29 de septiembre de 2008

RIGHTS ORG: ISRAELI SETTLERS SLAY PALESTINIAN SHEPHERD

Report, PCHR, 28 September 2008

On Saturday, 27 September 2008, a Palestinian teenager
from Aqra village southeast of Nablus City was shot dead
by Israeli settlers. The crime is the latest in an
intensified period of settler attacks on Palestinians in
the West Bank.

22 de septiembre de 2008

Repression in the U.S. - Army Unit to Deploy in October for Domestic Operations

Beginning in October, the Army plans to station an active unit inside the United States for the first time to serve as an on-call federal response in times of emergency. The 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team has spent thirty-five of the last sixty months in Iraq, but now the unit is training for domestic operations. The unit will soon be under the day-to-day control of US Army North, the Army service component of Northern Command. The Army Times reports this new mission marks the first time an active unit has been given a dedicated assignment to Northern Command. The paper says the Army unit may be called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control. The soldiers are learning to use so-called nonlethal weapons designed to subdue unruly or dangerous individuals and crowds.

Represión en EEUU - Unidad del Ejército será desplegada en octubre para operaciones nacionales

El Ejército planea desplegar en octubre una unidad activa dentro de Estados Unidos por primera vez para actuar en respuesta a emergencias. El Primer Equipo de Combate de la Brigada de la 3ª División de Infantería pasó 35 de los últimos 60 meses en Irak, pero ahora esta está siendo entrenada para operaciones nacionales. Esta unidad pronto estará bajo el control diario del Army North de Estados Unidos, el servicio del Ejército que integra el Comando del Norte. El Army Times informa que esta nueva misión representa la primera vez que una unidad activa recibe una tarea especializada del Comando del Norte. Este periódico dice que la unidad del Ejército podría ser llamada a ayudar en caso de disturbios civiles y en el control de multitudes. Los soldados están aprendiendo a utilizar las llamadas “armas no letales” designadas para controlar a personas peligrosas y muchedumbres.

18 de septiembre de 2008

Three US soldiers have been charged with murder over the deaths of four Iraqis in Baghdad

The victims were blindfolded, shot and dumped in a canal in April 2007.

Sgt John Hatley, Sgt 1st Class Joseph Mayo, and Sgt Michael Leahy Jr have been charged with premeditated murder, conspiracy to commit premeditated murder and obstruction of justice.

It was alleged that the killings were in retribution for casualties sustained by the soldiers' unit.

A pre-trial hearing will determine whether a court martial will be held, a spokesman for the Joint Multinational Training Command in Grafenwoeher, Germany, said.

Four other soldiers were charged with conspiracy over the same incident last week, AP reported.

CIA using missile strikes to 'tickle' terrorists

The Central Intelligence CIA using missile strikes to 'tickle' terrorists.
Agency is using strikes against enemy targets to learn how the groups respond when attacked, the agency's director said Wednesday.

Speaking at the Air Force Association's annual conference, Michael Hayden said the clandestine agency is trying to "tickle" enemy groups to provoke a reaction, often with missile strikes targeting just an individual.

"We use military operations to excite the enemy, prompting him to respond. In that response we learn so much," said Hayden, a retired Air Force general who has led the CIA since 2006.

9 de septiembre de 2008

US, NATO Air Strikes Triple Civilians Deaths in Afghanistan

Civilian deaths in Afghanistan from US and NATO air strikes have nearly tripled from 2006 to 2007, according to a new report by Human Rights Watch. Air strikes killed at least 321 civilians in 2007, compared with at least 116 in 2006. The tally for this year is expected to be even higher.

6 de septiembre de 2008

800 personas fueron arrestadas en protestas contra la Convención Nacional Republicana

Las protestas continuaron durante el último día de la Convención Nacional Republicana. Cientos de personas participaron en una protesta organizada por el grupo Youth Against War and Racism (Jóvenes contra la Guerra y el Racismo).

Un manifestante dijo: “La misión hoy es, supongo, traer a los soldados de regreso, y poner fin a la guerra injusta e ilegal por beneficios económicos en Irak. Creo también, que no hay que elegir a John McCain este otoño, porque eso significaría continuar con el mismo plan de batalla terrible que hemos vivido desde el año 2003”.

Horas más tarde, aproximadamente 400 personas fueron arrestadas en una protesta cerca del Capitolio estatal, a poco más de 1,5 kilómetros del lugar donde se celebraba la convención. La policía utilizó gas lacrimógeno y granadas bang flash que producen un sonido ensordecedor y una luz que encandila contra la multitud. En total, más de 800 personas fueron arrestadas en protestas contra la Convención Nacional Republicana en las Twin Cities (Minneapolis y St. Paul) esta semana. Diecinueve trabajadores de los medios también fueron encarcelados.

4 de septiembre de 2008

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin / candidate to Vice-Presidency for McCain

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin told ministry students at her former church that the United States sent troops to fight in the Iraq war on a "task that is from God."

In an address last June, the Republican vice presidential candidate also urged ministry students to pray for a plan to build a $30 billion natural gas pipeline in the state, calling it "God's will."

Palin asked the students to pray for the troops in Iraq, and noted that her eldest son, Track, was expected to be deployed there.

"Our national leaders are sending them out on a task that is from God," she said. "That's what we have to make sure that we're praying for, that there is a plan and that plan is God's plan."

St. Paul, Minnesota: US Police Fire Flash Grenades, Teargas at Republican National Convention protesters

Outside the convention Tuesday, police fired flash bang grenades and teargas at peaceful protesters after the end of a march led by the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign. The grenades are designed to produce a deafening bang and a blinding flash. Twin Cities police arrested at least ten people on Tuesday, bringing the total number this week to over 300. Dozens of activists jailed on Monday were still being slowly released last night.

A medic shortly after he was freed after more than twenty hours behind bars said:
“There are still a whole lot of people in jail waiting to get out, and a lot of people are really uncertain about how they’re getting out. And some of them have various injuries from pepper spray and getting beat up by the cops before getting in there, just kind of uncertain what’s going on.”

Minn. Police Infiltrated RNC Protest Group
The Ramsey County Sheriff’s office has admitted it infiltrated and spied on a prominent protest group in the Twin Cities known as the RNC Welcoming Committee for the past year. Two informants and an undercover investigator posed as members of the group, which the sheriff’s office deemed to be an “organized criminal enterprise.” The RNC Welcoming Committee describes itself as an anarchist/anti-authoritarian organizing body.

3 de septiembre de 2008

Salam Amira's house

The window through which Salam Amira, 16, filmed the moment when an Israeli soldier shot from close range a handcuffed and blindfolded Palestinian detainee has a large hole at its center with cracks running in every direction.

"Since my video was shown, the soldiers shoot at our house all the time," she said. The shattered and cracked windows at the front of the building confirm her story. "When we leave the windows open, they fire tear gas inside too."

Her home looks out over the Israeli road block guarding the only entrance to the village of Nilin, located just inside the West Bank midway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. It was here that a bound Ashraf Abu Rahma, 27, was shot in the foot in July with a rubber bullet under orders from an Israeli regiment commander.


U.S. and foreign forces killed civilians in Pakistan

Women, children among as many as 20 reported dead in cross-border raid.
Pakistan's government accused U.S. and international forces in Afghanistan of killing civilians in an unusual cross-border ground and air attack Wednesday that it warned could undermine cooperation in the war on terror.