Two Hamas Members Killed in Saturday’s Explosion

Hamdan: Two Hamas Members Killed in Saturday’s Explosion

Hamas chief in Lebanon Osama Hamdan on Sunday announced that the movement’s members Bassel Jomaa and Hassan al-Haddad were killed in Saturday night’s explosion that targeted "a Hamas office that also has sleeping quarters for bodyguards."

"Hassan Saeed al-Haddad, 21, and Bassel Ahmed Jomaa, 26, were martyred in Saturday night’s explosion," Hamdan said.

Hamdan identified the pair as "senior bodyguards."

But he refused to speculate on the reasons behind the blast or who was behind it, echoing remarks made earlier by Hamas spokesman Ayman Taha on Dubai-based Al-Arabiya television. Taha also said three people were wounded.

"The circumstances of the explosion are unclear and it is too early to name the party" responsible, Taha said.

Military Judge Rahif Ramadan and the concerned security services examined Haret Hreik’s explosion site, according to state-run National News Agency.

The explosion resulted from a 15 kilograms TNT bomb that was planted in an underground office and led to the death of two and the injury of another two, according to examinations.

The explosion came on the eve of the climax of Ashoura.

Thousands of Lebanese Shiites gathered in the southern suburbs of Beirut on Sunday to mark the end of 10 days of rituals marking the Shiite holy day of Ashoura.

Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah addressed the crowd in a speech broadcast by videolink but did not mention Saturday’s blast.

An AFP photographer said late on Saturday that the blast occurred in an alley in Harek Hreik, meters away from a community center where Hizbullah was organizing a ceremony to commemorate Ashoura.

Witnesses said that local Hamas official Ali Baraka has an office in the area where the blast occurred.(Naharnet-AFP)

India Can Have Headley In About 300 Years

Headley not to be extradited to India: FBI

PTI

NEW DELHI: The FBI has politely turned down India’s request for extradition of terror suspect David Headley to this country on the ground he will have to first undergo a sentence which could be imposed on him in the US for the offences committed if convicted.
Indian officials were told there was no realistic possibility of the Pakistani-American being handed over since the sentence could range between 200 and 300 years of imprisonment.
The US stand was conveyed to the Indian investigators by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) officials during their regular interaction to discuss the case related to Headley, whose links with the banned Lashker-e-Taiba (LeT) were being probed by the two countries, official sources said here today.
The polite turning down of the Indian request for extradition of 49-year-old Headley, arrested in Chicago on October three last, came in the wake of repeated statements including that by Union Home Secretary G K Pilai that India would press for the extradition of the terror suspect.
Pillai had said earlier that India will seek his extradition after completing investigation by January next year into his links with the Mumbai terror attacks.
However, FBI seems to be in no mood to hand over him to India and very politely conveyed that he could be handed over once the sentence ranging to 300 years is completed. He can also be sentenced to death, the sources said.
Headley has been charged by the FBI for 26/11 attacks in Mumbai also on December seven. He is alleged to have conducted reconnaissance of all targets attacked by Lashker militants on November 26 last year besides drawing the routemap for their landing on the Mumbai coast.

The establishment strikes back

By Yousuf Nazar

Lawyers shout slogans in support of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry outside the Supreme Court in Islamabad on December 16, 2009 after the decision on NRO. — AFP

The Supreme Court’s verdict on the NRO and the way it has been decided to enforce it leaves no doubt in my mind that the establishment is once again out to get the PPP and bring back its favourite civilians to power.

Familiar forces are once again trying to seize the initiative they lost after a decade-long military rule which gave us the ‘war on terror’ and has brought us to a state where Pakistan is bracketed with Afghanistan and is considered one of the hottest spots in the world that can explode anytime.

Never mind the blunders of the masters of ‘strategic lack of depth’ and architects of the policies that have turned Pakistan into a client state of America with few friends; they seem to have decided to strike back again.

Now faced with the question of how to justify this attempt to take back power, they seem to have decided to divert the public’s attention to an easy target and a handy dog to whip; the government of Asif Zardari. It is even speculated that the very reason why the establishment facilitated the entry of Zardari into the corridors of power was because he was considered so vulnerable that getting rid of him would be a piece of cake.

When I wrote about this almost 14 months ago, some PPP stalwarts and senior media pundits dismissed the idea saying the United States was firmly behind him forgetting a basic tenet of Washington’s policy: the US is always with the Pakistan military.

The humiliation of Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmad Mukhtar may have come as a shock to some but it was hardly a surprise as it was a demonstration of who really runs the country, a warning to Mr Zardari and an ominous sign of things to come.

If withdrawal of cases on charges of plundering of the national wealth are acts that are void ab initio then so is the deal between Nawaz Sharif and Musharraf that, in effect, washed away all the former’s crimes in exchange for exile, confiscation of property and the Sharif brothers’ promise to stay out of politics for five years according to Nawaz Sharif’s own public admission — and 10 years per the documents released subsequently and according to the Musharraf government’s account of the events.

Let’s see how far the court goes to pursue the loan write-off cases, with the amount totalling billions and allegedly involving the Ittefaq Group, the Chaudhry brothers and many retired generals, regardless of technicalities. Wasn’t that the plunder of national wealth? Or is there one standard for the politicians from Sindh and Balochistan and another for those from the land of the five rivers?

I can already hear screams of ‘provincialism’ and anticipate charges of fanning ethnic discontent but it is just not a coincidence and is an indisputable fact that the judiciary’s every decision has so far favoured Nawaz Sharif and has gone against the PPP.

This is a continuation of the pattern witnessed during Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s trial by the Lahore High Court in 1978, the rejection of his appeal by a split 4-3 verdict of the Supreme Court, Nasim Hasan Shah’s restoration of Nawaz Sharif’s government dismissed by Ghulam Ishaq Khan, and more recently the failure of the Supreme Court to take suo motu notice of the ‘deal’ between Musharraf and Nawaz Sharif that effectively whitened all the latter’s wealth.

I have no love for Mr Zardari and think it is a tragedy that he heads a party that was founded by a political giant like Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, but personal dislike for Mr Zardari should not blind us to the sinister and dangerous game that is being played by the establishment.

For better or worse, we have a parliament and it is parliament that should be sovereign. But it is the judiciary that seems to be sovereign, with no accountability whatsoever.

It is now too obvious that the judges got rid of Musharraf when he became a liability to the establishment. Now they could be part of a hidden agenda because an overt exercise of powers by the establishment does not fit in with the current internal and external environment.

One has to be politically quite naive or a paid journalist (it does not matter by which agency, IB or the ISI) to eulogise all this as the triumph of justice or some rubbish like that. Why doesn’t the Supreme Court order the ministry of information and broadcasting to publish the names of all those media persons who have been the beneficiaries of secret funds during the past 20 years? Why does only the PPP (not that it is innocent) have to face ‘accountability’?

Why is that only Benazir Bhutto had to explain where the funds for Surrey Palace came from and the Sharif brothers can continue to enjoy their escapades to London and stay in their luxury apartments in Park Lane, one of the most exclusive and expensive neighbourhoods in London, and certainly more expensive than Surrey?

It is time to wake up and face the ugly reality. In Pakistan, the judiciary has been used as an instrument of the establishment. Could it be that this time the modus operandi has become rather sophisticated compared to the cruder methods employed in the past?

‘Arrested US men had maps of Pak N-sites’

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ISLAMABAD: Police are trying to determine whether five Americans detained in Sargodha had planned to attack a complex that houses nuclear power facilities, authorities said on Saturday.

The young Muslims were picked up earlier this month in a case that has spurred fears that Westerners are traveling to Pakistan to join the militant groups.

Police and government officials have made a series of escalating and, at times, seemingly contradictory allegations about the men’s intentions, while the US officials have been far more cautious, though they, too, are looking at charging the men.

A Pakistani government official said on Saturday that the men had established contact with the Taliban commanders and planned to attack sites in Pakistan. Earlier, however, the local police accused the men of intending to fight in Afghanistan after meeting militant leaders.

The men had a map of the Chashma Barrage, a complex that, along with nuclear power facilities, houses a water reservoir and other structures, said Javed Islam, a senior police official in Sargodha.

He stressed that the men were not carrying a specific map of any nuclear power plant, but rather the whole of the Chashma Barrage. The detained men also had exchanged e-mails about the area, Islam said. “We are also working to retrieve some of the deleted material in their computers,” he said. Police plan to recommend that courts charge the five men with collecting and attempting to collect material to carry out terrorist activities in Pakistan, police official Nazir Ahmad told The Associated Press. The punishments for those charges range from seven years to life in prison, he said.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah said the men had established contact with the Taliban commanders.

He said they had planned to meet Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud and his deputy Qari Hussain before attacking sites inside Pakistan. The nuclear power plant might have been one of the targets, Sanaullah said.

Police have also alleged that the men met representatives from the al-Qaeda-linked Jaish-e-Mohammed group in Hyderabad and from the Jamaat-ud-Dawa in Lahore, but the groups turned the men away because they did not trust them.

US ready to seize Pak nuke installments: Qazi

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PESHAWAR: Former Jamaat-e-Islami Amir Qazi Hussin Ahmed has alleged that the United States has made the arrangements for the seizure of country’s nuclear installments.

Speaking to media at a reception in Ghazi, Ahmed said the Americans have established their set-up in Kahota and Tarbela.

A large number of Americans are present in the country, he told media.

He expressed serious concerns over presence of Americans in such a large number at Kahota and Tarbela in the name of trainings.

The former JI Amir further said that innocent people were getting killed in tribal areas due to the US drone attacks. He declared both suicide and drone attacks as haram (illegitimate).

The US has tasted defeat in Afghanistan, he said, advising Pakistani people to remain prepared for giving sacrifices like people of Pakistan.

BBC now admits al qaeda never existed

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War and siege leave Gaza children traumatized

Sarah Jacobs

December 27, 2009 The majority of children in Gaza are suffering from anxiety, depression or behavioral problems as a result of their experiences of conflict and living through a deepening humanitarian crisis, warns Save the Children. One year on from Israel’s three-week military offensive in Gaza, leading psychologists working with the children’s charity report that many Palestinian children in Gaza are suffering sustained psychological damage as their experiences of violence and loss during the conflict are compounded by the hardships of life under the blockade. Osama Damo, aid worker for Save the Children in Gaza, said: “This is a traumatized nation. Many children we work with are not able to sleep at night for fear of soldiers returning. Others cry at the sound of loud noises, mistaking them for military jets and tanks coming to bomb their homes. Young children in Gaza are surviving under extreme levels of stress, which will pose long-term dangers not only for their mental health, but for the future of the region.” Save the Children warns that until Israel’s tight restrictions on the movement of goods and people in and out of Gaza are lifted and the threat of further conflict eased, the mental health of the 780,000 children living in Gaza could continue to deteriorate. Osama Damo continued: “The psychological crisis facing children in Gaza just keeps getting worse. Thousands of children are still living in half-destroyed homes or in overcrowded conditions with host families. Hundreds still live in tents where they risk being attacked by packs of wild dogs and don’t have proper protection against the cold and rain.” Research currently being conducted by the Gaza Community Mental Health Program suggests that the majority of children in Gaza are showing signs of anxiety, depression and behavioral problems, including aggression and bed-wetting. Dr. Ahmed Abu Tawanheena, director of Gaza Community Mental Health Program, has worked with victims of trauma in Gaza for 20 years. He said: “The safety and comfort children rely on their parents for has been destroyed twice in one year: first, during the conflict, when they saw their parents terrified and unable to protect them from the violence. Now, under the blockade, they see their parents are still unable to provide for their basic needs, such as shelter or food. Many children report feeling abandoned by their parents and by the outside world, and parents are left struggling with feelings of guilt. It’s a crisis which is threatening families and communities across the Gaza Strip.” Osama Damo said: “Save the Children’s priority is to try and restore a sense of well-being and normality for children in Gaza. We are helping them take baby steps toward regaining their childhood, but there’s a huge job in front of us. If things are really to change for children here, there has to be an immediate lifting of the blockade to allow children to recover, and Israeli, Palestinian and international governments have to act urgently to make this happen.” As part of its emergency response to the conflict, Save the Children provided psychological support to children in Gaza, creating “safe places” where they could play, draw and express themselves. Save the Children has been working in Gaza since 1973, where they are currently running health, child protection and education projects. — Sarah Jacobs is head of news at Save the Children and can be reached at -S.Jacobs@savethechildren.org.uk

Bin Laden Children Held By Iran

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Big turnout as Uzbekistan votes for new parliament

	An elderly man casting his ballot at a polling station in Tashkent

TASHKENT : The Central Asian state of Uzbekistan voted on Sunday in parliamentary elections marked by a strong early turnout, with all four competing parties supportive of the government of President Islam Karimov.

Over 17 million voters have registered for the ballot to elect the 150-seat lower house of parliament, the Oliy Majlis, with the authorities sending millions of text messages to get people out to vote.

By midday (0700 GMT), just six hours into voting, some 57 per cent of the electorate had already cast their ballots, the central election commission said. Polls were due to close at 8:00 pm (1500 GMT).

Karimov has ruled Uzbekistan for the past two decades, after becoming Communist party boss in 1989 under the Soviet Union and then its first post-independence president in 1991.

The president, who earlier this month described the elections as a test of democracy, said the polls showed Uzbekistan was “moving towards the establishment of a democratic society”.

“From this point of view, everything that has been done in this period, especially since 2000, has given a new impulse,” he told reporters including an AFP correspondent after casting his vote.

“No one should think that I am trying to show off something that does not exist,” he added. “I admit that in our parliament there is very weak control over the executive power. I think we should change this.”

According to the central election commission, over 270 observers from 36 countries and missions of four international organisations are monitoring the polls.

But pan-European security group the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is deploying a smaller election assessment mission instead of a full observer mission, citing democratic shortcomings.

Uzbekistan’s “current political spectrum does not offer the electorate a genuine choice between competing political alternatives,” it said in October.

The elections come as Uzbekistan is being increasingly courted by the United States as an important ally in the Central Asian region due to its strategic transport links with conflict-torn Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, tensions have flared between Tashkent and its former Soviet master Moscow over Russian plans to install a new Russian military base in the Kyrgyz city of Osh, which is close to the Kyrgyz-Uzbek border.

In televised pre-election debates, parties mostly accused each other of usurping government achievements and programmes but also cautiously touched on corruption and unemployment issues.

Uzbekistan formally legitimised factional opposition in the parliament after 2004 elections to answer Western criticism that there is no real political opposition in the tightly controlled ex-Soviet republic.

International rights groups criticised Uzbekistan for stepping up pressure on rights activists ahead of the election. But the authorities reject the accusations.

The number of seats in the lower house of Uzbekistan’s parliament was in 2008 increased from 120 to 150, with 15 seats automatically going to the country’s Ecological Movement.

The Ecological Movement of Uzbekistan was founded in August 2008 and is composed of activists from the pro-government environmentalist groups and health sectors.

Karimov in December 2007 won a new seven-year term in presidential elections with over 88 per cent of the vote.

One of the world’s biggest cotton producers with extensive gas and mineral reserves, Uzbekistan also boasts an ancient history including Samarkand, one of the world’s oldest cities. – AFP/ms

Is Congress planning to destroy every Middle East TV Channel that criticizes Israel?

Part I: Targeting Lebanon’s Al Manar

Franklin Lamb Beirut

“Regarding Al Manar it’s personal for Israel. The reason is that Al Manar did to the Israeli government propaganda machine during and following the July 2006 war what Hezbollah fighters did to Israeli troops. Al Manar kicked butt. That station must be made to disappear. The plan is to stop the 15-20 million daily viewers of Al Manar from receiving its transmission and well as to intimidate all the other Middle East TV channels that are suspected of moving toward the growing “Culture of Resistance’ spreading in the Middle East from Lebanon.” A Washington DC observer of how Israel controls the US Congress 12/9/09

Lebanon is a small country, approximately 0.7% the size of Connecticut with a population a bit more than 1% of America’s. But according to the four public US ‘Terrorist’ and Watch lists and at least seven supposedly secret US ‘T lists’ there are more Lebanese ‘terrorists’ and ‘inciters’ on the loose per square meter of planet Earth than any other nationality. Way more than say Iraq, Iran, Syria, Afghanistan or Pakistan could reasonably hope to muster. Increasingly these ‘terrorists and inciters’ work is claimed by some in the US Congress to be done via satellite TV channels. Such is the thesis of Congressman Gus Bilirakis, the ‘author’ of the 122nd US Congressional anti-Arab, anti-Muslim initiative in the past decade now known as the “Terrorist TV” Bill which passed the House on 12/08/09 and is now before the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Taking out the ‘TV Terrorists’ Enter Gus Bilirakis: A fresh Lobby Frontman

Veteran Congressional staffers sometimes identify the following four general groupings of supporters of Israel in Congress:

• Jewish members who care a lot about Israel and some of whom may or may not be ardent Zionists but who generally, but not always, put Israel’s concerns first;
• Evangelical Christians, who are eager to advance end-times, believe in Biblical prophecy and that Armageddon is rapidly approaching and strongly supports Israel over Arabs and Muslims in the Holy land conflict.
• Ultra Zionists with elements of racist feelings towards Arabs and Muslims
• Members who normally don’t favor Israelis much over Arabs or Muslims in their normal lives but who are regularly collared by the Israel lobby and who get the message and want to keep their congressional seats and add to their generous $100,000 –plus yearly pensions and are willing to ‘go along to get along’ and generally will do AIPAC’s bidding.

Gus Bilirakis, Reagan Republican from Florida’s 9th District is from this latter category. Filling the seat his late father Michael held since 1983, “Congressman Gus” as he prefers to be known back home, has the reputation of being a nice, affable fellow who does not claim to know much about the Middle East or foreign affairs. Hard to stereotype as being a fanatic supporter of Israel, gross Islamophobe or Arab basher, Bilirakis basically wants to get along by going along. AIPAC likes him because he appears ‘regular American’ and not too ‘neurotically pro Israel.’ as one of his District office interns explained, adding that “our boss is ordinary, folksy, and just wants to help the simple people.” Certainly he appears to fit the recent AIPAC mode shift of lining up more conservative members of Congress to do Israel’s bidding and to pull back a bit from the type casted “Liberal Jewish establishment” stereotype. By selecting Gus to introduce H.R. 2278, AIPAC and friends scored a public relations bonus.

Gus told his District’s Bay 9 News TV station on 12/9/09 that:

“My legislation will provide the United States with critical baseline information to combat media outlets that serve as vehicles for violent anti-American incitement,” said Bilirakis, who is a member of the House Committees on Foreign Affairs and Homeland Security. “Given the danger such incitement and radicalization poses to Americans both at home and aboard, it is crucial that these tools of terror be distinguished from reputable news outlets.”

We already spend too much on foreign aid to countries that take our money with one hand and slap us with the other. This legislation will help us ratchet down foreign aid to countries who take this approach.”

Bilirakis’ reputed suspicion towards ‘foreigners’ may be part of his general conservatism. The American Conservative Union Chairman, David Keene, noted during an award ceremony in May of 2009 that Gus scored “way higher than the 80% necessary to win ACU’s top award during the second session of the 110th Congress. In a short space of time, Congressman Bilirakis has already shown he is someone grass roots conservatives in Florida and elsewhere who love Israel will be turning to for future leadership.”

The Washington DC based “U.S. Campaign to End the Occupation” a pro Middle East Peace advocacy group saw things differently and gave Gus a -4 rating on its just released Congressional Report Card for the 111th Congress, which was barely above the worst rating assigned to any member of Congress, earned by Illeana Ros-Lehtinen (who represents Florida’s 18th District including the Florida everglades opposite Havana , Cuba, about which she likes to joke, “on a clear day I can see Havana and keep an eye on the Castro boys”, reminding some of Sarah Palin learning about foreign affairs by watching Russia from her bob sled), who kept her position from the 110th on the groups ‘Hall of Shame’ with a -5 score. Gus calls Ileana ‘my main Middle East tutor’.

How HR 2286 can save America from ‘terrorists and inciters’

The ‘TV Terrorist” bill passed on a House roll call vote, while, as is the norm, an eager AIPAC staffer in the front row of the House Visitor’s Gallery with clip board and pen in hand, peered down on the Floor keeping tabs on how the Members voted. As is the Congressional practice with ‘Israel Bills’ or Psych-War Resolutions Israel wants passed, the vote on H.R. 2278 was held under a suspension of the rules to cut debate short and pass it quickly with the needed two-thirds majority. This fast track is normally used for relatively minor items like honoring “butterfly watchers day”, “national be kind to fat stray cats day” etc. The totals were 395 Ayes, 3 Nays, 36 Present/Not Voting- a slightly above average tally when AIPAC sends a legislative request ‘up the Hill.’

H.R. 2278 is what some employees in Congress call “a sleeper bill”. Legislation that is quickly and quietly passed, without much public notice, but which is very powerful in its effect. The language of the Bill, while far overbroad and many first Semester law students would no doubt hammer it on Constitutional Law grounds, and some lawyers think a case brought under this law would be nearly impossible to prosecute, this legislation, if it passes the Senate, will de jure establish that “ It shall be the policy of the United States of America to designate as a Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGT) any satellite provider in the Middle East (including Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen) that knowingly and willingly contracts with entities designated as Specially Designated Global Terrorists under Executive Order No. 13224, to broadcast their channels, or to consider implementing other punitive measures against satellite providers that transmit anti-American declarations (read criticize US support for Israeli crimes) or incite violence against Americans.

Bilirakis’ bill also requires that state-sponsorship of anti-American incitement to violence be taken into account when determining the level of assistance to, and frequency and nature of relations with, all states (Ed: such as Lebanon whose hoped for millions in US aid could be stopped) and urges “ all governments and private investors who own shares in satellite companies or otherwise influence decisions about satellite transmissions to oppose transmissions of telecasts by… al-Manar … or any other Specially Designated Global Terrorist owned and operated stations that openly incite their audiences to commit acts of terrorism or violence against the United States and its citizens.”

The Bill also provides that beginning 6 months after the date of the enactment of the new law and annually thereafter, the President must prepare a report on anti-American incitement to violence in the Middle East including a description of all media outlets in the Middle East for program and news broadcast scrutiny.

Congressional sources report that the political goal is to stop the 10-15 million daily viewers of Al Manar from receiving its transmission as well as to intimidate other Middle East TV channels that are suspected of moving toward the growing “Culture of Resistance’ in the Middle East.

More than 600 Middle East TV channels risk being closed down among the 19 target Countries listed in H.R. 2278. Some of the most strident criticism of America comes from Israeli colonists and extremist Rabbi’s in occupied Palestine.

‘MEMRI as Congressional staff

Part of the job description of all Congressional staff employees who works on legislation includes doing research in support of proposed legislation or to demonstrate to the Member who employees them the need for a new law. This system by and large works in the US Congress except for the Middle East. This area of inquiry is hands off for all but ardent supporters of Israel.

One Congressional staffer who recently retired after 28 years working on the hill, noted on 12/13/09:

“It used to be that Congressional staffers actually did research and wrote recommendations for their bosses around here. Those days are long gone when it comes to Middle East issues. The Israel lobby handles all that now. If staffers want to be heard on Middle East issues from Iran to Palestine, they are discouraged. If they persist they run the risk of being targeted for unemployment by AIPAC and their bosses may cut them loose rather than confront the Lobby. In essence Israel is saying to Congressional staffers, “Listen up! We know best and will handle Congressional Middle East legislation. Just get out of the kitchen, leave this to us and busy yourselves elsewhere.”

Those who demonstrated to Congress the urgent need for a “TV Terrorism” law included the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI)

This was confirmed by the office of Congressman Gus Bilirakis and indeed the Congressman himself noted that ‘research’ provided by MEMRI helped to establish the need for the new legislation.

MEMRI supplied the video excepted from Al Manar and cited by the sponsors as ‘evidence’ of incitement against Americans by the station and its satellite provider because it broadcasts the speeches of Hezbollah leaders on special occasions, as does virtually every other TV news channel in the Middle East that transmit at least portions of the speeches which are popular across the region. In fact all the video shows in spliced together excerpts from two speeches Hassan Nasrallah gave and two by his deputy Secretary-General of Hezbollah, Naim Qassim. They contain no incitement against Americans but rather criticism of Israel and of US support for Israel that can be heard any day of the week in all 50 States in the US.

The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) describes itself as a “free media monitoring service.” Based in Washington DC with half a dozen offices set up in countries including China, Tokyo, Germany, England, Italy and Israel, MEMRI was founded in 1998 by Yigal Carmon, a former colonel in Israeli military intelligence and its first three employees were also veterans of Israeli intelligence. Following 9/11 and George W. Bush’s executive order 13222 and the unleashing of the War on Terrorism, MEMRI shed much of its earlier pretense of being objective and became stridently anti-Arab and anti-Muslim.

Increasingly, MEMRI’s work has been criticized on three grounds: that their work is biased; that they choose articles to translate selectively so as to give an unrepresentative view of the media they are reporting on; and that their translations are frequently inaccurate.

The Middle East editor for the UK Guardian newspaper, Brian Whitaker has been one of the most outspoken critics of MEMRI, writing: “My problem with MEMRI is that it poses as a research institute when it’s basically a propaganda operation, “to further the political agenda of Israel.”

Several critics have accused MEMRI of selectivity. They state that MEMRI consistently picks for translation and dissemination the most extreme views, which portray the Arab and Muslim world in a negative light, while ignoring moderate views that are often found in the same media outlets.

Juan Cole, Professor of Modern Middle East History at the University of Michigan reported that MEMRI “cleverly cherry-pick the vast Arabic press, which serves 300 million people, for the most extreme and objectionable articles and editorials.” Laila Lalami, writing in The Nation stated that MEMRI “consistently picks the most violent, hateful rubbish it can find, translates it and distributes it in e-mail newsletters to media and members of Congress in Washington”.

Professor Norman Finkelstein,in a June 2007 interview with In Focus newspaper explained that MEMRI “uses the same sort of propaganda techniques as the Nazis… it’s a reliable assumption that anything MEMRI translates from the Middle East is going to be unreliable.”

In 2007, CNN correspondent Atika Shubert and Arabic translators accused MEMRI of mistranslating portions of a Palestinian children’s television program. MEMRI translates one caller as saying ‘We will annihilate the Jews,”‘ said Shubert. “But, according to several Arabic speakers used by CNN, the caller actually says ‘The Jews are killing us.” According to one CNN source, “Put bluntly, MEMRI is a hate group”.

Working with MEMRI, as its Al Manar specialist, Avi Jorisch senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies published ‘research’ in 2004 entitled “Beacon of Hatred-Inside Al Manar” , funded by the Israel advocacy ‘think tank’, Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP), with the assistance of Dennis Ross. Jorisch proudly admits he had the political goal of getting the Bush administration declare Al-Manar a “ Terrorist organization.” One of Jorisch consistent worries is “ that al-Manar broadcasts may contain coded communications — a way for Hezbollah’s terrorist “generals” to command terrorist “troops” in the field, for example sleeper cells in the United States and elsewhere.”

During its 2008 annual Conference, Jorisch was honored in a private reception arranged by MEMRI and AIPAC, and given a champagne toast while being introduced “as the man who put Al Manar on the Terrorism list.” As recently as 11/4/09, writing in the Wall Street Journal, Jorisch accused Iran of using the UN to skirt sanctions and various other ‘terrorist’ acts relating to importing “foodstuffs, textiles and medicine” which could help it create a nuclear weapon.

Jorisch’s campaign against Al Manar is designed to show that it is anti-Semite, but he repeatedly misunderstood the context of some of his ‘proof’ including the phrase, “Jerusalem we are coming” , which he claimed to have heard on Al Manar.

Jorisch and MEMRI claim this language shows a threat against the Jewish state and therefore is anti-Semitic. In fact, the phrase “Jerusalem, we are coming” comes from the classic song of the Lebanese Christian singer Fairouz, whose, “Jerusalem, we are coming”, extols religious unity, worshiping in Jerusalem by all religions, and Jerusalem as a city of peace. Viewers in Lebanon and the Middle East and fans of Fairouz everywhere know this song which is in no way anti-Semitic and its been played on hundreds of TV and radios stations including many in Israel.

(Comment: Lebanon’s Prima Diva Fairouz, Israeli troops, and ‘Beirut Jane’. According to an AP report of July 7, 1982, Jane Fonda and Tom Hayden visited Israeli troops in East Beirut and watched the shelling of West Beirut from Israeli positions next to St. Anthony’s School. Israeli soldiers crowded around Miss Fonda to be photographed with her.” Not mentioned in the report was that singer Fairouz was to meet with actress Jane and then hub Tom.

AP: “Mr. Swersky, the Israeli command spokesman, gave Miss Fonda and her husband a private briefing on the military situation. Mr. Hayden, who was a leader of the opposition to the Vietnam War, told the assembled troops that ‘the Israeli invasion is justified because the PLO refused to recognize Israel’. Hayden said he spoke with Lebanese Christians in Sidon, Tyre and east Beirut, but did not meet any Palestinians during the trip, which began Friday. In November, he faces Republican businessman Bill Hawkins in California’s heavily Jewish 44th Assembly District.”

AP: “Miss Fonda stated that the visit to Israel and Lebanon was “a very good and important opportunity for me personally to try to understand the situation better. I learned a lot. It helped me to be there and to see this interesting – and maybe unique to Israel – situation where you have a tremendous Israeli defense force, and unanimity when it comes to the necessity to defend, to not pull back right now and to do everything that’s possible,” she said. “I think that’s why they were happy that we came here.”

One employee of the Beirut weekly, Monday Morning, who was present, still remembers: “Jane applauding with Israeli troops while cluster bombs ripped through apartments and hospitals, and Israeli helicopter gunships strafed those trying to escape. Some still refer to her as ‘Beirut Jane’ and last time I checked, her films were still banned in Lebanon.”

Fairouz was reportedly enraged by the spectacle and declined to have any part of it and walked out. Elements of the Israeli lobby began a campaign against the distribution of her songs, but nearly 28 years later Fairouz has out lasted most of the Israeli soldiers on Lebanese soil, still sings beautifully, and earlier this month sold some of her song rights, including, “Jerusalem we are coming’, for $ 2million to a Syrian company. In fairness to ‘Beirut Jane’, twenty years later, on 12/10/02, (Universal Declaration of Human Rights day), she did finally meet some Palestinians during a visit to Deheshih Palestinian Refugee Camp near Bethlehem in the West Bank)

With the 22 State member Arab League and the 57 member International Organization of the Islamic Conference condemning the House bill, and the Lebanese Foreign Ministry planning to summon US Ambassador Michele Sisson to discuss the matter, late word is that John Kerrey, Senate Foreign Relations Chairman may actually hold hearings on the Bill. If so it will be a major setback for Aipac and friends. Will Al Manar actually be invited to present testimony? Debate Aipac?

Part II: Inside Al Manar TV and its record as ‘inciter against Americans’.

Franklin Lamb is doing research in Lebanon and is a member of the Lebanese Steering Committee seeking to pass the 2010 Civil Rights Law for Palestinian Refugees in the current ‘Unity’ Parliament. He can be reached at fplamb@gmail.com

-###-

Franklin P. Lamb, PhD
Director, Americans Concerned for
Middle East Peace, Wash.DC-Beirut
Acting Chair, the Sabra-Shatila Memorial Scholarship Program Laptop Initiative
Shatila Palestinian Refugee Camp
fplamb@gmail.com

FOR YOUR INFORMATION PLEASE:
The Price We Pay: A Quarter Century of Israel’s use of American Weapons against Lebanon (1978-2006) is available at Amazon.com.uk or Lebanese Bookstores The Revised and Arabic Edition was released on 8/12/08. The Farsi and French Editions are expected this Fall.
And in the USA, the title is available at www.LebaneseBooks.com, and currently enjoys Free Standard Shipping.

‘ISI, CIA ran over 60 join operations against Qaeda commanders hiding in FATA’

2009-12-27 12:40:00

A senior Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan’s main spy agency, official has revealed that the Central Investigation Agency (CIA) and the ISI together have run over 60 operations against Al-Qaeda and other key extremists commanders hiding in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and Balochistan. The official said the missions included “snatch and grabs”, the abduction of important militants, as well as efforts to kill extremist leaders, The New York Times reports. The operations were carried out on the basis of intelligence inputs provided by both the US and the Pakistani agencies, the official said, on conditions of anonymity. The Obama administration has been pressing Pakistan to take action against the Haqqani group, which is controlled by one of Al-Qaeda’s top commanders, Sirajuddin Haqqani. The US believes that the Haqqani network is using Pakistan’s lawless border areas to carry out attacks in Kabul and important locations in Afghanistan. US troops, stationed in Afghanistan, have intensified their commando operations against the Haqqani network in Afghanistan and have gained substantial success. Although President Obama and his top aides have never discussed these highly classified missions in public, such counterterrorism operations are expected to increase, along with the deployment of 30,000 more US forces in the next year, as part of the revamped strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan. US Central Command Chairman General David Petraeus has also made it clear that following the surge there would be more focus on the counterterrorism operations. Testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, earlier this month, General Petraeus had said that more such commando offensive against hard-core Al-Qaeda and Taliban extremists could be seen in the near future. “We actually will be increasing our counterterrorist component of the overall strategy,” General Petraeus had told the Senators. “There’s no question you’ve got to kill or capture those bad guys that are not reconcilable. And we are intending to do that, and we will have additional national mission force elements to do that when the spring rolls around,” he added. (ANI)

Protests against Egypt’s Steel Wall and Deadly Salt-Water Pipe System

[It's not enough that they build a thirty-meter high steel trap below ground to stop the brave diggers, the Zionist killers have to install a massive piping system to drown all the trapped Palestinian rats who dare to try and feed and care for their families.  God will have a particularly nasty punishment prepared for such men.  It's no wonder they all are devil worshippers.]

26/12/2009 International activists planning to enter Gaza from Egypt for a march appealed to President Hosni Mubarak on Saturday to allow them to enter the blockaded enclave through the Rafah crossing. Organizers of the Gaza Freedom March had earlier said they would try to defy the ban after Egypt turned down their request to pass through Rafah, the Gaza Strip’s only crossing that bypasses the occupied territories. “We plead to you to let the Gaza Freedom March continue so that we can join the Palestinians of Gaza to march together on December 31,” the activists said in a statement addressed to Mubarak. Egypt said it would prevent their passage because of the “sensitive situation” in Gaza and warned Monday of legal repercussions for anyone defying the ban. Around 1,300 international delegates from 42 countries have signed up to join the Gaza Freedom March which was due to enter Gaza via Egypt during the last week of December. From Gaza, a committee to break the siege set up by the Gaza Strip administration called on the Egyptian government to facilitate the arrival of the international aid convoy headed by George Galloway and endorsed by many prominent figures such as the US scholar Noam Chomsky and others. The committee expressed concern at the Egyptian moves to put obstacles in the way of the convoy bringing food, medicine and other primary goods to the Gaza Strip residents, who have been under Israeli siege for the past four years. The committee called on the Egyptian government to lift the siege instead of participating in it by building the “wall of death.” The reference was to the huge steel wall currently under construction by Egyptian workers and supervised by US and French officials to enforce a more efficient isolation of the Gaza Strip population. The Palestinian Information Centre reported on details obtained from sources in Cairo saying that the death wall is conceived to function as a water-leaking system, by which existing tunnels will be flooded and anyone trying to build new tunnels would be drowned. According to the report, on the Palestinian side of the steel wall holes will be dug, into which 20 to 30 meters long pipes would be inserted vertically and at a distance of 30 to 40 meters one from another; these pipes would be connected through a 10 km-long horizontal main pipeline, from which sea water would be poured into them. The pipes, equipped with holes, would then release the sea water into the soil causing existing tunnels to collapse and preventing new ones to be dug. The comb-shaped pipe system would also destroy the soil on the Palestinian side of the steel wall, which would contemporaneously prevent the salty water from soaking Egyptian territory. In the Gaza Strip mass demonstrations were held against Egypt’s plan to build the steel wall which claimed its first victim on Friday. According to Palestinian security sources, a Palestinian man was killed after a tunnel collapsed over him due to the Egyptian excavation. During the demonstration, Hamas spokesperson Hammad Al-Ruqab urged Cairo to open the Rafah border crossing and facilitate the entry of food and construction materials needed to rebuild Gaza which is in ruins due to Israel’s war which left thousands of homes destroyed last year. “We in the Hamas movement announce our deep shock at the construction of the wall which bypasses every diplomatic rule. Egypt is building the wall between Gaza and Egypt in a sensitive period of time,” Ma’an news agency quoted Al-Ruqab as saying. Reports revealed earlier in December that Egypt was building an underground wall with a depth of 30 meters and 10 kilometers long along the Rafah border. Turkish parliamentarians and politicians raised their voices describing the Egyptian steel wall as a new instrument meant to kill Palestinians. Talking to Al-Alam TV, Muhammad Patuk, vice-chairman of Turkey’s Saadet Party said on Christmas Eve, it is difficult to look on as Palestinians face additional oppression from the Egyptian side, which is seen helping the Israeli occupation forces turning the Gaza Strip into an open-air prison.

“Israel Opening Gates of Hell” by Killing 6 Palestinians in Gaza, W.Bank

Hanan Awarekeh Readers Number : 354

26/12/2009 On the first anniversary of the Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip that killed more than 1400 Palestinians, including 420 children and injured over 5300 others, Israeli occupation army decided to commemorate its defeat by killing more Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and the Strip. Six Palestinians were martyred on Saturday when the Israeli occupation soldiers shot and killed three men belonging to the Fatah-linked Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in pre-dawn raids in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus and three other civilians in the Gaza Strip. Armed resistance groups in the West Bank and Gaza threatened swift retaliation to the killings in Nablus and to the death of three other Palestinians near Gaza. “The occupation (Israel) is opening the gates to hell,” said Abu Mahmoud, a senior al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades commander. Fatah’s armed wind vowed to respond “in the language of blood and fire.” Speaking to reporters in the West Bank, Abu Mahmoud threatened that its martyrdom bombers would “turn Israel’s night to day” and would avenge the “crime” committed by the occupation forces in Nablus. Moreover in Gaza, the Popular Resistance Committees also called on all armed resistance groups in the Hamas-ruled territory to respond to the killing of the Palestinians. The Al-Aqsa Brigades men were identified as Raghsan Abu Sharekh, Anan Subuh, 36, and Raed al-Sarkaji, 38, who was recently released from an Israeli prison after seven years. Sources said al-Sarkaji’s wife had been injured during the shootings, adding that the men were killed despite the fact that they did not resist arrest. Subuh was a member of Fatah’s armed wing, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, but had been granted amnesty by Israel. Family members said the occupation troops entered without warning and killed the men in cold blood, insisting that none had resisted arrest or fired any shots. Abu Sharekh is the brother of Nayef Abu Sharekh, one of the founders of the Al-Aqsa Brigades who was also killed by the occupation army. The incident follows the shooting death of an Israeli settler on Thursday when Palestinian gunmen opened fire on his vehicle in the occupied West Bank. In another incident early Saturday, three Palestinians were killed in an Israeli air strike near the Gaza Strip after they were scavenging for scrap metal near the security fence. Another Palestinian was injured in the incident. Palestinians reported that shortly after midnight gunfire was heard in the Beit Hanoun and Erez Crossing area and that an Israeli occupation army chopper fired continuously for about an hour near the fence between Gaza and the occupied territories. PALESTINIAN PA CALLS ISRAELI RAIDS ‘DANGEROUS ESCALATION’ Meanwhile, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad condemned the Israeli operation in the occupied West Bank, calling it a “dangerous escalation.” The Western-backed leader accused Israel of deliberately undermining gains made over the past two years by Palestinian security forces. “This operation represents a dangerous escalation, and can only be seen in the context of targeting the security and stability that the Palestinian Authority has been able to bring about,” Fayyad said. President Mahmoud Abbas’s spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina slammed both operations. “The Israeli escalation in the West Bank and Gaza and the return to the policy of assassinations and random killings under false pretences reveals that the occupation government has decided to destroy the security and stability of the Palestinian people,” he said in a statement. Israel is trying to “drag our people into a spiral of bloody violence so it can escape the increasing international pressure on it,” he added. The governor of Nablus Jibreel Al-Bakri described what happened in Nablus as a “crime in cold blood.” He accused the Israeli government of escalating the violence in Palestine in order to avoid its commitment to the peace process. A spokesperson from the office of the Palestinian president echoed the statement, saying Israel has decided to drag the Palestinian people to violence in order to avoid international pressure for peace.

More On the Explosion In Beirut

The blast came on the eve of the first anniversary of Israel’s 22-day offensive on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip during which some 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed.

Mysterious Explosion in Beirut’s Southern Suburbs Kills 3

At least three people were killed and six wounded in a mysterious overnight explosion that shook Beirut’s southern suburbs amid reports it has targeted Hamas headquarters.

An-Nahar daily on Sunday said Hizbullah members immediately cordoned off the area, preventing journalists and Lebanese security forces from approaching the scene.

It said preliminary reports indicated that the explosion occurred while Hamas members were trying to defuse an explosive device planted in a car that was parked opposite the old building that housed Hizbullah’s al-Manar TV on the main road between Haret Hreik and Bir Abed.

The newspaper quoted Hizbullah sources as saying the blast targeted Hamas headquarters and not Hizbullah.

The cause of the explosion which took place before midnight Saturday has not yet been determined. The blast came as Hizbullah was organizing a mourning ceremony to mark Ashoura.

State-run National News Agency said the blast could have been aimed at a member of the Palestinian Hamas movement in Lebanon.

The blast was “the result of three bombs placed under a car whose owner is said to be a member of Hamas,” the agency said.

But in a terse report, quoting unnamed security officials, Manar television said the “blast took place in an office of the Hamas movement causing casualties.” It did not give further details.

Hamas spokesman Raafat Murra told AFP that the Palestinian Islamic movement has an office in the area where the blast occurred but could not immediately say if there were casualties among members of the group.

Asharq radio station said the blast occurred in Haret Hreik, not far away from a community center where Hizbullah was organizing a ceremony to commemorate Ashoura.

While rumors had it that Hamas chief in Lebanon Ousama Hamdan and second-in-command Ali Barake were hurt in the explosion, Hamas sources denied the report.

An-Nahar said Barake was reportedly in southern Lebanon at the time of the blast.

The blast came on the eve of the first anniversary of Israel’s 22-day offensive on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip during which some 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed.

Shiites in Iraq, Iran and Lebanon wrap up on Sunday the annual 10-day Ashoura rituals which commemorate the killing of Imam Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Mohammed, by armies of the Sunni caliph Yazid in 680.

Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has called on Lebanon’s Shiites to take part massively in Sunday’s ceremony which will include a huge march across the southern suburbs.(Naharnet-AFP)

THE USE OF PSYCHIATRY BY THE STATE AS A TOOL FOR OPPRESSION AND FOR PUNISHING OPPONENTS

by Justice Lover

Despite the obviously dehumanising and deceptive role of modern psychiatry it has been so far very secure in its positions of power worldwide. The reasons are clear to see, because psychiatry serves not merely the drug corporations, but the entire ruling class. Therefore, the state (which is ruled by the ruling class) is very keen to protect and promote psychiatry and the psychiatrists on its payroll.

In this and in a separate blog ( http://nocrush.blogspot.com ) we shall discuss in detail one case of the most scandalous victimisation for 29 years now under compulsory psychiatric “treatment”. It is the case of Miss Rebecca Merhav of Melbourne, Australia. She has done no wrong to anyone, and she is no danger to anyone, yet the shrinks won’t let go of her, and have been insisting on torturing her with Clozapine (she is now on 400mg per day) with the pretext of “treatment of her illness” for over 18 months now, despite her and her father’s protests, and despite her unbearable sufferings, and the deadly risks and dangers associated with the consumption of this very dangerous neuroleptic.

The background to her compulsory psychiatric treatment for so long is political, certainly not medical.

Her father, Benjamin Merhav, an Israeli anti-zionist peace activist, left Israel following the June 1967 zionist aggression and invasion of Arab lands, and because of his opposition to that war.Arriving with his wife and two young children in Australia ,in early 1968, he continued his political anti-war activities both against the war in Vietnam and exposing the zionist war crimes against the Arab people of Palestine.

The zionist lobby in Australia (under the direction of the zionist Gestapo in Israel) was furious when he continued to expose zionist crimes in Palestine to a misinformed Australian public. The zionist Gestapo, determined to crush him and his family, then arranged the full blacklisting of him, and when that did not stop him they turned on his daughter. Thus, Rebecca became a hostage by the zionist Gestapo, to punish her father, and eventually to crush the entire Merhav family as zionist vengence.

Here is how Rebecca’s father describes the background to her victimisation from then on( exerpts from his autobiography onwww.geocities.com/bmerhav/ ) :

” Then the zionist Gestapo stepped into our lives again, and this time with the evil intention of completely wrecking my family. Using my stepfather’s brutal control over my mother, the zionist Gestapo made my mother go with her husband to Australia for the ostensible purpose of “visiting friends” in the Melbourne zionist ghetto.

Upon hearing the news I wrote back to my mother, asking her to come here alone, and to actually stay with us, but not with her husband, because I knew of his hostility towards me, and I knew that if he arrives with her there would be trouble for my children. Yet my mother, under the pressure of her husband, arrived with him ,and with the avowed purpose of forcing my family to toe the zionist line. My mother’s angry criticism of myself and my children for not speaking Hebrew at home and for other non zionist features of our family life had a devastating impact on my daughter, because she had been taught by me to revere and to love her grandmother…

The 1977 Xmas turned out to be the first in a row of Xmases during which my beloved daughter would be again and again locked up in a loony bin against her will, and despite her protests and mine too. The first shrink I went to see with my daughter and her mother decided – after hearing the mother’s complaints against her daughter for refusing to do the house chores – that daughter should be sent to the psychiatric ward of hospital for “observation”, namely, to see if she needs any treatment for mental illness. The shrink then asked for the parents’ consent in writing. The mother readily signed away her daughter, but I refused to sign. I knew nothing about psychiatry then, but I had enough respect for my daughter’s human rights so as to support her refusal to go to that hospital, but for the shrink the signature of the mother was sufficient to incarcerate daughter against her will.

Soon I would find out to my horror that the term “observation” the shrinks had used as a pretext to have my daughter incarcerated, was observation by name only. In reality they considered her as mentally ill from the moment of her arrival, and began to “treat” her with psychiatric drugs against her will and despite her protests. As she protested ( “why me?”she would painfully protest) the higher went the dosage of the potent drugs injected into her by force, both to crush her resistance as well as to comply with the psychiatric practice of considering the patient’s resistance in itself as a sign of illness which requires more intense drug treatment. Finally, the psychiatrist in charge (a zionist, as I would find out later) managed to turn my daughter into a living vegetable and a docile patient…”

What followed from then on was described by Rebecca’s father in the synopsis which he submitted to Dr. B. Coulson, her present treating psychiatrist. Here it is :

“1. The first wrong diagnosis and unnecessary treatment that followed

Christmas 1977 was the worst day in my daughter’s life. It was shortly after she turned 15 that she was caught up in a domestic tangle, not of her making, to be referred wrongly to a psychiatric ward for “observation”, following her mother’s complaints. Those complaints were based on Rebecca’s refusal to do the house chores as required by the mother. There was absolutely nothing wrong with Rebecca, but the mere referral by the diagnosing psychiatrist was taken,apparently, to be a positive diagnosis of mental illness.Upon her arrival she was immediately required to consume a psychiatric drug, and when she refused it was injected to her by force.

Her refusal , by itself, was considered as a “worsening of her mental illness”,therefore more injections followed with higher dosage of neuroleptics. She then absconded, but only to get herself into worse trouble, because the abrupt termination of the neuroleptics played havoc on her brain (see Dr. Breggin below who says on page 16 “All psychiatric drugs can cause problems during withdrawal” ), and when returned to the ward her treating doctor considered her crisis as a “deterioration of her psychotic illness”.An Australian government website, of the Australian Broadcasting Commission, on the 21st of April this year, published a report :

http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/health/HealthRepublish_1620772.htm

titled, Psychiatry Manual Linked to Drug Money , which proves that the diagnosis manual for psychiatrists was financed by the drug corporations. Could it be that the first wrong diagnosis of my daughter was due to the guidlines by such a manual ?

Furthermore, the financial interests of drug corporations require that compulsory drug treatment be entrenched and widespread so as to maximise their profits. It is well known that the level of drug corporations’ profits is so high at present, that it is second only to the armament industrylevel of profits !

In any case, 29 years of compulsory “treatment” have not produced any beneficial results for my daughter, and therefore proved to be completely unnecessary. Moreover, most of the neuroleptic drugs she was forced to take have since been declared harmful by the psychiatric profession itself, and are not in use any longer, leaving my daughter with the pain, the trauma, and possibly damaged vital organs (like her liver and her kidneys, but hopefully not her brain) as a result of so much intake of potent and harmful chemicals.

The experience and research done by the USA veteran psychiatrist, Dr. Peter Breggin, http://www.breggin.com/ ,proves that most neuroleptics given to psychiatric patients are harmful rather than helpful (to some people more than to others, of course). However, the drug corporations have produced misleading advertising to sell their harmful drugs. In his book, Your Drug May Be Your Problem: How and Why to Stop Taking Psychiatric Drugs, (Perseus Books- Reading, Massachusetts – 1999),Dr. Breggin says that “Precisely because there is so little scientific backing for the use of psychiatric drugs, mystification and slogans are often communicated to doctors by drug advertising, and then to patients by doctors” (p. 112-123).

On page 37 he says that “Despite a hugely successful promotional campaign by drug companies and biological psychiatry, the effectiveness of most or all psychiatric drugs remains difficult to demonstrate. The drugs often prove no more effective than sugar pills, or placebos – and to accomplish even these limited positive results, the clinical trials and data that they generate typically have to be statistically manipulated” . The question then begs itself : why forcea patient to consume a drug which does no good, when the patient is not dangerous – not to herself and not to others ! – and therefore with no public interest in the matter, even if the patient is mentally ill, let alone in a case of wrong diagnosis like the case of my daughter ?

On page 77 Dr. Breggin says that even when a patient is diagnosed as psychotic then neuroleptic drugs do not eliminate the psychotic symptoms : “Contrary to claims, neuroleptics have no specific effects on irrational ideas (delusions) or perceptions (hallucinations). Like all other psychiatric drugs, they have the same impact on healthy animals, healthy volunteers, and patients – namely, the production of apathy and indifference” . Moreover, the neuroleptics do have harmful effects. Here are some of harmful effects mentioned by Dr. Breggin in his above book :”Neuroleptic drugs cause brain damage evidenced by a movement disorder called tardive dyskinesia, but “Neuroleptics actually suppress the symptoms of tardive dyskinesia while the disease is developing. … The rates of TD [tardive dyskinesia] are extremely high. Many standard textbooks estimate a rate of 5% – 7% per year in healthy young adults [who are taking neuroleptic drugs]. The rate is cumulative so that 25% – 35% of patients [taking neuroleptics]will develop the disorder in 5 years of treatment. Among the elderly [taking neuroleptics], rates of TD reach 20% or more per year. For a variety of reasons, including the failure to include tardive akathisia in estimates, the actual rates are probably much higher for all patients” (p. 78).

On page 79 :”So-called antipsychotic or neuroleptic drugs cause a fatal disease called neuroleptic malignant syndrome in up to 2.4% of people taking them. “Using a low-end rate of 1 percent, Maxmen and Ward (1995, p. 33) estimate that 1,000 – 4,000 deaths occur in America each year as a result of neuroleptic malignant syndrome. The actual number is probably much greater” .On page 81 :”Neuroleptic, also known as antipsychotic or major tranquilizer drugs subject almost every system in the body to impairment. Research, including a recent study, indicates that these drugs are toxic to cells in general”.The most dangerous of all the neuroleptics is, of course, the Clozapine (Clozaril), the drug which Rebecca has been forced to take for more than a year now.

Here is what Dr. Breggin says at page 82 :”Clozaril … was banned in some European countries because it caused so many fatalities; but the escalating power of drug companies subsequently led to its approval by the FDA” in the United States.

There are ,of course, many more deadly risks that any consumer of Clozapine takes, such as diabetes, heart attacks, epilepsy, severe constipation etc. but in the case of Rebecca her immeidate and daily sufferings ( chronic insomnia,back pain, pain in bones and joints etc) make her daily life unbearable, and this is tantamount to torture ! It certainly cannot be considered as a medical treatment !

So this is her situation now, under the Clozapine, but she has been suffering for 29 years now ! Twenty nine years of trauma, torture, humiliation,degradation and loss of the 29 best years of her life !

Now it is already too late for her, for example, to have children and create her own family ! Under such circumstances no one can function better than a human wreck ! Why punish her for the rest of her life too ? Why force on her the risks of death ?

2. The only way to help Rebecca

Knowing my daughter I am hopeful that she is still a very capable and talented person. It is the compulsory drug treatment, the traumatic incarcerations, and her betrayal by her own mother that turned her disabled, a psychiatrically disabled person. Yet, despite her sufferings, despite the limitations imposed on her by the Clozapine, she never lost her hope and her will to return to normal life. She has been looking for a job, any work which would be available to her. She has been interested in various courses to study and improve her qualifications, and she has made many enquiries regarding her possible participation in such courses.She wants to live a normal life ! Why deny her any chance to live a normal life ? Obviously, the only way to help her – indeed the only way to save her life ! – is to gradually reduce her intake of Clozapine, revoke the CTO, and eventually allow her to take up drug-free alternative treatment ( which was offered to her in Adelaide), to detoxfy her body, to return to society as an active member, to make friends and to live a normal life, the life she wants to live ! She badly needs physical activities ( which she likes very much, like swimming, tennis, netball) ; she badly needs friends to break through her isolation, but the Clozapine makes these important needs impossible for her to achieve.

She has all the needs of any normal adult and there is no rational reason to deny fulfilment of her needs to her ! Why torture her instead for the rest of her life ? The answer to the argument that she needs drug treatment because “she is sick” – and without debating the validity of this argument ! – is that OK, having been been taken off the drugs and then – in the worst case – facing a crisis again, it would never be too late to return to the psychiatric ward anywhere, and to resume the drug treatment, if there is no realistic alternative !

To close my appeal I would add this very important piece of informatiom :

Around 1995, when Rebecca was getting treatment at Southen Clinic, in Moorabbin, her neuroleptic intake was on the minimum level. That followed her past demands, at the previous clinic at Albert Park, demands which I strongly supported, to start reducing her dose of neuroleptics intake. At first the treating doctors refused to even consider our demands, but then they decided to give it a try, and lo and behold the experiment did work ! With each reduction Rebecca felt better and her performance improved too ! So when she was moved to the Southern Clinic ( because of changing her residence) she was on the lowest level of the neuroleptic. We then asked the treating woman psychiatrist in the Southern clinic to take her off the drug altogether, and she arranged for a meeting with us so that she could consider our request. It was about an hour long meeting at the end of which the treating psychiatrist turned to me and said : “I do not see any reason why she should be on any (psychiatric) drug !”

Upon hearing the good news Rebecca became very happy, and I could hardly catch up with her, as she was dancing (rather than walking) all the way back to her home. However, her happiness did not last long, because she tried to share it with her mother. The mother, who befriended an Israeli psychiatrist in Waiora Clinic ,followed his instructions. That psychiatrist turned out to be a bad man as well as a bad doctor. He told Rebecca’s mother that Rebecca should not be allowed to stop taking psychiatric drugs, and he offered his “help” by instructing the mother to get Rebecca moved immediately to Waiora Clinic under his “care”. Rebecca, hardly a couple of weeks in Waiora Clinic, was told to take the Clozapine as the new “medication” for her, or else. She refused, of course, and that bad doctor then ordered the police to pick her up from home and drop her at the Heatherton Hospital ,where he was in charge of the involuntary unit.

To cut the story short, he failed to force the Clozapine on Rebecca, as I was strongly opposed, of course, to this new psychiatric atrocity against my daughter. However, he kept torturing her with the dangerous Risperdal, instead of Clozapine, for the first few years that Rebecca was obliged to get “treatment” at the Waiora Clinic.

I could go on to tell you how Dr. Robert Shields bungled her treatment during last two years in Waiora, but I won’t. However, it is important to let you know that after her first incarceration at the Alfred , in July 2005, he did agree to gradually lower her Clozapine dose to 100mg, and with good results ! However, he bungled the treatment by ordering her to take Effexor as well, and when he realized his mistake, he withdraw the Effexor abruptly. The inevitable result was that Rebecca was plunged into a crisis of her doctor’s making. Yet he continued his bungle by considering her crisis as a relapse, and by instantly doubling her Clozapine intake ! All of which made things worse for her, and yet Dr. Shields blamed her crisis on her “being very sick “,rather than admit that he was wrong, and try to correct his own mistakes !”

Car-Bomb Attack Upon Hamas Official In Beirut

[There is something going on in Lebanon.  Al-Manar TV is off the air, as well.]

Explosion rocks Hezbollah stronghold near Beirut

By ZEINA KARAM, Associated Press Writer – 56 mins ago

BEIRUT – Three bombs planted under a car exploded south of Beiruton Saturday, killing one person and wounding several others in an attack that apparently targeted an official from the Palestinian militant group Hamas, the state-run news agency said.

The official National News Agency said the explosion was caused by "three bombs tied to each other" that were placed under the car of an official believed to be from Hamas.

It did not identify the targeted official or the victims. One of the wounded was in serious condition, the report said.

Lebanese security officials told The Associated Press they could not independently confirm what caused the blasts or who the explosions targeted. The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, which controls the area, sealed off the streets in the southern suburb of Haret Hreik and prevented journalists from getting close to the scene.

One senior police official said the blast occurred in a neighborhood that houses an office belonging to Hamas.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Hezbollah’s Al-Manar TV only briefly mentioned the blast Saturday, quoting Lebanese security officials as saying "an explosion in Haret Hreik targeted an office belonging to Hamas, causing a number of casualties." The broadcast offered did not elaborate, and a Hezbollah official contacted by The Associated Press said he had no information.

Osama Hamdan, the Hamas representative in Lebanon, was not available for comment Saturday and had no information, according to a person who answered his mobile phone. Other Hamas officials in Beirut and neighboring Syria, which shelters the exiled leadership of Hamas, did not answer repeated calls.

The explosion comes on the even of Ashoura, Shiite Islam’s most important religious holiday.

Explosions in the area, which is almost completely controlled by the Shiite Hezbollah, are rare. Hezbollah has its own arsenal with tens of thousands of rockets and missiles, which it says it needs to fight off any threat from Israel.

The area was bombed out by Israel during the monthlong 2006 war with Hezbollah.

Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah is expected to address tens of thousands of supporters commemorating the Ashoura holiday by video link on Sunday.

The explosion Saturday night occurred about 700 meters (2,300 feet) from a complex where hundreds of Shiite Hezbollah supporters were holding a ceremony commemorating Ashoura and listening to a live televised speech by Nasrallah.

Ashoura marks the death of Imam Hussein, the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson, who died in a battle in 680 against the leader of what became the Sunni branch of Islam. The battle took place in the Iraqi city of Karbala.

 

Israel summons envoys from all over the world

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman

Israel’s ambassadors and consuls generals from all over the world have been summoned to attend a conference to be held over global challenges facing Israel.
The meeting to be attended in Jerusalem Al-Quds on December 27-31 is hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, headed by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, the ministry reported on its website.
"The idea is to facilitate direct dialogue with the country’s leaders, mutual updates on major diplomatic issues, and a discussion of action plans to deal with the challenges awaiting Israel in the international arena in the coming year, including the Iranian threat," it said.
This is while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called a report by the UN Human Rights Council’s Gaza commission a real threat to Israel.
The UN Special Rappoteur for the occupied Palestinian Territories has also urged western powers to push Israel to end its blockade of the Gaza Strip immediately. Richard Falk also called for economic sanctions against Israel.
This is the first time a conference for all of Israel’s heads of missions has been held.
Benyamin Netanyahu will also attend the conference along with Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Minister of Intelligence and Atomic Energy Dan Meridor, and other senior officials.

December 27 Rallies for Gaza–One Near You

[Rallies all over the country to commemorate the beginning of the medieval siege of Gaza and to gather support for ending the siege.  Locations for rallies follow the main article below.]

December 27, 2009, 2008 and what this little one knew in 2005 regarding Gaza

[Orlando, Florida] Ever since my first of seven trips to Israel Palestine in 2005, I have searched for a central Florida church with an open mind and heart for the poor, oppressed and occupied in Gaza Palestine.

Perseverance has finally paid off, for this Sunday, December 27, 2009 in downtown Orlando, St. George Orthodox Church has opened their sanctuary to people of all faiths-and those with none-to join their 10 AM Holy Liturgy service that will commemorate all the lives that were lost beginning December 27, 2008 and during the 23 days of war in the Gaza Strip.

A massive mobilization also begins on December 27, 2009, with candlelight vigils, concerts, marches, demonstrations, and movie screenings all over the world, because world leaders have failed to end the siege on Gaza and act humanely.

Although the Israeli tanks have left the Gaza Strip, the complete closure of land, air and sea borders has continued.

However, there are no borders on the world wide web and a global week of actions will be witnessed in America, France, United Kingdom, Turkey, Ireland, Germany, Spain, Afghanistan, Australia, Belgium, Switzerland, Sweden, Jordan, Canada, Israel/Palestine, Poland, Denmark, and Greece.

On December 31, 2009, more than 1,400 internationals will converge in Cairo to join the NONVIOLENT Gaza Freedom March, organized by The International Coalition to End the Illegal Siege of Gaza with the objective to raise international attention of the ongoing siege and blockade of Gaza-which is illegal under international law.
A year has passed since 1.5 million human beings in Gaza were terrorized, 1,400 civilians killed, thousands injured and hundreds of thousands became homeless and today, they still remain in tents or in the ruins of their homes, because Israel persists to deny the needed building materials into Gaza.

Because leaders of the world have failed to act humanely, the hospitals in Gaza are also denied the medicine and supplies to provide even routine medical care.

Israel’s blockade of Gaza is a blatant violation of international law and the American Government and Egypt are most complicit.

The Conscience of Humanity remains shocked and awed by the misery inflicted upon the 1.5 million human beings in Gaza, but even a little one, such as I could read the writing on that wall in 2005; when I wrote KEEP HOPE ALIVE, Chapter 14: 9/11/05 AND THE GULFPORT BLUES, from which I excerpt:
Back at the A-frame, Terese sipped from her steaming mug of black brew and checked her email, to find report 57 from Jerry Levin, the reporter and full-time volunteer with Christian Peacemaker Teams who had shepherded her through Hebron. She sighed repeatedly as she read about the start of a new school year in Hebron, for it wasn’t good. She had spent a few hours in Hebron in June 2005, and had not forgotten it for one day since.
“Christ, have mercy! These teachers and kids trying to get to school are threatened and hassled by these erratic and illegal settlers, and a trigger-happy IDF! What a daily life to have to contend with! I cannot imagine watching my child have to go through a checkpoint or be verbally and physically abused just to get to school! What are we teaching these kids, when they grow up looking up the barrel of an Israeli soldier’s weapon of destruction?”
Next, she opened a press conference summary from September 6, 2005, from Dr. Mustafa Bargouthi regarding the Palestinian National Initiative’s report regarding the aftermath of the “disengagement” and the bottom line was that there are more settlers, more walls, and more corruption in the PA.

Dr. Mustafa Bargouthi, stated that ‘Ninety percent of security violations in Palestine are committed by security forces and intelligence. These forces must be disciplined; the rule of law and an independent judiciary must be installed. [And] it is estimated that 30 percent of the 160,000 salaried government employees do not attend work of any kind. This kind of corruption and nepotism must be ended.’
Terese moaned when she read about the violations since the cease-fire agreement of February 8, 2005:

“Christ, have mercy! Seventy-five Palestinians, including seventeen innocent children, and fourteen Israelis, including two innocent children, have been murdered. Two thousand Palestinians have been arrested; there have been 2,306 checkpoints imposed, and 8,700 acres of Palestinian land has been confiscated by the Israeli government! And how can these settlers sleep at night, after attacking Palestinians 394 times since the cease-fire agreement? I feel bad about these screwed-up settlers, but they are a cult that has been allowed to get out of control. The Israeli government enticed and encouraged them to settle in illegal land, and this is what it has come to! And yet, the illegal settlements continue!
“And, what a farce the so-called disengagement in Gaza was.

“The Israeli government still controls all access to Gaza by land, sea, and air. Bargouthi documented that only 25 of over 150 settlements will be dismantled, and only 8,475 of over 436,000 settlers [less than 2 percent of settlers] have been evacuated. Meanwhile, in the past year, 12,800 new settlers have moved into the West Bank — 50 percent more settlers than were evacuated.”
“This is no withdrawal, this is BS!

“Until Palestinians have control of Gaza’s borders and a guaranteed passage between Gaza and the West Bank, it is not a withdrawal; it’s just BS propaganda! And Gaza is less than 6 percent of the occupied territories, and that leaves 94 percent of Palestinian territories under the boot of the IDF. The corruption in the PA government and hot tempers from those under occupation are a powder keg that’s getting ready to blow!

“What’s it going to take to wake the world up to the fact that most of our problems with radical Islamist fundamentalist militants leads us back to the conflict in Israel and Palestine?

“All roads do indeed lead to Jerusalem.

“What’s it going to take before the International community gets it together and insists, in unity, upon the upholding of international law as the rule we all live by? And that includes Israel and America, too, for both ratified the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. I wonder, what’s the point of signing on, but then not doing it?
“What’s it going to take to wake up the legions of blind U.S. Christian Zionists to their indifference to the misery of their sisters and brothers in Israel and Palestine? Their blind allegiance to the Israeli government has allowed our best friend in the world to become a big bully. What’s it going to take to break through the ignorance that hard-earned U.S. tax dollars are being used to continue the occupation and apartheid wall?”

On December 28, 2008, Haaretz reported:

“Disinformation, secrecy and lies: How the Gaza offensive came about. Long-term preparation, careful gathering of information, secret discussions, operational deception and the misleading of the public – all these stood behind the Israel Defense Forces “Cast Lead”.

“Sources in the defense establishment said Defense Minister Ehud Barak instructed the Israel Defense Forces to prepare for the operation over six months ago, even as Israel was beginning to negotiate a ceasefire agreement with Hamas…

“The Prime Minister’s Bureau misinformed the media in stating the discussion would revolve around global jihad…In its summary announcement…the Prime Minister’s Bureau devoted one line to the situation in Gaza, compared to one whole page that concerned the outlawing of 35 Islamic organizations…
“While Barak was working out the final details with the officers responsible for the operation, Livni went to Cairo to inform Egypt’s president, Hosni Mubarak, that Israel had decided to strike at Hamas.
“In parallel, Israel continued to send out disinformation in announcing it would open the crossings to the Gaza Strip and that Olmert would decide whether to launch the strike following three more deliberations on Sunday – one day after the actual order to launch the operation was issued.
“The final decision was made…when Barak met with Chief of Staff General Gabi Ashkenazi, the head of the Shin Bet Security Service Yuval Diskin and the head of the Military Intelligence Directorate, Amos Yadlin. Barak sat down with Olmert and Livni several hours later for a final meeting, in which the trio gave the air force its orders.”http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1050426.html

On December 27, 2008, I received this plea written by Nahida, a child of Gaza:

Look at me
I would love to write poetry about love,
Paint rainbows and butterflies,
Smell the scent of rose buds,
And dance;
Dance with the melody of birds singing
I would love to close my eyes and see children smiling
No guns pointing at their heads
Tell them stories of little fairies in far away lands
Not bullets shooting… missile exploding
But How can I?
There is a knife in my heart
I am hurting
Hurting
I bleed,
I cringe
I cry
HUMANITY, WHERE ARE YOU?
I am being slaughtered
Under your watchful eyes
I am cold… cold…. cold
I cringe
I cry
Humanity, where are you?
Why do you turn your face away?
Why do you keep looking the other way?
I am here
Languishing
In Gaza alleyways
Humanity, where are you?
Look at me
Look at me
I am here
In Gaza alleyways
I cringe
I cry
Humanity,
Enough turning the other way. – By nahida

On December 21, 2009, I emailed the following:

Dear Mr. Omar Youssef,
omaryoussef@hotmail.com

As you are the US Egyptian Embassy contact person and I am an American member of the New Fourth Estate- an activist journalist- I am writing you to express my full support for the December 31, 2009 Gaza Freedom March.

I am beseeching you to urge the Egyptian government to realize that civil society has risen up because governments have failed and on the way to Egypt are over 1,300 committed international Internet connected delegates who are seeking to NONVIOLENTLY raise awareness regarding the misery of the 1.5 million human open air prisoners in Gaza who have been denied their human rights.
The 1,300 internationals represent millions around the world who are sending desperately needed medical aid, school supplies, winter jackets for the children and most of all; LOVE, HOPE and the message that the world will NOT give up until the siege is lifted and the occupation ends.
Please, let the people in.

And out.

Most Sincerely,

Eileen Fleming,
Founder of WeAreWideAwake.org
A Feature Correspondent for Arabisto.com
Author of “Keep Hope Alive” and “Memoirs of a Nice Irish American ‘Girl’s’ Life in Occupied Territory”
Producer “30 Minutes with Vanunu” and “13 Minutes with Vanunu”

Gaza Freedom March Worldwide Solidarity Actions: December 27th and 31st, 2009

Afghanistan

Kite Flying

10:30am

Bamiyan Peace Park

Bamiyan, Afghanistan

Australia

Sydney

Gaza Freedom Vigil Sydney

December 27, 2009

5:00pm

Town Hall Square

Sydney, Australia

Belgium

Brussels

December 27, 2009

2:00pm, march through the main streets of Brussels

4:00pm, vigil with candles

Brussels, Belgium

Canada

Halifax

Solidarity March

January 16th 3p

St. Andrews United Church

Halifax, NS, Canada

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Gaza Freedom March 2010

January 01, 2010

3:00 PM – 5:00 PM

Art Gallery, Vancouver, BC

Vancouver, BC

London, Ontario

Gaza Freedom March – London, Ontario

January 01, 2010

3:00 PM – 7:00 PM

Victoria Park, London, Ontario, Canada

London, ON

Toronto, Ontario

Gaza Freedom March

A march and rally in solidarity with those marching in Gaza!

March on Gaza – Dec. 31st, 2009 – Ontario Supporters

Sunday, December 27, 2009

1:00pm – 4:00pm

Israeli Consulate

180 Bloor Street West

Toronto, ON

Calgary, Alberta

Gaza Freedom March

January 01, 2010

3:00 PM

Address

TBA

Calgary, AB

Winniepeg, MB

Vigil

December 27, 2009

3:30am

Manitoba Legislature

450 Broadway

Winnipeg, MB

France

Marseilles

Gaza, 1 year after…gathering

December 27, 2009

4:00pm

Angle Belsunce/Canebiere

Marseilles, France

Reims

Candlight vigil

December 29, 2009

5:30pm

Place d’Erlon (la Fontaine de la Solidarite)

Reims, France

Germany

Possneck

Vigil

December 27, 2009

5:00pm

Gerberstrasse 45 / Stadtzentrum

Possneck, Germany

Reutlingen

Vigil

Marktplatz

December 27 3pm

Reutlingen, Germany

Dusseldorf

Vigil

December 29, 2009

5:00pm

Schadowplatz Dusseldorf Inennenstadt

Dusseldorf, Germany

Freiberg

Vigil

December 28, 2009

3-6pm

Southern Bertholdstrasse

Freiberg, Germany

Tubingen

Vigil

December 27, 2009

3pm

Holzmarkt, 27070

Tubingen, Germany

Hamburg

Rally

December 29th 3pm

Reesendammbrücke / Jungfernstieg /Alsterarkaden

Center

in the near of the Town Hall

Hamburg, Germany

Munich

Installation of items forbidden in Gaza

December 29, 2009

11:30am

Richard-Strauss Foundation

Kaufingerstr

Munich, Germany

Ireland

Dublin

Embassy of Israel

January 6th

2:30pm

Dublin, Ireland

Israel/Palestine

Tel-Aviv-Jaffa

Mass Free Gaza march and rally

December 26th, 2009

18:30

Tel Aviv-Jaffa

Israel

Gaza Freedom March on the Israeli side of the Erez Crossing

December 31st, 2009

10:30 AM

Israel

Erez Crossing

Bethlehem

December 31st

4-6pm

Nativity Square

Bethlehem

Poland

Poznan

Prayer gathering

ul. Plonowa 6a, 61-312

Poznan, Poland

Spain

MadridMarathon: “I San Silvestre Leganense. Refugiados palestinos, corre por ellos”

December 27, 2009

10:30 AM – 1:00 PM

Calles de Leganés

Madrid, Spain

Valladolid

Solidarity action

December 26, 2009

7pm

Plaza Mayor

Valladolid, Spain

San Sebastian-Donostia

Solidarity action

December 27, 2009

12pm

San Sebastian-Donostia, Spain

Sweden

Stockholm

Memorial Concert

December 27, 2009

7pm

Stockholm, Sweden

Switzerland

Basle

Livestream viewing

Connect Cafe

Unternehmen MITTE

Gerbergasse 30

Basle, Switzerland

Bern

National start of Swiss solidarity actions

Candlelight vigil with 1400 candles on Bundesplatz (or Münsterplatz) info@gazafreedommarch.ch

Bern, Switzerland CH-3000

Zurich

Limmatquair

Vigil 4pm-9pm

Zurich

Turkey

Istanbul

BDS Walk

December 27, 2009

2pm

Istanbul, Turkey

United Kingdom

London

One year since the Beginning of the Attacks on Gaza

December 27, 2009

3:00 PM

High Street Kensington, W8, London, United Kingdom

Edinburgh, Scotland

Gaza Freedom March & public commemoration in Scotland

December 27, 2009

2:00 PM

Edinburgh: Foot of the Mound

Elsewhere: to be announced

United States

Alabama-

January 20^th 6pm

Huntsville Madison County Library

900 Monroe St.

Huntsville, AL

Alaska -

Juneau, Alaska

Film Screening – Occupation 101 and Life in Occupied Palestine

December 29, 2009

7:00pm

Goldtown Nickelodeon Theater

Juneau, Alaska

Rally

December 20, 2009

12:00pm

Dimond Court Plaza

Juneau, Alaska

Arizona-

Phoenix, AZ

Movie Viewing Occupation 101

December 29, 2009

7:30pm

Grace Lutheran Church

1126 North 3rd Street

Phoenix, AZ

Arkansas-

Little Rock

Vigil

December 27th 5pm

State Capitol

Little Rock, AR

California-

Anaheim

Gaza Freedom March – Los Angeles / Orange County Solidarity Action at Disneyland:

December 30th 6:30 – 8:30 PM

Disneyland Entrance near Downtown Disney Store

Anaheim , CA 92802

Concord

Gaza Solidarity – House Party

December 27, 2009

1:00 PM

Please email Janet at codepinkjanet@gmail.com This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

for address and directions

Concord

La Jolla

Candle light vigil

January 6, 2009

5:30pm

UC San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive

La Jolla

Los Angeles

Vigil for Gaza – Los Angeles

December 28, 2009

5:00 PM

Israeli Consulate

6380 Wilshire Boulevard

Los Angeles, CA 90048-5071

Monterey

Action

December 27, 2009 2pm

Window on the Bay Park

700 Del Monte Ave

Monterey, CA

San Francisco

Candlelight Memorial at Union Square, San Francisco

December 27, 2009

4:00 PM – 6:00 PM

Powell Street & Geary St.

San Francisco, CA 94108

San Francisco

Benefit for the children of Gaza

December 27th 7p

Brainwash Cafe

1122 Folsom Street

San Francisco, CA

San Francisco

March across the Golden Gate Bridge

December 31, 2009

12:00 PM – 2:00 PM

Golden Gate Bridge

San Francisco, CA 94956

Sacramento

Protest

December 27th, 1pm

Arden and Hertiage

Sacramento, CA

Santa Cruz

Parade

December 31, 2009

5pm

Pacific and Laurel Sts.

Santa Cruz, CA

Redwood City

Discussion

December 27, 2009

12pm

2124 Brewster Avenue

Redwood City, CA

Colorado-

Colorado Springs

Gaza Solidarity Action

December 28, 2009

11:00 AM – 1:00 PM

Chapel Hills Mall 1710 Briargate Boulevard

Colorado Springs, CO 80920

Colorado Springs

Vigil

December 29, 2009 5:15p

Bijou and Nevada in Acacia Park

Colorado Springs. CO

Denver

Rally Downtown Denver

December 21, 2009 3pm

16th Street Mall

Denver, CO

Denver

In Door solidarity vigil

December 31, 2009

6:00 PM – 6:12 PM

Short service in chapel At 6pm New Years Eve

First Unitarian Church 1400 Lafayette Street

Denver, CO 80218

Connecticut-

Hartford

Sunday, Dec. 27

CT in Solidarity with Gaza

Charter Oak Cultural Center

21 Charter Oak Ave., Hartford

1-3:30 p.m.

Meeting *** Solidarity March

Hartford, Connecticut

DC

Washington, District of Columbia

DC Vigil for Gaza

December 30, 2009

5pm-7pm

Gallery Place Metro, 7th & H St. NW

Washington, DC

Screening of Occupation 101

Grace Episcopal Church

1041 Wisconsin Ave NW

Washington, DC

Florida-

St. Petersburg

Slingshot Hip Hop screening

December 30, 2009

7:30 PM – 9:30 PM

937 Central Avenue

St. Petersburg, FL 33705

Idaho-

Moscow

Vigil

December 31st 5:30p

Main St. Friendship Square

Moscow, ID

Illinois-

Chicago

Vigil

December 27th 12pm

Water Town Park

180 East Pearson St

Chicago, IL

Chicago

Gathering

December 30th 5:30p

637 S. Dearborn, 2nd Fl

Chicago, IL

Iowa-

Dubuque, IA

December 28, 2009

4:00pm – gathering

601 Locust St. (the southeast corner of Washington Park)

Dubuque, Iowa

Kentucky-

Louisville, KY

Friday Vigil for Gaza

January 01, 2010

12:00 PM – 1:00 PM

6th and Broadway

Louisville, KY 40202

Maine-

Blue Hill

Gaza Freedom March

December 30, 2009

12:00 PM – 2:00 PM

High Street, near elementary school

Blue Hill, Maine

Waterville

Gaza Freedom March Solidarity Rally

December 31, 2009

1:00 PM

Castonguay Square (downtown, adjacent to City Hall and across the street from Rep. Mike Michaud’s office).

Waterville, ME 04901

Maryland-

Baltimore

Vigil

January 1st 12pm

Baltimore’s Inner Harbor

Baltimore, MD

Massachusetts-

Boston

First Night Against the Wars

December 31, 2009

1:00pm

Copley Square

Boston, MA

Northhampton, MA

In Solidarity with the People of Gaza,

December 28, 2009

5:00 PM – 6:30 PM

In front of Northampton, Massachusetts City Hall, 5-6:30 p.m.

Northampton, MA 01060

Michigan-

Dearborn

Vigil and Solidarity March

December 29th 5:30p

Dearborn City Hall

Dearborn, MI

Hartland, MI

Open house

December 31st 2pm

2641 Sun Terrace Drive

Hartland, MI

Kalamazoo

Gathering

December 27th, 12p-1pm

Federal Building

Kalamazoo, MI

Minnesota-

Minneapolis, MN

March

December 20, 2009

11:30am

Hennepin County Government Plaza

Minneapolis, MN 55487

Missouri-

St. Louis, MO

Vigil

December 27, 2009

7pm

St. Louis, MO

New Mexico-

Albuquerque

Vigil December 29th 4p

Federal Court House

Lomas and 5th St.

Albuquerque, NM

New York-

New York, New York

March

December 27th 11am

50th and Park Avenue

NYC

NYC

Gaza Solidarity March

December 27, 2009

1:00 PM

March marking the first anniversary of the Israeli invasion of Gaza

Assemble at 42nd St. and 7th Avenue

March to the Israeli Mission and the United Nations

NYC

Syracuse, NY

Free Gaza March

December 28, 2009

4:00pm

Federal Building

100 S. Clinton Street

Syracuse, NY 13205

White Plains, NY

Vigil

December 30th 4pm

Metro North Station

White Plains

Woodstock, NY

Vigil

December 31^st 2am

Village Green 6 Tinker Street
Woodstock, NY

Oregon-

Corvallis

Potluck dinner and Skype discussion

December 30, 2009

6:30pm

Corvallis Multicultural Literacy Center

128 SW 9th Street

Corvallis, Oregon

Eugene, OR

March/Demonstration

December 31, 2009 1pm

500 E. 4^th Ave

Eugene, OR

Pennsylvania-

Doylestown

December 27, 2009

3:00pm

Vigil

Intersection of North Main St and East Court St

Doylestown, PA 18901

Philadelphia

Gaza Solidarity Event: Movie & Snacks

December 27, 2009

6:00 PM – 8:30 PM

101 Alter St. Philadelphia, PA 19147 IMPORTANT YOU MUST RSVP, THIS IS A PRIVATE RESIDENCE

Philadelphia, PA 19147

Texas-

Demonstration

December 27, 2009

1pm

Westheimer and Post Oak

Houston, TX

Washington-

Bellingham, Washington

Film Screening

December 29, 2009

6:30 PM

511 East Holly Street, Bellingham, WA 98225

Bellingham, WA 98225

Olympia, WA

Rachel Corrie Foundation presentation

December 30th 7p

Traditions Cafe

300 5th Avenue SW

Olympia, WA

Spokane

Rally

December 30th 5p

Corner of Division and Main

Spokane, WA

Wisconsin-

Racine

Vigil

December 31, 2009

4pm

Cup of Hopes Coffee Shop

517 6^th Street

Racine, WI

For more information about the Gaza Freedom March global actions visit:

http://www.gazafreedommarch.org/solidarity

–
Only in Solidarity do “we have it in our power to begin the world again.”-Tom Paine
Eileen Fleming,
Founder of WeAreWideAwake.org
A Feature Correspondent for Arabisto.com
Author of “Keep Hope Alive” and “Memoirs of a Nice Irish American ‘Girl’s’ Life in Occupied Territory”
Producer “30 Minutes with Vanunu” and “13 Minutes with Vanunu”

Now Gordon Brown wants to police the entire world – how controlling can a freak get?

[When are the people of Britain and the US, the entire world, for that matter, going to rise-up and say "ENOUGH"?  I am certain that the advocates of unrestrained human freedom outnumber the freaks who want to control the world by about 6 billion or more; when are we going to control them?]

By Gerald Warner Politics

163 Comments Comment on this article

Quasimodo in Number 10, hunched, scowling over his desk, has devised yet another plan to police, to increase surveillance, to indulge his obsession with extending his short-lived control over as many people as possible. Gordon Brown, who now seems to have lost his last tenuous grip on reality, wants the European Union to police the carbon emissions of the whole world. That is the leitmotif of New Labour – and, by extension, all Westminster – government: control, bans, observation, intrusion, diktat.

Balked of a legal agreement on imaginary manmade global warming at Copenhagen, Quasimodo and Nicolas Sarkozy are working on plans to create a “European monitoring organisation” to oversee different countries’ actions on carbon emissions. Barack Obama – the leading control freak in the liberal pantheon – has suggested spy satellites could be used.

Quasimodo told reporters: “We’re in favour of transparency; we’re in favour of looking at what’s happening not just in our country and our own continent, but around the world.” That isn’t transparency: that is snooping. “We’re in favour of transparency” – from a New Labour Prime Minister! Goebbels, who always favoured the Big Lie, would have loved it.

Were Quasimodo and his colleagues in favour of transparency about weapons of mass destruction? Even now, are they in favour of transparency at the Iraq inquiry, where Tony Blair will give evidence in secret? Were they in favour of transparency when they voted to keep MPs’ expenses under wraps, until the courts overruled them?

The one fear the enforcers entertain is that their spy-in-the-sky snooping on carbon emissions might antagonise China, which resists surveillance (all those covert coal mines and other eco-naughties). When Red China begins to seem like an apostle of laissez-faire, relaxed freedom, we know that the lunatics have taken over the asylum.

Meanwhile, unheeding of the coming tsunami of electoral extinction, Quasimodo lopes around his bell-tower (courtesy of Quentin Davies) and plans ever tighter restrictions on everybody else’s liberties. What a filthy regime this has been. Even now the Harridan is planning legislation effectively to outlaw Christianity. Who do they think they are?

When they crawled out from under that stone in 1997 they had just one ambition: to impose their will, their prejudices, their squalid vision of the world on the entire nation. That is always the badge of the inadequate, the owners of inferiority complexes, epitomised by the nail-biting, grimacing weirdo in Number 10. It is a pity that Scottish kirks do not go in for much in the way of ornamentation; otherwise, Gordon/Quasimodo could have built a secure career for himself as a gargoyle on a church tower, scowlingly overlooking the rest of humanity.

No Chance President Obama’s War In Afghanistan Will Succeed

Sherwood Ross

December 25, 2009 “There isn’t the slightest possibility that the course laid out by Barack Obama in his Dec. 1 speech (at West Point) will halt or even slow the downward spiral toward defeat in Afghanistan,” writes Thomas Johnson in the current “Foreign Policy” magazine. And for emphasis, he adds the word “None.” “The U.S. president and his advisors labored for three months and brought forth old wine in bigger bottles,” Johnson goes on to write, noting, “The speech contained not one single new idea or approach, nor offered any hint of new thinking about a conflict that everyone now agrees the United States is losing.” Author Johnson is no armchair admiral. He is a professor of national security affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif., a man who has conducted his own on-site investigation in Afghanistan. Also referring to the President’s West Point address, The Nation magazine editorialized that Obama failed to explain why his goal to “disrupt, dismantle and defeat” Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan “requires 100,000 troops at a cost of nearly $100 billion. By the military’s own calculation, there are at most 100 Al Qaeda operatives, mostly low-level, in Afghanistan, the leadership having fled to Pakistan years ago.” Even as the Afghan war bids to become the longest in U.S. history, “The Nation” adds: “The undeniable fact is that eight years of US occupation and war have led to a growing insurgency, fueled by anger at one of the world’s most corrupt governments, run mostly by former and not-so-former warlords who were installed by the United States after 9/11. Many of these warlords are deeply involved in the opium trade, among them the brother of Hamid Karzai, the president, who was re-elected only through massive fraud.” Writing in the Miami Herald of Dec. 20th, Carl Hiaasen says that Johnson believes “Obama knows this war is unwinnable, and that the surge is meant to provide political cover in advance of a full U.S. withdrawal before the 2012 election.” Hiaasen adds, “Obama wouldn’t be the first U.S. president to let domestic political concerns affect his military moves abroad, but he certainly campaigned as a different kind of leader.” Does this mean Obama is escalating an unwinnable war for political considerations? Hendrik Hertzberg, writing in the December 14th New Yorker,thinks politics has a lot to do with it. An immediate withdrawal, he writes, would inflict “severe” political and diplomatic damage to Obama and trigger, among other things, “a probable Pentagon revolt.” And the Pentagon has left no doubt about the right course. As General David Petraeus, who commands U.S. Iraq and Afghanistan forces, told The New York Times, “a sustained, substantial commitment” is required. As the war drags on, the death toll mounts. Writing in the Dec. 21st issue ofForeign Policy, Stephen Walt, professor of international relations at Harvard, says by his conservative count, the war has claimed 30,000 lives. And the CIA’s drone warplane sorties authorized by Obama are boosting that toll. Obama’s strategy is also spreading the war ever deeper into Pakistan. As Dan Pearson and Kathy Kelly report in the December “Catholic Worker,” 3,000,000 people were uprooted by violence in the Swat Valley and neighboring districts and those who returned found “that their homes, crops and other means of survival had been damaged or destroyed.” They quote Dr. Aasim Saijad of Lahore University of Management Sciences as saying the attacks in Pakistan are only swelling the Taliban’s ranks. “The hundreds of thousands languishing in refugee camps talk of the mortar shells that have destroyed their homes and killed their relatives,” Saijad said. “They seethe with anger and warn the government that most Taliban fighters hail from the local population. The longer the war continues—and it has only just begun in this region—the better the chances that the Taliban will be able to recruit from the refugees,” he said. If Afghans are dying by the thousands and Pakistanis have become refugees by the millions to ensure Obama’s political survival, the U.S. has lost any vestige of moral authority. Is it thinkable to ask what if the purpose of the war is not “victory” but to keep the engines of the military-industrial complex humming? If so, it is not only primitive peoples’ who sacrificed the flower of their youth to ensure a good harvest. # (Sherwood Ross, who formerly reported for major dailies and wire services, is a Miami, Fla., public relations consultant. Reach him atsherwoodross10@gmail.com)

‘The US military is exhausted’

By Sarah Lazare The US army is overstretched and exhausted, says peace campaigner Sarah Lazare [AFP] December 26, 2009 The call for over 30,000 more troops to be sent to Afghanistan is a travesty for the people of that country who have already suffered eight brutal years of occupation. It is also a harsh blow to the US soldiers facing imminent deployment. As Barack Obama, the US president, gears up for a further escalation that will bring the total number of troops in Afghanistan to over 100,000, he faces a military force that has been exhausted and overextended by fighting two wars. Many from within the ranks are openly declaring that they have had enough, allying with anti-war veterans and activists in calling for an end to the US-led wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, with some active duty soldiers publicly refusing to deploy. This growing movement of military refusers is a voice of sanity in a country slipping deeper into unending war. “They shifted me from one war to the next” Eddie Falcon, Iraq and Afghanistan veteran The architects of this war would be well-advised to listen to the concerns of the soldiers and veterans tasked with carrying out their war policies on the ground.Many of those being deployed have already faced multiple deployments to combat zones: the 101st Airborne Division, which will be deployed to Afghanistan in early 2010, faces its fifth combat tour since 2002. “They are just going to start moving the soldiers who already served in Iraq to Afghanistan, just like they shifted me from one war to the next,” said Eddie Falcon, a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW), who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. “Soldiers are going to start coming back with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), missing limbs, problems with alcohol, and depression.” Many of these troops are still suffering the mental and physical fallout from previous deployments. Rates of PTSD and traumatic brain injury among troops deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan have been disproportionately high, with a third of returning troops reporting mental problems and 18.5 per cent of all returning service members battling either PTSD or depression, according to a study by the Rand Corporation. Marine suicides doubled between 2006 and 2007, and army suicides are at the highest rate since records were kept in 1980. Resistance in the ranks US army soldiers are refusing to serve at the highest rate since 1980, with an 80 per cent increase in desertions since the invasion of Iraq in 2003, according to the Associated Press. These troops refuse deployment for a variety of reasons: some because they ethically oppose the wars, some because they have had a negative experience with the military, and some because they cannot psychologically survive another deployment, having fallen victim to what has been termed “Broken Joe” syndrome. Over 150 GIs have publicly refused service and spoken out against the wars, all risking prison and some serving long sentences, and an estimated 250 US war resisters are currently taking refuge in Canada. This resistance includes two Fort Hood, Texas, soldiers, Victor Agosto and Travis Bishop, who publicly resisted deployment to Afghanistan this year, facing prison sentences as a result, with Bishop still currently detained. The war in Afghanistan is losing support in the US [AFP] “There is no way I will deploy to Afghanistan,” wrote Agosto, upon refusing his service last May. “The occupation is immoral and unjust.”Within the US military, GI resisters and anti-war veterans have organised through broad networks of veteran and civilian alliances, as well as through IVAW, comprised of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. This organisation, which is over 1,700 strong, with members across the world, including active-duty members on military bases, is opposed to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and openly supports GI resistance. “Iraq Veterans Against the War calls on Obama to end the war in Afghanistan (and Iraq) by withdrawing troops immediately and unconditionally,” wrote Jose Vasquez, the executive director of IVAW, in a December 2 open letter. “It’s not time for our brothers and sisters in arms to go to Afghanistan. It’s time for them to come home.” No clear progress GI coffee houses have sprung up at several military bases around the country. In the tradition of the GI coffee houses of the Vietnam war era, these cafes provide a space where active duty troops can speak freely and access resources about military refusal, PTSD, and veteran and GI movements against the war. “Here at Fort Lewis, we’ve lost 20 soldiers from the most recent round of deployments,” said Seth Menzel, an Iraq combat veteran and founding organiser of Coffee Strong, a GI coffee house at the sprawling Washington army base. “We’ve seen resistance to deployment, mainly based on the fact that soldiers have been deployed so many times they don’t have the patience to do it again.” As the occupation of Afghanistan passes its eighth year, with no clear progress, goals that remain elusive, and a high civilian death count, this war is coming to resemble the Iraq war that has been roundly condemned by world and US public opinion. The never-ending nature of this conflict belies the real project of establishing US dominance in the Middle East and control of the region’s resources, at the expense of the Afghan civilians and US soldiers being placed in harm’s way. The voices of refusal coming from within the US military send a powerful message that soldiers will not be fodder for an unjust and unnecessary war. By withdrawing their labour from a war that depends on their consent, these soldiers have the power to help bring this war to an end, as did their predecessors in the GI resistance movement against the Vietnam war. And the longer the war in Afghanistan drags on – the more lives that are lost and destroyed – the more resistance we will see coming from within the ranks. Sarah Lazare is an anti-militarist and GI resistance organiser with Dialogues Against Militarism and Courage to Resist. She is interested in connecting struggles for justice at home with global movements against war and empire. The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial policy.

:: Article nr. 61467 sent on 26-dec-2009 16:15 ECT
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Link: english.aljazeera.net/focus/2009/12/200912883024475217.html

Karkare’s Wife Alleges Coverup – Slams Govt

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Times of India

MUMBAI: Kavita Karkare, the wife of former Maharashtra Anti Terror Squad (ATS) chief Hemant Karkare on Wednesday questioned the state government on why her husband and two other senior officials who were killed on 26/11, did not get reinforcements on time.

This is for the first time that the slain officer’s family has confirmed that he did not get the back up when it was required.

Karkare, along with Additional Commissioner of Police (ACP) Ashok Kamte and Inspector Vijay Salaskar were killed by terrorists near Cama Hospital in Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus during the Mumbai siege.

Speaking to the media, Kavita said: “I just didn’t know anything in the initial six months, politicians, media people and other people were coming to my place, but I was not aware what exactly was going around. Nobody has ever told me that what exactly happened that day. No senior officers have told me till date what had happened with my husband. I have just gathered information from media people, or read in magazines and newspapers, till date I don’t know the exact facts of that day.”

“But when politicians started raising questions saying that he acted in very hasty manner and went for the operation blindly then we started gathering facts about the incident. Then, we came to know that Kamte, Karkare, Salaskar were planning strategy in Cama hospital for 40 minutes. They had asked for help, but they couldn’t get help in those 40 minutes. Why they could not get help in 40 minutes, nobody is giving me that answer,” she added.

Kavita revealed that she was told by some police officials that it would not be possible for her to get to know what exactly happened with her husband during the terror attacks.

She also alleged that Hemant Karkare was left injured and unattended for over 40 minutes and not taken to the hospital on time.

“My question is that when these people were there in Cama Lane for 40 minutes, why were they not given any help? And, when there bodies were lying, why the bodies of those people were not picked for about 40 minutes,” Kavita questioned.

“Today, they are spending millions of rupees to preserve the bodies of the nine militants who launched the attack, just because at international level we have to show that we are showing humanity. But the bodies of martyrs were lying there as it is. What is happening in our country? And when will there be a change,” she added.

Earlier last week, Kavita also alleged that her husband’s bulletproof jacket has gone missing.

She said when his body was found, the bulletproof jacket was missing and the Right to Information (RTI) application had not yielded any information on its whereabouts.

“And, after six months it struck me that his jacket is missing. But I was not in my senses to file RTI application. Now two months back when I filed RTI, I came to know that the jacket is actually missing,” Kavita said.

KARKARE KILLED BY FASCISTS AND GANGSTERS?

Karkare, who was assassinated by forces linked to Hindu fascists and the CIA?

Rajiv Gandhi, Prime Minister of India, was assassinated in 1991.

The Justice Jain commission came across evidence that one suspect known as Chandraswami had links with the CIA and Mossad. (Jaipur; Dawood Ibrahim; the CIA)

There appears to be evidence that elements of the Indian police and security services helped carry out the 2008 Mumbai attacks and the murder of Maharashtra Anti Terror Squad chief Hemant Karkare.

Reportedly, Karkare had found out too much about who was really behind the terrorism in India.

According to “Who Killed Karkare? The Real Face Of Terrorism In India” by M Zeyaul Haque, former Maharashtra Inspector General of Police , the terrorists are Hindus with links to the government of India.

“Serving and retired army officers, academics, serving and retired officials of India’s premier intelligence service were ensnared in Karkare’s fishing net.” (Who Killed Karkare? The Real Face Of Terrorism In India By SM Mushrif)

The Hindu terrorists are alleged to be working with the CIA and Mossad. (HEADLEY, LIKE DAWOOD IBRAHIM, LINKED TO 1993 BOMBI…)

Karkare is reported to have been shot near Cama hospital.

According to Amaresh Misra, on 3 December 2008, at Countercurrents.org, (Mumbai Terror Attack: Further Evidence Of The Anglo-American-Mossad-RSS Nexus.):

“The lane next to the Cama Hospital is a deserted one – it goes straight to the backyard of the Mumbai CID Headquarters.

“Anonymous sources in the Police have revealed that Karkare was taken there, by a joint team of anti-Karkare, pro-Hindutva (Hindu Nationalists) Mumbai Police officers, and Chota Rajan men (Gangsters).” Chotta Rajan – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Chotta Rajan, who is the boss of a major crime syndicate based in India. He is a former key aide and lieutenant of Dawood Ibrahim, who reportedly has links to the CIA.

Hemant Karkare’s wife, Kavita, has pointed out that her husband was confronting the attackers at Cama Hospital for 40 minutes and was waiting for extra police to arrive.

No extra help arrived.

Kavita alleges that after Hemant Karkare was shot, he was left injured and unattended for over 40 minutes and not taken to the hospital on time.

Kavita also alleges that her husband’s bulletproof jacket has gone missing. (Karkare’s Wife Alleges Coverup – Slams Govt.)

A hospital cleaner (sweeper) claims that he found Karkare’s bulletproof jacket. (Sweeper says he didn’t dispose of Karkare’s jacket …)

A news channel on 25 December 2009 presented video footage of Dinesh Lalji Gataar, the sweeper from JJ Hospital, saying he was allegedly offered Rs50,000 by police officers to give a statement that he had disposed of the jacket in the garbage bags.

Gataar said “I told them that I had not disposed of the jacket. I had kept it in a plastic bag in ward no 4.”

According to the Gataar, he found the blood-stained jacket in a pile of medical waste in ward number 4.

He put the jacket in a black bag and put it in a corner of the ward. “I don’t know what happened to it after that”, he said.

A hate-filled environment

By Nasser Yousaf

Soldiers stand guard at a suicide blast site in Peshawar on December 24, 2009. — AFP

Peshawar is passing through hell. The worst of the infernal fires in this city of nearly two million was ignited on Oct 28 when a car bomb claimed more than 120 lives, with several unaccounted for.

A day later, with rescuers still rummaging through the debris of fallen houses, shops and a mosque, the labyrinthine alleys leading to the site of the tragedy presented a copybook spectre from the Bible, telling of the plagues that had hit the Egyptians in the times of the pharaohs.

People had locked themselves in their houses as a few, glum and shell-shocked pedestrians walked past the countless death notices hung from the electric poles and the closed shutters of the shops. Outside one of the mosques, in an alley next to the site of the blast, the stultifying air reeked of sulphur as the faithful ended their evening prayers, invoking blessings on their right and left. Quite unexpectedly, the prayer leader, an elderly man with a gray beard, offered no prayers for those killed in the blast.

Were the victims guilty or was the prayer leader wary of some invisible forces lurking in the shadows? Echoes of whispers to this effect were heard in the last rows as the stoic apathy displayed by the leader of the faithful had apparently rankled many minds. The nature of the religious war raging in our midst is indeed perplexing: it appears to have left all and sundry numb and speechless.

Each time a blast rips through the unsteady calm of the Frontier’s metropolis, or elsewhere in the country, tongues start waging and fingers point to our east and west, in fact far beyond. Two NWFP ministers of the beleaguered ANP-led government, who made it to the tragic sites within minutes of the blasts, were seen and heard across the country pointing in vain to the enemy within. Both are roundly rebuked and branded foreign agents.

Those differing with them walk through the streets and narrow alleys of the interior city but they choose to ignore the signs and sights of the orgy of death that has engulfed us. Several deadly blasts have taken place in the one-kilometre radius area in and around the fabled Qissa Khwani Bazaar in the recent past. All impacted sites are at a stone’s throw from each other. The area is like a game reserve with teeming flocks of game birds for the gamekeepers presently engaged in ideological war games. And why shouldn’t it be?

Hate is inscribed in clear and bold fonts all across the area. Massive billboards, which in previous days were a feature of cinema houses, now hold the larger-than-life portraits of militant leaders of certain sectarian organisations. Ancient and sweet-sounding names of the streets have all been discarded and replaced with the names of those who have fallen in the sectarian warfare. Posters and graffiti proclaiming the title of infidel for the adherents of rival groups and death for the US, India and Israel adorn all walls in the area. Mosques that had jealously guarded their nameless structures for eons have been labelled in factional colours and hence declared restricted places of worship.

The only place in the vicinity that seems to have withstood the onslaught of the times is the 19th century All Saints Church. A few paces from the church is ground zero, the site of the demolished building of the Government Middle School for Girls that was hit in last December’s blast aimed at the followers of a rival religious group. All that remains of the school is a drawing pasted on a bare wall showing a camel in pencil colours with an Arab dressed in his traditional dress holding the rope. The drawing resembles a work of nostalgia, and certainly not an attempt at glorifying those who are settling scores on the soil of the wretched Pakhtuns.

A sustained campaign is still going on in the Frontier for mobilising more resistance to the voices of reason. Some self-styled hawks are even threatening to turn the entire Frontier into a cantonment against forces inimical to their definition of religion. How much more bloodshed may come about through their anger? There are others, pretending to be more pious and who are certainly less humane, who regard our present predicament as God’s way of paying back the sinning people of the Frontier.

Frontiersmen can be blamed for many peccadilloes but these do not take away from their practising their faith in its true form. Mosques in the area are overflowing with the faithful even in these struggling days when places of worship have become targets. It is quite another matter that the province has become the last refuge of the hardened sinners. None of the portrait boys on the big billboards are from the Frontier, and that says a lot for the simple Pakhtuns who have foolishly allowed themselves to be used as pawns in this ongoing senseless conflict.

The worst enemies are those who are preaching anger to the youth. They can be easily recognised as they lead the groups with divisive tags attached to a common faith. ‘Will the military triumph in Waziristan be enough to overcome the present crisis?’ was the query in a poll posted on Dawn’s online edition. Fortunately for the country only six per cent of the voters do not know the answer while a staggering 71 per cent believe it may not. The vote might be unscientific but it augurs well for a people who know that the only way the issue could be resolved is by going after the true enemies of God.