EU to stop supplying passenger flight data to US

The bloc's top court has annulled an EU-US agreement on EU handovers of air passenger data to US security agencies, and dismissed the European Commission's assurance that Washington could provide necessary privacy protection for such data.


The European Court of Justice (ECJ) on Tuesday (30 May) announced its final verdict in a row that highlights Brussels limited legal powers in security matters.

"Neither the Commission decision finding that the data are adequately protected by the United States nor the Council decision approving the conclusion of an agreement on their transfer to that country are founded on an appropriate legal basis," the court ruling states.

But the court instead says EU countries are free to sign bilateral agreements with the US on the matter.

Continue reading Here

Canadian Terrorists

A group of 17 men, 12 adults and 5 minors, were arrested in Toronto after being suspected of plotting a terrorist act; all 17 were Canadian citizens. They possessed 3 tonnes of ammonium nitrate fertilizer. By comparison, the Oklahoma city bombing used only 1 ton of ammonium nitrate fertilizer.

Read more about it here.

Labeling this type of arrest as counterterrorism seems a bit odd. What makes an attack, which is locally planned, become terrorism, as against, perhaps, a more appropriate murder charge(s)? Names such as "Fahim Ahmad,...Zakaria Amara,...Asad Ansari" make all the difference.

This type of arrest gives the United States more ammo, pardon the pun, to continue its assault on the Mid-East in order to clear out the terrorists. But these were Canadian-grown terrorists. Bush will probably want to build a wall between Canada and the US even quicker now. Terrorists can just not be trusted.

Mission Accomplished (film)

Shocking, honest, brave and an amazing eye-opener. Watch this movie if you really want to know what's happening in Iraq. Shows both sides of the story about the insurgency war that you won't see on TV. Critical of US policy, but sympathetic to the American soldiers on the ground. Historical movie.

Watch the film Here.

Run Time - 89 Minutes

Saudis free former Guantanamo prisoners

The Saudi Arabian government has freed three Saudi citizens repatriated in July 2005 from the U.S. Camp Delta detention facility in Guantanamo, Cuba.





Following their repatriation the three served brief prison sentences in Saudi Arabia before being set free. The Saudi Arabian Interior Ministry released a statement saying the men were released on Monday under "legal guarantees."

The News International reported on May 31 that the ministry release stated that they had been convicted of "being present in trouble spots without their parents' consent or permission from the authorities," using forged documents and "endangering the lives of family members."

Assistant Interior Minister Prince Mohammad bin Nayef bin Abdul Aziz stated his hope that the three would now lead a "normal" life, saying, "The kingdom is pursuing efforts to obtain the repatriation of all Saudis held in Guantanamo."

A total of 24 Saudi citizens have now been released from Guantanamo, but according to Riyadh at least 105 Saudi nationals remain in the facility.

Source Here

Hmmm , they were "present in trouble spots without their parents' consent or permission from the authorities." So loitering in another country is a crime for Saudi Arabians ? It hardly sounds like they just released enemy combatants so dangerous they needed to be locked up without trial by the US.

Geneva rules don't apply to Taliban

Canadian troops in Afghanistan have been told the Geneva Conventions and Canadian regulations regarding the rights of prisoners of war don't apply to Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters captured on the battlefield.






That decision strips detainees of key rights and protections under the rules of war, including the right to be released at the end of the conflict and not to be held criminally liable for lawful combat.

Captured fighters don't deserve these rights because this isn't a war between countries, says Lieutenant-General Michel Gauthier, who commands the Canadian Expeditionary Forces Command and thus oversees all Canadian Forces deployed abroad.

Read the full article Here

Wrong steps in Iraq

The White House is right to insist that our postwar goal is a unified Iraq, as opposed to one divided along ethno-religious lines. So why is the administration taking so many actions that make holding the country together virtually impossible?

In January, President George W. Bush diverted nearly half the money allocated to reconstruction in Iraq to other needs, including security. Bush's decision sent a terrible signal to the Iraqis about our resolve. It is even less understandable given that the expense of the reconstruction program is only a fraction of our annual costs in Iraq.

Next the administration deeply cut financing for democratization efforts, many of them undertaken by nongovernmental groups. The proposed budget for fiscal 2007 asks for a paltry $63 million. This token sum - in a war that costs some $200 million a day

Continue reading here

Is undermining democracy what the Bush administration really wants? One could potentially argue that spending money on reconstuction is useless when it will be destroyed the very next day, whether by Iraqis or Americans. What ever happened to the slogan "You break it, you bought it"?

Harlyn Geronimo to Bush: Can I Have My Great Grandad's Head Back?

From the Independent via Common Dreams:

The great grandson of the Apache leader Geronimo has appealed to the big chief in the White House to help recover the remains of his famous relative - purportedly stolen more than 90 years ago by a group of students - including the President's grandfather [ for the Skull and Bones boy's club - DJEB].

...

The famous Indian chief's great-grandson is appealing for President Bush's help in recovering the remains. Speaking from his home in Mescalero, New Mexico, Harlyn Geronimo said: "I am requesting his help in getting the remains - the skull and the femur - returned, if they were taken. According to our traditions the remains of this sort, especially in this state when the grave was desecrated ... need to be reburied with the proper rituals. To return the dignity and let his spirits rest in peace ... is important in our tradition."

Hamas reiterates election declaration

From Common Dreams:

It looks like the topelected officials in the Palestinian Hamas party are signaling that they accept Israel's right to exist. Last week the highest-ranking Hamas leader, Prime Minister Ismail Haniya, told Israel's most prestigious newspaper, Ha'aretz: "If Israel withdraws to the 1967 borders, peace will prevail and we will implement a cease-fire [hudna] for many years."

A hudna is more than just a "cease-fire." An erudite article in the Encyclopedia of Islam tells us that "hudna in Islamic law is equivalent to 'international treaty' in modern terminology. Its object is to suspend the legal effects of hostilities and to provide the prerequisite conditions of peace between Muslims and non-Muslims, without the latter's territory becoming part of dar al-Islam.'"

Those last words are the most important. The devout traditionalists of Hamas take Islamic law seriously. They know that the law divides the whole world into two categories: dar al-Islam, the territory ruled by Muslims, and dar al-harb, the rest of the world. For centuries, the land that became Israel was part of dar al-Islam. Only in 1948, when Israel declared its independence, was it claimed by dar al-harb. That's a big part of what galls Muslim traditionalists.

If Hamas is now willing to offer a hudna, it means not merely accepting the existence of Israel (you can't negotiate with a country that doesn't exist), but treating Israel as part of dar al-harb. As the Encyclopedia explains, Muslims don't make a hudna treaty with anyone inside the dar al-Islam. It all goes back to the example set by Mohammed, as recorded in the Quran. He made treaties with Jewish communities who came under Muslim rule. But they are not called hudna. By offering a hudna, Prime Minister Haniyeh is implying that he'll accept the land inside Israel's 1967 borders as gone from Muslim rule for good.

Israel does not demand "diplomatic recognition" from the Palestinians. It demands a public promise that the Palestinians will always accept Israel as a state with a Jewish majority. That is, always was, and always will be the crucial issue for Israel's government and for most Israeli Jews. The hudna offer seems to carry that promise.

Haniyeh is not alone. Other Hamas government officials echoed his conciliatory talk in a clearly coordinated peace offensive, timed to coincide with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's visit to Washington. Transportation Minister Ziad Zaza described the hudna as "the cease-fire that will be renewed automatically each time."

For politicians guided by Muslim law, that's a crucial point. A hudna is always agreed on for a temporary period. Critics of Hamas might seize on that to see the offer as a trick-a way to give Hamas breathing time to build up its strength for more attacks on Israel. The promise of an automatically self-renewing hudna is meant to scotch that suspicion. It's another sign that Hamas is moving toward accepting a Jewish majority state within the 1967 borders.

Letter shows U.S. approved killing Korean refugees

From the Independent via Common Dreams:

More than half a century after hostilities ended in Korea, a document from the war's chaotic early days has come to light - a letter from the US ambassador to Seoul, informing the State Department that American soldiers would shoot refugees approaching their lines.

The letter, dated the day of the army's mass killing of South Korean refugees at No Gun Ri in 1950, is the strongest indication yet that such a policy existed for all US forces in Korea, and the first evidence that that policy was known to upper ranks of the US government.

"If refugees do appear from north of US lines they will receive warning shots, and if they then persist in advancing they will be shot," wrote the ambassador, John J Muccio, in his message to the Assistant Secretary of State, Dean Rusk.

The letter reported on decisions made at a high-level meeting in South Korea on 25 July 1950, the night before the 7th US Cavalry Regiment shot the refugees at No Gun Ri.

Estimates vary on the number of dead at No Gun Ri. American soldiers' estimates ranged from under 100 to "hundreds" dead; Korean survivors say about 400, mostly women and children, were killed at the village 100 miles (160km) south-east of Seoul, the South Korean capital. Hundreds more refugees were killed in later, similar episodes, survivors say.

The No Gun Ri killings were documented in a Pulitzer Prize-winning story by the Associated Press agency in 1999 that prompted a 16-month inquiry by the Pentagon.

The Pentagon concluded that the No Gun Ri shootings, which lasted three days, were "an unfortunate tragedy", not a deliberate killing. It suggested that panicky soldiers, acting without orders, opened fire because they feared that an approaching line of families, baggage and farm animals was concealing enemy troops.

But Mr Muccio's letter indicates that the actions of the 7th Cavalry were consistent with policy, adopted because of concern that North Koreans would infiltrate via refugee columns. And in subsequent months, US commanders repeatedly ordered refugees shot, documents show.

The light ahead

To break the quiet on the site today, check out this exerpt from Noam Chomsky's Failed States: The Abuse of Power and the Assault on Democracy. It touches on many of the problems we currently face as well as on hopeful developments.

No posts

There will be no posts today. Apologies

Bush 'planted fake news stories on American TV'

Federal authorities are actively investigating dozens of American television stations for broadcasting items produced by the Bush administration and major corporations, and passing them off as normal news. Some of the fake news segments talked up success in the war in Iraq, or promoted the companies' products.




Investigators from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) are seeking information about stations across the country after a report produced by a campaign group detailed the extraordinary extent of the use of such items.

The report, by the non-profit group Centre for Media and Democracy, found that over a 10-month period at least 77 television stations were making use of the faux news broadcasts, known as Video News Releases (VNRs). Not one told viewers who had produced the items.

Continue reading Here

US: Universal National Service Act of 2006 (Introduced in House)

109th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 4752






To provide for the common defense by requiring all persons in the United States, including women, between the ages of 18 and 42 to perform a period of military service or a period of civilian service in furtherance of the national defense and homeland security, and for other purposes.

Note: The source for this article seems to vary. So to see the document, first click Here and then enter ' H. R. 4752 ' (without the quotes) into the search field. It is the first result in the list.

Afghan riots

Riots and gunfire broke out in the Afghan capital on Monday with people feared dead in violent demonstrations that erupted after US troops shot dead at least four civilians, witnesses said.




Several volleys of gunfire over about two hours were heard near the diplomatic quarter as around 1,000 people marched toward the US embassy chanting "Death to America" and "Death to [President Hamid] Karzai", an AFP reporter said.

Mohammad Shoib, an eyewitness, said that he had seen Afghan soldiers shoot dead two rioters trying to break through a police cordon and move into an area that includes the presidential palace and UN offices.

Troops apparently opened fire into the air to stop the demonstrators but later shot into the crowd, he said.

Source Here.

The children of Guantanamo Bay

The notorious US detention camp in Guantanamo Bay has been hit by fresh allegations of human rights abuses, with claims that dozens of children were sent there - some as young as 14 years old.






Lawyers in London estimate that more than 60 detainees held at the terrorists' prison camp were boys under 18 when they were captured.

They include at least 10 detainees still held at the US base in Cuba who were 14 or 15 when they were seized - including child soldiers who were held in solitary confinement, repeatedly interrogated and allegedly tortured.

The disclosures threaten to plunge the Bush administration into a fresh row with Britain, its closest ally in the war on terror, only days after the Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, repeated his demands for the closure of the detention facility. It was, he said, a "symbol of injustice".

Continue reading Here.

Iran Pledges $1b for Iraq Projects

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Saturday his country was ready to help Iraq with an economic investment plan totaling $1 billion, according to Turkish Press.






“We are planning seven projects in the fields of oil, electricity, hospital construction and other services,“ he told reporters during his visit to the Shiite holy city of Najaf, south of Baghdad.

“The Islamic Republic has set aside nearly one billion dollars to help Iraq,“ he said, adding that the Iranians were ready to implement the projects.He said the projects could be implemented in the southern Shiite provinces or in the northern Kurdish ones.

While in Najaf, Mottaki prayed at the Imam Ali shrine, one of Shiite Islam’s holiest sites. He also met a number of religious leaders, including Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani and radical cleric Moqtada Al-Sadr, who are influential on Iraqi politics.

Source Here.

Civilian deaths could fuel Taliban support

Afghan officials and human rights activists say a U.S. airstrike that killed at least 16 civilians this month — possibly as many as 34 — undermines President Hamid Karzai and boosts support for the resurgent Taliban.




It's damaging for the dignity of the government," said Noorulaq Homi, a lawmaker from Kandahar province. "The people distance themselves from the government and move toward the Taliban. It is a positive message for the enemy."

The deaths came May 21 in an airstrike on Azizi village in Kandahar province. Although the strike killed up to 80 militants by U.S. military estimates, the accompanying civilian casualties can be used as a recruiting tool Taliban-led rebels.

They also place Afghanistan's U.S.-backed president, Hamid Karzai, in a political fix. He remains reliant on the U.S.-led coalition to protect his government but can't ignore the public anger stirred by military mistakes. The latest incident came just five weeks after the killings of seven civilians by coalition military in eastern Kunar province that also drew Karzai's ire.

Source Here.

No posts

My apologies to you all but I am unable to update Terrorism News tonight. Meanwhile why not check out these links.

Get your hands dirty over at Djebs Permaculture Reflections

Also why not check out the wonderfully creative Poetic justice

Hopefully normal service will resume tomorrow.

Papers Show U.S. Courted Arabs in Mid-70s

The United States reached out to hostile Arabs three decades ago with an offer to work toward making Israel a ``small friendly country'' of no threat to its neighbors and with an assurance to Iraq that the U.S. had stopped backing Kurdish rebels in the north.

``We can't negotiate about the existence of Israel,'' then Secretary of State Henry Kissinger told his Iraqi counterpart in a rare high-level meeting, ``but we can reduce its size to historical proportions.''

A must read : Here.

From the archives : A trip down memory lane (video)

A brief history of Saddam . A must watch video for those that wonder how Saddam became the Dictator of Iraq and if we helped him do that.

Saddam captured ? well not quite , we have always had him.

Here

This post was first published in October 2005

photos claim to show Marines 'executed' Iraqi civilians

Photographs taken by a Marine intelligence team have convinced investigators that a Marine unit killed as many as 24 unarmed Iraqis, some of them "execution-style," in the insurgent stronghold of Haditha after a roadside bomb killed an American in November, officials close to the investigation said Friday.


The pictures are said to show wounds to the upper bodies of the victims, who included several women and six children. Some were shot in the head and some in the back, congressional and defense officials said.

One government official said the pictures showed that infantry Marines from Camp Pendleton "suffered a total breakdown in morality and leadership, with tragic results."

The case may be the most serious incident of alleged war crimes in Iraq by U.S. troops. Marine officers have long been worried that Iraq's deadly insurgency could prompt such a reaction by combat teams.

An investigation by an Army general into the Nov. 19 incident is to be delivered soon to the top operational commander in Iraq. A separate criminal investigation is also underway and could lead to charges ranging from dereliction of duty to murder.

Read the full 2 page article Here.

When US turned a blind eye to poison gas

America knew Baghdad was using chemical weapons against the Kurds in 1988. So why, asks Dilip Hiro , has it taken 14 years to muster its outrage?






When it comes to demonising Saddam Hussein, nothing captures the popular imagination in America better than the statement that 'he gassed his own people'. This is an allusion to the deployment of chemical weapons by Iraq's military in the Iraqi Kurdistan town of Halabja in March 1988 during the Iran-Iraq war, and then in the territory administered by the Tehran-backed Kurdish rebels after the ceasefire five months later.

As Iraq's use of poison gases in war and in peace was public knowledge, the question arises: what did the United States administration do about it then? Absolutely nothing. Indeed, so powerful was the grip of the pro-Baghdad lobby on the administration of Republican President Ronald Reagan that it got the White House to foil the Senate's attempt to penalise Iraq for its violation of the Geneva Protocol on Chemical Weapons to which it was a signatory. This made Saddam believe that the US was his firm ally - a deduction that paved the way for his brutal invasion and occupation of Kuwait and the 1991 Gulf war, the outcomes of which have not yet fully played themselves out.

Nothing new and plenty missing but a most interesting read nonetheless.

Continue reading Here.