Obama to CIA: Bombs Away! No Let Up in US Drone Attacks

From ABC News:

The CIA's bombing campaign against al Qaeda leadership in Pakistan continued with two more attacks today, an indication, senior officials say, that President Barack Obama has approved the U.S. strategy that has killed at least eight of al Qaeda's top 20 leaders since July 2008.

The two attacks today in Pakistan were the first since President Obama took office on Tuesday.

Asked about it at his daily press briefing, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said, "I'm not going to discuss that matter."

During the campaign, Obama called for cross-border attacks against high-value al Qaeda targets in Pakistan, even before the CIA campaign began.

Pakistani officials and villagers told ABCNews.com that 17 people were killed in two successive strikes against compounds in North and South Waziristan.

A senior U.S. official said one of al Qaeda's top 20 leaders may be among the dead today, although it is too soon to be certain.

Since July, the CIA has carried out a relentless bombing campaign against that has targeted the top leadership of al Qaeda, based on a sophisticated intelligence collection effort similar to what was used against insurgents in Iraq.

Eight of the top 20 have been killed in the attacks, according to the U.S. official.

What are we doing in Afghanistan? It is becoming exactly like Bush's Iraq war. Are we there to find Bin Laden? Are we there to bring democracy? Are we there to protect women from the Taliban? Or are we just there to kill muslims to make us feel like we are doing something? Why is the richest country in the world always killing the poorest people in the world? The US spends billions to ship Pizza Huts and Burger Kings to the other side of the earth to feed troops who kill people who run around barefoot and live in dirt-floored mud huts. What a country.

Obama to GOP: "You can't just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done"

From The New York Post:

President Obama warned Republicans on Capitol Hill today that they need to quit listening to radio king Rush Limbaugh if they want to get along with Democrats and the new administration.

"You can't just listen to Rush Limbaugh and get things done," he told top GOP leaders, whom he had invited to the White House to discuss his nearly $1 trillion stimulus package.

One White House official confirmed the comment but said he was simply trying to make a larger point about bipartisan efforts.

"There are big things that unify Republicans and Democrats," the official said. "We shouldn't let partisan politics derail what are very important things that need to get done."

That wasn't Obama's only jab at Republicans today.

In an exchange with Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) about the proposal, the president shot back: "I won," according to aides briefed on the meeting.

"I will trump you on that."

Not that Obama was gloating. He was just explaining that he aims to get his way on stimulus package and all other legislation, sources said, noting his unrivaled one-party control of both congressional chambers.

British Prime Minister condemns Israel's attack on UN

From Mail Online:

Israel shelled the UN headquarters in Gaza yesterday - a move condemned as 'indefensible' by Gordon Brown.

As the bombardment intensified, two hospitals were also hit.

And using unusually strong language, the Prime Minister said: 'UN staff are working on behalf of the international community.


Chaos: An injured boy is taken to hospital in Gaza after the bombardment on Thursday


'Indefensible': A woman flees the UN building in Gaza as fire-fighters battle to put out the flames after an Israeli attack

'Any attack on them is unacceptable, as Israel has acknowledged.'

Hours before, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had said: 'I conveyed my strong protest and outrage to the defence minister and foreign minister.'

The shelling engulfed in fire the UN compound and a warehouse, destroying thousands of pounds of food and humanitarian supplies intended for Palestinian refugees.

About 700 Palestinians had been sheltering in the building.


Sorry: Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak, left, has apologised to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, right, over the shelling of the UN compound

Israel's attack was another blow to efforts to ease the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.
The compound houses the UN Works and Relief Agency, which distributes food aid to hundreds of thousands of destitute Gazans in the tiny seaside territory of 1.4million.

John Ging, director of the Agency's operations in Gaza, said the attack caused a 'massive explosion' which wounded three.

Shells first hit the courtyard filled with refugees, then struck garages and the UN's main warehouse.

Later, fuel supplies went up in flames, sending up a thick black plume of smoke.


UN workers fight to put out the flames inside their headquarters. The UN claimed Israel had used white phosphorous in the attack


Outside the compound Palestinian fire-fighters joined in the battle to save the UN building

'It's a total disaster for us,' Mr Ging said. The Israeli military knows the precise location of the compound.

But although prime minister Ehud Olmert apologised, he said the bombardment had been in response to fire from Palestinian gunmen at the compound.

The Al-Quds and Red Crescent hospitals, and a tower block housing journalists, were also hit, as the death toll rose to at least 1,073 with more than 5,000 wounded.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces pushed deeper into Gaza city, unleashing their heaviest shelling yet.


Ablaze: Palestinians gather as firefighters try to control the fire after an Israeli airstrike in the Rafah refugee camp

Hamas's interior minister, Saeed Seyyam, was killed in an air strike.

Analysts believe that Israel is stepping up military operations to complete its action before Tuesday's inauguration of Barack Obama as U.S. president.

It began the offensive on December 27, saying it aimed to end Hamas rocket


Deadly: Flares light up the sky during shelling over Gaza City

Rockets have killed 13 Israelis since then. Police said 20 rockets hit southern Israel yesterday, injuring ten.

Israel and Hamas have met with Egyptian mediators who are proposing a truce.
But diplomats said the two sides remained at odds over the fine print.


Dazed: Palestinian families flee their homes as the war continued to ravage Gaza


'The gates of Hell': An explosion tears through the sky after an Israeli air strike in Rafah

Palestine vs Israel: Can You Guess Which One Is Which?

British MP George Galloway speech on Israel's atrocities and the West's double standards

George Galloway's powerful speech in the House of Commons debate on Gaza, Thu 15 Jan 2009 (5.30pm), highlighting the hypocrisy and brazen double-standards of Western foreign policy towards Israel policies, including assassinations and other war crimes.



You will not hear memebers of our congress standing up so bravely and speaking truth to power against Israel.

Congressional Black Caucus Ignores Black Opinion, Votes For War on Gaza

By Glen Ford:



It's hard to believe that a generation ago, the Congressional Black Caucus was known as "the conscience of the congress, a political and moral high ground long deserted by the current CBC, which has utterly collapsed under Israel-lobby pressure for the second time in three years.

All but two Black lawmakers voted either "Yes" or "Present" on a Resolution that absolved Israel for its crimes against humanity in Gaza - placing all blame on Hamas. In 2006, only two Black Caucus members opposed a Resolution supporting Israel's savage destruction if Lebanon's infrastructure and the killing of 1,000 people. Hypocritically turning their backs both on Black public opinion and on the work of Dr. King, whose name they invoke at every public opportunity, the CBC has put itself "out of the anti-war business," and well outside the mainstream of Black opinion on the Israel-Palestine question.

Only two members of the Congressional Black Caucus mustered the courage to oppose a House Resolution in support of Israel's savage assault on Gaza, last week. An additional seven CBC members sought cover by voting "present." The remaining 30 Black lawmakers (the delegates from Washington, DC and the Virgin Islands cannot vote on the House floor) gave their assent to a statement that could have been written by the Israeli government - and probably was.

The Resolution, similar to one passed by the Senate on a voice vote, is a blanket condemnation of Hamas, the political party that won Palestinian Authority elections three years ago, and which Israeli leaders vow to "destroy" before leaving Gaza. The destruction of a mass political party requires massive civilian deaths. Destroying Hamas in Gaza is like stamping out Democrats in The Bronx - with 1.4 million people, about the same size as the Palestinian enclave. The document blames Hamas for "the breaking of the ‘calm' and for subsequent civilian casualties in Gaza." In other words, Israel is absolved for all the men, women and children it has burned, eviscerated, blasted into dust, sliced in pieces or melted like wax.

In addition to the usual nonsense about the U.S. maintaining an "unwavering commitment to the...State of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state (as if a settler state based on race-ethnicity can be democratic) with secure borders (Israel is the only state in the world that refuses to say where its borders are), the Resolution invokes the United Nations and its Charter (Israel is the unchallenged world champion violator of UN Resolutions, dating from shortly after its declaration of independence, in 1948).

Was B.I.G really that influential to deserve a biopic?

By Fanon Hutchinson:

"The most important film of our time" goes the tagline for the new biopic "Notorious” which is the story of the life and death of slain rapper Notorious B.I.G. aka "Biggie Smalls."

Really?

This is a more important film than Malcolm X? And it’s more important than the films about Martin Luther King or films such as "Cry Freedom" or "The Great Debaters?" I don't even think it’s the most important Hip Hop movie. What about Krush Groove or Beat Street?

I’ve loved hip hop since I first heard "Rock Box" by Run-DMC in the early 80's. From the era of Run-DMC, Kurtis Blow, the Sugarhill Gang, the Whodini, Fat Boys, LL Cool J, the Beastie Boys in the mid-80's.

In the late 1980s it was the EPMD, Boogie Down Productions, Eric B. & Rakim, Public Enemy, NWA, the Tribe Called Quest, De la Soul, Queen Latifah, Compton's Most Wanted, and Dr. Dre. They are the legitimate pioneers of rap and hip hop.

Now granted, I can't stomach much of what passes as Hip-Hop nowadays as it seems like it’s geared more towards a segment of the population that wear "skinny jeans" and Mohawk hair styles. In other words most of the stuff nowadays is more for little kids and adolescents.

This brings me back to “Notorious.” His entire career can be confined to two albums. TWO ALBUMS! The first album was "Ready to Die." This album is labeled as a classic but I would have to disagree. Can you really compare it to Public Enemy's "It takes A Nation of Millions." or to Ice Cube’s "Death Certificate" or a Tribe Called Quest’s "Low End Theory?"

These albums defined a generation and helped to revolutionize the way Hip-Hop was viewed. These albums made you think as well as made you move. While all three of these albums are as different as Obama is to Ronald Reagan they are lyrically and musically on point. "Ready to Die" is mostly filled with the usual tales of hustling, sex, standard rap braggadocio and party songs. It is no different than anything that has come before it. The only thing that set this album apart is the beats, which deviated from the mid 90's grimy east coast sound which permeates throughout the albums of such New York artists as Wu-Tang Clan, Black Moon, and Onyx. But this is more attributed to P Diddy and his Hitmen production team and not Biggie himself.

Biggie's first album did showcase a sort of hard-luck case who was able to pull himself up out of a bad situation and become a winner. This could have been inspirational to a lot of people but the whole rags to riches story was nothing new or innovative and neither was the whole "I had to sell drugs to feed my daughter" song and dance which was supposed to make his actions seem honorable without any remorse on his part. At least, when NWA or Ice T. told a tale of drug hustling there was some kind of repercussions within the song. On Biggie’s second album "Life after Death" the content remained the same as the first album except now the tone was less bleak now that he had made it. There were less hard luck songs and more "lets party, drink champagne, and bone random chicks" songs. He even had the good sense to include a how-to song on the rules of selling drugs (the Ten Crack Commandments. This is just what black youth need). However there are a few notable songs contained on "Life after Death" such as "Notorious Thugs" which pairs Biggie with the rapid fire delivery of Cleveland rap quartet Bone Thugs & Harmony and even showcases Biggie impressively going toe to toe with the nimble tongued Bone group.

I don't think that Biggie was without talent. On the contrary I think he was a very talented wordsmith. But to label him as "the greatest rapper of all-time" as a lot of people have done is a slap in the face to all the great emcees that came before and after him who have had more of an impact in the development and evolution of Hip-Hop. What about Krs-One, Big Daddy Kane, Ice Cube, or the man who I think should be in everybody's top-five, a person who revolutionized Hip-Hop music, and in my opinion truly took rap to a new level, that’s Rakim? When are their movies coming out about their lives? That’s not a notorious question.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak embrace of Israel causes anger in Egypt

From Socialistworker.org:

MILLIONS OF ordinary Arabs have poured into the streets of every Arab country in the past two weeks to protest the ongoing Israeli massacres against Palestinians in Gaza. Demonstrators not only condemned the U.S. for its typical unconditional support of Israel, but they also denounced Arab regimes that do nothing to help the Palestinians besides give empty speeches.

Protests in the Arab streets in solidarity with victims of Israel's wars from Palestine to Lebanon are common reactions in the region. Yet the latest mobilizations have a new and volatile character compared to previous ones.

First, the demonstrations this time are much larger and angrier than anything in decades. They reflect not just the outrage that ordinary Arabs feel towards Israel's brutality towards the Palestinians, but also the bitterness towards the arrogant attempts of the United States to conquer Iraq and Afghanistan.

Second, these demonstrations have an explosive character due to the acute economic crisis faced by Arab workers and peasants. This is especially true in Egypt and Jordan, which have implemented disastrous free market policies in the last three decades.

Finally, while protesters in various Arab countries have denounced all the regimes that fail to take any meaningful action against Israel or its American sponsor, demonstrators have concentrated their wrath on Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak for his shameful role in enforcing the Israeli blockade on Gaza for the past year and a half.

Indeed, Mubarak has publicly stated that he will not open the Rafah border crossing to Palestinians searching for food and medicine until Mahmoud Abbas, the pro-Western president of the Palestinian Authority, is back in power in Gaza.

For months, Mubarak has stopped all but very limited numbers of aid caravans with food and medicine to Gazans from crossing into the Strip. And since the Palestinians broke down the border wall between Egypt and Gaza in January 2008 to enter Egypt to buy supplies of food and medicine, Mubarak has also increased the number of Egyptian police at the border with Gaza to prevent any more prison breaks.

To add insult to injury, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni used her meeting with Mubarak in Cairo December 24 to more or less announce that Israel would start bombing Gaza.

Therefore, the anger that erupted across the Arab streets against Mubarak--derisively known as the Pharaoh--is totally justified.

In Syria, Yemen, Jordan and Lebanon, angry demonstrators tried to storm Egyptian embassies and consulates. In Aden, Yemen, protesters managed to actually take over the consulate for a short period and vandalized its contents. Protesters called Mubarak a coward and accused him of being an agent of Israel and Zionism. They carried a poster featuring the pictures of Mahmoud Abbas, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Mubarak smiling, with the caption calling the trio the "Axis of Dirt." ....

Lil Kim not happy with Biggie biopic

From the Associated Press

Lil Kim was a big part of the Notorious B.I.G.'s life, but she's not happy about the way she's portrayed in the new biopic about the late rapper.

The Notorious B.I.G. was Lil Kim's mentor and was also romantically linked to the rapper. Their sometimes rocky relationship is depicted in the new movie "Notorious," but Lil Kim doesn't think it's very accurate.

In a statement, she said: "The film studio and producers involved were more concerned about painting me as a 'character' to create a more interesting story line instead of a person with talent, self-respect and who was able to achieve her own career success through hard work."

She added: "Even though my relationship with Big was at times very difficult and complicated (as with most relationships we have all experienced at one time or another), it was also genuine and built on great admiration and love for each other. Regardless of the many lies in the movie and false portrayal of me to help carry a story line through, I will still continue to carry his legacy through my hard work and music."

But Wallace's mother, Voletta Wallace, dismissed Lil Kim's criticisms of the movie in an interview on Monday.

"This is not a Lil Kim movie," she said. "This is a Christopher Wallace movie. It has nothing to do with Lil Kim. If she's disappointed and upset, that is her problem."

I'm not sure why Lil Kim is pissed but I recall when she came out in the mid 90's her entire act was her being a money hungry materialistic slut but now she want to scream foul because she is being portrayed as a money hungry materialistic slut in the new film about Notorious BIG. Lil Kim should've thought about her image when she first came out.

Thousands of Afghans enlist to fight US after Israels attack on Gaza

Excerpts from Daily Kos:

As you may have heard, the US Senate and House yesterday voted nearly unanimously in support of Israels attacks on Gaza, which are responsible for killing of 800 Palestinians and destroying large amounts civilian infrastructure. Israel is using American planes, helicopters and bombs, payed for with American money. As a result, the Muslim world sees the US and Israel as being one and the same and equally responsible for that is happening.

In addition to giving blood and donating money, 10,000 Afghans have signed up in the past several days (1000 on Thursday alone) in order to fight against the United States.

My question is, what kind of control do Israel have on the U.S. Government in which members of congress unanimously vote to support Israel criminal regime's slaughter of the the helpless people in Gaza? This unwavering support of Israel's action not only further hurts our reputation around the world but it also puts our troops stationed in Afghanistan and Iraq in more jeopardy. Are there any adults with morals left in the US Government?

Excerpt from Reuters UK:

"The acts of Israel against the innocent Muslims of Gaza are barbaric and inhumane and widely helped by the Americans," Assam said, adding that nearly 10,000 people across Afghanistan had so far volunteered to fight in Gaza.

...

While reaching Gaza from Afghanistan is all-but impossible, many of the volunteers said they would take revenge on U.S. troops inside Afghanistan instead.

"Infidels are killing Muslims everyday and the United States is saying Israel's offensive is just," said Mohammad Akram, a shopkeeper. "If we can't reach Gaza, we should seek revenge on Israel's allies in our own country like the Taliban do."

Our complicity with what is going on in Gaza, when the entire rest of the world is trying to stop it, undermines our standing in the world, and makes us far, far less safe as a nation.

The only excuse for not being closer to the European position on this issue, which is to try to STOP the massacre immediately, is the gutlessness of most American politicians to stand up to rank racism, and the American Israeli Lobby.

Israel Is A Rogue Nation That's Committing War Crimes

By George Bisharat from The Wallstreet Journal:

Israel's current assault on the Gaza Strip cannot be justified by self-defense. Rather, it involves serious violations of international law, including war crimes. Senior Israeli political and military leaders may bear personal liability for their offenses, and they could be prosecuted by an international tribunal, or by nations practicing universal jurisdiction over grave international crimes. Hamas fighters have also violated the laws of warfare, but their misdeeds do not justify Israel's acts.

You know it makes me sick to my stomach the way the American Media and the American Politician takes Israel side no matter what they do. You have politicians from both sides of the isle from the so called liberals to moderates and conservatives lining up to express their support for Israel's actions in Gaza. WTF do the Zionist control the American government?

Israel had not suffered an "armed attack" immediately prior to its bombardment of the Gaza Strip. Since firing the first Kassam rocket into Israel in 2002, Hamas and other Palestinian groups have loosed thousands of rockets and mortar shells into Israel, causing about two dozen Israeli deaths and widespread fear. As indiscriminate attacks on civilians, these were war crimes. During roughly the same period, Israeli forces killed about 2,700 Palestinians in Gaza by targeted killings, aerial bombings, in raids, etc., according to the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem.

But on June 19, 2008, Hamas and Israel commenced a six-month truce. Neither side complied perfectly. Israel refused to substantially ease the suffocating siege of Gaza imposed in June 2007. Hamas permitted sporadic rocket fire -- typically after Israel killed or seized Hamas members in the West Bank, where the truce did not apply. Either one or no Israelis were killed (reports differ) by rockets in the half year leading up to the current attack.

Israel then broke the truce on Nov. 4, raiding the Gaza Strip and killing a Palestinian. Hamas retaliated with rocket fire; Israel then killed five more Palestinians. In the following days, Hamas continued rocket fire -- yet still no Israelis died. Israel cannot claim self-defense against this escalation, because it was provoked by Israel's own violation.

An armed attack that is not justified by self-defense is a war of aggression. Under the Nuremberg Principles affirmed by U.N. Resolution 95, aggression is a crime against peace.

Israel has also failed to adequately discriminate between military and nonmilitary targets. Israel's American-made F-16s and Apache helicopters have destroyed mosques, the education and justice ministries, a university, prisons, courts and police stations. These institutions were part of Gaza's civilian infrastructure. And when nonmilitary institutions are targeted, civilians die. Many killed in the last week were young police recruits with no military roles. Civilian employees in the Hamas-led government deserve the protections of international law like all others. Hamas's ideology -- which employees may or may not share -- is abhorrent, but civilized nations do not kill people merely for what they think.

Deliberate attacks on civilians that lack strict military necessity are war crimes. Israel's current violations of international law extend a long pattern of abuse of the rights of Gaza Palestinians. Eighty percent of Gaza's 1.5 million residents are Palestinian refugees who were forced from their homes or fled in fear of Jewish terrorist attacks in 1948. For 60 years, Israel has denied the internationally recognized rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes -- because they are not Jews.

Although Israel withdrew its settlers and soldiers from Gaza in 2005, it continues to tightly regulate Gaza's coast, airspace and borders. Thus, Israel remains an occupying power with a legal duty to protect Gaza's civilian population. But Israel's 18-month siege of the Gaza Strip preceding the current crisis violated this obligation egregiously. It brought economic activity to a near standstill, left children hungry and malnourished, and denied Palestinian students opportunities to study abroad.

Israel should be held accountable for its crimes, and the U.S. should stop abetting it with unconditional military and diplomatic support.

It would be nice to see some members of the US government get tried for aiding and abetting the criminal regime in Israel. When is the fucking International Community going to stand up and enforce international law on all leaders that violate the law?