Take Action: Outrageous! $170 Million MORE in Military Aid to Israel
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- Written by US Campaign US Campaign
- Published: 02 July 2008 02 July 2008
- Hits: 4103 4103
Go to the US Campaign web site at:
http://www.endtheoccupation.org/article.php?id=1664
and take action!
Some background:
July 2nd, 2008
It’s bad enough that Congress passed the Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2008 two weeks ago, spending $165 billion more on our country’s illegal war on and occupation of Iraq well into 2009.
To add insult to injury, after closely reading the bill, we discovered that Congress snuck in a last-minute earmark for $170 million in Foreign Military Financing (FMF) for Israel!
The culprit: Representative David Obey (WI-7), Chair of the House Appropriations Committee, who has received nearly $225,000 from “pro-Israel” PAC’s and more than $200,000 from the military-industrial complex since 1989, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Yes, the same David Obey who can be seen in this video berating peace activists for wanting to cut off funding for the war in Iraq.
Yesterday, the US Campaign sent Rep. Obey a sharply-worded letter protesting his decision to slip this earmark for Israel into an unrelated bill at the last minute, thereby preventing any public scrutiny or debate. To view a copy of the letter, please click here.
So why was this appropriation for military aid for Israel slipped into an unrelated bill at the last minute? Because Congress apparently has decided to delay passing the FY2009 budget until 2009, even though the fiscal year begins on October 1. This means that Congress will have to operate under what is known as a Continuing Resolution (CR) to keep the government open until it passes the budget.
How does this relate to military aid to Israel? Under a CR, funding is frozen at current levels for all government programs, meaning that Israel would automatically get $2.38 billion in military aid. But President Bush requested $2.55 billion in aid for Israel in FY2009, the first proposed increase under a ten-year Memorandum of Understanding signed by the United States and Israel in 2007 to increase military aid to $30 billion over the next decade.
Preparing the Battlefield
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- Written by Seymour M. Hersh, The New Yorker Seymour M. Hersh, The New Yorker
- Published: 02 July 2008 02 July 2008
- Hits: 3702 3702
The Bush Administration steps up its secret moves against Iran.
Late last year, Congress agreed to a request from President Bush to
fund a major escalation of covert operations against Iran, according to
current and former military, intelligence, and congressional sources.
These operations, for which the President sought up to four hundred
million dollars, were described in a Presidential Finding signed by
Bush, and are designed to destabilize the country's religious
leadership.
The covert activities involve support of the minority
Ahwazi Arab and Baluchi groups and other dissident organizations. They
also include gathering intelligence about Iran's suspected
nuclear-weapons program.
Clandestine operations against Iran are not new. United States Special Operations Forces have been conducting cross-border operations from southern Iraq, with Presidential authorization, since last year. These have included seizing members of Al Quds, the commando arm of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, and taking them to Iraq for interrogation, and the pursuit of "high-value targets" in the President's war on terror, who may be captured or killed. But the scale and the scope of the operations in Iran, which involve the Central Intelligence Agency and the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), have now been significantly expanded, according to the current and former officials. Many of these activities are not specified in the new Finding, and some congressional leaders have had serious questions about their nature.
Campaign To Keep Oregon's National Guard From Deployment In Iraq And Afghanistan
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- Written by Peace and Justice Works Iraq Affinity Group Peace and Justice Works Iraq Affinity Group
- Published: 02 July 2008 02 July 2008
- Hits: 4055 4055
In May, 2008, Oregon-based community groups began working on a new phase of the Campaign to Bring the Troops Home--namely, trying to keep the Oregon National Guard from being deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan in summer, 2009.
The effort will include urging resolutions and legislation which the state of Oregon can use to challenge the federalization of the Guard. The main issues are that the Authorizations for Use of Military Force (AUMFs) for the invasion of Iraq (October, 2002) and the "war on terror" (September 18, 2001) have no provisions to end those conflicts. Furthermore, the Iraq AUMF refers to the "national security of the United States against the continuing threat posed by Iraq; and (2) enforc[ing] all relevant United Nations Security Council Resolutions regarding Iraq." It also references the regime of Saddam Hussein being in possession of weapons of mass destruction, harboring Al Quaida members responsible for the September 11, 2001 attacks, and enforcing UN resolutions against that regime, reasons which were never or are no longer valid. Click to read a draft resolution / piece of legislation . To help out, you can download a petition and send us the lists you gather 10 at a time.
W Bank in 'grave' water crisis, B'Tselem faults discriminatory policies
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- Written by BBC News BBC News
- Published: 01 July 2008 01 July 2008
- Hits: 3972 3972
Israeli human rights group B'Tselem says the West Bank is facing grave water shortages largely because Israel's "discriminatory" policies.
The group criticises the distribution of joint water resources and limits placed by Israel on the Palestinian Authority's ability to drill new wells.
"It will have serious repercussions on the economy and health," B'Tselem said.
West Bank per capita water use is about 66 litres a day - just two-thirds of the recommended international minimum.
The accumulated effects of a series of dry years would make matters worse in the months to come, the group added.
The shortage will have serious repercussions on the economy and the health of tens of thousands of Palestinians
B'Tselem
Per capita water consumption by Israeli settlers in the West Bank is 3.5 times that of Palestinians, B'Tselem says.
Read more: W Bank in 'grave' water crisis, B'Tselem faults discriminatory policies
Denied the Right to Go Home: A Palestinian woman's story.
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- Written by Zeina Ashrawi Hutchison Zeina Ashrawi Hutchison
- Published: 30 June 2008 30 June 2008
- Hits: 2643 2643
[This is a stark example of Israel's growing policy of ethnic cleansing through bureaucratic nightmare - AUPHR]
I am Palestinian - born and raised - and my Palestinian roots go back
centuries. No one can change that even if they tell me that Jerusalem,
my birth place, is not Palestine, even if they tell me that Palestine
doesn't exist, even if they take away all my papers and deny me entry to
my own home, even if they humiliate me and take away my rights. I AM
PALESTINIAN.
Read more: Denied the Right to Go Home: A Palestinian woman's story.