Albion Monitor Issue 158 JUNE 2007
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  Casualties in the border war
Crosses memorializing immigrants who died trying to reach the U.S. on the heavily fortified border wall between Tijuana and San Diego

At the Side Door Cafe in Falfurrias, Texas, body counts enter conversations as naturally as the price of feed, or the cost of repairing torn fences. "I removed 11 bodies last year from my ranch, 12 the year before," said prominent local landowner Presnall Cage. "I found four so far this year." In total, the Border Patrol recorded 453 border deaths last year and a GAO report said recorded border deaths have doubled since 1995. It also said the Border Patrol may be producing an undercount. No one knows, of course, how many die without leaving recoverable remains.

Besides those who die crossing the border, a far greater number are facing uncertain fates from the United States immigration system. Entire families, including those with small children, are held at the T. Don Hutto detention facility, a private Texas prison that was intended to be closed for lack of occupancy until the site was revived as a result of new immigration enforcement policies. In April, the U.S. denied a UN human rights official access to inspect this facility and another jail in New Jersey.

Others find themselves at the mercy of a Kafkaesque immigration system, such as Yaderlin Jimenez, whose husband has been missing since his unit was attacked in Iraq on May 12. Even after the Department of Homeland security dropped deportation proceedings against her after he was declared MIA, she remains in legal limbo. She has reason to fear: Just a few months after an Army soldier died in Iraq and was buried with full military honors, his father was deported as an undocumented immigrant. Like a vast number of others, Yaderlin is left with no legal remedy, and only the hope the government will do something decent

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They Die in South Texas

With GI Husband Missing in Iraq, Wife Faces Legal Limbo

Hoping the "Government Will do Something Decent"

U.S. Blocks Oversight of Prisons With Immigrant Families


    The black budget revealed 404 reports

NATO Forces Surrender Part of Afghanistan to Taliban FREE!


Schools closed, music banned after Brit troops withdrew in Feb

Judge Throws the Book at "Scooter"


30 months in the slammer for "Cheney's Cheney"

Iraq Will be Occupied Like Korea, White House now Says


A protracted, if not permanent, troop presence

Blackwater Claims Military Immunity in Wrongful Death Suit


Blackwater maintains that it's working for the government, so it can't be sued for deaths or injuries

Climate Change a Major Cause of Darfur Crisis FREE!
 Darfur death
Sudan has suffered several long and devastating droughts in the past few decades   (Photo: © Boris Hegen/IRIN)


Example of how shifts in rainfall can bring down governments and even set off wars

Justice Dept. Investigating Saudi Royal Family Bribe Case


Money allegedly paid to Prince Bandar through U.S. banks

Gitmo Tribunal Throws Out Premiere Cases


Rejects Bush claim than an entire group of people can be "unlawful enemy combatants"

Rushdie's Knighthood Deepens Iran's Anger at UK


Viewed as provocation of country's Islamist conservatives

Iran Postpones Execution by Stoning After Global Outrage


Killing parents of 11-year-old child who was born out of wedlock

Iraqi Kurds Flee as Turkish Forces Target Border Villages FREE!


Iraqi border police say Turkey has 20,000-30,000 soldiers along its border

Turkey Bombing Kurds in N Iraq, But Will Troops Cross Border?


Major incursion.has not been ruled out

Turkey Looking for Excuse to Cross Iraq Border FREE!


U.S. war has sharpened tensions that have plagued N Iraq for over a century

Bush Facing Global Muslim Foreign Policy Meltdown


Plans go awry in Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Palestine...

Expert on Iran "Threat" Part of Anti-Iran Terror Group


FOX News commentator part of Iranian opposition group currently listed by State Dept as a terrorist organization

Al-Qaeda May Try to Provoke U.S. Attack on Iran, Warns Brzezinksi


Urges limits on presidential war powers


 
  HOW LONG BEFORE ISRAEL ATTACKS GAZA? THamas in Gaza
Fatah supporters protest in the West Bank town of Ramallah, June 13

Gaza has fallen to Hamas. Abbas' Fatah is on the run. Unless a United Nations force steps in, a sliver of territory with a population of 1.4 million, a short drive from Tel Aviv, will become a dagger aimed at Israel's heart and perhaps even an Al Qaeda staging ground. A humanitarian crisis of horrific proportions is a near-certainty.

Whose fault is it? The Palestinians', of course. But hardly theirs alone. The U.S. and Israel had a decisive contribution to this failure. The Americans, in their lack of understanding of the processes of Islamization in the territories, pressured the Palestinians to hold democratic elections and brought Hamas to power with their own hands. Even then, we could have welcomed Hamas's participation in the election as a sign that Hamas was implicitly accepting the Oslo framework (which it was), insisted on the complete cessation of violence, and then used carrots and sticks to encourage the Hamas-run Palestinian Authority to mend its ways. But we offered no carrots, just sticks.

What should the international community do now? We can simply say "to hell with them" and watch Gaza become Hamastan. Or we can get an international force in Gaza to stop the blood-letting, ensure that humanitarian needs are met, and adopt the policy of distinguishing between Palestinians ready to live in peace with Israel, whatever their affiliations, and those who aren't

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Israel Suddenly Generous With Help for Abbas, Fatah

Bush Endorses Abbas as "President of all Palestinians"

Hamas Fears Isolation in Gaza
Days After Takeover, Gaza in Aid Crisis FREE!

After Hamas Takes Gaza, Israel Decides Fatah Not so Bad, After All
We Can Thank Ourselves for Hamas in Gaza FREE!

UN Undermining Palestinian State, Charges Outgoing UN Mideast Envoy

Denied Legitimacy After Winning Elections, Hamas Takes it by Force

Iraqis Blame "Outsiders" For Bombing of Golden Mosque


Many blame U.S. for allowing the bombing to happen, don't believe al-Qaeda responsible

Chaos, Curfews Follows Bombing of Major Shiite Mosque

The revered al-Askari mosque in Samarra following the February 2006 bombing that destroyed the golden dome, and also seen moments after the June 13, 2007 attack that destroyed both minarets
(PHOTOS: Fars/EPA - Slideshow:Albion Monitor )

FREE! At least six Sunni mosques burned in revenge and many civilians killed

Cheney Camp Again Touts Iran and Taliban Link, NATO Again Denies


State Dept. gets sucked into another war buildup untruth

Cheney Neo-Cons Try to Link Iran and Taliban, but few Takers


Even Gates and NATO commander say it's not true

Soviet-Era Weapons, Not Iran, Arming Taliban


Smuggling guns from N to S Afghanistan a booming business

Is Bush Planning to Dump Iraq on UN?


Could claim it's the same situation as in 1948 Palestine/Israel

Foreign Workers Hired for Kuwait Find Jobs Shifted to Iraq


Hired to be contractor at cushy hotel, but forced into manual labor building military camp

Justice Dept. Investigating Slave Labor at U.S. Embassy Construction in Iraq


Some workers have also "just disappeared"

New Post-Kyoto Treaty Needed, Says Nobel Laureate


New deal nedded to consider large developing nations like China, India and Mexico

China Now #1 in Carbon Emissions FREE!


8% over U.S, a ten percent jump in one year

U.S. Backs Clean Energy -- In Asia


Promoting schemes the U.S. won't consider

Bush, Putin to "Consider" Limits on Greenhouse Gas


Hopes for environmental deal at G-8 summit end with U.S. and Russia creating loophole

Bush Rejects Plan to set Limits on Greenhouse Gas


But may consider possible action after 2012

Wolfowitz's Golden Parachute FREE!


Wolfowitz was more interested in asking what the Bank could do for him, rather than what he could do for the Bank

Ethiopia Wins Battle With Starbucks Over Trademark Coffee Brands


Hailed as example of how poor countries can win fair trade concessions

Iraq THE WAR IN IRAQ


Swamped With Iraq Refugees, Syria Faces Crisis FREE!


2,000 Iraqi refugees arriving each day

Kurd Region of N Iraq Draws Investors


Almost $3.5 billion investment as rest of country collapses

U.S. Outreach to Tribal Sunnis Backfiring


Short-term victories ended up turning Anbar Iraqis against the occupation

Iraqi Christians Fear Noose Tightening


Some asking for autonomous territory within Kurdistan region

Weapons From 1995 Balkan War Flowing Into Iraq


Pentagon distributing huge arms cache to "local security forces" in Afghanistan and Iraq

Baghdad: No Electricity, no Fuel, and now, no Water FREE!


Even Green Zone water shutdown for hours every day

Falluja Security Crackdown Traps Residents, Breeds Hatred


Punitive curfews, checkpoints, called collective punishment

Over Half of Iraqi Government Absent at any Time


Seeking medical care abroad, on vacation, or laying low

Hundreds Kidnapped, Killed at Baghdad Checkpoints FREE!


"Before, I was afraid to go out because of explosions, but now checkpoints have become much more dangerous"

Politics As Usual POLITICS AS USUAL

Ouster of Gen. Peter Pace a Sign of Purge at Rumsfeld's Pentagon


Rummy apologist will no longer be Joint Chiefs Chairman

Neo-Con Coup at Foreign Broadcast News Ops


The voice of America heard by the world now reflects radical agenda

Ex-EPA Chief Whitman Grilled Over Her 9/11 Role FREE!


Says Agency not to blame for the thousands of people who now are ill after being told Ground Zero was safe

Bush Loses Key Repubs on Iraq


Republican Sen. Richard Lugar calls for course change on Iraq

Rep. Jefferson Indicted on 16 Counts


"How he can have an explanation for the money in the freezer?"
 
The Pentagon's Blank Check
THE PENTAGON'S BLANK CHECK

FREE! Since September 12th, 2001, defense spending has simply exploded. For 2008, the Bush administration is requesting a staggering $650 billion, compared to the already staggering $400 billion the Pentagon collected in 2001. Even subtracting the costs of the ongoing "Global War on Terrorism" -- which is what the White House likes to call its wars in Iraq and Afghanistan -- for FY 2008, the Pentagon will still spend $510 billion. In other words, even without the President's two wars, defense spending will have nearly doubled since the mid-1990s. Given that the United States has literally no significant enemy state to fight anywhere on the planet, this represents a remarkable, if perverse, achievement. As a famous Democratic politician once asked: Where is the outrage?

Cartioon © 2007 Cardow/Ottawa Citizen

Growing Numbers of Homeless Iraq Veterans


"These are guys who are pretty much going straight from deployment to the streets"

Mike Evans, New Shock Jock for Christian Right


Combines neo-con ideology with the Hard Right's love of victimization

U.S. Airstrikes On Pakistan Border Destroy Once-Effective Medical System


Understaffed hospitals only seeing one-fourth as many patients

The Return of Warlord Dostum


Reportedly seeks to overthrow Afghan government

Neo-Nazis Gain Ground in Slovakia


Government in controversial alliance with extreme-right nationalists

UAE Planning Zero-Carbon, Zero-Waste City


Pedestrian-friendly city in region where temperatures reach 130 degrees

Colombia Anti-Drug Spraying Linked to DNA Damage


Over 20x the maximum safe exposure to Roundup

Poorly-Paid Mexican Police Tempted by Drug Mafia $$


$250/month vs $500/day

In Mexico's War on Drugs, Cartels Have Upper Hand


Mexico is waging a war on the drug cartels but the cartels are striking back -- and it doesn't help that the U.S. is supplying them with arms
Columnists

JOE CONASON

Joe Conason Centrists Finally Face Reality in Iraq

Reaganite Rudy's Bad Memory

ROBERT SCHEER

Robert Scheer Profiteering at Taxpayer Expense

Hamas Holds the High Cards

The Perils of Backing "Any Democrat"

Iraq Is the New Korea?

ALEXANDER COCKBURN

Alexander Cockburn Zyklon B on the U.S. Border

STEVE YOUNG FREE!

Steve Young Satan Apologizes for Ann Coulter

Executive Branch: Withered Limb, or Merely Twig?

Time to Boycott Bill

The Paris Hilton Effect

Yesterday upon the stair
I met a man who wasn't there.
He wasn't there again today
Oh how I wish he'd go away

FREE! Cheney is the archetypal man who wasn't there (but is), not only because of his legendary secrecy but his insistence that he can keep the lid closed on anything he wants because the office of the vice presidency is unique -- not part of the executive or the legislative branches of government. It is both and/or one. In other words, l'etat, c'est Dick

Albion Monitor
(http://www.albionmonitor.com)
Issue 158

Editor: Jeff Elliott (editor@monitor.net)

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