28
Aug
When The Missiles Start Flying…
Today, August 28, is the anniversary of the Great March on Washington of l963, forget it I never shall. I was there and its spirit never left me. In 2003, I wrote about my own memories and our continuing challenges in the achieving the March’s goals of jobs and justice:
http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0827-09.htm
IRAN’S MISSILE TEST AND US PLANS
FOX JOURNOS FREED WHILE OTHERS ARE ATTACKED
LOOKING FOR HOPE AND FINDING SOME
Iran tested a sea to air missiles with more speculation about US intentions. Dr Strangelove, oops, make that the Master of the Pentagon also has missiles on the brain:
“The Pentagon is considering a plan to replace the nuclear warheads on some intercontinental ballistic missiles with conventional weapons for preemptive strikes against terrorists, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said.”
http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?
The NY TIMES today reports he also ”wanted to see a successful full-scale test of the fledgling United States ballistic missile defense system.”
As for Iran, Gary Leupp writes about a “Planned Assault on Iran”
“How can the deployment of the expanded UN force in southern Lebanon, brought about by Israel’s attack on its northern neighbor, facilitate the broader goal of achieving regime change in Iran?”
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14714.htm
BBC:”UN chief Kofi Annan visits Lebanon at the start of a regional tour to prop up the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire.”
FOX JOURNOS FREED
Two Fox journalists kidnapped two weeks ago in Gaza have been released, according to the Palestinian news service Ramattan and Fox News. The two men were released shortly after noon today and dropped off at a hotel in Gaza City, video from Ramattan showed. They have called on other journalists to continue to cover Gaza.
The Fox News Site carried three videos:
Centanni: ‘So Happy to Be Free’
FOX News Journalists Freed
Roger Ailes: Release a ‘Tremendous Relief’
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN US FORCES KILL IRAQIS?
The Washington Post reports today: “Homicide Charges Rare in Iraq War”
The majority of U.S. service members charged in the unlawful deaths of Iraqi civilians have been acquitted, found guilty of relatively minor offenses or given administrative punishments without trials, according to a Washington Post review of concluded military cases.
http://letters.washingtonpost.com/W7RT03B14B9781484F27F33C523A10
KATRINA KOMMEMORATIONS
The Katrina commemorations have begun as Ernesto, a new hurricane, threatens Jamaica and Florida. (Named after Che Guevara perhaps?) The storm was later downgraded even as Jeb Bush proclaimed a state of emergency in Flori-duh. Forecasters warn the storm is very dangerous and could find new strength.
(AP) Ernesto, which had strengthened into a hurricane for about 10 hours, weakened back into a tropical storm by late afternoon with top sustained winds of 60 mph.
As for the damage caused by Katrina, the NY Times predictably comes down seeking the safety of the middle as in most controversies:
Headline: “The Katrina Year: A Future, Dimly Seen: Outlines Emerge for a Shaken New Orleans
Somewhere between the extravagant visions of the boosters and the gloomy predictions of the pessimists lies a glimpse of the city’s real future
QUOTE FOR ALL TIME:
”BUSH: On my grade, I could have — we — the federal government, and I’m responsible for the federal government, could have done better in coordinating with the state and local government in its response.”
http://www.nola.com/abc26/video/content.ssf/082406mike5pm”
RE: US MADE CLUSTER BOMBS IN LEBANON
As the Pentagon announces it will “investigate” how Israel used cluster bombs provided by the US military, this report just in from the UN:
”The Mine Action Coordination Centre says it has located 288 individual cluster bomb strike locations all over southern Lebanon. It has received information from the Lebanese Army’s National Demining Office that 12 people have been reported killed, and 51 wounded, because of unexploded ordnance and cluster bombs since the cessation of hostilities went into effect on 14 August.
ONGOING DEBATE IN ISRAEL
Here is a site with news rarely published in mainstream US media from the point of view of those criticizing the Israeli government:
http://www.kibush.co.il/
WAR LEADS TO MORE HATRED: The latest from Uri Avnery
http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/avnery/1156640109/
DEEPER QUESTIONS ABOUT LEBANON’S FUTURE
Ian Williams writes on Maxims News:
”….left unresolved is the question of how Lebanese sovereignty can be assured by forcing the Lebanese government, against its will, to disarm a group that last week had the support of 87% of the population and which is represented in the government in Beirut.
“Indeed, for all the talk of green revolutions and new democracy, one might wonder at the fossilized electoral system that still assumes a Maronite majority that has not existed for over half a century and which gives Hezbollah only 18 seats out of 128 in the population when the Shi’a who support it amount to at least 40% of Lebanese.
While calling them “terrorists” or “Islamo-fascists” may give some therapeutic relief to people who should know better but signed up for the War on terror, it is not an effective, nor particularly democratic, way to come to solutions.
Seattle Post Intelligencer: Hezbollah Head Didn’t Foresee Such a War
This seems consistent with what was reported earlier, also undercutting those who insist that Hezobollah deliberately attacked Israel. There had been prisoner incidents and exhanges on both sides before the Israeli bombing began.
THAT OTHER WAR
NATO Pilots Accused of Killing Afghan Children
”NATO pilots have been accused of killing 13 Afghan civilians, including nine children, during an attack close to the British base at Musa Kala in Helmand province.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082606X.shtml
BUILDING CULTURAL BRIDGES
The NY Times reports that the US Marines have now imported a group of miniskirted dancers to Iraq to “bolster their morale”
” It was all part of a program to keep up morale in a war that is more dangerous than ever. There is a long history of providing entertainment for troops in war zones, including performances by attractive starlets. Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell toured with Bob Hope in Korea, who delighted troops during four conflicts. Raquel Welch and Ann-Margret performed in Vietnam.
“But at Haditha Dam, the marines have the Purrfect Angelz, as the dancers are known. Their tours, which organizers say are paid for by the military, have occasionally stirred some controversy. During the group’s 2005 visit to Baghdad, a female Air Force officer complained that the dancers’ wardrobes and routines encouraged insensitive attitudes toward women in the military.”
What about insensitivity in a Muslim country. Never mind. Don’t ask. And by the way, you can’t dance around this latest AFP REPORT:
U.S. Army Going Bankrupt
Iraq war costing America $1.75 billion per week
MORE ON JILL CARROL’S STORY
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003230938_carroll28.html
OBAMA A BIG HIT IN KENYA
(AP) Tens of thousands of Kenyans lined the streets of Kisumu on Saturday, giving U.S. Sen. Barack Obama a hero’s welcome as he arrived to visit the nearby village where his late father and grandfather lived.
Massive crowds screamed “Obama, Obama” and waved flags emblazoned with his name and face, as the 45-year-old junior senator from Illinois rode through the streets in a truck flanked by a lengthy convoy.
“I greet you all,” he shouted in the local language, Luo, waving.
Obama’s charisma evokes for me the memory of the late Kenyan politician Oginga Odinga who visited Atlanta during the civil rights movement and was serenaded by SNCC’s Freedom Singers with a tribute song.
CAMPAIGN WORKER ATTACKED
Don Hazen reports that a progressive campaign worker was attacked in Maryland:
”Yes, shocking as it sounds, campaigning for a grass roots progressive candidate for Congress can get you beat up. In case you haven’t heard, recently one of Donna’s campaign volunteers was knocked down and stomped on by campaign workers for her opponent Al Wynn. Edwards, who clearly has Wynn on the defensive, has effectively labeled him the Joe Lieberman of Maryland for his support of Bush on the War, and many other issues .
Here is Matt Stoller from his blog on My DD on the attack:
“Prior to the debate, Edwards supporters arrived early to put signs out. The Al Wynn people started knocking over the Edwards signs, ripping them up, and putting their signs in front of the Edwards signs………. Anyway, a 57 year old volunteer with the Edwards campaign asked the guy ripping up the signs to stop, and there were some heated words. The volunteer and two Wynn supporters got into a scuffle, and a Wynn supporter punched the volunteer, who then fell to the ground. At this point, the two Wynn supporters started stomping on him, and the Edwards volunteer had his head split open. The police came, and the two of the Wynn staffers were taken away.
http://www.mydd.com/story/2006/8/18/152045/011)
And here is the video of the victim and the Wynn people being arrested.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGMc3MqgOuU
The incident happened just prior to a debate sponsored by the NAACP and the great news is that Donna clobbered Wynn in the debate, and the violent incident created more local press.”
US FALLING APART–LITERALLY
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/
2003226851_fragile26.html
SEIG HEILING A BUG
“The ultimate Nazi souvenir is brown, blind and not for the squeamish. For anyone with a passion for fascism and a zeal for zoology, this season’s must-have accessory is the Anophtalmus hitleri or eyeless Hitler beetle.
“Neo-Nazis are snapping them up at €1,000 a time and zoologists warn that the beetle, discovered in 1933 and named after the dictator, is facing extinction because so many have been removed from the wild.”
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/front/2006/0822/1155714897626.html
