Revolution

Patriots Who Love the Troops to Death

by Frank Rich

Published on Sunday, August 5, 2007 by The New York Times

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/08/04/2988/

Congress Approves Bush Spy Bill

House OK's Bush's $460 Billion Pentagon Budget

http://www.antiwar.com/

<I have so much Endy reading to catch up on. I have no idea where to begin.>

Holocaust Survivors Protest in Jerusalem



Hundreds of protesters in Israel have marched outside Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office to demand more state support for Holocaust survivors.

A government offer of a monthly stipend of $20 (£10) was labelled "insulting" by the survivor groups that organised Sunday's demonstration in Jerusalem.

Joining the rally were a few dozen elderly survivors, who say they can barely afford medical treatment.

Mr Olmert has said payments for the 250,000 survivors would begin in 2008.

He pointed out that his government was the first to take up the issue of providing for Holocaust survivors' families with special aid.
The protesters called their rally a "March of the Living" - a name which echoes the annual commemoration at the Auschwitz death camp in Poland to mark Holocaust Remembrance Day.

One of the protesters, a survivor of the Treblinka death camp, sparked controversy by wearing prisoner clothes.

Yosef Charnyi, 82, joined the march from parliament to Mr Olmert's office dressed in striped pyjamas with a yellow Star of David pinned to the top.

He told the AFP news agency: "We are demanding the right to finish our days decently."

"The state of Israel has reconciled with Germany a long time ago, it is time that it reconciles with us," he added.

'Nightmares'

But there was disquiet at the use of death camp prisoners' clothes in the protest.

Noah Kieger, a Holocaust survivor herself, wrote on the Ynet news website: "Even if the conduct of the authorities is inappropriate, they must not in any way be mentioned in the same breath as those who murdered six million of our people."

Mr Olmert told his weekly cabinet meeting that he would meet representatives of survivor groups on Wednesday to discuss the payments.

Dubi Arbel, director of one of the survivor organisations, told the BBC the survivors' needs were not being met.

"They wake up every night with nightmares," he said.

"They have cancer 14 times more than the regular population. They break their bones due to the malnutrition they had years ago. And now when they need the help, there is nobody to turn to."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6931812.stm



Jesus ... sometimes i just wonder to myself....i just wonder....

I will have to try and find it. I looked at this mail in movie club I belong to and they don't have it.

I'm talking about the Korean Movie.

Hi ehBeth, thanks for looking

Hey, Amigo - hope you get to watch it somehow soon...
and thanks - I hadn't realised how much of an effect it had had on me before


peace
E

If it's that good and it looks like it is I might have to buy it.

http://www.able2know.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=2795438#2795438

Heres a link to a thread about a documentary on the war.

"Crime does not pay ... as well as politics."

-Alfred E. Newman

Hi Amigo - and thanks - I 'm under the weather again at the moment - so unable to get on the forum much- please feel free to post whatever you think might be valuable -
it's helped to see you posting here

speak to you soon
peace
Endy

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can you believe this ****?

Military out of Schools: School Students picket Kids Connections (an agency employed by the Ministry of Defence)



WHAT THE F*CK?


Do parents everwhere in Britain know about this? I don't think so ...

Here's the petition to Downing Street link to try and stop this thing - http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/armyoutofschools/

but the word needs to be spread - and this news isn't out there i'm sure.

Christ, I can't believe they're f*cking doing it again - no way- seeing the lies behind the invasion of the Middle East, surely parents will not stand by and do nothing about this.

We lost a whole generation of men to the casualty lists in the First World War - a staggering total of 3, 050, 000 dead, wounded or missing - we can not allow anything as pointless and murderous to happen again, without just cause - and there is nothing just about the invasion of Iraq - or our involvement in Afganistan. We (the British) go back a long way with the Afgan people. We have been defeated by them in the past - Russia herself could not defeat them with the biggest conventional army in the world (at that time).
Afganistan is Afganistan and will be Afganistan long after the empires have crumbled.

Are people just going to sit by and watch their kids get lied to like they were? Sent off to war - on a f*cking lie?


If you want to help School Students Against War - here's their siteyeah, they left that out of the shite hollywood film, to be certain
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Let's Tell Kids The Truth About War



A few of the 240,000 British WWI amputees.



'Broken face'

"If they ask why we died
Tell them that our fathers lied"

Rudyard Kipling

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From The Times
September 22, 2006
MoD denies casualty cover-up
By David Sanderson
AN ARMY major serving in Afghanistan has claimed that the true casualty figures for troops in Helmand province are being covered up.

Major Jon Swift said in a regimental newsletter that soldiers were being patched up and sent back to fight without the injury being recorded, while combat missions were being launched for political rather than military reasons.

The officer, serving with the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers attached to 3 Para Battle Group in Afghanistan, made the claims in a newsletter posted on a Ministry of Defence website. The posting had been taken down last night.

He wrote: "The scale of casualties has not been properly reported and shows no sign of reducing. Political and not military imperatives are being followed in the campaign."

The Ministry of Defence denied Major Swift's claims, and said that there had been a "glitch" on its website that had resulted in casualty figures not being kept up to date.

Last night the ministry's website was showing casualty figures from January 1 this year to July 31 only. According to its figures, 37 British military and civilian personnel had been wounded in action. Another 40 had been admitted to medical facilities for non-battle injuries.

A spokesman said: "There's no cover-up on casualty or fatality figures." He added that Major Swift, who is still serving in Helmand, had been spoken to by his commanding officer.

The criticism emerged a day after Des Browne, the Defence Secretary, admitted that British troops were operating in conditions that went "beyond the bounds of stamina and endurance".

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Iraq veterans suffer stress and alcoholism


Long tours in combat zones linked to serious mental problems, study finds

Polly Curtis, health correspondent
Friday August 3, 2007
The Guardian

Thousands of frontline veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are facing escalating mental health problems, alcoholism and family breakdown, an extensive examination of the British military has found.

Prolonged periods in conflict are linked to higher levels of post-traumatic stress disorder, psychological distress and problems at home, researchers report in the British Medical Journal online.

The Ministry of Defence said it would study the findings to try to better understand mental health problems in the military, but last night there was pressure on the government to address accusations that the military is currently overstretched, forcing personnel into longer tours of duty.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/military/story/0,,2140805,00.html

Jesus - it's only taken them hundreds of years to make their great discovery - do people really think war isn't desturbing??


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Rent out this film if the recruiters have been at your kids

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0475783/usercomments

You got it pal!

Were globalizing!



Viva la Revolución!



Viva Inglaterra! (long live England)

"Under The Weather"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2h0oni899eI

(Jehst London)

:wink:

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

Nice one Amigo



Viva la Revolución!

existir es resistir !

In a time of universal deceit - telling the truth
is a revolutionary act

George Orwell

http://www.tkb.org/Group.jsp?groupID=41

http://www.earthliberationfront.com/index.htm

THANKS AMIGO

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



How Bush Gained the Power to Spy on You without Security Justifications

Aziz Huq, TheNation.com

Rights and Liberties: The Bush Administration has successfully forced on Congress a law that largely authorizes open-ended surveillance of Americans' overseas phone calls and e-mails. How did they do it?

http://www.alternet.org/rights/59190/

This today in the Guardian and Independent UK

MoD orders gag on armed forces

New guidelines bar military personel from speaking about their service and restrictions to apply to blogs, emails, websites and text messages.
Special report: home affairs


Sweeping new guidelines barring military personnel from speaking about their service publicly have been quietly introduced by the Ministry of Defence, the Guardian has learned.

Soldiers, sailors and airforce personnel will not be able to blog, take part in surveys, speak in public, post on bulletin boards, play in multi-player computer games or send text messages or photographs without the permission of a superior if the information they use concerns matters of defence.

They also cannot release video, still images or audio - material which has previously led to investigations into the abuse of Iraqis.

The rules have provoked consternation among the ranks, with human rights lawyers saying yesterday that they could be in contravention of Article 10 of the Human Rights Act, which allows for freedom of expression. The rules apply not only to full-time forces but to members of the Territorial Army and cadets whilst on duty, as well as MoD civil servants.

Service personnel are currently bound by Queen's Regulations, which mean they must seek permission before speaking to the press but are free to blog and take part in online debates. However, many have spoken out anonymously on issues such as poor kit, housing and the treatment of wounded service personnel evacuated from combat zones. Criticism of the RAF in Afghanistan and the state of the ageing vehicles being used there have all appeared in the press.

An unofficial soldiers' website, arrse.co.uk, was full of angry debate about the issue yesterday. One poster said: "Why does it not occur to MoD that if it did things properly, and treated its people well, they wouldn't feel the need to bring things into the public arena quite so often, and they wouldn't need to spend so much time covering-up?"



Geoffrey Robertson, QC, a leading human rights lawyer, said that the guidelines were likely to contravene the Human Rights Act. He said they reminded him of the "catch-all" section of the old official secrets act, which made it a criminal offence to disclose information without lawful authority. The discredited section, which was repealed in 1989, "stopped soldiers from revealing the brand of tea served in the MoD canteen", he said.

"It's increasingly important, given Britain's escalating foreign troop engagements, often in conjunction with less-disciplined forces, that soldiers, officers and officials can speak frankly to the media about their engagements without having their honest briefing subject to any spin," Mr Robertson said.

(abridged)

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/homeaffairs/story/0,,2145931,00.html



knew this was coming - http://www.arrse.co.uk/cpgn2/Forums/viewtopic/t=74553/postdays=0/postorder=asc/start=0.html

Here's some more shocking news -



Police to use terror laws on Heathrow climate protesters


Government has encouraged use of stop and search and detention without charge

John Vidal and Helen Pidd
Saturday August 11, 2007
The Guardian

Armed police will use anti-terrorism powers to "deal robustly" with climate change protesters at Heathrow next week, as confrontations threaten to bring major delays to the already overstretched airport.

Up to 1,800 extra officers will be drafted in to prevent an estimated 1,500 people disrupting the airport over the period of the camp for climate change, which is due to begin on Tuesday. The police have been told to use stop and search powers against the protesters, who have pledged to take direct action on August 18 and 19 but not to endanger life.

Article continues
The Metropolitan police chief, Sir Ian Blair, has said he fears a minority of protesters intent on breaking the law could cause massive disruption as Heathrow prepares for its busiest week of the year. Yesterday Met commander Jo Kaye, in charge of the specialist firearms unit, said some people would "want to get their message across using criminal means".

Scotland Yard's plans for handling the protests are revealed in a document seen by the Guardian, which was produced by Met commander Peter Broadhurst during a legal hearing at the high court which imposed restrictions on a number of named campaigners.

"Should individuals or small groups seek to take action outside of lawful protest they will be dealt with robustly using terrorism powers. This is because the presence of large numbers of protesters at or near the airport will reduce our ability to proactively counter the terrorist act [threat]," the document says.

The police report makes it clear that the government has encouraged police forces to make greater use of terrorism powers "especially the use of stop and search powers under s44 Terrorism Act 2000".

The law gives police powers to:

· Stop and search people and vehicles for anything that could be used in connection with terrorism

· Search people even if they do not have evidence to suspect them

· Hold people for up to a month without charge

· Search homes and remove protesters' outer clothes, such as hats, shoes and coats.

Last night the protesters said they would not be intimidated. "We are trying to prevent climate change by stopping the expansion of the airport. There is no intention to endanger life. Our quarrel is not with passengers but with BAA and the government," said a spokesman.

The civil rights group Liberty said it was alarmed at the police use of the anti-terrorism powers to deter peaceful protest. "Stop and search powers created to address the threat of terrorism should not be used routinely against peaceful demonstrators," said James Welch, Liberty's legal director.

The police tactics have echoes of the 2003 anti-war demo at RAF Fairford where law lords eventually ruled police had acted unlawfully in detaining two coachloads of protesters, who were stopped and searched and then turned back even though they were on their way to an authorised demonstration. Police used section 44 of the act 995 times at the Fairford peace camp, even though there was no suggestion of terrorist overtones.

The Guardian has established that at least two climate change campaigners have been arrested recently at Heathrow by officers using terrorism powers. Cristina Fraser, a student, was stopped when cycling near the airport with a friend and then charged under section 58 of the Terrorism Act. This makes it an offence to make a record of something that could be used in an act of terrorism.

"I was arrested and held in a police cell for 30 hours. I was terrified. No one knew where I was. They knew I was not a terrorist," she said.

Ms Fraser, a first-year London university anthropology student, has been on aviation demonstrations with the Plane Stupid campaign group, but claims she was carrying nothing at all. The police later recharged her with conspiring to cause a public nuisance.

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/homeaffairs/story/0,,2146668,00.html

Troops defy MoD gag order

(no surprises here)

Below is a selection of comments from unofficial army website arrse.co.uk. Many are scathing about the MoD and some also attack the media and politicians. (The Guardian)

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/iraq/story/0,,2146323,00.html

A music video inspired by:

Now And Then (Collected Poetry of Gil Scott Heron)

Scottish Arts Council Lottery Funded

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised: Gil Scott Heron

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTCQSk2l8bc