At least 29 killed unlawfully by Israeli drones in Gaza, report says 30 Jun 2009 At least 29 Palestinian civilians were unlawfully killed by missile-firing Israeli drones during its offensive in the Gaza Strip, a US human rights group said. A report by Human Rights Watch, published six months after the operation, said that Israel had failed to exercise proper caution "as required by the laws of war" in their use of drones. Mrac Galasco, a senior military analyst for Human Rights Watch, said that although 29 cases had been highlighted in the report, as many as 87 civilians could have been killed in drone attacks.
CLG News and Action Alert: IDF Seizes Gaza Aid Ship Posted by Lori Price 01 Jul 2009 Israeli forces have boarded a ship trying to carry aid and pro-Palestinian activists to the Gaza Strip in defiance of Israel's blockade of the territory. The 20 passengers include former US congresswoman Cynthia McKinney and Nobel Prize winner Mairead Maguire. [Can you *imagine* what would happen if *Iran* intercepted a vessel with a former congressperson and Nobel Prize winner? It makes my head *spin* to think of how fast the US missiles would be flying! Click here for news and actions you can take - demonstrations, petitions.]
US withdrawal from cities brings joy to Iraq 30 Jun 2009 Iraq is filled with joy as American troops hand security duties over to Iraqi forces and end their presence on the streets of the country's towns and cities. Tens of thousands of Iraqi people rushed to the streets and held giant parties on Monday and Tuesday to mark the withdrawal of US soldiers. [Too bad the US doesn't withdraw from all the other countries it illegally occupies.]
Maliki reassures on security as car bomb kills 41 01 Jul 2009 A car bomb in the northern Iraqi oil hub of Kirkuk killed at least 41 people and wounded 120 others yesterday just as Nouri al-Maliki, prime minister, sought to reassure the country that Iraqi forces were capable of providing security. The blast, in the Aruba neighbourhood, occurred as US combat troops were completing their scheduled withdrawal from Baghdad and other large cities.
Four US soldiers killed during Iraq pull out 30 Jun 2009 Four US soldiers were killed in combat shortly before the American army completed a withdrawal from Iraq's cities. In the attack on Monday, the US army said the four soldiers who were killed served with the Multi-National Division-Baghdad but did not provide further details pending notification of their families. It said they died as a "result of combat related injuries".
US Iraq commander loses cool over troop numbers 30 Jun 2009 Tuesday was a day of celebration in Iraq as U.S. forces handed control of the cities to Iraqi authorities, but the top U.S. commander was less than joyous when pressed on how many of his troops would remain. Speaking via satellite from Baghdad, U.S. Army General Ray Odierno lost his cool at a briefing for Pentagon reporters when he was repeatedly questioned about the number of U.S. troops that would remain in the cities as advisers to Iraqi forces.
Oil companies reject Iraq's terms 30 Jun 2009 Only one of the bidders for the eight contracts to run oil and gas fields in Iraq has accepted oil ministry terms. Six oil fields and two gas fields were available in a televised auction that was the first big oil tender in Iraq since the invasion of 2003. BP and China's CNPC agreed to run the 17 billion barrel Rumaila field after Exxon Mobil turned it down. Iraq has asked the rest of the companies to consider resubmitting bids for the other seven contracts.
US Supreme Court delays decision on Uighur case 29 Jun 2009 The US Supreme Court on Monday discreetly delayed until October a decision on whether Chinese Uighurs who are being held at Guantanamo Bay prison can be released in the United States. Court aides told lawyers that no decision would be taken on the Uighurs "until October at the earliest."
Afghanistan: 800 civilians killed in conflict in January-May -- UN report 29 Jun 2009 Civilian deaths resulting from armed hostilities between insurgents, the US military, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan and government forces have increased by 24 percent so far this year compared to the same period in 2008, according to a report by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon. In May alone, 261 non-combatants lost their lives in conflict in Afghanistan, John Holmes, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, told members of the Security Council at a meeting on 26 June.
Hold on to your hats! Report: Major growth ahead for Minot AFB 30 Jun 2009 Hundreds of new positions will be added at Minot Air Force Base in the next fiscal year, according to an Air Force report... The report calls for the addition of several dozen military and civilian personnel at the Minot base as a result of bolstering the Air Force's nuclear enterprise. As a result of strengthening the Air Force's nuclear enterprise, the 5th Bomb Wing at Minot AFB gains 10 B-52H bombers as part of B-52 force structure, according to the report. [More to 'lose.']
U.S. Officials Had Contact with Honduran Military Before Coup 28 Jun 2009 According to reports broadcast during a special edition of the Mesa Redonda (The Round Table), transmitted on Cuban radio and television Sunday evening, U.S. officials had contact with right-wing members of the Honduran congress and military leaders just days before launching Sunday morning's coup. Moderator Randy Alonso read a report that confirmed diplomatic officials from the U.S. Embassy in Tegucigalpa met with congressional representatives and right-wing military top brass shortly before the military coup was carried out.
Journalists Briefly Detained By Troops In Honduras 30 Jun 2009 Honduran troops detained seven international journalists covering the aftermath of a military coup Monday, freeing them unhurt a short time later. The government also took at least two television stations off the air and interrupted the broadcasts of others. At least 10 soldiers, most with rifles drawn, arrived at the hotel where journalists from The Associated Press and the Venezuela-based television network Telesur were staying and unplugged their editing equipment in an apparent attempt to stop their coverage of protests in support of deposed President Manuel Zelaya. One of the Telesur journalists was speaking on a telephone at the time of the detention, and AP's Nicolas Garcia saw a soldier lightly slapping her hand so she would hang up. [See, in a *rightwing* coup, US media wh*res add words such as 'lightly' to describe physical force and 'briefly' to detainment. Now, if this was *Iran,* we'd hear that the journalists were imprisoned for six centuries and the AP journalist had her skull bashed in rather than her hand getting 'lightly slapped.' BTW, where are the insipid little puke green Tweets about this coup and the wall-to-wall Faux News coverage of same? --LRP]
Obama says coup in Honduras is illegal 29 Jun 2009 President Barack Obama said on Monday the coup that ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was illegal and would set a "terrible precedent" of transition by military force unless it was reversed. "We believe that the coup was not legal and that President Zelaya remains the president of Honduras, the democratically elected president there," Obama told reporters after an Oval Office meeting with Colombian President Alvaro Uribe.
George W. Bush appointees buck Barack Obama on terror policies 30 Jun 2009 President Barack Obama’s claims of broad executive authority to carry out the war on terror are drawing fire from an unexpected source: federal judges nominated by President [sic] George W. Bush, who asserted the sweeping powers in the first place. In recent weeks, three different Bush appointees considering cases relating to war-on[of]-terror detainees have rejected arguments from Obama’s Justice Department, which adopted virtually unchanged the positions the Bush administration had staked out. In each case, the Bush-appointed judge said the executive branch was overstepping its authority and claiming more powers than the law allowed.
Police told: stop 'kettling' activists 29 Jun 2009 Police chiefs must rethink the controversial tactic of "kettling" participants of mass demonstrations, a report said today. The practice of holding people in one place for long periods, widely known as "kettling", cannot always be justified, a committee of MPs found. Members of the Home Affairs Committee said it is not acceptable to impose a blanket ban on movement and peaceful protesters should be allowed to leave.
Part 1 of 4: Were Nuclear Reactors the Cause of the WTC Destruction? By Barry Ball, Barbara Ellis, and Russ Hallberg --Portland 9/11 Legislative Alliance 23 Jun 2009 This is the first in a four-part series stemming from our organization’s crafting and presenting a proposed bill in late 2008 to nine members of the U.S. House. It urges an independent investigation by national and international experts in science/technology to determine which of the 14 major theories about primary causal agents—fire and thermite to directed energy weapons--destroyed the World Trade Center Twin Towers.
Warning: Britain faces new recession --Economy set to relapse into dreaded 'double-dip' downturn, say world's central bankers 30 Jun 2009 The world's central bankers have warned that the British economy faces relapsing into another recession -- the much-feared "double dip" downturn. A continuing drought in bank lending, evidenced in the latest figures from the Bank of England, and the threat that spiralling public borrowing will feed through to higher interest rates and inflation, are judged by international economists to be mortal dangers to a sustained recovery.
Franken Wins Senate Battle --Minn. Court Ruling Gives Democrats A 60-Seat Majority [that the cowards are afraid to assert] 01 Jul 2009 The Minnesota Supreme Court yesterday declared comedian-turned-politician Al Franken the winner of the state's U.S. Senate race, ending an eight-month-long election saga and giving Democrats a 60-seat majority that theoretically would allow them to block GOP filibusters... Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) signed the election certificate declaring Franken the winner yesterday evening.
Court Rules Franken Has Won Senate Race; Coleman Concedes 30 Jun 2009 The Minnesota Supreme Court has just issued its long-awaited judgment in the Senate race, declaring that Democrat Al Franken is the winner. And Norm Coleman, his opponent, at 4 p.m., announced that he had conceded and contacted Mr. Franken. The 32-page unanimous decision by the state’s highest court was released after a seven-months long battle over the seat formerly held stole by Norm Coleman. On every ground, the judicial panel rejected Mr. Coleman’s claims of trial errors or constitutional violations, and decided that Mr. Franken’s election should be certified by the state as valid.
SC attorney general calls for investigation of governor 30 Jun 2009 South Carolina's attorney general is asking for an investigation into Gov. Mark Sanford's travels after he admitted seeing his mistress more times than previously disclosed. Attorney General Henry McMaster said Tuesday he has requested the State Law Enforcement Division to review all of Sanford's travel records to see if any laws have been broken.
Sanford tells AP he 'crossed lines' with other women 30 Jun 2009 South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford said Tuesday that he "crossed lines" with a handful of women other than his mistress -- but never had sex with them. The governor said he "never crossed the ultimate line" with anyone but Maria Belen Chapur, the Argentine at the center of a scandal that has derailed his once-promising political career. "This was a whole lot more than a simple affair, this was a love story," Sanford said.
EPA list shows dangerous coal ash sites found in 10 states 29 Jun 2009 The Environmental Protection Agency on Monday released a list of 44 coal-fired power plant waste sites in 10 states with a high hazard potential, including 12 sites in North Carolina, seven in Kentucky and a large storage pond in Pennsylvania. The list is the result of an investigation that the EPA ordered after the failure of a Tennessee Valley Authority coal ash pond in Kingston, Tenn., flooded more than 300 acres of land in December.
Previous lead stories: CLG: Pandemic planning: Protect police forces from being hurt in civil disturbances --The same cast of characters behind 'mass fatality management planning' for the flu pandemic developed a 'business plan for the Iraqi military market.' By Lori Price 29 Jun 2009 The same 'people' (and I use that term very loosely) panning the International Swine Flu Conference -- New-Fields -- also brought us... wait for it... Iraq oil and gas summits and the 2nd Iraq Security & Defense Summit. Corporate, government, and media players are meeting (after they cough up thousands of dollars in fees) to discuss and manage the inevitable flu pandemic... The architects of the flu kit and caboodle -- the same corpora-terrorists who profited from the Bush/Obama Iraq and Af/Pak wars -- are poised to make a(nother) killing.
Mission accomplished! U.S.-built bridge is windfall -- for illegal Afghan drug trade In August 2007, the presidents of Afghanistan and Tajikistan walked side by side with the U.S. commerce secretary across a new $37 million concrete bridge that the Army Corps of Engineers designed to link two of Central Asia's poorest countries. Then-Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez said the modest two-lane span that U.S. taxpayers paid for would be "a critical transit route for trade and commerce" between Afghanistan and Tajikistan. But, the bridge across the Panj River has paved the way for drug traffickers to transport larger loads of Afghan heroin and opium to Central Asia and beyond to Russia and Western Europe. [As the CLG has asserted for years, Bush invaded Afghanistan to secure opium routes and gas pipelines. Ever see a GOPig vote for a bridge to be built in the US? Never, unless it was for an earmark bl*wjob. See: U.S. Senate approves bill to triple aid to Pakistan 24 Jun 2009 The $1.5 billion in annual funding includes money for Pakistani schools, the 'judicial system,' parliament and law enforcement agencies. Again: WHY are US taxpayers paying for schools in Pakistan bridges in Afghanistan?--LRP]
