New York City Labor Against the War (NYCLAW)
Digest

Sun Jul 13, 2008 10:10 am (PDT)

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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