MONTREAL — As George W. Bush cracked jokes with a
business crowd inside a hotel ballroom Thursday, hundreds of people
outside the building cheered while he was being burned in effigy.
Police in riot gear and others on horseback held back a crowd of
hundreds, including many people who tossed shoes at Montreal's historic
Queen Elizabeth Hotel in a demonstration of disdain for the man
speaking inside.
Two protesters who tried forcing their way through the line of
shield- and baton-carrying police were wrestled to the ground and
arrested.
On Wednesday, a federal judge rejected
a series of arguments by lawyers for the mercenary firm formerly known
as Blackwater seeking to dismiss five high-stakes war crimes cases
brought by Iraqi victims against both the company and its owner, Erik
Prince.
Those who are to blame for everything have been found: the "Goldstoners." Not the occupation, the settlements, Israeli aggressiveness or brutality; just Goldstone. According to Ari Shavit (Haaretz, October 8), the spirit of Judge Richard Goldstone will bring the next war upon us, and it will be called the Goldstone War.
In what can be considered a sad paradox of history, an analysis of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) actions during Operation Cast Lead in Gaza shows that the IDF violated several of the Nuremberg Principles, as well as the principles of the Geneva Conventions.
On October 1, the Obama administration successfully pressured the Palestinian delegation to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva to drop its proposal to recommend that the UN Security Council endorse the findings of the
Goldstone Commission report. The report, authored by renowned South African jurist Richard Goldstone, detailed the results of the UNHRC's fact-finding mission on the Gaza conflict.
UNITED NATIONS - The UN Security Council on Wednesday unanimously adopted a resolution calling for a halt to the use of sexual violence as a tactic of war.
Resolution 1888 reiterated the 15-member body's "demand for the complete cessation by all parties to armed conflict of all acts of sexual violence with immediate effect."
GENEVA - The United States called on its close ally Israel on Tuesday to conduct credible investigations into allegations of war crimes committed by its forces in Gaza, saying it would help the Middle East peace process.
Michael Posner, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State, said that Hamas leaders also had a responsibility to investigate crimes and to end what he called its targeting of civilians and use of Palestinian civilians as human shields in the strip.
JERUSALEM - The head of the UN commission that issued a damning report on the Gaza war this week on Thursday rejected Israeli criticism that it was biased from the start.
"I deny that completely," Judge Richard Goldstone said in remarks broadcast on Thursday on public radio, a replay of an earlier interview with Israeli television.
"I was completely independent, nobody dictated any outcome, and the outcome was a result of the independent inquiries that our mission made," he said.
A UN fact-finding mission has accused Israel of committing war crimes by using white phosphorus in built-up areas in the Gaza War, and called for the weapon to be banned in urban warfare.
The investigation, set up by the controversial UN Human Rights Council, concluded that Israeli forces were "systematically reckless" in the use of white phosphorus in the conflict.
"The Mission believes that serious consideration should be given to banning the use of white phosphorus in built-up areas," the 575-page report said.
Two investigating judges from the Spanish national security court,
the Audiencia Nacional, are asking the U.S. Justice Department for
details about the role played by Bush Administration lawyers in the
development and approval of torture practices that were apparently
applied to a number of Spanish subjects held in Guantanamo.
