Editor sentenced to jail over Muhammad cartoons November 26, 2006
Posted by dave128 in Media.1 comment so far
BBC: Yemen editor jailed over cartoons
A court in Yemen has sentenced a newspaper editor to a year in jail for reprinting Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad.
[Snip]
The editors of two other Yemeni publications face similar charges.
Sigh. As crude as the cartoons were, this is an outrageous decision.
Mr al-Aalafi has been released on bail and will appeal the sentence.
Hopefully it all goes well for him and the other editors. And hopefully the media won’t be cowed into obedience because of such charges.
Olmert’s delusion & violence in Iraq November 25, 2006
Posted by dave128 in Bush Administration, Human Rights.add a comment
This is hardly surprising, but despicable all the same:
OLMERT PRAISES BUSH FOR IRAQ WAR
Israel’s Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has praised the Bush Administration for the war in Iraq.
His views may be at odds with much of the world, but Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert firmly believes Iraq is a better place now than it was before the US invasion.
EHUD OLMERT, ISRAEL PM: Iraq without Saddam Hussein is much better for us than Iraq with Saddam Hussein. And thank God for the courage and determination and leadership manifested by George W. Bush in facing this challenge as admirably as he did.
And then exactly one day later…
TERRIBLE DAY OF VIOLENCE IN IRAQ
The worst day of violence in Iraq in more than three years has left 160 people dead (Updated death toll: 202) and more than 250 wounded. The wave of car bombings and mortar attacks in Baghdad has sent shock waves around the world. Tonight, the Iraqi capital is in lockdown, an indefinite curfew has been imposed, and Baghdad and Basra airports have both been ordered to close.
Exactly three years ago on the first Thanksgiving after the US-led invasion, George Bush went to Baghdad and he gave Iraqis a promise.
GEORGE W. BUSH, US PRESIDENT: The United States and our coalition will help you, help you build a peaceful country so that your children can have a bright future.
The President was not in Baghdad today. His administration has so far avoided calling this chaos a civil war. And yet today, amid the stench of burning flesh, it is not hard to imagine Sadr City as a scene from the apocalypse.
Words cannot express my sadness, anger, and pure hopelessness.
Articles on the invasion November 20, 2006
Posted by dave128 in Uncategorized.add a comment
Yesterday I read a terribly sobering and articulate opinion piece by Major-General Alan Stretton. It has an Australian perspective but is quality reading no matter where you are.
As Iraq continues to sink further into the quagmire of civil war, the leaders of the coalition of the willing continue to close their eyes to what is happening and keep repeating the untruths about how democracy in Iraq is starting to work. The remarkable thing is that while President George Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair are suffering the political consequences, our own Prime Minister is weathering the storm.
Click here to read the rest of the article, “Leave now or perish, Mr Howard” by Alan Stretton.
Another quality read is this piece by Michael Gawenda, titled “Don’t blame the victims”
A day after the result of the US mid-term elections made it clear that Americans had lost faith in George Bush in general and in his handling of the war in Iraq in particular, Bill O’Reilly, spruiker for all-out war against what he calls “Islamic fascism”, said he was sick and tired of the Iraqi people.
He was sick of hearing about Shiites and Sunnis and Kurds, sick to death of it. How ungrateful could they get, these people, after America had freed them from Saddam Hussein and had spent all that blood and treasure on liberating them?
This was despicable but not surprising. Populist pseudo-defenders of democracy like O’Reilly never did give a damn about the Iraqis and did not really pretend that they did.
Continue reading “Don’t blame the victims” by Michael Gawenda.
