By Paddy McGuffin.
Human rights campaigners slammed revelations today that British troops were being trained in the use of attack drones by Israeli forces as “shameful.”
The use of the pilotless craft by Israel during its recent assault on Gaza has been roundly condemned by human rights organisations.
Campaigners warned that the drones had been used in “extra-judicial” killings and “serious human rights abuses by the Israeli Defence Force in Gaza.”
The Ministry of Defence has placed a £1 billion order for a consignment of Watchkeeper UAV 450 drones, manufactured by Israeli arms firm …

By Chris Hedges.
Power does not rest with the electorate. It does not reside with either of the two major political parties. It is not represented by the press. It is not arbitrated by a judiciary that protects us from predators. Power rests with corporations. And corporations gain very lucrative profits from war, even wars we have no chance of winning. All polite appeals to the formal systems of power will not end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. We must physically obstruct the war machine or accept a role as …

By Staff Report.
Pop star Lady Gaga wasn’t in the Senate chamber Saturday, but she was among the celebrities virtually taking part in the historic vote to repeal the 17-year policy known as “don’t ask, don’t tell.” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Saturday sent Lady Gaga a message on Twitter: #DADT on it’s way to becoming history. Later he tweeted: @ ladygaga We did it! #DADT is a thing of the past. After the Senate voted 65-31 to give final congressional approval to end the ban on openly gay troops, Lady …

By James Cogan.
A special forces unit completing an early morning raid on Saturday gunned down seven men in the village of Rohani Baba, in Afghanistan’s eastern Paktia province. Abdul Rahman Mangal, the deputy governor of Paktia, told CNN that the victims were road construction workers. A press release by the US-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) alleges that the men were employees of a private security company.
Details of the incident remain sketchy, but the ISAF statement claims that its troops had detained an alleged arms dealer and had moved on …

Sunday 12 December, London Morning Star.
MPs will vote today on the Police Reform Bill, which contains a plethora of proposals concerning election of police commissioners, setting up a police reserve force, alcohol licensing, drugs enforcement and banning permanent protests in Parliament Square.
But this massive Bill also contains one clause which has been inserted at the request of a foreign government.
Clause 151 would give the Director of Public Prosecutions a veto over whether an arrest warrant could be issued for war crime suspects.
This would essentially allow the …

By Robert Stevens.
Further allegations of war crimes committed by British troops in Iraq emerged in the High Court in London last week.
According to information given by legal representatives of the Ministry of Defence, three British soldiers are being investigated over the alleged abuse of an Iraqi detainee. The three served as interrogators at a secret prison near Basra in southern Iraq, during the British occupation of the city.
The information was made public in a High Court appeal case brought by Public Interest Lawyers (PIL). PIL are asking the High Court …

By Paul Craig Roberts.
Does anyone remember the “cakewalk war” that would last six weeks, cost $50-$60 billion, and be paid for out of Iraqi oil revenues?
Does anyone remember that White House economist Lawrence Lindsey was fired by Dubya because Lindsey estimated that the Iraq war could cost as much as $200 billion?
Lindsey was fired for over-estimating the cost of a war that, according to Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes, has cost 15 times more than Lindsey estimated. And the US still has 50,000 troops in Iraq.
Does anyone remember that …

By the Editor.
My curiosity was piqued when a friend told me of the upcoming Wall Street documentary exposé ‘Inside Job’. It’s got some pretty good reviews, and perhaps it will pack enough punch to educate the general public about the theft of taxpayer money that constituted the euphemistically termed ‘bailout’. Online reviews have praised the film, “A wake-up call of macroeconomic proportions”, “Economics explained beautifully” – certainly sounds worth a watch.
Admittedly though, you have to be quite naive to think that a genuine expose of Wall Street could …

By John Pilger.

Washington: The TV anchorwoman was conducting a split-screen interview with a journalist who had volunteered to be a witness at the execution of a man on death row in Utah for 25 years. “He had a choice,” said the journalist, “lethal injection or firing squad.” “Wow!” said the anchorwoman. Cue a blizzard of commercials for fast food, tooth whitener, stomach stapling, the new Cadillac. This was followed by a reporter in Afghanistan sweating in a flak jacket. “Hey, it’s hot,” he …

By Joharah Baker.
Nothing irks me more than politicians who blow off serious situations with hollow phrases on the outrageous assumption that people will actually believe them. Living in Palestine with a career revolved around words, you can imagine how many times I am irked in a day. Today is no different.
A quick glance at the headlines in Haaretz (really, the only Israeli paper I read), met me with this quote: “Israel’s plan to raze E. Jerusalem homes is an obstacle to peace.” The …