Sunlight and Shadow

Things looking bleak? Here’s your sunshine for the day. Swiss Bank Accounts that allow anonymity to go poof! Can you hear the moans of the rich and powerful — the behind-the-scenes movers and shakers? In case any of you still doubt … this is SHIFT, big time.

Bonus is a series of explosive articles from the shadows, about the military — we’re in so much trouble, kids! As with everything lately, we have to take responsibility for what we’ve created, and it ain’t pretty.

See how they’re luring our young’uns in, and the price each would pay for translating a game into a real life experience.

The pieces about Gaza made me weep — and the pit of my stomach told me that it could just as easily have been us they were writing about; you know it, I know it … and the longer we turn away from it, the more difficult the task of healing it.

In other news, Kamikaze Governors decide whether to take help from the stimulus — or remain pure in their squinchy little Republican hearts; Schwarzenegger ain’t one of ‘em. Shout out to my peeps in rainy California, who need to get their pickets together, find the addresses of the obstructing Pubs standing in the way of fiscal sunlight, and do a little Kumbayah on their front lawns.

Jude

UBS: American Investors’ Identities To Be Revealed
Huffington Post
February 19, 2009

The curtain is being peeled back on the infamous secrecy of Swiss banks.

The largest bank in Switzerland, UBS, agreed Wednesday to reveal the names of wealthy Americans whom the authorities suspect of using offshore accounts to evade taxes.

The change in policy is the result of UBS’ admitted role in conspiring to defraud the Internal Revenue Service. As part of the agreement, the bank will pay $780 million in damages, and also close all offshore accounts of its American clients.

It is not clear how many names will be divulged, but the Feds have been looking into roughly 19,000 accounts, according to the New York Times.

The deal could mark the end of Swiss banking as we know it, as many offshore clients may no longer trust the anonymity of the country’s banking system.

Prosecutors suspect that UBS helped its American clients hide $20 billion from the government, or about $300 million a year in taxes, from late 2002 to 2007. UBS has admitted that some of its employees “participated in a scheme to defraud the United States”

Read the UBS Agreement here: [open link] ++

bonus

Wake Up Call: Activists Visit ‘The Army Experience’
Elaine Brower, Common Dreams
Thursday, February 19, 2009

On Monday, February 16th about 50 activists decided to take a trip to the Franklin Mills Mall right outside Philadelphia, PA to get their look at a new “store”. “The Army Experience” (AEC), as it is called, built by the taxpayers to the tune of $12 million, attracts local kids to play video games, most of which are high tech simulations of combat situations.

The group was made up of members from all over the area. World Can’t Wait from New York City and Philadelphia; Delaware Valley Veterans of America; Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW); Veterans for Peace from the Philadelphia area; CodePink Women for Peace; Granny Peace Brigade; and, the Brandywine Peace Center converged on the mall at about 10:30 AM, greeted by a heavier than usual security force.

As a little background, let me explain. This 15,000 sq. ft. center has the look of a brand new spaceship, clean, polished and full of gadgets and was opened in August, 2008. On the website it announces in a welcome message “Providing unique insight into the Army Experience Center is an unparalled interactive experience designed and built by the world’s premier land force - the United States Army.” “See what excitement is all about!” The area contains what they call a “Tactical Operations Center” or TOC, where a separate room is available for local schools to conduct classes, with full/free internet and computer access. In the TOC, students as young as middle-school class attend and receive instructions on various topics, but mostly concerning what jobs the army has to offer them. In a wiz-bang fashion, the modern space offers the community, and mall goers the slick new and improved way that military recruitment is being ushered into the 21st century.

In a statement made when the facility first opened, the creator of the center, Ryan Hansen of Ignited Corporation, said “They are the Army, and as the slogan states “The Army is more than you think it is.” ‘Through market research, and proven outreach tools like the “America’s Army” game and the mobile “Virtual Army Experience,” Hansen said the Army learned that the best way for people to become acquainted with their Army was for them to be able to touch, feel and see the Army in a non-threatening environment. By incorporating the lessons learned from the technologies of those outreach tools, officials believe the Army Experience Center will make the Army accessible to visitors,’ which it does.

Young kids can see what it’s like to sit inside a real humvee, tank, apache helicopter and get first hand experience killing the enemy, and being killed themselves. When we spoke to the staff inside, all in “civilian” clothes, looking friendly and naïve, they tout the fact that they do not “recruit” kids. On the contrary, they “offer” them a place to go, no questions asked, and they can browse around what the army has to offer, if they so choose. But to get into the AEC and play these games that are so popular with high school kids, they must register at the front desk. Of course, on the application form there is a spot to check off if you “want the military to contact you.”

So a young person who is anxious to get inside and get their lifetime pass to play games for free, shows some ID, fills out an application and may or may not check off a box. It isn’t mandatory. My friend did it. She went to the desk, a member of the Granny Peace Brigade, and signed up. Got her ID card, and went to play the games, got a tour of the entire place and was totally disgusted by the disguise the army is presenting.

So about 50 activists devised a plan to take on the center and call attention to the real mission of the Army. At about 11 AM, a “tour” group went in, comprised of 4 young people, and also a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW). They took the tour, in which a helpful army representative showed them around the place and gave them a glowing report of how the center since it opened, has helped local inner-city kids, whose public schools are under funded, learn to read, pass the “Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery” (ASVAB) and generally teach them discipline. With all of this, they don’t have to join the Army, this is a public service they are giving away freely; however, since the AEC opened, they have enlisted 48 kids, information freely given to one of the protesters.

At 12:00 PM the rest of us walked into the center and did a freeze action. On our t-shirts were signs stating “WAR IS NOT A GAME” and we remained in a frozen position until the mall security, almost immediately, told us we had to disperse. Some folks were on the outside of the AEC, right in the mall area, and they were told to remove their shirts or leave. Standing still in a large mall area is not against the law, the last I heard. Nor is standing still inside an area that you are allowed to be in as a taxpayer is also not illegal, however, we were told that this “Army” center was on private property. Photos and videos were prohibited, but we managed to sneak a few in.

IVAW member, Matthis Chiroux from NYC, who stood frozen wearing his military uniform, was challenged by the head of mall security. “I am warning you, sir, that if you don’t leave the area immediately you will be arrested and charged with criminal trespass!” After repeating that about 3 times, Matthis responded by saying “I heard you the first time!”, and kept his frozen stance. Along with him, were about 7 others who remained after the first warnings were given. Others meandered very slowly back out to the general mall area, and some remained inside the AEC, but milled about slowly looking at the games and video screens mounted on the walls.

I myself waited until Matthis left and then I walked over to one of the gaming stations where Joan and Bev, both Granny Peace Brigade members from NYC were playing the games. Watching them play “Ghost Recon”, the initial startup video screen takes you into Mexico along the border, and right away the military personnel are being shot at along the border, as if we were at war with Mexico. The soldiers are shot at, dragged off, shot at again and blood splatters right onto the video screen. Screaming, yelling, gunfire, rocket fire and helicopters are all rampaging right in front of your eyes.

As Bev recounts: “Unaccustomed to playing video games, I was excited at finally making a direct “hit” with the rifle. However, the “body” spurted blood, jerked about when shot again which shocked and disgusted me. Two boys, no older than fifteen, were playing the games before we entered the area and remained intently engaged when we left the arcade. The military staff’s glib answers just rolled off their tongues during a lengthy discussion and tour of the three simulator exhibitions.”

I got into a long discussion with 4 different recruiters when standing there. Still wearing my t-shirt reading “WAR IS NOT A GAME”, I took my time and stood there for almost an hour. The conversation went from allowing these young kids to play violent games with taxpayer dollars, to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. All the while, the staff there defended their position. One staff member who was in Iraq on 3 combat tours told me he was in the Army for 10 years, and it works for him. Besides, where else could he go, he has a family. Another told me he goes to the inner city schools and teaches kids to read. I mentioned that there are teachers to perform that task, but he said there was no funding for public schools. So why not take the funding from the center and give it to the schools that had accredited teachers, I stated. He didn’t have an answer other than that wasn’t up to him.

For example, federal funding for the 2009 Department of Defense’s (DOD’s) base budget is $515.4 billion-a nearly 74-percent increase over 2001. This funding will ensure a high level of military operation, as opposed to a federal budget for the Department of Education of $68.6 billion. Just a quick examination of this unbalanced funding gives us an idea where the government is headed as far as the connection between educating our youth and the militarization of them.

After telling them that I was a military mom and my son has served 3 tours of duty, and is still in Iraq, they kept me engaged in conversation. I told them what they were doing was similar to the youth brigades in Germany under Hitler. I told them that the military budget was bloated and of course kids would join the army since it was an economic draft. I told them that unmanned drones were the product of the Military Industrial Complex and some guy sitting in Nevada was killing innocent people in Pakistan. I told them that they had to understand all of this since they worked there. Most of the time they didn’t really have an answer, it all went back to they didn’t have a choice and there was nothing wrong with what they were doing, it was up to our political leaders to change the direction, not them.

Here in New York City, we are faced with more militarization of our youth. The Department of Education is welcoming the Army into nine NYC public high schools, with more likely to follow. This partnering is disguised as teaching the students “life skills, with students being drilled by soldiers in setting goals.” However, military officials involved in this program state that “the project is not a recruitment tool.” This announcement marks a second step in NYC where the DOE and US military relationship appears to be growing increasingly cozy. Considering the fact that the Mayor has just threatened to lay off 15,000 teachers, we should all be very alarmed at the escalation in military involvement with our youth on all of these fronts.

The bottom line is that “The Army Experience” is an experimental center, and if it works, we could be faced with a whole new monster in recruiting in other malls across the Country, as well as these new programs in our high schools. The military is right in one respect, they don’t have to recruit, they just have to smile and give a tour, let them play, teach them to read, teach them “life skills” and where else do these kids have to go? We are in an economic depression, no jobs for anyone, especially those who are locked into areas of the country where there was a deep oppression before the economy went sour.

Those of us who realize the extreme danger of this subversive army mission targeting our youth on a whole new level, must mobilize to stop it. However it is done, we cannot simply hand out opt-out forms at high school events any longer. To counteract the high level of technological lying that is being mastered, our mission should be to rise to the occasion and not allow these new techniques to go unchallenged.

There is a program right now that is taking this on. The “We Are Not Your Soldiers” tour in high schools around the Country, is bringing an Iraq/Afghanistan veteran who is against the war as well as a Viet Nam war resister into classes to tell them the truth about why the empire is recruiting them. To let them know that the promise of money for college, or job training is not worth selling your soul to a Country that wants you to kill and be killed for the purpose of power and greed.

It is up to us to speak truth to power, to join together and push back against the military industrial complex before it really becomes too late! ++

Death in the USA: The Army’s fatal neglect
Returning U.S. combat soldiers are committing suicide and murder in alarming numbers. In a special series, Salon uncovers the habitual mistreatment behind the preventable deaths.
Mark Benjamin and Michael de Yoanna, Salon
Feb. 9, 2009

[thanks, Nadirah]

Editor’s note: This is the introduction to a weeklong series of stories called “Coming Home.” Read the first story in the series here; see photos of Heidi Lieberman painting over her son’s suicide note, and a copy of the “Hurt Feelings Report,” here. [open link]

FORT CARSON, Colo. — Preventable suicides. Avoidable drug overdoses. Murders that never should have happened. Four years after Salon exposed medical neglect at Walter Reed Army Medical Center that ultimately grew into a national scandal, serious problems with the Army’s healthcare system persist and the situation, at least at some Army posts, continues to deteriorate.

This story is no longer just about lack of medical care. It’s far worse than sighting mold and mouse droppings in the barracks. Late last month the Army released data showing the highest suicide rate among soldiers in three decades. At least 128 soldiers committed suicide in 2008. Another 15 deaths are still under investigation as potential suicides. “Why do the numbers keep going up?” Army Secretary Pete Geren said at a Jan. 29 Pentagon news conference. “We can’t tell you.” On Feb. 5, the Army announced it suspects 24 soldiers killed themselves last month, more than died in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan combined.

But suicide is only one manifestation of the unaddressed madness and despair coming home with U.S. troops. Salon’s close inspection of a rash of murders and suicides involving soldiers at just one base reveals that many of the deaths seem avoidable. Salon put together a sample of 25 suicides, prescription overdoses and murders among soldiers at Colorado’s Fort Carson since 2004. Intensive study of 10 of those cases exposed a pattern of preventable deaths, meaning a suicide or murder might have been avoided if the Army had better handled the predictable, well-known symptoms of a malady rampant among combat veterans: combat-related stress and brain injuries. The results of Salon’s investigation will be published in a weeklong series of articles that begins today with “The Death Dealers Took My Life!”

Salon chose Fort Carson as a laboratory almost by chance. The story started to emerge on its own last summer during reporting at Fort Carson that exposed an alleged friendly fire incident involving soldiers posted there. It was clear during several visits to interview soldiers who’d witnessed the deaths of their colleagues that there was psychological turmoil on the base. Paranoid soldiers were running around with guns. There was prescription and illicit drug abuse, extremely heavy drinking, suicide and murder.

The soldiers seemed to be suffering classic symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder: explosions of anger, suicidal and homicidal ideation, flashbacks, nightmares and insomnia. The Army was responding, for the most part, with disciplinary action rather than treatment, evincing little concern for possible underlying problems. The soldiers self-medicated further. Predictable outcomes followed.

The Army handled the families of the disturbed and neglected soldiers callously. Last November, as detailed today in the first of Salon’s multi-part series on preventable deaths at Fort Carson, officers provided paint for a mother to paint over her son’s suicide note, which he had scrawled on a barracks wall. Two years after his return from Iraq, Army doctors still hadn’t properly diagnosed him with PTSD. Two other troubled soldiers died after the Army handed them a brutally heavy and in one case toxic combination of drugs for their symptoms. In a moving prison interview, another soldier explained to Salon how better treatment might have prevented him, a month after returning from his second tour in Iraq, from being involved in the November 2007 murder of a fellow soldier.

There were other deadly blunders. In the press for warm bodies in Iraq, Fort Carson sent a soldier, diagnosed with PTSD and a brain injury, back into combat, where he committed suicide by overdosing on some of his eight prescription drugs. Medical records show Fort Carson dispatched another soldier to Iraq despite a diagnosis of “schizotypal personality disorder,” characterized by peculiar beliefs and paranoia. On his return to Colorado, prosecutors say he raped a 19-year-old woman and slit her throat.

Salon documented several completely new cases. A few others have appeared in news articles, though not deeply explored.

After the Walter Reed scandal finally exploded in 2007, a presidential commission led by former Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala and former Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan., responded by recommending in July 2007 a series of steps to aggressively treat combat stress, among other things. President Bush ordered a raft of initiatives to help returning troops. In interviews, Army officials produced a laundry list of new programs designed to address some of these very problems, from a 24-7 counseling hotline to hiring 250 new mental health professionals since the spring of 2007. Presumably, these programs saved some lives.

Out in the shadow of Pikes Peak, however, it is easy to find examples where the initiatives didn’t seem to ease the misery. At least three Fort Carson soldiers committed suicide just last month as we raced to complete our reporting.

And there are good reasons to think the problems fester far beyond Colorado. Shalala expressed concern at the apparent lack of progress at places like Fort Carson. “We clearly are not doing enough when they come back,” she said in a telephone interview. “This doesn’t seem to be on anyone’s radar.”

President Obama says he wants to bring tens of thousands of troops home from Iraq. How will the government respond when they need help the most? ++

Salon Investigates the Dark Side of Coming Home
Liz Borkowski, Occupational Health & Safety
February 18, 2009

Last week, Salon.com published a disturbing in-depth series, called “Coming Home,” about the tragic consequences of the Army’s inability to provide adequate care to soldiers returning from Iraq. Focusing on just one base – Fort Carson, Colorado – they found the following:

Salon put together a sample of 25 suicides, prescription overdoses and murders among soldiers at Colorado’s Fort Carson since 2004. Intensive study of 10 of those cases exposed a pattern of preventable deaths, meaning a suicide or murder might have been avoided if the Army had better handled the predictable, well-known symptoms of a malady rampant among combat veterans: combat-related stress and brain injuries.

The individual stories of the soldiers involved in these tragedies make the series a compelling read, but the sad conclusion is that their problems are far from unique. The Army reported recently that 128 soldiers committed suicide last year, and Salon counts that from Fort Carson alone, 13 current or former soldiers have been convicted, accused, or linked to a murder after returning from Iraq. Salon’s Michael de Yoanna and Mark Benjamin explain the common problems that emerged from their investigations:

1) A stigma, within the culture of the Army, against seeking mental healthcare;
2) pressure to deploy soldiers despite medical problems;
3) a failure to diagnose or properly treat combat veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder or brain injuries, despite clear symptoms;
4) a tendency to overmedicate soldiers suffering from either stress disorders or injuries.

Benjamin and de Yoanna report that the Pentagon has set up a hotline for soldiers who need counseling, launched a program to better incorporate mental health treatment into primary care, hired 250 new mental health providers, and revised the policy that formerly counted mental health counseling against a soldier’s security clearance. Officials are aware of the problems and working to correct them – but, as this series shows, the conditions that make coming home so difficult for so many veterans are deeply entrenched.

Here’s what Benjamin and de Yoanna write about the Army culture that makes it hard to get help:

Untreated, combat stress can cause bad behavior — insubordination, substance abuse, violent outbursts. The Army was quick to crack down on soldiers for misbehavior but showed little interest in figuring out the underlying cause. Our reporting suggests that saying there is a “stigma” in the Army associated with seeking mental healthcare is an understatement. Harassment or punishment of those soldiers who show signs of mental strain or “weakness” seems like a more accurate description. One mock official Army document at Fort Carson asked soldiers seeking mental health help to pick one of the following explanations for their “Hurt Feelings”: “I am a pussy,” “I am a queer,” “I want my mommy.” In that environment, some troops opted to self-medicate with alcohol or drugs, making their problems worse.

For those who do get help, treatment may consist of heavy medication, which Benjamin and de Yoanna show has its own risks. The death of Pfc. Ryan Alderman from “multiple drug intoxication” was ruled a suicide, but Alderman’s father thinks his son’s body was simply overloaded from drugs (some prescribed, others not) he was using to try and control pain, anxiety, depression, and other conditions. Staff Sgt. Mark Waltz fell victim to “mixed drug intoxication” from drugs prescribed to him with an apparent lack of appropriate oversight.

Acknowledging that soldiers suffer from deployment-related injuries and illnesses leaves the Army responsible not only for their care, but for disability payments. If the Army can blame a soldier’s problems on a condition that existed before deployment, their responsibility diminishes. Pvt. Adam Lieberman, who attempted suicide after being required to leave a private mental-health facility where he was getting treated for PTSD and return to Fort Carson, told Salon that his Army psychologist “has been trying to give me a personality disorder since Day One, that I wanted to kill people before I got into the Army.”

When the Army fails to provide appropriate treatment, afflicted soldiers aren’t the only ones who suffer. One of the harrowing stories in this series is that of John Wiley Needham, who couldn’t get the help he needed; just weeks after being discharged from the Army, he allegedly beat 19-year-old Jacquwelyn Villagomez to death. (Needham’s father believes his son had a flashback and felt that he was being attacked.) De Yoanna and Benjamin explain the bureaucratic hurdle that denied Needham – and many other soldiers – the care he required:

The Army’s disability ratings system, which assigns percentages to gauge a soldier’s level of disability on a scale of zero to 100 percent, gave Needham a 20 percent rating for his back and just 10 percent for his PTSD, according to his medical records.

By law, Needham should have received 50 percentage points for PTSD alone. The difference in scores is an important detail, one that might have saved Villagomez. If Needham had received a total score of 50 on the disability scale — which a PTSD diagnosis by itself should’ve guaranteed — he could have received personalized support for his day-to-day issues, whether psychological, physical, financial or career. He also would be guaranteed lifetime military health benefits. With 10 points for PTSD and only 30 overall, he didn’t get the one-on-one attention he needed to transition back to civilian life. […]

Needham isn’t the only soldier to be discharged with a PTSD rating lower than the 50 points that the law requires for full benefits, according to a class-action lawsuit by the National Veterans Legal Services Program. The independent nonprofit, which fights to see that the nation’s 25 million military personnel and veterans receive benefits to which they are entitled, alleges that “thousands” of Iraq war veterans with PTSD are currently being denied care through Veterans Affairs because they were discharged with illegal PTSD ratings. The Army recently acknowledged the law in an Oct. 14, 2008, Defense Department directive, ordering that soldiers discharged with PTSD receive the proper rating.

Lawmakers and military officials repeatedly demonstrate their interest in caring for troops and veterans, but they may not realize just how big a job it is. Providing more money for mental-health and brain-injury treatments is an important step, but it’s just a start. The military’s culture will have to change, providers will need to have the training and resources to deliver proper treatment, and policies and practices will have to change so that soldiers get the benefits to which they’re entitled. It’s an enormous undertaking, but we have to do it – because, as the Coming Home series shows, the toll of the status quo is unacceptable. ++

In Gaza town, a bitter aftermath
Witnesses say white flags didn’t keep Israeli troops from firing at and killing Palestinians. Incident in Khozaa could be key to any war crimes probe.
Ashraf Khalil, Los Angeles Times
2/15/09

Reporting from Khozaa, Gaza Strip — She was the strongest among them, the natural leader. So when the shelling stopped and the Israeli soldiers announced through loudspeakers that all residents should come out of their homes and head for the center of town, neighbors turned to Rawhiya Najar for guidance.

Emptying the cupboards of sheets and tablecloths — anything white — she led a procession of 20 women and children into the streets holding a white flag in each hand, residents say.

The group had made it perhaps 200 yards when a soldier stepped out from a door down the street and shot Najar in the head, multiple witnesses say. Her body lay in the street for 12 hours, villagers and doctors say.

Weeks after Israel declared a unilateral end to its offensive in the Gaza Strip, the aftermath still burns in Khozaa, a farm town of 11,000 in the south of the territory. Chunks of white phosphorus still lie scattered throughout neighborhoods, buried in dirt and sand; when excavated, they immediately ignite and spew noxious smoke that smells vaguely of garlic.

As the International Criminal Court weighs a war crimes investigation of the Gaza offensive, the experience of Khozaa could be a key part in the evidence. It was here that Israeli troops staged a series of incursions from Jan. 11 to 13, facing off against local militant fighters and leaving a trail of accusations and recriminations in their wake.

These include charges of indiscriminate firing on civilians and ambulances and what one international weapons expert called the heaviest use of controversial white phosphorus munitions in the 22-day offensive.

Local officials say 19 people were killed during the assault, 16 of them civilians. About 150 people were injured, most from prolonged exposure to phosphorus smoke, local medical officials say.

It is impossible to fully confirm many of the details of what happened here. But interviews with more than a dozen Khozaa residents, medical professionals, government officials and local militant fighters depict a chaotic three-day span when phosphorus smoke filled the streets and homes as families cowered indoors.

The Israeli army, which staged its offensive after years of rocket attacks against southern Israel emanating from the Gaza Strip, refuses to discuss individual charges in detail. A statement in response to questions about the events in Khozaa declared that the military is “currently conducting post-operation investigations.”

Israeli officials have insisted that their soldiers tried to avoid civilian casualties, and accuse Hamas fighters of cynically using Palestinian civilians as human shields.

Residents acknowledge an active militant presence in the district, and local militant commanders say about a dozen fighters directly engaged Israeli forces here. But militants and residents deny that the area was a frequent spot for rocket launches into Israel, saying those cells prefer to operate from farther north in Gaza.

The incursion starts

The assault began with an intense artillery barrage just before midnight Jan. 10.

The shelling continued until dawn, when Israel staged the first of three thrusts into the district. Armored bulldozers, backed by tanks and air support, moved in about 5 a.m., residents say, demolishing several homes in the Azzata district, where Rawhiya Najar lived.

Neighbors say the soldiers repeatedly withdrew and returned over the next two days, leaving residents disoriented and fearful. The final offensive began just after midnight on Jan. 13, with an all-night artillery barrage that engulfed the district in smoke, residents say. Isolated groups of terrified villagers huddled in different homes for safety, including at least 30 relatives in the home of Khalil Hamdan Najar, 57.

Israeli drones patrolled the skies, unseen but identifiable from their distinctive lawn-mower whines. Under cover of darkness and phosphorus smoke, ground forces took up positions throughout the neighborhood, taking over several homes, residents say.

At 6:30 a.m., with shells beginning to strike the roof of his home, Khalil Najar led a group of relatives outside, waving a white flag. A series of missile strikes killed Khalil and injured several family members, they say. His granddaughter Alaa, 14, and son-in-law Ahmed, 23, later died at a hospital.

When it grew light outside, Rawhiya Najar urged her neighbors to crowd onto the roofs of their homes, hoping the sight of civilians would deter the barrage, neighbors said.

The 47-year-old, who had returned from the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca just days before the Israeli offensive began, was known as a forceful and generous personality. She was also a staunch supporter of the local militant groups, and would often leave tea and cakes on her windowsill at night for the fighters who operated in the area.

When the rooftop strategy proved ineffective, about 200 people huddled in an exterior courtyard surrounded by three concrete walls from still-intact homes. They included Rawhiya and Eman Najar — relatives in a district where almost everyone is a Najar by either birth or marriage.

Eman said that at least eight armored bulldozers had surrounded them, and one began demolishing the home just yards in front of the group.

“He picked up the side of the house like it was a box of matches,” she said. “We were practically face to face. We could see the bulldozer driver chewing gum and smiling like it was all a game.”

White flags

Just before 8 a.m., the soldiers ordered all residents to “head for the city center.”

Multiple witnesses tell identical versions of what happened next. As the procession turned a corner next to a yellow garbage container, a soldier stepped out from behind a red metal door about 200 yards ahead and shot Rawhiya Najar in the temple. As residents scrambled for cover, 21-year-old Yasmine Najar was shot and wounded while trying to rescue Rawhiya, neighbors say.

“I’m convinced that woman was shot while waving a white flag,” said Fred Abrahams, the senior emergencies researcher for Human Rights Watch, citing separate interviews with several residents.

“Their testimony was consistent, credible and corroborative. All the pieces of the puzzle fit.”

In nearby Khan Yunis, ambulance driver Marwan Abu Reida responded to a call just after 8 a.m. about the body of a woman lying in the street. The neighborhood was shrouded in thick white smoke when he arrived, he said, and before he could approach Rawhiya’s body, gunfire from a nearby home forced him to abandon the ambulance and take shelter with residents.

“It is so scary. Bullets are hitting the house and it is shaking after each missile that is fired from the planes,” Abu Reida told The Times by phone that day.

“We may die in any moment.”

As the Israeli assault continued, Eman Najar and her neighbors decided to attempt a final break for safety. About 1:30 p.m., the group, crouching, ran down a dirt path. They could see Rawhiya’s body still lying next to the yellow garbage container, less than 100 yards away but had no way of knowing whether she was alive or dead.

When they reached the main road, a neighbor and relative named Mahmoud Najar helped usher them to safety. But when he heard about the shooting of Rawhiya, Mahmoud, 55, grabbed a white flag and vowed to retrieve the body.

The group walked about three miles before reaching a United Nations-run school, where ambulances arrived to evacuate the wounded.

Israeli forces withdrew from Khozaa about 8 p.m. on Jan. 13.

Mahmoud Najar, the neighbor who tried to retrieve Raw- hiya, was found dead just a few yards from his home. He died of a gunshot wound to the abdomen.

Abu Reida, the ambulance driver, emerged from hiding. He retrieved Rawhiya Najar’s body and finally delivered her to the local morgue. ++

Special correspondent Yasser Ahmad in Khan Yunis contributed to this report.

The day the Israeli army came to the Gaza Zoo
Karachi News.Net
Monday 26th January, 2009 (Gulf News)

A month ago, it was attracting families - he says the zoo drew up to 1,000 visitors each day. He points at the foot-long hole in the camel in one of the enclosures.

‘This camel was pregnant, a missile went into her back,’ he tells us. ‘Look, look at her face. She was in pain when she died.’

Around every corner, inside almost every cage are dead animals, who have been lying in their cages since the Israeli incursion.

Qasim doesn’t understand why they chose to destroy his zoo. And it’s difficult to disagree with him. Most of them have been shot at point blank range.

‘The first thing the Israelis did was shoot at the lions - the animals ran out of their cage and into the office building. Actually they hid there.’

The two lions are back in their enclosure. The female is pregnant, and lies heavily on the ground, occasionally swishing her tail. Qasim stands unusually close to them, but they don’t seem bothered by his presence.

As he takes us around, he is obviously appalled at the state of the animals. The few animals that have survived appear weak and disturbed.

‘The foxes ate each other because we couldn’t get to them in time. We had many here.’ There are carcasses everywhere and the last surviving fox is quivering in the corner.

The zoo opened in late 2005, with money from local and international NGOs. There were 40 types of animals, a children’s library, a playground and cultural centre housed at the facility.

Inside the main building, soldiers defaced the walls, ripped out one of the toilets and removed all of the hard drives from the office computers. We asked him why they targeted the zoo. He laughs. ‘I don’t know. You have to go and ask the Israelis. This is a place where people come to relax and enjoy themselves. It’s not a place of politics.’

Israel has accused Hamas of firing rockets from civilian areas. Qasim reacts angrily when we raise the subject.

‘Let me answer that with a question. We are under attack. There was not a single person in this zoo. Just the animals. We all fled before they came. What purpose does it serve to walk around shooting animals and destroying the place?’

Inside one cage lie three dead monkeys and another two in the cage beside them. Two more escaped and have yet to return. He points to a clay pot. ‘They tried to hide’, he says of a mother and baby half-tucked inside.

Qasim says that his main two priorities at the moment are rebuilding the zoo and taking the Israeli army to court. For the first, he says he will need close to $200,000 to return the zoo to its former state - and he wants the Israelis to cover the costs. ‘They have to pay me for all this damage.’

We ask him why it’s so important for Gaza to have a zoo. ‘During the past four years it was the most popular place for kids. They came from all over the Gaza Strip. There was nowhere else for people to go.’ ++

“So keep fightin’ for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don’t you forget to have fun doin’ it. Lord, let your laughter ring forth. Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce. And when you get through kickin’ ass and celebratin’ the sheer joy of a good fight, be sure to tell those who come after how much fun it was.”
~ Molly Ivins, 1944 - 2007

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1 comment February 19th, 2009