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Headlines for July 09, 2009
U.S. Drones Kill 45 in Pakistan
At least 45 people were killed Wednesday in two U.S. drone attacks in Pakistan’s South Waziristan region. It was the second consecutive day of U.S. drone attacks inside Pakistan and the sixth attack in just over two weeks.
50 Killed in Iraq Bombings
In Iraq, more than fifty people have been killed in separate bombing attacks. At least 34 people died and 60 were wounded in a double suicide attack in the northern town of Talafar. Another seven people were killed and around 20 injured when bombs struck the Sadr City district of Baghdad. Sixteen people were also killed in twin bombings in Mosul.
25 Die in Afghan Bombings
Meanwhile in Afghanistan, at least 25 people have been killed in a bombing south of Kabul. Sixteen students and four police were among the dead.
Mullen Foresees “Long Relationship” With Afghanistan
The violence comes as the Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen said Wednesday he foresees a long-term U.S. occupation of Afghanistan. Mullen spoke Wednesday at the National Press Club in Washington.
Adm. Mike Mullen: “My expectation is that we will have a long-term relationship. When I get asked about time, the best number I can give you is I believe we have to start to turn the tide with respect to the Taliban in the next twelve to eighteen months. And I believe the forces we have, the strategy we have, the approach we have, will allow us to do that.”
U.S. Awards Lucrative 5-Year Military Contracts in Afghanistan
Mullen’s comments come as the U.S. is further entrenching its corporate presence in Afghanistan. The Pentagon has awarded war contractors DynCorp and Fluor Corp five-year deals worth up to $7.5 billion dollars. The companies will provide ‘support and logisitics’ at U.S. military bases across Afghanistan. Another major war contractor, KBR, says it may challenge its exclusion from the deal.
G8 Fails to Agree on Emissions Cuts
The world’s top industrial nations have failed to agree on a proposal to sharply cut the production of greenhouses gases. Instead, G8 leaders meeting in Italy pledged Wednesday to prevent global temperatures from rising more than three point six degrees Fahrenheit above the average levels of more than a century ago. The pledge was made with no enforcement mechanisms to ensure its met. It came after India and China, who aren’t G8 members, refused to endorse a proposal to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Developing nations have argued they shouldn’t have to make the same cuts as richer nations because they require more energy to improve their economies and combat poverty. Alden Meyer of the Union of Concerned Scientists criticized the outcome.
Alden Meyer: “Over-all this was a tremendous missed opportunity by the G8 to start to build trust and momentum for the strong ambitious deal in Copenhagen but we’re calling on the leades to keep working on this and as I’ve said there will be additional meetings between now and Copenhagen, bilateral meetings, key meetings in September in the United Nations in the United States in Pittsburgh… they still have time to pick up the ball and move it forward but time is running out.”
Greenpeace Activists Hang Banner on Mt. Rushmore
President Obama is among the G8 leaders gathered in Italy. On Wednesday, a group of activists with the environmental group Greenpeace scaled the Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota and hung a banner calling on Obama to take action on global warming. The activists hung the banner next to the carved mountain face of Abraham Lincoln. The banner reads: “America honors leaders not politicians: Stop Global Warming.” The group of eleven Greenpeace activists who hung the banner were later arrested.
Zelaya Calls for Coup Regime’s Departure
Talks between the ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya and the leaders of last week’s military coup begin today in Costa Rica. Zelaya says he won’t negotiate with the coup government and expects their resignation within 24 hours.
Honduran Coup Foreign Minister Calls Obama “Little Black Man”
Meanwhile the Honduran coup regime’s foreign minister has apologized for racially-charged remarks about President Obama. In several radio interviews, Enrique Ortez Colindres referred to Obama as a “negrito,” or “little black man.” At one point Ortez Colindres described Obama as “this little black man who has no idea where Tegucigalpa is.” He apologized after the US ambassador to Honduras expressed outrage.
Chinese Troops Threaten Uighurs in Xinjiang
In China, thousands of troops continue their siege of the regional capital of Xinjiang province following bloody clashes between local Han Chinese and Uighur residents. Four days after the violence that left at least 150 dead and over a thousand injured, reports indicate an unsteady calm has returned to the city of Urumqi. The clashes have been described as the bloodiest ethnic violence China has seen in years. On Wednesday, the exiled Uighur political activist Rebiya Kadeer spoke out against the Chinese government from Washington. China has blamed exiled Uighurs like Kadeer for the unrest.
Rebiya Kadeer: “The root cause of the problem is the heavy-handed policies of the Chinese imposed by Chinese Party’s Secretary and the Chairman. And the heavy handed Chinese repression in the region for decades you know has created a very tense situation there and many Uighur families, their husbands, their sons, are all arrested by the Chinese authorities. Of course they are not happy under Chinese rule.”
Panetta Admits CIA Has “Misled” Congress
Central Intelligence Agency Director Leon Panetta has admitted the CIA has misled Congress on intelligence matters since at least 2001. On Wednesday, a group of seven Democratic lawmakers released a letter describing Panetta’s comments. House intelligence committee chair Silvestre Reyes said CIA officials “affirmatively lied” in a recent briefing on an unspecified matter.
Obama Threatens Intelligence Bill Veto to Prevent Widening Briefings
The news comes as the Obama administration has issued a threat to veto a House intelligence bill if it calls for widening disclosures of CIA operations. The White House is currently required to brief Congressional intelligence committee leaders on covert actions. A provision in the bill would allow the committee heads to determine if the briefings can be opened up to other panel members. The House is expected to vote on the intelligence authorization bill later today.
Massachusetts Challenges Federal Gay Marriage Ban
Massachusetts has become the first state to challenge the federal law defining marriage as a heterosexual union. On Wednesday, Massachusetts filed a lawsuit in federal court against the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which denies federal recognition of gay marriage. Massachusetts says the law is “discriminatory and overreaching” in denying benefits to same-sex couples and preventing states from defining marriages as they see fit. Massachusetts was the first state to legalize gay marriage.
Whistleblower Calls Firing Political Retaliation
A government whistleblower who accused prosecutors of misconduct in the case against former Alabama Governor Don Siegelman has been fired in what she calls a political retaliation. Siegelman was convicted in a 2006 corruption case but is free on bail pending an appeal. Critics say Siegelman was the target of a political witchhunt in part orchestrated by former Bush administration deputy Karl Rove. The whistlebower, Tamarah Grimes, was part of the prosecution team. She accused her bosses of several improprieties including improper contact with jurors and the continued role of a U.S. attorney who had dropped out of the case because she was married to the campaign manager of the Republican opponent Siegelman defeated. Grimes called her firing “the price for opposition.”
2 Black Prisoners Jailed Under Torture-Linked Chicago Police Commander Freed
In Chicago, two prisoners jailed under the watch of the disgraced former Police Commander Jon Burge have been exonerated and set free after more than twenty years. Ronald Kitchen and Marvin Reeves, both African-Americans, were convicted for the 1988 murders of five people. But prosecutors now say there’s insufficient evidence linking them to the crimes. The initial case relied on a prisoner who wrongly claimed to have spoken to Kitchen and was also granted an early release for his testimony. Kitchen was also badly beaten while jailed in a prison known for the systematic torture of dozens of African American males by Chicago police officers. Burge is meanwhile awaiting trial for allegations he lied in a civil suit brought by victims of the torture committed under his command.
Charges Dropped Against 4 Members of “San Francisco 8”
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