Everybody Knew His Name, Teddy

This file photo shows the Kennedy brothers, John F. Kennedy, left, Robert Kennedy, and Ted Kennedy, right, in Hyannis Port, Mass.

On 18 July 1969, Edward Moore (Nicknames: "Ted" or "Teddy") Kennedy in an attempt to shut up an affair and remove a problem that was felt would harm his political career with this pregnant young unmarried woman, who was carrying Ted Kennedy’s unborn child; while in the early evening, not the late hour originally claimed by Kennedy of 11:15 p.m. Kennedy drove with intent, his 1967 Oldsmobile Delmont 88 off a Chappaquiddick (Martha's Vineyard, Mass.) bridge and it overturned in the water, where Kennedy left the submerged car leaving intentionally because he never planned on helping the woman, left a very pregnant Mary Jo Kopechne to drown.

As stated by sources, Kennedy contacted his brother’s Robert and John Kennedy on what to do about Mary Jo after he had fled the crime scene; but intentionally failed to report the incident to the authorities until the car and Kopechne's body were discovered the next morning.

From President Kennedy's birthday gala where Marilyn Monroe sang the famous televised "Happy Birthday, Mr. President;" which some biographer’s claimed Marilyn was intoxicated while singing.

Earlier in the evening of the previous day, their had been numerous bouts of drinking and allegations of illegal drugs consumed. Which over the course of Kennedy’s life, he would have numerous affairs or classified a womanizer like his brothers Robert and John ( who's famous "embarrassing" affair with Marilyn Monroe, who many has classified her death as murder on 5 August 1962); but also Kennedy's severe bouts of obsessive drinking over the years.

While Kennedy was never charged with homicide, but rather went by the public view of the time, as being swept under the carpet; too many people that lived during this time still have felt that Kennedy was guilty of two counts of homicide.

1962 college yearbook portrait of Mary Jo Kopechne

What is ironic, a funeral for Mary Jo Kopechne was held on 22 July 1969, at St. Vincent's Roman Catholic Church in Plymouth, Pennsylvania, which was attended by Kennedy, who was also Roman Catholic. She is buried in the parish cemetery on the side of Larksville Mountain. Mary Jo, was only 28 years-old.

This is the legacy, that Ted Kennedy is actually most known for by many from that time, which has actually overshadowed his political career; until the day he died 25 August 2009, at 77 years-old.

I have always remembered this homicide case, due not just to the fact in was a premeditated homicide; but the horror of purposely letting a young woman, with an unborn baby drown to death. -HRM Deborah

Abortion clouds Obama event at Notre Dame

A student and an activist express views near the campus of Notre Dame University on May 16, 2009 in South Bend, Indiana. Pro-life activists from around the country have been gathering in South Bend to protest the university's decision to invite US President Barack Obama, who supports abortion rights, to deliver the commencement address tomorrow and to award him an honorary degree.

17 May 2009

Washington-President Barack Obama speaks at America's foremost Roman Catholic University on Sunday, where deep divisions over abortion and stem-cell research have rammed to the forefront in a country fighting two wars and battling a withering economic recession.

A storm broke out immediately after Notre Dame invited Obama to address commencement exercises and he accepted. It still rages, with anti-abortion activists promising to disrupt the new president's appearance at the ceremony, where he also is to receive an honorary degree.

Obama, a liberal Democrat who supports abortion rights but who says the procedure should be rare, finds himself caught in the so-called "right to life" whirlwind that has riven U.S. society for decades, especially since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the 1973 Roe v. Wade case that states may not ban abortion. Recriminations against Obama's appearance in South Bend, Indiana, are zinging across the Internet, on cable television and the editorial space of newspapers. A debate that is electric and fundamental to American political and moral tenets. The Catholic church and many other Christian denominations hold that abortion or the use of embryos for stem cell research amounts to the destruction of human life, is morally wrong and should be banned by law.

The contrary argument holds that women have the right to terminate any pregnancy and that unused embryos created outside the womb for couples who cannot otherwise conceive should be available for stem cell research, which holds the promise of finding treatments for some of mankind's most debilitating ailments. Within weeks of taking office, Obama eased a Bush administration executive order that limited such research to a small number of stem-cell strains that existed when the former president issued the directive.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Obama in his commencement speech "obviously would make mention of the debate that's been had" over abortion, while emphasizing that "this is exactly the kind of give and take that is had on college campus all over the country."

Obama's appearance at Notre Dame would appear to be complicated significantly by new polls that show Americans' attitudes on the explosive issue have shifted dramatically toward the anti-abortion position.

A Gallup survey released on Friday found that 51 percent of Americans call themselves "pro-life" on the issue of abortion and 42 percent "pro-choice." This is the first time a majority of U.S. adults have identified themselves as "pro-life" since Gallup began asking this question in 1995.

It's a dramatic shift from just a year ago when Gallup found that 50 percent of those polled termed themselves "pro-choice" while 44 percent described their beliefs as "pro-life."

A Pew Research Center survey found a similar, if less dramatic, shift, with public opinion about abortion more closely divided than it has been in several years.

Pew said its latest polling found that 46 percent of Americans say abortion should be legal in most (28 percent) or all cases (18 percent). Forty-four percent of those surveyed were opposed to abortion in most (28 percent) or all cases (16 percent). Gallup said shifting opinions on the divisive issue lay almost entirely with Republicans or independents who lean Republican, with opposition among those groups rising over the past year from 60 percent to 70 percent. "There has been essentially no change in the views of Democrats and Democratic leaners," the Gallup organization said.

The abortion issue, meanwhile, also is front and center as Obama vets potential nominees to fill the vacancy left by the retirement this summer of Justice David Souter. Abortion opponents are determined to see Roe v. Wade overturned, but only four court justices out of nine have backed that position. Souter has opposed arguments for overturning the key ruling.

The Rev. John Jenkins, Notre Dame's president, has not joined the fiery debate that erupted after Obama's invitation, but it has produced extraordinary blow back among some students, faculty, alumni and at least 70 Catholic bishops. A leading Catholic scholar, citing the Obama invitation and honorary degree, declined the school's most prestigious award, making this year's commencement the first time that the Laetare Medal hasn't been awarded since 1883. "It is clear that Notre Dame didn't understand what it means to be Catholic when they issued this invitation," Cardinal Francis George of Chicago said shortly after the university announced Obama's appearance.

Friends and colleagues say Jenkins has listened to the criticism but is confident in his decision. "He respects people who differ, but he's resolute in his decision because he did it based on conscience and what he really believes in," said Richard Notebaert, chairman of Notre Dame's board of trustees.

Notebaert said Jenkins, who is in the fourth year of a five-year term, has the "full support" of the trustees. That hasn't soothed critics, who question whether Notre Dame has lost touch with its Catholic roots. Calls for Jenkins' ouster have grown louder amid protests by abortion opponents, who have flown pictures of aborted fetuses over campus and paraded dolls smeared in fake blood outside a recent trustees' meeting. Dozens of anti-abortion activists have been arrested, and more arrests are likely as protesters converge on the campus for commencement weekend.

A Notre Dame graduate walks past protestors near the campus of Notre Dame University on 16 May 2009; in South Bend, Indiana.

Update:

Obama: "Stop Killing Our Children"

An anti-abortion protestor shouts slogans, interrupting US President Barack Obama as he speaks during the commencement ceremony in the Joyce Center of Notre Dame University in South Bend, Indiana; on 17 May 2008.

Ahead of Obama's address, at least 27 people were arrested on trespassing charges. They included Norma McCorvey, the plaintiff identified as "Roe" in the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion. She now opposes abortion and joined more than 300 anti-abortion demonstrators at the school's front gate.

More than half held signs, some declaring "Shame on Notre Dame" and "Stop Abortion Now" to express their anger over Notre Dame's invitation to Obama.

Obama entered the arena to thunderous applause and a standing ovation from many in the crowd of 12,000. But as the president began his commencement address, at least three protesters interrupted it. One yelled, "Stop killing our children."

'Go America Go'

A Pakistani Muslim wear two slogans saying 'Go Taliban Go' and 'Go America Go' during a pro-Taliban and anti-US protest rally in Islamabad on 4 May 2009. Tensions are soaring between the Pakistani government, which is under US pressure to extend an offensive to crush the Taliban.A Pakistani Muslim wears a cap bearing the slogan 'Go Taliban Go' during a Pro-Taliban and anti-US protest rally in Islamabad on 4 May 2009.

While the above picture of just 'Go Taliban Go' appeared splashed all over the US media propaganda as an anti-Taliban rally was not so, but to the contrary; what has became much more prominent in Pakistan and across the globe is the ever increasing feeling of anti-US or just plain anti-America due to most people having had enough of oppressive mistreatment and outright cruelty by the US government.

Even now, after the US lied to the American public and assured across the globe with their media propaganda on this situation it stands to define of how far the US will go in their barbaric pressure and heavy hammer upon the whole of the world; that nothing is below of what they will proceed to do against the feelings of the countries they continue to attack.

Neither country, home nor family is safe globally; from the American arrogance, to even go so far as to destroy the US itself in every facet possible, with ill-regard or full destruction of their own country including the welfare of all American citizens to do so.

Further goes to show, even with the recent US attack and continued genocide of Iraqi civilians which occurred very recently; which is being once again high condemned, by the Iraqi government or the US bombing that just occurred as of yesterday evening, that has murdered upward to 120 Afghan civilians.

Which with the very recent US media propaganda that the US is on a mission from "God" to commit murder, especially with the recent attack in Afghanistan; it should be understood that Allah (Hashem, God) does not condone homicidal murder of other's, for any reason or has the US forgotten where Allah (Hashem, God) specified saying, "You shall not kill (Exodus 20:13)."

As a response, " (US) Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says the Obama administration "deeply, deeply" regrets the loss of innocent life apparently as the result of a U.S. bombing in Afghanistan and will undertake a full review of the incident;" the sentiment while it is not believed, it will not bring back the over whelming amount of Jewish and Muslim martyrs the US has created in the last hundred and nine years or even yesterday caused by their hands alone.

As the US media propaganda dictates their view’s in the media, one can always be assured that it is better not to listen or read; but look towards the real truth of the matter.-HRM Deborah

Iraqi's Outraged Over Latest US Murder's

Family carry the coffin of a woman killed last Sunday during a US raid in the southern town of Kut on 26 April 2009. While the woman was killed four days ago, she was not allowed to buried by her family until today; which is a crime within itself according to Sharia law or Islamic law.

This woman along with a policeman were shot dead during a (late night) US raid on a house in Kut, according to an Iraqi security official and a local medic. The Iraqi official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said US forces arrested five people illegally without validation in the raid, including a police captain and a tribal leader, all from the same family.

Iraqi's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki heatedly denounced the raid, which left at least two people dead, as a "crime" that violated the security pact with Washington and demanded that American commanders hand over those responsible for immediate trial.

This is just the latest reported incident of the ongoing oppression, genocidal occupation by the US towards the people of Iraq.

To furthermore, notwithstanding; the US speaks of peace in the Middle East when they where the originators of all the unrestful aggressions and there was not any problems in the Middle East until they imposed the initial attack over hundred years ago; to continue to do so with deceptive tricks, lies and a trail of martyrs that has become endless from US bloodied hands.

For their to be actually peace in any facet of the Middle East, would be due to all aggression by the US to be removed from every rock or grain of sand throughout this part of the world. - HRM Deborah

Leave it the US Gangster

Alphonse "Al" Capone

The history of the drive-by-shooting began in the hey-day of the 1920’s Alcohol Prohibition Gangster Era, with such infamous people for example as Al Capone; towards rival gangster outfit’s over control of the illegal alcohol industry and another crime usually associated with these type of criminal’s for the same reason’s or in some case’s people not wishing to deal with the gangster’s where bombing’s; such as store bombing’s because they did not wish to sell under-the-counter bootleg or problems within places known as "Speakeasies" which served illegal Alcohol to customer’s and some of the more luxurious, included nightclub style acts and was also known as the days of 'bathtub gin;" where a poor grade sometimes deadly form of consumer style alcohol was actually made in a bathtub.

The St. Valentine's Day Massacre was used by Al Capone' to eliminated his enemies.

There were also, numerous premeditated murders such as the famous one of the Saint Valentine's Day Massacre, by order's of Al Capone.

A Speakeasy, the song, “Puttin’ on the Ritz” became very popular within these type of illegal establishment’s.

With the repeal of the Alcohol Prohibition Act, these types of crimes seemed to die down some what; until World War 2; when the US military started again to use drive-by-shooting as a military tactic, which is still used today by the US military in such places as Iraq and Afghanistan, towards civilians and similar target’s.

As to the Middle East, the method of the drive-by-shooting is foreign and has only been seen by the original influence of the US.

The next time drive-by-shooting’s came into vogue, was in the 1970’s, when street gang’s appeared on the scene in the US; with such thing’s as drug wars and fighting for neighborhood turf or what became known as “Turf Wars.” Such street gang’s known that originated in California in there earlier years, which the two gang’s known as the “Blood’s and Crip’s” used this type of criminal method in their gang wars, frequently.

So the drive-by-shooting idea and the origin of the drive-by-shooting, is from the United States.

Suspect Identified in Murder Investigation Moments after the Offense

18 December 2008

New Orleans, LA -The New Orleans Police Department is requesting the public’s assistance in locating 15-year-old Larry Coleman, wanted in connection with the fatal shooting that resulted in the death of 17-year-old Brian Urby. The offense occurred shortly before 5:30 P.M., in the 7100 block of Bunker Hill Road.

According to investigators, Seventh District officers responded to a call of a “male shot” and upon their arrival, found the victim inside of a residence suffering from an apparent gunshot wound to the body. Emergency medical technicians transported the victim to the hospital where he later died.

As a result of the ongoing investigation, diligent work of the New Orleans Police Department’s Homicide Division and great citizen involvement, detectives determined Coleman as the person responsible for the murder moments after the offense.

Detectives also learned that this incident stemmed from an argument prior to the offense.



Wanted: 15 year-old Larry Coleman



Wanted For: Manslaughter



Citizens with information that can help solve this crime are asked to call CRIMESTOPPERS at 822-1111, toll-free 1-877-903-STOP(7867). You could receive a cash reward of up to $2,500 for information leading to the arrest and indictment of the responsible person(s). You do not have to give your name nor testify to receive the reward.

Blackwater guards killed 16 as U.S. touted progress

The following is just some of the possible reason’s why their became a shoe-throwing Iraqi journalist named Muntadar al-Zaidi and other’s across the globe; even American's that would have wished to have been in al-Zaidi’s place, on 14 December 2008 in Baghdad. Iraq has become with the US invasion another place of extreme substandard health conditions and the macabre towards man, by the US.

16 December 2008

by Leila Fadel

BAGHDAD — On Sept. 9, the day before Army Gen. David Petraeus, the U.S. military commander in Iraq, and U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker told Congress that things were getting better, Batoul Mohammed Ali Hussein came to Baghdad for the day.

A clerk in the Iraqi customs office in Diyala province, she was in the capital to drop off and pick up paperwork at the central office near busy al Khilani Square, not far from the fortified Green Zone, where top U.S. and Iraqi officials live and work. U.S. officials often pass through the square in heavily guarded convoys on their way to other parts of Baghdad.

As Hussein walked out of the customs building, an embassy convoy of sport-utility vehicles drove through the intersection. Blackwater security guards, charged with protecting the diplomats, yelled at construction workers at an unfinished building to move back. Instead, the workers threw rocks. The guards, witnesses said, responded with gunfire, spraying the intersection with bullets.

Hussein, who was on the opposite side of the street from the construction site, fell to the ground, shot in the leg. As she struggled to her feet and took a step, eyewitnesses said, a Blackwater security guard trained his weapon on her and shot her multiple times. She died on the spot, and the customs documents she'd held in her arms fluttered down the street.

Before the shooting stopped, four other people were killed in what would be the beginning of eight days of violence that Iraqi officials say bolster their argument that Blackwater should be banned from working in Iraq.

During the ensuing week, as Crocker and Petraeus told Congress that the surge of more U.S. troops to Iraq was beginning to work and President Bush gave a televised address in which he said "ordinary life was beginning to return" to Baghdad, Blackwater security guards shot at least 43 people on crowded Baghdad streets. At least 16 of those people died.

Two Blackwater guards died in one of the incidents, which was triggered when a roadside bomb struck a Blackwater vehicle.

Still, it was an astounding amount of violence attributed to Blackwater. In the same eight-day period, according to statistics compiled by McClatchy Newspapers, other acts of violence across the embattled capital claimed the lives of 32 people and left 87 injured, not including unidentified bodies found dumped on Baghdad's streets.

The best known of that week's incidents took place the following Sunday, Sept. 16, when Blackwater guards killed 11 and wounded 12 at the busy al Nisour traffic circle in central Baghdad.

Iraqi officials said the guards were unprovoked when they opened fire on a white car carrying three people, including a baby. All died. The security guards then fired at other nearby vehicles, including a minibus loaded with passengers, killing a mother of eight. An Iraqi soldier also died.

In Blackwater's only statement regarding the Sept. 16 incident, Anne Tyrell, the company's spokeswoman, denied that the dead were civilians. "The 'civilians' reportedly fired upon by Blackwater professionals were in fact armed enemies," she said in an e-mail, "and Blackwater personnel returned defensive fire."

A joint commission of five U.S. State Department officials, three U.S. military officials and eight Iraqis has been formed to investigate the incident, though almost two weeks later, the commission has yet to meet. A U.S. Embassy statement on Thursday, the first official written comment from the embassy since the al Nisour shooting, said that the group was "preparing" to meet.

Blackwater and the U.S. Embassy didn't respond to requests for information about the other incidents.

But interviews with eyewitnesses and survivors of each incident describe similar circumstances in which Blackwater guards took aggressive action against civilians who seemed to pose no threat.

"They killed her in cold blood," Hussein Jumaa Hassan, 30, a parking lot attendant, said of Hussein.

Hassan pointed to the bullet-pocked concrete column behind him. He'd hidden behind it.

"I was boiling with anger, and I wished that I had a weapon in my hands in those minutes," he said. "They wanted to kill us all."

Anyone who moved was shot until the convoy left the square, witnesses said. Also among the dead was Kadhim Gayes, a city hall guard.

It took two days for Hussein's family to retrieve her body from the morgue. Before they could, her sister signed a sheet acknowledging the contents of her purse, which had been collected by security guards at the Baghdad city hall — a Samsung cell phone, a change purse with six keys and 37,000 Iraqi dinars ($30), gold bracelets, a notebook, pens, and photos of her and her children.

Three days later, Blackwater guards were back in al Khilani Square, Iraqi government officials said. This time, there was no shooting, witnesses said. Instead, the Blackwater guards hurled frozen bottles of water into store windows and windshields, breaking the glass.

Ibrahim Rubaie, the deputy security director at a nearby Baghdad city government office building, said it's common for Blackwater guards to shoot as they drive through the square. He said Blackwater guards also shot and wounded people in the square on June 21, though there are no official reports of such an incident.

On Sept. 13 — the same day Bush gave his "ordinary life" speech — Blackwater guards were escorting State Department officials down Palestine Street near the Shiite enclave of Sadr City when a roadside bomb detonated, ripping through one of the Blackwater vehicles.

The blast killed two Blackwater guards. As other guards went to retrieve the dead, they fired wildly in several directions, witnesses said.

Mohammed Mazin was at home when he heard the bang, which shattered one of his windows.

Then he heard gunfire, and he and his son, Laith, went to the roof to see what was going on.

What they saw were security contractors shooting in different directions as a helicopter hovered overhead. Bullets flew through his home's windows, he said.

No civilians were killed that day, but five were wounded, according to Iraq's Interior Ministry.

The following Sunday, Blackwater guards opened fire as the State Department convoy they were escorting crossed in front of stopped traffic at the al Nisour traffic circle.

While U.S. officials have offered no explanation of what occurred that day, witnesses and Iraqi investigators agree that the guards' first target was a white car that either hadn't quite stopped or was trying to nudge its way to the front of traffic.

In the car were a man whose name is uncertain; Mahasin Muhsin, a mother and doctor; and Muhsin's young son. The guards first shot the man, who was driving. As Muhsin screamed, a Blackwater guard shot her. The car exploded, and Muhsin and the child burned, witnesses said.

Afrah Sattar, 27, was on a bus approaching the square when she saw the guards fire on the white car. She and her mother, Ghania Hussein, were headed to the Certificate of Identification Office in Baghdad to pick up proof of Sattar's Iraqi citizenship for an upcoming trip to a religious shrine in Iran.

When she saw the gunmen turn toward the bus, Sattar looked at her mother in fear. "They're going to shoot at us, Mama," she said. Her mother hugged her close. Moments later, a bullet pierced her mother's skull and another struck her shoulder, Sattar recalled.

As her mother's body went limp, blood dripped onto Sattar's head, still cradled in her mother's arms.

"Mother, mother," she called out. No answer. She hugged her mother's body and kissed her lips and began to pray, "We belong to God and we return to God." The bus emptied, and Sattar sat alone at the back, with her mother's bleeding body.

"I'm lost now, I'm lost," she said days later in her simple two-bedroom home. Ten people lived there; now there are nine.

"They are killers," she said of the Blackwater guards. "I swear to God, not one bullet was shot at them. Why did they shoot us? My mother didn't carry a weapon."

Downstairs, her father, Sattar Ghafil Slom al Kaabi, 67, sat beneath a smiling picture of his wife and recalled their 40-year love story and how they raised eight children together. On the way to the holy city of Najaf to bury her, he'd stopped his car, with her coffin strapped to the top. He got out and stood beside the coffin. He wanted to be with her a little longer.

"I loved her more than anything," he said, his voice wavering. "Now that she is dead, I love her more."

Obama Inheriting Bush’s Nursery

Attack at Iraqi Kebab Kiosk

A blood stain is seen on the ground as an Iraqi policeman and a youth stand near a damaged Kebab kiosk where an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) went off last night in Baghdad's Palestine street, on 30 October 2008.

The blast killed five people and wounded another 13.

It is estimated at 29 wounded, 15 dead, which includes one dead child; who was 5 year-old; in several attacks in Iraq yesterday. The US military is said, to be responsible for all these attacks on Iraqi citizens, at a time when Iraq wants to change the pact with US; which deals with everything from US withdrawal from the country to the Iraqi people being allowed to govern their own country.

An Iraqi policeman stands next to the damaged Kebab kiosk where an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) went off.
A cat lies dead as Iraqi policemen secure the site where an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) went off last night in Baghdad's Palestine street.

Iran condemns US troops raid on Syria

27 October 2008

Tehran-Foreign Ministry spokesman, Hassan Qashqavi, condemned on Monday the US troops raid on Syria from Iraq calling it unacceptable.

American helicopter-borne troops from Iraq launched an assault on a residential area on Sunday in the Syrian village of Al-Sukkiraya which lies just eight kilometres from the border.

Eight civilians were killed in the attack.

"Iran condemns in strongest term any form of aggression or violation of the states' territorial integrity which leads to the death of innocent civilians," Qashqavi told reporters at his weekly press conference.

He expressed deep sorrow over the death of the Syrian people who were reportedly a father and his four children, as well as a couple and another man.

Syria's official news agency (SANA) said that Damascus has summoned the official US and Iraqi representatives in protest to the attack.

The US military officials in Iraq said in a statement that they did not have "any knowledge" about the aggression.

Commentary:
The State of Palestine also condemns the attack by US military from Iraq or any action that cause’s the death’s of civilians, which is also against International Laws, as well as the laws of the Geneva Convention and such a situation as this can be considered an act of aggression on the US's part for Syria to declare an act of war on the US.

As to my understanding, the US military had no justifiable reason to commit such an act as this; against Syria.

Furthermore, within the US media, they harassed citizens of Palestine within there propaganda on this situation which also a very dim view was taken by the Palestine government, because we had no part in this situation in any manner, it can also be considered not just insulting; but contrary to real stance that the US attacked Syria.

Nevertheless, it is our wish for the Syrian people to know, that the People of Palestine has there hearts out in sorrow; for those martyrs from the attack, yesterday and that this situation is not far from our thoughts.

Update:
Syrians Hold Funerals on a Day of Mixed Feelings

Families in this village near the Iraqi border buried loved ones Monday who were killed when the U.S. military launched am attack in Syrian territory. During the funerals, angry residents shouted anti-American slogans and carried banners reading: "Down with Bush and the American enemy."

A U.S. military official in Washington confirmed Sunday that special forces had conducted a raid in Syria that allegedly targeted the network of al-Qaida-linked foreign fighters moving through Syria into Iraq.

"We are taking matters into our own hands," the official told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the political sensitivity of cross-border raids.

In Sukkariyeh, villager Jumaa Ahmad al-Hamad told The Associated Press he was walking Sunday when he saw four helicopters, two of which landed.

"Shooting then started ringing for more than 10 minutes," al-Hamad said Monday. After the helicopters stopped firing and left the area, he and other villagers went to the site and discovered the bodies of his uncle, Dawoud al-Hamad, and four of his uncle's sons, who he said were killed in the raid.

Syria called the raid a "serious aggression," and its Foreign Ministry summoned the charges d'affaires of the United States and Iraq in protest.

Syrian parliament member Suleiman Hadad called the raid "a last-ditch hit by the defeated and desperate" Bush administration, which is trying to "restore some of its lost dignity in the region."
Government newspapers also published scathing criticisms in Monday's editions. Tishrin splashed its front pages with a headline denouncing the raid as a "U.S. war crime," while the Al-Baath newspaper described the attack in an editorial as a "stunning, shocking and unprecedented adventure."

"Even while it's preparing itself to leave the White House, the Bush administration seems determined to demonstrate its foolishness, and this is a dangerous indication of political madness and stupid arrogance," Al-Baath said.

"We are trying to contain the fallout from the incident," Iraqi Foreign Ministry undersecretary Labid Abbawi said. "It is regrettable and we are sorry it happened."

Some Iraqi officials warned that the U.S. military raid into Syria could be used by opponents of a security pact under negotiation with the United States.

"Now neighboring countries have a good reason to be concerned about the continued U.S. presence in Iraq," prominent Kurdish politician Mahmoud Othman told The Associated Press.

~~~~~~
In reading some of the media headlines, that Syria consider's this attack and act of terrorism; on the part of the United States.

Iraqi Sunni Muslims Demonstrate Over Us Murdered Martyr

Iraqi Sunni Muslims demonstrate on 25 October 2008, in Fallujah to protest against the killing of one of their member by the US troops yesterday; during a raid in town on 24 October.

A leading Iraqi Sunni political bloc, said it is breaking ties with US forces in the former rebel bastion of Fallujah after troops killed one of its members.

But the American military as their usual type of cover-up said, US and Iraqi troops killed an armed man who fired on them during an operation to arrest a suspected 'terrorist.'

Update:

Iraq's largest Sunni party has suspended official contacts with U.S. military personnel, after the killing of a man near Fallujah.

The Iraqi Islamic Party accused the raid of having a “hidden political motive” in an indication of rising tensions in Anbar province ahead of provincial elections, due to be held by the end of January.

This also comes with a stream of heated accusation’s towards the Sunni party, by some US government officials; published in some US media accounts.

34 Coffins Find there Way Home

In the Iraqi Shia holy city of Karbala, funerals are held for 34 men whose skeletal remains were found at a factory near the Syrian border three years after they vanished.

Relatives and friends carry the coffins of 34 abducted men killed nearly three years ago, on 23 October 2008; during their funeral in the streets of al-Bena al-Jahiz neighborhood in Karbala, 120kms South of Baghdad.

The skeletal remains of 34 men killed nearly three years ago were found at an Iraqi factory near the Syrian border and brought to the Shia holy city of Karbala yesterday, an official said.

The men who were from Karbala disappeared in 2005 after they left the city with a man posing as an Iraqi army officer to join the security forces in the western Iraqi city of Ramadi, an official with the local office of the movement of Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr said.

He said the remains of the men were found three days ago buried at the factory in the town of Al-Qaim near the Syrian border.

Iraq: Gunmen kill 5 Iraqis, wound pregnant woman or as the Story Goes

US military raid, murdered these Iraqi children, in 2006.

19 October 2008

Here is another good headline, “Gunmen kill 5 Iraqis, wound pregnant woman,” apparently unknown gunmen which has became the by word that the US Military doesn’t wish to stand-up and say it was us and wave or the every tiresome insurgent or militant, which if there was that many in Iraq, the US Military would be trampled under foot by the multitude of them.

Nevertheless, this particular case the victims where Sunni Muslim this time and yet one may ask, what is the normal chance of the average person wounding a pregnant woman, actually not as high as one think’s; unless they where targeted.

Just a little food for thought as the saying goes, the next time one read’s the media propaganda headlines and thinks they got the whole scoop, rethink what is actually occuring or the real truth of the matter for one may mentally says this is a fact; when it may very well be not.

Jewish Security forces Protecting Olive Harvesters from Canaanite Terrorists Intentions

Jewish security forces stand over a Palestinian photographer after he was lightly hurt while covering Palestinians and international peace activists harvesting olives in a field near Hebron, on 18 October 2008.

The Palestinian photographer working for EPA was lightly wounded today when Canaanite terrorists attacked a group of Palestinians and internationals harvesting olives, it was reported.

Following the attack Jewish police and border police evacuated the area of harvesters for there safety.

Jewish security forces watch Palestinians and international peace activists harvesting olives in a field; the Jewish military has been protecting the harvesters and the fields due to attacks on farmers two days ago.

As to global terrorist Interpol Mahmoud Abbas making any delusional statements as though the war is still occurring, it is a proven fact that the State of Palestine is a sovereign state and Abbas has no authority to make any claims political or otherwise.

He has more appeared in the last months, as a mad man; with his up scaling of terrorism not just in Palestine, but globally with all this type of crime curtails, along with other horrendous charges to his and his terrorist organizations credit.

Abbas, from my understanding is not only one of the most disliked in the global community, but one of the top most wanted for terrorist activities; among other criminal activities, it has been reported.

Abbas is bent on stealing Palestine, he also does intend to committed full scale genocide of the whole citizen populace of the country, excluding his own terrorist organization and will use any means to do so.

To further understand these Canaanites thinking, this is not the first time they have tried this particular theft and murder idea.

In history, when some of the Jews and Palestinians had been in Egypt as slaves; then were freed by Allah (God) through Moses. The Canaanites, were attempting to steal the country then, they had even taken some cities, such as Jericho by blood; to even try an name the country Canaan, which was a lie.

As history shows, the Jewish and Palestinians when they entered Palestine where defending the legitimate people which included Jews and Palestinians who where under attack and already in the country, from the Canaanites bloodletting theft and murder; among other horrendous acts of barbarism and wickedness.

It should be further understood, even at this particular segment of time; that Allah (God) cursed the Canaanites.

What some people may not know, that some of the Jews that where in Palestine when the Canaanite attacks where occurring at this time; later became known as the Samaritans, for they are Arab Palestinian and Jewish.

Needless to say, when this occurred in history, people used basic terms for these types of crimes by naming the different particular crimes in something similar to list form; in modern times, it became more equated with the term, terrorism; which seemed to became a manner for people to better understand.

Iraq : A Right to Freedom

Iraqi followers of Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr hold up copies of the Quran during a protest, on 18 October 2008; in Baghdad against the US occupation of Iraq.

Followers of Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr marched through the Iraqi capital shouting anti-US slogans to protest the American occupation and the planned security deal between the two countries.

This came at a time, when Washington and Baghdad are negotiating a security deal that is not being accepted apparently, by the majority of Iraqi people and is also under much scrutiny for illegalities towards the US.

Since Iraq is being considered in an illegal war with occupation by a foreign country namely the US, it stands to reason that the US foreign presence would never be acceptable under any circumstance; let alone the continuous genocide of numerous innocent Iraqi’s, which include men, women, children and the elderly.

The Martyr’s of Iraq and Afghanistan

Furthermore what is substantially so hideous in this occupation, is the wanton genocide of whole villages; numerous times in the middle of the night or late evening when the Iraqi people would appear more helpless, by US military personnel.

It is also understood, one can hear the people in the village’s blood curdling screaming for a long distance, as they are being murdered one by one as though they are nothing; by the US military and to further understand, it is not just Shia but also Sunni Muslims.

Nevertheless, it is being found that Afghanistan is also going through the same horror and it is a further wonder, how the US can feel justified to be in two illegal wars propagated by lies; let alone commit such senseless wholesale murder, to even wish to initiate more of these type of atrocities around the globe.

A Sadr City Martyr

Heads of Iraqi Shia tribes and some Sadrist members of parliament walk in front of the coffin of Iraqi anti-US Sadrist MP Saleh al-Okaili (al-Ogayly) as it is taken through the streets of Baghdad, on 10 October 2008; on its was to be buried in Najaf.

Okaili (Ogayly) who was assassinated in an US bomb attack yesterday, in Baghdad's Shia neighborhood in Sadr City.

Iraq is also to see an accelerated rise in US led violence towards the Iraq people, before the US November elections.

Inquiry shows U.S.-Afghan raid killed 30 people: report

People hold belongings as they stand in front of a house whom the Afghan government said was bombed by the U.S.-led coalition forces on Friday in Azizabad district of Shindand, in Afghanistan, on 23 August 2008.

8 October 2008

WASHINGTON- An inquiry by the U.S. military has concluded that U.S. air strikes on an Afghan village in August killed more than 30 civilians, far more than U.S. commanders have acknowledged, The New York Times said on Tuesday.

The August 22 air strike on Azizabad village outraged Afghans and opened up a rift between the coalition forces on the one hand and the Afghan government and the United Nations on the other, which both said more than 90 civilians were killed.

An Afghan policeman is seen inside a destroyed house whom the Afghan government said was bombed by U.S.-led coalition forces on Friday in Azizabad district of Shindand, in Afghanistan;on 23 August 2008.

In the days after the raid, the U.S. military said the strike had killed 30 to 35 militants but it planned to reopen its investigation after cell phone video emerged showing bodies of people said to have been killed in the strike.

"The military investigator's report found that more than 30 civilians -- not five to seven as the military has long insisted -- died in the airstrikes against a suspected Taliban compound in Azizabad," The New York Times said.

It cited two U.S. military officials, whom it did not identify, for the report.

"According to the new report, fewer than 20 militants died in the raid, which was conducted jointly by American and Afghan forces, and in subsequent airstrikes carried out by an AC-130 gunship in support of the allied ground forces," the Times said.

The U.S. Central Command, which oversees military operations in Afghanistan, had no comment on the article.

"The investigation is not complete. It hasn't been signed off on by the command, therefore we have nothing we can speak to until it's complete and ready for release," said spokesman Maj. Joe Kloppel.

Kloppel said the investigation would be finished soon but did not have a specific date.

O.J. Simpson guilty of armed robbery, kidnapping

O.J. Simpson appears during his trial.

4 October 2008
By LINDA DEUTSCH

LAS VEGAS - Thirteen years to the day after being acquitted of killing his wife and her friend in Los Angeles, O.J. Simpson was found guilty of robbing two sports-memorabilia dealers at gunpoint in a Las Vegas hotel room.

The 61-year-old former football star was convicted of all 12 counts late Friday after jurors deliberated for more than 13 hours. He released a heavy sigh as the charges were read and was immediately taken into custody.

Simpson, who went from American sports idol to celebrity-in-exile after his murder acquittal, could spend the rest of his life in prison.

His attorney said he would appeal.

Many people considered the four-week trial justice delayed. Simpson was cleared in 1995 of murdering his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman, in one of the most sensational trials of the 20th century, but was later found liable for the deaths in a civil case.

"I don't like to use the word payback," defense attorney Yale Galanter said. "I can tell you from the beginning my biggest concern ... was whether or not the jury would be able to separate their very strong feelings about Mr. Simpson and judge him fairly and honestly."

The Hall of Fame football star was convicted of kidnapping, armed robbery and 10 other charges for gathering up five men a year ago and storming into a room at a hotel-casino, where the group seized several game balls, plaques and photos. Prosecutors said two of the men with him were armed; one of them said Simpson asked him to bring a gun.

Simpson's co-defendant, Clarence "C.J." Stewart, 54, also was found guilty on all charges and taken into custody.

O.J. Simpson is handcuffed after a verdict of guilty on all counts was read following his trial at the Clark County Regional Justice Center in Las Vegas on Friday, 3 October 2008.

Simpson showed little emotion as officers handcuffed him and walked him out of the courtroom. His sister, Carmelita Durio, sobbed behind him in the arms of Simpson's friend, Tom Scotto, who said "I love you" as Simpson passed by. As spectators left the courtroom, Durio collapsed.

Jurors made no eye contact with the defendants as they entered the courtroom. They declined to answer questions after the verdict was read.

Galanter said his client had expected the outcome, and in a courthouse conversation with an Associated Press reporter on Thursday, Simpson had implied as much.

Simpson said he was "afraid that I won't get to go to my kids' college graduations after I managed to get them through college."

Galanter said it was not a happy day for anybody. "His only hope is the appellate process," he said.

Clark County spokesman Dan Kulin said prosecutors would not comment until the case was "completely resolved."

Judge Jackie Glass made no comment other than to thank the jury for its service and to deny motions for the defendants to be released on bail.

She refused to give the lawyers extended time to file a motion for new trial, which under Nevada law must be filed within seven days. The attorneys said they needed time to submit a voluminous record.

"I've sat through the trial," Glass said. "If you want a motion for new trial, send me something."

Stewart's attorney, Brent Bryson, also promised to appeal.

"If there was ever a case that should have been severed in the history of jurisprudence, it's this case," he said of unsuccessful attempts to separate Stewart's case from Simpson's because of the "spillover" effect.

From the beginning, Simpson and his lawyers argued the incident was not a robbery, but an attempt to reclaim mementos that had been stolen from him. He said he did not ask anyone to bring a weapon and did not see any guns.

The defense portrayed Simpson as a victim of shady characters who wanted to make a buck off his famous name, and police officers who saw his arrest as an opportunity to "get" him and avenge his acquittal.

Prosecutors said Simpson's ownership of the memorabilia was irrelevant; it was still a crime to try to take things by force.

"When they went into that room and forced the victims to the far side of the room, pulling out guns and yelling, `Don't let anybody out of here!' — six very large people detaining these two victims in the room with the intent to take property through force or violence from them — that's kidnapping," prosecutor David Roger said.

Kidnapping is punishable by five years to life in prison. Armed robbery carries a mandatory sentence of at least two years behind bars, and could bring as much as 30. Sentencing was set for Dec. 5.

Simpson, who now lives in Miami, did not testify but was heard on a recording of the confrontation screaming that the dealers had stolen his property. "Don't let nobody out of this room," he declared and told the other men to scoop up his items, which included a photo of Simpson with former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover.

Four other men charged in the case struck plea bargains that saved them from potential prison sentences in return for their testimony. Some of them had criminal records or were otherwise compromised in some way. One, for example, was an alleged pimp who testified he had a revelation from God telling him to take a plea bargain.

Memorabilia dealer Thomas Riccio, who arranged and secretly recorded the hotel-room confrontation, said he netted $210,000 from the media for the tapes.

Similarly, minutes after the Sept. 13, 2007, incident, one of the alleged victims, sports-memorabilia dealer Alfred Beardsley, was calling news outlets, and the other, Bruce Fromong, spoke of getting "big money" from the case.

Simpson's past haunted the case. Las Vegas police officers were heard in the recordings chuckling over Simpson's misfortune and crowing that if Los Angeles couldn't "get" him, they would.

During jury selection, Simpson's lawyers expressed fears that people who believed he got away with murder might see this case as a chance to right a wrong.

As a result, an usually large pool of 500 potential jurors was called, and they were given a 26-page questionnaire. Half were almost instantly eliminated after expressing strong feelings that Simpson should have been convicted of murder.

The judge instructed the jurors to put aside Simpson's earlier case.

In closing arguments, Galanter acknowledged that what Simpson did to recover his memorabilia was not right. "But being stupid, and being frustrated is not being a criminal," he said.

He added: "This case has taken on a life of its own because of Mr. Simpson's involvement. You know that. I know that. Every cooperator, every person who had a gun, every person who had an ulterior motive, every person who signed a book deal, every person who got paid money, the police, the district attorney's office, is only interested in one thing: Mr. Simpson."



Commentary:

In 1995, while I did not glue myself to the television or news media on this case, I did equate myself with what evidence there was on the murders of Simpson's ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ronald Goldman and I will admit by the evidence, he did appear guilty; as to the many people I had the opportunity to speak too at the time, mostly at the hospital when my mother was in the process of dying from assassination by poison, they also agreed to Simpson‘s guilt for murder and the people I spoke with where diversified one of the good points of being in a hospital.

Nevertheless, while the previous case was brought in with this latest case, which I am not sure was ethical; it did make it interesting that Simpson was found guilty of this latest crime, apparently with little question this time to the fact.

The one question I have always pondered, is why Simpson actually would wish to murder his ex-wife and her friend, but I am also one of those people that will never understand anyone’s motive for murder, let alone robbery or kidnapping.

I have always been one of those people that believe in the sanctity of human life and to commit theft, is just not acceptable.

Finally, while I never knew Simpson during his sports career, I will never forget his portrayals in the inept Naked Gun movies; which looks like he is still hanging unto the bottom of the bus, riding off down the hill into the sunset and the only reason I ever even saw any of the Naked Gun movies, is my mother for some reason had liked them. Otherwise, these movies would probably have fallen to the wayside, like so many I have not cared to watch.

Husband of slain soldier arrested in her death

He and another man are charged with first-degree murder

3 October 2008

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. - The husband of a female soldier found stabbed to death near her home was arrested Friday and charged with murder along with a second man authorities say was hired to kill the woman.

The death of 29-year-old Sgt. Christina E. Smith was the third off-post killing of a Fort Bragg servicewoman in four months, stunning a tight military community that was still seeking to come to grips with the earlier deaths.

“For me, I was thinking, ‘No, gosh, not another one,”’ said Fayetteville police spokeswoman Theresa Chance.

Sgt. Richard Smith, 26, was charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder, Chance said. Pfc. Mathew Kvapil, 18, faces the same charges, and Chance said he was hired by Smith to kill the wife as the couple walked together Tuesday evening.

An initial hearing was scheduled for Monday for both soldiers. Officials said they didn’t know if either man had been appointed an attorney yet.

Police divers were searching in a creek about a mile from the crime scene for the murder weapon.

The military said the Army Criminal Investigation Division at Fort Bragg also was investigating, but “no military actions have yet been determined.”

Smith, who was treated for minor injuries, initially reported that an attacker had stabbed his wife in the neck and fled as the soldier ran after him. Neighbors said they heard a woman screaming and saw Christina Smith in a pool of blood.

Fort Bragg officials said the Smiths were both assigned to an Army special operations unit. She was a graphics illustrator in Company A, 5th Battalion, 4th Psychological Operations Group. She is survived by her husband and her parents, Katherine and Steven Loehrke of Mount Orab, Ohio, the Army added.

Smith’s death follows the killings of Spc. Megan Touma, 23, and 2nd Lt. Holley Wimunc, 24. In the previous cases, the female soldiers were killed off post under different circumstances.

Touma, who was seven months pregnant, was found dead in June in a Fayetteville motel bathtub. Sgt. Edgar Patino, 27, the father of the unborn child, was charged with her death on July 29.

On July 10, Wimunc was reported missing from her apartment. The Army nurse’s body was found three days later by crews fighting a brush fire near North Carolina’s Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base.

Wimunc’s estranged husband, Marine Cpl. John Wimunc of Camp Lejeune, was arrested July 14. Lance Cpl. Kyle Alden was charged with aiding John Wimunc by destroying evidence and providing a false alibi.

“We have domestic violence issues like every other city,” Chance said. “Obviously the military seems to be targeted lately.”

Commentary:
Seeing the above article brought something to mind and I am going to try relating a time situation dealing with war that was brought to my attention several years ago; by some veterans from WW2 and I was with my parents at the time, which was always the case in those days.

It makes me think of how children in these time’s can pick and choose where they wish to go with there parent’s, but with my imprisonment; I never had that option nor was I allowed to be usually out by myself.

Even if I went to the market to get something for my mother like a carton of milk, I had a time limit of when I should return and yes, I sweated out the long lines or slow clerk in those days because of the horrors that very often occurred when I was late and this could be as little as two minutes late.

Getting back to what I started to say, in those days, men returning from combat, I was told they use to be isolated for a time before being released back into American society because of the possible dangers from having been in a war, especially murder to domestic violence and even in those days, a few after this isolation still was a menace to society.

Furthermore, it makes me also think of some of the over zealous murder spree’s on civilians that have been documented; in the Vietnam war and in Iraq.

A Shepherd's Tears of Death

Family members of 18-year-old Canaanite shepherd Yehia Rihamon mourn, on 28 September 2008 in the village Aqraba, south of Nablus.

The teenage shepherd was not shot dead by Jewish settlers as was claimed by media propaganda; but rather by terrorists from global terrorist, Interpol fugitive Mahmoud Abbas’s Canaanite organization and then pinned on the Jewish settlers to cover-up the true criminal’s, which is an old familiar guise by Abbas terrorists.

The young man was among a group of shepherds grazing flocks south of Nablus yesterday, when they were attacked.

As with any case of murder in Palestine, the criminal’s will be found and will pay the extreme cost for murder.

As it is also hoped, there is not any distress to the Jewish settlers.