Hundreds ‘tortured’ in Iraqi prisons 25 May 2009 Iraq’s Ministry of Human Rights has declared in a report that hundreds of people were tortured in Iraqi prisons last year. According to the report published in Baghdad’s al-Sabbah newspaper Sunday, of the 306 cases of torture and abuse in Iraqi prisons, 107 took place in the semi-autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq. The New York-based Human Rights Watch has also declared that the torture or abuse of Iraqi prisoners is “routine and commonplace.” The group said that detainees were suspended for long periods of time with their hands tied behind their back, routinely beaten with cables and metal rods and had shocks administered to their earlobes and genitals by security officers, DPA reported.
Detainee claims abuse at Gitmo, Bagram: ‘They were beating me’ 24 May 2009 As a prisoner, Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef was held both at Afghanistan’s Bagram Air Base and at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba — spending more than three years in Guantanamo before he was released in 2006. Now free, Zaeef alleges the military engaged in abusive treatment both at Bagram and Guantanamo. He says he is still bitter about his time there. Closing Guantanamo Bay, he told CNN, is only part of the justice those detained there deserve. “It was a bad stain on American history,” he said… “I didn’t see a worse situation in my life than Bagram,” recalled Zaeef. “They were beating me, they put me in the snow, in the cold, until I was unconscious.”
Israel’s war effort gains religious imperative 26 May 2009 During the Gaza war this year, Schmuel Kaufman, a military rabbi from a West Bank settlement, used to stride between the Israeli soldiers’ tents and urge them to fight what he deemed an “obligatory war” ordained by ancient scripture. “It’s a holy war to protect women and children from the south of the country after a long period of endurance on our side,” he told The Times. “The commander of the battalion asked me to blow the shofar [a ram’s horn] every time before going into the fighting. I’m blowing the shofar while 500 soldiers stand behind me praying. They went in wrapped in holiness.”
‘If Israel doesn’t remove Iranian threat, no one will’ [Can someone remove the Israeli threat?] 25 May 2009 If Israel does not eliminate the Iranian threat, no one will, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday. “Israel is not like other countries,” Netanyahu told his Likud faction in a meeting which came one week after his meeting with President Barack Obama at the White House. “We are faced with security challenges that no other country faces, and our need to provide a response to these is critical, and we are answering the call.”
Barak: U.S.-Iran nuclear talks have ‘very low’ chance of success 25 May 2009 Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Monday that new diplomatic overtures made by the United States to Iran were highly unlikely to halt the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program. “I believe that the chance the dialogue has of stopping Iran’s nuclear efforts is very low,” Barak told Army Radio. “I also believe the Americans understand this. They only think that there is logic to this, even if the chance is low… in order to contend with what needs to, or is likely to happen in the future.”
Iran sends six warships, logistic vessels to Aden Gulf and high seas 25 May 2009 Iran’s Navy Force Commander Rear Admiral Habibollah Sayyari said on Monday Iran has sent six warships and logistic vessels to Aden Gulf and high seas noting the move was unprecedented in the history of Iran’s navy force. The important measure represents Iran’s potent military capabilities for confronting any sort of outside threat across its coasts, he said as expressing hope navy force could make more progresses on technology of arm by local experts.
Senate backs $91.3 billion Iraq, Afghan war bill 21 May 2009 The U.S. Senate on Thursday approved a $91.3 billion measure sought by President Barack Obama to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The measure meets some of Obama’s key priorities but leaves out funding to close the U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Senate approves $91 billion for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan –Democrats back US militarism By Patrick Martin 25 May 2009 By a margin of 86-3, the US Senate voted late last Thursday to approve a $91.3 billion supplemental funding bill to finance the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through September 30. The bill, which is expected to go to President Obama to sign within two weeks, brings the total expended on the two wars of aggression to more than $900 billion over eight years.
Study: Climate change affects polar bears 19 May 2009 A U.S. study refutes a publicized criticism of the negative effects of climate change on polar bears, supporting the listing of them as a threatened species. The study — conducted by scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey, the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the Universities of Alaska and Maryland, the Canadian Wildlife Service and the U.S. Forest Service — refutes point-by-point the criticism of negative polar bear population predictions. The new study is said to reinforce the U.S. Department of Interior’s May 2008 decision to list polar bears as a threatened species.
Obama turns back on bears By Ian McCarthy 23 May 2009 Obama surprised many core supporters when it was announced that his interior secretary, Ken Salazar, would not repeal certain restrictions on the Endangered Species Act that had been put into place by President [sic] Bush… For Obama, a president elected on a platform of “change,” reversing this policy would seem like a slam-dunk. However, in what is turning out to be a bit of a nasty habit, the president has reversed another ambiguous campaign pledge (to “review” Bush’s ESA modifications), and is continuing to uphold some of the most controversial policies of his predecessor. For environmentalists, this ruling is devastating.
