Israeli soldier shot American activist in face with tear gas can

An American activist who participated in a Palestinian solidarity demonstration is in serious condition Saturday after an Israeli soldier shot him in the face with a high-velocity tear gas canister. He underwent surgery early Saturday.
Even as the rescue operation commenced, more tear gas rained down on the demonstrators as soldiers allegedly delayed ambulance access.
Tristan Anderson, 38, of Oakland, Calif., was wounded Friday in the West Bank village of Naalin, during a protest against Israels separation barrier, reported the Associated Press. In the past year, four Palestinians have been killed and scores injured by Israeli troops putting down weekly stone-throwing protests against the barrier, which cuts off Naalin from 300 acres of olive groves.
The Israeli soldiers were standing on the hill looking over us firing tear-gas canisters Ulrike Anderson, who was with Tristan when he was hit, told the International Herald-Tribune. Tristan was hit and fell to the ground. He had a large hole in the front of his head. I tried to stop the bleeding. He was bleeding heavily from the nose.
Tristan was shot by the new tear-gas canisters that can be shot up to 500 meters, said Teah Lunqvist with the International Solidarity Movement, according to Californias IndyBay. I ran over as I saw someone had been shot, while the Israeli forces continued to fire tear-gas at us. When an ambulance came, the Israeli soldiers refused to allow the ambulance through the checkpoint just outside the village. After 5 minutes of arguing with the soldiers, the ambulance passed.
Other ISM activists killed or injured by Israeli forces: Rachel Corrie, killed by a bulldozer in 2003; Brian Avery, shot in the face in 2003; and Tom Hurndall, shot to death in 2004, the site notes.

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Obama to Order Additional 4,000 Troops to Afghanistan
President Obama is expected to unveil today a major expansion of US military efforts in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Following a two-month review, Obama will reportedly order an additional 4,000 troops to Afghanistan on top of the 17,000 new combat troops authorized last month. The Washington Post reports Obama’s plan will require a 60 percent increase to the $2 billion in monthly US military costs in Afghanistan. Administration officials also say they’ll impose new “benchmarks” on their allies in the Afghan and Pakistani governments. The plan will also reportedly include reconciliation efforts aimed at low-level Taliban fighters while shunning top leaders. On Thursday, National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair estimated some two-thirds of pro-Taliban groups are motivated by basic concerns such as inadequate water supplies or access to education.

Obama ordenará envío de 4.000 soldados más a Afganistán
Se espera que el Presidente Obama revele hoy una ampliación muy importante de los esfuerzos militares estadounidenses en Afganistán y Pakistán. Luego de una revisión de dos meses, Obama ordenaría el envío de 4.000 soldados más a Afganistán, además de los 17.000 nuevos efectivos de combate autorizados el mes pasado. El Washington Post informa que el plan de Obama requeriría un 60% de aumento de los costos militares de Estados Unidos en Afganistán, que ascienden a 2 mil millones de dólares mensuales. Los funcionarios de la administración también afirman que impondrán nuevos “parámetros” a sus aliados en los gobiernos afgano y paquistaní. El plan también tendría previstos esfuerzos de reconciliación que se entablarían con combatientes talibanes de bajo nivel y dejarían de lado a los altos líderes. El jueves, el director nacional de Inteligencia Dennis Blair estimó que a unos dos tercios de los grupos a favor de los talibanes los mueven preocupaciones básicas como los problemas en el suministro de agua o acceso a la educación.

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El gobierno de Obama apoya prohibición contra erudito extranjero
El gobierno de Obama aparentemente decidió continuar con la política del ex Presidente George W. Bush de prohibir el ingreso de los eruditos extranjeros en virtud de las leyes antiterroristas. En una audiencia llevada a cabo el martes en un tribunal federal de apelaciones, un abogado del gobierno argumentó a favor de mantener la prohibición contra un destacado intelectual musulmán al que se le impidió aceptar un trabajo como docente en Estados Unidos. Este erudito, Tariq Ramadan, recibió una propuesta para trabajar en la Universidad de Notre Dame en Ohio en el año 2004. El gobierno de Bush inicialmente prohibió su ingreso al país sin dar explicaciones y luego dijo que había tomado esta decisión porque en una ocasión Ramadan le había donado dinero a una organización benéfica palestina. La Asociación Estadounidense por las Libertades Civiles (ACLU, por su sigla en inglés) está impugnando está prohibición en nombre de Ramadan.

Obama Admin Backs Ban on Foreign Scholar
The Obama administration has apparently decided to continue the former President George W. Bush’s policy of banning foreign scholars under anti-terror laws. In a federal appeals court hearing Tuesday, a government lawyer argued in favor of maintaining a ban on a prominent Muslim intellectual barred from a teaching job in the United States. The scholar, Tariq Ramadan, was offered a position at the University of Notre Dame in Ohio in 2004. The Bush administration initially barred his entry without explanation and then said it was because he once gave money to a Palestinian charity. The American Civil Liberties Union is challenging the ban on Ramadan’s behalf.

Funcionario de Naciones Unidas acusa a Israel de crímenes de guerra en Gaza

El relator especial de derechos humanos en los territorios palestinos de Naciones Unidas, Richard Falk, acusó el lunes a Israel de haber cometido crímenes de guerra en Gaza. Falk reclamó una investigación independiente para analizar posibles crímenes de guerra cometidos por Israel y Hamas.
Richard Falk dijo: “La proporción total de fallecidos, 1.434 del lado palestino, 13 del lado israelí, sugieren la unilateralidad del choque militar y proporciona una base para impugnar la legalidad de iniciar un ataque militar con armamento moderno contra una sociedad esencialmente indefensa”.
Richard Falk también acusó a Israel de impedir que civiles palestinos huyeran de la agresión militar.
Richard Falk afirmó: “Esta crítica a las tácticas israelíes se ve fuertemente reforzada por una característica de las operaciones militares que es exclusiva de la guerra contemporánea: concretamente, confinar a la población civil de Gaza en forma coercitiva a la zona de combate durante las operaciones militares israelíes. En los hechos, esto privó a todos los palestinos de Gaza de la posibilidad de convertirse en refugiados. Este tipo de política bélica debería ser tipificado como un crimen nuevo y diferenciado contra la humanidad y debería ser reconocido formalmente como tal, y explícitamente prohibido".
Israel desestimó el informe de Falk argumentando que era parte de un intento de demonizar a Israel llevado adelante por Naciones Unidas. El relator especial del derecho a la alimentación de Naciones Unidas Olivier de Schutter también criticó el ataque israelí a Gaza y sugirió que los funcionarios israelíes podrían ser juzgados fuera de Israel si este país no investiga los posibles crímenes de guerra.

UN Official Accuses Israel of War Crimes in Gaza

The United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, Richard Falk, accused Israel Monday of committing war crimes in Gaza. Falk called for an independent inquiry to examine possible war crimes committed by both Israel and Hamas.
Richard Falk: “The overall ratio of deaths—1,434 on the Palestinian side, thirteen on the Israeli side—is suggestive of the one-sidedness of the military encounter and provides a basis for challenging the legality of initiating a military assault with modern weaponry against an essentially defenseless society.”
Richard Falk also accused Israel of preventing Palestinian civilians from fleeing the military assault.
Richard Falk: “This indictment of Israeli tactics is strongly reinforced by a feature of the military operations that is unique in contemporary warfare: namely, coercively confining the Gazan civilian population to the combat zone during the Israeli military operations. This effectively denied to all Palestinians in Gaza the option of becoming refugees. Such a war policy should be treated as a distinct and new crime against humanity and should be formally recognized as such and explicitly prohibited."
Israel dismissed Falk’s report, saying it was part of a pattern of demonizing Israel by the United Nations. The UN’s special rapporteur on the right to food, Olivier de Schutter, also criticized Israel’s attack on Gaza and suggested Israeli officials could be tried outside of Israel if Israel does not investigate possible war crimes.

Documents: Reagan Officials Knew of Guatemalan Abuses

Newly declassified material has provided further evidence the Reagan administration knowingly supported the Guatemalan government’s human rights abuses in its crackdown on guerrillas and leftist dissidents. The National Security Archive has released documents showing State Department officials directly reported that Guatemalan forces targeted anyone suspected of involvement with guerrillas or dissident groups. In 1984, then-US Ambassador Frederic Chapin also reported labor activists were being “rounded up” for interrogation. More than 200,000 people died under the US-backed Guatemalan military between 1960 and 1996.

Bush Admin Aide: US Knowingly Jailed Innocents Seized in Afghanistan

A former Bush administration official says the US has continued to jail many Guantanamo Bay prisoners seized in Afghanistan despite knowing of their innocence. In an interview with the Associated Press, Lawrence Wilkerson, the former chief of staff to then-Secretary of State Colin Powell, said the US held onto the innocent prisoners in the hopes they could one day provide helpful intelligence. Describing the Bush administration mentality, Wilkerson said, “It did not matter if a detainee were innocent. Indeed, because he lived in Afghanistan and was captured on or near the battle area, he must know something of importance.” Wilkerson continued, “We need to put those people in a high-security prison like the one in Colorado, forget them and throw away the key. We can’t try them because we tortured them and didn’t keep an evidence trail.” Wilkerson says former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Vice President Dick Cheney fought efforts to improve vetting of Afghan prisoners.

Israel Arrests 10 Hamas Officials in West Bank

Meanwhile, Israel has arrested ten Hamas officials in the occupied West Bank. Hamas is calling the move a blackmail attempt to pressure it for the release of the captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Talks on a prisoner exchange broke down this week in part over an Israeli demand that hundreds of the freed prisoners be arrested or deported upon their release. Israel has seized and jailed some forty elected Hamas lawmakers since Shalit’s capture in June 2006.

Israeli Soldiers Recount Killings of Unarmed Palestinians

In Israel and the Occupied Territories, several Israeli soldiers have provided new accounts of human rights violations during Israel’s attack on the Gaza Strip. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz published testimony from soldiers recounting the firing on unarmed Palestinian civilians and the intentional destruction of their property. The Israeli military says it will investigate.

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Obama Admin Seeks to Double Afghan Forces
The Obama administration is drafting a plan to double Afghanistan’s national security forces. According to the New York Times, senior administration officials say the US is seeking a force of about 400,000 Afghan troops and police officers.

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Obama: US Can Detain Prisoners Indefinitely Without Charge
Dick Cheney’s comments came days after the Obama administration said it will no longer consider prisoners at Guantanamo Bay to be enemy combatants. Despite abandoning the label, the administration claims it still has the right to hold prisoners indefinitely without charge even if the individual is captured far from any battlefield and has not directly participated in hostilities.

Red Cross Report: US Committed Torture at CIA Black Sites
The International Committee of the Red Cross concluded in a secret report two years ago that the Bush administration’s treatment of prisoners “constituted torture” in violation of the Geneva Conventions. The findings were based on interviews with prisoners once held in the CIA’s secret black sites. The Red Cross said the fourteen prisoners held in the CIA prisons gave remarkably uniform accounts of abuse that included beatings, sleep deprivation, extreme temperatures and, in some cases, waterboarding. The author Mark Danner published parts of the secret Red Cross report in the New York Review of Books. Danner said the Red Cross’s use of the word "torture” has important legal implications. Danner said, “It could not be more important that the ICRC explicitly uses the words ‘torture’ and ‘cruel and degrading.’ The ICRC is the guardian of the Geneva Conventions, and when it uses those words, they have the force of law.”

Cheney: Obama Policies Are Making US Less Safe
Hours after excerpts of the Red Cross report were published, former Vice President Dick Cheney appeared on CNN. He was asked whether he believed President Obama was making Americans less safe by abandoning some of the Bush administration’s counterterrorism techniques.
Dick Cheney: “I do. I think those programs were absolutely essential to the success we enjoyed of being able to collect the intelligence that let us defeat all further attempts to launch attacks against the United States since 9/11. I think that’s a great success story. It was done legally. It was done in accordance with our constitutional practices and principles. President Obama campaigned against it all across the country. And now he’s making some choices that, in my mind, will in fact raise the risk to the American people of another attack.”

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US President Barack Obama has extended sanctions against Iran for one year, saying it continues to pose a threat to US national security.
In a message to the US Congress, Mr Obama said Iran was acting contrary to US interests in the region.
The sanctions, which ban US companies from investing or trading with Iran, have been renewed annually since 1995.
The US fears Iran's nuclear programme is a cover to build atomic weapons, a charge Iranian officials deny.
Enriched uranium can be used in nuclear power plants, but can also be used to make atomic weapons.
Although the Obama administration is reviewing its policy towards Iran, not extending the sanctions would have constituted a major break with the past, says BBC state department correspondent Kim Ghattas in Washington.
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Iran faces other punishing international measures, including three sets of UN sanctions, over its refusal to freeze its uranium enrichment activities.
The US sanctions against Iran would have lapsed without Mr Obama's formal notice of renewal.
"The actions and policies of the government of Iran are contrary to the interests of the United States in the region and pose a continuing and unusual and extraordinary threat," Mr Obama's message to Congress said.
Mr Obama has talked of engagement with Iran but has not made clear how that might take place.
Shortly after coming to office in January, Mr Obama said "if countries like Iran are willing to unclench their fists, they will find an extended hand from us".

Hersh: administración Bush dirigió “anillo ejecutivo de asesinatos”

El periodista de investigación Seymour Hersh reveló que la administración Bush dirigió un “anillo ejecutivo de asesinatos” que estaba bajo las órdenes directas del ex vicepresidente Dick Cheney. Hersh afirma que en los operativos estadounidenses, realizados secretamente dentro de distintos países, se ejecutaba a personas que integraban una lista de sospechosos. La operación era aparentemente dirigida por el Comando Conjunto de Operaciones Especiales, que estaba por fuera de la ley y era supervisado únicamente por la Casa Blanca. Hersh hizo las revelaciones en un discurso que dio el martes en la Universidad de Minnesota.

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Obama condiciona ayuda a Palestina al reconocimiento del “derecho a existir” de Israel
En Israel y los Territorios Ocupados, la administración Obama anunció que retirará la totalidad de los 900 millones de dólares de ayuda prometidos si el gobierno de unidad palestino pendiente de formación no reconoce el “derecho a existir” de Israel. Según se informa, la advertencia fue realizada por la Secretaria de Estado Hillary Clinton al Presidente palestino Mahmoud Abbas la semana pasada. Clinton informó a Abbas que el Congreso de Estados Unidos no aprobará la ayuda a Palestina a menos que su gobierno renuncie a la violencia. No se han impuesto condiciones de este tipo a Israel. El gobierno israelí se niega a renunciar a la violencia y nunca reconoció el derecho de Palestina a existir. Los palestinos también criticaron la exigencia de que reconozcan el “derecho a existir” de Israel porque los obliga a ir más allá de reconocer a Israel dentro de fronteras seguras, pero de hecho afirma la legitimidad de su despojo y ocupación continuada.

Obama Conditions Palestinian Aid on Recognizing Israel’s “Right to Exist”
In Israel and the Occupied Territories, the Obama administration has announced it will withdraw its entire $900 million aid pledge if the pending Palestinian unity government doesn’t recognize Israel’s “right to exist.” The warning was reportedly delivered by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas last week. Clinton told Abbas the US Congress won’t approve Palestinian aid unless the Palestinian government also renounces violence. No such conditions have been imposed on Israel. The Israeli government refuses to renounce violence and has never recognized the right of Palestine to exist. Palestinians have also criticized the demand they recognize Israel’s “right to exist” because it forces them to go beyond recognizing Israel within secure borders, but in fact affirm the legitimacy of their dispossession and ongoing occupation.

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US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has restated "unshakeable" support for Israel, whatever type of government emerges from current coalition talks.
Mrs Clinton is on her first visit to the region as the top diplomat of Barack Obama's US administration.

The Israeli government has plans to build at least 73,000 new homes for Jews in the occupied West Bank, the anti-settlement group Peace Now says

If the plans are implemented in full it would double the number of settlers in the West Bank outside east Jerusalem, according to the Peace Now website.
Israeli officials said the plans referred to potential construction and only a small number had been approved.
Continued settlement work is seen as a major barrier to Palestinian statehood.
Correspondents say the information indicates Israel's next coalition government, currently in the process of being formed by Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu, has a wide choice of projects for settlement expansion.
If coalition negotiations force him into a strongly pro-settlement right-wing government, the plans could put him in collision course with the new US government, they add.
The Palestinian Authority, which has been engaged in a revived negotiated process since November 2007, has warned Israel that it must choose between peace and settlements, but it cannot have both.
"The completion of these projects will make the plan of creating a Palestinian state next to Israel totally unrealistic," Peace Now head Yariv Oppenheimer said in a radio interview.
Housing ministry spokesman Eran Sidis insisted in an interview with the AFP news agency that the plans "refer only to potential construction" and "in practice only a very small part of these urbanism projects are implemented".
All Jewish settlements in the Palestinian territory are regarded as illegal under international law, although Israel disputes this.
More than 400,000 Jewish settlers live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, areas which were captured by Israeli in the 1967 war.

La CIA destruyó 92 cintas de vídeos de interrogatorios a presuntos terroristas

La CIA admitió que destruyó 92 cintas de vídeo con grabaciones de interrogatorios a presuntos terroristas, según documentos judiciales registrados en la Corte del Distrito Sur de Nueva York por el fiscal Lev Dassin.
En un documento de dos páginas, publicada por la Unión Americana de Libertades Civiles (ACLU) que exigió en 2007 por vía judicial que la CIA publicara esa información, Dassin informa al juez federal Alvin Hellerstein que la Agencia Central de Inteligencia (CIA) destruyó 92 cintas, cantidad muy superior a la admitida con anterioridad.
En un comunicado, la ACLU señaló que esta información "confirma que la agencia trató sistemáticamente de ocultar pruebas de sus interrogatorios ilegales".
El fiscal prevé que el tribunal pida a la CIA que entregue listados en el que identifique y describa cada una de las cintas destruidas, incluya resúmenes, transcripciones, memorandos de las grabaciones y reconstrucciones de los contenidos, y revele la identidad de cualquier testigo que pudiera haber visto o guardado los vídeos antes de su destrucción.