Military - new material (58)
01 May 2006
Fatal Strikes: Israel's indiscriminate Attacks Against Civilians in Lebanon. Human Rights Watch, August 2006, pp. 49. This report documents some of the violations of international humanitarian law by the Israeli Defence Forces in their invasion of Lebanon (between 12-27 July, when the number of civilian fatalities was estimated at over 500). The report focuses on attacks on civilian homes and fleeing civilians, documenting a number of cases, with a section on the applicable international law. The report contains a series of recommendations aimed at the Israeli government, the United Nations, the US government and the government of the United Kingdom "and other countries through which weapons, ammunition, or other military material may pass in transit to israel", as well as to Hizbollah and the governments of Syria and Iran. Available at: http://hrw.org/reports/2006/lebanon0806/
Weltmacht Europa Auf dem Weg in weltweite Kriege [World power Europe on its way toward worldwide wars], Tobias Pflüger/Jürgen Wagner (eds.). VSA-Verlag, Hamburg 2006
Graduates and gun runners, Mike Lewis. Red Pepper February 2006. p.10. This article examines the "growing corporate influence on our universities and the threat it poses to academic freedom" in light of a CAAT study which "found that nearly half of British universities hold significant investments in six of Britain's largest arms exporters."
Dossier I: Der Iran Konflikt. Kooperation für den Frieden April 2006, pp 20, EUR 1. The Peace Network is monitoring political developments in Iran around nuclear enrichment and examines the background to developments. It reports that Iran is acting within its international obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, gives a geographical overview of US military bases in the Middle East, puts the current danger of war into its historical context of occupations of Iran and its current context of other conflicts and clashes of interest in the region. This information leaflet is intended to form the basis for an informed campaign against the danger of war on Iran. Available from: friekoop@bonn.comlink.org
The ugly truth about everyday life in Baghdad (by the US ambassador), Zalamay Khalilzad. The Independent 20.6.06., pp1-2. This front page article reprints an edited version of a confidential cable - "Snapshot from the Office" - signed by the US ambassador in Baghdad, Zalamay Khalilzad. In an accompanying article Patrick Cockburn describes the memo as painting "a grim picture of Iraq as a country disintegrating in which the real rulers are the militias, and the central government counts for nothing." The memo includes Khalilzad/s observations from the Green Zone on women's rights, dress code, evictions, power cuts, kidnappings, mistrust of the security forces, risks to staff, sectarian tensions, mistrust and neighbourhood governments.
Pound for pound, Greg Palast. The Big Issue no 703 (July 24-30) 2006, pp.10-11. Palast is the investigate journalist who "revealed how governor Jeb Bush purged thousands of predominantly Democrat- voting black citizens from the voter rolls before the 2000 [US] elections and so served up a victory on a silver platter to his brother George W." Described as a "liar" by Tony Blair and a "son-of-a-bitch" by the White House, here Palast gives an interview about his new book, Armed Madhouse (Penguin Books), in which he argues that "the invasion of Iraq wasn't about the US grabbing Saddam's oil, but actually about stopping the flow of oil. The real decision-makers weren't Washington hawks, but the big business leaders behind them, and they want to keep global supplies restricted, which in turn keeps prices high and the people who really run things - the Texas oil companies, Saudi princes and members of OPEC - fat and happy."
Who blew up the Samarra shrine? Mike Phipps. Labour Left Briefing June 2006, pp. 6. This article examines the destruction of the Shia Askari shrine in Samarra, Iraq on 22 February no