tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-86007682011-04-22T03:12:19.983+01:00"Patriotism is the willingness to kill and be killed for trivial reasons." Bertrand Russelldavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345747203515877168noreply@blogger.comBlogger3601100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8600768.post-29681723573002300732007-01-17T13:12:00.000Z2007-01-17T13:14:53.863ZMediaBite.org is now online.<br /><br />The first MediaShot concerns RTE's failure to cover the findings of the latest Iraqi mortality study published in the Lancet medical journal in October of last year...<br /><br /><a href="http://www.mediabite.org">www.mediabite.org</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8600768-2968172357300230073?l=toirtap.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>davhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345747203515877168noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8600768.post-2341266262263191142007-01-04T22:41:00.000Z2007-01-04T22:46:35.381Z<span style="font-weight: bold;">Saddam begins journey from despot to martyr</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Executing leaders is simply bad politics - history shows that they backfire. Saddam's reputation will be salvaged , writes Jim Duffy</span><br /><br />Name the last monarchs of Italy, Russia, and France; US presidents from the 1860s and the 1960s; a 1920s Irish minister. The odds are that most people will not remember the last Italian king (Umberto II) and will get the last French king wrong (they'll say Louis XVI; it was Louis Phillippe), but will remember Tsar Nicholas II of Russia while naming Lincoln and John F Kennedy as US presidents and Kevin O'Higgins as an Irish minister.<br /><br />continued... <a href="http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/opinion/2007/0104/1167776630018.html">The Irish Times</a><br /><br /><br />Dear Madam,<br /><br />In Thursday's Irish Times Jim Duffy relays the dangers of executing an invaded country's former leader: "The danger is that, should Iraq descend into civil war and chaos, those millions who never experienced the extremes of Saddam, will come to compare today's chaos with the stability and law and order of Saddam's day."<br /><br />It seems that Mr. Duffy has misunderstood the current situation in Iraq. A poll conducted by the Iraq Centre for Research and Strategic Studies and the Gulf Research Center in November last year found that 90% of adults felt the situation in Iraq was better before the US led invasion. [1]<br /><br />In October of last year former United Nations chief weapons inspector Hans Blix described the US-led invasion of Iraq as a "pure failure" and said that they had left the country worse off than under Saddam Hussein. [2]<br /><br />It appears that Mr. Duffy is correct, "Saddam's reputation will be salvaged," but not by the chaos of civil war but by the "failure" of an illegal invasion.<br /><br />Yours etc...<br /><br />1. <a href="http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/index.cfm/fuseaction/viewItem/itemID/14282">http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/</a><br />2. <a href="http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=3&amp;art_id=vn20061026063400559C925359">http://www.int.iol.co.za/</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8600768-234126626226319114?l=toirtap.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>davhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345747203515877168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8600768.post-22968601875000810012007-01-04T13:42:00.000Z2007-01-04T13:43:46.554ZWASHINGTON - ExxonMobil Corp. gave $16 million to 43 ideological groups between 1998 and 2005 in a coordinated effort to mislead the public by discrediting the science behind global warming, the Union of Concerned Scientists asserted Wednesday.<br /><br />The report by the science-based nonprofit advocacy group mirrors similar claims by Britain's leading scientific academy. Last September, The Royal Society wrote the oil company asking it to halt support for groups that "misrepresented the science of climate change."<br />ExxonMobil did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the scientific advocacy group's report.<br /><br />Many scientists say accumulating carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases from tailpipes and smokestacks are warming the atmosphere like a greenhouse, melting Arctic sea ice, alpine glaciers and disturbing the lives of animals and plants.<br /><br />continued... <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070103/ap_on_bi_ge/exxonmobil_global_warming">Yahoo</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8600768-2296860187500081001?l=toirtap.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>davhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345747203515877168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8600768.post-57721005485018614982006-12-19T22:03:00.000Z2006-12-19T22:04:31.521Z"We regret that our press release below ("OPT: Civilians Must Not Be Used to Shield Homes Against Military Attacks") gave many readers the impression that we were criticizing civilians for engaging in nonviolent resistance. This was not our intention. It is not the policy of the organization to criticize non-violent resistance or any other form of peaceful protest, including civilians defending their homes. Rather, our focus is on the behavior of public officials and military commanders because they have responsibilities under international law to protect civilians."<br /><br /><a href="http://hrw.org/english/docs/2006/11/22/isrlpa14652.htm">http://hrw.org</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8600768-5772100548501861498?l=toirtap.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>davhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345747203515877168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8600768.post-46645866644850515252006-12-02T12:05:00.000Z2006-12-02T12:06:42.119Z1 in every 32 U.S. adults behind bars, on probation or on parole in 2005<br /><br />The Associated Press<br />Published: November 29, 2006<br /><br />WASHINGTON: A record 7 million people — or one in every 32 American adults — were behind bars, on probation or on parole by the end of last year, according to the Justice Department.<br /><br />Of those, 2.2 million were in prison or jail, an increase of 2.7 percent over the previous year, according to a report released Wednesday.<br /><br />More than 4.1 million people were on probation and 784,208 were on parole at the end of 2005. Prison releases are increasing, but admissions are increasing more.<br /><br />Men still far outnumber women in prisons and jails, but the female population is growing faster. Over the past year, the female population in state or federal prison increased 2.6 percent while the number of male inmates rose 1.9 percent. By year's end, 7 percent of all inmates were women. The gender figures do not include inmates in local jails.<br /><br />continued... <a href="http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/11/30/america/NA_GEN_US_Prison_Population.php">IHT</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8600768-4664586664485051525?l=toirtap.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>davhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345747203515877168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8600768.post-1164232382771461992006-11-22T21:52:00.000Z2006-11-22T21:54:32.993Z<span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:verdana,arial;font-size:85%;" ><span style=";font-size:100%;" >The RTE piece confirms that the documentary was funded by the mining company proposing the project. A fact left out in earlier reports.<br /><br />It seems this fairly extensive coverage of a fairly ordinary documentary has also become useful in criticising the Shell to Sea campaign.<br /><br />No mention here again of the real benefits to the Irish people that the Corrib gas venture will bring. For those that aren't aware, there are none.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/1102/primetime.html">http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/1102/primetime.html</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2006/1101/1162055663947.html">http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2006/</a><br /><br /><a href="http://film.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,1936510,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=16">http://film.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,1936510,00.html</a><br /><br />And still no response to my questions:<br /><br /><a href="comment.g?blogID=35395872&amp;postID=116021151623024101">http://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=35395872</a><br /><br />Out of interest, how much does Gabriel Resources stand to gain from this venture?<br /><br />I understand there is something like 500,000 ounces of Gold to be harvested. What percentage of these profits are likely to filter down to the state and the local people?<br /><br />Is the project aimed at allowing the poor of the region to exploit their natural resources or allowing foreign investors to eploit their resources? Essentially repeating the same process the director refers to; "Hundreds of years after we have become rich and comfortable by removing our forests and exploiting our natural resources."<br /><br />Who funded this documentary? It appears from the Rocky Mountain News article that the mining company may have funded it. Is there any conflict of interest?</span></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8600768-116423238277146199?l=toirtap.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>davhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345747203515877168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8600768.post-1162421753856179812006-11-01T22:53:00.000Z2006-11-01T22:55:53.860ZAn Irish ex-foreign correspondent for the Financial Times uncovers a campaign by Western environmentalists against a mine proposed by a Canadian mining company at Rosia Montana in the Transylvania region of Romania.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.mineyourownbusiness.org/index.htm">http://www.mineyourownbusiness.org/index.htm</a><br /><br />He writes:<br /><br />"Hundreds of years after we have become rich and comfortable by removing our forests and exploiting our natural resources such as coal, oil, and gold we are now going to the poorest countries on the planet to prevent them from doing what we did and having what we have."<br /><br />"Mine Your Own Business demolishes the cosy consensus that environmentalists are well meaning, agenda free, activists and shows them to be anti-development ideologues who think the poor are happy being poor and don't want the development that we, in the west, take for granted."<br /><br />"Environmenalists are against growth."<br /><br />"The documentary hacks away at the cosy image of environmentalists' as well meaning, harmless activists."<br /><br />It appears that Phelim McAleer, with funding from Canadian mining company, Gabriel Resources, has exposed the true face of environmentalism.<br /><br />"When a representative of Gabriel Resources asked me to write a brochure about the project I declined, but I did suggest that if they did not interfere editorially I would make a documentary."<br /><br /><a href="http://insidedenver.com/drmn/speak_out/article/0,2777,DRMN_23970_5014862,00.html">http://insidedenver.com/drmn/speak_out/article</a><br /><br />And the Blog:<br /><br /><a href="http://mineyourownbusiness.blogspot.com/">http://mineyourownbusiness.blogspot.com/</a><br /><br />A news report on today's RTE 6 O'Clock news 'discussed' the new film. The story resonates quite loudly, with the same criticisms being leveled at protesters here. With the Shell to Sea campaign, the media have attempted, at times, to portray the environmental aspect of the protest as one that is opposed to development, opposed to progress, opposed to profit etc etc. i.e. against the interests of the country.<br /><br />This report again, 4 substantial minutes, was uncritical and acted merely as a movie preview. There was no reference to the fact the documentary was apparently funded by the mining company attempting to secure the venture.<br /><br />"Stop development at the expense of the poor."<br /><br />I left these questions on their blog:<br /><br />Out of interest, how much does Gabriel Resources stand to gain from this venture?<br /><br />I understand there is something like 500,000 ounces of Gold to be harvested. What percentage of these profits are likely to filter down to the state and the local people?<br /><br />Is the project aimed at allowing the poor of the region to exploit their natural resources or allowing foreign investors to eploit their resources? Essentially repeating the same process the director refers to; "Hundreds of years after we have become rich and comfortable by removing our forests and exploiting our natural resources."<br /><br />Who funded this documentary? It appears from the Rocky Mountain News article that the mining company may have funded it. Is there any conflict of interest?<br /><br /><a href="http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/1101/6news.html">http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/1101/6news.html</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8600768-116242175385617981?l=toirtap.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>davhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345747203515877168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8600768.post-1162421529265496882006-11-01T22:49:00.000Z2006-11-01T22:52:09.283ZDear Ms. Treacy and Mr. Good,<br /><br />In response to your explanations for RTE's non-reporting of the latest study into Iraqi mortality:<br /><br />"There is contention about the number of civilian casualties in Iraq"<br /><br />"This story was covered extensively [on] "Morning Ireland""<br /><br />I have one question I hope you could find a moment to answer. Last month RTE reported on yesterday's elections in Congo:<br /><br />"Congo's elections, the first free elections in the former Belgian colony for more than 40 years, will hopefully put an end to Africa's bloodiest conflict, a civil war that has killed 4 million people since 1998."<br /><br /><a href="http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/0930/print/congo.html">http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/0930/print/congo.html</a><br /><br />As did the Irish Times, The Guardian and the BBC.<br /><br />The figures for mortality in the Congo were compiled using essentially the same methods and conducted by the same lead author, yet their reception in the media could not be more different. Could you explain this extraordinary disparity?<br /><br />Yours sincerely,<br /><br />1.<a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6097990.stm">http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6097990.stm</a><br />2.<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/congo/story/0,,1934757,00.html">http://www.guardian.co.uk/congo/story/0,,</a><br />3. <a href="http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/world/2006/1030/1162055437012.html">http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/world/</a><br />4. <a href="http://www.zmag.org/Sustainers/Content/2005-09/27edwards.cfm">http://www.zmag.org/Sustainers/Content/</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8600768-116242152926549688?l=toirtap.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>davhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345747203515877168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8600768.post-1161536554665267172006-10-22T17:49:00.000+01:002006-10-22T18:07:43.703+01:00And a concerted effort to make it even more difficult.<br /><br />"Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's office has instructed the country's health ministry to stop providing mortality figures to the United Nations, jeopardizing a key source of information on the number of civilian war dead in Iraq, according to a U.N. document." [<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/19/AR2006101901799.html">The Post</a>]<br /><br />Via <a href="http://members5.boardhost.com/medialens/msg/1161373811.html">Media Lens</a><br /><br />Jon Snow reports on the difficulties of reporting the reality of the occupation of Iraq, from inside the Green Zone.<br /><br />"This remains one of the least well covered conflicts of the modern television age."<br /><br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiTCtAbmA_M">Channel 4</a><br /><br />Via <a href="http://members5.boardhost.com/medialens/msg/1161476397.html">Pete Charles</a><br /><br />"Iraq's Health Ministry has ordered a halt to a count of civilians killed during the war and told its statistics department not to release figures compiled so far, the official who oversaw the count told The Associated Press on Wednesday." [<a href="http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2003-12-10-iraq-civilians_x.htm">USA Today</a> 2003]<br /><br />"Faik Bakir, the director of the Baghdad morgue, has fled Iraq in fear of his life after reporting that more than 7,000 people have been killed by death squads in recent months, the outgoing head of the UN human rights office in Iraq has disclosed." [<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1721366,00.html">Guardian</a>]<br /><br />"Days after the bombing of a Shiite shrine unleashed a wave of retaliatory killings of Sunnis, the leading Shiite party in Iraq's governing coalition directed the Health Ministry to stop tabulating execution-style shootings, according to a ministry official familiar with the recording of deaths." [<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/08/AR2006030802692_pf.html">Washington Post</a>]<br /><br />Via <a href="http://members5.boardhost.com/medialens/msg/1161513112.html">Ron F</a><br /><br />"Iraqi hospitals are dangerous places. Policemen and soldiers carry their wounded comrades into operating theatres and demand immediate treatment, forcing doctors at gunpoint to abandon operations on civilians before they are completed. The hospital system is not a haven from the war. The Health Ministry is controlled by the supporters of the nationalist cleric Muqtada al-Sadr who did well in the elections in December." [Patrick Cockburn in the <a href="http://comment.independent.co.uk/commentators/article1904932.ece">Independent</a>]<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8600768-116153655466526717?l=toirtap.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>davhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345747203515877168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8600768.post-1161296208147763072006-10-19T23:14:00.000+01:002006-10-19T23:16:48.176+01:00Dear Sir/Madam,<br /><br />There is a serious inaccuracy in one of today's RTE website reports:<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Change to US strategy in Iraq is recommended</span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/1017/iraq.html">http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/1017/iraq.html</a><br /><br />The report reads: "tens of thousands of Iraqis have been killed."<br /><br />This should read: "hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have been killed."<br /><br />This statement would be in line with the recent figures published by the Lancet last week.<br /><br />I hope you can address this issue.<br /><br />Yours sincerely,<br /><br />To: Treacy Bree<br />Subject: FW: Inaccuracy in one of today's RTE website reports<br /><br />Bree,<br /><br />Just to advise you that the writer of the following e-mail is associated with the Irish Palestinian Solidarity Campaign and is in constant e-mail contact with our Newsroom regarding our reporting on the Iraq war and the Middle East conflict areas.<br /><br />regards<br />Nina<br /><br />On 10/18/06, Treacy Bree wrote:<br /><br />Dear David<br /><br />Thanks for your mail and your interest in the site. The section you referred to is re-edited copy from Reuters. There is contention about the number of civilian casualties in Iraq but we strive to be accurate with our News coverage and 'tens of thousands of Iraqis have been killed' is accurate.<br /><br />Thanks again for your interest.<br /><br />Bree Treacy<br />Editor<br />RTE.ie<br /><br />Dear Ms. Treacy,<br /><br />Thank you for responding.<br /><br />However, I don't see how the fact the text was copied from a Reuters piece is relevant to the issue. Contrary to your contention, there is no reasonable or scientific refutation of the study's findings. The 'contention' you referred to is, as you are no doubt aware, politically motivated and should have no bearing on RTE's responsibility to report the facts to the best of their ability. Also contrary to your assertion, the phrase 'tens of thousands of Iraqis have been killed' is about as accurate as writing post 9/11, "tens of Americans have been killed." The latter would never appear in a respectable newspaper and neither should the former.<br /><br />I remain hopeful that you will address this inaccuracy.<br /><br />For your information, I have no 'association' with the Irish Palestinian Solidarity Campaign.<br /><br />Yours sincerely,<br /><br /><br />And another Email: <a href="http://members5.boardhost.com/medialens/msg/1161259611.html">Nick at MLMB</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8600768-116129620814776307?l=toirtap.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>davhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345747203515877168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8600768.post-1160331392238944792006-10-08T19:13:00.000+01:002006-10-08T19:16:32.263+01:00<span class="nw" id="_user_latelate@rte.ie">to:<br /><br />latelate@rte.ie</span> <div class="mhl"><span class="nw" id="_user_magilleditorial@bandf.net">magilleditorial@bandf.net</span><br /><span class="nw" id="_user_georgegallowaydotcom@gmail.com">georgegallowaydotcom@gmail.com</span></div><br /><br />Dear Mr. Kenny,<br /><br />Last weeks unsuccessful ambush of George Galloway was a shameful piece of 'light entertainment'. It is only a pity you didn't allow Eamon Delaney a seat on the stage, so as to see his face as his tired and fact barren rhetoric is torn apart. The Late Late Show was once an institution of intelligent political debate.<br /><br />You remarked during the interview, "I'm just doing my job, George." I am amazed.<br /><br />Yours sincerely,<br /><a href="http://www.rte.ie/tv/latelate/"><br />http://www.rte.ie/tv/latelate/</a><br /><br />and here's another... <a href="http://members5.boardhost.com/medialens/msg/1160315395.html">Liz at MLMB</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8600768-116033139223894479?l=toirtap.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>davhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345747203515877168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8600768.post-1159995492305441732006-10-04T20:58:00.000+01:002006-10-04T22:21:32.013+01:00According to the <a href="http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/world/2006/1004/1158591352800.html">Irish Times</a> that is.<br /><br />"While America's recent measures to push the island towards multiparty democracy when the commander-in- chief croaks are diplomatic, your average Cuban who consumes the state-controlled media is convinced they're ready to invade."<br /><br />And how are they attempting to do this:<br /><br />"America's $80 million package to fund political opposition in the one-party state when Castro eventually passes on has sent shivers up the Communist Party's spine."<br /><br />Are we to believe US interests are completely benign?<br /><br />Salim Lamrani of <a href="http://www.voltairenet.org/article134700.html#nb1">Voltaire</a> thinks otherwise:<br /><br />"The cruel state of siege that the United States has imposed on Cuba since 1959 stiffens day after day. Now, they openly confess that their goal is overthrowing the government in Havana by any means while the sufferings caused to the population only have a secondary importance for the White House."<br /><br />There's always other reasons to believe independence isn't on the <a href="http://www.nsgtmo.navy.mil/">menu</a>.<br /><br /><br />Dear Madam,<br /><br />Jeff Farrell's letter from Cuba in Wednesday's Irish Times [1] explained that America has initiated measures to push the island towards multiparty democracy. These measures include an $80 million package [2] to fund political opposition.<br /><br />While reading this a historic irony came to mind, as Washington now leads the fight against international terrorism from within Cuba [3], Noam Chomsky's comment in 1996 resonates more clearly, "Probably Cuba was the target of more international terrorism than probably the rest of the world combined, up until Nicaragua in the 1980s." [4] In an Orwellian twist, this terrorism emanated from the very halls that now fight so valiantly against it.<br /><br />The US government, and I make this distinction quite purposefully, has sought to isolate Cuba and make life as 'uncomfortable' as possible for the ordinary Cuban for over 40 years now. In December last year Condoleezza Rice moved to 'stiffen' the economic blockade. [5]<br /><br />Washington has long made clear their intentions to scupper "dynastic succession" [6] [7], and quite rightly, who would allow father and then son to rule?<br /><br />Cuba is not a democracy, but lets not let Mr. Farrell pretend the US wants it to be, unless that is he can convince an Iraqi first.<br /><br />Regards,<br /><br />Dav<br /><br />1. <a href="http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/world/2006/1004/1158591352800.html">http://www.ireland.com/newspaper</a><br />2. <a href="http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2006/68776.htm">http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2006/68776.htm</a><br />3. <a href="http://www.nsgtmo.navy.mil/htmpgs/mission.htm">http://www.nsgtmo.navy.mil/htmpgs/mission.htm</a><br />4. <a href="http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/43b/142.html">http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/43b/142.html</a><br />5. <a href="http://www.voltairenet.org/article134700.html#article134700">http://www.voltairenet.org/article134700.htm</a><br />6. <a href="http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=54&amp;ItemID=10845">http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle</a><br />7. <a href="http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2005/58283.htm">http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2005/58283.htm</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8600768-115999549230544173?l=toirtap.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>davhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345747203515877168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8600768.post-1159443333445554392006-09-28T12:25:00.000+01:002006-09-28T12:35:33.466+01:00Melanie Phillips, of Daily Mail and Question Time fame, writes:<br /><br />"The bottom line is that this jihad against the west started long before even the first Iraq war. And any defence against it mounted by the free world is used to boost recruitment to the jihad. There is only one sure way for the west to prevent such recruitment: total surrender. That is the inexorable logic of all who inhabit the fantasy world of Planet Chomsky."<br /><br /><a href="http://www.melaniephillips.com/diary/?p=1337">http://www.melaniephillips.com/diary/?p=1337</a><br /><br />And here's a completely pointless/ridiculous exchange with her:<br /><br />Dear Melanie,<br /><br />I have only just read your latest blog entries, and I was surprised to read this:<br /><br />"But the fact remains that had Saddam remained in power, we would now be having to deal with Saddam-sponsored terrorism, possibly armed with WMD.<br /><br />The justification for toppling Saddam remains as valid as it ever was: that he was an unconscionable danger to the world because of the axis between his sponsorship of terror, his ambition to lead the Arab world and his intention to develop weapons of mass destruction."<br /><br /><a href="http://www.melaniephillips.com/diary/?p=1337">http://www.melaniephillips.com/diary/?p=1337</a><br /><br />Does this mean you have finally given up your belief that "[a]bsence of evidence is not the same as evidence of absence"?<br /><br /><a href="http://www.melaniephillips.com/articles/archives/000821.html">http://www.melaniephillips.com/articles/archives/</a><br /><br />Yours sincerely,<br /><br />---------<br /><br />No. There is no contradiction. I have also said this on several previous<br />occasions.<br /><br />---------<br /><br />Hi Melanie,<br /><br />Well to the 'lay man' it does appear that in the first post you describe Saddam's intentions to pursue WMDs and that left in power he may well possess them by now.<br /><br />In the second you suggest that prior to being ousted he had WMDs.<br /><br />It would seem, by your logic, that if Saddam had been left in power he would have sought to increase his stock piles and further his WMD program?<br /><br />Regards,<br /><br />---------<br /><br />Thanks for the further explanation of what you think is inconsistent. I'm afraid, though, that I just can't see that it is. I think you have also misunderstood what I wrote.<br /><br />We went to war not because of the supposed stockpiles -- which at the time everyone thought Saddam had -- but because we thought he was actively pursuing a WMD programme and trying to construct WMD, in breach of the ceasefire conditions at the end of the first Gulf War , as I said in the earlier of my two posts.<br /><br />What I wrote in my recent post was: 'But the fact remains that had Saddam remained in power, we would now be having to deal with Saddam-sponsored terrorism, possibly armed with WMD.' I did not write, as you claimed, 'that left in power he may well possess them by now'. I thought he was actively pursuing them, and may well have had some of them, at the time. Either way, in my view if he had remained in power we would now be having to confront a WMD-armed Saddam.<br /><br />I also believe that the assertion that it has now been shown that he never had any stockpiles is absurd, because he was known to have had them and never showed that he had destroyed them -- and could well have hidden them in Syria, as has been repeatedly suggested, or destroyed them when the Americans arrived, when he razed the sites where they thought the stuff was. Hence my remark about absence of evidence and so forth.<br /><br />I hope this now explains the matter.<br /><br /><br />Best wishes<br /><br />Melanie<br /><br />----------<br /><br />Thanks Melanie,<br /><br />I'm nearly there. So if Saddam had as you say the weapons Bush says he didn't have and the CIA said went out of date in '91 and if he was in cahoots with the terrorists Bush says he wasn't in cahoots with and if we'd left him in power, which we couldn't because of the imminent threat he posed to the West because of his possession of, I'll quote, 'the most lethal weapons ever devised' which he had failed to account the destruction of, then he would now be arming the terrorists he wasn't arming before, even though he had weapons to arm them, though George Tenet testified he was only likely to use them in self defense, although now they say he didn't, but you say they're in Syria presumably along with the uranium he was not attempting to acquire, so maybe the Syrians were behind the whole thing, but they're working for the US now, unless they cynically orchestrated the attack on the embassy, but then again if he had the weapons that he hid and if he posed the threat he did...<br /><br />Sounds a bit convoluted. Have you been reading John Grisham?<br /><br />Best,<br /><br />----------<br /><br />Sorry, I'm afraid I don't think you understand what I have written. I'm afraid I'll have to leave it there, since I've run out of time on this one. Thanks for your thoughts anyway.<br /><br />Best wishes<br /><br />Melanie<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8600768-115944333344555439?l=toirtap.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>davhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345747203515877168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8600768.post-1159210632875325422006-09-25T19:50:00.000+01:002006-09-25T19:57:12.903+01:00Further to Media Lens' Haiti alert:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.medialens.org/alerts/06/060911_haiti_the_traditional.php">http://www.medialens.org/alert</a><br /><br />A response from RTE's News Editor and my reply:<br /><br />Dear Mr. Good,<br /><br />Apologies for my delayed response.<br /><br />As far as I am aware the complaint regards the use of one of the coordinators names and does not question 'the figures for the number of sexual attacks and murders', this confusion has been exploited by the media in order to undermine the the study by speculating on the political motivations of the coordinator. However, neither the Lancet's investigation, nor the complaint, question the validity of the study's core findings.<br /><br />"It is not suggested that the Lancet report had misreported its findings or that Ms Kolbe had any other agenda than the welfare of ordinary Haitians at heart. It is accepted by all parties that the study's core findings - that there have been disturbingly high levels of violence and sexual abuse in Haiti in that period - are true and need to be urgently addressed by the Haitian government and other bodies." [1]<br /><br />It is alleged that this coordinator, in 'failing' to clearly state that she had worked at an orphanage founded by Mr. Aristide, has attempted to disguise her political association. This insinuation is then used to suggest this 'undisclosed' favour may have coloured the findings, so as to cast a more favourable light on pro-Lavalas groups.<br /><br />Yet, "Prior to beginning research, [the study's coordinators] received written permission from Latortue's [Prime Minister of Haïti] administration to conduct the study. We fully informed the government of our intentions to research human-rights abuses and of Athena Kolbe's background as a journalist writing under her mother's maiden name, as well as the volunteering she did with orphans in Port-au-Prince." [Exert from a letter to the Miami Herald from the study's coordinators, Royce Hutson and Athena Kolbe, attached in full below] [2]<br /><br />It appears, this relatively inconsequential issue has been exploited in order to cast doubt on the findings, which do not support the 'complainants' contention. Therefore there is some reason to believe the speculation is politically motivated.<br /><br />"The main reason why I doubt this finding is that it contradicts the information that I have received from independent human rights investigators working in some of the most violent areas of Port-au-Prince...I have some doubts about the credibility of the research with regard to the perpetrators of these acts. These doubts focus on the contention that very few of the human rights violations have been attributed to "Lavalas members or partisans" (by which I assume the authors mean members or partisans of the Lavalas Family party led by Jean-Bertrand Aristide)." [Exert from a letter from Charles Arthur to the Lancet] [3]<br /><br />Though the 'contention' has been extensively examined: "The publisher of the Lancet, Richard Horton, said the study had come with excellent credentials and peer reviews. "It was very thoroughly reviewed by four external advisers," he said."<br /><br />The investigation into this complaint by the Lancet, which I might add has received more publicity than the actual study, is presumably standard procedure for a peer reviewed scientific journal.<br /><br />As I pointed out before, the results of the study and the level of violence depicted in Haiti is not disputed. And while it is unalarming that such a study should be treated with hostility in the mainstream press, it is shameful that the media would choose not to report the findings, and in the case of the Guardian, for instance, focus on the unsubstantiated allegations.<br /><br />There remains several options open to the media; firstly, ignore the existence of the study in compliant fashion, secondly, report the findings of the report, but choose to focus on the unfounded insinuations, or thirdly, report the findings and also the complaint, while ensuring that appropriate weighting is assigned to each.<br /><br />If the purpose of the media is to provide adequate and accurate information in order to afford citizens the means to maintain democratic institutions, then refraining from reporting such findings amounts to a conscious attempt to hinder that process.<br /><br />While the 'complainant' and those that conducted the study have much common ground, in that they both have the interests of Haitians at heart, the media has cynically used this issue to bury the report. Much of the responsibility for the human rights abuses detailed in this study falls at the feet of those that supported the 2004 coup, namely, France, the US, and Canada. The reason they were able to conduct this operation with little resistance from their citizens is that the media has consistently and continually failed to report the situation in Haiti.<br /><br />Regards,<br /><br />David<br /><br />1. <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1867372,00.html">http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/</a><br />2. <a href="http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/opinion/15529496.htm">http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news</a><br />3. <a href="http://www.medialens.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1842">http://www.medialens.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1842</a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Haitian-abuse study legitimate</span><br /><br />Re Gerard Latortue's Sept. 9 letter, Kurzban column gets it wrong: We were surprised to see Latortue's attack on our study, which estimates that 8,000 murders and 35,000 sexual assaults -- half against children -- were committed during his tenure as Haiti's interim prime minister.<br /><br />Prior to beginning research, we received written permission from Latortue's administration to conduct the study.<br /><br />We fully informed the government of our intentions to research human-rights abuses and of Athena Kolbe's background as a journalist writing under her mother's maiden name, as well as the volunteering she did with orphans in Port-au-Prince.<br /><br />Using Random GPS Coordinate Sampling, we surveyed 1,260 households accounting for 5,720 individuals and found extensive violations by Latortue's interim-government forces. More than 20 percent of the murders and 13 percent of the sexual assaults were attributed to government-security agents. Had Latortue had any questions about our credibility, his administration should not have authorized the study.<br /><br />Latortue's claim that we were ''discredited'' is false. The Lancet's editor has publicly stated that the study's findings are not under dispute. The journal's only concern is with tangential issues regarding the use of one of our names. Neither of the researchers was ever a member nor paid employee of any Haitian entity or political party. Volunteering to do child care and teach communications classes at an orphanage's youth radio station 10 years ago is not a conflict of interest, either by academic ethics or by common sense.<br /><br />ROYCE HUTSON and ATHENA KOLBE, assistant professor and research assistant, Wayne State University School of Social Work, Detroit<br /><br /><br />Dear [Me],<br /><br />Thank you for your recent letter concerning the Lancet report on human rights abuses in Haiti.<br /><br />As are probably aware, the Lancet has been investigating allegations that this report may have been misleading. They have received complaints questioning the findings - especially in relation to the role of the Lavalas groups, and the figures for the number of sexual attacks and murders.<br /><br />However, all parties do appear to accept that the level of violence and sexual assaults in Haiti is disturbingly high.<br /><br />We will continue to monitor the situation in Haiti with a view to returning to this story in the near future.<br /><br />Regards,<br /><br />Michael Good<br /><br /><br />Dear Mr. Good,<br /><br />It is now over three weeks since that damning report detailing human rights abuses in Haiti was published in the peer reviewed medical journal The Lancet. There has yet been no mention of it in the Irish media. Are we to wait until it reaches the agenda of a politician before it is deemed worthy of reporting?<br /><br />Please find attached below my original email and one I sent to the Irish Times.<br /><br />Thank you for your time.<br /><br />Regards,<br /><br /><br />See '<a href="http://toirtap.blogspot.com/2006/09/silence-and-complicity.html">Silence and Complicity</a>' for the rest.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8600768-115921063287532542?l=toirtap.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>davhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345747203515877168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8600768.post-1158785766410868412006-09-20T21:50:00.001+01:002006-09-20T21:56:06.416+01:00<span style="font-weight: bold;">Or a conscious act to murder<br /><br /></span>[cross posted over at <a href="http://www.indymedia.ie/article/78483">Indymedia.ie</a>]<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><br />Five years on since the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the wars that precipitated from that act are now discussed in frustratingly candid terms. While the thousands of American deaths are fittingly remembered as avoidable tragedies, the military responses, claiming the lives of many more innocent people, are described as 'mistakes' and 'necessities'.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">A legitimate response to terror</span><br /><br />In a recent RTE Questions & Answers discussion all but the token 'left of centre' panelist described the war in Afghanistan in much the same way, a necessary response to an act of terror, which has resulted in a more favourable situation in the region. The removal of the Taliban was, though not the principal goal of the conflict, a welcome result. [1]<br /><br />Noel Whelan and Stephen Collins, Political Correspondent with The Irish Times, laid out the fundamentals of the war as they see them. Noel commented that the war was a 'necessary issue that had to be dealt with', Mr. Collins reinforced the point stating that the 'Americans were right to go in... they have improved the lives of people in the long term... they were attacked by Al Qaeda and were entitled to respond.'<br /><br />The principle point the panelists wished to bring across was that while one could criticise the rights and wrongs of the Iraq war, the war in Afghanistan was an act beyond reproach. It was a legitimate response to an act of aggression.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">A media so detached from reality</span><br /><br />In a lecture held by the Technology and Culture Forum of MIT in 2001 Noam Chomsky addressed the idea of a 'Just War' in Afghanistan. [2]<br /><br />He was asked whether Richard Falk's (who incidentally also opposed the Iraq war [3]) October 2001 article in the Nation [4] provided a valid justification for the Afghan conflict. The article read: “The war in Afghanistan against apocalyptic terrorism qualifies in my understanding as the first truly just war since World War II...The perpetrators of the September 11 attack cannot be reliably neutralized by nonviolent or diplomatic means; a response that includes military action is essential to diminish the threat of repetition, to inflict punishment and to restore a sense of security at home and abroad.“<br /><br />Chomsky's answer was quite simple, “if you can't find out who did it you can't punish anyone... [you] certainly can't do it by aiming activities against hundreds of thousands of people who had nothing to do with it.”<br /><br />Many of these people, Chomsky noted, were in need of basic food supplies prior to the attack. These supplies were then severely hampered by US bombing:<br /><br />“After the first week of bombing, the New York Times reported on a back page inside a column on something else, that by the arithmetic of the United Nations there will soon be 7.5 million Afghans in acute need of even a loaf of bread and there are only a few weeks left before the harsh winter will make deliveries to many areas totally impossible, continuing to quote, but with bombs falling the delivery rate is down to half of what is needed. Casual comment. Which tells us that Western civilization is anticipating the slaughter of, well do the arithmetic, 3-4 million people or something like that.”<br /><br />Taking into account what we knew before the invasion, including what we could predict would happen, the invasion of Afghanistan amounts to a conscious act to murder.<br /><br />With reference to the fact the US was 'requesting' the Taliban hand over Bin Laden, Chomsky proposes that the Taliban were probably quite sincere their request for evidence before any handover. A letter to the New York Times in October 2001 [5] made the same point; “If NATO has ''clear and compelling proof'' of Mr. Bin Laden's involvement in the Sept. 11 attacks, why doesn't it just hand that evidence over to the Taliban so that they can give their people a legitimate reason for surrendering him?”<br /><br />This is all quite irrelevant though. The purpose of the war was to capture those found responsible for the attack of 9/11. If we assume that the Taliban were protecting Osama bin Laden, we must also accept that it was the Taliban, a regime unpopular with it's people, were the ones protecting him, not the Afghan people. In contributing to the starvation of thousands of people and the bombing of many others it is obvious that it was the victims of the Taliban who were attacked, not Bin Laden.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">A more favourable situation</span><br /><br />The Senlis Council published a report on Afghanistan's current situation paints a bleak picture:<br /><br />“After five years of intensive international involvement in Afghanistan, the country remains ravaged by severe poverty and the spreading starvation of the rural and urban poor. Despite promises from the US-led international community guaranteeing to provide the resources and assistance necessary for its reconstruction and development needs, Afghanistan's people are starving to death. Afghanistan continues to rank at the bottom of most poverty indicators, and the situation of women and children is particularly grave. One in four children born in Afghanistan cannot expect to live beyond the age of five and certain provinces of the country lay claim to the worst maternal mortality rates ever recorded in the world.<br /><br />...[t]hose who do not want to turn to the Taliban are forced to do so in order to survive and support their families.<br /><br />Taliban now control southern Afghanistan. Since 2001, the day-to-day security of ordinary Afghan people has deteriorated markedly. Despite the concerted focus on military and security issues in the country, the Taliban are tightening their grip on the southern half of Afghanistan. In addition to their current de facto military control of entire towns, districts, and neighbourhoods in the provinces capitals, the Taliban have psychological control over nearly half of Afghanistan. A doctor in Kandahar City reported that parents are no longer sending their daughters to school, women only rarely venture outdoors, and even then only when wearing a full burka." [6]<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">A tragedy of errors</span><br /><br />The Independent [7] reported earlier this month: “The Senlis Council claimed that the campaign by British forces against the Taliban had inflicted lawlessness, misery and starvation on the Afghan people.<br /><br />Thousands of villagers fleeing the fighting and a continuing drought, as well as farmers who have lost their livelihood with the eradication of the opium crop, were suffering dreadful conditions in refugee camps.<br /><br />In a separate intervention, the influential International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS) said that a vital opportunity was lost when the West failed to carry out adequate reconstruction work after the 2001 war.”<br /><br />While the Times hears the opinion of someone 'on the ground':<br /><br />“The former aide-de-camp to the commander of the British taskforce in southern Afghanistan has described the campaign in Helmand province as a textbook case of how to screw up a counter-insurgency.<br /><br />'We're now scattered in a shallow meaningless way across northern towns where the only way for the troops to survive is to increase the level of violence so more people get killed. It's pretty shocking and not something I want to be part of.'” [8]<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Media's Role</span><br /><br />RTE's summary of the 'Removal of the Taliban':<br /><br />"It was suspected that the hardline Islamic regime in Afghanistan, the Taliban, was sheltering Bin Laden and his followers. US President George W Bush issued the ultimatum that the Taliban must either hand over Bin Laden and other suspects immediately or "share in their fate". This did not happen." [9]<br /><br />Note there is no reference to the Taliban's offer to hand over Bin Laden.<br /><br />"The US and Britain began air strikes on Afghanistan on 7 October, knowing that bombing alone would not overthrow the ruling Taliban regime."<br /><br />Note no mention of the other 'repercussions' to bombing.<br /><br />And then follows the typical account of a media approved conflict. All told through the prisim of truth that is Donald Rumsfeld. Shockingly, there is no reference to the civllian death toll since US intervention in this summary. It is not even alluded to. It seems an efficient journalist must make no association between 'benevolent' military machines and civilian casualties. In fact, it would appear from this distilled version of events the only people to die as a result of this invasion were those killed in 2002's earthquake.<br /><br />Based on this account of the war there is little wonder why five years on RTE's idea of balance is as skewed as it is. A balance that offers 'debate' on a war that claimed thousands of lives with not one dissenting voice.<br /><br />Whatever the 'blunders' and lack of forethought those behind the Afghan conflict are guilty of, there remains one elementary truism. The humanitarian situation was well known and the risks clearly identified prior to the attack on Afghanistan. The dangers posed to the Afghan people were considered and the bombing was sanctioned.<br /><br />The death of thousands of Afghans was not accidental, it was inevitable. But this is not an acceptable truth in the studios of licensed liberal discourse.<br /><br /><br /><br />1. <a href="http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/0911/qanda.html">http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/0911/qanda.html</a><br />2. <a href="http://web.mit.edu/tac/past/2001-2002/index.html">http://web.mit.edu/tac/past/2001-2002/index.html</a><br />3. <a href="http://www.transnational.org/forum/meet/2002/Falk_Again....html">http://www.transnational.org/forum/meet/2002/</a><br />4. <a href="http://www.thenation.com/doc/20011029/falk">http://www.thenation.com/doc/20011029/falk</a><br />5. <a href="http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D00E0DA...an%20">http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?</a><br />6. <a href="http://www.senliscouncil.net/modules/publications/014_p...er_02">http://www.senliscouncil.net/modules/publications</a><br />7. <a href="http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article1367185.ece">http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article</a><br />8. <a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2350795,00....html">http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087</a><br />9. <a href="http://www.rte.ie/news/features/oneyearon/war1.html">http://www.rte.ie/news/features/oneyearon/</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8600768-115878576641086841?l=toirtap.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>davhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345747203515877168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8600768.post-1158413273640981572006-09-16T14:26:00.000+01:002006-09-16T14:27:53.660+01:00<span style="font-weight: bold;">No News Is Slow News</span><br /><br /> <span style="font-style: italic;">The news that doesn't make the front pages or the BBC bulletins is 'slow news'. For example, the resistance to foreign power by the Palestinians, ordinary Iraqis and Afghans is 'slow news' while the internecine machinations of Bush and Blair is 'regular news'.</span><br /><br />By John Pilger<br /><br />09/15/06 "Information Clearing House" -- -- When I began working as a journalist, there was something called "slow news". We would refer to "slow news days" when "nothing happened" – apart from, that is, triumphs and tragedies in faraway places where most of humanity lived. These were rarely reported, or the tragedies were dismissed as acts of nature, regardless of evidence to the contrary. The news value of whole societies was measured by their relationship with "us" in the west and their degree of compliance with, or hostility to, our authority. If they didn't measure up, they were slow news.<br /><br />Few of these assumptions have changed. To sustain them, millions of people remain invisible, and expendable. On 11 September 2001, while the world lamented the deaths of almost 3,000 people in the United States, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation reported that more than 36,000 children had died from the effects of extreme poverty. They were very slow news.<br />Let's take a few recent examples and compare each with the regular news as seen on the BBC and elsewhere. Keep in mind that Palestinians are chronically slow news and that Israelis are regular news.<br /><br />Regular news: Charles Clarke, a spokesman for Tony Blair, "revives the battle of Downing Street" and calls Gordon Brown "stupid, stupid" and a "control freak". He disapproves of the way Brown smiles. This is given saturation coverage.<br /><br />Slow news: "A genocide is taking place in Gaza," warns Ilan Pappe, one of Israel's leading historians. "This morning... another three citizens of Gaza were killed and a whole family wounded. This is the morning reap; before the end of the day many more will be massacred."<br /><br />continued... <a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14982.htm">Information Clearing House</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8600768-115841327364098157?l=toirtap.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>davhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345747203515877168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8600768.post-1158252644507279682006-09-14T17:27:00.000+01:002006-09-14T17:50:44.660+01:00"IAEA complains of 'outrageous' inaccuracies in Iran report to House Intelligence Committee"<br /><br /><a href="http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2006/09/14/europe/EU_GEN_Nuclear_Iran_US.php">International Hearld Tribune</a><br /><br />"UN criticises 'erroneous' US report on Iran"<br /><br /><a href="http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/breaking/2006/0914/index.htm#162348">The Irish Times</a><br /><br />and the Irish Times does the unthinkable, employs historical perspective:<br /><br />"It is a subject Dr Blix knows all too well from his experience as the chief United Nations weapons inspector in Iraq three years ago, when his advice that more time was needed to assess whether Iraq had weapons of mass destruction was disregarded by the coalition led by the United States. As he put it yesterday: "The world was told that the invasion would lead to the 'moment of truth'. It did, and the truth was that there were no weapons of mass destruction!"<br />His remarks remain extraordinarily apposite as the world faces into a similar crisis over Iran's nuclear programme."<br /><br /><a href="http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/opinion/2006/0914/1158001547704.html">The Irish Times</a><br /><br />Though these infrequent lapses in compliance make the liberal press what it is today.<br /><br />Just take a look at almost ever other report on Iran's nuclear program for the last year.<br /><br />"...for the mainstream media every fresh deception should be judged on its own merits, in isolation from economics, politics, history, and simple common sense."<br /><br /><a href="http://www.medialens.org/alerts/06/060905_beyond_propaganda.php">Media Lens</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8600768-115825264450727968?l=toirtap.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>davhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345747203515877168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8600768.post-1158187447434961212006-09-13T23:41:00.000+01:002006-09-13T23:44:07.456+01:00A recent <a href="http://www.medialens.org/alerts/index.php">Media Lens alert</a> covers the silence surrounding the killing in Haiti.<br /><br />Emailed to The Irish Times and the Irish Independent:<br /><br />lettersed@irish-times.ie, gkennedy@irish-times.ie, independent.letters@unison.independent.ie<br /><br />Dear Madam,<br /><br />It is now two weeks since the Lancet medical journal published the findings of a study which examined human rights abuses in Haiti since the ousting of democratically-elected President Jean Bertrand Aristide. Only a handful of news outlets have bothered to report on the findings, though this should come as little surprise to those that have followed events in Haiti since the US backed coup of two years ago.<br /><br />UK based media watch organisation Media Lens, in monitoring the media's reporting of Haiti's human rights situation, have revealed a remarkable trend. Prior to the ousting of President Aristide the British and US media published many articles about the human rights situation in Haiti in order to vilify a leader, unpopular with the US, Canadian and French governments.<br /><br />Yet following the 'forced exile' of President Aristide there followed large scale human rights abuses in Haiti which have gone unreported in the media. The most blatant example of this silence is the lack of coverage of this study's shocking findings: "8,000 people were murdered in the greater Port-au Prince area of Haiti alone," many by anti-Aristide groups, also, "35,000 women and girls were raped or sexually assaulted, more than half of the victims were children."<br /><br />In failing to report the dire situation in Haiti the liberal media walks a fine line between inexplicable silence and complicity.<br /><br />Yours sincerely,<br /><br />1. <a href="http://www.medialens.org/alerts/index.php">http://www.medialens.org/alerts/index.php</a><br />2. <a href="http://www.thelancet.com/search/results?search_mode=cluster&search_cluster=thelancet&amp;search_text1=haiti&x=0&amp;y=0">http://www.thelancet.com/search</a><br /><br /><br />To the RTE News Editor:<br /><br />complaints@rte.ie, Michael.Good@rte.ie<br /><br />Dear Mr. Good,<br /><br />A study conducted by the Wayne State University school of social work in Detroit Michigan in 2005 of human rights abuses in Haiti since the ousting of democratically-elected President Jean Bertrand Aristide was published in the British medical journal The Lancet last month. The study has received surprisingly little attention given the disturbing picture it paints of life in Haiti since the US backed coup. Among the figures:<br /><br />8,000 people were murdered in the greater Port-au Prince area of Haiti alone<br /><br />[22 per cent of the killings were committed by the Haitian National Police (HNP), 26 per cent by the demobilised army or armed anti-Aristide groups, 48 per cent by criminals]<br /><br />35,000 women and girls were raped or sexually assaulted<br /><br />[more than half of the victims were children]<br /><br />The findings are particularly unwelcome for those countries who actively engaged in 'disturbing' the democratic process by forcibly removing President Aristide, as the figures show a sizable proportion of attacks were conducted by political groups with 'Western' support. This however should not impede RTE in reporting the facts.<br /><br />I hope you can find time to address this issue.<br /><br />Yours sincerely,<br /><br />For more information on the report please see:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/08/31/144231">http://www.democracynow.org/</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.medialens.org/alerts/index.php">http://www.medialens.org/alerts/index.php</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8600768-115818744743496121?l=toirtap.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>davhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345747203515877168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8600768.post-1158152285981565572006-09-13T13:55:00.000+01:002006-09-13T13:58:06.000+01:00<a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/761781.html">Haaretz</a> reports:<br /><br />"IDF commander: We fired more than a million cluster bombs in Lebanon By Meron Rappaport "What we did was insane and monstrous, we covered entire towns in cluster bombs," the head of an IDF rocket unit in Lebanon said regarding the use of cluster bombs and phosphorous shells during the war.<br /><br />Quoting his battalion commander, the rocket unit head stated that the IDF fired around 1,800 cluster bombs, containing over 1.2 million cluster bomblets.<br /><br />In addition, soldiers in IDF artillery units testified that the army used phosphorous shells during the war, widely forbidden by international law. According to their claims, the vast majority of said explosive ordinance was fired in the final 10 days of the war. "<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8600768-115815228598156557?l=toirtap.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>davhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345747203515877168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8600768.post-1157739409105408562006-09-08T19:12:00.000+01:002006-09-09T19:56:42.616+01:00The BBC Director of News responds and I do the same.<br /><br />[Read from the bottom up]<br /><br /><br />Ms. Boaden,<br /><br />Incidentally, the BBC's use of the term 'kidnapping' in relation to the capture of Israeli soldiers was not the main point of my complaint.<br /><br />I was simply asking why you had not implemented the editorial policy you refer to in your email. Under what authority to Israeli soldiers 'arrest' Palestinian officials?<br /><br />Regards,<br /><br />Ms Boaden,<br /><br />Thank you for responding. Here are two examples I have just found of the BBC using the word 'kidnap' to describe the capture of Israeli soldiers:<br /><br /><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/5171616.stm">http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/5171616.stm</a><br /><br /><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/nolavconsole/ifs_news/hi/newsid_5120000/newsid_5127500/bb_wm_5127508.stm">BBC News Online</a><br /><br />There are presumably more. Also, a cursory glance at the BBC website reveals that the BBC has published numerous quotes by various people which again refer to the capture as a kidnapping.<br /><br />I had seen the entry on the blog, however if the editorial policy is not strictly applied, what use is it?<br /><br />Regards,<br /><br /><br /><br />Thank you for your email, but it is not right to say that the BBC has continually used the word "kidnapping" in relation to the Israeli soldiers. You may be interested in this entry on the Editors' Blog setting out our position that we prefer the word "capture":<br /><br /><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/2006/06/gaza_stories.html">Editor's Blog</a><br /><br />Yours sincerely<br />pp Helen Boaden<br />Director, BBC News<br /><br />Dear Ms Boaden,<br /><br />A BBC TV news segment earlier today reported that Israeli forces had arrested the Palestinian Deputy Prime Minister, Nasser al-Shaer. The BBC website now states that he is presently being detained by Israeli forces. <br /><br />Under what authority do Israeli forces act within Palestinian territories? The term 'arrest' implies that this action is in some way legal. Nasser as-Shaer is not simply being 'detained' he is being illegally detained. <br /><br />I live in Ireland and noticed a similar pacification of language with regard to the capture of Israeli soldiers by Palestinian and Lebanese militants. I wrote to the RTE News Editor with respect to this issue: "Israeli detention assures prisoners no more rights than Palestinian captivity. Why does Israel 'detain' and Palestine 'kidnap '?"<br /><br />He responded:<br /><br />"Fair point. We have put a message in our general mail to this effect."<br /><br />The BBC has continually referred to the capture of Israeli soldiers by Palestinian and Lebanese militants as 'kidnappings', yet Israel's captures are referred to as 'seizures' and 'arrests'. Could you please explain this disparity?<br /><br />Yours sincerely,<br /><br /><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5265792.stm">http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5265792.stm</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8600768-115773940910540856?l=toirtap.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>davhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345747203515877168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8600768.post-1157662366821339992006-09-07T21:35:00.000+01:002006-09-07T21:52:46.853+01:00In a letter to the Irish Times today Michael O'Leary writes:<br /><br />"The Dublin metro makes even less sense than wasting €50 million on electronic voting machines. Linking Dublin airport to St Stephen's Green will not encourage any early morning passengers from around the city to do anything other than drive to the airport on the already congested M50. The airport metro will carry fewer than 20 per cent of passengers using Dublin airport. Wasting €1.5 billion (at current estimates) providing airport access for this small visitor group, who are already well served by competing bus services, is economic lunacy.<br /><br />If this Government knew anything about transport - and it doesn't - then it would scrap this madcap plan to waste €1.5 billion of taxpayers' money building an airport metro which passengers neither want nor need. This money would be far better spent building an outer orbital ring road outside the M50, relieving the intolerable congestion on the M50, and providing better access to Dublin airport for cars and buses, which is how the overwhelming majority of passengers will continue to get there." [<a href="http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/letters/2006/0907/index.html#1156791454267">The Irish Times</a>]<br /><br />Here he makes a few slightly suspect statements:<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">"Linking Dublin airport to St Stephen's Green will not encourage any early morning passengers from around the city to do anything other than drive to the airport on the already congested M50"</span><br /><br />Presumably this is because the Metro will not run at 5 O'clock in the morning, yet how busy is the M50 at this time?<br /><br />Since the plan is to provide links between existing infrastructures such as the LUAS, the DART and Dublin Bus, why would people refuse to use the service?<br /><br /> <span style="font-style: italic;">"The airport metro will carry fewer than 20 per cent of passengers using Dublin airport."</span><br /><br />With air travel on the rise and future growth needs to be met, this figure of 20% seems extremely low. And stating that the public service will <span style="font-style: italic;">"provid[e] airport access for this small visitor group"</span> seems a little unlikely. Do the majority of people not travel into Dublin City on arriving in Dublin airport? Would those that don't, change their route if an efficient mode of transport was available? Certainly a guaranteed metro trip trumps a 25 euro taxi.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">"This money would be far better spent building an outer orbital ring road outside the M50, relieving the intolerable congestion on the M50, and providing better access to Dublin airport for cars and buses, which is how the overwhelming majority of passengers will continue to get there."</span><br /><br />Firstly, could someone, as I am unsure, tell me how many buses run on the M50 to the airport, and from which locations do their trips originate?<br /><br />This is though, beside the point, and appears only as a diversion, used by Mr. O'Leary to enhance his point. His solution, quite simply, is to build more roads, wider roads and most importantly, roads to the airport. Does this sound like a sustainable solution?<br /><br />Martin Cullen wrote; "It is not an airport rail link. It is designed to provide a high-quality rail service along a north-south corridor, meeting existing transport requirements in that corridor, serving the airport and facilitating major residential development in the Swords area." [<a href="http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/opinion/2006/0904/1156791362886.html">The Irish Times</a>]<br /><br />Therefore Mr. O'Leary is not just protesting a proposed airport link, he is protesting a public transport initiative. He proposes an alternative though, yet one that takes no account of economic or environmental factors. He suggests building another M50, therefore decreasing car journey time in the short term, promoting further car use. While improved public transport encourages people to move from road to 'rail', Mr. O'Leary's solution simply ensures we will have the same (if not worse) problems, of congestion, pollution etc, in 10 years time.<br /><br />This is all completely predictable though. For a man that makes his money through air travel in a time of 'a bit of a climate crisis' [<a href="http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=9548">Zmag</a>]<br /><br />"The Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, recently described climate change as "probably the greatest environmental threat facing the global community". Most scientists would agree; indeed, they would go further by saying it is the greatest threat to the survival of humanity on the planet." [<a href="http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/1997/1124/archive.97112400046.html">The Irish Times</a>]<br /><br /> ['Greenhouse gases are already past threshold that spells disaster.' A May 4 article read: 'Global warming fastest for 20,000 years - and it is mankind's fault.'] [<a href="http://www.medialens.org/alerts/index.php">Media Lens</a>]<br /><br />to hear him suggest the solution to our transport woes is more roads for more cars is not surprising. Air travel has a serious impact on global warming, and Mr. O'Leary's ruthless and successful attempts to increase that pollution, and his bank balance, evidences his disregard for the environment and those that live in it.<br /><br />"<a href="http://www.energybulletin.net/6372.html">Aircraft emissions</a> that go directly into the stratosphere have more than twice the global warming effect of emissions from cars and power stations at ground level and, based on the Government's own calculations, the effect of the 2030 emissions will be equivalent to 44.3 million tons of carbon - 45 per cent of Britain's expected emissions total at that date.<br /><br />That growth alone, the environmental audit committee says, will make Britain's 60 per cent CO2 reduction target "meaningless and unachievable". The clash of interests cannot be ducked any more, say the green groups. "The convenience we enjoy in covering huge distances in a short time is one of the fast-growing threats to life on earth," said Tony Juniper, the executive director of Friends of the Earth.<br /><br />"Aviation is an increasing source of climate-changing pollution and we must take steps to curb it now. Planes pump out eight times more carbon dioxide per passenger mile than a train. A return flight to Australia will release as much carbon dioxide as all the heating, light and cooking for a house for a year."<br /><br />Blake Lee-Harwood, campaigns director for Greenpeace, said: "The simple fact is the boom in cheap air travel cannot be reconciled with the survival of those things we most value about the planet, and will ultimately kill millions of people."<br /><br />No one is suggesting the governments approach to providing sustainable transport solutions has been anything more than abysmal, but Michael O'Leary's offering is just plain ridiculous and impressively short sighted.<br /><br />Why does Michael O'Leary want another M50?<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8600768-115766236682133999?l=toirtap.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>davhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345747203515877168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8600768.post-1157583731696437052006-09-06T23:45:00.000+01:002006-09-07T00:02:11.716+01:00beyond petroleum<br /><br />""Their campaign worked. You can argue on whether they're green, but they've clearly gained brand trust and brand value," said Andrew Winston, co-author of the upcoming book Green to Gold: How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value, and Build Competitive Advantage." [<a href="http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/finance/2006/0812/1155291282439.html">The Irish Times</a>]<br /><br />"As the world approaches a climate collapse that will likely consume millions of lives, this represents the most critical response to BP's latest ruse to appear anywhere in our 'free press'.<br /><br />In considering the credibility of oil industry greenwash, one might deem relevant its documented history of subordinating human life to profits. One might describe its role in supporting dictatorships, in overthrowing obstructive governments, and in suppressing democratic movements. One might even refer to its tireless, fanatical attempts to deny the reality of climate change. But for the mainstream media every fresh deception should be judged on its own merits, in isolation from economics, politics, history, and simple common sense."<br /><br />continued... Latest <a href="http://www.medialens.org/alerts/index.php">Media Lens Alert</a><br /><br />And from an interesting paper on the subject:<br /><br />"Analysis of a recent BP public relations campaign will attempt to show how its call for action masks an intention to carry on with business as usual. The call to the public to change their behaviours, part of a wider discursive formations, will be related to Fowler’s work on the food poisoning scare of the late 1980’s in the UK, whereby mounting criticism of food production techniques was transformed into a the consumer’s problem, who was showered with advice on what they could do in the home to reduce the risk of food poisoning. (Fowler, 1991). The BP discourse will be positioned as part of a wider discourse employed by business and the state which is designed to ensure solutions to this problem are all embedded within discursive formations which seek to preserve the goal of continued economic growth."<span class="postbody"> [<a href="http://www.medialens.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1819">Trust me, I’m an institution: BP and climate change</a>]<br /><br />"</span>Athan Manuel, who directs lands protection for the Sierra Club and who negotiated with BP officials over drilling in ANWR several years ago, gives BP only a qualified endorsement. "Compared to their colleagues in the oil and gas industry, they're the best," he said. <p>Manuel added, however: "Being the best of the oil industry is like being the smartest of the Three Stooges. At the end of the day you're Moe, you're still a stooge." [<a href="http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/finance/2006/0812/1155291282439.html">IT</a>]</p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8600768-115758373169643705?l=toirtap.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>davhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345747203515877168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8600768.post-1157490504745428852006-09-05T22:06:00.000+01:002006-09-05T22:08:24.766+01:00What will be passed off as a democratisation is in fact a way of ensuring the poor global majority continue to have no say<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">George Monbiot</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Tuesday September 5, 2006</span><br />The Guardian<br /><br />The glacier has begun to creak. In the world's most powerful dictatorship we detect the merest hint of a thaw. I am not talking about China or Uzbekistan, Burma or North Korea. This state runs no torture chambers or labour camps. No one is executed, though plenty starve to death as a result of its policies. The unhurried perestroika is taking place in Washington, in the offices of the International Monetary Fund.<br /><br />Like most concessions made by dictatorial regimes, the reforms seem designed not to catalyse further change, but to prevent it. By slightly increasing the shares (and therefore the voting powers) of China, South Korea, Mexico and Turkey, the regime hopes to buy off the most powerful rebel warlords, while keeping the mob at bay. It has even thrown a few coppers from the balcony, for the great unwashed to scuffle over. But no one - except the leaders of the rich nations and the leader writers of just about every newspaper in the rich world - could regard this as an adequate response to its problems.<br /><br />continued... <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,1864923,00.html">The Guardian</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8600768-115749050474542885?l=toirtap.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>davhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345747203515877168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8600768.post-1156802208353686602006-08-28T22:50:00.001+01:002006-08-28T22:56:48.356+01:00"Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has claimed that violence is decreasing, saying that the country would never slide into a civil war.<br /><br />Mr Maliki has refused to be drawn on a timetable for the withdrawal of the 130,000 US and 7,000 British troops who form the bulk of the foreign force in Iraq." [<a href="http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/0828/iraq.html">RTE</a>]<br /><br />"91.7% of Iraqis oppose the presence of coalition troops in the country, up from 74.4% in 2004. 84.5% are "strongly opposed". Among Sunnis, opposition to the US presence went from 94.5% to 97.9% (97.2% "strongly opposed"). Among Shia, opposition to the US presence went from 81.2% to 94.6%, with "strongly opposed" going from 63.5% to 89.7%. Even among the Kurds, opposition went from 19.6% to 63.3%. In other words, it isn't just that Iraqis oppose the American presence - it's that their feelings are intense: only 7.2% "somewhat oppose" and 4.7% "somewhat support."" [<a href="http://www.leninology.blogspot.com/">Lenin's Tomb</a>] [Poll conducted by the <a href="http://www.umich.edu/news/index.html?Releases/2006/Jun06/r061406a">University of Michigan</a>]<br /><br />And on Iran:<br /><br />In the Times today Charles Krauthammer foams at the mouth:<br /><br />"The point of this multilateral exercise cannot be to stop Iran's nuclear programme by diplomacy. That has always been a fantasy. It will take military means. There will be terrible consequences from such an attack. These must be weighed against the terrible consequences of allowing an openly apocalyptic Iranian leadership to acquire weapons of genocide. The point of the current elaborate exercise in multilateral diplomacy is to slightly alter that future calculation.<br /><br /> <p>By demonstrating extraordinary forbearance and accommodation, perhaps we will have purchased the acquiescence of our closest allies - Britain, Germany and, yes, France - to a military strike on that fateful day when diplomacy has run its course." [<a href="http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/world/2006/0828/1156711955603.html">The Irish Times</a>]</p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8600768-115680220835368660?l=toirtap.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>davhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345747203515877168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8600768.post-1156619200488759952006-08-26T20:02:00.000+01:002006-08-26T20:06:40.510+01:00Harold Evans pens some drivel for the Irish Times and the Guardian. Read it <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1857776,00.html">here</a>.<br /><br />Dear Alan and Geraldine,<br /><br /><a href="http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/opinion/2006/0826/1156401041031.html">Harold Evans</a> repeats the 'old lie' in his celebration of Joe Rosenthal's iconic picture of February 23rd 1945 in Saturday's Irish Times (via the Guardian Service). He reiterates the nonsensical rhetoric of those in power in order to glorify the sacrifice of those forced, through economic necessity and blind faith in their government, to put their bodies in the firing line.<br /><br />He divides Iraq's conflict, quite conveniently, into two distinct parts. On the side of good he finds 'the coalition of the willing', on the side of evil he imagines 'the enemies of freedom'. Yet the war's 'great evil' was captured long ago, what now exists is a country suffocating under foreign occupation. And as with any occupation, the occupied tend to steadily lose faith in their right to 'choose their own destiny' the longer they are occupied.<br /><br />If we are to accept, as Mr. Evans wills us to, that the coalition in Iraq epitomise 'freedom' then a recent <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5052138.stm">BBC report</a> detailing the findings of the Multi-national Force - Iraq backs up that assertion. The 'enemy', Iraq's Insurgency, primarily targets coalition forces. The victims of these attacks are also victims of the of the act of aggression that brought about that insurgency, these dead soldiers are victims of their own governments foreign policies.<br /><br />Yet there is no credible reason to believe his assertion, Iraq has been ravaged by foreign forces since 2003. In complete contradiction to Mr. Evans' contention, many of the coalition's crimes against Iraq's people have not and will never face public scrutiny. And if we really have the "free press and an independent judiciary, vigilant for any breach of the constitution and reputation" to which Mr. Evans attests why is it that the blatant crime, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_against_peace">supreme international crime</a>, the 'search for WMDs' itself will never face judgement in the courts of justice?<br /><br />Only weeks ago, quietly whispered <a href="http://leninology.blogspot.com/2006/08/bushs-plan-for-dictatorship-in-iraq.html">revelations</a> emanating from the <a href="http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0D16F83F5A0C748DDDA10894DE404482">corridors of freedom</a> in Washington now cast doubt on what sort of destiny the occupiers intend leaving in Iraq; "Senior administration officials have acknowledged .. that they are considering alternatives other than democracy." History resonates so predictably.<br /><br />The gallantry of the soldier has not been besmirched by 'the few who dishonour their service and their country' though this of course has tarred many with the same brush. It has been the cynical deception of the gallant by their leaders that has sullied he names of those who go to war.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.rjgeib.com/thoughts/abraham/abraham.html">Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori.</a><br /><br />"Sweet and fitting it is to die for one's country."<br /><br />Yours sincerely,<br /><br />[alan.rusbridger@guardian.co.uk, gkennedy@irish-times.ie]<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8600768-115661920048875995?l=toirtap.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>davhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345747203515877168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8600768.post-1156034881820946942006-08-20T01:35:00.000+01:002006-08-20T01:48:01.840+01:00[Email to the BBC news editor, Helen Boaden]<br /><br />A BBC TV news segment earlier today reported that Israeli forces had arrested the Palestinian Deputy Prime Minister, Nasser al-Shaer. The <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5265792.stm">BBC website </a>now states that he is presently being detained by Israeli forces.<br /><br />Under what authority do Israeli forces act within Palestinian territories? The term 'arrest' implies that this action is in some way legal. Nasser as-Shaer is not simply being 'detained' he is being illegally detained.<br /><br />I noticed a similar pacification of language with regard to the capture of the Israeli soldiers by Palestinian and Lebanese militants on RTE. I wrote to the RTE News Editor with respect to this issue:<br /><br />"Israeli detention assures prisoners no more rights than Palestinian captivity. Why does Israel 'detain' and Palestine 'kidnap '?"<br /><br />He responded:<br /><br />"Fair point. We have put a message in our general mail to this effect."<br /><br />The BBC has continually referred to the capture of Israeli soldiers by Palestinian and Lebanese militants as 'kidnappings', yet Israel's captures are referred to as 'seizures' and 'arrests'. Could you please explain this disparity?<br /><br />Yours etc...<br /><br /><br />The BBC has given a classic lesson in subtle propaganda in its reporting of this latest 'arrest'. The use of the terms arrest, seize and detain impart a level of legality on to Israel's actions and to top it off the beeb use a little bit of 'human perspective' to clarify Israel's intentions:<br /><br />"According to the detained man's wife, "several" military vehicles circled the house before dawn after which troops came to the door.<br /><br />An officer told her after checking their identity documents: "Sorry madame, but your husband has to come with us".<br /><br />"He let him first say goodbye to our four children," she told Reuters news agency."<br /><br />The picture painted is of a friendly neighbourhood cop. Yet other stories don't paint the same caring picture:<br /><br />"We were asked to stay at a home of a Palestinian family in Balata overnight as they expected the soldiers to come for their son. Their son as usual, has done nothing wrong but it is one of the tactics that the soldiers use to take people from the Camp. They arrested the father 3 times and told him that if his son did not give himself up they would either shoot the father or arrest and jail him.<br /><br />As Internationals we slept in the house overnight with them. At first when we went to bed the five of us, 2 Palestinian girls as well described it as a 'PYJAMA PARTY'. Lots of laughter, again being force fed and watered, lots of story telling.<br /><br />Approx 3 hours later we were woken up to hear the soldiers outside the house. We all sat in the living room watching t.v., drinking tea. Listening to the jeeps outside just wondering when they were going to come in the house.<br /><br />I looked at this young man and realised for the first time, I AM HORRIFIED TO ADMIT THIS that this is real reality here. Sitting here across from this young man who was just waiting on them coming to get him. He had washed and dressed and knew for the protection of his family he had to let them take him away.<br /><br />Could anyone imagine in Britain what this must be like. Knowing you will be taken to jail for years and years, beaten up, leaving your family behind. All the time only doing this FOR THE PROTECTION OF YOUR FAMILY. I know from experience here if the Israeli Army do not get the person they want, yes they do shoot or arrest another member of their family."<br /><br /><a href="http://www.medialens.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1660">Margaret Pacetta (GPHRC)</a><br /><br />via Derek at MLMB<br /><br />Compare to RTE reporting <a href="http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/0819/mideast.html">here</a>.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8600768-115603488182094694?l=toirtap.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>davhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345747203515877168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8600768.post-1155684841041606732006-08-16T00:18:00.000+01:002006-08-16T00:34:01.066+01:00Months in the making - RTE report on Iraq's dead<br /><br />a whole FOUR minutes:<br /><a href="http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/0815/9news.html"><br />RTE 9 O'Clock News 15/08/06</a><br /><br /><br />Previous posts on the issue the media ignores:<br /><br />toirtap Archive - <a href="http://toirtap.blogspot.com/2006_04_01_toirtap_archive.html">RTE facts and figures</a><br /><br />and then (from May):<br /><br />Dear Mr. Good,<br /><br />In reference to an email you sent me in response to some questions I had regarding RTE's reporting of Iraqi mortality I have a follow up question:<br /><br />It is now over a month and a half since you wrote:<br /><br />"We are hoping to broadcast a report around the time of the anniversary of the fall of Saddam Hussein which explores the issue of why it is so difficult to get accurate and meaningful figures on the number of civilians killed in Iraq."<br /><br />and I have yet to see any report discussing the number of Iraqi civilians killed as a result of the coalition's invasion. I have yet to see any interviews with Les Roberts of the Lancet study. I have yet to see any critical analysis of any of the reports or surveys of Iraqi mortality.<br /><br />What I have seen, almost every day, are reports of tens of Iraqis killed in suicide bombing, gun fights, etc. The problem being, theses deaths give no indication of the bigger picture. How many Iraqis are dead? How many of those deaths could have been avoided if Ireland had not allowed the coalition to utilize Shannon airport? When can I, and the rest of the license payers, expect to see a report on this important issue?<br /><br />While I commend your recent report on last years earthquake in Kashmir, there was much back patting for the work that has been accomplished as a result of Irish aid. While I support all efforts to help those whose lives were ruined by the earthquake, I can't help but think, while on the one hand we are helping people who were affected by a natural disaster, we are on the other hand contributing to a man made disaster in Iraq.<br /><br />I look forward to your reply.<br /><br />Yours sincerely,<br /><br /><br />Dear [Me],<br /><br /> The report about the difficulty of getting accurate figures on the number of civilians killed in Iraq has not been completed. But it is in train. We have had some difficulty in tracking down interviewees – Les Roberts is in Baltimore – but we do hope to broadcast the report before too long, though it's unlikely to be in the next two weeks.<br /><br /> Regards,<br /><br /> Michael Good<br /><br /><br />Dear Mr. Good,<br /><br />Thank you for responding and I look forward to the report on the anniversary of the fall of Saddam.<br /><br />However, as you seemed to evade the principal question I asked, I'll leave it with you again.<br /><br />Is there an intrinsic quality to the Iraq war that invalidates a survey of the dead, which conducted in many other wars and countries has been perfectly acceptable?<br /><br />Regards,<br /><br />For more information on this issue please read the links below, you may find something left unanswered by Les Roberts. Be sure to quiz him on the Congo figures too.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.medialens.org/alerts/05/050906_burying_the_lancet_part2.php">http://www.medialens.org/alerts</a><br /><a href="http://www.medialens.org/alerts/05/050905_burying_the_lancet_part1.php">Media Lens 1</a><br /><a href="http://www.medialens.org/alerts/06/060125_paved_with_good.php">Media Lens 2</a><br /><a href="http://www.medialens.org/alerts/06/060126_paved_with_good_part2.php">Media Lens 3</a><br /><a href="http://www.medialens.org/alerts/06/060410_iraq_body_count.php">Media Lens 4</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8600768-115568484104160673?l=toirtap.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>davhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345747203515877168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8600768.post-1155233791782723732006-08-10T19:11:00.000+01:002006-08-13T23:31:09.910+01:00Printed here: <a href="http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/letters/2006/0812/index.html">The Irish Times</a><br /><br />[Update: Letter to the Irish Times]<br /><a href="http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/letters/2006/0812/index.html"></a><br /><br />Dear Madam,<br /><br />It was reported yesterday, and daily over the last month, in the Irish Times that Hizbullah has struck Israel with thousands of rockets in the last month. A barrage of deadly weapons striking fear no doubt into the civilian population. Reportedly, the number of rockets fired now exceeds 3,000.<br /><br />While this is obviously a shocking statistic, I have yet to hear in over a month of intense coverage how many bombs Israel has dropped on Lebanon. According to some reports Israel dropped, last Saturday alone, 4,000 bombs within seven hours. Destroying the border village of Aytarun with 2,000 bombs.<br /><br /><p>The total death toll from the Israeli invasion is approaching 1,000, with many more injured. One third of those deaths are from children under 12. Can we have a little perspective?<br /></p>Yours sincerely,<br /><br /><br />The Irish Times <a href="http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/world/2006/0810/1154691559445.html">reports</a>:<br /><div><br />"According to the army's plan, Israeli forces will push to the Litani river, and beyond at some points, with the aim of forcing the Katyusha rockets out of the range of towns and cities in northern Israel which have been struck by over 3,000 rockets in the last month. Officials estimated it would take a week for troops to reach the Litani, with the army then spending a few weeks trying to clear the area of Hizbullah fighters and of rockets.<br /><br />But how many bombs have Israel <a href="http://zaman.com/?bl=international&alt=&amp;hn=35401">dropped</a>:<br /><br /></div><div></div><span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span>"On Saturday, an Israeli offense consisting of more than 250 air attacks dropped 4,000 bombs within seven hours. <p>The border village of Aytarun was hit by 2,000 bombs and almost completely destroyed. </p><p>The total death toll from the attacks is approaching 1,000. One third of those deaths are from children under 12."</p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8600768-115523379178272373?l=toirtap.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>davhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345747203515877168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8600768.post-1154785823355440142006-08-05T14:46:00.000+01:002006-08-05T14:57:04.623+01:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://cache.aftenposten.no/multimedia/archive/00433/APTOPIX_MIDEAST_FIG_433987s.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px;" src="http://cache.aftenposten.no/multimedia/archive/00433/APTOPIX_MIDEAST_FIG_433987s.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Juan Cole <a href="http://www.juancole.com/2006/08/wiping-off-face-of-map-beirut-before.html">explains</a> the difference:<br /><br />"The difference between Ahmadinejad and Olmert is that the Iranian president is a blowhard. The one who had practical plans to wipe a country off the map was Olmert."<br /><br />Picture: Beirut before and after<br /><br />via...Ron F at <a href="http://members5.boardhost.com/medialens/msg/1154767596.html">MLMB</a><br /><br />Picture via...<a href="http://cache.aftenposten.no/multimedia/archive/00433/APTOPIX_MIDEAST_FIG_433987s.jpg">here</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8600768-115478582335544014?l=toirtap.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>davhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345747203515877168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8600768.post-1154716584904306252006-08-04T19:30:00.000+01:002006-08-05T13:57:07.046+01:00<div>Dear Madam, (Email to the Irish Times)<br /><br />Why does the Irish Times repeatedly entertain dis-information from those that wish to demonise Iran? On Thursday Sean Gannon, Chairman, Irish Friends of Israel, wrote; "Mahmoud <span id="misp_0_1" class="hm">Ahmadinejad</span> has repeatedly demanded that Israel be "wiped off the map."" M<font><span id="misp_0_2" class="hm">ary</span> Fitzgerald wrote the same over a week ago. Rob <span id="misp_0_3" class="hm">Weatherill</span> the same a week before.</span></div><font><font> </span></span><div><font><font><font><font> </span></span></span></span></div><font><font><font><font><font><font> </span></span></span></span></span></span><div><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font>The Washington-based Middle East Media Research Institute, gives the following as the correct translation of the remark in question: "Imam [ Khomeini] said: 'This regime that is occupying <span id="misp_0_4" class="hm">Qods</span> [ Jerusalem] must be eliminated from the pages of history.' This sentence is very wise. The issue of Palestine is not an issue on which we can compromise."<br /><br />Neither the quote, nor the speech it was contained in endorse military action, indeed it does not support killing anyone at all. The phrase you refer to is in actuality "almost metaphysical." <span id="misp_0_5" class="hm">Professer</span> Juan Cole explained "It is in fact probably a reference to some phrase in a medieval Persian poem. It is not about tanks."<br /><br />While these writers may disapprove of the present Iranian regime they must at least be obliged base their disapproval on something real, not the misinterpreted rhetoric of a hardliner. The purpose of using this inaccurate translation is to portray the Iranian President as a blood thirsty war monger, and therefore justify Israel's aggression towards the Lebanese population. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><div><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><div><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><span id="misp_0_7" class="hm">Hizbullah</span> alleged use of human shields is also offered as <font>further justification of Israeli aggression, yet <span id="misp_0_8" class="hm">Hizbullah</span> primarily target Israeli military targets. And despite constant reports of barrages of missiles falling near Israeli towns they inflicted only a fraction of the number of deaths Israel has managed.<br /><br />Many of the incidents that have elicited this explanation from Israel and it's allies, on further inspection, have shown that <span id="misp_0_12" class="hm">Hizbullah</span> activity has been almost non-existent in cases of alleged human shields.<br /><br />Even <span style="font-size:100%;"><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font>the 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><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font>Minister for Justice </span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font> has rebutted the idea that the </span><span id="misp_0_14" class="hm">Hizbullah</span> force non-combatants to act as human shields:<br /><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font> </span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font> </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><p><span 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whether entire villages should be flattened, he [Israeli Justice Minister </span><span id="misp_0_15" class="hm">Haim</span> Ramon]said:"These places are not villages. They are military bases in which Hezbollah people are hiding and from which they are operating." 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those now in south Lebanon are terrorists who are related in some way to Hezbollah,"he said."<br 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href="http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/letters/2006/0803/" target="_blank" onclick="return 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href="http://www.ireland.com/focus/gageby/" target="_blank" onclick="return 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/>Human Rights Watch </span><a href="http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2006/07/18/lebano13760.htm">reported</a>, "Israeli forces have systematically failed to distinguish between combatants and civilians in their military campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon," <a href="http://hrw.org/campaigns/israel_lebanon/">and</a>, "Hezbollah's attacks in Israel on Sunday and Monday were at best indiscriminate at worst the deliberate targeting of civilians."<br /><br />Notice the use of language, 'failed to distinguish' versus 'deliberate targeting'.<br /><br />As Chomsky noted, Israel 'must do better', terrorists 'evil'.<br /><br />Via...<a href="http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054971651&amp;page=54">Klas</a> at boards.<font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><font></span><a href="http://www.hrw.org/english/docs/2006/07/18/lebano13760.htm" target="_blank"><br /></a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8600768-115471658490430625?l=toirtap.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>davhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345747203515877168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8600768.post-1154561238153520322006-08-03T00:24:00.000+01:002006-08-04T15:04:27.640+01:00<a href="http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/0802/lebanon.html">RTE</a> contradict themselves:<br /><br />"Air strikes resume<br /><br />Israeli air strikes resumed overnight, destroying two bridges in northern Lebanon and leaving three Lebanese soldiers dead in the southern port of Sidon.<br />Israel had called a 48-hour partial halt to its air assault after a raid on the Lebanese village of Qana that killed 54 civilians, most of them children."<br /><br />Partially halted air strikes resume?<br /><br />Only the 'partially' part of this sentence is true. <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,1834225,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=12">The Guardian</a> reported on Monday:<br /><br />"Israeli air force jets bombed southern Lebanon this morning, despite the 48-hour suspension of air strikes negotiated by the US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, yesterday after an attack that left more than 60 dead.<br /><br />Today's strikes, near the village of Taibe, were carried out in support of ground forces operating in the area and did not target anything specific, the Israeli army said. Israeli troops this afternoon moved into the Aita al-Shaab area of Lebanon in a new incursion, the army said."<br /><br />It is also worth noting "Israeli foreign ministry official told <a href="http://news.monstersandcritics.com/middleeast/article_1185358.php/Israel_plans_48-hour_cessation_of_airstrikes">Deutsche Presse- Agentur</a> that despite the announced cessation, Israel would continue to attack any Hezbollah target actively engaged in attacking Israel."<br /><br />So Israel would continue it's attacks of legitimate targets, and cease what?<br /><br /><br /><br />There also appears no need to mention an environmental disaster:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/07/29/060729110246.0h0g1zoy.html">Lebanese Environment Minister Yacub Sarraf</a> told AFP Saturday:<br /><br />"It's without doubt the biggest environmental catastrophe that the Mediterranean has known and it risks having terrible consequences not only for our country but for all the countries of the eastern Mediterranean."<br /><br />"<a href="http://members5.boardhost.com/medialens/msg/1154265088.html">Israeli air strikes</a> on an electricity plant have released oil that has now spread over much of Lebanon's coastline.*<br /><br />More than 15,000 tons of oil have hit the coast after the bombing of five of six storage tanks at the plant in the coastal village El-Jiye, 30km south of Beirut. The northern winds have taken the massive oil slick to beaches and ports a long way up the coast." [<a href="http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article5297.shtml">here too</a>]<br /><br />While it is necessary to report, "Oil prices jumped back above $75 a barrel this morning as hopes for a quick ceasefire in Lebanon faded while concerns grew at the approach of a tropical storm in the US." [<a href="http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/0802/oil.html">RTE</a>]<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8600768-115456123815352032?l=toirtap.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>davhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345747203515877168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8600768.post-1154472192650516582006-08-01T23:41:00.000+01:002006-08-01T23:43:12.660+01:00Selling US-Israeli aggression to the Middle East<br /><br />over at the <a href="http://leninology.blogspot.com/2006/08/excuses-excuses.html">Tomb</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8600768-115447219265051658?l=toirtap.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>davhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345747203515877168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8600768.post-1154451902782070932006-08-01T17:59:00.000+01:002006-08-01T18:05:02.796+01:00The BBC and RTE follow suit in not stating the obvious:<br /><br /><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/5233842.stm"><strong>Israel steps up ground offensive</strong> </a><br /><br />"How far Israel will push into Lebanon is not yet clear Heavy clashes have been taking place in southern Lebanon between Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters, after Israel vowed to widen its ground offensive."<br /><br /><a href="http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/0801/lebanon.html">A spokesman for the UN force in the region confirmed that in the morning a limited number of Israeli troops had staged a new incursion around the area of Houla in the southeastern sector of the border.</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/0801/lebanon.html">Israeli troops backed by tanks made a new incursion near the village of Mais Al-Jabal, where they were encountering fierce resistance from Hezbollah.</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/0801/lebanon.html">Yesterday, Israel's Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, said his country was not ready to stop the campaign.</a><br /><br /><br />And <a href="http://members5.boardhost.com/medialens/msg/1154450769.html">Dahr Jamail </a>debunks the Qana human shield myth:<br /><br />QANA, Aug 1 (IPS) - Red Cross workers and residents of Qana, whereIsraeli bombing killed at least 60 civilians, have told IPS that noHezbollah rockets were launched from the city before the Israeli airstrike.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8600768-115445190278207093?l=toirtap.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>davhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345747203515877168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8600768.post-1154300022147168352006-07-30T23:17:00.000+01:002006-08-20T01:59:59.986+01:00Update [Letter to RTE]<br /><br />Dear Mr. Good,<br /><br />Last nights 9 O'clock News had several special reports covering the latest civilian slaughter in Qana. Scenes of children's bodies being removed from the broken building were interspersed with numerous opportunities for Israeli apologetics. In all cases they attempted to shift blame for the bombing onto Hizbullah, as if dropping bombs on a sovereign country is not a crime in itself. A day after the killing of over 50 people, mostly children, by Israeli Defense Forces an RTE report covering the massacre devoted half the coverage to Israeli justification for the bombing. We were told that it is Hizbullah's fault for attacking Israel, we were told the people were warned to leave, we were told they were used as human shields. Richard Crowley reported that Hizbullah is not only attacking from behind civilian shields, but 'effectively forcing people at gun point to stay in the villages.' <br /><br /> Mr. Crowley offered no evidence for this contention and no Israeli spokesperson suggested these people were held at gunpoint, effectively or not. This might have been implied, again without evidence, by the Israeli story that the people could have escaped before the building collapsed. However this version of events is refuted by eye witnesses:<br /><br />"Witnesses at the scene corroborated the IDF claim that the strike on the building, which is located in the Hariva neighborhood of Qana, was carried out at 1:00 A.M. After the initial strike, some of the building's residents exited in an attempt to survey the damage, in effect saving themselves.<br /><br />A few minutes later, IAF planes struck the building once again, causing the walls to collapse on the residents who did not vacate, killing them in the process."<br /><br /><a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/744332.html">http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/744332.html</a><br /><br />The extent to which this sort of propaganda has infiltrated the news media is evidenced in a recent Guardian article. Where there were once Lebanese villages there is now a "Fresh ground assault on Hizbullah villages."<br /> <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/syria/story/0,,1833965,00.html">http://www.guardian.co.uk/syria/story/0,,1833965,00.html</a><br /><br />I have yet to see such 'open minded' reporting of Hizbullah's killing. While Israel apparently use precision guided munitions in order to minimise civilian casualties, Hizbullah fire indiscriminately, in order to terrorise. Yet the ratio of civilian to military death caused by Hizbullah gives no weight to this argument.<br /><br />Jonathan Cook noted recently that "Hizbullah's rockets have been targeted overwhelming at strategic locations: the northern economic hub of Haifa, its satellite towns and the array of military sites across the Galilee. "....It is obvious to everyone in Nazareth, for example, that the rockets landing close by, and once on, the city over the past week are searching out, and some have fallen extremely close to, the weapons factory sited near us.<br /><br />Hizbullah seems to have as little concern for the collateral damage of civilian deaths as Israel -- each wants the balance of terror in its favour -- but it is nonsense to suggest that Hizbullah's goals are any more ignoble than Israel's."<br /><br /><a href="http://members5.boardhost.com/medialens/msg/1153978821.html">http://members5.boardhost.com/medialens/msg/1153978821.html</a><br /><br />The basis for the Israeli defense of the bombing is suspect. The idea that Hizbullah use Lebanese civilians as human shields is not entirely convincing. Firstly, Hizbullah's existence relies heavily on the support of the Lebanese people. Secondly, in all the bombings by Israel that have resulted in civilian casualties, and therefore elicited an excuse, there have been few if any Hizbullah fighters among the dead.<br /><br />Israel has since given further justification for the attack with the release of video 'evidence' allegedly showing Hizbullah launching rockets from the Qana area. Yet the footage shows the area the rockets were launched from were not, as the building in question was, in a reasonably built up area.<br /><br /> Tom Clonan's article in today's Irish Times addressed this Israeli excuse:<br /><br /> "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."<br /><br /><a href="http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/world/2006/0731/1154075777662.html">http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/world/2006/0731/1154075777662.html</a><br /><br />The constant repetition of the 'human shield' story may explain why the "Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Gideon Meir, reportedly said: "We have never had it so good. The hasbara (propaganda) effort is a well-oiled machine.""<br /><br /><a href="http://members5.boardhost.com/medialens/msg/1154350404.html">http://members5.boardhost.com/medialens/msg/1154350404.html</a><br /><br />The Israeli Minister for Justice has himself rebutted the idea that the Hizbullah force non-combatants to act as human shields:<br /><br />"Asked whether entire villages should be flattened, he [Israeli Justice Minister Haim Ramon]said:"These places are not villages. They are military bases in which Hezbollah people are hiding and from which they are operating."<br /><br />"All those now in south Lebanon are terrorists who are related in some way to Hezbollah,"he said."<br /><br />Former Labour government adviser, David Clark, wrote in the Guardian recently, "Israel's chief of staff, General Dan Halutz, promised to "turn back the clock in Lebanon by 20 years"<br />As in Lebanon, the intention is to force civilians to turn on the militias by inflicting as much pain and suffering as the Israeli government thinks it can get away with."<br /><br /><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,1833930,00.html">http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,1833930,00.html</a><br /><br />The man who wrote the IDF code of ethics, Professor Asa Kasher told The Jerusalem Post it may be "morally justified" to obliterate areas with high concentrations of terrorists, even if civilian casualties result.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1153292016092&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter">http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1153292016092&amp;pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter</a><br /><br />Mary Rafferty took the definition of 'terrorism' and applied it to Israeli actions in Lebanon; "Bombing civilian populations back to the Middle Ages, to a condition where they have no electricity, no water, no sewerage, no fuel, no roads, no vehicles and are running out of food certainly qualifies as an act of state terrorism."<br /><br /><a href="http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/opinion/2006/0720/1152913471089.html">http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/opinion/2006/0720/1152913471089.html</a><br /><br />Which leads us back to Mr. Cowley's suggestion that Hizbullah holds civilians at gunpoint. It could be argued that Israel's bombing of major infrastructure as well as fleeing convoys of families, may in fact amount to their holding of civilians at gunpoint, yet this would I presume never be reported by RTE.<br /><br />While much has been said of Hizbullah's 'indiscriminate' rocket attacks, Jonathon Cook has been alone in commenting on Israel's use of Muslim villages as human shields:<br /><br />"Several Israeli armaments factories and storage depots have been built close by Arab communities in the north of Israel, possibly in the hope that by locating them there Arab regimes will be deterred from attacking Israel's enormous armory. In other words, the inhabitants of several of Israel's Arab towns and villages have been turned into collective human shields – protection for Israel's war machine."<br /><br />And little has been made of Human Rights Watch's statement that:<br /><br />"(The Qana attack) is the latest product of an indiscriminate bombing campaign that the Israel Defence Forces have waged in Lebanon."<br /><br /><a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/744765.html">http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/744765.html</a><br /><br />While Hizbullah's tactics are rightly criticised, Israel's own penchant for the same tactics, on a much larger scale, are rarely commented on.<br /><br />It is imperative that the media make the distinction between Israeli propaganda and the reality of this conflict.<br /><br />I look forward to your response.<br /><br />Regards,<br /><br />RTE propagate the alleged Hizbullah tactic of holding the civilian population as human shields and at gunpoint in tonight's 9 O'Clock News.<br /><br />While RTE went to great lengths to make clear the IDF warned people to leave, although also pointing out that they accepted that some could not, they repeated the Israeli sponsored story that Hizbullah uses the Lebanese population as human shields. As if this in some way excuses the massacre in Qana.<br /><br />Further to this is the worrying development, reported by Richard Crowley, is that Hizbullah is not only attacking from behind civilian shields, but 'effectively forcing people at gun point to stay in the villages.'<br /><br />He offered no evidence for this contention and no Israeli spokesperson suggested these people were held at gunpoint, effectively or not. This might have been implied, again without evidence, by the Israeli story that the people could have escaped before the building collapsed. Yet, given that Hizbullah relies on support from the Lebanese people, this sounds less than believable.<br />The BBC explain where this idea originated from; "Hezbollah blockaded the city before the battle began, and we now know at gunpoint forced the Lebanese residents to stay inside the city," Cpt Spielman said.<br /><br />However, with Israel bombing major infrastructure as well as fleeing convoys of families, it could be argued that Israel may in fact be holding civilians at gunpoint, yet this would I presume never be reported by RTE.<br /><br />While much has been said of Hizbullah's 'indiscriminate' rocket attacks, Jonathon Cook has been alone in commenting on Israel's use of Muslim villages as human shields:<br /><br />"Several Israeli armaments factories and storage depots have been built close by Arab communities in the north of Israel, possibly in the hope that by locating them there Arab regimes will be deterred from attacking Israel's enormous armory. In other words, the inhabitants of several of Israel's Arab towns and villages have been turned into collective human shields – protection for Israel's war machine."<br /><br />The Israeli apologies for the civilian slaughter are also at odds with the words of their Minister for Justice:<br /><br />"Asked whether entire villages should be flattened, he [Israeli Justice Minister Haim Ramon]said:"These places are not villages. They are military bases in which Hezbollah people are hiding and from which they are operating."<br /><br />Ramon said Israel has given civilians in southern Lebanon sufficient warning to leave the area, and that those left behind should be considered Hezbollah sympathizers."All those now in south Lebanon are terrorists who are related in some way to Hezbollah,"he said."<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8600768-115430002214716835?l=toirtap.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>davhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345747203515877168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8600768.post-1154263351390443432006-07-30T13:24:00.000+01:002006-07-30T16:45:12.716+01:00<span style="font-family: georgia;font-family:Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:100%;" >Wouldn't you think if you drop enough 500lb bombs on a civilian area you are bound to kill a few people.<br /><br />Note the prominent position of the Israeli army 'explanation' for the slaughter.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/0730/lebanon.html">RTE</a> reports today:<br /><br />An Israeli air strike has killed at least 54 Lebanese civilians, including 21 children, in the southern village of Qana.<br /><br />Jacob Dallal, a spokesman for the Israeli military, said it was not Israel's intention to kill civilians.<br /><br />Several houses collapsed and a three-storey building where about 100 civilians were sheltering was destroyed, witnesses and rescue workers said.<br /><br />Distraught people screamed in grief and anger amid the rubble of wrecked buildings.<br /><br />Israel's military said it had warned residents of Qana to leave and said Hezbollah bore responsibility for using it to fire rockets at the Jewish state.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/0727/lebanon.html">and</a> a few days ago:<br /><br />The UN Security Council adopted a statement today expressing shock and distress at Israel's bombing of a UN outpost in Lebanon that killed four unarmed UN peacekeepers.<br /><br />Israel has apologized and called the incident a mistake. UN officials said they asked Israel a dozen times to stop bombing near the post in the hours before it was destroyed.<br /><br /><br />The question is, what came first, the bomb or the press release denying all responsibility?<br /></span><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8600768-115426335139044343?l=toirtap.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>davhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345747203515877168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8600768.post-1154113980650865352006-07-28T20:06:00.000+01:002006-07-29T06:08:43.166+01:00In a recent Sky News report it was suggested to the the Israeli army spokesperson being interviewed that perhaps the Lebanese government were unable to control Hizbullah. He responded that this was probably the case and that is why <span style="font-weight: bold;">the Israeli army are now helping them conclude this task</span>.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/opinion/2006/0728/1153813830413.html">Joschka Fischer</a>, 'a leader of the Green Party for nearly 20 years', explains in today's Irish Times how this present war offers a realistic chance for peace.<br /><br />He writes that since "Hizbullah ... does not act in the interest of the Lebanese state. Rather, its interests are defined in Damascus and Tehran, where much of its arsenal originates. This ... essentially constitutes a "proxy war"."<br /><br />Yet few/no-one in the mainstream press has dared to call the present Israeli 'incursions' a proxy war of US making.<br /><br />He traces the cause of this war back to "the attack on a military post in Israel in which several soldiers were killed and one was abducted."<br /><br />While at this stage there is nolonger need to go into detail about who did what first, <a href="http://www.commondreams.org/news2006/0728-17.htm">FAIR</a> have gone into some about the 'less important' events leading up to the 'escalation' kidnapping.<br /><br />He continues; the Hizbullah response to Israeli shelling, "firing missiles on Haifa," means "the issue is no longer primarily one of territory, restitution, or occupation. Instead, the main issue is the strategic threat to Israel's existence."<br /><br />Yet constant bombardment of Lebanese infrastructure is not a threat to Lebanon's existence? Is their existence recognised?<br /><br />Which brings him keenly on to UN Resolution 1559:<br /><br />"This miscalculation will become obvious as four developments unfold: Israel avoids being sucked into a ground war in Lebanon; UN Resolution 1559 - which requires the disarmament of all militias in Lebanon with the help of the international community - is enforced;today's de facto "anti-hegemon" coalition, comprising moderate Arab countries (including moderate Palestinians), is transformed into a robust and serious peace initiative; the Middle East Quartet, led by the US, becomes actively engaged for a viable solution and provides the necessary political, economic, and military guarantees to sustain it."<br /><br />But what does <a href="http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2004/sc8181.doc.htm">1559</a> actually call for:<br /><br />["By a vote of 9 in favour to none against, with 6 abstentions, the Council adopted resolution 1559 (2004), reaffirming its call for the strict respect of Lebanon's sovereignty, territorial integrity, unity, and political independence under the sole and exclusive authority of the Government of Lebanon throughout the country."<br /><br />"By acting in a robust manner, [the Council] was showing its confidence in Lebanon's future, which must include its full restoration of sovereignty, and not the intensification of interference."<br /><br />The resolution states:<br /><br />"Reiterating its strong support for the territorial integrity, sovereignty and political independence of Lebanon within its internationally territorially recognized borders,"<br /><br />"Noting the determination of Lebanon to ensure the withdrawal of all non-Lebanese forces from Lebanon,<br /><br />JOHN DANFORTH (United States) said that the Security Council had consistently affirmed that it supported the full sovereignty and independence of Lebanon, free of all foreign forces.]<br /><br />Therefore the resolution's primary stated function is to protect Lebanon's sovereignty, fundamentally by the removal of all foreign forces. Since it is Lebanon's choice whether to 'evict' Hizbollah, or indeed call the International community to assist in this eviction, Israel has absolutely no rights to enforce the resolution militarily, as this would constitute a breach of the resolution by Israel, not to mention it would be an act of aggression. But as I outlined at the beginning of the post, Israel makes no bones about stating it is acting within a sovereign country as a foreign +invading+ force. And obviously no-one on Sky News would dare question the legality of this.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/world/2006/0727/1153813803465.html">Lara Marlowe</a> wrote yesterday in the Irish Times: "Do Washington and Tel Aviv not see the irony in their demand for enforcement of Security Council resolution 1559, which calls for the disarming of Hizbullah? Since Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon, the US has vetoed 32 Security Council resolutions criticising Israel."<br /><br />But Joschka Fischer also neglects to see the problem with Israel's invasion, or 'limited incursion' in the world of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doublespeak">doublespeak</a>, of Lebanon. "Israel has a key role to play here. Twice, it withdrew its troops unilaterally behind its recognised borders, namely from southern Lebanon and Gaza. Both times, Israel's land-for-peace formula resulted in land for war. Now, with Israel's existence under threat, peace with its Arab neighbours seems a more distant prospect than ever."<br /><br />Therefore Israel must now remain as occupiers of a sovereign country? They certainly couldn't make the same 'land-for-peace' deals that went so horribly. So horribly indeed that they appeared to be a massive PR stunt focusing on the withdrawal, and typically not, on the resettlement in the West Bank.<br /><br />While we on the periphery of the news media still argue over who started the war the irony of the mainstream media's perspective remains lost. <a href="http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/world/2006/0726/1153813781075.html">Mary Fitzgerald</a>, the Irish Times' promoted expert on Islam worries: "Fears are growing that a whole new generation may turn to militancy." She quotes Oraib Rantawi, director of the Al Quds Centre for Political Studies in Amman, Jordan, "Arab public opinion is seething with anger. Even those secular Arabs who would have opposed Hizbullah before, now feel they have to support them against this aggression by Israel. Anti-American sentiment is rising in a very serious and dangerous way, as is opposition to any normalisation with Israel. It puts the entire democratic process in the region in jeopardy."<br /><br />So we are to believe peace in Lebanon and Palestine is being put in jeopardy by Arab Muslims, not Israeli fire power. At no point do these experts on Islam ask, "is anti-Muslim sentiment on the rise?" or "why is that those that profess they want only peace in the Middle East are the same ones who supply the weapons and the International support for the conflicts that stand in its way?"<br /><br />Or "are we seeing the product of the military radicalism of the Israeli youth?"<br /><br />According to <a href="http://members.boardhost.com/DT3rd/msg/1154094073.html">GlobalResearch.org</a> an Israeli/Palestinian peace agreement was in process, based on 1967 borders, following the capture of the Israeli soldier, yet th meeting was halted by Israeli Shin Bet internal Security Service arresting Abu Tir and Abu Arafa (The Palestinian Cabinet Minister for Jerusalem Khaled Abu Arafa, and the senior Hama's Member of the Palestinian Parliament, Sheikh Muhamed Abu Tir) and warned them not to attend the meeting, under threats of detention.<br /><br />"Israel simultaneously began conducting covert incursions on to Lebanese territory, provoking Hizbollah’s capture of two IDF soldiers. Credible sources confirm that the soldiers were not abducted on Israeli territory, but inside Lebanon. Like the scuppered peace negotiations, Western officials have ignored this, and misinformed the media. However, some reports corroborate the sources. Israeli officials, for instance, informed Forbes (12.7.06) that “Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers during clashes Wednesday across the border in southern Lebanon, prompting a swift reaction from Israel.”"<br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">So what does the future hold?</span><br /><br />According to <a href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=A%20C20060723&amp;articleId=2797">General Wesley Clark</a>--the Pentagon, by late 2001, was Planning to Attack Lebanon<br /><br />"Winning Modern Wars" (page 130) General Clark states the following:<br /><br />"As I went back through the Pentagon in November 2001, one of the senior military staff officers had time for a chat. Yes, we were still on track for going against Iraq, he said. But there was more. This was being discussed as part of a five-year campaign plan, he said, and there were a total of seven countries, beginning with Iraq, then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Iran, Somalia and Sudan.<br /><br />...He said it with reproach--with disbelief, almost--at the breadth of the vision. I moved the conversation away, for this was not something I wanted to hear. And it was not something I wanted to see moving forward, either. ...I left the Pentagon that afternoon deeply concerned."<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8600768-115411398065086535?l=toirtap.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>davhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345747203515877168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8600768.post-1153919673709557592006-07-26T14:05:00.000+01:002006-07-26T14:14:33.866+01:00<a href="http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/opinion/2006/0726/1153813780810.html">Rory Miller</a> is back in the Irish Times again, and he is on form this time:<br /><br />"[Blair] has described this conflict as the "single most pressing political challenge in our world" and has pledged to make a resolution of the conflict his own "personal priority" as well as a "central priority" of British foreign policy."<br /><br />and how does he intend to accomplish this?<br /><br />"He has also avoided the inflammatory language that other EU leaders have employed to condemn Israel over the last six years, and his government has shown more understanding of Israeli concerns than most of its European counterparts."<br /><br />Understanding Israeli concerns, that sounds like a key issue. Which explains why he now "believes that the best way to do this is to support the US position of opposing the imposition of a ceasefire on Israel."<br /><br />But he is not +just+ backing the opposition to a ceasefire is he?<br /><br /><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/07/26/wmid26.xml">The Telegraph</a> reported today:<br /><br />"Britain has been used as a staging post for major shipments of bunker-busting bombs from America to Israel. The Israelis want the 5,000lb smart bombs to attack the bunkers being used by Hizbollah leaders in Lebanon."<br /><br />Sounds like Tony is not hedging his bets, it's pretty obvious who his money is riding on.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8600768-115391967370955759?l=toirtap.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>davhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345747203515877168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8600768.post-1153856200953836692006-07-25T20:32:00.000+01:002006-07-25T23:55:56.116+01:00<div>Update (and a spell check)<br /><br />Letter to the Irish Times:<br /><br />Dear Madam,<br /><br />Maurice Foley's attempted demolition of Noam Chomsky and Co.'s letter of last Friday was a worthwhile exercise. He managed to find, albeit I presume with an amount of difficulty, several mainstream sources for that relatively unknown event Mr. Chomsky referenced, the kidnapping of two Palestinian civilians by the Israeli military.<br /><br />Unfortunately, Mr. Foley's criticism is flawed. Mr. Chomsky did not say that the story hadn't been reported, he said it had 'scarcely' been reported, this is true. In order to ascertain how scarcely this crime against International Law was reported we need only compare it to the reporting of the Israeli soldiers kidnapping on the Lebanese border. An Internet search for "Israeli soldier kidnapped" gave over 8.7 million results, I challenge Mr. Foley to find even one thousandth this number devoted to the 'scarcely' reported crime.<br /><br />The shame is that there many other scarcely reported crimes, Independent film maker <a href="http://www.thecatsdream.com/blog/2006/07/did-you-know.htm">Gabriele Zamparini</a> has compiled a list of some of them on his blog The Cat's Dream. He asks, Did you know: “45% of those killed in Lebanon are children and of the 500,000 people who have fled to safety, some 200,000 are children”?, “Lebanon's president accused Israel on Monday of using phosphorous bombs in its 13-day offensive and urged the United Nations to demand an immediate ceasefire”?, “Israeli military has said it will destroy 10 buildings in predominantly Shia south Beirut for every rocket fired at the Israeli port of Haifa, army radio said Monday”?, “The delivery of at least 100 GBU 28 bunker busters bombs containing depleted uranium warheads by the United States to Israel for use against targets in Lebanon will result in additional radioactive and chemical toxic contamination with consequent adverse health and environmental effects throughout the middle east.”?, “[a]ccording to the Lebanese police force, the two [Israeli] soldiers were captured in Lebanese territory”? and the list goes on.<br /><br />Therefore Mr. Foley's suggestion that "we care so little about Hamas attacks on Israel that they fail even to raise an eyebrow in the West" is absurd. If this were the case, how is it that an Irish Times reader could tell you exactly how many rockets Hizbollah have fired on Israel, and perhaps even where the majority of these have landed. While I doubt anyone reading this paper, or any other, can tell us how many bombs and missiles Israel have dropped on Lebanon and Palestine in the last month.<br /><br />But this is, as Mr. Chomsky says, irrelevant. Israel is presently conducting two illegal and immoral wars against civilian populations, and hundreds are dead.<br /><br />Yours etc...<br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/letters/2006/0725/index.html#1152913579498">Maurice Foley's</a> successful demolition of <a href="http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/letters/2006/0721/">Noam Chomsky and co.'s</a> shamelessly un-footnoted letter of last Friday was a breath of fresh air. He evidenced with little effort that theirs is a misrepresentation of what has and has not been reported by the mainstream press. Citing the Observer and the LA Times he revealed the extent of Mr. Chomsky's misleading rhetoric.<br /><br />The kidnapping Mr. Chomsky cites as a precedent to the much publicised kidnapping of Israeli soldiers, and therefore poses Israel as the principle aggressor, was not as he implies 'scarcely' reported, it was in fact reported by every man and his dog. <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,1825632,00.html">The Observer</a>, for instance, had a 50 odd word readers letter at the bottom of its letters page semi-devoted to the case. The LA Times, as well, had...I don't know, I couldn't find it.<br /><br />The point Mr. Foley misses is that the word 'scarcely' doesn't mean it wasn't reported, it was, what it means is that it wasn't reported alot. It was and never will be reported that Israel's illegal capture and detention of Palestinian civilians caused the present crisis to 'escalate'.<br /><br />The most important point Chomsky and co. make is that:<br /><br />"Each provocation and counter-provocation is contested and preached over. But the subsequent arguments, accusations and vows, all serve as a distraction in order to divert world attention from a long-term military, economic and geographic practice whose political aim is nothing less than the liquidation of the Palestinian nation."<br /><br />Mr. Foley's search for 'peace' through the horrors of war is doomed.<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,1825632,00.html" title="http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,1825632,00.html" target="_blank" onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)"><br /></a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8600768-115385620095383669?l=toirtap.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>davhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345747203515877168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8600768.post-1153688091075723882006-07-23T21:54:00.000+01:002006-07-23T23:05:14.120+01:00Rory Miller <a href="http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=33&si=1658871&amp;issue_id=14403">is back</a> plugging his book, 'Ireland and the Palestine Question, 1948-2004', in the Sunday Independent with a shameful piece of journalism:<br /><br />"Forget the cliches and casualties, Israel's attack is for the good of all" which really doesn't require further comment.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=33&si=1658751&amp;issue_id=14403"> John <span id="misp_compose_1" class="hm">Lalor</span></a> explains why Israel is not to blame: "And the UN has neglected to ensure the fulfilment of 1559. <span id="misp_compose_2" class="hm">UNIFIL</span> (UN Interim Force in Lebanon) in south Lebanon has gone so far as to even share logistics with Hezbollah terrorists. Therefore, the deaths of innocent, Lebanese is the moral responsibility of the Lebanese government and the UN. To blame Israel is but to admit to the incapability of Beirut and the UN to behave responsibly."<br /><br />The <span id="misp_compose_4" class="hm">Indo's</span> <a href="http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/stories.php3?ca=44&si=1658841&amp;issue_id=14403">editorial</a> writer apparently didn't see these events coming: "This seemingly accidental war could spread and involve other countries in the region"<br /><br />According to the <a href="http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/07/21/MNG2QK396D1.DTL"><span style=";font-family:verdana,arial;font-size:100%;" >San Francisco Chronicle</span></a> "Israel set war plan more than a year ago" (via <a href="http://members5.boardhost.com/medialens/msg/1153651707.html"><span id="misp_compose_7" class="hm">MLMB</span></a>)<br /><br />But back to the beginning. This same editorial states that Hezbollah waged war on Israel: "The war waged by Hezbollah from southern Lebanon is in defiance of the wishes of the majority in Lebanon."<br /><br />Yet there is some confusion as to where these soldiers were kidnapped:<br /><br />" The Israeli army confirmed that two Israeli soldiers had been captured on the Lebanese frontier." (<a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200607/s1685306.htm">ABC</a> via <a href="http://members5.boardhost.com/medialens/msg/1153676537.html">Derek</a>)<br /><br />'Implementing our promise to free Arab prisoners in Israeli jails, our <span id="misp_compose_10" class="hm">strugglers</span> have captured two Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon,' a statement by Hezbollah said. (<a href="http://in.news.yahoo.com/060712/43/65tzi.html">Yahoo News</a> via <a href="http://members5.boardhost.com/medialens/msg/1153658416.html">Rich</a>)<br /><br />And leaving the best till last, the editorial continues:<br /><br />"Israel's exercise of its legitimate right to self-defence involves a wholly disproportionate response, the bombing of the Lebanese army, which is not its enemy; by killing far too many civilians in its indiscriminate efforts to defeat Hezbollah, which is self-defeating; and by destroying so much of Lebanon's civilian infrastructure, which is quite unnecessary."<br /><br />This is typical of Western reporting. In order to criticise Israel, even slightly, they must first be allowed to kill 'too many civilians'. That must be why there is little effort dedicated to finding a solution to Palestine. They just haven't killed enough of them yet.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8600768-115368809107572388?l=toirtap.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>davhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345747203515877168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8600768.post-1153580799867678612006-07-22T16:05:00.000+01:002006-07-23T21:55:02.930+01:00<a href="http://www.juancole.com/">Juan Cole</a> is 'unsure':<br /><br />In Iraq, young Shiite clerical nationalist Muqtada al-Sadr gave an incendiary sermon in which he<br /><br />' predicted Israel would collapse like New York's twin towers on Sept 11, 2001, if Sunnis and Shiites join in their fight. "I will continue defending my Shiite and Sunni brothers, and I tell them that if we unite, we will defeat Israel without the use of weapons," Sadr said during a speech in the southern city Iraqi city of Kufa. '<br /><br />Yes, Bush has certainly created a model democracy in Iraq. (Muqtada has 30 members in parliament, and in conjunction with the Da'wa Party, he is a king maker in the new system).<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8600768-115358079986767861?l=toirtap.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>davhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345747203515877168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8600768.post-1153414836688148172006-07-20T17:56:00.000+01:002006-07-20T18:00:36.726+01:00<a href="http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/opinion/2006/0720/1152913471089.html">Mary Raferty </a>points out what 'everyone' else ignores:<br /><br />"It is, of course, equally wrong that any group, be it Hizbullah or Hamas, should target and kill Israeli citizens. We have no difficulty condemning this in unequivocal and unambiguous terms as terrorism.<br /><br />But terrorism, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is defined as "a policy intended to strike with terror those against whom it is adopted", a description which neatly sums up Israeli activity in both Lebanon and Gaza. Bombing civilian populations back to the Middle Ages, to a condition where they have no electricity, no water, no sewerage, no fuel, no roads, no vehicles and are running out of food certainly qualifies as an act of state terrorism."<br /><br />Full article at the Irish Times and <a href="http://members5.boardhost.com/medialens/msg/1153400621.html">here</a><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8600768-115341483668814817?l=toirtap.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>davhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345747203515877168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8600768.post-1153400623251784032006-07-20T14:01:00.000+01:002006-07-20T14:03:43.263+01:00<p>Dear Mr. Good, (RTE News Editor)</p><p>RTE reports today: "It is reported that Israeli soldiers are involved in clashes with Hezbollah at two places along the border with Lebanon." [<a href="http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/0720/lebanon.html">1</a>] </p><p>and yesterday: "At least 70 civilians were killed and scores injured in a series of deadly Israeli raids across Lebanon in the deadliest day since the bombardment began one week ago." [<a href="http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/0719/lebanon.html">2</a>] </p><p>The BBC reports: "Captain Eric Schneider from the Israeli Defence Force told the BBC there was heavy fighting between Israeli troops and Hezbollah militants in two places inside Lebanon's border." [<a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/5197186.stm">3</a>] </p><p>Although the facts appear to back up the assertion, it is unclear from the much of the reporting I have read and heard, has Israel +invaded+ Lebanon?</p><p>On an unrelated issue and at the risk of becoming a bore, a recent UN report estimates that 100 Iraqis a day are dying as the result of violence, this figure is predicted to rise. This is the equivalent of two 7/7s every day, yet RTE and a number of the respected Irish news organisations have consistently failed to cover the issue of how many Iraqis have died as a result of US/UK invasion. Our responsibility, as a conduit for this crime, should at least extend to revealing the death toll. </p><p>Kind Regards,</p><p>Patrick Cockburn reports in <a href="http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article1187007.ece">the Independent </a>today:</p><p>"The death toll has risen every month this year and totalled 5,818 in May and June. This far exceeds the number given by the Iraqi Coalition Casualty Count, a web site that compiles casualty figures based on published accounts, which said that 840 civilians died in June. Overall 14,000 civilians were killed in the first half of the year says the UN." </p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8600768-115340062325178403?l=toirtap.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>davhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345747203515877168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8600768.post-1153333041082278052006-07-19T19:07:00.000+01:002006-07-19T19:17:21.266+01:00Latest figures:<br /><br />"At least 93 Palestinians and one Israeli soldier have been killed since Israel's assault in Gaza intensified on 5 July" [<a href="http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/0719/mideast.html">RTE</a>]<br /><br />"Since the Israeli offensive began, almost 300 people have been killed in fighting inside Lebanon, the majority of whom were civilians. 25 Israelis have been killed, 13 in rocket attacks inside Israel." [<a href="http://www.rte.ie/news/2006/0719/lebanon.html">RTE</a>]<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/8600768-115333304108227805?l=toirtap.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>davhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01345747203515877168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8600768.post-1153227649938261142006-07-18T13:11:00.000+01:002006-07-18T23:30:02.526+01:00Update:<br /><br />Dear Madam,<br /><br />Tom Cooney explains in today's Irish Times that Israel has the right to defend itself from terrorist attack.<br /><br />Given there is ample evidence to suggest that the present escalation was instigated not by the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers by Hamas and Hizbullah, but by the consistent unlawful imprisonment and shelling of civilians by Israel, are the Palestinian and Lebanese people afforded the same rights Mr. Cooney argues Israelis are guaranteed?<br /><br />Mr. Cooney also writes that "Iran and Syria must shoulder direct responsibility, too." If this is the case, should those that fund the Israeli military also be held responsible for it's breaches of international law?<br /><br />While Hamas and Hizbullah hold a number of Israeli soldiers hostage in an attempt to force Israel to release those they imprison, Israel's 'disproportionate' response is to hold a whole country hostage. Who is terrorising who?<br /><br />Yours sincerely,<br /><br /><br />Tom Cooney writes in today's <a href="http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/opinion/2006/0718/1051248050OP18ISRAEL.html">Irish Times</a>: "First, contrary to the International Court of Justice's stance, the international community accepts that Israel has a right of self-defence under article 51 of the United Nations Charter, even though Hezbollah is not a state.<br />Second, Israel may hold Lebanon directly responsible for the attack.<br /><br />Since 9/11, the threat of international terrorism has forced states to recognise that a state that culpably fails to prevent terrorist attacks or facilitates terrorist groups is directly responsible for the attacks. The underlying principle is that states must counter international terrorism."<br /><br />The implications of this liberal interpretation of International Law, though he refuses to examine them, suggest that the Palestinian and Lebanese people* are well within their rights to resist Israeli state terrorism. They are also reasonably able to hold the Israeli pe