M I I L K

thedailywhat: Afghan War News of the Day: A US soldier...

Sun, 11 Mar 2012 19:23:38 -0400

Afghan War News of the Day: A US soldier reportedly carried out a brutal slaying of at least 16 Afghan civilians early this morning in two small villages near his base in the country’s southern Kandahar Province.

“It appears he walked off post and later returned and turned himself in,” military spokesman Lt. Cmdr. James Williams said of the unidentified staff sergeant who is currently in custody.

According to eyewitnesses, the soldier walked into at least three homes in the villages of Balandi and Alkozai and fired at their occupants. Nine children and three women were among the dead, per the latest report.

The deputy commander of Afghanistan’s international troop coalition, Lt. Gen. Adrian J. Bradshaw, stressed that this was “in no way part of authorized military activity.” US officials further denied earlier reports that the shooting was perpetrated by more than one assailant.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai released a statement demanding an explanation for the attack, which he referred to as “an intentional killing of innocent civilians [that] cannot be forgiven.”

The Taliban issued a similar statement, admonishing “the so called American peace keepers” for “once again quench[ing] their thirst with the blood of innocent Afghan civilians.”

This latest setback for US efforts in the region comes just as fury over last month’s Koran burning at Bagram Air Base and January’s corpse urination footage had begun to abate.

The US Embassy in Kabul attempted to diffuse the tension by releasing a statement expressing “deepest condolences to the families of the victims,” but experts say today’s incident may be the “fatal hammer blow on the U.S. military mission in Afghanistan.”

President Obama’s drawdown plan has US soldiers transferring full security control to their Afghan counterparts by the end of 2014.

[photo: afp/getty via msnbc.]

A United States service member walked out of a military base in a rural district of southern Afghanistan on Sunday and opened fire on three nearby houses, killing at least 16 civilians, including several children, local villagers and provincial officials said.

Sun, 11 Mar 2012 19:21:01 -0400

A United States service member walked out of a military base in a rural district of southern Afghanistan on Sunday and opened fire on three nearby houses, killing at least 16 civilians, including several children, local villagers and provincial officials said.

blacknouveaux: NOVOS BAIANOS, One Of My Favorite Brazilian...

Sun, 11 Mar 2012 00:15:48 -0500

blacknouveaux:

NOVOS BAIANOS, One Of My Favorite Brazilian Acts. The Guitar Work Is CRAZY Here!

Justice For Saira: Who is Saira?

Sat, 10 Mar 2012 23:33:07 -0500

Justice For Saira: Who is Saira?:

justiceforsaira:

Saira was the victim of a Bangladesh child marriage to a paedophile when she was 13 years old. In allowing this marriage, the Bangladesh government have broken the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The international petition, ‘Justice For Saira’ was created by Saira’s daughter, Sami Ahmed,…

united-nations: Update from UN News Centre: Senior peacekeeping...

Sat, 10 Mar 2012 11:39:20 -0500

united-nations:

Update from UN News Centre: Senior peacekeeping and political affairs officials explain how the UN maintains efforts against Lord’s Resistance Army

The Office of the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict answers questions about UN work to address LRA operations. We hope this conversation will encourage people to learn all of the facts about the hundreds of thousands of children affected by conflict around the world.

How does the LRA recruit children and what is their role?

Where is the LRA operating?

What are the aspirations of the LRA?

What are other violations are committed against children by the LRA?

What has the United Nations done to address the violations committed against children by the LRA?

Why is a military action against the LRA risky?

What can I do for the children affected by the LRA?

Report of the UN Secretary-General on the Lord’s Resistance Army-affected areas (November 2011, S/2011/693)

UNICEF has been working for decades to protect children from violence/abuse. But there’s still much to be done.

UNICEF: Video on The Paris Principles: agreement to end the use of children in war

UNICEF: More on child soliders

International Criminal Court on the Situation in Uganda

Find out if your country has signed the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in armed conflict.

Statement from Special Representative Ms. Radhika Coomaraswamy:

I am pleased to see such a lively discussion on an issue that is often under-reported. If people want to help, they can support programs for children—-who have escaped the LRA—-to rebuild their lives and their communities throughout Central Africa. Any military action against LRA should pay heed to the fact that Kony’s army is largely comprised of children.

NYPD docs: 'Focus' scrutiny on Muslim Americans

Sat, 10 Mar 2012 11:36:07 -0500

NYPD docs: 'Focus' scrutiny on Muslim Americans:

The New York Police Department kept secret files on businesses owned by second- and third-generation Americans specifically because they were Muslims, according to newly obtained documents that spell out in the clearest terms yet that police were monitoring people based on religion.

The NYPD has faced intense criticism from Muslims, lawmakers and even the FBI for widespread spying operations that put entire neighborhoods under surveillance. Police put the names of innocent people in secret files and monitored the mosques, student groups and businesses that make up the Muslim landscape of the northeastern U.S.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has defended his department’s efforts, saying they have kept the city safe, were completely legal and were not based on religion.

“We don’t stop to think about the religion,” Bloomberg said at a news conference in August after The Associated Press began revealing the spying. “We stop to think about the threats and focus our efforts there.”

In late 2007, however, plainclothes officers in the department’s secretive Demographics Unit were assigned to investigate the region’s Syrian population. Police photographed businesses and eavesdropped at lunch counters and inside grocery stores and pastry shops. The resulting document listed no threat. And though most people of Syrian heritage living in the area were Jewish, Jews were excluded from the monitoring.

Video

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 12:42:09 -0500

#KONY

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 23:14:00 -0500

#KONY