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Wars and conflicts

  • A Viet Nam Veteran: His Name Was Earl
    4 January 2006 par (Open-Publishing)

    by Monica Benderman
    His name was Earl. He spent his days in a wheel chair, hand propelled, sitting along the sidewalks of the seawall in a Victorian city along the coast. He kept all of his possessions in a shopping cart, while his valuables hung from the handles of his chair. I met him one night while walking on the beach. I walked past a hollowed out part of the rocky seawall, and something moved. It was Earl, and a blanket. After going across the street and returning with cups of (…)

  • What Peace Needs
    2 January 2006 par (Open-Publishing)

    by Monica Benderman
    The Regional Corrections Facility at Ft. Lewis, Washington is vintage World War II. The windows are cracked and can’t be closed. It’s below freezing on most nights now.
    I could go on - but what good will it do in this country of warmongers, idealistic pacifists, and evangelicals? Nothing like love for a cause - any cause - as long as it’s impersonal enough that everyone can remain detached, can share their emotions through the war cries and protest chants, staring (…)

  • Keepers at the Gate: He Who Controls Television Controls the Masses
    2 January 2006 par (Open-Publishing)
    4 comments

    by Manuel Valenzuela
    In this age of modernity and technology, where the television monitor has become the center of the average American household, from cradle to grave acting as surrogate parent, teacher, role model and as influencer of human thought, it should come as no surprise that entire populations can be controlled with such facility and efficiency, turning once thinking humans into grazing sheeple. For in today’s day and age, he who controls television controls the masses, and he (…)

  • War without end : only justice, not bombs, can make our dangerous world a safer place
    2 January 2006 par (Open-Publishing)

    by Robert Fisk
    12/30/05 "The Independent" — — This was the year the "war on terror" - an obnoxious expression which we all parroted after 11 September 2001 - appeared to be almost as endless as George Bush once claimed it would be. And unsuccessful. For, after all the bombing of Afghanistan, the overthrow of the Taliban, the invasion of Iraq and its appallingly tragic aftermath, can anyone claim today that they feel safer than they did a year ago?
    We have gone on smashing away at the (…)

  • Two Distinct Wars in Iraq
    2 January 2006 par (Open-Publishing)
    3 comments

    It is widely known that President Bush led the United States into an “unjustified war” against Iraq based on deceptions and lies linking Hussein Saddam with ties to 9-11 attacks and al Qaeda terrorists, and with possession of WMDs. It is also vastly accepted that Bush has initiated a “global war” against terrorism. However, it is not commonly acknowledged that these two wars in Iraq are distinct and different. The U.S. Congress only authorized Bush to remove the supposedly impending threat (…)

  • New Year’s Resolutions - 10 Ways to Stop the War
    2 January 2006 par (Open-Publishing)

    NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS - TEN WAYS TO STOP THE WAR
    The latest UNICEF report (December 2005) estimates that in 2004 the under-5 infant mortality was 122,000 in Occupied Iraq, 359,000 in Occupied Afghanistan and 1,000 in the occupying country Australia (noting that in 2004 the populations of these countries were 28.1 million, 28.6 million and 19.9 million, respectively) ().
    About 1,300 under-5 year old infants will have died in Occupied Iraq and Afghanistan on Christmas Day 2005 alone and (…)

  • German media: U.S. prepares Iran strike
    1 January 2006 par (Open-Publishing)
    1 comment

    by Martin Walker
    December 31, 2005 UPI
    WASHINGTON, Dec. 30 (UPI) — The Bush administration is preparing its NATO allies for a possible military strike against suspected nuclear sites in Iran in the New Year, according to German media reports, reinforcing similar earlier suggestions in the Turkish media.
    The Berlin daily Der Tagesspiegel this week quoted "NATO intelligence sources" who claimed that the NATO allies had been informed that the United States is currently investigating all (…)

  • The Most Valuable Progressives of 2005
    1 January 2006 par (Open-Publishing)

    by John Nichols
    It is hard to complain about a year that began with George Bush bragging about spending the "political capital" he felt he had earned with his dubious reelection and ended with the president drowning in the Nixonian depths of public disapproval.
    But the circumstance didn’t just get better.
    A handful of elected officials, activist groups and courageous citizens bent the arc of history toward justice.
    Here are this one columnist’s picks for the Most Valuable (…)

  • American Jews’ split personality
    1 January 2006 par (Open-Publishing)
    1 comment

    By Avi Beker
    The attack by AIPAC, the pro-Israel lobby in the U.S., on the Bush administration over its handling of the Iranian nuclear question, is unprecedented. It took the shape of a broad media campaign that included press releases and targeted members of Congress. Last week the Washington Post, which is read by the top political echelon in the capital, noted that this is the first time that AIPAC has issued broad and open criticism of the Bush administration. In a background paper (…)

  • 10 Good Things about Another Bad Year
    1 January 2006 par (Open-Publishing)

    By Medea Benjamin
    As we close this year, a year in which we were pummeled by the Iraq war, attacks on our civil rights, and Mother Nature’s fury of hurricanes, earthquakes and tsunamis, there is no shortage of reasons to feel bruised and beaten. But to start the New Year with a healthy determination to keep on fighting, we need to reflect on the good things that happened. And there are plenty.
    One continent alone - South America - could provide more than ten examples of wonderful (…)