NYCLAW Antiwar Digest (07.27.08)

AFGHANISTAN

OBAMA, THE PRINCE OF BAIT-AND-SWITCH
That [Obama] is a smooth operator and a black man is irrelevant. He is of an enduring, rampant system whose drum majors and cheer squads never see, or want to see, the consequences of 500lb bombs dropped unerringly on mud, stone and straw houses.
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m45954&hd=&size=1&l=e

MAKE WAY FOR FIELD MARSHALL OBAMA
[I]t is up to Obama to point out why it’s more acceptable to kill a man who is fighting for his country in Afghanistan than it is in Iraq. If he can’t answer that question, then he deserves to lose.
http://www.counterpunch.org/whitney07062008.html

NEW US AIRSTRIKES KILL DOZENS
More than half of those killed in the three recent U.S.-led airstrikes  .  .  .  were women and children, according to Afghan and Western officials. In one case, about 47 women and children in a wedding party were killed.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/24/AR2008072403465.html

IS AFGHANISTAN A NARCO-STATE?
Sure, Karzai had Taliban enemies who profited from drugs, but he had even more supporters who did.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/27/magazine/27AFGHAN-t.html?hp

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IRAN

OBAMA PUTS FRESH PRESSURE ON IRAN
Obama said that. . . . the world must send “a clear message to Iran to end its illicit nuclear program”. . . . [T]here’s a wonderful tradition in the United States, that’s not always observed, but I think is a good one. Which is that you don’t spend time criticizing a sitting president when you’re overseas.”
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/obama-puts-new-presure-on-iraq-877714.html

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IRAQ

FORCED TRANSFER OF BASRA UNION ACTIVISTS
“Those activists, through their hard work, are well known for fighting corruption and corrupt-ministry gangs in the oil sector”. . . . [T]he transfer amounted to a “human rights crime”.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jul/25/iraq.oilandgascompanies

HOW MANY US TROOPS WILL REMAIN IN IRAQ?
[I]f the end of the surge left 16,000 troops behind, how many troops would a so-called complete U.S. withdrawal leave behind?. . . . “Once we redeploy our combat brigades, we’re still going to retain a capability to protect our personnel, to target terrorists and to train Iraqi security forces, if there is political progress,” Obama said.
http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-07-24-voa10.cfm

SUICIDE ATTACKS ON COLLABORATORS SEEK REVENGE
The bomber targeted a Sahwa or Awakening patrol of Iraqi forces — former insurgents recruited to fight Al-Qaeda in Iraq and paid by the US military. . . . “One of the reasons for women to kill like this is a desire for vengeance,” said Captain Kevin Ryan, commander of a US base in Baquba. “Often, they have lost parents, brothers or children in the fighting.”
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hb0G8vokARTUIFw0A2QwSeAh45tA

MILITARY AND MEDIA SUPPRESS IMAGES OF US COMBAT DEATHS
[A]fter five years and more than 4,000 American combat deaths, searches and interviews turned up fewer than a half-dozen graphic photographs of dead American soldiers. . . . Most newspapers refuse to publish such pictures as a matter of policy.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/26/world/middleeast/26censor.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

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PAKISTAN

$10 BILLION U.S. MILITARY AID SINCE 9/11
The United States has given more than $10 billion in military aid to Pakistan since the Sept. 11 attacks, when President Pervez Musharraf agreed to become an ally in the campaign against terrorism.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/24/world/asia/24pstan.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

OBAMA: ESCALATE WAR
[I]ntelligence and military officials described a counter-terrorism campaign in Pakistan that has lost momentum and is beset by frustration. . . . Democratic Sen. Barack Obama has said that U.S. forces should “take out” top militants if Pakistan did not act on firm intelligence.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-uspakistan27-2008jul27,0,7917426.story

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PALESTINE

ISRAELI MILITARY CHIEF RECEIVES DECORATION FROM US ARMY
[T]he award was given to the IDF chief for his year long contribution to the war on terror, his work for Israel’s security and his contribution to improving the security dialogue between the two armies. . . .  the IDF chief’s talks with the Americans focused on the Iranian threat and possible military solutions. . . . We have no disagreements. The cooperation is very good.”
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3573024,00.html

OBAMA: WRONG IN EVERY WAY
[Obama] has rejected the Palestinians’ demand for the right of those who left Israel to return. He has said the U.S. shouldn’t negotiate with Hamas, the Islamic Palestinian group that the U.S. and the European Union consider a terrorist organization, unless it recognizes Israel’s right to exist.
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20080722_obama_on_the_brink/

OBAMA: JERUSALEM WILL NOT BE CAPITAL OF PALESTINIAN STATE
The press conference was held with Israeli foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, who said, “Israel and the USA have a common understanding of what must happen in the region.”
http://www.maannews.net/en/index.php?opr=ShowDetails&ID=30771

OBAMA (AND BIG MEDIA) TURN BLIND EYE TO ISRAELI APARTHEID
How can Barack Obama, himself the son of an American mixed marriage remain an apparently uncritical supporter of Israeli apartheid. . . . Why should the US support a heavily militarized, nuclear armed, white-dominated apartheid Jewish state in the Middle East rather than a non-racial and secular democratic one-person one-vote government for all that state’s inhabitants?
http://www.blackagendareport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=714&Itemid=1

PALESTINIAN FAMILY IN JERUSALEM DENIED EVEN HALF A HOUSE
[T]he Sheikh Jarrah evictions are part of a much bigger goal being pursued by shadowy settler groups, backed by the Israeli government, to establish wedges of Jewish settlement around the Old City.
http://counterpunch.org/cook07262008.html

ISRAEL TO BUILD NEW WEST BANK SETTLEMENT
Israel’s Defense Ministry has revived a plan it had shelved under U.S. pressure to build a new Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-palestinians-israel-settlement.html

POVERTY WORSENING IN GAZA
Aid granted to Gaza has failed to stop more than half of the population in the territory from sliding below the poverty line.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2008/07/2008724105341256363.html

ISRAEL HAS KILLED 801 PALESTINIANS THIS YEAR
Of the 801 Palestinians killed by Israelis, 107 were children and 33 were women. . . . More than 11,000 Palestinians are currently being held in Israeli jails.
http://english.pnn.ps/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3240&Itemid=1

IDF VETS TRAIN NY JEWISH PARAMILITARIES
Kitat Konenut New York is modeled on the rapid response teams in the West Bank settlements. . . . The group claims to be “well-connected with the New York police and fire departments.”
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1215331093729&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFul

REFUGEES HAUNT ISRAELI SOCIETY
Consciously or not, Israeli society is haunted by the ghosts of the Naqba, and the brutality–domestic violence as well as the violence directed toward its Arab surroundings–of Israeli behavior, is the result of a permanent fear. Not the fear of the Arab armies, nor the fear of the alleged Iranian nuclear armament, but the fear of the ghosts of 1948, the refugees.
http://www.alternativenews.org/blogs/michael-warschawski/the-Palestinian-return-and-right-of-returnno-deal-20080702.html

THE PALESTINIAN RETURN AND RIGHT OF RETURN–NO DEAL
[T]he core of our discussions should not be about solutions and models, but values and rights. In that perspective, one has to unequivocally reject the very idea (and existence) of a Jewish state, whatever will be its borders. For a Jewish state (in the demographic sense of the concept) necessarily implies the drive for exclusion and expulsion.
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m45381&hd=&size=1&l=e

“OCCUPIERS CANNOT ALSO BE LIBERAL”: AN INTERVIEW WITH ILAN PAPPE
Israel has to be de-Zionized before peace is possible, and peace has to include the return of the Palestinian refugees, otherwise it would be a futile exercise.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9634.shtml

PALESTINE IN THE MIDDLE EAST: OPPOSING NEOLIBERALISM AND US POWER
[I]t is impossible for any progressive movement to develop in the region that is not centrally concerned and linked with the Palestinian struggle. All popular struggles across the region are soon intertwined with the question of Palestine.
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m45778&hd=&size=1&l=e

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ANTIWAR MOVEMENT

IS OBAMA’S CAMPAIGN STIMULATING OR UNDERMINING THE ANTIWAR MOVEMENT?
Is [Obama's] candidacy encouraging the social power of the antiwar movement, for example? Or is it just siphoning off the movement’s independent energy and activism for the sake of a candidate’s future promises to end one war and now, start another?
http://www.zmag.org/znet/viewArticle/18271

NYCLAW Antiwar Digest (07.23.08)

AFGHANISTAN

AIR WAR INCREASES
[O]rders for airstrikes in Afghanistan have increased in recent months, as American and allied warplanes attack Taliban hide-outs and swoop in to assist allied and Afghan forces under fire.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/23/world/asia/23military.html?hp

U.S. AND NATO FORCES KILL 13 AFGHANS IN STRIKES SAID TO BE MISTAKES
The latest casualties came as Senator Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, was on his first visit to Afghanistan with a Congressional delegation.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/21/world/asia/21afghan.html?ref=world

OBAMA: AFGHANISTAN IS ‘CENTRAL FRONT ON OUR BATTLE AGAINST TERRORISM’
Obama, interviewed in Afghanistan for CBS’s “Face The Nation,” called Afghanistan the “central front on our battle against terrorism”. . . . If we wait until the next administration, it could be a year before we get those additional troops on the ground here in Afghanistan, and I think that would be a mistake,” he said. “I think the situation is getting urgent enough that we’ve got to start doing something now.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/20/AR2008072000224.html

OBAMA:  MORE U.S. TROOPS
“That is where the 9-11 attacks were planned. And today in Afghanistan and the border region of Pakistan, al-Qaida and the Taliban are mounting a growing offensive against the security of the Afghan people, and increasingly the Pakistani people, while plotting new attacks against the United States,” Obama said.
http://www.redorbit.com/news/politics/1490025/obama_calls_anew_for_more_us_troops_in_afghanistan/

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IRAQ

INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT’S SELECTIVE PROSECUTIONS
That the Sudanese regime has behaved with considerable barbarity in Darfur is beyond question. But. . . . [t]he biggest war criminals of recent years are President George Bush and former premier Tony Blair. They have been responsible for the death of more than 700,000 Iraqis as a result of the war, countless grave injuries, massive displacement and a serious deterioration in the conditions of life. Perversely, notwithstanding their crimes against humanity, they have not yet been charged by the ICC.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/jul/23/foreignpolicy.warcrimes

U.S. FORCES KILL RELATIVES OF IRAQI GOVERNOR
[D]eputy governor of Salahuddin, Abdullah Jabarah, said there had been at least two similar attacks in the area by American troops. “These troops usually use excessive force when they conduct operations,” he said. The Salahuddin Provincial Council issued a statement saying the attack was an indication of “how the American forces disregard the souls of Iraqi citizens.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/21/world/middleeast/21iraq.html?ref=worldspecial

GUILTY CONSCIENCE CAUSES PTSD
PFC James Burmeister enlisted in the military because he thought he would be doing “humanitarian work” in Iraq. But he was manning a machine gun, using ammunition so large his targets — humans — would “literally explode,” the day in Baghdad that his Humvee was hit by a roadside bomb. He was knocked unconscious, and bits of shrapnel were embedded in his face. . . .  “The most severe part of PTSD has do with a guilty conscience,” he says. “They are repeatedly put in the position of doing things that they know in their gut are wrong.”
http://eugeneweekly.com/2008/05/22/coverstory.html

IRAQS AVOID CONTACT WITH US TROOPS
Most merchants were polite but reserved. Orosz described their general attitude toward U.S. soldiers: “Please don’t stand in front of my shop for too long.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/20/AR2008072002221.html

AMONG IRAQIS, OBAMA IS NOT TOPIC NO. 1
“I couldn’t care less if either of them visited Iraq. . . . [The Americans] practically own this place. They’re occupying the country, after all, and besides, they’re doing it for their own benefit, not for the Iraqi people.”
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iraq22-2008jul22,0,5141802.story

MIDEAST SEES MORE OF THE SAME IF OBAMA IS ELECTED
“For me it doesn’t matter that he’s black or his name is Hussein. . . . I mean, Condoleezza Rice was black and poor, and she still invaded Iraq.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/22/world/middleeast/22mideast.html?ref=world

OBAMA’S STANCE IS CHILLINGLY CONSISTENT
Tactical differences and issues of style aside, Obama’s message on occupied Iraq is deeply troubling – not because it has U-turned but because it has been consistent. His 300 foreign policy advisers are making sure that he will not stray from protecting US imperialist interests, even if it does mean launching new wars and bolstering puppet regimes and corrupt dictatorships throughout the “greater Middle East”.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/jul/22/barackobama.uselections20081

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IRAN

PALESTINE AND ISRAEL: WHAT’S IRAN GOT TO DO WITH IT?
[T]he American Israel Public Affairs Committee has leaped into the breach to promote an ultra-aggressive posture towards Iran embodied in House Concurrent Resolution 362. . . . [T]his non-binding resolution “was the top agenda point of the 7,000 AIPAC members who descended on Capitol Hill” after their annual conference in June.
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/beinin220708.html

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PAKISTAN

PAKISTANIS WILL RESIST US INVASION
Under almost any conceivable circumstance, the overwhelming majority of Pakistanis would perceive a U.S. invasion of the tribal areas as an attack on national sovereignty requiring resistance by every means possible.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/22/world/asia/22tribal.html?ref=world

OBAMA: US WILL STRIKE PAKISTAN
“[W]hat I’ve said is that if we had actionable intelligence against high-value al-Qaeda targets and the Pakistani government was unwilling to go after those targets, then we should,” the Democrat, who aspires to be the first black-American president, noted.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=64440&sectionid=351020401

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PALESTINE

NI’LIN DEMONSTRATIONS HALT WALL CONSTRUCTION
The people managed to halt construction work, causing the Occupation force stationed in the area to respond violently.
http://stopthewall.org/latestnews/1697.shtml

FAMILY DENIES BULLDOZER ATTACK
In Umm Tuba, which sprawls over several dusty hillsides, residents rejected the Israeli version of events, insisting that Mr. Abu Tir had been involved in a road accident before being shot by an overzealous settler.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/23/world/middleeast/23israel.html?ref=world

MK MEMBER: JERUSALEM’S ARABS ARE THE THREAT
“The Arab neighborhoods of East Jerusalem have become the heart of future mass terror attacks,” said Kadima MK Otniel Schneller . . . . “Jerusalem’s security problem isn’t what is surrounding it but rather it is from within Jerusalem, the Arab neighborhoods.”
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1004447.html

POLICE TO CLOSELY WATCH ARAB WORKERS IN JERUSALEM
Jerusalem District Commander Aharon Franco ordered police Tuesday evening to more closely scrutinize Arab workers who are residents of east Jerusalem, in the wake of the latest bulldozer terror attack in the capital. . . .  “There is a link between events in Gaza and the pictures coming out of the Strip and such popular attacks,” one Shin Bet official said. Security officials added that these attacks are not a result of organized terror activity, but rather, come at the initiative of Palestinian individuals.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3571848,00.html

FILM SHOWS ISRAELI SOLDIER FIRING RUBBER BULLET AT PALESTINIAN AT CLOSE RANGE
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2008/jul/21/palestinianshooting

OBAMA: VOWS TO SUPPORT ISRAELI “MIRACLE”
The Illinois senator, meeting Israeli President Shimon Peres, described Israel as a “miracle that has blossomed” since its founding 60 years ago.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/washington/politics-palestinians-israel-obama.html

OBAMA DOESN’T IMPRESS PALESTINIANS
[M]ost Palestinians believe the U.S. is so irrevocably biased toward Israel that it will make little difference whether the next president is Democrat Obama or Republican John McCain. . . . “Obama wants to go to the White House through Tel Aviv, at the expense of the Palestinians,” said Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-palestinians-obama,1,6574751.story

DOES ISRAEL HAVE THE RIGHT TO EXIST?
Israel does not have the right to take away other people’s rights. The answer is as simple as that.
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m45872&hd=&size=1&l=e

CELEBRATED LATIN DIVA URGED TO CANCEL TEL AVIV CONCERT
[H]ow can Mercedes Sosa, the quintessentially progressive diva of freedom songs in Latin America, sing in Israel, a colonial and apartheid state?
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9702.shtml

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GI RESISTANCE

DESERTER AWAITING COURT-MARTIAL AT FORT KNOX
Burmeister is among the 4,698 U.S. Army soldiers who deserted in fiscal year 2007, a number that risen 92 percent since 2004.
http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080621/NEWS01/306210002/1008

IRAQ WAR VETERAN IS FIGHTING TO BRING TROOPS HOME
“Our troops need to feel that America has their back if they want to resist. . . . We are the ones that really understand where they come from.”
http://www.downtownexpress.com/de_271/iraqwar.html

THE MILITARY PROJECT: EMULATE VIETNAM GIS’ RESISTANCE
The Army and the Marine Corps were not working at the end of the 1960s. Then the Navy stopped working, and the Vietnam War stopped. We can stop the wars by doing the same thing today. . . . If enough of the American people, standing shoulder to shoulder, march on our military bases and show that they are behind the troops who resist the wars, it could make a tremendous difference. It could mean the end of the wars. That is my dream.
http://www.republicbroadcasting.org/index.php?cmd=columnists.article&articleID=324

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ANTIWAR MOVEMENT

LABOR SUPPORT FOR COLOMBIA MURDER TRIBUNAL
Resolved, that Branch 214 of the National Association of Letter Carriers supports the initiative of Colombian labor and human rights organizations to hold the Peoples Permanent Tribunal hearings in Bogota, July 21-23, 2008, to expose the continuing murderous campaign by government-supported paramilitary death squads against trade union activists in Colombia
http://lnn.jottit.com/letter_carriers_union:__support_the_tribunal_investigating_murders_of_union_leaders_in_colombia

AUGUST 2: STOP WAR ON IRAN
The U.S. occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan is hated by the people there. These wars have no support at home and are ruining the domestic economy. Instead of pulling out, the Bush administration is preparing for still another war–this time against Iran. This must be stopped!
http://www.stopwaroniran.org/aug2.shtml

MOVEON.ORG CELEBRATES OBAMA’S WAR PLANS
“So far the trip has been out of the park. It’s an enormous moment,” declared Eli Pariser, executive director of MoveOn.org, which supports Obama. He hedged about Obama’s troop commitments, however: He said he wasn’t fully aware of Obama’s call for a residual force in Iraq and was trying to get a sense from MoveOn members on their views about Afghanistan. . . . . “The [Iraqi] prime minister clearly supports Obama’s plan for exiting Iraq,” Pariser said. “This couldn’t really be better.”
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/election2008/story/45161.html

NEEDED: MASS MOVEMENT FROM BELOW
It is indeed time to end the occupation of Iraq and to end the war against the world that goes under the rubric of the “war on terror.” But the only way to do this is to build a mass, democratic and independent antiwar movement, build the resistance of soldiers and veterans, and push for genuine withdrawal, not a repurposing of the war on terror.
http://socialistworker.org/2008/07/22/decoding-obama-on-iraq

NYCLAW Anatiwar Digest (07.20.08)

IRAQ

RESISTANCE RISING
Sadr’s people are not opposing the Americans only. They are opposing the Shiite-dominated government which they believe is a U.S. stooge.
http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/91392/?ses=f07bc03dff3ecb7228ad411024be910f

U.S. ONLY PERPETUATES GENOCIDE
McCain would undoubtedly accept the deaths of another million Iraqi civilians in order to save face for America, and Obama’s 18-month timetable for withdrawal would likely result in another 250,000 civilian deaths or more. . . . The only resolution of this dilemma is the immediate withdrawal of all US troops in Iraq and the prosecution and imprisonment of those responsible.
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m45825&hd=&size=1&l=e

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IRAN

BENNY MORRIS: GENOCIDE IS RIGHT IN PALESTINE, IN THE US . . .
You can’t make an omelet without breaking eggs. You have to dirty your hands. . . . A Jewish state would not have come into being without the uprooting of 700,000 Palestinians. Therefore it was necessary to uproot them. . . . Even the great American democracy could not have been created without the annihilation of the Indians. There are cases in which the overall, final good justifies harsh and cruel acts that are committed in the course of history.
http://www.counterpunch.org/shavit01162004.html

. . . AND IN IRAN
ISRAEL will almost surely attack Iran’s nuclear sites in the next four to seven months. . . . To be sure, this would mean thousands of Iranian casualties and international humiliation. But the alternative is an Iran turned into a nuclear wasteland.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/18/opinion/18morris.html?scp=1&sq=%22benny+morris%22&st=nyt

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PALESTINE

WHO ARE THE “TERRORISTS,” AGAIN?
A pamphlet warning Britons to leave the Middle East or face death has come to light in a stash of illicit propaganda. The document does not hail from Basra or Baghdad, nor was it penned by the Islamists of al-Qaeda or the al-Mahdi Army. It was found in Haifa, about 60 years ago, and it was issued by the underground group led by Menachem Begin — the future Prime Minister of Israel and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article4360655.ece

SUSAN SARANDON’S DOUBLE STANDARDS
Whatever the reason is, Sarandon seems to have forgotten that beyond the names of countries and influential people there are some universal rules we all should respect, and those are international laws.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/omid-memarian/susan-sarandons-double-st_b_113823.html

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G.I. CASUALTIES

AS WARS LENGTHEN, TOLL ON MILITARY FAMILIES MOUNTS
”He didn’t want to go — he was afraid, but he had a job that he’d signed up to do and he went and did it,” Shane said. ”I do think it led up to everything that happened. … It opened up a world of death and chaos and uncertainty”. . . . ”The tactics learned as part of military training are often used by those who commit domestic violence.”
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Military-Scarred-Families.html

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ANTIWAR MOVEMENT

MOVEON LEAVES OBAMA UNACCOUNTABLE
[T]here in fact is no strong antiwar accountability system that is willing to use the election as an instrument of pressure. Instead, there are groups like Moveon.org that have built up an enormous capacity for pressure, but are using that enormous capacity as an appendage of the Democratic Party, regardless of whether Democrats use their congressional power to end the war.
http://www.gnn.tv/articles/3773/The_War_Dems_MoveOn_and_The_Uprising

WHAT ANTIWAR LEVERAGE?
[W]hat’s the leverage of the grassroots supporters of Obama who have given him their trust, because they want change so badly on the environment, in Iraq, on domestic economic policy?
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/7/15/with_crises_in_fuel_food_housing

CPUSA: OBAMA IS “ANTIWAR”
Lightening storms may have kept national AFL-CIO President John Sweeney’s plane from landing here in time for the Connecticut AFL-CIO convention June 23, but nothing could stop the delegates’ determination to prepare for their strongest mobilization ever in the 2008 elections. . . . The convention unanimously adopted a resolution reaffirming opposition to the war by national and state labor bodies, and asserting that Obama “shares labor’s opposition — while John McCain supports the war and President Bush’s military policy.”
http://www.pww.org/article/articleview/13356/

OBAMA’S ENTRANCE EXAM
Obama isn’t making these gestures because he’s worried about adding a few thousand conservative voters in a swing state to his column. Instead, he’s confident that he’s going to win in November, and he is completing his exam for entrance to the pinnacle of the ruling class.
http://socialistworker.org/2008/07/18/obama-entrance-exam

CYNTHIA MCKINNEY FOR PRESIDENT
McKinney’s campaign is Black-led, anti-imperialist, working-class-centered and has a multinational radical base with the potential of unlimited growth.
http://www.workers.org/2008/editorials/cynthia_mckinney_0724/

PALESTINE DEBATE AT CLEVELAND CONFERENCE
Whether or not to find ways to include the issue of Palestine, for example, has been a major point of controversy, with Socialist Action holding that it’s inclusion in an important but not dominant or primary manner would help expand rather than narrow the movement. . . . But the conference majority rejected this formulation in favor of “challenging” the legitimacy of the Israeli occupation. It strengthened the Action Program’s emphasis on the Palestine issue more generally.
http://www.phillyimc.org/en/node/71338

AUGUST 24: DENVER ANTIWAR PROTEST AT DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION
The war is an Imperialist war not a Republican war.
http://www.recreate68.com/call_to_action.pdf

SEPTEMBER 1: ST. PAUL MARCH ON THE RNC TO STOP THE WAR
We demand that U.S. troops get out of Iraq. We want money for human needs, not for war. We say no to this agenda. We demand peace, justice and equality.
http://www.marchonrnc.org/files/Call2MarchBW_0.pdf

NYCLAW Antiwar Digest (07.19.08)

AFGHANISTAN

WHY AFGHANISTAN IS NOT THE GOOD WAR
Without going into the role the CIA and Pentagon played in the rise of the Taliban, suffice it to say they continue to exist primarily because they resist the imperial aggressor, not because the Afghani majority necessarily agrees with their understanding of Islam.  .  .  . The solution to Afghanistan begins, just like in Iraq, with the unconditional and immediate withdrawal of the US military.
http://counterpunch.org/jacobs07192008.html

U.S. PREPARES TO BOOST ITS FORCES IN AFGHANISTAN
President Bush has already committed to beefing up the U.S. presence in Afghanistan next year. But Defense Department officials said the recent efforts of military planners would accelerate the process and could allow the new brigade of 3,500 soldiers to deploy there before the end of this year.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-base17-2008jul17,0,6396178.story

OBAMA’S TIMETABLE: REDEPLOY TO AFGHANISTAN
As the Iraq war winds down, Obama said, he wants to see troops redirected to Afghanistan. He said the fight against the Taliban and Al Qaeda was a war “we have to win” and repeated his call for two more combat brigades in Afghanistan to counteract “deteriorating” conditions. . . . Many of the points Obama made reflect the Washington establishment’s foreign policy consensus.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/complete/la-na-campaign16-2008jul16,0,4012722.story

STRIKE KILLS 2 AFGHAN TRIBAL LEADERS, NATO SAYS
When they came under fire from villagers, the Special Forces called in airstrikes on the village, resulting in 57 deaths, including women and children.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/18/world/asia/18afghan.html?ref=worldspecial

RESISTANCE FORCES U.S. TO ABANDON OUTPOST
The withdrawal handed a propaganda victory to the Taliban, and insurgents were quick to move into the village of Wanat beside the abandoned outpost, Afghan officials said. Insurgents nearly overran the barely built outpost in a dawn raid on Sunday, the most deadly assault for United States forces in Afghanistan since 2005. . . .  Local people have been angered by civilian casualties caused by American airstrikes aimed at militants, and some now may be cooperating with the militants, Afghan officials said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/18/world/asia/18afghan.html?ref=world

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DARFUR

JUSTICE ONLY FOR DARFUR VICTIMS?
In case the ICC official has failed to notice, more people have died in Iraq and Afghanistan than those claimed by the conflict in Sudan over the past five years. . . . And while you are administering justice, could you please also remember the people who have been waiting for justice in the holy land for nearly 70 years? They call themselves Palestinians.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20307.htm

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GI RESISTANCE

CANADA EXPELS AN AMERICAN DESERTER FROM THE IRAQ WAR
The deserter, Robin Long, a native of Boise, Idaho, is believed to be the first from the Iraq war returned by the Canadian government. . . . Since the Iraq war began in 2003, about 200 people have abandoned the United States military and fled to Canada, according to groups that represent their interests and provide them with support, legally and otherwise.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/16/world/americas/16deport.html?ref=world

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IRAQ

SURGE “ENDS”; 150,000 TROOPS REMAIN
The military surge into Iraq that began more than 18 months ago has ended. But 150,000 U.S. troops remain, as many as 15,000 more than before the buildup began.
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m45775&hd=&size=1&l=e

RESISTANCE RESURFACES IN FALLUJAH
The majority of Iraqis surveyed disapproved of U.S.-backed Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, most disapproved of the Iraqi government, and most felt that all occupation forces should leave Iraq immediately. The police forces are particularly unpopular.
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m45771&hd=&size=1&l=e

BARACK OBAMA PURGES WEB SITE CRITIQUE OF SURGE IN IRAQ
Obama’s campaign posted a new Iraq plan Sunday night, which cites an “improved security situation” paid for with the blood of U.S. troops since the surge began in February 2007. It praises G.I.s’ “hard work, improved counterinsurgency tactics and enormous sacrifice.”
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2008/07/14/2008-07-14_barack_obama_purges_web_site_critique_of.html

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LEBANON & PALESTINE

THE SECRET OF HIZBULLAH’S SUCCESS
Hizbullah’s success can be added to its already long list of achievements, and reminds Arab and Muslim audiences worldwide of the effectiveness of a steadfast resistance. In an Arab world used to humiliations and defeats, the list of achievements claimed by Hizbullah in the past decade is indeed noteworthy.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/jul/18/israelandthepalestinians.lebanon

GIDEON LEVY:  ’WORSE THAN APARTHEID’
Madlala-Routledge thinks that the struggle against the occupation is not succeeding here because of U.S. support for Israel – not the case with apartheid, which international sanctions helped destroy. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1000976.html

THE UNTOLD STORY OF NI’LIN
Ni’lin’s story is one of incremental dispossession. . . . Palestinians and Jews are not fighting on different sides of this fray, but rather scores of Jewish Israeli and international activists are standing beside the Palestinians residents as they try to stop military bulldozers from destroying Ni’lin’s land. Indeed, among those injured are many Israelis. The story of Ni’lin is, in other words, the story of a colonized people resisting colonization.
http://counterpunch.org/gordon07192008.html

ISRAELI CRACKDOWN ON HAMAS CHARITIES
[W]hile Palestinian Authority forces control Nablus by day, the Israeli military still sweeps in most nights. In the past two weeks, Israel has sent nightly convoys of trucks and jeeps into the city center so troops can bang down doors at organizations with suspected links to Hamas, collect evidence and leave behind closure notices. More than a dozen offices have been targeted.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/17/AR2008071702650.html

TEL AVIV CONFERENCE ORGANIZES AROUND THE RIGHT OF RETURN
“A main focus of the last twenty years in Israeli politics and in Israeli media has been to target the dream of Palestinians — to destroy the dream of return, to make it seem like a persistent and irrational idea. Israelis have never been challenged on this — yet Palestinians are consistently challenged and are expected to reject their dream and their rights. We should be ready to fight.”
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9686.shtml

CELEBRITIES URGED TO CUT TIES TO SETTLEMENT FINANCIER
The Manhattan protestors also expressed their support for the striking workers of Lev Leviev Diamonds in Windhoek. These 153 Namibian employees have been striking for three weeks because, among other things, they are paid less than two dollars per day.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9694.shtml

NYCLAW Antiwar Digest (07.13.08)

AFGHANISTAN

U.S. CONSIDERS INCREASING PACE OF IRAQ PULLOUT — INTO AFGHANISTAN
The desire to move more quickly reflects the view of many in the Pentagon who want to ease the strain on the military but also to free more troops for Afghanistan and potentially other missions.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/13/washington/13military.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

47 AFGHAN CIVILIANS KILLED BY US BOMBS, GROUP SAYS
Shinwari said that 39 of those killed in the airstrike were women and children, including the bride. . . . More than 2,100 people — mostly militants — have been killed in insurgency-related violence in Afghanistan this year. More than 8,000 people died in attacks last year, according to the U.N., the most since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-afghanistan,1,4366144.story

MORE AIR POWER FOR AFGHANISTAN
Unnamed “defense officials” tell CNN that the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln “has moved from the Persian Gulf into the Gulf of Oman so its warplanes can fly missions over Afghanistan.”
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m45549&hd=&size=1&l=e

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OBAMA

OBAMA NEVER, EVER SAID NO TO BUSH ON IRAQ
Once in the Senate. . . . [h]e promptly voted for four separate war appropriations that totaled more than $300 billion. . . . But money and votes aren’t the only issue in which Obama sent a different message then the impassioned get out of Iraq now speeches he still thundered before audiences. The other issue was when to withdraw.
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/67401

IS OBAMA FOLLOWING BUSH ON IRAQ?
Democrats and Obama supporters will be loathe to admit it, but Obama stands poised to adopt the three major elements of the Bush-administration foreign policy – staying the course in Iraq, endorsing the doctrine of preventative war and the strategic expansion of executive power to fight the war on terror.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/07/07/opinion/main4237311.shtml

SENATE APPROVES BILL TO BROADEN WIRETAP POWERS
But on Wednesday, [Obama] ended up voting for what he called “an improved but imperfect bill” after backing a failed attempt earlier in the day to strip the immunity provision from the bill through an amendment. . . . Support from key Democrats ensured passage of the measure.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/10/washington/10fisa.html?ref=us

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IRAQ

OIL AND TROUBLED WATERS
July could be crucial for Iraqi trade unions. The Iraqi government is pressing ahead with plans to hold elections – which could see the state choose workers’ representatives and funnel the country’s diverse trade union federations into one state-managed federation.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/jul/09/iraq.tradeunions

IRAQ SOLDIER DISCUSSES HIS “KILLS” (VIDEO)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/05/27/iraq-soldier-discusses-hi_n_103698.html

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PALESTINE

CONGRESS DELIVERS PROMISED ISRAEL AID BUMP DESPITE BUDGET DEADLOCK
The first indication of the special maneuvers came at the annual conference of Aipac, when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi took the podium. . . . Bipartisan support for bypassing legislative hurdles was apparent in the June 27 Senate vote, which tallied 92 supporters and only six senators opposing the bill.
http://www.forward.com/articles/13709/

KNESSET EXTENDS RACIST LAW AGAINST PALESTINIAN FAMILIES
The law was mainly meant to break up Palestinian families as it disallows Palestinian couples of uniting with each others if one of the partners was a resident of the 1948-occupied lands, and the other resides in the West Bank or the Gaza Strip.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/En/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s76pB4Ut49ZMhIARiS%2ftSEb8Dvx4ChP6Sgt%2fBJXFpBB%2beewNZl6nNDWAnKB1D7w838AAL8jueSPRoEnwoZWYe2bIcNdpHPTm0i5h5cFFw0ieE%3di

POPULAR PALESTINIAN NATIONAL CONFERENCE VIDEO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nJFvg6Uits

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ANTIWAR MOVEMENT

LINKING THE IRAQ WAR AND THE OCCUPATION
The program of the National Assembly to End the Iraq War and Occupation recognized Palestine as not just as a worthy cause to be embraced from time to time as long as no one objected, but declared it was intertwined with the War at the root. It also overthrew years of Left dogma and recognized the Israel lobbies as a force not only in influencing policy on Israel/Palestine, but also on Iraq and Iran as well. . . . USLAW needs to be won over to a good position on Palestine.
http://www.counterpunch.org/heller07092008.html

DEFAULT REPORT FROM CLEVELAND ANTIWAR CONFERENCE
Our task now is to implement the resolution and raise as forcefully as possible the demand of “No War, No Sanctions, No Internal Interference in Iran!”
http://www.politicalforum.com/political-blogs/40156-report-cleveland-antiwar-conference.html

WHICH WAY FORWARD FOR THE ANTIWAR MOVEMENT?
The Winter Soldier hearings captivated the entire antiwar movement and projected a new and hopeful GI and vet resistance. The ILWU (International Longshore and Warehouse Union) strike on May 1 represents a huge development where workers in an historic union are striking against the war to shut down all the ports of the West Coast, one of the busiest areas of trade in the world. We will need such class power to liberate Iraq from U.S. occupation.
http://www.counterpunch.org/smith06262008.html

ANTI-WAR ACTIVISTS MEET IN CLEVELAND
The conference in Cleveland drew approximately 400 anti-war activists and major leaders of the anti-war movement. Holmes’ talk focused on linking the anti-war movement to the growing economic crisis.
http://www.workers.org/2008/us/cleveland_0710/

VIETNAM BLUES
Joe Allen’s recently published Vietnam: The (Last) War the US Lost. . . . is a reasoned and researched description of the US involvement in the French attempts to maintain its empire, the eventual assumption of the French role by Washington for its own reasons, and the development of the largest and most effective movement against war in US history.
http://www.counterpunch.org/jacobs06212008.html

NYCLAW Antiwar Digest (07.04.08)

AFGHANISTAN

U.S.-LED AIR RAID KILLS 22 AFGHAN CIVILIANS
“The civilians were evacuating the district as they were told by the U.S.-led troops to do so because they wanted to launch an operation against the Taliban,” he said.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-afghan-violence.html

2,200 MARINES’ AFGHAN TOUR EXTENDED
The Pentagon has extended the tour of 2,200 Marines in Afghanistan, after insisting for months the unit would come home on time. . . . In the last two months, the violence in Afghanistan has led to more U.S. and coalition casualties there than in Iraq, and June was the deadliest month for U.S. troops in Afghanistan since the war began in late 2001.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-afghan4-2008jul04,0,4406004.story

US VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN AFGHANISTAN
The war on terror has led to widespread civilian deaths, often at the hands of unaccountable units led by the CIA and other foreign intelligence agencies. These foreign intelligence units “operate” with “impunity” in Afghanistan.
www.mainstreamweekly.net/article779.html

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ANTIWAR LABOR

SHIPPING COMPANIES FILE CHARGES OVER MAY DAY ANTI-WAR STRIKE
The longshore action on International Workers Day was the first ever US strike against war, closed all 29 West Coast ports and inspired a solidarity stoppage in the Iraqi Port of Basra. The PMA claims it constituted an “unlawful secondary boycott”.
http://libcom.org/news/shipping-companies-file-charges-over-may-day-anti-war-strike-02072008

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IRAQ

OBAMA MAY CONSIDER SLOWING IRAQ WITHDRAWAL
Sen. Barack Obama raised the possibility of slowing a promised gradual, 16-month withdrawal from Iraq if he is elected president, saying that Thursday he will consult with military commanders on an upcoming trip to the region and “continue to refine” his proposals. . . . Obama’s comments on Thursday capped a shift in tone that has been occurring since June, and it fit with his broader efforts to appeal to moderate and independent voters. Throughout the past week, Obama has been stressing values as he journeyed through conservative regions of swing states: patriotism in Independence, Mo.; faith-based social services in rural Ohio; and service in Colorado Springs.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/03/AR2008070303919.html

THE REAL STATE OF IRAQ
By now, summer of 2008, excess deaths from violence in Iraq since March of 2003 must be at least a million. . . . Only, the US is 11 times more populous than Iraq, so 310,000 Iraqi corpses would equal 3.4 million dead Americans. So proportionally it would be like firebombing to death everyone in Chicago.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20157.htm

NYT IRAQ WAR ‘DEBATE’ EXCLUDES CRITICS
The New York Times’ “Week in Review” has now offered two panels of opinion on the Iraq War–one on March 16 pondering the fifth anniversary of the invasion, the other on May 4 commemorating George W. Bush’s “Mission Accomplished” speech–that completely excluded the views of those who opposed the war in 2003.
http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=3567

THE ERA OF OIL WARS
The US maintains 737 military bases in 130 countries under cover of the “war on terror” to defend American economic interests, particularly access to oil. The principal objective for the continued existence and expansion of Nato post-cold war is the encirclement of Russia and the pre-emption of China dominating access to oil and gas in the Caspian Sea and Middle East regions. It is only the beginning of the unannounced titanic global resource struggle between the US and China, the world’s largest importers of oil (China overtook Japan in 2003).
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/jun/29/oil.oilandgascompanies

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IRAN

AUGUST 2: DEMOS IN NYC AND ACROSS THE COUNTRY TO STOP WAR ON IRAN
From the anti-war movement and all movements for social change, to religious and grassroots organizations, unions and schools, let us join forces to demand “No war on Iran, U.S. out of Iraq, Money for human needs not war! “
http://stopwaroniran.org/aug2.shtml

EX-AGENT SAYS CIA IGNORED IRAN FACTS
A former CIA operative who says he tried to warn the agency about faulty intelligence on Iraqi weapons programs now contends that CIA officials also ignored evidence that Iran had suspended work on a nuclear bomb.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/30/AR2008063001940.html

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PALESTINE

FLIGHT: PALESTINIAN GROUP ASKS SNOOP DOGG TO CANCEL ISRAEL CONCERT
How can an artist whose name is prominently associated with this form of popular and freedom based musical expression, rap, be apathetic to the monstrosity of Israel’s current war crimes in Gaza, its Apartheid Wall, declared illegal by the International Court of Justice at the Hague, or it’s continued violation of fundamental Palestinian rights?
http://www.pacbi.org/boycott_news_more.php?id=782_0_1_0_C

10-YEAR-OLD SUBJECTED TO TORTURE BY ISRAELI SOLDIERS
A 10-year-old boy was subjected to physical abuse amounting to torture for 2.5 hours by Israeli soldiers who stormed his family’s shop on 11 June, seeking information on the location of a handgun. The boy was repeatedly beaten, slapped and punched in the head and stomach, forced to hold a stress position for half and hour, and threatened. He was deeply shocked and lost two molar teeth as a result of the assault.
http://www.dci-pal.org/english/display.cfm?DocId=811&CategoryId=1

PALESTINIANS WHO APPROACH GAZA FENCE WILL BE SHOT, SAYS IDF
Earlier this week the United Nations sources reported eight cease-fire violations by Israel. Most of these violations apparently consisted of Israeli troops firing at people who approached the fence. The information relies mainly on Palestinian accounts. . . . Throughout the second intifada Israel declared areas along the fence as “security zones.” Soldiers were instructed to fire warning shots at people approaching the fence, and for certain periods were allowed to shoot even at unarmed people.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/997897.html

ISRAELI DOCTORS COMPLICIT IN TORTURE -RIGHTS GROUPFIGHT
Palestinian prisoners undergo medical examinations before, during and after their interrogation, but doctors in detention facilities fail to report such symptoms, making them complicit in “prisoner torture”, the PHR said in a statement.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L26620681.htm

DISMANTLING ISRAEL’S RACIST INFRASTRUCTURE IS THE KEY TO PEACE IN MIDDLE EAST
Separation will always require threats or actual violence; a genuine peace will come not with more separation, but with the right to return to a land in which all can live as equals. Only a single democratic, secular and multicultural state offers that hope to Israelis and Palestinians, to Muslims, Jews and Christians alike.
http://www.redress.cc/palestine/smakdisi20080626