Legal Activists of Color: Fatal Strikes: Israel?s Indiscriminate Attacks Against

re: Israel using DU weapons

on a related topic - by anonymous wise sources...

...There is no evidence DU is used in any bombs or missiles other than one
nuclear weapon in the US arsenal. I'll spare you the details, but the
claim about DU in bunker busters has no supporting evidence...

...I spent many hours researching Israel's use of DU and found nothing, other than an
admission of use in 1985 by an Israeli ship shooting 20mm rounds at a
Palestinian boat.

...

...from everything I've seen, there is zero evidence .. that GBU-28's contain any DU at all. The warheads certainly don't -- they are high explosive...

======================

http://www.democracynow.org/index.pl

Democracy Now! 8/3/06

Human Rights Watch Accuses Israel of War Crimes For Indiscriminately Targeting Lebanese Civilians

HRW Emergencies Director Peter Bouckaert speaks from Beirut on the bombing of Qana, Israel's use of cluster bombs, phosphorous weapons and depleted uranium. Earlier today Human Rights Watch issued a new report titled "Fatal Strikes: Israel's Indiscriminate Attacks Against Civilians in Lebanon." [includes rush transcript]

ace, Propaganda, and the Promised Land: Documentary Examines US Media Coverage of the Israeli Palestinian Conflict

How has the US media covered the conflict in the Middle East? We play an excerpt of the documentary "Peace Propaganda and the Promised Land: U.S. Media & the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict." The film was directed by Bathsheba Ratzkoff and Sut Jhally of the Media Education Foundation.

atching a Different War? American, Lebanese and Israeli Panel on How the US Media is Covering the Invasion of Lebanon

Some have suggested that Americans are watching a different war in Lebanon than much of the world. We're joined by three panelists -- Peter Hart of Fairness and Accuracy in Recording (FAIR) in New York, Middle East Broadcasters editor Habib Battah in Beirut and Ha'aretz reporter Gideon Levy in Tel Aviv.

======================

Democracy Now!

Thursday, August 3rd, 2006
Headlines for August 3, 2006

Lebanon: Death Toll at 900, One-Third Children
Earlier today in Beirut, Lebanon's Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said the death toll from Israel's invasion has reached 900 people.

Lebanon Prime Minister Fouad Siniora: "It is taking an enormous toll on human life and infrastructure and has totally ravaged our country and shattered our economy. Over 900 killed and 3,000 injured so far and the number is still rising."

According to Prime Minister Siniora, one-third of the casualties are children under the age of twelve. The number of refugees has also reached one million people.

Economic, Infrastructure Damage to Lebanon Tops $2.5 Billion
Siniroa's comments came just hours after the Lebanese government warned the attack on Lebanon is inflicting crippling damage on Lebanon's economy and infrastructure.

Lebanese Development and Reconstruction official Fadel Al-Shalak: "At the beginning, the damages inflicted by Israel were $2 billion dollars. After one week, that increased to $2.5 billion. So, within one week, the damages inflicted increased by another half a billion U.S. dollars. For a country the size of Lebanon, that is a huge loss. This escalation shows the proportion of the catastrophe and the aggression of this war."

Relief Workers Delay Aid Delivery
Aid workers are warning large numbers of food and supplies are piling up because Israel won't guarantee security for their delivery. On Wednesday, both the U.N. and Red Cross announced they've delayed aid shipments. The U.N. World Food Program says its reached 80,000 people -- just one-tenth of those in need.

Israel, Hezbollah Dispute Identities of Captured Lebanese
Meanwhile, Israel says it captured five Hezbollah militants during a raid on the ancient city of Baalbek late Tuesday. Hezbollah says Israel kidnapped civilians, including a 60-year old grocery store owner and two construction workers. Israel has come under criticism for killing more than 15 civilians, including a family of seven, and shelling the Baalbek hospital. Israel says the hospital was used as a Hezbollah base.

Lebanese Religious Groups Praise Hezbollah "Resistance"
The Israeli attack has brought about rare unity between Lebanon's three main religious groups. On Wednesday, Lebanese newspapers published joint a statement released by Lebanon's Maronite Catholic church and Shiite and Sunni Muslim groups. The statement showed photographs of victims of Israeli bombings and praised the Hezbollah-led "resistance." The New York Times calls the joint statement an event that would have been unthinkable just a few months ago.

Pope Repeats Calls For Ceasefire
Meanwhile in Vatican City, Pope Benedict repeated his recent calls for an immediate ceasefire.

Pope Benedict: "Our eyes are full of the horrifying images of the mangled bodies of so many people, especially children, and I am thinking in particular of Qana in Lebanon. I wish to repeat that nothing can justify the spilling of innocent blood, for any reason and from any direction that it comes. With a heart full of sorrow I renew once again a strong appeal for the immediate cessation of all hostilities and of all the violence."

5 Killed in Gaza Strikes as UN Warns of Continuing Crisis
In other news, Israel continues its almost daily airstrikes on the Gaza Strip. Earlier today, seven Palestinians, including at least two unarmed civilians, were killed in strikes on southern Gaza. The dead include a ten-year old boy. Another twenty-five Palestinians were wounded. The United Nations has launched an appeal asking the international community not to forget the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. In a statement signed by 30 aid agencies, the UN says the situation in Gaza is at least as serious as in southern Lebanon. More than 140 Palestinians have been killed since the capture of the Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in June. The agencies say Israel has slowed the delivery of aid supplies to a trickle. According to the UN, Israel is firing an average of around 150 shells into Gaza each day. Palestinian militants have fired an average ten rockets into Israel.

Mexican Activists Occupy TV Station in Oaxaca
In Mexico, a standoff between activist groups and the governor in the state of Oaxaca is intensifying. On Wednesday, a group of close to 500 women seized a state-run television station. The women banged spoons against pots and pans and broadcast footage showing police beating protesters at a major rally last month. The action was the latest in the continuing struggle against Oaxaca Governor Ulises Ruiz. He has been accused of fixing his election victory two years ago and violently suppressing opposition groups.

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A Ceasefire Call in Lebanon Bush Can't Ignore

By Juan Cole, Informed Comment
Posted on August 3, 2006, Printed on August 3, 2006
http://www.alternet.org/story/39717/

The U.S. punditocracy and ruling elite is fixated on Hizbullah as a "terrorist group" even though the organization hasn't engaged in international terror against American civilians in many years. What they forget about Hizbullah is that it is also a Shiite religious party, and that that is how it is perceived for the most part by Iraqi Shiites. Some 45 percent of Lebanese are probably Shiites.

The other thing to remember is that the United States is now a Shiite Power in part, insofar as it semi-rules a Shiite-majority country, Iraq.

The Associated Press is carrying the story that Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani has demanded an immediate ceasefire in Israel's war on Lebanon, in the wake of the Qana massacre:

"Islamic nations will not forgive the entities that hinder a cease-fire," al-Sistani said in a clear reference to the United States.

"It is not possible to stand helpless in front of this Israeli aggression on Lebanon,'' he added. "If an immediate cease-fire in this Israeli aggression is not imposed, dire consequences will befall the region.''

Sistani had earlier condemned Israeli air raids on Lebanon but had confined himself to ordering the Iraqi Shiite religious establishment to provide aid to victims of the war in Lebanon.

Sistani's statements of early Monday morning (which are not yet reflected at his website in Arabic) go substantially beyond his earlier statement.

Several questions arise: 1) Why is Sistani speaking like this? 2) What can he do about it all? and 3) What are the possible consequences if he turns anti-American in practice, not just in rhetoric, as in the past?

Sistani is taking such a hard line on this issue not only because he feels strongly about it (his fatwa against the Jenin operation of 2002 was vehement) but also because he is in danger of being outflanked by Muqtada al-Sadr. Sadr's Mahdi Army is said to be "boiling" over the Israeli war on Hizbullah, since after all the Sadrists are also fundamentalist Shiites and they identify with the Lebanese Hizbullah. There have already been big demonstrations in Baghdad against the Israeli attacks, to which Sadrists flocked but probably also other Shiites.

Sistani cannot allow Muqtada to monopolize this issue, or the young cleric's legitimacy will grow among the angry Shiite masses at the expense of Sistani's.

Sistani is not linked to Hizbullah, which is strongly Khomeinist in orientation. Sistani largely rejects Khomeinism. He told an Iraqi acquaintance of mine, "Even if I must be wiped out, I will not allow Iraq to repeat the Iranian experience." When Sistani had his heart problems in summer, 2004, he flew to London via Beirut. He stopped in Beirut several hours, and Nabih Berri came out to the airport to consult with him. Berri is the speaker of the Lebanese parliament and the leader of the Amal Party. Amal is the party of the secularizing, moderate Lebanese Shiites. It was more militant in the 1980s but it mellowed.

So Sistani's political ties in Lebanon go to Amal much more than to Hizbullah. Sistani has many followers or "emulators" (muqallidun) among the Lebanese Shiites, though the hard core Hizbullahis tend to follow Supreme Jurisprudent Ali Khamenei of Iran instead. Some Lebanese Shiites follow the Lebanese grand ayatollah, Husain Fadlullah.

Note that Amal is allied with Hizbullah in parliament, and some Amal fighters have been killed in clashes with Israelis in the deep south. Amal abandoned its paramilitary during the 1990s, but seems to have kept some units active down near the Israeli border.

So Berri would have been in a position to implore Sistani to intervene. Sistani is hoping for something like a moderate Amal party to coalesce in Iraq and would want to help Berri any way he could.

Sistani has issued a warning to the United States. He wants Bush to intervene to arrange a ceasefire, i.e. the cessation of israeli air raids on Lebanon in general.

What could he do if he were ignored? Sistani could call massive anti-US and anti-Israel demonstrations. Given Iraq's profound political instability, this development could be extremely dangerous. U.S. troops in Baghdad and elsewhere are planning offensives against Shiite paramilitary groups, so tensions are likely to rise in the Shiite areas anyway. But big demonstrations could easily boil over into actual attacks on U.S. and British troops. Both depend heavily on fuel that is transported through the Shiite south. Were the Shiites actively to turn on the U.S. for its wholehearted support of continued Israeli air raids, the U.S. military could be cut off from fuel and supplies. The British only have around 8,000 troops in Iraq, and they would be in profound danger if Iraq's Shiites became militantly anti-occupation.

Since the Israeli treatment of Arabs is an issue on which Sunnis and Shiites agree, there is also a possibility that Sistani could finally get some respect from the Sunni community if he led such a compaign. That development would be more dangerous to the continued U.S. military presence in Iraq than any other I can think of.

The U.S. is already not winning against a Sunni Arab insurgency, backed by around 5 million Iraqis. If 16 million Shiites turned on the U.S. because of its wholehearted support for Israel's actions in Lebanon, the U.S. military mission in Iraq could quickly become completely and urgently untenable. In this case, the British troops in particular would be lucky to escape the country with their lives.

Sistani does not issue threats lightly, and he has repeatedly shown a willingness to back them up with action. Bush and U.S. ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad will ignore him to their peril.

Juan Cole is a professor of history at the University of Michigan and maintains the popular blog Informed Comment.

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Democracy Now!

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for your Spanish speaking friends -

BOLETÍN DEMOCRACY NOW! EN ESPAÑOL

Los Titulares de Hoy en español

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Human Rights Watch

Fatal Strikes: Israel's Indiscriminate Attacks Against Civilians in Lebanon

Some Israeli Attacks Amount to War Crimes
New Report

Attacks on Civilian Homes

Attacks on Fleeing Civilians

====================================================================

http://www.ireland.com/

Hizbullah rockets cannot be fired from buildings
Tom Clonan
31/07/2006

Hizbullah has fired almost 2,000 missiles into Israel over the last
fortnight, killing more than 50 Israelis and forcing almost one
million into air raid shelters.

Despite this provocation, however, Israel's response has been sharply
criticised as "disproportionate" in many quarters. In the aftermath
of the deaths of dozens of innocent Lebanese women and children at
Qana yesterday, even the US has urged the Israeli Defence Forces
(IDF) to modify their responses to Hizbullah's attacks.

IDF spokespeople are maintaining that Hizbullah had been mounting
missile attacks on Israeli territory from Qana in recent days. The
IDF has claimed it targeted the three-storey house in Qana at 1.30am
local time in the belief it contained a Hizbullah "asset".

Any investigation into the targeting of this house will have to
consider precisely what kind of Hizbullah "asset" could possibly have
been hidden in a modest, low-rise building among the narrow streets
of a village such as Qana.

The type of missiles being fired by Hizbullah at Israeli cities
cannot be fired from within houses, mosques, hospitals or even UN
facilities as has been suggested by the IDF. Due to the massive "back-
blast" caused by the rocket launchers of these missiles, they can
only be fired from open ground. To fire them from within a building
would result in the instant death of the missile crew and probable
destruction of the missile before launch. Most of the missiles are
truck-mounted and are fired - on open ground - from the backs of flat-
bedded trucks or larger four-wheel-drive vehicles.

When fired, these missiles generate an enormous flare of light, heat
and sound energy - a heat and light signature which is readily
detected by IDF target-acquisition systems. Accurate retaliatory fire
can be directed at Hizbullah launch sites by IDF aircraft and ground
artillery in seconds. Such a reaction would be considered by
international military norms to be proportionate and within the
general "rules of engagement".

In these circumstances, having fired their missiles, Hizbullah tends
to disperse as rapidly as possible. It is unlikely that a flat-bedded
truck with a multilaunch rocket-system mounted on it could be easily
and rapidly hidden in a village as small as Qana. Nor is it likely
that such a truck-mounted weapon or four-wheel-drive vehicle could
easily be hidden in a house such as the one targeted by the IDF
yesterday.

The pattern and circumstances of the attack are sinister. With no
telltale scorch marks from a Hizbullah missile launch visible near
the destroyed house, and with no Hizbullah fighters among the dead

and injured, the question remains as to what kind of "asset" the IDF
could credibly allege to have been contained within the building.

The timing of the attack, taking place as it did during a period of
relative calm and not in the immediate aftermath of a Hizbullah
missile launch, speaks of a punitive strike designed simply to kill
members of the Shia community from which Hizbullah is drawn and
receives its moral support. The targeting of unarmed Shia women and
children would represent a deliberate targeting of innocent civilians
for retaliatory or punitive purposes, and may well constitute a war
crime.

Tom Clonan is The Irish Times security analyst.

© The Irish Times

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http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/745185.html

haaretz.com

01/08/2006

Livni: Qana attack led to turning point in support for Israel By Yoav Stern, Yuval Yoaz and Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondents

...The IAF admits the village was struck three times between Saturday night and Sunday morning...

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This Week's Endorsers of the Declaration of Peace Campaign

Agape Community (Massachusetts), Birmingham Islamic Society, Catholic Peace Ministry (Iowa), Concerned Citizens for Peace (New York), Democracy for Northeast Louisiana, Erie Benedictines for Peace (Pennsylvania), Grandmothers for Peace (Northland chapter, Wisconsin), Grass Roots Organizing Works (Illinois), Los Alamos Witness for Peace (New Mexico), McHenry County Peace Group (Illinois), Mid-South Peace and Justice Center (Tennessee), Mothersuniting, National Fraternity Secular Franciscan Order, Park Presidio United Methodist Church (San Francisco), Pax Christi Burlingame (California), Pax Christi Houston, Pax Christi Northern California, Pax Christi Texas, Peace Action Maine, Peace Fresno (California), PeaceWeb SW (Arizona), Presentation Sisters Aberdeen SD Social Justice Team, Seattle Fellowship of Reconciliation, Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, St. Louis Province, Sisters of St. Joseph, Nazareth, MI Office of Peace and Justice, The Earth Force United Organization, The Leadership Conference of Women Religious.

To see the complete list or to visit the endorsers' websites, visit: http://declarationofpeace.org/endorsements

For More Information:
MailScanner has detected a possible fraud attempt from "ent.groundspring.org" claiming to be http://www.declarationofpeace.org

==================================================================================

For Immediate Release August 2, 2006

National Lawyers Guild Condemns Jailing of Journalist Blogger

Yesterday Federal Judge William Alsup of the Northern District of California found 24-year-old independent journalist Joshua Wolf in contempt after he declined to comply with an order to turn over his videotape of a year-old San Francisco protest to a federal grand jury. Wolf was denied bail and immediately taken into custody. The National Lawyers Guild San Francisco Bay Area (NLGSF) condemns this attack on the independent media and activists.

"The US Attorney's Office, led by Assistant US Attorney Jeffrey Finigan, should be ashamed," said Carlos Villarreal, Executive Director of the NLGSF. "The grand jury and prosecutors choose to target Mr. Wolf to get a tape that they know shows nothing of significance. It is an unacceptable violation of Wolf's rights as a journalist and a waste of resources and tax dollars."

The National Lawyers Guild argues that (1) Judge Alsup should have found that the federal government had no jurisdiction in this case and, (2) even upon a finding of jurisdiction, Judge Alsup had the power to find a qualified 1st Amendment privilege in this context and should have weighed the very weak interest of the federal government in this case against the very serious Constitutional rights of Wolf to find in his favor.

Judge Alsup found that the federal government had jurisdiction in this case because, as the U.S. Attorneys argued, the San Francisco police car was paid for, in part, with federal funds. And further that there was a possible federal crime because smoke was visible near a police car in portions of the released video.

"The weak connection made by the Federal government to conjure up jurisdiction in this matter should strongly suggest that Mr. Finigan and this grand jury are not concerned with legitimate law enforcement and are more likely interested in attacking freedom of the press and activists," said Villarreal. "If the allegations that someone tried to set a San Francisco police vehicle on fire had any merit, there would be a local investigation into the matter." In fact local prosecutors are pursuing charges against three activists for various crimes allegedly committed in the course of last year's protest. None of the charges involve arson or attempted arson of a police vehicle.

Furthermore, case law suggests that journalists should have qualified immunity under these circumstances, and judges should decide whether free speech rights in a particular instance outweigh the needs of the government. In this case, Judge Alsup dismissed the need to conduct a balancing test but stated that such a test would be a "slam dunk" for the government. The Judge failed to grasp the far-reaching effects this decision might have on freedom of the press, freedom of speech and freedom of assembly.

"In this case we had the entire independent media and its benefits to a free society on one side versus a trumped up allegation by the federal government on the other," said Villarreal. "If the government can act this way, why should activists feel comfortable speaking with or being photographed by journalists? Maybe people should avoid political expression altogether. Maybe sympathetic journalists should avoid covering controversial protests. The chilling effect is exponential."

Court documents and past news articles can be found at http://joshwolf.net/grandjury/

Updates on Josh's support can be found at http://freejosh.pbwiki.com/

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also see -

http://www.nlg.org/

National Lawyers Guild Condemns Attack on Free Press

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http://www.amnesty.org/

Haiti: Bring to trial or release all political prisoners
(01/08/06)

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http://www.tompaine.com/

Unions Say EPA Bends To Political PresUnions Say EPA Bends To Political Pressure

Wednesday 7:49 AM

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counterpunch

Bill Quigley
Hiroshima, Nagasaki and North Dakota

http://www.counterpunch.org/quigley08022006.html

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/080206B.shtml

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http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?itemid=17393#3

August 3
Things that happened on this day that you never had to memorize in school

1986: Eight women arrested in Motherpeace action, U.S.-Canada war test site, Vancouver, B.C.

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Palestine Chronicle

http://www.palestinechronicle.com/index.php

Marjorie Cohn: Bush's Enemy du Jour

http://www.palestinechronicle.com/story-08020660707.htm

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Announcement to all NLG Members Regarding Procedures for Proposing Resolutions and Bylaw and Constitutional Amendments for Consideration at the October 2006 Convention

PLEASE TAKE NOTICE OF THE REQUIRED DATES

In recent years we have been lax about carrying out the procedural mandates of our Constitution, Bylaws, and procedural Resolutions. This year we plan to follow the mandated procedures as best that we can. Please follow the instructions in this notice and refer to our governing documents that are posted on our website.

All proposed resolutions and amendments must be submitted to the National Office (nlgno@nlg.org) by August 15, 2006 so that they can be published to our membership by email at least sixty days prior to the convention. This year we are giving a little more time for submission of proposed resolutions than is mandated in a 1989 resolution as we are making this announcement somewhat late and so that committees and other entities will have sufficient time to prepare their proposed resolutions.

Proposed resolutions should be a maximum of two double-spaced typewritten pages, must contain a clause stating what person or body will implement the resolution if passed, and must contain the name and contact information for the person submitting the resolution. Proposed resolutions should be submitted to any appropriate committee or chapter for comment on its content prior to submission to the National Office and should have the comments appended to the original resolution at the time that it is submitted to the National Office.