Did the U.S. Lie about Cluster Bomb Use in Iraq

By Nick Turse

tomdispatch.com

Even among the least covered aspects of the air war in Iraq, the question of cluster-bomb (CBU) use remains especially shadowy. This is hardly surprising. After all, at a time when many nations are moving toward banning the use of cluster munitions -- at a February 2007 conference in Oslo, Norway, 46 of 48 governments represented supported a declaration for a new international treaty and ban on the weapons by 2008 -- the U.S. stands with China, Israel, Pakistan, and Russia in opposing new limits of any kind.

Little wonder. The U.S. military has a staggering arsenal of these weapons. According to a recent Human Rights Watch report, the Army holds 88% of the Pentagon's CBU inventory -- at least 638.3 million of the cluster bomblets that are stored inside each cluster munition; the Air Force and Navy, according to Department of Defense figures, have 22.2 million and 14.7 million of the bomblets, respectively. And even these numbers are considered undercounts by experts.

Demolcrats Give Bush Blank Check for Iraq

Our spineless politicians caved to White House pressure and approved an Iraq funding bill with no time limits. At a time when America needs to remove our loyal troops from an Iraq civil war in which 60 to 70 percent of Iraqi citizens believe it's acceptable to kill American solders, our timid politicians pass on the opportunity to take a moral stand against the Bush/Cheney "axis of evil."

Do they realize that their political posturing is being paid for with the blood of our sons and daughters? Enough already!

Bush's 21st Century Maginot Line

WASHINGTON, May 22 — With Congress considering cutting the Pentagon’s budget for missile defenses and Europe on edge over Bush administration proposals to deploy the system to the continent, much is riding on a test scheduled in the next few days of the antimissile shield based in California and Alaska. Read more ...

This totally unnecessary anti-missile system represents another multi-billion GOP give-away to friends in the defense sector. The only thing sadder than spending billions on an acknowledged boondoggle is the realization that while America builds its 21st Century version of the Maginot Line, our European trading partners are building the educational and infrastructure resources required to dominate world trade.

The primary mistake of our intellectually-challenged leaders said Jonathan Schell in Too Late for Empire is a failure, “to realize that power itself, whether wielded by the United States or anyone else -- if conceived in terms of military force -- has been in decline. By imagining otherwise, the United States has become the fool of force -- and the fool of history.” And as Professor Cook of the University of Toronto suggests, America may find its future, “Played out in the only realm that America still holds the edge — violence both inside and outside the nation.”

Regent University
Where a bible and a buck can buy you a law degree and a career in Duyba's Christian Department of Justice.

Why the Hate Crime Bill is Necessary

The Traditional Values Coalition (TVC) released a symbolic “Wanted” poster today for the arrest of Jesus Christ and those who follow Him for violating the proposed Hate Crimes law (H.R. 1592).

“The free exercise of religious speech will be criminalized eventually if this so-called Hate Crimes legislation becomes law,” said Rev. Louis P. Sheldon, TVC Founder and Chairman

“Liberal and homosexual extremists want to silence people of faith whose religious beliefs condemn homosexual behavior. This bill effectively adds a footnoted exception to the First Amendment of the Constitution – ‘none of these protections apply to Christians or other people of faith.’

“The so-called ‘hate crime’ legislation begins to lay the legal foundation and framework to investigate, prosecute and persecute pastors, business owners, and anyone else whose actions are based upon and reflect the truths found in the Bible.

If these self-described Christians wish to praise their God for every dead American solder or for HIV to kill gay and lesbian American citizens, let them do so within the slimy walls of hatred they call their church. The federal Hate Crime bill should put an end to the public display of the disgusting bigotry shown here. What makes Rev. Sheldon believe his life is of a greater value than that of any gay or lesbian citizen? It will take years to undo the damage done to our society by Bush and company encouraging the fundies.

Patriarchal Religion – Men Slaughtering Women

Daily Mail
A 17-year-old girl has been stoned to death in Iraq because she loved a teenage boy of the wrong religion.

As a horrifying video of the stoning went out on the Internet, the British arm of Amnesty International condemned the death of Du’a Khalil Aswad as "an abhorrent murder" and demanded that her killers be brought to justice.

Reports from Iraq said a local security force witnessed the incident, but did nothing to try to stop it. Now her boyfriend is in hiding in fear for his life.

Miss Aswad, a member of a minority Kurdish religious group called Yezidi, was condemned to death as an "honour killing" by other men in her family and hardline religious leaders because of her relationship with the Sunni Muslim boy.

A large crowd watched as eight or nine men stormed the house and dragged Miss Aswad into the street. There they hurled stones at her for half an hour until she was dead.

You may go over the world and you will find that every form of religion that has breathed upon this earth has degraded women. Elizabeth Cady Stanton