Human Rights Council Biggest Abusers

In December 2009 the watchdog group UN Watch issued a report showing that the Human Rights Council had effectively become an enabler for human-rights violators, rather than a genuine defender of human rights. Hillel Neuer, UN Watch’s executive director, remarked: “Paradoxically, as our report today shows, the U.N.’s main human rights body has turned into the world’s leading sponsor of impunity for gross human rights abuses worldwide. It’s a case of the foxes guarding the chickens, with countries like China, Russia, Pakistan, Cuba and Saudi Arabia shielding each other’s abuses. Democracies should send a signal by opposing the council’s resolutions, even if they will be outvoted.
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Sharp-eyed readers might have noticed that at the very end of its news story on WikiLeaks's release last weekend of documents detailing tens of thousands of casualties during the Iraq war, The New York Times revealed that for most of the last century, the average civilian-to-combatant wartime fatality ratio has been 10:1.

The Times reported (hat tip: Evelyn Gordon): "Civilians have borne the brunt of modern warfare, with 10 civilians dying for every soldier in wars fought since the mid-20th century, compared with 9 soldiers killed for every civilian in World War I, according to a 2001 study by the International Committee of the Red Cross."

Whereas in other modern wars, civilians account for 90 percent of casualties, by contrast in last year's Israel-Hamas war in Gaza less than half of Palestinian fatalities - 39 percent - were noncombatants - and that number would have been even lower had Hamas not stored weapons in civilian institutions and fired rockets from private Palestinian homes which it commandeered.

Failed Times Square Bomber Remains Defiant

Had he built the Times Square device the way he had originally intended to, terrorist Faisal Shahzad, would have turned his SUV and nearby vehicles into a fatal spray of razor-sharp fragments and transformed building windows into glass guillotines hurtling to the streets, cutting down hundreds of people walking by.

The results were discovered after feds composed the type of bomb Shahzad set out to make -- with the exact components he had initially intended to use -- and exploded it in Pennsylvania last month.

Faisal's koran --

NYC's Mayor Gloomberg, dhimmi shill extraordinaire for the Ground Zero Mega Mosque, aka Mecca on the Hudson, said at the time that it could have been placed by “somebody with a political agenda who doesn't like the health care bill or something."

Defiant Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad sentenced to life in prison NY Post (hat tip Davida)

Failed Times Square bomber Faisal Shahzad was sentenced this morning to life behind bars for trying to set-off a parked car full of explosives.

A defiant Shahzad said "Allahu Akbar" -- Arabic for "God is great" -- after the judge sentenced him to the mandatory life imprisonment.

"Brace yourself because the war with the Muslims has only just begun," he told the judge before he was sentenced during the 30-minute hearing. "The defeat of the US is imminent and will happen in the near future."

ALSO:ANOTHER MUSLIM MAN HELD IN CUSTODY IN UK OVER NYC SUBWAY PLOT

Shahzad, 31, a married father of two and naturalized American citizen who lived in Bridgeport, Conn., had pleaded guilty on June 21 in Manhattan federal court to 10 felonies, including international terrorism and trying to use a weapon of mass destruction.

When Judge Miriam Goldman Cedarbaum asked Shahzad, who was sporting a beard, that he was an American citizen and that he had sworn an oath, he replied, "I did swear, but I didn't mean it."

The judge handed Shahzad six life sentences -- to run concurrently -- for his crimes.

"So, I am happy with the deal," a smirking Shahzad said.

At one point, Cedarbaum argued with the unrepentant Shahzad.

“You appear to be someone who was capable of education and I do hope you will spend some of the time in prison thinking carefully about whether the Koran wants you to kill lots of people,” she told Shahzad.

Shahzad responded that the Koran "gives us the right to defend. And that’s all I’m doing.”

Cedarbaum told Shahzad that the time he spends in the slammer could be used to re-think "whether the Koran wants you to kill lots of people."

The courtroom was packed with marshals and other security as Shahzad was led away in handcuffs.

The feds have said that Shahzad put together an improvised car bomb -- a 1993 Pathfinder fitted with 250 pounds of ammonium nitrate and diesel fuel, three 25-pound propane tanks and two five-gallon gasoline canisters -- that failed to ignite.

Bomb experts who have studied Shahzad's design before using it to build a working model say clearly demonstrated his deadly intent.

"Had the bombing played out as Shahzad had so carefully planned, the lives of numerous residents and visitors of the city would have been lost and countless others would have been forever traumatized," prosecutors wrote in court papers.
Atlas Shrugs

Muslim Homicide Bomber Wounds 42 in Russia

More daily jihad......... Daghestan has been the scene of bloody clashes between forces loyal to Moscow and Muslims fighting for a state separate from Russia. So what else is new?

At Least 42 Injured In Suicide Bombing In Russia's North Caucasus Radio Europe

Russian media reports say a suicide bomber has blown himself up in the republic of Daghestan, injuring at least 42 people, including several police officers.

The bomber broke through a police cordon in the capital, Makhachkala, where security officers were battling militia fighters.

At least two Islamist rebels were killed in that incident.

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The region is plagued by almost daily violence.

Bombing for Profit and Despotism

Shameless Thugs Bomb Largest Slum in World

PEPE ESCOBAR, THE REAL NEWS ANALYST: It’s been five years since George W. Bush proclaimed Mission Accomplished in Iraq. Now take a very good look at these images. Yes, they are disturbing. You won’t see them on Western TV networks. And no, there’s not a hint of mission accomplished about them. These are innocent civilians-– poor Shi’ite Arabs living in the three million-strong Sadr City in Baghdad, one of the largest slums in the world. As The Real News has reported Sadr City is being walled in–- transformed into a gulag, and pounded relentlessly by US air strikes. The Pentagon-–and the Iraqi government–-say they are “protecting the Green Zone” by attacking Sadr City.
As if that traumatic scene of the helicopter leaving the roof of the US embassy in Saigon in 1975 was rattling too many military minds. 1745 Iraqi civilians were killed in April-– against 159 policemen and 104 soldiers. Over 400 people were killed in Sadr City alone. Only 10% were guerrillas. This carnage is a direct consequence of Dick Cheney’s recent tour of the Middle East, Iraq included. This carnage is a direct consequence of Gen. David Petraeus’ surge. These are victims of a vicious political battle between the al-Maliki government in Baghdad, supported by the al-Hakim family, and the US, against Muqtada al-Sadr, who they fear will win the next elections in October-–because, of course, he is immensely popular. And in the big picture, these deaths are a graphic example of how the sophisticated Pentagon machine plans to deal with “problematic” urban slums in the future. We wall them, we isolate them, and we bomb the hell out of them. Who cares about collateral damage? It may be very harsh to say, but that's how it is.

Hillary Threatens Iran

Iran’s response to Senator Clinton’s remarks in which she issued a severe warning to Iran in the event that it attacked Israel came out of Tehran today. Last month the Democratic presidential hopeful said:

SOUNDBITE: Hillary Clinton

"Well, the question was, if Iran were to launch a nuclear attack on Israel, what would our response be? And I want the Iranians to know, that if I'm the President, we will attack Iran. And I want them to understand that, because it does mean that they have to look very carefully at their society because whatever stage of development they might be in their nuclear weapons program in the next ten years, during which they might foolishly consider launching an attack on Israel, we would be able to totally obliterate them.

On Friday Iranian cleric, and Assembly of Experts Leader, Ahmed Khatami responded to Senator Clintons’ remarks.

4. SOUNDBITE: (Farsi) Ahmed Khatami, Member of Experts Assembly and leader of Friday prayers:

"A disreputable American (presidential) candidate has said that if Iran attacks Israel, she will obliterate Iran if she is the president. I tell the American people, it is a shame for them that their presidents are servants of Israel without any willpower."

"What they are saying recently is just psychological war. However, if the crazy people in Washington or Tel Aviv take any military action, the Iranian nation will hit them with such a slap that they will not be able to get on their feet again."

We are observing the siege of Shiite Sadr City in Iraq. It seems Americans would like to make what happened in Gaza happen in Sadr City too. We can only conclude that America is fighting Islam."

Iraqi lawmakers call for end to Sadr City siege

Amidst clashes that kill five, multi-partisan group of lawmakers urges US to stand down in Sadr City

Monday April 28th, 2008

Sporadic clashes in Baghdad's Sadr City neighborhood killed at least five people on Sunday. As the fighting raged, a group of 40 lawmakers gathered in the war-torn neighborhood to announce they are willing to work with Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, and urged the US and Iraqi military to pull out of the area.

Transcript:

VOICE OF ZAA NKWETA: Sporadic clashes continued on Sunday in Baghdad. Police said that five people died and 14 were wounded in a clash between militiamen and Iraqi and US forces in the southern suburb of ["ma-LEEF"]. The US military denied that its forces had been engaged there. Associated Press television news footage from the scene showed a minibus riddled with bullets, and a pool of blood in another minibus that was reportedly carrying children. Also on Sunday, a delegation of about 40 lawmakers from various Sunni, Kurd, Turkomen, and Shiite parliamentary parties visited Sadr City and urged the government to end the military campaign there.

MOSTAFA AL-HITI, DIALOGUE FRONT PARTY MEMBER (SUBTITLED TRANSLATION): We appeal to the government to lift the siege imposed on the city. And we also call upon the military troops to pull out of government offices and buildings. We are ready to work with the Sadr bloc to bring any wanted people to justice, as we believe that the weapons are only in hands of government.

NKWETA: As the delegation met, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was meeting with the Sunni Vice President, Tariq al-Hashimi, to discuss reintegrating Sunni political parties into a Shiite-dominated government.

Source: The Real News