Monthly Archives: July 2008

Antiwar Digest (NYCLAW)

New York City Labor Against the War (NYCLAW)

Antiwar Digest

 

 

July 27, 2008

 

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AFGHANISTAN

OBAMA, THE PRINCE OF BAIT-AND-SWITCH
That [Obama] is a smooth operator and a black man is irrelevant. He is of an enduring, rampant system whose drum majors and cheer squads never see, or want to see, the consequences of 500lb bombs dropped unerringly on mud, stone and straw houses.
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m45954&hd=&size=1&l=e

 

MAKE WAY FOR FIELD MARSHALL OBAMA
[I]t is up to Obama to point out why it’s more acceptable to kill a man who is fighting for his country in Afghanistan than it is in Iraq. If he can’t answer that question, then he deserves to lose.
http://www.counterpunch.org/whitney07062008.html

 

NEW US AIRSTRIKES KILL DOZENS
More than half of those killed in the three recent U.S.-led airstrikes  .  .  .  were women and children, according to Afghan and Western officials. In one case, about 47 women and children in a wedding party were killed.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/24/AR2008072403465.html

 

IS AFGHANISTAN A NARCO-STATE?
Sure, Karzai had Taliban enemies who profited from drugs, but he had even more supporters who did.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/27/magazine/27AFGHAN-t.html?hp

 

 

IRAN

OBAMA PUTS FRESH PRESSURE ON IRAN
Obama said that. . . . the world must send “a clear message to Iran to end its illicit nuclear program”. . . . [T]here’s a wonderful tradition in the United States, that’s not always observed, but I think is a good one. Which is that you don’t spend time criticizing a sitting president when you’re overseas.”
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/obama-puts-new-presure-on-iraq-877714.html

 

IRAQ

 

FORCED TRANSFER OF BASRA UNION ACTIVISTS
“Those activists, through their hard work, are well known for fighting corruption and corrupt-ministry gangs in the oil sector”. . . . [T]he transfer amounted to a “human rights crime”.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jul/25/iraq.oilandgascompanies

 

HOW MANY US TROOPS WILL REMAIN IN IRAQ?
[I]f the end of the surge left 16,000 troops behind, how many troops would a so-called complete U.S. withdrawal leave behind?. . . . “Once we redeploy our combat brigades, we’re still going to retain a capability to protect our personnel, to target terrorists and to train Iraqi security forces, if there is political progress,” Obama said.
http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-07-24-voa10.cfm

 

SUICIDE ATTACKS ON COLLABORATORS SEEK REVENGE
The bomber targeted a Sahwa or Awakening patrol of Iraqi forces — former insurgents recruited to fight Al-Qaeda in Iraq and paid by the US military. . . . “One of the reasons for women to kill like this is a desire for vengeance,” said Captain Kevin Ryan, commander of a US base in Baquba. “Often, they have lost parents, brothers or children in the fighting.”
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hb0G8vokARTUIFw0A2QwSeAh45tA

 

MILITARY AND MEDIA SUPPRESS IMAGES OF US COMBAT DEATHS
[A]fter five years and more than 4,000 American combat deaths, searches and interviews turned up fewer than a half-dozen graphic photographs of dead American soldiers. . . . Most newspapers refuse to publish such pictures as a matter of policy.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/26/world/middleeast/26censor.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

 

PAKISTAN

$10 BILLION U.S. MILITARY AID SINCE 9/11
The United States has given more than $10 billion in military aid to Pakistan since the Sept. 11 attacks, when President Pervez Musharraf agreed to become an ally in the campaign against terrorism.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/24/world/asia/24pstan.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

 

OBAMA: ESCALATE WAR
[I]ntelligence and military officials described a counter-terrorism campaign in Pakistan that has lost momentum and is beset by frustration. . . . Democratic Sen. Barack Obama has said that U.S. forces should “take out” top militants if Pakistan did not act on firm intelligence.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-uspakistan27-2008jul27,0,7917426.story

 

PALESTINE

ISRAELI MILITARY CHIEF RECEIVES DECORATION FROM US ARMY
[T]he award was given to the IDF chief for his year long contribution to the war on terror, his work for Israel’s security and his contribution to improving the security dialogue between the two armies. . . . the IDF chief’s talks with the Americans focused on the Iranian threat and possible military solutions. . . . We have no disagreements. The cooperation is very good.”
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3573024,00.html

 

OBAMA: WRONG IN EVERY WAY
[Obama] has rejected the Palestinians’ demand for the right of those who left Israel to return. He has said the U.S. shouldn’t negotiate with Hamas, the Islamic Palestinian group that the U.S. and the European Union consider a terrorist organization, unless it recognizes Israel’s right to exist.
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20080722_obama_on_the_brink/

 

OBAMA: JERUSALEM WILL NOT BE CAPITAL OF PALESTINIAN STATE
The press conference was held with Israeli foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, who said, “Israel and the USA have a common understanding of what must happen in the region.”
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=30771

OBAMA (AND BIG MEDIA) TURN BLIND EYE TO ISRAELI APARTHEID
How can Barack Obama, himself the son of an American mixed marriage remain an apparently uncritical supporter of Israeli apartheid. . . . Why should the US support a heavily militarized, nuclear armed, white-dominated apartheid Jewish state in the Middle East rather than a non-racial and secular democratic one-person one-vote government for all that state’s inhabitants?
http://www.blackagendareport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=714&Itemid=1

 

PALESTINIAN FAMILY IN JERUSALEM DENIED EVEN HALF A HOUSE
[T]he Sheikh Jarrah evictions are part of a much bigger goal being pursued by shadowy settler groups, backed by the Israeli government, to establish wedges of Jewish settlement around the Old City.
http://counterpunch.org/cook07262008.html

 

ISRAEL TO BUILD NEW WEST BANK SETTLEMENT
Israel’s Defense Ministry has revived a plan it had shelved under U.S. pressure to build a new Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-palestinians-israel-settlement.html

 

POVERTY WORSENING IN GAZA
Aid granted to Gaza has failed to stop more than half of the population in the territory from sliding below the poverty line.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2008/07/2008724105341256363.html

 

ISRAEL HAS KILLED 801 PALESTINIANS THIS YEAR
Of the 801 Palestinians killed by Israelis, 107 were children and 33 were women. . . . More than 11,000 Palestinians are currently being held in Israeli jails.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3240&Itemid=1

 

IDF VETS TRAIN NY JEWISH PARAMILITARIES
Kitat Konenut New York is modeled on the rapid response teams in the West Bank settlements. . . . The group claims to be “well-connected with the New York police and fire departments.”
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1215331093729&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFul

 

REFUGEES HAUNT ISRAELI SOCIETY
Consciously or not, Israeli society is haunted by the ghosts of the Naqba, and the brutality—domestic violence as well as the violence directed toward its Arab surroundings—of Israeli behavior, is the result of a permanent fear. Not the fear of the Arab armies, nor the fear of the alleged Iranian nuclear armament, but the fear of the ghosts of 1948, the refugees.
http://www.alternativenews.org/blogs/michael-warschawski/the-Palestinian-return-and-right-of-returnno-deal-20080702.html

THE PALESTINIAN RETURN AND RIGHT OF RETURN—NO DEAL
 [T]he core of our discussions should not be about solutions and models, but values and rights. In that perspective, one has to unequivocally reject the very idea (and existence) of a Jewish state, whatever will be its borders. For a Jewish state (in the demographic sense of the concept) necessarily implies the drive for exclusion and expulsion.
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m45381&hd=&size=1&l=e

 

“OCCUPIERS CANNOT ALSO BE LIBERAL”: AN INTERVIEW WITH ILAN PAPPE
Israel has to be de-Zionized before peace is possible, and peace has to include the return of thePalestinian refugees, otherwise it would be a futile exercise.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9634.shtml

 

PALESTINE IN THE MIDDLE EAST: OPPOSING NEOLIBERALISM AND US POWER
[I]t is impossible for any progressive movement to develop in the region that is not centrally concerned and linked with the Palestinian struggle. All popular struggles across the region are soon intertwined with the question of Palestine.
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m45778&hd=&size=1&l=e

 

 

ANTIWAR MOVEMENT

 

IS OBAMA’S CAMPAIGN STIMULATING OR UNDERMINING THE ANTIWAR MOVEMENT?
Is [Obama’s] candidacy encouraging the social power of the antiwar movement, for example? Or is it just siphoning off the movement’s independent energy and activism for the sake of a candidate’s future promises to end one war and now, start another?
http://www.zmag.org/znet/viewArticle/18271

NYCLAW Digest

New York City Labor Against the War (NYCLAW)
Digest

Sun Jul 13, 2008 10:10 am (PDT)

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End the Occupation of Iraq — Bring the Troops Home Now

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AFGHANISTAN

U.S. CONSIDERS INCREASING PACE OF IRAQ PULLOUT – INTO AFGHANISTAN
The desire to move more quickly reflects the view of many in the Pentagon who want to ease the strain on the military but also to free more troops for Afghanistan and potentially other missions.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/13/washington/13military.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

47 AFGHAN CIVILIANS KILLED BY US BOMBS, GROUP SAYS
Shinwari said that 39 of those killed in the airstrike were women and children, including the bride. . . . More than 2,100 people — mostly militants — have been killed in insurgency-related violence in Afghanistan this year. More than 8,000 people died in attacks last year, according to the U.N., the most since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-afghanistan,1,4366144.story

MORE AIR POWER FOR AFGHANISTAN
Unnamed “defense officials” tell CNN that the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln “has moved from the Persian Gulf into the Gulf of Oman so its warplanes can fly missions over Afghanistan.”
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m45549&hd=&size=1&l=e

OBAMA

OBAMA NEVER, EVER SAID NO TO BUSH ON IRAQ
Once in the Senate. . . . [h]e promptly voted for four separate war appropriations that totaled more than $300 billion. . . . But money and votes aren´t the only issue in which Obama sent a different message then the impassioned get out of Iraq now speeches he still thundered before audiences. The other issue was when to withdraw.
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/67401

IS OBAMA FOLLOWING BUSH ON IRAQ?
Democrats and Obama supporters will be loathe to admit it, but Obama stands poised to adopt the three major elements of the Bush-administration foreign policy – staying the course in Iraq, endorsing the doctrine of preventative war and the strategic expansion of executive power to fight the war on terror.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/07/07/opinion/main4237311.shtml

SENATE APPROVES BILL TO BROADEN WIRETAP POWERS
But on Wednesday, [Obama] ended up voting for what he called “an improved but imperfect bill” after backing a failed attempt earlier in the day to strip the immunity provision from the bill through an amendment. . . . Support from key Democrats ensured passage of the measure.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/10/washington/10fisa.html?ref=us

IRAQ

OIL AND TROUBLED WATERS
July could be crucial for Iraqi trade unions. The Iraqi government is pressing ahead with plans to hold elections – which could see the state choose workers’ representatives and funnel the country’s diverse trade union federations into one state-managed federation.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/jul/09/iraq.tradeunions

IRAQ SOLDIER DISCUSSES HIS “KILLS” (VIDEO)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/05/27/iraq-soldier-discusses-hi_n_103698.html
PALESTINE

CONGRESS DELIVERS PROMISED ISRAEL AID BUMP DESPITE BUDGET DEADLOCK
The first indication of the special maneuvers came at the annual conference of Aipac, when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi took the podium. . . . Bipartisan support for bypassing legislative hurdles was apparent in the June 27 Senate vote, which tallied 92 supporters and only six senators opposing the bill.
http://www.forward.com/articles/13709/

KNESSET EXTENDS RACIST LAW AGAINST PALESTINIAN FAMILIES
The law was mainly meant to break up Palestinian families as it disallows Palestiniancouples of uniting with each others if one of the partners was a resident of the 1948-occupied lands, and the other resides in the West Bank or the Gaza Strip.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s76pB4Ut49ZMhIARiS%2ftSEb8Dvx4ChP6Sgt%2fBJXFpBB%2beewNZl6nNDWAnKB1D7w838AAL8jueSPRoEnwoZWYe2bIcNdpHPTm0i5h5cFFw0ieE%3di

POPULAR PALESTINIAN NATIONAL CONFERENCE VIDEO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nJFvg6Uits

ANTIWAR MOVEMENT

LINKING THE IRAQ WAR AND THE OCCUPATION
The program of the National Assembly to End the Iraq War and Occupation recognized Palestine as not just as a worthy cause to be embraced from time to time as long as no one objected, but declared it was intertwined with the War at the root. It also overthrew years of Left dogma and recognized the Israel lobbies as a force not only in influencing policy on Israel/Palestine, but also on Iraq and Iran as well. . . . USLAW needs to be won over to a good position on Palestine.
http://www.counterpunch.org/heller07092008.html

DEFAULT REPORT FROM CLEVELAND ANTIWAR CONFERENCE
Our task now is to implement the resolution and raise as forcefully as possible the demand of “No War, No Sanctions, No Internal Interference in Iran!”
http://www.politicalforum.com/political-blogs/40156-report-cleveland-antiwar-conference.html

WHICH WAY FORWARD FOR THE ANTIWAR MOVEMENT?
The Winter Soldier hearings captivated the entire antiwar movement and projected a new and hopeful GI and vet resistance. The ILWU (International Longshore and Warehouse Union) strike on May 1 represents a huge development where workers in an historic union are striking against the war to shut down all the ports of the West Coast, one of the busiest areas of trade in the world. We will need such class power to liberate Iraq from U.S. occupation.
http://www.counterpunch.org/smith06262008.html

ANTI-WAR ACTIVISTS MEET IN CLEVELAND
The conference in Cleveland drew approximately 400 anti-war activists and major leaders of the anti-war movement. Holmes’ talk focused on linking the anti-war movement to the growing economic crisis.
http://www.workers.org/2008/us/cleveland_0710/

VIETNAM BLUES
Joe Allen’s recently published Vietnam: The (Last) War the US Lost. . . . is a reasoned and researched description of the US involvement in the French attempts to maintain its empire, the eventual assumption of the French role by Washington for its own reasons, and the development of the largest and most effective movement against war in US history.
http://www.counterpunch.org/jacobs06212008.html

NYCLAW Digest

NYCLAW: NYC Labor Against the War

Fri Jul 4, 2008 2:17 pm (PDT)
New York City Labor Against the War (NYCLAW) Digest

NYCLAW Website
End the Occupation of Iraq — Bring the Troops Home Now
Labor for Palestine
Contact NYCLAW

AFGHANISTAN

U.S.-LED AIR RAID KILLS 22 AFGHAN CIVILIANS
“The civilians were evacuating the district as they were told by the U.S.-led troops to do so because they wanted to launch an operation against the Taliban,” he said.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-afghan-violence.html

2,200 MARINES’ AFGHAN TOUR EXTENDED
The Pentagon has extended the tour of 2,200 Marines in Afghanistan, after insisting for months the unit would come home on time. . . . In the last two months, the violence in Afghanistan has led to more U.S. and coalition casualties there than in Iraq, and June was the deadliest month for U.S. troops in Afghanistan since the war began in late 2001.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-afghan4-2008jul04,0,4406004.story

US VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN AFGHANISTAN
The war on terror has led to widespread civilian deaths, often at the hands of unaccountable units led by the CIA and other foreign intelligence agencies. These foreign intelligence units “operate” with “impunity” in Afghanistan.
www.mainstreamweekly.net/article779.html

 

ANTIWAR LABOR

SHIPPING COMPANIES FILE CHARGES OVER MAY DAY ANTI-WAR STRIKE
The longshore action on International Workers Day was the first ever US strike against war, closed all 29 West Coast ports and inspired a solidarity stoppage in the Iraqi Port of Basra. The PMA claims it constituted an “unlawful secondary boycott”.
http://libcom.org/news/shipping-companies-file-charges-over-may-day-anti-war-strike-02072008

 

IRAQ

OBAMA MAY CONSIDER SLOWING IRAQ WITHDRAWAL
Sen. Barack Obama raised the possibility of slowing a promised gradual, 16-month withdrawal from Iraq if he is elected president, saying that Thursday he will consult with military commanders on an upcoming trip to the region and “continue to refine” his proposals. . . . Obama’s comments on Thursday capped a shift in tone that has been occurring since June, and it fit with his broader efforts to appeal to moderate and independent voters. Throughout the past week, Obama has been stressing values as he journeyed through conservative regions of swing states: patriotism in Independence, Mo.; faith-based social services in rural Ohio; and service in Colorado Springs.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/03/AR2008070303919.html

THE REAL STATE OF IRAQ
By now, summer of 2008, excess deaths from violence in Iraq since March of 2003 must be at least a million. . . . Only, the US is 11 times more populous than Iraq, so 310,000 Iraqi corpses would equal 3.4 million dead Americans. So proportionally it would be like firebombing to death everyone in Chicago.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20157.htm

NYT IRAQ WAR ‘DEBATE’ EXCLUDES CRITICS
The New York Times’ “Week in Review” has now offered two panels of opinion on the Iraq War—one on March 16 pondering the fifth anniversary of the invasion, the other on May 4 commemorating George W. Bush’s “Mission Accomplished” speech—that completely excluded the views of those who opposed the war in 2003.
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=3567

THE ERA OF OIL WARS
The US maintains 737 military bases in 130 countries under cover of the “war on terror” to defend American economic interests, particularly access to oil. The principal objective for the continued existence and expansion of Nato post-cold war is the encirclement of Russia and the pre-emption of China dominating access to oil and gas in the Caspian Sea and Middle East regions. It is only the beginning of the unannounced titanic global resource struggle between the US and China, the world’s largest importers of oil (China overtook Japan in 2003).
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/jun/29/oil.oilandgascompanies

 

IRAN

AUGUST 2: DEMOS IN NYC AND ACROSS THE COUNTRY TO STOP WAR ON IRAN
From the anti-war movement and all movements for social change, to religious and grassroots organizations, unions and schools, let us join forces to demand “No war on Iran, U.S. out of Iraq, Money for human needs not war! ”
http://stopwaroniran.org/aug2.shtml

EX-AGENT SAYS CIA IGNORED IRAN FACTS
A former CIA operative who says he tried to warn the agency about faulty intelligence on Iraqi weapons programs now contends that CIA officials also ignored evidence that Iran had suspended work on a nuclear bomb.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/30/AR2008063001940.html

 

PALESTINE

FLIGHT: PALESTINIAN GROUP ASKS SNOOP DOGG TO CANCEL ISRAEL CONCERT
How can an artist whose name is prominently associated with this form of popular and freedom based musical expression, rap, be apathetic to the monstrosity of Israel’s current war crimes in Gaza, its Apartheid Wall, declared illegal by the International Court of Justice at the Hague, or it’s continued violation of fundamental Palestinian rights?
http://www.pacbi.org/boycott_news_more.php?id=782_0_1_0_C

10-YEAR-OLD SUBJECTED TO TORTURE BY ISRAELI SOLDIERS
A 10-year-old boy was subjected to physical abuse amounting to torture for 2.5 hours by Israeli soldiers who stormed his family’s shop on 11 June, seeking information on the location of a handgun. The boy was repeatedly beaten, slapped and punched in the head and stomach, forced to hold a stress position for half and hour, and threatened. He was deeply shocked and lost two molar teeth as a result of the assault.
http://www.dci-pal.org/english/display.cfm?DocId=811&CategoryId=1

PALESTINIANS WHO APPROACH GAZA FENCE WILL BE SHOT, SAYS IDF
Earlier this week the United Nations sources reported eight cease-fire violations by Israel. Most of these violations apparently consisted of Israeli troops firing at people who approached the fence. The information relies mainly on Palestinian accounts. . . .  Throughout the second intifada Israel declared areas along the fence as “security zones.” Soldiers were instructed to fire warning shots at people approaching the fence, and for certain periods were allowed to shoot even at unarmed people.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/997897.html

ISRAELI DOCTORS COMPLICIT IN TORTURE -RIGHTS GROUPFIGHT
Palestinian prisoners undergo medical examinations before, during and after their interrogation, but doctors in detention facilities fail to report such symptoms, making them complicit in “prisoner torture”, the PHR said in a statement.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L26620681.htm

DISMANTLING ISRAEL’S RACIST INFRASTRUCTURE IS THE KEY TO PEACE IN MIDDLE EAST
Separation will always require threats or actual violence; a genuine peace will come not with more separation, but with the right to return to a land in which all can live as equals. Only a single democratic, secular and multicultural state offers that hope to Israelis and Palestinians, to Muslims, Jews and Christians alike.
http://www.redress.cc/palestine/smakdisi20080626