19.7.06

Hezbollah An Emerging Political Force; "Open War" in the Middle East

*Inter Press Service*
http://DahrJamailIraq.com
(c)2006 Dahr Jamail

*LATAKIA, Syria, Jul 18 (IPS) - Hezbollah, a group often misunderstood
by Westerners, is a militant but also a political group.*

The Arabic name means 'Party of God'. Led by the charismatic Sheikh
Hassan Nasrallah, the Lebanese Islamist Shia group was set up in 1982 to
resist Israeli occupation of Lebanon during the brutal civil war. The
group declared a political existence in 1985..

Hezbollah achieved their goal when Israeli troops withdrew from southern
Lebanon on May 25, 2000. The Israeli withdrawal followed sustained
Hezbollah attacks on its troops.

The political platform of Hezbollah calls for the destruction of Israel,
but the group has successfully transformed itself from a radical
extremist group into an effective political force which holds 18 percent
of the seats in the Lebanese Parliament.

The United States, Britain, Israel and other Western countries consider
Hezbollah a terrorist organisation that they say has received weapons
and also financial and political support from Iran and Syria. Both these
countries deny supplying arms to Hezbollah.

But both countries openly support the group politically. Iranian leaders
have produced angry rhetoric in support of Hezbollah. In Syria massive
demonstrations were held in Damascus, Latakia and several other cites.
Demonstrations in support of Hezbollah were also held in cities across
many Arab countries.

Throughout most of the Arab and Muslim world, Hezbollah is highly
regarded as a legitimate resistance movement. The group follows a
distinctly Shia Islamist ideology developed by the leader of the Islamic
Revolution in Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

In Lebanon the group had first hoped to transform the whole country into
a fundamentalist Shia state. But it has now abandoned that objective for
a more inclusive platform.

About 60 percent of the 3.8 million population of Lebanon is Muslim,
most of them Shia. This is where Hezbollah draws its support. The rest
of the population is almost all Christian. A 15-year civil war between
Muslim and Christian groups ended in 1991.

The Shia movement in Iraq led by Muqtada al-Sadr is following in the
footsteps of Hezbollah. It has won broad support in Iraq from millions
of impoverished Shias there for similar reasons.

Hezbollah won the support of Shia Muslims by providing social services,
healthcare and welfare when the Lebanese government failed. Hezbollah
runs hospitals, news services and educational facilities for its
followers in Lebanon. It is behind a large number of economic and
infrastructure projects in the country.

The recent Israeli strikes in Lebanon destroyed the Hezbollah al-Manar
Television station. But the group continues to broadcast messages from
Nasrallah by other means.

Hezbollah has refused to integrate its forces into the Lebanese army
despite political pressure. It considers itself a legitimate resistance
movement in Lebanon that is also important to the entire Middle East region.

Hezbollah has long accused Israel of holding many of its members in
jail, some for more than 20 years, and continues to demand their
release. Hezbollah says it will continue to fight unless its prisoners
are also released.

Hezbollah became the most powerful military force in Lebanon after Syria
withdrew its troops last year. It now has a seat in the Lebanese cabinet.

During the civil war, which brought Lebanon to its knees, Hezbollah
became infamous for its suicide bombings and kidnapping of Western
hostages, primarily journalists.

The biggest Hezbollah suicide attack was the bombing of the barracks of
U.S. marines in Beirut in 1983. The attack killed 241 marines and led
then president Ronald Reagan to withdraw all U.S. troops from the country.

The group is also widely believed to have carried out an attack on the
U.S. embassy, killing 63 people, and on the headquarters of the French
multinational forces, killing 58 French troops.

Hezbollah's political rise came substantially after the assassination of
former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Harriri in February 2005. In May of
that year Hezbollah won its biggest election victory.

Hezbollah was invited to join the government in July last year in hope
that the move would bring national unity to Lebanon as the country
struggled for stability and peace.

The current fighting between Hezbollah forces in Lebanon and Israel has
left more than 200 Lebanese dead, along with several Israelis. Both
Hezbollah and the government of Israel have declared open war with one
another. International intervention has been lacklustre to say the
least, and the crisis looks set to deepen.

As through its chequered history, Hezbollah is again winning praise and
support from the Arab and Muslim world, while it is accused of terrorism
by the West. Hezbollah is about the most prominent division points at
present between the two worlds.

By Dahr Jamail
http://DahrJamailIraq.com
t r u t h o u t | Perspective
(c)2006 Dahr Jamail.

Tuesday 18 July 2006

"In my judgment, the best way to stop the violence is to understand why
the violence occurred in the first place." That one sentence (a
surprisingly rare example of a complete sentence spoken by Cheney
spokesman George W. Bush), taken on its own, would fully explain why the
Middle East is now on the brink of regional war. But of course, Bush
always finds a way to engage in Orwellian newspeak. At a news conference
with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday, he managed to rewrite
history in the very next sentence by blaming Hezbollah for instigating
the violence by launching rocket attacks into Israel and capturing
Israeli soldiers. But then, George most likely has no idea where Gaza
is, let alone what has been occurring there for decades.

As puppet Bush goes on saying things like "Every nation has a right to
defend itself," referring to his favorite ally, Israel, his use of the
word "every" would of course exclude Lebanon, since their army is using
anti-aircraft guns against Israeli warplanes. And let us not forget the
Iraqi resistance - as it may never cross his feeble mind that they are
defending Iraq from the American invaders.

Most Arab leaders are refusing to back Hezbollah, although US-influenced
Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and Jordan's King Abdullah II issued
the usual statements demanding "an immediate halt on attacking civilians
and vital infrastructure," saying that such attacks breach the
international humanitarian conventions. As if Israel will listen. As if
the US listens to any calls from countries demanding similar actions by
the occupation forces and Western contracting companies who are busily
raping and pillaging Iraq. As if any country in war ever abides by the
Geneva Conventions nowadays. And without a functional UN to actually
take a stand for human rights or real justice, why should they?

The typical response among the people here in the Middle East is to
scoff at their leadership - who continue to cower and bow to US interests.

Friday at the Lebanese/Syrian border, I spoke with a 50-year-old Kuwaiti
man, Emad, as he fled Beirut with his family. "It's very bad there, as
the Israelis are attacking civilians, bombing police and petrol stations
and even the fuel storage depots," he told me, "In fact, they have even
bombed the airport once again. I saw F-16's bombing and there is smoke
everywhere. This is a big disaster for the Lebanese."

When I asked him what he thought it would take to end the fighting, he
promptly replied, "It looks like the Arab governments are not moving
their asses, so I am leaving."

Yet as consistently as the Arab governments fail to get busy "moving
their asses" toward something resembling a solution to this crisis, just
as consistently are the people repressed by those same governments
raising their voices.

On Friday, tens of thousands of Arab protestors hit the streets,
condemning the Israeli invasion of Lebanon and their actions in the Gaza
Strip. 5,000 angry protesters gathered at a mosque in Cairo carrying
banners that read, "Hey Arab leaders, you should be united." In Amman,
over 2,000 demonstrators gathered at a mosque after Friday prayers,
shouting "Zionists get out, get out!" and "Lebanon, Palestine and Jordan
are one people!"

Thousands marched in Gaza, waving Palestinian and Lebanese flags.

Meanwhile in Baghdad, thousands of angry Iraqis marched, praising
Hezbollah's leader, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, while denouncing Israel and
the US for the attacks. Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr hinted that he may
be prepared to put his Mehdi Army militia into action against the
Americans due to the Israeli actions in Lebanon and Gaza.

In an earlier piece titled "An Alliance of Violence
," I detailed
how violence perpetrated on the people of Palestine by the Israeli
military has immediate ramifications in Iraq. The same is now brewing
yet again.

In Kuwait, protesters rallied in front of the parliament building,
shouting "Death to Israel!" and "Death to America!" Meanwhile, a Kuwaiti
lawmaker named Musallam al-Barrak lashed out at his and other Arab
governments when he stated, "Arab countries can do nothing but condemn."

There is a frightening undercurrent of rage among the people in the
Middle East toward their governments: The Arab world is on fire over the
injustice meted out against the Palestinian people, as well as to the
Lebanese. The Israeli people are deeply angered at their government for
failing to provide security (of course our corporate media would never
report on the fact that hundreds of thousands of Israelis oppose their
government's actions in Gaza and beyond) - instead, preferring peaceful
resolutions rather than brutal, unjust, failed occupation and ongoing
acts of aggression.

Predictably, the impotent UN Security Council goes about its
machinations of futility, holding emergency meetings while hoping for
resolutions - which rarely, if ever, change anything on the ground to
stop the needless massacre of civilians on both sides of the conflict.
Ah, the UN - where the US is responsible for eight out of the last nine
vetoes, seven of which had to do with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
So why pin any hope on the UN, when the US has already vetoed a
resolution demanding that Israel stop its military offensive in the Gaza
Strip?

Meanwhile, the bloodletting continues as the situation escalates and
spins further into chaos while threatening to spread deeper into the region.

Israel, the only nuclear power in the region, hopes to completely
annihilate Hezbollah from southern Lebanon. They have now insured total,
unending war by demanding Hezbollah to completely disarm, leave southern
Lebanon and hand over the Israeli soldiers, demands which Hezbollah will
surely brush aside.

Let us not forget that both Israel and the US announced in January that
the Palestinian people would be punished for voting the wrong way by
electing Hamas to power. That unjust act, which began the chain of
events leading to our current crisis, may well be marked as the match
that lit this hellish bonfire. Because it certainly seems, judging from
their actions in Gaza and now in southern Lebanon, that the aim of the
Israeli government is to wipe out the Palestinian people, in addition to
Hamas and Hezbollah.

So we naturally have open war in Israel, Palestine and Lebanon. Israel
declared it by their act of bombing and invading Lebanon, then bombing
Nasrallah's Beirut offices. Nasrallah, unhurt by the attack, promptly
appeared on television announcing "open war" against Israel.

On Hezbollah's TV channel in Beirut, he said, "You wanted an open war
and we are ready for an open war." He announced, "Look at the warship
that has attacked Beirut [referring to an Israeli warship off the coast
that was lobbing shells into Lebanon] while it burns and sinks before
your very eyes."

The ship was heavily damaged and four of its 80 soldiers on board went
missing after being attacked by an explosive drone launched by
Hezbollah, the first time such a weapon has been seen from their arsenal.

"Now in the middle of the sea, facing Beirut, the Israeli warship that
has attacked the infrastructure, people's homes and civilians - look at
it burning," Nasrallah mocked, in his address that aired late Friday night.

In footage aired by the same channel, dozens of Lebanese danced in the
streets of Beirut to celebrate the announcement of the attack on the
Israeli ship. This, of course, contradicts Israel's goal in pressuring
Lebanon: Israel hoped that by punishing the Lebanese they would force
the country to pressure Hezbollah. Despite the propaganda of the dancing
Lebanese aired by Hezbollah TV, reaction thus far is mixed in besieged
Lebanon.

Deepening the crisis, Nasrallah threatened to attack deeper inside
Israel, "beyond Haifa."

And Saturday the bloodshed continued as the Israeli Air Force bombed
bridges, fuel storage tanks, petrol stations in southern and eastern
Lebanon. At least four people were killed in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley and
more bridges south of Beirut were destroyed.

The same day, at least 15 Lebanese villagers, including women and
children, were killed by an Israeli air strike on their vehicles as they
fled their village of Marwahin in southern Lebanon after being ordered
to evacuate by the Israelis.

Leaflets dropped by Israeli aircraft over Beirut warned the Lebanese not
to back Nasrallah. Yet, giving further evidence to the Lebanese army's
outwardly opposing the Israelis, after the leaflets were dropped they
were promptly collected and taken away by Lebanese security forces.

Underscoring this, Saadeddine Rafik Hariri, majority leader in the
Lebanese Parliament and the son of the assassinated former prime
minister of Lebanon, Rafik Hariri, told reporters in Kuwait on Saturday:
"The Lebanese people must remain united. We must not allow Israel to
divide us. The enemy is Israel."

Here in Damascas we're on pins and needles. The mood is one of both high
anxiety and seething anger at the Israelis' war against both Lebanon and
Hezbollah. Like anywhere else, nobody here supports collective
punishment or attacks against sovereign countries.

As Israeli jets pound the mountains in Lebanon near the Syrian border,
striking radio and satellite antennas, the concern that Syria will be
drawn into the conflict grows daily.

The day before, Reuters reported that the ruling Ba'ath party in
Damascas announced that they and the "Syrian people"... "are ready to
extend full support to the Lebanese people and their heroic resistance
to remain steadfast and confront the barbaric Israeli aggression and its
crimes."

The war is even widening in Lebanon, as Israeli warplanes, also on
Saturday, bombed an area in Tripoli, their most northern strike thus
far. After Israel placed an embargo on Lebanon and shut down their main
seaport in Beirut, 95% of the trade was rerouted through the port at
Tripoli. Today, three bombs were dropped by Israeli war planes on that
port. Other Lebanese ports now shut down include Jounieh, Amshit and
Hamat, as the Lebanese economy has ground to a nearly complete standstill.

At least 79 civilians have been killed and over 250 wounded since Israel
began its attack against Lebanon on Wednesday.

Civilians dying aren't only in Lebanon. Over a dozen rockets were fired
by Hezbollah into several towns in northern Israel, in addition to over
90 fired into a total of 15 towns in Israel thus far, killing at least
four and wounding scores.

Thus, both Hezbollah and the Israeli government have their "open war."
As usual, while the politicians and the UN wring their hands and twiddle
their thumbs, those bearing the brunt are the civilians on both sides,
whether they live in Israel, Lebanon or Palestine.



18.7.06

"This is going to be a big war."; Lebanese Tremors Rock Syria

(c)2006 Dahr Jamail
http://DahrJamailIraq.com
Jeff Pflueger's Photography Media
http://jeffpflueger.com
 "This is going to be a big war."


You can always spot them a mile away-he was white, middle-aged,
overweight, hair cut close to hide the pattern baldness, red face,
wearing a Harley Davidson motorcycle t-shirt and shorts. All of the
aforementioned is acceptable in the Middle East, of course, minus the
shorts. Aside from a few places like Beirut, wearing shorts in the
Middle East isn't exactly being respectful of the native culture.

But when you are a mercenary, I suppose that's damned low on your
priority list.

Then there was the other one-I noticed him in Chicago before we board
our Royal Jordanian flight to Amman. A 30-something white man, eyes wide
open, looking over his shoulder constantly, chewing gum so hard his jaw
muscles protruded. Blue-flames tattooed on his right arm above the
wrist-running up under his sleeve I don't know how far up his arm. His
tan combat boots and tan backpack kind of gave him away too, despite his
wearing civilian clothing.

During my flight I sat near a kind Palestinian man from the West Bank.
The older gentleman works in Dallas, and is retiring from his
electronics store which he is happy to tell me is being passed along to
his kids. His wife remains in the West Bank, so that's why he's moving
back home. I asked him what it's like to go home.

"I spend the night in Amman then the next day it takes sometimes the
full day to cross the bridge and get through the checkpoints. We have
the Jordanian border, the Israeli checkpoint, and another to get into
the West Bank," he says, "Each time they take all our things out, search
them and us, then if we're lucky we're waved through."

I ask him how he deals with it, personally, without losing his mind.
"Oh, all I can do is laugh, because if I lose my temper, if anyone loses
their temper, the soldiers [occupation soldiers] just go away for 3-4
hours until they feel like returning. So we all just stay calm and
behave gently and with dignity. They have all the power. We have none.
So what else can we do?"

Behaving like a typical Arab, he invites me to his home anytime I'm in
the area.

Landing in the heat of Amman, I left the plane and walk past a Jordanian
man holding a small piece of paper up which read, "Blackwater." Of
course it's for one (or both) of the men I described above…and soon I
see him greeting the man who prefers to wear shorts in the Middle East.

Not too much has changed in the airport in Amman, aside from the new
Starbucks. Of course, the Cinnabon had already been here for at least a
couple of years.

Meanwhile, plenty has changed in the region since I was here one year
ago. Wednesday, after having two of their soldiers captured by Hezbollah
fighters, the government of Israel has sent ground troops, backed by
aircraft and artillery, into Southern Lebanon. It's the first ground
operation by the Israelis in Lebanon since they withdrew from occupying
Lebanon in 2000. Just what the Middle East needs-another country to be
occupied; the move is akin to dumping jet fuel on a raging fire.

The prime minister of Israel, Ehud Olmert, referring to how his country
would respond to having two of their soldiers kidnapped by Hezbollah,
told a joint news conference with visiting Japanese Prime Minister
Junichiro Koizumi, "The Lebanese government is responsible. Lebanon will
pay the price."

Adhering to his favorite policy of collective punishment, Olmert, added,
"…those responsible for the attack will pay a high and painful price."
So attack a country because a rebel group in south Lebanon captured two
soldiers. And so the madness continues, as an Israeli air strike on a
house in Gaza on what they claimed was targeting a "Hamas top militant
leader" killed nine Palestinians, including seven children from one family.

Syrian Vice President Faruq al-Shara stated recently that Israel's
occupation of Arab land lays at the root of the new crisis that found
Israeli troops entering Lebanon. Let's have some more jet fuel. Looks
like I've picked an interesting time to visit Syria.

Meanwhile, Baghdad burns as over 100 people have been killed in
sectarian violence since Sunday.

A short flight has me landing in Damascas, then racing through the
streets as warm air flows through the open taxi windows. The pale green
lights mark the tops of minarets around the city, the rest of the lights
twinkling in the background as we found our way to my hotel.

After checking in, I dropped my bag and began to walk out for some food,
only to find Abu Talat at the front desk. A long bear hug and the
typical cheek kissing of Arab men, and we meet again after over one year
since we last were together. I'd given him the name of my hotel, but was
suspect as to whether he would have a successful trip out of Baghdad,
with the extremes of violence over the last three days there. He tends
to not go far from home when that occurs, but alas, he decided to go
after obtaining a promise from his son not to leave his home under any
circumstances.

Also typical of Arab men, we walk down the sidewalk holding hands, en
route to a café, talking a mile a minute. He tells me how horrible it is
in Baghdad. He lists his family members and relatives, one by one, who
have left already for good. "Those who can afford to fly are purchasing
one way tickets Dahr," he says, "For they have no intention of coming
back. Aside from my own children and wife, I am the only one of my
relatives left in Iraq."

The fighting is everywhere, he tells me. Now that the U.S.
military/Rumsfeld (who was just in Baghdad) and Khalilzad have declared
war on the Shia Mehdi Army, accusing them of terrorism, all bets are
off. Of course, the timing of this with Israelis attacks against
Hezbollah couldn't be more perfect. Coincidence?

"The fighting is everywhere, and there is no way the Americans can
control it now," Abu Talat adds, "The Shia are fighting each other for
control of Basra, while also fighting the Sunni."

"It is civil war now in Iraq, no doubt," he continues, "But no matter
who you ask, no one will admit it. Because people are too afraid to
admit this. People prefer to deny it."

Even back at our hotel, there are at least two other Iraqis, who have
come here for surgery, since all of the senior doctors have long since
left Baghdad to save their own lives.

The next day, Thursday, we awoke with our eyes glued to al-Jazeera on
the television. Israeli warplanes bombed Beirut's Rafiq al-Hariri
airport. At least two air strikes were reported while Lebanese
anti-aircraft guns fired feebly at the jets, according to witnesses.
Israeli jets also bombed bridges linking south Lebanon to the rest of
the country, and 22 civilians were killed last night by Israeli attacks
in southern Lebanon.

In response to the bombings, Hezbollah claims to have fired 60 rockets
into northern Israel.

The Israeli justification for bombing the airport in Beirut and pushing
into southern Lebanon is that two of their soldiers were captured. In
classic newspeak, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said of the
incident, "It is an act of war by the state of Lebanon," conveniently
omitting the bombings in the occupied territories, including civilians
on a beach, by Israeli forces over the last weeks.

"This is going to be a big war," Abu Talat tells me while we watch
plumes of smoke billowing from locations within Lebanon, "This is even
more important for us to cover than Iraq, and you know how much I love
Iraq."


------------------------------

Message: 2
Date: Thu, 13 Jul 2006 21:40:59 +0300
From: iraq_dispatches@dahrjamailiraq.com
Subject: Iraq Dispatches: Lebanese Tremors Rock Syria



Lebanese Tremors Rock Syria

*Inter Press Service*
Dahr Jamail

*DAMASCUS, Jul 13 (IPS) - Syrians are outraged over Israeli air strikes
in Lebanon that have killed 53 civilians and closed down Beirut's
international airport.*

Early Thursday morning Israeli air strikes targeted the new Rafiq
al-Hariri international airport. Israeli naval vessels entered Lebanon's
territorial waters and blocked access to ports while its forces launched
an offensive in southern Lebanon against Hezbollah fighters.

Hezbollah is a militant group that has long engaged in armed conflict
with Israel. It is believed to be strongest in the south of Lebanon, in
the areas bordering Israel.

The Israeli offensive was launched in response to the killing of eight
Israeli soldiers in clashes with Hezbollah fighters Wednesday near the
border 15km from the Mediterranean. Two Israeli soldiers were taken
hostage. An Israeli soldier had earlier been captured in Gaza.

In an escalation of the conflict, an Israeli woman was killed after
Hezbollah fighters fired rockets across the border into the Israeli town
Nahariya. An Israeli air base was hit by rockets, along with other towns
in the area. Several Israeli civilians have been wounded.

The Israeli military entered Lebanon for the first time since
withdrawing six years ago.

"I doubt you will find one Syrian who will not denounce what Israel is
doing in Gaza, the West Bank and now in Lebanon," independent publicity
consultant Ibrahim Yakhour told IPS. "Syrians believe that what the
Palestinians suffer is what the Syrians suffer."

Yakhour, a 60-year-old retired journalist said political parties in
Syria have been calling for a peaceful political process in the Middle
East for the past 30 years. "But when people are humiliated, attacked
and killed, radical reactions commence which are deleterious to the
political process."

People in Damascus also fear that a regional war may spread to Syria.
"The entire region is now involved," said Emad Huria, a 45-year-old
literary critic. "All Arabs should raise their voices against the
Israeli invasion of Lebanon."

Maher Skandyran, a 37-year-old worker at a watch store in downtown
Damascus said Israeli double standards are making people furious.

"I feel angry. Ninety-five percent of the Palestinian prisoners held by
Israel are innocent civilians, including women and children. Nobody says
a word about this. But when three Israeli armed soldiers are detained,
this is such a big crime, and everyone is outraged. Is this justice?"

Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said the Israeli soldiers had
been seized to push Israel to release prisoners.

Israel reacted with unexpected aggression. An Israeli military spokesman
told reporters, "Since this morning Israeli naval vessels have enforced
a full naval closure on Lebanon, because Lebanon's ports are used to
transfer both terrorists and weapons to the terror organisations
operating in Lebanon."

Another official said that the attacks had been launched to pressure the
Lebanese government to deal with Hezbollah.

Hezbollah's al-Manar television station in Beirut was bombed. Israel
also bombed several bridges that link southern Lebanon with the rest of
the country.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the action was in response to
"an act of war by the state of Lebanon." His cabinet promised a response
with "appropriate severity."

But the root of the Lebanese problem could lie in the occupation of
Palestinian areas.

"Everything which is happening illustrates the main problem, which is
the Israelis invading and occupying Palestine and taking the land,"
55-year-old local merchant Faez Ashoor told IPS. "When that situation
ends, we will have peace.."

Some of the Syrian anger is directed inevitably at the United States.

"I feel upset because our neighbours like Lebanon, Iraq and Palestine
are being attacked," said Hamad al-Khatib, 26-year-old owner of a mobile
phone store in central Damascus. "Israel doesn't care about
international law. We thought America was peaceful, but we see them
support Israel, which is killing women and children. What are we to
think of America now?"

Syrians are also now worried about themselves, he said. "This Israeli
attack makes all of us feel insecure now. We are all very anxious."

17.7.06

"This is a big disaster for the Lebanese."

"This is a big disaster for the Lebanese."
http://DahrJamailIraq.com

Once again the U.S. government has refused to condemn the Israeli
invasion of Lebanon as the bombs fall on Beirut, killing scores of
civilians.

In a moment of levity while driving to the border, Abu Talat turned to
me and said, "You know what I miss?" I replied, "What do you miss sir?"
He smiled and said, "Iraqi chai!" He then turns to our driver and asked
him if he'd ever had Iraqi chai, then went on to brag about how tasty it
is. "It is the greatest of chais," he said proudly when looking back to
me once again.

When we arrived at the Lebanese border this morning we found thousands
of people

streaming across in cars with their luggage lashed on top, and many on
foot pulling wheeled suitcases.

Little Bush, the ever obedient spokesman for Bush, announced that he
thinks Syria should be punished for their role in supporting Hezbollah,
so the mood in Damascas is one of anxious waiting to see what comes
next. The how and when of the punishment is what is on our minds.

So the latest Israeli onslaught of Lebanon is in full swing, and with
the Israelis need for the water of southern Lebanon, perhaps this
occupation of Lebanon may last longer than the last one of 22 years. If
indeed Syria gave the green light for Hezbollah to cross the UN line in
southern Lebanon and launch their attack on Israeli soldiers where they
detained two soldiers and killed another eight, they have effectively
handed the Israeli war planners an excuse for all out war against
Lebanon. In addition, the Hezbollah attack, if indeed supported by
Syria, would give the U.S. the ability to give a green light to Israel
to attack Syria. We wait, watch, and hope that the bombs don't begin to
fall on Damascas.

A reported 15,000 people crossed the Lebanese border into Syria on
Thursday, seeking refuge from widespread bombings in Beirut, carried out
by Israeli F-16 warplanes. Today, the situation continued, with reports
of bombed petrol stations, police stations, and a hospital.

Interviewing people at the border who had fled the bombs in Beirut, I
felt like I was back in Iraq by what people were telling me.

"I was in an area south of Beirut which was bombed heavily by the
Israelis," 55 year-old electrician Ali Suleiman

told me, "There were so many refugees in shelters nearby us, which was
also nearby an old hospital which the Israelis bombed last night. It was
terrifying at night when they attacked our area, and the Israelis
thought the hospital was an ammunition dump for Hezbollah, so they
bombed the hospital. Both Syrian and Lebanese people are leaving now.
There is no more food, not even bread. There was no more electricity or
water in our area. If this situation continues, it will be a giant
catastrophe."

The same tactics I've seen used by the U.S. in Fallujah, Al-Qa'im and
other cities in Iraq.

I was told a similar story by a 22 year-old Lebanese student, Nebham
Razaq Hamed, who was in southern Beirut. "The bombing at night was
continuous and has continued today, they are using warplanes and
sometimes artillery. Everybody is in a panic because of the haphazard
bombing which is killing so many civilians now. The Israelis are
terrorizing the people intentionally by not discriminating between
fighters and civilians."

As the level of fighting deepens, one can only hope that other forms of
terrorism don't beset the people of Lebanon, particularly the women. In
Ruth Rosen's "The Hidden War on Women in Iraq," an incredible piece
posted on TomDispatch
recently, the
disastrous situation for women caught up in the chaos of war is outlined
well. This must read paints the tragic picture of what we can only hope
will not descend on the women of Beirut as the Israeli siege of that
city grinds on.

A man from Saudi Arabia on a bus

with his family said, "Are the Israelis not occupying enough Arab land
already?"

It is only 127 kilometers from Beirut to Damascas, so the attacks were
very fresh on the minds of the people I spoke with-many of them

with shaky hands.

Others told me that the Bekaa Valley of central Lebanon, located on a
high plateau situated between the Mt. Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon mountain
ranges, is being bombed, including the ancient city of Baalbek. The
city, which began at the end of the third millennium BC, was originally
Phoenician, is located near two rivers and shortly after a Roman colony
was founded there by Julius Caesar in 47 BC, construction on the massive
temple complex began in earnest. Whether the temples are being bombed is
doubtful, but the nearby city of Baalbek, where Hezbollah controls the
area, has been bombed according to two people I interviewed.

"It's very bad there, as the Israelis are attacking civilians, bombing
police and petrol stations, and even the fuel storage depots," said a 50
year-old Kuwait man who was fleeing Beirut, "In fact, they have even
bombed the airport once again. I saw F-16's bombing and there is smoke
everywhere. This is a big disaster for the Lebanese."

When asked what he thought it would take to end the fighting, he
promptly replied, "It looks like the Arab governments are not moving
their asses, so I am leaving."

Fleeing Lebanese Speak of Indiscriminate Bombing

Inter Press Service
Dahr Jamail
http://dahrjamailiraq.com
*
ADDABBAOUSIYEH (northern Lebanese border), Jul 16 (IPS) - People fleeing
the bombing of Lebanon say the Israelis are targeting civilian
neighbourhoods and vital infrastructure, and not just Hezbollah centres.*

The bombing has killed more than 100 Lebanese civilians so far.

Several border points between Syria and Lebanon are being deluged with
refugees. Lebanon has a long border with Syria towards its south, east
and north. The refugees include both Lebanese and tourists.

"Everything is being bombed," a teacher from the United States who was
on vacation in Beirut told IPS. "It's terror. We've literally been
terrorised."

Twenty-five-year-old social studies teacher Abdul Rahman was living with
his family in downtown Beirut near the United Nations building before
they all decided to flee.

"We have not slept for three days because we were living in terror and
never knew when the Israelis would bomb us since they were hitting
everything," he told IPS.

"If they want to hit Hezbollah, let them hit Hezbollah, but not the
civilians. But civilians are all that they are hitting."

His mother feared for her 96-year-old father who they had to leave
behind. "We cannot move him because he is too frail," she said. "And now
all we can do is worry, since the Israelis are taking it out on the
innocent people."

On Sunday, the Israeli army also re-entered the Palestinian-ruled Gaza
Strip. According to reports from Gaza, three members of Hamas were
killed after Israeli tanks and bulldozers entered Beit Hanun town early
morning.

Gunfire and shelling by the Israelis is also reported to have killed a
75-year-old woman and wounded 10 others, along with a baby.

Israel launched several air strikes in Gaza as well. An Israeli army
spokeswoman claimed they destroyed a Hamas operations room in the
Jabaliya refugee camp.

Israel's stated goal in Gaza is to free a soldier captured by Hamas. So
far Israeli actions there have left one Israeli soldier dead, along with
82 Palestinians.

Hamas is demanding the release of prisoners from Israeli jails in
exchange for the Israeli soldier.

Israel is now embroiled in fighting on two fronts. The impact of the
fighting with Lebanon is being felt widely in Syria.

Abud Aziz, a 31-year-old Lebanese pastry chef from Beirut crossed the
border into Syria carrying his suitcase and looking for food and water.
There had been no water or electricity in Beirut since Saturday, he said.

"Yesterday I saw two hospitals bombed," he told IPS. "Nobody who remains
in Beirut can be safe. No way."

A 25-year-old construction worker named Hamed also said he saw warplanes
bomb a hospital in Beirut.

"I saw them bomb a hospital yesterday," he told IPS. "I left just hours
ago. They are bombing everything -- houses, casinos, fuel stations and
so many bridges."

Meanwhile, on Sunday Hezbollah fired more than 20 rockets into the city
of Haifa, Israel's third largest city, killing eight and wounding at
least a dozen.

The Hezbollah clearly have the means to strike back at Israel. They are
a well-armed and well-organised political and military group of Shia
Muslims in Lebanon. Sustained military attacks by the Hezbollah forced
Israel to vacate southern Lebanon in May 2000.

But the Hezbollah are not supported by all Lebanese. About 60 percent of
the 3.8 million population of Lebanon is Muslim, most of them Shia. This
is where Hezbollah draws its support.

The rest of the population is almost all Christian. A 15-year civil war
between Muslim and Christian groups ended in 1991. The Hezbollah are
believed to draw more support from outside the country than from many
within.

In the wake of Hezbollah strikes into Israel, Israeli authorities have
declared a 48-hour period of martial law over the northern part of the
country. Hezbollah groups have fired more than 400 rockets into Israel,
killing at least 16 civilians in the last five days.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert warned Lebanon of "far-reaching"
consequences after the rocket attacks. The Israeli army said that it had
warned all civilians to leave southern Lebanon.

Many of those who have left report panic conditions in Lebanon. "The
Israelis bombed a bridge to the airport near us and killed many people,"
26-year-old Hasna told IPS. "When other people went on the bridge to
help the wounded, the planes bombed it again."

Ambulances are usually not available because of the danger, she said.
"We were the last people to leave our area. The road there was nearly
empty."

Alham Aras, a Danish woman who was vacationing in Tripoli in Lebanon,
drove up to the border with her six children Sunday. She said she had
left on instructions from her embassy.

"The warplanes bombed the Palestinian camps in Tripoli," she said, "They
are attacking up and down the coast, and the port in Tripoli was also
attacked."

Her 14-year-old daughter Barihan al-Jassim said, "Somebody should stop
this madness. How is it possible for a country to be bombed like this
and nobody stops them from doing it?"

4.7.06

Pentagon Resists Ban on "Degrading Treatment"

Pentagon Resists Ban on "Degrading Treatment"

NEW YORK - As new reports detail further abuse by the U.S. military of its prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan, a behind-the-scenes battle is being fought between the U.S. departments of state and defence about whether a key section of the Geneva Conventions should be included in new rules governing Army interrogation techniques. (I still carry my card, it doesn't expire until 2009... probably so I can inform people what it was intended for and how the US government has violated that treaty too- WHO is EVIL?)

The Pentagon is pushing to omit from new detainee policies a central principle of the Geneva Conventions that explicitly bans "humiliating and degrading treatment". Critics say such a step that would mark a further shift away from strict adherence to international human rights standards.


...it is time for the administration to ask itself whether the humiliation, brutalization, and torture of Muslim detainees around the world is making us safer from terrorism, or is in fact fanning the flames of resentment and making it easier for the jihadists to find recruits for their evil cause.
I believe the latter of the 2 would be more accurate-kmw

Reed Brody, special council, Human Rights Watch
The State Department is opposing the decision to exclude Geneva Conventions protections and has been pushing for the Pentagon and White House to reconsider.

Meanwhile, in the face of growing criticism over U.S. treatment of detainees, Pentagon officials have decided to make public all of the military's interrogation techniques. Military leaders had previously argued that making all of the interrogation tactics public would allow enemy combatants to train and prepare for specific techniques.

The Pentagon's decision came as two previously secret Army investigative reports on prisoner abuse were released to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) under a freedom of information request.

The more than 1,000 pages turned over to the ACLU include one report by Army Brig. Gen. Richard Formica on special operations forces in Iraq and another by Brig. Gen. Charles Jacoby on Afghanistan detainees.

The Formica report reviewed only three allegations of abuse by special operations forces, but found that Iraqi detainees were held for up to seven days at a time with their eyes taped shut in tiny box-like cells so small that they had to sit with their knees to their chests while loud music blared, and detainees were fed only bread and water for up to a week.

One of the detainees said he was kept inside his tiny cell for two days, another for five days, and the third for seven days. The one kept for seven days alleged that "before he was placed in the box his clothes were cut off. He said that while held in the box, his captors duct-taped his mouth and nose, making it hard for him to breathe." He charged that water was thrown on him, that he was beaten, kicked and electrocuted.

Formica concluded that overall conditions "did not comport with the spirit of the principles set forth in the Geneva Conventions", but dismissed allegations that prisoners were physically abused or humiliated. The general recommended no disciplinary action against any U.S. special operations personnel.

Formica faulted "inadequate policy guidance" rather than "personal failure" for the mistreatment, and cited the dangerous environment in which special operations forces carried out their counterinsurgency missions. He said that, from his observations, none of the detainees seemed to be the worse for wear because of the treatment. a**hole. why don't we let you sit like that for a few months

The Jacoby report, carried out in May 2004, examined the treatment of detainees at facilities in Afghanistan. He found "no systematic or widespread mistreatment of detainees", but concluded that the opportunities for mistreatment and the ever-changing battlefield there demanded changes in procedures.

He said that there was "a consistent lack of knowledge" regarding the capture, processing, detention and interrogation of detainees and that policies varied at facilities across the country. Jacoby also concluded that the lack of clear standards created opportunities for abuse and impeded efforts to gain timely intelligence and that interrogation standards were "inconsistent and unevenly applied".

The U.S. military facility at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan has come in for particular criticism for its detention practices, including keeping "ghost" prisoners whose presence is unrecorded, and denying access to prisoners by the International Committee of the Red Cross and the United Nations Special Rapporteur.

Neither report recommended punishment of any military personnel.

Human rights groups were critical of the reports. Reed Brody, special counsel to Human Rights Watch, told IPS, "At long last, it is time for the administration to ask itself whether the humiliation, brutalisation, and torture of Muslim detainees around the world is making us safer from terrorism, or is in fact fanning the flames of resentment and making it easier for the jihadists to find recruits for their evil cause."

And Amrit Singh, an ACLU attorney, said, "Both the Formica and the Jacoby report demonstrate that the government is really not taking the investigation of detainee abuse seriously."

She called the reports "a whitewash" and questioned why they only focused on a limited number of incidents, adding that there have been numerous documents showing that special operations forces abused detainees, yet Formica only reviewed a few cases.

The reports were released as the military grappled with new allegations of war crimes in Iraq. Two Pennsylvania National Guardsmen were charged with killing an unarmed Iraqi man in Anbar province. Seven Marines and a Navy corpsman were charged in the shooting death of an Iraqi man in the town of Hamdania. And three soldiers and a noncommissioned officer were charged in the deaths of three unarmed Iraqis in military custody in Salahuddin province.

These charges follow allegations that in Haditha, a town in Anbar province, members of a Marine unit killed up to two dozen unarmed Iraqis, including small children, in and outside their homes after a roadside bomb killed one of the troops.

The Bush administration has been criticized internationally, including by U.S. allies, for abusive treatment of terror war detainees.

The military's treatment of detainees has been under increased scrutiny since the Abu Ghraib prisoner scandal in Iraq was revealed two years ago. Photographs made public at that time showed U.S. troops beating, intimidating and sexually abusing prisoners.

Human rights groups have also called for the Bush administration to close the detention centre at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where three detainees recently committed suicide. Over the past weekend, 16 Saudi Arabian detainees were released to the government of their home country, continuing the Bush administration's policy of gradually repatriating prisoners, either to freedom or for further custody by their home governments.

President Bush recently acknowledged that he would like to close the controversial prison at Guantanamo. He said the military is working to ensure that detainees released to their home countries are not subjected to torture in detention. It is believed there are now just under 500 prisoners being held at the facility in Cuba. Only 10 have been formally charged with any crime and none has been tried.

Late last year, the U.S. Congress passed an anti-torture amendment championed by Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican who was held and tortured in a North Vietnamese prison for years. McCain, along South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham -- a former military judge -- pressed Congress to establish the Army Field Manual as the standard for treatment of all detainees.

The Bush administration initially opposed the amendment, but the measure passed and became law. However, in signing the law, Bush appended a statement saying, in effect, that he had the authority to override it under a variety of circumstances involving military necessity and national security. Otherwise rendering the law null and void.

In 2002, Bush issued an executive order that suspended parts of the Geneva Conventions for captured al Qaeda and Taliban fighters. Bush's order superseded military policy at the time. Since then, U.S. obligations under the Conventions have been the subject of an intense debate that became even more intense following reports of detainee abuses at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison.

1.7.06

Friendly Fire Ambush

Friendly Fire Ambush
by Marjorie Cohn

Sergeant Patrick R. McCaffrey, Sr. and First Lieutenant Andre D. Tyson died on this day two years ago in Balad, Iraq. Back then, military officials reported that enemy insurgents ambushed them. The Army subsequently conducted an investigation and learned the men were targeted and killed by Iraqi troops they were training.

Although the Army completed its investigation on September 30, 2005, it failed to clarify the initial notification to the families for nine months. It took a May 22 letter from Senator Barbara Boxer's office to force the Army to finally come clean.

A month before he died, Patrick told his father that Iraqi forces they were training had attacked his unit. When he filed a complaint with his chain of command, Patrick "was told to keep his mouth shut," his mother said.

After Patrick died, his parents conducted their own investigations. The Army denied requests to see autopsy reports. The McCaffreys persisted. They talked to soldiers in their son’s unit and managed to learn what really happened.

Bob McCaffrey was informed by members of his son's company that insurgents were offering Iraqi soldiers about $100 for each American they could kill. "Iraqi troops are turning on their American counterparts," Bob said. "That puts a knock in the spin that the White House is trying to put on this story — how the Iraqis are being well trained and are getting ready to take over."

Nadia McCaffrey learned that after her son was shot, a US truck arrived. It picked up Lt. Tyson, who was dead, but did not take her son who was still alive. The truck returned later and took him to the base, where he bled to death.

Yesterday, Brig. Gen. Oscar Hilman and three other officers visited Patrick's mother to deliver the official report. "It was overwhelming," Nadia told me. I had to live through the whole thing again."

The officers "tried to patronize me as a good Mom," she added. "I said I won't stand for that. I want the truth!"

When Nadia talked to Army officers yesterday she asked them, "How could you possibly let this happen"? They sat silent.

An Army official cited the "complexity" of the case as an excuse for the delay in telling the families how their sons really died, according to the Los Angeles Times.

"They never tell the family the truth," said Ophelia Tyson, grandmother of Andre Tyson. "You know how politics is."

"I really want this story to come out; I want people to know what happened to my son," Nadia said. "There is no doubt to me that this is still happening to soldiers today, but our chain of command is awfully reckless; they don't seem to give a damn about what's happening to soldiers." How Unfortunately TRUE

The father of two children, Patrick joined the National Guard the day after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. He was the first combat death in the 58 year history of California's 579 Engineer Battalion, based in Petaluma, Ca. Patrick was listed as "Casualty number 848." That was 1652 deaths ago.

"He was killed by the Iraqis that he was training," Nadia said. "People in this country need to know that."

"It's god-awful," said Bob, himself an Army veteran. "It underlies the lie of this whole situation in Iraq. It's all to me a pack of lies."

Boxer noted, "You have to ask yourself, 'What are we doing there with a blank check and a blind eye, when our soldiers are risking their lives for the Iraqi people and the Iraqis are turning around and killing our soldiers?' We need an exit strategy."

Marjorie Cohn is a professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law and president-elect of the National Lawyers Guild.