PHOTO: Many of the dead were children. In the all-day scramble to retrieve bodies — backhoes dug for hours at the site — tallies of the dead varied. (New York Times)This is such a huge war crime.
"Not hammer-strokes, but dance of the water, sings the pebbles into perfection." — Rabindranath Tagore
PHOTO: Many of the dead were children. In the all-day scramble to retrieve bodies — backhoes dug for hours at the site — tallies of the dead varied. (New York Times)The clip below came from Bush himself, and I copied it from Think Progress website. We are not addressing the root causes of violence, we are increasing the violence in the world (with the help of other governments with no ability to be moral, decent people - like Israel). We are furthering instability and hatred and violence in the world.
The only "freedom" he is bringing people is the freedom of the grave. The only "democracy" he is bringing them is the democracy of death.
He also admits "they're still out there" which means the terrorist organization that supported 19 GUYS on 9/11 has yet to be found or stopped. He is incompetent on top of being a war-mongerer. I fail to understand how anyone could have voted for this guy, could have ever thought he was a good "Christian" or who even thinks he is funny. My coworkers gave me a birthday card making fun of Bush. They still think he is funny. I am amazed that they are not crying themselves to sleep every night from shame and grief over what their country has become. I am certain that a day will come when they do exactly that.
As broadcast on FAUX News:
BUSH: It’s an interesting period because, instead of having foreign policies based upon trying to create a sense of stability, we have a foreign policy that addresses the root causes of violence and instability.
For a while, American foreign policy was just, Let’s hope everything is calm — manage calm. But beneath the surface brewed a lot of resentment and anger that was manifested on September the 11th.
And so we’ve taken a foreign policy that says: On the one hand, we will protect ourselves from further attack in the short run by being aggressive in chasing down the killers and bringing them to justice.
And make no mistake: They’re still out there, and they would like to harm our respective peoples because of what we stand for. In the long term, to defeat this ideology — and they’re bound by an ideology — you defeat it with a more hopeful ideology called freedom.
A Lebanese volunteer carries a child killed in an Israeli air raid in Qana, 6 km (4 miles) from the port-city of Tyre (Soure) in south Lebanon, July 30, 2006. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra (LEBANON)
Medical personnel line up bodies outside the Tyre (Soure) hospital after an Israeli air raid on Qana killed more than 54 people, 37 of them children, in south Lebanon, July 30, 2006. (Ali Hashisho - LEBANON/Reuters)
PHOTO: Alae Haourani cries as she is lies at the Heram hospital in the port city of Tyre (Soure), in south Lebanon, after she was injured in an Israeli air raid in Bint Jebil July 29, 2006. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra (LEBANON)
This is a PARTIAL listing of security incidents in California:
-A bomb planted under a fuel tanker exploded between a market and a medical center in the southeastern greater Los Angeles suburb of Whittier exploded, killing two people and wounding 18.
-Gunmen in three cars attacked an Indian import/export company in the upscale Beverly Hills neighborhood in western greater Los Angeles, killing five Californian employees before fleeing.
-Gunmen killed at least 10 people in greater Los Angeles Tuesday in an ambush attack on a vehicle carrying a coffin for burial in the Catholic cemetery in the city of Santa Claria. The attack took place in Glendale, a predominantly Baptist Anglo city.
-California's consul to the Mexican district of Sonora - Andrew Schmidt - was abducted near his home in greater Los Angeles's mostly Catholic district of Long Beach.
-At least five people were killed and 10 others wounded when a suicide bomber blew himself up outside greater Los Angeles's heavily fortified "Green Zone".
-Gunmen stormed the greater Los Angeles offices of a Mexican contracting company and sprayed its employees with bullets, killing eight and wounding one on Tuesday. The attack took place in the western district of Norwalk.
-A car bomb killed three people and wounded seven in greater Los Angeles's central Willow Brook district on Tuesday.
-Gunmen blocked streets in the mostly Baptist area of Inglewood in greater Los Angeles and opened fire on a Baptist church Monday, no casualties reported.
-Nine California National Guard were killed and four wounded on Monday when gunmen attacked them in Monterey, 300 miles north of Greater Los Angeles. A civilian was wounded in the attack.
-Gunmen killed an engineer working for the North Oil Company, along with his driver, while he was heading to work in the northern oil city of Redding.
-Redding police arrested six suspected insurgents during a search and raid operation.
-An IED killed two insurgents as they were planting it on a Chico-Redding road.
-In Eureka, an engineer and an acquaintance in Redding's agriculture authority were killed in a drive-by shooting by militant.
-Police recovered the body of Peter Julian, a California National Guard officer who was kidnapped yesterday in Eureka.
-Three police officers and three civilians were injured when an improvised explosive device (IED) blasted in a police patrol, location uncertain, possibly Eureka.
-Gunmen in a speeding car fired randomly at textile shops in Sacramento, killing two shop owners and wounding four others.
-Clashes between California National Guard and insurgents broke out near the central city of Stockton.
-Lt. John Klingman said 10 policemen who were part of an oil-protection force were killed in the fighting near Sacramento, 45 miles north of Stockton.
-Gunmen opened fire on a California National Guard convoy near Oakland on Monday evening, killing nine soldiers and wounding three.
-Gunmen ambushed a minivan in Roseville, 12 miles northwest of the capital, killing one passenger and wounding five.
-While condemning in public the sectarian death squads that gunned down 40 people on Sunday in a Baptist part of greater Los Angeles, some California Catholic leaders say in private retaliation for Baptist insurgent bomb attacks is understandable.
-The bloodiest such violence yet in the capital has rekindled fears of all-out civil war and posed serious questions over California President Thomas Smith's ability to keep a promise to curb violence by fellow Catholics.
-Catholic leaders, talking privately on Monday, spoke with resignation, saying more bloodshed is inevitable in California's culture of vendetta and that clerical restraint on Catholics is flagging in the face of repeated Baptist bombings. [Insurgents or fundamentalist Baptists claims the bombings, but there is little to prove that the mainstream Baptists are behind these violent events.]
-Visiting the University Hospital in central Greater Los Angeles has long been a routine part of covering the violent events in California. But on Sunday, following an outbreak of fighting between rival Baptist and Catholic gangs in the Riverside area, there were no wounded witnesses to interview, no details to glean about the fighting.
-NGOs devoted to health issues in southern California say that dozens of children have died of relatively common diseases since January due to a lack of medicine. "There are no official statistics about the number of children who have died in San Diego since January," said Mr. Peterson, a senior official in the San Diego Health Department. "But local health department employees and volunteers from some NGOs have collected information suggesting that about 90 children have died as result of the lack of medicine." According to Peterson, this is worse than the same period last year, when some 40 children died for similar reasons.
-Baptist politicians requested assistance from the United Nations as sectarian tensions have dramatically escalated in California. Mr. Atwood, a member of the largest Baptist block in the parliament, the Baptist Accordance Front, said that the United Nations should send peacekeepers to California because "the occupation forces cannot protect the people."
-A bookstore in eastern Greater Los Angeles is getting more customers these days, but they aren't looking for something to read. The owner sells fake IDs, a booming business as Catholics try to hide their identities in hopes of staying alive. Although it's nearly impossible to distinguish between a Baptist and a Catholic by sight, names can be telling. Surnames refer to family and historical roots of the family, while first names are often chosen to honor religious figures revered by one sect but sometimes despised by the other. For about $35, someone with a common Baptist name like Martin Luther could become John or James, a Catholic name that might provide safe passage through dangerous areas.
- Mr. Doug Jones is the mayor with 29 lives. That's the number of assassination attempts he has counted since joining the Monterey government in January 2005. "You see, over there, that is where the suicide bomber tried to kill me," Jones said with a smile as he drove his armored S.U.V. to work. Across the road, where he was pointing, lay the charred shells of a half-dozen automobiles. "Over here," he said after a time, pointing again, "this is where they tried to shoot me." Car bomb, suicide bomber, mortar, gun; in his car, in his house, in a church: insurgents have tried to kill Jones so many times and in so many different ways that he has nearly lost count. But life being what it is in Monterey, Jones probably will need a few more lives to survive until his term expires later this year.
PHOTO: Lebanese displaced children sleep at the Sanayeh Gardens public park in Beirut, Lebanon, Tuesday, July 25, 2006, where citizens who fled their houses from different Lebanese towns and villages have been staying, shortly after the beginning of the Israeli offensive on Lebanon. (AP Photo/Hussam Chbaro)

PHOTO: Mariam Ismail Al Abdullah, 50, wails in anger and sadness over the death of 12 close family members who were killed by Israeli rockets as they attempted to flee the village of Marwahin in Southern Lebanon less than a week ago. Their bodies lay alongside more than 70 other war casualties outside the Public Hospital of the El Buss Palestinian Refugee camp in the city of Tyre, Lebanon.
PHOTO: A destroyed residential building in one of Beirut's southern suburbs. Israel was amassing thousands more reservists on the Lebanese border to stage ground incursions aimed at destroying Hezbollah positions, warning it would not rule out a full-scale invasion despite mounting calls for a ceasefire. (AFP/Layal Najib)
From Pat Buchanan: No, This Is Not ‘Our War’
My country has been "torn to shreds," said Fouad Siniora, the prime minister of Lebanon, as the death toll among his people passed 300 civilian dead, 1,000 wounded, with half a million homeless. Israel must pay for the "barbaric destruction," said Siniora. To the contrary, says columnist Lawrence Kudlow, "Israel is doing the Lord's work." On American TV, former Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu says the ruination of Lebanon is Hezbollah's doing. But is it Hezbollah that is using U.S.-built F-16s, with precision-guided bombs and 155-mm artillery pieces to wreak death and devastation on Lebanon? No, Israel is doing this, with the blessing and without a peep of protest from President Bush. And we wonder why they hate us. "Today, we are all Israelis!" brayed Ken Mehlman of the Republican National Committee to a gathering of Christians United for Israel. One wonders if these Christians care about what is happening to our Christian brethren in Lebanon and Gaza, who have had all power cut off by Israeli airstrikes, an outlawed form of collective punishment, that has left them with no sanitation, rotting food, impure water and days without light or electricity in the horrible heat of July.
AMY GOODMAN: Well, tell us what are the weapons being used? Did you also look at where the weapons that Hezbollah is using comes from?
FRIDA BERRIGAN: Sure. Almost all of the weapons used by Israel are from the United States. There might be a couple French fighter planes that they’re using, but its F-16s made in Fort Worth, Texas; its Apache helicopters; its Sparrow and Sidewinder missiles; it’s all from the United States. So you have this real disconnect between an overemphasis on the supply by Iran and Syria of Hezbollah's weapons and no discussion of the fact that all of the Israeli arsenal is from the United States, and that that is in contravention to U.S. law. to the Arms Export Control Act, which says that U.S.-origin weapons are only to be used for self-defense and for internal security.
JUAN GONZALEZ: And your report indicates that Israel has always been the largest recipient of military aid from the United States, but that that’s actually increased since 2001?
FRIDA BERRIGAN: We’re looking at incredible increases in U.S. military aid and weapons sales to Israel. Military aid stands at about $3 billion a year. That’s about $500 for every Israeli citizen that the United States provides on an annual basis. And then, weapons sales, most recently, since the Bush administration came into power, we’re looking at $6.3 billion worth of weaponry sold to Israel. Israel's relationship with the United States is unique in a number of ways. And one of those ways is that essentially the United States provides 20% of the Israeli military budget on an annual basis, and then about 70% of that money that is given from the United States, from U.S. taxpayers, to Israel is then spent on weapons from Lockheed Martin and Boeing and Raytheon. Most other countries don't have that sort of cash relationship, where they go straight to U.S. corporations with U.S. money to buy weapons that are then used in the Occupied Territories and against Lebanon.
An appeal from an email I received:
CALL, CALL AGAIN, CALL SOME MORE, AND KEEP CALLING
CALL YOUR MEMBERS OF CONGRESS NOW AND DEMAND THEY CALL FOR AN IMMEDIATE CEASE-FIRE IN LEBANON
No student of history can escape the parallels between what is going on in Lebanon now and the start of World War I. The question is, do we have political will, and the sanity, to stop it. Those who are not interested in history are at the mercy of the present, so we might as well review. In 1914, a relatively obscure member of the Austro-Hungarian royal family was assassinated by a bunch of bumbling Serbian extremists when, after the plot had already failed, one of them was given by fate the opportunity of an easy, close up shot. Weapons had been provided to them by a secret society calling itself Black Hand, some of whose members were part of the Serbian government. In response the Austro-Hungarian government delivered to the Serbia government an ultimatum, described by british Foreign Minister Sir Edward Grey as "the most formidable document that was ever addressed from one state to another". The ultimatum was written to be unacceptable on its face, to serve merely as a pretext for war, threatening invasion and collective punishment on Serbia. And even though Serbia AGREED to 9 of the 10 demands, Austria-Hungary still declared war. Because of the various mutual defense commitments, Russia hurriedly mobilized in support of their ally Serbia, the Germans (backing Austria-Hungary) invaded Belgium to stage an attack on the French, who were Russian allies, and Great Britain declared war on Germany because of the violation of Belgian neutrality. Thus it was, within two weeks all of Europe was at war, though the United States did not enter the conflict until a German submarine sunk some of our ships in 1917.
[Timeout 1]
Now let us examine for comparison what is going on in Lebanon today. It is pointless to bicker like five year old children about who "started" it, in a 50 year old conflict that has never stopped smouldering. As an immediate provocation, or excuse for one, members of Hezbollah attacked some Israeli soldiers and kidnapped two, taking them back to Lebanon. Other members of Hezbollah occupy positions in the Lebanese government, and the group has admittedly been supported by militants in Syria and Iran. There are strong parallels here with the Black Hand militants of pre-World War I and their tangential ties to the 1914 Serbian government. But in response, Israel did not just THREATEN to invade and impose collective punishment, they ARE invading and have been bombing Lebanon for a week already. Already over 300 people have been killed there, mostly innocent civilians. Even more devastating have been attacks on civilian infrastructure. Most people in this country have no comprehension of the scale of the destruction. They are well on the way to leveling South Beirut already. For its part Hezbollah has been firing wildly and mostly ineffective rockets at Israel, much like Saddam's willy-nilly anti-aircraft fire during the first Iraq war, though an Israeli ship was hit and damaged. While this military distraction has been going on, violence in Iraq itself has continued to escalate, with report of militants streaming into Baghdad as if to prepare for an even larger offensive.
[Timeout 2]
All of this has nothing to do with Hezbollah, kidnapping, Israel, rocket attacks, self defense, terrorism or anything else. The Bush administration, who is green lighting Israel's every action, is manipulating public opinion at home to escalate this into a nuclear first strike on Iran, to try to regain the dominance lost in Iraq. Until you understand this nothing else will make sense. And in this they have the willing cooperation of Hezbollah and their supporters, who believe they will win the whole game if we do so, and they have our misadventure in Iraq to give them confidence. They are both wrong. Such a conflagration in the Middle East will end human civilization as we have previously known it. BOTH sides will exchange nuclear weapons strikes. The restraint which has kept the nuclear monster in check since 1945 will be vaporized. Perhaps the other side will only be able to muster dirty bombs, or perhaps a revolution in Pakistan will put fully operational warheads in the hands of Islamic militants at once, and this is assuming they have not already acquired some of the many loose nukes out there, or maybe it will take them a while longer to acquire them. But it will happen. That is all unless we find a way to break the cycle of revenge and insanity.
[Timeout 3]
So what will the United States do? Bush apparently believes that all he has to do is smirk his way through the next couple weeks and he'll be back on top as something even bigger and better than a war president. Now he wants to be a "nuclear war president". He will not willingly save us. But if we can get Congress to act there is still hope. There are two resolutions before Congress. The first, H. Res. 921, introduced by John Boehner (R) sides with Israel completely, condemns Hezbollah only, and excuses Israel from any fault or blame in their response to the provocation. The only thing it doesn't do is demand Hezbollah surrender in pink dresses. It is in essence a declaration that the U.S. will support Israel in ANY war of THEIR choosing, much like the kind of pacts that precipitated the cascading declarations of war in World War I. The second, H. Con. Res. 450, introduced by Dennis Kucinich (D) calls on both sides to immediately end hostile actions, and to engage international cooperation to mediate the crisis. The prime minister of Lebanon, a democracy, is pleading for a cease-fire. The U.N. Secretary General is demanding a cease-fire. And only the passage of this second resolution, and a cease-fire, can disrupt the spin of the wheel at the hand of George Bush. The testosterone-fed macho types on Fox news, along with too many of their bar fight mentality supporters, are all gung ho to unleash the nukes. But let us address their primary contemptuous argument, that you can't have a cease-fire because the "terrorists" won't respect it.
At an emergency meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo this last Saturday, moderate Arab governments, some publicly and some privately, were prepared to condemn Hezbollah for the provocation. They might be in a position to pressure Hezbollah in various ways, but they are being undermined by the graphic images of wanton killing and devastation coming out of Lebanon. Though not to minimize the 30 or so Israelis who have been killed so far, most of the actual destruction raining down is by Israel's hand. If this continues much longer there won't be a Muslim population in the Middle East not screaming for Israeli blood. Only a cease-fire can save Israel from itself. They have demonstrated they can launch a military strike any time they choose, and could presumably with impunity resume hostilities any time they would wish. But if moderate Arab governments start falling like dominos to militants in their own populations, any opportunity for diplomacy will be lost forever.
CALL YOUR MEMBERS OF CONGRESS NOW AND DEMAND THEY CALL FOR AN IMMEDIATE CEASE-FIRE IN LEBANON
TOLL-FREE NUMBERS: 888-355-3588 and 800-828-0498
ACTION PAGE: http://www.peaceteam.net/cease-fire.php
Please call your members of Congress in support of the Kucinich resolution, H. Con. Res. 450. We lose nothing by taking a step back from the brink. Otherwise, George Bush will have his World War III. But he still may not go down in history as the nuclear war president, because there may not be any more history when the nuclear fallout clears. Please take action NOW, so we can win all victories that are supposed to be ours, and forward this message to everyone else you know. If you would like to get alerts like these, you can do so at http://www.usalone.com/in.htm
Dancewater: Yes, I called today…. I called the White House on the way to Ontario Science Center, and then (after seeing an exhibit on the Nuremberg Trials) I called the White House again. I pointed out that the war in Iraq is an illegal war of aggression, and therefore a violation of the Nuremberg Principles, and therefore a violation of the US constitution.
I really do feel that we are in danger of starting off WW3 in the Middle East, but even if an outcome such as this were guaranteed not to start, I would still call. There is a wildfire burning in Israel/Lebanon now, and no matter who is at fault and who started it, the sane thing to do is call for a cease-fire (which Lebanon’s government has done). However, Bush is sending Rice over there and she is calling for an international force to squash Hezballah, which means ruin Lebanon. And many right-wing idiots on our airways are calling for WW3. I may not be effective in my calling, but I will not go to my grave and say “I did nothing to stop it”. I will not be like the “good Germans” of the 1930’s. I hope you will not be like them either.
PHOTO: Kuwaitis chant in solidarity to Hibollah under an anti-Bush poster in Kuwait city July 18, 2006. (REUTERS/Stephanie McGehee/ KUWAIT) [Imagine! Even the Kuwaitis, one of the two Middle Eastern countries that supported the US invasion of Iraq, are now saying this!]
“The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them.” -----George Orwell
“Fire gives birth to ashes.” – Tanzania saying
“Violence begets violence.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
"To raise our country and its people from the morass of racism and apartheid will require determination and effort. As a government, the ANC will create a legal framework that will assist, rather than impede, the awesome task of reconstruction and development of our battered society.
While we are and shall remain fully committed to the spirit of a government of national unity, we are determined to initiate and bring about the change that our mandate from the people demands.
We place our vision of a new constitutional order for South Africa on the table not as conquerors, prescribing to the conquered. We speak as fellow citizens to heal the wounds of the past with the intent of constructing a new order based on justice for all."
PHOTO: ATTENTION EDITORS - CAPTION CORRECTION REMOVING NAME OF GIRL A girl, who was injured by Sunday's Israeli air strike, is treated in Jaball Amel hospital in the southern Lebanon town of Tyre July 17, 2006. REUTERS/Nikola Solic (LEBANON)
PHOTO: This photo provided the El-Akhras family, shows Saja El-Akhras, 8, who was one of six Canadians from the same family that were killed in Lebanon Sunday, July 16, 2006 during Israeli bomb attacks. (AP PHOTO/CP, El-Akhras family)
PHOTO:
Buildings are demolished in southern Beirut after the Hizbollah stronghold was attacked by Israeli air strikes, July 16, 2006. Israeli air raids shook Beirut on Sunday, the fifth day of a devastating assault on Hizbollah and Lebanon that has prompted no U.N. Security Council action and only a mild plea for restraint from Israel's U.S. ally. (Adnan Hajj/Reuters)