NYCLAW -- New York City Labor Against the WarNYCLAW Antiwar Digest

November 2, 2008


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------CONTENTS

*Overview
*Afghanistan & Pakistan*Iraq & Syria
*Palestine*Africa*Latin America*Domestic Repression & Injustice*Antiwar Movement*NYCLAW Links

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OVERVIEWNote to progressives for Obama: What happens after Election Day?[A]ntiwar
activists have exchanged their slogans for pro-Obama refrains, despite
the fact that their candidate inflates the alleged threat of Iran,
wants to put more troops in Afghanistan and won't pull out of Iraq
anytime soon. . . .  Imagine if he had to earn our votes, instead of
receiving our support without having to do a thing for it? http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_3938.shtmlObama, the first-rate Republican
Obama's
run has been the negation of almost every decent progressive principle,
with scarcely a bleat of protest from the progressives seeking to hold
him to account. http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/alexander-cockburn-obama-the-firstrate-republican-973691.html
Two parties, one imperial missionDemocrats
and Republicans are of one mind in their resolve to step up undercover
operations in Iran backed by the threat of a full-scale economic
blockade or military action. http://counterpunch.org/mayer10292008.htmlThe U.S. election, viewed from Baghdad"There is one agenda, and whoever holds the [president's] chair will continue the other's job."

 http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iraqelect2-2008nov02,0,7502362.storyTroops split on next commander-in-chief
"To tell you the truth, I don't care so much, I just want to leave."  http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/01/es-elections-obama-mccain-army
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AFGHANISTAN & PAKISTANU.S. kills 25 in AfghanistanAll those killed in late Friday's attack were civilians and belonged to one family.
 http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-us-afghan-violence.html?ref=worldU.S. kills 27 in Pakistan

The
new strikes raised the number of such attacks to at least 17 since
August. . . . Residents frequently contend that civilians, sometimes
women and children, are among the dead. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/01/world/asia/01drone.html?ref=worldIn Afghanistan, the loudest sound is the clock ticking
"I don't think that even the little kids like us." http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/28/arts/television/28fron.html?ref=television
Afghanistan is resistance magnet'If you want to join the jihad, go to Afghanistan.' http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-taliban29-2008oct29,0,1646596.story
U.S. goal: dominationLike
the Clinton administration before it, and an Obama administration after
it, the Bush team sought a strategic placement in an energy-rich region
where the U.S. is squaring off against such rivals as Russia, Iran and
China. http://socialistworker.org/2008/10/30/when-peace-talks-are-war-strategy----------------------------------------------------------------------------------


IRAQ & SYRIAU.S. raid on Syria emulates Israel[T]he
concept behind the raid appears to have borrowed from Israel, which
last September bombed the alleged site of a nuclear reactor in northern
Syria. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/oct/27/syria-us-raidOrdinary Syrians protest U.S. raid"We want the Americans to stop their acts of terrorism in Syria, in Iraq and the rest of the world."
 http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2008/10/20081030101832817729.htmlAssociation of Muslim Scholars in Iraq denounces SOFA
"[T]he
occupiers will leave, therefore we consider the approval of this
agreement and signature on it by any party will be considered as
treason and illegal because this agreement is coercive and humiliating." http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m48327&hd=&size=1&l=e

Marines rely on police death squads in RamadiNever
mind that he wears a hatchet on his belt, a powerful reminder of the
legend of how the commander of the North Ramadi police district
attained his post -- reportedly hacking to death members of Al Qaeda in
Iraq in the streets. http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnews/20081031/ts_usnews/iniraqusmarinesrelyonallieslikeahatchetwieldingcoloneltokeepthepeace
Military's burn pit at Balad poisons thousandsAn
open-air "burn pit" at the largest U.S. base in Iraq may have exposed
tens of thousands of troops, contractors and Iraqis to cancer-causing
dioxins, poisons such as arsenic and carbon monoxide, and hazardous
medical waste. . . . Most large U.S. installations in Iraq, as well as
Afghanistan, have burn pits. http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2008/10/military_burnpit_102708w/----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PALESTINE
Gaza hospitals lack medicineA crisis-level shortage of
drugs and spare parts for medical equipment and a two-month-old strike
by health care workers have combined to add more misery to the lives of
the 1.5 million inhabitants of the impoverished Gaza Strip. http://uk.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUKTRE49Q56F20081027Palestinians denied visit to villages of ancestors

Government
sources said allowing the visit risks encouraging hundreds of thousands
of Palestinian refugees to claim a right to return to the villages from
which they were expelled in 1948.  http://www.thenational.ae/article/20081027/FOREIGN/323045339/1002/rssA Freedom Rider in Gaza City
Today, the Free Gaza Movement has a simple message for the rest of the world: What are you waiting for? http://counterpunch.org/kysia10292008.htmlThe Executions at Kafr Qassem
"In
the 1948 war, many people fled when faced with the Israeli army,
expecting to return after the fighting. After Kafr Qassem, Palestinians
learnt that Israel did not play by the rules of war. We learnt that
sumud [steadfastness] was our only defence." http://www.counterpunch.org/cook10302008.htmlP.A. is at Israel's beck and call
Under
the manifestly false rubric of "restoring law and order," hundreds of
American-trained Palestinian troops have been rounding up Islamic
political activists and suspected Hamas sympathizers in the Hebron
region. . . . Last week, a well-informed Israeli journalist wrote in
Ha'aretz that "we give them the lists, and they do the rest."  http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m48331&hd=&size=1&l=e

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------AFRICA
Nigeria: Trial gets underway in human rights case against ChevronSan
Ramon, Calif.-based Chevron used company helicopters to fly
"notoriously brutal" Nigerian troops to the oil platform, where they
killed and injured unarmed protesters. Other protesters were arrested
and tortured. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-chevron29-2008oct29,0,693282.storySomalia: Millions suffer from U.S.-backed invasion
The
violence has killed nearly 10,000 civilians and an unknown number of
combatants since the start of last year. More than a million people
have been driven from their homes. http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-us-somalia-blasts.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
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LATIN AMERICAColombia: U.S. support sharply increases death squads' toll"If
we are receiving aid and vetting from a government in Washington that
validates torture, then what kind of results can one expect?" http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/30/world/americas/30colombia.html?hp

Bolivia: Government suspends U.S.-backed "antidrug" espionage"There were D.E.A. agents who worked to conduct political espionage and to fund criminal groups." http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/02/world/americas/02bolivia.html?_r=1&ref=world&oref=slogin
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DOMESTIC REPRESSION AND INJUSTICE

Inquiry targeted 2,000 foreign Muslims in 2004[N]ew guidelines
will allow federal investigators to make targets of Muslims, Middle
Easterners and others without evidence of links to terrorist groups. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/31/us/31inquire.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

Judge demands information on torture[A]ll
his confessions were made after "he was tortured again and again and
again until he just parroted what his torturers wanted him to say." http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/31/us/31gitmo.html?ref=worldCitizenship often determines who gets medical care
"We do not pay for chronic care for illegal immigrants."  http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-dialysis29-2008oct29,0,2166155.story
U.S. prison-industrial complexAbout
"500,000 persons are locked up for drug offenses in any one day" in
this country. . . . But the war has arguably had little discernible
effect on either supply or demand. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/28/AR2008102801352.html
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ANTIWAR MOVEMENTGI Resistance: A soldier's conscience"I
joined because I was poor, to put it simply. . . . When a woman and
child are killed in Afghanistan, we pay them in rice and goats. A lot
of humanitarian aid missions went like that."  http://www.bclocalnews.com/richmond_southdelta/southdeltaleader/lifestyles/33070554.html

GI Resistance: Iraq War resister details severe abuse as deportation date approaches"I
feel that the army will be particularly harsh on me because I have
spoken out about my opinions and because I am publicly on record as
being a war resister." http://www.londontopic.ca/article.php?artid=11345Antiwar Labor: Union locals embrace a call for a antiwar strike
One
resolution was written for the national convention of the American
Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). . . .
The second resolution was addressed to the annual convention of the
Washington State Labor Council (WSLC). http://www.socialism.com/fsarticles/vol29no5/general_strike.html



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