May 11 2004

Will We See The New Photos & Videos of Abuse?

What we’ve seen is more than enough to keep us disgusted and angry many many years to come. Yet there are more videos and photos that have been not shown to public till this moment. Photos and videos that Rumsfeld warned “may be even more shocking”, if there is anything more shocking than what we’ve already seen.
A “representative sample” of the new set of photos of Iraqi prisoners being tortured and abused, were shown to Bush. “The president’s reaction was one of deep disgust and disbelief that anyone who wears our uniform would engage in such shameful and appalling acts,” White House spokesman Scott McClellan said.
Larry DiRita, the Pentagon’s chief spokesman, told reporters that in addition to the photographs, the Defense Department has in its possession a couple of dozen short videos of varying quality that also show abuses being committed.
Whether those new photos and videos would be released for public, no body knows. Some see it necessary to release them as a part of democratic dealing with the issue. On the other hand, some officials find it better to keep them confidential to avoid more anger and chaos.
To me, I can’t stand a single new photo, it is really terrible, but whether I’m shown more or not, I am sure that what pictures have captured doesn’t even come close to the real sadistic behavior of the disgusting so called soldiers. And I know, just like others already know, that the pictures which have got us all feeling like to throw up in a second, were nothing but a part of a months and long days of suffering of our Iraqi brothers and sisters.
May those pieces of garbage irresponsible sick soldiers be all executed, and still it wont be enough to make it up for the loss of pride, humanity, and dignity, Iraqi prisoners have experienced.
More details available Here .

May 7 2004

Neue Folter- Fotos Aus Irak

Nur gestern habe ich “Taten und nicht Worte zählen” gelesen, wo Daniel Scheschkewitz die Reagierung Bush auf die aufgedeckten Misshandlungen durch US-Soldaten im irakischen Gefängnis Abu Ghraib kritisierte.

Und während Bush sich für die Misshandlung irakischer Gefangener durch US-Soldaten entschuldigt , und die arabische Welt zu besänftigen versucht (mit Exklusiv-Interviews in arabischen Fernsehsendern), wurden gleichzeitig weitere Bilder über angebliche Misshandlungen von irakischen Gefangenen veröffentlicht, was die Situation in der Arabischen Welt noch schlimmer macht.
“Die Fotos wird man in der arabischen Welt so schnell nicht vergessen. Sie werden sich ins Gedächtnis einer ganzen Generation einbrennen – so wie die Bilder mit Napalmbomben verbrannter Kinder damals in Vietnam”. Schrieb Scheschkewitz in seinem Kommentar, und damit hatte er Recht.

“Diese Leute haben gegen die Genfer Kriegsrechtskonvention verstoßen. Sie gehören vor ein Kriegsgericht.” Schrieb Scheschkewitz, und notirerte : “Ihre militärischen Vorgesetzten, die solche Praktiken stillschweigend toleriert haben, gehören aus der Armee entlassen und der politisch verantwortliche Minister, Donald Rumsfeld, müsste eigentlich seinen Hut nehmen”…

May 4 2004

Kerry Wont Be Any Better

Bush is being criticized for his strategy in the Middle East. They are against his policies that support Israel. And from Bush to Kerry, who has announced his support to Israel , promising that he wont force Israel to negotiate with Palestine if it didn’t want to.
So now Kerry wins the votes of so many pro-Israel people. Yeah, right, who cares about politics, just need to win the elections, and to hell with justice and democracy. This is Kerry, the democrat.

May 3 2004

Sick Animals In Iraq?!It’s Not Only Their Fault, But Also Of Those Who Sent Them.

All of you have already heard the disgusting and so humiliating news of the torturing of Iraqi prisoners. Actually, ever since I’ve heard the news and saw the pics, I felt like posting but couldn’t express my thoughts into words, no, I wasn’t in a state of shock, I wasn’t surprised at all, things like that are expected to come from those “democracy protectors and peace makers”. But I couldn’t write because of the disgust and shit that took place. I felt writing wont put off the fire burning my heart and the hearts of all Arabs and Muslims, as they saw what happened from those pieces of shit to our Iraqi brothers.
And up till now I find myself actually speechless. All I can say is this act is a big shame to all those who have allowed their selves to be represented by some sick, pathetic, irresponsible, cheap, and horrible creatures and called them soldiers.

They wanted to inspect weapons that didn’t exist, after facts were crystal clear that Iraq had nothing, they wanted to “free” its people from the dictator Saddam and spread democracy in the area, ever since then we hear of nothing but killing innocent people, torturing innocent people and prisoners, abusing prisoners and normal people, humiliating all Iraqis, making Jokes of them and competing in insulting the suffering people. All you can see is Americans and British clapping for the achievements of the governments, the achievements that are also shown on TV, symbolized by people starving to death, and women and children crying.
Well maybe the Arab world is not aware of the true definition of Freedom, Peace, and Democracy. Because what’s happening in Iraq, has already happened in Afghanistan , Guantanamo, and Israeli prisons.
And if you think that the pics that have reached authorities are a reflection of ALL what the Iraqi people are going through then NO, you’re making a big mistake. No one knows what it’s like over there, but the Iraqis themselves. They are the ones suffering, we’re all watching.
And if you think that what happened in the pics happened to Iraqis alone, then that’s another mistakes you’re making, because out there and in this very moment Arabs and Muslims are still being tortured in the worst way ever. Putting aside the massacres that took place in Lebanon and that are taking place on daily basis in Palestine.

An interesting, REALLY INTERESTING, and VER SMART comment on what has happened was from Sgt Frederick, who said : “he and his fellow reservists had never been told how to deal with prisoners, or what lines should not be crossed. He said he never saw a copy of the Geneva Conventions”. Subzero Blue , which shows the whole world that these animals need others to teach them how to be humans. They need conventions to show them the difference between treating prisoners and between showing off their sick and disgusting habits.

Now the whole world is criticizing and condemning these stupid acts, but let’s wait and see what happens to those monsters. They might even get away with it, I wont be surprised. But let’s think of one simple thing: if Arabs were the ones with these pics, would the whole situation be taken as calm as some accusations? Or would the whole Arab world be attacked with some kind of War Against Terror?!
And if these are the pics that have reached their hands, what about what happens in Israeli prisons?! But well, they must be kept “safe” and “sound”, no need for inspectors, no need for journalists. We all know they’re safe.
But please you countries leading war on innocent people in the name of democracy, PLEASE, do us a favor and admit for once that the war you’re carrying out is nothing but something to please your stupid sick desires in killing, torturing, stealing, and showing off your “powers”. Please stop lying to us! GET THE HELL OUT OF IRAQ!
If you feel like throwing up today you can go ahead and look at some pics here The Memory Hole .
Other posts related to this awful act:Jalan-Jalan , here and here for Je Blog, and Raed In The Middle

April 28 2004

Wann wird Deutschland endlich unschuldig fühlen? / An Anti-Semitism Conference In Berlin!

Immerwieder hört man, dass “Deutschland ein Ort Grauenvoller Erinnerungen für die Juden nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg war”. Deutschland und die Deutschen fühlen sich immer schuldig, wenn es um die Juden handelt. Fast alle Deutsche leiden unter was ich lieber “ein dauernhafte Schuldkomplex” nenne.
Eigentlich hat Deutschland stets versucht, freundschaftliche Bezeiehungen zu Israel einzugehen. Die israelische Regierung hatte aber jeden Kontaktversuch Deutschlands verweigert. Deshalb hat sich der erste deutsche Bundeskanzler Konrad Adenauer entschieden, den Umweg über jüdische Organisationen zu gehen, um mit ihnen über die so genannte “Wiedergutmachung” zu reden. Dann gab es “endlich” direkte Kontakte zwischen Israel und Deutschland. Und kurz danach verpflichtet sich die deutsche Bundesregierung darin zu Geld- und Sachleistungen an Israel. Bis Ende 2000 beliefen sich diese Leistungen auf etwa 55 Milliarden Euro.
Schritt für Schritt entwickelte sich die Freundschaft zwischen Israel und Deutschland. Begleitet wird diese Freundschaft auch durch zahlreiche Staatsbesuche. Allein in jüngster Vergangenheit reisten mehr als 20 deutsche Politiker nach Israel, Außenminister Joschka Fischer allein sieben Mal. Und umgekehrt gab es mehr als ein Dutzend Politikerbesuche von israelischer Seite in Deutschland.
Außerdem gibt es noch die wirtschaftliche Seite der Geschichte. Denn seit Jahrzenten arbeiten beide Länder zusammen. Deutschland ist nach den USA der wichtigste Handelspartner Israels.

Weil die Juden damals in Deutschalnd für einige Jahren unterlitten haben, nimmt Deutschland die Verantwortung der “Wiedergutmachung” und “Annäherung”. Die deutschen haben ALLES mögliches gemacht, um ihren “Schuld” wegzuwachen. Geld, Unterstützung, Besuche, Bücher gegen die Nazis und Hitler, Bücher für Israel und die Jüden, Anti- semitismus Kampagnen, und, und, und…
Sie haben alles getan um die Zufriedenheit und Freude Israels zu gewinnen. Die Frage, die man sich immer stellen soll, ist: Sind die Israelis jetzt froh! Sind sie mit alles, was Deutschland für sie getan hat, zufrieden? Ist Deutschland heute Schuld-Frei?
Viel wird für Israel getan, andererseits macht wider Israel noch andere Länder etwas, um die Palästinenser zu ritten, warum!! Sind die keine Leute? Ihr Land war gestohlen, ihren Häuser werden immer zerstört, sie leiden immer noch, und niemand macht was für sie. Alle schauen einfach an, alle bevorzugen Israel zu helfen, um die “Rassismus” gegen die Juden zu bekämpfen.
Die Palästinenser brauchen kein Geld, keine Bücher; Freeden genügt sie. Sie glauben daran, dass Palästina, das Land der dreien Religionen ist. Also wollen sie es nicht, die Juden rauss zu schmeissen. Sie wollen nur ihr Heimatland Palästina ritten, ihre Kultur und Geschichte verteidigen, sie wollen ihre Rechte haben. Leider niemand hört zu. Nach der Meinung der Welt, Palästinenser sind Terroristen, die getötet sollen. Alle haben vergessen, dass Palästina war nie die Heimat der Juden alleine, sie war und soll immer sein, die Heimat der dreien Religionen. Sie war immer die freedliche Palästina. Wer gibt das Recht sie ins “Israel” zu wechseln? Judentum? Ich glaube das Judentum ist eine Religion wie Christintum und Islam, sie wird es nie erlauben, Leute zu töten und so unglaubliche Taten gegen andere Leute zu führen, oder! Genügt es nicht ihr Land wegzunehmen? Warum sollen sie die Leute vernichten?
Ich wollte nur sagen, dass Deutschland nie vergessen wird, und wird immer sich als shuldig handeln. Berlin wird ein zwei Tage “Anti-Semitismuskonferenz” ausrichten.

Yes that’s true, the fact that Germany has paid 55 Billion Euros (till the end of 2000 only), and the fact that Germany is considered the second strongest trade partner of Israel (after USA), and the fact that Germany always have books against Nazis, Hitler and Pro-Israel available on the shelves, did not make Germany feel better, they still feel guilty, and therefore they’ve decided to host a 2 days Anti-Semitism Conference in Berlin to adopt a declaration and action plan to fight xenophobia and racism against Jews.
Just ahead of the conference, the U.S. Anti-Defamation League (ADL) published the results of its latest poll on anti-Semitism in Europe. The 10-nation survey found that while anti-Jewish sentiment has decreased across the continent, negative attitudes toward Israel are on the rise in most Western European countries.
And while France was praised for speaking against the anti-Semitic attacks in France and for launching a plan that includes extra security for Jewish sites and tough new penalties for those found guilty of anti-Jewish acts, only two European nations — Britain and the Netherlands — recorded increases in anti-Semitism, according to the survey. On the whole, the survey found that attitudes towards Israel have worsened in all 10 countries. Israel’s “favorability” rating dropped to 23 percent from 28 percent in 2002. And as a comment on the results, The ADL’s national director, Abraham Foxman said: “These findings reflect a bias against Israel in Europe among government and media”.
Why can’t these findings be reflecting a REACTION rather than a bias?! Why would Europeans be against Israel? Didn’t he ask himself that question? Isn’t it possibly what Europeans are seeing on daily basis? Couldn’t it be the truth that reaches them through their Journalists and TV Reporters that worsened the attitudes towards Israel? Why is Israel always right with whatever it says, and everybody should follow what it suggests and answer what it asks for? Why do people believe they’re wrong and Israel is right, even if they know the truth? Why are people dying to get Israel’s approval on their countries? … What’s wrong with the world? Well I guess nothing’s wrong, only justice, truth and efficiency are missing, no big deal. All we have to do is think, feel and choose words that will please the ANTI-“anti-Semitism” campaigns regardless of what we actually feel, maybe then we’ll be called civilized, maybe then we’ll be just, maybe then Israel will feel better while cutting off the head of a dad in front of his own children…
Anyway, for all details you can check the following links: in German and in English .

April 27 2004

A New Painting To Replace The Old Flag …

Yes the new so called Iraqi Flag , which by the way has nothing to do with Iraqi’s people choice, approval, nor preference, is -according to the proud designers- a replacement for Saddam’s Flag.
The new “thing” has two blue horizontal stripes signifying the two rivers Tigris and Euphrates (inspired from the Israeli Flag that points to the Great Kingdom of David: the “Great Israel”, being from the Nile river to the Euphrates river); a yellow stripe between the two blue ones symbolizes the Kurdish region in northern Iraq (or is it maybe a symbol of drowning the Kurdish region in the two rivers, after being done bombing every single Iraqi…no one knows); and above the three stripes there is a white background with a blue crescent, an Islamic symbol (to replace Allahu Akbar, but I wonder if Saddam’s era flag had the crescent already, would it be replaced with Allahu Akbar?!). Anyway, this whole “new painting” thing sucks, it’s really the proof of nothing but taking away people’s own freedom of choice in the name of democracy, and changing everything to what the new “controllers” believe is good, in the name of the poor people’s own interest.
You claim democracy? The people don’t want this stupid pale tasteless painting that you have offered as a flag, would you follow people’s choice? No, it wont be “democracy” if you did. People don’t want you interfering in everything single thing in their lives, would you stop sticking your nose? Noooooooo, you can’t be who you are if you stopped interfering. People don’t want to see your faces laughing on TV being happy about your games, trying to convince people they’re “important achievements”, would you democratic people listen to what people say? NO. People want you out of their country, they don’t want you killing their children in the name of improvement, they don’t want you stealing their food, in the name of investment, they don’t want you to torture them in the name of peace, they don’t want you wandering in their country in the name of security, and they want you to STOP making up excuses and inventing reasons to show the world you must stay, because the whole world knows your presence is not welcomed, it’s not doing anything good. Iraqis are killed, and so are your soldiers, and so is happiness. Iraqis are not happy, the whole Arab world is not happy, and most of the people all around the world are NOT HAPPY. Stop sacrificing people to smell blood and enjoy the sounds of rockets and bombs lighting up the sky of countries that were once peaceful. War on terror? TO HELL WITH WAR, WAR IS TERROR…
Related links:
Subzero Blue
Je Blog
Jalan-Jalan
Baghdad Burning
Raed in the Middle

April 23 2004

“The Memory Hole” Exclusive:288 Photos Of American Soldiers’ Coffins!

First it was Spain, then it was Honduras, will there be someone next to pull their troops from Iraq?!
Some countries took Spain’s and Honduras’ act as fear from terrorism attacks on their people as a result of their role in the war on Iraq, some interpreted it as concern for their young people who were sent there and are being killed for no reason but war, and last but not least, some explained it as “re-considering” this war and its goals.
Now no matter what the real reasons for pulling their troops are, these two countries must be congratulated for their decision.
If it was fear from terrorism, then it’s not something to be ashamed of at all, they should be proud that they care for their people and don’t want to risk more souls. They should be proud to take their people’s opinion into consideration. If it was concern for their soldiers, then it is something to be proud of as well, why leave them to suffer and get them killed, for what? If Bush doesn’t care about US soldiers, and doesn’t care how many are lost, and how many American families are suffering having their children kept away in Iraq to get killed, then Spain and Honduras do care.
Just this morning I have read about the American journalist Russ Kick who has exclusively published 288 photographs released by the Air Force of American soldiers’ remains and coffins arriving home in his blog TheMemoryHole . The Pentagon prevented the public from seeing these photos, now the whole world can see them. Americans will see their soldiers who were killed for war, who were killed because of Bush’s insistence on going on with killing innocent Iraqis, but unfortunately, it’s always the people who pay the price. Why should Iraqis, Americans and other nationalities be sacrificed for war?! Iraqis have the right to defend themselves and their families, they have the right to fight for their survival in their own homeland. And many soldiers are against this stupid war, but they only follow the orders. RESULT: more and more innocent people will be killed.
STOP WAR NOW! STOP THE BLOODSHED! No one wants to see more of these photos, no one wants to know their own son is in one of these coffins, no one wants to lose their beloved ones, and no one wants to lose their homeland!
For more information in German ClickHere

April 20 2004

Labels Required For Genetically Modified Food

In the European Union, rules are put in place on the labelling of foodstuffs to enable European consumers to get comprehensive information on the contents and the composition of food products. Labelling helps consumers to make an informed choice while purchasing their foodstuffs.
A new EU directive requiring labels for genetically modified (GM) food took effect Sunday, but unfortunatelt excluding animal products at the moment.
I totally support the directive. Such a requirement would really help make the right choice. So many people are against GM products and need such a step to make it easier for the people to avoid them. And it will make it up to the consumer to choose what to buy instead of having no clue what he’s eating. On the other hand, labeling might cause other unpleasant results, such as experiencing a raise in the costs of non-GM products, or even an increase in the prices of all products to make up for the additional testing expenses.
Genetically modified crops in general are dangerous for human health and also for the environment because what the g.e. (genetic engineering) industry is doing is putting new genes into new organisms, like taking a growth gene from a fish and putting it in a tomato,” said Ulrike Brendel of Greenpeace Germany. “And of course nobody can predict what effects such a crude effort is having on human food and the environment.”
If it was up to me, instead of all this mess I’ll simply prohibit GM products, let’s all get back to nature and stop interfering with it. I know this costs a fortune, and wont keep up with the huge demand, but instead of thinking of financial loss, we should find solutions to lead healthy lives, and if we make this our first priority then we’ll sure work it out in a way to avoid financial loss.
I don’t know, it’s just that I’ve always hated this stupid interference with nature. We don’t need genetically modified ingredients, why can’t we leave nature in peace!!

April 15 2004

“Hello Kitty” To Promote Friendship In Japan

In its first attempt ever to use a toy character for promotional reasons, the European Union delegation has decided to use the highly popular Hello Kitty cartoon character to publicize the Euro and promote friendship in Japan.
“We just want to convey a friendly, human face of the European Union,” said Etienne Reuter, head of the delegation’s press section. The EU wants to give “little presents to people so that they will remember the EU or be more aware of what the EU stands for,” Reuter said.
The delegation has already ordered 2,000 Hello Kitty cell phone straps and key rings and will buy more if the promotional items prove successful.
On the promotional material, the traditional pinks and reds Hello Kitty wears on her chest have been replaced with blue and yellow, the starry EU flag and the “€” logo to promote Europe’s new currency.
I’ve always loved “Hello Kitty” myself, and still have some old toys and bags of it 🙂

April 12 2004

Welcome Al-Jazeera Mobile!

The Jordanian FastLink and the Jazeera News Network have launched a new interesting service: Al-Jazeera Mobile. A service that offers a news coverage through the mobile network to offer the Fastlink clients and users the latest international and regional news in all fields: politics, sports, technology and everything.
This is a great step that I personally admire.
Congratulations!
For more information ClickHere