized a search party to look for the missing boy. His body was found in fields between the illegal Israeli settlement of Itamar and the villages of Aqraba and Awarta. According to Douglas, eyewitnesses reported seeing a white vehicle driven by Israeli settlers stop, chase down the boy and shot him directly. Link: www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=32216

An Israeli Trojan Horse

By CHRISTOPHER KETCHAM

Since the late 1990s, federal agents have reported systemic communications security breaches at the Department of Justice, FBI, DEA, the State Department, and the White House.  Several of the alleged breaches, these agents say, can be traced to two hi-tech communications companies, Verint Inc. (formerly Comverse Infosys), and Amdocs Ltd., that respectively provide major wiretap and phone billing/record-keeping software contracts for the U.S. government.   Together, Verint and Amdocs form part of the backbone of the government’s domestic intelligence surveillance technology.   Both companies are based in Israel – having arisen to prominence from that country’s cornering of the information technology market – and are heavily funded by the Israeli government, with connections to the Israeli military and Israeli intelligence (both companies have a long history of board memberships dominated by current and former Israeli military and intelligence officers).   Verint is considered the world leader in “electronic interception” and hence an ideal private sector candidate for wiretap outsourcing.  Amdocs is the world’s largest billing service for telecommunications, with some $2.8 billion in revenues in 2007, offices worldwide, and clients that include the top 25 phone companies in the United States that together handle 90 percent of all call traffic among U.S. residents.  The companies’ operations, sources suggest, have been infiltrated by freelance spies exploiting encrypted trapdoors in Verint/Amdocs technology and gathering data on Americans for transfer to Israeli intelligence and other willing customers (particularly organized crime).  “The fact of the vulnerability of our telecom backbone is indisputable,” says a high level U.S. intelligence officer who has monitored the fears among federal agents.  “How it came to pass, why nothing has been done, who has done what – these are the incendiary questions.”  If the allegations are true, the electronic communications gathered up by the NSA and other U.S. intelligence agencies might be falling into the hands of a foreign government.   Reviewing the available evidence, Robert David Steele, a former CIA case officer and today one of the foremost international proponents for “public intelligence in the public interest,” tells me that “Israeli penetration of the entire US telecommunications system means that NSA's warrantless wiretapping actually means Israeli warrantless wiretapping.”             More..............

Not Afraid to Stand Alone
 

09/15/08

THEY WANT MAMA TO MAKE IT ALL BETTER! Rep Kapture

09/18/08

الخطر الشيعي ومسؤولية العلماء

أشرف عبد المقصود : بتاريخ 20 - 9 - 2008

العالم الرباني هو من يستعظم المسؤولية التي حمّله الله إياها ، ويقدِّر أمانة الله في عنقه ، ويتحمل العبء الثقيل الذي كُلِّف به في مواجهة التيارات الهدامة التي تنخر في جسد الأمة ، فهو يستشعر عن بعد الخطر الدَّاهم على أمته فلا ينتظر حتي يعم البلاء بل يسارع للتحذير دون إبطاء ، فالبيان لا يجوز تأخيره عن وقت الحاجة { وَإِذْ أَخَذَ اللَّهُ مِيثَاقَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ لَتُبَيِّنُنَّهُ لِلنَّاسِ وَلا تَكْتُمُونَهُ} [ آل عمران :187 ] . ومن الثابت ان كثيرا من علماء أهل السنة المعاصرين في دعوتهم للتقريب مع الشيعة - لحسن نيتهم وعدم معرفتهم بألاعيب الشيعة وحيلهم – قد انتهى به المطاف آخيرا للتحذير منهم وكشف خداعهم ، خذ مثلا : العلامة الدكتور مصطفى السباعي رحمه الله ، فقد كان من دعاة التقريب والمهتمين به، وسعى لعقد مؤتمر إسلامي بين الفريقين ثم تبين الخداع والزيف فحذر منهم وبين غرضهم فقال : ( دعاة التقريب من علماء الشيعة إذ هم بينما يقيمون لهذه الدعوة الدور وينشئون المجلات بالقاهرة ويستكتبون فريقا من علماء الأزهر لهذه الغاية ، لم نر أثرا لهم في الدعوة لهذا التقارب بين علماء الشيعة في العراق وإيران وغيرهما ، فلا يزال القوم مُصرِّين على ما في كتبهم من ذلك الطعن الجارح والتصوير المكذوب لما كان بين الصحابة من خلاف كأن المقصود من دعوة التقريب هي تقريب أهل السنة إلى مذهب الشيعة لا تقريب المذهبين كل منهما إلى الآخر ) " السنة ومكانتها في التشريع " ص ( 10) . * * * * وهذا نفسه ما حدث مع العلامة الألمعي الفَطِن الدكتور يوسف القرضاوي الذي قضى سنوات طويلة من عمره ينافح عن التقارب المذهبي - وهو المبرأ من أي شبهة غلو مذهبي أو كراهية للآخر - لما استشعر خطر المسؤولية وفداحة الخطب أطلق صيحاته المتكررة للتحذير من الخطر الشيعي ، الذي خرج من قمقمه - بمباركة قوى أعداء الإسلام - ليشغل أهل السنة بالفتن كما هي عادته على مر الأزمان. لقد صبر الشيخ على الشيعة كثيرًا ، وطالما كنتُ واثقًا أن صبره لا يعني المهادنة أو الإقرار لمخالفاتهم ، وإنما يستتر خلفه حكمة وسعي دءوب لنصحهم في السر والعلن ورغبة في وحدة الأمة ضد الأخطار الخارجية التي تتهددها ، حتى إذا ما طفح الكيل لم يكن من بد من وقفة حاسمة معهم : 1- واستياء القرضاوي من تصرفات الشيعة في إيران ظهر في حوار معه ( نقله موقع إسلام أون لاين ) حيث قال : ( ومما قلته للإخوة أيضا في إيران: إن أهل السنة في طهران يقدرون بمليونين أو أكثر، وهم يطالبون منذ سنين بإقامة مسجد لهم، يجتمعون فيه لأداء فريضة صلاة الجمعة ، ويشاركهم في ذلك السفراء العرب والمسلمون، فلم تستجب السلطات لهم حتى الآن ) اهـ .. ولم تُعِره إيران أي اهتمام ، بل في مناظرة بقناة الجزيرة العام الماضي بين القرضاوي ورفسنجاني – الذي يمثل الموقف الرسمي لإيران راعية مؤتمرات التقريب - رأينا القرضاوي وقد ضيق الخناق على رفسنجاني ليتبرؤا من هذه الانحرافات واللعن والسب ، فرأيناه يلف ويدور ولم يتتزحزح قيد أنملة عن موقفه !! 2- ثم رأينا تسليطهم لأذناب الشيعة - ممن تشيعوا - للهجوم على القرضاوي في الصحف والمجلات ، فألف المتشيع أحمد راسم النفيس - ومن يسمي نفسه بالمتحدث الرسمي للشيعة بمصر - كتابا بعنوان : " القرضاوي وكيل الله أم وكيل بني أمية " كال فيه التهجم والسباب للقرضاوي ، وقال عنه ص (12 ) : ( وأنه من جمعية عشاق القتلة من بني أمية ) نعوذ بالله من الخذلان . 3- ثم جاء مؤتمر الدوحة الأخير العام الماضي - فأثبتت له بجلاء أن اللعبة انتهت وانكشفت وأن التقريب عندهم يعني التقريب للتشيع وفتح الباب لنشر المذهب . وفي المؤتمر فاجأ القرضاوي الحضور في مفتتح اللقاء بانتقاده لسياسية "التشييع" التي تنتهجها إيران في المجتمعات الإسلامية السنية ، وقال موجها كلامه للتسخيري الأمين العام للمجمع العالمي للتقريب بين المذاهب في إيران ومتساءلا : «ماذا ينفعكم أن تدخلوا بلداً سنياً مثل مصر أو السودان أو المغرب أو الجزائر وغيرها من بلاد خالصة للشافعية والمالكية... وأن تحاولوا أن تكسبوا أفرادا للمذهب الشيعي؟... هل ستكسبون 10 أو 20 أو 100 أو 200 لكن بعد ذلك تنجزون فتنة في البلد، وسيكرهكم الناس ويلعنونكم بعد ذلك» اهـ . 5- وفي شهر يناير 2007 وصفت صحيفة "ملي دار" العراقية الشيعية ، الشيخ يوسف القرضاوي بأنه "أشد أعداء الشيعة"، واتهمته بتحريض الأكراد عليهم . ولفتت إلى أن الشيخ القرضاوي هاجم تسخيري رئيس مجمع التقريب بين المذاهب في إيران في الجلسة الختامية للمؤتمر، قائلاً: " إما أن تنجح فكرة التقريب بين المذاهب على أرض الواقع أو لنفض هذه السيرة وتغلق مجمعك وتقوم بتسريح موظفيك ". 6- وإذا كان تحذير القرضاوي قيل عامين بنقابة الصحفيين من المد الشيعي يعده البعض غير كاف ، وفي المقابل يعتبره الدكتور محمد سليم العوا " زلة لسان " ؛ فقد قطع الشيخ حفظه الله الشك باليقين قبل أيام بتحذير واضح بين فيه بشدة خطورة المد الشيعي في غزو البلاد العربية ، ثم بين بدع الشيعة وانحرافهم في معتقدهم ، فقامت الدنيا ولم تقعد ، وانبرى الشيعة للطعن في الشيخ والهجوم عليه حتى ممن كانوا يتظاهرون بالاعتدال أمثال التسخيري وفضل الله !! * * * * أما التسخيري فأمره مكشوف ومفضوح، فبينما هو يقدم نفسه كراعٍ للحوار بين المذاهب، يشرف شخصيا على جهود التشييع في البلاد السنية ، مستغلا جهل أهل السنة بحقيقة التشيع وفي بلدان لا تعرف الفرق بين الشيعي والشيوعي !! ولكن لن تنطلي علينا ألاعيب هذا الرجل وحيله ، ولا أنسى خزيه أمام الدكتور محمد عمارة حين فاجأه - في مناظرة جرت بينهما بقناة العالم في شهر ربيع الأول 1429هـ - بنص من كتاب الطهارة للخميني ( والمطبوع بطهران بمناسبة أسبوع الوحدة الذي دعا إليه الخمينى خداعا وتضليلا للسذج من أهل السنة ) حيث نقل عمارة عن الخميني قوله عن عائشة أم المؤمنين والزبير وطلحة ومعاوية (( بأنهم أخبث من الكلاب والخنازير !! )) ثم تساءل الدكتور عمارة : (( كيف تكون هناك وحدة أو أسبوع للوحدة من الذي يقول هذا الكلام ؟ )) اهـ . فأسقط في يده وتلجلج ولم يستطع جوابا . أما محمد حسين فضل الله – والذي أفتى معظم مراجع الشيعة الكبار المعاصرين بضلاله وبدعته وطرده من الحوزة العلمية وأصدروا البيانات في ذلك ؛ لكونه خرجت عن المذهب في بعض الأمور وأنشأوا له موقعا خاصا بعنوان ( ضلال نت ) وضعوا فيه هذه البيانات ، فأمره عجب فبينما هو يظهر بصورة الشيعي المعتدل وأنه من دعاة الوحدة والتقريب ينكشف أمره من خلال الفتاوى التي يصدرها ! خذ مثلا : الشيخ شلتوت أفتى منذ نصف قرن بفتوى أجاز فيها التعبد بمذهب الإمامية !! وفي المقابل نجد محمد حسين فضل الله - المعتدل المزيف وداعي الوحدة والتقريب - على النقيض تماما ، فقد سئل : هل يجوز التعبد في فروع الدين بالمذاهب السنية الأربعة وكذلك المذاهب غير الشيعية ؟ فكانت إجابته : لا يجوز التعبد بأي مذهب إسلامي غير مذهب أهل البيت عليهم السلام ؛ لأنه المذهب الذي قامت عليه الحجة القاطعة والله الموفق " اهـ من كتابه ( مسائل عقائدية ص 110 ) ط دار الملاك . Bokhary63@yahoo.com

A Review of Crossing the Rubicon and The New Pearl Harbor

By Douglas R. Page

I INTRODUCTION

It is very difficult to have a rational discussion with some people about the unanswered questions arising from 9-11. On the other hand, 42% of the people across the nation believe the Official Kean Commission Report was a whitewash. For all of us, there is a sense that the truth of Bush Administration involvement would be too frightening to accept. It might cause us to lose our jobs, or be put in jail. It would require some action on our part. It would demolish our comfortable lives and our sense of well-being and security. It is simply too monstrous for many humans to face. Many liberals are those who want to be somewhat sensitive to the injustices of the world without having to sacrifice one iota of their privileges. Thus liberals often give support to and benefit from capitalism and from US imperialism. These liberals thus may not wish to confront the facts of 9-11.

Why are there are so many vigorous critics of those of us who question the official story of 9-11? We know from Carl Bernstein’s (of Woodward, Bernstein Deep Throat fame) article in Rolling Stone in 1976 that the CIA then had some 400 “journalist-plants” in the mainstream media including the liberal and progressive media, who were directed to publish stories favorable to the CIA and to counter unfavorable stories. Given the changes since 9-11, it is fair to assume there are many more CIA planted journalists in the media now in 2006.          More.............................

THE AMERICAN ISRAEL PUBLIC AFFAIRS COMMITTEE

also known as

AIPAC

“AIPAC is America’s Pro Israel Lobby,” says its masthead. Its stated purpose is to lobby for policies and issues that are in the best interests of Israel and of America. It is a registered lobby. Fortune lists it as being the 2^nd most powerful lobby in Washington, AARP being the first. However, AIPAC is widely regarded as the most effective foreign policy lobby. It was created in 1951.

Membership is apparently open to anyone. There are now 100,000 members and it has grown rapidly since 9-11. The annual operating budget is $40 Million. Although, one apparently does not have to join a membership club, there are 6:

The Minyan Club for those who give $100,000 or more per year

The Chairman’s Council for those giving $36K or more

The President’s Cabinet for those giving $25K

The Senate Club for those giving $10K

The Capitol Club for those giving $3,600 or more

The Washington Club for those giving $1,500 or more

AIPAC’s Board of Directors consists of 46 persons. I could not find out how they are elected. Each is quite wealthy, and they contribute an average of $70,000 per year each. One Director gave $51 Million. The Board consists of Wall Street lawyers, stock brokers, heirs to family fortunes and real estate developers.

AIPAC’s 51 person Executive Committee is also called the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations CPMJO. It is supposed to represent a consensus of American Jews, but it is dominated by one man, Malcolm Hoenlein, a supporter of the Likud Party. He believes that Jews have a right to occupy and live in the West Bank permanently. According to the Jewish Bulletin, it is dedicated to the “unequivocal support of every Israeli government.” My research persuades me that this is also the objective of AIPAC.

CPMJO concentrates on lobbing the Executive Branch of the US government, the President, the State Department, the Department of Defense, the Intelligence Agencies, while AIPAC concentrates on Congress.

AIPAC has many satellite organizations or committees or separate organizations with which it works in tandem some of which are:                                   More........................

By Dahr Jamail

Iraq War veteran Sergio Kochergin leads anti-war demonstration through downtown Seattle after testifying at Regional Winter Soldier hearings. Credit:Bob Haynes/IPS

MARFA, Texas, Sep 16 (IPS) - Aside from the Iraqi people, nobody knows what the U.S. military is doing in Iraq better than the soldiers themselves. A new book gives readers vivid and detailed accounts of the devastation the U.S. occupation has brought to Iraq, in the soldiers' own words.

"Winter Soldier Iraq and Afghanistan: Eyewitness Accounts of the Occupation," published by Haymarket Books Tuesday, is a gut-wrenching, historic chronicle of what the U.S. military has done to Iraq, as well as its own soldiers.

Authored by Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW) and journalist Aaron Glantz, the book is a reader for hearings that took place in Silver Spring, Maryland between Mar. 13-16, 2008 at the National Labour College.

"I remember one woman walking by," said Jason Washburn, a corporal in the U.S. Marines who served three tours in Iraq. "She was carrying a huge bag, and she looked like she was heading toward us, so we lit her up with the Mark 19, which is an automatic grenade launcher, and when the dust settled, we realised that the bag was full of groceries. She had been trying to bring us food and we blew her to pieces."

Washburn testified on a panel that discussed the rules of engagement in Iraq, and how lax they were, even to the point of being virtually non-existent.

"During the course of my three tours, the rules of engagement changed a lot," Washburn's testimony continues. "The higher the threat the more viciously we were permitted and expected to respond."

His emotionally charged testimony, like all of those in the book that covered panels addressing dehumanisation, civilian testimony, sexism in the military, veterans' health care, and the breakdown of the military, raised issues that were repeated again and again by other veterans.

"Something else we were encouraged to do, almost with a wink and nudge, was to carry 'drop weapons', or by my third tour, 'drop shovels'. We would carry these weapons or shovels with us because if we accidentally shot a civilian, we could just toss the weapon on the body, and make them look like an insurgent," Washburn said.

Four days of searing testimony, witnessed by this writer, is consolidated into the book, which makes for a difficult read. One page after another is filled with devastating stories from the soldiers about what is being done in Iraq.

Everything from the taking of "trophy" photos of the dead, to torture and slaughtering of civilians is included.

"We're trying to build a historical record of what continues to happen in this war and what the war is really about," Glantz told IPS.

Hart Viges, a member of the 82nd Airborne Division of the Army who served one year in Iraq, tells of taking orders over the radio.

"One time they said to fire on all taxicabs because the enemy was using them for transportation...One of the snipers replied back, 'Excuse me? Did I hear that right? Fire on all taxicabs?' The lieutenant colonel responded, 'You heard me, trooper, fire on all taxicabs.' After that, the town lit up, with all the units firing on cars. This was my first experience with war, and that kind of set the tone for the rest of the deployment."

Vincent Emanuele, a Marine rifleman who spent a year in the al-Qaim area of Iraq near the Syrian border, told of emptying magazines of bullets into the city without identifying targets, running over corpses with Humvees and stopping to take "trophy" photos of bodies. "An act that took place quite often in Iraq was taking pot shots at cars that drove by," he said. "This was not an isolated incident, and it took place for most of our eight-month deployment."

Kelly Dougherty, the executive director of IVAW, blames the behaviour of soldiers in Iraq on the policies of the U.S. government. "The abuses committed in the occupations, far from being the result of a 'few bad apples' misbehaving, are the result of our government's Middle East policy, which is crafted in the highest spheres of U.S. power," she said.

Knowing this, however, does little to soften the emotional and moral devastation of the accounts.

"You see an individual with a white flag and he does anything but approach you slowly and obey commands, assume it's a trick and kill him," Michael Leduc, a corporal in the Marines who was part of the U.S. attack of Fallujah in November 2004, said were the orders from his battalion JAG officer he received before entering the city.

This is an important book for the public of the United States, in particular, because the Winter Soldier testimonies were not covered by any of the larger media outlets, aside from the Washington Post, which ran a single piece on the event that was buried in the Metro section.

The New York Times, CNN, and network news channels ABC, NBC and CBS ignored it completely.

This is particularly important in light of the fact that, as former Marine Jon Turner stated, "Anytime we did have embedded reporters with us, our actions changed drastically. We never acted the same. We were always on key with everything, did everything by the book."

"To me it's about giving a picture of what war is like," Glantz added, "Because here in the U.S. we have this very sanitised version of what war is. But war is when we have a large group of armed people killing large numbers of other people. And that is the picture that people will get from reading veterans testimony...the true face of war."

Dehumanisation of the soldiers themselves is covered in the book, as it includes testimony of sexism, racism, and the plight of veterans upon their return home as they struggle to obtain care from the Veterans Administration.

There is much testimony on the dehumanisation of the Iraqi people as well. Brian Casler, a corporal in the Marines, spoke to some of this that he witnessed during the invasion of Iraq.

"But on these convoys, I saw marines defecate into MRE bags or urinate in bottles and throw them at children on the side of the road," he stated.

Numerous accounts from soldiers include the prevalence of degrading terms for Iraqis, such as "hajis," "towel-heads" and "sand-niggers".

Scott Ewing, who served in Iraq from 2005-2006, admitted on one panel that units intentionally gave candy to Iraqi children for reasons other than "winning hearts and minds".

"There was also another motive," Ewing said, "If the kids were around our vehicles, the bad guys wouldn't attack. We used the kids as human shields."

Glantz admits that it would be difficult for the average U.S. citizen to read the book, and believes it is important to keep in mind while doing so what it took for the veterans to give this historic testimony.

"They could have been heroes, but what they are doing here is even more heroic -- which is telling the truth," Glantz told IPS. "They didn't have to come forward. They chose to come forward."

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=43891

Chris Floyd

September 17, 2008

"There is great disorder under heaven, and the situation is excellent." -- Chairman Mao

Do you get it now? The rich and powerful spend years making foolish deals in a market they rigged with the connivance of utterly corrupted politicians on both sides the aisle; their fraudulent scheme finally collapses, exposing them to some of the most horrific financial losses in history....and YOU will have to pay for it. For generations. Not only directly, with the tax money straight from your pocket, but even more so in the further degradation of national life: infrastructure, services, programs, amenities that will be starved or abandoned as even more of the government's money is poured out to shield the wastrel elite from suffering the consequences of their own rapacious folly.

And with all the talk of a "new Cold War," who knew that it would be Washington and Wall Street, not the Kremlin, who resurrected socialism in the 21st century, in what the Times called "the most radical intervention in private business in the central bank’s history"? Socialism for the rich only, to be sure. Ole Joe "Bankruptcy Bill" Biden and his bipartisan cohorts in Congress have long made sure that any ordinary citizen -- especially the old, the sick, the poor, the most desperate -- will be squeezed to the last drop to pay off their debts, even if these were incurred through illness or misfortune. But for our boardroom Bolsheviki, the state is always there, to cushion and to coddle.

And who knew there was so much money in the federal coffers? Endless, roaring torrents of money available for the ever-expanding operations of the global Terror War (up to $3 trillion for the rape of Iraq alone), and all of this on top of an ever-expanding "regular" military budget that tops half-a-trillion dollars each and every year. And now tens of billions for Bear-Sterns, Fannie Mae, Fannie Mac, A.I.G. and the next fat-cattery to go under. Gosh, you mean all that cash was just lying around under the federal mattress all along?

You mean we could have used some of it for, say, building schools and hospitals, or national health insurance, or rebuilding our globalization-gutted cities, or drug rehab programs, or caring for our elderly, or helping people start businesses, or repairing our rotted infrastructure, or supporting the arts and sciences, or building parks and other "common pleasures, to walk abroad and recreate yourselves"? You mean there has been enough money there all along to help create a more just, equitable, enjoyable and civilized society? Don't that beat all?

Well, there will be none of that now, thank god. Even if a party that was actually committed to the well-being and security of ordinary citizens (a description that of course excludes the ticket of "Wall Street Barry" and "Bankruptcy Bill Joe") were to somehow take power one day, they will be hogtied by the mess left behind by the elite's financial boondoggles and their many wars. They'll be lucky if there is enough spare cash on hand to buy a few sandbags the next time a hurricane turns toward New Orleans, much less address any of the massive civic, social, economic and infrastructural disasters that confront us.                                                                        More.........................

David Edwards and Nick Juliano
Published: Wednesday September 17, 2008

A group of Republican activists is displaying signs in Florida with a provocative image of the burning World Trade Center to argue on behalf of John McCain's presidential campaign.

The yard sign, which was spotted outside a McCain campaign appearance in Jacksonville, displays the message "Keep America Safe! Vote McCain Palin." The signs were produced by the Ronald Reagan Republican Assembly of Central Florida, a chapter of the National Federation of Republican Assemblies, which appears to be a conservative activist organization unconnected to the party itself.

MSNBC's Keith Olbermann noted the sign's existence in a segment in which he also condemned a separate group of conservative activists who are purchasing newspaper insert advertisements including DVDs of the right-wing movie "Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West."

Olbermann referred to the DVD as "neocon pornography" and accused the right of using 9/11 as a political tool, a practice he himself has occasionally engaged.

"Remind yourself that when we were attacked the government that let us down was Republican and that their new candidate has a secret plan to capture the guy who masterminded 9/11, but he won't tell anybody about it until we elect him president," Olbermann said to end his Monday night segment.

This video is from MSNBC's Countdown, broadcast September 15, 2008.

  


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