.

Ø US tries to hide American war crimes & shift focus to Pakistan Ø 90,000 documents on US military & CIA failures, only 180 on ISI Ø How safe are US nuclear, chemical and biological secrets Ø Most of the American propaganda on Pakistan is "Rumors, bullshit and second-hand information" By AHMED QURAISHI Wednesday, 28 July 2010. ISLAMABAD, Pakistan— Since late 2006, United States government, military, intelligence and media have been orchestrating regular attacks against Pakistan, creating a false alarm about its nuclear capability and portraying its premier spy agency, the ISI, as a threat to world peace. The weak and apologetic reactions by Pakistan's political and military officials encouraged this American double game. But here comes the smoking gun, more than 90,000 leaked US intelligence documents, which prove how the Washington establishment has been running a vilification campaign against Pakistan both under Bush and Obama a...

The Anti-Defamation League on Monday blasted Amnesty International as denying Israel the right to defend itself after the human rights organization urged a global freeze on arms sales to Israel. "In calling for an arms embargo of Israel, Amnesty International is doing nothing short of denying Israel the right to self-defense, an internationally accepted right of every sovereign nation," said ADL National Director Abraham H. Foxman in a statement. Amnesty called for the embargo in a report released Monday that claimed more than 20 countries sold Israel weapons and munitions whose use during its offensive in Gaza could constitute war crimes and might pose serious infractions of international law. "Indeed, with this pernicious and biased report, Amnesty International has now become the research arm for and a proponent of the extremist anti-Israel boycott, divestment and sanctions movement," the Jewish-American organization's statement said. "The manner in whic...

To virtually incarcerate the Palestinian people inside degrading cages, destroying their livelihoods, confiscating their lands, stealing their water and uprooting their trees, and then to condemn their legitimate resistance as terrorism is a disease of the mind, notes Zaid Nabulsi. I lost my gloves one day in a coffee shop in Geneva, and I tell you, it's difficult to ride without them when it's really cold. So as I was paying for a new pair with a credit card, the salesman, whom I knew was from Israel, tried to start some small talk by asking me what my family name means. I told him that it relates to the city of Nablus where my family is originally from. Suddenly, the most bewildered look was plastered on his face. "Where is Nablus?" he asked, "I've never heard of it." Then, after realizing that I knew he was bullshitting me, he pretended to remember, "Ah, Shkheim you mean? " With my insistence not to learn these ugly names that the...

This week the death toll in Gaza passed the 1,000 mark, after three weeks of Israeli air and ground attacks. But surprisingly, no one has reported an even more appalling statistic: that there are some 1.5 million injured Palestinians in Gaza. How is is possible that such an astounding figure could have passed the world's media by? The reason apparently is that they have been relying on the highly unreliable statistics provided by official Palestinian sources. It appears that the Palestinian health ministry only records as wounded those Gazans who need to stay in hospital because of the severity of their injuries. That means they only count the more than 4,500 Gazans who have suffered injuries such as severe burns from exploding Israeli phosphorus shells; shrapnel wounds from artillery rounds; broken or lost limbs from aerial bombardment; bullet wounds; physical trauma from falling building debris; and so on. But in fact there is another, far more reasonable standard for assess...

"Oh, God! I have never seen such a terrible scene," cried Kayed Abu Aukal. The emergency doctor could not believe himself seeing the remains of what was days back Shahd, a full-fleshed 4-year-old Palestinian girl. She died when an Israeli shell was fired at the backyard of her home in the Jabalya refugee camp northern Gaza strip, where she was playing. When her parents attempted to rush to the rescue of their kid, who fell to the ground amid a pool of her blood, rains of Israeli bullets kept them a distance. For the next five days Shahd's which was left lying in the open left for dogs to tear out. "The dogs did leave one single part of the poor baby's body intact," said a tearful Abu Aukal. "We have seen heart-breaking scenes over the past 18 days. We picked up children whose bodies were torn or burnt, but nothing like this." For five days Shahd's brother, Matar, and cousin, Mohamed, tried in vain to reach her body. They were fired at by the ...

US/Israel Sign Suicide Pact, Death Warrant, Letter of Bondage for Obama WASHINGTON - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni signed a deal here Friday aimed at halting arms smuggling into Gaza as part of efforts to clinch a ceasefire. Speaking at a hastily-arranged signing ceremony in Washington, Rice said the deal "provides a series of steps that the US and Israel will take to stem the flow of weapons and explosives into Gaza." Rice, who blamed Hamas rocket attacks for sparking a 21-day military offensive by Israel, said the memorandum of understanding aims to ensure that "Gaza can never again be used as a "launchpad" for such attacks. Livni thanked her US counterpart for completing this "historic MOU in record time." The Israeli top diplomat added: "There must be an end of smuggling of weapons to Gaza… The MOU we sign today is … a vital component for the cessation of hostilities." However, it was not...

On Thursday it happened, conclusively - Operation Cast Lead turned insane. Attacking any densely populated city is a serious act at any time, but when Israel's international legitimacy is being ground to dust, such an attack is nothing but madness. Shelling a United Nations facility is something not to be done at any time, but doing it on the day when the UN secretary general is visiting Jerusalem is beyond lunacy. The level of pressure the Israel Defense Forces has been exerting on Gaza may be squeezing Hamas, but it is destroying Israel. Destroying its soul and its image . Destroying it on world television screens, in the living rooms of the international community and most importantly, in Obama's America. Israel is not Russia and Gaza is not Chechnya. Israel cannot deal with its enemies the way belligerent superpowers deal with theirs. Wars must be just and proportional. Without being just, Israel cannot triumph on the battlefield. Without a sound moral foundation any I...

Dear Brother and friend AbdelBari Atwan, Editor of Al-Quds London An Open Letter on the Murder of Palestine, from George Galloway MP It has been said that you, Sir, are the "last Arab". We both know that is not true, there are still others, but millions of us know why it was said of you. You are a Knight of the Arabs that's for sure. Born in a Gazan refugee camp, you are a Prince among men. I have known you for thirty years; back then you still had some of the dust of the camp about you. Now you are an ever-present commentator in the media, publish the Arab world's only independent newspaper, and are highly respected by all who know you. Together we have fought in the land of Balfour and Sykes, of Anthony Eden and Anthony Blair, many great political battles. Many tears and much blood has flown over those years, and before, and it's not going to stop now. I am moved to write having seen yet another of your heart-piercing interviews on television. You leave the inte...

Why does Israel have a right to exist, but Palestine doesn't? This is the question of our time. For 60 years Israelis have been stealing Palestine from Palestinians . There are maps available on the Internet and in Israeli publications showing the shrinkage over time of what was once Palestine into what Palestine is today — a small number of unconnected ghettos or bantustans. Palestine became "the occupied territory" from which Palestinians were ejected and Israeli settlements built for "settlers." Jordan, Syria and Lebanon are full of refugee camps in which Palestinians driven off their lands by Israeli force have been living for decades. Driving people off their land is strictly illegal under international law, but Israel has been getting away with it for decades. Gaza is a concentration camp of 1.5 million Palestinians who were driven from their homes and villages and collected in the Gaza Ghetto. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency was created 6...

"For us, being cautious means being aggressive," one IDF officer told IPS , "When we suspect that a Palestinian fighter is hiding in a house, we shoot it with a missile and then with two tank shells, and then a bulldozer hits the wall. It causes damage but it prevents the loss of life among soldiers." Due to the significant loss of military lives in the Lebanon war, Israeli military planners took into account the effect on Israeli morale and support during the war on Gaza. "From the minute we entered, we've acted like we're at war. That creates enormous damage on the ground," the officer continued. In addition to so-called military targets, the IDF has bombed clearly marked UN buildings such as hospitals and several schools which has lead to many women and children - non-combatants - being massacred for doing nothing more than trying to shelter and hide from the fighting. These buildings were shelled even though the UN had clearly given the IDF...