U.S. Financial Aid To Israel: Figures, Facts, and Impact
Washington Report on Middle East Affairs.
Since 1992, the U.S. has offered Israel an additional $2 billion annually in loan guarantees. Congressional researchers have disclosed that between 1974 and 1989, $16.4 billion in U.S. military loans were converted to grants and that this was the understanding from the beginning. Indeed, all past U.S. loans to Israel have eventually been forgiven by Congress, which has undoubtedly helped Israel’s often-touted claim that they have never defaulted on a U.S. government loan. U.S. policy since 1984 has been that economic assistance to Israel must equal or exceed Israel’s annual debt repayment to the United States. Unlike other countries, which receive aid in quarterly installments, aid to Israel since 1982 has been given in a lump sum at the beginning of the fiscal year, leaving the U.S. government to borrow from future revenues. Israel even lends some of this money back through U.S. treasury bills and collects the additional interest. In addition, there is the more than $1.5 billion in private U.S. funds that go to Israel annually in the form of $1 billion in private tax-deductible donations and $500 million in Israeli bonds…

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Notes on the Istanbul Al-Quds Conference
Dr. Salim Nazzal, Alarabiya.ne
…The success of the Palestinian and Arab discourse in the past was in its direct address to humanity’s conscience regarding the Palestinian question; the peak of these efforts was reached on November 10, 1975 when the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution 3379, stating “Zionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination,” which was, in my view, the most serious blow Zionism had been dealt since the displacement of Palestinians in 1948. The deconstruction of the discourse of ideological Zionism and the revealing of its true racist face should be the cornerstone of Palestinian and Arab policy. A discourse that could endanger the Palestinian cause by portraying it as a sectarian inter-religious one would serve the Zionist movement which has adopted a policy of playing on the religious aspects on two levels: on the international level to benefit from 9/11 and subsequent events in order to agitate against the Palestinian national movement and portray it as a terror organization, and on the other level to play on Sunni-Shia differences with the aim of fragmenting and thereby weakening Arab resistance against the Zionist apartheid state…

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Iraq Shi’ite party urges deal on federalism
Reuters
A powerful Shi’ite political party on Sunday urged Iraq’s other blocs to reach agreement on forming federal regions, saying failure to do so would lead to “dangerous” consequences for the country. The Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council (SIIC) says the country suffered too much under Saddam Hussein’s highly centralized rule and wants more power devolved to various regions. But the issue of forming autonomous areas is highly emotive, with minority Sunni Arab leaders fearing it might tear Iraq apart. Some Shi’ites are also opposed….

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Shiite politician denies Iran’s role in Iraq’s violence
Xinhua
An Iraqi powerful Shiite politician rejected on Sunday the U.S. accusations against Iran that it is fomenting violence in the war-torn country.”These are only accusations made by the U.S.-led coalition forces. I think such accusations need more evidences to prove their allegations,” Abul Aziz al-Hakim said in a joint press conference with the Shiite Vice President Adel Abdul Mahdi. “They (Iranians) have long history in supporting the Iraqi people and this is their official stands which we can mention without any hesitation,” Hakim told reporters….

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Jeering Shiites reject Iraq Baathist bill
AFP
A long-awaited bill to allow members of Saddam Hussein’s Sunni Baath party to return to public life in Iraq was tabled in parliament on Sunday but immediately rejected by jeering hardline Shiites. Washington regards the bill as vital to stuttering reconciliation efforts in Iraq and it has made its adoption one of 18 benchmarks by which the progress of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s Shiite-led government can be measured. The first reading of the Justice and Accountability Law, which has been stalled in the deeply-divided parliament for months, was greeted with heckles by lawmakers of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr’s political bloc. “No! No, to Baathists,” the Sadrists shouted, noisily banging their desks and prompting parliamentary speaker Mahmud Mashhadani to order the session to continue behind closed doors….

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American-backed killer militias strut across Iraq
Hala Jaber, TimesOnline
…US-backed Sunni militias have spread eastwards from Anbar across Baghdad. They already number 77,000, known collectively as “concerned local citizens”. This is more than the Shi’ite Mahdi Army and nearly half the number in the Iraqi army. Exotically named groups such as the Knights of Ameriya and the Guardians of Ghazaliya strut the streets in camouflage uniforms, brandishing new AK47s that the Americans say they have not supplied. Last week I entered the western Baghdad district of Ameriya by crossing check-points manned by the eager “knights”. Not only had some of them been members of groups aligned with Al-Qaeda eight weeks ago, but they had now created a virtual enclave surrounded by concrete blast walls….

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A Letter from Gaza
tabula gaza
…It’s hard to not feel like we’re in a large concentration camp as I see Gaza’s empty streets, and the hopeless feeling in the air…and just the gloominess that has covered Gaza. I think most people feel abandoned as we are literally locked up in this small, concentrated space and we don’t know what the world plans for us, or what to expect next. It’s hard to imagine what being in Gaza does to someone’s will until you’ve come here. You no longer feel alive, in fact, you’re not living; you’re just killing time until some sort of change happens. Sadly, Gaza has become desensitized to the rest of the world, as it feels like the international community has turned a blind eye to the reality that is Gaza, and as long as Israel is allowing some food in and hasn’t completely cut off electricity or gas..and as long as we are kept alive, no one will ask about us. But just because we are breathing, that doesn’t mean we’re alive….

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The “War,” Contractors, and Civilian Deaths
Rowan Wolf
One of the things that has become increasingly evident is that private “security” firms are critical to the Bush “war on terrorism.” The deaths (murder) of civilians in Iraq vaulted Blackwater into the spotlight. Given the news of private security and militia in Iraq, my ears perked at the news that bodyguards had “responded” to a suicide bombing in northern Afghanistan (Baghlan) and over 50 people were killed. They perked further with the reports that :” Some of the dead and wounded appeared to have suffered bullet wounds and some residents said Afghan security forces began shooting wildly after the blast. “This attack was carried out by the Taliban, but only 10 people were killed by the blast. The rest of the victims are from gunfire from the security forces,” said Abdul Qadir, pointing to what appeared to be a bullet hole in his dead son’s neck.The immediate question? Who were the bodyguards or security forces?…

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Two more Gaza patients die due to siege
Palestinian Information Center
A Palestinian woman died of cancer in central Gaza Strip on Sunday after being barred from traveling abroad for treatment due to the Israeli closure of crossings and tight siege imposed on the Strip. Medical sources said that Mona Nofal, 35, who is mother of four children, was the 20th victim of the siege over the past two weeks after another man died early Sunday in Khan Younis, south of the Strip. A relative of Nofal said that she received a number of chemo doses in Israeli hospitals but she was recently barred from entering the 1948 occupied lands due to the siege, which cause her condition to deteriorate until she died. Earlier today Abdul Qader Abu Amer, 46, was pronounced dead at dawn Sunday after his heart condition worsened….

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Israel and Sex Trafficking
The Fanonite
Dubai is of course not the only place in the Middle East famous for sex-trafficking; it faces stiff competition from Israel. BBC reports, in 2006 ‘the United Nations named Israel as one of the main destinations in the world for trafficked women; it has also consistently appeared as an offender in the annual US State Department’s Trafficking in Persons (Tip) report.’…

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Atrocity Reporting
Lenin’s Tomb
The cruelty of Western states is reported with breath-taking equanimity. Take this, for example. Marie Colvin of The Times describes Hamas ruling Gaza “through fear” with “impressive” armouries, including the sorts of measly weaponry used by insurgents against the Megadeath Occupation of Mesopotamia. The article describes the growing “isolation” of the Hamas government there: Gaza is growing more and more isolated. Israel controls the borders, land and sea, and has closed the crossings since June. Food prices have rocketed, unemployment is at 70% because no materials can be imported and nothing can be exported. Israel cut fuel supplies last month and has said it will cut electricity supplies from Sunday. In the latest sign of its total international isolation, Hamas, although democratically elected in 2006, has been excluded from the Middle East peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland, on Tuesday. What the reporter is describing here are unconscionable war crimes. The starving of the Palestinian population as punishment for having elected the wrong people, the economic blockade, the cutting off of fuel supplies and electricity – all of which we have seen many times – are criminal acts designed to torture the Palestinian population into submission…

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Wishful Thinking and Iraq
Firedoglake
After several weeks of “it’s getting better news” the spinmeisters are making even bigger claims. We’ve got “troops coming home from Iraq!” (of course it’s only 5,000 and that leaves over 162,000 not counting mercenaries.) And “refugees are heading home!” – but you have to look hard to find the UNCHR report that: According to a survey done by our staff in Syria, there are many reasons for returns to Iraq other than considerations of improved security. Of some 110 Iraqi families UNHCR spoke with in Syria the majority said they are returning because they are running out of money and/or resources, face difficult living conditions, or because their visas have expired. As a result of recent visa restrictions, a number of Iraqis have been unable to shuttle back and forth between Iraq and Syria to get additional resources, make some money or collect food distributions or pensions. The incentives offered by the Iraqi government of some $700-$800 to return home, as well as free bus and plane rides, have also played a role in returns…

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U.S. Scales Back Political Goals for Iraqi Unity
STEVEN LEE MYERS and ALISSA J. RUBIN, NYTimes
With American military successes outpacing political gains in Iraq, the Bush administration has lowered its expectation of quickly achieving major steps toward unifying the country, including passage of a long-stymied plan to share oil revenues and holding regional elections. Instead, administration officials say they are focusing their immediate efforts on several more limited but achievable goals in the hope of convincing Iraqis, foreign governments and Americans that progress is being made toward the political breakthroughs that the military campaign of the past 10 months was supposed to promote….

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Kafka in Iraq: The Bilal Hussein Case
Christopher Dickey
In Franz Kafka’s novel “The Trial,” published in 1925, the defendant is never able to discover why he was arrested in the first place. No law is comprehensible; no person he knows is trustworthy. The book ends with the defendant in profound doubt about everything near and far, past and present, as he waits in his cell for execution: “Who was that? A friend? A good person? Somebody who was taking part? Somebody who wanted to help? Was he alone? Was it everyone? Would anyone help? Were there objections that had been forgotten? There must have been some. The logic cannot be refuted, but someone who wants to live will not resist it. Where was the judge he’d never seen? Where was the high court he had never reached?” Bilal Hussein, an Associated Press photographer in Iraq, is living that same experience…

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The Global Impact of Bush’s War Crimes in Iraq: King Midas in Reverse
Walter C. Uhler
…Consequently, were we merely limiting ourselves to the catastrophes that has bedeviled both the United States and Iraq as a consequence of Bush’s war, we’d be forced to conclude that Bush’s national security policy has the touch of King Midas in reverse. Everything Bush touches turns to shit! Unfortunately, as serious pre-war scholars and critics feared and predicted, Bush’s King Midas touch in reverse has extended far beyond Iraq and the United States. Simply recall their warnings about the war’s impact on the price of oil, their fears that such a war might undermine US efforts against al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan, their concern that Bush’s invasion might inflame hatred of America throughout the Muslim world, their suspicions that Iran might be the principal beneficiary of a US-led invasion that placed Iraqi Shiites in power and their worries about how a destabilized Iraq might provoke intervention by it neighbors, Iran, Syria and Turkey, and thus embroil the entire region. Thanks to the perverse King Midas touch of the Bush administration, Iran has indeed emerged as the most influential player in Iraq and Turkey is poised to invade Iraqi Kurdistan. Moreover, as Anne Applebaum has written in the Washington Post: [T] he collateral damage inflicted by the war on America’s relationships with the rest of the world is a lot deeper and broader than most Americans have realized.” ….

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Israelis Reject Ceding Golan Heights to Syria
Angus Reid Global Monitor
Many adults in Israel believe their government should not include the Golan Heights in an eventual peace agreement with Syria, according to a poll by the Dahaf Institute published in Yediot Ahronot. 70 per cent of respondents are not prepared to give up on the Golan Heights. In August 2006, Israeli internal security minister Avi Dichter presented a proposal to negotiate for peace with Syria in return for the Golan Heights. Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert dismissed the idea, saying, “So long as I am prime minister, the Golan Heights will remain in our hands, as it is an inseparable part of the State of Israel…

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Waiting For The Guards
Sabbah’s blog
WARNING: You might find this video disturbing. It is actually as entertaining as a kick in the nuts. Unsuitable for under 14s. (Please turn your speakers up).This film shows a performance artist undergoing, for real, interrogation techniques permitted in the CIA handbook (and it goes without saying – all other dictatorships including the “only democracy” in the ME -Israel)…..

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Split in the Islamic Army
Roads to Iraq
The Islamic Army in Musol announce their split from the main faction and forming their own resistance group: It is sad to the resistance factions are fighting each others for unnecessary differences….these differences were created by the occupation to enforce his agenda, if the resistance in Afghanistan fought each others before the withdrawal of the Russian enemy then the factions in our country are fighting among themselves before the withdrawal of the enemy, this is one of the cards the enemy is using making advantage of the gap created between the resistance and Iraqi tribes…

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US says number of troops in Diyala will increase despite withdrawal of brigade next month
KIM GAMEL, Associated Press Writer
U.S. military officials said Saturday that the overall number of American troops in Iraq will be reduced by some 5,000 with the withdrawal of a combat brigade from Diyala province. But the number of soldiers in the volatile province will actually increase. The U.S. command in Baghdad announced earlier this month that the 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division had begun heading home to Fort Hood, Texas, and that its area would be taken over by another brigade already operating in Iraq. Col. David Sutherland, commander of the 3rd Brigade, acknowledged concerns that the withdrawal of U.S. troops could lead to a reversal of a decline in violence but said the transfer of the 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, will actually result in more troops in the province northeast of Baghdad….

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A Little Justice: Mass Murder Accomplice Gets Slap on the Wrist
Chris Floyd , Empire Burlesque
Jonathan Schwarz seizes upon the defeat of the odious Australian prime minister, John Howard, to remind us once again how brazenly, how egregiously, and how transparently the leaders of the “Anglosphere” lied in order to manipulate their countries into a war of aggression against Iraq. (You can find the piece here and here.) As Schwarz notes, the lies that Howard peddled in the run-up to war, which were merely echoes of the same lies being trumpeted by George W. Bush and Tony Blair, were easily disproven — by plain facts available in the public domain at the time. Yet no corporate media organization undertook to examine the wild, warmongering claims of these leaders and their minions — while those who did question them were derided as cranks, commies, and “objectively pro-terrorist,” anti-American freaks….

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Blasts cause carnage in Baghdad
Aljazeera.net
A series of bomb attacks have killed at least 12 people and injured 41 others in Baghdad. A car bomb exploded on Sunday in the crowded northern district of Bab al-Muazzam, killing nine civilians. Two Iraqi soldiers and 29 locals were also injured in the blast, security officials said. The attack occurred at 9.30am (6.30 GMT) in the busy central Baghdad neighbourhood, which includes a medical complex, the health ministry and the central morgue….

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