Author: Brett Wilkins

A new report and interactive map published Thursday by a leading airstrike monitoring organization offer detailed insight into incidents of civilian harm caused by Israel Defense Forces’ aerial bombardment of Gaza during the May 2021 Operation Guardian of the Walls assault on the Palestinian territory, as well as casualties resulting from militant rocket attacks on Israel.

The report – entitled “Why Did They Bomb Us?” Urban Civilian Harm in Gaza, Syria, and Israel From Explosive Weapons Use – was published by the U.K.-based airstrike watchdog Airwars. The group said the publication “comprehensively documents the civilian toll of recent Israeli actions in Gaza and Syria, as well as from Palestinian rocket fire into Israel” during the 15-day war.

The report’s interactive map shows neighborhood-level data – including names, ages, relations, and locations – and allows users to navigate through 128 separate incidents of civilian harm in Gaza.

Continue reading “New Interactive Map Gives Ground-Level Look at High Civilian Toll of Israel’s Gaza War”

As Russian President Vladimir Putin responded Wednesday to NATO provocations along his nation’s western frontier by warning that his country reserves the right to defend itself, peace advocates stressed the need for US self-awareness and restraint in order to avoid a “new Cold War.”

Following US vows to “stand up for Ukraine” – including by sending combat troops and sanctioning Moscow – in the event of Russian aggression, Putin said during a press conference with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis that “Russia has a peaceful foreign policy, but has the right to defend its security,” according to Agence France-Presse.

The remarks were Putin’s first in public since he and US President Joe Biden met during a two-hour virtual summit on Tuesday. US leaders are alarmed by Russia’s concentration of troops within striking distance of eastern Ukraine, where pro-Moscow separatists have been fighting government forces since 2014.

Continue reading “As Putin Asserts Russia’s Right to Defend Against NATO, US Urged to Avoid ‘New Cold War’”

Human rights defenders on Tuesday renewed demands for President Joe Biden to close the U.S. military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba as the Senate Judiciary Committee convened a hearing at which experts and advocates testified about the damage that Gitmo does to detainees, the nation’s standing in the world, and the elusive pursuit of justice for victims of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks and their families.

Lamenting that two-third of the remaining 39 Guantánamo prisoners – there have been approximately 780 men and boys held at the facility since 2002 – have not been charged with any crime, Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) asked, “How can that possibly be justice?”

“The story of Guantánamo is the story of a nation that lost its way,” said Durbin, to the protestations of observers who noted that indefinite detention and torture have been part of the US narrative for centuries. “It is a story of justice delayed and denied again and again – not only for detainees but also for the victims of 9/11 and their loved ones.”

Continue reading “As Senate Holds Guantánamo Hearing, Biden Urged to ‘Finally End This Chapter of Injustice’”

The United States Senate on Tuesday evening voted down a joint resolution that would have blocked the proposed sale of $650 million worth of U.S. armaments to Saudi Arabia, weapons critics said will help exacerbate a war in Yemen that is driving one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

In a 67-30 vote, the upper chamber rejected S.J. Res. 31, which was introduced by Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and would have halted the sale of 280 Raytheon AIM-120C-7/C-8 advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles, 596 LAU-128 missile rail launchers, along with spare parts, support, and logistical services to the Saudi monarchy for use in its war against Yemen.

“My simple question is, why in the world would the United States reward a regime that has caused such pain in Yemen with more weapons,” Sanders tweeted after the vote. “The answer is we should not.”

Continue reading “Senate Dems Help Torpedo Resolution That Would Have Blocked $650 Million Arms Sale to Saudi Arabia”

Recounting some of the “atrocities committed shamefully in the name of our nation” during the ongoing so-called War on Terror, Sen. Dick Durbin on Tuesday said he has introduced an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that would close the U.S. military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba “once and for all.”

“Since the first group of detainees was brought to Guantánamo in January of 2002, four different presidents have presided over the facility,” Durbin (D-Ill.) – a longtime proponent of closing the prison – said during a speech on the Senate floor.

“In that time the Iraq War has begun and ended, the war in Afghanistan – our nation’s longest war – has come to a close,” he continued. “A generation of conflict has come and gone yet the Guantánamo detention facility is still open and every day that it remains open is an affront to our system of justice and the rule of law.”

“In the wake of 9/11 the [George W.] Bush administration tossed aside our constitutional principles as well as the Geneva Conventions,” Durbin contended, calling Gitmo a place “where due process goes to die.”

Continue reading “Durbin Introduces Amendment To End ‘Legacy of Cruelty’ by Closing Guantánamo”

Slamming the Saudi-led coalition’s war crimes in Yemen – which are often perpetrated with U.S.-supplied weaponry – 47 advocacy groups on Monday published a joint letter to congressional lawmakers urging them to block the Biden administration’s “wrongful” planned $650 million arms sale to the repressive Middle Eastern monarchy.

At issue is the proposed sale of 280 AIM-120C-7/C-8 advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles and 596 LAU-128 missile rail launchers in a package that would also include spare parts, support, and logistical services. The missiles, which would be fitted to Saudi fighter jets, are manufactured by Raytheon, on whose board Lloyd Austin sat before becoming US defense secretary this year.

The letter’s signatories urge members of Congress to pass resolutions by Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) to block the sale and end “US complicity in the Saudi-led coalition’s gross violations of international law in Yemen, including its blockade.”

Continue reading “47 Groups Urge Congress To Avert ‘Human Rights Failure’ by Blocking Biden’s Saudi Arms Sale”