NYCLAW Antiwar Bulletin

LABOR FOR PALESTINE: STOP ISRAEL’S MASSACRE IN GAZA AND END THE SIEGE NOW!

nyclaw01 — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 23:58:07 +0000

Please endorse the statement below at: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/LaborforPalestine1/

LABOR FOR PALESTINE: STOP ISRAEL’S MASSACRE IN GAZA AND END THE SIEGE NOW!
December 31, 2008

New York City Labor Against the War joins millions around the world in condemning Israel’s ongoing murder and maiming of hundreds of Palestinians in Gaza.

WHO ARE THE REAL TERRORISTS?

Israel claims that it is fighting “terrorism” — the same hollow excuse with which the U.S. tries to justify wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the erosion of civil liberties and labor rights at home.

But as South African Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu points out, Israel’s massacres “bears all the hallmarks of war crimes.”

Long before these attacks, Israel had turned Gaza into the world’s largest open air prison, assassinating activists, and cutting-off essential goods, jobs, and services to 1.5 million people.

Only as a result did Hamas abandon a unilateral two-year ceasefire and subsequent truce. Since that time, it has repeatedly offered to cease all rocket fire in exchange for an end to U.S.-Israel blockade and other military attacks.

Israel responded with escalating pogroms, arrests, home demolitions, settlements and murder in the West Bank and Jerusalem — from which no rockets have been fired.

As a result, violence is overwhelmingly one-sided against the Palestinians, who — as an occupied people — have no aircraft, artillery, tanks or ships. While rockets launched from Gaza since 2000 have killed 17 Israelis, Israel’s modern arsenal has killed more than 400 Palestinians — including many children — since December 27 alone.

The dead represent a greater portion of Gaza’s population than the percentage of New Yorkers who died on 9/11. And Israel warns that these attacks are “only the beginning.”

Indeed, this is the “bigger Shoah” against Gaza threatened by Israel’s Deputy Defense Minister Matan Valnai on February 29, 2008.

Even the Israeli press admits that this brutality is a way for politicians to prove their “prowess” in contentious upcoming Israeli elections.

It is also part of an ongoing U.S.-Israeli campaign to collectively punish Palestinians for democratically electing Hamas.

And it is an attempt to stamp out all resistance — including nonviolent protest — to Israel’s ongoing dispossession and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians since before the Nakba (Catastrophe) of 1948.

U.S. GUNS AND MONEY

The U.S. stands behind Israel’s war on Gaza.

The White House, President-elect Barack Obama, and leaders of both the Republican and Democratic parties have — actively or tacitly — condoned the massacres.

In the past ten years alone, U.S. military aid to Israel was $17 billion; over the next decade, it will be $30 billion. As in Afghanistan and Iraq, it is U.S. aircraft, cluster bombs and bullets that kill and maim on behalf of the occupiers.

Such support bolsters Israel’s longstanding role as watchdog and junior partner for U.S. domination over the oil-rich Middle East — and beyond. In that capacity, Israel was apartheid South Africa’s closest ally.

LABOR’S ROLE

On December 27, Cosatu, the South African trade union federation, specifically condemned the current Gaza massacres and reaffirmed its support for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel, a campaign that has been endorsed by labor bodies and trade unionists — many of them Jewish — in Britain, Canada and other countries.

On December 29, in response to the Gaza massacres, the Palestinian Federation of Unions of University Professors and Employees urgently called for intensification of this campaign.

But much of labor officialdom in this country — often without the knowledge or consent of union members — has a longstanding complicity with Israeli Apartheid that dates to before 1948.

Some 1,500 labor bodies have plowed at least $5 billion of union pension funds and retirement plans into State of Israel Bonds.

In April 2002, while Israel butchered Palestinian refugees at Jenin in the West Bank, AFL-CIO President John Sweeney was a featured speaker at a belligerent “National Solidarity Rally for Israel.”

In July 2007, top officials of the AFL-CIO and Change to Win signed a statement that condemned British unions for even considering the nonviolent campaign for boycott, divestment and sanctions against Israel. Virtually no labor bodies have opposed the Gaza massacres.

As Jewish Labor Committee President Stuart Appelbaum recently boasted, “American leadership is fundamental to challenging Israel bashing within the labor movement globally.”

This complicity parallels infamous “AFL-CIA” support for U.S. war and dictatorship in Vietnam, Latin America, Gulf War I, Afghanistan and elsewhere.

It strengthens the U.S.-Israel war machine and labor’s corporate enemies, reinforces racism and Islamophobia, and makes a mockery of international solidarity.

And as with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, workers in the United States pay a staggering human and financial price, including deepening economic crisis, for U.S.-Israeli war and occupation.

FREE PALESTINE — A NECESSARY STAND FOR LABOR

More than forty years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. came under intense public attack for opposing the Vietnam war. Even within the Civil Rights Movement, some dismissed his position too “divisive” and “unpopular.”

In his famous speech at the Riverside Church in April 1967, Dr. King replied, “For the sake of the hundreds of thousands trembling under our violence, I cannot be silent.”

This principle is no less relevant for today’s labor and antiwar movements.

Yes, the Israel lobby seeks to silence opponents of Israeli Apartheid. All the more need for trade unionists to break that silence by speaking out against Israeli military occupation, for the right of Palestinian refugees to return, and for the elimination of apartheid throughout historic Palestine.

Therefore, we reaffirm our support for the international Boycotts, Sanctions and Divestment campaign, including an immediate end to all support for Israel — including that provided by U.S. labor leaders.

———–
Issued by NYCLAW Co-Conveners
(Other affiliations listed for identification only):

Larry Adams
Former President, NPMHU Local 300

Michael Letwin
Former President, UAW Local 2325/Assn. of Legal Aid Attorneys

Brenda Stokely
Former President, AFSCME DC 1707; Co-Chair, Million Worker March

———–
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NYCLAW Antiwar Bulletin: Israeli Massacre in Gaza — 12.28.08

nyclaw01 — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 03:48:12 +0000

Thousands of people marched today in Manhattan. Photos at: http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/2008/12/102498.html

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ANATOMY OF A WAR CRIME

“The Amount of Death and Destruction is Inconceivable”
[E]ven after the dead are identified, doctors are having a hard time gathering the right body parts in order to hand them over to their families.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10059.shtml

Desperate Hospitals Overwhelmed by Casualties
“What was the sin of my 4-year-old son?”
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-gaza-react28-2008dec28,0,7401089.story

Unprecedented Casualties
The high numbers of casualties made Saturday the single deadliest day in the Gaza Strip since Israel’s occupation of the territory in 1967.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7802515.stm

Knowingly Indiscriminate Air War
Israel prefers to use its unchallenged aerial superiority — clearly a blunt instrument that cannot distinguish between fighters and civilians.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/27/gaza-attacks-analysis-ian-black

Olmert: Massacres Will Continue
The situation in southern Israel “is liable to last longer than we are able to foresee at this time.”
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2008/12/28/world/AP-ML-Israel-Palestinians.html

Only the Beginning?
[T]his isn’t the beginning, this is an ongoing policy of collective punishment and killing with impunity practised by Israel for decades.
http://www.freegaza.org/index.php?module=latest_news&id=5f36cb2382cb6e2b413b88331d2223f1&offset=

A History of Ethnic Cleansing
Massacres were part and parcel of the Zionist project in Palestine. They aimed at intimidating the Arabs and make them leave the country.
http://www.palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=14537

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U.S. COMPLICITY

U.S. Weapons
Apache’s are hovering above us, whilst F16s sear overhead.
http://www.freegaza.org/index.php?module=latest_news&id=5f36cb2382cb6e2b413b88331d2223f1&offset=

White House Stands By Massacres
“These people are nothing but thugs. Israel is going to defend its people against terrorists like Hamas.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/28/world/middleeast/28diplo.html?ref=world

Bush Winks at Israel’s Slaughter in Gaza, While Obama and Clinton Are Silent
President-elect Barack Obama and Secretary of State-to-be Hillary Clinton were shamefully silent in the first hours after the attack.
http://www.progressive.org/mag/wx122708.html

But Obama Had Already Endorsed Attacks
“If somebody was sending rockets into my house where my two daughters sleep at night, I’m going to do everything in my power to stop that,” Obama said at the time. “And I would expect Israelis to do the same thing.” Israelis have been further encouraged by Obama’s key appointments, from his vice-presidential running mate Joe Biden, long a prominent supporter of Israel, to his choice of Rahm Emanuel, a leading Jewish congressman, as his White House chief of staff.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article5404534.ece

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MORE LIES AND PRETEXTS

Election Posturing
“The government and the defense minister are trying to gain political capital in an election period on account of the bloodletting of the Palestinian people.”
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1050396.html

Propaganda Offensive
An international media broadcast outlet will be opened in Sderot on Sunday, and the Foreign Ministry will organize a series of tours of Sderot and the Gaza envelope communities for foreign media and diplomatic figures.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1050402.html

What Rockets?
Retaliatory Palestinian fire killed one woman in southern Israel — underlining the unequal military balance.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/27/gaza-attacks-analysis-ian-black

No Protest Allowed
Any response to Israeli attacks — whether peaceful protests against the apartheid wall in Bilin and Nilin in the West Bank is met with bullets and bombs.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10055.shtml

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WORLDWIDE PROTEST AND RESISTANCE

Email Picture

Throughout Middle East
“The reaction of the Arab street shows that the Palestinian issue is not just about Palestinians, but it is an Arab question and an Arab problem. It’s still in the hearts and minds of the Arab people.”
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-gaza-arab-react28-2008dec28,0,5777613.story

Hamas Resolute
”We will survive, we will move forward, we will not surrender, we will not be shaken.”
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2008/12/28/world/AP-ML-Israel-Palestinians.html

One Democratic State Group
The Gaza-based One Democratic State Group reaffirmed this today as it “called upon all civil society organizations and freedom loving people to act immediately in any possible way to put pressure on their governments to end diplomatic ties with Apartheid Israel and institute sanctions against it.”
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10055.shtml

West Bank
“With our blood and souls we defend you, Gaza.”
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2008/12/28/world/AP-ML-Israel-Palestinians.html

Palestine ’48
“No one can tell us that slaughtering the citizens of Gaza is meant to protect the citizens of Sderot and Ashkelon.”
http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1050470.html

Refugee Camps
“‘The Israelis kill our people in Gaza and the West Bank. The Americans kill our people in Iraq. We’re refugees, kicked out of our home in Tulkarem in 1967 and we’re still displaced.”
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2008/12/28/world/AP-ML-Mideast-Israel-Palestinians.html

Jordanian Labor
Labor unions in Jordan organized a mass demonstration to protest the IAF strikes in Gaza.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1050396.html

London
“We should treat Israel as we treated South Africa during apartheid. They should be shunned.”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7802078.stm

Protesters across Canada slam ‘terrorist’ Israel as Palestinian toll grows
“If there was no occupation, there would be no rockets.”
http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5gIMgfueYl9c8eLuLb6eSgaCLsIqg

International Mobilization and Boycott
We can turn a spotlight onto Israel’s crimes against humanity and the enduring injustice here in Palestine, through coming out onto the streets and pressurizing our governments; demanding an end to Israeli apartheid and occupation, broadening our call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions.
http://www.freegaza.org/index.php?module=latest_news&id=5f36cb2382cb6e2b413b88331d2223f1&offset=

NYCLAW Antiwar Bulletin: Israeli Massacre in Gaza — 12.27.08

nyclaw01 — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 01:37:55 +0000

HUNDREDS OF CASUALTIES

Single Bloodiest Day
[U]nprecedented waves of airstrikes Saturday, killing at least 155 and wounding more than 310 in the single bloodiest day of fighting in recent memory. . . . Some of the Israeli missiles struck in densely populated areas as children were leaving school, and women rushed into the streets frantically looking for their children. . . . ”We are treating people on the floor, in the corridors. We have no more space. We don’t know who is here and what the priority is to treat.”
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2008/12/27/world/AP-ML-Israel-Palestinians.html

Hospitals Overwhelmed
At Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, scores of dead bodies were laid out in front of the morgue waiting for family members to identify them. Many were dismembered.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/28/world/middleeast/28mideast.html?_r=1&hp

And More Where That Came From
Israeli military spokesman Avi Benayahu said the bombardment of Gaza was “only the beginning.”
http://www.russiatoday.com/news/news/35350

Video (1:38m): Brought to You By . . . U.S. F-16s
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7801128.stm

Video (1:41m): Scenes of Destruction in Gaza
This video contains some disturbing images.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7801012.stm

Video (4:59m): Witness Describes Gaza Attacks
Fikr Shallpoot, a health worker and resident in Gaza, spoke to the BBC about the attacks that she witnessed.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7801291.stm

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LIES AND PRETEXTS

“Security”
[N]o Israelis were killed or seriously injured in the recent [Palestinian] attacks.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/28/world/middleeast/28mideast.html?_r=1&hp

Who is the Real Victim Here?
By contrast, Israel has terrorized 1.5 million Gazans, locked them inside their awfully narrow borders, throttled their economy, and killed and seriously wounded thousands of them.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1230111687765&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

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ACTUAL MOTIVES

Zionist Electioneering
Leadership credentials will be built on spilling Palestinian blood.
http://counterpunch.org/amiri12262008.html

Breaking Palestinian Resistance
Israel wasn’t willing to live and let live with Hamas – it was intent on making them cry uncle or, ideally, on getting rid of Hamas altogether by turning Gaza’s population against them.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1230111687765&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Coup d’etat
Gaza’s final and unpardonable sin was, in a completely fair election, to elect a party that displeased Israel and the US. Elliott Abrams of Iran-Contra infamy helped the reprisal along by engineering civil war between Hamas and Fatah (see Vanity Fair, April, 2008.)
http://counterpunch.org/cantarow12262008.html

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WORLDWIDE RESISTANCE AND BLOWBACK

Gaza

–”My son is gone, my son is gone. May I burn like the cigarettes, may Israel burn.”
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2008/12/27/world/AP-ML-Israel-Palestinians.html

–Hours after the Israeli assault, Gaza fighters fired home-made rockets into southern Israel, heeding calls by Hamas and other affiliated Palestinian groups to avenge the attacks, unprecedented in their scale. One Israeli was killed in the rocket fire, medics said.
http://mwcnews.net/content/view/27520&Itemid=1

–As for Israeli air raids, assassinations and the sort, they would only serve to help Hamas regain some popularity – and not only in Gaza, but also in the West Bank and across the Arab-speaking world.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1049778.html

Nablus
–Video (1:23m): Palestinians have taken to the streets of the West Bank following Israel’s air raids on Gaza City.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7801311.stm

Hebron

East Jerusalem

Amman

Cairo

Beirut

Karachi

NYCLAW Antiwar Digest (11.22.08)

nyclaw01 — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 16:42:54 +0000

18 DAYS AFTER

Obama Tilts Rightwards
“This is the violin model: Hold power with the left hand, and play the music with your right.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/22/us/politics/22assess.html?ref=us

Right-Wing Columnist Pleased With Obama’s Appointments
The events of the past two weeks should be reassuring to anybody who feared that Obama would veer to the left.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/21/opinion/21brooks.html?_r=1&ref=opinion

Bush Adviser: It’s Deja Vu All Over Again
“This is more ‘Groundhog Day’ than a fresh start.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/17/AR2008111703215.html?hpid=topnews

Obama Aide Explains Obama-Clinton Detente
“[W]e were always fighting big battles over small differences.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/23/us/politics/23hillary.html?hp

McCain Buddy is Obama’s Likely National Security Adviser
James Jones, a decorated Vietnam veteran and former Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, is admired by Republicans and Democrats — he is a close friend of John McCain — and would bring particular expertise on Iraq and Afghanistan.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/us_elections/article5208597.ece

Obama Won’t Punish Bush War Crimes
Barack Obama and his transition team are already getting off on the wrong foot, signaling that they have no intention of investigating anyone in the Bush administration for possible war crimes.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/galloway/story/56115.html

Nader: This is the Third Clinton Administration
The signs are amassing that Barack Obama put a political con job over on the American people. He is now daily buying into the entrenched military-industrial complex.
http://counterpunch.org/nader11212008.html

Much of Left Cuts Obama Slack
The sound from the left: not silence, but no howls of betrayal, either.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/11/21/politics/politico/main4624733.shtml

Obama v. the Left
Obama’s campaign has already had a debilitating effect on the anti-imperialist movement.
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/raju211108.html

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AFGHANISTAN

Marines Got More Than They Bargained For
“We haven’t won anything yet. We’ve got a long way to go.”
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-marines22-2008nov22,0,1047589.story

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IRAN

Israel Brandishing U.S. Planes v. Iran
Israel acquired the F-16I, and added modifications of its own, to give itself the capability to attack far-off targets in countries such as Iran.
http://www.reuters.com/article/vcCandidateFeed2/idUSTRE4AI7Q220081119?feedType=RSS&feedName=vcCandidateFeed2&virtualBrandChannel=10102

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IRAQ

Iraqi Defense Minister: SOFA Doesn’t Mean U.S. Withdrawal
He [held] open the possibility that some Americans might be needed after 2011 in certain vulnerable areas.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/23/world/middleeast/23iraq.html?hp

Stratfor: SOFA Consolidates the Occupation
If the SOFA passes, the United States will have a legally approved military presence in Iraq for at least the next three years. . . . [It] sets in place a strategic partnership between Baghdad and Washington for the longer term, thereby serving U.S. interests in maintaining a foothold in the region.
http://www.stratfor.com/analysis/20081120_iraq_u_s_sofa_and_what_could_still_go_wrong

Iraqi Communist Party Supports SOFA and Continued Occupation
Among the Cabinet members voting to send the agreement to Parliament was the Iraqi Communist Party’s Raid Fahmi. . . . Iraqi armed forces are not yet adequately prepared to deal with security challenges.
http://www.pww.org/article/articleview/14041/

While Huge Protest Denounces SOFA
“We want them to leave today.”
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iraq22-2008nov22,0,6845746.story

IVAW Speaker Urges GI Resistance
“If I was still in the army now and getting orders to Iraq, I would not go.”
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/nov/22/three-veterans-share-views-on-marine-hering-awol/

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PALESTINE

UN: Israel Blockade Leaves Gaza on Brink of Humanitarian Disaster
“It will be a catastrophe if this persists.”
http://www.reuters.com/article/homepageCrisis/idUSLL414968._CH_.2400

Gaza Hospitals Struggle to Save Lives Amid Israeli Siege
“[T]here are no tools for physicians to treat patients who suffer from lung, stomach, colon or brain cancers.”
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9984.shtml

Israeli Gunboats Kidnap Gaza Fisherman, Internationals
“We’ve done nothing wrong. We are innocent, just trying to earn our living. Our boats are our only source of income.”
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9985.shtml

Netanyahu Hires Obama Advisers
After designing a website similar to that of Barack Obama, Likud Chairman Benjamin Netanyahu has now hired two of the US president-elect’s advisors to help him in his election campaign.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3626477,00.html

Shimon Peres Protested at Oxford
“As South Africans whose oppression was fueled by the Israeli state, and certainly Peres himself, we stand in solidarity with Palestinians who, for more than sixty years have lived under Israeli Apartheid.”
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9983.shtml

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VETS

Soldier, Accused of Rape and Murder at Home, Learned Skills in Iraq
“I’m becoming a true Black Raptor already. I’m becoming a cold-hearted killer and can kill without mercy or reason.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/21/us/21army.html?ref=us

NYCLAW Antiwar Digest (11.20.08)

nyclaw01 — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 15:03:34 +0000

16 DAYS AFTER

This is Change? 20 Hawks, Clintonites and Neocons to Watch for in Obama’s White House
“I want to end the mindset that got us into war.” That is going to be very difficult if Obama employs a foreign policy team that was central to creating that mindset, before and during the presidency of George W. Bush.
http://www.alternet.org/story/107666/

Why Would Obama Proffer State Gig to Clinton?
The idea, essentially, is that Mrs. Clinton, by virtue of her worldview and independent public profile, would be able to expand the purview of the office and become an unusually powerful surrogate for Mr. Obama’s foreign policy ideas.
http://www.observer.com/2008/politics/why-did-obama-proffer-state-gig-clinton

Holder, Chiquita and Colombia
Holder. . . . [played a] key role in defending Chiquita Brands International in a notorious case relating to the company’s funneling money and weapons to the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, AUC, the right-wing paramilitary organization on the U.S. State Department’s own list of terrorist organizations.
http://www.counterpunch.org/murillo11192008.html

Some “Antiwar” Groups Excuse Obama’s Pro-War Cabinet
Kevin Martin, executive director of the group Peace Action, said. . . . “There’s so much Obama hero worship, we’re having to walk this line where we can’t directly criticize him” . . . . Tom Andrews, national director of Win Without War, said that although he finds Sen. Clinton’s views “very troubling,” Obama should be given the benefit of the doubt.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/complete/la-na-foreign-policy20-2008nov20,0,2687012.story

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IRAQ

Resistance Leader Explains SOFA
The pressure by the U.S. to have an illegitimate regime accepted by the international community is part of a diplomatic offensive to assist the U.S. in Iraq and to “legalize” the continued occupation and plundering of Iraq.
http://www.workers.org/2008/world/iraq_1127/

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PALESTINE

Gaza Siege Doesn’t Hurt Hamas — But Israel Does It Anyway
Israel’s decision to keep the crossings into Gaza closed will remain in effect until the end of the week, defense officials said Wednesday, despite an official IDF assessment submitted to Defense Minister Ehud Barak that the restriction is not having an effect on Hamas.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1226404781584&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Gazans Describe Life Under Blockade
I have no money even to buy candles — these are the last one and a half candles I have left.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7735852.stm

P.A. Openly Abandons Right of Return
The Hamas Movement strongly denounced the PA in Ramallah for intending to publish advertisements in Hebrew language in Israeli newspapers in order to market the Arab peace initiative without mentioning the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes.
http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/en/default.aspx?xyz=U6Qq7k%2bcOd87MDI46m9rUxJEpMO%2bi1s7reohbMFAl9E1Kl95olCfspDv7nktUqjee3DTVU%2bGgeqaN76buXqOiRO9ui8c73eEgHl7jfLwifcgaEcgBpelh0a0ZdGclzFIOAr82yeAyns%3d

No Signs of Change in Obama’s Middle East Policies
In 2005 Hillary Clinton stood in Palestine and praised the apartheid wall that the government of Israel was building with large amounts of U.S. aid in furtherance of the Zionist goal of destroying one of the world’s peoples — the Palestinians.
http://counterpunch.org/christison11182008.html

Dershowitz: I Muzzled Carter at DNC
“Barack Obama had to make a choice between his Jewish supporters and his anti-Israel supporters like Jimmy Carter, and he did not choose Jimmy Carter.”
http://blogs.jta.org/politics/article/2008/11/13/1000960/ders

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DOMESTIC RACISM, REPRESSION & INJUSTICE

US Exported Prisoners For Torture
[A]ssurances could not be trusted coming from countries that have a history of abusing prisoners.
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Docs_US_relied_on_faulty_assurance_1119.html

NYPD Wants More Repressive Powers
The [NYPD] Intelligence Division under Mr. Cohen has come under criticism in the past for its surveillance activity and has been mired in litigation over its extensive undercover investigation of political groups before the 2004 Republican National Convention.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/20/washington/20terror.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

Unapologetic Case For Gay Marriage
[T]he conclusion by some to stand aside or even oppose the nascent explosion of outrage demanding gay marriage is misguided.
http://socialistworker.org/2008/11/20/case-for-gay-marriage

Prop. 8 Protests Sweep the Country
Critical to the growth of this struggle is the overcoming of racial divisions exploited by the right wing.
http://www.workers.org/2008/us/prop_8_1127/

NYCLAW Antiwar Digest (11.19.08)

nyclaw01 — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 17:38:35 +0000

15 DAYS AFTER

Obama Advisers: U.S. Torturers Will Walk
[T]he plan is to put a stop to current interrogation methods and to “look forward” as opposed to focusing on prior transgressions.
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Obama_admin_wont_prosecure_Bush_war_1117.html

Senate Democrats Go Easy on Lieberman
When Lieberman faced a challenge from the antiwar left in 2006, Obama campaigned on his behalf during the primary.
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-lieberman19-2008nov19,0,5359209.story

Who is Eric Holder?
Holder was part of the legal team that in 2005 developed strategies for securing re-authorization of the Patriot Act.
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/state_of_change/384564/the_trouble_with_eric_holder?rel=hpbox

No Free Pass for Rahm Emanuel
[T]his appointment represents more of the same — whether it is the hawkish policies of the Bush administration or the destructive Middle East policy that was wrapped in nicer packaging during the Clinton years.
http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article9974.shtml

Great Expectations
If those committed to organizing for a different vision of society can relate to the hopes that this has inspired — and the newfound confidence that justice is on our side — then we can make the Obama years an era of struggle and political progress.
http://socialistworker.org/2008/11/19/great-expectations

———————————————————————————-
AFGHANISTAN & PAKISTAN

Obama’s Cambodia?
I can hear frustrated U.S. commanders on the ground in Afghanistan making the same kind of argument to Obama’s team tomorrow that I heard yesterday in Vietnam.
http://counterpunch.org/wilson11182008.html

Iraq Follies Magnified in Afghanistan
[F]oreign expeditions undertaken in a spirit of jingoist revenge, with a crazed optimism and no strategic plan, are usually a bad idea.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/nov/19/iraq-aghanistan-withdrawal-brown-obama

U.S. Troops in Eastern Afghanistan Won’t Rest For Winter
“We are not going to lower our tempo of operations.”
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-usafghan19-2008nov19,0,1032657.story

U.S. Missile Kills 6 in Pakistan
The attack was the first to hit an area outside the semiautonomous tribal belt that directly borders Afghanistan, something which could trigger extra anger among Pakistanis.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-AS-Pakistan.html?_r=1&ref=world

Resistance Cripples Occupation’s Supply Lines
‘These goods belong to the Americans. Don’t bring them to the Americans. If you do, we’ll kill you.’
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/18/AR2008111803940.html

———————————————————————————-
IRAQ

Despite SOFA, U.S. Withdrawal Still Depends, Says Admiral Mullen
Asked if the agreement could be changed, he said “that’s theoretically possible”.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/3474933/2011-US-Iraq-withdrawal-depends-on-conditions-on-the-ground-says-Admiral-Mullen.html

———————————————————————————-
PALESTINE

U.N. Condemns Gaza Closure
“1.5 million Palestinian men, women and children have been forcibly deprived of their most basic human rights for months”.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2008/11/20081118232525803162.html

Israel Rebuffs U.N. Calls to Open Gaza Crossings
Barak acknowledged in the radio interview that the violence was touched off by the Israeli raid.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-us-palestinians-israel.html?_r=1

Israeli Tanks Raze Gaza’s Farmlands
Israeli tanks pushed into the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday, drawing mortar fire from Palestinian militants and intensifying violence that has chipped away at a tenuous cease-fire.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081118/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_palestinians

P.A. Echoes Israeli Lies About Gaza
“[T]he blackouts are all staged as part of the Hamas propaganda.”
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1226404771503&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Obama Backs Saudi Deal
The proposal gives Israel an effective veto on the return of Arab refugees expelled in 1948.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article5162537.ece

———————————————————————————-
VETS

Woman Sergeant’s Pain
The chain of command doesn’t take us seriously, and rape from fellow soldiers is a constant threat.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Documentary-Veterans.html?_r=1

———————————————————————————-
DOMESTIC RACISM, REPRESSION & INJUSTICE

Tortured Detainee Faces New Charges
The interrogation of Mr. Qahtani, public military documents show, included prolonged isolation, sleep deprivation, forced nudity, exposure to cold, involuntary grooming as well as requiring him to dance with a male interrogator and to obey dog commands, including “stay,” “come” and “bark.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/19/us/19gitmo.html?_r=1&ref=us

NYCLAW Antiwar Digest (11.18.08)

nyclaw01 — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 17:33:10 +0000

14 DAYS AFTER

Who Is Obama’s Brain Trust?
“The Obama Braintrust” included billionaires, major corporate CEO’s, high ranking government officials, but no one representing labor, social and human services, or the progressive organizations that supposedly gave Obama his biggest boost to the White House.
http://counterpunch.org/cramer11142008.html

Who is Obama Transition Team?
Jami Miscik, leading a review of American intelligence agencies, was the head of intelligence analysis at the Central Intelligence Agency during its biggest embarrassment: the botched assessments about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction. Then she moved on to become a senior official managing risks in emerging markets for the investment bank Lehman Brothers, until its collapse this fall.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/15/us/politics/15transition.html?_r=1&hp=&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1226761222-clvVaquPNLKaZ42zFj2lYQ

Where is the Antiwar Movement?
[I]t will be interesting to see how antiwar activists react to this. Are they antiwar or just anti-Republican?
http://www.spectator.org/blog/2008/11/18/iraq-war-supporters

———————————————————————————-
AFGHANISTAN & PAKISTAN

Pakistan is Next US Target
Right on cue, presidential candidate Barack Obama took the baton from Bush in his speech on July 15, in which he argued that more focus and resource were required on both Afghanistan and Pakistan.
http://www.daily.pk/local/other-local/8161-pakistan-the-next-us-target.html

Pakistan and U.S. Have Tacit Deal On Airstrikes
“[M]aybe with a new administration, public opinion will be more pro-American and we can start acknowledging” more cooperation.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/15/AR2008111502656_pf.html

———————————————————————————-
IRAQ

SOFA With the Devil
[T]he pact does make a mockery of Iraq’s “sovereignty”. For the first time, occupying US troops will have a clear mandate straight from Iraq’s elected leadership, instead of a United Nations Security Council resolution enacted after Bush invaded Iraq in 2003.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JK18Ak01.html

Obama Applauds Extension of Occupation
Mr. Obama’s transition office . . . welcomed an extension of the legal authorization for American troops in Iraq beyond the end of the year, when the United Nations Security Council resolution covering the American-led military operation expires.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/18/world/middleeast/18iraq.html?ref=world

SOFA Gives Obama Breathing Room
“It greatly eases the pressure on [Obama] to meet a fixed abstract schedule for U.S. withdrawals.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/17/AR2008111703097.html

Top Brass Warns Withdrawal May Take 2 or 3 Years
In his first press conference since the election, Admiral Michael G. Mullen said he believes that the soonest all US forces could be safely withdrawn from Iraq is “two to three years.”
http://www.boston.com/news/politics/2008/articles/2008/11/18/top_brass_warns_iraq_withdrawal_may_take_2_or_3_years/

Muslim Scholars Reject SOFA
[U]pon the completion of the liberation there will have no value of such so-called agreements which this nation declared their rejection as one word and comprehensively.
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m48852&hd=&size=1&l=e

Sadr Rejects SOFA
“I repeat my demand to the occupier to leave our land without keeping bases or signing agreements. If they keep bases, then I would support honorable resistance”. . . . Without an extension of the [UN] resolution or a separate agreement with the Iraqis, American troops would have to cease operations.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/15/world/middleeast/15iraq.html?ref=world

What Would SOFA’s Defeat Mean?
If it fails, U.S. forces will have to halt operations in Iraq at 12:01 a.m. on Jan. 1, unless the U.N. mandate could be extended beforehand.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iraqqa18-2008nov18,0,4929149.story

What Will Happen When the Occupation Really Ends?
If the occupier leaves, I won’t exaggerate and say there will be peace from one day to the next, no. There will still be problems. But we will be able to contain our problems. We, the Iraqis, will be able to work towards solving them one by one, together, without another power creating problems for us.
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2008/922/re9.htm

———————————————————————————-
PALESTINE

Israel Escalates Crisis in Gaza
“This is an illegal collective punishment. There is a shortage of medicines in the hospitals, and the cutting of electricity is further pushing the situation deeper toward a crisis.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/14/AR2008111401112.html

Olmert Threatens Gaza With Another All-Out Attack
In the view of Ehud Olmert, the outgoing Israeli prime minister, it is not a matter of whether full-scale hostilities resume, but when.
http://www.economist.com/world/mideast-africa/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12609936

Why Gaza?
[T]he growing catastrophe being unleashed on Gaza is only indirectly related to Hamas’s rise to power and the rocket attacks. Of more concern to Israel is what each of these developments represents: a refusal on the part of Gazans to abandon their resistance to Israel’s continuing occupation.
http://www.thenational.ae/article/20081116/FOREIGN/696678962/1011/SPORT

How Long Can Obama Charm the Arab World?
This is where Obama’s lyrical prose meets the gruff calculus of the police state.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-essay16-2008nov16,0,3750642.story

P.A. is Israel’s Second Fiddle
Many ordinary Palestinians have begun calling the PA security forces omala, or Israeli collaborators.
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m48781&hd=&size=1&l=e

———————————————————————————-
VETS

Newest Veterans Hit Hard by Economic Crisis
“You fill out a job application and you can’t write ‘long-range reconnaissance and sniper skills.’ “
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/18/us/18vets.html?hp

Report to Congress: Gulf War Syndrome is Real
Gulf War syndrome is real and still afflicts nearly a quarter of the 700,000 U.S. troops who served in the 1991 conflict.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-sci-gulfwar18-2008nov18,0,7557540.story

Audio Documentary: Major General Smedley Butler, USMC
Major General Smedley Butler served his country for 34 years, yet he spoke against American armed intervention into the affairs of sovereign nations.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article4377.htm

———————————————————————————-
DOMESTIC REPRESSION & INJUSTICE

Who Would Obama pick for the Supreme Court?
It is not clear that Obama hopes to put the kind of person on the court that Aron and other liberals are dreaming about.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-courtobama17-2008nov17,0,6924032.story

Obama Election Spurs Race Crimes Around Country
Cross burnings. Schoolchildren chanting “Assassinate Obama.” Black figures hung from nooses. Racial epithets scrawled on homes and cars.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iEyLuiVkdd-f1RM5wnoR0kF4WbvgD94FQJKG0

Post-Guantanamo: A New Detention Law?
Even some liberals are arguing that to deal realistically with terrorism, the new administration should seek Congressional authority for preventive detention of terrorism suspects deemed too dangerous to release even if they cannot be successfully prosecuted.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/15/washington/15gitmo.html?hp

Early Test for Obama on Domestic Spying
Obama, as president, may be more willing to accept the broadened presidential powers that he once condemned as a candidate, particularly since Congress has approved expanded surveillance powers for the government.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/18/washington/18nsa.html?hp

Obama v. Immigrants
[G]iven that Obama has supported the building of the border fence and a strong employee verification policy, immigration enforcement may actually deepen.
http://counterpunch.org/barry11142008.html

NYCLAW Antiwar Digest (11.14.08)

nyclaw01 — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 21:44:57 +0000

10 DAYS AFTER

Obama: Keep Lieberman
“We’d be happy to have Sen. Lieberman caucus with the Democrats. We don’t hold any grudges.”
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-lieberman12-2008nov12,0,6119173.story

The Empire’s New Clothes
The Empire wants new clothes and Obama is just the man to wear them.
http://www.blackagendareport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=879&Itemid=1

Don’t Believe the Hype
Yes, Obama’s election is historic, a symbol of great change to many. But it is equally true that the American elite has grown adept at using the black middle and management class.
http://www.newstatesman.com/north-america/2008/11/barack-obama-pilger-texas

Yes We Can . . . What, Mr. Obama?
[I]f this was truly a victory for African-Americans, we’d see more [Rev.] Wrights than Rahms at Obama’s side in the White House.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/eo20081113a1.html

Obama, Rahm-bo and the End of the New American Century
If the change President-elect Obama has promised includes a halt to America’s wars of aggression and an end to the rip-off of taxpayers by powerful financial interests, what explains Obama’s choice of foreign and economic policy advisors?
http://www.palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=14382

Does a Leopard Change its Spots?
[W]e should respond to Obama in exactly the same way we should have responded to Bush, that is to say through mobilization and now even more so given that he was elected on a platform of “change.”
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m48694&hd=&size=1&l=e

Holding the Obama Administration Accountable, Part 1
The campaign to elect the president is over. The campaign to make the president DO what he was elected FOR is underway.
http://www.blackagendareport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=887&Itemid=1

Them or Us?
[W]hether the policies of Rahm Emanuel and the rest of the New Democrat mafia are the future for the Obama era will depend largely on what kind of opposition that activists build — based on the idea that change is not only possible but has to be fought for.
http://socialistworker.org/2008/11/12/chief-of-fixing-for-obama

———————————————————————————-

PALESTINE

Israel Escalates Gaza Blockade
“This is a crime against innocent civilians.”
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-gaza14-2008nov14,0,5998371.story

Real Lessons of Kristallnacht
When Jewish mobs shouted “death to the Arabs” in Acre a few weeks ago, that was certainly reminiscent of pogroms in Europe. . . . The lesson of Kristallnacht is surely that any group of people, given the right set of circumstances, can become transformed from oppressed to oppressor.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/10/germany-israel-palestinians

Acre Pogrom Springs From Zionism
As long as Israel continues to function as a “Jewish” state and continues its illegal and brutal occupation of Gaza and the West Bank there will be no resolution to the Palestinian-Israel conflict.
http://palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=14365

PA Escalates Attacks on Hamas
Palestinian security forces were recently deployed in Hebron, where their presence is now heavily felt. Their primary target is Hamas.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1036788.html

———————————————————————————-

AFGHANISTAN & PAKISTAN

U.S. Kills 12 More Pakistanis
“They were American [missiles].”
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-us-pakistan-missile.html?ref=world

Don’t Let Barack Obama Break Your Heart
[A]fter January 20th, expect Obama to take possession of George Bush’s disastrous Afghan War; and unless he is far more skilled than Alexander the Great, British empire builders, and the Russians, his war, too, will continue to rage without ever becoming a raging success.
http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/175001/no_breathing_space_in_washington

———————————————————————————-

IRAQ

Gen. Tommy Franks: Obama Will ‘Do the Right Thing’
Retired U.S. Army Gen. Tommy Franks, who developed and executed the Iraq invasion plan, said President-elect Obama will ”do the right thing” when it comes to the war.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Franks-Obama.html

Obama May Keep Gates
[H]is appointment could mean that Mr. Obama was effectively shelving his campaign promise to remove most troops from Iraq by mid-2010.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122636621096215941.html

What Security?
“There is no security. We only hear about security from the TV stations.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/10/AR2008111000144.html

What Safety?
“The safety is just for the officials and ministers. The victims here are me and you, the helpless people.”
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iraq13-2008nov13,0,6714674.story

Iraqi Communist Party Still Opposes Resistance
[T]aking up arms [against the occupation] would not only be wrong but would be a sin, and often turns into a crime.
http://www.politicalaffairs.net/article/articleview/7710/

NYCLAW Antiwar Digest (11.11.08)

nyclaw01 — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 15:41:51 +0000

OVERVIEW

This Veterans Day, U.S. Soldiers Say ‘Stop the War’
We believe that veterans and active-duty GIs are in a key position to stop illegal and unjust war, and we are inspired by the resistance of troops who stood against the war in Vietnam. . . . It is in this vein that we turn to organizations like Courage to Resist, Iraq Veterans Against the War.
http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/106404/this_veterans_day,_u.s._soldiers_say_%27stop_the_war%27/

Antiwar Protesters As Obama and Michelle Tour White House
Before the president-elect’s arrival, spectators three rows deep pressed against the north gate of the White House, eager for a glimpse. Farther back, antiwar protesters chanted, “No more war!”
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-transition11-2008nov11,0,5420171.story

MFSO Opposes Delayed “Withdrawal”
[L]eaving U.S. combat troops in Iraq well into 2010, and leaving tens of thousands of additional troops in Iraq indefinitely, is not ending this war — it is continuing it.
http://www.nbc25online.com/news/story.aspx?id=219763

———————————————————————————-
SEVEN DAYS AFTER

Secret Order Lets U.S. Attack Many Countries
The Pentagon has exercised its authority frequently, dispatching commandos to countries including Pakistan and Somalia.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/10/washington/10military.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

Leading Democrat: Sometimes Continuity Trumps Change
“You’re going to see a lot more sympathy than you might expect between Obama and his chief military advisers.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/09/AR2008110902555.html

Obama’s Death Squads?
[D]eath squads will probably continue to play a central role in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan under an Obama administration.
http://counterpunch.org/lee11102008.html

Obama Silent While IVAW Was Beaten
[W]hile Matthis Chiroux and Nick Morgan and the other members of IVAW were being beaten by the police outside of the presidential debate, inside the presidential debate John McCain and Barack Obama didn’t even use the word “Iraq” or the word “Afghanistan.”
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/11/11/on_veterans_day_15_vets_of

Will Obama “Change” U.S. Foreign Policy?
[B]efore we get too excited, like many Americans have, about the “change” he will bring to America, let’s look at his first two presidential appointments.
http://www.nolanchart.com/article5437.html

Will Obama Stand Up For the Righteous Cause?
[A]n uncritical level of support of Obama is as much 4 more years as one can imagine.
http://www.blackcommentator.com/298/298_st_righteous_cause.html

Symbolism: Yes. Change: ?
We should understand the difference between the symbolism of a black man winning the presidency of the United States and the reality of a moderate liberal free marketeer who believes that there is a war on terror and that it can be won by killing Afghanis and other people whose religion and culture are used to define them as the enemy.
http://counterpunch.org/jacobs11122008.html

Progressives for Obama: Still Intoxicated
With a general absence of criticism during his campaign from Hayden and company, one would be hard put to imagine much of it taking place from now on.
http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/2008/11/101364.html

Struggle in the Obama-Era: What Next?
The great challenge for the small bands of the left is to anticipate this mass disillusionment, understanding that our task is not “how to move Obama leftward”, but to salvage and reorganise shattered hopes.
http://www.greenleft.org.au/2008/774/39910

Grassroots Must Avoid Hibernation
Despite the rhetoric for change, Obama’s foreign and domestic policies, for those who bothered to listen, offer little that we haven’t heard before.
http://www.newuniversity.org/main/article?slug=grassroots_must_avoid_hibernation169

———————————————————————————-
AFGHANISTAN & PAKISTAN

Obama and Generals Morphing on Afghanistan
The emerging broad strokes of Obama’s approach are likely to be welcomed by a number of senior U.S. military officials who advocate a more aggressive and creative course for the deteriorating conflict.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/10/AR2008111002897.html?sub=AR

G.I.’s in Remote Afghan Post Drawing Fire
“Basically, we’re the bullet sponge.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/10/world/asia/10outpost.html?ref=world

Occupation Forces Kill 14 More Afghani Civilians
President Hamid Karzai and a provincial governor accused the U.S.-led coalition of killing 14 Afghans who were guarding a road construction project. . . . Later, a 12-year-old boy was reported killed when Pakistani helicopter gunships attacked
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-afghan11-2008nov11,0,2457145.story

Occupation Breeds Resistance
The perceived poison of a foreign occupation, the rampant corruption, the all-too-frequent desecration of Islam by the occupiers, the sheer folly of the US/NATO seeking to extend the writ of a central government into the Pashtun tribal regions, the spiraling count of civilian deaths has shifted the Afghan struggle towards being a war of national liberation.
http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=47790&s2=08

The Case for U.S. Withdrawal from Afghanistan
[I]t’s not just that the Afghan population believes that the Taliban resistance is legitimate; that resistance is legitimate under international law.
http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/5658

Pakistani Forces Mired in Battle to Oust Taliban
To save Loe Sam, the army has destroyed it. . . . “You keep killing them,” Colonel Saeed said, “but you still have them around.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/11/world/asia/11pstan.html?_r=1&ref=world&oref=slogin

———————————————————————————-
IRAQ

What “Self-Sufficiency”?
“Everyone knows the Iraqi security forces are not going to be self-sufficient by 2011.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/08/AR2008110801029.html

Will Obama Adjust His Timetable?
The hope among senior officers in Iraq is that President-elect Obama will make good on another promise he’s made over an over again from the stump: “We must be as careful getting out of Iraq as we were careless getting in.”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20081107/us_time/willobamahavetoadjusthistimetableoniraq

Change on the Way?
“Most of Obama’s speeches were only for campaigning,” said foreign affairs official Abd al-Barie Zebari. “The likelihood that Washington will change its Iraq policies is limited.”
http://www.metimes.com/Security/2008/11/07/iraq_wary_over_troops_despite_obama_plans/85f0/

New Gulf War Syndrome
Thousands of soldiers coming home from the war may have been exposed to chemicals that are known to cause cancers and neurological problems.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/11/cia-rendition-raids-al-qaida

———————————————————————————-
PALESTINE

Palestinian Village Turning Into Ghetto
Encircled by half a dozen Jewish settlements like Hashmonaim — all illegal under international law — the village is slowly being sealed off in a fashion that may soon make its isolation almost as complete as Gaza’s.
http://www.thenational.ae/article/20081110/FOREIGN/137859693/1011

Army Escalates Attack on Nonviolent Resistance
[T]he army has focused on a number of activists protesting the security fence, those who help Palestinians harvest their olives, and others.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1035176.html

Israel Boycott Isn’t Limited to ’67 Occupation
Ignoring Israel’s denial of refugee rights and its own system of racial discrimination against its “non-Jewish” citizens, the two other fundamental injustices listed in the BDS Call, is tantamount to accepting these two grave — certainly not any less evil — violations of human rights and international law as a given, or something that “we can live with.” Well, we cannot.
http://www.palestinechronicle.com/view_article_details.php?id=14369

Israeli Apartheid Institutions: The Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra & the Batsheva Dance Company
The Middle East Task Force of Ann Arbor, Michigan is organizing a nonviolent protest outside the Hill Auditorium on Sunday, November 16, 2008, at 3:00 PM in support of the boycott of two Israeli cultural organizations touring the US.
http://nextyearinalquds.blogspot.com/2008/11/israeli-apartheid-institutions.html

NYCLAW Antiwar Digest (11.08.08)

nyclaw01 — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 19:01:20 +0000

FOUR DAYS AFTER

Our Obama Problem
The only hope is that people will take him, not at his word, because he has not promised anything, but at what they think his word is, and will react furiously when he betrays their (unfounded) hopes.
http://counterpunch.org/bricmont11072008.html

Obama’s Limits Are Key
Barack Obama will be the catalyst for a new movement, away from false hope and false promises, not because he will deliver to the people of this country anything worthwhile, but because he won’t. . . .
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21167.htm

Rising Popular Expectations
The people by the tens of millions have awakened and they have desperate expectations.
http://www.workers.org/2008/us/presidential_election_1113/

What People Want
Tens of millions of people want a new direction. The question is whether they can be organized to fight for it.
http://socialistworker.org/2008/11/07/new-shape-of-US-politic

———————————————————————————-
AFGHANISTAN & PAKISTAN

U.S. Missile Kills 10+ More Pakistanis
Scores of people have been killed in missile strikes and a Sept. 3 cross-border commando raid, but no top al Qaeda or Taliban leaders have been reported to have died. . . . The United States has shrugged off Pakistani protests.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-pakistan-violence-missile.html?ref=world

A Certain Path to Self-Destruction
War has destroyed five presidencies in the last 90 years, those of Woodrow Wilson, Harry Truman, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon and George W. Bush. History says it will destroy Obama’s too if he really meant it when he said he will fight in Afghanistan, that graveyard for empires.
http://counterpunch.org/velvel11072008.html

———————————————————————————-
PALESTINE

Obama and Gaza
[P]rogressive people across this country, you know, instead of basking in the euphoria, need to pick themselves up today and start demanding that the Obama administration immediately end the siege of Gaza.
http://www.alternet.org/columnists/story/106196/why_iraqis%2C_afghans%2C_palestinians%2C_and_others_might_be_nervous_about_president_obama/

Emanuel’s Proud, Racist Father
“Obviously he will influence the president to be pro-Israel. Why wouldn’t he be? What is he, an Arab? He’s not going to clean the floors of the White House.”
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1225910047157

New “Tolerance” Museum on Stolen Palestinian Land
The Nazi-hunting Simon Wiesenthal Centre is the main promoter of the museum, designed by renowned US architect Frank Gehry.
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gWXdcL0vC644PKsedJ83z6us8XpQ

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IRAN

Obama’s New Threats
“Iran’s development of a nuclear weapon, I believe, is unacceptable. And we have to mount an international effort to prevent that from happening.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/08/AR2008110801154.html

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IRAQ

Obama’s Real Plans
The campaign was very vague about describing troops’ withdrawal, all the troops, within 16 months. Now, the fine print of the campaign suggests the opposite, actually.
http://www.alternet.org/columnists/story/106196/why_iraqis%2C_afghans%2C_palestinians%2C_and_others_might_be_nervous_about_president_obama/

About That Timetable
Michael O’Hanlon, a national security expert at the Brookings Institution in Washington, said that Obama has enough political capital to free him from “pleasing the left” of the Democratic Party as he presses forward with his strategy for Iraq and Afghanistan.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-iraq-troops_madhani_07nov07,0,1270759.story

Emanuel Defends War
“I still believe that getting rid of Saddam Hussein was the right thing to do, OK?”
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=80411

Following U.S. Election, Puppet Regime More Openly Tolerant of Occupation
The Iraqi government, made up of exiles who were able to rise to power only as a result of the American invasion, has been looking for a way to support the pact without appearing to be kowtowing to Americans.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/07/world/middleeast/07iraq.html?hp

But Iraqis Are Still Opposed
“We will continue to condemn the Iraqi-American pact because it will legislate the American presence in Iraq.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/08/world/middleeast/08iraq.html?_r=1&ref=world&oref=slogin

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SAUDI ARABIA

Hunger Strike for Real Democracy
Saudi Arabia is an absolute monarchy that does not tolerate dissent, political parties or nongovernmental civil and human rights groups. The strike’s organizers could face arrest.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/06/AR2008110603243.html

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GEORGIA

Georgia Waged Indiscriminate War
Georgia’s inexperienced military attacked the isolated separatist capital of Tskhinvali on Aug. 7 with indiscriminate artillery and rocket fire, exposing civilians, Russian peacekeepers and unarmed monitors to harm.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/07/world/europe/07georgia.html?hp

And Killed Civilians With Israeli Cluster Bombs
[R]esearchers from Human Rights Watch found wreckage from Israeli-supplied rockets with bomblets that had been used by Georgia, suggesting a “massive technical failure.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/06/world/europe/06cluster.html?ref=world

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ISLAMOPHOBIA

Young Muslims’ Mixed Emotions on Obama
“In my community, people were saying to me, ‘Who do we support?’ The person who is making the stereotype? Or the person who is not defending us?”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/07/nyregion/07muslims.html?ref=nyregion

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LABOR AND ECONOMY

Emanuel — Free Trade Champion
[H]e was a point man in the White House in the fight to pass the North American Free Trade Agreement and similar deals that have been passionately opposed by the very labor, environmental and farm groups that were essential players in electing Obama.
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20081117/nichols2?rel=rightsideaccordian

Emanuel Was Director of Freddie Mac During Scandal
The oversight report said the board had been apprised of the suspect accounting tactics but “failed to make reasonable inquiries of management.”
http://www.abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=6201900&page=1

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ANTIWAR MOVEMENT

IVAW Challenges Obama
Our message remains the same: it is time to immediately withdraw all occupying forces from Iraq; it is time to end the death and destruction facing the people of Iraq and address the needs of the Iraqi people; and it is time to provide our veterans with the care and benefits that they need and have earned through their service to our country.
http://ivaw.org/node/4524

But UFPJ Remains Enthralled
In his speech on Tuesday night, Barack Obama said, “This victory alone is not the change we seek. It is only the chance for us to make that change.” Obama has put forth the challenge and United For Peace and Justice is ready to meet that challenge as we work to change our nation’s path from militarism and greed to peace and justice.
http://www.unitedforpeace.org/article.php?id=3974

Nader Speaks Truth to Power . . .
[W]e’re really talking about just more of the same, in terms of the corporate domination of Washington.
http://i3.democracynow.org/2008/11/5/melissa_harris_lacewell_on_president_elect

And Smeared For It, Left and Right
[T]he fatuously hypocritical liberal left, after eight years of railing against Fox News for its Bush worship, is now applauding Fox News for its smears against Nader because Nader had the temerity not to immediately bow down and worship the new messiah.
http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m48569&hd=&size=1&l=e