Clipmarks | jklugman's 'civilian-killings' clips

Czech resistance to Communism cast as heroes and as murderers

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 21:47:00 GMT

clipped by: jklugman
clipper's remarks:

The current Czech prime minister, Mirek Topolanek, a liberal, decided in March to honor the three survivors as heroes, no doubt expecting some controversy in a nation still grappling with its Communist past. But the government was not prepared for a searing debate that encapsulated all the ambivalence associated with the country’s recent history.

A minority of Czechs lauded the award as a fitting tribute to freedom fighters who had dared to stand up to a repressive government, but nearly half of the population viewed the men as criminals, according to a poll conducted for Czech Television.

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

In October of that year, the five men battled their way across the Iron Curtain heading for the American sector of a divided Berlin. They wanted to join American troops in what they thought would be a global conflagration between Western democracies and Soviet Communism.

To get there, the five — the brothers Josef and Ctirad Masin and their childhood friends Milan Paumer, Zbynek Janata and Vaclav Sveda — hijacked cars, stole submachine guns, drugged adversaries with chloroform, broke into police stations and killed six people, including a police officer whose throat was slit with a Boy Scout knife.

Three of the men eventually reached West Berlin, where they were debriefed by the Central Intelligence Agency

The other two — Mr. Janata and Mr. Sveda — were captured by the East German police and executed.

Tags: civilian-killings, democrats, political-violence, political violence, czech, czechoslovakia, communism, cold war, history

In defense of William Ayers

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 12:30:57 GMT

clipped by: jklugman
clipper's remarks:

Wonderment said:

But to call Ayers a "terrorist" and throw him in the Osama bin Laden pile is a reach for the moral high ground by the very people and political establishment that secretly carpet bombed Cambodia, murdering hundreds of thousands of civilians.

...Ayers is no martyr, and he's no role model. But he doesn't deserve to be the punching bag of the moral cretins who still celebrate lying wars of aggression and the pointless slaughter of untold thousands.

Clip Source: bloggingheads.tv

Ayers makes the claim that the use of violence, particularly with the aim of zero loss of life, was justified as a form of protest and pressure to end the Vietnam and Cambodian War. If you look at the crimes of the Johnson and Nixon administrations in their historical context (napalming civilians, Agent Orange, torture, starvation, mass murder, carpet bombings, persecution of dissidents in the US, including the murder of college students by the National Guard, pro-war police riots, disproportionately race-based conscription of 18-year-olds, etc. etc.), there is a case to be made that taking up arms against such a regime is justified.

Now you may argue that the prospects of achieving success in ending the war through "revolutionary" violence were slim to none. I agree.

Tags: william ayers, vietnam, cambodia, hypocrisy, war, civilian-killings

3rd marine cleared of Haditha charges

Sat, 29 Mar 2008 03:37:10 GMT

clipped by: jklugman
clipper's remarks:

Officials close to the Haditha case said they think prosecutors dismissed the charges in order to pursue Wuterich aggressively at trial. The cases against three of the Marines accused of shooting civilians have fallen apart, and Wuterich remains the only one left for prosecutors to target for accountability. Wuterich led the Marine squad and allegedly told his troops, as they approached a group of civilian homes that day, to shoot first and ask questions later.

Clip Source: www.washingtonpost.com

The Marine Corps yesterday dismissed all charges against one of the Marines accused of killing women and children in the Iraqi town of Haditha in late 2005, the third time a Marine linked to the slayings has been exonerated

Lance Cpl. Stephen B. Tatum, who has admitted shooting civilians inside their homes as part of a pursuit of insurgents, was cleared and granted immunity to testify in further hearings related to the investigation. The move leaves only Staff Sgt. Frank D. Wuterich to face charges in connection with the shootings on Nov. 19, 2005.

Although the Marines were at first accused of going on a rampage, the case has evolved into a far more complex examination of the Corps' rules of engagement and the general conduct of wartime operations in hostile residential areas.

Tags: haditha, marines, iraq, war, civilian-killings, stephen tatum, frank wuterich

How a journalist broke the Haditha story

Sun, 27 May 2007 03:00:55 GMT

clipped by: jklugman
clipper's remarks: This episode shows that the military dismissed a journalist's questions about Haditha out of hand by calling him biased and a sympathizer to Sunni insurgents. I sometimes see this attitude here at Clipmarks--don't question our military, don't question our leaders, etc. But in fact, we do need to question the conduct of our leaders and our military all the time. Because if we don't, there will undoubtedly be more Hadithas.

(in fact, more Hadithas are probably inevitable if we continue to occupy Iraq, as von Zielbauer points out later in the interview).

Clip Source: www.onthemedia.org

BOB GARFIELD: But then, a few months later, up pops a reporter named Tim McGirk, of Time Magazine, who started asking questions about the incident because, for one thing, the cause of death, rifle shots and grenade explosions, did not square with the roadside bomb story. What was the Marines' response to McGirk's first inquiries?

PAUL von ZIELBAUER: The senior commanders really viewed McGirk's questions as inflammatory, as sensational, as one Marine officer put it, and as biased, and informed by the mayor of Haditha, who all the Marines considered a sympathizer to the Sunni insurgency. So they saw McGirk basically as a tool, a naive tool of people who were trying to hurt the Marines and their mission in Anbar Province.

Tags: haditha, journalism, media, war, civilian-killings

Media focus on Hamas Mouse, neglect occupation

Mon, 14 May 2007 20:43:34 GMT

clipped by: jklugman
clipper's remarks: As many of you are aware, the news (and Clipmarks) have been deluged with stories about a children's show produced by Hamas that features a Mickey Mouse-type character who allegedly espouses hatred toward Jews. Tom Wallace points out that the media have been ignoring the reality of the Israeli occupation of Palestine.

Clip Source: electronicintifada.net

While all of this air-time was being devoted to the mouse, some real news about the region with genuine political implications was completely ignored:

1. World Bank criticizes Israel over Palestinian economy: Describing a system of apartheid that has devastated the Palestinian economy without naming it as such, the World Bank warned of the consequences if this continues.

2. Israel plans new Jerusalem settlement: In response to the report, Israel announced the approval of plans to further Judaize Jerusalem, bringing the number of settlers living illegally on Palestinian land in the Occupied West Bank to 570,000.

3. Shot West Bank woman 'loses baby': During an Israeli army raid in the West Bank, a pregnant woman was shot in the stomach and lost her baby.

Does anyone really believe that it takes propaganda to teach Palestinian children to hate the occupiers?

They don't need a cartoon to teach them hate, they have the Israeli army.

Tags: israel, palestine, occupation, civilian-killings, settlements, media

US corporations accused of hiring death squads in Colombia

Tue, 01 May 2007 15:42:00 GMT

clipped by: jklugman
clipper's remarks: Via Max Sawicky

Fruit giant Chiquita agreed in March to pay $25 million to settle with the U.S. Department of Justice after acknowledging that its Colombian subsidiary, Banadex, secretly funneled $1.7 million to the death squads operating in zones where it had banana plantations.

In 2001, a Banadex ship was used to unload 3,000 rifles and thousands of rounds of ammunition for the paramilitaries. At the time, the paramilitaries were consolidating control of the Uraba banana region through massacres and assassinations. Chiquita later sold Banadex but still buys Colombian bananas.

Cincinnati-based Chiquita says it was a victim of paramilitary extortion. In a statement it said its payments to the militias "were always motivated by our good faith concern for the safety of our employees."

Clip Source: www.washingtonpost.com

BOGOTA, Colombia -- Colombia's chief prosecutor stood between the white plastic-sheathed remains of two dismembered teenage sisters. On the rust-colored dirt around him lay remains of nearly 60 newly unearthed victims of paramilitary death squads.

Not just their killers but those who bankrolled them must be brought to justice, Mario Iguaran told reporters last week at the mass grave in the country's eastern plains.

He spoke ahead of a trip to Washington this week to seek aid for his overburdened office and help obtain evidence against U.S.-based multinationals he's investigating for allegedly financing the paramilitaries.

Iguaran meets with U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on Monday and Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, on Tuesday. With both, he is sure to talk about Chiquita Brands and the Alabama-based coal company Drummond Co. Inc.

Tags: colombia, chiquita, drummond, corporate-malfeasance, civilian-killings

Losing Iraq

Sun, 22 Apr 2007 19:15:18 GMT

clipped by: jklugman

Clip Source: marccooper.com

That the war in Iraq is now "lost" is perhaps the most authentic thing to date that Reid has said about that conflagration. It's at least 1/3 of what the Dems ought to be simply saying about the war i.e. that it was wrong from the beginning, that there is no way to win, and now it is time to leave. Period.

As we talk ourselves to death over Imus and Cho, we have mostly overlooked the fact that Wednesday was the bloodiest record: 230 people murdered or found dead in 24 hours. That's more than seven Virginia Tech massacres in a single day. And that's without counting the equal number of wounded.

So much for the U.S.-backed "surge and security" plan. We temporarily reel in the Shiite death squads embedded in the police and the Sunni respond with terrorist car bombings of civilians. Delusional, my friends.

Tags: marc cooper, iraq, war, civil war, civilian-killings, fubar, bush administration, harry reid

General: Commanders Devalued Iraqi Life at Haditha

Sat, 21 Apr 2007 17:50:39 GMT

clipped by: jklugman

Clip Source: www.washingtonpost.com

The Marine Corps chain of command in Iraq ignored "obvious" signs of "serious misconduct" in the 2005 slayings of two dozen civilians in Haditha, and commanders fostered a climate that devalued the life of innocent Iraqis to the point that their deaths were considered an insignificant part of the war, according to an Army general's investigation.

Maj. Gen. Eldon A. Bargewell's 104-page report on Haditha is scathing in its criticism of the Marines' actions, from the enlisted men who were involved in the shootings on Nov. 19, 2005, to the two-star general who commanded the 2nd Marine Division in Iraq at the time. Bargewell's previously undisclosed report, obtained by The Washington Post, found that officers may have willfully ignored reports of the civilian deaths to protect themselves and their units from blame. Though Bargewell found no specific coverup, he concluded that there also was no interest at any level in investigating allegations of a massacre.

Tags: army, marines, haditha, military, war-crimes, iraq, war, civilian-killings, kilo

Shin Bet: Hamas cell planned Passover bombing

Tue, 10 Apr 2007 04:15:26 GMT

clipped by: jklugman
clipper's remarks:

It is believed that behind the [other] attacks is Ahmed Jabari, the head of the military wing of Hamas in the northern Gaza Strip, who opposed the establishment of the unity government between his party and Fatah. Jabari is particularly dissatisfied with the fact that he and his men are not being awarded the positions of power they believe they deserve.

The degree to which Jabari and the Qalqilyah-based cell [Qalqilyah is in the West Bank] are linked is unclear. During the past two years, most of the Hamas cells operating in Samaria [West Bank] had followed orders originating in the Gaza Strip.

Clip Source: www.haaretz.com

The Shin Bet announced Tuesday morning that in late March it broke up a Hamas cell in Qalqilyah that had planned to detonate a car bomb in Tel Aviv during Pesach, apparently at the time of the seder, on the holiday's first night.

According to the details released by the security service, the driver, a suicide bomber, had managed to cross into Israel in a vehicle laden with about 100 kilograms of explosives. However, once he reached Tel Aviv, and for reasons that are still unclear, he changed his mind and returned to Qalqilyah.

Nineteen members in the cell have been arrested by the security forces. No names of the suspects were released for publication.

This latest incident has further boosted the evidence that Hamas has resumed its terrorist activities following a long hiatus that began with the cease-fire in the Gaza Strip last November.

Egypt recently arrested a Hamas suicide bomber who was trying to cross from the Gaza Strip into Israel through Sinai.

Tags: hamas, civilian-killings, qalqilyah, west bank, ahmed jabari

Americans Underestimate Iraqi Death Toll

Sun, 25 Feb 2007 22:09:32 GMT

clipped by: jklugman
clipper's remarks: Via Brendan Nyhan

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

Americans underestimate Iraqi death toll

By NANCY BENAC, Associated Press Writer

Sat Feb 24, 12:01 PM ET

WASHINGTON - Americans are keenly aware of how many U.S. forces have lost their lives in Iraq, according to a new AP-Ipsos poll. But they woefully underestimate the number of Iraqi civilians who have been killed.

When the poll was conducted earlier this month, a little more than 3,100 U.S. troops had been killed. The midpoint estimate among those polled was right on target, at about 3,000.

The number of Iraqis killed, however, is much harder to pin down, and that uncertainty is perhaps reflected in Americans' tendency to lowball the Iraqi death toll by tens of thousands.

Iraqi civilian deaths are estimated at more than 54,000 and could be much higher; some unofficial estimates range into the hundreds of thousands. The U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq reports more than 34,000 deaths in 2006 alone.

Among those polled for the AP survey, however, the median estimate of Iraqi deaths was 9,890. The median is the point at which half the estimates were higher and half lower.

Christopher Gelpi, a Duke University political scientist who tracks public opinion on war casualties, said a better understanding of the Iraqi death toll probably wouldn't change already negative public attitudes toward the war much. People in democracies generally don't shy away from inflicting civilian casualties, he said, and they may be even more tolerant of them in situations such as Iraq, where many of the civilian deaths are caused by other Iraqis.

Tags: iraq, war, civilian-killings, public-opinion, survey, statistics, central tendency, median

More than 60 killed in 3 car bombings in Baghdad

Mon, 19 Feb 2007 02:33:55 GMT

clipped by: jklugman

Clip Source: www.cnn.com

More than 60 killed in three car bombings in Baghdad

POSTED: 2:16 p.m. EST, February 18, 2007

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Amid a massive security operation to secure Baghdad, car bombs Sunday struck in two Shiite neighborhoods, targeting civilians and police, Iraqi officials said.

At least 62 people were reported killed, most of them civilians killed in a twin car bomb attack.

The two car bombs detonated in quick succession near marketplaces and bus stops in the southeastern district of Baghdad known as al-Jadida, or "New Baghdad," killing 60 people and wounding at least 131 others, Baghdad police said. (Watch how attacks raise questions about Baghdad security plan )

About an hour later, a car bomb detonated near an Iraqi National Police checkpoint in Sadr City, killing two -- a civilian and an Iraqi soldier -- and wounding 11 civilians, an Interior Ministry official said.

The attacks come as Iraqi forces, supported by U.S. troops, continue their effort to secure Baghdad from insurgent attacks.

Tags: iraq, fubar, civil-war, civilian-killings, baghdad

Killing Children

Sun, 11 Feb 2007 16:58:05 GMT

clipped by: jklugman
clipper's remarks: Via Amal A at Improvisations: Arab Woman Progressive Voice

Clip Source: www.haaretz.com

_{Last update - 09:11 11/02/2007}

Tair's Palestinian peers

_{By Gideon Levy}

An army that kills children does not concern the public. No committee of inquiry has been, and none will be, formed to deal with this matter. But the fact that the IDF kills children with such a light hand, and fully supports its soldiers who do so, should trouble us no less than the reserves of war supplies in the North. The ramifications of such behavior are not only moral - ultimately an army's operational capability will be affected when children are the targets in its soldiers' gunsights.

Jamil Jibji, the boy from the Askar camp who loved horses, was shot in the head after soldiers in an armored jeep taunted a group of children who threw rocks at them. He was 14 years old. Jamil was the fourth child to be shot in that area under similar circumstances. Abir, the daughter of Bassam Aramin, a member of the "Combatants for Peace" organization, was leaving her school in Anata when a Border Police patrol jeep turned around near the school - no one knows why - and tossed tear gas grenades, one of which apparently struck her head. She was 11 years old. Taha al-Jawi touched the fence nearby the abandoned airfield at Atarot and in response, soldiers fired at his legs with live ammunition, and apparently left him to bleed to death. He was the eighth child to die in similar circumstances. He was not yet 17 years old.

All of these children were killed in cold blood; they did not pose a threat to anyone's life. With the exception of Jamil's case, the IDF, as usual, did not even bother to open an investigation into these children's circumstances of death. When it doesn't even investigate, it is obvious that the army has no intention of putting an end to the killing of children. Its commanders are not even troubled by this.

Tags: children, civilian-killings, idf, palestine, israel, via:amal a

Getting killed for an illusion

Sat, 03 Feb 2007 01:41:22 GMT

clipped by: jklugman
clipper's remarks: Via Amal A at Improvisations

Clip Source: www.haaretz.com

_{Last update - 09:28 31/01/2007}

Getting killed for an illusion

_{By Amira Hass}

The Palestinians are right in placing the overall blame for the present situation on the occupation: It is the occupation that determines the framework of an economic siege (which also existed before the intifada and before the establishment of the Hamas government), it is the occupation that has imprisoned the residents of Gaza in a huge holding pen since 1991, without any opportunities and without hope for improvement. The imprisonment is the cause of the widespread ignorance. The severance from the rest of the world only reinforces the loyalty to hamulas, including such acts as blood revenge, because in the absence of political and economic hope, the only source of support for the individual is once again the hamula.

But those Palestinians who are tired of hearing that the occupation is to blame are also right. A war of the security organs and a civil war are also the product of decisions and instructions by those who see themselves as leaders, and must therefore be aware of the results of their acts.

There is no point in asking "Who started?" (Fatah started with the armed provocations). In any case, the lethal confrontation stems from two ills both rivals share.

One is the cult of armed men and weapons, which has spread in Palestinian society and has silenced any attempt to discuss the huge damage the use of weapons has caused the struggle against the Israeli occupation. The other is the illusion that the Oslo process (or "democratic" elections in the shadow of the occupation) can enable a Palestinian party to govern, and that a Palestinian party is able to form a respectable government as is the case in an independent state.

Tags: palestine, occupation, masculinity, civilian-killings, fatah, hamas, civil war, via:amal a

Israel broke US arms deal terms

Mon, 29 Jan 2007 17:29:08 GMT

clipped by: jklugman

Clip Source: newsvote.bbc.co.uk

Israel 'broke US arms deal terms'

Israel probably violated the terms of its arms deals with Washington by using American-made cluster bombs in Lebanon last year, a US government report says.

The State Department probed Israel's use of cluster bombs in civilian areas of southern Lebanon during the 34-day conflict with Hezbollah.

US-made weapons are sold to the Israeli military with restriction on their use.

Cluster bombs can scatter hundreds of small bomblets over a wide area, and their use has been widely criticised.

The US government has now sent a preliminary report on its investigation into the matter to the US Congress.

The International Committee of the Red Cross called for a ban on the use of cluster bombs in populated areas, because of the indiscriminate civilian deaths they caused.

And Amnesty International has criticised Israel for its use of cluster bombs in the final days of the conflict.

Tags: israel, bush administration, civilian-killings, lebanon, news, politics

Palestinian suicide bomber kills 3 in Eilat

Mon, 29 Jan 2007 14:06:16 GMT

clipped by: jklugman

Clip Source: www.afp.com

News / Stories

Palestinian suicide bomber kills three in Israeli resort

29/01/2007 11h58

JERUSALEM (AFP) - A suicide bomber has blown himself up in a bakery in Israel's Red Sea resort of Eilat, killing three people in the first such attack inside the Jewish state in nine months.

Monday's bombing, claimed by at least two Palestinian militant groups, came amid tentative international attempts to jumpstart the Middle East peace process.

In telephone calls to AFP in Gaza, the radical Islamic Jihad and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades claimed joint responsibility for the attack, saying it was carried out by a 21-year-old Palestinian from the coastal strip.

Tags: israel, palestine, islamic jihad, al-aqsa martyrs brigades, aamb, civilian-killings, eilat