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WAR RESISTERS SUPPORT CAMPAIGN

For Immediate Release
Tuesday, July 06, 2010
*Federal Court of Appeal rules in favour of Iraq War resister Jeremy Hinzman and family Immigration Minister must act as directed by Parliament and let resisters stay in Canada*

TORONTO-This afternoon the Federal Court of Appeal issued its unanimous judgment that an immigration officer's decision rejecting Jeremy Hinzman's application for permanent residence in Canada was "significantly flawed" and "unreasonable."

The Federal Court of Appeal decided that the Federal Court erred in a June 2, 2009 ruling by dismissing the application by U.S. Iraq war resister Jeremy Hinzman for judicial review of a Pre-Removal Risk Assessment (PRRA) Officer's humanitarian and compassionate (H&C) grounds decision. The PRRA Officer had rejected the application by Hinzman and his family, from within Canada, for permanent residence.

>
> Same Docs, Different Stories
>
> The three outlets gifted by WikiLeaks take three
> different approaches
>
> By Joel Meares
> > Columbia Journalism Review
> > July 26, 2010
>
> http://www.cjr.org/campaign_desk/same_docs_different_stories.php?page=al...
>
> On Sunday, three news outlets published the results of
> their investigations into 91,731 classified U.S.
> military documents that they had received from
> secret-sharing Web site WikiLeaks. The New York Times,
> The Guardian , and Der Spiegel each led today with
> their findings on their front pages and online with
> multi-dimensional, interactive reports on "one of the
> biggest leaks in US military history." The documents,
> spanning 2004 to 2009 and pertaining to the war in
> Afghanistan, were concurrently published on the
> WikiLeaks site.
>
> Mostly, the papers highlight the same discoveries: high
> incidents of weapons failure among U.S. drones; the

State Dept. planning to field a small army in Iraq

Warren P. Strobel | McClatchy Newspapers
last updated: July 21, 2010 06:09:15 PM

WASHINGTON — Can diplomats field their own army? The State Department is laying plans to do precisely that in Iraq, in an unprecedented experiment that U.S. officials and some nervous lawmakers say could be risky.

In little more than a year, State Department contractors in Iraq could be driving armored vehicles, flying aircraft, operating surveillance systems, even retrieving casualties if there are violent incidents and disposing of unexploded ordnance.

Under the terms of a 2008 status of forces agreement, all U.S. troops must be out of Iraq by the end of 2011, but they'll leave behind a sizable American civilian presence, including the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, the largest in the world, and five consulate-like "Enduring Presence Posts" in the Iraqi hinterlands.

US Military Surge in Costa Rica May Fan Regional Tensions
With the "War on Drugs" as Pretext, 46 Warships and 7,000 Troops > Reported to Be Heading to Central American Country and Coast
By Jamie Way

Special to The Narco News Bulletin

In a controversial decision that is likely to fan the flames of regional tensions in Latin America, Costa Rica recently granted the US permission to move 7,000 troops and 46 warships (along with their accompanying planes and helicopters) into Costa Rican waters. Officially, the act is considered to be part of the "Drug War," > which appears to be increasingly more war-like in nature due to such actions and mounting violence in Mexico and Colombia. Costa Rica's neighbors, however, see the massive military presence as a potential base for regional strikes.

No Dominion: The Lonely, Dangerous Fight Against Christian Supremacists Inside the Armed Forces
Sunday 11 July 2010

by: Matthew Harwood, t r u t h o u t | Report

In his fight against British imperialism, Mahatma Gandhi described the life cycle of successful civil disobedience: "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win." Mikey Weinstein, the 55-year-old founder of the Albuquerque, New Mexico-based Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF), likes to quote it, knowing full well he's crossed the line into a bloody-knuckle brawl. Over the past year, Weinstein and his organization have recorded a tremendous string of victories in the fight against Christian supremacists inside the armed forces.

WAR RESISTERS SUPPORT CAMPAIGN

For Immediate Release
Tuesday, July 06, 2010
*Federal Court of Appeal rules in favour of Iraq War resister Jeremy Hinzman and family Immigration Minister must act as directed by Parliament and let resisters stay in Canada*

TORONTO—This afternoon the Federal Court of Appeal issued its unanimous judgment that an immigration officer’s decision rejecting Jeremy Hinzman’s application for permanent residence in Canada was “significantly flawed” and “unreasonable.”

The Federal Court of Appeal decided that the Federal Court erred in a June 2, 2009 ruling by dismissing the application by U.S. Iraq war resister Jeremy Hinzman for judicial review of a Pre-Removal Risk Assessment (PRRA)Officer’s humanitarian and compassionate (H&C) grounds decision. The PRRA
Officer had rejected the application by Hinzman and his family, from within Canada, for permanent residence.

U.S. Tax Dollars Fueling Afghan Insurgency

House Investigation: Private Contractors Paying Warlords, Criminals to Get Supplies to U.S. and NATO Bases
Lara Logan reports for CBS Evening News

(CBS) Billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars are fuelling corruption in Afghanistan and funding the insurgency, according to a six-month investigation by the House subcommittee on National Security and Foreign affairs.

The committee's chairman, Rep. John F. Tierney, D-Mass., told CBS News: "the business is war and the war is business and you've got 'Warlord Inc.' going on over there."

The Peace Movement's Progress
By David Swanson
http://afterdowningstreet.org/node/53735

The peace movement has made significant progress in the United States since its low point of late 2008, and just about everything anyone in it has done has been a contribution. If everyone keeps doing what they're doing, and more of it, we might just end some wars, eventually. But I think some techniques are working better than others, and that pursuing the most strategic approaches would make victory likelier sooner and longer-lasting when it comes.

THE RUNAWAY GENERAL

Stanley McChrystal, Obama's top commander in Afghanistan, has seized control of the war by never taking his eye off the real enemy: The wimps in the White House

By Michael Hastings

Jun 22, 2010 10:00 AM EDT

This article appears in Rolling Stone 1108/1109 from July 8-22, 2010, on newsstands Friday, June 25.

Plan Would Allow Abortions at Military Hospitals

By ELISABETH BUMILLER

WASHINGTON — The fight to allow gay and bisexual people to serve openly in the military is already drawing political blood in Washington, but tucked into the same 852-page Pentagon policy bill as the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” is a little-noticed amendment that takes on another emotionally charged issue: making abortion easier for military women in war zones.