CODEPINK Weekly Peace Vigil every Wed.
5:00pm - 6:00pm at the corner of Hawthorne St & 7th St
Bring the troops home now! www.myspace.com/codepinkcharlotte.
Despite Federal Consent Decrees Detroit Still Struggles Against Police Brutality
City administration fails to meet reform deadlines in reducing deadly force and cleaning up the deplorable conditions in the lock-ups
by Abayomi Azikiwe, Editor, Pan-African News Wire, May 27, 2008
DETROIT--When New York City police were absolved of criminal culpability in the murder of Sean Bell, the continuing problems of law-enforcement misconduct and criminality gained nation-wide attention. In an obvious response to mass protests and condemnation of the acquittal of these cops, the New York City Police Department announced that there would be an internal investigation into the conduct of the officers who were found not guilty in a bench trial.
In subsequent weeks a videotaped beating of several African-American men by police in Philadelphia brought about the termination of some of the officers involved. Similar to the Rodney King incident of 1991, if there had been no videotaping of the beating, it is highly unlikely that any action would have been taken against these officers.
A trial in Atlanta involving another egregrious case of police terrorism, when a 92-year-old woman, Kathyrn Johnston, was gunned down by the police when they mistakenly raided her home in a purported search for illegal drugs. One of the officers connected to this killing plead guilty to perjury.
African-Americans, Latin@s, young people, LGBT communities and other oppressed groups in the United States know and understand the dangers of police brutality. In most cases, police are allowed to get away with blatant violations of the law when they insult, rob, assault, maim and kill people without provocation and walk free absent of any fear of prosecution or the loss of their jobs.
In the city of Detroit, police brutality has been important part of the repressive apparatus of the ruling class. In 1967, the community rose up in rebellion after police raided a private party being held for a soldier returning from Vietnam.
During the 1970s the ascendancy of the first African-American mayoral administration of Coleman A. Young (1974-1993) was in response to a mass struggle for the abolition of a racist police decoy unit known then as STRESS (Stop Robberies and Enjoy Safe Streets). Young, a state senator in 1973, had been a left-wing labor organizer for the National Negro Labor Councils in the aftermath of World War II. He had been brought before the House Un-American Activities Committe during the early 1950s where he defied their attemtpted interogation and became a respected activist in the city.
Under the Young administration there was at least a perception that police brutality was on the decline. However, during the second black administration in the city under Dennis W. Archer (1994-2001), a more moderate political figure, there was a sharp rise in police killings of Detroit residents.
A Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality (DCAPB) was formed in 1996-1997. The organization documented acts of law-enforcement misconduct and brutality, held demonstrations outside police precincts and the main headquarters downtown. The DCAPB created an atmosphere where the City Council was forced to hold a public hearing on police misconduct in late 1997.
By 2000 the situation involving police-community relations became so outrageous that activists began to call for the resignation of Mayor Archer and the then police chief Benny Napoleon. That summer a deaf man, Errol Shaw, Sr., was shot down dead in front of his mother on the northwest side of the city while she pleaded for the white police officer to refrain from firing his weapon.
Failure of the Justice Department to enforce civil rights law
Several months later Mayor Archer announced that his administration would welcome a Justice Department investigation of the police department. Archer did not seek a third term in 2001. Kwame Kilpatrick was elected that year and in 2003 the Department of Justice announced its finding which indicated that there were serious violations of federal civil rights laws taking place through the operations of the Detroit Police Department in the areas of the use of lethal force and the deplorable conditions found in the city lock-ups.
Judge Julius Cook was appointed to enforce two federal consent decrees which mandated drastic reforms in the operations of the police department in Detroit. A private firm Kroll, Inc. was appointed to monitor the city's compliance over a five year period with what was required by the Justice Department. A motion to intervene in the monitoring process was filed by the Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality in 2003, however, the motion was denied by Judge Cook.
Since 2003, the city has failed to implement the reforms mandated by the two federal consent decrees. Members of the Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality continue to emphasize that it will require a mass struggle against law-enforcement misconduct to effectively address the need for ending abusive behavior by local area cops.
Assessing the ongoing struggle to end police brutality
In a recent interview with Ron Scott and Sandra Hines, leaders of the Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality, it was acknowledged that the federally-appointed monitor Kroll Associates, had not taken any effective action to force the local police department to finally resolve the issues uncovered by years of harassment, abuse, assault and murder.
Pointing to the successes of the DCAPB's work, the organization stated that there had been advancements made in mobilizing large numbers of people to fight police misconduct and terrorism. In addition, Scott and Hines stated that "we have broadened our political analysis, effectively utilized the mass media to increase awareness and consciousness about police brutality. Moreover, we have educated our constituency about the origins and character of police violence against people and that they have been effective in court monitoring, legislative advocacy and the pressuring of the local Board of Police Commissioners which is appointed by the Mayor."
The DCAPB representatives also stated that "we have defeated a City of Detroit panhandling ordinance, publicized the necessity of ending police chases that endanger peoples lives, defeated on a state level a legislative effort to impose the death penalty in Michigan, supported cab drivers' rights to equitable access to passengers in the city and to end police intimidation and harrassment of taxi drivers."
Hines and Scott went on to say that "the DCAPB challenged the Greektown Merchants Association downtown and their so-called 'Men-in-Black' private security guards who were actively engaged in assaulting the homeless population in the entertainment district. We have worked in conjunction with several organizations to establish a Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness."
Through its weekly radio broadcast entitled "Fighting For Justice", which is heard over the local Air America affiliate on 1310 AM, WDTW, the DCAPB utilizes this access to the mass media to both inform the public about the ongoing problems of police terrorism and to effectively mobilize the public to fight law-enforcement, the city administration and the courts which provide no justice for the victims of this state sanctioned violence.
According to Ron Scott, "it is necessary for us to build a real parallel institution focusing on more research, discipline, and resource-gathering. We must balance the nationalization of policing with stronger organizational and political efforts which counter government agencies."
Scott and Hines concluded by emphasizing that "police and governmental agencies are responding by centralizing and transforming their approach. We must be smart and agile enough to respond and extend our program beyond what we have been able to achieve in the current situation."
--------------------------------------------------------
Editor's Note: For more information on the activities of the Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality, people locally can listen to the "Fighting for Justice" radio program every Sunday morning from 10:00-11:00 a.m. over WDTW, AM 1310. You can also write to the DCAPB at 220 Bagley Avenue, Suite 808, Detroit, MI 48226. In addition you can call 313.963.8116 or e-mail detcoalition@sbcglobal.net. To read the quarterly reports of Kroll's monitoring of the Detroit Police Department's lack of compliance with the federal consent decrees just log on to the following URL: http://www.kroll.com/about/library/detroit/
by Abayomi Azikiwe, Editor, Pan-African News Wire, May 27, 2008
DETROIT--When New York City police were absolved of criminal culpability in the murder of Sean Bell, the continuing problems of law-enforcement misconduct and criminality gained nation-wide attention. In an obvious response to mass protests and condemnation of the acquittal of these cops, the New York City Police Department announced that there would be an internal investigation into the conduct of the officers who were found not guilty in a bench trial.
In subsequent weeks a videotaped beating of several African-American men by police in Philadelphia brought about the termination of some of the officers involved. Similar to the Rodney King incident of 1991, if there had been no videotaping of the beating, it is highly unlikely that any action would have been taken against these officers.
A trial in Atlanta involving another egregrious case of police terrorism, when a 92-year-old woman, Kathyrn Johnston, was gunned down by the police when they mistakenly raided her home in a purported search for illegal drugs. One of the officers connected to this killing plead guilty to perjury.
African-Americans, Latin@s, young people, LGBT communities and other oppressed groups in the United States know and understand the dangers of police brutality. In most cases, police are allowed to get away with blatant violations of the law when they insult, rob, assault, maim and kill people without provocation and walk free absent of any fear of prosecution or the loss of their jobs.
In the city of Detroit, police brutality has been important part of the repressive apparatus of the ruling class. In 1967, the community rose up in rebellion after police raided a private party being held for a soldier returning from Vietnam.
During the 1970s the ascendancy of the first African-American mayoral administration of Coleman A. Young (1974-1993) was in response to a mass struggle for the abolition of a racist police decoy unit known then as STRESS (Stop Robberies and Enjoy Safe Streets). Young, a state senator in 1973, had been a left-wing labor organizer for the National Negro Labor Councils in the aftermath of World War II. He had been brought before the House Un-American Activities Committe during the early 1950s where he defied their attemtpted interogation and became a respected activist in the city.
Under the Young administration there was at least a perception that police brutality was on the decline. However, during the second black administration in the city under Dennis W. Archer (1994-2001), a more moderate political figure, there was a sharp rise in police killings of Detroit residents.
A Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality (DCAPB) was formed in 1996-1997. The organization documented acts of law-enforcement misconduct and brutality, held demonstrations outside police precincts and the main headquarters downtown. The DCAPB created an atmosphere where the City Council was forced to hold a public hearing on police misconduct in late 1997.
By 2000 the situation involving police-community relations became so outrageous that activists began to call for the resignation of Mayor Archer and the then police chief Benny Napoleon. That summer a deaf man, Errol Shaw, Sr., was shot down dead in front of his mother on the northwest side of the city while she pleaded for the white police officer to refrain from firing his weapon.
Failure of the Justice Department to enforce civil rights law
Several months later Mayor Archer announced that his administration would welcome a Justice Department investigation of the police department. Archer did not seek a third term in 2001. Kwame Kilpatrick was elected that year and in 2003 the Department of Justice announced its finding which indicated that there were serious violations of federal civil rights laws taking place through the operations of the Detroit Police Department in the areas of the use of lethal force and the deplorable conditions found in the city lock-ups.
Judge Julius Cook was appointed to enforce two federal consent decrees which mandated drastic reforms in the operations of the police department in Detroit. A private firm Kroll, Inc. was appointed to monitor the city's compliance over a five year period with what was required by the Justice Department. A motion to intervene in the monitoring process was filed by the Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality in 2003, however, the motion was denied by Judge Cook.
Since 2003, the city has failed to implement the reforms mandated by the two federal consent decrees. Members of the Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality continue to emphasize that it will require a mass struggle against law-enforcement misconduct to effectively address the need for ending abusive behavior by local area cops.
Assessing the ongoing struggle to end police brutality
In a recent interview with Ron Scott and Sandra Hines, leaders of the Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality, it was acknowledged that the federally-appointed monitor Kroll Associates, had not taken any effective action to force the local police department to finally resolve the issues uncovered by years of harassment, abuse, assault and murder.
Pointing to the successes of the DCAPB's work, the organization stated that there had been advancements made in mobilizing large numbers of people to fight police misconduct and terrorism. In addition, Scott and Hines stated that "we have broadened our political analysis, effectively utilized the mass media to increase awareness and consciousness about police brutality. Moreover, we have educated our constituency about the origins and character of police violence against people and that they have been effective in court monitoring, legislative advocacy and the pressuring of the local Board of Police Commissioners which is appointed by the Mayor."
The DCAPB representatives also stated that "we have defeated a City of Detroit panhandling ordinance, publicized the necessity of ending police chases that endanger peoples lives, defeated on a state level a legislative effort to impose the death penalty in Michigan, supported cab drivers' rights to equitable access to passengers in the city and to end police intimidation and harrassment of taxi drivers."
Hines and Scott went on to say that "the DCAPB challenged the Greektown Merchants Association downtown and their so-called 'Men-in-Black' private security guards who were actively engaged in assaulting the homeless population in the entertainment district. We have worked in conjunction with several organizations to establish a Ten Year Plan to End Homelessness."
Through its weekly radio broadcast entitled "Fighting For Justice", which is heard over the local Air America affiliate on 1310 AM, WDTW, the DCAPB utilizes this access to the mass media to both inform the public about the ongoing problems of police terrorism and to effectively mobilize the public to fight law-enforcement, the city administration and the courts which provide no justice for the victims of this state sanctioned violence.
According to Ron Scott, "it is necessary for us to build a real parallel institution focusing on more research, discipline, and resource-gathering. We must balance the nationalization of policing with stronger organizational and political efforts which counter government agencies."
Scott and Hines concluded by emphasizing that "police and governmental agencies are responding by centralizing and transforming their approach. We must be smart and agile enough to respond and extend our program beyond what we have been able to achieve in the current situation."
--------------------------------------------------------
Editor's Note: For more information on the activities of the Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality, people locally can listen to the "Fighting for Justice" radio program every Sunday morning from 10:00-11:00 a.m. over WDTW, AM 1310. You can also write to the DCAPB at 220 Bagley Avenue, Suite 808, Detroit, MI 48226. In addition you can call 313.963.8116 or e-mail detcoalition@sbcglobal.net. To read the quarterly reports of Kroll's monitoring of the Detroit Police Department's lack of compliance with the federal consent decrees just log on to the following URL: http://www.kroll.com/about/library/detroit/
At least 5 Iraqi children & another U.S. soldier killed; protest condemns Quran shooting
US soldier removed from Iraq for shooting at Quran
KIM GAMEL, AP, May 18, 2008
BAGHDAD (AP) — An American sniper was removed from Iraq after he used a copy of the Quran for target practice, the military said Sunday, a day after a U.S. commander held a formal ceremony apologizing to Sunni tribal leaders.
The elaborate ceremony — in which one U.S. officer kissed a new copy of Islam's holy book before giving it to the tribal leaders — reflected the military's eagerness to stave off anger among Sunni Arabs it has been cultivating as allies.
The tribesmen have become key in the fight against al-Qaida in Iraq militants, who depict the American forces as anti-Islamic occupiers. One anti-U.S. Iraqi Sunni group condemned the Quran shooting, calling it "a hideous act." Similar perceived insults to Islam have triggered protests throughout the Muslim world.
Iraqi police found the bullet-riddled Quran with graffiti inside the cover on a firing range near a police station in Radwaniyah, a former insurgent stronghold west of Baghdad, U.S. military spokesman Col. Bill Buckner said.
American commanders launched an inquiry that led to disciplinary action against the unidentified soldier, who has been removed from Iraq, Buckner said.
Members of the local U.S.-allied group said the Quran was found with 14 bullet holes in a field after U.S. troops withdrew from a base in the area.
Sheik Ahmed Khudayer al-Janabi, a local tribal leader, said the group had planned a protest march last Thursday but called it off under pressure from U.S. forces and to prevent any insurgent violence as retaliation.
The incident, which occurred on May 9 and was discovered two days later, was first reported by CNN, which broadcast a ceremony at which the top American commander in Baghdad apologized to tribal leaders Saturday in Radwaniyah. The military confirmed the details Sunday in an e-mailed response to a query.
"I come before you here seeking your forgiveness," Maj. Gen. Jeffery Hammond was quoted as saying at the ceremony. "In the most humble manner I look in your eyes today and I say please forgive me and my soldiers."
"The actions of one soldier were nothing more than criminal behavior," he added. "I've come to this land to protect you, to support you — not to harm you — and the behavior of this soldier was nothing short of wrong and unacceptable."
The commander also read a letter of apology by the shooter, who has not been identified, while another military official kissed a Quran and presented it to the tribal leaders, according to CNN.
Tribal leaders, dignitaries and local security officials attended the ceremony, while protesters carried banners and chanted slogans, including "Yes, yes to the Quran" and "America out, out."
The military statement called the incident "serious and deeply troubling" but stressed it was the result of one soldier's actions and "not representative of the professionalism of our soldiers or the respect they have for all faiths."
The hard-line Association of Muslim Scholars condemned the shooting and what it said was a belated acknowledgment of the incident, calling it "a hideous act against the book of almighty God and the constitution of the nation and the source of its glory and dignity."
The alliances between Sunni tribes and U.S. forces have been key to a steep decline in violence over the past year. But the Quran incident was the latest in a series of setbacks, including the accidental killings of U.S.-allied fighters, that have raised concerns about the fragility of the support for the American forces.
U.S. troops also have struggled to overcome the perception that they are insensitive to Islamic traditions after several missteps in the early stages of the war in Iraq.
Sheik Eid Majid al-Zubaie, the preacher at the Radwaniyah mosque, said local leaders were outraged over the discovery of the Quran, which he said was shot through and had big dark X's and other graffiti on the pages. But he said they had accepted the military's apology.
"There is not any difference between this soldier and the figure in Denmark who made the caricature drawings against the Prophet Muhammad," al-Zubaie said. "But they apologized and expelled the soldier."
Separately, relatives mourned the deaths of at least five children killed when mortar shells slammed into a neighborhood while they were playing outside in a predominantly Shiite area on the eastern outskirts of Baghdad on Saturday.
Bandaged girls and boys with bloodstained clothes cried as they were packed two to a bed at the hospital to which they were taken in the Shiite stronghold of Sadr City.
Mortar rounds struck a house, an open area and a street where boys were playing soccer in the Maamil neighborhood on Baghdad's northeastern outskirts, witnesses said.
Nadim Jabir, 33, said he lost his 4-year-old son Abbas, and that his wife and 10-year-old daughter were wounded when their mud-brick house was hit.
"My wife was panicked and ran out with my three children," he said, adding he ran after them but was thrown to the ground by the force of another blast.
"When the dust settled, I saw my only boy Abbas lying on the ground with many other kids. All were groaning and some kids were missing limbs. Abbas was hit in his head," he said.
Residents said four other children were killed. Police and hospital officials also reported a man was killed and at least 30 people were wounded.
The mortar strikes occurred as sporadic fighting continues between Shiite militiamen and U.S.-Iraqi forces despite a peace deal reached with followers of radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr last week.
An American soldier also was killed Sunday by a roadside bomb that hit his vehicle north of Baghdad, raising to at least 4,080 the number of U.S. service members who have died since the Iraq war began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
Associated Press writer Bushra Juhi contributed to this report.
KIM GAMEL, AP, May 18, 2008
BAGHDAD (AP) — An American sniper was removed from Iraq after he used a copy of the Quran for target practice, the military said Sunday, a day after a U.S. commander held a formal ceremony apologizing to Sunni tribal leaders.
The elaborate ceremony — in which one U.S. officer kissed a new copy of Islam's holy book before giving it to the tribal leaders — reflected the military's eagerness to stave off anger among Sunni Arabs it has been cultivating as allies.
The tribesmen have become key in the fight against al-Qaida in Iraq militants, who depict the American forces as anti-Islamic occupiers. One anti-U.S. Iraqi Sunni group condemned the Quran shooting, calling it "a hideous act." Similar perceived insults to Islam have triggered protests throughout the Muslim world.
Iraqi police found the bullet-riddled Quran with graffiti inside the cover on a firing range near a police station in Radwaniyah, a former insurgent stronghold west of Baghdad, U.S. military spokesman Col. Bill Buckner said.
American commanders launched an inquiry that led to disciplinary action against the unidentified soldier, who has been removed from Iraq, Buckner said.
Members of the local U.S.-allied group said the Quran was found with 14 bullet holes in a field after U.S. troops withdrew from a base in the area.
Sheik Ahmed Khudayer al-Janabi, a local tribal leader, said the group had planned a protest march last Thursday but called it off under pressure from U.S. forces and to prevent any insurgent violence as retaliation.
The incident, which occurred on May 9 and was discovered two days later, was first reported by CNN, which broadcast a ceremony at which the top American commander in Baghdad apologized to tribal leaders Saturday in Radwaniyah. The military confirmed the details Sunday in an e-mailed response to a query.
"I come before you here seeking your forgiveness," Maj. Gen. Jeffery Hammond was quoted as saying at the ceremony. "In the most humble manner I look in your eyes today and I say please forgive me and my soldiers."
"The actions of one soldier were nothing more than criminal behavior," he added. "I've come to this land to protect you, to support you — not to harm you — and the behavior of this soldier was nothing short of wrong and unacceptable."
The commander also read a letter of apology by the shooter, who has not been identified, while another military official kissed a Quran and presented it to the tribal leaders, according to CNN.
Tribal leaders, dignitaries and local security officials attended the ceremony, while protesters carried banners and chanted slogans, including "Yes, yes to the Quran" and "America out, out."
The military statement called the incident "serious and deeply troubling" but stressed it was the result of one soldier's actions and "not representative of the professionalism of our soldiers or the respect they have for all faiths."
The hard-line Association of Muslim Scholars condemned the shooting and what it said was a belated acknowledgment of the incident, calling it "a hideous act against the book of almighty God and the constitution of the nation and the source of its glory and dignity."
The alliances between Sunni tribes and U.S. forces have been key to a steep decline in violence over the past year. But the Quran incident was the latest in a series of setbacks, including the accidental killings of U.S.-allied fighters, that have raised concerns about the fragility of the support for the American forces.
U.S. troops also have struggled to overcome the perception that they are insensitive to Islamic traditions after several missteps in the early stages of the war in Iraq.
Sheik Eid Majid al-Zubaie, the preacher at the Radwaniyah mosque, said local leaders were outraged over the discovery of the Quran, which he said was shot through and had big dark X's and other graffiti on the pages. But he said they had accepted the military's apology.
"There is not any difference between this soldier and the figure in Denmark who made the caricature drawings against the Prophet Muhammad," al-Zubaie said. "But they apologized and expelled the soldier."
Separately, relatives mourned the deaths of at least five children killed when mortar shells slammed into a neighborhood while they were playing outside in a predominantly Shiite area on the eastern outskirts of Baghdad on Saturday.
Bandaged girls and boys with bloodstained clothes cried as they were packed two to a bed at the hospital to which they were taken in the Shiite stronghold of Sadr City.
Mortar rounds struck a house, an open area and a street where boys were playing soccer in the Maamil neighborhood on Baghdad's northeastern outskirts, witnesses said.
Nadim Jabir, 33, said he lost his 4-year-old son Abbas, and that his wife and 10-year-old daughter were wounded when their mud-brick house was hit.
"My wife was panicked and ran out with my three children," he said, adding he ran after them but was thrown to the ground by the force of another blast.
"When the dust settled, I saw my only boy Abbas lying on the ground with many other kids. All were groaning and some kids were missing limbs. Abbas was hit in his head," he said.
Residents said four other children were killed. Police and hospital officials also reported a man was killed and at least 30 people were wounded.
The mortar strikes occurred as sporadic fighting continues between Shiite militiamen and U.S.-Iraqi forces despite a peace deal reached with followers of radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr last week.
An American soldier also was killed Sunday by a roadside bomb that hit his vehicle north of Baghdad, raising to at least 4,080 the number of U.S. service members who have died since the Iraq war began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
Associated Press writer Bushra Juhi contributed to this report.
Soldier with US-led force killed in Afghanistan
AFP, May 18, 2008
KABUL (AFP) — A soldier with a US-led military coalition and an Afghan "non-combatant" were killed Sunday when a bomb blew up their vehicle in southern Afghanistan, the force said.
Another soldier was seriously injured in the blast in the southern province of Zabul, the US-led coalition said in a statement.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the extremist Taliban militia has carried out a series of similar attacks.
"One coalition service member and an Afghan non-combatant were killed and another service member was seriously injured Sunday when their vehicle was struck by an improvised explosive device," the statement said.
The nationality of the soldier was not released but most of the troops serving in the US-led coalition are American nationals. The force also could not immediately release details about the "non-combatant."
The death of the soldier took to 54 the number of foreign troops killed in Afghanistan this year. Most died in hostile action.
Improvised bombs are the Taliban's most effective weapon and account for most casualties among foreign soldiers trying to help the Afghan government put down an extremist insurgency.
KABUL (AFP) — A soldier with a US-led military coalition and an Afghan "non-combatant" were killed Sunday when a bomb blew up their vehicle in southern Afghanistan, the force said.
Another soldier was seriously injured in the blast in the southern province of Zabul, the US-led coalition said in a statement.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but the extremist Taliban militia has carried out a series of similar attacks.
"One coalition service member and an Afghan non-combatant were killed and another service member was seriously injured Sunday when their vehicle was struck by an improvised explosive device," the statement said.
The nationality of the soldier was not released but most of the troops serving in the US-led coalition are American nationals. The force also could not immediately release details about the "non-combatant."
The death of the soldier took to 54 the number of foreign troops killed in Afghanistan this year. Most died in hostile action.
Improvised bombs are the Taliban's most effective weapon and account for most casualties among foreign soldiers trying to help the Afghan government put down an extremist insurgency.
Zimbabwe: Govt summons, warns US ambassador McGee
Herald Reporter, The Herald, May 17, 2008
GOVERNMENT on Wednesday summoned United States Ambassador to Zimbabwe James McGee and warned him over his involvement in the country’s domestic affairs.
Foreign Affairs Minister Cde Simbarashe Mumbengegwi confirmed this at a Press briefing in Harare yesterday.
"The US Ambassador to Zimbabwe, James McGee, was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on May 14, 2008.
"Ambassador McGee was dressed down on the following sequence of events which constituted violations of Diplomatic Protocols and Procedures," he said.
Cde Mumbengegwi said McGee wrote a letter to the Press on May 12, 2008 making unsubstantiated allegations clearly in support of MDC-T.
"This was clear interference in Zimbabwe’s domestic affairs and in violation of the protocols governing diplomatic relations between states."
Cde Mumbengegwi said on May 13, 2008, McGee travelled beyond 40km from Harare without making prior arrangements with his ministry.
McGee’s actions violated Zimbabwe’s rules and regulations which require that diplomats travelling beyond a 40km radius should make prior arrangements with the ministry.
"The ambassador made politically charged and inflammatory remarks when he visited the Avenues Clinic on 9th May 2008. This again constituted interference in Zimbabwe’s internal affairs," added Cde Mumbengegwi.
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs brought to the attention of Ambassador McGee that he had not only failed to respect the laws and regulations of Zimbabwe, but had also blatantly interfered in the internal affairs of Zimbabwe."
He said McGee’s actions were in total contravention of Article 41 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
The Vienna Convention reads: "Without prejudice to their privileges and immunities, it is the duty of the persons enjoying such privileges and immunities to respect the laws and regulations of the receiving state. They have a duty not to interfere in the internal affairs of that state."
Cde Mumbengegwi said the summoning constituted the first warning to the US ambassador that Government would not tolerate any interference in the country’s internal affairs.
"The Government of Zimbabwe will not hesitate to invoke the relevant provisions of the conventions and protocols which govern the conduct of diplomatic relations between states," he said.
Asked what course of action Government would take if McGee persists with his actions, Cde Mumbengegwi said it would depend entirely on "what happens next".
He said other ambassadors who have also committed such acts would be duly warned.
"All diplomats and all ambassadors are fully aware of the provisions of these protocols and conventions. They will also be warned."
GOVERNMENT on Wednesday summoned United States Ambassador to Zimbabwe James McGee and warned him over his involvement in the country’s domestic affairs.
Foreign Affairs Minister Cde Simbarashe Mumbengegwi confirmed this at a Press briefing in Harare yesterday.
"The US Ambassador to Zimbabwe, James McGee, was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on May 14, 2008.
"Ambassador McGee was dressed down on the following sequence of events which constituted violations of Diplomatic Protocols and Procedures," he said.
Cde Mumbengegwi said McGee wrote a letter to the Press on May 12, 2008 making unsubstantiated allegations clearly in support of MDC-T.
"This was clear interference in Zimbabwe’s domestic affairs and in violation of the protocols governing diplomatic relations between states."
Cde Mumbengegwi said on May 13, 2008, McGee travelled beyond 40km from Harare without making prior arrangements with his ministry.
McGee’s actions violated Zimbabwe’s rules and regulations which require that diplomats travelling beyond a 40km radius should make prior arrangements with the ministry.
"The ambassador made politically charged and inflammatory remarks when he visited the Avenues Clinic on 9th May 2008. This again constituted interference in Zimbabwe’s internal affairs," added Cde Mumbengegwi.
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs brought to the attention of Ambassador McGee that he had not only failed to respect the laws and regulations of Zimbabwe, but had also blatantly interfered in the internal affairs of Zimbabwe."
He said McGee’s actions were in total contravention of Article 41 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.
The Vienna Convention reads: "Without prejudice to their privileges and immunities, it is the duty of the persons enjoying such privileges and immunities to respect the laws and regulations of the receiving state. They have a duty not to interfere in the internal affairs of that state."
Cde Mumbengegwi said the summoning constituted the first warning to the US ambassador that Government would not tolerate any interference in the country’s internal affairs.
"The Government of Zimbabwe will not hesitate to invoke the relevant provisions of the conventions and protocols which govern the conduct of diplomatic relations between states," he said.
Asked what course of action Government would take if McGee persists with his actions, Cde Mumbengegwi said it would depend entirely on "what happens next".
He said other ambassadors who have also committed such acts would be duly warned.
"All diplomats and all ambassadors are fully aware of the provisions of these protocols and conventions. They will also be warned."
McGee: Oh what a lovely white man!
The Herald, May 17, 2008
When James McGee took up his posting in Zimbabwe, he made it clear Zimbabweans should never confuse his skin tint with the colour of his assignment here.
He had come as an agent and representative of the American Government and American interests.
These he would protect and pursue relentlessly, ruthlessly if need be.
I hope everyone took note. I certainly did, and still do.
But I also hope that by the same logic, Mr McGee granted Zimbabwe the same right, indeed freed it from obligations suggested by skin pigmentation.
When it comes to interests and purpose, he is decidedly white. When it comes to its purpose and interests, Zimbabwe is incurably black. Our paths may never meet. That must be plain and clear.
When black is white
I will favour him with a bit of information. His coming triggered debate on why white America had chosen a black surface for its envoy here, and at this point in the history of US-Zimbabwe relations. It is the same question debated here following the appointment of Powell, Rice and Frazer to high posts in the American Administration.
We knew Mr McGee’s chequered history in one country in our region, and in Madagascar. We knew his role in fighting America’s wars in Vietnam.
I remember someone quipping "White America is now so confident of the whiteness of its blacks that colour is no longer an issue. Colour is no longer a perspective. Look at Obama, he could be white America’s next President, far better at pushing her agenda than George W. Bush!"
I disagreed vehemently with that reading, reminding the owner of the frivolous point that Zimbabwe and Zanu-PF retain staunch support in respectable circles of African-African Americans; that as a matter of fact, many self respecting African-African Americans resent to be identified with these black pastes on America’s stripes and stars.
I also reminded the contributor that Obama was useful in knocking Clinton out of the race, herself the real threat to McCain, but never as a potential President of white America. McGee will deliver Zimbabwe to McCain, the same way Obama will clear the way for McCain’s presidency.
Reading from thongs
The debate went much further. How would we handle McGee in the event that he began to take a hostile line against Zimbabwe, in pursuit of white America’s interests? Again, I reminded the debate McGee would take a hostile line, sooner rather than later.
But I saw no dilemma: we would handle him like a white American, which is what he is, until he limps back home into the anonymity of retirement. But the debate still revealed to me a lingering complex, one deriving from history. Our incorrigible wish to be nice and good to anyone carrying our complexion, which make us so susceptible to needless dilemmas.
It is a disposition of gratuitous kindness, often against the imperatives of lived history. And if the cruel history we have lived and endured has not taught us that not everything black is indeed black, and that anything white cannot be black, I guess nothing ever will.
A people who cannot read from thongs of a cruel history, can hardly be expected to learn from fawned kisses and kindness deployed in peacetime. They have an acute wish to be loved and will smile after a sod splatter on their forehead.
Learning from Jews
The point goes much deeper. A people who cannot read or quantify the hurt of history, the massive injury done them by other nationalities in history, cannot be a people in history. Building a collective identity is based, among other things, on bitterness and bruises suffered and shared in history which become a rallying point for building a national project.
Ask the Jews who go as far as declaring war on whoever seeks to challenge the myth of the Nazi holocaust.
That myth founds them, sustains them, motivates them, unites them. Ask the Palestinians, themselves victims of Jewish victims. They know that each of their dead must go towards building an Arab counter-myth to the holocaust by which Jewish genocidal atrocities against them are beyond error and culpability for all time.
Using America’s colours
We put too much store in the man outside, forgetting the monster inside, we people of little judgement! As if we did not bring to the world the wisdom of the proverbial fig: sumptuous rind to please the eye, but dark, creeping vermin inside. True, the saying is meant to caution the love-smitten in the human drama of courtship.
But who says its semantic range is limited only mortal seductive beauty? No, it extends to warning one against the danger of colour-based solidarity belying an ugly and sinister white beneath. It is as if we forget America is a nation of colour. It has perfected the art of deploying its rich colours to effect. This is why multiculturalism and multicolour-ism are so key to understanding her foreign policy.
Arabised lips, Arab blood
When Iraq was rapped, the spokesperson for the "coalition of the willing" was a bloodshot American spotting the smoked skin and hard, thick lips of an Arab. Aggression and genocidal massacre of Iraqis was made palatable to the world by Arab lips.
That is how consent was manufactured, destruction of Arab life, endorsed and naturalised. The same happened in Afghanistan. The same would happen on the African continent the day America decides we deserve a bit of its hot, molten iron in our bodies, before it takes our prized raw materials.
America’s multiculturalism arises not from its largeness of heart, but from the sheer expansiveness of its global imperial designs. It is a weapon of war, which is why America’s citizens of dark shed eagerly await overseas aggression to find their place and glory, albeit for a short while.
If you are an American of Arab roots, you prayerfully hope Syria or Iran will be next, perchance the American military designates you spokesperson. If you are African-African American, you hope Zimbabwe is next so you become the black spokesperson cleansing such infamy.
The story of a good Rhodes
At some point, a black ambassador had to come to Zimbabwe. In fact he did, much early on, well before the situation in Zimbabwe was ripe for regime change, and before America had built a critical mass of "right-thinking" African-African Americans.
We had ambassador Ambassador Rhodes here, who turned to be a wrong and premature deployment of blackness.
Beyond his title as America’s ambassador here, he turned out to be an African-African American who read Garvey, Malcolm X and Nkrumah.
He never lasted. When the timing was right, a McGee had to come, the same way Andrew Young came in the late 1970s, to win for America the confidence of liberation movements which threatened to overrun white Rhodesia. It is very important to know that not everything black is not white.
McGee’s escapades
The technique remains the same: see one side; hear one side; speak one side. We saw this at work in the run-up to the attack on Iraq. America built evidence with which to justify aggression, using sources which had a vested interest in damning Saddam Hussein and his Ba-athist party.
She built evidence from testimonials from persons opposed to Saddam, persons America herself had taken into exile in America, in preparation for Saddam’s ouster. Why did they expect the rat to plead for the accused groundnut? Now to brother McGee.
The last two weeks, McGee has been very active. He has led missions of diplomats, mostly western, to many places, if only to build a story of a Zanu-PF-led torture campaign in the countryside.
He has been to the Avenues Hospital; he has been to hospitals and clinics in Mvurwi, the so-called international media in tow. He has held interviews with anyone who has cared to ask for them.
He has harpooned African envoys, hoping to dramatise African outrage against Zanu-PF "atrocities".
In one interview, he revealed the whole game plan. It is to pin Zanu-PF and Zimbabwe down for debate in the Security Council, "which will happen very soon." Currently, Britain is in the chair.
Next month, America will be, which is what explains the man’s optimism. And his comments are outrageously unguarded, suggesting more an angry American fighting an unjust war in Vietnam, than a circumspect ambassador with any claim to polish. The violence is 99,9 percent Zanu-PF, he says. If there are any Zanu-PF victims — and he says he is not aware of these — these would have earned it by provoking an MDC retaliation!
The man has made up his mind and will not move or be moved by anyone, by anything. He is defiant, and will push aside the police to access any place. Using an arsenal of illegally imported b-gans, he pipes his choreographed encounters to CNN which obliges a line: "Zimbabwe authorities stop American ambassador twice". It is like you have dared ask God why he is called Almighty, you a mere, puny mortal!
Listening to himself
But McGee has some recommendation. People must see a video produced by some organisation called Solidarity Peace Trust clearly showing that Zanu-PF is culpable! You search who this organisation is and, the horror, the horror! It is an NGO registered in South Africa, co-chaired by Pius Ncube and Bishop Rubin Phillip of KwaZulu-Natal Anglican church.
The same Ncube of church sex-scandals, and who accosts America to invade and topple President Mugabe. The same Bishop Rubin who mounts action against Chinese arms shipment to southern African states, including Zimbabwe.
These are avowed enemies of Zanu-PF and unconditional supporters of the MDC, set up and sponsored by the American Government. Why would they have any other motive other than to damn Mugabe, Zanu-PF and Zimbabwe? Why would the American ambassador pretend discovery of material whose gathering and compilation he commissioned through his intelligence officers which his Government has now deployed in industrial quantities, having smelt Zanu-PF blood? Why feign distance?
Calibrated victims
Secondly, who are these victims? Who are the villains? What is this violence? Fundamental questions which fixation with images of torn buttocks is meant to push away. You have villagers who are clearly traumatised, but who have been rounded up and checked into Harare’s most expensive hospital, the Avenues Clinic.
They have even over-spilled to West End clinic. Until now, they were not known. They are not on any medical aid. Until now they would never have dreamt of such first class facilities. They have no money, clearly village wretches, not through the violence which has visited them, but by historical processes which McGee will not want to discuss. But they are in Avenues. They are predominantly women aged between 30 and 40, badly hurt and bruised. Surprisingly, these are calibrated injuries, mostly on buttocks, under feet and backbones. Relatives who visit them are all middle class coxcombs from the city.
They are very aggressive with hospital staff and immediately go quiet when hospital staff are within earshot. Once away, they are in deep discussions with victims, talking deep MDC politics, victims resting their heads on crispy issues of "The Zimbabwean".
Mr McGee, something is not adding up here. After visiting hours, these "relatives" troop out and congregate to swap animated gossip, all political, before disappearing in the direction of Harvest House or some such MDC-connected NGO offices and safe houses.
Dr. Lovemore, I presume?
Much worse, the rags-to-riches kingly victims have been checked in by one Dr. Lovemore, herself historically associated with ZCTU and Amani Trust.
She runs something called Counselling Services Union, again US/UK funded, and positioned just in time for violence we all did not know would come, but which the West predicted and wished through their media networks. More dramatically, Avenues Clinic has a standing contract with Counselling Services Union, clinched well before the poll and the violence!
Most dramatically, Counselling Services Union generously offers to pay admitting hospitals in currency of choice, with Avenues receiving payment in hard currencies. Goodness me! Including Doctors for Human Rights, which is why habitually scarce doctors will be abundant for this one assignment. And they are even keen to set aside rules governing visits to victims.
They will allow you anytime, grant you as much time as you want to get the outrage pasted on Zanu-PF. Come on!
Return of Selous Scouts
Let us not have short memories. We saw this kind of operation during our liberation struggle, did we not? We had Selous Scouts here, did we not? Cruel men of Rhodesia who melted into farming soon after the war. We had the Special Branch here, did we not? Cruel men who melted into civilian outfits soon after.
We had Rhodesia African Rifles, did we not? African askaris who came under the command of white officers the majority of whom were drawn from territorials. And territorials were white farmers. Rhodesia had a small standing army which got boosted from the farms. Have we forgotten that?
Which stupid Zanu-PFsupporter would create a torture base and leave it intact for Mr. McGee to come and inspect for maximum damage against Zanu-PF? Are we not stretching believability?
Has anyone asked why Gutu, Hurungwe, Buhera and Chikomba have become critical for MDC? What was the significance of these districts during the war?
And why is the violence following the zone of resettlement, targeting new farmers, Zanu-PF supporters or MDC turncoats?
Ambassador, are you puzzled by this like all of us? And why do you not visit victims of Mayo and Shamva?
What place do you give to UN reports which indicated MDC was a villain, not just a victim?
Rhodesia’s new war vets?
Why have you not investigated the role and place of white farmers in all this? Have they now found Rhodesia’s war vets in roving MDC thugs they have equipped with vehicles, cameras and crude weaponry, to effect new land occupations?
Are we not seeing MDC’s land policy unfolding ahead of the run-off? You get an MDC youth arrested on scenes of violence. He is unemployed, unkempt.
But he wields an expensive camera, a b-gan, and expensive cellphone with roving facility. The names in it include whites in the UK, America and South Africa, all linked to MDC activism. Those youths, abundantly unsophisticated, uneducated even, have hotlines to BBC and CNN.
How so Mr McGee, Mr Pocock?
So many questions, no one interested in answering them.
Zanu-PF has to be indicted, guilty or not guilty. Sooner than later the link between the violence, a former white now in self-exile and white commercial farmers who drifted back, will be made and Mr McGee shall have a major rethink.
Assuming his mission, conscience and decency are compatible. In the meantime, McGee defies his blackness, his history as a descendant of white atrocities, to become so wonderful, so lovely a white man. Icho!
l Feedback: nathaniel.manheru@zimpapers.co.zw
When James McGee took up his posting in Zimbabwe, he made it clear Zimbabweans should never confuse his skin tint with the colour of his assignment here.
He had come as an agent and representative of the American Government and American interests.
These he would protect and pursue relentlessly, ruthlessly if need be.
I hope everyone took note. I certainly did, and still do.
But I also hope that by the same logic, Mr McGee granted Zimbabwe the same right, indeed freed it from obligations suggested by skin pigmentation.
When it comes to interests and purpose, he is decidedly white. When it comes to its purpose and interests, Zimbabwe is incurably black. Our paths may never meet. That must be plain and clear.
When black is white
I will favour him with a bit of information. His coming triggered debate on why white America had chosen a black surface for its envoy here, and at this point in the history of US-Zimbabwe relations. It is the same question debated here following the appointment of Powell, Rice and Frazer to high posts in the American Administration.
We knew Mr McGee’s chequered history in one country in our region, and in Madagascar. We knew his role in fighting America’s wars in Vietnam.
I remember someone quipping "White America is now so confident of the whiteness of its blacks that colour is no longer an issue. Colour is no longer a perspective. Look at Obama, he could be white America’s next President, far better at pushing her agenda than George W. Bush!"
I disagreed vehemently with that reading, reminding the owner of the frivolous point that Zimbabwe and Zanu-PF retain staunch support in respectable circles of African-African Americans; that as a matter of fact, many self respecting African-African Americans resent to be identified with these black pastes on America’s stripes and stars.
I also reminded the contributor that Obama was useful in knocking Clinton out of the race, herself the real threat to McCain, but never as a potential President of white America. McGee will deliver Zimbabwe to McCain, the same way Obama will clear the way for McCain’s presidency.
Reading from thongs
The debate went much further. How would we handle McGee in the event that he began to take a hostile line against Zimbabwe, in pursuit of white America’s interests? Again, I reminded the debate McGee would take a hostile line, sooner rather than later.
But I saw no dilemma: we would handle him like a white American, which is what he is, until he limps back home into the anonymity of retirement. But the debate still revealed to me a lingering complex, one deriving from history. Our incorrigible wish to be nice and good to anyone carrying our complexion, which make us so susceptible to needless dilemmas.
It is a disposition of gratuitous kindness, often against the imperatives of lived history. And if the cruel history we have lived and endured has not taught us that not everything black is indeed black, and that anything white cannot be black, I guess nothing ever will.
A people who cannot read from thongs of a cruel history, can hardly be expected to learn from fawned kisses and kindness deployed in peacetime. They have an acute wish to be loved and will smile after a sod splatter on their forehead.
Learning from Jews
The point goes much deeper. A people who cannot read or quantify the hurt of history, the massive injury done them by other nationalities in history, cannot be a people in history. Building a collective identity is based, among other things, on bitterness and bruises suffered and shared in history which become a rallying point for building a national project.
Ask the Jews who go as far as declaring war on whoever seeks to challenge the myth of the Nazi holocaust.
That myth founds them, sustains them, motivates them, unites them. Ask the Palestinians, themselves victims of Jewish victims. They know that each of their dead must go towards building an Arab counter-myth to the holocaust by which Jewish genocidal atrocities against them are beyond error and culpability for all time.
Using America’s colours
We put too much store in the man outside, forgetting the monster inside, we people of little judgement! As if we did not bring to the world the wisdom of the proverbial fig: sumptuous rind to please the eye, but dark, creeping vermin inside. True, the saying is meant to caution the love-smitten in the human drama of courtship.
But who says its semantic range is limited only mortal seductive beauty? No, it extends to warning one against the danger of colour-based solidarity belying an ugly and sinister white beneath. It is as if we forget America is a nation of colour. It has perfected the art of deploying its rich colours to effect. This is why multiculturalism and multicolour-ism are so key to understanding her foreign policy.
Arabised lips, Arab blood
When Iraq was rapped, the spokesperson for the "coalition of the willing" was a bloodshot American spotting the smoked skin and hard, thick lips of an Arab. Aggression and genocidal massacre of Iraqis was made palatable to the world by Arab lips.
That is how consent was manufactured, destruction of Arab life, endorsed and naturalised. The same happened in Afghanistan. The same would happen on the African continent the day America decides we deserve a bit of its hot, molten iron in our bodies, before it takes our prized raw materials.
America’s multiculturalism arises not from its largeness of heart, but from the sheer expansiveness of its global imperial designs. It is a weapon of war, which is why America’s citizens of dark shed eagerly await overseas aggression to find their place and glory, albeit for a short while.
If you are an American of Arab roots, you prayerfully hope Syria or Iran will be next, perchance the American military designates you spokesperson. If you are African-African American, you hope Zimbabwe is next so you become the black spokesperson cleansing such infamy.
The story of a good Rhodes
At some point, a black ambassador had to come to Zimbabwe. In fact he did, much early on, well before the situation in Zimbabwe was ripe for regime change, and before America had built a critical mass of "right-thinking" African-African Americans.
We had ambassador Ambassador Rhodes here, who turned to be a wrong and premature deployment of blackness.
Beyond his title as America’s ambassador here, he turned out to be an African-African American who read Garvey, Malcolm X and Nkrumah.
He never lasted. When the timing was right, a McGee had to come, the same way Andrew Young came in the late 1970s, to win for America the confidence of liberation movements which threatened to overrun white Rhodesia. It is very important to know that not everything black is not white.
McGee’s escapades
The technique remains the same: see one side; hear one side; speak one side. We saw this at work in the run-up to the attack on Iraq. America built evidence with which to justify aggression, using sources which had a vested interest in damning Saddam Hussein and his Ba-athist party.
She built evidence from testimonials from persons opposed to Saddam, persons America herself had taken into exile in America, in preparation for Saddam’s ouster. Why did they expect the rat to plead for the accused groundnut? Now to brother McGee.
The last two weeks, McGee has been very active. He has led missions of diplomats, mostly western, to many places, if only to build a story of a Zanu-PF-led torture campaign in the countryside.
He has been to the Avenues Hospital; he has been to hospitals and clinics in Mvurwi, the so-called international media in tow. He has held interviews with anyone who has cared to ask for them.
He has harpooned African envoys, hoping to dramatise African outrage against Zanu-PF "atrocities".
In one interview, he revealed the whole game plan. It is to pin Zanu-PF and Zimbabwe down for debate in the Security Council, "which will happen very soon." Currently, Britain is in the chair.
Next month, America will be, which is what explains the man’s optimism. And his comments are outrageously unguarded, suggesting more an angry American fighting an unjust war in Vietnam, than a circumspect ambassador with any claim to polish. The violence is 99,9 percent Zanu-PF, he says. If there are any Zanu-PF victims — and he says he is not aware of these — these would have earned it by provoking an MDC retaliation!
The man has made up his mind and will not move or be moved by anyone, by anything. He is defiant, and will push aside the police to access any place. Using an arsenal of illegally imported b-gans, he pipes his choreographed encounters to CNN which obliges a line: "Zimbabwe authorities stop American ambassador twice". It is like you have dared ask God why he is called Almighty, you a mere, puny mortal!
Listening to himself
But McGee has some recommendation. People must see a video produced by some organisation called Solidarity Peace Trust clearly showing that Zanu-PF is culpable! You search who this organisation is and, the horror, the horror! It is an NGO registered in South Africa, co-chaired by Pius Ncube and Bishop Rubin Phillip of KwaZulu-Natal Anglican church.
The same Ncube of church sex-scandals, and who accosts America to invade and topple President Mugabe. The same Bishop Rubin who mounts action against Chinese arms shipment to southern African states, including Zimbabwe.
These are avowed enemies of Zanu-PF and unconditional supporters of the MDC, set up and sponsored by the American Government. Why would they have any other motive other than to damn Mugabe, Zanu-PF and Zimbabwe? Why would the American ambassador pretend discovery of material whose gathering and compilation he commissioned through his intelligence officers which his Government has now deployed in industrial quantities, having smelt Zanu-PF blood? Why feign distance?
Calibrated victims
Secondly, who are these victims? Who are the villains? What is this violence? Fundamental questions which fixation with images of torn buttocks is meant to push away. You have villagers who are clearly traumatised, but who have been rounded up and checked into Harare’s most expensive hospital, the Avenues Clinic.
They have even over-spilled to West End clinic. Until now, they were not known. They are not on any medical aid. Until now they would never have dreamt of such first class facilities. They have no money, clearly village wretches, not through the violence which has visited them, but by historical processes which McGee will not want to discuss. But they are in Avenues. They are predominantly women aged between 30 and 40, badly hurt and bruised. Surprisingly, these are calibrated injuries, mostly on buttocks, under feet and backbones. Relatives who visit them are all middle class coxcombs from the city.
They are very aggressive with hospital staff and immediately go quiet when hospital staff are within earshot. Once away, they are in deep discussions with victims, talking deep MDC politics, victims resting their heads on crispy issues of "The Zimbabwean".
Mr McGee, something is not adding up here. After visiting hours, these "relatives" troop out and congregate to swap animated gossip, all political, before disappearing in the direction of Harvest House or some such MDC-connected NGO offices and safe houses.
Dr. Lovemore, I presume?
Much worse, the rags-to-riches kingly victims have been checked in by one Dr. Lovemore, herself historically associated with ZCTU and Amani Trust.
She runs something called Counselling Services Union, again US/UK funded, and positioned just in time for violence we all did not know would come, but which the West predicted and wished through their media networks. More dramatically, Avenues Clinic has a standing contract with Counselling Services Union, clinched well before the poll and the violence!
Most dramatically, Counselling Services Union generously offers to pay admitting hospitals in currency of choice, with Avenues receiving payment in hard currencies. Goodness me! Including Doctors for Human Rights, which is why habitually scarce doctors will be abundant for this one assignment. And they are even keen to set aside rules governing visits to victims.
They will allow you anytime, grant you as much time as you want to get the outrage pasted on Zanu-PF. Come on!
Return of Selous Scouts
Let us not have short memories. We saw this kind of operation during our liberation struggle, did we not? We had Selous Scouts here, did we not? Cruel men of Rhodesia who melted into farming soon after the war. We had the Special Branch here, did we not? Cruel men who melted into civilian outfits soon after.
We had Rhodesia African Rifles, did we not? African askaris who came under the command of white officers the majority of whom were drawn from territorials. And territorials were white farmers. Rhodesia had a small standing army which got boosted from the farms. Have we forgotten that?
Which stupid Zanu-PFsupporter would create a torture base and leave it intact for Mr. McGee to come and inspect for maximum damage against Zanu-PF? Are we not stretching believability?
Has anyone asked why Gutu, Hurungwe, Buhera and Chikomba have become critical for MDC? What was the significance of these districts during the war?
And why is the violence following the zone of resettlement, targeting new farmers, Zanu-PF supporters or MDC turncoats?
Ambassador, are you puzzled by this like all of us? And why do you not visit victims of Mayo and Shamva?
What place do you give to UN reports which indicated MDC was a villain, not just a victim?
Rhodesia’s new war vets?
Why have you not investigated the role and place of white farmers in all this? Have they now found Rhodesia’s war vets in roving MDC thugs they have equipped with vehicles, cameras and crude weaponry, to effect new land occupations?
Are we not seeing MDC’s land policy unfolding ahead of the run-off? You get an MDC youth arrested on scenes of violence. He is unemployed, unkempt.
But he wields an expensive camera, a b-gan, and expensive cellphone with roving facility. The names in it include whites in the UK, America and South Africa, all linked to MDC activism. Those youths, abundantly unsophisticated, uneducated even, have hotlines to BBC and CNN.
How so Mr McGee, Mr Pocock?
So many questions, no one interested in answering them.
Zanu-PF has to be indicted, guilty or not guilty. Sooner than later the link between the violence, a former white now in self-exile and white commercial farmers who drifted back, will be made and Mr McGee shall have a major rethink.
Assuming his mission, conscience and decency are compatible. In the meantime, McGee defies his blackness, his history as a descendant of white atrocities, to become so wonderful, so lovely a white man. Icho!
l Feedback: nathaniel.manheru@zimpapers.co.zw
Remembering 1948 and looking to the future
Ali Abunimah, The Electronic Intifada, May 13, 2008
Twenty-six-year-old Jamila Merhi was forced from her family's home in Akbara village near Safad, Palestine in 1948. Now, 86, she lives in the Shatila refugee camp in Beirut, Lebanon and still holds onto a copy of her family's deed for their land in Palestine. (Matthew Cassel)
This month Israel marks the 60th anniversary of its founding. But amidst the festivities including visits by international celebrities and politicians there is deep unease -- Israel has skeletons in its closet that it has tried hard to hide, and anxieties about an uncertain future which make many Israelis question whether the state will celebrate an 80th birthday.
Official Israel remains in complete denial that the birth it celebrates is inextricably linked with the near destruction of the vibrant Palestinian culture and society that had existed until then. It's not an unfamiliar dilemma for settler states. The United States, where I live, has found that even the passage of centuries cannot absolve a nation from confronting the crimes committed at its founding.
As the noted Israeli historian and staunch Zionist Benny Morris put it in 2004, "a Jewish state would not have come into being without the uprooting of 700,000 Palestinians. Therefore it was necessary to uproot them." He went on, "there are circumstances in history that justify ethnic cleansing."
But if one is not prepared to openly justify ethnic cleansing, there's only two real options: to deny history and take comfort in an airbrushed story that paints Israelis as brave, divinely inspired pioneers in a desert devoid of indigenous people and beset by external enemies, or to own up to the consequences and support the enormous redress needed to bring justice and peace.
Just before Israel's founding, Palestinians of all religions made up two thirds of the settled population of historic Palestine, while Jewish immigrants, recently arrived from Europe, made up most of the rest.
Among those uprooted was my mother, then nine years old. Now living in Amman, she remembers a happy childhood in her native Jerusalem neighborhood of Lifta. My grandfather owned several buildings and many of his tenants were Jews, including the family who rented the downstairs apartment in their house.
Early in 1948 -- before any Arab states' armies got involved -- she and her entire family, indeed all the inhabitants of several neighboring West Jerusalem areas, were forced out by Zionist militias. On 7 February that year, Israel's founding prime minister, David Ben-Gurion told members of his party, "From your entry into Jerusalem, through Lifta-Romema, through Mahane Yehuda, through King George Street and Mea Shearim -- there are no strangers [i.e. Arabs]. One hundred percent Jews." So it was that the Palestinians became "strangers" in the land of their birth.
Since that time millions of refugees and their descendants who lost their homes, farms, groves, livestock, factories, stores, tools, automobiles, bank accounts, art work, insurance policies, furniture and every other possession have lived in exile, many in squalid refugee camps maintained by Israel and Arab states. Over 80 percent of the Palestinians now besieged and starved in the Gaza Strip are refugees from towns now in Israel. But what Palestinians could never be forced to part with -- and this we do celebrate -- is our attachment to our homeland and the determination to see justice done.
Palestinians all over the world are commemorating the start of our ongoing tragedy, but we are also looking forward. We are at an important turning point, where two things are happening at once. First, despite ritual declarations of international support, the prospect of a two-state solution has all but disappeared as Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip are caged into walled reservations by growing Israeli settlements and settler-only roads -- a situation that resembles the bantustans of apartheid South Africa.
Second, despite Israel's efforts to keep Palestinians in check, the Palestinian population living under Israeli rule is about to exceed the five million Israeli Jews. Today there are 3.5 million Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and another 1.5 million Palestinians who are nominally citizens of Israel. Sometimes called "Israeli Arabs," Palestinians in Israel are increasingly restive about their second class status in a Jewish state that regards them as a hostile fifth column. While Palestinians in Israel call for equal rights in a state of all its citizens, some Israeli Jewish politicians threaten them with expulsion to the West Bank, Gaza Strip or beyond.
Official projections show that by 2025, Palestinians, due to their much higher birth rate, will exceed Israeli Jews in the country by two million and though few in the international community have woken up to this reality, a surgical separation between these populations is impossible.
Israeli leaders understand what they are up against; Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said last November: "If the day comes when the two-state solution collapses, and we face a South African-style struggle for equal voting rights, then, as soon as that happens, the State of Israel is finished."
This struggle has already begun as more and more Palestinians, recognizing that statehood is unrealistic, debate and adopt the one-state solution, offering Israelis and Palestinians equal rights in the land they share. Last year, I was part of a group of Palestinians, Israelis and others who published the "One State Declaration." Inspired partly by South Africa's Freedom Charter, we set out principles for a common future in a single democratic state. Most Israelis, unsurprisingly, recoil at comparisons with apartheid South Africa. The good news for them is that the end of apartheid did not bring about the disaster many feared. Rather, it was a new dawn for all the people of the country.
Co-founder of The Electronic Intifada, Ali Abunimah is author of One Country: A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse (Metropolitan Books, 2006). A version of this essay was originally published by The Sydney Morning Herald.
Twenty-six-year-old Jamila Merhi was forced from her family's home in Akbara village near Safad, Palestine in 1948. Now, 86, she lives in the Shatila refugee camp in Beirut, Lebanon and still holds onto a copy of her family's deed for their land in Palestine. (Matthew Cassel) This month Israel marks the 60th anniversary of its founding. But amidst the festivities including visits by international celebrities and politicians there is deep unease -- Israel has skeletons in its closet that it has tried hard to hide, and anxieties about an uncertain future which make many Israelis question whether the state will celebrate an 80th birthday.
Official Israel remains in complete denial that the birth it celebrates is inextricably linked with the near destruction of the vibrant Palestinian culture and society that had existed until then. It's not an unfamiliar dilemma for settler states. The United States, where I live, has found that even the passage of centuries cannot absolve a nation from confronting the crimes committed at its founding.
As the noted Israeli historian and staunch Zionist Benny Morris put it in 2004, "a Jewish state would not have come into being without the uprooting of 700,000 Palestinians. Therefore it was necessary to uproot them." He went on, "there are circumstances in history that justify ethnic cleansing."
But if one is not prepared to openly justify ethnic cleansing, there's only two real options: to deny history and take comfort in an airbrushed story that paints Israelis as brave, divinely inspired pioneers in a desert devoid of indigenous people and beset by external enemies, or to own up to the consequences and support the enormous redress needed to bring justice and peace.
Just before Israel's founding, Palestinians of all religions made up two thirds of the settled population of historic Palestine, while Jewish immigrants, recently arrived from Europe, made up most of the rest.
Among those uprooted was my mother, then nine years old. Now living in Amman, she remembers a happy childhood in her native Jerusalem neighborhood of Lifta. My grandfather owned several buildings and many of his tenants were Jews, including the family who rented the downstairs apartment in their house.
Early in 1948 -- before any Arab states' armies got involved -- she and her entire family, indeed all the inhabitants of several neighboring West Jerusalem areas, were forced out by Zionist militias. On 7 February that year, Israel's founding prime minister, David Ben-Gurion told members of his party, "From your entry into Jerusalem, through Lifta-Romema, through Mahane Yehuda, through King George Street and Mea Shearim -- there are no strangers [i.e. Arabs]. One hundred percent Jews." So it was that the Palestinians became "strangers" in the land of their birth.
Since that time millions of refugees and their descendants who lost their homes, farms, groves, livestock, factories, stores, tools, automobiles, bank accounts, art work, insurance policies, furniture and every other possession have lived in exile, many in squalid refugee camps maintained by Israel and Arab states. Over 80 percent of the Palestinians now besieged and starved in the Gaza Strip are refugees from towns now in Israel. But what Palestinians could never be forced to part with -- and this we do celebrate -- is our attachment to our homeland and the determination to see justice done.
Palestinians all over the world are commemorating the start of our ongoing tragedy, but we are also looking forward. We are at an important turning point, where two things are happening at once. First, despite ritual declarations of international support, the prospect of a two-state solution has all but disappeared as Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip are caged into walled reservations by growing Israeli settlements and settler-only roads -- a situation that resembles the bantustans of apartheid South Africa.
Second, despite Israel's efforts to keep Palestinians in check, the Palestinian population living under Israeli rule is about to exceed the five million Israeli Jews. Today there are 3.5 million Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and another 1.5 million Palestinians who are nominally citizens of Israel. Sometimes called "Israeli Arabs," Palestinians in Israel are increasingly restive about their second class status in a Jewish state that regards them as a hostile fifth column. While Palestinians in Israel call for equal rights in a state of all its citizens, some Israeli Jewish politicians threaten them with expulsion to the West Bank, Gaza Strip or beyond.
Official projections show that by 2025, Palestinians, due to their much higher birth rate, will exceed Israeli Jews in the country by two million and though few in the international community have woken up to this reality, a surgical separation between these populations is impossible.
Israeli leaders understand what they are up against; Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said last November: "If the day comes when the two-state solution collapses, and we face a South African-style struggle for equal voting rights, then, as soon as that happens, the State of Israel is finished."
This struggle has already begun as more and more Palestinians, recognizing that statehood is unrealistic, debate and adopt the one-state solution, offering Israelis and Palestinians equal rights in the land they share. Last year, I was part of a group of Palestinians, Israelis and others who published the "One State Declaration." Inspired partly by South Africa's Freedom Charter, we set out principles for a common future in a single democratic state. Most Israelis, unsurprisingly, recoil at comparisons with apartheid South Africa. The good news for them is that the end of apartheid did not bring about the disaster many feared. Rather, it was a new dawn for all the people of the country.
Co-founder of The Electronic Intifada, Ali Abunimah is author of One Country: A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse (Metropolitan Books, 2006). A version of this essay was originally published by The Sydney Morning Herald.
60 Years of Palestinian Nakbah, or "the Catastrophe"
(from FAQ page at http://www.nakbah1948.org/FAQ.htm)
What is the Nakbah?
The word "nakbah" means "catastrophe" in Arabic. The Palestinian Nakbah refers to the forcible expulsion of nearly 800,000 Palestinians from their homes and properties between 1947 and 1949 by Zionist movement militias, which later became the Israeli army. This expulsion was a part an overall of ethnic cleansing campaign by Israel . Since then, Israel has committed countless human rights violations against the Palestinian people.
How many Palestinian refugees are there?
Today, the original Palestinian refugees and internally displaced persons, as well as their descendants (who are also refugees), number roughly 6.8 million*. For six decades, Israel has consistently refused to allow the Palestinian refugees to return to their homes. During the war of 1967, in which Israel launched an unprovoked attack on its neighbors, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were made refugees, many for the second time.
What happened to the homes and villages of the Palestinians who were expelled?
Between 1947 and the early 1950s, Israel destroyed 675 Palestinian villages. Many Palestinian homes were simply demolished. Others were occupied by Jewish immigrants from other countries. Still others are standing empty today.
Why should Israel let the refugees back?
The right of refugees to return to their homes and properties is a right long guaranteed under international law, as embodied in United Nations General Assembly Resolution 194 of 1949. Israel was admitted as a member of the United Nations on the condition that it implement Resolution 194. And resolutions like General Assembly Resolution 3236 1974 reaffirm the inalienable right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes.
Why won't Israel let the refugees and displaced persons back?
Israel defines itself as a state for the Jewish people, with a large Jewish majority and control of the government in the hands of Jews only. Israel has denied Palestinian refugees their right to return because they are not Jewish. No state in the world has a right to deny people their rights because of religion or ethnicity; no state has a right to be racist.
What about Palestinians who are not refugees or displaced persons?
In addition to the millions of Palestinian refugees and displaced persons, millions of Palestinians live either within the borders of Israel itself or under Israeli occupation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. These Palestinians are continuing to suffer from the effects of the Nakbah as well. Israel denies the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, many of whom are also refugees, even the most basic rights. The Palestinians living within the borders of Israel have more rights than other Palestinians, and many of them are citizens of Israel, but they are also denied equal rights with Israeli Jews. Many people, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa , have called Israel 's denial of Palestinian rights a form of Apartheid.
How is the US contributing to the continuing ethnic cleansing Palestinians?
The US has been Israel 's biggest friend. The US has vetoed almost every United Nations resolution calling on Israel to stop its human rights violations against Palestinians and to allow Palestinian refugees to return. The US also gives billions of our tax dollars in direct and indirect aid every year to Israel . The US government recently announced that it will give Israel $30 billion over the next ten years in military aid alone. Our money is funding Israel 's violations of Palestinians' rights.
What can I do to help?
Educate yourself! Go to some of the Links we have on our Learn More page for a list of useful web sites where you can learn more. Then act! There are many ways you can help, such as by writing to your Senator or Representative that you want the US to stop giving billions of dollars a year of your tax dollars to Israel .
*********************************
Islamic Center of the Triad Youth Committee cordially invites you to protest Al-Nakbeh Day:
60 Years of Occupation
How long has this Israeli Occupation continued? Sixty years! 21900 days! How much we have suffered! How much we have endured! Our children should release 720 balloons on this day of mourning to remember that Israel has killed our children. Generations of our people have been destroyed by this Occupation.
We are planning to release 720 balloons representing the 720 months of the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Land.
Time: 6pm - 7:30pm
Location: Corner of Holden Rd. and Highpoint Rd., Greensboro, NC
(Look for The Palestinian Flags)
Date: Thursday, May 15th 2008
For more information please call:
Samia Zitawi (336) 749 -7721
Ameed Nabulsi (336) 323 - 0277
What is the Nakbah?
The word "nakbah" means "catastrophe" in Arabic. The Palestinian Nakbah refers to the forcible expulsion of nearly 800,000 Palestinians from their homes and properties between 1947 and 1949 by Zionist movement militias, which later became the Israeli army. This expulsion was a part an overall of ethnic cleansing campaign by Israel . Since then, Israel has committed countless human rights violations against the Palestinian people.
How many Palestinian refugees are there?
Today, the original Palestinian refugees and internally displaced persons, as well as their descendants (who are also refugees), number roughly 6.8 million*. For six decades, Israel has consistently refused to allow the Palestinian refugees to return to their homes. During the war of 1967, in which Israel launched an unprovoked attack on its neighbors, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were made refugees, many for the second time.
What happened to the homes and villages of the Palestinians who were expelled?
Between 1947 and the early 1950s, Israel destroyed 675 Palestinian villages. Many Palestinian homes were simply demolished. Others were occupied by Jewish immigrants from other countries. Still others are standing empty today.
Why should Israel let the refugees back?
The right of refugees to return to their homes and properties is a right long guaranteed under international law, as embodied in United Nations General Assembly Resolution 194 of 1949. Israel was admitted as a member of the United Nations on the condition that it implement Resolution 194. And resolutions like General Assembly Resolution 3236 1974 reaffirm the inalienable right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes.
Why won't Israel let the refugees and displaced persons back?
Israel defines itself as a state for the Jewish people, with a large Jewish majority and control of the government in the hands of Jews only. Israel has denied Palestinian refugees their right to return because they are not Jewish. No state in the world has a right to deny people their rights because of religion or ethnicity; no state has a right to be racist.
What about Palestinians who are not refugees or displaced persons?
In addition to the millions of Palestinian refugees and displaced persons, millions of Palestinians live either within the borders of Israel itself or under Israeli occupation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. These Palestinians are continuing to suffer from the effects of the Nakbah as well. Israel denies the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, many of whom are also refugees, even the most basic rights. The Palestinians living within the borders of Israel have more rights than other Palestinians, and many of them are citizens of Israel, but they are also denied equal rights with Israeli Jews. Many people, including Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa , have called Israel 's denial of Palestinian rights a form of Apartheid.
How is the US contributing to the continuing ethnic cleansing Palestinians?
The US has been Israel 's biggest friend. The US has vetoed almost every United Nations resolution calling on Israel to stop its human rights violations against Palestinians and to allow Palestinian refugees to return. The US also gives billions of our tax dollars in direct and indirect aid every year to Israel . The US government recently announced that it will give Israel $30 billion over the next ten years in military aid alone. Our money is funding Israel 's violations of Palestinians' rights.
What can I do to help?
Educate yourself! Go to some of the Links we have on our Learn More page for a list of useful web sites where you can learn more. Then act! There are many ways you can help, such as by writing to your Senator or Representative that you want the US to stop giving billions of dollars a year of your tax dollars to Israel .
*********************************
Islamic Center of the Triad Youth Committee cordially invites you to protest Al-Nakbeh Day:
60 Years of Occupation
How long has this Israeli Occupation continued? Sixty years! 21900 days! How much we have suffered! How much we have endured! Our children should release 720 balloons on this day of mourning to remember that Israel has killed our children. Generations of our people have been destroyed by this Occupation.
We are planning to release 720 balloons representing the 720 months of the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Land.
Time: 6pm - 7:30pm
Location: Corner of Holden Rd. and Highpoint Rd., Greensboro, NC
(Look for The Palestinian Flags)
Date: Thursday, May 15th 2008
For more information please call:
Samia Zitawi (336) 749 -7721
Ameed Nabulsi (336) 323 - 0277
Winter Soldiers go to Capitol Hill this Thursday
This Thursday, May 15th, for the first time since the Iraq war began, boots-on-the-ground veterans will testify, under oath, before Congress about the effects of the occupation. Members of Iraq Veterans Against the War will present their testimony to the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
Why May 15th matters: House and Senate voting on war funding
This testimony comes at a critical time – on the same day as IVAW members will be describing the true costs of the war, Congress is likely to vote on the next appropriations bill to extend funding for the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan into 2009.
What you can do: connect the dots
Congress has heard from the Generals, and they've heard from the politicians, but before they vote to continue the occupation of Iraq, tell them that they need to hear from the eyewitnesses who have seen the results first hand.
Call your congressional representatives right now and tell them to listen to Thursday's testimony before they vote. More information is available on the Winter Soldier on the Hill page.
House contact information and Senate contact information.
IVAW Members Testify At Whistleblower Hearing
On Wednesday, May 14th, four members of IVAW will testify about retaliatory harassment they have experienced as members of the military during the Congressional No Fear Tribunal, which is being sponsored by the No Fear Institute, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, and Senator Charles Grassley. There will be two hearings on May 14th: one in the morning at the Rayburn House Office Building, and one in the afternoon at the Hart Senate Office Building. The goal of the hearings is to gather information about discrimination and reprisal against whistleblowers.
IVAW members will be sharing their personal stories and advocating for legislation that would prevent and/or hold accountable military commands that punish members of the military for speaking out within their rights. Adam Kokesh will discuss the downgrading of discharges and harassment of members of the Marine Corps IRR (Individual Ready Reserve) who have spoken out, including his story, and those of Cloy Richards and Liam Madden. Geoff Millard will testify to threats and harassment he received as a member of the New York National Guard. Mark Wilkerson will discuss the harassment he received while attempting to get his CO (Conscientious Objector) status approved. Thomas J Buonomo will testify about being involuntarily discharged from the Army after sending letters to his Congressional representatives. These four IVAW members will be joined by attorney Mike Lebowitz, a reserve JAG officer and Iraq veteran who specializes in military free speech issues.
For more information, please see w3conference.org.
For more info & IVAW updates see http://www.ivaw.org
Why May 15th matters: House and Senate voting on war funding
This testimony comes at a critical time – on the same day as IVAW members will be describing the true costs of the war, Congress is likely to vote on the next appropriations bill to extend funding for the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan into 2009.
What you can do: connect the dots
Congress has heard from the Generals, and they've heard from the politicians, but before they vote to continue the occupation of Iraq, tell them that they need to hear from the eyewitnesses who have seen the results first hand.
Call your congressional representatives right now and tell them to listen to Thursday's testimony before they vote. More information is available on the Winter Soldier on the Hill page.
House contact information and Senate contact information.
IVAW Members Testify At Whistleblower Hearing
On Wednesday, May 14th, four members of IVAW will testify about retaliatory harassment they have experienced as members of the military during the Congressional No Fear Tribunal, which is being sponsored by the No Fear Institute, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, and Senator Charles Grassley. There will be two hearings on May 14th: one in the morning at the Rayburn House Office Building, and one in the afternoon at the Hart Senate Office Building. The goal of the hearings is to gather information about discrimination and reprisal against whistleblowers.
IVAW members will be sharing their personal stories and advocating for legislation that would prevent and/or hold accountable military commands that punish members of the military for speaking out within their rights. Adam Kokesh will discuss the downgrading of discharges and harassment of members of the Marine Corps IRR (Individual Ready Reserve) who have spoken out, including his story, and those of Cloy Richards and Liam Madden. Geoff Millard will testify to threats and harassment he received as a member of the New York National Guard. Mark Wilkerson will discuss the harassment he received while attempting to get his CO (Conscientious Objector) status approved. Thomas J Buonomo will testify about being involuntarily discharged from the Army after sending letters to his Congressional representatives. These four IVAW members will be joined by attorney Mike Lebowitz, a reserve JAG officer and Iraq veteran who specializes in military free speech issues.
For more information, please see w3conference.org.
For more info & IVAW updates see http://www.ivaw.org
Ret. Col. Ann Wright in Charlotte, NC for Book Signing
Ret. Col. Ann Wright in Charlotte, NC for Book Signing
Monday, May 19, 2008
5:00 pm to 6:00 pm
Park Road Books
4139 Park Road
Park Road Shopping Center
Charlotte, NC 28209
Ret. Col Ann Wright will be in Charlotte to promote her new book “DISSENT – Voices Of Conscience” co-authored with Susan Dixon with a foreword by Daniel Ellsburg. See Ann Wright and Daniel Ellsberg reading from Dissent: Voices of Conscience on C-SPAN Book TV
“When the actions of government become dangerous to the security of the nation, it takes a special courage for men and women inside the government to speak out. If we care about keeping democracy alive, we must welcome this book."
—Howard Zinn, author of A People’s History of the U.S.
During the run-up to war in Iraq, Army Colonel (Ret.) and diplomat Ann Wright resigned her State Department post. She was one among dozens of government insiders and active-duty military personnel who leaked documents, spoke out, resigned, or refused to deploy in protest of government actions they felt were illegal. In Dissent: Voices of Conscience, Ann Wright and Susan Dixon tell the stories of these men and women, who risked careers, reputations, and even freedom out of loyalty to the Constitution and the rule of law.
"This … illuminating and remarkably impressive … book should be leaked into the government. … This book could awaken … officials to withdraw their complicity and … tell the truth to [the public]. This country will not escape further human, legal, and moral catastrophes, or preserve itself as a democratic, constitutional republic, if that does not happen. If you're at all like me, you will have a whole set of new heroes when you finish reading this. …Dissent: Voices of Conscience could change your life." — from the Foreword, by Daniel Ellsberg
"Voices of conscience are usually smothered in spin. That the stories of these heroes are recorded here gives me great hope and shows that it is still possible to do the right thing."—Ray McGovern, Retired CIA Analyst and Presidential Briefer for George H. W. Bush
"As a soldier and a diplomat, Ann Wright always placed her country, its direction, and its welfare at the top of her priority list. She is, without question, one of the most honest and ethical individuals I have been privileged to know. I salute Ann Wright and the powerful voices of truth heard in Dissent."
—Brigadier General (Ret.) Pat Foote, Former Commanding General, Fort Belvoir, Virginia
Ann Wright is not one to be silenced. —Ms. Magazineoote
"Ann Wright is an American hero. She has shown immense bravery and resolve in her quest for peace. For her energy and commitment to peace, justice, and strengthening democratic principles, Ann Wright has earned the first annual Truthout Freedom and Democracy Award.”
– Victoria Harper, truthout.org
"Truthout has traveled the country covering the anti-war movement, and wherever we go, Ann Wright is there providing steady leadership. We recently announced that Ann was one of three recipients of our first annual Freedom and Democracy Award. I'm sure I will see her soon. Wherever there is an important event calling for peace, Ann Wright will be there, leading by example."
—Scott Galindez, truthout.org.
Buy the book at http://www.amazon.com/Dissent-Voices-Conscience-Ann-Wright/dp/0977333841.
Ann Wright will also be on WFAE’s Charlotte Talks on 90.7 FM on May 20th from 9 AM - 10 AM.
Monday, May 19, 2008
5:00 pm to 6:00 pm
Park Road Books
4139 Park Road
Park Road Shopping Center
Charlotte, NC 28209
Ret. Col Ann Wright will be in Charlotte to promote her new book “DISSENT – Voices Of Conscience” co-authored with Susan Dixon with a foreword by Daniel Ellsburg. See Ann Wright and Daniel Ellsberg reading from Dissent: Voices of Conscience on C-SPAN Book TV
“When the actions of government become dangerous to the security of the nation, it takes a special courage for men and women inside the government to speak out. If we care about keeping democracy alive, we must welcome this book."
—Howard Zinn, author of A People’s History of the U.S.
During the run-up to war in Iraq, Army Colonel (Ret.) and diplomat Ann Wright resigned her State Department post. She was one among dozens of government insiders and active-duty military personnel who leaked documents, spoke out, resigned, or refused to deploy in protest of government actions they felt were illegal. In Dissent: Voices of Conscience, Ann Wright and Susan Dixon tell the stories of these men and women, who risked careers, reputations, and even freedom out of loyalty to the Constitution and the rule of law.
"This … illuminating and remarkably impressive … book should be leaked into the government. … This book could awaken … officials to withdraw their complicity and … tell the truth to [the public]. This country will not escape further human, legal, and moral catastrophes, or preserve itself as a democratic, constitutional republic, if that does not happen. If you're at all like me, you will have a whole set of new heroes when you finish reading this. …Dissent: Voices of Conscience could change your life." — from the Foreword, by Daniel Ellsberg
"Voices of conscience are usually smothered in spin. That the stories of these heroes are recorded here gives me great hope and shows that it is still possible to do the right thing."—Ray McGovern, Retired CIA Analyst and Presidential Briefer for George H. W. Bush
"As a soldier and a diplomat, Ann Wright always placed her country, its direction, and its welfare at the top of her priority list. She is, without question, one of the most honest and ethical individuals I have been privileged to know. I salute Ann Wright and the powerful voices of truth heard in Dissent."
—Brigadier General (Ret.) Pat Foote, Former Commanding General, Fort Belvoir, Virginia
Ann Wright is not one to be silenced. —Ms. Magazineoote
"Ann Wright is an American hero. She has shown immense bravery and resolve in her quest for peace. For her energy and commitment to peace, justice, and strengthening democratic principles, Ann Wright has earned the first annual Truthout Freedom and Democracy Award.”
– Victoria Harper, truthout.org
"Truthout has traveled the country covering the anti-war movement, and wherever we go, Ann Wright is there providing steady leadership. We recently announced that Ann was one of three recipients of our first annual Freedom and Democracy Award. I'm sure I will see her soon. Wherever there is an important event calling for peace, Ann Wright will be there, leading by example."
—Scott Galindez, truthout.org.
Buy the book at http://www.amazon.com/Dissent-Voices-Conscience-Ann-Wright/dp/0977333841.
Ann Wright will also be on WFAE’s Charlotte Talks on 90.7 FM on May 20th from 9 AM - 10 AM.
Sun, May 18 Al Nakba Palestinian Concert
Sun, May 18 Al Nakba Palestinian Concert at 1pm at NC State University Witherspoon Student Cinema (corner of Cates and Dan Allen drive), Raleigh, NC
Concert for a Free Palestine!
To commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the Al Nakba (Palestinian Catastrophe of 1948 land-seizure and genocide), the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation has organized for the Sound of Reason to play at NC State Witherspoon Cinema.
Come listen to pro-Palestinian music and view slide show of the Al-Nakba and the Palestinian struggle. May 15 is the actual day that marks 60 years of Al-Nakba ("The Catastrophe") when 800,000 Palestinians were forcibly expelled from their homes by the Zionist invading forces.
Join us to learn about:
- the theft of Palestine in 1947-48, the genocide waged against Palestinians, the destruction of over 450 Palestinian villages, the dispossession of over 750,000 Palestinian refugees
- the struggle of over six million Palestinian refugees to return home
- the ongoing Nakba in Palestine: the attempts to dismantle the right to return, the siege on Gaza, the assaults on Palestinians in the occupied 48 lands, in the West Bank and Gaza and in exile
- the ongoing steadfastness and resistance of the Palestinian people in struggle for return, national liberation and self-determination
and to find out how you can be part of exciting initiatives in the struggle for Palestine!
Join us for an unforgettable evening of commemoration, music, discussion and solidarity
MAS-Freedom, NC
www.masfreedom-nc.org
This event is co-sponsored by the NC State University Student Worker Alliance
Concert for a Free Palestine!
To commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the Al Nakba (Palestinian Catastrophe of 1948 land-seizure and genocide), the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation has organized for the Sound of Reason to play at NC State Witherspoon Cinema.
Come listen to pro-Palestinian music and view slide show of the Al-Nakba and the Palestinian struggle. May 15 is the actual day that marks 60 years of Al-Nakba ("The Catastrophe") when 800,000 Palestinians were forcibly expelled from their homes by the Zionist invading forces.
Join us to learn about:
- the theft of Palestine in 1947-48, the genocide waged against Palestinians, the destruction of over 450 Palestinian villages, the dispossession of over 750,000 Palestinian refugees
- the struggle of over six million Palestinian refugees to return home
- the ongoing Nakba in Palestine: the attempts to dismantle the right to return, the siege on Gaza, the assaults on Palestinians in the occupied 48 lands, in the West Bank and Gaza and in exile
- the ongoing steadfastness and resistance of the Palestinian people in struggle for return, national liberation and self-determination
and to find out how you can be part of exciting initiatives in the struggle for Palestine!
Join us for an unforgettable evening of commemoration, music, discussion and solidarity
MAS-Freedom, NC
www.masfreedom-nc.org
This event is co-sponsored by the NC State University Student Worker Alliance
Tues., May 27 Men to Men – Heart to Heart Sessions
Tues., May 27 Men to Men – Heart to Heart Sessions 6:30PM-8:30PM at The Coffee Cup, 301 S. McDowell St (Cameron Brown Building), Charlotte. Traditionally men have learned to suffer in silence. Join us as we discuss ways to with life’s challenges by creating an environment where men are encouraged to engage in heartfelt discussions that lead to more meaningful relationships…primarily with self. $10 donation includes food. For more info & to RSVP see www.creative-interchange.com or call 704-537-1533.
Fri., May 30 Clash of Civilizations, "A Historic Perspective" Lecture
Fri., May 30 Clash of Civilizations, "A Historic Perspective" Lecture given by
Jonathan Berkey, Professor of History at Davidson College at 7:00pm at International House, 322 Hawthorne Lane, Charlotte, NC 28204. Jonathan Berkey (BA Williams; MA, PhD Princeton) is Professor of History at Davidson College, where he teaches the history of Islam and the Middle East from the seventh century to the present day. His research interests focus on medieval religious and cultural history. Professor Berkey has many publications that include "The Formation of Islam: Religion and Society in the Near East, 600-1800" (Cambridge University Press, 2003), which was awarded the Albert Hourani Book Prize by the Middle East Studies Association of North America.
For more information, please call: International House at 704-333-8099 www.ihclt.org and Middle East Council of the Carolinas www.middleeastcouncilnc.org c/o International House, 322 Hawthorne Lane
Charlotte, NC 28204.
Jonathan Berkey, Professor of History at Davidson College at 7:00pm at International House, 322 Hawthorne Lane, Charlotte, NC 28204. Jonathan Berkey (BA Williams; MA, PhD Princeton) is Professor of History at Davidson College, where he teaches the history of Islam and the Middle East from the seventh century to the present day. His research interests focus on medieval religious and cultural history. Professor Berkey has many publications that include "The Formation of Islam: Religion and Society in the Near East, 600-1800" (Cambridge University Press, 2003), which was awarded the Albert Hourani Book Prize by the Middle East Studies Association of North America.
For more information, please call: International House at 704-333-8099 www.ihclt.org and Middle East Council of the Carolinas www.middleeastcouncilnc.org c/o International House, 322 Hawthorne Lane
Charlotte, NC 28204.
Hezbollah gunmen seize control of Beirut neighborhoods
BASSEM MROUE, AP, May 9, 2008
BEIRUT, Lebanon - Shiite Hezbollah gunmen seized nearly all of the Lebanese capital's Muslim sector from Sunni foes loyal to the U.S.-backed government on Friday in the country's worst sectarian clashes since the 15-year civil war.
At least 11 people have been killed and more than 20 wounded in three days of street battles in West Beirut between the Iranian- and Syrian-backed Hezbollah fighters and gunmen to the government, security officials said.
The satellite TV station affiliated with the party of Lebanon's top Sunni lawmaker, Saad Hariri, was forced off the air. Gunmen set the offices of the party's newspaper, Al-Mustaqbal, on fire in the coastal neighborhood of Ramlet el-Bayda.
Hariri and Druse leader Walid Jumblatt were besieged in their West Beirut residences. Prime Minister Fuad Saniora and several ministers holed up in Saniora's downtown office surrounded by troops and police.
Gunmen loyal to the Syrian Social Nationalist Party set ablaze a two-story building where Hariri's Future TV has its archives in the western neighborhood of Rawche, about 100 yards from the Saudi embassy. The secular pro-Syrian group, a longtime ally of Hezbollah, has dozens of its own gunmen in the streets.
A rocket-propelled grenade hit the fence of Hariri's heavily protected residence, security officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to speak to the media.
Pro-government majority officials held an emergency meeting in a mountain town in the Christian heartland northeast of Beirut, according to LBC TV, a pro-government Christian station.
"Even if Hezbollah's militia took everything we remain the constitutional authority," Cabinet Minister Ahmed Fatfat told Al-Arabiya TV from Saniora's compound.
The unrest shut down Lebanon's international airport and barricades set up by both side closed major highways. The seaport also was closed, leaving one land route to Syria as Lebanon's only link to the outside world.
Arab foreign ministers called an emergency meeting for Sunday in Cairo, Egypt to discuss the crisis, Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki said.
About 100 Shiite Hezbollah militants wearing camouflage uniforms and carrying assault rifles marched down Hamra Street, a normally vibrant commercial strip in a mainly Sunni area of Beirut. They took up positions in corners and sidewalks and stopped the few cars braving the empty streets to search their trunks.
On nearby streets, dozens of fighters from another Hezbollah-allied party appeared, some wearing masks and carrying rocket-propelled grenade launchers.
Lebanon's army, which has stayed out of the sectarian political squabbling that has paralyzed the country for more than a year, did not intervene in the clashes, which had largely tapered off into sporadic gunfire by early afternoon.
Troops then began taking up positions in some Sunni neighborhoods abandoned by the pro-government groups. A senior security official said the army would soon take over the Sunnis' last stronghold of Tarik Jadideh.
In some cases Hezbollah handed over newly won positions to Lebanese troops.
The sectarian tensions are fueled in part by the rivalry between predominantly Shiite Iran which sponsors Hezbollah, and Sunni Arab countries like Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
The leaders of Syria, Hezbollah's other major backer, and Qatar, which supports the Lebanese government, met in Damascus and Syria's official news agency said both agreed the conflict was an internal affair and hoped the feuding parties would find a solution through dialogue.
France's Foreign Ministry said an evacuation of its citizens in Lebanon was not planned, but warned against travel to the country.
In an online briefing, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Pascale Andreani called on French nationals in Lebanon to act with the "utmost prudence."
The Lebanese government, which is allied with the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, has only a slim majority in parliament. The two sides have been locked in a power struggle that has kept government at a standstill and the country without a president since November.
The eruption of the long-simmering tensions appeared to be triggered by the government's decision this week to confront Hezbollah by declaring its private communications network illegal and replacing the Beirut airport security chief for alleged ties to the militants.
Hezbollah first blocked roads in Beirut on Wednesday. Confrontations quickly spread and became more violent. Factions threw up roadblocks and checkpoints dividing Beirut into sectarian enclaves, and the chattering of automatic weapons and thumps of rocket-propelled grenades echoed across the city overnight.
Street clashes exploded into gunbattles in parts of Beirut on Thursday afternoon after Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah accused Lebanon's Western-backed government of declaring war on his group. It was the militant leader's strongest comments since Lebanon's political crisis erupted 17 months ago.
Hariri later went on television urging Hezbollah to pull its fighters back and "save Lebanon from hell." He proposed a compromise that would involve the army, one of the sole national institutions respected by Lebanon's long deadlocked factions.
But Hezbollah and its allies swiftly rejected the offer.
Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war left 150,000 dead and much of the city devastated and carved into warring sectarian enclaves.
___
Associated Press writer Scheherezade Faramarzi contributed to this report.
BEIRUT, Lebanon - Shiite Hezbollah gunmen seized nearly all of the Lebanese capital's Muslim sector from Sunni foes loyal to the U.S.-backed government on Friday in the country's worst sectarian clashes since the 15-year civil war.
At least 11 people have been killed and more than 20 wounded in three days of street battles in West Beirut between the Iranian- and Syrian-backed Hezbollah fighters and gunmen to the government, security officials said.
The satellite TV station affiliated with the party of Lebanon's top Sunni lawmaker, Saad Hariri, was forced off the air. Gunmen set the offices of the party's newspaper, Al-Mustaqbal, on fire in the coastal neighborhood of Ramlet el-Bayda.
Hariri and Druse leader Walid Jumblatt were besieged in their West Beirut residences. Prime Minister Fuad Saniora and several ministers holed up in Saniora's downtown office surrounded by troops and police.
Gunmen loyal to the Syrian Social Nationalist Party set ablaze a two-story building where Hariri's Future TV has its archives in the western neighborhood of Rawche, about 100 yards from the Saudi embassy. The secular pro-Syrian group, a longtime ally of Hezbollah, has dozens of its own gunmen in the streets.
A rocket-propelled grenade hit the fence of Hariri's heavily protected residence, security officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to speak to the media.
Pro-government majority officials held an emergency meeting in a mountain town in the Christian heartland northeast of Beirut, according to LBC TV, a pro-government Christian station.
"Even if Hezbollah's militia took everything we remain the constitutional authority," Cabinet Minister Ahmed Fatfat told Al-Arabiya TV from Saniora's compound.
The unrest shut down Lebanon's international airport and barricades set up by both side closed major highways. The seaport also was closed, leaving one land route to Syria as Lebanon's only link to the outside world.
Arab foreign ministers called an emergency meeting for Sunday in Cairo, Egypt to discuss the crisis, Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki said.
About 100 Shiite Hezbollah militants wearing camouflage uniforms and carrying assault rifles marched down Hamra Street, a normally vibrant commercial strip in a mainly Sunni area of Beirut. They took up positions in corners and sidewalks and stopped the few cars braving the empty streets to search their trunks.
On nearby streets, dozens of fighters from another Hezbollah-allied party appeared, some wearing masks and carrying rocket-propelled grenade launchers.
Lebanon's army, which has stayed out of the sectarian political squabbling that has paralyzed the country for more than a year, did not intervene in the clashes, which had largely tapered off into sporadic gunfire by early afternoon.
Troops then began taking up positions in some Sunni neighborhoods abandoned by the pro-government groups. A senior security official said the army would soon take over the Sunnis' last stronghold of Tarik Jadideh.
In some cases Hezbollah handed over newly won positions to Lebanese troops.
The sectarian tensions are fueled in part by the rivalry between predominantly Shiite Iran which sponsors Hezbollah, and Sunni Arab countries like Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
The leaders of Syria, Hezbollah's other major backer, and Qatar, which supports the Lebanese government, met in Damascus and Syria's official news agency said both agreed the conflict was an internal affair and hoped the feuding parties would find a solution through dialogue.
France's Foreign Ministry said an evacuation of its citizens in Lebanon was not planned, but warned against travel to the country.
In an online briefing, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Pascale Andreani called on French nationals in Lebanon to act with the "utmost prudence."
The Lebanese government, which is allied with the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, has only a slim majority in parliament. The two sides have been locked in a power struggle that has kept government at a standstill and the country without a president since November.
The eruption of the long-simmering tensions appeared to be triggered by the government's decision this week to confront Hezbollah by declaring its private communications network illegal and replacing the Beirut airport security chief for alleged ties to the militants.
Hezbollah first blocked roads in Beirut on Wednesday. Confrontations quickly spread and became more violent. Factions threw up roadblocks and checkpoints dividing Beirut into sectarian enclaves, and the chattering of automatic weapons and thumps of rocket-propelled grenades echoed across the city overnight.
Street clashes exploded into gunbattles in parts of Beirut on Thursday afternoon after Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah accused Lebanon's Western-backed government of declaring war on his group. It was the militant leader's strongest comments since Lebanon's political crisis erupted 17 months ago.
Hariri later went on television urging Hezbollah to pull its fighters back and "save Lebanon from hell." He proposed a compromise that would involve the army, one of the sole national institutions respected by Lebanon's long deadlocked factions.
But Hezbollah and its allies swiftly rejected the offer.
Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war left 150,000 dead and much of the city devastated and carved into warring sectarian enclaves.
___
Associated Press writer Scheherezade Faramarzi contributed to this report.
Opponents: Israeli PM should resign over allegations
MATTI FRIEDMAN, AP, May 9, 2008
JERUSALEM - Ehud Olmert's political opponents demanded his resignation Friday, saying new allegations that the Israeli prime minister illegally accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars from a U.S. citizen render him unfit for the country's top job.
Olmert said in a nationally television speech Thursday that he never took illegal campaign contributions but if indicted, he would resign.
But some Israeli lawmakers said the new investigation was reason enough for him to leave office. The investigation is the fifth opened into Olmert's activities since he took office in 2006.
Olmert's legal troubles are diverting his attention from running the country, and "a state like Israel, with an existential threat, needs a full-time prime minister," said Arieh Eldad of the hardline National Union party.
"We need a much better leader at this time, and Israel should go to general elections in order to replace him with a better government," Eldad said.
Eldad's call was echoed by other politicians from opposition parties and by a small number of lawmakers who belong to Olmert's governing coalition.
Shelly Yacimovich of the Labor Party, a junior partner in the government, said Labor "cannot remain in the same coalition with a prime minister tarnished by such deep corruption." Labor's departure, a possibility that still appears remote, would bring Olmert's government down.
According to police suspicions, Olmert accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in illegal contributions from American Jewish businessman Morris "Moshe" Talansky before becoming prime minister. In his speech Thursday, Olmert denied the charges. He said a lawyer handled his finances and insisted everything was legal.
"I am looking all of you in the eye, and I say I never took bribes, I never took a penny for myself," Olmert said.
Yoel Hasson, a lawmaker from Olmert's party, said he accepted Olmert's version of events.
"You don't topple and replace governments or prime ministers because of allegations and investigations," Hasson said.
But Olmert also said he will not fight to stay in office if he is formally charged.
"Even though the law does not require me to do this, I will resign from my job if the attorney general decides to issue an indictment against me," he said.
Olmert said Talansky had made contributions to him for two Jerusalem mayoral campaigns, one campaign for chairman of the Likud Party and another to cover campaign debt retroactively.
Olmert's speech, and the court's decision to lift the gag order on the case that first came to light about a week ago, came as Israelis celebrated their nation's 60th anniversary.
Talansky's attorney, Jack Chen, declined a request Friday to interview his client and would not comment on the case.
Talansky told Channel Two on Thursday that he was in Israel visiting family for the Passover holiday when he was called in for questioning. He said he was "baffled" by the case and that he did nothing wrong.
Referring to his relationship with Olmert, he said, "We are very, very friendly and I used to meet him all the time at dinners in New York."
The allegations threaten to further weaken Olmert's hold on power and potentially torpedo formal peace talks with the Palestinians launched in November at a U.S.-hosted Mideast peace conference at Annapolis, Md.
The White House said the case would not alter President Bush's planned visit to Israel next week, calling the investigation "a matter for the Israeli judicial system."
But at one cafe in downtown Jerusalem, several patrons said Friday that Olmert should step down.
"I'll tell you the truth — when I see the newspapers and listen to the radio, it's not good, not good," said Avraham Fixler, a pub manager. "He should be a gentleman and go home."
Olmert was elected prime minister in 2006. He is a suspect in several corruption affairs involving real estate deals and questionable political appointments. He has been questioned several times in the past by police but has never been convicted.
Moshe Negbi, an Israeli legal expert, told Israel Radio that Olmert could get seven years in jail if convicted of taking bribes.
JERUSALEM - Ehud Olmert's political opponents demanded his resignation Friday, saying new allegations that the Israeli prime minister illegally accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars from a U.S. citizen render him unfit for the country's top job.
Olmert said in a nationally television speech Thursday that he never took illegal campaign contributions but if indicted, he would resign.
But some Israeli lawmakers said the new investigation was reason enough for him to leave office. The investigation is the fifth opened into Olmert's activities since he took office in 2006.
Olmert's legal troubles are diverting his attention from running the country, and "a state like Israel, with an existential threat, needs a full-time prime minister," said Arieh Eldad of the hardline National Union party.
"We need a much better leader at this time, and Israel should go to general elections in order to replace him with a better government," Eldad said.
Eldad's call was echoed by other politicians from opposition parties and by a small number of lawmakers who belong to Olmert's governing coalition.
Shelly Yacimovich of the Labor Party, a junior partner in the government, said Labor "cannot remain in the same coalition with a prime minister tarnished by such deep corruption." Labor's departure, a possibility that still appears remote, would bring Olmert's government down.
According to police suspicions, Olmert accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in illegal contributions from American Jewish businessman Morris "Moshe" Talansky before becoming prime minister. In his speech Thursday, Olmert denied the charges. He said a lawyer handled his finances and insisted everything was legal.
"I am looking all of you in the eye, and I say I never took bribes, I never took a penny for myself," Olmert said.
Yoel Hasson, a lawmaker from Olmert's party, said he accepted Olmert's version of events.
"You don't topple and replace governments or prime ministers because of allegations and investigations," Hasson said.
But Olmert also said he will not fight to stay in office if he is formally charged.
"Even though the law does not require me to do this, I will resign from my job if the attorney general decides to issue an indictment against me," he said.
Olmert said Talansky had made contributions to him for two Jerusalem mayoral campaigns, one campaign for chairman of the Likud Party and another to cover campaign debt retroactively.
Olmert's speech, and the court's decision to lift the gag order on the case that first came to light about a week ago, came as Israelis celebrated their nation's 60th anniversary.
Talansky's attorney, Jack Chen, declined a request Friday to interview his client and would not comment on the case.
Talansky told Channel Two on Thursday that he was in Israel visiting family for the Passover holiday when he was called in for questioning. He said he was "baffled" by the case and that he did nothing wrong.
Referring to his relationship with Olmert, he said, "We are very, very friendly and I used to meet him all the time at dinners in New York."
The allegations threaten to further weaken Olmert's hold on power and potentially torpedo formal peace talks with the Palestinians launched in November at a U.S.-hosted Mideast peace conference at Annapolis, Md.
The White House said the case would not alter President Bush's planned visit to Israel next week, calling the investigation "a matter for the Israeli judicial system."
But at one cafe in downtown Jerusalem, several patrons said Friday that Olmert should step down.
"I'll tell you the truth — when I see the newspapers and listen to the radio, it's not good, not good," said Avraham Fixler, a pub manager. "He should be a gentleman and go home."
Olmert was elected prime minister in 2006. He is a suspect in several corruption affairs involving real estate deals and questionable political appointments. He has been questioned several times in the past by police but has never been convicted.
Moshe Negbi, an Israeli legal expert, told Israel Radio that Olmert could get seven years in jail if convicted of taking bribes.
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