This cartoon is by Mikhaela, who writes:
This first cartoon is of course in response to reports that recruiters are knowingly letting more neo-Nazis into the service [see also here. And here].
The recruiters‘ goal? To meet their quotas.
The neo-Nazi goal? To kill brown people and get professional training for a coming “race war”.
As if troops of color didn’t already have enough problems…
Iraq: Japanese troops leave.
From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in the USA:
Biblical Sites May Be Hurt, Experts Worry
By MIKE TONER
07/22/2006
American archaeologists warned Friday that fierce fighting in Lebanon and northern Israel could damage or destroy the region’s rich archaeological heritage — threatening sites from biblical, Roman, Crusader and Byzantine times.
The heads of the Archaeological Institute of America and the American Schools for Oriental Research called on all parties in the conflict to “avoid targeting” cultural sites and do everything possible to minimize any damage to antiquities.
“This region embodied much of the early history of the three great religions of Christianity, Judaism and Islam,” said AIA President Jane Waldbaum.
“With people lobbing missiles and bombs all over the place, the risk of damage could be very serious.”
Waldbaum said the institute had unconfirmed reports of damage at Baalbek, the spectacular site of pre-Roman and Roman ruins in the Bekaa Valley about 50 miles northeast of Beirut.
Heavy Israeli bombing has also been reported at Tyre, which lies in territory controlled by Hezbollah just north of the Israeli border.
Extensive Roman ruins at Tyre are among a half-dozen sites in Lebanon listed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List of important cultural sites and monuments.
Petition against this destruction: here.
The war and Haifa zoo: here.
Anti war demonstrations in Israel and elsewhere: here.
From English (conservative) paper, the Daily Mail:
New questions over death of David Kelly
By JONATHAN OLIVER, The Mail on Sunday
22nd July 2006
Alarming new questions about the death of Iraq weapons inspector David Kelly have been raised as a major investigation cast doubt on the official verdict that he committed suicide.
The inquiry by campaigning MP Norman Baker will spark renewed speculation about how the Government’s leading expert on weapons of mass destruction was found dead in a field in Oxfordshire three years ago.
In particular, the dossier compiled by the Liberal Democrat MP for Lewes shows that the method of suicide said to have been chosen by Dr Kelly, far from being common as was claimed at the time, was in fact unique.
Dr Kelly was the only person in the United Kingdom that year deemed to have died from severing the ulnar artery in his wrist, a particularly difficult and painful process as the artery is deep and Dr Kelly had only a blunt garden knife.
Dr Kelly was of the Baha’i faith (strongly anti suicide; and pacifist).
Also on this: here.
Update: here.
From Human Rights Watch, an organization, which in itself is certainly not an opponent of United States rulers:
U.S.: Soldiers Tell of Detainee Abuse in Iraq
Abusive Techniques Were Authorized, Soldiers’ Complaints Ignored
(New York, July 23, 2006) – Torture and other abuses against detainees in U.S. custody in Iraq were authorized and routine, even after the 2004 Abu Ghraib scandal, according to new accounts from soldiers in a Human Rights Watch report released today.
The new report, containing first-hand accounts by U.S. military personnel interviewed by Human Rights Watch, details detainee abuses at an off-limits facility at Baghdad airport and at other detention centers throughout Iraq.
“These accounts rebut U.S. government claims that torture and abuse in Iraq was unauthorized and exceptional – on the contrary, it was condoned and commonly used.”
John Sifton, senior researcher on terrorism and counterterrorism at Human Rights Watch
In the 53-page report, “No Blood, No Foul: Soldiers’ Accounts of Detainee Abuse in Iraq,” soldiers describe how detainees were routinely subjected to severe beatings, painful stress positions, severe sleep deprivation, and exposure to extreme cold and hot temperatures.
The accounts come from interviews conducted by Human Rights Watch, supplemented by memoranda and sworn statements contained in declassified documents.
See also here.
Dear Kitty. Some blog 