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Important read on how #Saudi tries to cover up its attacks on #Yemen civilians, in this case a #MSF cholera hospital: Saudi Arabia’s Misleading Email to Congress After Bombing of MSF Cholera Hospital On a recent night in June, Saudi Arabia’s embassy emailed the U.S. Congress with something between a false and misleading account of an air strike in Yemen. 
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Toxic legacy:Epidemic of birth defects & #cancer in #Fallujah #Iraq after 2004 #US assault- #History #WarCrimes Ajoutée le 7 nov. 2016 November 7 marks 12 years since the beginning of the Second Battle of Fallujah in 2004, which was conducted by US, Iraqi and British troops. It’s alleged that chemical weapons may have been used during the bombardment. Many scientists and researchers believe that an increased rate of health problems among the Fallujah population, including birth defects and cancer, are consequences of those attacks.
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#Histoire d'1 des nombreux crimes IMPUNIS de l'Etat d' #israel .Ici au #Liban ds un village:106 civils tué, massacrées, atomisées en 20 mn #ONU #justice Wednesday 6 July 2016 10:06 UTC Last update: Thursday 7 July 2016 12:07 UTC With attempts to get justice blocked, residents are trying to preserve the memory of 106 people killed in an Israeli raid on a UNIFIL compound QANA, Lebanon - Atop a hill overlooking the historical land of Galilee, in a town where Jesus is believed to have transformed water into wine, the skeleton of an Israeli tank stands intact. Behind it a church lies in ruins, its interior completely gutted. The floor is still carpeted with remnants of broken glass, burnt pieces of cloth, rusty bits of artillery and wooden poles that once supported the roof. A simple and linear monument facing the adjacent road bears the names of the 106 people who lost their lives in the span of five minutes 20 years ago when Israel bombed the headquarters of the Fijian battalion of the UN interposition forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL) – an act that has gone down in history as the Qana massacre. At that time, more than 800 civilians were in the compound, seeking refuge from Israel’s operation “Grapes of Wrath” - a 16-day attack on south Lebanon with the declared intent of crushing Hezbollah. Jamil (Jimmy) Salame, a 49-year-old father of three, was inside when the bombs started to fall that bloody April. Limping heavily on one leg, Salame trots towards visitors as they cross the threshold of the memorial site. As the self-proclaimed gatekeeper, he spends every day of the week recounting visitors the same story he has been telling for two decades. “Every day on the radio we got news of a new village being shelled by Israel, so many people from the area came to Qana to find shelter in the UN compound,” says Salame, who at the time was working as a handyman for the Fijian battalion. “It was little before 2pm on a Thursday when we heard the shelling getting closer and closer. We all knew Israel would bomb Qana, but we thought our families would be safe inside the UN compound.” They were proved terribly wrong. “All I could see was fire and blood. I saw corpses and injured people – some were missing a leg, an arm, an eye,” he says. In a pouch strapped around his waist, he still keeps proof of what he witnessed, freely showing grizzly pictures he managed to take on the day of the massacre. Salame says that, despite the shock and the pain caused by the shrapnel that ripped through his arm and leg, he knew he had to record what he saw so that one day the world would know what happened here. As he flicks through the photo book, the images of bodies torn apart or lying lifeless on the blood-soaked ground starkly illustrate the scale of destruction. “I still see it before my eyes as if it was happening now,” says Salame. “These images have been in my mind every day for 20 years.” For him, the UN compound had been a second home. His father abandoned the family when he was a toddler, leaving his mother to provide for four children. He started working as a handyman for the Fijian battalion at the age of 20 to help his family and quickly developed a tight relationship with the international troops who were first mandated in 1978 to monitor the peace between Israel and Lebanon after Israel invaded following a string of raids by the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO). “I learnt English with them, word after word, and they gave me food to bring home,” he says. “They were like my brothers.” While he does not know how to read or write English or Arabic, Salame has other tools to keep the memory alive. “I want to tell everyone what happened here because no one talks about it in other countries,” he says. “They say the shelling lasted 16 days, but to us each day felt like a year. I want everyone to know what Israel did, it shall not be forgotten.” A village destroyedIsraeli officers claim the shelling was caused by a computer error while attempting to target Hezbollah fighters firing in the proximity of the Fijian base. The technical survey conducted by the UN, however, concluded that it was “unlikely that the shelling of the United Nations compound was the result of gross technical and/or procedural errors.” Contrary to repeated denials by Israeli officials, a video confirmed the presence of two helicopters and a remotely piloted vehicle above the area of Qana before the attack, seemingly contradicting Israel’s claim that it was unaware of the presence of civilians in the UN compound. Much to the fury of residents, both the UN investigation report and the video were at first concealed due to intense political pressure from the United States and Israel. However, they were quickly leaked to The Independent by UNIFIL, sparking widespread outrage. In 2005, a group of survivors filed a lawsuit in an American court against former Israeli Army chief of staff Moshe Yaalon. The United States District Court dismissed the complaint, claiming that Yaalon was entitled to immunity under the Foreign Sovereignty Immunity Act. The misery of losing 100 lives in a close-knitted community, combined with frustrations over their inability to get international justice, means that twenty years on wounds have been slow to heal and many of the victim’s relatives still cannot find closure. The trauma was further compounded when 10 years ago, Israel again launched a war against Hezbollah in 2006, devastating much of south Lebanon. Qana was hit once more and 28 people were killed in a single airstrike on 30 July 2006. “Everyone here does their bit,” says Imad Sbeity, a Qana resident. “Some clean the memorial, others drive the tourist bus, and so on.” Salame has stayed on as a tour guide on a volunteer basis for decades, living off visitor’s tips and says that no matter how hard times get, he will keep doing his job. Salame feels it is important to keep telling people about the horrors that happened in the village which remains a tourist destination for the faithful who believe Jesus performed his first miracle here. “He has three children and gets no salary from the municipality, all he does is on a voluntary basis,” Sbeity told MEE. Many of the survivors – some of whom lost more than one relative - continue to congregate at the cemetery every week to mourn the dead. But few lost as much as Sadallah Balhas. The Israeli attack in 1996 killed 31 members of his family and also cost him his eye. Before passing away a few years ago, he was well-known for wearing a pendant with pictures of his deceased relatives and acting as a key driving force behind the lawsuit against Yaalon. “That is not something anyone can forget nor, I dare say, would want to forget,” says Nicholas Blanford, a journalist who witnessed the immediate aftermath of the shelling and who wrote a recent piece to mark its 20th anniversary. “I think there will always be a bond among those who experienced the massacre, whether the civilian survivors, the UNIFIL troops or the journalists.” What I saw that day “was the most harrowing and traumatic experience I have had. I found it hard to walk into butchers' shops because the smell of blood and fresh meat would take me straight back to Qana,” he adds. The memory was so harrowing that Blanford says that for years he would watch a video of the massacre on its anniversary. “It was not the images that upset me - the images have always been there in my mind. It was the sounds - the screams, the wailing, that would move me most and take me back to Qana,” he says. As Salame locks the door to the memorial behind him for the day, he says that he will never forget the tragedies that befell his small but ancient village. “We cannot change what happened,” says Salame. “The only thing left to do is prevent our stories from going unheard.”
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After #drones: the indelible mark of #America 's remote control warfare-The Guardian #ObamaWarCrimes #StateTerrorism The strikes last a moment, but the consequences last forever. Six families explain how Obama’s secret drone war has left them struggling for answers after loved ones were wiped out without warning
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#US should investigate reports of indiscriminate #drone strike from #Mosul '–State Dept-3 mn #Irak #Iraq #Mossoul Ajoutée le 14 mars 2017 The successful liberation of Aleppo enraged western media, but noted filmmaker and activist Elizabeth Kucinich says the narrative needs to be refocused. She traveled to Syria with Dennis Kucinich and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) and joins RT America’s Anya Parampil to offer her crucial perspective on the broader humanitarian crisis and greater geopolitical context of the conflict.
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‘It’s different’: #US justifies #Saudi ‘self-defense’ in #Yemen , slams #Russia ’s actions in #Syria
‘It’s different’: #US justifies #Saudi ‘self-defense’ in #Yemen , slams #Russia ’s actions in #Syria The US says Saudi Arabia’s bombing of Yemen was an act of “self-defense” against Iranian missiles on its border. While there are similarities with the Syrian conflict, Washington sees “differences” between the deaths of over 150 civilians, blamed on Riyadh, and the situation in Aleppo. “It is different,” the State Department’s John Kirby has told AP’s Matt Lee, when asked whether Capitol Hill sees a difference between the recent attack in Yemen and “what you accuse the Russians and the Syrians and the Iranians of doing in Syria, particularly Aleppo?” The question specifically referred to an airstrike that targeted a funeral service in the Yemeni capital, Sana’a, killing more than 150 civilians and injuring over 525. Located on opposite sides of Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Syria bear few similarities, but have one thing in common: a civil conflict between their governments and rebels, which later evolved into larger-scale wars, with the intervention of foreign forces. However, the rules of the game appear to be different for each case. For the State Department, the Saudi pledge to investigate the bombing seems to offer some reduction in the significance of its actions. “The Saudis publicly said that they were going to investigate this as – for the potential of it being, in fact, wrongly implemented and wrongly executed,” Kirby said. That is something, he added, he hasn’t seen the Syrian army or the Russian military do “not once.” When asked about Russia’s recent demand for an investigation into an attack on a humanitarian convoy in Syria, Kirby said “it’s not exactly been a clarion call.” Addressing the attack in Sana’a, the UN called the bombing “outrageous” and pointed out constant strikes, specifically at places of mass congregation, which lacked proper recourse. “Since the beginning of this conflict in Yemen, weddings, marketplaces, hospitals, schools – and now mourners at a funeral – have been hit, resulting in massive civilian casualties and zero accountability for those responsible,” the UN said in a statement Monday. Yet, when it comes to Saudi Arabia and its intervention in Yemen, the State Department said it is important to remember that Riyadh has a “pressing requirement for self-defense” because of threats it faces from Iranian missiles launched by Houthi rebels near the border. However, there is no similar judgment regarding Syria, where rebel groups along with Al-Qaeda-linked terrorists presumably hold people at gunpoint in Aleppo. Kirby accused Moscow and the Assad forces of “a concerted” and “very deliberate” effort to take “to subdue” the city by force. As RT learned from locals still living in western Aleppo, it was not Russian forces that terrified them. A woman said that everyone trying to get water from a well was also shot at while children described shells destroying their house. RT has asked the State Department to comment on whether the people were effectively being “held” in Aleppo. “I can’t confirm that report. You know I don’t get into battlefield reports; I’m not going to do that,” Kirby. “And your question about being held hostage, there should be – and I’ve seen reports that they’re allowed to leave,” he added, blaming the Syrian government and the Russian military. The Department’s spokesman also declined to speak about Al-Qaeda-linked terrorists, who remain in the area along with anti-Assad rebels. Moscow has unsuccessfully been asking the US to dissociate terrorists from the so-called moderate opposition. Kirby says it’s unlikely they would want to leave Aleppo, hinting that the responsibility also lay with Russia. “They’re not likely to want to leave while they’re continuing to be bombed,” he said. When specifically asked whether it was America’s strategy to let Al-Qaeda run the area, Kirby declined to answer. Washington has been supplying rebels with arms, some of which it has admitted ended up in the hands on terrorists.
In September, a US military spokesman said that rebels surrendered six pick-up trucks and about one-quarter of their ammunition to Al-Qaeda linked Al-Nusra Front, now known as Jabhat Fatah al Sham, in exchange for safe passage. When it comes to Yemen, the US also played, though indirectly, its part in the conflict aiding Saudi Arabia and its coalition partners with weapons, often used in attacks targeting civilians. Following the airstrike, the White House said it would reassess its help to Saudi Arabia. Despite massive casualties and some opposition among lawmakers, US-Saudi arms sales have been thriving with the Senate just recently blocking a bipartisan bill that would stop the deal with Riyadh.
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"The Assassination Complex": #JeremyScahill & #GlennGreenwald Probe Secret #US #Drone Wars in New #Book As the Obama administration prepares to release for the first time the number of people it believes it has killed in drone strikes in countries that lie outside of conventional war zones, we look at a new book out today that paints a very different picture of the U.S. drone program. "The Assassination Complex: Inside the Government’s Secret Drone Warfare Program" is written by Jeremy Scahill and the staff of The Intercept, and based on leaked government documents provided by a whistleblower. The documents undermine government claims that drone strikes have been precise. Part of the book looks at a program called Operation Haymaker in northeastern Afghanistan. During one five-month period, nearly 90 percent of the people killed in airstrikes were not the intended targets. The book is based on articles published by The Intercept last year. It also includes new contributions from NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden and The Intercept’s Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Glenn Greenwald. We speak with Jeremy Scahill and Glenn Greenwald.
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#WarCrime in #Yemen : #Saudi -Led Coalition Strikes Market with #USA -Made Bombs - HumanRightsWatch Ajoutée le 6 avr. 2016 Saudi Arabia-led coalition airstrikes using United States-supplied bombs killed at least 97 civilians, including 25 children, in northwestern Yemen on March 15, 2016. The two strikes, on a crowded market in the village of Mastaba that may have also killed about 10 Houthi fighters, caused indiscriminate or foreseeably disproportionate loss of civilian life, in violation of the laws of war. Such unlawful attacks when carried out deliberately or recklessly are war crimes.
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