The Permanent Base Plan Will. Not. Die.
Spencer Ackerman
July 31 is the stated goal for President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki to ink a deal for an enduring U.S. occupation that neither the Iraqi people nor the American people desire. The deal has looked dead before, but the avarice of imperialism is a lot like a George Romero character. McClatchy and The Washington Post report that Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari forecasts smooth sailing…

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Are You Now or Have You Ever Been…a Racist?
Arthur Silber
…So now we have our first Black presidential candidate, one who may very well be the next president of the United States. In the context of this miasma of lies about racism, almost no one will tell the truth about Obama and what he stands for. (I should say what he appears to stand for; it tends to change from day to day, and hour to hour, but the overall meaning of his policies is unmistakable: like almost every politician of national prominence, he stands for the authoritarian-corporatist state at home, and for endless wars of aggression and other interventions overseas. In short: he stands for the white status quo.) Margaret Kimberley and the people at Black Agenda Report tell the truth, as do Chris Floyd and James Benjamin. I try to, and certainly there are others. But not very many others. If you dare to point out, as I have repeatedly, that Obama has adopted every critical view and policy of the white ruling class, you are accused of being a racist…

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Are those Israelis ‘citizens’ or plain terrorists and criminals? (Warning: Disturbing Photos)
Cherifa Sirry, Axis of Logic
Israeli settlers are not content that they are living on illegally occupied territory and in illegally-built settlements. They are not content that they are allowed to roam the streets of Israel armed to the teeth… killing, mutilating and torturing Palestinian citizens and children without accountability while the IDF, mainstream media and the ‘civilized’ world pretend not to notice. Israeli settlers now are building their own home-made rockets and are firing them at Palestinian refugees because they do not agree that Israel should withdraw from any of the occupied territories or make any concessions to the Palestinians in order to achieve a state of peace. As far as they are concerned, anyone living between the Nile and the Euphrates should vacate so that the ‘holy’ settlers can loot their lands, homes and properties as they’ve always done throughout history and suck every drop of blood from their victims until they explode…

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Is a ‘debacle’ on the horizon for Afghanistan?
Alan Philps, The National
The West should be prepared for a “debacle” in Afghanistan in the coming months as the resurgent Taliban seek to take advantage of George W Bush’s lame duck status, says a leading Pakistani observer. The seepage of power in Washington as Mr Bush winds up his final year in power is mirrored in the region, where the new Pakistani government has yet to find its feet, and Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, has failed to extend his authority much beyond the capital…

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Iran open to idea of US diplomatic presence in Tehran: Mottaki
Masood Haider
Iran’s Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki has said his government might consider the American idea of opening a US diplomatic section in Tehran. “Contacts between Iranians and the American people will be a useful step for better understanding of the two nations,” Mr Mottaki told reporters here on Wednesday. Presently the Pakistan Embassy in Washington is handling Iran’s day-to-day consular and other affairs, including issuing of visas and passport documents. And the Swiss diplomatic mission represents US interests in Tehran. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has approved a review of the idea of putting American diplomats in an “interests section”, which would be hosted by a third party’s embassy in Tehran…

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Weekly Report: On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory No. 27/2008 (26 June- 02 July 2008)
PCHR – Palestinian Centre for Human Rights
Israeli attacks in the West Bank: In the West Bank, Israeli forces killed 2 Palestinian children and wounded 7 civilians, including 2 children. Israeli forces conducted 44 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank. During those incursions, Israeli forces arrested 42 Palestinian civilians, including 2 children. On 26 June 2008, Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian child in Beit Ummar village, north of Hebron. Israeli forces troops moved into the village and opened fire. The child was killed when he was near his house. On 28 June 2008, 2 Palestinian civilians were wounded when Israeli forces troops fired at the participants in the funeral procession of a child who had been killed by Israeli forces on the preceding day…

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Moment of truce
Saleh Al-Naami
Mohamed Abu Ermana, spokesman for the military wing of Fatah in Gaza, was shocked when members of the internal security service of Ismail Haniyeh’s dismissed government asked him to report to the police. The day before he told reporters that Fatah didn’t recognise the Egyptian-brokered truce between Hamas and Israel and would continue to fire rockets at Israel. Now he was under arrest. It sounds odd that Hamas would detain anyone for involvement in attacks on Israel. But given the outrage expressed by the Palestinian public at rocket attacks carried out by some Palestinian factions directly after the truce went into effect, the Haniyeh government apparently felt justified to do so. According to a public poll conducted by the Gaza-based Mustaqbal Research Centre, 86 per cent of Palestinians support the truce agreement and more than 70 per cent are angry with the factions that violated the agreement…

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He Lacks Privilege
Dahr Jamail, Le Monde Diplomatique
On June 16 I was the co-recipient of the Martha Gellhorn Prize for Journalism with Mohammed Omer in London. Omer is a 24 year-old Palestinian with whom I felt, and feel, honored to have shared this award. During my brief talk while accepting the award, I told the audience I could not think of anyone else I would rather share the award with. Omer’s work from his Gaza homeland has been a beacon of humanitarian reportage; his work serves as a model of peace and attempted reconciliation with Israel for the youth in his occupied territory. Unlike me, Omer’s journey to London to receive the award was next to impossible. When I heard the news that I was a co-recipient, I simply booked my flight from San Francisco and boarded my plane. Omer – whose home has been crushed by an Israeli bulldozer and who has seen most of his seven siblings killed or maimed by the Israeli army which occupies his homeland – struggled even to get an exit visa…

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Barbarism
Dr. June C. Terpstra and Professor Husayn Al-Kurdi
U.S. President George W. Bush recently stated that he would be remembered for liberating 50 million people from the clutches of barbaric regimes. Bush represents a lineage of liars whose expert propaganda turns truth on its hinder for the sake of promoting the power interests which they serve. It is time that these lies be exposed and translated for the people of the US who do not seem to understand what is being said. We hereby present this guide to understanding a few of the propaganda slogans and terms used by US politicians, puppets, pundits, and propagandists. “Barbarians” are by definition people who destroy others with utter ruthlessness, mutilating, murdering and enslaving them. This, of course, describes the barbaric, brutal and savage regimes of the US, Britain, the Jewish settler state and Europe grabbing for control of the world…

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Take Action: Outrageous! $170 Million More in Military Aid to Israel
US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation
It’s bad enough that Congress passed the Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2008 two weeks ago, spending $165 billion more on our country’s illegal war on and occupation of Iraq well into 2009. To add insult to injury, after closely reading the bill, we discovered that Congress snuck in a last-minute earmark for $170 million in Foreign Military Financing (FMF) for Israel! The culprit: Representative David Obey (WI-7), Chair of the House Appropriations Committee, who has received nearly $225,000 from “pro-Israel” PAC’s and more than $200,000 from the military-industrial complex since 1989, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Yes, the same David Obey who can be seen in this video berating peace activists for wanting to cut off funding for the war in Iraq…

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Invisible Iraqi Displaced
Afif Sarhan, IOL Correspondent
Abu Omar can’t stop the bitter half-smile that curls his lips every time he hears of the much-heralded efforts the Iraqi government exerts to lure back millions of people who fled the war-ravaged country over the past five years. “The government is calling refugees to return to their country, but I would advice them to invite just the wealthy ones,” Abu Omar, 43, told IslamOnline.net from his shelter home on the capital’s outskirts. “The government cannot take care of those who are already suffering in their own land.” As the Iraqi government seeks to stream back some three millions of people who fled the country over the past years, nearly two million Iraqis internally displaced inside the country are still struggling to find shelter and aid…

Abu Omar has lost his home and shop to militias in the capital, and since March 2007 he is living with his family in a shelter outside Baghdad.

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IRAQ: Journalist Charges Censorship by U.S. Military in Fallujah
Dahr Jamail
U.S. journalist Zoriah Miller says he was censored by the U.S. military in the Iraqi city of Fallujah after photographing Marines who died in a suicide bombing. On Jun. 26, a suicide bomber attacked a city council meeting in Fallujah, 69 kms west of Baghdad, between local tribal sheikhs and military officials. Three Marines, Cpl. Marcus Preudhomme, Capt. Philip Dykeman, and Lt. Col. Max Galeai, were assigned to 2d Battalion, 3d Marines, 3rd Marine Division, Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii…

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10-year-old subjected to torture by Israeli soldiers
Defence for Children International
A 10-year-old boy was subjected to physical abuse amounting to torture for 2.5 hours by Israeli soldiers who stormed his family’s shop on 11 June, seeking information on the location of a handgun. The boy was repeatedly beaten, slapped and punched in the head and stomach, forced to hold a stress position for half and hour, and threatened. He was deeply shocked and lost two molar teeth as a result of the assault. On Wednesday 11 June 2008, at around 10:30am, 10-year-old Ezzat, his brother Makkawi (7) and sister Lara (8) were in their father’s shop selling animal feed and eggs in the village of Sanniriya, near the West Bank city of Qalqiliya. The children were suddenly startled to see two Israeli soldiers storm in to the shop…

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A Mission to Uphold the Law
Breaking Into a Prison
RAMZI KYSIA
I want to tell you a secret and I want to ask you a question. Shhh! – Come closer. Listen carefully: I’m part of an international conspiracy to break into the world’s largest open-air prison this summer by sea. Will you help me? This August, the Free Gaza Movement will set sail from Cyprus to Gaza on a ship carrying needed medical supplies. We will not be asking Israel for permission. For over two years the state of Israel has severely restricted the Gaza Strip’s ability to import fuel, spare parts, and other necessary materials. Israel maintains complete control over Gaza’s air space and territorial waters, near complete control over travel into or out of Gaza, near complete control over Gaza’s imports and exports, and near complete control over Gaza’s own tax revenues. Little is allowed in. As a result, Gaza’s economy has completely collapsed…

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Children suffer more in Afghanistan than any other country: UN
AFP
… Radhika Coomaraswamy, the UN’s Special representative for Children in Armed Conflict, said Afghan children were the “forgotten victims” of three decades of war and violence. “I can’t think of any country in the world where children suffer more than in Afghanistan,” Coomaraswamy told reporters. She said her organisation was to present a comprehensive report on the plight of children in Afghanistan to the United Nations Security Council in October. Children in Afghanistan are suffering “not only because of the terrible violations due to war, but also the terrible poverty and hard work they have to endure,” she said… There were also allegations of sexual violence by some Afghan military and police commanders, she told a press conference, adding there was a danger youths detained by international forces could become “harder individuals and only feed the cycle of violation.”..

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Obama Might ‘Refine’ Iraq Timeline
Jeff Zeleny
Senator Barack Obama said Thursday the United States cannot sustain a long-term military presence in Iraq, but added that he would be open to “refine my policies” about a timeline for withdrawing troops after meeting with American military commanders during a trip to Iraq later this month… As he arrived for a campaign stop in North Dakota, Mr. Obama told reporters on Thursday that he intended to conduct “a thorough assessment” of his Iraq policy during a forthcoming trip to the country. He stressed that he has long called for a careful and responsible withdrawal of American forces, but he declined to offer a fresh endorsement of his plan to remove one to two combat brigades a month…

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Arab Logic…
Layla Anwar, An Arab Woman Blues
…Today, my thoughts have been dominated by one single idea — WE NEED ANOTHER SADDAM HUSSEIN NOW! I was in cab and as usual, the bored/curious/snoopy driver was trying to suss me out. I don’t know why but his conversation took on immediately a political twist. OK, maybe I do know why… Life is getting very, very, expensive here and most people can’t make ends meet anymore. In particular the Iraqis… So this is how the conversation started — with the ever increasing price of cab rides, to fuel, to food…to everything. So the driver said to me “It’s all because of the war in Iraq…” So, of course, I responded “you mean because of the Americans ?”…

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Maliki to disband Awakening Councils
Roads to Iraq
The best details about “Sons of Iraq” or “Awakening Councils” disband is provided by Al Khaleej. According to the newspaper’s sources: Maliki will form a committee to study the procedures to abolish “Awakening Councils” called by some Iraqi officials “The American Militias”. Maliki faces criticism from these officials because of his “silence” on this “American militias” which was formed in exceptional circumstances. The newspaper conclusion that Maliki is playing “the disband of the Awakening Council” to put more pressure on the Americans in the security agreement negotiations…

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SUMMARY OF EVENTS IN THE DETENTION, INTEROGATION & TORTURE OF PRIZE WINNING INTERNATIONAL JOURNALIST, AGE 24, GAZA NATIVE MOHAMMED OMER BY ISRAELI AUTHORITIES, JUNE 26-27, 2008.
What Really Happened
This is a compilation of his first hand account of the events of June 26 and June 27, 2008. On June 28th as this is being transcribed Omer is again in transit to a European hospital in Gaza due to chest pains and difficulty breathing as a result of the following…

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Israel Won’t Attack Iran Without US Nod
Robert Dreyfuss
Writing in the Washington Post, Yossi Melman, a military expert and commentator for the Israeli daily Haaretz, says that Israel won’t attack Iran unless it has explicit American backing: “If the U.S. doesn’t approve an Israeli military operation, Israel will not attack Iran. Full stop.” He also says (and it makes sense to me) that Israel isn’t planning an attack anytime soon…

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Depleted Uranium Activism Saves Washington!
Cathy Garger, Axis of Logic
In the June 30 issue of Tacoma’s The News Tribune, readers from Washington got to read the attack on Governor Gregoire in “Gregoire’s inaction cost jobs, say Tri-Cities leaders”. In this piece that describes the rationale behind the Governor’s refusal to court the supreme federal God, Uranium, we get a glimpse of just how easily a state official can be lambasted for refusing to get into bed with the nuclear industry. Another story exists within the story, however, which demonstrates how education around the dangers of what is deceptively labeled “Depleted Uranium” has saved both the day – and the very lives – of countless current and future generations of Washingtonians. Apparently, good news to those who appreciate a clean and healthy environment, some anti-nuclear activists got through to Governor Chris Gregoire of Washington, as it was reported, “The hang-up for Gregoire was the proposed plant’s waste stream of depleted uranium, a dangerous chemical with low levels of radioactivity.” …

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IRAN: Ahmadinejad warned again over ‘government by slogan’
AFP
A top Iranian official on Wednesday warned President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad against “ruling the country with slogans”, in the latest high-ranking warning over his provocative rhetoric. “If we want to become a regional power we cannot use slogans in an imprudent way and employ sentimentalism,” prosecutor general Ghorban Ali Dori Najafabadi was quoted as saying by the Etemad newspaper… The comments come after a top advisor to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned on Tuesday against “provocative” remarks on the nuclear crisis with the West that are associated with Ahmadinejad. “The officials and the political experts need to avoid provocative and illogical declarations and slogans,” Ali Akbar Velayati told the hardline Jomhouri Eslami newspaper…

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When You Shoot the Messenger
Mel Frykberg, IPS
The assault of IPS Gaza correspondent Mohammed Omer has left Israeli security personnel with a lot of explaining to do. And they are not doing a very good job of it. Omer was abused and assaulted by Israeli security personnel at the Allenby border crossing into Israel from Jordan as he tried to return to his home last week in the Gaza Strip. Omer, who also reports for The Washington Report, told IPS he was verbally abused, strip-searched at gunpoint and physically beaten. He was later hospitalised with broken ribs and related trauma. Israeli officials denied to IPS in Jerusalem that the award-winning journalist had been mistreated. They said the Gazan journalist had “lost his balance” after being searched on “suspicion of smuggling in illegal items.” The officials were unable to explain how Omer, who is still hospitalised and in severe pain, “lost his balance” and then broke his ribs and severely bruised his arm in the “fall”…

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In Jordan, aid for Iraqi refugees is often redirected
Millions in aid money intended to help war refugees is also helping improve Jordan’s beleaguered infrastructure.
By Nicholas Seeley | Contributor to The Christian Science Monitor
Forbidden to work, Iraqi war refugees here are poor and getting poorer. Waiting lists for food and cash assistance have grown into the thousands. But while the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is looking to donors for money to meet these needs, a large portion of the aid already provided has gone to address Jordan’s own urgent national priorities. In 2007, 61 percent of UNHCR’s operational budget was given directly to Jordan, along with millions in bilateral aid from the European Community and the United States. This is a kind of trickle-down development in which helping host countries helps refugees…

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Next Time You’re at the Pump, Blame Bush
Robert Dreyfuss
Worried about gas prices? A new report from the National Security Network suggests where to put the blame: on President Bush’s reckless Middle East policy. The invasion of Iraq, with its destruction of petroleum infrastructure, hundreds of uncontained attacks on production and transit facilities, and slowness to return production to pre-war levels has added a significant additional expense. So too has the saber-rattling against Iran, which experts say has affected the price of oil dramatically — by as much as $11 in one day. Some experts estimate this premium to be as much as $30-$40 for every barrel of oil sold. It doesn’t take a genius to understand that the United States can’t go charging into the world’s most volatile real estate and not adversely affect oil prices. It’s also true that speculators, commodity traders, and hedge funds have made billions of dollars by bidding up the price of oil, in expectation that the security premium on oil prices will remain in place for years to come. Some of the increase, of course, is due to stepped-up demand from China, India and other world consumers. But it’s ludicrous to think that China and India suddenly came out of nowhere—in fact, their demand has been increasing steadily and slowly (and predictably) for years…

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B’Tselem warns of grave water shortage in the West Bank
B’Tselem
The chronic water shortage in the West Bank, resulting from an unfair distribution of water resources shared by the Palestinians and Israel, will be much graver this summer because of this year’s drought. In the northern West Bank, water consumption has fallen to one-third of the minimal amount needed. The 2008 drought, the most serious drought in the area in the past decade, aggravates the built-in, constant shortage of water in the West Bank. Rainfall this year in the northern West Bank was 64 percent of average, while in the southern sections of the West Bank, it was 55 percent. As a result, the water stored from rainfall has already been used…

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Official Says Iran Accepts P5+1 Talks Proposal
Gareth Porter*
A senior Iranian official reportedly told members of the Iranian parliament Monday that Iran has agreed to freeze its enrichment programme for six weeks and begin negotiations with the P5+1 group of states as early as next week, according to reports of that decision by the Iranian Student News Agency (ISNA) and by a Farsi-language website in Iran. Remarks by Iranian Foreign Minister Manoucher Mottaki and a top adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Tuesday also seemed to indicate that decision to accept a “freeze for freeze” proposal from the P5+1 to begin at least preliminary negotiations…

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U.S. spies on Iraqi army, sources say
Satellites are allegedly being used to track the American-backed force after breakdowns in trust and coordination.
Greg Miller, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
Caught off guard by recent Iraqi military operations, the United States is using spy satellites that ordinarily are trained on adversaries to monitor the movements of the American-backed Iraqi army, current and former U.S. officials say. The stepped-up surveillance reflects breakdowns in trust and coordination between the two forces. Officials said it was part of an expanded intelligence effort launched after American commanders were surprised by the timing of the Iraqi army’s violent push into Basra three months ago. The use of the satellites puts the United States in the unusual position of employing some of its most sophisticated espionage technology to track an allied army that American forces helped create, continue to advise, and often fight alongside…

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Iraq says near agreement with US on military pact
AFP
Iraq said on Wednesday it was on the verge of agreeing a controversial pact with the United States to govern US troop levels and ground rules in the nation beyond 2008 when a UN mandate expires. Tough negotiations between Washington and Baghdad on the security deal has made recent progress and an initial framework arrangement is “almost finalised,” Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari told a press briefing. “We are talking about a strategic framework agreement that will improve cooperation between Iraq and the United States on a whole range of issues… We have almost finalised the document.”… Iraqi forces, meanwhile, on Wednesday arrested a provincial governor identified as a member of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr’s movement. Adel Muhoder al-Maliki, governor of Maysan, was detained hours after three members of the provincial council were arrested in a continuing crackdown on Shiite militants in the southern region, a government official and an aide of the hardline leader said…

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