Revolution

Warrant for ex-Argentine leader


An Argentine judge has ordered the arrest of former President Isabel Peron over the disappearance of a leftist activist in the 1970s.

She is also wanted for questioning over three decrees signed allegedly linking her to right-wing death squads.

Human rights campaigners say death squads killed some 1,500 government opponents between 1973 and 1976.

Ms Peron took over the presidency from her husband, three-time President Juan Domingo Peron, when he died in 1974.

Federal judge Raul Acosta issued the warrant via the international police organisation Interpol in an attempt to secure Ms Peron's arrest in Spain, where she now lives.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6254227.stm

Bush's tough tactics are a 'declaration of war' on Iran


By Anne Penketh, Diplomatic Editor The Independent UK
Published: 12 January 2007

American forces stormed Iranian government offices in northern Iraq, hours after President George Bush issued a warning to Tehran that was described as a "declaration of war".

The soldiers detained six people, including diplomats, according to the Iranians, and seized documents and computers in the pre-dawn raid which was condemned by Iran. A leading UK-based Iran specialist, Ali Ansari, said the incident was an "extreme provocation". Dr Ansari said that Mr Bush's speech on future Iraq strategy amounted to "a declaration of war" on Iran.

"The risk is a wider war. Because of the underlying tensions, we are transferring from a 'cold war' into a 'hot war'," he said.

In his speech, the President accused Iran and Syria of providing material support for attacks on US troops, and vowed to stop the "flow of support" from across the border. "We will seek out and destroy the networks providing advanced weaponry and training to our enemies in Iraq," he said.

Dr Ansari argued that the Bush administration had decided to confront Iran at a time when public opinion has been focused on the conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia. "There's been a shift of emphasis without anyone noticing," he said.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/article2145136.ece

Leading article: Mr Bush's masterplan: to spread the blame around

Published: 12 January 2007

It was a chastened US president who addressed his fellow countrymen on Iraq on Wednesday, a president who accepted responsibility for mistakes made, called the situation "unacceptable" and ordered an about-turn on pretty much every aspect of operations. The US military is now being called upon to fight the battle for Baghdad all over again, in circumstances that are infinitely more complex than they were the first time around.

In its grave tone and subdued staging, this was a broadcast whose sombreness rivalled the low points of the Nixon and Carter presidencies. From a commander-in-chief whose cheery outlook has twice contributed to his electoral appeal, the dark mood was doubly shocking. Alluding, perhaps, to his arrogant "mission accomplished" speech from the aircraft carrier USS Lincoln, George W Bush warned that victory would not look like the victories of the past: "There will be no surrender ceremony on the deck of a battleship."

The question, of course, is whether the United States can achieve anything approaching victory in Iraq at all. Violence is now endemic. The country is awash with weapons. Society is fractured along ethnic and religious lines several times over. There may be an elected government in Baghdad, but it, too, is splintered, and its authority does not extend much further than the heavily fortified "green zone".

The military push, or "surge", that Mr Bush has ordered almost guarantees that things in Iraq will get worse, perhaps much worse, before they have the slightest chance of getting better. More likely, the new plan will run out of time, money, manpower, or all three. It has, though, one key advantage for Mr Bush compared with the so-called Baker plan and the more gradualist alternatives on offer: he cannot - yet - be accused of cutting and running, and the blame for failure will be spread around.

The military operations Mr Bush proposes were presented as an Iraqi-inspired plan: US and Iraqi forces are supposed to be jointly responsible for restoring and maintaining order. The Iraqi government, for its part, has undertaken to pass legislation on sharing oil revenues, create jobs and modify the de-Baathification programme to foster national reconciliation. US support, Mr Bush made clear, was contingent on the Iraqi government fulfilling its part of the deal.

Mr Bush threatened moves against Syrian and Iranian interests if these countries interfered in any way - in other words, they too would become scapegoats for failure. But it is the Democrat-controlled Congress that Mr Bush really skewered. By presenting failure in the apocalyptic light he did - as a "disaster" for the US and a threat to the very survival of its allies in the Middle East - Mr Bush has made it exceptionally hard for Congress to reject a request for more funds. Those voting "No" would risk accusations that they are undermining US security - the old patriotic card again.

Yesterday, the new Defence Secretary, Robert Gates, completed the administration's volte-face by announcing that he wanted to boost the US military by more than 90,000. The light and agile force favoured by Donald Rumsfeld - the force that conquered Iraq, but proved incapable of holding it - is now, it seems, recognised as just another mistake, to be consigned to the same oblivion as Mr Bush's premature triumphalism.

In an effort to explain why he dismissed the Baker plan so comprehensively, Mr Bush offered this. "To step back now," he said, "would force a collapse of the Iraqi government, tear that country apart, and result in mass killings on an unimaginable scale." As an admission of the catastrophe that the US invasion has inflicted on Iraq, this summary could hardly be bettered.

http://tomdegan.blogspot.com/

Tom Degan
One of my favourite American bloggers comments on Bush's speech

Soldier quizzes Blair

Jan 12 2007

By The Huddersfield Daily Examiner


THE Prime Minister has been quizzed by an ex-soldier who said he had lost his home.

After last night's grilling Tony Blair said he would look into concerns that were raised and said the Government had a duty of care.
On a live TV debate from the Royal Marines Training Centre in Lympstone, Devon, he pledged to look into the treatment offered to soldiers discharged from the forces because they suffered post- traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Mr Blair was questioned by Royal British Legion representative John Pentreath about the treatment of soldiers returning from combat in places like Iraq and Afghanistan.
Mr Pentreath said when they were discharged the door to care was effectively "slammed shut".
The point was also made by former soldier and PTSD sufferer Justin Smith.
He asked Mr Blair what help he could get, saying that after he was discharged he had lost his house and was struggling to get care.

Mr Blair said that while he could not comment on individual cases, the Government certainly had a duty of care to those who had served their country.






For James Piotrowski


1




They don't f*cking get it do they?
It doesn't sink into their brains
They don't understand where you're coming from man
Cos they're ignorant and should be ashamed
They gave you a gun and they sent you
Out into the horror and pain
And they rated you high
Said this is our boy
They knew you were good at the game
They worked you through two tours of duty
The insects, the heat and the cold
The guns that jammed, the f*cking sand
The long hours of boredom untold
Your performance record was exemplary
Bravery and professionalism shown
Serving with pride and compassion
Your career potential well known
You were in the front line of invasion
Laying down cover for Yanks
But you were sickened by watching the enemy
Sliced in half by tanks
The war became your life, man
You saw it right from the start
By the time you were 21 years old
You'd given the army your heart
But you'd suffered for all of the horrors
Your country did not want told
The deadly dreams and hollow screams
Of the young and of the old
And when you returned standing upright
A remarkable hero to all
They didn't advise your family
You were no longer yourself at all
At home you went through the motions
With war still raged your head
You stole a gun to protect yourself
And hid it there under your bed
Then driving along a street one day
They rammed you from every side
Dragged you out of your vehicle
And kicked away your pride
On the ground you were cuffed and cautioned
And dragged off to a cell
Your lawyer's filed PTSD
But the judge said, "Go to hell."
They arrested your mum and young sister
Under the Terrorism Act
Locked them up and questioned them
(Did they really f*cking do that?)
- Yep, for 30 hours in fact
In court you were wrongly treated
With arrogant, utter distain
The judge said you were "Manipulative"
(He didn't have a brain)
You were stripped of your rank of Lance Corporal
And dismissed from the army with haste
They said you were big, big trouble
But on what were their findings based?
Your solicitor, Hugheston-Roberts
Said all you'd ever wanted to be
Was an outstanding soldier
And you'd joined up to fight at 18
But the "horror of war" had affected you
That you'd suffered and had to bear
"…things many of us here in this court
wouldn't want to go anywhere near."
"He's no longer the invincible Rambo
He is now, I suppose a mere boy
and there's genuine and real contrition"
But the judge saw it all as a ploy
He sent you down for a long haul
Seven long years of hell
With Iraq still burning fiercely
In your locked and guarded cell
D'you remember us all cheering?
(Go way back before the fear)
D'you remember how you were feeling?
When you won 'Recruit of the Year'?

Keep it near



Endymion 2007




BROKEN BY THE WAR MACHINE


These are four mates who dreamed of joining the Army together. (pic unavailable) But two years after serving in Basra they say they are suffering from post-traumatic stress..
By Ros Wynne-Jones

THERE are no smiles. Just the grim determination of four young men who believe they are about to fulfil their destinies as soldiers.

Lance Corporal James Piotrowski and Guardsmen Elliott Nash, Chris McDade and John Connelly had grown up together, played soldiers together and joined up together. And four days after this picture was taken, they went to war together.

Today, just three years and a few months later, they are irrevocably scarred, broken by their experiences in Iraq and, they say, abandoned by the army.

"They wanted to serve their country, become heroes, see the world," says Mark Piotrowski, James's father and a former soldier himself. "But they were expendable, discarded like broken toys."

Expendable - and as surely damaged by their experiences in Basra as by any insurgent's bullet.

All four boys believe they are suffering severe and debilitating Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, their careers in ruins and their lives destroyed by nightmares, flashbacks and paranoid anger.

Elliott Nash has left the army for good, and faces up to six months in jail following a court martial. Chris McDade's face was so badly injured in a crash while training in Kenya that he is awaiting medical discharge. John Connelly went AWOL in 2002.

And James Piotrowski, formerly a model soldier who once won Best Recruit, is beginning a seven-year sentence in a civilian prison for possessing a stolen firearm and assaulting a military policeman.

He has been stripped of his rank and thrown out of the army he dreamed of joining since early childhood. He is not quite 23.

"Those boys all dreamed of becoming soldiers," says Mark, who is campaigning to get his son psychiatric help.

For James' friend Elliott Nash, now 22, that dream has become a nightmare. Last year he walked away from the army and returned to Birmingham.

"I've known John, James and Chris since I was 10," he says. "We were best friends and when we were 16, we agreed to join the army together. We even made sure we joined the same regiment, the Irish Guards.

"James always scored top marks and wanted to join the SAS."

After a stint in Germany, the boys received their orders to Iraq in November, 2002. Reaching Kuwait on February 27, 2003, they were proud to be part of the lead group over the border into Iraq, providing cover for the advancing Americans.

But watching enemy soldiers cut down by tank shells began to haunt James. And he was tormented by the image of a little Iraqi girl clinging to the body of her dead father.

"She was screaming her eyes out," James wrote later in a letter from prison. "But we never had time to stop. We just pushed on past..."

Ruth, his stepmum, says: "He wrote to us the first time he killed someone, he was really upset. He said he kept thinking of the man's family..."

Later, a comrade, Fusilier Kelan Turrington was shot in the neck by a sniper and all James and his fellow soldiers could do was watch him die because it was too dangerous to attempt a rescue.

"When James came back from Iraq he was strange and quiet," says his 19-year-old sister Joanne. "He slept outside in a hammock, saying he was protecting us.

"He started drinking because he said it blocked out the flashbacks of dead bodies. He was screaming and shouting in his sleep."

His mother Debbie has no doubts about what happened to her son.

"He might have come back from Iraq alive," she says. "But he wasn't the same kid. He's been destroyed by the horror he's seen."

In fact, the boys came back heroes from Iraq. James was described by his Colour Sergeant as standing out among his peers in bravery and professionalism.

"L/Cpl Piotrowski served his country with pride, loyalty and compassion," he wrote. "He struck me as a man of great potential."

James was promoted - but his father knew there was something wrong.

"He started to look really drawn and exhausted, with deathly white skin. His eyes looked haunted. But when he asked the army for help he was told to stop being a poof."

Sent to Northern Ireland, his son became increasingly disturbed by any kind of violence. "The soldiers had been feeding some kittens that were living under a watchtower," Mark says.

"For some reason, maybe to show off, one of the officers killed all the kittens and James just lost it. He had seen enough killing, he said. He hated what that man had done."

By the time he had finished his tour of Northern Ireland, James was drinking heavily and getting into violent fights. Afraid of nightmares, he was taking caffeine tablets to keep awake.

"All four lads only felt secure in a combat environment, protecting one another. The war never ended for them," says Mark. Within months James was linked to two rifles stolen from the Irish Guards' headquarters in central London.

One was found under his bed. and a nationwide hunt for him ended on the Birmingham streets where he had once played soldiers with his four friends.

James knew he was in terrible trouble, but the army turned its back on him Awaiting charges, he escaped from his cell at Wellington Barracks and fled to a North Wales hospital where he had heard Dr Dafydd Jones was treating ex-soldiers with mental health problems.

Dr Jones confirmed PTSD - but the army insists James is suffering from a 'personality disorder'.

Eventually sentencing him to seven years and four months in prison, the judge advocate called him a "dangerous offender". He is still not receiving any psychiatric help.

And while James awaits treatment, his childhood friends John and Elliott await trial for going AWOL.

Chris is getting help for PTSD, but his face is so badly damaged that he is unlikely ever to fight again.

Official figures reveal 1,333 ex-servicemen and women who fought in the 2003 Iraq War have developed mental health problems. Campaigners suggest this is the tip of an iceberg.

"It's for the other lads as well as for James that I'll keep fighting to get my son the help he needs," Mark says. " James is ill and he needs help. And so do his mates."


Free James Piotrowski Campaign Home Page

http://www.freejamespiotrowski.com/index.html

Image 1 James in Iraq

Last night I watched 'The Road To Guantanamo' (Documentary Drama)

Have you seen it? It won the Silver Bear in Berlin and much besides.
It's an incredible film in a way. As much about the bravery and spirit of four Asian/Muslim lads from Birmingham, England, who set off for a friend's wedding in Pakistan and ended up in a horrific war - as it is about the misuse and abuse of power.
It's about how three of them survived to come home again.

There's a scene before they get to Guantanamo, set in Afghanistan, that I really can't get it out my head. It's been getting to me - as symbolism always does.

One of the British lads (now a prisoner of the US ) is asleep in his animal cage out in the open at night and suddenly torch-light flickers on his face and you think, ay up, the guards are coming for him. (This is during a time when they're trying to break him, so you expect the worst).
As you watch this lad's eyes open, an American voice says, "Don't move."
And cos he's used to reacting to that kind of command, as in:
"Stand up", "sit down", "don't you f*cking move", "shut the f*ck up", "move, move, move." (the last while hooded and being dragged across a compound with his hands and ankles tied) he holds very still.
You hear the American guard say again, "Don't move." And his voice is strange - hushed, shadowy…
The lad looks scared - and so he should be.
He's had a gun pressed to his head during interrogation, and that time he was told: "If you move I will shoot you."
So anyway, he holds still and this voice says:
"Don't …..move. There's a big f*cking tarantula in the cage with you… I'm coming in." (Or something similar)
And the guard very gently unlocks the cage and opens up a gap.
The lad holds still on the ground and you see this big black spider, just waiting there, motionless, about a foot from the prisoner's leg. It's an evil-looking thing, poisonous and deadly - and then a boot comes down on it, crunch.
As the boot lifts off again, you see the dead and mangled spider for a moment before the guard steps back out the tiny cage and re-locks it. Still not having moved, the lad whispers, "Thank you" and the American guard replies, "No problem."

I can't stop thinking about it. A humane act in all that terrible injustice.

In my mind it symbolises something that gives me hope - and strangely that is how I felt after watching the film - hopeful.
Some of it is terrible or sickening of course, but there's a bit in the film when an old Afghani man reminds people that there is good and bad in every society - and I think that is the message - for all of us.

Anyone else seen it?

I haven't seen 'The Road To Guantanamo', Endy. Thanks for bringing it to our attention. It's released on DVD?

Hi Olga

You can order the DVD here
http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss_w_h_/203-2801988-8646364?url=search-alias%3Ddvd&field-keywords=road+to+guantanamo&Go.x=15&Go.y=13&Go=Go
(Amazon UK)

or here
http://www.amazon.com/s/103-5688880-8631043?ie=UTF8&keywords=road%20to%20guantanamo&tag=dannyyeesbook4-20&index=blended&Search=Search&link%5Fcode=qs
(Amazon US)


** (quote from youtube) A lot of people ask about where they can get the movie, here it is: http://isohunt.com/download/15231726/axxo
If you can buy the DVD, please do so in order to support Michael Winterbottom's work.

*****************************************

Some more info:what it says on the back of the DVD


The Road To Guantanamo is the story of four friends who set off from the Midlands in September 2001 for an innocent wedding and holiday in Pakistan. Two and a half years later only three of them returned home. Through their epic journey we hear the story of their misunderstandings, ignorance, confusions and friendships as step by step they go from the safety of their small-town teenage existance to the heart of 'war on terror'.

Through a series of interviews with the men, dramatised scenes and archive news footage, the film shows how they ended up in Afghanistan hiding with the Taliban fighters. Under fire from US Fighter planes they're handed over to the US, only to be kept in horrific conditions at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba for over two years.

The Road to Guantanamo is directed by the award-winning Michael Winterbottom and was winner of the Silver Bear for Direction at the 2006 Berlin Film Festival.

A Revolution Films Production in association with Screen West Midlands
A film by Michael Winterbottom, directed by him and Mat Whitecross

******************************************

hope that's of some help

Endy

sh*t

made the page go really wide putting in those links - sorry about that,
I know it makes reading awkward.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
(January 15, 1929-April 4, 1968)

"Millions have chosen to move beyond the prophesying of smooth
patriotism to the high grounds of firm dissent, based upon the
mandates of conscience and the reading of history.
Now, of course, one of the difficulties in speaking out today
grows out of the fact that there are those who are seeking to equate
dissent with disloyalty. It's a dog day in our nation when high level
authorities will seek to use every method to silence dissent.
Something is happening and people are not going to be silent.
The truth must be told. And I say that those who are seeking to
make it appear that anyone who opposes the war in Vietnam is a fool
or a traitor or an enemy of our soldiers is a person who has
taken a stand against the best in our tradition."
-- Martin Luther King, Jr., April 16th, 1967, Ebenezar Baptist Church, Atlanta, GA



Dick Cheney: "War Critics Help Osama bin Laden"




http://www.michaelmoore.com/

Yes, it is.

Thanks, Endy.

Reporting for Duty
"Not one more of my brothers should die for a lie."
-- Marine Corps Sgt. Liam Madden

"One thing I want to ask for the citizens of this nation is to stand behind us. Show Congress that you support us, and our right to speak out."
-- Sgt. Jabbar Magruder


http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=8992

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/latestnews/index.php?id=8993

Racism gets a reality check

The abuse of Shilpa Shetty on 'Celebrity Big Brother' has prompted more than 21,000 protests.
Effigies of contestants are burnt in Patna as India reacts angrily to her treatment.
Tony Blair's spokesman says any perception Britain tolerates racism 'has to be regretted'.
The broadcaster defends programme against criticism but enjoys boost in ratings.
By Robert Verkaik, Ben Russell, and Justin Huggler
Published: 18 January 2007

The alleged racist abuse directed at a Bollywood film star appearing on the Channel 4 reality show Celebrity Big Brother became an international issue yesterday.

In a day of extraordinary developments, Chancellor Gordon Brown was forced to defend Britain against allegations of racism on his first full day of a trip to India.

Mr Brown said he regarded the alleged racist comments made on the programme as "offensive". He added: "I want Britain to be seen as a country of fairness and tolerance. Anything detracting from this I condemn".

And as the protests grew more vociferous, No 10 was put on the defensive. Tony Blair's spokesman said any perception abroad that Britain tolerated racism had to be "regretted and countered".

Yesterday, Indian TV news was dominated by images of Shilpa Shetty in tears after arguments with flatmates, during which she was allegedly called a "Paki" and a "cu nt".

"Racist Big Brother leaves Shilpa shattered," read the headline in the Deccan Herald, one of several newspapers to carry the story on its front page.

And in the city of Patna, effigies of Jade Goody, Danielle Lloyd and Jo O'Meara were burnt. "The big question is: why does everyone hate Shilpa Shetty?" the Indian Express asked on its website.

In one recent argument on the show, Goody told Shetty: "Go back to the slums and find out what real life is like, lady. You are not some princess in f*cking Neverland. You're not some princess here... you need a day in the slums... f*cking go in your community."

And Danielle Lloyd was heard to mutter, out of Shetty's earshot: "I think she should f*ck off home." Britain's media watchdog Ofcom reported a record 19,300 complaints against the programme, with a further 2,000 contacting Channel 4 directly.

Last night, it emerged Channel 4 and Endemol, makers of Big Brother, are facing a lawsuit from viewers who say they were distressed by what they saw. In what would be the first case of its kind, seven Asian viewers, all victims of racism, have instructed the civil rights law firm, Equal Justice, to institute proceedings in the "provision of services" under the Race Relations Act 1976.

Keith Vaz MP, former minister for Europe, used an early day motion in the House of Commons to call on Channel 4 bosses to take "effective action" against the "unacceptable" racist language allegedly used.

The London Mayor, Ken Livingstone, said: "The mocking of Shilpa Shetty's accent, her Indian cooking and other aspects of her culture, as well as such basic things as repeated failure to get her name right and referring to her in extreme derogatory terms are completely unacceptable ... All cultures are welcome in London and we do not ask anyone to give up their culture or background in order to be welcome and to contribute to the city and its great prosperity. The treatment meted out to Shilpa Shetty is totally opposite to such an approach."

But Channel 4 appears in no hurry to take action. Ratings for the highlights show on Tuesday evening hit 4.5 million viewers, up from 3.5 million on Monday.

The bookmaker William Hill said Shetty was now the new "hot favourite" to win. In a further twist, Goody and Shetty are to go head to head in the next round of evictions.

Last night, Channel 4 claimed there had been "no overt racial abuse or racist behaviour directed against Shilpa Shetty within the Big Brother house". It said what had happened could be characterised as a "cultural and class clash between her and three of the British females in the house." It added: "Unambiguous racist behaviour and language is not tolerated under any circumstances in the house. Housemates are constantly monitored and Channel 4 would intervene if a clear instance of this arose." Channel 4 said it had spoken to Shetty, "who has not complained or raised the issue of racism".

One of the complainants bringing the claim against Channel 4 said the comments he heard triggered memories of racism he had experienced in the 1970s. Tallat Mukhtar,a former banker who now runs his own firm, said: "This series has taken me back to the 1970s when I was racially abused on the streets and encountered the Jade Goody mentality. I find it disgusting that Channel 4 and Endemol broadcast such material. Even if it boosts their profits, it is not a fit or ethical way to make money."

Fury over 'racism' against Bollywood housemate

By Ian Herbert
Published: 17 January 2007

Channel 4 has come under fierce attack from the British Asian community over the alleged racist abuse of the Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty on its Celebrity Big Brother programme.

The broadcaster and the watchdog Ofcom have received thousands of complaints about the treatment of Shetty, who has encountered a tirade of insults from the former house- mate Jackiey Budden, her daughter Jade Goody and, to a lesser extent, from the model Danielle Lloyd. The Labour MP Keith Vaz led the protests, tabling an early day motion in the Commons after members of his Leicester East contacted him. His motion calls on the programme: "To take action to remind housemates that racist behaviour is unacceptable."

He said: "Channel 4 has a duty to tell the housemates there are limits. It is totally unacceptable. We can be fun without being rude and insensitive to people about their ethnic origin."

Channel 4 said it would "take appropriate measures to reprimand such behaviour where necessary", but fell short of indicating it would communicate the unacceptability of racism to housemates. It has also defended its decision not to intervene in the group dynamics, insisting that it had to portray events accurately. Carphone Warehouse, which sponsors Big Brother for an estimated £3m per year, is reported to be reviewing its association with the programme.

The actress and comedian Meera Syal attacked Channel 4's "bland" response to the controversy, which has led nearly 10,000 people to complain. Speaking on the BBC Asian Network, she said: "I certainly wouldn't have taken as much as Shilpa has taken. I'm just wondering if on their last series, for example, the Tourette's sufferer had been called a 'spaz' on a regular basis, whether they would have let that continue?"

By yesterday evening, Ofcom had received 7,600 complaints - the highest ever made about the show - and Channel 4 had fielded a further 2,000 e-mails and calls over the treatment of Shetty, who is also an Aids campaigner.

In Monday's episode, the former S-Club 7 singer Jo O'Meara said Indians were thin because they were always ill as a result of undercooking their food. She and Lloyd also complained that Shetty had touched other housemates' food with her hands. Lloyd said: "You don't know where those hands have been." The abuse was started by Budden, who repeatedly referred to Shetty as "the Indian". Budden's behaviour prompted the departure of the film director Ken Russell, who branded her and her family "slum dwellers".

Shetty, the first Indian contestant to appear on Celebrity Big Brother, was largely unknown in Britain until she appeared on the programme. But she is one of Bollywood's best-known actresses, and has been nominated for the Filmfare award four times.

The battle to save Iraq's children



Doctors issue plea to Tony Blair to end the scandal of medical shortages in the war zone
By Colin Brown, Deputy Political Editor
Published: 19 January 2007

The desperate plight of children who are dying in Iraqi hospitals for the lack of simple equipment that in some cases can cost as little as 95p is revealed today in a letter signed by nearly 100 eminent doctors.

They are backed by a group of international lawyers, who say the conditions in hospitals revealed in their letter amount to a breach of the Geneva conventions that require Britain and the US as occupying forces to protect human life.

In a direct appeal to Tony Blair, the doctors describe desperate shortages causing "hundreds" of children to die in hospitals. The signatories include Iraqi doctors, British doctors who have worked in Iraqi hospitals, and leading UK consultants and GPs.

"Sick or injured children who could otherwise be treated by simple means are left to die in hundreds because they do not have access to basic medicines or other resources," the doctors say. "Children who have lost hands, feet and limbs are left without prostheses. Children with grave psychological distress are left untreated," they add.

They say babies are being ventilated with a plastic tube in their noses and dying for want of an oxygen mask, while other babies are dying because of the lack of a phial of vitamin K or sterile needles, all costing about 95p. Hospitals have little hope of stopping fatal infections spreading from baby to baby because of the lack of surgical gloves, which cost about 3.5p a pair.

Among those who have signed the letter are Chris Burns-Cox, a consultant physician at Gloucester Royal Hospital; Dr Maggie Wright, the director of intensive care at James Page University Hospital; Professor Debbie Lawlor, professor of epidemiology and public health at University College London; Professor George Davey Smith, professor of clinical epidemiology at Bristol university; Dr Philip Wilson, senior clinical research fellow at Glasgow University; and Dr Heba al-Naseri, who has experienced the conditions in Iraqi hospitals. Dr al-Naseri, who has worked at Diwaniyah Maternity Hospital and the Diwaniyah University Hospital, describes in harrowing detail what the conditions were like for a newborn baby - one of the lucky ones who survived - called Amin.

"Amin had to be fed powdered milk, diluted with tap water. There wasn't enough money to buy expensive formula milk or bottled water - their price had risen above the increase in wages since 2003. The problems with the intermittent electricity and gas supply meant regular boiled water could not be guaranteed. With the dormant waste and sewage disposal systems, drinking-water is more likely to be contaminated," he said.

Cases the doctors highlight include a child who died because the doctor only had a sterile needle for an adult and could not find a needle small enough to fit the vein, and another child who died because the doctors had no oxygen mask that fitted.

The doctors say the UK, as one of the occupying powers under UN resolution 1483, has to comply with the Geneva and Hague conventions that require the UK and the US to "maintain order and to look after the medical needs of the population". But, the doctors say: "This they failed to do and the knock-on effect of this failure is affecting Iraqi children's hospitals with increasing ferocity."

They call on the UK to account properly for the $33bn (£16.7bn) in the development fund for Iraq which should have supplied the means for hospitals to treat children properly. They say more than half of the money - $14bn - is believed to have vanished through corruption, theft and payments to mercenaries.

They say that all revenues from Iraq's oil exports should now pass directly to the Iraqi people and that illegal contracts entered into by the Coalition Provisional Authority be revoked.

Their letter was supported by experts in international law, including Harvey Goldstein, professor of social statistics at the University of Bristol, and Bill Bowring, a barrister and professor of law at Birkbeck College.

Nicholas Wood, an architect who helped to organise the protest, said they had evidence on film of dead babies being dumped in cardboard boxes. "In one hospital, there were three babies to an incubator. The incubators are 36 years old and are held together by tape and a bit of wire. They are wrecks. They cost about £5,000 each, but that is nothing to compared to the cost of a missile," he said.

The letter was sent to Downing Street via Hilary Benn, the International Development Secretary, by his predecessor, Clare Short.

A system in meltdown

* Save the Children estimate that 59 in 1,000 newborn babies are dying in Iraq, one of the highest mortality rates in the world. Thousands of infants are dying because of the lack of basic cheap equipment. In Diwaniyah hospital, south of Baghdad, one doctor had to try to ventilate a baby with a plastic tube in its nose because he lacked an oxygen mask costing just 95p. The baby died.

* In the same hospital, a baby with a rare illness causing internal bleeding died due to lack of a phial of vitamin K, which would have cost less than £1.

* One doctor in a Baghdad hospital recently tried to save the life of a child with a drip, but he lacked a sterile needle for a child and the child died. The lack of rubber surgical gloves, which cost 3.5p a pair, has hugely increased the risk of infections.

* Premature babies are crammed three to an incubator, when an incubator can be found. An incubator costs about £5,000.

* Only 50 per cent of the pre-war total of doctors remain in Iraq. The US clearout of Ba'ath party members sympathetic to Saddam Hussein after the invasion has led to a breakdown of health administration.

* The British doctors are calling for guarantees of safety to be given to all medical staff in Iraq by the US and British forces. Above all there is a need to stop the militias killing doctors and nurses.

* Hospitals have been bombed and ambulances shot at. Helicopters could be laid on by the US and UK to ferry cases to Jordan, Syria, Iran and Saudi Arabia for treatment of acute trauma and disease.

* Doctors are calling on Britain and America to restore at least $2bn (£1bn) of $14bn that has gone missing since the invasion. Part of this sum, lost in corruption or to militias, was earmarked for hospitals.

* Up to 260,000 children may have died since the 2003 invasion of Iraq.


***********

for f*ck sake

Fatimah Krim, 18, is comforted by her mother Wednesday at a hospital in Baghdad after Tuesday's twin bombings at a university.


We are a racist nation - that we've allowed this terrible destruction of a people and a country

We have witnessed and supported a terrible war-crime

I am ashamed of my Prime Minister and all MPs who have gone along with this racist war against an already oppressed people.

I have personal reasons to detest this war - but when I look at the unchecked suffering of the people of Iraq I am horrified for them and not for me.

Try and support peace, if life is precious to you

Endy

...
this makes me wanna cry...
peace...truely peace...

Hi Naima
Hope you're okay -still writing the poetry? I'm looking forward to reading more


______________________________________


I've been down in a dark place for a couple of weeks now - and it has taken the death of a fine lady from Texas to pull me back out.

Molly Ivins died on Wednesday from breast cancer. She was 62 years old - more than old enough to be my mother - but I was in love with her anyway.
Reading through the comments on 'Remembering Molly' (The Texas Observer)- so were a lot of people - men and women, who found in Molly a depth of bravery, insight and wit that inspired us all - and still does.

Molly fought the good fight without malice. She understood the American people better than they did themselves. In her heart she fought against injustice - with her pen she managed to do so with a humour and great intelligence that defined her as a humanitarian.

Why should her death lift me out of a depression? Simple. Her last message was typical of her bravery
"Raise some hell"
She has taught me something profound:

Never give up on humanity or life - keep fighting against injustice - even until your last breath. We need more people like Molly.

Today it feels like a comrade has fallen by the wayside
It is a terrible blow to those who fight against corruption and injustice - but her death need not be an end - only a beginning. I've a feeling that others, like me, will look at her brave example and find the strength to stand up once more.

Thank you Molly - I always found your words of wisdom to be a salve against idiot media. You could make me laugh at the absurdity of our leaders in a way Greg Palast never could (and he's good, I'll give him that.)
The world is already missing you, your compassion and nerve,
your ability to understand the minds of the men who have acted with stupidity and the fear of those yet to act.

"We are the people who run this country. We are the deciders. And every single day, every single one of us needs to step outside and take some action to help stop this war. Raise hell. Think of something to make the ridiculous look ridiculous. Make our troops know we're for them and trying to get them out of there. Hit the streets to protest Bush's proposed surge."
Molly Ivins 2007





"…. dreaming about driving with the soft night air of East Texas rushing on my face while Willie Nelson sings softly on the radio, or about blasting through the Panhandle under a fierce sun and pale blue sky….I'll remember, I'll remember…sunsets, rivers, hills, plains, the Gulf, woods, a thousand beers in a thousand joints, and sunshine and laughter. And people. Mostly I'll remember people."
Molly Ivins


Remembering Molly Ivins
http://www.texasobserver.org/molly/?p=4

Tom Degan speaks of Molly Ivins' death
http://tomdegan.blogspot.com/

See http://www.michaelmoore.com/

Also want to congratulate the 500,000 Americans that marched last Saturday
for an end to war in Iraq

You were amazing - and Tim Robbins was really something!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wAZNsauV90&mode=related&search

G'day, Endy.

Good to see you back on the job!

Thanks Olga - Good to hear from you.