US Secretary of State Rice defends torture at Google event
Bill Van Auken, WSWS
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice found herself compelled on Thursday to defend the Bush administration’s use of waterboarding—a potentially fatal method of induced drowning used to break the resistance of detainees—claiming that America was in a “different place” in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, while insisting that the government’s actions were consistent with US law and international treaties. The backhanded defense of torture by Washington’s chief spokesperson on the world stage came in response to a pointed question from the audience at a “town hall meeting” organized at the headquarters of Google Inc., the Internet search giant, in Mountain View, California…

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Conversations with Myself…
Layla Anwar, An Arab Woman Blues
…I will only return to Iraq, when the green zone is truly Green again and is no longer a zone. When the whores and the pimps are out, back to England, America or whatever shit hole they came from. But you love Iraq, you miss home, you miss being there don’t you ? Hell I do, but maybe I need to accept the fact that I don’t belong there anymore, not for now. I still belong there but not really belong there anymore. These people I don’t recognize anymore. They are not part of me and I am not part of them. Something happened…It’s like a cup of porcelain, once it breaks, it’s very difficult to glue the pieces again. So you’re no longer an Iraqi ? Of course I am an Iraqi. But I am not today’s Iraq. There is no Iraq anymore. There is an Iraq in my mind, in my memories, in my heart, but today’s Iraq is not Iraq. It’s the Iranian-American Shiastan of Iraq and the American-Israeli state of Kurdistan…

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Gaza Siege Destroying the Environment
Motasem Dalloul, Freelance Journalist – Gaza
On the 60th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba, the Gazan environment is in bad shape; scientists say this will have terrible consequences on the health of the Gazan population. There are three main causes for the environmental pollution of the Gaza Strip: the use of cooking oil as a substitute for fuel, the dumping of raw sewage into the sea, and the rubbish accumulating in the streets…

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Alleged plan to activate 2005 bilateral agreements that combine economic and military advantages for the US
badger, Arablinks
The semi-official Syrian paper Al-Watan published a story on Monday May 19, citing “journalistic sources in Baghdad” on the subject of Iraqi-government plans to implement four bilateral US-Iraqi agreements signed in 2005 by then State Dept official Robert Zoellick and the then Iraqi finance minister Ali Adbul Amir Alawi. The signing, in July 2005, took place only 10 weeks after his appointment as finance minister by the incoming Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari (May 2005). Although they had first and second reading in the Iraqi parliament in early 2007, they were never approved by parliament. I did not see the Al-Watan article at the time. It was dug up and translated yesterday by an outfit called Global Policy Forum, which among other things monitors UN policies….

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WHO Study Sought On Palestinian Children Affected By Conflict
Sandeep Singh Grewal – AHN Middle East Correspondent
Children are the worst affected by the Israeli attacks on Palestine, with 60 percent of them being anemic. These facts were revealed during the annual meeting of the World Health Assembly in Geneva, the main decision-making body of the World Health Organizations. Arab health ministers have sent an urgent letter to the WHO requesting that a fact-finding team investigate the appalling health conditions in the occupied territories. The meeting, attended by 193 members, issued a statement that “More than 1,000 people died due to the Israeli aggression. They have no access to medical services and the Palestine health centers face shortage of medicine supply and equipments.”…

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Israeli Death Squad in Islamic Woman Dress in Ramallah
Kawther Salam
On 20 May 2008, eight Israelis from the death squad unit “Al-Mistarvim”, the Israeli murderers who wear Arab clothes, invaded the Sheikh Zayed Palestinian Hospital in Ramallah and kidnapped the Palestinian security man Arafat Nofal. The PA security man was on duty guarding the hospital when the Israeli death squads wearing Hijab approached him, pulled out a pistol and forced him to go with them. Other eight armed members of the same death squad unit in Palestinian civilian dress surrounded Arafat Nofal, pointing their guns at him. They drove Nofal to unknown place outside of Ramallah. The deplorable news of the kidnapping of Mr. Nofal by the Israeli death squad appeared nowhere in the Palestinian newspapers. The question is, why does the PA not expose this scandal, the kidnapping of a member of their own security….

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Audit: 98% Of Iraq Contractors Failed To Comply With Fraud Regulations
ANNE FLAHERTY
An internal audit of some $8 billion paid to U.S. and Iraqi contractors found that nearly every transaction failed to comply with federal laws or regulations aimed at preventing fraud, in some cases lacking even basic invoices explaining how the money was spent. Of the money paid during a five-year period _ from 2001 through 2006 _ $7.8 billion in payments skirted billing rules with some violations egregious enough to invite potential fraud, warned the Defense Department’s inspector general…

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FBI files indict Bush, Cheney and Co. as war criminals
Bill Van Auken, WSWS
The most stunning revelation in a 370-page Justice US Department Inspector General’s report released this week was that agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation had formally opened a “War Crimes” file, documenting torture they had witnessed at the Guantánamo Bay US prison camp, before being ordered by the administration to stop writing their reports…

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May 23, 2008: 2 US Soldiers, 19 Iraqis Killed; 11 Iraqis Wounded
Margaret Griffis, Antiwar.com
At least 19 Iraqis were killed and 11 more were wounded on a quiet prayer day. Sadrist officials reported that Iraqi security forces stopped Friday prayer services in Baghdad and Basra. An American soldier was killed south of Baghdad in an IED attack yesterday. Also, another American soldier was killed while on leave in the United States. A roadside bomb in Fallujah wounded six Marines in the Bustan Albo district. Their Iraqi interpreter was killed in the incident, but these numbers may change as more information becomes available…

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Palestinian doctors: Israeli siege on Gaza causes more death among children
Palestinian Information Center
Palestinian doctors have warned on Thursday that the Israeli blockade on Gaza Strip was taking its heavy toll on Palestinian children as death rate among newly-born children sharply increased due to lack of medical equipments and electricity. They also underlined that the embargo wasn’t also affecting newly-born babies, but rather, they explained, it was inflicting “catastrophic” psychological and health problems among Gaza children in general…

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Anti-siege committee urges the world to save Gaza children
Palestinian Information Center
The Gaza-based anti-siege committee has urged on Thursday international and Arab concerned parties to immediately intervene to put an end to the Israeli siege against Gaza Strip, and to stop the accelerated deterioration in all aspects of life there. In press statements he issued in this regard, Rami Abdo, the spokesman of the committee, described the Israeli siege on Gaza strip as the “ugliest closure and suffocation system the modern history had ever known”, saying that most of the Strip’s inhabitants couldn’t find potable water to drink in addition to piles of garbage spread in the streets…

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Israel’s “Free Press”? Broken pencils, broken bones and broken lives of reporters
Iqbal Tamimi, Palestine Think Tank
The Jewish Chronicle published an article on the 16th of May entitled ‘Miliband tribute ahead of Israel trip’. The article says: Foreign secretary David Miliband delivered an unscripted tribute to Israel’s achievements and search for peace at the Israeli embassy’s Independence Day Party this week. Expressing his delight at participating in the celebration, held at a central London hotel with 2,000 invited guests, Mr Miliband praised Israel’s free press….. Israel’s free press?…

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Bush: Zionism’s bosom buddy
Khaled Amayreh
In his speech before the Israeli Knesset last week, President George W Bush proved once again that he is a Zionist par excellence. Indeed, the depth of his embrace of Zionism and the totality of his support for Israel surprised even his Israeli hosts. One Knesset member from a far right-wing party lamented that if only Israeli leaders showed similar commitment to Zionism, Israel would be in much better shape….

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NO FREEDOM OF SPEECH !! CENSORED !!
Merry, EUROPEAN TURKMEN FRIENDSHIPS
This is to report that my blog “EUROPEAN TURKMEN FRIENDSHIPS” has been locked by Blogger this morning, I can no longer add new posts and they threaten to delete my blog! Obviously, someone did not appreciate me posting articles exposing US-UK war crimes in Iraq , having added URUKNET, The Cat’s blog, France-Irak Actualité, BRussels Tribunal etc. to my favourite blogs and posting some of Layla Anwar’s writings… The last posts I added were: Depleted Uranium Shells used by US Military in Iraq, Petition for the Iraqi Prisoners detained in US detention centres in Iraq, Number of Iraqi Deaths due to US invasion…

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Maliki’s meeting that never occurred and the fake Fatwa
Roads to Iraq
…Both Maliki and the Sadrists are plying a religious game, the Sadrists with Al-Hae’ri statement are pressuring Sistani to reject the Iraqi – American agreement, and later leaked this false Fatwa to show Sistanis double standards, he supports military operations against the Sadrists while he rejects resistance operation against the occupation….

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Sistani does not issue fatwa allowing armed resistance against foreign troops in Iraq-source
Voices of Iraq
A close source to grand ayatollah Ali Sistani’s office on Friday denied news agencies’ reports the Shiite cleric issued a fatwa permiting taking up weapons to drive the foreign occupation forces out of Iraq. “The reports of issuing fatwa by the Shiite cleric Sistani permiting taking up arms to drive foreign troops out of Iraq were baseless”….

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US political author Norman Finkelstein denied entry to Israel
MOnsters & Critics
The US political author and critic of Israel Norman Finkelstein was denied entry to the Jewish state on Friday, his lawyer said. Finkelstein landed at Ben Gurion international airport near Tel Aviv in the early morning and was told by a representative of the ministry of interior that he would not be allowed into the country on ‘security’ grounds, attorney Michael Sfard told dpa. ‘This usually means a 10-year ban on entry,’ Sfard added….

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Iran, Syria to attend Iraq meeting in Sweden-UN
Reuters
Iran’s foreign minister and Syria’s ambassador to Sweden are among the officials expected to attend next week’s ministerial meeting of the Iraq Compact Annual Review, U.N. officials said on Friday. The talks in Stockholm will focus on assessing progress in implementing a peace and development plan to help rebuild the Iraq more than five years after the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003…

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NORMAN FINKELSTEIN ARRESTED IN ISRAEL
Desertpeace
Yes, Norman Finkelstein is a guest of the State of Israel! IN PRISON! He was denied entry to the country this morning, whisked away to a prison and will be deported tomorrow. WAY TO GO ONLY DEMOCRACY IN THE MIDDLE EAST!…

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Weekly Report: On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory No. 21/2008 (15 – 21 May 2008)
PCHR – Palestinian Centre for Human Rights
Israeli violations of international law and humanitarian law continued in the OPT, especially in the Gaza Strip, during the reporting period (15 – 21 May 2008): Shooting: During the reporting period, IOF killed four Palestinians, including a child and a farmer, in the Gaza Strip; and two other Palestinians died from previous injuries sustained in the Gaza Strip.; A Palestinian boy was also shot dead by IOF troops at Huwara checkpoint near Nablus. In addition, IOF wounded 13 Palestinians, including 4 children and a farmer, in the Gaza Strip, and a Palestinian was injured by settler gunfire in the West Bank. In the Gaza Strip, IOF used excessive force on 20 May, killing one child and injuring a second by artillery fire directed at an empty rocket launcher near Beit Lahia. On 15 May, a Palestinian died of wounds sustained 11 days earlier during an IOF incursion east of Khan Yunis….

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As Senate approves new war funding, US massacres Iraqi civilians
Joseph Kishore, WSWS
US helicopters massacred at least eight civilians, including several children, in an operation in northern Iraq on Wednesday. The civilians were killed when strafed or bombed by US helicopters, though there are conflicting accounts about the details of their deaths. The incident was near Baiji, located between Baghdad and the northern city of Mosul…

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Critically ill patients from Gaza appeal to Israeli court
IRIN News
Ahmed al-Baghdadi’s doctors said he must leave the Gaza Strip and travel to Israel to receive urgent life-saving medical care if he hopes to fight the tumours in his body. Rada al-Khadir, aged 22, needs to get treatment immediately, her Israeli doctor said, or her liver disease could prove fatal. Both patients have been denied permission to leave by the Israeli military. On 20 May – along with 11 other Palestinians from the Gaza Strip in need of immediate medical care in Israel, the West Bank and Jordan – they filed separate petitions to the Israeli High Court, asking that they be allowed to leave the enclave and go to the relevant hospitals…

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SEX BRINGING ISRAEL AND PALESTINE CLOSER TOGETHER
Desertpeace
Last week I reported that Cybersex was banned in Gaza (Hamas bans pornographic websites in Gaza Strip). Now Israel is banning sex altogether…. These bans might be the opening we have been waiting for…

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The Israeli army tanks leaves Gaza after killing five and kidnapping 25 others
Ghassan Bannoura – IMEMC News
Palestinian sources reported that the Israeli army has killed on Friday five Palestinian fighters and kidnapped 25 other civilians during two invasions targeting the southern and central parts of the Gaza Strip. Al Qassam Brigades said that Mohaned Awwad, 23, Ibraheem Madi, 20 and Mohamed Abu Rizek, 23, three of the brigades’ fighters were killed during an army attack targeting the Khan Younis and Rafah areas in the southern part of the Gaza Strip…

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In Iraq, a Surge in U.S. Airstrikes
Military Says Attacks Save Troops’ Lives, but Civilian Casualties Elicit Criticism
Ernesto Londoño and Amit R. Paley, Washington Post Foreign Service
…In recent weeks, Katzenberger and other pilots have dramatically increased their use of helicopter-fired missiles against enemy fighters, often in densely populated areas. Since late March, the military has fired more than 200 Hellfire missiles in the capital, compared with just six missiles fired in the previous three months. The military says the tactic has saved the lives of ground troops and prevented attacks, but the strikes have also killed and wounded civilians….

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World Health Organization calls on Israel to lift Palestinian blockade
Stop The Siege on Gaza
The World Health Organisation on Wednesday passed a resolution demanding that Israel lift its blockade of the occupied Palestinian territories, which is blamed for a shortage of medicines. WHO members attending the organisation’s annual assembly here urged Israel to “reverse its policies and measures that have led to the prevailing dire health conditions and severe food and fuel shortages in the Gaza Strip”. The resolution was supported by 97 votes, while nine states rejected it and 11 abstained….

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A Nakba inherited
Rami Almeghari writing from occupied Gaza Strip, Live from Palestine
At the southernmost area of the Gaza Strip, where the Philadelphia route separates the coastal enclave from Egypt, there are scores of knocked down buildings. The destruction dates back to 2002, when Israeli army bulldozers demolished the houses of the Palestinian inhabitants of this border line. Among the houses that used to stand here was that of Ali Shaath, a 75-year-old Palestinian refugee from the Beer al-Saba’ village of historical Palestine, the current site of the Israeli town of Beer Sheva…

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Iraqi Resistance Report for events of Thursday, 22 May 2008
Translated and/or compiled by Muhammad Abu Nasr, member, editorial board, the Free Arab Voice. www.freearabvoice.org
In a dispatch posted at 11:44am Baghdad time Thursday morning, the Association of Muslim Scholars of Iraq (AMSI) reported that the Association for the Defense of Journalistic Rights in Iraq announced that a television cameraman had been shot and killed by a US sniper in the al-’Ubaydi district of eastern Baghdad. The AMSI reported the Association as saying that Wisam ‘Ali ‘Awdah, a cameraman for the Afaq TV station was killed on Wednesday afternoon when a US sniper shot him as he was returning home in the al-’Ubaydi district, according to an account given by Khaz’al Ghazi, the supervisor of correspondents at the TV station…

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“Immoral Hazard” : Financial Instability, “Free Markets” and the Fed
A review of Jeremy Grantham’s book
Stephen Lendman
So says Jeremy Grantham, co-founder of Boston-based investment firm Grantham, Mayo and Van Otterloo, now known as GMO. Some call him the philosopher king of Wall Street because of his highly insightful views on markets and the economy, usually with a longer-term perspective. In a profession of touts, fast-buck and scam artists, Grantham’s commentaries are notably refreshing. They’re detailed, scholarly, sober, clear and especially important at a time of unparalleled excesses, great economic uncertainty, voices ranging from gloom and doom to blue skies and all clear ahead, so who knows what to believe. Few people sort things out better than he, and whether right or wrong, he makes consummate sense and should be taken seriously….

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Sistani flirting with Shiite militant message
HAMZA HENDAWI and QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA
Iraq’s most influential Shiite cleric has been quietly issuing religious edicts declaring that armed resistance against U.S.-led foreign troops is permissible — a potentially significant shift by a key supporter of the Washington-backed government in Baghdad. The edicts, or fatwas, by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani suggest he seeks to sharpen his long-held opposition to American troops and counter the populist appeal of his main rivals, firebrand Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and his Mahdi Army militia….

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