Cross-Cultural Understanding

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Letters to the Editor, June 23, 2007

 

June 2007 News Links

June 2007 News Photos

 June 2007 Opinion Editorial Links

Editorial Note: The following news reports are summaries from original sources. They may also include corrections of Arabic names.

Al-Qaeda in Iraq

I'm really confused! 

Is there really an Al-Qaeda presence in Iraq? 

How strong is it? 

It doesn't seem to make sense that Al-Qaeda would be allied with Sunnis rather than Shi'is, but that's what I hear from the American press. 

Please enlighten me.

Thanks,

James Schampel

Editor:

On daily basis, US corporate media publish news reports quoting US military spokespersons mentioning Al-Qaeda in Iraq.

Sometimes, they refer to Iraqi resistance groups as affiliated with Al-Qaeda. But nobody in the military or the media can claim that these groups are affiliated logistically or organizationally with the Afghanistan-based Al-Qaeda.

Most of the resistance to the US occupation of Iraq is in the Sunni areas. That's why various resistance groups operate in these areas. 

Finally, everybody agrees now that there was no Qaeda in Iraq before the US invasion of that country in 2003. 

 

 

Ron Paul 2008: Hope for America

http://www.ronpaul2008.com/

 


 

Cheney Power Grab: Says White House Rules Don't Apply to Him

Vice President Dick Cheney has asserted his office is not a part of the executive branch of the U.S. government, and therefore not bound by a presidential order governing the protection of classified information by government agencies, according to a new letter from Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., to Cheney.

Bill Leonard, head of the government's Information Security Oversight Office (ISOO), told Waxman's staff that Cheney's office has refused to provide his staff with details regarding classified documents or submit to a routine inspection as required by presidential order, according to Waxman.

The Blotter, ABC News

 


 

33 Groups Call for Israel to Release Bomb Sites in Lebanon

The American Task Force for Lebanon (ATFL) has organized the thirty-three groups' call for Israel to release the Lebanon Cluster Bomb targeting data, and ATFL is leading a national Cluster Bomb campaign to focus attention both on Lebanon's Cluster Bomb problem and the broader issues associated with the indiscriminate use of Cluster Bombs.

Your help publicizing this news release and promoting the petition are important to the success of our Cluster Bomb campaign! 1 Send the news release and petition to your elected officials by completing the Cluster Bomb form. (Click on the Cluster Bomb button below) 2 Please forward this email to all your email contacts.

ATFL will present its Cluster Bomb petition to President Bush, Secretary Rice, and Members of Congress.

Please add your voice and energy to our effort.

Send the thirty-three groups' news release and ATFL Cluster Bomb petition by clicking on the Cluster Bomb button below:

***

Thirty-three groups have called for Israel to release the Lebanon Cluster Bomb targeting data. See the news release here.

We need your help to make sure President Bush, Secretary Rice and the Congress know this. Send them the news release and Cluster Bomb petition by clicking below.

Thirty-Three Groups Call for Israel's Release of Cluster Bomb Data

LEBANON NEEDS YOUR HELP

Unexploded Cluster Bombs are the #1 humanitarian issue Lebanon faces today. Vast tracts of southern Lebanon are littered with over a million bomblets causing death, loss of limbs and other serious injuries.

We thank you for sending the thirty-three groups' news release and the national cluster bomb petition. We urge you to forward this news release and petition to your friends.

The American Task Force for Lebanon (ATFL)

 


Man in Guantanamo: Shaker A'amer

Almost six years in Guantanamo, withour charge or trial and under a state of torture.
A wife and four children eagerly await his return.
Join us for a conference to mark 2000 days of the existence of Guantanamo Bay and the ongoing imprisonment of Shaker and others

SHAKER AAMER - DETAINEE 239

SATURDAY 30th JUNE 2007
6pm-8:30pm

Memon Centre,
3 Weir Road,
Balham,
London, SW12 0LT.

Speakers:

  • Johaina Aamer (daughter of Shaker )
  • Marium Begg (daughter of Moazzam)
  • Moazzam Begg (former Guantanamo detainee, Cageprisoners)
  • Gareth Peirce (Birnberg Peirce, lawyer for Guantanamo detainees)
  • Bianca Jagger (Human Rights Campaigner)
  • Zachary Katznelson (Lawyer for Shaker Aamer, Reprieve)
  • Helen Bamber (Co-Founder & Director of the Helen Bamber Foundation)
  • Yvonne Ridley (Political Journalist and Campaigner)
  • Imam Hafiz Saeed (Father-in-law of Shaker)
  • Sarah Teather (Liberal Democrat MP for British resident, Jamil El Banna)
Plenary session with British Former Guantanamo Detainees


In the summer of 2001 Shaker Aamer, a South London resident, moved with his British family to Afghanistan to work on a school project for impoverished children. After the fateful US-led invasion that same year, Shaker, whilst managing to evacuate his own family, was captured by bounty-hunters and sold - like hundreds of men fleeing the war - to American forces .

During his unending incarceration in Kandahar, 'the Dark Prison' and Guantanamo- without charge or trial, Shaker has been beaten, shackled, suffocated, force-fed, subjected to sleep deprivation, denied meaningful familial communication or visits and denied the right to habeas corpus. He has spent more than a total of three years in solitary confinement in conditions worse than the USA's infamous 'death rows'. In one of the last heavily censored letters home Shaker had asked for the right to die.

“I am dying here every day, mentally and physically. This is happening to all of us. We have been ignored, locked up in the middle of the ocean for years. Rather than humiliate myself, having to beg for water, I would rather hurry up the process that is going to happen anyway.

"I would like to die quietly, by myself. I was once 250 lbs (17 stone 12 lbs). I dropped to 130 lbs (9 stone 4 lbs) in the first hunger strike. I want to make it easy on everyone. I want no feeding, no forced tubes, no ‘help’, no ‘intensive assisted feeding’. This is my legal right." Shaker Aamer, 2nd November 2005

Join the prestigious panel, including family and friends of Shaker, to mark over 2000 days since the inception of the world's most notorious prison camp and call for the return of Shaker to his loved ones, the youngest of whom he has never even seen.

Free admission but confirmation of attendance will guarantee a seat.

Refreshments will be provided.

Supported by the 1990 Trust



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