| To: StormRider who wrote (2103) | 8/25/2002 10:04:10 AM | | From: Thomas M. | | | | <<< The recent hearings of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee did not provide an occasion for public debate, as the witnesses called accepted as legitimate the goal of a regime change for Iraq, disagreeing only with respect to the costs and feasibility of a war strategy. No principled criticism of the strategy itself was voiced, and thus the hearings are better understood as building a consensus in favor of war than of exploring doubts about the war option. >>>
counterpunch.org |
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| To: Gersh Avery who started this subject | 8/25/2002 11:34:05 AM | | From: Thomas M. | | | | Nuclear weapons used by the U.S. in the 1991 Gulf War continue to take their toll:
guardian.co.uk
Children of Gulf war veterans risk birth defects
New research shows former soldiers
have increased levels of chromosome
abnormalities in their genes
Nic Fleming and Mark Townsend
Thursday August 15, 2002
Guardian Weekly
The children of British soldiers who fought
in wars in which depleted uranium
ammunition was used are at greater risk
of suffering genetic diseases passed on
by their fathers, according to new
research.
Veterans of the conflicts in the Gulf,
Bosnia and Kosovo have been found to
have up to 14 times the usual level of
chromosome abnormalities in their genes.
It has raised fears that they will pass
cancers and genetic illnesses to their
offspring. The study is the first to analyse
chromosome deformation in soldiers.
According to Paul Tyler MP, who is a
member of the Royal British Legion Gulf
war syndrome working group, it would be
"outrageous" if the findings were ignored
by the Government.
"High levels of genetic damage do not
occur naturally. It increases the
probability of cancer, deformed babies and
other genetic conditions significantly,"
said Professor Albrecht Schott, a German
biochemist who coordinated the research.
Schott collected blood samples from 16
British veterans last year. Fourteen had
fought in the Gulf war, and one had also
served in Bosnia. Of the others, one
served only in Kosovo and one only in
Bosnia. Two of the veterans are women.
The former soldiers were found to have up
to 14 times the usual level of chromosome
abnormalities. The average was
five-and-a-half times higher than that found
in civilians. None had less than double the
normal rate.
Schott, who has a £30,000 debt after
funding the tests himself, said that in the
18 months since they were done the
condition of many veterans had worsened.
Some were suffering from cancers.
"This confirms that we have been exposed
to ionising radiation," said Shaun Rusling,
who is the chairman of the national Gulf
veterans and families association. "That is
the only way we could have this level of
chromosome damage."
Last month the Ministry of Defence said it
was launching an investigation after a
study revealed that 19 Gulf veterans had
developed lymphatic or bone marrow
cancers compared with 11 in a control
group. A United States government survey
of 21,000 veterans has also shown that
those who served in the Gulf were two to
three times more likely to report birth
defects in their children.
The US and Britain have admitted using
350 tonnes of depleted uranium in the Gulf
war. Depleted uranium is used in shells
because its high density allows maximum
penetration of hard targets such as tanks
and underground bunkers. Iraqi scientists
have reported high levels of childhood
cancers and deformed babies in
populations exposed to the ammunition.
Some 53,000 British troops served in the
Gulf. Of these, at least 552 have died and
more than 5,200 have reported a range of
illnesses.
Once in the body, depleted uranium can
remain for years emitting small doses of
alpha radiation. Former soldiers who were
heavy smokers, or had undergone
chemotherapy or X-ray treatment were
excluded from the study as these factors
could also lead to higher than normal
levels of chromosome aberrations.
Kenny Duncan believes that his children's
health problems are linked to his service
in the Gulf war. All three were born with
deformed toes and suffer from asthmas,
hay fever and eczema. His wife Mandy
said: "It's scandalous that while we
aresuffering with the consequences of
what the Government has done,
politicians are just thinking about money."
A spokesman for the MoD dismissed
Schott's findings. "We consider the tests
neither well thought out nor scientifically
sound," he said. |
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| To: Gersh Avery who started this subject | 8/25/2002 5:28:53 PM | | From: Thomas M. | | | | Israel freely shoots at ambulances, claiming the Arab barbarians use them to smuggle terrorists.
<<< As the FSLN entered Managua on July 19, 1979, the Carter administration "began setting the stage for a counterrevolution," Peter Kornbluh observes, mounting a clandestine operation to evacuate Guard commanders on U.S. planes disguised with Red Cross markings. This is a war crime punishable under the Geneva conventions, the London Economist observed years later, when the same device was used to supply contras within Nicaragua (pictures of CIA supply planes disguised with Red Cross markings appeared without comment in Newsweek, while the vigorous denunciation of this violation of international law by the Red Cross passed without notice generally). >>>
zmag.org |
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| To: Gersh Avery who started this subject | 8/25/2002 5:54:30 PM | | From: Thomas M. | | | | Bear this in mind the next time Shimon Peres is presented as a liberal dove.
<<< In September 1967, Shimon Peres presented a settlement plan based on the principle that "Israel's new map will be determined by its policies of settlement and new land-taking." He therefore called for "urgent efforts" to establish settlements not only in East Jerusalem, but also "to the north, south and east," including Hebron, Gush-Etzion, etc.; the Jordan valley; "the central region of the mountains of Shechem [Nablus]"; the Golan Heights, the El-Arish region in the Sinai and the Red Sea access. The policies adopted were even more extreme, including the expulsion of thousands of Beduins into the desert, their homes, mosques and graveyards destroyed to clear the lands for the all-Jewish city of Yamit in northeastern Sinai, steps that led directly to the 1973 war. >>>
zmag.org |
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| To: Gersh Avery who started this subject | 8/25/2002 7:33:21 PM | | From: Thomas M. | | | | Fisk on some of the latest popular lies:
<<< ... As Bush's regional enemies grew in number to include not just al-Qa'ida but Iraq and Iran and their allies, a fabric of stories began to be woven. Last June, for example, we had Donald Rumsfeld spinning tales about Iran. At a press conference in Qatar – these lies can be spun, please note, just as well in the Arab world as in the West – Rumsfeld told us that Iranians "are engaging in terrorist activities and transporting people down through Damascus and into the Bekaa Valley. They have harboured al-Qa'ida and served as a facilitator for the movement of al-Qa'ida out of Afghanistan down through Iran."
Now the implication of all this is that al-Qa'ida men were being funnelled into Lebanon with the help of Iran and Syria. Yet we know that Iran, far from "transporting" al-Qa'ida men to Syria, has been packing them off to Saudi Arabia for imprisonment and possible death. We know that the Syrians have locked up an important al Qa'ida official. The Americans have since acknowledged all this. And, save for 10 Lebanese men hiding in a Palestinian camp – who may have no contact with al-Qa'ida – there isn't a single Osama bin Laden follower in Lebanon.
So Hezbollah had to be lined up for attack. The Washington Post did the trick with the following last month: "The Lebanon-based Hezbollah organisation, one of the world's most formidable terrorist groups, is increasingly teaming up with al-Qa'ida on logistics and training for terrorist operations, according to US and European intelligence officials and terrorism experts." This tomfoolery was abetted by Steven Simon, who once worked for the US National Security Council and who announced that "there's a convergence of objectives. There's something in the 'zeitgeist' that is pretty well established now." Except, of course – zeitgeist notwithstanding – it is simply untrue ... >>> |
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| To: Thomas M. who wrote (2108) | 8/27/2002 10:02:53 AM | | From: GUSTAVE JAEGER | | | | Thomas... 500,000 Israelis still don't get it!! They're entitled to the so-called "Right of Return", all right... BACK TO RUSSIA --LOL!
500,000 Former Soviet Union immigrants to Israel not Jews
26-08-2002
Occupied Jerusalem: (IAP News): The London-based pan-Arab newspaper, al Hayat, on Sunday quoted Russian immigrants to Israel as saying that nearly half of the immigrants to the Hebrew state from the countries of the former Soviet Union (FSU) are not Jewish.
The paper quoted Alex Korpov as saying that the Israeli government had refused an application to register an organization he was planning to found bearing the name "the Slav Union."
Korpov said the purpose of the organization was to protect the human and civil rights of Russians, Ukrainians, and other immigrants from the former Soviet Union.
Korpov argued that the number of non-Jewish immigrants from the FSU to Israel ranged from 400,000 to 600,000, adding that the numerical power of the immigrants would enable them to form a political party of their own.
He complained that the non-Jewish immigrants were subjected to systematic and multi-facetted discrimination such as lesser wages, lack of promotion in private and public jobs and social contempt.
He added that whenever non-Jewish immigrants submit a complaint, they are told "Israel is the homeland of the Jews, if you don't like it, you are free to leave it."
He further complained that whenever non-Jewish immigrants, who serve in the Israeli army, are killed, they are rejected by the religious establishment and not allowed to be buried in Jewish cemeteries.
The paper quoted an Israeli journalist living in Moscow as saying that religious Jews, the Haredim, were treating non-Jewish immigrants from the FSU as "apostates" and "heretics" and often curse them as "cross-bearers."
Needless to say, the cross is considered one of the most repugnant symbols for Orthodox Jews.
muslimnews.co.uk |
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| To: Thomas M. who wrote (2110) | 8/27/2002 10:49:26 AM | | From: StormRider | | | | ISRAELI ARMY UNDER FIRE FOR LOOTING
Reuters, 8/25/02
famulus.msnbc.com
JERUSALEM, Aug. 25 - The Israeli army came under fire on Sunday after Israel Radio broadcast an investigative report which found that the looting of Palestinian property by Israeli troops was more widespread than previously thought…
"Danny," a recently discharged soldier interviewed under an assumed name, told Israel Radio that troops stole from Palestinian homes during the six-week-long sweep for militants launched after suicide bombings killed scores of Israelis.
"During each search, the head of the family was meant to accompany the soldiers to every room. What we would do is take the man to one room as the soldiers searched other rooms, and they would pocket things while out of his sight," he said… |
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| To: Thomas M. who wrote (2112) | 8/28/2002 1:52:21 AM | | From: StormRider | | | | ISRAEL SET ON TRAGIC PATH, SAYS CHIEF RABBI
Jonathan Freedland, The Guardian, 8/27/02
guardian.co.uk
Britain's chief rabbi, Jonathan Sacks, today delivers an unprecedentedly strong warning to Israel, arguing that the country is adopting a stance "incompatible" with the deepest ideals of Judaism, and that the current conflict with the Palestinians is "corrupting" Israeli culture.
In a move that will send shockwaves through Israel and the world Jewish community, Professor Sacks departs from his usual policy of offering only public endorsement of Israel, and broad support for moves toward peace, by giving an explicit verdict on the effect that 35 years of military occupation and decades of conflict are having on Israel and the Jewish people…
He goes on to speak of being "profoundly shocked" at the recent reports of smiling Israeli servicemen posing for a photograph with the corpse of a slain Palestinian. "There is no question that this kind of prolonged conflict, together with the absence of hope, generates hatreds and insensitivities that in the long run are corrupting to a culture…" |
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