Flags burning no applause ─ dark legacy of top “diplomat” HRC

Students protest U.S. Secretary of State
Hillary Rodham Clinton,
Lahore, Pakistan

Behavior unbecoming, Criminal hypocrisy, 
incessant wars

Editing, ending comment by Carolyn Bennett

Most reckless element denied: war as only response in foreign relations

Following a Sunday Sixty Minutes performance by U.S. President Barack Obama and his Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton, journalist Don Debar observed in an interview today with Press TV: “The United States is now at war with more nation states than it has been since 1945.

“A

Muslim women protest
U.S. Secretary of State
Hillary Rodham Clinton

nd whether you consider drone attacks and active war under the old rules, certainly drone attacks are taking place in countries that are not included in that total ─ so the world is more at war than it’s been since 1945

In terms of the number of people who die every day,

In terms that they get blown up,

In terms of assertion of one extrinsic national interest over other national interests on the ground.

Libya

Don Debar recalled the United States’ involvement in Libya ─ eight months’ bombing by NATO, the United States and its allies ─ “killing thousands of people, devastating homes and infrastructure that had been built over the past 40 years.”  Given this, he commented concerning the death of a U.S. agent/diplomat, no one should be surprised “that there would be people who were angry over that, that might want to kill those they identify as being responsible.” Yet the Clinton/Obama Sunday performance and the content of media in recent weeks have been quite different from reality on the ground.

Libyans burn
U.S. flag

“H

illary Clinton’s husband,” Debar said, “was the premier Republican president of the late 20th century. He did away with welfare as we knew it; he started war again in Europe; he did away with possibility of keeping down the military after the fall of the Soviet Union.” And Hillary Rodham Clinton [together with her president] continued the Hawkish trend during her tenure as the U.S. Secretary Of State, he said.

Unmentioned behavior unbecoming called to account (or was it?)

Lawmakers in the Republican Party had demanded for months that Secretary of State Clinton “explain in person the many missteps that an independent review panel found in her department’s handling of the Benghazi (Libya) crisis. Clinton’s appearance was delayed by a prolonged illness and a concussion, though some right-wing critics accused her of trying to wriggle out of her commitment to testify.”

A Washington power broker being hauled before the Congress to give an accounting of her stewardship is not the preferred way to end a career but Clinton finally faced, belligerently, a congressional committee.

Libya

“On Wednesday [January 23, 2013], Clinton reminded a [congressional] committee that the [Accountability Review Board] had found that direct responsibility for the deficiencies highlighted during the Benghazi assault [on her watch] began at the level of assistant secretary and below. Four State Department managers were placed on administrative leave as part of disciplinary actions related to the report’s findings; one of them resigned.…” 

The Accountability Review Board had found [on her watch] “grossly inadequate” security procedures at the U.S. mission” or “consulate” in Benghazi.

Coverup

Tunisians burn
U.S. flag at U.S. Embassy

“Obviously, the report by the Accountability Review Board [ARB] illustrates that there is clearly a cover-up by the White House surrounding the attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi that resulted in the death of Ambassador [Chris] Stevens,”  Detroit political commentator Abayomi Azikiwe reflected in an interview with Press TV.

“The cover-up stems from several factors, Abayomi Azikiwe said, “the most significant of which was the role of Ambassador Stevens on behalf of the United States government in Libya…

“

A lot of these militias that are operating in Libya and in other countries in North Africa and the Middle East have had relationships with the United States.”

As developments in Syria show, “We can see clearly that some of these organizations that today may be cooperating with the United States; tomorrow may be labeled as terrorists.

“The report reflected poorly, Azikiwe said, “on the U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. The State Department was guilty of gross negligence and [actions] related to intelligence as well as security in regard to U.S. interest.”

Burning U.S. , Israeli Flags
Rafah, Southern Gaza
Occupied

Criminal hypocrisy

Palestine, Syria, Iran

Electronic Intifada co-founder and journalist Ali Abunimah last spring assessed the criminal foreign relations hypocrisy of the Obama government’s state secretary.

“U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (the article was published March 12, 2012) gave a stirring UN Security Council speech on the virtues of democracy, human rights, and U.S. support for them. She contrasted the purity of American motives with those of regional adversaries:

When a country like Iran claims to champion these principles in the region – and then brutally suppresses its own people and supports suppression in Syria and other places — their hypocrisy is clear to all.

 

But Hillary Clinton, he wrote, “did not examine the hypocrisy of U.S. support for dictatorships in the region that also purport to support democracy but only in Syria, while brutally suppressing their own people.”

The previous Friday (March 8), he said, “millions of voters in Iran – men and women – chose new legislators from among thousands of candidates in parliamentary elections. Critics may be quite right that the elections are ‘nothing more than a selection process amongst the ruling conservative elite’ (cf. U.S. elections currently underway), but that is much more than citizens in some U.S.-backed states ever get the opportunity to do.”

E

ven worse, Abunimah said, “It was on Gaza that [the U.S. Secretary of State’s] hypocrisy truly shone. She said regarding Syria:

Now the United States believes firmly in the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all member-states, but we do not believe that sovereignty demands that this council stand silent when governments massacre their own people, threatening regional peace and security in the process. And we reject any equivalence between premeditated murders by a government’s military machine and the actions of civilians under siege driven to self-defense.

“Clinton was explicitly supporting the right of Syrians to use armed struggle to resist the government, and even claimed that such armed struggle is morally superior. …

“What did she say about Gaza, which has been under unprovoked Israeli bombardment for five days, killing more than twenty people and injuring dozens? …  Not one word of sympathy for the families of Palestinian civilians killed in the Israeli attacks.…

“Israel [had] carried out an extrajudicial execution of people in an occupied territory whom it accuses of a crime; [and] unlike even China and Iran, Israel does not bother to try Palestinians it has sentenced to death in secret and in absentia. It merely jumps straight to the execution phase.

“This is all perfectly fine” for Hillary Clinton – in her remarks at the UN, “she didn’t even mention it.” What the U.S. Secretary of State offered was “the same old tired slogans: The only way for Palestinians to achieve anything, she insisted – even as Israel bombs and besieges them, executes them, and seizes their land for Jewish-only colonies – is through rigged ‘negotiations’ that have gone nowhere precisely because the United States has its mighty hands on the scale in favor of Israel.”

L

U.S. opposed at
United Nations

ate in 2012 Josh Ruebner seconded Ali Abunimah’s thoughts in recounting the U.S. Secretary of State’s International Human Rights Day remarks, “[stating] that the United States works to advance ‘the universal freedoms enshrined’ in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which includes the ‘right to life, liberty and security of person’ and ‘When governments seek to deny these liberties through repressive laws and blunt force, we stand against this oppression and with people around the world as they defend their rights.’

“Yet,” Ruebner wrote, “when it comes to U.S. policy toward Palestinians, this rhetoric rings hollow. The United States arms Israel to the teeth, fails to uphold U.S. human rights laws when Israel uses U.S. weapons to commit abuses of Palestinians and, up to this point, has thrown around its diplomatic heft in international forums to shield Israel from the war crimes prosecutions advocated by Human Rights Watch and others.…

Palestinians
protest wall

“While [U.S. Secretary of State] Clinton offered platitudes about standing against aggression on International Human Rights Day, the Pentagon was busy that same day notifying Congress that it hopes to ship to Israel 6,900 Joint Direct Attack Munitions tail kits, which ‘convert free-fall bombs into satellite-guided ordnance,’ and more than 10,000 bombs to accompany them.

On November 18, an Israeli air force pilot flying a U.S.-made F-16 fighter jet fired a missile at the four-story home of the al-Dalu family in Gaza City, killing ten members of the family and two from the al-Muzannar family next door.

 

“An on-site investigation conducted by Human Rights Watch concluded that the attack was a ‘clear violation of the laws of war’ and demanded that those ‘responsible for deliberately or recklessly committing a serious violation of the laws of war should be prosecuted for war crimes.’”

  

I

t is past time for Hillary Rodham Clinton to go home not only from foreign service; but from public service anywhere, for any reason within or on behalf of the United States of America.

Sources and notes

“Obama-Clinton ‘show’ … ‘U.S. at war with more states than it’s been since 1945’, January 28, 2013, http://rt.com/news/obama-clinton-praise-libya-919/

“‘We came, we saw, he died’ The real Hillary Clinton exposed, war crimes which mainstream media can't mention, the ambassador killed in Benghazi's buried cable, and the new defense secretary won't invade Iran, or let Israel invade Iran – exclusive. Seek truth from facts with Senator Mike Gravel, Ilana Mercer, author of the book "Into the Cannibal's Pot: Lessons for America from Post-Apartheid South Africa", Rethink Afghanistan director Robert Greenwald, New York journalism professor Jeff Cohen, international consultant Adrian Salbuchi, Igor Khokhlov of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and independent journalist Joseph Farah.” The Truthseeker, January 25, 2013, http://rt.com/programs/the-truthseeker/benghazi-clinton-new-iran/

“Clinton on Benghazi: defiance — and distress… Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was combative at times in congressional testimony on security lapses in the attacks in the deadly Sept. 11 attack on U.S. posts in Libya that killed Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans” (By Hannah Allam, McClatchy Newspapers) Originally published January 24, 2013 at 6:44 AM | Page modified January 24, 2013 at 4:18 PM, http://seattletimes.com/html/nationworld/2020203586_benghaziclintonxml.html?syndication=rss

“U.S. covers up facts about attack on consulate in Benghazi: Abayomi Azikiwe,” December 20, 2012, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/12/20/279161/us-hiding-truth-about-consulate-attack/

“Obama's Libya lies and how the United States ambassador really died ─ Critics of the Libya intervention warned that dropping bombs in a country and killing civilians, would produce blowback in the form of those who would then want to attack the U.S.”  (Glenn Greenwald, The Guardian), September 20, 2012, http://www.stopwar.org.uk/index.php/libya/1891-obamas-libya-lies-and-how-the-us-ambassador-really-died

“Hillary Clinton, Gaza and the right of civilians to self-defense ─Today at the UN, Hillary Clinton once more gave Israel a blank check to do as it wishes, assured of impunity and full US support” (Ali Abunimah's blog submitted by Ali Abunimah on Monday, March 12, 2012,

http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/hillary-clinton-gaza-and-right-civilians-self-defense

“Did Clinton sabotage a Palestinian reconciliation?” (Hasan Abu Nimah and Ali Abunimah), March 4, 2009, http://electronicintifada.net/content/did-clinton-sabotage-palestinian-reconciliation/8111

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

Hasan Abu Nimah is the former permanent representative of Jordan at the United Nations.

“How the United States supports Israel's war crimes in Gaza ─Israel is the largest recipient of U.S. taxpayer-funded military aid and these weapons are used by Israel to commit systematic human rights abuses against Palestinians” (Josh Ruebner) December 27-28, 2012, http://www.stopwar.org.uk/index.php/palestine-and-israel/2149-how-the-united-states-supports-israels-war-crimes-in-gaza

THE REAL HILARY CLINTON EXPOSED, The Truthseeker, January 25, 2013, http://rt.com/programs/the-truthseeker/benghazi-clinton-new-iran/

______________________________________________

Bennett's books are available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY] • See also: World Pulse: Global Issues through the eyes of Women: http://www.worldpulse.com/ http://www.worldpulse.com/pulsewire http://www.facebook.com/#!/bennetts2ndstudy
______________________________________________

U.S. celebrates freedom its wars deny

Compiled and edited, brief comment by Carolyn Bennett

Independence Day USA

WEEKEND

U.S.-led

WAR DEAD

Casualty sites reporting July 3, 2011

(Accurate totals unknown)

Anti-war dot com Casualties in Iraq since March 19, 2003

[U.S. war dead since the Obama inauguration January 20,

2009: 241] Information out of date

•

Wounded 33,082-100,000

U.S. veterans with brain injuries 320,000

Suicides estimated: 18 a day

Latest update on this site: July 2, 2011

http://www.antiwar.com/casualties/

•

Iraq Body Count

The worldwide update on civilians killed in the Iraq war and occupation

Documented civilian deaths from violence

101, 584 – 110,991

Full analysis of the WikiLeaks’ Iraq War Logs may add 15,000 civilian deaths.  http://www.iraqbodycount.org/

•

ICasualties figures:

AFGHANISTAN:

1,649 United States

2,564 Coalition

IRAQ: 4,469 United States

4,787 Coalition

http://icasualties.org/

What is a life worth? 

Whose life is of worth? 

Does it matter and to whom does it matter?

YEMEN — U.S. allied with Saleh

 Forty percent of Yemenis live on 2 or fewer than two U.S. dollars a day. One third of the people Yemen “wrestle with chronic hunger.”

U.S.-allied President Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen has been in office for nearly 33 years and opposition groups say the president’s promises of “political and economic reforms have never materialized.” Since January, demonstrators have protested in Yemen’s major cities, demanding Saleh’s ouster and calling for an end to corruption and unemployment. They have also called for Saleh to “stand trial for murdering hundreds of Yemenis during the regime’s crackdown on protests.”

Today, according to Press TV, tens of thousands of Yemenis are attempting to force the hands of the Saudis and the Americans. They are on the streets of the capital, Sana’a, and the other major western city, Taizz, “protesting the meddling of Saudi Arabia and the U.S. in the country’s internal affairs.”

IRAQ — U.S.-occupied, at war

More than a million Iraqis have died since the start of the 2001 U.S. invasion [Figures released by the California-based media research group Project Censored]

Since that invasion, people have lacked security — “armed attacks and roadside bombs have become part of the daily life in Iraq.”

Today five Iraqi police died when drive-by shooters opened fire with automatic weapons, their apparent target, guards stationed at a checkpoint in western Iraq. Thursday in the southern Baghdad district of Dura, one civilian died and seven people suffered wounds when a roadside bomb hit a police patrol.

The number of Iraqi civilians killed in attacks rose to 155 last month, according to newly released figures. This is “the highest monthly level since January.” Fourteen U.S. soldiers died in June 2011, making it the deadliest month for these troops in three years. The current number of U.S. troops in Iraq is “close to 50,000.”

BAHRAIN

U.S. Fifth Fleet-occupied, allied

On March 14, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates deployed troops to the kingdom to help the Bahraini forces suppress the nationwide protests. On June 17, the International Coalition against Impunity filed a complaint with the ICC [International Criminal Court at The Hague] against the Bahraini and UK governments. The charges were “committing ‘crimes against humanity, genocide, aggression and war crimes.’”

Subsequent to that, Press TV conducted a survey, which “found that 67.25 percent of respondents believe that the UN and the ICC will refuse to investigate the case and hold trials.”

However, the Beirut, Lebanon-based International Coalition against Impunity expects to present to the court graphical images, video footage and victims’ in-person accounts showing clear evidence of the “crimes of Bahraini government.” The group’s Chief Representative, May el-Khansa, told Press TV she expects the court to be responsive to that evidence.   

OCCUPIED TERRITORIES

SYRIA

U.S. bullies, lectures, threatens

However, one Syrian citizen is quoted saying, “Foreign governments want any reason to take down the Syrian government but we are happy [with] what we are. We do not need Americans to [interfere]. Look what they did in Libya. They only make problems worse.”

In her recent visit to Lithuania, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had “‘boasted that the clock was ticking for Syria [and directed] Damascus to ‘begin a genuine transition to democracy’ or face increasingly organized resistance.”

Press TV reports Clinton’s remarks coming amid Washington’s publicity campaign [again] to drum up support for a UN Security Council (UNSC) resolution against Syria.

“Russia has repeatedly said it will not support a UN resolution against Syria and stresses that the Syrians should resolve their differences without any outside interference.

“Some analysts cast doubt on Clinton’s advocacy of ‘democracy’ in Syria” and insist that the rhetoric “is part of a U.S. effort to impose its hegemony over Syria.”

GAZA

“Some 1.5 million people in Gaza have been denied their basic rights. This includes, since June 2007 after Hamas took control of Gaza, the denial of freedom of movement and the right to appropriate living conditions, work, health and education.

An international flotilla of ten ships is attempting to bring aid to the people of Gaza and nuclear powers are preventing this nonviolent mission. Joe Catron of the International Solidarity Movement in Gaza told Press TV, “Israel is ‘bent’ on stopping the flotilla because ‘it is the act of solidarity with struggle for freedom and equality in [Gaza] by Palestinians who have been oppressed by the Zionists.’…

“Israel has ordered its navy to use all possible means to prevent the incoming international aid flotilla from reaching the Gaza Strip.”

Greek authorities on Saturday arrested the captain of the U.S.-flagged ship planning to sail to the Gaza Strip to attempt to break Israel’s blockade of the Palestinian territory. The Associated Press quoted the Greek Coast Guard saying, “the captain of The Audacity of Hope, 60-year-old John Klusmire, had been detained for attempting to cast off without permission.” The captain is scheduled to appear Tuesday before a Greek court.

Meanwhile, the U.S. activists held up in Greece en route to Gaza “have held a vigil outside the U.S. embassy in Athens, protesting what one peace activist called the U.S. government’s “green light to Israeli attacks on aid-for-Gaza activists.”

SOUTHWEST/CENTRAL ASIA

AFGHANISTAN U.S-occupied, at war

The U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan took place with the official objective of curbing militancy and bringing peace and stability to the country. More than nine years later, Afghanistan remains unstable and civilians are paying a high price for this long war.

“Militancy has been on the rise in Afghanistan over the past years” and a recent UN report says Afghan civilian deaths rose to record highs in 2010 and the number of child victims is increasing.

Today in northern Afghanistan 17 schoolchildren suffered wounds when a hand grenade exploded at the main gate of their school in Maimana, the main city in Faryab Province. Also today, in Afghanistan’s western Herat Province, six NATO oil tankers were destroyed.

PAKISTAN

UN says U.S.-operated drone strikes in Pakistan pose a growing challenge to the international rule of law.

Drone attacks are imprecise and usually result in civilian casualties. Pakistani authorities have said that drone strikes kill 50 civilians for every militant they target. There have been numerous demonstrations across Pakistan against the U.S. drone attacks.

However, the drones keep coming and increasingly so. Rick Rozoff, Manager of Stop NATO Organization in Chicago, told Press TV that under General David Petraeus, compared with his predecessor, Stanley McChrystal, there has been an intensification of drone attacks. A reduction in strikes came under McChrystal, an increase under Petraeus.

A WAR CORRESPONDENT ON WAR

In June, war correspondent Patrick Cockburn wrote “Lies, damn lies, and reports of battlefield atrocities.”

“In war,” Cockburn wrote, “people motivated by fear, self-interest or a simple desire to make sense of a confusing and terrifying situation make things up…

“In the first Persian Gulf Conflict of 1990-91, two notorious pieces of propaganda and misinformation greatly helped to rally support for the war by seeming to demonstrate the savagery and duplicity of the Iraqi government.

“The first was the appearance of a 15-year-old Kuwaiti girl before a U.S. congressional committee to testify how, as a volunteer hospital nurse, she had seen Iraqi soldiers tip babies out of incubators and leave them to die on the floor. Her account was greeted with outrage until — some time later — it was revealed that the girl was the well-coached daughter of Kuwait’s ambassador in Washington who had never left the U.S. during the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.

“The second story took place a few months later during the bombing and missile strikes on Baghdad. CNN's Peter Arnett reported that the U.S. had destroyed a baby milk factory on the western outskirts of Baghdad, while the Pentagon furiously maintained the facility was making biological weapons. I visited the ruins of the plant on the same day as Arnett and I remember reading through letters about the baby milk business I found in smashed up desks in the factory office. Many were about abortive efforts to save the factory from bankruptcy, convincing evidence that the Iraqi authorities could scarcely have concocted overnight.

“Governments have not become any more truthful in the 20 years between the war in Iraq in 1991 and in Libya in 2011.”

LIBYA

Cockburn links twenty years of Western governments and media’s propaganda this time against Libya’s head of state. “The story that most compellingly illustrates the evil nature of Muammar [Qaddafi] today,” he writes, “is the allegation that he [Qaddafi] ordered his troops to rape women who oppose him and his acquisition of Viagra-type medicines to encourage them to do so. This tale had been around for some time, but gained credibility when the International Criminal Court’s prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, said he had evidence that the Libyan leader had personally ordered mass rape.

“The U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, said she was ‘deeply concerned’ by reports [Qaddafi]’s troops were engaged in widespread rape as a weapon of war.

“No doubt, individual rapes have occurred… but despite the ICC [International Criminal Court at The Hague] allegations — so far Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have not found evidence of such mass government-ordered rape despite extensive investigations.…

“Another story from Libya, universally believed by the ‘rebels,’ is that many of the fighters in the pro-Qaddafi units are mercenaries from central or West Africa.… [Again] Amnesty has found no evidence for this.…

“… In war, people motivated by fear, self-interest or a simple desire to make sense of a confusing and terrifying situation make things up; and in the midst of a fast-moving conflict, it is more than usually difficult to prove them wrong.…

“As in Iraq, journalists have been over-credulous and Western governments self-serving in pumping out atrocity stories about the Libyan government regardless of whether or not there is any evidence for them.

“Verification of atrocities matters so much because if people are to try to have them stopped — they must be sure that what they are told is true and not propaganda…”

AFRICA

LIBYA

U.S. dictator friend became enemy

Since U.S.-led forces started aerial bombings and sea attacks on this North African land and its people, scores of civilians have died. Since a revolt began against President Muammar Qaddafi in mid-February, Libyan troops also have killed civilians. Anti-government factions have sought to end decades-long rule of their president.  

On Friday, African Union leaders at the summit in Guinea offered to host with opposing sides a ceasefire and transition process towards a ‘democratic’ state. “However, the 53-nation union left open the question of the Libyan president’s future role in the country.” Qaddafi forces reportedly have not responded publicly to the proposition but Libyan anti-government factions have welcomed the African Union’s offer “saying it will ease the departure of Muammar Qaddafi and his regime.”

HORN OF AFRICA

SOMALIA

An estimated 1.4 million Somalis are displaced (IDPs) within their country. Another 680,000 Somalis live as refugees in neighboring countries [United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)].

On Saturday, at least 16 people died and close to 30 suffered injuries in heavy fighting between Somali government troops backed by African Union forces and al-Shabab fighters in Mogadishu.

Trusted sources reliably report that the United States of America, on its Independence Day, is at war or occupying, threatening and or otherwise interfering with these and more countries, through its foreign policy and practices. All the while, government officials and mass media are lying about (spinning?) what the government is doing and why. 

The freedom the people of United States celebrate (or take for granted while obliviously under the influence of drink or shopping), through their wars, they deny to others in its most basic forms.

Whose life is of value?

Whose crimes are crimes adjudicated rigorously under law and whose are acts of impunity suffered by some, excused and ignored by others?

Sources and notes

YEMEN

“Yemenis blast meddlesome KSA, US,” July 3, 2011, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/187418.html

IRAQ

“Gunmen kill five policemen in Iraq,” July 3, 2011, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/187361.html

“Iraq civilian deaths highest since Jan,” July 3, 2011, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/187123.html

BAHRAIN

“ICC will toss Bahrain, UK case: Poll,” July 3, 2011, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/187358.html

SYRIA

“U.S. threatens Syria with more unrest,” July 3, 2011, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/187296.html

GAZA

“Greece arrests Freedom Flotilla captain, July 3, 2011, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/187268.html

“‘Israel manipulating Greece over Gaza,’” July 2, 2011, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/187193.html

“Vigil held against US anti Gaza-aid bid,” July 3, 2011, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/187283.html

AFGHANISTAN

“NATO tankers torched in Afghanistan,” July 3, 2011, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/187355.html

“Attack on school wounds 17 Afghan kids,” July 3, 2011, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/187406.html

PAKISTAN

“‘Petraeus upped airstrikes in Pakistan,’” July 3, 2011, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/187397.html

WAR CORRESPONDENT ON WAR

“Lies, damn lies, and reports of battlefield atrocities — World View: Qaddafi is feeding his troops Viagra and ordering them to rape the womenfolk of the rebels ... well, maybe. Or is truth, as usual, the first casualty in this war?” (Independent.co.uk, Patrick Cockburn) June 19, 2011,

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/patrick-cockburn-lies-damn-lies-and-reports-of-battlefield-atrocities-2299701.html

Also of note

On CounterSpin: “Patrick Cockburn on Libya, Jordan Flaherty on New Orleans trial” CounterSpin (7/1/11-7/7/11), “Patrick Cockburn of the Independent has been investigating the stories of mass rapes and mercenary fighters that paved the way to war, and he tell us what he’s found, http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=4327

Patrick Cockburn is Iraq correspondent for the Independent in London. He has received the Martha Gellhorn prize for war reporting, the James Cameron Award, and the Orwell Prize for Journalism. He is the author of Muqtada, about war and rebellion in Iraq; The Occupation (shortlisted for a National Book Critics Circle Award in 2007); The Broken Boy, a memoir; and with Andrew Cockburn, Out of the Ashes: The Resurrection of Saddam Hussein. http://authors.simonandschuster.ca/Patrick-Cockburn/44687419/biography

LIBYA

“Libyan opposition welcome AU plan,” July 2, 2011, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/187252.html

SOMALIA

“16 die in battle for Mogadishu,” July 3, 2011, http://www.presstv.ir/detail/187271.html

___________________________________

Bennett's books available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; The Book Den, Ltd.: BookDenLtd@frontiernet.net [Danville, NY]; Talking Leaves Books-Elmwood: talking.leaves.elmwood@gmail.com [Buffalo, NY]; Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza: http://www.bhny.com/ [Albany, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY]; LONGS’ Cards and Books: http://longscardsandbooks.com/ [Penn Yan, NY]
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Why not an “October Morning”

CONFLICT, CONSEQUENCES, ALTERNATIVES

Compiled and edited by Carolyn Bennett

U.S.-led

WAR DEAD

Casualty sites reporting June 12, 2011

(Accurate totals unknown)

Anti-war dot com Casualties in Iraq since March 19, 2003

[U.S. war dead since the Obama inauguration January 20,

2009: 232] Information out of date

•

Wounded 33,051-100,000

U.S. veterans with brain injuries 320,000

Suicides estimated: 18 a day

Latest update on this site: June 9, 2011

http://www.antiwar.com/casualties/

•

Iraq Body Count

The worldwide update on civilians killed in the Iraq war and occupation

Documented civilian deaths from violence

101,366 – 110,719

Full analysis of the WikiLeaks’ Iraq War Logs may add 15,000 civilian deaths.  http://www.iraqbodycount.org/

•

ICasualties figures:

AFGHANISTAN:

1,615 United States

2,520 Coalition

IRAQ:

4,460 United States

4,778 Coalition

http://icasualties.org/

YEMEN

In Yemen, political violence has displaced thousands. There are shortages of food, water and fuel. The UN Refugee Agency (UN High Commissioner for Refugees) reports an estimated 4,000 residents sought protection in late May as a result of fighting between security forces loyal to President Ali Saleh and armed opposition forces in the northern Al-Hasaba district of the capital city, Sana’a.

The Joint International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and Yemen Red Crescent teams working in and around Sana’a retrieved some 20 dead bodies since June 4. They discovered seven bodies on June 7. As many as 35,000-40,000 IDPs (internally displaced persons) are in need in the coastal city of Aden and the southern governorate of Abyan. According to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), “Nearly 10,000 IDPs from Abyan are living in relocation centers in public schools in and around [Yemen’s second city] Aden.”  A further 4,700 IDPs have been registered in Lahj.

AFGHANISTAN

An estimated 433,066 persons remain internally displaced in Afghanistan, according to a UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) and the World Bank study. Of this number, 226,682 people were displaced by conflict between June 2009 and April 2011.

Displacement caused by military operations and localized fighting continues to affect communities in many parts of Afghanistan, the International Committee of the Red Cross reports. More than 51,000 IDPs — up 40 percent over the January-April period last year — received ICRC assistance.

The Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS) has warned that conflict between government forces and Taliban have displaced at least 12,000 people in Afghanistan’s remote northwestern province of Faryab. People are in desperate need of water, sanitation and other essentials. These internally displaced people reportedly have “sought refuge either with families and friends or they have camped in the open, in miserable situations (some secure), in remote villages with very limited or no access to safe drinking water, sanitation and other basic living facilities.”

Diarrheal diseases linked to poor hand washing, hygiene practices and inadequate sanitation are significant causes of death among children under five in Afghanistan. The health ministry reports an estimated 50,000 children under five die every year due to pneumonia and diarrheal diseases. People “‘are facing too many problems.’”

PAKISTAN

Shoot to kill

The video appears to show five members of the security forces in Karachi shooting an unarmed man. The dead man was 18-year-old Afsa Shah. The incident now under investigation by the rangers reportedly appeared on local television stations and the internet website YouTube. The teenager had allegedly attempted on Wednesday to steal from a police officer’s family in Clifton, Karachi’s most exclusive neighborhood.

Security forces in May “shot dead five unarmed Chechens at a checkpoint near the southwestern city of Quetta.” One of dead was a pregnant woman. Officials initially claimed the five people had been “suicide bombers but footage showed them to be unarmed and dispelled the government’s claim.” A representative of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan told Al Jazeera, Pakistan has “descended into a ‘trigger-happy society where shoot-to-kill has become routine practice for the law enforcement agencies.’”

Pakistan/Afghan border

Eight soldiers died Thursday and 12 suffered wounds when 150 heavily armed fighters attacked a security checkpoint in Pakistan’s Waziristan region on the border with Afghanistan. Security forces returned fire and reportedly killed 12 more people.

After this incident, a bomb exploded in a market near the northwestern city of Peshawar. Four people died and three suffered wounds.

“Army chief General Ashfaq Kayani at a meeting of top military commanders called on the people of North Waziristan ‘to evict all foreigners from their soil and take charge of their land and destiny once again.’”

OCCUPIED TERRITORIES

Gaza/West Bank, Israel continues to block aid

Approximately 40,000 Palestinians live in Area C of the West Bank. International nongovernmental organizations say restrictions on their movement reduce the effective delivery of aid to some of the most vulnerable Palestinian communities — mainly people in Gaza and in Area C of the West Bank.

Delivery of humanitarian aid to the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip has been hampered by severe restrictions on staff movements thus hurting the quality, scope, and sustainability of operations. “The biggest problem for us,” Oxfam reports, “is getting permits for national staff to leave Gaza and travel to the West Bank and East Jerusalem.” Under the Oslo regulations, Area C, which includes East Jerusalem, is administered and controlled by the Israeli government and military.

Syria

On the run

Most of them are women and children crossing borders “without any belongings.” They descend on relatives or host families. A small number reside temporarily in a school in Tall Bire.

Ongoing protests beginning in Syria in mid-March face regular crackdowns by government forces. At least 1,100 people have died. Among the dead are more than 50 protesters estimated to have died in demonstrations that followed Friday prayers on June 3. Authorities have reportedly arrested more than 10,000 people.

Six thousand people fled into Lebanon “using illegal border crossings to escape the violence unleashed on protesters by security forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.” An estimated 6,814 people received some assistance from the Lebanese Higher Relief Council.

LIBYA

Blood flows, people flee, are blocked toward Tunisia

Misurata — Al Jazeera’s correspondent Tony Birtley called today a “bloody day in terms of casualties.”  Qaddafi shelled Misurata in Libya’s west. Thirty-one people died yesterday in the conflict.

Zawiyah — NATO air strikes hit Zawiyah, a major oil port 50km west of Tripoli. Qaddafi forces shut down a vital coastal highway that leads into neighboring Tunisia.

Zintan — Pro- and anti-government forces fought today near the western town of Zintan attempting to “to seize a town that lay in between the towns of Zintan and Yafran.” Senior aide to Libyan president Qaddafi, El-Khouwildy el-Ahmeildy, was reportedly wounded during a NATO air strike on a city near Tripoli.

IRAQ

Mosul

Two bombs and eight shooters who attacked the home of a schoolteacher in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul left 10 people dead and approximately 52 injured.

People reported seeing women and children bleeding and hearing them screaming and crying. Mosul is Iraq’s third largest city, 360km northwest of Baghdad.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

PROGRESSIVISTS’ ALTERNATIVES

Nonviolence is better

The director of the New Internationalism Project at the Institute for Policy Studies  asked late last week, “What would a transformed U.S. policy look like?”

This is some of Phyllis Bennis’s answer to the question she posed: “It would entail ending all U.S. military ties to any regime suppressing the Arab Spring protests in its own or other countries (that means Saudi Arabia as well as Bahrain and Yemen), and pulling all troops and mercenaries out of Iraq and Afghanistan.

“It would mean supporting the creation of a nuclear weapons-free zone throughout the Middle East.

“Such a policy would suspend all economic aid until it can be redirected away from militaries, even in democratizing countries, and into the hands of governments who are held accountable .…

“It would also end the military aid and diplomatic protection that enable Israel’s occupation and apartheid policies towards the Palestinians.

“It would replace Washington’s failed ‘peace process’ with support for regional and globally-led diplomacy based on international law and human rights.”

Nonviolence heads toward October morning

A gathering planned for October 6 in Washington, D.C., is billed “a gathering of people who support peace and social, economic and environmental justice [intending] to stay in Washington, D.C. as a unified presence.”

The group October 2011 dot org says, “We will use ongoing actions of nonviolent resistance to disrupt the forces that corrupt our political process and undermine our rights and human needs. We will demand changes that shift power away from concentrated corporate capital and free us to create solutions that lead to a just and sustainable future.”

Purposes of action —

To

• “Create solidarity among the people and groups who support peace and economic, environmental, and social justice
• “Demonstrate the power of nonviolence
• “Model a society that functions with inclusivity, tolerance, and a process of decisions by consensus of the people
• “Have a great enough effect that the government will take concrete steps to meet our demands
• “Create a lasting force that will continue to move our society towards a peaceful, just and sustainable future.”

October morning begins —

Freedom Plaza in Washington, D.C. (13th Street at Pennsylvania Avenue NW), Thursday morning, October 6, 2011

Sources and notes

YEMEN

“YEMEN: The human cost of the conflict,” June 9, 2011, http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportID=92944

IRIN

Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN) headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya with regional desks in Nairobi, Johannesburg, Dakar, Dubai and Bangkok, IRIN covers 70 countries. Networks of local correspondents support IRIN’s bureaus. The service delivers in English, French, and Arabic through a free email subscription service and social media syndication. IRIN is an editorially independent non-profit project of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA. Integrated Regional Information Networks launched in 1995 in response to the gap in humanitarian reporting exposed by the Rwandan genocide and its aftermath.

Between the lines “As Afghan War Approaches Second Decade, Activists Organize October Anti-War Protest” (BTL Scott Harris interview with David Swanson, co-founder of AfterDowningStreet.org), posted June 8, 2011: “The U.S. peace movement has waned. There have been in recent years fewer anti-war protests and less participation in vigils, teach-ins and lobbying of Congress. Now, as the U.S. military combat role in Afghanistan enters its second decade, a major protest is being organized for October 6, 2011, with the goal of placing new attention on the war in Afghanistan and demanding an end to the conflict,” http://btlonline.org/2011/seg/110617af-btl-swanson.html

AFGHANISTAN

“AFGHANISTAN: Clashes displace 12,000 in Faryab Province,” June 6, 2011, KABUL, IRIN, http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=92909

PAKISTAN

“Pakistan rangers ‘gun down unarmed man’ Investigation under way after footage surfaces of alleged killing of unarmed man by five Karachi security forces,” June 10, 2011, http://english.aljazeera.net/video/asia/2011/06/201169185514224350.html

“Fighters kill several soldiers in Pakistan  — Local intelligence officials say raid targeted military checkpoint on the border between North and South Waziristan,” June 9, 2011,   http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2011/06/20116934727791167.html

OCCUPIED TERRITORIES

“Israel hindering delivery of aid” (The Electronic Intifada Ramallah, RAMALLAH, occupied West Bank, IRIN), May 12, 2011, http://electronicintifada.net/content/israel-hindering-delivery-aid/9943

Originally at IRIN, a UN humanitarian news and information service, not necessarily reflecting views of the United Nations or its agencies. All IRIN material may be reposted or reprinted free-of-charge. IRIN is a project of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

“SYRIA-LEBANON: Displaced Syrians head back home,” June 6, 2011, http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportID=92901

LIBYA

“Fierce fighting erupts in western Libya — Rebels battle troops loyal to Muammar [Qaddafi] as they attempt to seize town between Zintan and Yafran,” June 12, 2011, http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/06/20116124372194590.html

IRAQ

“Deaths in Iraq attacks  — Two car bombs strike Mosul and gunmen attack school teacher in a village outside of Tikrit,”   June 11, 2011, http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/06/2011611133422731363.html

PROGRESSIVISTS’ alternatives

“Obama’s changes don’t match changes of the Arab Spring — there is still a long way to go before the U.S. response to the Arab uprising can be taken seriously by the people of the Middle East and North Africa,” (Phyllis Bennis), June 2011,  http://www.tni.org/article/obamas-changes-dont-match-changes-arab-spring

Phyllis Bennis

Phyllis Bennis, Director of the New Internationalism Project at the Institute for Policy Studies, is a fellow of both TNI and the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington D.C. where she directs IPS’s New Internationalism Project. She specializes in U.S. foreign policy issues, particularly involving the United Nations and the Middle East. For 10 years, Bennis was a journalist at the UN and currently serves as a special adviser to several top-level UN officials on Middle East and UN democratization issues. She is the author of numerous articles and books, particularly on Palestine, Iraq, the UN, and U.S. foreign policy. 

What is nonviolent resistance October 2011 dot org asks and answers — A pledge outlining rules to follow at the October 6 action

1.      We will use our anger at injustice as a positive, nonviolent force for change.

2.      We will not carry weapons of any kind.

3.      We will not vandalize or destroy property.

4.      We will not use or carry alcohol or illegal drugs.

5.      We will not run or make threatening motions.

6.      We will not insult, swear or attack others.

7.      We will protect those who oppose or disagree with us from insult or attack.

8.      We will not assault, verbally or physically, those who oppose or disagree with us, even if they assault us.

9.      Our attitude, as conveyed through our words, symbols and actions, will be one of openness, friendliness, and respect toward all people we encounter including police officers, military personnel, members of the community at large, and all marchers.

10.  As members of a nonviolent action, we will follow the directions of the designated coordinators.

11.  In the event of a serious disagreement, we will withdraw from the action.

[PLEDGE OF NONVIOLENCE from Veterans for Peace, FAQ, http://october2011.org/node/168]

Media and Blogs Covering October 2011 dot org Campaign:

Between the Lines with Scott Harris • Community Alliance • FireDogLake • Forward Blitz • The Indypendent • Liberty News TV • LUV News • Make It Plain with Matsimela Mapfumo on Sirius XM • OpEd News • Peter B. Collins • Speaking Truth to Empire • The Black Commentator • The Nicole Sandler Show • Office of the Americas • War is a Crime • Woodstock International

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