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U.S. Generals Commit Crimes Against Humanity
(Bob Nichols, Project Censored Award Winner, May. 27, 2006)
Another George Bush, George Bush the second, sent only 145,000 troopers for the much more ambitious conquering and occupation of Iraq 12 years later. What changed? . . . Why send 355,000 fewer troopers for a much larger, tougher, sure to get you killed job? The American war policies did not change. The answer is that the Americans had millions of pounds of a deadly microscopic "helper" called depleted uranium as a "force multiplier" deployed in Iraq. . . . A force multiplier is a technological method to multiply the aggressiveness and lethality of an armed force. Dr. Katsuma Yagasaki of Ryukyus University in Okinawa, a physicist, stated publicly that the atomicity equivalent of the weaponized uranium gas deployed in Iraq by U.S. military forces is hundreds of thousands of times the radioactivity of the Nagasaki atomic bomb. . . . Marion Fulk, who started working on nuclear weapons more than 60 years ago during the Manhattan Project, says, "I would say that it is the perfect weapon for killing lots of people." A leading scientist, Leuren Moret, speaking out on the use of depleted uranium today, says flatly, "Iraq is uninhabitable," due to widespread radiation poisoning. . . . War crimes lawyers, in many ways, wrote the spec for Washington's latest genocidal wonder weapon. A weapon that: * strays off the field of battle. * lasts after the battle is over. * causes cancer and other major devastating diseases.
* causes lethal harm to people and the environment, is an illegal weapon as determined by a U.N. body. In short, its use is a war crime. . . . DU, or so-called depleted uranium, fits the profile perfectly. The senior American military and political leadership had their super weapon. They then determined that the Iraqi people and others in Central Asia's resource rich lands were in the way, had no right to live and had to go. They would be nuked by uranium munitions. . . . The American war planners knew and assumed that the U.S. soldiers were expendable commodities, like bullets. They would be nuked, too. As the famous American secretary of state, His Excellency Henry Kissinger, said, "Military men are just dumb stupid animals to be used as pawns in foreign policy." . . . The American expeditionary forces purposefully used a long lasting genocidal weapon, uranium gas, in Iraq to decimate the Iraqi civilization. The Americans are still using this genocidal weapon more than 15 years later. It's estimated that more than a million Iraqis died during the past 15 years from wars and sanctions. There were only about 24.4 million Iraqis to start with in 1991. The extermination minded American senior politicians and military leaders are nothing if not determined, ruthless and relentless. . . . As the brutal American Marines say, "Kill their ass and steal their gas." The American privates and corporals, the so-called grunts, do not know they are included in the soon to be dead or maimed, because poison gas weapons are not controllable. The poison flies everywhere with the changing wind. Poison gas is very unpredictable. The grunts are "throw away soldiers." . . . The amount of radiation released by the atomic bombs pales in comparison to the huge amount of permanent killing radiation released in Iraq. The total radioactive life span of uranium weapons is a majestically creepazoid 45 billion years. The Iraqis have a right to ask, "Why do the Americans hate us so? Why do the Americans want to exterminate us?" . . . Ordinary use of the big atom bomb was out. What were the U.S. political and military leaders to do? Answer: Go directly to the major radiation dispersing element in the atomic bombs and use it for radioactive munitions: dirty bullets, dirty shells and dirty bombs – depleted uranium. Problem solved. The military-industrial-congressional complex had their force multiplier back. . . . Now, in 2006, the United States is the most successful fascist empire, with the most lethal military, in the history of the world. The fascist government of war criminals and crooks must be put out as soon as possible, certainly before they invade Iran and use global thermonuclear weapons as promised and nuclear munitions again to do so. Words do not count in this arena, though, only actions. . . . Because, ultimately, these senior American generals and politicians must be cast out of office, tried and appropriately punished for committing these war crimes. It is the right thing to do. What America is doing to the world is wrong and criminal. All Americans are war criminals. We all bear responsibility – all 300 million of us. . . . Feel outraged? Helpless? Upset? Powerless? I do! . . . Do you want to stop these Americans from committing these war crimes? Then you must "be the media." Do the only thing you can control. Tell your friends and neighbors about this. Just say, "The U.S. is using radioactive weapons and is destroying the world. What can we do to mess with them? Let's do it." . . . Just go ahead and do it. Don't wait for permission. You are right! Don't be timid! The whole world is watching.

. . . Read more!


posted by LoZo 9:09 AM

 

U.S. Troops Kill Journalists Reporting on Depleted Uranium Tragedy in Iraq
(Aljazeera, 29 May 2006)
An Iraqi reporter and a Japanese human rights activist have recently warned against the distorted image the world has about what’s happening in Iraq. They also warned against an imminent health catastrophe, with Iraqis now more vulnerable to cancer as a result to the exposure to depleted uranium shells the U.S.-led occupation forces had been using in Iraq . . . During the Persian Gulf War, the U.S. blasted vehicles with armor-piercing shells made of depleted uranium, which helped bring the war to a swift conclusion. The U.S. was the first country to introduce such deadly weapons. The war ended, but the devastating impact remains. . . . About 15 years have passed since the Persian Gulf War ended; but the battlefield remains a radioactive toxic wasteland. . . . While the Pentagon refuses to speak clearly about the true effects of depleted uranium, Iraqi doctors say that using it led to significant increase in cancer and birth defects in the region. Many researchers have also suggested that depleted uranium played a major role in Gulf War Syndrome, the still-unexplained malady that has plagued hundreds of thousands of Gulf War veterans. . . . Depleted Uranium is a highly dense metal that is the byproduct of the process during which fissionable uranium used to manufacture nuclear bombs and reactor fuel is separated from natural uranium. . . . DU remains radioactive for about 4.5 billion years. . . . "It is now virtually impossible for foreign journalists to move around independently in Iraq," Nishitani said. . . . "Most (journalists) are embedded with U.S. forces or operate from the Green Zone, a walled fortress in central Baghdad. As a result, few people in the West, or in Japan, have seen the true extent of the damage and suffering in Fallujah, while the U.S. government continues to deny responsibility for the cancer and leukemia outbreaks." . . . "The world has seen little of the devastation wrought by U.S. troops on the city of Fallujah," Rasheed, also a photographer, said. "Entire neighborhoods were destroyed and the number of innocent civilians killed and maimed by the bombing was quite high." . . . The two men presented photos of the U.S. offensive in the Iraqi city of Fallujah that took place in November 2004, and left thousands of Iraqis dead, and sent many others homeless. . . . Nobody has any idea how many Iraqis may have developed leukemia or fallen ill (with other diseases), because of the depleted uranium shells," Nishitani said. . . . "It's a major health catastrophe in the making." Rasheed said. . . . But how can the world know about the true extent of the devastation in Iraq, if reporters, who complain that harassment and intimidation by American soldiers in Iraq is growing, can’t do their job well. . . . Too many journalists are dying "at the hands of the hands of US soldiers because of negligence or indifference ... And when journalists are killed, the military often seems ... unwilling to launch an adequate investigation or take steps to mitigate risk," Joel Campagna of the Committee to Protect Journalists was once quoted as saying. . . . U.S. military fire is the second-leading cause of death. At least nine journalists and two media support staff have died as a result of US fire in Iraq in the last 23 months." . . . Has killing become part of the Pentagon “Press Policy”?

. . . Read more!


posted by LoZo 6:12 AM

 

Cheney remarks spark talk of 'new cold war'
Russian newspapers looked back six decades on Friday as they reacted with alarm and indignation to Dick Cheney's rebuke of Russia in Vilnius, some warning it marked the dawn of a new cold war. . . . most Moscow newspapers – government-controlled and independent – carried it on their front pages on Friday. . . . They presented it variously as carrying echoes of the speech in Fulton, Missouri, in 1946 when Sir Winston Churchill warned of an "Iron Curtain" descending across Europe, or the 1945 Yalta conference where Europe's post-war map was drawn up. Some suggested Mr Cheney's remarks would drive Russia into the arms of China. . . . Many highlighted the fact that Mr Cheney's speech was delivered in Lithuania to the Community of Democratic Choice, the nine-country group of former Soviet republics and satellites set up by presidents Mikheil Saakashvili of Georgia and Viktor Yushchenko of Ukraine. . . . The presidential administration viewed Mr Cheney’s words with “incomprehension” – particularly his warning over Russia using its energy might to “blackmail” its neighbours. . . . "We can't agree with a lot of his speech," Mr Peskov said. "We can't agree that Russian companies are intimidating people, intimidating neighbouring countries, which need oil and gas for the development of their democracies and their economy. . . . "Russia and Russian companies for many decades, including during the cold war, were reliable suppliers of energy resources to Europe. And we remain reliable suppliers," Mr Peskov added. . . . He said Mr Cheney's speech made no mention of the "successes that Russia has achieved in the area of democracy, in the area of freedom of religion. Fifteen years ago, no one in Europe could have imagined that we would follow such a path." . . . "If we're talking about some kind of change of approach, this should be officially communicated, and not by means of a speech at a conference," he said.

. . . Read more!


posted by LoZo 3:24 PM

 

Russian racism is 'out of control'
(BBC NEWS, 4 May 2006)
Racist killings in Russia are "out of control", according to a report by international human rights watchdog Amnesty International. . . . The report into violent racism shows that at least 28 people were killed and 366 were assaulted in 2005. . . . This year there have already been a number of high-profile cases, including the death of a Senegalese student. . . . The Amnesty report, entitled "Russian Federation: Violent racism out of control", includes examples of police and prosecutors routinely classifying murders and serious assaults by skinhead extremists as lesser crimes of "hooliganism". . . . Amnesty International UK Director Kate Allen said racist killings and violent attacks against foreigners, visible ethnic minorities and anti-racist campaigners in Russia were out of control. . . . "Some Russian authorities are turning a blind eye," she said. "Instead of seeing only 'hooliganism' in vicious organised attacks on students from African, south-east Asian countries and non-Slavic Russians from Chechnya, Russia's police and prosecutors need to tackle head-on the growing scourge of violent racism in Russia." . . . Cases highlighted in the Amnesty report include the killing of nine-year-old Tajik girl Khursheda Sultonov. . . . She was attacked with other members of her family in St Petersburg in February 2004 by a gang. Khursheda was stabbed nine times in the chest, stomach and arms and died at the scene. . . . The report also heard from members of the Roma community who have stopped travelling into St Petersburg city centre, having been the victims of attacks. . . . Russian citizens and foreigners living in the big cities have led demonstrations against the attacks and the authorities' failure to tackle the problem.

. . . Read more!


posted by LoZo 4:11 AM

 

Bolivia's bold gas move met with shock
(BBC NEWS, May 2, 2006)
Under the May Day decree, private energy companies will have to sell a controlling stake to the Bolivian government and renegotiate contracts. . . . At the largest gas fields, royalty payments will increase from 50% to 82%. . . . The fate of Bolivia's gas reserves was at the heart of protests which saw two presidents thrown out of office. . . . Mr Morales' move is the fulfilment of an election promise to secure better benefits for impoverished ordinary Bolivians from the gas reserves - the second largest in the continent. . . . Hundreds of Bolivians celebrated the decree in the de facto capital, La Paz, on Monday. . . . A spokesman for Petrobras, one of the largest foreign investors in Bolivia, called it an "unfriendly" action. . . . Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was said to be meeting Petrobras President Jose Sergio Gabrielli and government ministers for urgent talks on Tuesday. . . . Spain's Repsol YPF is also a big player in Bolivia, and the Spanish government expressed "deep concern" at the move. . . . The US Exxon Mobil Corporation said it was "closely monitoring" the situation. . . . Other major international corporations operating in Bolivia include the British companies British Gas and British Petroleum and France's Total. . . . Under the terms of Decree 28701, the Bolivian government has declared absolute control over the country's energy resources and radically altered the conditions of its relationship with the energy companies. . . . Companies have six months to negotiate new contracts with the Bolivian government. During that time, the Bolivian government says it will carry out audits of each company to determine how much it should pay for a stake of at least 51% in each. . . . Bolivia's state-owned energy company, YPBF, will take control of the production, transport, refinery, and sale of the gas. . . . Speaking at an oilfield in the south of the country on Monday, Bolivia's president called it an "historic day". . . . "The pillage of our natural resources by foreign companies is over," he declared. . . . About 100 soldiers peacefully took control of the Palmasola refinery in the south-eastern city of Santa Cruz, reported the news agency Associated press. . . . The government said soldiers and engineers were sent to 56 locations around the country. . . . Mr Morales said the gas fields were "just the beginning, because tomorrow it will be the mines, the forest resources and the land".

[COMMENT by Lorenzo: Bravo Morales!]

. . . Read more!


posted by LoZo 8:23 AM