4.24.2004
Sad Headlines
"Inquiry after Israeli forces caught using boy as shield" By Donald Macintyre in Jerusalem
"Palestinian teenager killed while throwing stones at tanks" By Ibrahim Barzak
"Sharon: 'We may kill Arafat'"
4/24/2004
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It's More Than A Job
"Sometimes a guy will go down, and I'll let him scream a bit to destroy the morale of his buddies," a Marine corporal said, "then I'll use a second shot." ("For Marine snipers, war is up close and personal", Tony Perry, Los Angeles Times, April 19, 2004)
In nearly two weeks of conflict in Falluja, the unnamed corporal has emerged as the top sniper, with 24 confirmed kills. By comparison, the top Marine Corps sniper in Vietnam killed 103 people in 16 months. "I couldn't have asked to be in a better place," the corporal said. "I just got lucky: to be here at the right time and with the right training."
"Crushing Falluja, Part 2" by David Edwards and MediaLens.
MediaLens is a web resource you should know about. Link reference gleaned at Dissident Voice.
4/24/2004
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4.23.2004
Bought and Paid For
Our clients include federal law enforcement agencies, the Department of Defense, Department of State, and Department of Transportation, local and state entities from around the country, multi-national corporations, and friendly nations from all over the globe.
We customize and execute solutions for our clients to help keep them at the level of readiness required to meet today's law enforcement, homeland security, and defense challenges.-- Blackwater USA emphasis mine
I'm amazed and discomfitted by the fact that there are more highly paid mercenaries carrying guns for the coalition in Iraq (20,000) than British troops, the largest "nation owned" coalition force. How can the US pay up to 1800 dollars a day for privatized troops when our enlisted folks don't make that in a month? Will our people get so used to the concept that we might one day let these corporate "troops" walk the streets of America as if they were American soldiers?
Now, the Washington Post claims that private security firms, "unable to rely on U.S. and coalition troops for intelligence or help under duress...have begun to band together, organising what may be the largest private army in the world, with its own rescue teams and pooled, sensitive intelligence."
This blurring of civilian and military forces does not bode well for what is supposed to be a democratic effort, a "coalition of the billing" unbeholden to "We the People", killing and dying not for the percieved justice of a cause but for big bucks
seems the antithesis of Patriotism, slurring in my mind the reason our volunteer troops are risking life and limb there.
Volunteer troops underpaid, undersupported and forced to buy their own body armor and other equipment, while mercenaries roll in taxpayer cash.
Many security guards are hired as "independent contractors" by companies that, in turn, are sub-contractors of larger security companies, which are themselves subcontractors of a prime contractor, which may have been hired by a United States agency.
In practical terms, these convoluted relationships often mean that the governmental authorities have no real oversight of security companies on the public payroll.
These guns-for-hire are not considered "lawful combatants" under the 3rd Geneva convention, nor technically can they be called "mercenaries" because to fit that title they would need to fight in a warzone in which their own country is not a participant. They are not subject to the same rules of engagement as our troops.
Government contracting officials and company executives concede that private guards have every right to abandon their posts if they deem the situation too unsafe. They are not subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, nor can they be prosecuted under civil laws or declared AWOL.
Neocon darling Ahmed Chalabi has what amounts to a private army paid for by US tax dollars. The company recieving an 80 million dollar contract protecting Iraqs oil infrastructure, Erinys Iraq, has no prior experiance in the security field, having started up in May of last year. The company was started by Chalabi stalwarts- and Chalabi himself may have recieved a 2 million dollar "fee" for helping arrange the contract.
Asked how much influence Chalabi had in the decision to award the contract to Erinys Iraq, Sam Kubba, president of the American Iraqi chamber of commerce, a congressional candidate in Virginia and a businessman with extensive connections in Iraq, said, "100 percent ... and you can quote me on that."
Yup, that Chalabi, he of the useless intelligence that the Neocons used to get the US into Iraq, promulgating his BS through the news media to sway public opinion. He was paid 1 million dollars for his "intelligence".
On Wednesday Mr Chalabi, a member of the Iraqi Governing Council, shrugged off charges that he had deliberately misled US intelligence.
"We are heroes in error," he said in Baghdad. "As far as we're concerned we've been entirely successful.
"That tyrant Saddam is gone and the Americans are in Baghdad. What was said before is not important."
That is about as good as Mr Bush's "What's the difference?"
Indeed.
"Mercenaries in Iraq" by Chris Laughlin (pdf) is very informative.
Some links gleaned at KathrynCramer.com
4/23/2004
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4.22.2004
Truth about Israel, a few sources...
Excuse the paucity of posts here lately, I am reading and seeking out the truth in the news; my brain it seems is not cooperating, leaving me without a voice...
Yesterday Mordachai Vanunu was freed. Information Clearinghouse offers a video of his statement upon his release. One can hope that this man of conscience will remain safe as he lives in sanctuary in Jerusalem's Anglican cathedral.
To help you gain some perspective on the plight of the Palestinian people I offer this link to an article by Tanya Reinhart
translated from the Hebrew as it appears at ZNet. "What kind of state deserves to exist?" offers context on the actions of Sharon.
"Can Sharon win by Force?" by Mitchell Plitnick will further inform you.
A reader left me some links to explore in the comments section of a post I did ( Thanks, Jake) to offer me more perspective. I think that the excellent website of Norman Finkelstein
will show that the links contained a bunch of "urban legend" concerning Israel; spending time there is a good
eye opener. Mr Finkelstein is well known as a debunker of Israeli propaganda and innaccurate history. He is well known for debunking the works of Alan Dershowitz and Joan Peters, two promulgators of inaccurate information concerning Israel/Palestine- information we see in the US press and hear on mainstream radio offered as "fact"
"An Introduction to the Israel-Palestine Conflict" by Finkelstein is a well endnoted source for realistic history concerning Israel/Palestine
"Palestine, Israel and the Arab-Israeli Conflict: A Primer" will also help you cut through the smoke and mirrors to get to the truth about the history surrounding Israel/Palestine. The site it comes from, The Middle East Research and Information Project is a valuable resource for learning the facts surrounding this important issue.
Tanya Reinhart offers articles that give one context for understanding what is occuring in Israel/Palestine.
Talk to people about what you know, what you learn. A big part of being human is having an open mind, inquiring into our human situation and sharing what we find.
"Almost everybody is born a genius and buried an idiot."-- Charles Bukowski
Think. It is patriotic and counter-cultural.
4/22/2004
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4.18.2004
A Little On Mordechai Vanunu, Hero
"The prosecutor said that if Vanunu were released, the Americans would probably leave Iraq and go after Israel and Israel's nuclear weapons - which I found extremely ridiculous."
Mordechai Vanunu did a courageous thing, an paid for his act by serving 18 years in the Israeli prison system, 12 of those years in solitary confinement. In 1986 Vanuna outed Israel's advanced nuclear weapons program in a London newspaper in an article entitled "Revealed: The Secrets of Israel's Nuclear Arsenal." He offered the world photographs and testimony proving that Israel possessed nuclear bombs and warheads, even neutron bombs.
"I have sacrificed my freedom and risked my life in order to expose the danger of nuclear weapons which threatens this whole region. I acted on behalf of all citizens and all of humanity."
Over 1500 scientists and intellectuals have supported Vanunu in his efforts at release. Among them 23 Nobel Laureates.
This prisoner of conscience will finally be released on April 21- although he will be held in a prison without walls in a state of internal exile, unallowed to renounce his Israeli citizenship or even going near any port, border or foreign embassy.
He is subject to severe penalties should he break any of these restrictions or even have contact with foreigners. He will be treated as one without a passport and although he can choose which Israeli municipality he will live in he will have to clear traveling outside the municiple borders with police. He cannot talk about his work at the nuclear facility all those years ago or about his kidnapping by Mossad.
Vanunu left his nuclear weapons job and traveled before exposing Israel's nuclear weapons program, spending time in Australia where he converted to the Anglican faith and was disowned by his orthodox Jewish parents. After his act of conscience he was lured from London to Rome by an attractive American woman for an outing that would include visiting her sister.The Florida native was a Mossad agent, Mr Vanunu was drugged and kidnapped from Italy and brought to Israel.
The post sentence restrictions on his life will keep him from being able to see or communicate with his adoptive parents, who are citizens of the US.
I'm out of time...
4/18/2004
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