CAMP BUCCA, Iraq — The U.S. military on Wednesday closed Camp Bucca, an isolated desert prison that was once its largest lockup in Iraq, as it moves to release thousands of detainees or transfer them to Iraqi custody before the end of the year.
The sprawling facility just north of the Kuwaiti border has held thousands of men over the years, including the most dangerous in U.S. custody – Sunni insurgents, Shiite extremists and al-Qaida in Iraq suspects swept up from battlefields over six years of war.
Iraqi officials say some who have been freed have returned to violence.
“They’ve been vetted as some of the most dangerous threats not only to Iraq but internationally,” said Lt. Col. Kenneth King, the commander of the Bucca detention facility.
Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/16/camp-bucca-military-close_n_289285.html
By Paul Craig Roberts (about the author) opednews.com Permalink
There’s no word in the Western press, but AlJazeera reports that the US and Israel are conducting tests of the high-altitude missile defense system that the US has provided to Israel.
The anti-missile system is useless against the short-range rockets of Hamas and Hezbollah. Its purpose is to protect Israel from longer-range Iranian missiles.
Everyone understands that Iran would not attack Israel except in retaliation. It is logical to conclude that the missile defense system signals an upcoming Israeli attack on Iran.
If the US were opposed to an Israeli attack on Iran, the US would not provide Israel with protection against retaliation and would not engage in war games with Israel to test the system. The best way to prevent an Israeli attack on Iran is to leave Israel open to retaliation.
This decision by the United States government is irresponsible in the extreme. It enables Israel to spread aggression in the Middle East. By signaling an attack, it would encourage a less cautious country than Iran to strike first before the Israeli missile defense system is operative.
The joint US-Israeli war games involving 2,000 troops from the US European Command, the Israeli Army, and 17 US Navy ships is further indication to the world that no matter what crimes the Israelis commit, the US will protect Israel from being held accountable.
In the world today, the US and Israel are the two threats to peace.
by Adam Horowitz on October 28, 2009 · 78 comments
I’ve finally reemerged from J Street. Although I intended to be posting throughout the conference, I never found the time. It was a packed few days, with energy bursting at the seams. Although usually subdued and rehearsed from the podium, the crowd was brimming with questions, challenges and a rebellious spirit.
A profile of the life of Saddam Hussein, as told by the people who knew him.(Originally aired in July 2007) (Al Jazeera)
October 23, 2009
Bill Moyers talks with Justice Richard Goldstone, who headed up the controversial UN Human Rights Council investigation into fighting in Gaza between Israel and Hamas.
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/10232009/profile.html
VIDEO Part I: http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/10232009/watch.html
VIDEO Part II: http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/10232009/watch2.html
…and if international law fails, then what?,
Sam
Would you want this person as your neighbor ? LOL
Interesting conversation with an israeli settler (august 17th). I went to a protest against Senator Mike Huckabee, who is here in Jerusalem to support the Israeli settler cause in occupied Palestine and particularly in Sheikh Jarrah. On the way down from the protest, we came across a young woman who asked us where the protest was in Hebrew. We told her we did not speak Hebrew, and she asked us again in English, after which we gave her the directions. She asked us where we were coming from, and we said that we were coming from the Peace Now protest, which is against settlements. Immediately her face changed. She asked us if we were Jewish. When we said no, she asked us why we were in her country. She said that we had no right to be here, and that this country was only for the Jews, who were given this land by God. My friend asked her if she thought God would distinguish amongst people of different religions. She said yes, because she was part of the “Chosen People”. In this video, one of my other friends ask her if this justifies the murder of tens of thousands of Arabs (referring to the massacre that took place with the creation of the State of Israel). You can hear her assert that yes, it does. Not only that, she says that she loves that Arabs are killed. Then she tells us to get off her land, and threatens to break our camera. Her words weren’t empty. Unfortunately, the footage ends when she jumped on me ( I was holding the camera ). She hit us all and would not let us leave. We did not want to react, because we were afraid of being accused by her of attack instead of self-defense (settlers are often favoured by the police in Israel). So, we waited (I was a bit scared, not gonna lie) until police showed up and saw that she was the one attacking us. They told us to leave right away, and told the settler to go away. What is interesting is that if a Palestinian would have attacked us in the same way and the police would have seen, the Palestinian without a doubt would have been arrested and imprisoned. It is a bit windy, so it might be hard to understand her clearly. Listen closely and you should be able to make out what she is saying.
JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israel’s Education Ministry has recalled all copies of a history textbook because of a passage alleging “ethnic cleansing” of Palestinians during the 1948 war, a newspaper reported on Monday.
Israel’s Haaretz newspaper said the secondary school textbook was removed from shelves because it sought to present both Israeli and Arab perspectives on the departure of some 750,000 Palestinians during the fighting that erupted after the creation of the Jewish state.
The Palestinians have always said they were violently expelled by Jewish forces while Israel has maintained they were ordered to flee by invading Arab states or alarmed by inflammatory Arab radio reports.
The fate of the refugees and their descendants, who now number some 4.6 million and are scattered across the region, has been one of the most divisive issues in the decades-old Middle East conflict.
The textbook in question, for 11th and 12th graders, contained both versions of the events side-by-side, but according to Haaretz the ministry took issue with the Palestinian version.
It quoted the passage in question as saying: “The Palestinians and the Arab countries contended that most of the refugees were civilians who were attacked and expelled from their homes by armed Jewish forces, which instituted a policy of ethnic cleansing.”
Haaretz said the textbooks would be reissued after “corrections” are made.
The education ministry could not immediately be reached for comment.
Since assuming office in March, Israel’s right-wing government has sought to reinforce Israel’s Jewish identity, including by instituting a plan to change traffic signs to display only Hebrew place names.
Israel’s former dovish Education Minister Yuli Tamir sparked controversy in December 2006 when she said school textbooks should show Israel’s borders prior to the 1967 Six Day war, during which it conquered Egypt’s Sinai, the Gaza Strip, the Golan Heights and the West Bank including east Jerusalem.
Israel returned the Sinai under a peace treaty with Egypt in 1979 and annexed the Golan and east Jerusalem. The Palestinians have demanded the occupied West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza as their future state.
band annie's Weblog 