Sunday, April 29, 2007

Occupation, Walls of Segregation, and Fuelling Sectarian Conflict: the Crimes of the Powerful Psychopaths


The talk of "escalating" sectarian conflict in Iraq and the rest of the Middle East has become the arguing point between the two criminally minded parties in the U.S., Republicans and Democrats. The newly discovered and extensively exploited phrase is laying the burden of responsibility for the disastrous outcome of the war on the Iraqis instead of at the feet of those who started the war, mainly the criminal Neo-Conservatives and their military-corporate-government complexes, the spineless Democrats, the mainstream media, the religious establishment, and all the enlightened citizens of the strongest and supposedly wealthiest democracy in the world who supported and continue to support this genocide.

In the midst of the obscenity that continues to be the occupation of Iraq, Military Channel, and other reality style entertainment, we have become accustomed to actual violence. We are desensitized to the humiliation that is inflicted on the Iraqi people on a daily basis.

The people of Iraq are struggling on more the one level. The refugee problem of 4 million Iraqis has reached crisis proportions and those fleeing the economic, physical, and psychological effects of this war are trapped with little help in the present and no hope for the future.

Now, a new "Wall of Segregation" is being built to protect a Sunni sector of Baghdad. What may be forgotten here is: that which prevents you from going in also prevents you from coming out. The unfolding Orwellian surrealism of the situation in Palestine and, now, Iraq, reminds me of a movie I saw a few months ago, CHILDREN OF MEN.

Riverbend is an Iraqi blogger who has been on the blogsphere since the beginning of the war. She has articulated what many Iraqis have felt for years and, in this piece, she shares what many who are caught in prolonged war go through and the dilemmas they face.

Maybe, one day, we can all meet that courageous girl around the bend where "hearts can heal and souls can mend."

Sunday, April 22, 2007

International Earth Day




"The Earth Flag is my symbol of the task before us all. Only in the last quarter of my life have we come to know what it means to be custodians of the future of the Earth - to know that unless we care, unless we check the rapacious exploitations of our Earth and protect it, we are endangering the future of our children and our children's children. We did not know this before, except in little pieces. People knew that they had to take care of their own ... but it was not until we saw the picture of the Earth, from the Moon, that we realized how small and how helpless this planet is - something that we must hold in our arms and care for."

Margaret Mead, March 21, 1977


April 22nd marks International Earth Day. It is celebrated every year across the globe. San Luis Obispo had its Earth Day gathering yesterday at the Mission Plaza downtown. A well-participated in and attended event, it had a somber and urgent message: ---we are running out of time but these are the ways in which individuals can help.

The main giveaway items were reusable grocery bags and spiral energy efficient bulbs. Electric, hybrid, bio-diesel, and other alternative modes of transportation were on display. Participating local businesses and groups with environmentally conscious philosophies and practices were thrilled to be there: computer businesses, skin and make-up sales representatives and local producers, the California Conservation Corps, Code Pink, The Green Party, ECOSLO, Health food vendors, water treating businesses, Air America, and many other participants, helped educate visitors, including children, on the necessity of individual responsibility in initiating the reversal of environmental degradation.

The people absent were, of course, the war mongers, the big corporations, and the greedy of society.

Earthday Network has put out an urgent call for action globally. Their website is a good resource for ways to implement change.

Wednesday, April 4, 2007

Clowns Without Borders


Along the lines of Doctors Without Borders and Artists Without Border, Clowns Without Borders (CWB) offer children around the world the opportunity to maintain a sense of childhood and laughter in the middle of conflict and violence. CWB organizations can be found in the United States, Canada, France, Belgium, Spain, and Sweden. They visit different areas of conflict around the world.

Their motto: No Child Without a Smile



Sunday, April 1, 2007

Mercenaries for Hire: An Old Strategy in a New World


According to a United Nations report published recently, the number of mercenaries in Iraq and Afghanistan has been increasing steadily and now comprises the second largest military force in the region. One third of the “Coalition of the Willing” are mercenaries.

This is an old world practice that is quickly proliferating in an age that is marked by an indefinite “War on Terror.” The United States government, in the absence of a draft during a long and drawn out war, is resorting to private “contracting” firms for help.

American, British, and other security companies are supplying the private armies in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Eastern Europe. The Center for Public Integrity publishes a list of all the firms that are currently operating in the Middle East. Mercenaries come from different backgrounds: ex Special Forces and other military from places like the United States, Britain, Jordan, the Philippines, and even from within Iraq, or world citizens who are looking for a quick way to get rich and see some action. All have one thing in common: their role is not well-defined and, although technically they fall under the jurisdiction of the occupying armies, they have engaged in questionable and criminal behavior without proper oversight. At the same time, they also have been subject to extremely dangerous and unpredictable events. In fact, the time is coming when such mercenaries will be entitled to "labor rights" like any immigrant laborer holding a work visa. Apparently, Filipino recruits, like many of their counterparts in other areas of the world, are being rushed through their training and lack the necessary skills for the military jobs they are expected to do.

According to Al-Akhbar, a Lebanese newspaper, many of these mercenaries have no clear mission and lack an understanding of their exact role in the war zone. Their only direct order is to shoot at anyone who "appears" hostile towards the Occupation Forces.

It is worth noting that mercenary activity is prohibited by the Office of the United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights.

Article 2 of the
United Nations International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries (ratified in 1989 and went into effect in 2001) states "Any person who recruits, uses, finances or trains mercenaries, as defined in article 1 of the present Convention, commits an offence for the purposes of the Convention."

However, many of those recruits are in legal limbo because they do not fall under the technical definition of "mercenary" (see Article 1 of the above Convention). They are hired as "security" personnel to protect officials and the offices of international organizations.

Many mercenaries have been engaged in acts of torture, murder, theft and destruction of property. The pay for such lawless activity?

Mercenaries from poorer countries, $4,000 a month.

U.S. and other posh ex Special Forces: up to $1,500 a day.


Where else can tough guys relive their old and gone days of glory while fattening their bank accounts and posing for their trophy pictures to brag about back home?


ISN'T WAR GREAT!