The War that's Made in America

DEAD IN LEBANON. US wants to increase the killing.
http://www.fromisraeltolebanon.info/ for more pictures from the bombing.

CONDOLEEZA RICE says what is happening in Lebanon is the "birth pangs" of a new Middle East. Not even Orwell's newspeak ("WAR is Peace") could match the perverted use of language from America's rulers and their allies.

Would you trust that woman as a midwife?
Her boss, who says the bombing must go on, is the hero of "pro-Lifers" for blocking embryonic stem-cell research!
Forgive the sick humour. It's the only kind on offer from this situation.

And just in case anyone still dreams Washington is going to "restrain" its rotweiler, here's the news from the New York Times today, July 22, 2006

U.S. Speeds Up Bomb Delivery for the Israelis
By DAVID S. CLOUD and HELENE COOPER
WASHINGTON, July 21 — The Bush administration is rushing a delivery of precision-guided bombs to Israel, which requested the expedited shipment last week after beginning its air campaign against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, American officials said Friday.
The decision to quickly ship the weapons to Israel was made with relatively little debate within the Bush administration, the officials said. Its disclosure threatens to anger Arab governments and others because of the appearance that the United States is actively aiding the Israeli bombing campaign in a way that could be compared to Iran’s efforts to arm and resupply Hezbollah.
The munitions that the United States is sending to Israel are part of a multimillion-dollar arms sale package approved last year that Israel is able to draw on as needed, the officials said. But Israel’s request for expedited delivery of the satellite and laser-guided bombs was described as unusual by some military officers, and as an indication that Israel still had a long list of targets in Lebanon to strike.

I like the comparison between Iran possibly managing to get some more katyushas to Hezbollah resistance fighters and the world's super-power stepping up high-tech weaponry supplies which it can fly in to the world's fourth strongest military power.

Still, it is one that will not occur to Britain's own Condeleeza, or rather the American Secretary of State's handmaid, Margaret Beckett. For her it is solely the Hezbollahi and their backers who are responsible for making war on poor little Israel. Beckett told Arab ambassadors shortly after she became Foreign Secretary that she knew nothing about the Middle East. At least she was not lying.

And now two items of good news, not from the mass media, naturally:
First from Brighton,
17th July 2006 Smash EDO - Press Release

EDO MBM Blockaded
Protesters Blockade Brighton Warmongers, EDO MBM, toPrevent Production of Weaponry for War Crimes in Gaza and Lebanon

In the early hours of Monday morning protesters erected two roadblocks outside each gate of EDO MBMTechnology Ltd preventing vehicle access to the factory. Activists locked themselves to barrels filled with cement in front of the gates.EDO MBM makes electrical weapons components for the Israeli military. Sarah Johnson, press spokeswoman for Smash EDO, said
'In the last weeks Israel has engaged in an illegal assault on the civilian population of Gaza and has now invaded Lebanon killing hundreds of Lebanese civilians. These are war crimes under international and English Law. Israel could not carry out these acts without the support of foreign corporations. EDO MBM is involved in the manufacture, supply and development of lethal weapons for use by the Israeli military. They are ancillary to Israel's war crimes and Paul Hills, the Managing Director of EDO MBM, should be arrested and prosecuted under the International Criminal Court Act 2001'.

Protesters hope to disrupt production of weapons which could be used in further war crimes. EDO MBM manufactures components to be incorporated into the Hellfire missile, which the Israeli army has recently used to attack the civilian population of Gaza. They have organised conferences on the development of UCAVs, unmanned aircraft which are widely used in aerial attacks on Gaza. EDO Corporation, of which EDO MBM Brighton is a wholly-owned trading unit, has a direct contract with the Israeli Navy who murdered 10 civilians on a beach near Beit Lahiya, Gaza, earlier this month.

Andrew Beckett, press spokesman for the campaign, said 'The current Israeli onslaught on Gaza and Lebanon is being conducted with the help of weaponry made in Brighton. Today's blockade is to show that we will not tolerate EDO MBM's continued presence in Brighton and Hove, a UN Peace Messenger City".

• EDO MBM Technologies Ltd are the sole UK subsidiary of huge U.S arms conglomerate EDO Corp, which was recently named No. 10 in the Forbes list of 100 fastest growing companies. They supply bomb releasemechanisms to the US and UK armed forces amongst others. They supply crucial components for Raytheon's Paveway guided bomb system, widely used in the "Shockand Awe" campaign in Iraq.
• Campaign against EDO MBM. People involved in the anti-EDO campaign include, but are not limited to: local residents, the Brighton Quakers, peace activists, anti-capitalists, Palestine Solidarity groups, human rights groups, trade unionists, academics and students. The campaign started in August 2004 with a peace camp. It's avowed aim is to expose EDO MBM and their complicity in war crimes and to remove them from Brighton.

Next, from England's south coast to the US West Coast.

San Francisco, July 17th—Yesterday, 18 members of Bay Area Jewish peace and justice organizations were arrested as they shut down the street outside the Israeli Consulate in downtown San Francisco.
This action was part of a larger demonstration of 500 people to protest the collective punishment of the Palestinian and Lebanese people and urge the government of Israel to take immediate action to avert both what the World Health Organization and other United Nations agencies have called an "unprecedented" public health crisis and looming "disaster" and a potential regional war in the Middle East.

The action and demonstration were organized by Break the Silence Mural Project and Jews for a Free Palestine in collaboration with Jewish Voice for Peace. On July 8, 2006 United Nations Agencies working in the occupied Palestinian territory expressed their alarm at "developments on the ground, which have seen innocent civilians, including children, killed, brought increased misery to hundreds of thousands of people and which will wreak far-reaching harm on Palestinian society."

As a result of Israel’s economic strangulation and military attacks, the entire Gaza Strip is without electricity for 12-18 hours every day; people lack water, essential foodstuffs; and hospitals are on the verge of collapse.
Over 100 Palestinians in Gaza and 240 Lebanese have been killed by Israel’s recent attacks.

We condemn Israel’s escalation of the situation through the continued siege on Gaza and the wide-scale bombing of civilian targets in Lebanon that has sparked a war costing hundreds of civilian lives, and threatening a regional war that would further endanger millions living in the region.
The Israeli consulate was presented with the following demands:
End the Siege of Gaza and Completely Withdraw. Israeli leaders have acknowledged that the current military operations will neither secure the release of the kidnapped Israeli solder nor stop the rocket attacks on Israel. Israel must not only end its current invasion, but also abide by agreements to allow the 1.5 million people of Gaza passage for goods and people across the border, end the blockade, and allow freedom and self-determination for the people of Gaza as a step toward justice.
End Unilateral Action! Begin Real Negotiations for Peace and Justice: The Palestinian Authority has made it clear it is ready to negotiate the release of the Israeli soldier, and Gilad Shalit's own father has asked for halt to military operations and for negotiations. Yet in this situation like many others, Israel prefers a senseless, brutal policy of unilaterally imposing a "solution by force" on the Palestinian people.
Release all Palestinian Political Prisoners. Thousands of Palestinians are being held as "administrative detainees" imprisoned on false charges or without charge or trial, including hundreds of woman and children.
Release Palestinian Cabinet and Parliament Members. The arrest of half of the Palestinian government and a quarter of the Parliament is an assault on democracy that directly obstructs any path toward real peace and justice.
Stop the war on Lebanon! After refusing to negotiate the release of two captive soldiers, Israel has carried out massive bombing of Lebanese civilian targets, exposing a criminal indifference to the lives of the Lebanese people, the lives of the captive soldiers, and indeed the lives of the people of Israel. Israel's out-of-control display of military might is a clear violation of international law that threatens to lead to regional war that would put Palestinian, Lebanese, and Israeli lives at risk.
What you can do!
WRITE TO YOUR CONGRESSIONAL REPRESENTATIVES to demand that the US government stop funding Israel's war crimes, act to achieve an immediate ceasefire, and pressure Israel to obey international law and UN resolutions on the Occupation and refugee situation. On July 18, 2006, the House of Representatives passed a resolution in full support of Israel, giving a green light to continue the siege on Gaza and Lebanon.
PLEASE EMAIL YOUR REPRESENTATIVE and express your outrage: http://www.congress.org/congressorg/home/
SUPPORT PALESTINIANS PROTESTING THE ISRAELI OCCUPATION: Palestinian Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign (www.stopthewall.org), Addameer Prisoners Support & Human Rights Association (www.addameer.org)
SUPPORT ISRAELIS protesting against their government's destructive actions: Gush Shalom (zope.gush-shalom.org), Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (www.ICAHD.org)
SUPPORT LOCAL ORGANIZATIONS American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (www.adcsf.org) or Middle East Children’s Alliance (www.mecaforpeace.org)

This morning when I logged in to my ISP - AOL as it happens - I was pleased to see its news led on the demonstrations taking place today in London and other British cities, as well as other countries, against Israeli war in Gaza and Lebanon. I took part in the London demonstration together with comrades from the Jewish Socialists' Group and friends in Jews for Justice for Palestinians. And the news item about the bomb supplies above illustrates why I cheered a speaker who said this war had been planned well ahead, and was "Made in America". With Blair's Britain as ever the accomplice.

This evening, checking my e-mails, I found one from a friend in Media Workers Against the War, pointing out that BBC news this morning gave a boost to a "solidarity with Israel" rally arranged tomorrow by the Israeli embassy and its stooges, but mentioned not a word about today's anti-war rally.

Media Workers Against the War requested people to complain to the BBC immediately:
Phone: 08700 100 222
Textphone: 08700 100 212
http://www.bbc.co.uk/complaints/make_complaint_step1.shtml

It has come to something when you get better treatment of news from America Online (whose record I might criticise another time) than from the supposedly reputable and independent British Broadcasting Corporation. Still, I must say I was not entirely surprised. Not only has the Beeb fallen into line with the Blair government's foreign policy, but judgeing from its choice of guest in recent days (interviewed with undue reverence) it might be changing its name from BBC to Bibi Netanyahu.