Iraq War Criminals Walk Away

On May 9th 2007, Sergeant Sanick De la Cruz received immunity from prosecution in return for testimony in which he said that he had watched Wuterich shoot five Iraqis attempting to surrender. He further stated that he and Wuterich had further fired into the dead bodies - and that he had urinated on one of the dead Iraqis.
"Imagine what we could accomplish if we followed their (US troops) example,"pondered the President in his speech - in a week in which worldwide revulsion was expressed at a video of Marines, allegedly with the 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marines from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, urinating on dead bodies in Afghanistan.
It was, of course: "behaviour ... not in keeping with the values of the US Armed Forces ... not consistent with our core values (or) indicative of the character of the Marines in our Corps," said a Defence Department spokeswoman.(i).
Ross Caputi, a former Marine who took part in another massacre, in Falluja, exactly a year before Haditha, was sickened at what he saw and experienced, and now campaigns tirelessly for Iraq and for reparation for Falluja. He disputes the Defence Department's sunny view of "core values." LINK.

La France - Les 'Nouveaux Pauvres'

Fidel Castro Publishes Memoir

Egypt - 5th Day Of Most Recent Clashes

Ustad Vilayat Khan

The Terrorist Who Wasn't

Take the case of Mohamed Ali Harrath, a Tunisian dissident who endured spells of imprisonment and torture before escaping across the border to Algeria and eventually to London. Harrath's torturers asked for him to be added to Interpol's "Red Notice" list, a system of international alerts aimed at detecting suspected criminals or terrorists. The international police agency was happy to oblige.
There was no evidence that Harrath was more than a dissident. Nevertheless, for years he has been unable to travel without risk of arrest and extradition. After he set up the Islam Channel, a television station popular among Britain's two million Muslims, Harrath's fugitive status was ruthlessly used against him by a new set of persecutors: critics of Islam in the British political and media establishment. Full story here.

'She Never Set Foot In Iraq But Is A Casualty of The Iraq War'

Jason Pemberton's uncle, Darrel Pemberton of Evergreen, Ala., said his nephew completed three tours of duty as a sniper in Iraq and was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. He received a medical discharge in 2009 from the U.S. Army because of a severe back injury he suffered when his parachute deployed too late, the uncle said.
Police responded Sunday to the apartment when a neighbor noticed a dog on the couple's balcony, which seemed unusual.
Tiffany Pemberton's body was in the living room near the porch window, and her husband was about eight feet away from her in the bedroom, Chitwood said.
A neighbor told officers he heard two gunshots about 9:30 p.m. Saturday, but police were not notified then. Another neighbor recalled hearing the shots three hours earlier.
Chitwood said items in the apartment indicated Pemberton was "highly decorated." More here.

US Operatives In Egypt Arrested

David Miliband Comeback?

A neat filleting of the little neocon, Blairite toad here:

But before we come to that, a word of praise to him for hewing the time from the ever-lengthening roster of commercial endeavours (a football club directorship, public speaking abroad, advising venture capitalists) that is earning him a reputed £500,000 per annum; a half-million which this strong advocate of a mansion tax reportedly channels through a private company in the way that is familiar to those seeking – entirely legally – to avoid paying income tax. Nothing wrong there. If being Baby Blair means anything, it means earning oodles from the contacts book and espousing the ancient Labour ideal that limiting tax liability is for the many, not the few.  More.

Iran - Israel Poised To Attack?

Who's Behind The Egyptian Riots?

Vigilant In An Uncertain World :Projectile Vomiting Emoticon:

The United States Department of State Bureau of Diplomatic Security produced a report 'Vigilant In An Uncertain World' last year. Some especially interesting language is found on page 26 in a section entitled "Unmanned Aerial Vehicles." It describes how the "Department of State coordinated with the U.S. Department of Defence and other government agencies to research using Tier 1 (low altitude, long endurance) unmanned aerial vehicles in high-threat locations such as Iraq and Afghanistan. This effort led to a successful test in Iraq in December. DS plans to deploy unmanned aerial vehicles to support U.S. Embassy Baghdad in 2011. The program will watch over State Department facilities and personnel and assist Regional Security Officers with high-threat mission planning and execution." The "unmanned aerial vehicles" to which the document refers are popularly known as "drones" and have already proved their usefulness in killing, among others, numerous collateral victims. Farmers, villagers, women, children and the odd militant.  

New Labour Goes From Strength To Strength

Plight of Kurdish Refugees In Iraq

Thousands of Kurds who fled when Assad's forces crushed uprising in Qamishli eight years ago, still live in camps. Clip HERE.

James Joyce Was Born 130 Years Ago Today

Taliban Momentum Not Broken

"You'd kill 15 or 20 of them, and then five minutes later, there was another 15 or 20 of them trying to attack you again. I mean, we'd kill so many that we went black on ammo, pretty much, and we just had to stop and wait," said Goodell. "They're motivated. I tell my soldiers this exact same thing: If they were to come into our country, into the United States of America, and they were walking in your front yard, what would you do? Damn right I would fight you, and then I'd find all my friends and we'd fight you, and then I'd find their friends, and then we'd come and fight you. And after I died, my son and their sons and their friends' sons would all come fight you. Of course. We're in their backyard." More.

Iraq-Style Ramp-Up Of Stories On Iran

Some observers believe the planned European and US oil embargoes, due to come into effect five months from now with potentially severe implications for the Iranian economy, along with a military build-up in the region, could themselves raise the risk of miscalculation on all sides.
"I don't think they are playing Iran anything like as well as they think they are," said Richard Dalton, a former British ambassador to Tehran. "The oil embargo tends to give those elements in Iran who want to have maximal defences, including nuclear defences, added weight to their arguments. Also they are poking Iran with a sharp stick but this is not accompanied by a new negotiating incentives." More here.

Gingrich and Romney Growing Closer

Newt Thinking What A Cute Ass Mitt Had All Along

Le Pakistan Et Les Talibans Afghans

Le rapport sur "l'état des talibans", auquel ont eu accès la BBC et le quotidien The Times, a été rédigé sur la base d'informations obtenues auprès des insurgés détenus et a été remis aux commandants de l'OTAN en Afghanistan le mois dernier, affirment ces médias mercredi.Il révèle notamment que le Pakistan et son agence du renseignement, l'ISI (InterServices Intelligence), connaissent les lieux de résidence des plus hauts dirigeants talibans. La BBC précise que le document est le fruit de vingt-sept mille interrogatoires de plus de quatre mille prisonniers talibans et membres d'Al-Qaida et de combattants et civils étrangers. "Les officiers de l'ISI soutiennent la nécessité de poursuivre le djihad et l'expulsion des envahisseurs étrangers d'Afghanistan", affirme le rapport. Une tactique habituelle des talibans est de se retirer de certaines zones, d'attendre que les forces de l'OTAN les quittent et de retourner alors aux endroits où ils sont plus populaires que le gouvernement de Kaboul, considéré comme corrompu par beaucoup d'Afghans, explique-t-il. Video ici

Voice of Otto Von Bismarck

A wax cylinder recording of German statesman Otto von Bismarck has been released. It's the first time his voice has been heard for more than 100 years.

The recording was made in 1889 by a technician working for the inventor of the phonograph, Thomas Edison. Clip here .