I.N. Daily Wednesday December 8, 2004
Today’s
items (this is the summary details are
below)
Ø U.S. deserter 'didn't want to
have to kill babies'
Ø Iraq: the unthinkable becomes normal, John Pilger
Ø
Canada missteps at U.N.
Ø Israel shuts down
two Hebron charities
Ø
Zionist Plan is working; Egypt is threatened with hanger and civil war
Ø Egyptian anger over 'spy' release
Ø Canadian government vote in the UN will encourage Israel,
the occupying country, to continue with its illegal practices against the Palestinian
people ,A letter From Elias Hazineh,
President of the Canadian Palestine House
Ø
Canada vote with the U.S., Israel, Australia and three small Pacific islands against a resolution calling
for realization of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people
Ø
The Good Germans
Ø
US admits the war for ‘hearts and minds’ in Iraq is now lost
Ø The upside to losing Iraq? An empire
falls
Ø
Uncle Sam has his own gulag
Ø Ex-CIA official: We will lose terror war
Ø If he is an Arab, all the family would be killed and their home been
demolished
Ø The imbalance of justice
Ø The 4th International Academic Conference on “An
End to Occupation, A Just Peace in Israel-Palestine”, Activating an
International Network
U.S. deserter 'didn't want to have to kill babies'
By MARINA
JIMÉNEZ
Tuesday's Globe and Mail
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20041207.wxrefugee07/BNStory/National/
An American army deserter
who fled the 82nd Airborne Division to avoid being deployed to Iraq
told his refugee hearing yesterday that no amount of training could convince
him that killing the enemy was a noble pursuit.
Jeremy Hinzman, 26, testified that despite stabbing his bayonet
into a plastic dummy during training, and repeatedly chanting "What makes
grass grow? Blood, blood, bright red blood" and "Train to kill; Kill
we will," he could not "dehumanize" the enemy.
http://ancapistan.typepad.com/photos/navy_seals_torturing_iraq/navyseal8.html
Iraq: the unthinkable becomes normal
John Pilger
Green Left Weekly Online
Edition
December 7, 2004
http://207.44.245.159/article7274.htm
Mainstream
media speak as if Fallujah were populated only by
foreign “insurgents”. In fact, women and children are being
slaughtered in our name.
Edward S Herman's
landmark essay, “The Banality of Evil”, has never seemed more
apposite. “Doing terrible things in an organised
and systematic way rests on 'normalisation’”, wrote Herman. “There is
usually a division of labour in doing and rationalising the unthinkable, with the direct brutalising and killing done by one set of individuals ...
others working on improving technology (a better crematory gas, a longer
burning and more adhesive napalm, bomb fragments that penetrate flesh in
hard-to-trace patterns). It is the function of the experts, and the mainstream
media, to normalise the unthinkable for the general
public.”
Canada missteps at
U.N.
LINDA MCQUAIG
Toronto Star
Dec. 5, 2004. 01:00 AM
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_PrintFriendly&c=Article&cid=1102115408645&call_pageid=968256290204
One of the
bright spots in Paul Martin's prime ministership, we're told, is the figure he
cuts abroad. He may seem awkward and ill-at-ease at home and weak in his
dealings with George W. Bush, but over in Africa, he comes to life.
On his recent
trip to devastated regions of Sudan,
for instance, Martin looked positively confident as he held forth about the
need for the international community to become more activist
and involved, as part of a "new multilateralism."
It's a message that plays
well with Canadians.
We know we're a rich and privileged
people, but we like the image of ourselves as friends of the world's downtrodden and
powerless.
But Martin's government made a move
last week — in the name of the "new multilateralism" —
that signalled a shift in the opposite direction, a move that will certainly be
felt as a blow by one of the world's powerless and long-suffering peoples.
Canada quietly reversed a longstanding policy last week when it joined the
U.S. and only a few other countries in voting against a couple of U.N.
resolutions supporting Palestinian rights.
John Sigler,
professor emeritus of political science at Carleton University, argues that
this could damage Canada's ability to act as an honest broker in the Middle East — as
it has in the past — just as British Prime Minister Tony Blair is
attempting to launch a new peace initiative.
Canada's U.N. ambassador, Allan
Rock, tried to play down the significance of the policy shift, complaining that
the U.N. passes too many resolutions about Palestinian rights.
It's true that the U.N.
passes a lot of resolutions highlighting the plight of the Palestinians.
By comparison,
there are few resolutions highlighting the suffering of the Israelis, who have
clearly been subject to decades of terrorist attacks by Palestinian militants.
So things might seem unbalanced in favour of the Palestinians.
But that conclusion
would lose sight of the larger picture, and the reality of power in the Middle East and the world.
The
Palestinians may be able to point to reams of U.N. resolutions in their favour,
but that doesn't translate into any actual power or actual rights.
Israel shuts down two Hebron charities
By Khalid Amayreh in the West Bank
Tuesday 07 December 2004,
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/1DCC97C6-F3C9-4BBE-80CD-4722F542AA45.htm
The Israeli army has closed two
charities in the Hebron
area which locals say give food and money to poor and orphaned
Palestinians.
The
offices belonged to the Islamic Charity Association, which was outlawed in June
2002 because of its support to families of bombers and those arrested by Israel.
The Israeli occupation
army said it sealed the main zakat committee in
the small town of Dura,
10km southwest of Hebron, and the village
of Bani Naim,
just east of the southern West Bank city.
Zakat
is the obligatory alms required of Muslims, calculated as a
percentage of a person's income.
Zionist Plan is working; Egypt is threatened with
hanger and civil war
Egyptian
cotton makers fight to survive
By Jeremy Howell
BBC Business reporter in Cairo, Egypt
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4073365.stm
The Egyptian government
is expected to sign a special trade agreement with the US
and Israel next
week.
The agreement's
aim would be to help its textile industry which is under threat from harsh
competition from Asia once global trade rules come into
effect in January.
Egyptian anger over 'spy' release
There has been
a public outcry in Egypt at
the exchange of a convicted Israeli spy for six Egyptian students charged with
plotting to kill Israeli soldiers.
Someone that
has harmed Egypt and the Egyptian people should not have been swapped with innocent
students, Yusri Salem, Father of Mohammed Yusri
, one of the students
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4075215.stm
Opposition politicians
and even the students' families criticised the deal.
The father of one student
said a spy who had harmed Egypt
should not have been bartered for "innocent students".
Azzam
Azzam himself - a member of Israel's
ethnically Arab Druze minority - has categorically denied he acted as an agent
for the Israeli state.
Canadian government vote in the UN
will encourage Israel, the occupying country, to continue with its illegal
practices against the Palestinian people
A letter From Elias
Hazineh, President of the Canadian Palestine House
The Honourable
Mr. Paul Martin, Prime Minister
Office of the
Prime Minister, 80
Wellington Street, Ottawa, Ont. , K1A 0A2
Dear
Sir
Re:
Canada’s Vote in the
UNGA against the report of the Committee on the
Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian.
I
am writing to express the Palestinian Canadian deep concern regarding the
Government’s shift towards supporting continued Israeli violation of
international law and countless UN resolutions. The Canadian Government support
of Israel expressed itself by
voting for the first time in the UN General Assembly, against the report of the
Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable
Rights of the Palestinian People.
This shift of Canada’s
position contradicts the long balanced policy of Canada.
In our
opinion, the new position of Canada
does not help in bringing the two parties (Palestinians and Israelis) to the
peace negotiations. In the contrary, it will encourage Israel,
the occupying country, to continue with its illegal practices against the Palestinian
people and their land. By not voting in support of the findings of the International Court
of Justice, Canada gave Israel the
opportunity to continue building the Apartheid Wall, which separates the two
people who are supposed to live as good neighbors,
confiscate more Palestinian land
and demolish Palestinian houses leaving thousands of people homeless, refugees and
displaced.
Palestinian
Canadian were pleased by your statement which you confirmed Canada’s
commitment to help facilitate the Palestinian elections, and to be more
involved in any future peace negotiations.
We understand
that circles within your government are great supporters of Israel,
however, we do not think that it is proper for Canada’s
foreign policy
should be dictated by these circles.
The
Palestinian Canadian Community has been proud of the balanced and objective positions
of Canada foreign policy. We are gratified by aid Canada is
providing to UNRWA, Palestine Authority and other NGOs who are working to enhance
the lives of the Palestinian people and institutions in Occupied Palestine.
Our community
is extremely concerned by this vote. We will continue to monitor future vote at
international forums hoping that Canada
will maintain a policy of objective and constructive engagement in the Middle East.
Canada vote with the U.S., Israel, Australia and three
small Pacific islands against a resolution calling for realization of the
inalienable rights of the Palestinian people
Thomas Walkom
Toronto Star
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1102334046263&call_pageid=968256290204&col=968350116795
"When he
ran for the Liberal leadership last year, Paul Martin promised to bring Canada
closer to the U.S. As Prime Minister, he is certainly keeping this pledge.
Much attention
has focused on missile defence as symbol of this new relationship. This is not
misplaced.
Martin and
Defence Minister Bill Graham have made little secret of their wish to sign on
to President George W. Bush's ambitious (and, many argue, ill-conceived) scheme, one that
proposes to shoot down missiles with other missiles.
But the
so-called new relationship is being fleshed out elsewhere, too.
In the tricky
area of Middle East politics, Canada has moved incrementally closer to the U.S.
position (which, in turn, flows from the Israeli stance) of demanding an end to
Palestinian terror tactics before addressing
Palestinian grievances.
That was
hinted at last week by Allan Rock, Canada's U.N. ambassador.
Rock
criticized U.N. resolutions on the Israeli-Palestinian issue for being what he
called too one-sided. "References to Israeli security needs are often
overlooked in the General Assembly," he said, adding that the world body
does not pay sufficient attention to terrorist attacks by Palestinians against Israel.
In line with
what Rock called Martin's "new multilateralism," Canada then proceeded to vote
with the U.S., Israel, Australia and three small Pacific island nations against
a resolution calling on the U.N. to "exert all efforts to promote the
realization of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people."
This is one of
those rote resolutions that comes before the U.N. every year and passes by a
wide margin. Usually Canada,
in concert with Japan, the United
Kingdom and most
European nations, abstains. This year, in this particular vote, Canada threw
its lot in with the small minority of nations that support Israel
root and branch.
Rock's argument
was not that Canada opposes
Palestinian rights. Rather, he said, he was trying to make the U.N. a more
businesslike place by opposing resolutions that have little real chance of
success."
_
The Good Germans
John S.
Hatch
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article7424.htm
12/06/04
"ICH" -- It is a commonplace that at the end of WWII scarcely a Nazi
or Nazi sympathizer could be found, or even anyone with an inkling that a
Holocaust had been taking place. Even as rocks flew through Jewish shop windows
and homes were burned, the Good Germans didn't know. Even when Jews
began disappearing in huge numbers from right under their noses, the Good
Germans weren't aware. Later on, even amongst Holocaust deniers I used to wonder
if there were a mitigating percentage, however small, who as otherwise decent
human beings simply could not accept the horror that human nature
can be so vile. To admit the truth would be to recognize that life was
essentially meaningless and insane, with suicide as the only logical course, a
choice which the all-powerful instinct for self-preservation attempted to
prevent. Thus self-deception for self-preservation; an
unhappy compromise. It was the Nazi-exploited Nietzsche who pointed out
(in the late 1800's remember) that one must first know the truth in order to bury it.
Everybody knew, in one way or another. Violence, after all, is what
One-Thousand Year Reichs do, and they must start very
early.
US admits the war for ‘hearts
and minds’ in Iraq is now lost
Pentagon report reveals
catalogue of failure
By Neil Mackay, Investigations Editor
http://www.sundayherald.com/46389
THE Pentagon has
admitted that the war on terror and the invasion and occupation of Iraq have
increased support for al-Qaeda, made ordinary Muslims
hate the US and caused a global backlash against America
because of the “self-serving hypocrisy” of George W Bush’s
administration over the Middle East.
The mea culpa is
contained in a shockingly frank “strategic communications” report,
written this autumn by the Defence Science Board for
Pentagon supremo Donald Rumsfeld.
On “the war of
ideas or the struggle for hearts and minds”, the report says,
“American efforts have not only failed, they may also have achieved the
opposite of what they intended”.
“American direct
intervention in the Muslim world has paradoxically elevated the stature of, and
support for, radical Islamists, while diminishing support for the United
States to single digits in some Arab
societies.”
The
upside to losing Iraq? An empire falls
By Robert Jensen
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article7426.htm
12/03/04
"Austin
American Statesman" -- The United States has lost the war in Iraq,
and that's a good thing.
I don't mean that the loss of American and
Iraqi lives is to be celebrated. The death and destruction are numbingly
tragic, and the suffering in Iraq
is hard for most of us in the United States
to comprehend. The tragedy is compounded because these deaths haven't
protected Americans or brought freedom to Iraqis - they have come in the quest
to extend the American empire in this so-called "new American
century."
So, as a U.S.
citizen, I welcome the U.S.
defeat, for a simple reason: It isn't the
defeat of the United States
- its people or their ideals - but of that empire. And it's
essential the American empire be defeated and dismantled.
Uncle Sam has his own gulag
Behaving
like the Soviet secret police won't make America safer
By
ERIC
MARGOLIS, Contributing Foreign Editor
http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/Columnists/Toronto/Eric_Margolis/2004/12/04/765847.html
The
Lubyanka Prison's heavy oak main door swung open. I went
in, the first western journalist to enter the KGB's notorious Moscow headquarters -- a place so dreaded Russians
dared not utter its name. When they referred to it at all, they called it
"Detsky Mir," after a nearby toy store.
After
interviewing two senior KGB generals, I explored the fascinating museum of Soviet intelligence and was briefed on special
poisons and assassination weapons that left no traces. I sat transfixed at the
desk used by all the directors of Stalin's secret police, on which the orders were
signed to murder 30 million people.
Ex-CIA official: We will lose terror war
By Krishnadev Calamur
UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL
http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20041203-053525-8262r.htm
Washington, DC,
Dec. 3 (UPI) -- The United States will ultimately lose the war on terror
because of its policies in the Middle East and because
of concerns over the human rights of militants worldwide, the former head of
the CIA's team that hunted Osama bin Laden
said Friday.
If he is an Arab, all the family would be
killed and their home been demolished
Original News; Jewish extremist settler jailed
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4075001.stm
The imbalance of justice
Letter to Ha'aretz Newspaper and Independent UK
From: Marlene Newesri, New York City
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Dear Editor:
The
imbalance of justice metered out by Israeli courts to Palestinians
(who are usually denied due process or are assassinated) as opposed
to Jews is obvious in the recent sentencing of Jewish settler Shahar Dvir-Zeliger, who received
only eight years for his role of belonging to a Jewish terrorist cell
that attacked and killed several Palestinians, including a baby, and also
engaged in other terrorist activities. This sentencing comes one week
after a Palestinian man received 67 life sentences for his participation as
a member of Hamas preparing bombs that
killed and injured 60 Israeli citizens.
If the Judge
who ruled in the Dvir-Zeliger case
thinks that Jewish citizens of Israel belonging to terrorist organizations
needs to be eradicated by "severe punishment," his very lenient
sentence is further evidence that the life of a Palestinian is worthelss, with a green light to continue the
killings.
No doubt Dvir-Zeliger will serve only four of those 8 years,
and his home will not be demolished as a "deterrent" for future
Jewish terrorists, as this barbaric policy only applies to Palestinian
families.
The 4th
International Academic Conference on
An End to Occupation, A Just Peace in Israel-Palestine
Activating an International Network
January 3rd – 5th, 2005
Hind Al-Husseini College, Faculty of Arts, Al-Quds University
Ben Jubeir
Street, Sheikh Jarrah, East Jerusalem
Organizing committee
Arnon
Hadar- International Coordinator,
Anat Biletzki, Waleed Deeb, Lily Feidy, Uri Hadar, Eyad Sarraj, Salim Tamari, Oren Yftachel
Organizational comments
* The conference location is at: Hind Al-Husseini College, Faculty of Arts, Al-Quds University
Ben Jubeir
Street, Sheikh Jarrah, East Jerusalem
* Transportation to Al Quds
will leave the pick-up area in the Notre Dame Hotel every morning at 8.00 am.
Announcements will be made concerning the return journey towards the end of
each day.
* For room reservation at the Notre Dame Hotel contact
Tel=02-627-9112
Fax= 02-627-1995 / 626-2815
Email= [EMAIL PROTECTED]
* Participants will be asked to make a contribution
towards covering the conference costs.
* Please follow the updates on the FFIPP website at www.ffipp.org
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/internationalnews/
Please visit also: www.apm-ram.org
Please
see also: http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/
International News
[Zionism is Racism, Anti-Zionism is not
Anti-Semitism]
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