As Cedric requested, each week this month we've spotlighted Colorado Indymedia. They were hacked and they've come back strong. If you visit their site, you'll find many stories. We'll highlight three here.
From Cord's "US Admits Torture:"
The acknowledgement was made in a report submitted to the UN Committee against Torture, said a member of the ten-person panel, speaking on on condition of anonymity. "They are no longer trying to duck this, and have respected their obligation to inform the UN," the Committee member told AFP.
US Acknowledges Torture at Gitmo & Iraq, Afghanistan /////////////////////////////////// Agence France Presse
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20050624/pl_afp/unustorture
June 24, 2005 GENEVA - Washington has for the first time acknowledged to the United Nations that prisoners have been tortured at US detention centres in Guantanamo Bay, as well as Afghanistan and Iraq, a UN source said. The acknowledgement was made in a report submitted to the UN Committee against Torture, said a member of the ten-person panel, speaking on on condition of anonymity.
"They are no longer trying to duck this, and have respected their obligation to inform the UN," the Committee member told AFP. "They they will have to explain themselves (to the Committee). Nothing should be kept in the dark."
UN sources said it was the first time the world body has received such a frank statement on torture from US authorities. The Committee, which monitors respect for the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, is gathering information from the US ahead of hearings in May 2006.
Next we'll note Glen Newell's "indymedia UK servers, data siezed: volunteer arrested:"
Police in the UK have confiscated servers and hard drives of the Bristol-based Indymedia-UK, and have arrested at least one indymedia volunteer: organizations worldwide have voiced thier support
IMC Bristol's server seizedOn Monday, June 27th, Indymedia Bristol's (http://bristol.indymedia.org/) server was seized by the police. An Indymedia volunter was also arrested during the raid. Last week, police demanded access to the server to gain the IP details of a posting.
The alternative media outlet is receiving advice from civil liberties organisations and the National Union of Journalists. Before being legally forced to hand over the server, Indymedia Bristol stated: "We do not intend to voluntarily hand over information to the police as they have requested".
A further statement from Bristol Indymedia volunteers is expected soon.
This is the second time that law enforcement authorities have attacked Indymedia servers in the UK in the run up to a major event. Last October, just prior to the European Social Forum, Indymedia servers in London were seized in an international law enforcement operation - prompting a wave of protests and solidarity statements from a wide range of organisations [report]. This time, events are unfolding one week before the G8 Summit begins in Scotland.
Commenting on the heavy-handed approach of the Bristol police, who previously threatened that they 'may arrest somebody for obstructing the course of justice', an Imc Uk volunteer said: "It's like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut".
An Imc technical volunteer added: "I do not believe that there is any useful information that the police could gain from the server seizure." ((editor's note: generally, it is IMC philosophy to not track IP source info...it is considered essential to the protection of free speech to provide a forum in which views can be expressed without fear of reprisal ))
In order to provide grass-roots non-corporate coverage during the G8 protests and events, Indymedia UK needs additional http mirrors to help decrease bandwidth costs. If you can offer a mirror, mail imc-uk-contact at indymedia.org
You can also help support Imc Uk and Bristol by donating here.
An Indymedia volunteer said: "We ask for wide participation in reporting the events and issues around the G8, don't hate the media, become the media".
And from Anonymous Poster, we'll note "Nearly 9,000 U.S. troops dead? A NATIONWIDE CALL FOR INFO FROM SURVIVORS:"
Has the Bush administration drastically understated the U.S. military death count by redefining "death"? The following article suggests that it has, and it calls for a nationwide campaign to honor deceased service members by naming and counting them.
According to the article: "...DoD lists currently being very quietly circulated indicate almost 9,000 [U.S. military] dead"; this far exceeds the "official" death count of 1,831. How can this be? It's largely because "U.S. Military Personnel who died in German hospitals or en route to German hospitals have not previously been counted." In other words, "death" has been redefined.
WHAT YOU CAN DO RIGHT NOW:
1. If you know (or know of) service members who've died in Bush's wars, look for their names on the full, alphabetized "official" Pentagon death list, at http://www.tbrnews.org/Archives/list.htm.
IF THEIR NAMES ARE NOT INCLUDED, PLEASE SEND A REPORT TO: tbrnews (at) hotmail.com. You're also encouraged to notify your Congress members, your local newspaper, and other interested parties.( Note that the alphabetized list is updated regularly at tbrnews.org. It currently includes deaths reported up through early June. )
2. FORWARD THIS WEB PAGE TO ANYONE YOU KNOW WHO MAY KNOW SERVICE MEMBERS WHO'VE DIED.
3. Forward this web page to veterans' groups, other organizations, responsible journalists and respectable elected officials.///////////////////////////
"The Bush Butcher’s Bill: Officially, 80 US Military Deaths in Iraq from 1 through 21 May, 2005 – Official Total of 1,831 US Dead to date (and rising)"( THE FOLLOWING TEXT IS FROM http://www.tbrnews.org/Archives/a1682.htm )
U.S. Military Personnel who died in German hospitals or en route to German hospitals have not previously been counted. They total about 6,210 as of 1 January, 2005. The ongoing, underreporting of the dead in Iraq, is not accurate. The DoD is deliberately reducing the figures. A review of many foreign news sites show that actual deaths are far higher than the newly reduced ones.
Iraqi civilian casualties are never reported but International Red Cross, Red Crescent and UN figures indicate that as of 1 January 2005, the numbers are just under 100,000. by Brian Harring, Domestic Intelligence Reporter
Note: There is excellent reason to believe that the Department of Defense is deliberately not reporting a significant number of the dead in Iraq. We have received copies of manifests from the MATS that show far more bodies shipped into Dover AFP than are reported officially. The educated rumor is that the actual death toll is in excess of 7,000. Given the officially acknowledged number of over 15,000 seriously wounded, this elevated death toll is far more realistic than the current 1,400+ now being officially published.
When our research is complete, and watertight, we will publish the results along with the sources In addition to the evident falsification of the death rolls, at least 5,500 American military personnel have deserted, most in Ireland but more have escaped to Canada and other European countries, none of whom are inclined to cooperate with vengeful American authorities. (See TBR News of 18 February for full coverage on the mass desertions)
This means that of the 158,000 U.S. military shipped to Iraq, 26,000 either deserted, were killed or seriously wounded.
The DoD lists currently being very quietly circulated indicate almost 9,000 dead, over 16,000 seriously wounded* (See note below. This figure is now over 24,000 Ed) and a large number of suicides, forced hospitalization for ongoing drug usage and sales, murder of Iraqi civilians and fellow soldiers , rapes, courts martial and so on – I have a copy of the official DoD casualty list. I am alphabetizing it with the reported date of death following. TBR will post this list in sections and when this is circulated widely by veteran groups and other concerned sites, if people who do not see their loved one’s names, are requested to inform their Congressman, their local paper, us and other concerned people as soon as possible.
The government gets away with these huge lies because they claim, falsely, that only soldiers actually killed on the ground in Iraq are reported. The dying and critically wounded are listed as en route to military hospitals outside of the country and not reported on the daily postings. Anyone who dies just as the transport takes off from the Baghdad airport is not listed and neither are those who die in the US military hospitals.
Their families are certainly notified that their son, husband, brother or lover was dead and the bodies, or what is left of them (refrigeration is very bad in Iraq what with constant power outages) are shipped home, to Dover AFB. You ought to realize that President Bush personally ordered that no pictures be taken of the coffined and flag-draped dead under any circumstances. He claims that this is to comfort the bereaved relatives but is designed to keep the huge number of arriving bodies secret. Any civilian, or military personnel, taking pictures will be jailed at once and prosecuted. ...
This listing program is finished so act accordingly. If there is an actual variance of, say, 10 names, that is acceptable. 50 would indicate sloppiness and anything over 100 a positive sign of lying. As of June 16, TBR has received 32 new, unlisted names
*The latest on the wounded: “Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, is a 150-bed hospital that's already seen over 24,000 wounded military patients from Iraq and Afghanistan since the commencement of hostilities “. Knight Ridder Newspapers June 6, 2005
(Note: The Pentagon refuses to publish accurate lists of any wounded. Ed)
LINK TO FULL, "OFFICIAL" ALPHABETICAL LIST: http://www.tbrnews.org/Archives/list.htm
(The list is updated regularly.)
Again, we salute Colorado Indymedia for their courage in the face of the hack attack and for getting back online and posting strong articles in record time.
There will be more posts tonight but they may be late. I have a work related thing to take care of so posting will be on hold for a few hours until I'm back.
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
