Terrorism must not be used as an excuse for human rights violations!

Preliminary conclusions from an international fact-finding mission to the Philippines led by the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) find that torture, enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings are common practice there in the context of the US-led “war on terror”.
Testimonies collected from victims during the mission confirm that torture occurs frequently when the Armed Forces [...]

Humanitarian Imperialism: Using Human Rights to Sell War

Humanitarian Imperialism: Using Human Rights to Sell War”
by Jeand Bricmont (Author), Diana Johnstone (Author)

Book Description
Since the end of the Cold War, the idea of human rights has been made into a justification for intervention by the world’s leading economic and military powers—above all, the United States—in countries that are vulnerable to their attacks. The criteria [...]

Giuliani: Israel should join NATO

Rudy Giuliani called for Israel to be included in an expanded NATO.
Addressing an Anglo-American friendship group in London, the Republican presidential candidate said Wednesday that NATO should be encouraged to press the global war on terror.
“We should open the organization’s membership to any willing state that meets basic standards of good governance, military readiness, global [...]

THE REACH OF WAR; Civilian Claims On U.S. Suggest The Toll of War

In February 2006, nervous American soldiers in Tikrit killed an Iraqi fisherman on the Tigris River after he leaned over to switch off his engine. A year earlier, a civilian filling his car and an Iraqi Army officer directing traffic were shot by American soldiers in a passing convoy in Balad, for no apparent reason.
The [...]

Pattern Cited in Killings of Civilians by U.S.

Newly released documents regarding crimes committed by United States soldiers against civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan detail a pattern of troops failing to understand and follow the rules that govern interrogations and deadly actions.
The documents, released today by the American Civil Liberties Union ahead of a lawsuit, total nearly 10,000 pages of courts-martial summaries, transcripts [...]

MOVEON

Its most recent 30-second spot, which ran through last week, was broadcast in Mr. Baird’s district. The ad buy was $20,000.
The camera first shows a young soldier against a backdrop of burning buildings. In the rest of the ad, an Army sergeant speaks to the camera and describes a riot in 2003 in which Iraqis [...]

Fox attacks Iran

Robert Greenwald’s new video exposes how Rupert Murdoch’s FOX is beating the drums of war with Iran like it did before the Iraq war–using the same images and Bush talking points. Sign the open letter urging other TV stations to ask tough questions and not follow FOX’s lead on Iran.

How many were arrested last night?

Last Thursday I joined a group of senior Palestinian Authority officials who traveled from Ramallah to Jericho for the dedication of the new Palestinian Security Academy training ground. PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas was the guest of honor. He had just completed his joint press conference with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, and was stopping in [...]

Leading Israeli authors, intellectuals call for truce with Hamas

A long list of prominent intellectuals recently signed a petition calling for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to negotiate a cease-fire with Hamas.
The signatories of the petition – which was organized by the sponsors of the Geneva Initiative and will be published today – include the novelists Amos Oz, A.B. Yehoshua, David Grossman, Meir Shalev, [...]

Livni to launch campaign to bar terrorist groups from office

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni plans to launch a diplomatic campaign to convince the world that terrorist organizations should no longer be allowed to field candidates for office in elections.
The campaign, which will open during her visit to the United Nations this week for the 62nd General Assembly, stems from Israel’s experience of the Hamas [...]