[Thanks to Phil G, who sent this in.]

“The Military Just Keeps Putting People Out There To Get Blown Up”
Cedarburg Man Says Son Killed On Duty In Iraq

Jul 25, 2006 (AP)

CEDARBURG, Wis.

A Cedarburg family is in mourning after learning their son was killed in Iraq.

Stephen Castner says his son, 27-year-old Steve Castner, died only days after being sent to the Middle East.

He says his family learned of the death just after noon yesterday.

According to his father, Specialist-Four Castner was a member of the 121st Field Artillery Regiment. He also served four years in the Air Force.

Castner says his son studied at U-W-Milwaukee and later transferred to U-W-Stevens Point.

He says the Army hasn’t figured out how to protect its soldiers from explosive devices set by insurgents.

He says the military just keeps putting people out there to get blown up.

IRAQ WAR REPORTS

SERVICEMEMBER KILLED IN ACTION

7/25/2006 HEADQUARTERS UNITED STATES CENTRAL COMMAND NEWS RELEASE Number: 06-07-02C

BAGHDAD, Iraq: A Servicemember assigned to the 43rd Military Police Brigade was killed in action while conducting combat operations north of Baghdad, July 25.

Texas Soldier Killed

Capt. Blake H. Russell, 35, a 101st Airborne Division soldier from Fort Worth, Texas, died July 22, 2006, while investigating a possible mortar cache during combat operations in Baghdad. (AP Photo/U.S. Army)

Cavalry Scout, 22, Dies Five Days After Roadside Bomb Attack

Cpl. Matthew P. Wallace of Lexington Park “chose to do this,” his mother said of his Army career. (Family Photo)

July 24, 2006 By Donna St. George, Washington Post Staff Writer

Her son was a cavalry scout in Iraq, and yesterday Mary Wallace recalled his childhood in St. Mary’s County — shaping coat hangers into toy guns, asking for a bedspread done in Army camouflage. “I’m going to be a soldier man,” she remembered him telling her.

Wounded on a combat mission, Cpl. Matthew P. Wallace, 22, died Friday in a military hospital in Germany, five days after a roadside bomb detonated near his Bradley Fighting Vehicle in Baghdad. His family was gathered at his bedside — mother, father and three sisters.

One sister read a final letter. One sang to him. “I think the most important thing to say about Matthew was that he chose this,” his mother said. “He wasn’t drafted. He knew he was taking a risk, but he chose to do this.”

Deployed to Iraq eight months ago, Wallace was atop his vehicle as the gunner July 16 when the bomb went off, his family said. A fellow soldier was killed. Wallace survived but was burned over 95 percent of his body. Hopes that he would somehow make it faded, and his family members flew to Germany.

Told that he was brain dead, they withdrew life support.

The Wallace family returned to their Lexington Park home Saturday night, passing a convenience store where Wallace had once worked. The American flag outside “was all lit up and at half-mast, and it just touched us all so much,” Mary Wallace said.

Just before her son went to war, he explained his reasons, his mother said. “He chose to go to war so that his sisters’ children didn’t have to,” she said. “They don’t even have children yet, but he didn’t want them to have to go through what he knew he was getting into. He wanted to let them play in the shade of trees and laugh at what amused them with no fear of bombs dropping on them.”

This was a decision he came to at 19, she said, after a period when he felt undecided about his life’s course. He had dropped out of Great Mills High School, then earned his General Educational Development diploma in 2001.

When Wallace became a cavalry scout — often working out in front of the larger unit — he told his father, “I found the thing I do well,” Keith Wallace recalled.

His father said Wallace had been partly inspired by his paternal grandfather, who served in the Army but died before Wallace’s birth. “I told him all kinds of stories and showed him pictures of my dad, and we went through all sorts of scrapbooks,” Keith Wallace said.

In Iraq, Wallace was assigned to the Army’s 10th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division. Based out of Fort Hood, Tex., he had earned distinctions as a marksman and the Army Achievement Medal, his family said.

His parents said Wallace had a gift for humor and loved handwritten letters with details about ordinary life — what his mother referred to as “the blah, blah letters . . . like, ‘Then we went to Wal-Mart.’ “ “It must have made him feel he was with us vicariously,” she said.

Lately he had called his family every few days, including just three days before the bomb blast.

“I asked him how he was,” his father recalled. “He was kind of silent for a moment. ‘Oh, okay, I guess,’ he said.” His father went on: “I made sure I comforted him with my abiding love for him and my pride in him. I think the rigors of war were beginning to wear on him.”

Wallace, thin and muscular, had always loved music. He played guitar with friends in garage bands, went to concerts and bought piles of CDs. He wore a Walkman “even after they went out of style,” said Mathew Korade, his closest friend since childhood.

After sending Wallace many care packages in Iraq, Korade said he had recently bought his friend an acoustic guitar, so he could play in the war zone. “I imagined him opening it,” he said.

His voice softened into a near-whisper. “We were like brothers. I loved him more than anything. . . . I just wish he was coming home.”

Iraq Whack-A-Mole Rolls On

July 26, 2006 By Washington correspondent Kim Landers, ABC/Reuters

The United States is shifting more troops into Baghdad from other parts of Iraq to try to curb violence in the capital.

The redeployment comes after the failure of a six-week-long security crackdown in the Iraqi capital.

AFGHANISTAN WAR REPORTS

Foreign Occupation Soldier Killed Near Dag Village:
Nationality Not Announced

7/25/2006 HEADQUARTERS UNITED STATES CENTRAL COMMAND NEWS RELEASE Number: 06-07-02PL

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan: A Coalition Soldier was killed July 24 while conducting combat operations against enemy extremists in the Pech District of Kunar Province.

The Soldier was a member of a Coalition patrol responding to an attack by insurgents near Dag Village.

THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO COMPREHENSIBLE REASON TO BE IN THIS EXTREMELY HIGH RISK LOCATION AT THIS TIME, EXCEPT THAT A CROOKED POLITICIAN WHO LIVES IN THE WHITE HOUSE WANTS YOU THERE, SO HE WILL LOOK GOOD.
That is not a good enough reason.

U.S. army personnel in the southern city of Kandahar July 24, 2006. A blast struck a vehicle carrying U.S. led forces in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar on Monday wounding two soldiers. REUTERS/Ismail Sameem (AFGHANISTAN)

Two U.S. Soldiers Serious Wounded In Khost Province;
One Wounded In Paktika

July 25 (Xinhua) & FISNIK ABRASHI, Associated Press

The U.S. military said Tuesday that two American engineer soldiers were seriously wounded in a roadside bomb attack in eastern Khost province.

Their convoy was on its way Sunday to an engineer road project between Khowst and Gardez when they were attacked.

The two soldiers are listed in serious but stable condition, according to the Coalition.

One coalition soldier was slightly wounded in Paktika province.

TROOP NEWS

The Last Japanese Troops From Iraq Have Returned Home:
No More For Them

Japanese soldiers arrive at Somagahara military base in Shinto-mura, Gunma Prefecture, Japan. The last Japanese troops from Iraq have returned home. (AFP/File/Kazuhiro Nogi)

U.S. Troops Say Torture Of Detainees In Iraq Ordered By Officers;
Honorable Soldiers Threatened For Objecting

Human Rights Watch said that the report showed that criminal investigations of abuses need to follow the military chain of command, rather than focusing on low-level soldiers.

Human Rights Watch said that the report showed that criminal investigations of abuses need to follow the military chain of command, rather than focusing on low-level soldiers. To date, not a single military intelligence officer has been court-martialed in connection with abuse allegations in Iraq.

23rd July, 2006 Irish Sun

Torture and other abuses against detainees in U.S. custody in Iraq were authorized and routine, even after the 2004 Abu Ghraib scandal, according to new accounts from soldiers.

A Human Rights Watch report released Sunday contains first-hand accounts by U.S. military personnel of abuses at an off-limits facility at Baghdad airport, and at other detention centers throughout Iraq.

“Soldiers were told that the Geneva Conventions did not apply, and that interrogators could use abusive techniques to get detainees to talk,” said John Sifton, the author of the report and the senior researcher on terrorism and counterterrorism at Human Rights Watch. “These accounts rebut U.S. government claims that torture and abuse in Iraq was unauthorized and exceptional, on the contrary, it was condoned and commonly used.”

The accounts reveal that detainee abuse was an established and apparently authorized part of the detention and interrogation processes in Iraq for much of 2003 through 2005. They also suggest that soldiers who sought to report abuse were rebuffed or ignored.

An interrogator who served at Camp Nama told Human Rights Watch that the leadership of his interrogation unit encouraged abuse. “People wanted to go, go, go harsh on everybody,” he said. “They thought that was their job and that’s what they needed to do, and do it every time.”

The interrogator stationed at Camp Nama, said the commander of the interrogation unit there had to authorize the use of the abuse techniques, but that the authorizations were so common that interrogators used a template to fill out authorization forms.

“There was an authorization template on a computer, a sheet that you would print out, or actually just type it in. And it was a checklist, you would just check what you want to use off, and if you planned on using a harsh interrogation, you’d just get it signed off. I never saw a sheet that wasn’t signed. It would be signed off by the commander, whoever that was. He would sign off on that every time it was done.”

Human Rights Watch said that the new report shows how soldiers who felt abusive practices were wrong or illegal faced significant obstacles at every turn when they attempted to report or expose the abuses. For example, an MP guard at the facility near al-Qaim, who complained to an officer about beatings and other abuse he witnessed, was told, “You need to go ahead and drop this, sergeant.”

The guard told Human Rights Watch, “It was repeatedly emphasized to me that this was not a wise course of action to pursue. ‘You don’t want to take this inquiry anywhere else,’ kind of thing. ‘You should definitely drop this; this is not something you wanna do to yourself.’

Human Rights Watch said that the report showed that criminal investigations of abuses need to follow the military chain of command, rather than focusing on low-level soldiers.

To date, not a single military intelligence officer has been court-martialed in connection with abuse allegations in Iraq. Human Rights Watch says it is unaware of any criminal investigations into wrongdoing by officers overseeing interrogations and detention operations in Iraq.

The organization Sunday called on the U.S. Congress to appoint an independent, bipartisan commission to investigate the true scope of detainee abuse in Iraq, the complicity of higher-level officials, and the systemic flaws that make it difficult for soldiers to report abuses they witness.

Human Rights Watch also called on the president to appoint an independent prosecutor to investigate and prosecute the perpetrators of abuse, including the military and civilian leaders who authorized or condoned abuse.

“It is now clear that leaders were responsible for abuses that occurred in Iraq,” Sifton said. “It’s time for them to be held accountable.”

Military Suicides Rise With Endless Combat Rotations:
“The Fact That The DoD Isn’t Following Up With Almost 80 Percent Of Them Is An Outrage”

2006-07-24 By Terry Gildea, OPB News

The rate of suicide among US military personnel is on the rise.

It was nearly a year ago that the Army awarded Specialist Leslie Fredrick of Fort Lewis, Washington the Combat Action Badge for his service in Iraq.

Two weeks after getting the honor, Fredrick shot himself.

88 active duty soldiers killed themselves in 2005, a number that was up 13% over 2003 and more than 70% over 2001.

Paul Rieckhoff, executive director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, calls the figures alarming.

And he says an overstretched military and repeat tours of duty are taking a toll on soldiers.

Paul Rieckhoff: “The last rotation, roughly 40% were there for the second time. Many are there now for the 3rd or 4th time. Divorce rates are going up, the violence continues to increase, and roughly one in three are coming home with mental health issues or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, so our people are really showing signs of wear.”

Recent evidence suggests the Defense Department is not effective in referring soldiers for mental health care.

About 5% of soldiers who’ve fought in Iraq and Afghanistan met criteria for PTSD in a study by the Government Accountability Office. But only one in five of those soldiers were referred for treatment by military clinicians.

The study’s bottom line: the Pentagon cannot provide reasonable assurance that Afghanistan and Iraq service members who need referrals receive them.

Paul Reickoff calls the GAO results shameful.

Paul Reickoff: “That’s a failure on the part of the DOD and a failure on the part of Secretary Rumsfeld. Most people won’t even admit or be flagged on an issue, but when they do the fact that the DOD isn’t following up with almost 80 percent of them is an outrage.”

The Pentagon does not yet have figures on military suicide rates for 2006.

7000 From 25th ID Off To Bush’s Imperial Slaughterhouse, Again

July 24, 2006 Army Times

Schofield Barracks, Hawaii

About 7,000 soldiers with the 25th Infantry Division have begun deploying to Iraq.

The division’s 3rd Brigade, Combat Aviation Brigade, and 45th Sustainment Brigade are among the units being sent to northern Iraq for a yearlong tour.

Members of the 3rd Brigade fought in Afghanistan from March 2004 to March 2005. It is the unit’s first deployment to Iraq.

Straws In The Wind:
War Critics Emerge In Areas Tied To Military

7.25.06 USA Today

Some of the most pointed critiques of the administration’s policy in Iraq are coming from lawmakers who represent constituencies with close ties to the military.

Equal Pay For Equal Work:
Mercenaries Get $12,000 A Month For Convoy Duty:
Pay The Troops The Same!

7.25.06 Norfolk Virginian-Pilot

Private military contractors [translation: mercenaries] can earn substantially more money than members of the armed services. A Government Accountability Office study last year found that contractors were earning $12,000 to $13,000 a month working on security convoys in Iraq.

Irish Jury Finds Attacking U.S. Military Aircraft Not A Crime;
Stopping Attacks On Iraq OK

July 25, 2006 By HARRY BROWNE, CounterPunch

It took nearly three-and-a-half years for the case of the Pitstop Ploughshares to reach a jury. It took the jury less than three-and-a-half hours to find the five activists not guilty of criminal damage to a US Navy plane at Shannon Airport in western Ireland in February 2003.

Having been instructed not to respond audibly to the verdict, the crowd in the courtroom sobbed quietly with joy and relief as the verdicts were read out for all five defendants earlier today.

This trial was the first time a jury was allowed — by Judge Miriam Reynolds — to hear it argued fully that the ‘disarmament’ of the navy C40 transport was done with ‘lawful excuse’.

In the the two trials of Mary Kelly for earlier damage to the same plane the judge ruled out the ‘lawful excuse’ defence.

The defence under Ireland’s criminal-damage statute allows damage to property if it’s done in the ‘honest belief’ that so doing will protect lives and/or property, and if that belief is reasonable in the circumstances as the accused perceived them to be.

Judge Reynolds said only the reasonableness of the belief, not its honesty, was at issue in the case, and said the question was so tied up with the facts of the case that it wouldn’t be appropriate for her to prohibit the jury from considering it.

The trial heard from activist and Counterpuncher Kathy Kelly, who met the five shortly before their action and told them about the horrors inflicted on Iraq by sanctions and bombing prior to February 2003.

It also heard from ex-Royal Air Force logistics expert Geoffrey Oxley that he couldn’t rule out the possibility of damage to a transport plane having a knock-on effect that could result in lives saved in Iraq.

An international-law expert also testified as to the illegality of the US war.

In effect, the jury agreed that to damage an American military plane in these circumstances couldn’t be considered a crime.

Whatever about the technical reasons for the verdict, its quickness and unanimity sends a message to the Irish government about its policy of facilitating the US military at Irish airports, especially Shannon. More than 300,000 troops have passed through there in the last year alone.

The five read a statement outside the courtroom that highlighted the political importance of the verdict: “The jury is the conscience of the community, chosen randomly from Irish society. The conscience of the community has spoken. The government has no popular mandate in providing the civilian Shannon Airport to service the US war machine in its illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq.”

“The decision of this jury should be a message to London, Washington DC and the Dail that Ireland wants no part in waging war on the people of Iraq. Refuelling of US warplanes at Shannon Airport should cease immediately.”

“Model Employer” DoD Fights Giving It’s Deployed Workers Equal Pay

July 24, 2006 Army Times

The Defense Department has named the federal government one of its “model employers” of mobilized National Guard and reserve members. In a June 28 ceremony, Cabinet secretaries and heads of independent agencies signed a statement of support of employment and re-employment rights for reservists who are also federal civilian employees, and pledged to go above and beyond what the law requires to support reservists when they are mobilized.

The award comes as a shock to some because the Bush administration and Defense Department have opposed legislation that would require the federal government to pay both military and federal civilian salaries to mobilized workers, or even to simply make up any difference in pay for reservist-employees who earn less in the military than in civilian life: a fairly common benefit offered in the private sector.

Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif., and Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., chief sponsors of legislation to require salary protection for mobilized federal workers, continue their efforts to convince the government to do more.

U.S. Soldiers Ask Rumsfeld If They Could Get Surprise Visit From Loved Ones Instead

[Thanks to A/J who sent this in.]

July 21, 2006 The Onion

BAGHDAD:

Although U.S. troops in Iraq said they appreciated President Bush’s recent surprise visit, thousands of them have petitioned the White House to arrange surprise visits from relatives and spouses as well.

“As great as it was to get a visit from the commander in chief, given the choice, I’d rather see my mom,” said Army Cpl. Emilio Salazar, who is serving his third tour of duty. “Or my dad, or even my girlfriend. I’m just saying, they could fit a lot of people on Air Force One.”

An estimated two-thirds of American military personnel in Iraq have signed the petition, with the other third saying that Iraq is still far too dangerous a place for anyone’s loved ones to spend any time.

IRAQ RESISTANCE ROUNDUP

Assorted Resistance Action;
Ambush In Baghdad Takes Out 36 Collaborator Cops

25/07/2006 Breaking News & AFP News & REUTERS & By Ryan Lenz, Associated Press & (KUNA)

As night fell on Monday, guerrillas ambushed an Iraqi police unit in central Baghdad, triggering a gunbattle in which six officers were killed and 36 were wounded.

The clash took place on Haifa Street near the west bank of the Tigris River, north of the fortified Green Zone, the seat of the Iraqi government and the US embassy.

On Tuesday, two roadside bombs exploded in the city, killing two civilians and wounding two bystanders and a policeman.

Guerrillas wounded four people working for a private Iraqi company which deals with the U.S. military near the town of Daquq, 45 km (20 miles) south of Kirkuk, police said.

A policeman was killed and three wounded when a roadside bomb went off near their patrol in the Zayouna district of the capital, Interior Ministry sources said.

Guerrillas killed a policeman in a drive by shooting in southwestern Baghdad.

Guerrillas killed a police officer while he headed to work in the town of Ishaqi, 100 km (60 miles) north of Baghdad.

Three Iraqi soldiers were wounded when a roadside bomb went off near a joint Iraqi-U.S. patrol in Mosul, the Iraqi army said.

Guerrillas fired rocket-propelled grenades at two fuel trucks, killing two drivers and abducting the third on the main road between Kirkuk and Baghdad. One of the trucks was set on fire.

Two policemen were wounded when a car driven by a suicide bomber exploded near a U.S. military patrol in Mosul, police said.

At least five Iraqi policemen were killed and another two injured Tuesday in a clash with guerrillas in Salah Eddin Governorate, while in Mosul five construction workers were killed and another seven injured when gunmen opened fire on them.

Iraqi police source told Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) that the construction workers were leaving the site of a project to build the Iraqi military headquarters.

Gunmen also attacked an Iraqi police check point north of Dujail, killing five Iraqi policemen and injuring another two.

Guerrillas ambushed a sport utility vehicle belonging to a private security company in north Baghdad, killing eight people.

A police lieutenant colonel and a police major were slain in separate drive-by shootings in the northern city of Mosul, police there reported.

FORWARD OBSERVATIONS

“GI Morale Wasn’t Bad During The Vietnam War Because The Public Didn’t Support It; It Was Bad Because Many GIs Themselves Opposed The War”

July 25, 2006 By Steve Rosen, Cincinnati City Beat

Even as this engrossing documentary by David Zeiger about protest to the Vietnam War within the U.S. military slowly travels to theaters — like an underground political movement — from city to city, he is making it available for sale on his Web site.

Zeiger has amassed an amazing amount of archival footage, along with new interviews, to show just how extensive and strong the antiwar movement was among the soldiers themselves.

Along the way, the film makes a number of points — sometimes changing subjects too abruptly — that conservative revisionists have since tried to get the country to forget.

Zeiger’s critical point: GI morale wasn’t bad during the Vietnam War because the public didn’t support it; it was bad because many GIs themselves opposed the war.

And the government was worried about their resistance.

Also, the film shows that Jane Fonda had great support among the “grunts” for her political views and touring anti-war revue shows.

(This limited edition DVD is exclusively available for $19.95 from sirnosir.com.)

Sir! No Sir!:
At A Theatre Near You!
To find it: www.sirnosir.com/

The Sir! No Sir! DVD is on sale now, exclusively at www.sirnosir.com.

Also available will be a Soundtrack CD (which includes the entire song from the FTA Show, “Soldier We Love You”), theatrical posters, tee shirts, and the DVD of “A Night of Ferocious Joy,” a film by me about the first hip-hop antiwar concert against the “War on Terror.”

Do you have a friend or relative in the service? Forward this E-MAIL along, or send us the address if you wish and we’ll send it regularly. Whether in Iraq or stuck on a base in the USA, this is extra important for your service friend, too often cut off from access to encouraging news of growing resistance to the war, at home and inside the armed services. Send requests to address up top.

Israel’s False Assumptions About The War On Lebanon

Jul 24, 2006 The Angry Arab News Service

At this stage, it is not clear what will happen next. But at this stage, it is possible to state that Israeli political goals will not be achieved, no matter how long Israeli aggression takes. No matter what happens next, and even if Israel manages to kill Nasrallah or other leaders, Israel’s ability to achieve its goals is diminishing not increasing.

I am not being triumphalist: Israeli military superiority, and Israeli willingness, nay eagerness, to use massive and indiscriminate violence, has never been in doubt. I lived and barely survived the 1982 Israeli invasion after all.

But the political situation is rather spiraling quickly away from the intentions of Israel and its vocal and silent partners in the world.

Just today, I watched an appearance by Mustafa Al-Faqi (chairperson of the Egyptian parliamentary Foreign Relations Committee). He spoke like a Hizbullah spokesperson. A Hizbullah guest on the show (Lebanese member of parliament Husayn Hajj Hasan who is such an ineffective propagandist for the party) noted that tone and that change, even from a few days ago.

Here is my list of Israeli miscalculations:

1) Arab governments—as usual—did not dare go as far as the Israel wanted.

Just as Bashir Gemayyel did not fulfill his promises to the Israelis in 1982. To be sure, House of Saud, Jordan’s Hashemites, Kuwait royal family, and Egypt’s Mubarak all covered up for Israel in the Arab League. But the famous statement by the House of Saud did not even have a source or name attached to it. It was attributed to an “official.” No house of Saud member dared to sign his/her name to it. And also notice the way the Arab official rhetoric and media have been changing. NOT out of concern for victims of Israeli bombings, but out of fear of public opinion.

2) Israel assumed that Hizbullah fighters would flee within one day as was the case in 1982.

3) Israel assumed Shi`ite refugees would break with Hizbullah.

The opposite happened. Amal people just joined Hizbullah, politically and otherwise. And NOT A SINGLE SHI`ITE politician (like Hariri Inc’s deputies Ghazi Yusuf or Basim As-Sab) said a word—not a word, either way.

And many callers to Lebanese TV news shows mention their names in rage, particularly in the case of Ghazi Yusuf who attended the Lebanese Forces’ honoring of John Bolton 2 months ago. Yusuf has not stepped foot in Lebanon in a while now, and I doubt that he will return soon. He tried to get Muhammad Husayn Fadlallah to help him but the latter told him that Shi`ite opinion is most angry at him. Basim As-Sab` also has not stepped foot in Lebanon in months. These were the “moderate” Shi’ites that Walid Jumblat invokes as “alternative” to Hizbullah.

Israel assumed that anti-Hizbullah Shi’ites would strengthen their resolve against the party. The opposite occurred.

4) Israel assumed that the mood of the Shi’ites in South Lebanon in 1982 would be replicated now.

Back then: people just raised the white flags, and some even welcomed the invading Israeli troops, before turning against them in one year, due to your typical savagery of Israeli occupation methods and techniques. Furthermore, Hizbullah seems to have learned from PLO experience: they remained invisible, and thus did not create a thuggish rule that Israel would later exploit in its favor.

People of South Lebanon were not looking for a “rescuer” this time around. But they now want a rescuer from Israeli aggression NOW.

5) Israel assumed that Sunni and Druze momentum against Hizbullah—funded by Hariri Inc—would mount and become more vocal.

The opposite occurred. The outrage at Israeli brutality seems to have muted voices of criticisms of Hizbullah, even among people who never really cared about Hizbullah, and its fundamentalist ideology.

6) Israel assumed that the Lebanese government would get stronger from the aggression, but it has gotten weaker. Prime Minister Fu’ad Laval has not dared to visit one shelter or refugee center.

7) Israel assumed that this aggression will take a few more days, and that Israeli society would treat this as a victory.

8) Israel assumed that a air bombing would be all what is required, with little harm to Israeli occupation troops.

9) Israel assumed that Hizbullah leaders would simply sit and wait for Israeli bombs in their houses and apartments.

10) Israel assumed that US media would not care about Lebanese civilians. Wait. That was a correct assumption. Sorry.

11) Israel assumed that Arab public would treat the stance of Hizbullah as “adventurist” and “reckless.”

That would have been a correct assumption if House of Saud speaks on behalf of all Arabs and if Hizbullah fighters did not fight toughly. That is very significant for Arab (including Lebanese) public opinion given the abysmal performance of Arab (and Arafat’s) armies.

This is a very important element in Arab political culture, that Hizbullah calculated about, it seems, and Israel had no clue about.

This campaign seems to follow the law of diminishing return: the longer it lasts, the more Israel can kill, but the more massive will the devastation be, and the more “heroic”—in public perceptions—will people—in Lebanon and Arab world—treat Hizbullah’s stance. Israel may turn this into a further boost for Hizbullah. But then again: Israel always seems to boost its enemies.

So the real enemies and opponents of Hizbullah in Lebanon will be more angry at Israel after this for boosting Hizbullah.

12) Israel assumed that Hizbullah would follow past Arab (and Arafat’s PLO) propaganda patterns of bombast and wild exaggeration. Thus far, Hizbullah propaganda and official communiques have been quite restrained and understated. That has helped the public credibility perception of the party in Lebanese and Arab public.

13) Israel (just as in 1982) assumed that its silly flyers over South Lebanon will be seen as witty and smart. Instead; they are seen as dumb and foolish, and badly crafted.

14) Israel assumed that a group of South Lebanese people, perhaps the former SLAs, would be willing to show up publicly to help Israel.

That was not to be. Not a single person has done that. In 1982: there were many people (of different religions) who volunteered to cooperate with Israeli occupation in order to, in their minds, rid themselves of PLO rule.

15) Israel assumed that Hizbullah’s ability to inflict counter-harm to Israeli cities and towns would be quickly eliminated.

16) Israel assumed that Nasrallah or Hizbullah leaders would crack under pressure. No signs of that whatever.

17) Israel assumed that the displaced people would constitute an automatic lobbying group against Hizbullah. Far from that: they have become a strong lobbying group for Hizbullah.

What do you think? Comments from service men and women, and veterans, are especially welcome. Send to contact@militaryproject.org. Name, I.D., withheld on request. Replies confidential.

I, Tsilli Goldenberg, Israeli Citizen:
“The Palestinians Are Not My Enemies, Nor Are The Lebanese.
You, Have Become My Enemy
And I Will Fight You”

Jul 25, 2006 By Tsilli Goldenberg, Israeli citizen, Axisoflogic.com

Tsilli Goldenberg, Israeli citizen
lundi 24 juillet 2006.

I, Tsilli Goldenberg, Israeli citizen

Accuse you – Ehud Olmert, Prime Minister of Israel, Amir Peretz, Minister of Defense, Dan Halutz Head of Staff Chief Commander of the Israeli Army, of committing this bestial barbaric slaughter in Lebanon.

I accuse you of committing Crimes against Humanity towards the Palestinian People. I accuse you of deserting our soldiers, when their lives could be saved by negotiations, and I accuse you of starting an unjustified war in my name.

Haniya, Prime-minister of the Palestinian people, was willing to negotiate with us not only the return of P.O.W. Gilaad Shalit, but a long term cease fire, that would enable people of Israel and Palestine SECURITY and Sanity. You refused.

Nasrallah was willing to negotiate the return of the soldiers kidnapped in the north. You refused.

Instead you have endangered the lives of hundreds of thousands of Israelis, you have caused the death of 27 Israelis, (till now), civilians and soldiers,

You have caused the mass murder of more than 350 Lebanese, many of them children, you have caused 500,000 Lebanese to be refugees, and you continue to murder and starve Palestinian children, just because they are living on their land.

The Palestinians are not my enemies, nor are the Lebanese. You, have become my enemy. And I will fight you, and so will many other sane people around the world.

Tsilli Goldenberg, Masarik 11, Jerusalem 93106 Israel

OCCUPATION REPORT

OOPS

Jul 25 (Reuters)

Politics is a deadly business in Iraq, with public figures in constant fear of assassination or kidnap, but self-defence measures backfired on one member of parliament on Tuesday.

Police reported a Sunni Arab lawmaker from northern Nineveh province had been wounded in an attack.

But his party leader, Adnan al-Dulaimi, told Reuters: “Hashim Yahya al-Taee was not the victim of an assassination attempt. He was shot in the leg as he was cleaning his pistol.”

The Faithful Dog Reports To His Master For Further Instructions

Bush meets with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in the Oval Office of the White House, July 25, 2006. REUTERS/Jason Reed

OCCUPATION ISN’T LIBERATION
BRING ALL THE TROOPS HOME NOW!

OCCUPATION PALESTINE/LEBANON

“His Daughters Ask Him Dady Why Israel Did This To Us?”

[Thanks to Ewa Jasiewicz, who sent this in.]

July 25, 2006 from Raida [Excerpts]

Dear Brooke,

At the hospitals, injured children asking about their parents and siblings.

Zainab, 18 years old tells her story.

She is the only survivor of one the Israeli massacres of last week.

She is from the southern village Marwaheen that lost 23 members of two families of its citizens in one bombardment, although it was Israel who warned them asking them to leave the village.

Zainab who lost her parents and her siblings and other family relatives in this massacre says: we went to the UN center in our village to seek refugee there but the UN officers sent us back saying they cannot host us in their center. We were 23 on a mini van running from our village after the Israelis asked us to leave it and after the UN center there refused to host us as refugees.

We were on the road when the Israeli military ship started bombing at us, I turned to tell my father that they are bombing at us, he didn’t answer, he was killed already, he was in blood.

I looked at my brother’s sons, Ali, Hussein, Mohammed, Hassan, Mahmoud and my brother’s wife and my sister and my uncle’s wife and her two sons. I found them all shreds dead and burning.

I was hearing the moaning of those who were not dead yet.

What was I able to do?

We were 28 and 23 were killed, all from two families.

After a while an Israeli jet bombed us again killing those who were not dead in the first time, they bombed us with nails bombs, I was hit in my stomach and my legs and hands.

Bleeding I tried to run away, I saw my brother’s daughter Lara, 4 years old crying in front of the burnt body of her mother.

I also found one of my uncle’s daughters, 8 years old alive, I held their hands and dragged them for 150 meters thinking that we will die too as the Israeli bombs kept falling. On the road I saw a caravan of cars from my village Marwaheen escaping also, I stopped them telling them to rescue us and to return back as Israel have just bombed the first cars who left the village killing all who were in it my family, my brothers and sisters and their children.

Howaida, a 7 year old girl, lost her right eye asks about her siblings, she doesn’t know that her father and her 7 months brother and her 10 year old sister were all killed in the bombardment that targeted them while they were fleeing their village in Marjeioun.

Her mother and another sister were also injured. What future waits who what is left of this family?

At the other bed beside Howaida you see the 12 year old Fatmeh, she underwent 7 hours operation the day before to treat her body of its 3rd degree burns. Her mother lays injured with burns all over her body at a bed on another room at the same hospital beside her lays Fatmeh’s sister Aya, a three year olds who lost parts of her hand and Ola, one-year old sister who was injured in the head.

Fatmeh’s father who lost both legs in the bombing insists on visiting his family at least once a day using a wheel chair.

His daughters ask him Dady why Israel did this to us?

Heroic Israeli Occupation Forces Kill Another Kid

Palestinians carry the body of Ketam Taeh, 11, who was killed by an Israeli air strike on Monday, during her funeral in the Jabalya refugee camp in Gaza July 25, 2006. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem

Zionist Terrorists Deliberately Attack Lebanese Ambulances:
“I Don’t Think There Can Be A Mistake In Two Bombings Of Two Ambulances”

Video made by Lebanese Red Cross workers July 23, 2006 in Qana, south Lebanon, shows the roof of a Lebanese Red Cross ambulance destroyed in an Israeli airstrike. The Red Cross workers said that nine ambulance workers were wounded in the explosion as they tried to ferry injured people from the town of Qana, 20 kilometers (about 12 and a half miles) from Tyre, to hospital. (AP Photo)

July 25, 2006 The Guardian

The ambulance headlamps were on, the blue light overhead was flashing, and another light illuminated the Red Cross flag when the first Israeli missile hit, shearing off the right leg of the man on the stretcher inside.

As he lay screaming beneath fire and smoke, patients and ambulance workers scrambled for safety, crawling over glass in the dark. Then another missile hit the second ambulance.

Even in a war which has turned the roads of south Lebanon into killing zones, Israel’s rocket strike on two clearly marked Red Cross ambulances on Sunday night set a deadly new milestone.

Six ambulance workers were wounded and three generations of the Fawaz family, being transported to hospital from Tibnin with what were originally minor injuries, were left fighting for their lives.

Two ambulances were entirely destroyed, their roofs pierced by missiles.

The Lebanese Red Cross, whose ambulance service for south Lebanon is run entirely by volunteers, immediately announced it would cease all rescue missions unless Israel guaranteed their safety through the United Nations or the International Red Cross.

For the villages below the Litani river, the ambulances were their last link to the outside world. Yesterday, that too was gone, leaving the 100,000 people of Tyre district with no way of reaching hospital other than to take to the roads themselves, under the roar of Israeli war planes.

The fateful call to the Red Cross operations room came through at about 10pm, well after dark, a time when almost no Lebanese now dare venture out.

At the Red Cross office in Tyre, three volunteer medics dressed in their orange overalls, and got into their ambulance. The plan was to drive halfway, meet the local ambulance, and transfer the three patients to their vehicle to return to Tyre.

By Nader Joudi’s reckoning, the ambulances had been stopped for barely two minutes. Two patients had been loaded: Ahmed Mustafa Fawaz, who had been hit by shrapnel in the stomach, and his son, Mohammed, 14.

The volunteer attendant was just easing Jamila Fawaz, 80, inside and setting up a drip when the missile struck. He managed to get the old woman and the child outside, but there was no way to reach Mr Fawaz. “It was horrible,” Mr Joudi said. “He was screaming, and we couldn’t do anything.”

One of the members of the three-man crew from Tibnin radioed for help when another missile plunged through the roof. Ambulance crew and patients retreated to the cellar of a nearby building, then waited to be rescued, trying as best as they could to help the injured. “Each of us treated ourselves. There was no light,” said Kassem Shaalan, a medic from Tyre.

By the time patients and ambulance crew reached Tyre, Mr Fawaz was unconscious after losing one leg, and suffering severe fractures to the other. His son had lost part of a foot, and his mother’s body was riddled with shrapnel. Mr Joudi had shrapnel wounds in his left arm, and Mr Shaalan cuts to the face and leg.

He was adamant that the ambulances, with their Red Cross insignia on the roof, were clearly visible from the air. “I don’t think there can be a mistake in two bombings of two ambulances,” he said.

Later yesterday afternoon, two missiles landed in the building across the road from the Red Cross office.

Israel Warns It Will Destroy 10 Buildings
[And Kill The People In Them, Of Course]
In Beirut For Every Rocket Fired At Israel;
[Imitating Retaliation Executions Of Civilians Pioneered By Hitler’s SS]

24 Jul 06 An Nahar

The Israeli air force is under orders to blast 10 buildings in south Beirut, a Hizbullah stronghold, for every rocket the group fires at the Israeli port of Haifa, army radio said Monday.

“Army chief of staff Dan Halutz has given the order to the air force to destroy 10 multi-storey buildings in the Dahiya district in response to every rocket fired on Haifa,” a senior air force officer told the station.

[To check out what life is like under a murderous military occupation by foreign terrorists, go to: www.rafahtoday.org The occupied nation is Palestine. The foreign terrorists call themselves “Israeli.”]

DANGER: POLITICIANS AT WORK

Sen. Feinstein Leads Rally To Cheer On Israeli War:
“Sen. Feinstein’s Decision To Lead The Pro-Israel Rally Is Despicable”

Friday, July 21, 2006 Vfpdissident.blogspot.com/

On Sunday, July 23, Sen. Dianne Feinstein will lead a noon rally in San Francisco supporting the Israeli invasion of Gaza and Lebanon.

Green Party [Senate] candidate Todd Chretien will be there, joined by members of the Palestinian and Arab community and Bay Area anti-war activists, to offer an alternative to Sen. Feinstein’s cheering of the Israeli military.

“Sen. Feinstein’s decision to lead the pro-Israel rally called by Jewish Community Relations Council is despicable. At least she is consistent. She has voted to send tens of billions of dollars in military equipment to Israel and now she supports the use of those F-16’s to murder children in Gaza and Lebanon,” said Chretien.

Chretien derided Sen. Feinstein’s claims that Israel is acting in “self-defense.”

“Over the last 18 months, Hamas has maintained a ceasefire with Israel. Just since January, Israel has assassinated more than 50 Hamas leaders and killed over 100 civilians. Hamas then captured one Israeli soldier, hoping to exchange him for some of the 9,000 Palestinians Israel has kidnapped,” explained Chretien.

“On the other hand, Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers and offered to exchange them for illegally held Lebanese prisoners. Israeli used this as an excuse to launch a pre-existing plan to destroy Lebanon and massacre civilians.”

Chretien noted that Sen. Feinstein was not alone amongst supposed “anti-war” Democrats who are cheering on Israel.

“Sen. Clinton led a pro-Israel rally in New York. Sen. Feingold holds the same position.

“If anything, the Democratic Party leadership is more fervently pro-war when in comes to Israel than President Bush,” stated Chretien.

“If you support destroying Beirut, then vote for Sen. Feinstein.

“But if you want peace and justice in the Middle East, then you should vote for me in November and join me at the August 12 protests sponsored by the National Council of Arab Americans in San Francisco and Los Angeles against the U.S. and Israeli wars.

“We need to show the Arab world that not all Americans are blinded by greed and racism like President Bush and Sen. Feinstein.”

Bloodthirsty Imperial Democrats Want To Boycott Iraqi Puppet Prime Minister

July 25, 2006 Associated Press

[Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri] Al-Maliki is to address Congress on July 26.

Some Democrats said they might shun the Iraqi leader’s speech unless he condemns Hezbollah as a terrorist organization and promises not to extend amnesty to Iraqis who killed U.S. troops.

A group of House Democrats called on GOP leaders to cancel al-Maliki’s address. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said he doubted he would attend and that there were a “large number of people (in Congress) who were uncomfortable” with al-Maliki’s condemnation of Israel’s attacks in Lebanon and apparent support for Hezbollah.

Received:

The Minutemen Are NOT Welcome In New York
Los Minutemen NO Son Bienvenidos A Nueva York

July 24, 2006
Via New York City Labor Against The War

Protest racist anti-immigrant provocation!
Wednesday, July 26

11:00 am – Gather @ Church & Vesey St. (Trains: E to WTC, 4/5 to Fulton,
2/3 to Park Place)

12 Noon – March to the Minutemen gathering at Church & Liberty

The Minutemen, a racist, anti-immigrant militia group, has announced plans to rally at Ground Zero at noon on July 26.

They plan to exploit Ground Zero and the tragedy of 9/11 to advance their agenda of hate and racism. Minutemen founder Jim Gilchrist will be there to unveil his new book, an “operations manual” for anti-immigrant hate crimes.

We are calling on all anti-war activists, trade unionists, community organizers, and progressive individuals and organizations to join us on July 26 to drown out the Minutemen.

Join us on the streets to confront the Minutemen—bring signs, banners, drums, and noisemakers. Let’s make it clear that these racist vigilantes are not welcome in NYC.

NYC May 1 Coalition: www.May1.
Info 212-633-6646

Miércoles, 26 de Julio

11:00 am – Encuentro Previo Church & Vesey (Trenes: E a la WTC, 4/5 a la
Fulton, o 2/3 a la Park Place)

12:00 del mediodía – Marcha hacia Church y Liberty donde estarán los
Minutemen

Los Minutemen, un grupo racista y militarizado anti-immigrantes, ha anunciado su plan de manifestarse en “Zona Cero” al mediodía, el 26 de julio.

Los Minutemen planean aprovecharse de la tragedia del 9-11 en Zona Cero para demonstrar su agenda de odio y racismo. Su fundador Jim Gilchrist estará ahí para revelar su nuevo libro, un “manual operacional” para crímenes de odio.

Hacemos una cordial invitación a la ciudadanía, a los trabajadores, sindicatos, organizaciones comunitarias, activistas y defensores de los derechos humanos, mujeres, jóvenes, estudiantes a unirse este 26 de julio para repudiar el racismo de los minutemen.

Unase a nosotros en las calles para confrontrar a los minutemen. Traiga letreros, pancartas, tambores y araratos quo hagan ruido. Vamos a aclararles que estos racistas no son bienvenidos en NYC.

Coalición 1° Mayo de Nueva York: www.1Mayo
Info 212-633-6646

OCCUPATION ISN’T LIBERATION
BRING ALL THE TROOPS HOME NOW!

Telling the truth – about the occupation or the criminals running the government in Washington – is the first reason for Traveling Soldier. But we want to do more than tell the truth; we want to report on the resistance – whether it’s in the streets of Baghdad, New York, or inside the armed forces. Our goal is for Traveling Soldier to become the thread that ties working-class people inside the armed services together. We want this newsletter to be a weapon to help you organize resistance within the armed forces. If you like what you’ve read, we hope that you’ll join with us in building a network of active duty organizers.  www.traveling-soldier.org/  And join with Iraq War vets in the call to end the occupation and bring our troops home now! www.ivaw.net

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