STOP THE WAR ON IRAQ! BRING OUR TROOPS HOME NOW!
ALL OUT JANUARY 20TH, 5:00 P.M., CIVIC CENTER, S.F.
NEXT BAY AREA UNITED AGAINST WAR MEETING:
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9, 7:00 p.m.
1380 Valencia Street
(Between 24th & 25th Streets, S.F.)
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
San Francisco's Prop N calling on the US Gov to
Bring Our Troops Home from Iraq won by over 63%.
To find out how you can pass a similar proposition in
your town go to:
www.bringourtroopshomenow.org
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
Bay Area United Against War Presents
a film screening of:
"WMD: Weapons of Mass Deception"
Meet film director Danny Schechter "The News Dissector."
Danny will be available for a question and answer period
right after the movie.
Saturday, Dec. 11th, 2004
(Check the newspaper for showtime and ticket price.)
Embarcadero Center Cinema
One Embarcadero Center, Promenade Level
San Francisco, CA 94111
(415) 267-4893
" 'WMD' paints a meticulous and damning portrait of the media's
coverage of the Iraq war. In sobering detail, Danny Schechter shows
us how the TV networks now prefer the role of cheerleader, to that
of objective journalist," says Mike Nisholson of austinnforkerry.org.
"Schechter tackles his subject like a cross between Errol Morris and
a Dashiell Hammet detective, following close on the tail of big media
reporters as they in turn track the march toward war, embed
themselves in the military industrial complex and then get out when
the fighting gets tough and leave the cleanup work to stringers, "
writes Shandon Fowler of film's Hamptons International Film
Festival appearance, Oct. 20-24.
To learn more about the film visit:
www.wmdthefilm.com
www.bauaw.org
(Distributed by Cinema Libre Studio, www.cinemalibrestudio.com)
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1) U.S. Loses Ruling over College Bans on Military Recruiters
By Michael Dobbs
The Washington Post
Tuesday 30 November 2004
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A20657-2004Nov29.html
2) PHILADELPHIA HOMELESS FAMILIES OCCUPY ARMY RECRUITMENT
CENTER, DEMAND MONEY FOR HOUSING NOT FOR WAR!
URGENT ALERT: TUESDAY NOVEMBER 30TH, 2:00 PM
3) Report: Pentagon wants 10,000 more troops in Iraq
World >Terrorism & Security
Abizaid says forces OK, but US Army planners worry about replacements.
By Tom Regan | csmonitor.com
posted November 29, 2004, updated 10:30 a.m.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/1130/dailyUpdate.html
4) NEWS: CCR joins German war crime and torture lawsuit
against Donald Rumsfeld et al.
5) U.S., British Troops Raid Old Baathist Retreat
By Alastair Macdonald
NEAR ISKANDARIYA, Iraq (Reuters)
Wed Dec 1, 2004 07:20 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6965108&src=eD
ialog/GetContent§ion=news
6) NEW WORKING-CLASS STUDIES:
PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE
The 10th Aniversary Conference
of the Center for Working-Class Studies
at Youngstown State University
Co-sponsored by Ford Foundation
May 18-21, 2005, Youngstown, Ohio
A Community Labor News E-Zine
CALL FOR PAPERS
7) Hamash Family Home and Ibdaa Kindergarten Demolished
From: "Barbara Lubin"
Wed, 1 Dec 2004 14:56:52 -0500 (EST)
8) Pentagon to Extend Tours for Some G.I.'s in Iraq for Vote
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON (AP)
Filed at 1:19 PM ET
December 1, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Iraq-US-Military.html?hp&ex=1101
963600&en=30f3b647dac5173d&ei=5094&partner=homepage
9) IRAQ: Covering up US war crimes
By James Petras
From Green Left Weekly, December 1, 2004.
I am reading William Shirer's Berlin Diary , a journalist's
account of Nazi political propaganda during the 1930s, as
I watch the US "news" reports of the violent assault on
Fallujah.
http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2004/608/608p28.htm
10) Imprisoned Palestinian Enters Race for Presidency
By GREG MYRE
JERUSALEM, Dec. 1
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/01/international/middleeast/01cnd-mide.html?o
ref=login&hp
11) Navy Kills Pregnant Right Whale in Mid-Atlantic;
Second Pregnant Female Victim of Ship Strike This Year
WASHINGTON -- November 30
http://www.commondreams.org/news2004/1130-19.htm
12) Ready to Rumble
Health Sciences Institute e-Alert
December 01, 2004
From: "HSI - Jenny Thompson"
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
1) U.S. Loses Ruling over College Bans on Military Recruiters
By Michael Dobbs
The Washington Post
Tuesday 30 November 2004
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A20657-2004Nov29.html
A federal appeals court yesterday prohibited the government from
withholding funds from colleges and universities that refuse to
cooperate with military recruiters because of the Pentagon's
discrimination against gays in the armed forces.
In a 2 to 1 ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit
in Philadelphia blocked the government from enforcing a law known
as the Solomon Amendment, which punishes universities that refuse
to allow military recruiters on campus. The law was originally passed
by Congress in 1996 but was not actively enforced before the
beginning of President Bush's administration.
"This is a landmark decision," said Joshua Rosenkranz, lead counsel
for a network of 25 law schools and 900 law professors who
complained that the Solomon Amendment violated their First
Amendment rights. "The court understood that, in a free society,
the government cannot co-opt private institutions as government
mouthpieces."
The court ruled that the Solomon Amendment violated the free-
speech rights of schools that restricted on-campus recruiting in
response to the military's ban on gays. By threatening to withdraw
federal funds from schools that refused to cooperate with military
recruiters, the court wrote, the government was compelling them
"to express a message that is incompatible with their educational
objectives."
Pentagon and Justice Department officials did not immediately
return calls seeking reaction to the court ruling. The government
can appeal the decision to either the Supreme Court or the full 3rd
Circuit, but neither body is obligated to accept the appeal.
While the Solomon Amendment applies to all types of universities,
law schools were most vociferous in objecting to what they viewed
as the military's discriminatory policies against gay men and lesbians.
Some law schools banned military recruiters from holding job fairs on
campus, while others refused to cooperate in more minor ways. Similar
lawsuits have been filed around the country.
The Pentagon sent letters in late 2001 to more than 20 law schools
threatening to cut off federal funds to them and their parent universities
unless they reversed their policies. Faced with this threat, the law
schools begin cooperating with the Pentagon but filed complaints
in federal court seeking to overturn the law.
"This is a big vindication of our efforts," said Kent Greenfield,
a law professor at Boston College and founder of the Forum for
Academic and Institutional Rights, one of the main plaintiffs in the
case. "This ruling allows schools and universities around the country
to refuse to be agents of military discrimination against some of
their students."
Yesterday's ruling in a case originally brought by New Jersey
law schools overturned a decision by a lower court judge and
marked the first time an appeals court had blocked the government
from enforcing the law. The Solomon Amendment, named after
a Republican congressman from Upstate New York, in effect required
law schools to choose between getting federal funds and following
their own policies, which barred discrimination against students on
the basis of sexual orientation.
(c) Copyright 2004 by TruthOut.org
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
2) PHILADELPHIA HOMELESS FAMILIES OCCUPY ARMY RECRUITMENT
CENTER, DEMAND MONEY FOR HOUSING NOT FOR WAR!
URGENT ALERT: TUESDAY NOVEMBER 30TH, 2:00 PM
Today, as part of their "Homes For The Holidays: Operation Bring the
Money Home" Campaign, dozens of homeless families belonging to the
Kensington Welfare Rights Union (KWRU) have moved their Bushville
Tent City to sit in at the main Army Recruiting Office in
Philadelphia. As police and Civil Affairs officers attempted to lock
the families out of the office, the families quickly placed signs
saying "Billions for the War, Still Nothing for the Poor" and
photographs of homeless children with the words, "Bring the Money
Home" on every available space in the office.
See http://www.kwru.org for photographs and updates.
Background:
November 30, 2004: Early this afternoon, members of the Kensington
Welfare Rights Union - homeless families currently living at the
KWRU's BUSHVILLE in North Philadelphia - attempted to meet with the
Office of Housing and Urban Developement (HUD) in Philadelphia. Soon
after the families entered the building the elevators were turned off
and we were denied our right to speak with government officials.
The growing protest then moved to the Army Recruiting Office at Broad
and Arch where the families then took over the Army Recruiting
Office. Others have set up to spend the night outside. No family
should ever go homeless one night in Philadelphia. Your support is
needed.
The Kensington Welfare Rights Union is insisting that Alphonso
Jackson, the current Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, fly
to Philadelphia to witness firsthand the impact the recent budget
cuts made by the Bush Administration have had on the families in this
city.
"The Bush administration continues to put billions of dollars towards
a needless, brutal war while families across America suffer without
the basic necessities of life. This is not a fight for a bed in a
homeless shelter; it is a fight for decent, affordable housing for
everyone is this wealthy nation."
- Cheri Honkala, Kensington Welfare Rights Union/ Poor People's
Economic Human Rights Campaign
Kensington Welfare Rights Union NUHHCE, ASFCME, AFL-CIO PO Box 50678
Philadelphia, PA 19132-9720 Phone: 215/203-1945 Fax: 215/203-1950
email: kwru@kwru.org web: http://www.kwru.org
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3) Report: Pentagon wants 10,000 more troops in Iraq
World >Terrorism & Security
Abizaid says forces OK, but US Army planners worry about replacements.
By Tom Regan | csmonitor.com
posted November 29, 2004, updated 10:30 a.m.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/1130/dailyUpdate.html
Faced with the problem of protecting upcoming elections and securing
former insurgent stronghold, the US military tells NBC it will need
between 10,000 and 11,000 more troops in Iraq .NBC-TV reported
Monday night that this will "temporarily" bring the total number of US
forces in Iraq to 150,000. As a result many soldiers and marines who
were scheduled to leave Iraq this month will have to stay longer, while
other troops will be sent to Iraq earlier than scheduled.
NBC-TV also reports on the difficulties these 10,000 new troops would
have in order to protect all 9000 polling places in Iraq.
In an interview with USA Today on Monday, Army Gen. John Abizaid,
head of US Central Command and the top solider in Iraq and Afghanistan,
said that US forces are not stretched too thin around the world, and
warned countries like Iran and North Korea not to think they could take
advantage of the situation. But in an opinion piece for Knight Ridder ,
senior military correspondent Joseph Galloway says Army planners tell
him that, "Army and Marine commanders already have used up most of
their bag of tricks to find troops for the usual rotations to Iraq."
The Baltimore Sun reports that the Army is hard pressed to find
enough officers for staff jobs in Iraq and Afghanistan and will double
the length of their tours in those countries from 179 days at present
to a full 12 months. Other extraordinary steps ordered or under
consideration include pulling officers out of military schools or delaying
entry into such programs. They could also curtail family oriented
programs such as the one that allows soldiers to extend their tours
at a stateside base so their children can finish their senior year in
high school. The Army is struggling to fill hundreds of staff jobs
for majors and lieutenant colonels in war zone headquarters and
in the past month began stripping majors and lieutenant colonels
from their Pentagon billets and ordering them to Iraq and
Afghanistan.
The Los Angeles Times reported Sunday on the new kind of
training that those enlisted in the Army receive, including those
who are in non-combat jobs. Basically, the Times reports, the
idea of a non-combat job is not longer relevant in the kind of
wars being fought in Iraq and Afghanistan.
For the recruits, it wasn't exactly what they expected when a bus
deposited them at the gate nine weeks ago. The plan for many
had been to learn an Army trade, to make an important contribution
and still keep a safe distance from enemy lines. Instead, before
they knew it, they were learning to avoid landmines, survive an
ambush and spot roadside bombs disguised as cans of Coke.
'They go from being a high school kid to a soldier on the ground
in Iraq, and if they get ambushed, they have to know hand-to-
hand combat,' said retired Army Gen. Randall L. Rigby, a former
deputy commandant in charge of training. 'The old chestnut that
only the infantry takes the blows is gone.'
One of the biggest problems the military faces, Mr. Galloway
reported in his piece above, is how to keep enough soldiers in
places like Fallujah in order to prevent insurgents from coming
back, while still pressuring them in other places in Iraq. There is
also some confusion over the number of daily attacks since US
troops entered Fallujah, with interim Prime Minister Iyad Allawi
saying the attacks have dropped to about 50 a day , with other
sources, like Galloway, saying they have doubled to more than
100 a day.
Regardless of the number of daily attacks, the number of US
troops killed in Iraq in a single month is approaching the highest
total since March 2003. The death of three more US soldiers who
died in attacks Monday, the total for November stood at 134. The
highest previous total, 135, came last April, when fighting flared
in the Sunni Muslim stronghold of Fallujah.
Although fighting there is less intense than earlier this month ,
firefights still continue in the city. An Associated Press reported
Monday quoted International Red Cross officials as saying that the
Iraqi Red Crescent has established a relief center in Fallujah, but "
continued fighting between US-led forces and insurgents makes
it impossible for doctors and nurses to move around and treat
the wounded ..."
Meanwhile Mideast Online reported Monday on the difficult job
the US military is having convincing Iraqi contractors to come
and take part in rebuilding the almost completely destroyed
Fallujah. Most contractors say they will not return until the
security situation in the city improves.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
4) NEWS: CCR joins German war crime and torture lawsuit
against Donald Rumsfeld et al.
[Five Iraqi citizens have been joined by Berlin's Republican Lawyers'
Association and the New-York-based Center for Constitutional Rights in a
lawsuit against Donald Rumsfeld and other high U.S. officials, in an effort
to
take advantage of Germany's Code of Crimes Against International Law, passed
in 2002. -- Noting that "there is simply no other place to go" because the
U.S. Congress has failed seriously to investigate the abuses in Abu Ghraib,
CCR vice president Peter Weiss said in a statement yesterday: "It is clear
that the U.S. government is not willing to open an investigation into these
allegations against these officials." -- UFPPC called for investigations
back in May into Abu Ghraib and the larger pattern of illegal conduct of
which
it is a part, and delegations from UFPPC have had two personal meetings with
Pierce County Congressman Adam Smith to urge the need for them. --
Unfortunately, Congressman Smith said on both occasions that the partisan
obstacles to such investigations seem to be, at present, insuperable. --
Thanks to Carl Anderson for sending this. --Mark]
http://www.ufppc.org/content/view/1832/
RUMSFELD SUED FOR ALLEGED WAR CRIMES
Deutsche Welle
November 30, 2004
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1413907,00.html
Alleging responsibility for war crimes and torture at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib
prison, a human rights group has filed a criminal complaint in Germany
against
U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other top U.S. officials.
The New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and Berlin's
Republican Lawyers' Association said they and five Iraqi citizens mistreated
by U.S. soldiers were seeking a probe by German federal prosecutors of
leading
U.S. policymakers.
They said they had chosen Germany because of its Code of Crimes Against
International Law, introduced in 2002, which grants German courts universal
jurisdiction in cases involving war crimes or crimes against humanity.
It also makes military or civilian commanders who fail to prevent their
subordinates from committing such acts liable.
"NO OTHER PLACE TO GO"
"We filed these cases here because there is simply no other place to go,"
CCR
vice president Peter Weiss said in a statement, adding that the U.S.
Congress
had "failed" to seriously investigate the abuses. "It is clear that the
U.S.
government is not willing to open an investigation into these allegations
against these officials."
The CCR said that the five Iraqis it was representing had been victims of
mistreatment including electric shock, severe beatings, sleep and food
deprivation and sexual abuse.
It noted that Sanchez and other officers involved in the case were based in
Germany. Germany's federal prosecutor now has to decide whether the case
warrants further investigation
UNITED FOR PEACE & JUSTICE | 212-868-5545
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---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
5) U.S., British Troops Raid Old Baathist Retreat
By Alastair Macdonald
NEAR ISKANDARIYA, Iraq (Reuters)
Wed Dec 1, 2004 07:20 AM ET
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=6965108&src=eD
ialog/GetContent§ion=news
NEAR ISKANDARIYA, Iraq (Reuters) - Hundreds of U.S. and
British troops raided homes of insurgent suspects at first
light on Wednesday in an area that was once a favored country
retreat of Saddam Hussein's Baath party elite.
Scottish soldiers from the Black Watch regiment and a force
from the U.S. 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) cordoned off
several km (miles) of the west bank of the Euphrates river,
some 30 miles south of Baghdad, and were scouring villas and
farms for Sunni Muslim militants and hidden stocks of weapons.
This reporter with the U.S. Marines saw them position tanks
across a main intersection to form one end of the cordon. The
British troops, who included marine commandos, were using
Warrior armored vehicles to seal their area of search.
American high-speed riverboats went into action when a
group of men tried to escape the area by water, U.S. officers
said.
U.S. and Iraqi troops rounded up 15 suspected militants
during the operation, the military said in a statement, raising
to 210 the number detained in the past eight days of raids.
Hours later troops were still scouring date palm groves and
farmland for signs of buried weapons.
It was the latest in a series of aggressive raids across
the region since the launch a week ago of what American
commanders have called Operation Plymouth Rock.
Separately, an insurgent attempting to plant a roadside
bomb along a highway through the area was killed when one of
the two mortar rounds he was using exploded prematurely, the
army said.
A suicide car bomber detonated his vehicle in the same
area, killing himself and wounding seven civilians, officials
said.
NATIONAL ELECTION
Following on from their assault last month on Sunni rebels
in the city of Falluja, some 40 miles upstream, the latest
operations are part of an effort to stifle the insurgency
before an national election planned for the end of next month.
British and American helicopters and U.S. jets were in the
air in support, responding to occasional mortar rounds fired in
the U.S. sector. About 50 Iraqi police commandos searched homes
in the small nearby town of Jurf as-Sakher.
In all, more than 400 men took part on the ground.
"West of the river is a stronghold of the old regime, the
summer homes of senior officials," said Lieutenant Colonel Bob
Durkin of the Marines, who commands a base close to the nearby
town of Iskandariya, on the east bank of the river.
U.S. commanders in the north of Babil province, which some
have dubbed the "triangle of death" for its frequent attacks on
U.S. and Iraqi forces, believe wealthy former officials have
helped plan and fund bomb and mortar attacks.
Two Marines were killed by a roadside bomb near Iskandariya
two nights ago and comrades involved in the raids said they
were keen for revenge but frustrated by the difficulties of
tracking down the culprits.
Durkin said some more religiously inspired fighters, who
look to the likes of Jordanian al Qaeda ally Abu Musab
al-Zarqawi, had come into the area since the offensive in
Falluja.
Some in the Sunni Arab minority, which dominated Iraq under
Saddam, fear elections will marginalise them to the benefit of
the long-oppressed 60-percent Shi'ite majority.
(c) Copyright Reuters 2004
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
6) NEW WORKING-CLASS STUDIES:
PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE
The 10th Aniversary Conference
of the Center for Working-Class Studies
at Youngstown State University
Co-sponsored by Ford Foundation
May 18-21, 2005, Youngstown, Ohio
A Community Labor News E-Zine
CALL FOR PAPERS
In 2005, the Center for Working-Class Studies will celebrate the
10th anniversary of its founding. In honor of that occasion, we
are planning a conference that will reflect the diversity, creativity,
and energy of New Working-Class Studies. The conference will
feature plenary sessions reflecting on the development of the
field, taking stock of where we stand today, and looking ahead
to new possibilities and challenges. Our conferences always
include arts exhibits, film screenings, poetry readings, and
other events. The 2005 conference will also include a business
meeting of the Working-Class Studies Association.
We invite proposals from students, workers, faculty members,
organizers, artists, and activists in all fields, from literature to
geography, history to filmmaking, union organizing to neighborhood
activism. Along with papers, we invite performances, film showings,
roundtables, and presentations of all kinds. In addition, we invite
proposals for three-hour interactive workshops and field trips,
which will be scheduled for Saturday morning. We encourage
proposals that explore literature by and about the working class;
working-class and labor history; material and popular culture;
current workplace issues; geography and landscape; journalism
and media; sociology; economics; union organizing and practice;
museum studies; the arts; multiculturalism; ethnography,
biography, autobiography; pedagogy; and personal narratives
of work.
Presenters should describe the presentation they would like
to give, including the suggested presentation format (panel,
roundtable, reading, workshop, etc.) and length. Proposals
should be no longer than one page and must be received by
January 3, 2005. Address written correspondence to John
Russo, Biennial Conference, Center for Working-Class Studies,
Youngstown State University, Youngstown, Ohio 44555.
Fax or e-mail inquiries should be sent to Patty LaPresta,
(330) 941-4622 and pmlapresta@ysu.edu.
The Center for Working-Class StudiesÂ’s website is located at
http:/www.as.ysu.edu/-cwcs/ and its discussion group at
CWCS-L@lists.ysu.edu.
Readers may email your article submissions
or your comments to ListAdmin@CLNews.org
You may Subscribe or Un-Subscribe through a
Confirmed Opt-In or Opt-out Automatic Process at
http://www.clnews.org/MailList/subscribtion.htm
"Freedom is always and exclusively
freedom for the one who thinks differently"
--Rosa Luxemburg
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
7) Hamash Family Home and Ibdaa Kindergarten Demolished
From: "Barbara Lubin"
Wed, 1 Dec 2004 14:56:52 -0500 (EST)
Dear Friends,
Last night I received the terrible news that the Israeli Army
entered Dheisheh refugee camp and demolished a building
that was home to the Hamash family and Ibdaa Cultural
Center's kindergarten.
Zaid Hamash was one of the Ibdaa youth dancers that
performed in United States in tours that MECA sponsored in
1999 and 2003. Zaid is now studying at Bard College in New
York. Both his family and his uncle's family lost their homes
last night.
As you know, MECA has worked closely with Ibdaa Cultural
Center for many years. We have developed close bonds with
the young people of Ibdaa, their families, and the
community. We have supported the women's embroidery
cooperative, the sports teams, and the health committee.
At this point it is not clear where the kindergarten will be
housed, but we will keep you informed. Below is an account
of the incident by Ziad Abbas, co-director of Ibdaa.
Barbara Lubin
Bombs at Dawn
by Ziad Abbas
At quarter to four this morning the Hamash family building
was bombed by the Israeli Army. At least 12 Israeli army
jeeps invaded Dheisheh refugee camp and surrounded the
families' homes, as well as Ibdaa Cultural Center's
kindergarten which shares the same building. The Army
ordered Musa Hamash, Aziz Hamash, and Ahmed Hamash
and their families outside into the damp and chilly morning
air.
They were given 30 minutes to remove as many of their
belongings as possible before the bombing. Not only was this
not enough time, but the presence of Army jeeps blocking
each of the nearby narrow streets made it even more difficult
for them to save some family memories and some meager
possessions.
The soldiers told them they were there only to bomb the 2
flats of Ahmed and Musa. Musa?fs son, Mahmud, was
recently sentenced to 50 months in jail and his other son,
Mahammad, is currently awaiting trial. Mahmud was arrested
over 2 years ago and Mahammad over 1 year ago. They both
left behind young children and babies who until this morning
lived in these flats.
The Army ordered the families to leave and began setting
explosives throughout the homes. When bombed, the two
flats were destroyed and the entire building was significantly
affected, including Ibdaa's kindergarten. Structurally the
building is not safe.
The sight of children's books and paintings were mixed with
the rubble in the streets and the Hamash families became
refugees once again. They are without homes and are
distributed around the camp, seeking shelter from neighbors.
Their building contained a total of eight flats, 3 belonging to
Musa and 5 to Aziz, who rented the first 2 floors to Ibdaa
Cultural Center for its kindergarten. One hundred and twenty
children, aged 3-6 years old, have learned, played, danced,
sung and been safe within those walls for the past 4 years.
Today these children of Dheisheh will not go to kindergarten
for lessons. In just a few hours they will learn a new lesson
instead: The Hamash homes were bombed and with it their
haven. Even the UN schools will not teach lessons as great as
the one the Army gave all of the children today when the
massive explosion rocked the entire camp.
No, today there will be no music, mathematics, science or
history lessons. Teachers will not teach lessons to any of us.
Today, the Israeli Army is educating us about how to destroy
homes.
For more information please visit www.dheisheh-ibdaa.net or
email ibdaa94@yahoo.com
email: meca@mecaforpeace.org
phone: 510-548-0542
web: http://www.mecaforpeace.org
If you'd like to make a donation to help support MECA's
projects for children in Palestine, click here:
https:// secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?aid=1171
Middle East Children's Alliance | 901 Parker Street | Berkeley | CA | 94710
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
8) Pentagon to Extend Tours for Some G.I.'s in Iraq for Vote
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON (AP)
Filed at 1:19 PM ET
December 1, 2004
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Iraq-US-Military.html?hp&ex=1101
963600&en=30f3b647dac5173d&ei=5094&partner=homepage
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Pentagon has decided to bolster U.S.
forces in Iraq in advance of elections scheduled for late January by
sending elements of the 82nd Airborne Division from Fort Bragg,
N.C., and extending the tours of duty for other units already in
Iraq, officials said Wednesday.
At least two Army brigades now operating in northern Iraq will
have their tours extended by about two months, until after the
election, an Army official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Also, a unit of about 2,000 Marines will stay longer than planned,
though won't exceed the seven-month limit that the Marine Corps
places on Iraq deployments, another official said. The Army
generally sends its troops to Iraq for 12 months.
The decisions were to be announced later Wednesday. Members
of two battalions of the 82nd Airborne, and their families, were
notified of the decision Tuesday, the official said. The battalions
were given what the Army calls a warning order, alerting them
that they will be going.
A battalion generally numbers about 500 to 600 troops.
The 82nd Airborne is generally relied upon by the Army
to keep one of its three brigades on short-notice alert year-
round to deploy abroad in the event of a crisis. Shortly before
the October elections in Afghanistan, elements of the 82nd
Airborne were sent there to beef up security.
Military officials have said repeatedly in recent weeks that
they were considering whether more American troops would
be required to provide sufficient security in advance of the
Jan. 30 election.
In late October the Pentagon announced a decision to keep
about 6,500 soldiers in Iraq longer than scheduled, until after
the elections. They are members of the 2nd "Black Jack"
Brigade of the 1st Cavalry Division and soldiers of the 1st
Infantry Division headquarters.
Since then officials have suggested the likelihood that some
other units would be extended.
As recently as Tuesday, Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff, said commanders in Iraq were still studying
troop requirements ahead of the election. He was quoted by the
Pentagon's internal news service as saying in Indianapolis that
the number of troops needed was "to be determined."
The moves to be announced Wednesday are in line with
expectations -- a combination of holding some troops in
Iraq longer than scheduled and sending some fresh forces
from the United States.
The United States now has about 138,000 troops in Iraq. It
is in the midst of swapping out units that have been there for
a full year with fresh forces, including the 3rd Infantry Division,
which helped spearhead the original invasion and toppling
of Baghdad in the spring of 2003.
Officials have said they were considering sending some
elements of the 3rd Infantry to Iraq earlier than scheduled,
as part of a force-bolstering plan. It was not clear Wednesday
whether that decision had been made, but some officials
suggested it was unlikely.
Security problems are most severe in the so-called Sunni
Triangle area north and west of Baghdad, as well as in the
capital itself. Voter registration has not yet begun in the more
unstable cities such as Fallujah and Ramadi, west of Baghdad.
Recently there also has been trouble in the northern city of
Mosul. On Wednesday, U.S. soldiers traveling through Mosul
on a mission to discuss the January election with Iraqis came
under fire at a gasoline station, witnesses said. One U.S.
soldier was wounded in the ensuing gunbattle.
Copyright 2004 The Associated Press
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
9) IRAQ: Covering up US war crimes
By James Petras
From Green Left Weekly, December 1, 2004.
I am reading William Shirer's Berlin Diary , a journalist's
account of Nazi political propaganda during the 1930s, as
I watch the US "news" reports of the violent assault on
Fallujah.
http://www.greenleft.org.au/back/2004/608/608p28.htm
The US mass media "reports", the style, content and especially the
language, echo their Nazi predecessors of 70 years ago to an
uncanny degree. Coincidence? Of course! In both instances we
have imperialist armies conquering countries, levelling cities and
slaughtering civilians - and the mass media, private in form, state
appendages in practice, disseminate the most outrageous lies,
in defense and praise of the conquering "storm troopers" - call
them SS or marines.
Both in Nazi Germany and contemporary US, we are told by the
mass media that the invading armies are "freeing the country" of
"foreign fighters" and "armed terrorists", who are preventing
"the people" from going about their everyday lives. Yet we know
that of the 1000 prisoners there are only four foreigners (three
Iranians and one Arab); Iraqi hospitals report less than 10% of
casualties are foreign fighters. In other words, over 90% of the
fighters are Iraqis - most of whom were born, educated and
raised families in the cities in which they are fighting.
Like the Nazi media, the major US radio and TV networks only
report what they call "military casualties" - failing to report the
civilians killed since the war started and the thousands of
women and children killed and wounded since the assault on
Fallujah began.
Like in Nazi Germany, the US mass media feature unconfirmed
reports by the US military of the bloody murders, beheadings
and kidnappings "by the foreign terrorists". The unconditional
support of Nazi/US mass media for the killing fields is best
captured in their reports of the massive bombing of densely
populated city districts. For the US network NBC, the dropping
of 500-pound bombs in the city of Fallujah is described as
targeting an "insurgent tunnel network in the city". And the
houses, markets, stores - the mothers and children above
those tunnels - vaporised into "pink mist", their existence
never acknowledged by the leading reporters and broadcasters.
Almost the entire population of non-Kurdish Iraq is opposed
to the US military and its puppet regime - yet the media refer
to the patriots defending their country from the imperial
invaders as "insurgents", minimising the significance of
a nationwide patriotic liberation movement. One of the most
surreal euphemisms is the constant reference to the "coalition
forces" - meaning the US colonial conquerors and the
mercenaries and satraps that they direct and control.
The terror bombing of homes, hospitals and religious
buildings by hundreds of airplanes and helicopter gunships
is described by the media as "securing the city for free elections".
"Freeing the city of insurgents" includes the systematic
murder of friends, neighbours and relatives of every Iraqi
living in the city of Fallujah. "Surrounding the insurgents"
means cutting off water, electricity and medical aid for
200,000 civilians in the city and putting tens of thousands
who fled under threat of a typhoid epidemic. "Pacifying the
city" involves turning it to absolute desolate poisoned rubble.
Why do Washington and the mass media resort to gross,
systematic lying and euphemisms? Basically to reinforce mass
support at home for mass murder in Iraq. The mass media
fabricates a web of lies to secure a gloss of legitimacy for
totalitarian methods in order that the US armed forces can
continue to destroy cities with impunity.
The technique perfected by Goebbels in Germany and
practiced in the US is to repeat lies and euphemisms until
they become accepted "truths", and embedded in everyday
language. The mass media by effectively routinising a common
language implicates the listeners. The tactical concerns of the
generals, the commanders directing the slaughter (pacification),
and the soldiers murdering civilians are explained (and
consumed by the millions listening and watching) by the
unchallenged authorities to the compliant journalists and
famous news anchors.
The unity of purpose between the agents of mass murder and
everyday US public is established via "news reports": The soldiers
"paint the names" of their wives and sweethearts on the tanks and
armoured vehicles that destroy Iraqi families and turn Fallujah into
ruins. Returning soldiers from Iraq are "interviewed" who want to
return to "be with their platoon" and "wipe out the terrorists".
Not all of US combat forces experienced the joys of shooting civilians.
Medical studies report that one out of five returning soldiers are
suffering from severe psychological trauma, no doubt from
witnessing or participating in the mass killing of civilians. The
family of one returned soldier, who recently committed suicide,
reported that he constantly referred to his killing of an unarmed
child in the streets of Iraq - calling himself a "murderer".
Aside from these notable exceptions, the mass propaganda media
practise several techniques, which assuage the "conscience" of US
soldiers and civilians. One technique is "role reversal" to attribute
the crimes of the invading force to the victims: It is not the soldiers
who cause destruction of cities and murder, but the Iraqi families
who 'protect the terrorists' and "bring upon themselves the savage
bombardment".
The second technique is to only report US casualties from "terrorist
bombs" - to omit any mention of thousands of Iraqi civilians killed
by US bombs and artillery. Both Nazi and US propaganda glorify the
"heroism", "success" of their elite forces (the SS and the Marines) -
in killing "terrorists" or "insurgents" - every dead civilian is counted
as a "suspected terrorist sympathiser".
The US and German military have declared every civilian building a
"storehouse" or "hiding place" for "terrorists'-hence the absolutely
total disregard of all the Geneva laws of warfare. The US and Nazi
practice of 'total war' in which whole communities, neighbourhoods
and entire cities are collectively guilty of shielding 'wanted terrorists'
-is of course the standard operating military procedure of the Israeli
government.
The US publicises the cruel and unusual punishment of Iraqi "suspects"
(any male between 14 and 60 years old) taken prisoner: photos
appear in Time and Newsweek of barefoot, blindfolded and bound
young men led from their homes and pushed into trucks to be taken
to "exploitation centres" for interrogation. For many in the US public
these pictures are part of the success story - they are told these are
the "terrorists" who would blow up US homes.
For the majority who voted for US President George Bush, the mass
propaganda media has taught them to believe that the extermination
of scores of thousands of Iraqi citizens is in their best interests: they
can sleep sound, as long as "our boys" kill them "over there".
Above all the mass propaganda media has done everything possible
to deny Iraqi national consciousness. Every day in every way the
reference is to religious loyalties, ethnic identities, past political
labels, "tribal" and family clans. The purpose is to divide and conquer,
and to present the world with a "chaotic" Iraq in which the only
coherent, stable force is the US colonial regime. The purpose of the
savage colonial assaults and the political labelling is to destroy the
idea of the Iraqi nation - and in its place to substitute a series of
mini-entities run by imperial satraps obedient to Washington.
Sunday morning: November 14. Today Fallujah is being raped and
razed, captured. Wounded prisoners are shot in the mosques. In
New York, the mega-malls are crowded with shoppers.
Sunday afternoon: the Marines have blocked food, water and
medicine from entering Fallujah. Throughout the US millions of
men sit in front of the television watching football.
Shirer reported that, while the Nazis invaded and ravaged Belgium
and bombed Rotterdam, in Berlin the cafes were full, the symphony
played and people walked their dogs in the park on sunny Sunday
afternoons.
Yes, there are differences between Shirer's account of Nazi
propaganda in defense of the conquest of Europe and the US
media's apology for the invasion of Iraq and Israel's slaughter of
the Palestinians: One is committed in the name of the Fuehrer and
the Fatherland, the other in the name of God and Democracy. Go
tell that to the bloated corpses gnawed by dogs in the ruins of
Fallujah.
[James Petras, a former Professor of Sociology at Binghamton
University, New York, owns a 50 year membership in the class
struggle, is an adviser to the landless and jobless in Brazil and
Argentina and is co-author of Globalization Unmasked .
He can be reached at:
From Green Left Weekly, December 1, 2004.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
10) Imprisoned Palestinian Enters Race for Presidency
By GREG MYRE
JERUSALEM, Dec. 1
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/01/international/middleeast/01cnd-mide.html?o
ref=login&hp
JERUSALEM, Dec. 1 - Marwan Barghouti, the fiery Palestinian leader
imprisoned in Israel, reversed his earlier decision and entered the
race for the presidency of the Palestinian Authority tonight. The move
could make the Jan. 9 vote both competitive and divisive for Palestinians.
Mahmoud Abbas, 69, is the official candidate of the dominant Fatah
movement and it looked as if he would not be facing any serious
challengers. But Mr. Barghouti, 45, conferred with his wife and two
Palestinian officials today at his prison in the southern Israeli town
of Beersheva, and told them he wanted to run.
Mr. Barghouti had to register his candidacy before midnight. With
dozens of Mr. Barghouti's supporters cheering, Mr. Barghouti's wife,
Fadwa, arrived about 8:30 p.m. at the Central Elections Commission
in the West Bank city of Ramallah, and told reporters that her
husband would be running.
Israel has made it clear it has no intention of releasing Mr. Barghouti,
who is serving five life sentences after being convicted in May of
involvement in the killings of five Israelis.
Since Yasir Arafat's death on Nov. 11, Mr. Abbas and other Palestinian
officials have stressed the need for Palestinian unity. Palestinian
areas have been relatively calm, with no serious Palestinian
infighting and only sporadic clashes between Palestinian militants
and the Israeli security forces.
But an election race between Mr. Abbas and Mr. Barghouti could
bring to the surface the generational fault lines within Fatah and
Palestinian society at large.
Mr. Abbas, a soft-spoken pragmatist and a longtime associate of
Mr. Arafat, is a reluctant public speaker and does not connect with
young Palestinians.
Mr. Barghouti made his reputation with impassioned speeches to
young Palestinians involved in street clashes with the Israeli security
forces in the current uprising, which began in September 2000.
He is the leading representative of a younger generation of Fatah
members who feel they should be playing a larger role in Palestinian
decision-making.
But he will have to run as an independent because Mr. Abbas is
already the official Fatah candidate.
Meanwhile, Hamas, the Islamic movement responsible for many of
the attacks against Israel, urged its supporters not to take part in
the presidential election.
"We in the Islamic resistance announce our boycott and our
nonparticipation in the presidential elections," Ismail Haniya,
a senior Hamas leader, said in Gaza City.
Hamas had announced previously that it would not be fielding
a candidate, and today's announcement was not unexpected.
Hamas said its boycott call was directed only at its supporters,
not all Palestinian voters.
Hamas is officially committed to the destruction of Israel and has
always refused to be part of the Palestinian Authority, which was
created under a 1993 interim agreement between the Israelis
and Palestinians.
Mr. Barghouti had been sending mixed signals about his intentions
for the past few weeks. But the question appeared to be settled
last Friday when Mr. Barghouti issued a statement saying he would
not be running, citing the need for unity.
"Members and supporters of Fatah support the movement's
candidate, the combatant brother Mahmoud Abbas," Mr. Barghouti
said in a statement read by an ally, Qadoura Fares. Mr. Fares was
among those who visited Mr. Barghouti in prison today.
Recent polls have indicated that Mr. Abbas is favored in a race
with an imprisoned Mr. Barghouti, though many voters still
appeared undecided.
A poll taken Nov. 19 and 20 by An-Najar University in the West
Bank city of Nablus found that with Mr. Barghouti in prison, Mr. Abbas
was supported by more than 24 percent of Palestinians, while
Mr. Barghouti had the backing of just under 10 percent. But 48
percent of Palestinians said they were undecided. A total of 1,360
Palestinians took part in the survey, which had a margin of error of
3 percentage points.
Copyright 2004 The New York Times
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
11) Navy Kills Pregnant Right Whale in Mid-Atlantic;
Second Pregnant Female Victim of Ship Strike This Year
WASHINGTON -- November 30
http://www.commondreams.org/news2004/1130-19.htm
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NOVEMBER 30, 2004
3:16 PM
CONTACT: Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility
Chas Offutt, 202- 265-7337
WASHINGTON -- November 30 -- A U.S. Navy ship struck an
endangered Atlantic right whale in mid-November and the carcass
of a pregnant female has been found on the North Carolina coast,
according to Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility
(PEER). This is the second pregnant right whale to be killed by
ships in this immediate vicinity this year.
On November 17th, a Navy Amphibious Assault Ship reported
a whale strike about 10 miles outside the entrance to Chesapeake
Bay. The whale appeared to have a fresh wound to the fluke with
a large portion missing and was seen moving slowly in a southeasterly
direction. On November 24th, a 35-foot right whale came ashore
along the Northern Outer Banks in Ocean Sands,
North Carolina. The whale was a pregnant female with part of its
fluke missing.
While the Navy admits that its ship hit a whale it has not publicly
admitted it was the same female right whale found at Ocean Sands.
The Navy did not report the strike to National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA) Fisheries until the 22nd, five days
after it occurred.
"This accident is a direct outgrowth of the Navy's official indifference,"
stated New England PEER Director Kyla Bennett, a former federal
biologist, noting that the Navy refuses to even consult with NOAA
on the impact of naval operations on right whale recovery.
"The loss of a pregnant female is devastating to a population teetering
on the brink of extinction." There are only 300 North Atlantic right
whales left in existence. Ship strikes are the largest known cause of
death for this highly endangered creature. Calves, who have undeveloped
diving capability, are particularly vulnerable. By far, the single biggest
known source of whale strikes is the U.S. Navy. Navy vessel traffic
dwarfs commercial ship traffic in right whale habitat and naval vessels
tend to travel at higher speeds - a factor exacerbating both the
likelihood of a strike and the physical harm done to the whale.
This spring, NOAA announced it would consider adopting ship speed
limits, rerouting and channel restrictions to avoid or minimize ship
traffic in sensitive calving, mating and migratory areas. But last
month, in its published "Draft Revised Recovery Plan for the North
Atlantic Right Whale," NOAA proposed unenforceable measures to
reduce collisions with shipping and entanglement in fishing gear.
"Both NOAA and the Navy seem content to fiddle while Rome burns,"
added Bennett. "The U.S. Senate should pin the next Secretary of
Commerce down as to whether he plans to preside over the
extinction of the North Atlantic right whale."
In 2002, PEER revealed the Navy was conducting aerial bombing
exercises off the coast of Maine directly in the migratory path of
right whales. Shortly thereafter, the decapitated carcass of a calf
was found but was too decomposed to establish cause. As with
this latest incident, the Navy refused to admit fault.
---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*---------*
12) Ready to Rumble
Health Sciences Institute e-Alert
December 01, 2004
From: "HSI - Jenny Thompson"
Ready to Rumble
Health Sciences Institute e-Alert
December 01, 2004
Dear Reader,
In the days and weeks before a major earthquake, seismologists
often record tremors -subterranean rumbles, signaling that
something destructive is on the way.
Consider today's e-Alert a tremor.
Something very destructive is headed our way, and it will have a
deeply negative impact on your right to make your own healthcare
decisions.
------------------------------------------------------------
Dreaming up dangers
------------------------------------------------------------
In the e-Alert I sent you on Friday, 11/19/04, I shared this
comment from an HSI member who goes by the initials PKL: "My
friend, an ND, said 2 years ago that as the date for the USA to
comply with codex alimentarius rules approached (Aug.2005) we
would see scare stories coming out in the media about the
'dangers' of common vitamins and supplements."
PKL's friend felt the tremors coming. And his prediction was right
on the money. In recent e-Alerts I told you about two flawed
studies that produced over-the-top scare headlines regarding the
supposed risks of taking vitamins C and E in large doses. But these
studies are not isolated cases.
For instance, a recent "long-term study" found that glucosamine
was less effective than a placebo in relieving arthritis pain. But a
closer look at the published research reveals that the actual study
period was only six months long, and all of the subjects had
previously found glucosamine to be effective over a two-year
period. (The researchers were counting those two years as part of
the "long-term".) Nevertheless, this research was reported as a
failure for glucosamine.
Is the timing of these and other deliberately negative studies a
coincidence? Or is it part of a concerted effort to plant the seeds of
doubt in the mind of the public?
------------------------------------------------------------
Harsh harmony
------------------------------------------------------------
As PKL pointed out, the whole point of planting those seeds is to
prepare for the approaching Codex deadline.
The U.S. is one of the 165 member countries of the Codex
Alimentarius Commission - an international food standards
program created by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)
and the World Health Organization (WHO). One of the purposes
of the Codex Commission is to "harmonize" international food
trade. And here are a few key elements of that harmonizing:
* WHO classifies all dietary supplements as drugs
* The Codex Commission intends to limit over-the-counter sales of
dietary supplements while reclassifying others as
pharmaceuticals, available only through a pharmacist
* Under World Trade Organization (WTO) rules, Codex guidelines
override the regulations of individual countries
* Member countries (including the U.S.) that refuse to accept and
enforce the WTO directives are subject to severe trade sanctions
A strong tremor was felt just last month when the Codex
Commission approved draft guidelines that will begin restricting
the sale of dietary supplements as early as next summer. So in spite
of our current laws that make a wide range of vitamins, minerals
and herbal formulations readily available, the U.S. is poised to
simply put those laws aside to conform to the unacceptably
restrictive Codex guidelines.
------------------------------------------------------------
Whose country is it anyway?
------------------------------------------------------------
Incredible, isn't it? Our freedom to make our own healthcare
choices may simply be taken away by an international commission.
But at this point, the imposition of the Codex guidelines isn't
necessarily a done deal. And although the situation is not
promising, it's still not too late to help prevent it from happening.
I strongly urge you to join me in taking a moment to send a brief
letter or e-mail to your Senators and Representatives. (You can
easily find Congressional street addresses and e-mail addresses at
congress.org just by entering your zip code. We've heard that snail
mail gets more attention from our public servants than e-mail.)
Tell them that you strongly oppose the international
"harmonization" of dietary supplement laws, drafted in another
country, and designed to "protect" you from the choices you make
about your personal healthcare.
Jonathan V. Wright, M.D., has written a sobering description of
what life would be like under the Codex regulations. You can find
Dr. Wright's editorial on the web site for his Nutrition & Healing
newsletter: wrightnewsletter.com. Look for the heading titled
"Featured Article." Dr. Wright offers links to other resources with
detailed information about Codex and he also suggests further
actions we all can take.
Finally, tell your friends and let them know what's going on. We
obviously can't depend on the mainstream media to adequately
report this one, so it's time to get the message out by word of
mouth.
If we don't act now, these rumbling tremors may develop into
something far worse.
To Your Good Health,
Jenny Thompson
Health Sciences Institute
Sources:
"Draft Report of the 26th Session of the Codex Committee on
Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses" Codex Alimentarius
Commission, Bonn, Germany, November 1-5, 2004,
ahha.org/codexguidelines
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