Cherry Picking Intelligence - Cheney insists Al Qaeda and Iraq Links

“The president may be wrong but he has acted in good faith…” - - Republican Senator Arlen Specter, March 15, 2006, New York Times, when Senate Democrats blocked votes on President George W. Bush’s eavesdropping program.

According to a BBC report, Cheney insists on a radio show that prior to the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the Administration has ample knowledge that al-Qaeda had network links with the former. This is despite the recent declassified Pentagon report which indicated otherwise.

With the invasion entering its fifth year, and increasing opposition from the Americans and the world in general; increasingly tired of the lies from the Bush’s Administration, it would be a matter of time before more “untruths” be exposed.

The ongoing Administration is suffering from a series of continuous political embarrasements. The recent resignation of a top aide to Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, aide, Monica Goodling, who helped coordinate dismissals of eight United States attorneys, believed to be politically motivated, has prompted demands for Mr. Gonzales’s dismissal.

While Bush has asked for increased funding of more than $100 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan recently, and which was approved from Congress, the Senate has added a provision calling for most U.S. combat troops to withdraw from Iraq by end of March next year. The House has also demanded withdrawal by September 2008. Despite the pressure, Bush has vowed to veto any legislation that includes such deadlines.

Palestinian’s Children’s Day - Continuing Misery

The Palestinian Network for Children’s Rights, a human rights group focusing on child rights in Palestine, issued a statement condemning the Israeli’s army violent policy towards Palestinian children.

The group stated that up to eight children have been killed in 2007 alone.

Since the second intifada in September 2000, 860 children have been killed by the Israeli army and illegal Israeli settlers. 5,200 Palestinian children have also been arrested by the army with about 400 still in prisons and interrogation centres.

5 April is marked Palestinian Children’s Day to commemorate the ongoing human rights violations against children in the Occupied Territories.

Same time last year, 12 children were killed within the same period according to the group.

The group specified violations such as the repeating military incursions into areas in the West Bank and the construction of the wall which undermines the rights of children to education, adequate standard of living, healthcare and the life.

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References:

From Al Jazeera, THURSDAY, APRIL 05, 2007,
Misery of Palestinian children

Statement by the Palestinian Network for Children’s Rights on Palestinian Child Day
April 5, 2006,

http://www.palestinemonitor.org/nueva_web/updates_news/pngo/child_day.htm

 

 

Desperate Situation in Southern Iraq & Palestine

According to IRIN, the humanitarian news and analysis service of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs,

“Nearly a million displaced people in Iraq’s increasingly volatile southern provinces are in urgent need of food, medicines and municipal services…”

The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) estimated that at least 310,000 arrived in the Southern provinces due to the 2006 February bombing of a revered Shia shrine in the northern city of Samarra and the increasing escalation of sectarian violence in other parts of the country.

The central government’s slow response, compounded by decreasing aid has resulted in a humanitarian crisis in various areas such as the need for medical aid and access to food.

In Palestine, hunger, food shortage and malnutrition is a growing problem. According to a report from the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), one-third of the population in West Bank and Gaza Strip is suffering from food insecurity.

The figures are startling.

About 34 percent of Palestinians cannot afford a balanced meal and another 12 percent are at risk of reaching this state. The situation is most dire in the Gaza Strip, with 51 percent of the population suffering from food insecurity.

The problem has worsened since international sanctions are imposed on the electoral victory of the Hamas government, considered by EU and US, as a terrorist organisation. Prior to that, Gazans have also been refused employment in Israel since the intifada in 2000. Last June, the Israeli military banned movement of fishing boats off the Gazan coast effectively eliminating a source of livelihood for fishermen. Farmers’ access to their land in the West Bank have also been restricted.

The Gaza northern sewage treatment facility, known locally as the “Death Swamps”, has also collapsed killing 5 and injuring 35. This has caused the destroyal of the village of Umm Naser, with a population of about 2000. Sewage will now have to be diverted into other six basins, putting those at risk as well.

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References:

Electronic Iraq, http://electroniciraq.net/news/2971.shtml
Aid & Development,Close to Million Displaced and Desperate in Southern Ira, 28 March 2007

Electronic Intifada, http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article6713.shtml
Development, one-third of Palestinians ‘food insecure’, 22 March 2007

The Australian, http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,21461637-2703,00.html
Gaza sewage flood kills 5, March 28, 2007