3.02.2005
Illegal Weapons, Everyday Truth : DU and Beyond
"Marion Fulk, a retired nuclear scientist from Livermore National Lab told AFP that U.S. troops in DU contaminated battlefields are considered "throw-away soldiers." The Marines exposed to DU in Fallujah, and elsewhere, face greatly increased risks of cancer, deformed children, and other health problems in the future."
Dr Khalid ash-Shaykhli of the Iraqi Ministry of Health has stated in a widely attended Iraqi press conference
“what I saw during our research in Fallujah leads me to me believe everything that has been said about that battle. I absolutely do not exclude their use of nuclear and chemical substances, since all forms of nature were wiped out in that city. I can even say the we found dozens, if not hundreds, of stray dogs, cats, and birds that had perished as a result of those gasses.”
During the press conference, which was attended by more than 20 Iraqi and Arab journalists, Ash-Shaykhli promised that he would be sending the study and the results that the committee produced to responsible bodies, both Iraqi and international.
The press conference was attended by correspondents of the Iraqi ash-Sharqiyah television network, the Iraqi “government”-run al-‘Iraqiyah satellite TV network, and the as-Sumariyah network, in addition to foreign media, such as the American Washington Post and the Knight-Ridder service and the Iraqi as-Sabah newspaper, in addition to the correspondent of Mafkarat al-Islam.
I have been scanning the news looking for accounts of this in the US media outlets mentioned without luck.
An article gleaned at Health Now from December 11 seems to back up the Health Ministry officials claim.
“Thousands of refugees from Fallujah are staying in camps in the villages around the city but also access to them is blocked by U.S. troops. In a phone call with a doctor in one of those villages he told me the Americans have used chemical weapons. Iraqi medics could join the U.S. military to collect the dead but they were not allowed to bring some of the bodies: those with strange dark-blue spots and burns, bodies that were bloated and did not have any gunshot wounds. That could have been caused by the use of chemical weapons.”
This fits in with what Dahr Jamail has reported earlier
“The soldiers are doing strange things in Fallujah,” said one of my contacts in Fallujah who just returned. He was in his city checking on his home and just returned to Baghdad this evening.
Speaking on condition of anonymity he continued, “In the center of the Julan Quarter they are removing entire homes which have been bombed, meanwhile most of the homes that were bombed are left as they were. Why are they doing this?”
According to him, this was also done in the Nazal, Mualmeen, Jubail and Shuhada’a districts, and the military began to do this after Eid, which was after November 20th.
He told me he has watched the military use bulldozers to push the soil into piles and load it onto trucks to carry away. This was done in the Julan and Jimouriya quarters of the city, which is of course where the heaviest fighting occurred during the siege, as this was where resistance was the fiercest.
“At least two kilometers of soil were removed,” he explained, “Exactly as they did at Baghdad Airport after the heavy battles there during the invasion and the Americans used their special weapons.”
He explained that in certain areas where the military used “special munitions” 200 square meters of soil was being removed from each blast site.
In addition, many of his friends have told him that the military brought in water tanker trucks to power blast the streets, although he hadn’t seen this himself.
“They went around to every house and have shot the water tanks,” he continued, “As if they are trying to hide the evidence of chemical weapons in the water, but they only did this in some areas, such as Julan and in the souk (market) there as well.”
He first saw this having been done after December 20th.
Again, this is reflective of stories I’ve been told by several refugees from Fallujah.
So there you have it. Not much in cyberspace on this, the use of illegal weapons in Iraq, Fallujah specifically. You be the judge, I've offered the evidence I could find.
Is Depleted Uranium a legal weapon?
“Military men are just dumb stupid animals to be used as pawns in foreign policy.”
-- Henry Kissinger
There is no controversy about whether or not we use depleted uranium (DU) in Iraq though. On this the search engine offers 318000 links. Kurt Nimmo put up an informative article a couple days ago that can get you up to speed. I don't have the time to fact check the information on DU offered at the Kissenger quote source linked, but it bears exploring. Not only Iraqi people are being poisoned by DU, but our soldiers are as well.
Depleted Uranium is toxic, and is still radioactive.
DU is about 40% less radioactive than uranium of natural composition as a result of the removal of most of the more radioactive uranium 234 and uranium 235. Uranium and DU are chemically classed as ‘heavy metals’ similar to tungsten, cadmium and lead. DU has toxicological effects identical to natural uranium and similar to the other heavy
metals.
The above link is from a .pdf from the UK Ministry of Defence. A bit more straightforward than what we are told here stateside.
But there's more. From a different source- the devil in the details sort of thing. What conservative radio announcer Paul Harvey say? "Now for the rest of the story"
Normally the U 235 is not completely removed from what is called depleted uranium, but about half of it has been removed. Depleted uranium also contains traces of radioactive thorium, protoactinium, and other radionuclides, just as does natural uranium.
Even the UK officials softpedal the basic reality about DU it seems.
Exposure to DU, lke exposure to natural uranium can kill you, slowly. They call it radiation poisoning.
Case in point:
Captain Terry Riordon unknowingly brought radiation poisoning home with him from Iraq to his wife, Susan Riordon. As recounted in the November, 2004 issue of the mainstream Conde Nast publication Vanity Fair, Mrs. Riordon was constantly burned by her husband's semen during intercourse.
Seems Terry's semen was turned to a fiery alkali by the radioactive uranium that settled in his testicles. The happily married couple had no idea what this new and horrifying complication was in this intensely private part of their life together. Little did they know the American Department of Defense had hopped into bed with them with a deadly intent.
With her husband slowly dying of radiation poisoning and in intense pain herself, Mrs. Riordon resorted to filling condoms with frozen green peas to use on herself to obtain relief from the internal burning's intense, excruciating, lasting pain. Other couples do that and other wildly frantic and imaginative measures seeking relief. The burning can leave blisters and contamination.
"It hurt [Terry] too. He said it was like forcing it through barbed wire," Riordon says. "It seemed to burn through condoms; if he got any on his thighs or his testicles, he was in hell." In a last, desperate attempt to save their sex life, says Riordon, "I used to fill condoms with frozen peas and insert them [after sex] with a lubricant." That, she says, made her pain just about bearable. Perhaps inevitably, he became impotent. "And that was like our last little intimacy gone."
How do soldiers (and innocent civilians) get exposed?
U.S. Army testing found that 18 to 70% of a depleted uranium penetrator rod burns and oxidizes into extremely small particles during impact. The impact of one 120mm depleted uranium penetrator fired from an American Abrams tank therefore creates between 900 and 3,400 grams (roughly 2 to 7 pounds) of uranium oxide dust. U.S. Army testing further found "[t]he DU oxide aerosol formed during the impact of DU into armor has a high percentage of respirable size particles (50 to 96%)," and 52 to 83% of those respirable size particles are insoluble in lung fluids. Respirable size particles (less than 5 microns in diameter) are easily inhaled or ingested. Insoluble particles are not readily excreted from the body, and may remain in the lungs or other organs for years.
U.S. Army research recently found that some respirable size uranium dust remains suspended in the air for hours after an impact. As demonstrated in the 1970's by the release of depleted uranium during the manufacture of DU ammunition near Albany, New York, depleted uranium dust can be carried downwind for 40 kilometers (25 miles) or more. Most of the dust created by an impact comes to rest inside, on, or within 50 meters of the target. However, U.S. Army testing also discovered depleted uranium dust can be resuspended by the wind, or the movement of people and vehicles.
The long-term dangers of depleted uranium contamination are discussed in a U.S. Army Chemical School training manual:
"DU's mobility in water is due to how easily it dissolves. Soluble compounds of DU will readily dissolve and migrate with surface or ground water. Drinking or washing or other contact with contaminated water will spread the contamination . . . The end result of air and water contamination is that DU is deposited in the soil. Once in the soil, it stays there unless moved. This means that the area remains contaminated, and will not decontaminate itself."
Sounds like DU as an aerosol after it makes contact with its target is a poison gas, for all practical purposes. And a persistent one.
Handling DU ammunition, sitting on a DU ammo box can cause cancer. Riding in a tank that has protective armor made of DU subjects a soldier to the equivalent of a chest x-ray every 30 hours.
Leuren Moret wrote a comprehensive article on Depleted Uranium "Depleted Uranium:
The Trojan Horse of Nuclear War" in World Affairs – The Journal of International Issues. She offers the litmus test for weapons legality under international law.
Legality Test for weapons under international law
Temporal Test – Weapons must not continue to act after the battle is over.
Environmental Test – Weapons must not be unduly harmful to the environment.
Territorial Test – Weapons must not act off of the battlefield.
Humaneness Test – Weapons must not kill or wound inhumanly.
Read about DU and you decide- is its use criminal under international law?
If you have strong stomach look at the defects suffered by Iraqi children from DU. Again, you are seeing the results of our tax dollars.
I've written about this subject a bit before. what brings it to mind today is the current lawsuit being brought today by Vietnamese folks suffering the effects of Agent Orange from what they call "The American War" forty or so years ago. Our soldiers suffered from it, just as they are suffering hugely from DU in the first Gulf War, and it is coming to the fore now.
Reports came from Fallujah that we used napalm and poison gas, that we basically carpet-bombed the city. We have found the weapons of mass destruction, and they are ours.
The same trusting good people, working class, love their country- believing in their President and legislators- are the ones both inflicting death this way and suffering its effects themselves. Just like Viet Nam. Just like Gulf War 1. It's an ongoing testimony to our collective gullibility and the power of the elite and their media.
3/02/2005
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3.01.2005
Women in Combat? The New Draft Emerging
This is what Mr Bush and Mr Rumsfeld said about the possibility of an upcoming draft, also note what an actual military man says about the current situation:
"The Army's maxed out here," says retired Gen. Merrill McPeak, who served as Air Force chief of staff under the first President Bush. "The Defense Department and the president seem to be still operating off the rosy scenario that this will be over soon, that this pain is temporary and therefore we'll just grit our teeth, hunker down and get out on the other side of this. That's a bad assumption." The Bush administration has sworn up and down that it will never reinstate a draft. During the campaign last year, the president dismissed the idea as nothing more than "rumors on the Internets" and declared, "We're not going to have a draft - period." Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, in an Op-Ed blaming "conspiracy mongers" for "attempting to scare and mislead young Americans," insisted that "the idea of reinstating the draft has never been debated, endorsed, discussed, theorized, pondered or even whispered by anyone in the Bush administration."
Another military man weighs in with his reality based opinion
The insurgency in Iraq is not likely to be put down in a year or even two since history shows such uprisings can last a decade or more, the United States' top military commander said on Friday.
Air Force Gen. Richard Myers said that in the past century, insurgencies around the world have lasted anywhere from seven to 12 years, making a quick fix to the problem in Iraq unlikely.
If there is no possibility of a draft why would Mr Bush be readying Selective Service?
The President has given the Selective Service System a set of readiness goals to be implemented by March 31, 2005. As part of these performance goals, the System must be ready to be fully operational within 75 days .
Historically June 6 is considered D-Day, but it looks as if for Americans between the ages of 18 and 34, 75 days after the SSS is readied , June 15th could be the D-Day for the 21st century conscripts.
Coincidently, Scott Ritter claims that Mr Bush has signed off on plans for an air attack on Iran in June. Ally Israel is also gearing up for medium and long range bombing activities.
The Army is stretched thin by its current conflicts. It has eased some of its standards to fill the ranks.
You thought Selective Service only wants males between 18 and 26? Think again.
The DNC blog links to a .pdf that shows Selective Service meeting with Rumsfeld underlings at the Pentagon February 11 2003 and kicking around an idea of a draft for all citizens 18 to 34 that will identify individuals skills for conscription based on skillset need. The draft will be
"modified to serve the contemporary needs of several customers: Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security (FEMA, US Border Patrol, US Customs, INS) Corporation for National Service, Public Health Service and other Federal and State agencies seeking personnel with critical skills for national security or community service requirements. The SSS would thus play a more vital relevant and immediate role in shoring up America's readiness in peace and war."
I urge you to read the .pdf. The draft the are speaking about is bigger than just conscription into the military. Citizens under 34 years of age will be required to keep their skills possessed updated with the SSS, just as young men are supposed to keep their residential address updated today.
The director of public and congressional affairs, Richard Flahavan had this to say
Flahavan said Pentagon officials have not agreed to any aspect of the Selective Service's far-reaching proposal.
"We went over there, we briefed it. Nobody committed to anything," he said in an interview. "Those ideas are, in fact, dead. Nobody wants to talk about them. Nobody is interested in them" in the Pentagon.
That was last October.
In Rolling Stone magazine Tim Dickenson reports this, January 27 of this year
Richard Flahavan, spokesman for Selective Service, tells Rolling Stone that preparing for a skills-based draft is "in fact what we have been doing." For starters, the agency has updated a plan to draft nurses and doctors. But that's not all. "Our thinking was that if we could run a health-care draft in the future," Flahavan says, "then with some very slight tinkering we could change that skill to plumbers or linguists or electrical engineers or whatever the military was short." In other words, if Uncle Sam decides he needs people with your skills, Selective Service has the means to draft you - and quick.
The Christian Science Monitor mentions that
USA Today reported Monday that the US Army and some elite commando units "have dramatically increased the size and the number of cash bonuses they are paying to lure recruits and keep experienced troops in uniform." For some special elite units, the Pentagon is offering up to $150,000 in bonuses, while more than 49 percent of the job categories in the Army can now receive $15,000 bonuses, and "16 hard-to-fill job categories, including truck drivers and bomb-disposal specialists" are eligible for $50,000 bonuses.
Back to the memo cited above
In line with todays needs, the SSS' structure, programs and activities should be reengineered toward maintaining a national inventory of American men, and (for he first time) women, ages 18 through 34, with an added focus on identifying individuals with critical skills.
I wanted to highlight the ackowledged role of women in the service of our country.
Moreso because the Center for Military Readiness points out that there is a bit of social experimentation going on in the Army, according to this January 17 article
Under current regulations, women cannot be forced to serve in smaller direct ground combat units such as infantry or armor battalions, or in companies that collocate with them. If the Defense Department wants to change these rules, law requires that the Secretary must notify Congress no less than 30 legislative days in advance, when both Houses are in session. Despite the “collocation rule” and notification requirement, the Army is unilaterally assigning women to previously all-male forward support companies in its new “unit of action” land combat teams, key to “transformation” to a lighter, faster force.
further into the article
Some officials have claimed without support that female soldiers will have to make up for shortages in male combat soldiers for the Army’s new land combat teams.
a bit further in
The nation is proud of our women in uniform, but that is no excuse for forcing unprepared female soldiers, many of them mothers, to face the physical demands of violent close combat and a higher risk of capture than exists today.
it goes on to say
The concerned soldier who contacted me recognized that the Army is about to conduct an unannounced, extremely dangerous live-fire social experiment under wartime conditions.
Read the article. It touches on Pentagon secrecy about this very important issue. Do you think it is fair to women volunteers that their job duties are changed to being at the front? Force Support Companies put them there. Obviously Bush and Rumsfeld are OK with this.
A Nov. 29 briefing for senior Army officers at the Pentagon stated, "The way ahead: rewrite/eliminate the Army collocation policy."
Why would the Pentagon need to do this?
If it collocates FSCs with combat teams and keeps them men-only, then it "creates potential long-term challenge to Army; pool of male recruits too small to sustain force," the Army documents stated.
The Air Force and Navy seem to be getting recruits. It is the Marines and the Army coming up short- the people who carry out Mr Bush's war on a personal and daily level, those "in the trenches" so to speak. Perhaps bonuses and such can mitigate the current shortfall of recruits, overall though, it sounds like an upcoming draft to me.
3/01/2005
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Came across a really well done article over at American Samizdat dealing with Cambodia, genocide, the US and the world stage. Read "Protecting the Khmer Rouge Genocidaires" to get sense of the involvement of China as well as western democratic countries such as the US and Britain in supporting the politics of genocide.
3/01/2005
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2.28.2005
When Death Rains Death Reigns
We have heard about the suicide bombing in Tel Aviv that killed 5 Israeli civilians and injured 50. The fifth victim of the attack just died today; twenty more Israelis are hospitalized.
One facet of this sad event really has me struggling to wrap my mind around it. I'll offer you the quote that has me uncomfortable:
The platoon commander, Eran Cohen, told Army Radio, "There were 13 of us there. All the fatalities are from our unit. Many more were wounded."
Eran called the unit's soldiers "the best of the best. Israel's elite."
"In the past five years of this war, we have carried out virtually every single mission in the territories and underwent nearly every kind of attempted attack. In five years, none of our troops were wounded. It's ironic that we were hit so hard in one explosion on a Friday night in Tel Aviv, just before a party," Cohen said.
He added that Buzaglo was "a person of the highest quality. He was an older guy who had already completed his reserve duty. He was exempted from further service but came to us only because of his voluntary spirit."
You'll note that I have used the google cached version of the Jeruselem Post article. The version available today, updated, doesn't contain the quote.
Under Geneva Conventions
"protected persons" are identified as those "taking no active part in the hostilities, including members of armed forces … placed hors de combat [out of combat] by sickness, wounds, detention, or any other cause."
It took researching this piece to understand what the line is between soldiers and civilians in a near totally militarized society. I have to admit that I don't understand how military service in Israel works. I ask for leads on this, please send me some illuminating links.
I guess that Israeli state sanctioned assasinations in the Occupied Territories are what have blurred this line for me. When reading about the countless bystanders killed as one militant is targeted by a one ton bomb dropped on his crowded apartment building killing 14 other people and injuring scores of others it can, sadly, lead one to wonder.
Just before midnight on 22 July 2002, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) dropped a one-ton bomb on a densely populated neighbourhood of Gaza city. Nine children, most of them under the age of 10, were amongst the 17 killed. Dina Matar was just two months old and Ayman Matar 18 months. Muhammad Raed Matar was three, Diana Raed Matar five, Subhi Mahmud al-Hweiti four, Muhammad Mahmud al-Hweiti six, Ala Muhammad Matar 10, Iman Salah Shehada 15 years old. Maryam Matar, 17 years old, was seriously injured in the attack and died on 15 August.
More than 70 other people were wounded. Leading Hamas activist Salah Shehada, who was among those killed, was accused by the Israeli authorities of organizing attacks against Israelis. Given the location of the target, in a densely populated residential area, and the method of attack chosen, the authorities must have known that civilians, including children, would be killed. The following day Israel's Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, called the attack "one of the most successful operations".
Mr Sharon has a history of being involved in war crimes. Nine Israeli womens peace groups supported his prosecution for the IDF sanctioned murders in the Sabra and Shatila camps massacres in occupied Lebanon. He was found "indirectly responsible" by an Israeli state inquiry. One witness against him was blown up with a car bomb 48 hours after agreeing to testify in Brussels to Sharons crimes. Another was shot with a gun with a silencer in Brazil. His wife was also killed. Sharon was never tried in Belgium.
Yonathan Shapira, an Israeli pilot is of different opinion than Mr Sharon- but as you'll see he takes the basic values of the Israeli Defense Forces to heart. Read what Israeli government figures say about the following letter.
I want to read to you two of the basic values of the Israel Defense Forces.
Human Dignity: The IDF and its soldiers are obliged to honor human dignity. Each human being should be respected, regardless of his race, creed, nationality, gender, status or his social role.
Purity of arms: The soldier will use his weapons and his might only to achieve his objective, to the degree that this is required for the purpose, and will retain his humanity even during battle. The soldier will not use his weapons and his might to hurt persons who are not fighters, or prisoners, and will do everything in his power to prevent an assault on their life, their body or their property.
Let's go back now to the night between 22 to 23 of July 2002. It is late at night, the F16 squadron is at the air force base. The crew which is on-call consists of a pilot and a navigator. Scramble to Gaza. Waiting for the order to attack. The order is received. The bombs are dropped. Landing. Debriefing, and return to routine.
On this specific mission a one-ton bomb was dropped (equal to a hundred suicide bombs) on a house in the Al-Deredg quarter in Gaza, one of the most crowded neighborhoods in Gaza, indeed in the whole world. During this action 14 human beings were killed and more than 150 others were wounded. Four families, 9 children, 2 women and 2 men, were wiped out by the crew of the airplane that executed this mission and hit the target in the full belief that they were defending Israelis. They honestly believed this.
This is what Dan Halutz (commander of the air force) had to say about the mission: "I declare that everything taking place before the mission is justified according to my moral compass..."
And to the pilots he said: "Sleep well tonight... "you executed this mission perfectly."
We did not sleep well that night, and we continued not to sleep when:
On August 31, 2002 - when Darama was annihilated and with him 4 children.
On April 8, 2003 - when Arbid and Al-Halabi were annihilated and with them 2 children and 5 adults.
On June 10, 2003 - During an attempt to annihilate Rantisi, a girl, a woman and 5 men were killed.
On June 11, 2003 - when Abu-Nahal was annihilated and with him 2 women and 5 men.
On June 12, 2003 - when Salah Taha and with him a one-year old infant, a woman and 5 men were annihilated. And more, and more...
And also three months ago in a blitz of five attacks 2 wanted persons were wiped out and with them another 12 innocent people. Minister Effi Eitam and high officers in the IDF do not like the expression 'innocent Palestinians', they prefer to call them "bystanders". Altogether 211 persons were killed in the action, among these about half (86) onlookers.
And what kind of security did we get in return? Attacks and more attacks, we in our Apache and they in their suicide bombs, together in a dance of madness towards suicide.
So we did not sleep at night and we wrote this letter:
"We, air force pilots in reserve duty, who were raised on the values of Zionism, sacrifice and contributing to the State of Israel, we have always served on the front lines, willing to perform any assignment, difficult or simple, in order to protect the State of Israel and to strengthen her.
"We, veteran pilots and active pilots together, who served and still serve the State of Israel during long weeks each year, object to perform illegal and immoral orders of attacks that the State of Israel performs in the territories.
"We, who were raised to love the State of Israel and to contribute to the Zionist enterprise, refuse to take part in the attacks of the air force in concentrations of civilian population.
"We, for whom the IDF and the air force are inseparable parts of us, refuse to continue and harm innocent civilians.
"These actions are illegal and immoral and are a direct result of the ongoing occupation, which corrupts Israeli society as a whole.
"The continuation of the occupation delivers a mortal blow to the security of the State of Israel and to her moral strength.
"We who serve as active pilots - fighters, leaders, and instructors of the next generation of pilots - declare hereby that we shall continue to serve in the IDF and the air force in every assignment in the defense of the State of Israel."
We spoke to more than a hundred pilots, among them veteran commanders in the air force, many were afraid to sign but supported our idea - and as proof: nobody leaked even a word. And maybe it is important to tell you on this occasion in short who signed the letter. This is an opportunity to get to know some of those "traitors who aided terrorism."
I will start with the active pilots: Major Yotam - active Apache-pilot, Captain Tomer - active F-16-pilot, Captain Ran - active fighter-navigator, Captain Zur - active F-16-navigator, Captain Alon - active Blackhawk-pilot, Captain Amnon - active Blackhawk-pilot, Captain Yonathan - active Blackhawk-pilot, Captain Asaf - active F-15-pilot, and instructor in the field of fighting at the school of flying, Lieutenant-colonel Eli - fighter pilot and active instructor at the school of flying, Brigadier-general Yiphtah Spector - fighter pilot and active instructor at the school of flying.
Makes you proud to be human, doesn't it.
According to the article by UPI Journalist Richard Sale "Israel to Kill in US, Allied Nations" it seems Israel will be able to carry out these killings here, in America.
Since Sharon became Israeli prime minister, Tel Aviv has mainly limited its practice of targeted killings to the West Bank and Gaza because "no one wanted such operations on their territory," a former Israeli intelligence official said.
Another former Israeli government official said that under Sharon, "diplomatic constraints have prevented the Mossad from carrying out 'preventive operations' (targeted killings) on the soil of friendly countries until now."
He said Sharon is "reversing that policy, even if it risks complications to Israel's bilateral relations."
A former Israeli military intelligence source agreed: "What Sharon wants is a much more extensive and tough approach to global terrorism, and this includes greater operational maneuverability."
Does this mean assassinations on the soil of allies?
"It does," he said.
"Mossad is definitely being beefed up," a U.S. government official said of the Israeli agency's budget increase. He declined to comment on the Tel Aviv's geographic expansion of targeted killings.
Keep an eye out for Hellfire missiles.
I'm guessing that you have not heard about the aggressive actions of the Israeli government occupation forces. I am attempting to illuminate hypocrisy, not keeping score- Israeli or Palestinian, each life matters, each senseless killing leaves mourning parents, siblings, a constellation of loved ones that ripple through the initially affected society and into that of the whole of people living in Palestine/Israel. But in America my experience shows that Israeli deaths are reported while equally tragic Palestinian deaths fall under our domestic news radar.
I'll offer this link to the Palestine Centre for Human Rights that documents the people shot, beaten and subjected to Israeli governmental force between February 17 and 23. Before the murders by bomb in Tel Aviv.
Remember the quote from Mr Sharon:
"We agreed that all Palestinians will stop all acts of violence against all Israelis everywhere. . . . Israel will cease all its military activity against all Palestinians anywhere."
2/28/2005
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Arthur Schopenhauer on The Cell Phone.
Convenient but bothersome, eh?
2/28/2005
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2.27.2005
Cognitive Chemistry- Passing Thoughts
The Israeli Defense Forces see cannabis as an effective treatment for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder experienced by their conscripts.
The US military sees the experimental use of MDMA to treat PTSD in soldiers in a positive light.
I salute the realists that see the benefits possible through the use of these substances. I appreciate that at least here in the US it has taken medical researchers years to begin to continue research on psychedelics as a technique of therapy for a wide range of disorders, the prohibition of which followed on the heels of the substances recreational use in the popular culture of the 60's.(The above is a very informative link)
What I find interesting is that the United States is one of the largest producers of cannabis in the world, while Israelis seem to be connected to the world wide distribution of the popular club drug Ecstasy, a tableted form of MDMA. Former Israeli energy minister Gonen Segev just admitted to smuggling some 32,000 tablets of the substance in his diplomatic pouch.
Go Figure.
An Aside:
The Center for Cognitive Liberty and Ethics is a resource for those who claim their body and mind as their own. If brain privacy, autonomy and choice are concerns of yours navigate around CCLE and be informed.
2/27/2005
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