Irak 93

De onafhankelijke Amerikaanse journaliste Katrina van den Heuvel schrijft: 'The Peace Race - The peace majority is real.

A CBS poll finds that 80 percent of Democrats believe the United States should have stayed out of Iraq, and more than 60 percent want US troops home as soon as possible. A Washington Post/ABC poll finds that 70 percent of Independents feel the war was not worth it, and 33 percent of Republicans agree. Even 72 percent of our troops believe US forces should leave Iraq in the next year. So what are so many Democratic politicians so afraid of? And how do we translate this majority into a politics of change for the 2006 elections and beyond? How do we send a message from the grassroots – the people outside of the beltway – that ending this war matters, and that the time to show moxie and conviction is right now? VotersForPeace has initiated the Peace Voter Pledge along with 18 other antiwar organizations – including United for Peace and Justice, itself a coalition of 1,400 local groups.
The pledge is focused on the Iraq war as well as potential armed conflicts such as that with Iran, and – using language crafted by The Nation in its cover editorial last November – it reads: "I will not vote for or support any candidate for Congress or President who does not make a speedy end to the war in Iraq, and preventing any future war of aggression, a public position in his or her campaign."
Linda Schade, spokesperson for Voters For Peace, points to a nationwide poll indicating that 67 percent of Democratic voters support or strongly support the wording of the pledge; 59 percent of Independents and a stunning 25 percent of Republicans support it as well.
"The Peace Majority is now here. Peace Voters are the new Soccer Moms," Schade said.
Peace Voters see how the war is undermining our security and causing a tragically unnecessary loss of life, while also depleting needed resources for healthcare, education, and the rebuilding of America.
Kevin Martin, Executive Director of Peace Action, expects hundreds of other groups to join in the Peace Voter Pledge effort. The goal is to obtain two million signatures in 2006 and Peace Action is aggressively promoting it online, while chapters and affiliates circulate it at local community events across the nation.
"Support for this war, or unwillingness to speak out against it, are both morally unacceptable," Martin said. "Democrats can't beat Karl Rove by offering no real alternative on this."' Lees verder:
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/edcut?bid=7&pid=92399 Of: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13661.htm

De Bush Bende 17

Het onafhankelijke Truthout bericht: 'Documents May Link Cheney to Halliburton No-Bid Iraq Contract.
Newly released documents raise questions regarding involvement of Vice President's office.

Washington, DC - Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that the Department of the Army, per order of U.S. District Court Judge Ricardo M. Urbina, has released to Judicial Watch approximately 100 pages of documents which detail the multi-billion dollar, no-bid contract awarded in 2003 by the Army to Kellogg Brown and Root (KBR), a subsidiary of Halliburton Co. One document uncovered by Judicial Watch suggests the United States Army Corp of Engineers (USACE) may have publicly lied regarding the involvement of the Vice President's office in awarding the contract.
In an email dated April 22, 2003, Carol Sanders of the USACE, writes, "Mr. Robert Andersen, Chief Counsel, USACE, participated in a 60 Minutes interview today in New York regarding the sole source award of the oil response contract to Kellogg, Brown and Root.... Mr. Andersen ... was able to make many of the points we had planned." Sanders subsequently provided sound bites from the interview, including, "There was no contact whatsoever (with the VP office)."
This directly contradicts another email uncovered by Judicial Watch in 2004. The email, dated March 5, 2003, sent by an official of the Army Corps of Engineers whose name was redacted, stated, "We anticipate no issue [with the KBR deal] since the action has been coordinated w VP's office."
The newly released documents also prove the Department of the Army abused the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) process by improperly invoking exemptions. One document, for example, includes a frank admission by an Army Corps of Engineer official: "I am copying you on this crap since I honestly believe the competitive procurement will never happen." The Army attempted to withhold this embarrassing document even though no appropriate exemption applied. It took the intervention of a federal district judge to force the Army to release the document.
"These new documents raise questions about the involvement of the Vice President's office in the controversial KBR deal. One has to wonder whether the Army was being forthright about the issue," said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.
Noting Vice President Cheney's prior relationship to Halliburton, Judicial Watch filed its FOIA request to obtain documents pertaining to the lucrative no-bid contract. The vice president's associations with Halliburton "raise concerns about the appearance of a conflict of interest or favoritism," Judicial Watch argued, "particularly since the contract was awarded to KBR without a bidding process and because the contract was not announced to the public until after it was approved."' Lees verder: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/061606Z.shtml
Zie ook: http://www.judicialwatch.org/5791.shtml

Israelisch Expansionisme 20

Aan de Israelische landroof komt geen eind. Electronic Intifada bericht:

'In 1967, the boundaries of Anata, located in the Jerusalem Governorate, extended over 30,000 dunums (7,500 acres) of land. [1] However, multiple Israeli policies affecting the town since then have led to its progressive loss. According to the Anata Local Council, upon completion of Wall construction, only some 2,300 dunums (575 acres) will remain for the use of Anata residents, the majority of which has already been built-up. Israel has appropriated or isolated the rest through construction and expansion of Israeli settlements, establishment of a major military base, and construction of the Wall and its “buffer zone”.Anata’s natural expansion is now restricted by “facts on the ground” created by Israel. Upon completion of the Wall, Anata and the adjacent Shu’fat Refugee Camp will be enclosed on 3 sides by the Wall. To the east, natural expansion will be prevented by a major road currently under construction, and, to its east, by the Israeli military base of Anatot. Hemmed in by physical structures on all sides, intense overcrowding is likely to occur as the Palestinian civilian population grows over time.The economic future of Anata is equally bleak. Some 45 per cent of Anata’s labourers depend on work in Israel, and a significant proportion of Anata residents rely on commerce that depends, in large part, on traffic in and out of the town. Completion of the Wall and further Israeli restrictions on Palestinian freedom of movement will contribute to a decrease in commercial trade and in overall income levels. The damage caused to Anata’s economy will be felt on a national level. Approximately 35 per cent of the Palestinian economy is dependent on Metropolitan East Jerusalem, which extends from Bethlehem to Ramallah. This metropolitan area is now being broken into semi-enclaves – of which Anata is but one – by the route of the Wall. The disintegration of Metropolitan East Jerusalem destroys the possibility of an integrated national economy and thus the possibility of a viable Palestinian state.While Israel has carried out its policies in the Anata area under a variety of pretexts, including “security”, the facts on the ground clearly indicate that these policies are part of a series of unilateral Israeli actions designed to sever the connection between Occupied East Jerusalem and other parts of the West Bank, to de facto annex Palestinian land and to impose a vision of “final status” that will impede the establishment of a viable, contiguous Palestinian state.' Lees verder: http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article4815.shtml

De Pro Israel Lobby 11

De Electronic Intifada bericht: 'Congress grossly misled about plight of Palestinian Christians.

In a letter to the American Congress on 13 June, Open Bethlehem’s chief executive Leila Sansour, a Christian from Bethlehem, expressed her community’s shock at the gross misrepresentation of the threat facing the Christians of the Holy Land. She urged Congress to pay heed to the plight of the oldest Christian community in the world. “We are disappointed by the resolution drafted by Congressman McCaul and Congressman Crowley purporting to act on our behalf. The resolution seriously misrepresents the situation facing Christians in the Holy Land”. The ill-conceived resolution accuses the Palestinians of discrimination towards their own Christian community – and does so without consulting any local churches or Christian organizations. The drafters of the resolution ignored the calls from churches in Jerusalem, as well as the overwhelming body of reports from international organizations warning of the devastating effect of the Israel’s system of closures, collective punishment and the construction of the wall. In the Holy city of Bethlehem, the wall forcefully expropriates most of Bethlehem’s valuable land and historic landmarks depriving many Christian families from their homes, links to their community in Jerusalem and their income. The Open Bethlehem campaign was created to address the state of emergency in Bethlehem with full support from the Patriarchs of Jerusalem and all Bethlehem Civil institutions. His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI received the first Open Bethlehem passport, lending his support to the campaign alongside international figures such as Archbishop Desmond Tutu and President Jimmy Carter. Open Bethlehem is deeply encouraged by churches and church leaders across the US and by the work of those US politicians who have joined Rep.Henry Hyde in bringing the plight of Christians in Palestine to Congress and the people of the US. In a letter to the White House last Friday, Rep. Hyde stated that the Wall and expanding settlements are, “irreversibly damaging the dwindling Christian community."' Lees verder: http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article4811.shtml

De Oorlogsstaat 67

De Amerikaanse historicus Gabriel Kolko schrijft in CounterPunch: '"The Demons of Greed are Loose."
Why a Global Economic Deluge Looms

People who know the most about the world financial system are increasingly worried, and for very good reasons. Dire warnings are coming from the most "respectable" sources. Reality has gotten out of hand. The demons of greed are loose.
What is that reality? It includes a number of factors. Alone they would be exceedingly serious; combined, they are very likely to be lethal.
First of all, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has been undergoing both a structural and intellectual crisis. Structurally, its outstanding credit and loans have declined dramatically since 2003, from over $70 billion to a little over $20 billion today, leaving it with far less leverage over the economic policies of developing nations--and even less income than its expensive operations require. It is now in deficit.1
A large part of the IMF's problems are due to the doubling in world prices for all commodities since 2003 -- especially petroleum, copper, silver, zinc, nickel, and the like -- that the developing nations traditionally export. While there will be fluctuations in this upsurge, there is also reason to think it may endure because rapid economic growth in China, India, and elsewhere has created a burgeoning demand that did not exist before, when the balance-of-trade systematically favored the rich nations.
The U.S. has seen its net foreign asset position fall as Japan, emerging Asia, and oil exporting nations have become far more powerful over the past decade, and have increasingly become creditors to the U.S.2 As the U.S. deficits mount, with its imports being far greater than its exports, the value of the dollar has been declining -- 28 per cent against the euro from 2001 to 2005 alone.
Equally important, the IMF and World Bank were severely chastened by the 1997-2000 financial meltdowns in East Asia, Russia, and elsewhere, and many of the two institutions' key leaders lost faith in the anarchic premises, descended from classical laisser-faire economic thought, which guided policy advice until then. "{O]ur knowledge of economic growth is extremely incomplete," many in the IMF now admit, and "more humility" on its part is now warranted.3
Worse yet, the whole nature of the global financial system has changed radically in ways that have nothing whatsoever to do with "virtuous" national economic policies that follow IMF advic. These are ways the IMF cannot control. The investment managers of private equity funds and major banks have displaced national banks and international bodies such as the IMF, moving well beyond the existing regulatory structures and they have "reintermediated" themselves between the traditional borrowers, both national and individual, and markets. They have deregulated the world financial structure, making it far more unpredictable and susceptible to crises. They seek to generate high investment returns, which is the key to their compensation, and they take mounting risks to do so. Lees verder:
http://www.counterpunch.org/kolko06152006.html

De Israelische Terreur 32

Inter Press Service bericht: 'Caterpillar Pressured Over "Weaponised Bulldozers."

WASHINGTON - The parents of a U.S. peace activist who was crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer built by the global machinery giant Caterpillar confronted the company Wednesday for the first time and urged shareholders at its annual meeting to end sales of "weaponised bulldozers to Israel".
Cindy and Craig Corrie, parents of the late Rachel Corrie, attended the meeting as proxy voters on behalf of Jewish and Christian institutional investors who have filed a resolution asking for greater corporate accountability from Caterpillar. Activists supporting the parents who lost their daughter in 2003 say that the company sells machinery to the Israeli army in violation of its corporate accountability pledge and knowing full well that the equipment will be used for the destruction of Palestinian homes and farms. "We are part of a growing movement for corporate responsibility in the United States," said Matt Gaines of the STOP CAT campaign in a telephone interview from outside the shareholders' meeting in Chicago. "Getting the U.S. government to take action on this issue has been very, very difficult, even though we are still working on it. But we are taking it directly to the corporations involved that are sponsoring, aiding or abetting war crimes," he said. Caterpillar has become the poster child for U.S. companies that are being targeted in divestment drives for their role in human rights abuses by the Israeli army in occupied Palestinian land. It has said in the past that it bears no responsibility for how its products are used by clients. Spokespersons from the company were not immediately available for comment on Wednesday. Rachel Corrie was killed in the town of Rafah while she and other members of the International Solidarity Movement were trying to stop the demolition of a Palestinian house in the Gaza Strip on Mar. 16, 2003.

Caterpillar, Inc. built the nine-tonne bulldozer that ran over Corrie, a 23-year-old college student from Olympia in Washington State. Her death made international headlines and triggered widespread condemnation. Israeli courts have yet to prosecute anyone for the incident.' Lees verder: http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0615-03.htm

De Oorlogsstaat 66

De neoliberale ideologie kost veel geld door oorlogen, belastingvoordelen voor de rijken en bezuinigingen op onderwijs, volkshuisvesting en gezondheidszorg. De Washington Post bericht: 'Crisis Seen in Nation's ER Care
Capacity, expertise are found lacking.

Emergency medical care in the United States is on the verge of collapse, with the nation's declining number of emergency rooms dangerously overcrowded and often unable to provide the expertise needed to treat seriously ill people in a safe and efficient manner.
That's the grim conclusion of three reports released yesterday by the Institute of Medicine, the product of an extensive two-year look at emergency care.
Long waits for treatment are epidemic, the reports said, with ambulances sometimes idling for hours to unload patients. Once in the ER, patients sometimes wait up to two days to be admitted to a hospital bed.
As a system, US emergency care lacks stability and the capacity to respond to large disasters or epidemics, according to the 25 experts who conducted the study. It provides care of variable and often unknown quality and depends on the willingness of doctors and hospitals to lose large amounts of money.
Fixing the problems is likely to cost billions of dollars and will require the leadership of a new federal agency, which Congress should create in the next two years, they wrote.
"This is a crisis that could jeopardize everyone in this room, and all their loved ones," A. Brent Eastman, a surgeon and chief medical officer of the ScrippsHealth hospitals in San Diego, said at a daylong conference on the reports, which were prepared by the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine.
"There is just such a gap between what the public knows, or thinks it knows, and the reality. And it is getting worse," said Robert B. Giffin, the Institute of Medicine staffer who headed the study.
The reports - on hospital ERs, on pediatric emergency care and on pre-hospital care given by ambulance services - were embraced by the 24,000-member American College of Emergency Physicians, and its president said that the endorsement was telling.
"What other industry says, 'Hey, look at us, our whole system is broken'?" said the group's president, Frederick C. Blum, a physician in Morgantown, W.Va.
Two key steps for improving emergency care are regional planning and creating a standard way to measure outcomes, so that low-quality ERs and ambulance services can be identified and fixed, the committee wrote.
Emergency medical care is a legal right for all Americans. Under a law enacted in 1986, emergency rooms must evaluate and stabilize anyone who shows up. That requirement - bolstered by physicians' ethical duty to treat the ill - has made hospital emergency departments subject to unique pressures.
From 1993 to 2003, the US population grew by 12 percent but emergency room visits grew by 27 percent, from 90 million to 114 million. In that same period, however, 425 emergency departments closed, along with about 700 hospitals and nearly 200,000 beds.' Lees verder: http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/061506HA.shtml Of:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/14/AR2006061402166.html