Middle East

BLACKWATER MAKES COMEBACK
More tax money for Murder Inc.

Thomas Riggins

This news, as reported on the front page of the NYT for 5-10-08, should not be a big surprise. This one article encapsulates the whole insanity of Bush's adventure in Iraq. It also exposes the sharade of a "sovereign" Iraqi government. We all know about the infamous Blackwater mercenaries, hired killers used by the US government to protect the State Department workers and others in Iraqi and to also spread death and terror to Iraqis who get in their way. If any group should be on the government's list of terrorist organizations it is Blackwater, Inc.  read more »

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Demonstrators blocked several roads in and around Beirut with burning tires on Wednesday as part of an anti-government protest backed by Lebanon's Hezbollah-led opposition, witnesses said.

The main road leading to the capital's international airport was among routes blocked by the protesters.  read more »

By ROBERT H. REID, Associated Press April 16, 2008

BAGHDAD - Associated Press photographer Bilal Hussein embraced sobbing relatives and thanked colleagues after being released Wednesday from more than two years in U.S.  read more »

Tehran – April 13, 2008 kargaran.org

Around 7.30pm last night, anti-riot police smashed the gates and climbed over the walls of Kian Tyre factory, in the outskirts of Tehran, to forcefully evict hundreds of striking workers.  Scores were beaten up and arrested, with some needing hospital treatment.  read more »

By Michael Slackman April 6, 2008 International Herald Tribune

CAIRO The center of this normally bustling, overcrowded, traffic-clogged city was largely quiet Sunday, the roads nearly empty, many of the stores shuttered, as the riot police came out in force to prevent a general strike aimed at signaling widespread discontent with President Hosni Mubarak and his government.

Egypt has virtually no organized political opposition, except the Muslim Brotherhood, which is banned and barred from politics.  read more »

Thu Mar 27, 2008

SANAA (AFP) - Thousands of Yemenis gathered on Thursday to protest at rising prices, accusing the government of failing to curb the increasing cost of living and corruption, an AFP correspondent reported.Answering a call by the Common Forum, which includes five main opposition parties, over 10,000 protestors took to the streets of Sanaa chanting slogans denouncing the government.  read more »

By ROBERT H. REID, Associated Press March 23, 2008

BAGHDAD - A roadside bomb killed four U.S. soldiers in Baghdad on Sunday, the military said, pushing the overall American death toll in the five-year war to at least 4,000. The grim milestone came on a day when at least 61 people were killed across the country.

Rockets and mortars pounded the U.S.-protected Green Zone, underscoring the fragile security situation and the resilience of both Sunni and Shiite extremist groups despite an overall lull in violence.  read more »

By C. ONUR ANT, Associated Press Mar 22, 2008

ISTANBUL, Turkey - Kurdish protesters chanting support for separatist guerrillas clashed with police in eastern Turkey on Saturday during a spring festival. Dozens were injured.  read more »

5th Anniversary of Rachel Corrie's Death
March 15, 2008

March 18, 2008

DUBAI (AFP) - Around 1,500 workers in the United Arab Emirates staged a violent protest for higher wages on Tuesday, setting dozens of vehicles on fire and damaging property, police said.  read more »