Wednesday, August 20, 2003

Bombing Begets Bombing QUOTE OF THE DAY "No political cause can ever justify intentional attacks on civilians, What happened today in Baghdad violates the most fundamental principles of humanitarian law. It also undermines the U.N.'s work monitoring human rights in Iraq." - - Joanna Weschler, U.N. representative for Human Rights Watch TV TIP OF THE WEEK Dennis Kucinich is the guest on Thursday night's "Daily Show with Jon Stewart" on Comedy Central, 11pm (10pm central). Spread the word. KNOW YOUR HISTORY - AUGUST 20th 1619 -- New World: First group of 20 Africans slaves land at Jamestown, Virginia. 1974 -- US House of Representatives votes 412-3 to recommend three articles of impeachment against TrickyDick Nixon. The first charges him with taking part in a criminal conspiracy to obstruct justice in the Watergate cover-up; the second charges he "repeatedly" failed to carry out his constitutional oath in a series of alleged abuses of power; & the third accuses him of unconstitutional defiance of committee subpoenas. 1988 -- Cease fire ends the Iraq-Iran war. US arms $ales plummet, but not for long. Within months, the US government was once again leading the world in promoting the $ales of killing equipment & US corporations continued to lead in $ales. The US Government also continued funding biological & chemical weapons research while denouncing terrorism & the always shifting "Axis of Evil". RHINO HERE: I had a blog all written for today when I heard about the bombings in the Mid-East. So I filed it for later this week and assembled excerpts from several news pieces related to the bombings. Then I then sat in front of my computer waiting for the Rhino words to come. Ya know what? Yesterday was just a really shitty day! If there was an upside, it was watching Janeane Garofalo kicking Tucker Carlson's ass on CNN's Crossfire. She's on all this week. As you ponder the attack on the UN HQ in Baghdad, bear in mind that the US is spending 1 billion taxpayer dollars in Iraq each week, meanwhile only gives the UN 1 billion dollars a year. Iraq: Attack on U.N. Headquarters Human Rights Education Association, 8/19/03 (New York, August 19, 2003) Today's attack on the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad is a war crime and a serious blow to the international community's efforts to assist Iraqi people, Human Rights Watch said today. First reports indicate that the explosion at the Canal Hotel building was caused by a car bomb. The converted hotel contains offices for hundreds of U.N. staff in Iraq and hosts meetings and conferences involving U.N. agencies. Sergio Vieira de Mello, the Special Representative of the U.N. Secretary-General, was among those injured in the blast. Human Rights Watch called on all Iraqi political groups and community leaders to condemn the attack without reservation, and to help bring the perpetrators to justice... Read it all at: http://www.hrea.org/lists/hr-headlines/markup/msg01185.html Saudis in Iraq 'Preparing For a Holy War' By Mark Huband, The Financial Times, Monday 18 August 2003 Increasing numbers of Saudi Arabian Islamists are crossing the border into Iraq in preparation for a jihad, or holy war, against US and UK forces, security and Islamist sources have warned. A senior western counter-terrorism official on Monday said the presence of foreign fighters in Iraq was "extremely worrying"...      ...According to Saad al-Faguih, a UK-based Saudi dissident, the Saudi authorities are concerned that up to 3,000 Saudi men have gone "missing" in the kingdom in two months, although it is not clear how many have crossed into Iraq. Saudis who have gone to Iraq have established links with sympathetic Iraqis in the northern area between Baghdad, Mosul and Tikrit, where they have hidden in safe-houses, a Saudi Islamist source said on Monday. Pressure on Islamists in Saudi Arabia has grown since the bombing of an expatriate residential compound in May killed 35 people. The subsequent arrest of many Islamists has forced some underground while others are trying to flee to Iraq... More at: http://truthout.org/docs_03/082003D.shtml At Least 20 Dead in Jerusalem Blast Two militant groups said to claim responsibility; 'road map' in peril MSNBC, The Associated Press, and Reuters, Tuesday 19 August 2003 JERUSALEM - A suicide bomber blew up a bus crowded with observant Jews returning from the Western Wall on Tuesday, killing at least 20 people and wounding more than 100 in one of the deadliest bombings in the past three years of fighting. Two Islamic militant groups reportedly claimed responsibility, while the prime minister of the Palestinian Authority condemned the attack. THE BOMBING threatened to derail a U.S.-backed peace plan, the "road map" to Palestinian statehood. Israel froze talks on handing four West Bank cities to Palestinian control to help U.S.-backed peace efforts after the bombing, the Israeli government said... ... The bombing was condemned by Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, who had been meeting with Islamic militants in the Gaza Strip in an effort to secure their cooperation in a cease-fire at the time of the attack.   "I announce my strong condemnation of this horrible act, which does not serve the interest of the Palestinian people at all, and I have given my instructions to the security minister to launch an investigation," Abbas told reporters in Gaza. Meanwhile, two militant groups reportedly claimed responsibility for the attack. A videotape released by Hamas in the West Bank city of Hebron showed a man who named himself as Raed Abdel-Hamid Mask and said he would carry out the suicide bombing to avenge Israel's killing of one of the group's members. Earlier, the Islamic Jihad group said in a statement to Lebanon's al-Manar television that it carried out the attack in revenge for the killing of Mohammed Sidr, one of its leaders, last week... More at: http://truthout.org/docs_03/082003C.shtml 7:18:28 AM    comment

RHINO'S BOTTOM LINE - Sergio Vieira de Mello killed in terrorist blast Sergio Vieira de Mello killed in terrorist blast in Baghdad Human Rights Education Association, 8/19/03 The top United Nations envoy in Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello, was killed  today when terrorists blew up the UN headquarters in Baghdad, killing at  least 14 others and injuring dozens more in what Secretary-General Kofi  Annan denounced as an inexcusable "act of unprovoked and murderous violence." Mr. Annan immediately cancelled his holiday in Europe to return to UN Headquarters in New York, where he is expected to arrive tomorrow, and the Security Council held emergency consultations, condemning in the strongest terms the "terrorist criminal attack" and vowing to further intensify its efforts to help the people of Iraq. Mr. Vieira de Mello, a 30-year veteran of many UN peacekeeping operations from the Balkans to East Timor to Africa, had been trapped in the rubble of the devastated Canal Hotel, which served as UN headquarters in the Iraqi capital. He was 55 and was UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. He made the establishment of full human rights a major part of his mission to Iraq ever since he arrived at the beginning of June as Mr. Annan's Special Representative and insisted that full sovereignty should be restored to the Iraqi people as soon as possible following the occupation of the country by the United States and its allies. As news of his death spread through UN Headquarters in New York and the flags of the 191 Member States were lowered in front of the building - leaving the UN flag alone at half mast - staff gathered in small sombre groups to mourn. Mr. Vieira de Mello only took his Iraqi mission as a short-term four-month assignment, so important did he and the Secretary-General consider the global fight for human rights and the urgency of his return to his post as High Commissioner.... Read more about de Mello's outstanding carrer at: http://www.hrea.org/lists/hr-headlines/markup/msg01186.html "RHINO'S BLOG" is the responsibility of Gary Rhine. (rhino@kifaru.com) Feedback, and requests to be added or deleted from the list are encouraged. SEARCH BLOG ARCHIVES / SURF RHINO'S LINKS, AT: http://www.rhinosblog.info RHINO'S OTHER WEB SITES: http://www.dreamcatchers.org (INDIGENOUS ASSISTANCE & INTERCULTURAL DIALOG) http://www.kifaru.com (NATIVE AMERICAN RELATIONS VIDEO DOCUMENTARIES) Articles are reprinted under Fair Use Doctrine of international copyright law. http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html All copyrights belong to original publisher. 6:14:22 AM    comment

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