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By Countercurrents.org

19 December, 2012

@ Countercurrents.org

Two years after the uprising against the autocrat Ben Ali, the present day Tunisia is increasingly gripped with socio-political tension. The Islamist president and speaker in the country were stoned. The president was heckled by the people in another incident. At the same time, assaults on non-Moslems are on the rise.

Protesters on December 17, 2012 hurled rocks at Tunisia’s president Moncef Marzouki and parliamentary speaker Mustapha Ben Jaafar in Sidi Bouzid, cradle of the revolution that erupted exactly two years ago [1].

The incident began after a speech by Marzouki in the central Tunisian town, where celebrations were taking place to mark the anniversary of the revolution, and as Ben Jaafar was about to speak.

The security forces swiftly evacuated the two men to the regional government headquarters, an AFP journalist reported.

The protesters invaded the square where the head of state had been addressing the crowd. The people started shouting: “the people want the fall of the government.”

The police held back, after violent clashes over the past few months, which have often followed attempts to disperse protesters angry over the Islamist-led government’s failure to improve living conditions in the poor region.

Clashes and strikes as well as attacks by hardline Islamists have multiplied across Tunisia in the run-up to the second anniversary of the start of Tunisia’s revolution.

As the president took to the podium many in the crowd started shouting “Get out Get out!”, one of the rallying cries of the revolution that toppled the regime of former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

Marzouki promised economic progress within six months to the people of Sidi Bouzid, where poverty and unemployment were key factors behind the uprising that began there on December 17, 2010, after Mohamed Bouazizi, a street vendor set, himself on fire in protest at police harassment.

“I understand this legitimate anger. But the government has diagnosed the problem. In six months, a stable government will be in place and will provide the remedy to heal the country’s problems,” said the president, who was jeered by the crowd.

Marzouki had been heckled earlier in the morning, when he visited the grave of Bouazizi.

Threat of general strike

The government says it has reached tentative agreement with country’s trade union confederation to call off nationwide strike planned for revolution’s second anniversary [2].

President Marzouki, meanwhile, postponed trips to Poland and Bulgaria scheduled for this week as tensions mounted ahead of the strike.

The General Union of Tunisian Workers (UGTT) called the strike amid tensions with the ruling Islamist Ennahda party following what the union said was an attack by the party’s supporters on a union demonstration in Tunis and an attack on its headquarters by Islamist militants close to the Ennahda.

A union leader told AFP the UGTT demands the dissolution of the pro-Ennahda League for the Protection of the Revolution, which it accuses of carrying out last week’s attack.

Many Tunisians feel bitterly disappointed by the failure of the promises to improve their lives, especially in the marginalized interior which suffers from a chronic lack of development and high unemployment.

Clashes, strikes and attacks by hardline Islamists have multiplied across Tunisia.

The nationwide strike call is only the third to be made by the half-million strong UGTT since its foundation in the 1940s.

Disappointed by the failure to improve their lives, four volatile regions in Tunisia – including the part where the Arab Spring began – went on strike amid rising tensions with the ruling Islamic party [3].

The closure of the main private and public companies in those areas was called by regional branches of the main labor group, the UGTT.

Assault

Meat cleaver-wielding Salafists attack hotel bar in Tunisian city of Subaytilah in growing struggle between ultra-conservative Muslims and their more secular-minded compatriots [4].

An estimated 15 Salafists destroyed the hotel’s furniture and bar and burned a vehicle parked in front of the building. Bearded men threatened hotel guests with meat cleavers and called them “infidels,” eyewitnesses said.

The country has witnessed numerous violent incidents linked to hardliners, prompting opposition activists to accuse the Islamist-led coalition government of not doing enough to rein them in. There has been a complex domestic struggle over the role of religion in government and society during the post-revolutionary period.

The bar-related incident in Subaytilah comes after a similar attack on a bar in Sidi Bouzid. Bottles were smashed and customers were chased away with cries of “God is Great” and “drinking is forbidden.”

Sidi Bouzid, the birthplace of the uprising that toppled former president Ben Ali last year, is a stronghold of the Salafist movement, which has grown increasingly assertive in recent months.

Violence later spread to the capital where there were clashes between alcohol sellers and Salafists, wounding a police commander.

Ennahda, a moderate Islamist group lead by Rachid Ghannouchi, formed a coalition with two non-religious parties and has promised not to ban alcohol, impose the veil or use sharia [Islamic law] as the basis of Tunisian law.

It is under pressure from both Salafists calling for the introduction of Islamic law and secular opposition parties determined to prevent this.

Ennahda’s stance carries weight. Its secretary-general, Hamadi Jebali, is prime minister, and the party controls more than 40 percent of the seats in the constituent assembly. Salafists are not fully represented by any bloc in the assembly, but have stepped up street protests to press for their demands.

Secularists apprehend that Ennahda has been too soft on the Salafists who since the revolution have attacked or threatened theatres, cinemas and journalists, and most recently Tunisia’s tiny Jewish community.

Source:

[1] “Stones thrown at Tunisian leaders in Sidi Bouzid”, Dec. 17, 2012, http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/8/60713/World/Region/Stones-thrown-at-Tunisian-leaders-in-Sidi-Bouzid-A.aspx

[2] “Tunisia government says draft deal to avoid general strike”, Dec. 11, 2012,

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/0/60315/World/0/Tunisia-government-says-draft-deal-to-avoid-genera.aspx

[3] “Workers strike in volatile Tunisia regions”,

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/0/59923/World/0/Workers-strike-in-volatile-Tunisia-regions.aspx

[4] Ahram Online , “Tunisian Salafists attack bar, call drinkers ‘infidels’”,Friday 14 Dec 2012

http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/2/0/60487/World/0/Tunisian-Salafists-attack-bar,-call-drinkers-infid.aspx

Terrorists Killed in Damascus Countryside, Deir Ezzor and Idleb, Weapons Confiscated in Daraa

Dec 19, 2012

PROVINCES, (SANA)_A unit of the armed forces carried out a qualitative operation on Tuesday, killing a number of terrorists in al-Dhiyabieh in Damascus countryside.

An official source told SANA that the group of the terrorist nicknamed Abu Ayman was eliminated. The terrorists Abdul-Ghani Bkheit, Mohammad Hamada and Fares al-Rahwas were identified among the dead.

Meanwhile, another army unit destroyed a hideout for terrorists from the so-called “Islam Brigade” in Zamalka in the eastern Ghouta.

SANA reporter qouted an official source as saying that the army killed and injured many terrorists, adding that terrorist Wassim Marwan al-Olabi was identified among the dead.

In the same context, a unit of the Armed Forces killed a number of terrorists and destroyed their weapons and ammunition in al-Husseiniyeh.

An official source told SANA reporter that another army unit destroyed a mortar in al-Bahdaliyeh and killed three terrorists.

Meanwhile, a unit of the armed forces eliminated terrorists groups who were perpetrating acts of killing and looting the private and public properties in al-Hajar al-Aswad in Damascus countryside.

A source stated that among the terrorists killed were Yaser Yahya Eid, leader of a so-called group  “Ansar Allah” in al-Hajar al-Aswad along with Mohammad Sultan Hussein, Rizk Abu Aisha, Walid al-Akrami, Mohammad ahmad al-Jolani and Mohammad al-Louis.

The Army continues its National Duty in Aleppo and its countryside

Units of the armed forces today continued their national duty in clearing Aleppo and its countryside from the mercenary terrorists.

In Aleppo countryside, units of the army targeted gatherings of terrorists near al-Nour Association in Andan, around the playground in al-Mansoura, inflicting heavy losses upon them.

A source in the province told SANA that the army units also targeted dens of terrorists at al-Hadi Association in Kfar Dae’l and al-Jisr in Khan Toman, killing a number of terrorists and injuring many others.

Meanwhile, another army unit targeted gatherings of terrorists in the old city and al-Lermon, inflicting heavy losses upon them.

At al-Nakreen, a unit of the army was able to destroy a warehouse of weapons and munitions while another army unit targeted a gathering for terrorists behind Golden city Compound.

The Army Kills Scores of Terrorists in Deir Ezzor

Meanwhile, units of the Armed Forces killed scores of terrorists in al-Mreiy’ieh, al-Rushdiyeh and al-Jbeileh in Deir Ezzor province.

An official source told SANA reporter that an army unit clashed with an armed terrorist group in al-Mreiy’ieh, killing many of its members and injuring others.

The source added that terrorists Mohammad Yasin al-Mheisen and Loai al-Salem were identified among the dead.

In al-Rushdiyeh, a unit of the Armed Forces confronted terrorists who were committing acts of killing and looting in the area.

The clashes resulted in killing and injuring many of them, including terrorist Omar Suleiman al-Hamadi.

In a relevant context, an army unit targeted a gathering for terrorists in al-Hweiqa, killing and injuring many terrorists.

Terrorist Mohammad Ahmad al-Fad’am was identified among the dead.

Armed Forces Inflict Heavy Losses upon Terrorists In Idleb Countryside

Armed Forces unit carried out a series of operations in Idleb countryside, resulting in the destruction of terrorist bases and gatherings in the town of Bansh where a number of terrorists were killed and others were injured.

A number of terrorists were also eliminated in the town of Zardana, in addition to destroying a workshop for manufacturing homemade weapons in the town of Saraqeb and killing several terrorists who were in it.

Engineering units dismantled an explosive device weighing 100kg which terrorists had planted on the highway between Saraqeb and Ariha and rigged it for remote detonation.

Weapons Confiscated in Daraa Countryside

The authorities confiscated weapons from terrorists in the village of al-Masmiye in Daraa countryside, including assault rifles, PKC machineguns, 9 US-made shoulder-mounted rocket launchers, one LAW rocket, RPG launchers, and handguns.

The weapons were confiscated following a clash between the authorities and terrorists in the village which resulted in the killing of a number of terrorists including Jihad al-Ghazali, Jamal Ahmad Sayel al-Hasan, Anas Mohammad al-Jarad, and Mohammad Marouf Matar.

Meanwhile, the competent authorities today arrested a number of terrorists while storming one of their dens at al-Nazeheen camp in Daraa, seizing different kinds of weapons inside the den.

SANA reporter quoted a source in the province as saying that the seized weapons included 11 rifles and a machinegun.

Christmas Evening for the Syriac Mar Afram Choir Invoking Peace would prevail in Syria

Dec 18, 2012

DAMASCUS, (SANA)-A Christmas evening for the Syriac Mar Afram Choir was held on Tuesday at Mar Gregory Cathedral for the Syriac Orthodox in Bab Touma, Damascus, including prayers invoking peace to prevail in Syria.

The choir presented Christmas music pieces, songs and anthems inspired by Damascus, the city of joy, as what has been said in the Holy Book.

The Choir of First Mar Afram Iwas the Syriac was established by Mar Ignatius Zakka Iwas, the Patriarch of Antioch and all the East.

Syria Qualifies for West Asian Football Federation Championship Finals

Dec 18, 2012

KUWAIT, (SANA) – The Syrian National Football team qualified for the finals of the 2012 West Asian Football Federation Championship after beating Bahrain 3-2 in the match held on Tuesday evening in Kuwait.

After a goalless first half, the first goal was scored by Bahrain at the 67 minutes mark, only for Syria to score the equalizer at the 71 minutes mark, ending the second half in a draw.

During the additional times, the two teams didn’t score, going to the penalty kicks when the Syrian team has been able to win the match 3-2 and go to the final match.

General State Budget for 2013 Approved with SYP 1383 Billion

Dec 18, 2012

DAMASCUS, (SANA)- The People’s Assembly on Tuesday approved the general state budget for 2013 with a total of SYP 1383 billion, recording a 4 % increase over the budget of 2012.

Minister of Finance, Mohammad al-Jleilati, said the budget of 2013 takes into consideration the social dimension as a firm strategy to carrying out the financial policy and boosting trust between the government and citizens through transparency and openness regarding all financial, economic and social issues.

He stressed that the global political, economic and security war waged against Syria and the sanctions imposed on it are aimed at undermining the national economy and causing a structural flaw in the total balance of this economy, in addition to increasing the budget deficit.

Minister al-Jleilati however clarified that the general state budget has started to suffer deficits since 2003 because of relying mainly on the oil resources, and that was when production would reach up to 700 thousand barrels, which has dropped in the current year down to 225 thousand barrels, leading to an increase in the percentage of oil derivatives import. He explained how the current crisis which the country is going through has caused a decrease in the purchasing power of the Syrian Pound and affected that of commodity and consumable material distribution, leading accordingly to a big rise in the price of all materials due to inflation.

The Minister stressed that work is underway to reactivate the work of the halls of consumable materials establishments and consumable distribution cars to reduce the burdens on the citizens, in addition to focusing on commodity pricing according to the official foreign currency prices.

Al-Jleilati added that the government has given businessmen the required foreign currency to enable them pay for their imports with the aim to overcome the economic sanctions, noting that this cooperation has resulted in ensuing sufficient amounts of rice and sugar for a whole year.

He said the priority now is to follow up on carrying out the projects that focus on supporting the national economy and contribute to securing production requirements and the basic materials for the citizens.

Political Solution Only Way out of Syrian Crisis, China Says

Dec 18, 2012

Beijing, (SANA)_The Chinese Foreign Ministry said that the only solution to the crisis in Syria is the political solution, calling upon all parties involved to abide by Geneva statement.

Xinhua News Agency quoted the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying as saying at a regular press conference that ”China is open to any political settlement that is acceptable by a broad section of the Syrian people, and respects the choice of the people and adopts a positive and open position regarding any political solution.”

Hua called upon all parties concerned to work together according to Geneva statement and launch talks as soon as possible for negotiations on devising a plan for a political transition process in Syria.

The spokesperson also urged the parties in Syria to halt violence, indicating that China sees that the use of force won’t solve issues.

Mehmanparast: West Who Supports Terrorism in Syria Wants to Decide Its Destiny on behalf of Syrians

Dec 18, 2012

TEHRAN, (SANA)- Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast reiterated on Tuesday his country’s stance which calls for a peaceful solution to the crisis in Syria through dialogue among the Syrians themselves, pointing out that the West and the US want to decide the destiny and future of Syria on behalf of the Syrian people.

At a press conference, Mehmanparast called on the western countries which assume democracy and protecting human rights to leave the Syrian people decide their future far from any interferences.

He warned of the continuation of supporting terrorists in Syria by the western countries and some regional and Arab countries through sending weapons and money.

Mehmanparast called on all sides which have influence on the armed groups to put pressure on them to realize security and peace in Syria and pave the ground for national dialogue to find a peaceful solution to the crisis.

On deploying patriot missiles along the Turkish-Syrian borders, Mehmanparast said that all countries have to seek realizing security and peace in the region, calling on the Turkish officials to cooperate with the neighboring countries to maintain security and peace in the region.

Iranian Defense Minister: Presence of Foreign Forces in the Region Is  Not in Its Interest

Meanwhile, Iranian Defense Minister, Maj. Gen. Ahmed Wahidi, reiterated his country’s rejection of the deployment of Patriot missile system in Turkey, considering that the presence of foreign forces in the region is not in the interest of its peoples.

Maj. Gen, Wahidi said in a statement that the West has proved that it does not care about the peoples’ interests and cares only about those of its own.

On the developments in Syria, the Iranian Defense Minister said the Zionist entity is the one to benefit most from the violence in Syria which stands at the first line of confrontation against it.

Wahidi added that the biggest loser as a result of this violence is the Syrian people who have fallen victim to the terrorists targeting them.

Russia, Iran: Syria’s Fate Should be Determined by Syrian People

Dec 18, 2012

MOSCOW, (SANA) – Deputy Chairman of the Russian Federation Council, Ilyas Umakhanov, said that Russia is committed to its stance that Syria’s fate should be determined by the Syrians.

RT website quoted Umakhanov as saying, during his meeting with Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, that ”The Russian parliament, foreign ministry, government and President are committed to a unified stance and approach on the situation in Syria.”

”The fate of Syria is to be determined by the Syrian people, and any foreign attempt at imposing solutions will regrettably aggravate the situation.”

He added that there are a lot of Russian nationals in Syria, ”so for us, the situation has a humanitarian dimension too.”

For his part, Abdollahian said that Iran sees Russia a strategic partner and backs close bilateral cooperation in several fields.

”I’d like to point out that we have a strategic approach for cooperation with Russia…We cooperate in myriad fields and maintain good relations. Based on the high expectations in the two countries, this level of cooperation is not satisfactory for the leadership in Iran and Russia.”

Abdollahian: Halting Support for Armed Terrorist Groups Guarantees Restoring Calm to Syria

In an exclusive interview with Russia Today, Abdollahian stressed that stopping the support offered by some foreign parties to the armed terrorist groups in Syria will guarantee restoring calm to the country.

He said that if some foreign parties halted supporting the terrorists and the irresponsible armed militias in Syria, we will immediately sense the return of calm to it, indicating that “only then an appropriate foundation will be laid to go ahead with reforms, form a government of national accord and enhance dialogue.”

He reiterated his country’s support to the plan of the UN envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi.

Abdollahian also told SANA’s correspondent in Moscow that Russia and Iran have mutual viewpoints regarding supporting Syria, pointing out that Iran is communicating with the Syrian opposition which held meetings in Tehran recently.

On the deployment of international peacekeeping forces in Syria, Abdollahian said that this issue concerns the Syrian side, calling for monitoring Syrian borders and international cooperation to prevent the smuggling of weapons into Syria.

In a press conference, Abdollahian addressed the deployment of Patriot missiles in Turkey, saying that this won’t bolster its security nor regional security.

He also criticized US State Secretary Hillary Clinton for her support of sending weapons to terrorists in Syria.

As for the cancellation of the visit of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Turkey, Abdollahian said that there are disagreements between the two countries regarding Syria.

Patrushev: Russia Interested in Halting Violence in Syria, Holding Dialogue between Government and Opposition Necessary

Meanwhile, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev  said on Tuesday that his country is interested in halting violence in Syria and restoring issues back to normal, stressing the necessity of holding dialogue between the Syrian Government and the opposition.

In an interview with Komsemolskaya Pravda Newspaper, Patrushev said that the so-called “Syrian Opposition” is scattered, adding that the US declared that it would support the Doha Coalition which is working abroad.

He stressed that there will never be peace in Syria without the participation of the current leadership.

Russia’s Ambassador to Lebanon: Solution to Crisis in Syria Should Be Based on Geneva Statement

For his part, Russia’s Ambassador to Lebanon, Alexander Zasypkin, reiterated his country’s firm stance towards the crisis in Syria, stressing that the solution to the crisis should be based on Geneva statement.

In a statement following his meeting with the Lebanese Defense Minister, Fayez Ghosn, Zasypkin said that dialogue among the Syrians should be the basis to reach a solution.

Indian Ambassador in Damascus: Syria is Facing Extremist Movements That Hold no Value to Human Life

Dec 18, 2012

DAMASCUS, (SANA) – India’s Ambassador in Damascus V. P. Haran on Tuesday affirmed that Syria is facing extremist, violent movements that hold no value to human life, voicing confidence that Syrians are capable of moving towards peace and achieving development and national reconciliation.

In a speech delivered at the reception organized by the Foreign and Expatriates Ministry on occasion of the end of his mission as ambassador to Syria, Haran said that India is very interested in what is happening in Syria and that he relayed the truth about what is happening, as his country’s foreign ministry has been getting its information from the Indian Embassy in Damascus directly, not from mass media.

Haran reviewed the joint projects and the advanced relations between Syria and India, noting that his country continued to develop cooperation relations even during the current events, particularly in the fields of education and scholarships.

For his part, Assistant Foreign and Expatriates Minister Ahmad Arnous underlined the strong and historic relations between the two countries and the need to continue developing them.

Arnous said that the two countries share the belief that Syria will be safe and strong as it was before, thanking India for all its efforts in the UN, Security Council and international and regional circles and its support for international principles of non-interference in countries’ internal affairs.

Arnous presented a commemorative gift to Haran as a gesture of appreciation of his efforts to strengthen cooperation between India and Syria.

Minister of Health: Urgent Medical Shipment Arrives at Aleppo International Airport

Dec 18, 2012

DAMASCUS, (SANA) – Minister of Health, Sa’ad al-Nayef, said that an urgent shipment of medicine worth over SYP 90 million arrived at Aleppo International Airport, including chronic disease medications.

In a statement to SANA, Minister al-Nayef noted that the shipment came within the framework of the efforts exerted to meet the health and medical needs of various patients in Aleppo.

He indicated that the Ministry is working on preparing additional medial shipments to be sent to Aleppo within the next week, including artificial respirators, medical and surgical equipment and other medicines for healthcare and emergency services.

Al-Nayef stressed that other medical shipments are under preparation to be sent to the provinces of Hasaka, Hama, Idleb, Sweida, Quneitra and Raqqa, referring to the Ministry’s coordination with the authorities concerned to deliver the shipments to the health directorates in these provinces.

He stressed the Ministry’s efforts to meet the patients’ needs and preserve the strategic reserve of medicine and medical supplies in the health institutions in these provinces.

Grand Mufti: Syria Will Remain Strong and Impregnable Thanks to Its People

Dec 18, 2012

DAMASCUS, (SANA) – Grand Mufti of the Republic Dr. Ahmad Badreddin Hassoun affirmed that Syria will remain strong and impregnable in the face of its enemies thanks to the solidarity of its people and will continue to defend the Arab and Islamic nations.

In a lecture delivered on Tuesday at Al-Assad National Library, Hassoun said that the campaign against Syria employs all forms of methods and weapons and seeks to destroy and divide Syria, pointing out to the large number of martyrs who fell victim to the aggression against Syria, the destruction that affected cities, and the displacement of families.

He noted that throughout history, Syria faced many campaigns of aggression and destruction, yet it remained giving and hospitable.

Hassoun said that called on those who consider themselves to be opposition to engage in dialogue and return to Syria, making the people their compass instead of asking help from countries that are well-known for their hostility towards the region, affirming that these countries aren’t actually supporting the opposition; rather their actions seek to guarantee Israel’s security.

Aleppo a Top Priority for Government with Large Financial Allocations

Dec 18, 2012

ALEPPO, (SANA)- In the framework of the government’s efforts to secure the delivery of the basic needs as soon as possible to the terrorism-stricken city of Aleppo, Prime Minister, Wael al-Halqi, announced that convoys with badly needed gas, gas oil and gasoline are ready to set off towards Aleppo once the problem of blocked roads leading to the city due to the terrorists’ attacks is resolved.

With the armed terrorist and mercenary groups having targeted all economic, development and living components and service institutions in Aleppo province as well as in other areas in a number of provinces, including water, electricity, communications and development institutions, Premier al-Halqi declared that the government has allocated SYP 200 million to buy aid and relief materials for Aleppo.

In the same context, al-Halqi added that SYP 100 million were allocated to buy basic needs and services and SYP 140 million to contribute to the independent budget of Aleppo province within 15 days, in addition to SYP 400 million to buy relief and aid materials in the first half of the coming year and SYP 6 billion to provide aid supplies already available inside the storehouses of the Ministry of Industry in the form of canned food stuff and basis materials.

Al-Halqi, leading a large delegation to Aleppo city, affirmed that the government is working to secure as much as possible of the relief assistance via planes at an average of a shipment in a week.

As far as food provision materials, particularly rice and wheat, are concerned, the Premier asserted that the government has a surplus of these materials and that it constantly imports to cover its further needs, noting that the main problem in Aleppo has to do with having these materials grinded as the armed terrorist groups have sabotaged a number of mills in Aleppo countryside.

Speaking in the presence of a large number of Aleppo social and economic figures, al-Halqi said the problem has got complicated as it is also related to securing oil derivatives to feed the electricity stations as well as to the railways that transport these derivatives and the provision stuff, which have been vandalized as a result of the terrorists’ sabotage acts.

He explained how this all resulted in shortage of flour in Aleppo, stressing however that the government is exerting serious efforts to deliver large amounts of bread via airplanes.

On the issue of the electrical power outages in Aleppo city, the Prime Minister stressed that electricity will be back in the coming 48 hours as the maintenance workshops are making great efforts to repair the damages caused to the electricity generating stations by the terrorist groups.

Commenting on the situation of the SYP exchange rate, al-Halqi affirmed that the stability of the exchange rate despite the current circumstances facing the country, indicating the existence of a considerable reserve of foreign currency.

In the framework of discussing the efforts to rehabilitate the damaged infrastructure and facilities, Deputy Prime Minister for Services Affairs and Minister of Local Administration, Omar Ghalawanji, said sub-committees were formed in all of the provinces to receive the citizens’ damage claims.

He noted that so far 50 percent of the value of compensations have already been given to the affected people, adding that other SYP 300 billion are agreed to be spent in this regard.

Ghalawanji pointed out that a sum of SYP 30 billion has been allocated in the budget for 2013 in the same regard.

The government has also given a great attention to the industrialist and businessmen in Aleppo through facilitating their work in terms of being able to get import licenses from all the other provinces.

This goes along with the emergency measures taken by the Ministry of Industry in terms of agreeing on transferring industrial establishments inside and outside the province of Aleppo without any fees, in addition to forming a committee to assess the damage caused to some of the industrial establishments.

In the framework of the meeting, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Saeed Mu’zi Hneidi, stressed that the government is to secure 75 percent of Syria’s needs of oil derivatives soon, noting that the priority will be for Aleppo province.

For his part, Minister of Social Affairs and Labor, Jassem Mohammad Zakaray, reviewed the Ministry’s efforts exerted in cooperation with the Higher Commission for Relief and Aleppo Governorate to ensure the delivery of the main requirements and humanitarian aid for the citizens in Aleppo.

He said that financial support has been provided to 40 charity associations, including 9 in Aleppo, noting that SYP 250 million were allocated by the government for charity associations working in the relief field.

The measures taken by the government in Aleppo also included providing all logistic and daily life requirements to the shelter centers in cooperation with the Ministry of State for Red Crescent Affairs and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent organization.

The health situation in the province received a great attention with the Health Minister, Saad al-Nayef saying that large amounts of medications were transported to Aleppo, including those for various chronic diseases, in addition to the efforts exerted to supporting the rescue system and providing hospital equipment.

Syrian Film “Nukhaa” Participates in CAM International Film Festival in Egypt

Dec 18, 2012

DAMASCUS, (SANA) – The Syrian short film “Nukhaa” (Marrow), participates in the CAM International Film Festival of Documentary and Short Films due to be held in Egypt between December 22nd – 27th.

The film is written by Ali Wajeeh and directed by Waseem al-Sayed.

In an exclusive interview with SANA, al-Sayed underlined the importance of Syria’s participation in the International CAM Festival in Egypt and the International Short Film Festival in Tiznit (Morocco) in March, 2013, under the current circumstances.

Scenarist Ali Wajeeh said that the participation is “an attempt to present something despite all sorrows.”

The Syrian film “Nukhaa” won the Award of Excellence in the Best Shorts Competition held in the USA in 2012.

The actors are Mazen Abbas and Nisreen Fandi. The film is produced by the General Establishment for Television and Radio Production.

Terrorists Attack Tens of Archaeological Sites in Daraa

Dec 18, 2012

DARAA, (SANA) – Tens of archaeological sites in Daraa province have been attacked by armed terrorist groups, according to Daraa Archaeological Directorate.

Director of Daraa Archaeological Directorate, Dr. Mohammad Nasrallah, told SANA that the archaeological sites have been exposed to secret excavations and attacks, causing sabotage to large parts of them, pointing out that the Directorate in cooperation with the authorities documented the damage and sabotage acts.

Nasrallah added that some archaeological sites in al-Mzirib, Inkhel, Maraba, al-Hirak, Sheikh Miskin, Sahm al-Golan, Heet, al-Shajara, Tafas and Dael towns were exposed to sabotage and destruction.

He stressed that the directorate has registered over 100 violations and it has informed the  authorities concerned in these towns.

Restaurants in Old City of Damascus Still Home for Damascus Lovers

Dec 18, 2012

DAMASCUS, (SANA) – As Damascus has always been the land of civilizations and history, its veins are still beating with life in spite of pain thanks to the determination of  its people who adored its streets and alleys and the smell of jasmine and the Damascene rose.

In spite of the current circumstances going on in Syria and the cold weather, the old city of Damascus is living normal life as its restaurants are witnessing turnout from people who come to enjoy the charming atmosphere of the city accompanied by their families and friends.

In the neighborhood of Bab Touma in the old city of Damascus, restaurants receive large groups of youths who come for entertainment and to exchange viewpoints. Darin, a girl in her thirties, says that she comes every Friday to meet her friends in one of Bab Touma restaurants.

“In spite of the current painful events in Syria, the love for life and determination to go on push me to come here”, she added.

With his laptop on the table surfing the internet to follow up the latest news, Samir said that he always come to Antique Restaurant in spite of the current situation, adding that he believes that Syria will remain strong thanks to its people’s determination to continue their work and practice their daily habits.

Michael, young man from Damascus, said these restaurants preserve the ancient oriental aspects which give a feeling of comfort and amity.

Yehya, a worker at Antique Restaurant, said that people are still coming to the restaurant as normal in spite of the current circumstances, adding that he has good relations with the customers.

International Arabic Language Day Marked

Dec 18, 2012

DAMASCUS, (SANA) – World celebrates the International Arabic Language Day every year on December 18th as Arabic is one of the 6 languages adopted by the United Nations.

The purpose of celebrating the UN-adopted languages is encouraging dialogue and communications and increasing awareness among the member states on the role of these languages in history as a method to communicate among peoples.

Dr. Mahmoud al-Sayyed, Head of the Committee for Empowering Arabic, told SANA that the celebration highlights the great position of Arabic among the world’s languages.

Al-Sayyed added that the committee was established by a Presidential decree in 2007 and is tasked with setting a national work plan to empower Arabic in all levels and follow up the implementation of this plan through Arabic committees in several ministries.

He said that these committees work on empowering Arabic through training courses and printing books.

He noted that Arabic language is celebrated three times per year, on February 21st, as designated by UNESCO, International Mother Language Day, and on March 1st as a day to celebrate Arabic adopted by the Arab Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO).

In turn, Dr. Ghassan Ghunaim of the Arab Writers Union, said that “Recent expeditions in Mary Tal al-Hareer city said that the 300-year-old written symbols were very similar to Arabic, which indicates that Arabic is one of the most ancient living languages.”

He stressed that Arabic is capable of keeping up with all scientific, knowledge-related and cultural trends because of its flexibility and richness.

By Tom Mcnamara

19 December 2012

@ Sabbah Report: http://sabbah.biz/mt/?p=16130

Once more tragedy befalls America. But this time the tragedy is even more bitter due to the fact that such a large number of young children were involved. A gunman, identified as Adam Lanza, shot and killed 26 people, 20 of them children – all between the ages of 5 and 10 – at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, on the 14th of December. The attack ended with the gunman committing suicide. It was the Nation’s second deadliest school shooting.

Most people can’t imagine the evil and insanity needed to drive a person to commit such a heinous act. The murder of innocent people is reprehensible, but it is even more so when carried out on the most vulnerable elements of our society, children. Most disturbing of all is the well planned, deliberate and determined manner in which the murders appear to have been carried out. Early reports state that the gunman was highly accurate, leaving only one wounded survivor alive at the school.

President Obama, reading a prepared statement, was overcome with emotion. “Our hearts are broken,” he said. The victims were “beautiful little kids. They had their entire lives ahead of them: birthdays, graduations, weddings, kids of their own.” It was at this moment that the President reached up to the corner of one eye, touching an apparent tear.

On April 3rd, 1991, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 687, imposing sanctions on Iraq as a result of its invasion of Kuwait. This resulted in Iraq being economically isolated from the rest of the world community. But by the end of 1995 there were reports that the sanctions were having a devastating effect on the populace. A study in The Lancet, the journal of the British Medical Association, reported that up to 576,000 Iraqi children may have died since the end of the first Gulf War as a result of the sanctions imposed by the Security Council. UNICEF, in 1999, estimated that at least 500,000 children died who would have otherwise normally lived had it not been for the sanctions in place. The Security Council, led by the United States, rejected numerous appeals by Iraq to lift the sanctions.

Bottom of Form 1

In 2003 the US invaded Iraq for a second time. The second Gulf War was a bloody and brutal affair, costing the lives of over 4,400 US soldiers, with almost 32,000 wounded. But these figures pale in comparison to the suffering experienced (once more) by the Iraqi people. A study released in 2006 found that there were 655,000 more deaths in Iraq than normally would have been expected had coalition forces not invaded in March 2003. This figure was more than 20 times higher than a figure that then President George Bush was using. The study found that most victims were between the ages of 15 and 44.

Nowhere was the fighting more intense in Iraq than at the battle of Fallujah (I & II). The American attack was in response to the murder of 4 Blackwater contractors, who also happened to be ex-special forces. The first battle lasted from April 5 to April 30, 2004, and was primarily a Marine operation. It was some of the most intense fighting that US soldiers had seen since the battle of Hue City in Vietnam. A local Iraqi official reported that at least 600 civilians were killed, with 1,250 more wounded.

The second attack on Fallujah involved seven Marine battalions, plus two Army battalions, and was a multi-phased affair. Combat operations started on November 7, 2004, with fighting lasting until the end of December that same year. An estimated 3,000 insurgents were killed or captured, with 70 US soldiers killed in action (a total of 151 US soldiers died in both battles).

But disturbing revelations came out after the fact. There were reports that the US had used chemical weapons, a war crime. A documentary by RAI, the Italian state broadcaster, entitled “Fallujah: the Hidden Massacre” provided troubling evidence to support these claims. Photographs, videos and interviews with US soldiers who were part of the attack on Fallujah purported to show that phosphorus bombs were used on the city. There were also accusations that incendiary bombs known as Mark 77, a type of napalm, were also used. One US soldier is quoted as saying, “I heard the order to pay attention because they were going to use white phosphorus on Fallujah. Phosphorus burns bodies, in fact it melts the flesh all the way down to the bone … I saw the burned bodies of women and children.”

More damning was an article in the March – April 2005 edition of Field Artillery Magazine. In it, officers of the 2nd Infantry’s fire support team reported that “White phosphorous [WP] proved to be an effective and versatile munition. We used it for screening missions at two breeches and, later in the fight, as a potent psychological weapon against the insurgents in trench lines and spider holes when we could not get effects on them with HE [high explosive]. We fired ‘shake and bake’ missions at the insurgents, using WP to flush them out and HE to take them out.” A reporter with California’s North County Times, who was embedded with the Marines during the Battle of Fallujah in April 2004, reported seeing the same thing.

There were also reports that Coalition forces relied heavily on rounds comprised of depleted uranium (DU). DU is a by-product of the process used to manufacture enriched uranium for nuclear reactors and weapons. DU has 40 percent less radioactivity than natural uranium, but it has the same chemical toxicity and contains ionising radiation.

A medical study conducted on Fallujah after the battles (Busby et al 2010) confirmed anecdotal reports of an increase in infant mortality, birth defects and childhood cancer rates. It found that Fallujah had almost 11 times as many major birth defects in newborns than world averages. A prime suspect in all of this is what the report calls “the use of novel weapons,” possibly those containing “depleted uranium.” The increases in infant mortality, cancer and leukaemia in Fallujah are greater than those reported in the survivors of the US atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

The US has now been fighting in Afghanistan for over 11 years (longer than the Soviet Union). A key component of US strategy in the Afghanistan / Pakistan theatre, or “AfPak” as the region is commonly known, is targeted drone strikes. America’s drone policy has reportedly killed between 474 and 881 civilians in the region, including 176 children. But apparently the targeted killing of children is now accepted military practice.

Army Lt. Col. Marion Carrington of 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, and who is assisting the Afghan police, is quoted as saying, “It kind of opens our aperture. In addition to looking for military-age males, it’s looking for children with potential hostile intent.”

We watch the horrible images of pain and suffering coming out of a small town in Connecticut where 20 children were murdered less than 2 weeks before Christmas. We have no choice but to collectively mourn and take part in the families’ grief. That someone would engage in the systematic and premeditated murder of children is unfathomable and an abomination against everything it means to be human.

But the misery and torment that befell Newton can be multiplied a thousand fold across the Arab world. American policy and actions have resulted in the deaths (i.e. murder) of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of innocent children. The deaths of these children can be considered as war crimes and a crime against humanity of the highest order. They should shock and outrage us, compelling us to demand an immediate change in American foreign policy.

But in order for that to happen one must first believe that Arabs cry for their children too.

Tom McNamara is an Assistant Professor at the ESC Rennes School of Business, France, and a Visiting Lecturer at the French National Military Academy at Saint-Cyr Coëtquidan, France.

By Richard Falk

19 December 2012

Once again, perhaps in the most anguishing manner ever, the deadly shooting of 20 children (and 8 adults) between the ages of 5 and 10 at the Newton, Connecticut Sandy Hook Elementary School, has left America in a stunned posture of tragic bemusement. Why should such incidents be happening here, especially in such a peaceful and affluent town? The shock is accompanied by spontaneous outpourings of grief, bewilderment, empathy, communal espirit, and a sense of national tragedy. Such an unavoidably dark mood is officially confirmed by the well-crafted emotional message of the president, Barack Obama.

The template of response has become a national liturgy in light of the dismal pattern of public response: media sensationalism of a totalizing kind, at once enveloping, sentimental, and tasteless (endless interviewing of surviving children and teachers, and even family members of victims), but dutifully avoiding deeper questions relating to guns, violence, and cultural stimulants and conditioning. What are called ‘difficult issues’ in the media reduce to what some refer to as ‘reasonable gun control’ (that is, a ban on assault weapons, large magazine clips, and somewhat stiffer gun registration rules) and to improved procedures for identifying those suffering the kind of mental disorders that could erupt in violent sociopathic behavior. These are sensible steps to take, but so far below the level of credible diagnosis as to promote collective denial rather than constituting a responsible effort to restore a semblance of security to our most cherished institutions (schools, churches, family dwellings). It is ironically relevant that almost simultaneous with the massacre at Newtown there occurred an attack on children in an elementary school in the Chinese city of Xinyang in the province of Henan, approximately 300 miles south of Beijing. The attacker slashed 22 children with a knife, and significantly there were no fatalities, suggesting the important differences in outcome that reflect the weapons deployed by an assailant. Although this is an anecdotal bit of evidence, it is suggestive that strict gun control is the least

that should be done in light of recent experience, with seven instances of mass violence reported in the United States during 2012. It should be noted that Connecticut was one of the few states in the country that had enacted ‘reasonable’ gun control laws, but clearly without a sufficient impact.

If what is being proposed by politicians and pundits is so far below what seems prudent there is fostered a societal illusion of problem-solving while sidestepping the deeper causes, and the truly ‘difficult issues.’ It would be a mistake to attribute the overall concerns entirely to the violent texture of the American public imagination, but surely inquiry must address this atrocity-inducing cultural environment. America leads the world in per capita gun possession, violent crime, and prison population, and is among the few developed countries that continues to impose capital punishment. Beyond this, America vindicates torture and glamorizes violence in films, video games, and popular culture. Political leaders support ‘enhanced interrogation’ of terror suspects, and claim an authority to order the execution of alleged terrorist advocates in foreign countries by drone strikes oblivious to the sovereign rights of foreign states, a practice that if attempted against American targets would produce a massive retaliatory response preceded by an outburst of self-righteous outrage. At work, here, is American exceptionalism when it comes to lethal violence, with a claimed right to do unto others what others are forbidden to do unto us, a defiance of that most fundamental norm of civilized peoples an inversion of ‘the golden rule’ and basic biblical commandments.

There are other features of American political culture that are disturbing, including the uncritical celebration of American soldiers as ‘the finest young Americans,’ ‘true heroes,’ and the like. Or of America as the greatest country that ever existed, such a claim especially in light of recent history, is a rather pure form of hubris long understood as the fallibility that comes with excessive individual or collective inability to recognize and correct one’s own faults. It is certainly true that the government is asking American servicemen to risk their lives and mental health in ambiguous circumstances that produce aberrant behavior. To undertake counterinsurgency missions in distant countries at a lesser stage of development and much different cultural standards invites deep confusion, incites national resistance and hatred in the combat zones, and prompts responses driven by fear and rage. Recall such incidents in Afghanistan as American servicemen urinating on dead Afghan corpses, burning the Koran, and random shootings of Afghan unarmed villagers. In effect, this ethos of violence against others, constrained by the most minimal standards of accountability has to be part of the violence inducing behavior that is these days haunting civic life here in America.

In effect, until we as Americans look in the mirror with a critical eye we will not begin to comprehend the violence of Newtown, Portland, Aurora, Oak Creek, Tucson, Columbine, Virginia Tech. No amount of tears, however genuine, can make our children and citizens safer in the future, and even gestures of gun control seem likely, if treated as solutions rather than palliatives, are likely to be no more than a spit in a national ocean of sanctioned violence. What may be most depressing is that it seems ‘utopian,’ that is, beyond the horizon of possibility, to advocate the repeal of the Second Amendment on the right to bear arms or to renounce the kill doctrines associated with drone warfare or counterinsurgency rules of engagement.  Only moves of such magnitude would exhibit the political will to take measures commensurate with this disruptive and horrifying pattern of violence that has been an increasing source of national torment.

President Obama has called, as he has on prior occasions, for “meaningful action,” which is too vague to be of much encouragement. Almost certainly the main effort in American public space will be to explore the individuality of this shocking crime by way of mental disorder or tensions at home rather than to address its systemic character, which remains a taboo inquiry.

By Alexander Smoltczyk

18 December 2012

@ Spiegelonline

The guns have been silent in Iraq for years, but in Basra and Fallujah the number of birth defects and cancer cases is on the rise. Locals believe that American uranium-tipped munitions are to blame and some researchers think they might be right.

It sounds at first as if the old man were drunk. Or perhaps as though he had been reading Greek myths. But Askar Bin Said doesn’t read anything, especially not books, and there is no alcohol in Basra. In fact, he says, he saw the creatures he describes with his own eyes: “Some had only one eye in the forehead. Or two heads. One had a tail like a skinned lamb. Another one looked like a perfectly normal child, but with a monkey’s face. Or the girl whose legs had grown together, half fish, half human.”

The babies Askar Bin Said describes were brought to him. He washed them and wrapped them in shrouds, and then he buried them in the dry soil, littered with bits of plastic and can lids, of his own cemetery, which has been in his family for five generations. It’s a cemetery only for children.

Though they are small, the graves are crowded so tightly together that they are almost on top of one another. They look as if someone had overturned toy wheelbarrows full of cement and then scratched the names and dates of death into it before it hardened. In many cases, there isn’t even room for the birth date. But it doesn’t really matter, because in most cases the two dates are the same.

There are several thousand graves in the cemetery, and another five to 10 are added every day. The large number of graves is certainly conspicuous, says Bin Said. But, he adds, there “really isn’t an explanation” for why there are so many dead and deformed newborn babies in Basra.

Others, though, do have an idea why. According to a study published in September in the Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, a professional journal based in the southwestern German city of Heidelberg, there was a sevenfold increase in the number of birth defects in Basra between 1994 and 2003. Of 1,000 live births, 23 had birth defects.

Double and Triple Cancers

Similarly high values are reported from Fallujah, a city that was fiercely contested in the 2003 war. According to the Heidelberg study, the concentration of lead in the milk teeth of sick children from Basra was almost three times as high as comparable values in areas where there was no fighting.

Never before has such a high rate of neural tube defects (“open back”) been recorded in babies as in Basra, and the rate continues to rise. The number of hydrocephalus (“water on the brain”) cases among newborns is six times as high in Basra as it is in the United States, the study concludes.

Jawad al-Ali has worked as a cancer specialist at the Sadr Teaching Hospital (formerly the Saddam Hospital), housed in a sinister-looking building in Basra, since 1991. He remembers the period after the first Gulf war over Kuwait. “It isn’t just that the number of cancer cases suddenly increased. We also had double and triple cancers, that is, patients with tumors on both kidneys and in the stomach. And there were also familial clusters, that is, entire families that were affected.” He is convinced that this relates to the use of uranium ammunition. “There is a connection between cancer and radiation. Sometimes it takes 10 or 20 years before the consequences manifest themselves.”

The term uranium ammunition refers to projectiles whose alloys or cores are made with “depleted,” or weakly radioactive uranium, also known as DU. When German soldiers are deployed overseas, they are given the following information: “Uranium munitions are armor-piercing projectiles with a core of depleted uranium. Because of its high density, this core provides the projectile with very high momentum and enables it to pierce the armor of combat tanks.”

When DU explodes, it produces a very fine uranium dust. When children play near wrecked tanks, they can absorb this dust through their skin, their mouths and their airways. A 2002 study at the University of Bremen in northern Germany found that chromosomal changes had occurred in Gulf war veterans who had come into contact with uranium ammunition.

The German Defense Ministry counters that it isn’t the radiation that constitutes a health threat, but the “chemical toxicity of uranium.”

Living in a Garbage Dump

London’s Royal Society presented one of the most comprehensive studies on the issue in 2002, but it only addressed the potential threat to soldiers. It concluded that the risk of radiation damage is “very low,” as is the risk of chronic kidney toxicity from uranium dust.

This may reassure soldiers, but not Mohammed Haidar. He lives in Kibla, a district in Basra which, like others in the city, resembles nothing so much as a garbage dump. Kibla is a neighborhood of squalid, make-shift shops and shacks — with shimmering, greenish liquid flowing through open sewers and plastic containers filled with rotting material.

Haidar, who teaches mathematics at a high school, could afford to live in a better neighborhood. But he spends every spare dinar on treatment for his daughter Rukya. The three-year-old is sitting on his lap, resembling a ventriloquist’s doll. She is an adorable little girl with pigtails and ribbons in her hair. But she can’t walk or speak properly.

When Haidar turns his daughter around, two openings in her back become visible. She has a cleft spine, the externally visible sign of hydrocephalus, as well as an implanted drainage tube to remove excess cerebrospinal fluid. In Germany, children with cases like hers are often treated with prenatal surgery, but not in Basra. In fact, Haidar and his wife are glad that Rukya is even alive. She is their first and only child. “We both grew up in Basra. I hold the United States responsible. They used DU. My child isn’t an isolated case,” Haidar says.

The term “DU” seems to be just as widespread in Basra as birth defects are.

DU ammunition was used twice in the Basra district: outside the city in the 1991 war, and in the city proper in 2003, when British troops were advancing toward the airport. West Basra is the urban district with the highest incidence of leukemia among infants.

“Those who were children in the first war are adults today,” says Khairiya Abu Yassin of the city’s environmental agency. She estimates that 200 tons of DU ammunition were used in Basra. The Defense Ministry in London claims that British troops used only about two tons of DU ammunition during the war. Either way, the remains of tanks destroyed in the war with the help of DU ammunition littered the streets until 2008.

Propaganda Fodder

It was impossible to keep children and salvagers away from the wrecks, says Abu Yassin. “We installed signs that read: Caution — Radiation. But people don’t take a threat seriously when it doesn’t act like the bullet from a gun.”

DU is a sensitive issue, and not every doctor in Basra is willing to go on record commenting on it. The reasons for the reticence have to do with the dictatorial regime of Saddam Hussein: The alleged radiation threat coming from remnants of armor-piercing ammunition provided popular propaganda fodder.

In the United States, no major newspaper has yet published a story on the genetic disorders in Fallujah. Britain’s Guardian, on the other hand, criticized the silence of “the West,” calling it a moral failure, and cited chemist Chris Busby, who said that the Fallujah health crisis represented “the highest rate of genetic damage in any population ever studied.” Busby is the co-author of two studies on the subject.

Still, it is difficult to precisely pinpoint the cause of the defects. Spinal chord abnormality can also be triggered by a folic acid deficiency at the beginning of pregnancy, for example. Furthermore, very few Iraqis can afford regular pregnancy exams. As a result, many defective embryos are carried to full term, in contrast to what normally happens in Europe or the US.

Wolfgang Hoffmann, an epidemiologist at the University of Greifswald in northeastern Germany, has been collaborating with fellow scientists in Basra for years. “Birth defects often look very disturbing in photos,” he says. “But they are always isolated cases and are not necessarily useful for identifying trends.”

Hoffmann cites the lack of comprehensive data and questions the epidemiological reliability of reports. He does believe, however, that indications of increasing rates of cancer in Basra should be taken very seriously, partly because the data for Basra is more reliable.

Searching for the Truth

The “plausible risk factors” for childhood leukemia, says Hoffmann, “undoubtedly include the contaminated environment, but also the lack of prevention, the trauma suffered by parents and the devastated medical infrastructure.” The statistical increase in the number of children with leukemia since 1993 is also a function of cases not having been fully documented before 2003.

Janan Hassan, an oncologist with the Basra Children’s Hospital, participated in a study that was just published in the Medical Journal of the Sultan Qaboos University in Oman. It states that although the rate of childhood leukemia in Basra remained stable between 2004 and 2009, compared with other countries in the region, there is a trend toward very young children contracting the disease.

As such, she believes that objections are only partially applicable. There is a “strong increase” of genetic defects as a cause of leukemia, she notes. “And the cases are coming from precisely the areas where there was heavy fighting. How do you explain that? By saying that reporting requirements have changed?”

Sabria Salman named her son Muslim, but it didn’t protect him. Muslim, now 10, recently underwent surgery to remove a 500-gram tumor on his upper arm. He doesn’t scream in pain anymore. Instead, the boy has a permanent grin on his face, as if he no longer had the strength to change his expression. He perspires heavily and has trouble breathing. There is a drain tube protruding from his left arm, and the right arm is wrapped in a dressing that’s stained red along the edges.

Salman calls it “cancer in the muscles.” The boy broke his shoulder two years ago, and since then his body has made little progress towards healing.

‘Bombs in Our Neighborhood’

The hospital pays for the chemotherapy, although radiation therapy would be more effective for his tumor. But radiation is only available abroad or in Baghdad, where there is a five-month waiting list — and the family doesn’t have that much time anymore. The mother prays to Allah, and when the interpreter asks her who is to blame for her son’s affliction, she says: “The war is to blame. The pollution. There were many bombs in our neighborhood.”

Uranium may be a factor, but other substances used in the production of ammunition and bombs are also implicated, toxic heavy metals like lead and mercury. “The bombardment of Basra and Fallujah may have increased the population’s exposure to metals, possibly resulting in the current increase in birth defects,” states the Heidelberg study.

Furthermore, when the Rumaila oil field near Basra was set on fire in 2003, a cloud of soot full of carcinogenic particles drifted across the city. And another factor could also be at play. Since Saddam was overthrown, Iraq’s neighbors, Iran, Syria and Turkey, have diverted substantially more water from the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers. The current in the Shatt-al-Arab, formed by the confluence of the two rivers, is now so weak that salt water penetrates inland from the Persian Gulf all the way to Basra.

This means that wastewater from industrial facilities downstream from Basra, like the Iranian oil refinery in Abadan, are no longer being adequately diluted, increasing the concentration of heavy metals in groundwater.

Abu Ammar lives with his family on the grounds of Saddam’s former navy command center. The quarters are cramped, with 10 people in a room, and the situation of several other families on the grounds is no better. It is yet another impoverished Basra neighborhood — the riches of the Basra oil wells, omnipresent in the neighborhood in the shape of stinking fumes, have yet to trickle down to the people.

Three Eyes for Three Children

Ammar has spread out a plastic rug on the floor and placed a can of 7-Up and a pastry for each of his visitors on the rug. The family — or what is left of it — squats around the rug. Saddam’s thugs executed two of Ammar’s brothers. The cousin sitting next to him still has a piece of shrapnel from an attack wedged behind his eye, the mother died of grief, his wife no longer goes outside — “and these are our children…,” he says.

He points to a 21-year-old woman, a seven-year-old girl and a little boy, sitting next to each other. They don’t have the same parents, but all three have the same narrow faces, and together they have only three eyes.

The sockets of their missing eyes look like the inside of an oyster, milky and shapeless. The young woman, Madia, attends the local college. She doesn’t like going there, she says, even though she covers half of her face with her veil. “What caused this? I think my mother inhaled something chemical when I was inside of her,” says Madia.

It’s easy to assign the blame for these eerie birth defects to something called “DU ammunition,” made in the USA. It’s easier than thinking about the deleterious effects of lead and mercury in the soil and the tomatoes, or of the soot in the air and the toxic materials in the water. But that doesn’t relieve those involved in the war from responsibility. It isn’t enough to declare a war to be over. Even though Iraq now has elections and the tyrant has been hanged, the war is still in the soil, in the air and in the children.

Omran Habib heads the Basra Cancer Research Group. He earned his Ph.D. in London and now works as an epidemiologist at the University of Basra Hospital. “The war did an enormous amount of damage here,” he says. “DU is certainly not good for our health. Nevertheless, even the presence of uranium in the urine of patients doesn’t imply causation.”

A Bundle in White

The World Health Organization (WHO) is currently assembling a report on DU ammunition. It will reflect the current state of research on the issue, but it will hardly provide any new insights. With the help of the University of Greifswald, a cancer registry has been developed for the Basra region and will serve as the basis for all future study. Still, even as further research is needed, if only for the children’s sake, it will come too late for many.

It’s certainly too late for the body lying inside a little white bundle of material, tied together at both ends like a piece of candy, lying on a pile of dirt along the edge of the children’s cemetery in Basra. It was supposed to be his first son, says the father, standing next to the body. Yesterday the child was still moving inside the mother’s stomach. Today the father was simply handed a bundle.

The body-washer on duty sighs loudly while digging the grave, hoping to increase his baksheesh. Then he places the bundle into the hole, says a few words of prayer, makes some adjustments to the bundle and covers it with earth. Off to the side, a chicken is pecking at a piece of a “Capri Sun” container sticking out of the soil.

Afterwards the men smoke. The father is given a piece of cardboard and writes down the name of his son, copying it from the combined birth and death certificate they gave him at the hospital. The gravedigger will scratch the name into the cement. The boy was going to be named Hussein Ali. The father writes the name of his dead child for the first and last time.

The man remains motionless. Who wonders about blame at such a moment? He seems empty, completely at a loss and robbed of a tiny life.

Translated from the German by Christopher Sultan

URL:

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/researchers-studying-high-rates-of-cancer-and-birth-defects-in-iraq-a-873225.html

By Liza Long

17 December 12

@ The Blue Review

Three days before 20 year-old Adam Lanza killed his mother, then opened fire on a classroom full of Connecticut kindergartners, my 13-year old son Michael (name changed) missed his bus because he was wearing the wrong color pants.

“I can wear these pants,” he said, his tone increasingly belligerent, the black-hole pupils of his eyes swallowing the blue irises.

“They are navy blue,” I told him. “Your school’s dress code says black or khaki pants only.”

“They told me I could wear these,” he insisted. “You’re a stupid bitch. I can wear whatever pants I want to. This is America. I have rights!”

“You can’t wear whatever pants you want to,” I said, my tone affable, reasonable. “And you definitely cannot call me a stupid bitch. You’re grounded from electronics for the rest of the day. Now get in the car, and I will take you to school.”

I live with a son who is mentally ill. I love my son. But he terrifies me.

A few weeks ago, Michael pulled a knife and threatened to kill me and then himself after I asked him to return his overdue library books. His 7 and 9 year old siblings knew the safety plan-they ran to the car and locked the doors before I even asked them to. I managed to get the knife from Michael, then methodically collected all the sharp objects in the house into a single Tupperware container that now travels with me. Through it all, he continued to scream insults at me and threaten to kill or hurt me.

That conflict ended with three burly police officers and a paramedic wrestling my son onto a gurney for an expensive ambulance ride to the local emergency room. The mental hospital didn’t have any beds that day, and Michael calmed down nicely in the ER, so they sent us home with a prescription for Zyprexa and a follow-up visit with a local pediatric psychiatrist.

We still don’t know what’s wrong with Michael. Autism spectrum, ADHD, Oppositional Defiant or Intermittent Explosive Disorder have all been tossed around at various meetings with probation officers and social workers and counselors and teachers and school administrators. He’s been on a slew of antipsychotic and mood altering pharmaceuticals, a Russian novel of behavioral plans. Nothing seems to work.

At the start of seventh grade, Michael was accepted to an accelerated program for highly gifted math and science students. His IQ is off the charts. When he’s in a good mood, he will gladly bend your ear on subjects ranging from Greek mythology to the differences between Einsteinian and Newtonian physics to Doctor Who. He’s in a good mood most of the time. But when he’s not, watch out. And it’s impossible to predict what will set him off.

Several weeks into his new junior high school, Michael began exhibiting increasingly odd and threatening behaviors at school. We decided to transfer him to the district’s most restrictive behavioral program, a contained school environment where children who can’t function in normal classrooms can access their right to free public babysitting from 7:30-1:50 Monday through Friday until they turn 18.

The morning of the pants incident, Michael continued to argue with me on the drive. He would occasionally apologize and seem remorseful. Right before we turned into his school parking lot, he said, “Look, Mom, I’m really sorry. Can I have video games back today?”

“No way,” I told him. “You cannot act the way you acted this morning and think you can get your electronic privileges back that quickly.”

His face turned cold, and his eyes were full of calculated rage. “Then I’m going to kill myself,” he said. “I’m going to jump out of this car right now and kill myself.”

That was it. After the knife incident, I told him that if he ever said those words again, I would take him straight to the mental hospital, no ifs, ands, or buts. I did not respond, except to pull the car into the opposite lane, turning left instead of right.

“Where are you taking me?” he said, suddenly worried. “Where are we going?”

“You know where we are going,” I replied.

“No! You can’t do that to me! You’re sending me to hell! You’re sending me straight to hell!”

I pulled up in front of the hospital, frantically waiving for one of the clinicians who happened to be standing outside. “Call the police,” I said. “Hurry.”

Michael was in a full-blown fit by then, screaming and hitting. I hugged him close so he couldn’t escape from the car. He bit me several times and repeatedly jabbed his elbows into my rib cage. I’m still stronger than he is, but I won’t be for much longer.

The police came quickly and carried my son screaming and kicking into the bowels of the hospital. I started to shake, and tears filled my eyes as I filled out the paperwork-“Were there any difficulties with… at what age did your child… were there any problems with.. has your child ever experienced.. does your child have…”

At least we have health insurance now. I recently accepted a position with a local college, giving up my freelance career because when you have a kid like this, you need benefits. You’ll do anything for benefits. No individual insurance plan will cover this kind of thing.

For days, my son insisted that I was lying-that I made the whole thing up so that I could get rid of him. The first day, when I called to check up on him, he said, “I hate you. And I’m going to get my revenge as soon as I get out of here.”

By day three, he was my calm, sweet boy again, all apologies and promises to get better. I’ve heard those promises for years. I don’t believe them anymore.

On the intake form, under the question, “What are your expectations for treatment?” I wrote, “I need help.”

And I do. This problem is too big for me to handle on my own. Sometimes there are no good options. So you just pray for grace and trust that in hindsight, it will all make sense.

I am sharing this story because I am Adam Lanza’s mother. I am Dylan Klebold’s and Eric Harris’s mother. I am James Holmes’s mother. I am Jared Loughner’s mother. I am Seung-Hui Cho’s mother. And these boys-and their mothers-need help. In the wake of another horrific national tragedy, it’s easy to talk about guns. But it’s time to talk about mental illness.

According to Mother Jones, since 1982, 61 mass murders involving firearms have occurred throughout the country. Of these, 43 of the killers were white males, and only one was a woman. Mother Jones focused on whether the killers obtained their guns legally (most did). But this highly visible sign of mental illness should lead us to consider how many people in the U.S. live in fear, like I do.

When I asked my son’s social worker about my options, he said that the only thing I could do was to get Michael charged with a crime. “If he’s back in the system, they’ll create a paper trail,” he said. “That’s the only way you’re ever going to get anything done. No one will pay attention to you unless you’ve got charges.”

I don’t believe my son belongs in jail. The chaotic environment exacerbates Michael’s sensitivity to sensory stimuli and doesn’t deal with the underlying pathology. But it seems like the United States is using prison as the solution of choice for mentally ill people. According to Human Rights Watch, the number of mentally ill inmates in U.S. prisons quadrupled from 2000 to 2006, and it continues to rise-in fact, the rate of inmate mental illness is five times greater (56 percent) than in the non-incarcerated population.

With state-run treatment centers and hospitals shuttered, prison is now the last resort for the mentally ill-Rikers Island, the LA County Jail and Cook County Jail in Illinois housed the nation’s largest treatment centers in 2011 .

No one wants to send a 13-year old genius who loves Harry Potter and his snuggle animal collection to jail. But our society, with its stigma on mental illness and its broken healthcare system, does not provide us with other options. Then another tortured soul shoots up a fast food restaurant. A mall. A kindergarten classroom. And we wring our hands and say, “Something must be done.”

I agree that something must be done. It’s time for a meaningful, nation-wide conversation about mental health. That’s the only way our nation can ever truly heal.

God help me. God help Michael. God help us all.

By Michael. C. Bender

Dec. 17 (Bloomberg) — Magazines that fed bullets into the primary firearm used to kill 26 children and adults at a Connecticut school would have been banned under state legislation that the National Rifle Association and gunmakers successfully fought.

The shooter at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Adam Lanza, 20, used a Bushmaster AR-15 rifle with magazines containing 30 rounds as his main weapon, said Connecticut State Police Lieutenant Paul Vance at a news conference yesterday.

A proposal in March 2011 would have made it a felony to possess magazines with more than 10 bullets and required owners to surrender them to law enforcement or remove them from the state. Opponents sent more than 30,000 e-mails and letters to state lawmakers as part of a campaign organized by the NRA and other gun advocates, said Robert Crook, head of the Hartford- based Coalition of Connecticut Sportsmen, which opposed the legislation.

“The legislators got swamped by NRA emails,” said Betty Gallo, who lobbied on behalf of the legislation for Southport- based Connecticut Against Gun Violence. “They were scared of the NRA and the political backlash.”

Proponents abandoned the legislation, which drew opposition from gunmakers including Sturm, Ruger & Co. In addition to the e-mails and letters, more than 300 pro-gun activists, including many NRA members, attended a committee hearing to oppose it, said Gallo, a Hartford-based lobbyist for more than 35 years.

Permissive Laws

The Fairfax, Virginia-based NRA, which describes itself as the nation’s foremost defender of Second Amendment rights, works to defeat gun limits nationally and in states, and has successfully championed permissive firearms laws.

Since a 1994 federal assault-weapon ban expired in 2004, Congress hasn’t enacted major firearms regulations other than a law aimed at improving state reporting for federal background checks. The gun lobby’s power was illustrated during the 2012 presidential campaign when, after mass shootings, neither President Barack Obama nor his Republican opponent, Mitt Romney, called for restrictions on gun ownership.

In Newtown, Lanza also had two handguns, a Glock and a Sig Sauer, and fired hundreds of bullets, said Vance. Authorities also took a shotgun from the car he drove, Vance said. The guns belonged to Nancy Lanza, Adam’s mother, according to a law- enforcement official who asked for anonymity because of a continuing investigation.

Magazines’ Role

Both sides in the debate disputed the role of high-capacity magazines in the Dec. 14 school shooting.

Crook said state legislation “wouldn’t have made a difference.”

“We already have a lot of good gun laws on the books,” Crook said. “You can’t control people who have never done anything wrong before and then just go off the deep end.”

U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat, said in an interview that high-capacity magazines “made the crime all the more deadly” and called for limits.

Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy told reporters today that he supports a ban on high-capacity magazines.

“That is a common-sense piece of legislation that could be taken up in the next legislative session,” said Malloy, a Democrat, at a news conference at the state Capitol.

The media office of the NRA didn’t respond to e-mails seeking comment about the shooting or the law, or return phone messages left with an answering service.

Mass Murder

The Connecticut shooting is the latest mass murder in which the gunman’s arsenal included a high-capacity magazine. Connecticut’s bill was written in response to an attack last year in Tuscon, Arizona, that killed six and injured U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords, said Gallo. Jared Lee Loughner was sentenced to life in prison for the shootings in which he used a 33-round magazine in a Glock 19.

In July, James Holmes clipped a 100-round drum magazine into the Smith & Wesson semi-automatic rifle police say he fired into a Colorado theater, killing 12 and wounding 58.

“It’s the large capacity weaponry that’s the problem when it comes to mass murder, because of the ability to kill lots of people in a short time without even reloading,” said James Alan Fox, a criminologist at Northeastern University in Boston. “Prohibitions against assault weapons, especially high-capacity magazines, can help.”

Last year, Andrew Jennison, an NRA lobbyist at the time, told Connecticut lawmakers there was “no correlation” between crime and magazine capacity, pointing to the 2007 massacre at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia, in which 33 people died. In that shooting, the deadliest in U.S. history, Seung-Hui Cho used 10- and 15- round magazines.

Rapid Loaders

“Even pistols with rapid loaders could have been about as deadly in this situation,” Jennison said, according to a transcript of the committee hearing. “It is the criminal use of firearms, not mere possession of a magazine with an arbitrary number of rounds.”

Connecticut’s gun laws are fifth-strictest among states, according to a 2011 scorecard from the Washington-based Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, which describes itself as the country’s largest gun-control lobby.

Connecticut is among six states that require background checks on all handgun sales, according to the San Francisco- based Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

Gun Seizure

Connecticut has a measure, sometimes referred to as the “turn in your neighbor” law, that lets state police obtain a warrant to confiscate firearms from anyone posing an imminent risk of harming someone. Police obtained nearly 300 warrants and seized more than 2,000 guns in 10 years after the law was passed in 1999, according to a state Office of Legislative Research report.

Still, gun-control advocates couldn’t pass the ban on high- capacity magazines.

Gallo said she counted a majority of the 45-member Judiciary Committee in favor of the bill. After the meeting, Gallo said she could get a commitment from just seven lawmakers to support it. She said she asked the co-chairmen, Senator Eric Coleman and Representative Gerald Fox, not to put the bill up for a vote. Coleman and Fox didn’t return calls seeking comment.

“If we know we’re going to lose, we’re not going to take it to a vote,” said Ron Pinciaro, director of the Connecticut Coalition Against Gun Violence.

James Debney, chief executive office of Smith & Wesson Holding Corp., wrote to Fox before the hearing that the proposal would “drastically impact the numerous firearms companies in Connecticut and across New England.”

Job Loss

“Connecticut cannot afford to lose these jobs,” Debney wrote, adding that 10 of the Springfield, Massachusetts, company’s top 30 suppliers were based in Connecticut.

Jake McGuigan, government-relations director for the Newtown-based National Shooting Sports Foundation, opposed the bill, pointing to more than 622,000 firearms in the state that could accept high-capacity magazines.

If gun owners weren’t reimbursed, at a cost to the state of at least $29 million, he warned lawmakers of “a class action lawsuit on the taking of that.”

McGuigan also said there would be costs for the state’s $1.3 billion firearms industry. Home to gunmakers Sturm, Ruger & Co., Mossberg Corp. and Colt Defense LLC, Connecticut’s gun industry supports 5,400 jobs and pays $81 million in state taxes, he said.

The bill would restrict the commercial market for those companies, McGuigan said.

Self Defense

“I’m not sure that’s something that we want to do in this economic environment,” he told lawmakers. “I don’t think we want to lose any business, whether it’s five employees or 30 employees or Colt Firearms, which has 1,000 union jobs.”

Michael Fifer, Ruger’s president and chief executive officer, told the committee that high-capacity magazines are needed for self defense.

A third of aggravated assault and robbery victims were attacked by multiple offenders, he said. High-capacity magazines provided more protection to citizens prone to miss their intended target in stressful situations, he said.

“The regulation of magazine capacity will not deter crime, but will instead put law-abiding citizens at risk of harm,” Fifer wrote in a letter to committee members. “The bill, if enacted, also would expose law-abiding citizens to criminal prosecution for unintentionally possessing prohibited magazines — magazines that were legally acquired and that are largely the norm in new firearms manufacturing.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Michael C. Bender in Tallahassee at mbender10@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stephen Merelman at smerelman@bloomberg.net

“The temptation is to speak in muffled tones about an issue such as the right of the people of Palestine … yet we would be less than human if we did so.”

– NELSON R. MANDELA

As Jews, with our own painful history of oppression, we are compelled to speak out against human rights violations being committed by the State of Israel – in our name – against the Palestinian people.

We note that the South African Jewish Board of Deputies (SAJBD) together with the South African Zionist Federation (SAZF), recently met with the South African Presidency and other politicians. We also note, with great concern, the SAJBD and SAZF’s assertion that they represent and speak on behalf of all Jewish South Africans, particularly when it comes to Palestine-Israel.

Let us be clear, the SAJBD and SAZF’s position of supporting Israel at all costs does not represent us. We also appeal to the SAJBD and SAZF to respect one of the hallmarks of Judaism: respectful debate amongst those who hold divergent viewpoints. The SAJBD and SAZF’s position on Israel, and attempts to stifle opposing voices that speak out against Israel, is morally untenable.

The Jewish community is neither homogeneous nor monolithic.  There is a growing number of Jews, in South Africa and around the world, who are organising to form alternative spaces and who unconditionally oppose Israeli policies and practices that shamefully privilege Jews over the indigenous Palestinian people.  In this vein, we support the non-violent campaign of applying Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel until it abides by international law and respects basic human rights [see www.bdsmovement.net].

We are encouraged that our South African government is joining those countries that are taking a clear stance against Israel’s violations of international law and its acts of violence against the Palestinian people [ see this City Press newspaper article: http://tinyurl.com/buyflps]. We also welcome and support our Department of Trade and Industry’s initiative to prevent the false labelling of Israeli settlement products [see this Israeli Ha’aretz newspaper article: http://tinyurl.com/8ujzk42]. We hope that the ANC and the SA Government goes further and completely bans Israeli settlement products. Israeli settlements are in clear violation of international law and seriously undermine any chance of negotiations and a just peace.

Such positions as those recently taken by our government against Israeli violence and violations of international law, in fact, serve to affirm a proud Jewish tradition of respect for justice and human rights; regardless of race, religion or creed. Such positions connect us to our fellow humanity.

We humbly – and sadly – acknowledge that our voices may not be the dominant ones in our community, but neither were Dietrich Bonnhoefer’s in Nazi Germany nor Beyers Naude’s, Antjie Krog’s, Braam Fischer’s and Joe Slovo’s in Apartheid South Africa.

Our individual consciences, our Jewish tradition and our painful history compel us to declare to the SAJBD, SAZF and to the Israeli government that we will continue to speak out and take a stand for justice and human rights.  Taking such a stand is in the very interests of being Jewish. For when we proclaim “Never Again”, we should mean “Never Again”, unconditionally, and to any human being – including the Palestinians.

Issued by Alan Horwitz for StopTheJNF, a campaign initiated by a group of Jewish South Africans committed to justice and rights for the Palestinian people and Jewish Israelis. Find the original statement and more information here: www.stopthejnfsa.org

Mentioned in the above statement is Joe Slovo: the well-known South African Treason Trialist, founding member of the South African Congress of Democrats, the former South African Communist Party General-Secretary, the Chief of Staff  during the 1980s of the African National Congress’ armed wing (Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK)) and a leading NEC member of South Africa’s ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC). Slovo, who was born Jewish, was an outspoken critic of Apartheid South Africa as well as a consistent critic of the Israeli regime – which he also considered an Apartheid state.

In fact, Slovo publicly exposed and highlighted the shameful military collaborations during the 1970s and 1980s between Israel and apartheid-era South Africa (see this UK Guardian newspaper article: http://tinyurl.com/27et2hy). In an unfinished autobiography, Joe Slovo wrote: “Ironically enough, the horrors of the Holocaust became the rationalization [by Israeli supporters] for … acts of genocide against the indigenous people of Palestine. Those of us who, in the years that were to follow, raised our voices publicly against the violent apartheid of the Israeli state were vilified…”.

By Juan Cole

17 December 12

@ Informed Comment

The American obsession with guns and violence is not unique, but it is distinctive. The US ranks 12th in the world for rate of firearm-related deaths. El Salvador, Colombia, Swaziland, Brazil, South Africa, the Philippines and some others are worse. But that is the company the US is in- not, say, relatively peaceful places like Japan, Singapore and the Netherlands.

It turns out that the Newtown shooter used a semi-automatic Bushmaster rifle and he had lots of thirty-round high-capacity clips for it. Authorities have revealed that each of the 20 children and six adults he killed was shot multiple times, but given the number of clips Lanza brought with him, the number of victims could have been much, much higher. The Federal ban on weapons such as the Bushmaster, in place 1994-2004, was allowed to lapse by the George W. Bush administration and his Republican Congress, all of whom received massive campaign donations from the gun lobby. There is a Connecticut ban, but the maker of the Bushmaster used a loophole in the poorly written state law to continue to sell the gun in the state. The Bushmaster is manufactured by a subsidiary of the Wall Street hedge fund, Cerberus Capital Management, called the “Freedom Group”- which also owns Remington and DPMS Firearms. It is the largest single maker of semi-automatic rifles in the US, and they are expected to be a major growing profit center in the coming years. The Freedom Group was sued over the Washington, DC, sniper attacks, and paid $500,000 without admitting culpability.

So, the hedge funds are doing us in every which way.

But the weird idea of letting people buy military weaponry at will, with less trouble than you would have to buy a car, is only one manifestation of America’s cult of high-powered weaponry.

In 2011, US corporations sold 75% of all the arms sold in the international weapons market, some $66 billion of the $85 billion trade. Russia was the runner-up with only $4 billion in sales.

Saudi Arabia bought F-15s and Apache and Blackhawk helicopters. Oman bought F-16s. The UAE got a missile shield. And, of course, Israel gets very sophisticated weapons from the US, as well.

The US share of the arms trade to the Middle East has burgeoned so much in the past decade that it now dwarfs the other suppliers, as this chart [pdf] from a Congressional study makes clear.

Graph

The University of Michigan “Correlates of War” project, run by my late colleague David Singer, tried to crunch numbers on potential causes of the wars of the past two centuries. Getting a statistically valid correlation for a cause was almost impossible. But there was one promising lead, as it was explained to me. When countries made large arms purchases, they seemed more likely to go to war in the aftermath. It may be that if you have invested in state of the art weapons, you want to use them before they become antiquated or before your enemies get them too.

So the very worst thing the US could do for Middle East peace is to sell the region billions in new, sophisticated weapons.

Moreover if you give sophisticated conventional weapons to some countries but deny them to their rivals, the rivals will try to level the playing field with unconventional weapons. The US is creating an artificial and unnecessary impetus to nuclear proliferation by this policy.

I first went to Pakistan in 1981. At that time it was not a society with either drugs or guns. But President Ronald Reagan decided to use private Afghan militias to foment a guerrilla war against the Soviets, who sent troops into Afghanistan in late 1979. Reagan ended up sending billions of dollars worth of arms to the Mujahidin annually, and twisting Saudi Arabia’s arm to match what the US sent. The Mujahidin were also encouraged by the US to grow poppies for heroin production so that they could buy even more weapons.

Over the decade of the 1980s, I saw the weapons begin to show up in the markets of Pakistan, and began hearing for the first time about drug addicts (there came to be a million of them by 1990). I had seen the arms market expand in Lebanon in the 1970s, and was alarmed that now it was happening in Pakistan, at that time a relatively peaceful and secure society. The US filled Pakistan up with guns to get at the Soviets, creating a gun culture where such a thing had been rare (with the exception of some Pashtuns who made home-made knock-offs of Western rifles). Ultimately the gun culture promoted by Reagan came back to bite the US on the ass (not to mention Afghanistan and Pakistan!) And not to mention the drugs.

Now the US views Pakistan as peculiarly violent, and pundits often blame it on Islamism. But no, it is just garden-variety Americanism. You’re welcome.

By Patrick Cockburn

16 December 2012

@ The Independent

It is one of the most horrifying videos of the war in Syria. It shows two men being beheaded by Syrian rebels, one of them by a child. He hacks with a machete at the neck of a middle-aged man who has been forced to lie in the street with his head on a concrete block. At the end of the film, a soldier, apparently from the Free Syrian Army, holds up the severed heads by their hair in triumph.

The film is being widely watched on YouTube by Syrians, reinforcing their fears that Syria is imitating Iraq’s descent into murderous warfare in the years after the US invasion in 2003. It fosters a belief among Syria’s non-Sunni Muslim minorities, and Sunnis associated with the government as soldiers or civil servants, that there will be no safe future for them in Syria if the rebels win. In one version of the video, several of which are circulating, the men who are beheaded are identified as officers belonging to the 2.5 million-strong Alawite community. This is the Shia sect to which President Bashar al-Assad and core members of his regime belong. The beheadings, so proudly filmed by the perpetrators, may well convince them that they have no alternative but to fight to the end.

The video underlines a startling contradiction in the policy of the US and its allies. In the past week, 130 countries have recognised the National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces as the legitimate representatives of the Syrian people. But, at the same time, the US has denounced the al-Nusra Front, the most effective fighting force of the rebels, as being terrorists and an al-Qa’ida affiliate. Paradoxically, the US makes almost exactly same allegations of terrorism against al-Nusra as does the Syrian government. Even more bizarrely, though so many states now recognise the National Coalition as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people, it is unclear if the rebels inside Syria do so. Angry crowds in rebel-held areas of northern Syria on Friday chanted “we are all al-Nusra” as they demonstrated against the US decision.

Videos posted on YouTube play such a central role in the propaganda war in Syria that questions always have to be asked about their authenticity and origin. In the case of the beheading video, the details look all too convincing. Nadim Houry, the deputy director for Human Rights Watch in the Middle East and North Africa, has watched the video many times to identify the circumstances, perpetrators and location where the killings took place. He has no doubts about its overall authenticity, but says that mention of one district suggests it might be in Deir el-Zhor (in eastern Syria). But people in the area immediately north of Homs are adamant the beheadings took place there. The victims have not been identified. The first time a version of the film was shown was on pro-government Sama TV on 26 November, but it has been widely viewed on YouTube in Syria only over the past week.

The film begins by showing two middle-aged men handcuffed together sitting on a settee in a house, surrounded by their captors who sometimes slap and beat them. They are taken outside into the street. A man in a black shirt is manhandled and kicked into lying down with his head on a concrete block. A boy, who looks to be about 11 or 12 years old, cuts at his neck with a machete, but does not quite sever it. Later a man finishes the job and cuts the head off. The second man in a blue shirt is also forced to lie with his head on a block and is beheaded. The heads are brandished in front of the camera and later laid on top of the bodies. The boy smiles as he poses with a rifle beside a headless corpse.

The execution video is very similar to those once made by al-Qa’ida in Iraq to demonstrate their mercilessness towards their enemies. This is scarcely surprising since many of the most experienced al-Nusra fighters boast that they have until recently been fighting the predominantly Shia government of Iraq as part of the local franchise of al-Qa’ida franchise. Their agenda is wholly sectarian, and they have shown greater enthusiasm for slaughtering Shias, often with bombs detonated in the middle of crowds in markets or outside mosques, than for fighting Americans.

The Syrian uprising, which began in March 2011, was not always so bloodthirsty or so dominated by the Sunnis who make up 70 per cent of the 23 million-strong Syrian population. At first, demonstrations were peaceful and the central demands of the protesters were for democratic rule and human rights as opposed to a violent, arbitrary and autocratic government. There are Syrians who claim that the people against the regime remains to this day the central feature of the uprising, but there is compelling evidence that the movement has slid towards sectarian Islamic fundamentalism intent on waging holy war.

The execution video is the most graphic illustration of deepening religious bigotry on the part of the rebels, but it is not the only one. Another recent video shows Free Syrian Army fighters burning and desecrating a Shia husseiniyah (a religious meeting house similar to a mosque) in Idlib in northern Syria. They chant prayers of victory as they set fire to the building, set fire to flags used in Shia religious processions and stamp on religious pictures. If the FSA were to repeat this assault on a revered Shia shrine such as the Sayyida Zeinab mosque in Damascus, to which Iranian and Iraqi pilgrims have flooded in the past and which is now almost encircled by rebels, then there could be an explosion of religious hatred and strife between Sunni and Shia across the Middle East. Iraqi observers warn that it was the destruction of the Shia shrine in Samarra, north of Baghdad, by an al-Qa’ida bomb in 2006 that detonated a sectarian war in which tens of thousands died.

The analogy with Iraq is troubling for the US and British governments. They and their allies are eager for Syria to avoid repeating the disastrous mistakes they made during the Iraqi occupation. Ideally, they would like to remove the regime, getting rid of Bashar al-Assad and the present leadership, but not dissolving the government machinery or introducing revolutionary change as they did in Baghdad by transferring power from the Sunnis to the Shia and the Kurds. This provoked a furious counter-reaction from Baathists and Sunnis who found themselves marginalised and economically impoverished.

Washington wants Assad out, but is having difficulty riding the Sunni revolutionary tiger. The Western powers have long hoped for a split in the Syrian elite, but so far there is little sign of this happening. “If you take defections as a measure of political cohesion, then there haven’t been any serious ones,” said a diplomat in Damascus.

Syria today resembles Iraq nine years ago in another disturbing respect. I have now been in Damascus for 10 days, and every day I am struck by the fact that the situation in areas of Syria I have visited is wholly different from the picture given to the world both by foreign leaders and by the foreign media. The last time I felt like this was in Baghdad in late 2003, when every Iraqi knew the US-led occupation was proving a disaster just as George W Bush, Tony Blair and much of the foreign media were painting a picture of progress towards stability and democracy under the wise tutelage of Washington and its carefully chosen Iraqi acolytes.

The picture of Syria most common believed abroad is of the rebels closing in on the capital as the Assad government faces defeat in weeks or, at most, a few months. The Secretary General of Nato, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, said last week that the regime is “approaching collapse”. The foreign media consensus is that the rebels are making sweeping gains on all fronts and the end may be nigh. But when one reaches Damascus, it is to discover that the best informed Syrians and foreign diplomats say, on the contrary, that the most recent rebel attacks in the capital had been thrown back by a government counteroffensive. They say that the rebel territorial advances, which fuelled speculation abroad that the Syrian government might implode, are partly explained by a new Syrian army strategy to pull back from indefensible outposts and bases and concentrate troops in cities and towns.

At times, Damascus resounds with the boom of artillery fire and the occasional car bomb, but it is not besieged. I drove 160 kilometres north to Homs, Syria’s third largest city with a population of 2.3 million, without difficulty. Homs, once the heart of the uprising, is in the hands of the government, aside from the Old City, which is held by the FSA. Strongholds of the FSA in Damascus have been battered by shellfire and most of their inhabitants have fled to other parts of the capital. The director of the 1,000-bed Tishreen military hospital covering much of southern Syria told me that he received 15 to 20 soldiers wounded every day, of whom about 20 per cent died. This casualty rate indicates sniping, assassinations and small-scale ambushes, but not a fight to the finish.

This does not mean that the government is in a happy position. It has been unable to recapture southern Aleppo or the Old City in Homs. It does not have the troops to garrison permanently parts of Damascus it has retaken. Its overall diplomatic and military position is slowly eroding and the odds against it are lengthening, but it is a long way from total defeat, unless there is direct military intervention by foreign powers, as in Libya or Iraq, and this does not seem likely.

This misperception of the reality on the ground in Syria is fuelled in part by propaganda, but more especially by inaccurate and misleading reporting by the media where bias towards the rebels and against the government is unsurpassed since the height of the Cold War. Exaggerated notions are given of rebel strength and popularity. The Syrian government is partially responsible for this. By excluding all but a few foreign journalists, the regime has created a vacuum of information that is naturally filled by its enemies. In the event, a basically false and propagandistic account of events in Syria has been created by a foreign media credulous in using pro-opposition sources as if they were objective reporting.

The execution video is a case in point. I have not met a Syrian in Damascus who has not seen it. It is having great influence on how Syrians judge their future, but the mainstream media outside Syria has scarcely mentioned it. Some may be repulsed by its casual savagery, but more probably it is not shown because it contradicts so much of what foreign leaders and reporters claim is happening here.