--- 8th July 2005 ---

Why They Happened: The London Bombings - By Tariq Ali

There was no public transport in London yesterday afternoon. The underground system was closed and the police were advising people not to go near central London. Casualties are in the hundreds and there are many deaths. The first reaction to the rush-hour bombs on the underground was to suggest they were caused by an electricity surge. Then a tourist bus blew up in Russell Square, in the vicinity of the British Museum. It was obvious that this was no 'electricity surge' but the return of terror attacks to London.

During the last phase of 'the troubles', the IRA targeted mainland Britain: they came close to blowing up Margaret Thatcher and her Cabinet when they bombed the Grand Hotel in Brighton during a Conservative Party Conference. Several months later a missile was fired at 10 Downing Street. London's financial quarter was also targeted causing immense damage to property. There was no secret as to the identity of the organization that carried out the hits or its demands. And all this happened despite the 'internment without trial' and the various Prevention of Terrorism Acts passed by the House of Commons.  Read more...

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--- 22nd May 2005 ---

How to Deal With a Psychopath: Give Him Nuclear Bombs - By Paul Joseph Watson

In late 2002, North Korea carried out its threat to remove UN seals and dismantle monitoring cameras at a laboratory used to produce weapons-grade plutonium. In January 2003 the country withdrew from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which seeks to control the spread of nuclear technology. The country threatened countless times to utilize its nuclear arsenal, which is already vast according to many experts.

On Christmas Eve 2002, Pyongyang vowed to “destroy the earth” if anyone interfered with its interests. A similar threat was issued on February 6th 2003 when North Korea publicly stated it would wage “total war” on the United States by way of a pre-emptive nuclear strike. Propaganda posters from the country show missiles hitting the White House and other famous landmarks, along with North Korean soldiers depicted as giants, crushing American soldiers in their hands.

North Korea is controlled by a hereditary Stalinist dictatorship that has starved two million of its citizens to death in favour of building a million-man army. Some people put the figure at four million, one-quarter of the population. In the far north of the country there is a network of forced labor gulags (pictured below) where people who have ‘expressed a bland political opinion’ are, along with their entire families, tortured, raped and executed. Horrific bio-chemical experiments are performed on mass numbers of people. Babies are delivered and then stamped to death by the camp guards. If the mother screams while the guards are stamping on the baby’s neck, she is immediately assassinated by a firing squad. These guards are rewarded with bonuses and promotions for ripping out prisoners’ eyeballs. MSNBC published satellite photos of the concentration camps,

“Plainly visible are acres upon acres of barracks, laid out in regimented military style. Surrounding each of them is 10-foot-high barbed-wire fencing along with land mines and man traps. There is even a battery of anti-aircraft guns to prevent a liberation by airborne troops.”

Does this sound like a regime that would respond to ‘diplomatic negotiations’? Saddam Hussein is a puppy compared to Kim Jong-Il and yet where is the invasion of North Korea? Where are the forces of the ‘free’ world? The New American magazine succinctly outlined the difference between North Korea and Iraq,

“Crippled by the 1991 UN-led Gulf War, intermittent bombings by U.S. and British aircraft, and 12 years of devastating sanctions, Saddam’s military poses little threat to Iraq’s neighbors, let alone the United States. North Korea, on the other hand, boasts the world’s fourth-largest military; it has 37,000 U.S. troops within easy striking range of its artillery. Seoul, the South Korean capital, is 34 miles away from the demilitarized zone and well within striking distance of North Korean artillery tubes. And Kim’s regime has successfully tested the Taepo Dong, a missile capable of hitting Japan; the missile’s next generation may be able to strike Alaska.”  Read more...

Q&A: North Korea's nuclear threat

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Make Poverty History 2005

Every 3 seconds a child dies as a result of extreme poverty. That is 30,000 children dying needlessly every single day. This year, 2005, we finally have the resources, knowledge and opportunity to end this shameful situation.

This year there are a number of really important moments when we need as many people as possible to make their voices heard. The people we need you to reach out to are some of the most powerful people in the world; not just because they are world leaders, but also because they have the chance to make a real and lasting change to our world. Without your support and voice they won't know just how important this issue is.

One of the key things is to join us to keep in touch with us so we can make sure you know what to do to have the biggest impact on the world around us.

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--- 20th March 2005 ---

Bertrand Russell's Hopes for a Changing World - by Human Being

In these recent times of military conflict, terrorism, existence of WMD, political and religious unrest, and the most worrying of all, the distrust in western leaders with a mission to impose democracy, the future for the world looks to be in a precarious position. What strikes me most in all this is the absence of rationality and common sense in regards to the obvious dangers if man continues down the path to self-destruction.

Relevant to our present problems, a man I like to bring to your attention was a human being filled with nothing but rationality and common sense and who perhaps deserves to be recognized as one of the most important thinkers of the 20th century. This man who I speak of with great affection was none other than Bertrand Russell (1872 - 1970), who was not only primarily a logician but was more importantly, for human hopes, a philosopher, pacifist and political activist - a man who truly possessed many virtuous facets. Sadly, Russell has long since passed, leaving arguably the only present day intellectual saviour worthy of his legacy, Noam Chomsky, courageously assuming the mantle of liberating mankind with his tiresome pursuit of revealing truth and imparting enlightening knowledge on political and social matters. Fortunately for those who like to read, Russell has also left behind his extensive knowledge in the form of many literary works on subject matters including philosophy, politics, religion and society, along with solutions and ideas to the many problems the world faced and perhaps needs to face in the future. Russell had hoped that mankind would one day be governed by rationality and wisdom rather than by irrational beliefs, pure emotion and war. Rationality, Russell thought, would eventually bring total co-operation between nations instead of competition, which would then ultimately lead to securing peace around the globe.  Read more...

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Tsunami and the Lessons of Disasters - By Sanderson Beck

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--- 11th June 2004 ---

Has Bush's 'War On Terror' All But Failed - by Human Being

‘Violence begets violence’: Those three words are apt in describing the never ending cycle of bloodshed in the form of the so-called ‘War on Terror’. No matter how you look at it, ‘War’ equates to violence, and the same can be said for the word ‘Terror’. This war in one form or the other has supposedly been in existence ever since terrorism began, but was made never more apparent than on September 11th 2001. All it took was for two planes to smash into the Twin Towers in New York, causing mass murder with their collapse and with it the collapse of the illusion of invincibility ingrained inside the mind of every American. This false sense of security was shattered into a million pieces after that unforgettable day, provoking hard questions directed at the government, namely ‘The Whitehouse’; answers needed to be found, and found quickly. How could this happen to a country the size of America and who spend millions per annum on their magnificent military power? Where was the surveillance and mainland security in America’s moment of need? The government supposedly has the CIA and FBI working tirelessly behind the scenes in preparation for such a disaster - So what happened to the intelligence reports on terror suspects and their plans? Why were intimations of an attack before 9/11 ignored? How can such a massive terrorist operation be planned and executed without any of the American authorities knowing? Why did thousands of innocent human beings need to die? There are more questions than answers and even up to now, we are still nowhere nearer to finding the truth of events prior to 9/11.  Read more...

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Uncovered: The Whole Truth About The War On Iraq

Director Robert Greenwald uses news coverage and other footage to compile a portrait of the government under President George W. Bush as it prepares for and justifies the war in Iraq. Highlighting the inconsistencies evident in the statements made by politicians and spokespeople in support of the war, such as the overstatement of Iraq`s program for weapons of mass destruction, Greenwald works to illustrate the ulterior motives that may have provided momentum to the war effort.  Read review here...

"The story of how truth became the first American casualty in Iraq."



Buy this factual based documentary on DVD

Read The Truth about the War with Iraq article by Patrick Dixon

Noam Chomsky on the State of the Nation, Iraq and the Election

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Casualty Count of the War & Occupation of Iraq

Iraqi Civilian Death Count

At least 5,000 civilians may have been killed during the invasion of Iraq, an independent research group has claimed. As more evidence is collated, it says, the figure could reach 10,000. Iraq Body Count (IBC), a volunteer group of British and US academics and researchers, compiled statistics on civilian casualties from media reports and estimated that over 10,000 civilians died in the conflict. Read more...

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Iraq Peace Petition

AFSC will be delivering this petition to Congress and the President around the time of the second anniversary of the invasion of Iraq.

Click Here to Sign the Iraq Peace Petition

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