| Issue 20 Vol I, July 31, 2006 | Archive |
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How longer we tolerate this Arrogance of the Armed Desperado
It was the site of an Israeli bombing of a UN base in 1996 that killed more than 100 people sheltering there during Israel's "Grapes of Wrath" offensive, which was also aimed at destroying Hezbollah. This dastardly attack made every win sit-up and worry and commendation followed. The UN Security Council has agreed a statement deploring the loss of life. The statement, approved unanimously by the 15-member council after hours of talks, expressed "extreme shock and distress" at the deaths. Yet as American and the British never wanted, the statement did not call for an immediate ceasefire. Yet the Israeli Ambassador Dan Gillerman repeated the earlier lies and said Qana was a hub of Hizbollah and his government had beseeched residents to leave before the bombing. How could they leave and where could they run for shelter when there is no ceasing of air raids and no transport. Efforts by the UN to evacuate the civilians and to provide them food, shelter and medicines through a temporary halt had been rejected by Israel. Horror and condemnation rang out worldwide after an Israeli strike. There was no world leader who did not urge for ceasefire and end to such barbaric hostilities. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan was most vocal and urged for immediate end to fighting to start the diplomatic efforts to find a solution. Yet Washington and London remained resistant to a truce. Mounting protests in Europe, and anti-Israel rhetoric buzzed throughout the Muslim world. Anti-war protests could be seen worldwide: in Beirut, London, Paris, Brussels and Karachi and even at a pro-Israel protest at Warsaw's main synagogue. Tunisia declared three days of mourning for Qana's victims. Pilgrims in the pope's palace courtyard chanted "peace, peace, peace." France condemned ``this unjustifiable action, which shows more than ever the need to move toward an immediate cease-fire.’ In Brussels, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana restated his call for an immediate ceasefire, saying he expressed his "profound dismay and deep sorrow" to Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora. "Nothing can justify" the deaths of innocent civilians, he said. Germany's foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, expressed "horror" and urged both sides not to block diplomatic efforts. Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema, after meeting with Israeli officials in Jerusalem, said: "We are friends of Israel and the duty of friends is also to tell the truth." "The truth today is that nothing could be more negative for Israel than the images of children," he said, apparently referring to those killed in Qana. Finland, which holds the rotating EU presidency, said it was "shocked and dismayed" by the deadly strikes and called for an immediate cessation of hostilities. In Greece, Foreign Ministry spokesman Giorgos Koumoutsakos said: "We are filled with repugnance and deep sadness. ... Now the need for an immediate ceasefire is more pressing than ever." Swedish Foreign Minister Jan Eliasson urged "an end of the military escalation madness." Spain condemned the raid, calling for ``an immediate cease-fire that would end the violence and spare us from having to lament tragedies like this one in the future.'' The Bush administration, called it "a terrible and tragic incident," urged Israelis to avoid civilian casualties but again insisted Washington is holding out for a sustainable ceasefire. The strike sparked an outcry of anger in Muslim nations, even among some U.S. allies. Jordan's King Abdullah II condemned what he called Israel's ``ugly crime.'' Pro-American Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh said the events would ``undoubtedly'' impact Iraq and the region. Turkey denounced the raid and demanded a truce ``so that the crisis in the region doesn't become any graver.'' Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz condemned ``unwarranted aggression'' against Lebanon. Algeria called the raid a ``criminal act,'' and Morocco's king urged greater U.N. action to end the conflict. India too joined the world in condemnation and repeated its demand for immediate unconditional ceasefire and just solution to the west Asia problems. It termed it as “indiscriminate and irresponsible.” Tunisia named it a ``horrible massacre,'' a state television channel interrupted programmes to broadcast readings from the Quran and flags were lowered at official buildings. Anger filled Costa Rica, where president and Nobel Peace Prize-winner Oscar Arias expressed concern about the fighting and called for a ceasefire. Arias recalled his peace efforts in Central America in the 1980s, and said he doesn't believe the Middle East is ``irreversibly condemned to eternal violence.'' And, Pope Benedict XVI who mostly been silent in his own partisan way was moved and joined calls for a truce. "Hundreds of dead, so many wounded, a huge number of homeless and refugees, houses, cities and infrastructure destroyed, while in the hearts of many, hate and the will for revenge seem to grow," the Pope told faithful at his summer residence in Rome. Anger was writ large o n the face of the people and in the recent past, there has never more strident condemnation of Israel. It was isolated except its friends Bush and Blair still stood by it. and As hundreds protested filled London's Trafalgar Square to demand a halt to fighting, including a group of Hasidic Jews holding placards criticizing Israeli military action in the region, British Prime Minister Tony Blair was forced to say, "absolutely tragic" and that the situation "absolutely cannot continue." But he broadly supported the American effort to have a ceasefire on Israeli terms. And the world must join Eduardo Galeano, Uruguayan writer and journalist in condemning the brutal act and ask. “This slaughter of civilians began with the kidnapping of a soldier. How much longer will the kidnapping of an Israeli soldier be allowed to justify the kidnapping of Palestinian sovereignty? How much longer will the kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers be allowed to justify the kidnapping of the entire nation of Lebanon? For centuries the slaughter of Jews was the favorite sport of Europeans. Auschwitz was the natural culmination of an ancient river of terror, which had flowed across all of Europe. How much longer will Palestinians and other Arabs be made to pay for crimes they didn’t commit? Hezbollah didn’t exist when Israel razed Lebanon in earlier invasions. How much longer will we continue to believe the story of this attacked attacker, which practices terrorism because it has the right to defend itself from terrorism? Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, Lebanon: How much longer will Israel and the United States be allowed to exterminate countries with impunity?” | ||||
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Killing fields of Iraq
After notoriously telling journalists that they "don't do body counts", Pentagon officials now admit that they have been keeping a record of civilian casualties in Iraq since 2005. While that number remains classified, independent estimates suggest that at least 50,000 people have died in the country since the 2003 invasion. According to Iraqi Health Ministry and other agencies, as reported recently in the Los Angeles Times, that total is 20,000 higher then the George W. Bush administration had previously estimated. A web magazine www.iranbodycount.net that keeps tab of the death toll finds from July, the civilian death toll has risen inexorably for the entire duration of the US-led military presence in Iraq. Figures released by IBC, updated by statistics for the year 2005 from the main Baghdad morgue, show that the total number of civilians reported killed has risen year-on-year since May 1st 2003, when President Bush announced “major combat operations have ended”.
The IBC figure for Year 3 includes no deaths from March 2006, excludes the bulk of killings which followed the 22nd February bombing of a major Shiite Muslim shrine in Samarra, and lacks Baghdad morgue data for January and February this year. If January and February 2006 are excluded as being clearly incomplete, then the daily death rate for the remaining part of Year 3 rises to 40 (11,480 deaths over 287 days = 40 per day). However even before Year 3 has ended, and with incomplete data for its final months, the number of civilians reported killed is already higher than for all of Year 2 (12,617 vs. 11,312).
Streets are soaked with the blood of the innocent; men, women and children and the bodies strewn all around in pools of blood are the gory sights daily shown by the media. The report details examples reported by the media for over three years. Bloody suicide bombs aimed at mosques and markets are routine affair. Attacks on workers, the assassinations of judges, lawyers, the killings of prisoners, the targeting of clergy present a scene worst chaotic than medieval times. Anyone and everyone is the target either by the American forces, the local militia or the sectarian gangs. At times no one knows who has killed whom and with what aim. "On 28 May, an Iraqi tennis coach and two of his players were shot dead in Baghdad allegedly because they were wearing shorts. Similar threats are said to be made to induce men to conform to certain hair styles or rules regarding facial hair," the U.N report woefully adds. Women face more violence
Kidnappings have been part of the chaotic Iraqi scene since the rebellion began, with many hostages killed even after a ransom is paid. The abductors are not only motivated by sectarianism or politics; organized crime appears to be involved with some of the kidnappings. U. N reports also add, "On some occasions, sectarian connotations and alleged collusion with sectors of the police, as well as with militias, have been reported.” For children, the "extent of violence in areas" other than the Kurdish region "is such that likely every child, to some degree, has been exposed to it," it says. "In one case the body of a 12-year-old Osama was reportedly found by the Iraqi police in a plastic bag after his family paid a ransom of some 30,000 U.S. dollars. The boy had been sexually assaulted by the kidnappers, before being hanged by his own clothing. The police captured members of this gang who confessed of raping and killing many boys and girls before Osama," the report says. "Civilian casualties resulted mainly from bombings and drive-by shootings, from indiscriminate attacks, in neighborhood markets or petrol stations, or following armed clashes with the police and the security forces," the report says. Civilians were also targeted or became unintended victims of insurgent or military actions. Figures from the Medico-Legal Institute in Baghdad and the Ministry of Health show that the total number of civilians killed from January to June was 14,338. In late June, the Ministry of Health "acknowledged information stating that since 2003 at least 50,000 persons have been killed in violence and stated the number of deaths are probably under-reported." the report adds. The Baghdad morgue reportedly received 30,204 bodies from 2003 to mid-2006. Deaths numbering 18,933 occurred from 'military clashes' and 'terrorist attacks'" between April 5, 2004, and June 1, 2006. Lt. Gen. Peter Chiarelli, head of the Multi-National Forces in Iraq says U.S. soldiers are killing and injuring fewer civilians. According to him, non-combatant deaths at checkpoints have been reduced from four to one per week in the last six months. But John Sloboda from IBC notes, “checkpoint killings are only one category of death caused by the U.S. military". "We have no proper evidence as to how meticulously the U.S. has been counting all categories of death caused by its own military. Washington-based Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict (CIVIC) and other humanitarian organisations called on the U.S. military to release its data and back up the information with further details. There are apparently not many takers for the U S military claims. The US may be effective at waging war but the plunge of Iraq’s capital city into lawlessness under US occupation demonstrates that it is ineffectual at maintaining public order and providing security for the civilian population. The US has toppled Saddam and discovered that it won't be discovering any weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. So why is it still there? And if the US military can’t ensure the safety of Iraqi civilians and itself poses a danger to them, what is its role in that country?’ The question still stands, and Iraqis are still being killed in increasing numbers. How many more must die before the architects of the ‘military solution’ for Iraq realise that the only sure way to reduce violence is to stop inflicting it? |
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War and the American Dream: More Fall into the Debt Trap Washington's self-styled "global war on terror" has cost America at least 430 billion dollars over the past five years in military and diplomatic efforts, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the watchdog arm of the U.S. Congress. The GAO warns that future costs may be difficult to estimate because of irregularities in how the Pentagon does its accounting and because of unforeseen events in Iraq and in Afghanistan. The figures are particularly important because they show how much the war is still costing the United States in Iraq and Afghanistan years after both operations began, and at a time when the country is facing rising health care costs and record budget deficits. Over the past some years, health care, education, and gas prices have soared while real wages have fallen. The nation's working poor have been hit the hardest, having to "pay much more than moderate- and high-income households for life's essentials." All these rising costs have left people with few savings and mountains of debt. According to a new poll sponsored by the Center for American Progress, 86 percent "insist the number of Americans having trouble with household debt has gone up in the last five years." "The public is more worried about falling into debt, particularly from medical bills, than about being the victim of a terrorist attack or natural disaster." The average savings rate in 2005 was negative 0.5 percent, "the lowest since the Great Depression." President Bush has pledged to help the working poor achieve the "American Dream." But until something is done about the current debt crisis, that dream will be elusive for millions of Americans. His recent meeting with the African Americans does not offer any hope of any substantial help. Essentials for a decent life cost more today and it's harder than ever for the working poor and middle class to move up. The cost of a college education grew by 24.6 percent between 2001 and 2004. Families are borrowing more and falling further into debt, and between 2001 and 2010, an estimated two million young people will forgo higher education because of the prohibitive costs. U.S. employers are scaling back or canceling completely health care coverage for retirees and more than two in five U.S. adults have problems paying medical bills or have accrued medical debt. A 2005 Harvard University found that half of all bankruptcies in the country are caused by giant medical bills; three-quarters of those people had health insurance. The average national gas price has spiked up 11 cents over the last two weeks to $3.00 per gallon, the second-highest level in U.S. history. "For the first time on record, families have outstanding debt that is greater than their incomes," according to an American Progress report. "A typical middle income family earning around $45,000 a year saw its debt burden grow by 33.1% between 2001 and 2004, even after adjusting for inflation." Higher costs of living and problems in the economy were key reasons cited by 48 percent of the poll's respondents for their debt increase. There are 1.5 billion credit cards in circulation in the United States -- five for every American man, woman, and child. Credit card debt "has grown to its highest level on record. By 2004, the typical family with credit card debt owed $2,150 (in 2004 dollars), up 62.9 percent since 1989." Low- and moderate-income households have been hit the hardest. Because many of these families are often not home owners, they have access to only more costly forms of credit, such as credit cards. "Low-income families owed the equivalent of 9.5 percent of their income on credit cards, while middle-class families owed 5.2 percent, and high-income families owed 2.3 percent." Payday Lending Predators According to Center for American Progress, payday lending is another scheme that hits the working poor who rely on costly forms of credit. The industry has exploded in the past decade, "reporting $10 billion in sales in 2000 to $40 billion, including $6 billion in interest rates and fees, in 2003." Payday lenders offer "small-sum (between $200 and $500), high-fee ($15 to $35), short-term loans (generally two weeks) that result in annual percentage rates (APRs) that often equal or exceed 400%." Because of the high-risk terms, borrowers are often forced to pay "another high fee to roll over the loan for an additional two weeks or take out another loan to pay off the first loan, thereby getting trapped in a costly and often devastating cycle of 'back-to-back' loans." The Center for Responsible Lending reports that the average person pays $1,105 to borrow just $325 from a payday lender. The payday scheme is even a national security issue because these lenders target military service members, who are often young and financially strapped for cash. A Dec. 2004 The New York Times study revealed that 25 percent of military households have used payday lenders and the Defense Department has listed predatory lending "as one of the top 10 threats to members of the military. Costly Education The federal budget includes $137 billion for federal research and development programmes, but that won't "mean a thing if students can't afford a college education or have to forgo research or teaching positions when they graduate due to school debts." Congress cut student aid by $12 billion in the most recent federal budget while interest rates on student loans climbed two percentage points July 1, the largest increase in history. The maximum Pell Grant has been frozen for four years at $4,050, which "barely covers a third of an annual public-college bill." Not surprisingly, two-thirds of all graduates of four-year colleges now finish with sizable loans. Public college graduates have an average $16,000 of debt, while private school graduates have an average $20,000. While approximately 200,000 Americans are priced out of higher education annually, prohibitive costs also affect choices students make when in school." Even after college, high student debt is delaying pursuit of the American dream. Since 1991, the number of students who delay buying their first house, getting married and having kids because of educational debt has gone up by 52 percent, 100 percent and 75 percent, respectively. |
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ON
a scary day, the July 30, Israeli just matched the American bombers in their
killing spree as they attacked dozens of sleeping Lebanese civilians in
Qana. In all they killed 54 displaced civilians sheltering in the basement
of a three-storey house. Old people, women and children were among those
killed. 37 small children as old one year old fell victims to Israeli wrath
backed by USA and UK. Reporters spoke of survivors screaming in grief and
anger, as some scrabbled through the debris with bare hands. Their voice
was choked as they reported alive either on television or radio. It was the
deadliest Israeli raid since hostilities began on 12 July when two Israeli
soldiers were seized. Lebanon's health minister says about 750 people -
mainly civilians - have been killed by Israeli action. A total of 51
Israelis, including at least 18 civilians, have been killed in the conflict.
MORE
than 14,000 civilians were killed in Iraq in the first half of this year, an
ominous figure reflecting the fact that "killings, kidnappings and torture
remain widespread" in the war-torn country, according to a United Nations
report. In May and June Killing of civilians were on "an upward trend," with
more than 5,800 deaths and more than 5,700 injured. The insurgent and
sectarian warfare continues to rage despite a puppet national unity
government and a security crackdown in Baghdad under the overall control and
guidance of the American forces.
In some
Baghdad neighborhoods, women are now prevented from going to the markets
alone. In other cases, women have been warned not to drive cars or have
faced harassment if they wear trousers. Academics and health professionals
have been attacked, spurring them to leave the country or their home
regions, causing a brain drain and a dislocation in services. "Health care
providers face difficulties in carrying out their work because of the
limited supply of electricity and growing number of patients due to the
increase in violence," the U. N report says.