Bush admite que tenía conocimiento de reuniones de la Casa Blanca sobre técnicas de interrogatorio

El Presidente Bush confirmó que estaba al tanto de que altos funcionarios del gobierno habían discutido y aprobado personalmente cómo los sospechosos de la llamada “guerra contra el terrorismo” serían interrogados por la CIA. La semana pasada, ABC News reveló que un Comité de Directores del Consejo de Seguridad Nacional acordó técnicas de interrogatorio controvertidas, tales como la agresión física, la privación del sueño y “el submarino”. Entre los funcionarios implicados se encontraban el Vicepresidente Dick Cheney, la entonces Asesora de Seguridad Nacional Condoleezza Rice, el Secretario de Defensa Donald Rumsfeld y el Secretario de Estado Colin Powell. En una entrevista con ABC News realizada el viernes, Bush dijo que había aprobado las reuniones, pero que no participó en ellas. El Presidente señaló: “Comenzamos a unir los puntos para proteger al pueblo estadounidense. Y sí, estoy al tanto de que nuestro equipo de seguridad nacional se reunió para tratar este asunto. Y yo lo autoricé”. En otra entrevista, Powell dijo que no recordaba los detalles de dichas reuniones. La Unión Estadounidense por las Libertades Civiles (ACLU, por sus siglas en inglés) está exhortando al Congreso a que nombre a un fiscal independiente. El Director Ejecutivo de ACLU, Anthony Romero, dijo: “Es muy triste cuando el Presidente de Estados Unidos subvierte la Constitución, el Estado de Derecho y los valores estadounidenses de la justicia”.

Informe: Altos funcionarios del gobierno aprobaron uso de agresión física y “el submarino” contra prisioneros de la CIA

ABC News informa que altos funcionarios del gobierno de Bush discutieron y aprobaron personalmente la forma en que los sospechosos de Al Qaeda serían interrogados por la CIA. Este grupo aceptó técnicas de interrogatorio controvertidas como la agresión física, la privación del sueño y “el submarino”. Estos funcionarios eran miembros del Comité de Directores del Consejo de Seguridad Nacional. Entre ellos se encontraban el Vicepresidente Dick Cheney, la ex asesora de Seguridad Nacional Condoleezza Rice, el Secretario de Defensa Donald Rumsfeld y el Secretario de Estado Colin Powell, así como también el Director de la CIA George Tenet y el Fiscal General John Ashcroft. Esta es la primera vez que altos funcionarios de la Casa Blanca han sido vinculados a una autorización explícita y grupal del programa de interrogatorios de la CIA. Un alto funcionario señaló que Ashcroft fue el único miembro del gabinete en expresar dudas. Según este funcionario, Ashcroft dijo: “¿Por qué estamos hablando sobre esto en la Casa Blanca? La historia no verá esto con buenos ojos”. En el verano de 2004, en medio de la controversia por las fotos de Abu Ghraib y la retractación de un polémico memorando que aprobaba técnicas de interrogatorio severas, el Comité de Directores autorizó el uso de nuevas técnicas contra un prisionero de la CIA capturado en Asia. Según se dice, Condoleezza Rice dio su apoyo rotundo cuando presuntamente le dijo a los funcionarios de la CIA: “Este es su bebé. Háganlo”.

Report: Top Admin Officials Approved Assault, Waterboarding of CIA Prisoners

ABC News is reporting senior Bush administration officials personally discussed and approved how top al-Qaeda suspects would be interrogated by the CIA. The group agreed on controversial interrogation techniques including physical assault, sleep deprivation, and waterboarding. The officials were all members of the Principals Committee on the National Security Council. They included Vice President Cheney, former National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Colin Powell, as well as CIA Director George Tenet and Attorney General John Ashcroft. It’s the first time senior White House officials have been linked to an explicit group authorization of the CIA interrogation program. One top official recounted Ashcroft was the lone cabinet member to raise doubts. The official quoted Ashcroft as saying, “Why are we talking about this in the White House? History will not judge this kindly.” In the summer of 2004, amidst the controversy over the Abu Ghraib photos and the withdrawal of a controversial memo approving harsh interrogations, the Principals Committee again approved new techniques on a CIA prisoner captured in Asia. Condoleezza Rice is said to have provided decisive support, reportedly telling CIA officials, “This is your baby. Go do it.”

Sadr cancela marcha de un millón de personas contra la ocupación estadounidense

En la víspera de la declaración de Petraeus, el clérigo chiíta Moqtada al Sadr dijo que estaba cancelando una protesta multitudinaria hoy para conmemorar el quinto aniversario de la caída de Bagdad en manos de los soldados estadounidenses. En una declaración leída por el portavoz Salah Al-Uabidi, Sadr afirmó que temía que las Fuerzas Armadas estadounidenses e iraquíes repriman las protestas.

Salah Al-Uabidi dijo: “Exhorto a los amados habitantes de Irak que quieren manifestarse contra la ocupación a que posterguen la marcha, porque temo por ellos y me preocupa que se derrame su sangre”.

Previo a la cancelación de Sadr, las fuerzas iraquíes habían establecido docenas de puntos de control para impedir que los seguidores asistan a la manifestación. Sadr también reiteró su amenaza de poner fin a una paralización de seis meses de las actividades militares de su grupo. A esta paralización se le había atribuido el descenso de la violencia en Irak hasta la más reciente ofensiva conjunta de Estados Unidos e Irak. Los enfrentamientos entre los combatientes chiítas y las fuerzas estadounidenses e iraquíes continúan en Bagdad. Docenas de combatientes y doce soldados estadounidenses han muerto en Irak desde el domingo, a la vez que los ataques estadounidenses contra los civiles iraquíes también se están incrementando. Un número incierto de civiles perdieron la vida en Sadr City el lunes, cuando aviones de combate estadounidenses bombardearon una carretera. Un testigo afirmó que las Fuerzas Armadas estadounidenses atacaron nuevamente cuando los civiles se congregaron en el lugar del incidente.

El testigo dijo: “Me dirigía a la mezquita de Zain al-A’abideen para orar cuando los aviones de combate atacaron [esta área]. Cuando las personas se juntaron en la escena del ataque, los aviones de combate bombardearon nuevamente el lugar. Hubo muchas muertes. ¿Qué hicieron esas personas?”.

Irak

US Drafts Document for Open-Ended Military Presence in Iraq

The Guardian newspaper reports it has obtained a controversial draft agreement between the US and Iraqi governments that would allow for an open-ended US military presence in Iraq. The draft strategic framework is intended to replace the existing UN mandate. It authorizes the US to “conduct military operations in Iraq and to detain individuals when necessary for imperative reasons of security” without time limit. Iraqi critics point out that the agreement contains no limits on numbers of US forces, the weapons they are able to deploy, their legal status or powers over Iraqi citizens, going far beyond long-term US security agreements with other countries.

Estados Unidos redacta documento para mantener presencia militar en Irak por tiempo indeterminado

El periódico The Guardian informa que obtuvo un controvertido proyecto de acuerdo entre los gobiernos de Estados Unidos e Irak, que autorizaría una presencia militar estadounidense en ese país por tiempo indeterminado. El marco estratégico de este proyecto tiene por objetivo reemplazar el actual mandato de la ONU. El mismo autoriza a Estados Unidos a “dirigir operaciones militares en Irak y detener a individuos cuando sea necesario por razones de seguridad imperiosas” sin límite de tiempo. Los críticos iraquíes señalan que este acuerdo no contiene límites en lo que respecta al número de soldados estadounidenses, las armas que pueden desplegar, su estatus legal o su autoridad sobre los ciudadanos iraquíes, y va mucho más lejos que los acuerdos de seguridad estadounidenses a largo plazo con otros países.

Iraqi PM Halts Raids on Shia Forces

In Iraq, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has ordered a nationwide freeze on raids against Shia fighters. The move follows last week’s US-Iraqi offensive that killed more than 500 people in Basra and Baghdad.
The freeze also comes as a senior Iraqi official has told the New York Times more than 1,000 Iraqi soldiers and police officers abandoned their posts during the operations. The Bush administration had touted the offensive as proof of US success in training Iraqi forces. The 1,000 desertions include more than 100 officers, among them the commander and deputy commander of an entire brigade. Meanwhile, the US military continues daily air strikes around Iraq.
On Thursday, six people were killed and fifteen wounded when US forces fought Shia militants in Hilla. A local resident said a US bombing killed civilians.
Hilla resident: “They were innocent people who worked on transporting the wounded from a place that had been targeted by US-led forces. At the time they were taking the wounded to the hospital, the US-led forces bombed the area, killing a number of our brothers, bodyguards in Babil health office, soldiers and policemen in Babil.”

“Fusion Centers” Collect, Share Personal Info of US Citizens

New details have been revealed on government collection of Americans’ personal information. The Washington Post is reporting so-called “fusion centers” established following the 9/11 attacks have collected a more extensive array of data than previously known. According to government documents, the fusion centers collect cell phone numbers, insurance claims, credit reports, financial records, and names of relatives and associates. The information is shared among law enforcement officials nationwide.

OMS: Docenas de palestinos mueren mientras esperan autorización israelí para recibir asistencia médica

La Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS) informa que docenas de palestinos murieron mientras esperaban la autorización de Israel para recibir tratamiento médico en ese país. La OMS dice que 32 residentes de Gaza murieron a la espera de tratamientos desde octubre. Las víctimas iban desde un niño de un año hasta un anciano de 77. Seis de las personas que fallecieron estaban esperando dicha autorización. A otras se les negó el ingreso porque los funcionarios israelíes las consideraron un riesgo para la seguridad. Otras recibieron permisos, pero tuvieron que esperar que Israel autorizara el ingreso de los médicos palestinos, y otras perecieron mientras esperaban para atravesar el cruce fronterizo de Erez para ingresar a Israel.

Memorando del Departamento de Justicia de 2003 decía que los interrogadores militares podían ignorar la ley

Se revelaron nuevos detalles sobre los intentos del gobierno de Bush de aprobar el trato abusivo de prisioneros en la llamada “guerra contra el terrorismo”. Un memorando desclasificado indica que el Departamento de Justicia le dijo al Pentágono en el año 2003 que la autoridad presidencial estaba por encima de varias leyes que prohíben la tortura o el trato cruel de los prisioneros bajo custodia estadounidense. El memorando apoyaba los ataques, las mutilaciones e incluso la aplicación de drogas alucinógenas a los prisioneros. Este documento también sugiere que los interrogadores estadounidenses serían inmunes a los procesos judiciales por cualquier crimen que cometieran en virtud de la autoridad del Presidente Bush en tiempos de guerra. Quien en ese entonces era el asistente del Subsecretario de Justicia, John Yoo, escribió: “Si un acusado del gobierno hiriera a un combatiente enemigo durante un interrogatorio de manera que pudiera violar una prohibición penal, lo haría para impedir futuros ataques contra Estados Unidos de la red de terroristas de Al Qaeda. En ese caso, creemos que podría alegar que la autoridad constitucional del Poder Ejecutivo para proteger a la nación de los ataques justifica sus acciones”. El Departamento de Justicia finalmente retiró las instrucciones nueve meses después, al igual que lo había hecho anteriormente con otro memorando sobre interrogatorios, también escrito por Yoo.

80-Year-Old Deacon Arrested at Mall for Antiwar T-Shirt

In Long Island, New York, an eighty-year-old church deacon was removed from a shopping mall Saturday and arrested after he refused to remove a t-shirt protesting the Iraq war. Deacon Don Zirkel was handing out antiwar pamphlets when he was approached by security guards at the Smith Haven Mall. The guards placed him under citizen’s arrest after he refused orders to turn his t-shirt inside out. When the local police arrived they charged him with criminal trespassing and resisting arrest.

Military Drops Another Haditha Prosecution

Military prosecutors have dropped all charges against a Marine accused of killing twenty-four unarmed Iraqis, including women and children in Haditha in 2005. Lance Cpl Stephen Tatum became the fifth Haditha defendant out of eight to see charges dropped in a case that brought international condemnation on US troops in Iraq. Tatum initially faced charges of unpremeditated murder and negligent homicide. One Marine testified that Tatum told him to shoot a group of Iraqi women and children he found on a bed in a closed room. That Marine said he walked away but saw Tatum return and heard a loud noise, possibly gunfire or a grenade.

Report: US Air Strike Kills Eight Civilians in Basra

As the Iraqi military struggled in Basra, the US military stepped up its direct involvement by carrying out multiple air raids. Iraqi police reported eight civilians were killed. Saturday when a US warplane strafed a home in the southern part of Basra.

Testigos hablan sobre ataque mortal estadounidense en Afganistán

En Afganistán, testigos están hablando sobre el último ataque mortal de Estados Unidos contra civiles afganos. Seis miembros de una familia murieron el miércoles, cuando fuerzas estadounidenses atacaron una localidad del sureste del país.

Una familiar dijo: “Los estadounidenses los mataron durante la noche, no cometieron ningún delito, ellos [los estadounidenses] los mataron dentro de su habitación”.

Un residente dijo: “Helicópteros estadounidenses dejaron a los soldados, los soldados ingresaron a las casas y mataron a todos los que hallaron. Martirizaron a tres miembros de una familia, incluso a un niño. Una mujer está herida, y en la segunda casa una mujer, un niño y su padre fueron martirizados”.

Dos de los muertos eran niños de no más de 10 años de edad. Los testigos dicen que dispararon balas a la cabeza y el pecho. El ataque tuvo lugar un día después de que legisladores afganos dijeron que treinta personas, entre ellos civiles, murieron en un ataque aéreo de la OTAN en la provincia de Helmand. El informe no fue verificado en forma independiente.

Ex-soldados revelan nuevos detalles de maltratos en Abu Ghraib

Hay nuevas denuncias de maltratos en prisiones estadounidenses en el extranjero. Una denuncia que será publicada en la revista The New Yorker dice que prisioneros en la prisión iraquí de Abu Ghraib fueron sumergidos en latas de basura repletas de agua helada y eran colocados desnudos en duchas heladas a temperaturas muy bajas hasta que quedaban en estado de shock. El sargento Javal Davis le dijo a The New Yorker que algunos prisioneros no eran alimentados durante varios días antes de ser interrogados. El sargento Davis también dice que sospechaba que prisioneros estaban siendo cremados en la prisión luego de ver un incinerador que contenía huesos humanos. Otra soldado, Sabrina Harman, dijo que Estados Unidos encarceló a mujeres y niños en Abu Ghraib, entre ellos a un niño de 10 años. Harman se hizo tristemente célebre por aparecer en una fotografía posando encima del cadáver de un prisionero, que ahora dice que cree que fue torturado hasta la muerte.

Prisionero de Guantánamo: Interrogadores estadounidenses amenazaron con violar a prisioneros

En Bahía de Guantánamo, el prisionero de 20 años Omar Khadr dice que funcionarios estadounidenses amenazaron con violarlo como técnica de interrogatorio. En una declaración recientemente revelada, Khadr dice que recibió varias amenazas de violación desde que está preso hace seis años. Khadr tenía 15 años en el momento de su captura.

Número de estadounidenses muertos en Irak llega a cuatro mil
En Irak, el número de soldados estadounidenses que fueron asesinados superó los cuatro mil. El domingo, una bomba casera causó la muerte de cuatro soldados estadounidenses mientras patrullaban el sur de Bagdad.

Murieron 58 iraquíes; la Zona Verde fue bombardeada
Mientras tanto, al menos 58 iraquíes murieron el domingo; trece de ellos fallecieron cuando la Zona Verde, que está intensamente fortificada, fue bombardeada con morteros. El bombardeo fue descrito como uno de los peores y más prolongados en la región controlada por Estados Unidos durante el último año. En la ciudad de Mosul, en el norte de Irak, doce soldados iraquíes murieron cuando un atacante suicida hizo estallar un camión bomba al paso de las tropas de guarnición. Otros cuatro soldados iraquíes murieron cuando estalló una bomba al costado de una carretera en las Montañas de Hamrin.

Informe: Estados Unidos exhortará a Gran Bretaña a implementar aumento de soldados en Basora
Mientras tanto, el Sunday Mirror de Londres informa que Estados Unidos planea exhortar a Gran Bretaña a que implemente un aumento de soldados en Basora para combatir la creciente violencia en la región sureña de Irak. Gran Bretaña le entregó el control de Basora a las fuerzas iraquíes en diciembre, pero ahora se le podría solicitar que retome su papel.

Ex diplomático dice que Estados Unidos presionó y espió a aliados previo a la guerra de 2003
El ex embajador chileno ante la Organización de las Naciones Unidas reveló nuevos detalles sobre cómo el gobierno de Bush presionó a sus aliados para que apoyaran la invasión de 2003 a Irak. Según Heraldo Muñoz, Estados Unidos amenazó con tomar represalias comerciales contra los países amigos que negaran su apoyo, espió a sus aliados y presionó para que se destituyera a los enviados de la ONU que se resistían a apoyar la guerra. Muñoz dice que la estrategia diplomática generó “rencor” y “gran desconfianza” que aún perdura en las relaciones de Washington con sus aliados en Latinoamérica y Europa. El ex diplomático chileno afirma que Bush personalmente presionó a los líderes de seis naciones en el Consejo de Seguridad de la ONU: Angola, Camerún, Chile, Guinea, México y Pakistán. Cuando Chile intentó mediar un acuerdo para retrasar las acciones militares, quien era el embajador de Estados Unidos en aquel entonces, John Negroponte, junto al ex Secretario de Estado Colin Powell, rápidamente tomaron medidas para anular la iniciativa.

Bush es acusado de mentir sobre programa nuclear de Irán
El Presidente Bush fue acusado de mentirle directamente al pueblo iraní sobre las ambiciones nucleares de Irán. En una entrevista realizada el jueves, Bush dijo: “Declararon que querían tener un arma nuclear para destruir a personas, algunas del Medio Oriente”. La entrevista fue emitida por Radio Farda, que es financiada por el gobierno estadounidense y trasmite en Irán en idioma persa. Los comentarios de Bush contradicen directamente las opiniones de la Evaluación de Inteligencia Nacional. Varios analistas de política exterior acusaron a Bush de tergiversar la verdad. Joseph Cirincione, del Fondo Ploughshares, dijo: “Irán nunca dijo que quería un arma nuclear por ningún motivo. Simplemente no es cierto”. La ex funcionaria del Departamento de Estado Suzanne Maloney afirmó: “El gobierno iraní siempre ha dicho que no quiere un arma nuclear”. Mientras tanto, el Departamento del Tesoro de Estados Unidos exhortó a las instituciones financieras internacionales a que se abstengan de hacer negocios con prácticamente todos los bancos iraníes. El Financial Times describió esta acción como el mayor intento del gobierno de Bush por aislar económicamente a Teherán.

Cheney On Two-Thirds Of The American Public Opposing The Iraq War: ‘So?’

On the fifth anniversary of the Iraq invasion, ABC’s Good Morning America aired an interview with Vice President Cheney on the war. During the segment, Cheney flatly told White House correspondent Martha Raddatz that he doesn’t care about the American public’s views on the war:

CHENEY: On the security front, I think there’s a general consensus that we’ve made major progress, that the surge has worked. That’s been a major success.

RADDATZ: Two-third of Americans say it’s not worth fighting.

CHENEY: So?

RADDATZ So? You don’t care what the American people think?

CHENEY: No. I think you cannot be blown off course by the fluctuations in the public opinion polls.

Bush “envidia” a soldados estadounidenses en Afganistán

El Presidente Bush le dijo a soldados estadounidenses en Afganistán que sentía “un poco de envidia” de ellos. En una videoconferencia la semana pasada, Bush afirmó: “Si fuera un poco más joven y no tuviera este trabajo, creo que sería una experiencia maravillosa estar en la línea de combate para ayudar a que esta joven democracia tenga éxito”.
Bush continuó diciendo: “Debe ser emocionante para ustedes... de algún modo romántico, de algún modo, ya saben, enfrentar el peligro. Ustedes realmente están haciendo historia, gracias”.

Bush: Atacar Irak “siempre será la decisión correcta”

La semana que viene se cumplirá el quinto aniversario de la invasión estadounidense a Irak. En el primero de varios discursos programados para coincidir con dicho aniversario, el Presidente Bush dijo que su decisión de invadir siempre será la decisión correcta.

El Presidente Bush dijo: “La decisión de sacar a Saddam Hussein fue la decisión correcta al comienzo de mi mandato, es la decisión correcta en este momento de mi mandato y siempre será la decisión correcta”.

Bush hizo estos comentarios ante una conferencia de las Emisoras Religiosas Nacionales en Nashville, Tennessee.

Estudio exhaustivo no halló pruebas de vínculos entre Saddam Hussein y Bin Laden

En otra noticia de Irak, un nuevo estudio del Pentágono no halló pruebas de que existiera vinculación entre Saddam Hussein y Osama Bin Laden. El estudio analizó cientos de miles de documentos iraquíes obtenidos durante la invasión estadounidense en Irak. En septiembre de 2002, el entonces Secretario de Defensa Donald Rumsfeld dijo que el gobierno de Bush tenía pruebas “fehacientes” de cooperación entre Al Qaeda e Irak.

Exhaustive Review Finds No Saddam-bin Laden Ties

In other Iraq news, a new Pentagon review has found no evidence of a link between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden. The study analyzed hundreds of thousands of Iraqi documents captured following the US invasion of Iraq. In September 2002, then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the Bush administration had “bulletproof” evidence of cooperation between al-Qaeda and Iraq.

La Situación humanitaria en Gaza es la peor desde 1967

Una coalición de grupos de derechos humanos dice que la situación humanitaria de Gaza ahora es la peor que se ha vivido desde 1967. Amnistía Internacional, Save the Children, Care International y Christian Aid se unieron para criticar el bloqueo israelí de Gaza, al que calificaron como un castigo colectivo ilegal que no brinda seguridad. Más de 1.1 millones de residentes de Gaza ahora dependen de la ayuda alimentaria.
Geoffrey Dennis, de Care International, dijo: “A menos que el bloqueo termine ahora, será imposible sacar a Gaza del desastre y cualquier esperanza de lograr la paz en la región se desvanecerá”.
Desde la semana pasada las fuerzas israelíes mataron a más de 120 palestinos en Gaza. Durante el mismo período de tiempo murieron cuatro israelíes.

A DEFEATED POLICY, NOT A DEFEATED PEOPLE

By Ali Abunimah, The Electronic Intifada, 7 March 2008
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9381.shtml

Compared with the international silence that surrounded
Israel's recent massacres of Palestinian civilians in the
Occupied Gaza Strip, condemnation and condolences for the
victims of the shooting attack that killed eight students
at the Mercaz HaRav Yeshiva in Jerusalem has been swift.

"I have just spoken with [Israeli] Prime Minister [Ehud]
Olmert to extend my deepest condolences to the victims,
their families, and to the people of Israel," US President
George W. Bush said. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
added his "condemnation" and "condolences," as did EU High
Representative Javier Solana.

The day before the Jerusalem attack, Amira Abu 'Aser was
buried in Gaza. She had lived just 20 days on this earth
before being shot in the head by Israeli occupation forces
who attacked the house of friends she and her family were
visiting. Needless to say, she had not been firing rockets
at Sderot when she was killed. One of the house's
inhabitants was found the next day, shot dead and his head
crushed by an army jeep, an apparent victim of an
extrajudicial murder by Israeli forces.
(http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9375.shtml)

But confirming their status in the eyes of the
"international community" as less than complete human
beings, neither Amira's killing, nor any of the dozens of
Palestinian civilian victims of Israel's onslaught in Gaza
have merited condemnation or condolences.

The fallacy that lies behind the differential concern for
the lives of innocent Israelis and Palestinians is that
the massacre in Jerusalem and the massacres in Gaza can be
separated. Israeli deaths are "terrorism," while
Palestinian deaths are merely an unfortunate consequence
of the fight against "terrorism." But the two are
intricately linked, and what happened in Jerusalem is a
direct consequence of what Israel has been doing to the
Palestinians for decades.

Let me be clear that the killing of civilians, Israeli or
Palestinian, is wrong, repugnant, and cannot bring this
one-hundred-year war caused by the Zionist colonization of
Palestine to an end. There will be an Israeli propaganda
effort -- as always -- to present Palestinian violence as
being simply motivated by hatred, and divorced from the
context of brutal occupation that Palestinians live under.
What greater proof could you need than an attack on
religious students, devoting their life to the study of
the Torah?

We cannot expect much analysis in the media of why the
Mercaz HaRav yeshiva might have been chosen as a target.
Was it mere coincidence that the school, named for Rabbi
Abraham Isaac Kook, and led after his death by his son
Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook, is the ideological cradle of the
militant, Jewish supremacist settler movement Gush Emunim?

Unlike other sects in Israel which sought exemption of
their students from military service, Gush Emunim
encouraged its followers to join the army and become the
armed wing of religious nationalist Zionism. Gush Emunim
settlers, many of them, like Moshe Levinger, graduates of
Mercaz HaRav, founded the most extreme and racist
settlements in the Occupied West Bank, including the
notorious colonies in and near Hebron whose inhabitants
have made life miserable for Palestinians in the city and
forced many of them out of their homes. It is the militant
settlers of Gush Emunim who still honor Baruch Goldstein
who murdered 29 Palestinians in Hebron in February 1994.
It is in Hebron that the Gush Emunim settlers spray "Arabs
to the gas chambers" on Palestinian houses.

It is possible that the Mercaz HaRav gunman did not know
or care about any of this, that any target he could
identify as Israeli would have satisfied his desire to
exact revenge.

In 2002, Israeli army chief Moshe Yaalon declared that
"the Palestinians must be made to understand in the
deepest recesses of their consciousness that they are a
defeated people." This would be achieved by the massive
and constant application of force until they got the
message. The same philosophy was elaborated in 2004 by
Professor Arnon Soffer, one of the architects, with former
Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon, of the 2005 Gaza
"disengagement."

Soffer, an avid supporter of turning Gaza into a
hermetically-sealed pen for unwanted Palestinians,
explained that if Palestinians fire a single rocket over
the fence into Israel, "we will fire 10 in response. And
women and children will be killed, and houses will be
destroyed. After the fifth such incident, Palestinian
mothers won't allow their husbands to shoot Qassams
[rockets], because they will know what's waiting for
them."

Soffer predicted that in a few years' time, "when 2.5
million people live in a closed-off Gaza, it's going to be
a human catastrophe. Those people will become even bigger
animals than they are today, with the aid of an insane
fundamentalist Islam." With Palestinians closed in, "The
pressure at the border will be awful," Soffer predicted.
"It's going to be a terrible war. So, if we want to remain
alive, we will have to kill and kill and kill. All day,
every day."

To be fair, Soffer did display a human side: "The only
thing that concerns me is how to ensure that the boys and
men who are going to have to do the killing will be able
to return home to their families and be normal human
beings" ("It's the demography, stupid," The Jerusalem
Post, 21 May 2004).

For decades Israel has been exercizing with
ever-escalating brutality this deliberate strategy to
crush through force and starvation a civilian population
in rebellion against colonial rule. To Israel's vexation,
the Palestinians are not playing their part. After sixty
years of expulsions, massacres, assassinations of their
leaders, colonization, torture, and mass imprisonment, the
Palestinians have utterly failed to understand that they
are a "defeated people."

The vast majority of Palestinians in Gaza and the West
Bank endure unprecedented oppression by the Israeli army
and settlers without resorting to violence in response,
but they maintain an inextinguishable determination to
endure until they regain their rights. If the methods the
Palestinian resistance has sometimes used are
reprehensible, they have also been typical for
anti-colonial resistance movements throughout time, as
William Polk shows in his book Violent Politics: A History
of Insurgency, Terrorism and Guerilla War from the
American Revolution to Iraq, and Robert Pape demonstrated
through his study of suicide bombing in Dying to Win.

Is it not time for the rest of the world to step in and
force Israel at last to understand the same thing, so that
the senseless bloodshed can finally stop and all the
people of the country -- Israelis and Palestinians -- can
begin to imagine a future other than an endless parade of
funerals?

--
Co-founder of The Electronic Intifada, Ali Abunimah is
author of One Country: A Bold Proposal to End the
Israeli-Palestinian Impasse (Metropolitan Books, 2006).

Estados Unidos despliega buques de guerra cerca de la costa libanesa

En otras noticias del Medio Oriente, Estados Unidos desplegó tres buques de guerra, entre ellos el USS Cole, cerca de las costas de Líbano. Las autoridades estadounidenses dicen que los buques fueron enviados para apoyar la “estabilidad regional” en medio del actual estancamiento político interno de Líbano.

Iraquíes protestan contra ataque estadounidense

En Irak, cientos de manifestantes salieron a las calles de Bagdad el jueves para protestar por un ataque estadounidense contra un barrio sunita. Dos mujeres fueron arrestadas cuando soldados estadounidenses ingresaron a sus hogares.
Una residente de Bagdad dijo: “Condenamos las acciones de las fuerzas estadounidenses. Irrumpieron en hogares a medianoche, haciendo explotar las puertas y los techos de las casas. Casas de familias pacíficas. Los atacaron porque si, y arrestaron a mujeres. Ellos dicen que creen en la democracia, entonces ¿por qué hicieron esto?”.

Ministro israelí amenaza a Gaza con “holocausto”

En Israel y los Territorios Ocupados, al menos dieciocho palestinos han muerto en los incesantes ataques israelíes contra la Franja de Gaza. Entre los palestinos que fallecieron el jueves se encontraban cuatro jóvenes que fueron bombardeados mientras jugaban al fútbol. El más joven tenía tan sólo ocho años. Otro niño palestino fue asesinado junto a dos civiles adultos. Las autoridades palestinas dicen que también murieron al menos nueve militantes palestinos. Al menos 31 palestinos, entre ellos nueve niños, han perecido en los últimos dos días de ataques israelíes. Israel dice que está respondiendo a los ataques con cohetes palestinos. El jueves se lanzaron 45 cohetes desde Gaza. Un israelí falleció esta semana en la localidad de Sderot, marcando la decimotercera muerte de un israelí por causa de los cohetes palestinos en los últimos siete años. Una joven de 17 años resultó levemente herida el jueves, cuando se lanzaron cohetes palestinos contra la localidad israelí de Ashkelon. El Ministro de Defensa de Israel, Ehud Barak, está advirtiendo sobre una posible invasión israelí a gran escala de Gaza. En lo que podría ser algo sin precedentes para un funcionario israelí, el Viceministro de Defensa, Matan Vilnai, amenazó con un “holocausto” en Gaza si continúan los ataques con cohetes. Vilnai dijo: “Cuanto más se intensifique el fuego de cohetes Qassam y cuanto más alcance tengan estos cohetes, mayor será el holocausto que [los palestinos] provocarán sobre ellos mismos, porque utilizaremos todas nuestras fuerzas para defendernos”. Una encuesta de opinión realizada esta semana indica que el 64% de los israelíes están a favor de un cese del fuego con Hamas, el porcentaje más elevado hasta la fecha. Hamas ha presentando varias propuestas para una tregua, pero el gobierno israelí las ha rechazado.

Israeli minister threatens "holocaust" as public demand ceasefire talks

Ali Abunimah, The Electronic Intifada, 29 February 2008

---

Israeli officials began damage limitation efforts after the country's deputy defense minister Matan Vilnai threatened Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip with a "holocaust."

The comments came a day after Israeli occupation forces killed 31 Palestinians, nine of them children, one a six-month-old baby, in a series of air raids across the Gaza Strip. Israel claimed that the attacks were in retaliation for a barrage of rockets fired by resistance fighters in the Gaza Strip which killed one Israeli in the town of Sderot on Wednesday, 27 February. Palestinian resistance groups, including Hamas, said the rockets were in retaliation for the extrajudicial execution of five Hamas members carried out by Israel on Wednesday morning. Israeli occupation forces have killed more than 200 Palestinians since the US-sponsored Annapolis peace summit last November. In the same period, five Israelis have been killed by Palestinians.

Speaking to Israeli army radio today, Vilnai said, "the more Qassam [rocket] fire intensifies and the rockets reach a longer range, [the Palestinians] will bring upon themselves a bigger shoah because we will use all our might to defend ourselves."

A report on the BBC News website headlined "Israel warns of Gaza 'holocaust'" noted that the word "holocaust" -- shoah in Hebrew -- is "a term rarely used in Israel outside discussions of the Nazi genocide during World War II."

The BBC later reported that "many of Mr. Vilnai's colleagues have quickly distanced themselves from his comments and also tried to downplay them saying he did not mean genocide." An Israeli foreign ministry spokesman, Arye Mekel, claimed that Vilnai used the word "in the sense of a disaster or a catastrophe, and not in the sense of a holocaust."

The attempt to limit the damage of Vilnai's comments is not surprising. It was recently revealed how another Israeli official, Major-General Doron Almog, narrowly escaped arrest at London's Heathrow airport in September 2005, in connection with allegations of war crimes committed against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. British police feared a gunfight if they attempted to board the El Al civilian aircraft on which Almog had arrived and on which he hid until he fled the United Kingdom back to Israel as a fugitive from justice.

Incitement to genocide is a punishable crime under the international Genocide Convention, adopted in 1948 after the Nazi holocaust.

"The 8 Stages of Genocide," written by Greg Stanton, President of Genocide Watch, sets out a number of warning signs of an impending genocide, which include "dehumanization" of potential victim groups and preparation, whereby potential victims "are often segregated into ghettoes, deported into concentration camps, or confined to a famine-struck region and starved." [1]

Vilnai's holocaust threat, however much Israeli officials attempt to qualify it, fits into a consistent pattern of belligerent statements and actions by Israeli officials. Israel has attempted to isolate the population of Gaza, deliberately restricting essential supplies, such as food, medicines and energy, a policy endorsed by the Israeli high court but condemned by international officials as illegal collective punishment.

As The Electronic Intifada has previously reported, dehumanizing statements by Israeli political and religious leaders directed at Palestinians are common (see "Top Israeli rabbis advocate genocide," The Electronic Intifada, 31 May 2007 and "Dehumanizing the Palestinians," Ali Abunimah, The Electronic Intifada, 21 September 2007)

On 28 February, Vilnai's colleagues added their own inflammatory statements. Cabinet minister Meir Sheetrit stated that Israel should "hit everything that moves" in Gaza "with weapons and ammunition," adding, "I don't think we have to show pity for anyone who wants to kill us."

And today, Tzachi Hanegbi, a senior member of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's Kadima party said that Israel should invade Gaza to "topple the Hamas terror regime" and that Israeli forces, which now enforce the occupation of Gaza from the periphery and air, should prepare to remain in the interior of the territory "for years."

While Israeli leaders escalate the violence and threats, some other top officials and a vast majority of the Israeli public support direct talks with Hamas to achieve a mutual ceasefire, something Hamas has repeatedly offered for months.

"Sixty-four percent of Israelis say the government must hold direct talks with
the Hamas government in Gaza toward a cease-fire and the release of captive
soldier Gilad Shalit," the Israeli daily Haaretz reported on 27 February citing a Tel Aviv University poll. The report noted that half of Likud supporters and large majorities of Kadima and Labor party voters support such talks and only 28 percent of Israelis still oppose them.

Knesset Member Yossi Beilin, leader of the left-Zionist Meretz-Yahad party, called for an agreed ceasefire with Hamas, noting that "there have been at least two requests from Hamas, via a third party, to accept a cease-fire," Haaretz reported on 29 February. Israel's public security minister, Avi Dichter, visiting Sderot the previous day, criticized Israel's military escalation, saying, "Whoever talks about entering and occupying the Gaza Strip, these are populist ideas which I don't connect to, and in my opinion, no intelligent person does either." And, in an interview with the American magazine Mother Jones, published on 19 February, the former head of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency, Efraim Halevy, repeated calls for Israel and the US to negotiate a ceasefire with Hamas. Dismissing lurid rhetoric about the group, Halevy stated that "Hamas is not al-Qaida," and "is not subservient to Tehran."

The question remains as to why when the vast majority of Israelis and Palestinians, some senior Israeli officials, and Hamas leaders are all talking about a ceasefire, the Israeli government refuses to accept one and the US refuses to call for one. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has blamed the escalating bloodshed entirely on Hamas, and has failed to call for a ceasefire. This echoes her support for Israel's merciless 2006 bombardment of Lebanon which she notoriously celebrated as being "the birth pangs of a new Middle East."

The Palestinian and Israeli populations are exhausted by the relentless bloodshed, however unequal its toll. They are paying the price of a failed policy, pushed by Washington and its local clients, which attempts to demonize, isolate and destroy any movement that resists the order that the United States seeks to impose on the region.

Co-founder of The Electronic Intifada, Ali Abunimah is author of One Country: A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse (Metropolitan Books, 2006).

Ministro boliviano presionará al Congreso respecto a la desestabilización causada por Estados Unidos

Un alto funcionario boliviano está planeando una visita a Washington para presentar pruebas de que los programas de ayuda estadounidense han intentado desestabilizar al gobierno del Presidente boliviano Evo Morales. El Ministro de la Presidencia Juan Ramón Quintana efectuaría la visita solo semanas después de que se revelara que un alto funcionario de la embajada de Estados Unidos le dijo a un grupo de voluntarios de los Cuerpos de Paz que espiaran a los cubanos y venezolanos con los que se encontraran en Bolivia. Quintana dice que se reunirá con los congresistas para hablar sobre los esfuerzos de Estados Unidos por apoyar a la oposición adinerada de Bolivia.

Israel no presentará cargos contra las Fuerzas Armadas por asesinato de 21 civiles en 2006

Mientras tanto, las Fuerzas Armadas israelíes anunciaron que no se iniciarán acciones legales con relación a un ataque contra un complejo residencial de Gaza en noviembre de 2006, que causó la muerte de 21 civiles palestinos. Dieciséis de las personas que murieron eran integrantes de la misma familia. Siete de ellos eran niños, entre los que se encontraba una niña de 18 meses. Otras seis víctimas eran mujeres. Otros diecinueve familiares resultaron heridos, de los cuales cuatro niños perdieron las extremidades.

Mueren siete palestinos en ataque aéreo israelí

En Israel y los Territorios Ocupados, al menos siete palestinos murieron y varios resultaron heridos en ataques israelíes contra la Franja de Gaza. Israel ha matado a más de 200 palestinos en Gaza desde que se reanudaron las negociaciones de paz en noviembre.

Three Gaza picnickers killed by Israeli missile

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) strongly condemns the Israeli war crime perpetrated in the evening of Saturday, 23 February 2008, east of the town of Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip. Three Palestinian civilians were killed by an Israeli rocket fired as they were on a picnic in the Nazaz area east of the town.

The Centre's preliminary investigation indicates that at approximately 3:40pm on Saturday, Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) fired a surface-to-surface missile from one of its bases along the Gaza Strip border. The rocket targeted three friends in a bamboo hut in a field belonging to the family of one of the victims in the Nazaz area east of Beit Hanoun. The targeted area was approximately 1.2 kilometers away from the border with Israel. The rocket landed in the middle of the three civilians who were preparing food during their picnic in the field. They were instantly killed and dismembered. Their remains were taken to the Beit Hanoun Hospital. They were identified as:

• Mohammad Talal al-Za'anin (20), university student from Beit Hanoun
• Ibrahim Ahmad Abu Jarad (20), driver from Beit Hanoun
• Mohammad Hasan Hussein (22), an employee from Jabalia

After the incident, an IOF spokesperson was quoted on the Yediot Ahronot website claiming that the army targeted armed Palestinian rocket launchers. However, the Centre's investigation refutes the claim, and affirms that they were civilians on a picnic in an open field. They were roasting meat and waiting for other friends to join them for dinner. The bombardment occurred before the others arrived.

PCHR reiterates its condemnation of this crime, and:

1. Affirms that this crime is part of a continuous series of Israeli war crimes in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, reflecting IOF disregard for civilian life.

2. Calls upon the High Contracting Parties (HCP) of the Fourth Geneva Convention (1949) to fulfill their legal obligation under Article 1 of the Convention and ensure that it is respected by all parties under any circumstances. The Centre calls upon the HCP to fulfill their obligations under Article 146 of the Convention to pursue persons suspected of perpetrating grave violations of the Convention, which are defined as war crimes under Article 147 of the Convention.

Estados Unidos detiene a periodista de televisión candiense en Afganistán

El Comité para la Protección de los Periodistas está criticando a las Fuerzas Armadas de Estados Unidos por detener a un periodista que trabaja para el canal de televisión canadiense, CTV. Jawed Ahmad fue detenido en octubre, y permanece detenido sin acusaciones en su contra en una base militar estadounidense en Afganistán. Joel Simon, del Comité para la Protección de los Periodistas, dijo: “Las Fuerzas Armadas estadounidenses deben explicar el motivo de su detención y darle las garantías del debido proceso. Si no es acusado de ningún delito entonces debe ser liberado de inmediato”. Al menos otros dos periodistas permanecen detenidos por fuerzas estadounidenses. El camarógrafo de Al-Jazeera Sami Al-Haj está preso en Bahía de Guantánamo, y el fotógrafo de Associated Press Bilal Hussein está detenido en Irak.

A third way

Haidar Eid, The Electronic Intifada, 21 February 2008

"You are either with us, or with the terrorists," said US President George W. Bush a couple of days after the horrendous 2001 attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Prior to this statement, Bush had made it clear that his is a "crusade" against "terror" and "the powers of darkness." This simplistic binary approach employed by the American president and his right-wing administration -- supported wholeheartedly by the powerful CNNized media -- attempts to close the door in the face of a third way: a more rational, secular and democratic one that fights terrorism whether nihilistic or state-sponsored.

Its reductive, hegemonic right-wing, orientalist ideology that informs most western politics deliberately ignores the simple rational fact that the existence of Arab terrorists does not, and should not, by any means lead to the sweeping condemnation of the Arab Nation. If one is to follow the same logic that informs such ideology, one, then, should condemn the US, and Christianity for that matter, for the terrible crime committed by Timothy McVeigh.

rest of article:
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9322.shtml

British police failed to arrest Israeli war criminal

Report, PCHR and Hickman and Rose, 21 February 2008
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9324.shtml

On 10 January 2002 Israeli bulldozers flattened 59 houses in the Rafah refugee camp on the Gaza Strip. Residents fled their homes in heavy rain, most losing all their possessions in the process. Among those made homeless were a number of children who were terrified and traumatized by what happened. It appears that the motive for the destruction was retaliation for an unrelated attack by militants that resulted in the death of four Israeli soldiers. The commanding officer who authorized the demolitions was Major General (Reserve) Doron Almog.

The extensive destruction of property not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly is a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention. The collective punishment of civilians is also forbidden under the Geneva Conventions. Over the years, many Palestinian civilians have tried to obtain redress, peacefully and lawfully, through the Israeli courts for incidents of this nature. Sadly, the courts have declared these matters to be non-justiciable (itself arguably a further Convention breach).

Offering people who suffer wrongs a route to redress without violence is fundamental to preserving the rule of law. All nations are required to take effective steps to prosecute war crimes irrespective of where they occur.

Doron Almog escapes arrest

On 10 September 2005, Chief London Magistrate Timothy Workman issued a warrant for the arrest of Major General Almog on suspicion of committing a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention 1949 which in the UK is a criminal offense contrary to the Geneva Conventions Act 1957. The arrest warrant was passed to the Anti-Terrorist and War Crimes Unit of the Metropolitan Police, which failed to execute the warrant when Almog, who had been tipped off about the arrest warrant by Israeli embassy staff, refused to leave a plane that had recently landed at Heathrow and police officers decided not to board it to arrest him.

Police complaint lifts the veil

One of Almog's alleged victims, Abdul Matar, made a police complaint about the apparent tip-off to Almog and the failure to board the aircraft to arrest him. The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) initially refused even to record the police complaint, let alone investigate it, but, after the IPCC intervened, the shocking details of their incompetence on 10 to 11 September 2005 have been revealed. First, in the lead up to Almog's arrival in the UK:

• Not only did the MPS inform six different police and security agencies of the existence of the "secret" warrant, they also disclosed confidential information to a "Trusted Partner" (thought to be a civilian, but who has not been identified) to advise the MPS on their own conduct.
• The Trusted Partner instructed a lawyer to represent Almog (apparently without naming him) and made inquiries of the local Jewish community in Solihull (which he was visiting) about his schedule.
• The MPS also contacted El Al airline while Almog was in flight to the UK. (El Al later refused the MPS voluntary access to the airplane.)

In these circumstances, it was not surprising that Almog was alerted to the existence of the warrant and so decided not to leave the airplane on 11 September. What is surprising are the reasons why Det. Superintendent MacBrayne and Commander McDowall [i] made the decision not board the airplane:

• They were apparently unclear if the police were legally entitled to board the aircraft; and
• They were concerned about the risk that an armed Israeli would confront any police that attempted to board the plane; and
• The consequent risk to the police and public; and
• The international impact of a potentially armed police operation at an airport; and
• The impact on the community in arresting an Israeli ex-military commander.

Comment

The criminal justice system, Matar and other victims of war crimes allegedly committed by Doron Almog have been very badly let down by the MPS failures:

1. To keep Almog from finding out about the arrest warrant before it was executed; and

2. To arrest Almog when they had the opportunity to board the airplane at Heathrow airport.

These are serious failures that raise concerns about the effectiveness of the police in cases where international criminal suspects come to the UK. They also reveal an extraordinary assumption that armed Israelis might engage British police on British soil as they try to make an arrest under a lawful warrant issued by a British judge. The fact that this risk was apparently taken into account, and led to police inaction, is a matter of grave concern.

Hopefully, the police have subsequently sought to obtain assurances that such fears would never be realized and the legal position has been clarified within the MPS, so that there can never again be any concerns about boarding a plane on British soil to effect a lawful arrest, even where that plane is owned by the national airline of a foreign country. It also seems appropriate for the role of a Trusted Partner in such cases to be reviewed.

Raji Sourani, the director of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights(PCHR), expressing the disappointment of Matar at what occurred on 11 September 2005, stated:

"Once again, justice has been denied for Palestinian civilian victims. We will never forget or forgive all those who perpetrated war crimes against Palestinian civilians. Failure to respect the rule of law and to pursue those responsible for attacking civilians will undermine the respect for international law which we do badly need if we are to have peace in our region. Until such time we will be faced with the rule of the jungle."

Further background

The warrant issued on 10 September 2005 was in relation to the allegedly wanton destruction of 59 houses in Rafah refugee camp in the Gaza Strip on 10 January 2002.

The decision to apply to the court for an arrest warrant was taken against the background of a series of meetings with the War Crimes Unit of the Metropolitan Police where Hickman and Rose, on behalf of PCHR and the clients in these cases, provided the police with a considerable volume of evidence in relation to this suspect. The police were unable to take a decision about the arrest or prosecution of the suspect before his planned visit on Sunday, 11 September. Consequently, acting on behalf of the victims, including Matar, Hickman and Rose and PCHR pursued the suspect through the judicial system, so that he could be arrested before fleeing the UK.

Doron Almog is a 54-year-old Israeli national who was GOC Southern Commander of the Israeli military from 8 December 2000 to 7 July 2003. Under his command the Israeli military were responsible for a countless variety of extensive alleged human rights violations inside the OPT.

The prosecution of those suspected of war crimes is a long-term PCHR strategy designed to combat the culture of impunity which leading international non-governmental organizations have found to be endemic inside the Israeli military, judicial and political system. PCHR and Hickman and Rose remain hopeful that such cases will eventually be heard in an open and fair trial system which applies international standards as this has not (yet) been available through the Israeli judicial system.

Estados Unidos se niega a levantar el embargo de Cuba

El gobierno de Bush está desafiando los pedidos de que levante el embargo de Cuba tras el anuncio de la renuncia de Fidel Castro. El martes, más de cien miembros del Congreso exhortaron a Estados Unidos a que reviera su política de aislamiento de Cuba. La carta decía: “Nuestra política nos deja sin influencia en este momento crítico, y esto no favorece ni el interés nacional de Estados Unidos ni a los cubanos comunes y corrientes, a quienes queremos beneficiar con nuestra política”. Estados Unidos ha mantenido un embargo sobre Cuba desde 1960. El Presidente Bush habló sobre la situación de Cuba durante su visita a Ruanda.El Presidente Bush dijo: “La comunidad internacional debería trabajar con el pueblo cubano para comenzar a construir instituciones necesarias para la democracia. Y finalmente esta transición deberá llevar a elecciones libres y justas, verdaderamente libres y justas. No este tipo de elecciones arregladas que los hermanos Castro intentan vender como verdadera democracia. Y nosotros ayudaremos, Estados Unidos ayudará a que el pueblo cubano descubra las bendiciones de la democracia”.

Mientras tanto, los líderes sudamericanos rindieron homenaje a Fidel Castro el martes.

El Presidente boliviano, Evo Morales, dijo: “Personalmente lo he sentido mucho porque tengo una enorme admiración, porque Fidel nos enseña a ser solidarios. Fidel nos enseña a trabajar por la vida, por la humanidad, en base a la solidaridad. Aprendí bastante de eso”.

El Presidente brasileño, Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva, describió a Castro como “una leyenda”.Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva dijo: “Considero que esto es importante para la armonía de Latinoamérica, porque el proceso ocurrió de forma más tranquila, con la iniciativa de Fidel, como debía ser. El gran mito continúa. Fidel es el único mito viviente en la historia de la humanidad y creo que lo construyó con mucha competencia, carácter, voluntad, y también con mucho conflicto y controversia”.

Fuerzas israelíes matan a seis palestinos en Gaza

En Gaza, seis palestinos, entre ellos un maestro, murieron hoy luego de que tanques y aviones israelíes abrieron fuego en otro ataque transfronterizo. El maestro murió cuando un misil tierra-tierra israelí impactó en una escuela de agricultura en la localidad norteña de Beit Hanoun. El miércoles dos mujeres israelíes resultaron heridas por un cohete disparado desde Gaza.

Informe: Estados Unidos opera prisión secreta en Guantánamo

Associated Press reveló nuevos detalles sobre cómo las Fuerzas Armadas estadounidenses está dirigiendo una prisión secreta en Guantánamo conocida como “Camp 7”. Por primera vez, el principal comandante de las operaciones de detención en Guantánamo, el Contralmirante Mark Buzby, confirmó la existencia de una prisión misteriosa. Según informes, las Fuerzas Armadas tienen detenidos a quince prisioneros catalogados como “de gran valor” en esta prisión. No obstante, las Fuerzas Armadas se negaron a revelar exactamente dónde está ubicada esta prisión dentro de Guantánamo.

Report: U.S. Operating Secret Prison at Guantanamo

The Associated Press has revealed new details about how the U.S. military is running a secret prison at Guantanamo known as Camp 7. For the first time, the top commander of detention operations at Guantanamo—Rear Adm. Mark Buzby—has confirmed the existence of the mysterious prison. The military is reportedly holding 15 so-called high value detainees at Camp 7. But the military has refused to disclose where Camp 7 is located within the grounds of Guantanamo.

Seven Gazans killed in day of Israeli air, shelling attacks.

On 7 February 2008, the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF)
killed seven Palestinians, raising the number of victims
from its military attacks to seventeen persons since the
beginning of this month, and 96 persons since the
beginning of 2008 in the Gaza Strip. The IOF launched
seven attacks in different parts of the Gaza Strip since
last night, of which the most affected areas were Khan
Younis, al-Nuseirat, and other areas in northern Gaza.

Mueren cuatro familiares iraquíes en ataque estadounidense

En Irak, el lunes las Fuerzas Armadas estadounidenses admitieron haber asesinado a cuatro integrantes de una familia y haber herido a otro en la localidad de Adwar, en el norte de Bagdad. Una pareja y su hijo de 19 años murieron en el acto. Las dos jóvenes hijas de la pareja resultaron heridas en el ataque. Una de ellas murió luego de ser trasladada al hospital a causa de sus heridas, lo que convirtió a su hermana en la única sobreviviente. Un primo que presenció los asesinatos dijo que los soldados estadounidenses abrieron fuego inmediatamente después de irrumpir en su hogar. Este hecho tuvo lugar dos días después de que Estados Unidos admitió haber matado a trece civiles iraquíes en un ataque aéreo en el sur de Bagdad. Entre las personas que murieron se encontraban dos mujeres y un niño pequeño. Otros dos niños resultaron heridos. Hoy se conmemora el quinto aniversario del discurso que dio ante el Consejo de Seguridad de la ONU quien fuera Secretario de Estado en aquel entonces, Colin Powell, en el que presentó los motivos por los que se debía atacar Irak.

CIA admits waterboarding suspects of terrorism

The CIA has for the first time publicly admitted using the controversial method of "waterboarding" on terror suspects. CIA head Michael Hayden told Congress it had only been used on three people, and not for the past five years. He said the technique had been used on high-profile al-Qaeda detainees including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Waterboarding, condemned as torture and illegal by critics, is an interrogation technique during which the detainee is put in fear of drowning. Mr Hayden was speaking as National Intelligence Director Mike McConnell presented his annual threat assessment.
Some critics describe the procedure as torture and Congress has been debating banning its use by the CIA. President Bush has threatened to veto such a bill.

US Iraq Rules of Engagement leaked

Wikileaks (.com) has obtained the long kept secret Rules of Engagement (ROE) for U.S. troops in Iraq. This document sets out the rules guiding authorized U.S. troop actions in that occupation. While the Wikileaks document dates from 2005, as these ROEs generally change slowly the rules for today are likely similar, though we can't be sure, of course, to what extent more recent ROE's differ.

Among several interesting nuggets in the ROE, it provides indications that U.S. attacks likely to result in civilian deaths required authorization at the top of the Pentagon, by the SECDEF (Secretary of Defense). Thus, the ROE states repeatedly; "If the target is in a HIGH CD [collateral damage] area, SECDEF approval is required." And what is the definition of a High Collateral Damage area? The ROE contains a set of explicit definitions of its terms. There we find High Collateral Damage Targets defined as:

"Those targets that, if struck, have a ten percent probability of causing collateral damage through blast debris and fragmentation and are estimated to result in significant collateral effects on noncombatant persons and structures, including: (A) Non-combatant casualties estimated at 30 or greater; (B) Significant effects on Category I No Strike protected sites in accordance with Ref D; (C) In the case of dual-use facilities, effects that significantly impact the non-combatant population, including significant effects on the environment/facilities/infrastructure not related to an adversary’s war making ability; or (D) Targets in close proximity to known human shields."

Thus, all attacks, except those in self-defense or active pursuit, with a reasonable possibility of harming 30 or more civilians needed approval from Defense Secretary Rumsfeld. Presumably such approval would need to be in writing. The ROE thus suggest that there may exist an extensive documentary record of requests, and possibly Rumsfeld's approval or rejection, for attacks with the potential for resulting in significant civilian casualties. Congress should demand access to these documents to determine the extent to which attacks resulting in civilian casualties were authorized, potentially providing insight into who was responsible for possible war crimes committed in the course of the occupation.

While much of the rest of the ROE appears rather unsurprising, there are a couple of other interesting aspects to the document. One is that the main "hostile forces," from the U.S. perspective are the Baath remnants, such as the Special Republican Guard and the Baath Party Militia. There is no mention of Iraqi al-Qaida or its predecessors. These predecessors, led by al-Zarqawi, had identified with and pledged allegiance to al-Qaida as early as October, 2004, yet they receive no mention in the ROE. The ROE rather refers to Baath forces that "have transitioned from overt conventional resistance to insurgent methods of resistance."

While the Sunni al-Qaida predecessors do not make the list of hostile forces, the Shia-based Mahdi Army of Muqtada al-Sadr does make the list of "Declared Hostile Forces," However, as of the ROE's writing, this status was "suspended and such individuals will not be engaged except in self-defense."

Another interesting feature of the ROE is a complete ignoring of the language barriers separating U.S. troops from the Iraqi populace. Thus, in a section on graduated force, the first stage is "shout verbal warnings to halt." There is not even a mention of the fact that most Iraqis cannot understand warnings shouted in English. In general, the ROE is notable for lacking any recognition that, in an "insurgency," there are at best blurry boundaries between combatants and noncombatants. Thus, there is no emphasis of the need to take extraordinary measures to protect the civilian population. Rather, it provides a rationale for virtually any attacks:

"US Forces may always use force, up to and including deadly force, to neutralize and/or detain individuals who commit hostile acts or exhibit hostile intent against US Forces or Coalition Forces."

As we have seen repeatedly, from the numerous roadblock killings of civilians to the Haditha massacre, this ROE authorization to use force can be used to provide cover for virtually any civilian killings. The ROE suggests that preventing such deaths was low on the priority list of those officials writing the rules of engagement for the occupation. Even so, a military study found that less than half of US occupation soldiers would report a unit member for violating an ROE. Thus, even the limited protections provided civilians in the ROE were often not present on the ground.

Coimas democráticas?

Las compañías petrolíferas estadounidenses ofrecieron cinco millones de dólares a cada diputado iraquí para que aprobaran la ley del petróleo .

Mueren nueve civiles iraquíes en ataque estadounidense

Las Fuerzas Armadas estadounidenses afirman que mataron accidentalmente a nueve civiles iraquíes el sábado en Bagdad. Otros tres civiles resultaron heridos en este ataque, en el que las víctimas recibieron disparos provenientes de helicópteros estadounidenses. Este incidente sería el peor caso que se haya conocido de un presunto error de identidad desde noviembre, mes en el que las fuerzas estadounidenses asesinaron a 25 miembros de un grupo sunita en contra de Al Qaeda.

Más de un millón de iraquíes han muerto desde el comienzo de la guerra desencadenada por EEUU en marzo del 2003 en Irak.

El estudio, elaborado por el instituto británico Opinion Research Business (ORB) y el Independent Institute for Administration and Civil Society Studies (IIACSS), se basa en entrevistas realizadas principalmente en áreas urbanas del país árabe, aunque también recoge muestras de algunas zonas rurales del territorio iraquí.
Un total de 2.414 personas, mayores de 18 años, respondieron a la cuestión planteada por el ORB relativa a determinar el número de personas muertas en sus respectivos hogares, si es que los hay, desde que comenzó la guerra hasta agosto del pasado año. Los resultados de la investigación cifraron en más de un millón el número de iraquíes, concretamente 1.033.239, que han perdido la vida como consecuencia del conflicto iniciado en marzo de 2003 por parte de Estados Unidos y una coalición internacional, según apunta el instituto en un comunicado.
Los datos finales de la encuesta señalan que el 20,2 por ciento de los entrevistados confirmaron la muerte de al menos un familiar en sus hogares, con un promedio de 1,26 muertes por núcleo familiar, por causas relacionadas con la violencia que asuela a todo el país. El censo completo más reciente en Irak se remonta a 1997 y cifra en 4.050.597 el total de hogares en el país, subraya la institución británica.
El estudio, realizado entre agosto y septiembre del 2007, tiene un margen de error de en torno al 1,7 por ciento y cubre 15 de las 18 provincias del país, entre las que sobresale la ausencia de muestras de las regiones de Kerbala y Al Anbar por motivos de seguridad, afirma la organización. La ORB sostiene que debido a la violencia en estas dos provincias, la cifra de fallecidos podría ser aún mayor, sin tener en cuenta, además, los datos de la región septentrional de Irbil cuyas autoridades rehusaron colaborar con los investigadores.
El Opinion Research Business (ORB) es miembro del Consejo de Investigación Británico mientras que el IIACSS es un instituto de opinión establecido en Irak en el 2003 que ha realizado diversas encuestas en todo el territorio iraquí.

Contratan a nueva directora en escuela de idioma árabe de Nueva York tras destitución de fundadora

En Nueva York, una nueva directora fue contratada en la primera escuela pública de idioma árabe de la ciudad cinco meses después de que la directora fundadora fue obligada a renunciar. Holly Reichert asumió su cargo en la Academia Internacional Khalil Gibran en Brooklyn el miércoles. Su predecesora, Debbie Almontaser, fue forzada a renunciar poco antes de que la escuela abriera luego de que fue citada explicando que la palabra “intifada” literalmente significa “agitación” en árabe. Almontaser fue criticada por no denunciar la utilización de remeras con la palabra “intifada” inscripta. Almontaser presentó una demanda federal contra la ciudad por su despido

NSA: “No ocurrió ningún ataque” en el Golfo de Tonkin

Documentos recientemente desclasificados proporcionaron más pruebas de que el gobierno de Johnson fingió el incidente del Golfo de Tonkin para intensificar la Guerra de Vietnam. El presunto ataque de 1964 contra buques de guerra estadounidenses perpetrado por vietnamitas del norte fue utilizado como excusa para incrementar los bombardeos y el despliegue de soldados en Vietnam. No obstante, un informe de la Agencia de Seguridad Nacional (NSA, por sus siglas en inglés) concluye: “esa noche no ocurrió ningún ataque”.

Blackwater arrojó toxina contra punto de control colmado de gente

La empresa militar privada Blackwater Worldwide está afrontando nuevas acusaciones de actividades ilegales en Irak, esta vez por lanzar un gas antidisturbios altamente prohibido contra un punto de control colmado de personas en Bagdad en mayo de 2005. Según el New York Times, el gas CS arrojado por un helicóptero y un vehículo blindado de Blackwater cegó temporalmente a los conductores, los peatones y a por lo menos diez soldados estadounidenses. Blackwater está siendo vigilada de cerca por un tiroteo masivo en Bagdad que causó la muerte de 17 iraquíes en septiembre. Testigos militares dicen que los empleados de Blackwater aparentemente arrojaron el gas para abrirse paso en medio de un embotellamiento. Este gas solo puede ser utilizado en situaciones peligrosas. Dicho gas produce, entre otras cosas, ardor en los ojos y lagrimeo, irritación de la piel, tos y dificultades respiratorias, nauseas y vómitos. Blackwater dice que reportó el incidente a la Embajada de Estados Unidos y que el caso fue investigado. Sin embargo, oficiales estadounidenses no pudieron confirmar que la investigación de hecho se haya efectuado.

Único oficial acusado en escándalo de Abu Ghraib fue absuelto de su condena

El único oficial militar acusado en el escándalo de abuso en Abu Ghraib fue absuelto de su única condena. El Teniente Coronel Steven Jordan fue absuelto el año pasado de los cargos de abusar personalmente de prisioneros y entrenar a otros soldados acusados de malos tratos. Jordan fue declarado culpable del cargo de desobedecer órdenes al hablar de la investigación en curso cuando se le había ordenado no hacerlo. No obstante, esta semana el General de División Richard Rowe desechó esa condena. En un momento Jordan podría haber sido condenado hasta a 16 años de prisión.

Blackwater Dropped Toxin on Crowded Checkpoint

The private military firm Blackwater Worldwide is facing new allegations of unlawful activity in Iraq, this time for dropping a heavily-restricted riot-control gas on a crowded Baghdad checkpoint in May 2005. According to the New York Times, the release of the CS gas by a Blackwater helicopter and armored vehicle temporarily blinded drivers, pedestrians and at least ten American soldiers. Blackwater is already under scrutiny for a mass shooting in Baghdad that killed seventeen Iraqis last September. Military witnesses say Blackwater personnel appeared to release the gas as a way to clear a traffic jam that was blocking their route. The gas is only authorized for use in dangerous situations. Its effects include burning and watering eyes, skin irritation, coughing and breathing difficulties, nausea and vomiting. Blackwater says it reported the incident to the U.S. Embassy and that the case was investigated. But U.S. officials could not confirm that an investigation occurred.

Evidence of Israel's "cowardly blending" comes to light

Evidence of Israel's "cowardly blending" comes to light
Jonathan Cook, Electronic Lebanon, 7 January 2008

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It apparently never occurred to anyone in our leading human rights organizations or the Western media that the same moral and legal standards ought be applied to the behavior of Israel and Hizballah during the war on Lebanon 18 months ago. Belatedly, an important effort has been made to set that right.

A new report, written by a respected Israeli human rights organization, one representing the country's Arab minority not its Jewish majority, has unearthed evidence showing that during the fighting Israel committed war crimes not only against Lebanese civilians -- as was already known -- but also against its own Arab citizens. This is an aspect of the war that has been almost entirely neglected until now.

The report also sheds a surprising light on the question of what Hizballah was aiming at when it fired hundreds of rockets on northern Israel. Until the report's publication last month, I had been all but a lone voice arguing that the picture of what took place during the war was far more complex than generally accepted.

The new report follows a series of inquiries by the most influential human rights groups, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, to identify the ways in which international law was broken during Israel's 34-day assault on Lebanon. However, both organizations failed to examine, except in the most cursory and dismissive way, Israel's treatment of its own civilians during the war. That failure may also have had serious repercussions for their ability to assess Hizballah's actions.

Before examining the report's revelations, it is worth revisiting the much-misrepresented events of summer 2006 and considering what efforts have been made subsequently to bring the two sides to account.

The war was the culmination of a series of tit-for-tat provocations along the shared border following Israel's withdrawal from its two-decade occupation of south Lebanon in 2000. Almost daily for those six years Israel behaved as though the occupation had not ended, sending war planes into Lebanese air space to create terrifying sonic booms and spy on the country. (After the war, it resumed these flights almost immediately.)

In response Hizballah, a Shia militia that offered the only effective resistance during Lebanon's period of occupation, maintained its belligerent posture. It warned repeatedly that it would capture Israeli soldiers, should the chance arise, in the hope of forcing a prisoner exchange. Israel had held on to a handful of Lebanese prisoners after its pullback.

Hizballah also demanded that Israel complete its withdrawal from Lebanon in full by leaving a fertile sliver of territory, the Shebaa Farms. Israel argues that the area is Syrian territory, occupied by its army along with the Golan Heights in 1967, and will be returned one day in negotiations with Damascus. UN cartographers disagree, backing Hizballah's claim that the area is Lebanese.

The fighting began with a relatively minor incident (by regional standards) and one that was entirely predictable: Hizballah attacked a border post, capturing two soldiers and killing three more in the operation. Hizballah's leader Hassan Nasrallah proposed a prisoner swap. Israel declared war the very same day, unleashing a massive bombing campaign that over the next month killed nearly 1,200 Lebanese civilians.

An editorial in Israel's leading newspaper Haaretz noted again this week that, by rejecting Hizballah's overtures, "Israel initiated the war."

In the last days of the fighting, as a UN-brokered ceasefire was about to come into effect, Israel dropped more than a million cluster bombs on south Lebanon, of which several hundred thousand failed to detonate. Since the end of the war, 39 Lebanese civilians have been killed and dozens more maimed from these small landmines littering the countryside.

Israel's own inquiry into its use of the cluster munitions wrapped up last month by exonerating the army, even while admitting that many of the bombs had been directed at civilian population centers. In Israel's books, it seems, international law sanctions the targeting of civilians during war.

Veteran Israeli reporter Meron Rapoport recently noted that his newspaper, Haaretz again, has evidence that the army's use of cluster munitions was "pre-planned" and undertaken without regard to the location of Hizballah positions. The only reasonable conclusion is that Israel wanted south Lebanon uninhabitable at any cost, possibly so that another ground invasion could be mounted.

Human Rights Watch (HRW), which has carried out the most detailed examination of the war, was less forgiving than Israel's own investigators -- as might have been expected in the case of such a flagrant abuse of the rules of war. Still, it has failed to condemn Israel's actions unreservedly. In a typical press release it noted the wide dispersal of cluster bombs over civilian areas of south Lebanon but concluded only that their use by Israel "may violate the prohibition on indiscriminate attacks contained in international humanitarian law."

In this and other respects, HRW's reports have revealed troubling double standards.

Double standards

During the war two charges were leveled against Hizballah, mainly by Israel's supporters, and investigated by the human rights group: that the Shia militia fired rockets on northern Israel either indiscriminately or in a deliberate attempt to target civilians; and that it hid its fighters and weapons among its own Lebanese civilians (thereby conveniently justifying Israel's bombing of those civilians).

Hizballah was found guilty of the first charge, with HRW arguing that it was irrelevant whether or not Hizballah was trying to hit military targets in Israel as its rockets were not precision-guided. All its rockets, whatever they were aimed at, were therefore considered indiscriminate by the organization and a violation of international law. Worthy of note is that HRW expressed certainty about the impermissibility of Hizballah firing imprecise rockets but not about Israel's use of even less precise cluster bombs.

On the second charge Hizballah was substantially acquitted, with HRW failing to find evidence that, apart from in a handful of isolated instances, the militia hid among the Lebanese population.

Regarding Israel, the human rights organizations investigated the charge that it violated international law by endangering Lebanese civilians during its bombing campaigns. Given that Israel's missiles and bombs were supposed to have pinpoint accuracy, the large death toll of Lebanese civilians provided indisputable evidence of Israeli war crimes. HRW agreed.

Strangely, however, after submitting both Israel and Hizballah to the same test of whether their firepower targeted civilians, HRW deemed it inappropriate to investigate Israel on the second allegation faced by Hizballah: that it committed a war crime by blending in with its own civilian population. Was there so little prima facie evidence of such behavior on Israel's side that the organization decided it was not worth wasting its resources on such an inquiry?

HRW produced two lengthy reports in August 2007, one examining events in Lebanon and the other events in Israel. But the report on what happened inside Israel, "Civilians under Assault," failed to examine Israel's treatment of its own civilians and focused instead only on proving that Hizballah's firing of its rockets violated international law.

HRW did make a brief reference to the possibility that Israeli military installations were located close to or inside civilian communities. It cited examples of a naval training base next to a hospital in Haifa and a weapons factory built in a civilian community. Its researchers even admitted to watching the Israeli army firing shells into Lebanon from a residential street of the Jewish community of Zarit.

This act of "cowardly blending" by the Israeli army -- to echo the UN envoy Jan Egeland's unwarranted criticism of Hizballah -- was a war crime. It made Israeli civilians a potential target for Hizballah reprisal attacks.

So what was HRW's position on this gross violation of the rules of war it had witnessed? After yet again denouncing Hizballah for its rocket attacks, the report was mealy-mouthed: "Given that indiscriminate fire [by Hizballah], there is no reason to believe that Israel's placement of certain military assets within these cities added appreciably to the risk facing their residents."

In other words, Israel's culpability in hiding its war machine inside civilian communities did not need to be assessed on its own terms as a violation of international law. Instead Israel was let off the hook based on the assumption that Hizballah's rockets were incapable of hitting such positions. It is dubious, to put it mildly, whether this is a legitimate reading of international law.

An additional criticism, one that I made on several occasions during the war, was that Israel failed to protect its Arab communities from rocket attacks by ensuring they had bomb shelters or early warning systems -- unlike Jewish communities. On this issue, the HRW report had only this to say: "Human Rights Watch did not investigate whether Israel discriminated among Jewish and Arab residents of the north in the protection it provided from Hizballah attacks."

Of Hizballah's indiscrimination, HRW was certain; of Israel's discrimination, it held back from judgment.

New evidence

Fortunately, we no longer have to rely on Human Rights Watch or Amnesty International for a full picture of what took place during what Israelis call the Second Lebanon War. Last month the Arab Association for Human Rights, based in Nazareth, published its own report, "Civilians in Danger," covering the ground its much bigger cousins dared not touch.

The hostile climate in Israel towards the fifth of the population who are Arab has made publication of the report a risky business. Azmi Bishara, Israel's leading Arab politician and a major critic of Israel's behavior during the Lebanon war, is currently in exile under possible death sentence. Israel has accused him of treason in helping Hizballah during the fighting, though the secret services have yet to produce the evidence they have supposedly amassed against him. Nonetheless they have successfully intimidated most of the Arab minority into silence.

Also, much of the report's detail, including many place-names and maps showing the location of Hizballah rocket strikes, has had to be excised to satisfy Israel's strict military censorship laws.

But despite these obstacles, the Human Rights Association has taken a brave stand in unearthing the evidence to show that Israel committed war crimes by placing much of its military hardware, including artillery positions firing into Lebanon, inside and next to Arab towns and villages. These were not isolated instances but a discernible pattern.

The threat to which this exposed Arab communities was far from as theoretical as HRW supposes. Some 660 Hizballah rockets landed on 20 Arab communities in the north, apparently surprising Israeli officials, who believed Hizballah would not target fellow Arabs. Of the 44 Israeli civilians killed by the rockets, 21 were Arab citizens.

Israel has cited these deaths as further proof that Hizballah's rocket fire was indiscriminate. The Human Rights Association, however, reaches a rather different conclusion, one based on the available evidence. Its research shows a clear correlation between an Arab community having an Israeli army base located next to it and the likelihood of it being hit by Hizballah rockets. In short, Arab communities targeted by Hizballah were almost exclusively those in which the Israeli army was based.

"The study found that the Arab towns and villages that suffered the most intensive attacks during the war were ones that were surrounded by military installations, either on a permanent basis or temporarily during the course of the war," the report states.

Such findings lend credibility to complaints made during the war by Israel's Arab legislators, including Bishara himself, that Arab communities were being used as "human shields" by the Israeli army -- possibly to deter Hizballah from targeting its positions.

In early August 2006, Bishara told the Israeli Maariv newspaper: "What ordinary citizens are afraid to say, the Arab Knesset members are declaring loudly. Israel turned the Galilee and the Arab villages in particular into human shields by surrounding them with artillery positions and missile batteries."

Such violations of the rules of war were occasionally hinted at in reporting in the Israeli media. In one account from the front line, for example, a reporter from Maariv quoted parents in the Arab village of Fassuta complaining that children were wetting their beds because of the frightening bark of tanks stationed outside their homes.

According to the Human Rights Association's report, Israel made its Arab citizens vulnerable to Hizballah's rockets in the following ways:

• Permanent military bases, including army camps, airfields and weapons factories, as well as temporary artillery positions that fired thousands of shells and mortars into southern Lebanon were located inside or next to many Arab communities.
• The Israeli army trained soldiers inside northern Arab communities before and during the war in preparation for a ground invasion, arguing that the topography in these communities was similar to the villages of south Lebanon.
• The government failed to evacuate civilians from the area of fighting, leaving Arab citizens particularly in danger. Almost no protective measures, such as building public shelters or installing air raid sirens, had been taken in Arab communities, whereas they had been in Jewish communities.
• Under the protocols to the Geneva Conventions, parties to a conflict must "avoid locating military objectives within or near densely populated areas" and must "endeavor to remove the civilian population ... from the vicinity of military objectives." The Human Rights Association report clearly shows that Israel cynically broke these rules of war.

Tarek Ibrahim, a lawyer and the author of the Association's report, says the most surprising finding is that Hizballah's rockets mostly targeted Arab communities where military installations had been located and in the main avoided those where there were no such military positions.

"Hizballah claimed on several occasions that its rockets were aimed primarily at military targets in Israel. Our research cannot prove that to be the case but it does give a strong indication that Hizballah's claims may be true."

Although Hizballah's Katyusha rockets were not precision-guided, the proximity of Israeli military positions to Arab communities "are within the margin of error of the rockets fired by Hizballah," according to the report. In most cases, such positions were located either inside the community itself or a few hundred meters from it.

In its recommendations, the Human Rights Association calls for the removal of all Israeli military installations from civilian communities.

(Again noteworthy is the fact that Israel has built several weapons factories inside Arab communities, including in Nazareth. Arab citizens are almost never allowed to work in Israel's vast military industries, so why build them there? Part of the reason is doubtless that they provide another pretext for confiscating Arab communities' lands and "Judaizing" them. But is the criticism by Arab legislators of "human shielding" another possible reason?)

The report avoids dealing with the wider issue of whether the Israeli army located in Jewish communities too during the war. Ibrahim explains: "In part the reason was that we are an Arab organization and that directs the focus of our work. But there is also the difficulty that Israeli Jews are unlikely to cooperate with our research."

Israel has longed boasted of its "citizen army," and in surveys Israeli Jews say they trust the military more than the country's parliament, government and courts.

Nonetheless, the report notes, there is ample evidence that the army based itself in some Jewish communities too. As well as the eyewitness account of the Human Rights Watch researcher, it was widely reported during the war that 12 soldiers were killed when a Hizballah rocket struck the rural community of Kfar Giladi, close to the northern border.

A member of the kibbutz, Uri Eshkoli, recently told the Israeli media: "We deserve a medal of honor for our assistance during the war. We opened our hotel to soldiers and asked for no compensation. Moreover, soldiers stayed in the kibbutz throughout the entire war."

In another report, in The Guardian newspaper, a 19-year-old British Jew, Danny Young, recounted his experiences performing military service during the war. He lived on Kibbutz Sasa, close to the border, which became an army rear base. "We were shooting missiles from the foot of this kibbutz," he told the paper. "We were also receiving Katyushas."

So far the Human Rights Association's report has received minimal coverage in the Hebrew media. "We are facing a very difficult political atmosphere in Israel at the moment," Ibrahim told me. "Few people inside Israel want to hear that their army and government broke international law in such a flagrant manner."

It seems few in the West, even the guardians of human rights, are ready to hear such a message either.

Jonathan Cook is a journalist based in Nazareth, Israel. His latest book "Israel and the Clash of Civilisations: Iraq, Iran and the Plan to Remake the Middle East" will be published next month. His website is www.jkcook.net.

(republished with permission from Electronic Intifada http://electronicintifada.net)

Mueren nueve palestinos en ataque israelí contra Gaza

En Israel y los Territorios Ocupados, al menos nueve palestinos fueron asesinados el jueves en un ataque israelí contra Gaza. Entre las personas que murieron se encontraban cuatro civiles. Tres de ellos eran integrantes de la misma familia, que murieron cuando tanques israelíes bombardearon su casa. Un pariente dijo que la familia estaba desayunando cuando la casa fue bombardeada. Muhammad Atiat dijo: “Ella estaba sentada aquí con su hija e hijos, estaban desayunando. De pronto tanques israelíes dispararon un cohete, luego mi tía murió, su hija y otras dos personas, cuatro personas resultaron heridas. Uno de ellos es mi primo, que ahora se encuentra en el hospital”. Los tanques israelíes también hirieron a varios palestinos, entre ellos tres niños de edad escolar. Un joven de catorce años se encuentra en estado crítico. Israel dice que está intentando detener los ataques con cohetes palestinos contra las localidades israelíes cercanas. Un cohete palestino impactó en Ashkelon el jueves, pero aparentemente no hubo heridos. Mientras tanto, soldados israelíes también invadieron la ciudad de Nablus, en Cisjordania. Diecinueve palestinos resultaron heridos, la mayoría de los cuales eran niños de edad escolar que estaban arrojando piedras.

Partidario de Giuliani pide el exterminio de los musulmanes

Un líder del grupo Veteranos de New Hampshire por Rudy renunció de la campaña de Giuliani luego de que pidió el exterminio de los musulmanes.
John Deady realizó los siguientes comentarios durante una entrevista grabada con el periódico The Guardian:
“Considero que tiene el conocimiento y el juicio para atacar uno de los problemas más difíciles en la historia actual y es el del crecimiento de los musulmanes, y no cometer errores al respecto, esto no ha sucedido en mil años. Estas personas son muy dedicadas y también extremadamente inteligentes a su manera. Debemos seguir presionándolos hasta que los derrotemos o los atrapemos y los mandemos de regreso a sus cuevas, o en otras palabras, hasta que nos deshagamos de ellos”.

Las torturas de Bush

El programa de secuestro y tortura del gobierno de Bush, con sus “vuelos de tortura” a bordo de jets privados y las "prisiones secretas" de la CIA, salió un poco más a la luz este semana. Mohamed Farag Ahmad Bashmilah fue víctima del llamado programa de “rendición extraordinaria” de la CIA, en el que personas son “arrestadas” en sus casas, en aeropuertos, en la calle, y son trasladadas, lejos de la vigilancia del Congreso de EE.UU., lejos de la prensa, lejos del alcance de los tribunales, a países en los que la tortura y los tratos crueles son rutina.

Bashmilah está siendo representado por la Unión Estadounidense por las Libertades Civiles (ACLU, por sus siglas en inglés) y por el Departamento de Derechos Humanos de la Facultad de Derecho de la Universidad de Nueva York en una demanda conjunta con otras cuatro víctimas del programa de rendición extraordinaria de la CIA. No han demandado al gobierno de EE.UU. ni a la CIA, sino a una compañía llamada Jeppesen Dataplan Inc., una subsidiaria de Boeing Corporation. Un ex empleado de Jeppesen, Sean Belcher, presentó una declaración jurada en apoyo a Bashmilah, en la que informaba que el ejecutivo de Jeppesen Bob Overby presumía de la siguiente forma: “hacemos todos los vuelos del programa de rendición extraordinaria”, y continuaba explicando al personal que se refería a “los vuelos de tortura”, y que estaban muy bien pagos.

Con la ayuda de un intérprete, a través del teléfono desde su casa en Yemen, Bashmilah describió cómo comenzó su calvario el 21 de Octubre de 2003, cuando fue arrestado en Amman, Jordania: “Duró aproximadamente seis días, pero lo que soporté allí equivale a años. Querían que confesara que tenía relaciones con algunos individuos de al-Qaeda. Intentaron varias veces que confesara, y cada vez que les decía que no, me daban una patada, me abofeteaban o me insultaban. Entonces dijeron que si no confesaba, traerían a mi esposa y la violarían delante de mí. Y por miedo a lo que podría pasarle a mi familia, grité hasta desmayarme. Después de recuperar la conciencia, les dije ‘por favor, no le hagan nada a mi familia. Cooperaré con ustedes de la manera en que quieran’”.

Tras firmar una confesión falsa, le anunciaron que iba a ser liberado. Mientras era conducido por las instalaciones de la inteligencia jordana se levantó la venda que le tapada los ojos. “Vi a otro hombre, que tenía aspecto occidental. Era blanco, con cierto sobrepeso y llevaba gafas de sol. Comprendí entonces que probablemente me estaban entregando a otra agencia, porque durante los interrogatorios a los que me habían sometido los jordanos, una de las amenazas era que, si no confesaba, me entregarían a la inteligencia estadounidense”. Fue preparado para el traslado, fue completamente desnudado. “Empezaron a fotografiarme por todas partes. También empezaron a golpearme por los costados y en los pies. Y después me pusieron en una postura parecida a la posición de postración en la oración musulmana, que es parecida a la posición fetal. Y en esa posición, uno de ellos metió el dedo en mi ano muy violentamente. Me dolía terriblemente, y empecé a gritar. Cuando empezaron a tomar fotos, pude ver que estaban enmascarados. Estaban vestidos de negro de pies a cabeza, y también llevaban guantes de cirujano”.

Bashmilah cuenta que le pusieron un pañal, que tenía los ojos y los oídos tapados, que le pusieron una bolsa sobre la cabeza y auriculares para bloquear el ruido exterior. Fue trasladado en avión a Kabul, Afganistán, donde estuvo detenido en aislamiento durante casi seis meses. Creía que estaba a cargo de estadounidenses. “Algunos de los interrogadores se me acercaban y me interrogaban en la sala de interrogatorios, y me decían: ‘Deberías calmarte y sentirte tranquilo, porque enviaremos toda esta información a Washington’. Y decían que en Washington determinarían si mis respuestas eran verdaderas o no”. Aunque fue aislado de otros prisioneros, logró escuchar a algunos de ellos comentando que podían estar en la base aérea de Bagram. Bashmilah siguió contando en el teléfono que lo mantenían despierto con música estridente y que permanecía sujeto con grilletes, que solamente le quitaban durante los periódicos interrogatorios.

Durante el período en que Bashmilah era interrogado y torturado, también era visitado por “psiquiatras”. “La terapia consistía principalmente en analizar mis pensamientos e intentar interpretarlos por mí, además de suministrarme tranquilizantes”.

Bashmilah intentó suicidarse tres veces, protagonizó una huelga de hambre que fue interrumpida de forma dolorosa cuando le introdujeron un tubo por la nariz para alimentarlo de manera forzosa, se le negó el acceso a un abogado, a entrevistarse con algún grupo de derechos humanos, y al Comité Internacional de la Cruz Roja. En efecto, estaba desaparecido.

El 5 de mayo de 2005 fue trasladado a una prisión en Yemen, donde finalmente pudo comunicarse con su familia. Amnistía Internacional se involucró en el caso. Fue liberado en marzo de 2006, sin que se hayan presentado cargos por terrorismo en su contra.

Mohamed Bashmilah afirmó que había cámaras en sus celdas y en las salas de interrogatorio. Quizás su calvario fue registrado en video. Esperemos que la CIA no destruya también esas grabaciones.