Appeals court rejects Agent Orange suits

NEW YORK, Feb. 22 2008(UPI) -- A U.S. appeals court has upheld the dismissal of lawsuits by veterans, their families and Vietnamese nationals over the use of Agent Orange in the Vietnam War.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York issued three opinions affirming lower court ruling that dismissed 16 civil actions against Dow Chemical Co., Monsanto Co. and other chemical makers.

The three-judge panel said makers of herbicides that comprised Agent Orange were protected by the "military contractor defense," which shields independent contractors from liability when fulfilling government procurement contracts.

In one of the cases the court rejected claims by the Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin that the use of Agent Orange was a violation of international law.

The court said the use of Agent Orange was lawful because the herbicide was not used as a weapon against people, but rather was used to clear vegetation to protect U.S. troops from ambush.


source

Clashes in Lebanon

Street clashes between the supporters of the pro-Western government and those of the pro-Syrian opposition, Hezbollah, take the country to the brink of an all out war. Follow up talks >: a deal brokered by the Arab League to end the strikes which have brought Lebanon to the brink of second civil war is being finalized. But all signs point to a deal made on terms highly favorable to Hezbollah, which, according one blogger, means a return to peace is an “illusion.”

“This whole farce called 'National Unity Dialogue' taking place in Qatar just reminds me of the 1,001 Arabian Nights. Tradition has it that the evil king Shahrayar would take a virgin to be his wife every night. The next day, he would send her to be beheaded. That's until he met Shahrazad.

To keep herself from getting beheaded, Shahrazad tricks the king into listening to her story. Every night she would recite part of the story, make up characters, and invent intricate plots, twists and turns, until the king fell asleep. The next day, he wouldn't send her to her death because he wants to hear the rest of the story.
In that way, Shahrazad saved her life by…talking. Dialogue!

In the case of the National Unity Blabber, your beloved Lebanon is Shahrazad, who is trying to save her hide by talking and talking and talking nonstop; making up stories, picking fights, having civil wars and whatnot.The Arabs and the rest of the world are Shahrayar, the one who just wants the story to be over in order to kill Sharazad and get on with it."

Kenya:The Online Tribal Wars

Blog, message boards war

Kenyan middle class and the Diaspora were absent from the mayhem in the country's streets and farmlands, they were fueling the tribal wars online.

2008-05-01
http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/blog/2008/04/kenya_the_onlin.html

'Unified Quest' game in US focuses on Nigeria and Somalia

Conflict

CARLISLE BARRACKS, Pa. (Army News Service, May 7, 2008) - The Nigerian government is near collapse and rival factions are vying for power in that troubled part of the world, or at least a visitor to the Army War College this week would think that to be the case.

The War College is hosting Unified Quest 08 which includes military leaders old and new from around the world as well as representatives from academia, industry and several different government agencies to discuss responses to global conflicts of the future.

The fictitious Nigerian scenario, set in 2013, is one of four such imaginary conflicts being played out. Three were set in 2013, one in Peru, one in the Philippines and the Nigerian one. There was also a scenario set in 2025
in Somalia.

The United States in Somalia

Bush’s so-called war against terrorism entered a further, cynical stage with the recent classification of a Somali group as alleged ‘terrorists’. Al Shabab, the military wing of the Union of Islamic Courts, was declared by the US State Department to be a terrorist organisation. The Bush administration’s action in classifying Al Shabab as ‘terrorists’ further complicates an already difficult situation. Instead of recognising that Al Shabab is the military wing of a legitimate movement, classifying them as alleged terrorists makes efforts towards a political resolution of the conflict unlikely, if not nearly impossible, just as has happened in Iraq.

“There is a direct line between US Security Assistance (political, economic, military policing of Africa in general) and African poverty. The US is not the only culprit, Europe, China etc all play a big role and African governments bear a significant portion of the blame, but there is no doubt in my mind that US policies are responsible in part for the violence, tyranny and poverty in Africa.”

Five Years of My Life: An Innocent Man in Guantanamo

Murat Kurnaz

In October 2001, nineteen-year-old Murat Kurnaz traveled to Pakistan to visit a madrassa. During a security check a few weeks after his arrival, he was arrested without explanation and for a bounty of $3,000, the Pakistani police sold him to U.S. forces. He was first taken to Kandahar, Afghanistan, where he was severely mistreated, and then two months later he was flown to Guantanamo as Prisoner #61. For more than 1,600 days, he was tortured and lived through hell. Finally, in August 2006, Kurnaz was released, with acknowledgment of his innocence. Told with lucidity, accuracy, and wisdom, Kurnaz's story is both sobering and poignant--an important testimony about our turbulent times when innocent people get caught in the crossfire of the war on terrorism.

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan (April 1, 2008)
ISBN-10: 0230603742 # ISBN-13: 978-0230603745