If you don’t receive these Alerts, from CIVIC, the organization Marla founded, I believe this one should be passed to as many people as possible, reason for this diary!
Marla Ruzicka (1976-2005)
Farah Arkan Abdulah Majid lost her mother, an unborn sibling, her father, two uncles and a grandmother to US bombing during the Iraq war. Through the work of the Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict (CIVIC) and its founder Marla Ruzicka, the family obtained a $5000 sympathy payment from the US government.Baghdad, Iraq. 27/04/2004Photo © J.B. Russell
CIVIC ACTION ALERT!
CIVILIANS IN SOUTHERN LEBANON IN IMMEDIATE DANGER FROM UXEXPLODED CLUSTER MUNITIONS. URGENT ACTION NEEDED…
Many hundreds of innocent civilians are at risk of serious injury and death due to Israel’s use of cluster bombs in Southern Lebanon.
Cluster bombs when used in populated areas inevitably and indiscriminately kill civilians. Intended to shower hundreds of “bomblets” on an area that can span three football fields, cluster bombs leave behind hundreds of unexploded devices the size of a D-cell battery. These can explode if touched or moved. Between 1% and 40% bomblets fail to explode on impact, creating a deadly landscape for children and families now returning to their homes. Already 249 sites south of the Litani River have been found blanketed with unexploded bomblets. Reports of explosions killing or severely inuring civilians have begun to surface and an escalation of incidents like these is, tragically, inevitable.
The indiscriminate nature of cluster bombs means they are not appropriate when attacking a military target in an area populated by civilians. Three different types of US cluster munitions have been found in southern Lebanon and the US State Department has now launched an investigation “likely to focus on whether Israel properly informed the United States about its use of the weapons and whether targets were strictly military,” according to the New York Times on August 24th.
TAKE ACTION! Click here to send a letter to Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice urging a credible, thorough and transparent inquiry. The US must now end the sale of US cluster munitions to Israel, urge the Israeli government to cooperate with organizations locating and clearing the mines by informing them of target locations, and help fund de-mining programs in southern Lebanon.
The improper use of cluster bombs is a tremendously important issue – a matter of life and death for children, women and men living in war torn regions. Please help us minimize harm to civilians by ensuring these weapons are used in strict accordance with international law.
Thank you for taking action on behalf of victims of war.
The CIVIC Team
And I’m adding, under this, some News Stories you may or may not have seen, Especially this first one:
Double amputee thrown into creek, left to die
08:53 AM CDT on Tuesday, September 5, 2006
From 11 News Staff Reports
KHOU
Barney Goodman’s family is offering a reward for information leading to his killer.A war veteran confined to a wheelchair was the victim of a brutal murder over the weekend in Liberty County.
KHOU
Goodman was thrown into this creek, but managed to crawl up the embankment.His family is devastated by the cruel manner in which he died.
“Nobody deserves to die like this,” said brother Richard Ford.
Ford said his brother served in Vietnam and later lost both of his feet to complications from diabetes.
He said Goodman was a good singer who once sang on stage with George Jones and other country stars.
“He just lived every day of his life, you know, like it was his last day,” said Ford. “We’re gonna find out who did this”
The family is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in the case.Family offers reward in case of veteran’s brutal murder
A family in Liberty County (Texas) is offering a reward and hoping for answers. They want to know who’s responsible for an attack that killed their disabled brother.
U.S. troops risking their lives abroad get charged interest of up to 400 percent at home–and Congress is to blame.
What Valerie Plame Really Did at the CIA
Valerie Plame was no analyst or paper-pusher. She was an operations officer working on a top priority of the Bush Administration. Armitage, Rove and Libby had revealed information about a CIA officer who had searched for proof of the President’s case. In doing so, they harmed her career and put at risk operations she had worked on and foreign agents and sources she had handled.
Bush’s Terror Tales
By Rami G. Khouri, TomPaine.com
A grown man playing make-believe instead of delivering a sensible foreign policy endangers us all.
Mercenaries Sue Blackwater Over $34 Per Day Salary
Columbians Paid $1,000/month, Americans Paid $10,000/month About three dozen former Colombian soldiers are engaged in a pay dispute with Blackwater USA, saying their salaries for security work in Iraq turned out to be one-quarter what they had been promised by recruiters in Bogota. The dispute sheds light on the international flavor of Blackwater’s work force and the pay disparities that characterize the burgeoning private military industry. The Colombians say they are earning $34 a day, a fraction of what Blackwater pays its American contractors in the Iraq war zone.
Soldiers’ Stories: Endurance Meets Doubt in Iraq
“As a soldier, I am going to do whatever we got to do. As a personal opinion, I don’t think we need to be in this city, period. How much money and how many soldiers is it going to take when these people don’t want our help? They just don’t. We don’t even know who we can trust.” — Army Staff Sergeant Ryan Poetsch, serving his second Iraq War tour.
California-Based Marine Battalion Deploys to Iraq War for Fourth Tour
Tears flow as loved ones bid goodbye to unit members in Twentynine Palms Sometimes, there are just no words. In a parking lot baked by the desert sun, a young Marine stands in line waiting to get on a bus. A young woman walks with him. They hold hands. They stare intently into each other’s eyes, trying to communicate something that cannot be said. Her hand grips his arm, her knuckles white. Finally, they reach the door. He gives her one last kiss.
Ft. Carson efforts lauded, but critics want tougher stance
15 Domestic Violence Incidents Every Month at Army Post
COLORADO SPRINGS – The Department of Defense lauds Colorado’s Fort Carson as home to one of its best domestic-violence prevention programs. The program provides domestic-violence counseling, anger-management classes and therapy for soldiers and their spouses.
We Took An Oath
“I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, ‘Foreign and Domestic’! “
‘Foreign and Domestic’
‘Domestic’
Veterans For Peace-video
