Regional Sustainability Symposium November 10 Pinehurst Resort 9 am - 3 pm
Morning Keynote Speaker: Mr. Henry McKoy, Assistant Secretary for Community Development for the NC Department of Commerce
Mr. McKoy will explain what it means to bring sustainability “to life” and how the economy, the community and the built/developed environment can work together to promote sustainability in the broadest sense.
Lunch Keynote Speaker: Mr. Addison (Tad) D. Davis, Command Executive Officer & Director of Services and Infrastructure Core Enterprise for US Army Reserve
Mr. Davis will discuss Army sustainability. As the Garrison Commander at Fort Bragg who founded their award-wining sustainability initiative, and through his years as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Environment, Safety and Occupational Health, Mr. Davis has a unique perspective to share about the importance of regional partnerships to advance the cause of both Army and Community sustainability.
Symposium agenda includes sessions on:
How to attract the new “green consumer” and how to incorporate sustainable practices into your business.
Why the Green Schools program, green space, and park systems are so important for children and communities.
Tax incentives, credits and rebates for the use of solar power, wind power and natural gas, and how to make a business case for installing such technologies.
Successes shared and lessons learned from a local food cooperative at the close of their first year in operation, and how citizens and farmers came together to bring fresh local food to hundreds.
How to add layers of sustainability to your home with the use of native plants, xeriscaping, shade trees and more.
An afternoon “Growth Quality” track that includes an interactive visual preference and assessment exercise that will inform Sandhills communities about the types of development and conservation their residents prefer in the future.
Learn more at www.sustainablesandhills.org
Showing posts with label US military. Show all posts
Showing posts with label US military. Show all posts
12/03/2009
Basic Needs of This Nation, Kucinich
Rep. Kucinich on Afghanistan War:
"We're Acting Like a Latter Day Version of the Roman Empire"
As President Obama unveils his plan to escalate the war in Afghanistan, we speak with Ohio Congressmember Dennis Kucinich. “The United States is going deeper and deeper into debt,” says Kucinich.
“We have money for Wall Street and money for war but we don’t have money for work…for healthcare. We have to start asking ourselves, ‘Why is it that war is a priority but the basic needs of people in this country are not?’”
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/12/2/rep_kucinich_on_afghanistan_war
"We're Acting Like a Latter Day Version of the Roman Empire"
As President Obama unveils his plan to escalate the war in Afghanistan, we speak with Ohio Congressmember Dennis Kucinich. “The United States is going deeper and deeper into debt,” says Kucinich.
“We have money for Wall Street and money for war but we don’t have money for work…for healthcare. We have to start asking ourselves, ‘Why is it that war is a priority but the basic needs of people in this country are not?’”
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/12/2/rep_kucinich_on_afghanistan_war
10/12/2009
Growth and Quality of Life, Moore County
SAVE OUR SANDHILLS GUEST TACKLES ISSUE:
POPULATION GROWTH and/or QUALITY OF LIFE
On October 29, Save Our Sandhills will host guest speaker Craven Hudson to give a talk on the topic “More people, same land . . . What are we going to do?”
For years, North Carolina has been a magnet for newcomers. We have so much to offer as a state. Our location, favorable climate and friendly folks make North Carolina the final home destination for so many. Golf courses beckon to tourists and retirees, and a growing economy both in the military and private sectors brings workers looking for opportunity. Couple that with a decline in traditional agriculture, and you get the equation for drastic land changes.
This situation did not sneak up on North Carolina. Demographers, university researchers, and business people have been predicting these changes for years. In fact, the U.S. Census Bureau estimates that North Carolina will grow to a population of 12 million by the year 2030, which is an increase of more than 50% from the tally made in the year 2000. Many would argue, however, that major public policy changes or even small local land use planning decisions have not nearly kept pace with the swift population growth. Tackling growth at the macro level is extremely difficult. As the saying goes: “all politics is local.”
Craven Hudson, Moore County Extension Director, will discuss state level trends in growth and natural resource protection. He will focus primarily on what has happened, what is happening, and what may take place in the future within Moore County.
Hudson’s background gives him a unique perspective in which to consider the effects of burgeoning population growth. A forestry graduate from Virginia Polytechnic Institute, his early career included working on natural resource issues as a NC Cooperative Extension agent in the Raleigh Triangle area. Other than a 2-year stint as an agricultural missionary in Venezuela, he has worked in North Carolina first as a member of the NC Cooperative Extension’s Neuse River Team, then as a Cooperative Extension agent in Gaston County, and finally as Moore County’s Extension Director since 2005.
Please join us at our regular meeting, with refreshments, on Thursday October 29 at 7 PM in the Southern Pines Civic Center, corner of Ashe Street and Pennsylvania Avenue. This timely topic affects the quality of life for each one of us.
POPULATION GROWTH and/or QUALITY OF LIFE
On October 29, Save Our Sandhills will host guest speaker Craven Hudson to give a talk on the topic “More people, same land . . . What are we going to do?”
For years, North Carolina has been a magnet for newcomers. We have so much to offer as a state. Our location, favorable climate and friendly folks make North Carolina the final home destination for so many. Golf courses beckon to tourists and retirees, and a growing economy both in the military and private sectors brings workers looking for opportunity. Couple that with a decline in traditional agriculture, and you get the equation for drastic land changes.
This situation did not sneak up on North Carolina. Demographers, university researchers, and business people have been predicting these changes for years. In fact, the U.S. Census Bureau estimates that North Carolina will grow to a population of 12 million by the year 2030, which is an increase of more than 50% from the tally made in the year 2000. Many would argue, however, that major public policy changes or even small local land use planning decisions have not nearly kept pace with the swift population growth. Tackling growth at the macro level is extremely difficult. As the saying goes: “all politics is local.”
Craven Hudson, Moore County Extension Director, will discuss state level trends in growth and natural resource protection. He will focus primarily on what has happened, what is happening, and what may take place in the future within Moore County.
Hudson’s background gives him a unique perspective in which to consider the effects of burgeoning population growth. A forestry graduate from Virginia Polytechnic Institute, his early career included working on natural resource issues as a NC Cooperative Extension agent in the Raleigh Triangle area. Other than a 2-year stint as an agricultural missionary in Venezuela, he has worked in North Carolina first as a member of the NC Cooperative Extension’s Neuse River Team, then as a Cooperative Extension agent in Gaston County, and finally as Moore County’s Extension Director since 2005.
Please join us at our regular meeting, with refreshments, on Thursday October 29 at 7 PM in the Southern Pines Civic Center, corner of Ashe Street and Pennsylvania Avenue. This timely topic affects the quality of life for each one of us.
5/28/2009
5/26/2009
200 Years in Bolivia
Bolivia marks freedom bicentenary
Bolivians mark 200 years since their country's uprising against Spanish rule with President Morales decrying capitalism.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/-/2/hi/americas/8066580.stm
Bolivians mark 200 years since their country's uprising against Spanish rule with President Morales decrying capitalism.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/-/2/hi/americas/8066580.stm
5/25/2009
5/13/2009
Zinn on Obama, MLK
Howard Zinn: "I Wish Obama Would Listen to MLK"
Legendary historian Howard Zinn joins us to talk about war, torture and the teaching of history. Zinn says Obama had Obama heeded the lessons of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., he wouldn't be escalating US attacks abroad and increasing the size of the US military budget. We also play excerpts of the forthcoming documentary, The People Speak, featuring dramatic readings based on Zinn's A People's History of the United States and Voices of a People's History of the United States. http://www.democracynow.org/2009/5/13/howard_zinn_i_wish_obama_would
Legendary historian Howard Zinn joins us to talk about war, torture and the teaching of history. Zinn says Obama had Obama heeded the lessons of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., he wouldn't be escalating US attacks abroad and increasing the size of the US military budget. We also play excerpts of the forthcoming documentary, The People Speak, featuring dramatic readings based on Zinn's A People's History of the United States and Voices of a People's History of the United States. http://www.democracynow.org/2009/5/13/howard_zinn_i_wish_obama_would
3/03/2009
War, What Is It Good For
New York Times
March 3, 2009
Op-Ed Columnist
Wars, Endless Wars
By BOB HERBERT
The singer Edwin Starr, who died in 2003, had a big hit in 1970 called “War” in which he asked again and again: “War, what is it good for?”
The U.S. economy is in free fall, the banking system is in a state of complete collapse and Americans all across the country are downsizing their standards of living. The nation as we’ve known it is fading before our very eyes, but we’re still pouring billions of dollars into wars in Afghanistan and Iraq with missions we are still unable to define.
Even as the U.S. begins plans to reduce troop commitments in Iraq, it is sending thousands of additional troops into Afghanistan. The strategic purpose of this escalation, as Defense Secretary Robert Gates acknowledged, is not at all clear.
In response to a question on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, Mr. Gates said:
“We’re talking to the Europeans, to our allies; we’re bringing in an awful lot of people to get different points of view as we go through this review of what our strategy ought to be. And I often get asked, ‘Well, how long will those 17,000 [additional troops] be there? Will more go in?’ All that depends on the outcome of this strategy review that I hope will be done in a few weeks.”
We invaded Afghanistan more than seven years ago. We have not broken the back of Al Qaeda or the Taliban. We have not captured or killed Osama bin Laden. We don’t even have an escalation strategy, much less an exit strategy. An honest assessment of the situation, taking into account the woefully corrupt and ineffective Afghan government led by the hapless Hamid Karzai, would lead inexorably to such terms as fiasco and quagmire.
Instead of cutting our losses, we appear to be doubling down.
As for Iraq, President Obama announced last week that substantial troop withdrawals will take place over the next year and a half and that U.S. combat operations would cease by the end of August 2010. But, he said, a large contingent of American troops, perhaps as many as 50,000, would still remain in Iraq for a “period of transition.”
That’s a large number of troops, and the cost of keeping them there will be huge. Moreover, I was struck by the following comment from the president: “There will surely be difficult periods and tactical adjustments, but our enemies should be left with no doubt. This plan gives our military the forces and flexibility they need to support our Iraqi partners and to succeed.”
In short, we’re committed to these two conflicts for a good while yet, and there is nothing like an etched-in-stone plan for concluding them. I can easily imagine a scenario in which Afghanistan and Iraq both heat up and the U.S., caught in an extended economic disaster at home, undermines its fragile recovery efforts in the same way that societies have undermined themselves since the dawn of time — with endless warfare.
We’ve already paid a fearful price for these wars. In addition to the many thousands of service members who have been killed or suffered obvious disabling injuries, a study by the RAND Corporation found that some 300,000 are currently suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder or depression, and that 320,000 have most likely experienced a traumatic brain injury.
Time magazine has reported that “for the first time in history, a sizable and growing number of U.S. combat troops are taking daily doses of antidepressants to calm nerves strained by repeated and lengthy tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.”
Suicides among soldiers rose in 2008 for the fourth consecutive year, largely because of the stress of combat deployments. It’s believed that 128 soldiers took their own lives last year.
Much of the country can work itself up to a high pitch of outrage because a banker or an automobile executive flies on a private jet. But we’ll send young men and women by the thousands off to repeated excursions through the hell of combat — three tours, four tours or more — without raising so much as a peep of protest.
Lyndon Johnson, despite a booming economy, lost his Great Society to the Vietnam War. He knew what he was risking. He would later tell Doris Kearns Goodwin, “If I left the woman I really loved — the Great Society — in order to get involved with that bitch of a war on the other side of the world, then I would lose everything at home. All my programs... All my dreams...”
The United States is on its knees economically. As President Obama fights for his myriad domestic programs and his dream of an economic recovery, he might benefit from a look over his shoulder at the link between Vietnam and the still-smoldering ruins of Johnson’s presidency.
March 3, 2009
Op-Ed Columnist
Wars, Endless Wars
By BOB HERBERT
The singer Edwin Starr, who died in 2003, had a big hit in 1970 called “War” in which he asked again and again: “War, what is it good for?”
The U.S. economy is in free fall, the banking system is in a state of complete collapse and Americans all across the country are downsizing their standards of living. The nation as we’ve known it is fading before our very eyes, but we’re still pouring billions of dollars into wars in Afghanistan and Iraq with missions we are still unable to define.
Even as the U.S. begins plans to reduce troop commitments in Iraq, it is sending thousands of additional troops into Afghanistan. The strategic purpose of this escalation, as Defense Secretary Robert Gates acknowledged, is not at all clear.
In response to a question on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, Mr. Gates said:
“We’re talking to the Europeans, to our allies; we’re bringing in an awful lot of people to get different points of view as we go through this review of what our strategy ought to be. And I often get asked, ‘Well, how long will those 17,000 [additional troops] be there? Will more go in?’ All that depends on the outcome of this strategy review that I hope will be done in a few weeks.”
We invaded Afghanistan more than seven years ago. We have not broken the back of Al Qaeda or the Taliban. We have not captured or killed Osama bin Laden. We don’t even have an escalation strategy, much less an exit strategy. An honest assessment of the situation, taking into account the woefully corrupt and ineffective Afghan government led by the hapless Hamid Karzai, would lead inexorably to such terms as fiasco and quagmire.
Instead of cutting our losses, we appear to be doubling down.
As for Iraq, President Obama announced last week that substantial troop withdrawals will take place over the next year and a half and that U.S. combat operations would cease by the end of August 2010. But, he said, a large contingent of American troops, perhaps as many as 50,000, would still remain in Iraq for a “period of transition.”
That’s a large number of troops, and the cost of keeping them there will be huge. Moreover, I was struck by the following comment from the president: “There will surely be difficult periods and tactical adjustments, but our enemies should be left with no doubt. This plan gives our military the forces and flexibility they need to support our Iraqi partners and to succeed.”
In short, we’re committed to these two conflicts for a good while yet, and there is nothing like an etched-in-stone plan for concluding them. I can easily imagine a scenario in which Afghanistan and Iraq both heat up and the U.S., caught in an extended economic disaster at home, undermines its fragile recovery efforts in the same way that societies have undermined themselves since the dawn of time — with endless warfare.
We’ve already paid a fearful price for these wars. In addition to the many thousands of service members who have been killed or suffered obvious disabling injuries, a study by the RAND Corporation found that some 300,000 are currently suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder or depression, and that 320,000 have most likely experienced a traumatic brain injury.
Time magazine has reported that “for the first time in history, a sizable and growing number of U.S. combat troops are taking daily doses of antidepressants to calm nerves strained by repeated and lengthy tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.”
Suicides among soldiers rose in 2008 for the fourth consecutive year, largely because of the stress of combat deployments. It’s believed that 128 soldiers took their own lives last year.
Much of the country can work itself up to a high pitch of outrage because a banker or an automobile executive flies on a private jet. But we’ll send young men and women by the thousands off to repeated excursions through the hell of combat — three tours, four tours or more — without raising so much as a peep of protest.
Lyndon Johnson, despite a booming economy, lost his Great Society to the Vietnam War. He knew what he was risking. He would later tell Doris Kearns Goodwin, “If I left the woman I really loved — the Great Society — in order to get involved with that bitch of a war on the other side of the world, then I would lose everything at home. All my programs... All my dreams...”
The United States is on its knees economically. As President Obama fights for his myriad domestic programs and his dream of an economic recovery, he might benefit from a look over his shoulder at the link between Vietnam and the still-smoldering ruins of Johnson’s presidency.
2/18/2009
Marchers Blocking MX-US Border
Marchers block Mexico-US border
Hundreds of Mexicans block crossings into the US in protest against the deployment of the army to fight drug traffickers.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/-/2/hi/americas/7896094.stm
Hundreds of Mexicans block crossings into the US in protest against the deployment of the army to fight drug traffickers.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/-/2/hi/americas/7896094.stm
2/04/2009
11/12/2008
11/11/2008
Where's Help For the Rest of Us?
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/11/opinion/11herbert.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin
9/13/2008
8/19/2008
WWW--(Well Worth Watching)
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/08152008/watch.html
Imperial habits die hard. . .
Imperial habits die hard. . .
Bush Doctrine Meets Reality
http://www.regressiveantidote.net/Articles/My_Army_Went_To_Iraq_And_All_I_Got.html
7/20/2008
Assurances Notwithstanding
UK 'must check' US torture denial
The British government should no longer rely on US assurances it does not use torture, a parliamentary report says.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/-/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7515517.stm
The British government should no longer rely on US assurances it does not use torture, a parliamentary report says.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/-/2/hi/uk_news/politics/7515517.stm
7/17/2008
7/02/2008
Ground Zero Off, Naval Fleet On
Ground Zero rebuild plan scrapped
The timetable for rebuilding work at the site of the 9/11 attacks in New York is abandoned as projects run over budget.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/-/2/hi/americas/7483590.stm
US fleet on Latin American patrol
The United States Fourth Naval Fleet resumes operations in waters off the Caribbean for the first time since 1950. http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/-/2/hi/americas/7484039.stm
The timetable for rebuilding work at the site of the 9/11 attacks in New York is abandoned as projects run over budget.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/-/2/hi/americas/7483590.stm
US fleet on Latin American patrol
The United States Fourth Naval Fleet resumes operations in waters off the Caribbean for the first time since 1950. http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/-/2/hi/americas/7484039.stm
5/01/2008
Escalation of Air War, Iraq
Institute for Public Accuracy
915 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045(202) 347-0020 * http://www.accuracy.org * ipa@accuracy.org
PM Wednesday, April 30, 2008 Escalation of U.S. Air War
In a front-page piece headlined "U.S. Role Deepens in Sadr City," the Washington Post reports today: "In the Sadr City clash, the U.S. soldiers responded by firing rockets armed with high-explosive, 200-pound warheads, killing 28 fighters, [Lt. Col. Steve] Stover said. In a separate incident in Sadr City, a fixed-wing aircraft dropped a bomb at 5:15 p.m. that killed two fighters firing mortars at a joint U.S.-Iraqi outpost, the U.S. military said.
"But Sadr City residents gave a very different accounting of the fighting. They said at least 50 people were killed and 130 injured, many of them women and children."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/29/AR2008042900560.html?hpid=topnews BEAU GROSSCUP, bgrosscup@csuchico.edu,http://www.zedbooks.co.uk/book.asp?bookdetail=3721
Author of the book "Strategic Terror: The Politics and Ethics of Aerial Bombardment," Grosscup is professor of international relations at California State University in Chico.
CONN HALLINAN, connm@cats.ucsc.edu,
http://www.fpif.orgA columnist for Foreign Policy In Focus, Hallinan wrote the article "Death at a Distance: The U.S. Air War".
He said today: "We need to really look at U.S. actions right now in Sadr City -- like the increase in the use of air power in a packed, urban environment -- and the enormous increase in the use of armed robot drones in Iraq, like the 'Reaper.'
"The press has given the military a pass on the air war in both Iraq and Afghanistan; the air war ends up alienating the civilian population and serves as a recruiting sergeant for the insurgents. ..."
The U.S. military is falling apart on the ground in both Iraq and Afghanistan. According to a recent study by the Rand Corporation, 300,000 veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan are afflicted with post traumatic stress disorder or major depression. Another 320,000 may have suffered traumatic brain injury. This means than more than one-third of the troops who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan are casualties.
I might add, that both PTSD and TBI are difficult and complex to treat, and many of these soldiers will never recover. We cannot sustain this casualty rate, particularly given the declining recruiting numbers."
So the U.S. government is resorting to an air war, which they hope will make it a bloodless war for us. A stepped-up air war will mean an increase in civilian casualties, and greater anger at the United States. The U.S. military tried this tactic during the Vietnam War, but the touted 'increased firepower' ended up alienating the South Vietnamese peasants. 'Fire power freaks' always say they can win if we just let them bomb everyone back to the stone age. But it doesn't work and it also leads to serious violations of Geneva Conventions."
The current fighting in Sadr City is a case in point. According to U.S. figures, more than 500 people have been killed and 2,100 wounded since fighting broke out there in March. The Iraqis say these figures are much higher and that most of them are civilians. This is a case of the 'fire power freaks' running the show. Bombing from the air, artillery strikes, and indiscriminate small arms fire in a crowded urban environment mean you are going to kill a lot of civilians.
U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Steve Stover said that U.S. troops were only responding to attacks when they called in air strikes and opened fire in Sadr City. He blamed the Madhi Army for hiding behind civilians."But his defense of what the U.S. is doing in Sadr City is an explicit violation of Article 48 of the 1977 addition to the Geneva Conventions. That article requires the parties to the conflict to 'at all times distinguish between the civilian population and combatants,' and Article 50 makes it clear that 'The presence within the civilian population of individuals who do not come within the definition of civilians does not deprive the population of its civilian character.'
What this means is that you can't go into Sadr City and shoot up the place because you don't like the Madhi Army. It can land you on the docket of the International Court at the Hague."The moral of that is: don't occupy other countries because it is almost impossible to avoid violating international law.
Of course, since we violated international law and the UN Charter to invade Iraq in the first place, I don't suppose that cuts a lot of ice with the Bush administration. But we Americans should be paying attention. This is happening in our name."
Background: AP's report "300,000 vets have mental problem, 320,000 had brain injuries"
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jR80fyXWKdH2cTZVmwWBL45MVpbQD903M76O0
915 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045(202) 347-0020 * http://www.accuracy.org * ipa@accuracy.org
PM Wednesday, April 30, 2008 Escalation of U.S. Air War
In a front-page piece headlined "U.S. Role Deepens in Sadr City," the Washington Post reports today: "In the Sadr City clash, the U.S. soldiers responded by firing rockets armed with high-explosive, 200-pound warheads, killing 28 fighters, [Lt. Col. Steve] Stover said. In a separate incident in Sadr City, a fixed-wing aircraft dropped a bomb at 5:15 p.m. that killed two fighters firing mortars at a joint U.S.-Iraqi outpost, the U.S. military said.
"But Sadr City residents gave a very different accounting of the fighting. They said at least 50 people were killed and 130 injured, many of them women and children."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/29/AR2008042900560.html?hpid=topnews BEAU GROSSCUP, bgrosscup@csuchico.edu,http://www.zedbooks.co.uk/book.asp?bookdetail=3721
Author of the book "Strategic Terror: The Politics and Ethics of Aerial Bombardment," Grosscup is professor of international relations at California State University in Chico.
CONN HALLINAN, connm@cats.ucsc.edu,
http://www.fpif.orgA columnist for Foreign Policy In Focus, Hallinan wrote the article "Death at a Distance: The U.S. Air War"
He said today: "We need to really look at U.S. actions right now in Sadr City -- like the increase in the use of air power in a packed, urban environment -- and the enormous increase in the use of armed robot drones in Iraq, like the 'Reaper.'
"The press has given the military a pass on the air war in both Iraq and Afghanistan; the air war ends up alienating the civilian population and serves as a recruiting sergeant for the insurgents. ..."
The U.S. military is falling apart on the ground in both Iraq and Afghanistan. According to a recent study by the Rand Corporation, 300,000 veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan are afflicted with post traumatic stress disorder or major depression. Another 320,000 may have suffered traumatic brain injury. This means than more than one-third of the troops who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan are casualties.
I might add, that both PTSD and TBI are difficult and complex to treat, and many of these soldiers will never recover. We cannot sustain this casualty rate, particularly given the declining recruiting numbers."
So the U.S. government is resorting to an air war, which they hope will make it a bloodless war for us. A stepped-up air war will mean an increase in civilian casualties, and greater anger at the United States. The U.S. military tried this tactic during the Vietnam War, but the touted 'increased firepower' ended up alienating the South Vietnamese peasants. 'Fire power freaks' always say they can win if we just let them bomb everyone back to the stone age. But it doesn't work and it also leads to serious violations of Geneva Conventions."
The current fighting in Sadr City is a case in point. According to U.S. figures, more than 500 people have been killed and 2,100 wounded since fighting broke out there in March. The Iraqis say these figures are much higher and that most of them are civilians. This is a case of the 'fire power freaks' running the show. Bombing from the air, artillery strikes, and indiscriminate small arms fire in a crowded urban environment mean you are going to kill a lot of civilians.
U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Steve Stover said that U.S. troops were only responding to attacks when they called in air strikes and opened fire in Sadr City. He blamed the Madhi Army for hiding behind civilians."But his defense of what the U.S. is doing in Sadr City is an explicit violation of Article 48 of the 1977 addition to the Geneva Conventions. That article requires the parties to the conflict to 'at all times distinguish between the civilian population and combatants,' and Article 50 makes it clear that 'The presence within the civilian population of individuals who do not come within the definition of civilians does not deprive the population of its civilian character.'
What this means is that you can't go into Sadr City and shoot up the place because you don't like the Madhi Army. It can land you on the docket of the International Court at the Hague."The moral of that is: don't occupy other countries because it is almost impossible to avoid violating international law.
Of course, since we violated international law and the UN Charter to invade Iraq in the first place, I don't suppose that cuts a lot of ice with the Bush administration. But we Americans should be paying attention. This is happening in our name."
Background: AP's report "300,000 vets have mental problem, 320,000 had brain injuries"
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jR80fyXWKdH2cTZVmwWBL45MVpbQD903M76O0
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