We are told by the new head of the army that Britain will need to remain involved in Afghanistan for another forty years. Putting aside all our moral scruples, we would advise the General to think things through a bit further. Given that when eight years ago Britain first got re-involved in that country (having forgotten the 19th Century lessons there) the rate if fatal casualties was about one (perhaps one and a half) a month; and now the monthly rate is about twenty - an increase of (roughly) fourteen times over eight years; it is questionable whether any country could afford to see that rate of increase in monthly fatalities continue six times as long?

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Merchants of death Lockheed Martin are in the bidding to compile the 2011 UK census. There are two objections to this. Firstly, taxpayers' money should not be used to reward a corporation that has brought death and misery to millions. At the same time, there are also fears about the information that they would collect and whether it would be passed to the US government.

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Two japanese photo-journalists, Naomi Toyoda and Hitoshi Shimizu, made
this English-language video-documentary titled Unknown Terror of DU –
Iraqi children now.

It can be seen here:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8703746205082819717

Here are 50 screenshots of the film

http://www.dubbs.info/av_unknown_terror.htm

The film is only 20 minutes long, but you can get a quick preview of
much of the content from these screenshots.

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On Thursday (16th) at the climate camp, a small group of clowns decided to do walkabout with a wheelie bin. When the police stopped them under anti-terrorism powers, they were in for a big surprise.

Send in the clowns - mp4 format - video/mp4 4.0M

Send in the clowns - wmv format - video/x-ms-wmv 4.4M

Video in wmv format and mp4 format.

mp4 can be viewed using the free videolan vlc player available for free download from the videolan website for all platforms. This player handles lots of different video codec formats and is worth checking out.

Originally published by indymedia uk: http://publish.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/08/378522.html

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West-Midlands 'Neighbourhood' organised for Heathrow Climate Camp

Local residents have joined together to create a West-Midlands themed 'neighbourhood' at the Camp for Climate Action to tackle the causes of climate change through education, sustainable living and direct action.

The West-Midlands group will be pitching their tents from the 14th-21st August near Heathrow airport, the UK's largest emitter of carbon dioxide.

The West-Midlands neighbourhood, along with other regionally-based groups at the camp, will oppose the building of a third runway at Heathrow and target industry giants profiteering from the climate crisis. It will also attempt to raise awareness of the need to fly less.

Mass direct action will disrupt the activities of the airport and the aviation industry, but in the interests of public safety there will be no attempt to blockade runways.

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Mark Steel is coming to the American Spy base at Menwith Hill

Mark Steel (comedian and columnist) is one of the guest speakers at the annual 'Independence FROM America' demonstration on Wednesday 4 July 2007 at the main gate 12 - 5 pm to Menwith Hill near Harrogate North Yorkshire. Anas Alkitriki (spokeman for British Muslim Initiative) is also coming.

Foot Prints for Peace will arrive during the demonstration.

Lindis Percy (Coordinator CAAB) said "We are hoping for a big turnout this year. It is even more important than ever that we call for independence from America. The Bush administration has put the world's security at risk and it's time well overdue to 'decouple'. That is what we are once again calling for in our version of the original Declaration of Independence".

Contact for more information:

Lindis Percy
Coordinator
CAAB UK
tel no: 01423 884076 mobile 07949897904
email: percy@starbeck.eclipse.co.uk
website: www.caab.org.uk

Footprints for Peace: footprintsforpeace.tripod.com/MFU/MFU.html

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What I Heard About Iraq is a hard-hitting, award-winning stage documentary about the conflict, which started life as an article in the London Review of Books and is now a major UK tour. It will be playing at The Courtyard Centre for the Arts on Monday 4 June at 7:30pm.

Don't miss this opportunity to see this critically acclaimed, Fringe First award winning show that took Los Angeles and the Edinburgh festival by storm.

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9 June 2007
Meet at Lincoln's Inn Fields, London WC2 at 1:30pm for a march to Trafalgar Square (nearest tubes: Holborn/Temple)

www.enoughoccupation.org

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Don't mourn, organise

On 14 March 2007 the House of Commons gave the go-ahead to the government to proceed with their plans to replace the existing Trident nuclear missile system. This is despite the fact that Tony Blair did not dare to include his plans in Labour's 2005 general election manifesto.¹

The rebellion against the government was very large. On an amendment urging delay, 95 Labour MPs rebelled and on the substantive vote a slightly smaller number did so. This was the second biggest Labour rebellion since Blair came to power in 1997. Only the vote on the invasion of Iraq, which took place almost exactly four years earlier, produced a bigger rebellion. And how appropriate that that particular comparison should be made given the fact that, in both cases, the decision came first and the evidence and justification was then moulded to support that decision.
A rebellion on this scale would have been more than enough to secure an enquiry into the Iraq invasion or to sink Blair's awful plans for identity cards.

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With a House of Commons vote on Trident replacement due in March of this year, it is very important that the decision is delayed in order to accommodate a proper public consultation. It is worth bearing in mind also that Labour's 2005 General Election manifesto made no mention at all about replacing Trident.

What you can do:

Please write to your MP and ask him/her to sign both of the House of Commons Early Day Motions on this subject:-

EDM 579: Consultation on Trident
http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=32245

EDM 798: The future of Trident and the process of global nuclear disarmament.
http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=32495

If you have a Conservative MP, then it may well be worth pointing out that some Conservative MPs have signed these. Please write and thank your MP if he/she has already signed.

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