By Linh Dinh* | Sabbah Report | www.sabbah.biz

All governments lie, kill and misuse public funds, but these calculated habits are amplified manifold during wars. We're in two now, aiming for a third. Japan, whose land we're still occupying 65 years after Hiroshima, has just announced sanctions against Iran beyond what the U.N. mandated. South Korea swiftly followed suit. It's surprising to see these two countries so in sync, until one remembers that they have become American cheerleaders for decades. Rah, rah, bomb Tehran! A murderous chorus is rising, yet again. Countries that aren't our client states can be counted with two hands, even those missing fingers from an exploding grenade.

Universal outrage has been drummed up over the case of an Iranian woman about to be stoned to death for adultery. She's also implicated in the murder of her husband, for which she may be hanged. This second, more serious crime has been left out of many news stories. America also executes, but it doesn't stone, especially for a bit of ticklish fun on the side. We inject, electrocute, gas, hang and shoot our condemned. We're more humane that way. Forever bureaucratic, we pay attention to procedural niceties.

Our objection, then, is not to capital punishment, but to certain methods. Stoning is barbaric. We don't stone, period, except during one of our serial wars, where we will stone entire communities back to the Stone Age. But that's war, buddy. We also use phosphorous and cluster bombs, plant landmines that will last generations. To rectify and avenge the stoning of one woman, someone we don't really care about, whose name we can't even pronounce, we'll flatten Iran, maybe by Thanksgiving.

The United States is concerned about women worldwide. It is touched and outraged by one Afghan woman, Aisha, whose nose was sliced off by her Taliban husband. To defend her honor, it has killed hundreds of thousands of her brothers and sisters. To protect her, it has destroyed her country. It's the principle that matters. We care about the individual, at least those who are useful to our agendas. It's the masses we don't give a flying whoopee about. How can we not raise our voices, for example, when an imprisoned prostitute - hardly a criminal, really, even less so than adulterer - is left in a cage, to be baked to death for at least four hours in 107-degree heat? Her captors ignored her pleas for water. They wouldn't even allow her to use the bathroom, so she soiled herself before passing out. She was still alive, however, when finally taken to the hospital, where doctors allowed her to die. Incredibly, no charges have been filed. Such barbarity and judicial callousness deserve our fullest condemnations, except that hardly anyone has heard of Marcia Powell, 48, who died in an Arizona prison in May of 2009. The mainstream media ignore her, because her abject death cannot be exploited for political purposes. We're not trying to bomb Arizona.

Needing to kill, a government will lie before, during and after splattering blood. Eschewing subtlety, it prefers to speak in slogans and clipped, cartoonish sentences. They hate us for who we are. We must fight them over there, so we don't have to fight them over here. We're trying to root out the bad guys. Adopting this lingo, many Americans are dubbing the community center and mosque near Ground Zero a "jihad mosque" or a "victory mosque." In Lower Manhattan last week, I saw a man carrying a sign, "EVERYTHING I EVER NEEDED TO KNOW ABOUT ISLAM I LEARNED ON 9/11." Another displayed a caricature of "IMAM OBAMA." There was an effigy of a tied up Palestinian, complete with keffiyeh, with this placard, "OBAMA: With a name like HUSSAIN we understand. Bloomberg: what the f@&k is your excuse?"

Totalitarianism always breeds idiocy. Lies that go unchallenged lead to more preposterous lies. Idiocy is also the manure from which totalitarianism rises. On September 11, 2001, the entire world saw America symbolically imploded, but our actual collapse is ongoing. It is relatively gradual, unlike the three, yes, three, World Trade Center buildings that tumbled onto their own foot prints. For the last nine years, we have endured an unending stream of lies and idiocy, none more grotesque than the official explanation to what happened that tragic day.

Despite being lied to repeatedly, almost daily, Americans are strangely gullible to incoherent, even ridiculous narratives dished up by their government. Brainwashed by the bromide that their nation is always a force for good, anywhere, worldwide, Americans can't imagine that Washington could be complicit in the murder of its own citizens. Ignored is the fact that it has done so many times before, and since, 9/11. Using false pretexts to invade Iraq, our government has caused the death of over four thousand Americans, more than the number who perished on 9/11.

I don't know what happened that day, but it makes no sense to me that World Trade Center #7 fell down without being hit by anything. It makes no sense to me that it collapsed exactly the same way as the twin towers, as if imploding. It makes no sense that the passport of Satam al Suqami, one of the alleged hijackers, could be found on the ground, when entire skyscrapers were being pulverized. I also don't understand how no military jets could intercept any of the three planes that hit their targets that day. The first tower was struck at 8:46AM, the Pentagon at 9:40AM, nearly an hour later, with no effective response from our vaunted military. I used to take buses to and from the Pentagon Transit Center. I knew the building wasn't very tall, so it struck me as weird how an airliner could hit it from the side. Why fly parallel to the ground, nearly shaving it, to strike such a low target? Why not just dive into it? There are red flags all over this incident, yet many sane, reasonable people will become completely unhinged at the slightest suggestion that the official version doesn't add up. Our government lies all the time, but when it comes to this one incident, we shouldn't question anything? Even National Review, of all places, pointed out visa irregularities among the alleged hijackers, how they could enter the U.S. without the proper paperwork.

After Martin Luther King was killed in 1968, his family refused to believe the official explanation. They fought and fought until an assassination conspiracy trial was scheduled in 1999. Presented with extensive evidences, a jury concluded that, yes, the federal, state and local governments all had a hand in Dr. King's murder, and that James Earl Ray was not the shooter. The King family did what any sane, loving family would do. Coretta Scott King explained, "We had to get involved because the system did not work. Those who are responsible for the assassination were not held to account for their involvement [...] It has been a difficult and painful experience to revisit this tragedy, but we felt we had an obligation to do everything in our power to seek the truth."

On September 11, 2001, someone stabbed America. She's being murdered right now. As Americans, we need to get to the heart of this, because this madness and deceit are perpetuating themselves. If we don't have the courage and clarity to confront this evil, we won't regain our sanity or move forward. We might as well be dead. We're dying. As with the King murder and so much else, you cannot expect the system to convict itself. It will lie and lie until the truth hardly matters.

* Linh Dinh is the author of two books of stories and five of poems, with a novel, 'Love Like Hate', scheduled for July. He's tracking our deteriorating socialscape through his frequently updated photo blog, State of the Union.

Related posts:

• Jeff Gates – America’s Terrorist Ally: A Closer Look at Israel’s Role in Terrorism
• Jeff Gates: A Closer Look At America’s Terrorist Ally [Podcast]
• Why America Cannot Win In Afghanistan? [podcast]

By Lawrence Davidson* | Sabbah Report | www.sabbah.biz

I. The Usual Suspects

Back on August 23, 2010 Israel's most prestigious human rights organization, B'Tselem released a short report on the condition of water supplies in the Gaza Strip. Referencing the United Nations Environment Program as well as the Palestine Water Authority, B'Tselem reported that the Strip's underground water system is in such bad repair that, even if rehabilitation was begun immediately, it would take twenty years for it to be restructured as a modern system. This is compounded by the dilapidated state of the Gaza wastewater-system which is also antiquated. As a result it is estimated that "40% of the incidence of disease in Gaza is related to polluted drinking water." B'Tselem blames this shocking situation on the Israeli government. "Since it began its siege on the Gaza Strip, in June 2007, Israel has forbidden the entry of equipment and materials needed to rehabilitate the water and wastewater-treatment systems there." The blockade of these materials remains in place to this day. Finally, during its "Operation Cast Lead" invasion of the Gaza Strip, Israel targeted the water networks, treatment plants, wells, and even home water tanks.

Israel's great power patron is the United States. This arrangement entails American protection of the Zionist state from the legal consequences that should result due to its purposeful harming of civilians. The United States, sitting as a permanent member of the UN Security Council has, in recent years, cast some forty vetoes so as to shield its ally from accusations of violations of international law. Actually this action by the United States is entirely logical. Why so? Because both the U.S. and Israel are practicing the exact same tactics against civilian populations.

Back in September 2001 George Washington University professor Thomas Nagy revealed the existence of Defense Intelligence Agency documents" proving beyond a doubt that, contrary to the Geneva Convention, the U.S. government intentionally used sanctions against Iraq to degrade the country's water supply after the Gulf War. The United States knew the cost that civilian Iraqis, mostly children, would pay, and it went ahead anyway." On May 12, 1996 some of the horrible consequences of this policy were revealed when the CBS news program 60 Minutes reported that roughly half million Iraqi children had died as a consequence of U.S. imposed sanctions. This led to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's infamous answer to the question, "is the price worth it?" Her reply was yes "we think the price is worth it." Albright later apologized, not for the murderous policy for which she was partially responsible, but rather for the fact that her answer to the above question had "aggravated our public relations problems" in the Middle East. As to domestic reaction, her comment "went unremarked in the U.S." Subsequently, in 2003, the U.S. invaded Iraq using the strategy of "rapid dominance" (more popularly known as "shock and awe"). The object of this strategy was to "paralyze" the enemy's "will to carry on" through the disruption of "means of communication, transportation, food production, water supply, and other aspects of infrastructure." One of the targets of the bombing campaign that led off the invasion was Iraq's electrical grid. That directly impacted the country's ability to process clean water.

II. Resulting Criminal Status

Neither American nor Israeli behavior is legal under international law. It is all a violation of Article 54 of Protocol I, Part IV, of the Geneva Conventions (1977). The law reads, "It is prohibited to attack, destroy, remove or render useless objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population, such as ...drinking water installations and supplies...whatever the motive whether in order to starve out the civilian population, to cause them to move away, or for any other motive." What this means is that the political leaders of the United States and Israel (among other countries) who have devised and implemented this, and similar strategies, are indictable as war criminals. Further, they almost certainly know this to be so. That is why they must dismiss international law as "obsolete" as did Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and his minions in 2004.

As to "motives" for purposely destroying the civilian infrastructures of whole nations, it would seem that in both cases, that of the United States in Iraq and Israel in Gaza, the aggressors sought to induce the civilian population to either just give up out of exhaustion or turn against the regimes ruling over them. The assumption that such a strategy will achieve such results is remarkably naive. Historically, it has almost never happened. For instance, despite the massive conventional bombing of British, Japanese and German cities during World War II, the populations rallied around their flags! And so, one can conclude that our present leaders and strategists who pursue such an end through these means simply know no history. This is a good example of a case where ignorance, here leading to massive death and destruction, is a de facto criminal state of mind.

III. The Issue of Double Standards

This state of affairs raises the seminal question of what will be the fate of international law as it applies to the protection of civilian populations? Today, the most we can say is that enforcement is selective and, in a certain odd way, "class based." In other words if you are the leader of a small state lacking a great power patron you are indeed subject to this sort of international law. For example, if you are the leader of Serbia, Sudan, Chile, Rwanda, Congo, etc. and persecute civilian populations you have a rather good chance of being brought before a tribunal such as the International Criminal Court. If, however, you are an American, Israeli, Russian, Chinese or British leader, etc. you have almost zero risk. You know the statue of Justice standing blindfolded holding up a scale? Well, she is peeking.

However, there is an interesting loop hole that can lead us around the problem of double standards. Since the 1990s the concept of universal jurisdiction has gained popularity. This is the legal notion that ordinary people in one country can seek to bring to trial those who allegedly violated public international law in an altogether different country. It is under this law that General Ernesto Pinochet of Chile was detained in England in 1998. Of course, the aged general, who was responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of his countrymen, was relatively "lower class." That is, he was the ex-dictator of a country that has no real influence in the international arena and no great power patron. So, he was vulnerable.

What happens when such a law is applied to Americans or Israelis? Well, in 2003 U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, in what can only be described as an act of imperial blackmail, threatened to remove NATO's headquarters from the city of Brussels unless "Belgium revoked legislation giving its courts the power to prosecute foreigners for alleged war crimes committed anywhere in the world." Rumsfeld was reacting against a move by Belgian human rights lawyers seeking the indictment of General Tommy Franks, then commander of U.S. troops in Iraq, for the illegal use of cluster bombs against civilian populations. The Belgian government quickly amended their universal jurisdiction law to meet American demands. Then in May 2010 Israel's opposition leader Tzipi Livni found that it was inadvisable to visit England because there was an arrest warrant waiting for her. The charge was war crimes associated with the Israeli invasion of Gaza. This attack took place while she was Foreign Minister. Livni was not Pinochet. For one thing she had a great power patron in Washington, and secondly the U.K. itself has a powerful Zionist lobby. The British government quickly announced that it would seek to rewrite the country's law on universal jurisdiction.

IV. Conclusion

The rules produced by our legislatures, by the United Nations Charter and by our ratified treaties are not supra-human. We make them for our own benefit so that we may live in communities with congenial standards of behavior and thus pass our days productively and in relative security. And, since we make them we can unmake them. That is exactly what too many of our leaders are now trying to do in terms of public international law. They have contrived such double standards that the laws against the wanton slaughter of civilians simply do not apply if committed by the strong. It is only the weak who are to be held accountable for their crimes.

If those in civil society do not like this arrangement they will have to fight hard against it. And here in the West it is our own state institutions and their leaders that we must fight against, for it is they who are the most ardent hypocrites when it comes to international law. It is they who demand immunity for the slaying of the innocent (who they conveniently dehumanize as "collateral damage"). They refuse to go after their criminal predecessors lest they too be held responsible for similar crimes (as in the case of President Obama). Where necessary they bully others into turning a blind eye to their crimes (as with Defense Secretary Rumsfeld). And, if we in civil society, press them hard they will simply seek to change the law to suit their dehumanizing policies. We might here repeat a question once asked, some 94 years ago by a Russian legislator who stood appalled by the bloody slaughter brought on by his government's strategy during World War I. He asked, "is this stupidity or is it treason?" I will leave the reader to seek his own answer.

There are so many battles to be fought that one can easily get frustrated and discouraged. In truth, however, they are really all just parts of a larger struggle. They add up to the struggle for humane rules, their universal application, and no double standards. The law must cease to be "class based." Only then can one approach a less unjust society than our present one. It is really a battle for the type of world we want to live in - our world or theirs.

* Lawrence Davidson is professor of history at West Chester University. He is the author of numerous books, including Islamic Fundamentalism and America's Palestine: Popular and Official Perceptions from Balfour to Israeli Statehood.

Related posts:

• Russell Tribunal: Holding the International Community to Account
• Did you know?
• Did you know?

Researchers: Erin Galbraith and Curtis Harrison
Faculty Evaluators: Andy Merrifield, PhD, Cynthia Boaz, PhD, and David McCuan, PhD Sonoma State University

Israel's repeated firing of US-made white phosphorus shells over densely populated areas of Gaza during its recent military campaign was indiscriminate and is evidence of war crimes, Human Rights Watch said in a report released March 25, 2009.

The seventy-one-page report, "Rain of Fire: Israel's Unlawful Use of White Phosphorus in Gaza," provides witness accounts of the devastating effects that white phosphorus munitions had on civilians and civilian property in Gaza. Human Rights Watch researchers found spent shells, canister liners, and dozens of burnt felt wedges containing white phosphorus on city streets, apartment roofs, residential courtyards, and at a United Nations school in Gaza immediately after hostilities ended in January.

Militaries officially use white phosphorus to obscure their operations on the ground by creating thick smoke. It has also been used as an incendiary weapon, though such use constitutes a war crime. "In Gaza, the Israeli military didn't just use white phosphorus in open areas as a screen for its troops," said Fred Abrahams, senior emergencies researcher at Human Rights Watch and co-author of the report. "It fired white phosphorus repeatedly over densely populated areas, even when its troops weren't in the area and safer smoke shells were available. As a result, civilians needlessly suffered and died." The report documents a pattern or policy of white phosphorus use that Human Rights Watch says must have required the approval of senior military officers.

The devastating Israeli firepower, unleashed largely on Palestinian civilians in Gaza during the three-week attack starting December 27, 2008 was fueled by US-supplied weapons paid for with US tax dollars. Washington provided F-16 fighter planes, Apache helicopters, tactical missiles, and a wide array of munitions, including white phosphorus and DIME. The weapons required for the Israeli assault were decided upon in June 2008, and the transfer of 1,000 bunker-buster GPS-guided Small Diameter Guided Bomb Units 39 (GBU-39) were approved by Congress in September. The GBU 39 bombs were delivered to Israel in November (prior to any claims of Hamas cease fire violation) for use in the initial air raids on Gaza.

Researchers in Gaza found several weapon fragments after the attacks. One came from a 500lb (227kg) Mark-82 fin guided bomb, which had markings indicating parts were made by the US company Raytheon. They also found fragments of US-made white phosphorus artillery shells, marked M825 A1.

In the recent Gaza operations, Israeli forces frequently airburst white phosphorus in 155mm artillery shells in and near populated areas. Each airburst shell spreads 116 burning white phosphorus wedges in a radius extending up to 125 meters from the blast point. White phosphorus ignites and burns on contact with oxygen, and continues burning at up to 1500 degrees Fahrenheit (816 degrees Celsius) until nothing is left or the oxygen supply is cut. When white phosphorus comes into contact with skin it creates intense and persistent burns that continue to ignite.

On January 15, several white phosphorus shells fired by the Israeli military hit the headquarters of the UN Relief and Works Agency in Gaza City, destroying medicine, food and other basic aid. One fragment found at the scene had markings indicating it was made by the Pine Bluff Arsenal, based in Arkansas, in October 1991.

The UN Security Council, Amnesty International, International Red Cross, and voices of protest from around the world demanded a ceasefire. Yet, with shocking lack of regard, both houses of US Congress overwhelmingly endorsed resolutions to support a continuation of Israel's "self defense."

Four days after the carnage ensued, on December 31, the US Navy's Sealift Command hired ships to deliver another 3,000-odd tons of arms to Israel through Greece. This last shipment was halted mid-January due to Greek protest. The US has long been the largest arms supplier to Israel; under a current ten-year agreement negotiated by the Bush administration, the US will provide $30 billion in military aid to Israel. "As the major supplier of weapons to Israel, the USA has a particular obligation to stop any supply that contributes to gross violations of the laws of war and of human rights," said Malcolm Smart, Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa program director. "To a large extent, Israel's military offensive in Gaza was carried out with weapons, munitions and military equipment supplied by the USA and paid for with US taxpayers' money."

On the day the US Senate passed S.RES.10, "reaffirming the United States' strong support for Israel in its battle with Hamas" (January 8, 2009), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) issued a statement demanding to be allowed to assist those in need of medical attention because the Israeli military had blocked access to wounded Palestinians, a war crime under international law. Also that same day, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon issued a statement condemning the Israeli Defense Force for firing on a UN aid convoy delivering humanitarian goods to the desperate people of Gaza, another war crime, as well as the killing of two staff members of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in a separate incident.

The next day, the House passed its own version of the resolution, H.RES.34, as UNRWA announced that it had had to halt its humanitarian efforts because of numerous incidents in which its staff, convoys, and installations had come under attack by Israeli forces.

The Senate resolution was reported by foreign media agencies. The Jerusalem Post had a story on it, as did Reuters. In the US, it was reported by the Jewish daily Forward and mentioned in alternative media sources by Stephen Zunes, Robert Naiman, and several others. It was first brought to my attention by Foreign Policy in Focus (http://www.fpif.org), and the text was available on the AIPAC website. But to my knowledge it was not reported in the mainstream media.

It's hardly a secret that the US has a "special relationship" with Israel, but the full extent of US support for Israeli crimes is a matter that is met with absolute silence by the mainstream media, and Congressional support for Israel's aggression and war crimes against the people of Gaza was no exception. When reported, the mainstream media employs euphemisms or parrots the official US government line, such as that settlements are an "obstacle to peace" rather than "illegal."

The US supports Israel financially, with upwards of $3 billion annually. This money is given with little to no oversight, but even if it is not used to directly fund Israel's illegal settlements and occupation, it allows Israel to free up other funds and divert them for that purpose.

The US supports Israel militarily. In its assault on Gaza, for instance, Israel employed US-made F-16 jets and Apache helicopter gunships. U.S-made bombs were dropped on Gaza during twenty-two days of violence, resulting in over 1,300 Palestinian deaths, nearly a third of whom were children, among other civilian victims.

The US also supports Israel diplomatically. For instance, the US delayed passage of a UN resolution calling for a cease-fire during the assault on Gaza, according to foreign diplomats.
President Obama has issued strong words in support of Palestinian statehood and against the Israeli settlements. It's up to the American people, though, to put pressure on the US government to ensure that the rhetoric is followed up with action, such as an end to such financial, military, and diplomatic support for Israeli crimes.

This is among the reasons why it's so important that stories like the US Congressional endorsement for Israel's "Operation Cast Lead" against Gaza be made known to the public.

Sources:
Human Rights Watch, March 25, 2009
Title: "White Phosphorus Use Evidence of War Crimes Report: Rain of Fire: Israel's Unlawful Use of White Phosphorus in Gaza"
Author: Fred Abrahams

Foreign Policy Journal, January 09, 2009
Title: "US Senate Endorses Israel's War on Gaza"
Author: Jeremy R. Hammond

Related posts:

• Researchers: Israel Poisons Palestinian Soil, Newborns
• Gaza war crimes
• Israel accused of Gaza war crimes

Click to enlarge

By Fareed Mahdy* | Sabbah Report | www.sabbah.biz

"The 2006 and 2009 Israeli bombings on Gaza left a high concentration of toxic metals in soil, which can cause tumours, fertility problems, and serious effects on newborns, like deformities and genetic pathologies."

These are some of the key findings of a recent study by New Weapons Research Committee (NWRC), an Italy-based group of academics, physicians and researchers specialised in elaborating risk assessment surveys on the effects of the newest "non-conventional weapons and their mid-term effects on residents of areas afflicted by conflicts".

The metals found are mainly tungsten, mercury, molybdenum, cadmium and cobalt.

NWRC researchers investigated four craters: two of them formed during the Jul. 2006 bombings on Beit Hanoun and Jabalia Camp, and another two emerged as a consequence of the Jan. 2009 bombings on Gaza City suburb Tufah.

They analysed "the powder remaining inside a shell of the White Phosphorus bomb THS89D112-003 155MM M825E11 exploded near the Al Wafa hospital in Jan. 2009".

The scientists compared the levels of concentration of metals in the craters with those identified in a report on the presence of metals in the Gaza soil, based on samples collected from 170 locations in 2005.

"The analyses have shown anomalous concentrations of these metals inside the craters, indicating soil contamination," says NWRC. "This, given the precarious living conditions, especially in refugee camps, increases the risk of exposure to toxic substances, through the skin, through the lungs and through ingestion."

Paola Manduca, professor of genetics and researcher at the University of Genoa, Italy, explained: "Our study indicates an anomalous presence of toxic elements in the soil."

"It is essential to intervene at once to limit the effects of the contamination on people, animals and cultivations", she stressed.

"We need strategies to help contaminated people. We hope that the research performed so far by the Goldstone Commission will not only analyse the abuses of human rights, but also focus on the long-term effects that the various types of weapons have on the environment and on population. A rapid collection of data should be carried out."

ISRAEL EXPERIMENTING NEW NON-CONVENTIONAL ARMS

In a previous study released on Jan. 9, during the Israeli three-week war on Gaza, which killed over 1,400 people and injured more than 5,000, NWRC reported: "Mounting evidence is emerging that Israel is experimenting new non-conventional weapons on civilian population in Gaza."
"It is happening again what we saw in Lebanon two years ago," said Manduca. There, "Israel used white phosphorus, Dense Inert Metal Explosive (DIME), thermo-baric bombs, cluster bombs and uranium ammunitions, and experimented new weapons. Still today there are unexploded bombs and radioactivity on the ground," NWRC spokesperson reported.

Manduca added that the images of dead and wounded people, and testimonies by witnesses, "show significant resemblance with those gathered and verified during the July-August war in 2006 in Lebanon".

Mads Gilbert, Norwegian doctor and member of a non- governmental organization Norwac, who worked at the Gaza's largest hospital, Shifa, denounced also in January that "many (people) arrive with amputations, with both legs crushed", and "with wounds which I suspect are produced by Dime weapons".

(Click thumbnail to enlarge)

"The images arriving from Gaza seem to confirm these suppositions as well. The burns suffered by some children in Gaza are very similar to those documented in 2006 by doctor Hibraim Faraj, a surgeon at the Hiram hospital in Tyre and by doctor Bachir Cham at the Hospital du Sur, Sidon," he said.

"At the moment," Manduca commented, "we have reports from doctors and informed witnesses that make us believe that new types of weapons are being tested today in Gaza, apart from those used in 2006. This makes it necessary for further technical and scientific researches to be undertaken."

MORE EVIDENCE

In the last two years, NWRC, together with Lebanese and Palestinian doctors, produced scientific data using techniques of histology, scansion electron microscopy and chemical analysis on bioptic samples from victims of the 2006 Israeli attacks.

The specialists collected "clinical evidence and documentation that proves the use of thermo-baric bombs in open spaces, DIME and sub-lethal targeted weapons in 2006 in Lebanon, and DIME and sub-lethal targeted weapons in Gaza".

NWRC submitted in 2007 a related report to the UN Human Rights Council, and in 2008 to the International Citizens Tribunal on War Crimes in Lebanon and the Italian Parliament’s committee on depleted uranium.

NWRC has also worked with international scientists who documented the use of uranium ammunitions in Lebanon.

RAIN OF FIRE, WAR CRIMES -- HUMAN RIGHT WATCH

Only weeks after, Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported from Jerusalem on "Israel's repeated firing of white phosphorus shells over densely populated areas of Gaza during its recent military campaign was indiscriminate and is evidence of war crimes".

In fact, HRW released on March 25 its 71-page report "Rain of Fire: Israel's Unlawful Use of White Phosphorus in Gaza", which provides witness accounts of the devastating effects that white phosphorus munitions had on civilians and civilian property in Gaza.

"Human Rights Watch researchers in Gaza immediately after hostilities ended found spent shells, canister liners, and dozens of burnt felt wedges containing white phosphorus on city streets, apartment roofs, residential courtyards, and at a United Nations school," it informs.

(Click thumbnail to enlarge)

The report also presents "ballistics evidence, photographs, and satellite imagery, as well as documents from the Israeli military and government".

Militaries use white phosphorus primarily to obscure their operations on the ground by creating thick smoke. It can also be used as an incendiary weapon, according to HRW.

"In Gaza, the Israeli military didn't just use white phosphorus in open areas as a screen for its troops," said Fred Abrahams, senior emergencies researcher at HRW and co-author of the report.

WHITE POSPHORUS ON DENSELY POPULATED AREAS

"It fired white phosphorus repeatedly over densely populated areas, even when its troops weren't in the area and safer smoke shells were available. As a result, civilians needlessly suffered and died."

The report documents a pattern or policy of white phosphorus use that Human Rights Watch says must have required the approval of senior military officers.

"On February 1, HRW submitted detailed questions to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) about its white phosphorus use in Gaza. The IDF did not provide responses, citing an internal inquiry being conducted by the Southern Command."

In the recent Gaza operations, it adds, "Israeli forces frequently air-burst white phosphorus in 155mm artillery shells in and near populated areas".

"Each air-burst shell spreads 116 burning white phosphorus wedges in a radius extending up to 125 meters from the blast point."

White phosphorus ignites and burns on contact with oxygen, and continues burning at up to 1500 degrees Fahrenheit (816 degrees Celsius) until nothing is left or the oxygen supply is cut. When white phosphorus comes into contact with skin it creates intense and persistent burns, according to HRW.

ISRAELI DEFENCE MINISTRY KNEW

The Human Rights Watch report concludes "the IDF repeatedly exploded it unlawfully over populated neighbourhoods, killing and wounding civilians and damaging civilian structures, including a school, a market, a humanitarian aid warehouse, and a hospital".

"Israel at first denied it was using white phosphorus in Gaza but, facing mounting evidence to the contrary, said that it was using all weapons in compliance with international law. Later it announced an internal investigation into possible improper white phosphorus use."

HRW stressed "The IDF knew that white phosphorus poses life-threatening dangers to civilians".

A medical report prepared during the recent hostilities by the Israeli ministry of health said that white phosphorus "can cause serious injury and death when it comes into contact with the skin, is inhaled or is swallowed", it reports.

"Burns on less than 10 percent of the body can be fatal because of damage to the liver, kidneys, and heart, the ministry report says. Infection is common and the body's absorption of the chemical can cause serious damage to internal organs, as well as death."

All of the white phosphorus shells that Human Rights Watch found were manufactured in the United States in 1989 by Thiokol Aerospace, which was running the Louisiana Army Ammunition Plant at the time.

"On January 4, Reuters photographed IDF artillery units handling projectiles whose markings indicate that they were produced in the United States at the Pine Bluff Arsenal in September 1991," the reports informs.

Video link: http://www.hrw.org/en/video/2009/03/25/rain-fire-white-phosphorus-gaza

DELIBERATELY OR RECKLESSLY, BUT USED

To explain the high number of civilian casualties in Gaza, Israeli officials have repeatedly blamed Hamas for using civilians as "human shields" and for fighting from civilian sites.

In the cases documented in the report, Human Rights Watch found no evidence of Hamas using human shields in the vicinity at the time of the attacks. In some areas Palestinian fighters appear to have been present, but this does not justify the indiscriminate use of white phosphorus in a populated area.

HRW said that for multiple reasons it concluded that the IDF had deliberately or recklessly used white phosphorus munitions in violation of the laws of war.

"First, the repeated use of air-burst white phosphorus in populated areas until the last days of the operation reveals a pattern or policy of conduct rather than incidental or accidental usage. Second, the IDF was well aware of the effects of white phosphorus and the dangers it poses to civilians. Third, the IDF failed to use safer available alternatives for smokescreens."

(Click thumbnail to enlarge)

The laws of war obligate states to investigate impartially allegations of war crimes. The evidence available demands that Israel investigate and prosecute as appropriate those who ordered or carried out unlawful attacks using white phosphorus munitions, Human Rights Watch said.

The United States government, which supplied Israel with its white phosphorus munitions, should also conduct an investigation to determine whether Israel used it in violation of the laws of war, Human Rights Watch concluded. (IDN-InDepthNews/19.12.2009)

* Fareed Mahdy is special correspondent of IDN-InDepthNews Service

Related posts:

• Video: Prima Facie Evidence of War Crimes by Israel
• Palestinian-American Recounts How Israel Killed his 11-year-old Son in Gaza
• ACTION NOW: PUT A HALT TO THE ISRAELI MASSACRES IN THE PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES

Britain obstructs global ban on use of cluster bombs

The British Government is accused of being the chief obstacle to the signing of a treaty to ban cluster bombs, which have maimed and killed thousands of civilians worldwide.

Countries that have suffered the impact of the bombs, humanitarian groups and former commanders of British forces have called for the UK to drop its insistence on retaining cluster munitions, a stance, they say, that is likely to scupper hopes of securing an agreement at an international conference starting in Dublin today.

More than 100 countries are taking part in the talks. Delegates will point out that the vast majority of cluster bomb victims are non-combatants. Opponents of the weapon received the backing yesterday of Pope Benedict XVI, who called for a "strong and credible" treaty to end their use... read more!

Related posts:

• Briton killed while clearing IOF cluster bombs in Lebanon
• This land is MINE! Israel “Misused” Cluster Bombs U.S. Delivered Last August
• Israel finds dropping 4 million cluster bombs legal

The long awaited final Winograd's report came out with unsurprising (or surprising? doesn't make a difference here) conclusions that saved Olmert's ass and his sick cabinet, however, that's not what I'm interested in at all. The real interesting part is the relation between Hillary Clinton and Winograd report.

How?

Winograd report states that the Israeli occupation forces use of cluster bombs in Lebanon was NOT in line with international law. Does this remind you with anything? Once upon a time in the West, our Big Sister, Hilary Clinton, once voted FOR the use of these cluster bombs:

"On 6 September 2006 the US Senate had a rollcall vote on an amendment on the FY 07 DOD budget, the Feinstein-Leahy Amendment, which would restrict the usage of cluster bombs in civilian areas throughout the world. The amendment failed, the result of the vote was 30 ayes, all by Democrats and one Independent, and 70 nays, including all Republicans and a sizeable number of nominal Democrats."

Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and Evan Bayh, supposed potential candidates for the Democratic nomination for President included themselves among the Nays. We must ask why. [Source]

Ha'aretz today:

"Israel must consider whether it wants to consider using cluster bombs in the future, because its current manner of employing them does not conform to international law. The Winograd Committee made this recommendation in the chapter of its report dealing with Israel's conduct in the Second Lebanon War as it relates to international law.

She didn't know, maybe... Hillary never knows what she is voting for. Or maybe it depends on what vote means...

Hope someone sends her a copy of the report!

Related posts:

• Briton killed while clearing IOF cluster bombs in Lebanon
• This land is MINE! Israel “Misused” Cluster Bombs U.S. Delivered Last August
• Maybe Hillary should write a condolence letter?

Whew... Israel - and its army - saved again from that nasty anti Semitic PR by parents of dead children ( I remember those pictures, doesn't anyone else? More massacre albums here, here, here, here and here ) by its its own extremely fair and just politicians...

The Israel Defense Forces will not take legal action against senior officers who were involved in the firing of cluster bombs into populated areas in southern Lebanon during the Second Lebanon War, the Military Advocate General said Monday.

Brigadier General Avihai Mandelblit acknowledged that cluster bombs were fired into populated areas, but said that this did not constitute a criminal violation...read on!

Related posts:

• This land is MINE! Israel “Misused” Cluster Bombs U.S. Delivered Last August
• Briton killed while clearing IOF cluster bombs in Lebanon
• Cluster bombing of Lebanon ‘immoral’ UN official tells Israel

This is spacial news for Hillary who voted for more cluster bombs:

A British man was killed on Thursday while clearing cluster bombs dropped on southern Lebanon by Israel during its war with Hezbollah guerrillas last year, a United Nations spokeswoman said.

He was the 13th person to be killed during work to clear unexploded ordinance from the war in July and August, 2006, said Dalya Farran of the United Nations Mine Action Coordination Centre (UNMACC) in Lebanon. [Via: Ha'artz]

Related posts:

• This land is MINE! Israel “Misused” Cluster Bombs U.S. Delivered Last August
• Cluster bombing of Lebanon ‘immoral’ UN official tells Israel
• Update: 7 Israeli Angels Killed, 2 Captured and (7) 23 Palestinian Dogs Killed, 4 Million Captured

UN: Peacekeeper killed in south Lebanon cluster bomb explosion

And Hillary Clinton voted to continue selling Israel these bombs... maybe she should write a condolence letter?

Related posts:

• Dear Hillary, Wall means ‘Annexation’
• Hillary Clinton says: Arab are Terrorist!
• A Cheap Ballpoint Pen Is All What You Need To Write In Space

that's Abbas... yes, indeed...

When is the world going to stop taking this crap and tell Israel and its atom and cluster bombs, its racism and apartheid laws, its occupation and oppression of the Palestinian people and its corrupt politicians and its "demands" - to go to hell?? (The EU doesn't matter anyway, it is a political zero, just something wriggling inside George Bush's pocket, and if Rice wasn't behind this, Livni wouldn't be opening her trap).

Israel to EU: We oppose giving political role to PA donor states

In a meeting with EU Foreign Policy chief Javier Solana last Wednesday, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni pressed Israel would resist an attempt to institutionalize the status of the so-called "donor states" including 12 Western nations, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

Since the Oslo accords between Israel and the Palestinian Authority were signed in 1993, the said donor states have transferred billions of dollars in humanitarian aid to the Palestinians, and helped revive the ailing Palestinian economy.

More here!

Related posts:

• Canada blocks bid by Arab countries for vote Israel’s nuclear capabilities
• Is Israel Falling Apart? In Reversal, Israel Praises Saudi Peace Proposal
• How can Israel & Abbas continue to ignore the only force managing Gaza

Such news really makes one feel sick. Who they are fooling?

From Haaretz:

"The visit, which comes about a month after Peretz visited Washington, will also deal with bilateral defense ties between the U.S. and Israel...

The Gates visit is critical to helping heal the rift in the relations between the U.S. and Israel defense establishments, following the crisis that occured over Israeli's sale of defense equipment to China. In 2005, the U.S. defense establishment placed severe sanctions on Israel, which included restrictions on defense-related sales, joint projects and exchanges of information on advanced weapons systems."

Sanctions? What sanctions? Was Israel really affected by this sanctions, or they were on paper only? Remember the cluster bombs deal (as a single example) during Israel war on Lebanon last year? Or is supplying Israel with bombs is not part of the sanctions?

Oh, wait. Did you know that US Congress voted for more cluster bombs; Israel finds "irregularities" in use. A million bomblets left unexploded, 4 million dropped on Lebanon in the summer, didn’t matter… Senator Hillary Clinton, Senator Biden, a number of others rubber stamped a bill for Israel’s continuing use of American cluster bombs. The Republicans, of course, all voted for this bill. No investigation necessary.

They are fooling U.S. citizens only, unfortunately!

Related posts:

• Israeli defense minister wants ‘human shields’ ban overturned
• The Washington Post Finally gets its AIPAC Spy Story Straight
• Ask your (USA) media why they are silent on the AIPAC espionage story

Update: Steve suggested changing the title of this post and passed this photo (Thanks Steve):

It is funny to hear and use the word, “misused.” What do you expect these bombs to be used for? I mean, what is the “good use” of cluster bombs? Hunting dinosaur , elephants, whales? Why are they manufactured for? What did U.S. expect Israel to use them for? And last but not least, How come they didn’t ask the Israelis before they supply them with more cluster bombs, what did they do with the bombs they had?

State Department Report Delivered to Pelosi and Biden
February 7, 2007

At the height of the Israeli war against Hezbollah last summer, in which hundreds of civilians living in southern Lebanon were killed, the U.S. rushed a request from Israel for more than 1,300 American-made M26 cluster bombs. The request prompted an outcry in Congress and elsewhere that the artillery rockets, which disperse 644 submunitions each, might be used in civilian areas, contrary to the terms of the U.S. Arms Export Control Act. Last week, the Department of State delivered a preliminary report to Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, and to Sen. Joseph Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, that is said by the news media to accuse Israel of exactly these charges.

A petition banning the use of cluster bombs and demanding an urgent clean-up of the more than 1 million cluster-bomblets sprayed over southern Lebanon has been launched by the American Task Force for Lebanon, a non-profit non-sectarian group based in Washington, DC. We urge our members to join the campaign that has been endorsed by Ralph Nader by signing their petition: “Stop the Carnage, Ban the Cluster Bomb.”

Sign the petition to stop the carnage and ban the cluster bomb!

http://action.atfl.org/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=6641&track=cni

In the closing days of the war, after a deadline had been set by the U.N. and accepted by both the Israelis and Hezbollah and 72 hours before the ceasefire was to go into effect, the Israeli military fired thousands of cluster munitions into southern Lebanon, leaving behind a deadly legacy. As of January 25, 2007, the United Nations Mine Action Coordination Center South Lebanon (http://www.mineaction.org/overview.asp?o=540) confirms that 30 people have been killed and 184 injured from unexploded ordnance since August 14, when hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel ended. Many of the casualties have been children.

Cluster bombs have been controversial for many years. They were used by the U.S. army in both Iraq wars, inflicting damage on civilians especially, and by the Israeli army in the 1982 invasion of Lebanon, prompting the Reagan administration to suspend shipment of the bombs to Israel for six years. The UK NGO Landmine Action has published evidence that Israel used American cluster munitions with expiration dates as early as 1974, which were made available to Israel from classified U.S. weapons depots in Israel. Thus the American taxpayer is once again supporting the slaughter of civilians through the misuse of its arms exports.

The findings of the State Department report on Israel’s misuse of cluster bombs has not yet been made public. A resolution curbing the sale of cluster bombs last September that was introduced by Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) failed in the Senate by a vote of 70 to 30. A new resolution is said to be prepared by the senators for introduction in the Senate this year once the furor about the State Department findings has died down.
http://www.cnionline.org/

[Image by Carlos Latuff]

Related posts:

• Cluster bombing of Lebanon ‘immoral’ UN official tells Israel
• Israeli Massacre in Chiyah, Ghaziyeh and Ansar, Lebanon. August 7 & 8, 2006
• More Campus Bombs

Jan Egeland said civilians were facing "massive problems" returning home because of as many as 100,000 unexploded cluster bombs, most of which were dropped in the last days of the war. He accused Israel of "shocking" and "completely immoral" behavior for dropping large numbers of cluster bombs on Lebanon when a cease-fire in its war with Hezbollah was in sight.

"What's shocking - and I would say to me completely immoral - is that 90% of the cluster bomb strikes occurred in the last 72 hours of the conflict, when we knew there would be a resolution," Mr Egeland said. "Every day people are maimed, wounded and are killed by these ordnance."

Jan Egeland said Israel had either made a "terribly wrong decision" or had "started thinking afterwards." The remarks were unusually harsh even for Egeland, who often ignores an unwritten rule that U.N. officials should not criticize member states too severely.

"What's shocking and I would say, to me, completely immoral is that 90 percent of the cluster bomb strikes occurred in the last 72 hours of the conflict, when we knew there would be a resolution," Jan Egeland said at a news conference.

The spokeswoman for Israel's mission to the U.N., Anat Friedman, said she had no immediate comment on Egeland's remarks. In Israel, the Israeli army referred to its earlier statement that all the weapons it uses "are legal under international law and their use conforms with international standards."

An unusual number of cluster bombs used in the war did not detonate on impact, possibly because they were old, Egeland said. Usually 10 percent to 15 percent of the bomblets fail to explode immediately. According to some estimates, up to 70 percent of the Israeli bomblets failed to explode on impact.

Civilians returning to their homes in southern Lebanon are experiencing "massive problems," as a result of these unexploded munitions, Egeland said.

Approximately 250,000 Lebanese, of the 1 million displaced, cannot move back into their homes, many because of unexploded munitions.

"Every day people are maimed, wounded and are killed by these ordnance," Egeland said.

U.N. and human rights organizations said Wednesday that 13 people, including three children, had been killed between the Aug. 14 cease-fire and Tuesday, and 46 people had been wounded.

"Every day we have to revise our count of what the scope of the problem is," said Chris Clark, program manager of the U.N. Mine Action Coordination Center in southern Lebanon. "We just don't know how big the problem is, only that it is huge at the moment and getting bigger every day."

Human Rights Watch researchers have said the density of cluster bombs in southern Lebanon was higher than in any place they had seen.

Egeland urged countries that sold cluster bombs to the Israelis, including the United States, to have "serious talks with Israel."

The U.N. Mine Action Coordination Center, which has so far assessed 85 percent of the bombed areas in Lebanon, has identified 379 bomb strike areas that are contaminated with as many as 100,000 unexploded bomblets.

Egeland said about 750,000 people had managed to return home, which he called "remarkable."

Egeland will travel to Stockholm on Thursday to launch a revised humanitarian appeal for Lebanon.

The appeal has raised about $90 million, which Egeland indicated would be enough for the initial, emergency response. The Lebanese government will launch its own appeal for several hundred million dollars to continue the rebuilding.

http://news.yahoo.com/...

What do you expect from a terrorist state like Israel?

Related posts:

• Israeli Soldier in Bil’in, Palestine: “This is Lebanon!”
• Lebanon Fog of War
• Did you know?