Dear Mary Anne.

Here is another article, by Dr. Sara Roy, which speaks on last Fall's GH seminar
theme, how Israeli policies in Gaza contribute to ill health and hunger crisis
in the area.  Gaza was the focus of one of the seminar sessions in Fall quarter.
Dr. Sara Roy is an expert on the Gaza Strip and teaches at Harvard’s Center
for Middle Eastern Studies and is the author of Failing Peace: Gaza and the
Palestinian-Israeli Conflict.

Amineh

If Gaza falls . . .
Sara Roy

Israel’s siege of Gaza began on 5 November, the day after an Israeli attack
inside the strip, no doubt designed finally to undermine the truce between
Israel and Hamas established last June. Although both sides had violated the
agreement before, this incursion was on a different scale. Hamas responded by
firing rockets into Israel and the violence has not abated since then.
Israel’s siege has two fundamental goals. One is to ensure that the
Palestinians there are seen merely as a humanitarian problem, beggars who have
no political identity and therefore can have no political claims. The second is
to foist Gaza onto Egypt. That is why the Israelis tolerate the hundreds of
tunnels between Gaza and Egypt around which an informal but increasingly
regulated commercial sector has begun to form. The overwhelming majority of
Gazans are impoverished and officially 49.1 per cent are unemployed.
In fact the prospect of steady employment is rapidly disappearing for the
majority of the population.

On 5 November the Israeli government sealed all the ways into and out of Gaza.
Food, medicine, fuel, parts for water and sanitation systems, fertiliser,
plastic sheeting, phones, paper, glue, shoes and even teacups are no longer
getting through in sufficient quantities or at all. According to Oxfam only 137
trucks of food were allowed into Gaza in November. This means that an average of
4.6 trucks per day entered the strip compared to an average of 123 in October
this year and 564 in December 2005. The two main food providers in Gaza are the
UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and
the World Food Programme (WFP). UNRWA alone feeds approximately 750,000 people
in Gaza, and requires 15 trucks of food daily to do so. Between 5 November and
30 November, only 23 trucks arrived, around 6 per cent of the total needed;
during the week of 30 November it received
12 trucks, or 11 per cent of what was required. There were three days in
November when UNRWA ran out of food, with the result that on each of these days
20,000 people were unable to receive their scheduled supply. According to John
Ging, the director of UNRWA in Gaza, most of the people who get food aid are
entirely dependent on it. On 18 December UNRWA suspended all food distribution
for both emergency and regular programmes because of the blockade.

The WFP has had similar problems, sending only 35 trucks out of the 190 it had
scheduled to cover Gazans’ needs until the start of February (six more were
allowed in between 30 November and 6 December). Not only that: the WFP has to
pay to store food that isn’t being sent to Gaza. This cost $215,000 in
November alone. If the siege continues, the WFP will have to pay an extra
$150,000 for storage in December, money that will be used not to support
Palestinians but to benefit Israeli business.

The majority of commercial bakeries in Gaza – 30 out of 47 – have had to
close because they have run out of cooking gas. People are using any fuel they
can find to cook with. As the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has
made clear, cooking-gas canisters are necessary for generating the warmth to
incubate broiler chicks. Shortages of gas and animal feed have forced commercial
producers to smother hundreds of thousands of chicks. By April, according to the
FAO, there will be no poultry there at all: 70 per cent of Gazans rely on
chicken as a major source of protein.

Banks, suffering from Israeli restrictions on the transfer of banknotes into the
territory were forced to close on 4 December. A sign on the door of one read:
‘Due to the decision of the Palestinian Finance Authority, the bank will be
closed today Thursday, 4.12.2008, because of the unavailability of cash money,
and the bank will be reopened once the cash money is available.’

The World Bank has warned that Gaza’s banking system could collapse if these
restrictions continue. All cash for work programmes has been stopped and on 19
November UNRWA suspended its cash assistance programme to the most needy. It
also ceased production of textbooks because there is no paper, ink or glue in
Gaza. This will affect 200,000 students returning to school in the new year. On
11 December, the Israeli defence minister, Ehud Barak, sent $25 million
following an appeal from the Palestinian prime minister, Salaam Fayad, the first
infusion of its kind since October. It won’t even cover a month’s salary for
Gaza’s 77,000 civil servants.

On 13 November production at Gaza’s only power station was suspended and the
turbines shut down because it had run out of industrial diesel. This in turn
caused the two turbine batteries to run down, and they failed to start up again
when fuel was received some ten days later. About a hundred spare parts ordered
for the turbines have been sitting in the port of Ashdod in Israel for the last
eight months, waiting for the Israeli authorities to let them through customs.
Now Israel has started to auction these parts because they have been in customs
for more than 45 days. The proceeds are being held in Israeli accounts.

During the week of 30 November, 394,000 litres of industrial diesel were allowed
in for the power plant: approximately 18 per cent of the weekly minimum that
Israel is legally obliged to allow in. It was enough for one turbine to run for
two days before the plant was shut down again. The Gaza Electricity Distribution
Company said that most of the Gaza Strip will be without electricity for between
four and 12 hours a day. At any given time during these outages, over 65,000
people have no electricity.

No other diesel fuel (for standby generators and transport) was delivered during
that week, no petrol (which has been kept out since early November) or cooking
gas. Gaza’s hospitals are apparently relying on diesel and gas smuggled from
Egypt via the tunnels; these supplies are said to be administered and taxed by
Hamas. Even so, two of Gaza’s hospitals have been out of cooking gas since the
week of 23 November.

Adding to the problems caused by the siege are those created by the political
divisions between the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and the Hamas
Authority in Gaza. For example, Gaza’s Coastal Municipalities Water Utility
(CMWU), which is not controlled by Hamas, is supposed to receive funds from the
World Bank via the Palestinian Water Authority (PWA) in Ramallah to pay for fuel
to run the pumps for Gaza’s sewage system. Since June, the PWA has refused to
hand over those funds, perhaps because it feels that a functioning sewage system
would benefit Hamas. I don’t know whether the World Bank has attempted to
intervene, but meanwhile UNRWA is providing the fuel, although they have no
budget for it. The CMWU has also asked Israel’s permission to import 200 tons
of chlorine, but by the end of November it had received only 18 tons – enough
for one week of chlorinated water. By mid-December Gaza City and the north of
Gaza had access to water only six hours every three days.

According to the World Health Organisation, the political divisions between Gaza
and the West Bank are also having a serious impact on drug stocks in Gaza. The
West Bank Ministry of Health (MOH) is responsible for procuring and delivering
most of the pharmaceuticals and medical disposables used in Gaza. But stocks are
at dangerously low levels. Throughout November the MOH West Bank was turning
shipments away because it had no warehouse space, yet it wasn’t sending
supplies on to Gaza in adequate quantities. During the week of 30 November, one
truck carrying drugs and medical supplies from the MOH in Ramallah entered Gaza,
the first delivery since early September.

The breakdown of an entire society is happening in front of us, but there is
little international response beyond UN warnings which are ignored. The European
Union announced recently that it wanted to strengthen its relationship with
Israel while the Israeli leadership openly calls for a large-scale invasion of
the Gaza Strip and continues its economic stranglehold over the territory with,
it appears, the not-so-tacit support of the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah
– which has been co-operating with Israel on a number of measures. On 19
December Hamas officially ended its truce with Israel, which Israel said it
wanted to renew, because of Israel’s failure to ease the blockade.

How can keeping food and medicine from the people of Gaza protect the people of
Israel? How can the impoverishment and suffering of Gaza’s children – more
than 50 per cent of the population – benefit anyone? International law as well
as human decency demands their protection. If Gaza falls, the West Bank will be
next.


On Fri, 26 Dec 2008, MaryAnne Mercer wrote:

> Happy Holidays to Global Health-ers around the world,
>
> Fall quarter at UW included the Global Health seminar with a focus on food
issues, and the Problems in International Health course that presented some of
the ways that international policies contribute to ill health in poor countries.
The following article presents evidence linking these two themes, discussing
World Bank and IMF policies as they have contributed to the current world hunger
crisis.
>
> Mary Anne
>
> [Excerpt:  The World Bank has 'given consistently wrong advice,' said Jose
Ramos-Horta, the president of East Timor in Asia and the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize
winner. It is their advice -- that buying externally is cheaper than producing
-- that has resulted in this, he said.]
>
> World Bank's 'Wrong Advice' Left Silos Empty in Poor Countries
>
> By Alison Fitzgerald and Helen Murphy
>
> Dec. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Inside and out, the rusted towers of El Salvador's
biggest grain silo show how the World Bank helped push developing countries into
the global food crisis.
>
> Inside, the silo, which once held thousands of tons of beans and cereals, is
now empty. It was abandoned in 1991, after the bank told Salvadoran leaders to
privatize grain storage, import staples such as corn and rice, and export crops
including cocoa, coffee and palm oil.
>
> Outside, where Rosa Maria Chavez's food stand is propped against a tower wall,
price increases for basic grains this year whittled business down to 16
customers a day from 80.
>
> It's a monument to the mess we are in now, says Chavez, 63.
>
> About 40 million people joined the ranks of the undernourished this year,
bringing the estimate of the world's hungry to 963 million of its 6.8 billion
people, the Rome-based United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization said
yesterday. The growth didn't come just from natural causes. A manmade recipe for
famine included corrupt governments and companies that profited on misery.
Another ingredient: The World Bank's free- market policies, which over almost
three decades brought poor nations like El Salvador into global grain markets,
where prices surged.
>
> The World Bank made one basic blunder, which is to think that markets would
solve problems of such severe circumstances, said Jeffrey Sachs, director of the
Earth Institute at Columbia University and a special adviser to UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon. ?But history has shown you need to help people
to get above the survival threshold before the markets can start functioning.
>
> The Washington Consensus
>
> Created in 1944, the Washington-based World Bank Group spent much of its first
35 years dispensing low-interest loans, grants and development advice to poor
countries with an eye toward promoting self-reliance. In 1980, the bank's
executives began attaching conditions to loans that required 'structural
adjustments' in the recipients' national economies. The mandates were designed
to have poor countries cut import tariffs, reduce government's role in
enterprises such as agriculture and promote cultivation of export crops to
attract foreign currency.
>
> The philosophy, which came to be known as 'The Washington Consensus,' was
based in part on assumptions that importing basic grains would be inexpensive
and that farmers in developing nations could earn more producing exports. Food
prices had fallen for years and few economists thought that would change, said
Mark Cackler, manager of the bank's Agriculture and Rural Development Department
in Washington.
>
> Exporter to Importer
>
> In 2007 and the first half of 2008, an index of more than 60 food commodity
prices compiled by the FAO rose 82 percent. While costs have since eased, they
were 20 percent higher on Nov. 1 than at the end of 2006.
>
> The increases hit hard in countries such as El Salvador, which had adopted the
principles of the Washington Consensus in return for loans. El Salvador's
Central Reserve Bank said the total amount of the lending was 'not available.'
The Agriculture Ministry did provide this measure of their effects: The country
was a net exporter of rice 20 years ago; now it imports 75 to 80 percent of what
it consumes.
>
> The World Bank has "given consistently wrong advice," said Jose Ramos-Horta,
the president of East Timor in Asia and the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize winner.
>
> "It is their advice -- that buying externally is cheaper than producing --
that has resulted in this," he said.
>
> More Than Underinvestment
>
> Current and former World Bank officials say small countries hurt their own
agriculture industries by suppressing prices, taxing farms, inflating exchange
rates and favoring urban development. They reject the assertion that structural
adjustment loans hurt developing nations' self-sufficiency.
>
> "The premise that this crisis was caused by these policies is something that
we don't agree with," said World Bank spokeswoman Geetanjali Chopra. "This
crisis was caused by much more than underinvestment in agriculture."
>
> Still, in nations such as Honduras and Ghana, imports of basic grains climbed
after governments eliminated agricultural subsidies, sold off grain stores or
decreased tariffs to get World Bank loans in the 1990s, according to data from
the UN's FAO.
>
> In Honduras, 23,000 rice farmers went out of business, and employment from
rice fell to 11,200 people from 150,000 after the government trimmed import
duties, according to the human rights group Oxfam International. Honduran farms
now supply 17 percent of the domestic demand for rice, down from 90 percent
before the tariffs changed.
>
> McNamara's Shift
>
> In Ghana, the World Bank required a tariff reduction on rice to 20 percent
from 100 percent. Imports tripled, said Raj Patel, a scholar at the Center for
African Studies at the University of California at Berkeley.
>
> The free-market policies were a sharp turn from the bank's earlier efforts --
led by former bank President Robert McNamara - - to develop poor countries'
domestic agriculture and self- reliance, said Uma Lele, a World Bank economist
from 1971 to 1991 and 1995 to 2005.
>
> McNamara, who oversaw the escalation of the U.S. war in Vietnam as defense
secretary under presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson before joining the
bank in 1968, shifted his views. He introduced the structural adjustment concept
in 1979, in a speech in Manila urging rich nations to open their markets to
imports from poor countries.
>
> "Developing countries will need to carry out structural adjustments favoring
their export sector," he said in the speech. McNamara, 92, declined to comment
for this story.
>
> Free Market Principles
>
> World Bank officials were frustrated that their investment in agriculture
through the 1970s wasn't paying off, especially in Africa, said Pierre
Landell-Mills, a bank economist at the time.
>
> "There were state marketing organizations that were a complete nightmare of
mismanagement and corruption," said Landell-Mills, 69, now a principal at the
Policy Practice, a public policy consulting group in Brighton, England, in a
June interview. "There were unsustainable subsidies."
>
> The 'preferred solution,' he said, was to dismantle the marketing boards,
shrink governments and remove barriers to entrepreneurship. McNamara in 1980
approved the first three structural adjustment loans. By 1985, they made up more
than 25 percent of the World Bank's total lending, according to Kyle Peters, its
country services director.
>
> Free-market principles were on the rise in the U.S. and the U.K., the bank's
major funders. Margaret Thatcher had become British prime minister in 1979 with
promises of privatizing state-owned enterprises. Ronald Reagan was elected U.S.
president in 1980, pledging to cut taxes and government programs.
>
> New Ideas, New Staff
>
> Reagan appointed Alden "Tom" Clausen, a former chief executive officer of Bank
America Corp., to succeed McNamara in 1981. The new bank president was convinced
"that you could fight poverty better and more efficiently and more quickly if
you get the policies of a country right," Clausen said in an interview.
>
> "I loved structural adjustment loans, and I made a lot of them," he said.
>
> As the bank's philosophy evolved, so did its staff. Clausen hired Anne
Krueger, an economist known for her advocacy of 'getting prices right' by
removing government controls, as vice president for economics and research in
1982. She "reshuffled the central economics staff," wrote Devesh Kapur, in the
bank's official history, "The World Bank: Its First Half Century."
>
> "Of course the direction of research had changed," Krueger, 74, said in an
interview on Aug. 25. She acknowledged that some economists left because they
didn't agree with the bank's focus. "Research moved away from big planning
models with unreasonable incentives and swung toward things that were much more
conducive to agriculture."
>
> Dysfunctional Systems
>
> Krueger led a five-volume study that concluded developing countries were
hurting their own agriculture with tax and exchange rate policies. She said the
bank's free-trade principles boosted output and growth.
>
> "These were largely dysfunctional systems," she said. "It made sense to reduce
tariffs so that countries could produce the goods that they were most efficient
at."
>
> After leaving the bank in 1986, Krueger became first deputy managing director
of the International Monetary Fund, which makes loans to help countries correct
balance of payment problems and promotes economic policies.
>
> As structural adjustment loans grew, the portion of the World Bank's lending
devoted to agriculture fell, to about 8 percent in 2000 from 30 percent in 1980.
Last year, farm-related loans made up 12 percent of the bank's $24.7 billion
portfolio.
>
> A Human Face
>
> "One of the reasons we have problems today is because of the cuts in
agriculture," said Montague Yudelman, 86, who was director of the World Bank?s
agriculture department under McNamara. "If they'd made a continuously high level
of investment, we'd have been in much better shape."
>
> By the late 1980s critics began saying the bank, along with the IMF, was
fostering poverty and dependence. UNICEF, the United Nations Childrens Fund, in
1987 published a two-volume study titled, "Adjustment With a Human Face." It
concluded that some of the bank's programs led to increases in malnutrition and
disease in poor nations and urged new strategies to protect the most vulnerable
people.
>
> In 1995, just 30 days into his tenure as bank president, James Wolfensohn
promised changes.
>
> During a meeting with representatives of 12 non-profit organizations,
Wolfensohn heard their argument that 15 years of adjustment lending had wiped
out small farmers in countries from Africa, Latin America and Asia, damaging
their ability to feed people. Some called for the bank to be disbanded.
>
> A Different Way
>
> "What I'm looking for is a different way of doing business in the future,"
Wolfensohn, a former Australian Olympic fencer and New York banker, told them.
Wolfensohn, 75, who left the World Bank in 2005, declined to be interviewed for
this story.
>
> The bank's commitment to free-market principles didn't waver.
>
> In 2000, as a condition for a $6.8 million agriculture loan in East Timor, the
bank demanded that publicly funded agricultural service centers be privatized
and rejected money for a public grain silo and slaughterhouse, according to Tim
Anderson, a political economy lecturer at the University of Sydney. He has
written several papers on East Timor's development.
>
> It also turned down proposals for the government to provide research and
advice to farmers and to supply seeds and fertilizer because "such public sector
involvement has not proved successful elsewhere," according to a World Bank
mission report that year.
>
> Small Farms Ignored
>
> At the time, there was already evidence that private entrepreneurs weren't
serving so-called smallholders, who the bank says make up 60 percent of the
world's 2.5 billion farm households.
>
> A 1998 study by Michael L. Morris, then a senior economist and project
coordinator with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center in El
Batan, Mexico, found that private seed companies in Africa focused on supplying
large commercial operations and "often ignored small-scale, subsistence-oriented
farmers located in remote areas." Morris, 53, is now the World Bank's lead
agriculture economist for the Africa region.
>
> In its 2008 World Development Report, the bank acknowledged that limiting
governments' participation in agriculture had hurt small farmers -- citing
Morris's 10-year-old study as part of the evidence.
>
> The expectation was that removing the state would free the market for private
actors to take over these functions -- reducing their costs, improving their
quality, and eliminating their regressive bias. "Too often, that didn't happen,"
the bank said in the report.
>
> No "Evil Force"
>
> In 2000, Wolfensohn defended the bank to critics. During a meeting at Prague
Castle that year, he told an invited crowd of 300 activists, bankers and
government officials: "You should not regard us as a black and evil force. Maybe
we've gotten things wrong. I'm sure we have in many cases."
>
> The next year, several non-profit groups that had worked with the bank to
study its loan conditions released a report saying that the policies "have
undermined the viability of small farms, weakened food security and damaged the
natural environment."
>
> In response to the criticism from the Structural Adjustment Participatory
Review International Network, the bank issued its own analysis that listed
successes as well as missteps. It concluded that the required changes in
agriculture were too much, too soon.
>
> Lessons Learned
>
> "The lessons for future policies are that agricultural adjustments are complex
and require a sequence of modest steps," the bank said in the report.
>
> In August 2004, James Adams, the World Bank's head of operations policy,
declared the end of structural adjustments.
>
> "We have abandoned the prescriptive character of the old policy," Adams said
in a statement. At the same time, he said, the underpinnings of the Washington
Consensus "remain important themes of economic policy."
>
> The next year, the bank demanded that Niger privatize its irrigation systems,
according to a 2007 report by Eurodad, a Brussels-based coalition of 56
non-profit groups. The requirement "has seriously damaging effects on poor
farmers' access to a precious and scarce resource," said the report, based on an
analysis of the bank's databases. In all, the group found economic policy
conditions were attached to 71 percent of loans and grants.
>
> The World Bank in May pledged $1.2 billion for a Global Food Response Program
that's designed to speed money to the neediest countries without the usual red
tape. As of last month the Bank approved $364 million for 25 countries, and $541
million more is designated for 10 others.
>
> Trade Talks Stalled
>
> Current Bank President Robert Zoellick, a former U.S. trade representative,
has promised to double agriculture spending while touting free trade as a
solution to rising food prices. Zoellick, 55, declined to be interviewed.
>
> Poor countries remained skeptical of open markets during the latest round of
World Trade talks in Geneva, in July. They insisted that they be allowed to
raise tariffs to protect domestic agriculture, stalling the negotiations.
>
> El Salvador, meanwhile, has invested about $240 million in agriculture since
2004. It now gives farmers a $30 bag of the seed of their choice and a $30 sack
of fertilizer.
>
> "The World Bank had a very short-term vision; it couldn't have been more
wrong," said Mario Salaverria, El Salvador's agriculture minister, as he
inspected corn in Sonsonate province, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) west of San
Salvador.
>
> His country must regain self-sufficiency, he said. "We can stop using our cars
because of price increases, but we can?t stop eating."
>
> (Recipe for Famine: Part 3 of 7.)
>
> To contact the reporters on this story: Alison Fitzgerald in Washington at
Afitzgerald2@... ; Helen Murphy in Bogota at hmurphy1@....
>
> Last Updated: December 9, 2008 19:01 EST
>
>
>
> etanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetan
>
> Support ETAN! Read a message from Noam Chomsky -  Read what
http://www.etan.org/etan/2008-09app.htm
<http://www.etan.org/etan/2008-09app.htm>
>
> John M. Miller        john@...
> National Coordinator, ETAN
>
> Web site: http://www.etan.org <http://www.etan.org/>
>
> Send a blank e-mail message to info@... to find out  how to learn more
about East Timor on the Internet
>

Happy Holidays to Global Health-ers around the world,

Fall quarter at UW included the Global Health seminar with a focus on food
issues, and the Problems in International Health course that presented some of
the ways that international policies contribute to ill health in poor countries.
The following article presents evidence linking these two themes, discussing
World Bank and IMF policies as they have contributed to the current world hunger
crisis.

Mary Anne

[Excerpt:  The World Bank has 'given consistently wrong advice,' said Jose
Ramos-Horta, the president of East Timor in Asia and the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize
winner. It is their advice -- that buying externally is cheaper than producing
-- that has resulted in this, he said.]

World Bank's 'Wrong Advice' Left Silos Empty in Poor Countries

By Alison Fitzgerald and Helen Murphy

Dec. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Inside and out, the rusted towers of El Salvador's
biggest grain silo show how the World Bank helped push developing countries into
the global food crisis.

Inside, the silo, which once held thousands of tons of beans and cereals, is now
empty. It was abandoned in 1991, after the bank told Salvadoran leaders to
privatize grain storage, import staples such as corn and rice, and export crops
including cocoa, coffee and palm oil.

Outside, where Rosa Maria Chavez's food stand is propped against a tower wall,
price increases for basic grains this year whittled business down to 16
customers a day from 80.

It's a monument to the mess we are in now, says Chavez, 63.

About 40 million people joined the ranks of the undernourished this year,
bringing the estimate of the world's hungry to 963 million of its 6.8 billion
people, the Rome-based United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization said
yesterday. The growth didn't come just from natural causes. A manmade recipe for
famine included corrupt governments and companies that profited on misery.
Another ingredient: The World Bank's free- market policies, which over almost
three decades brought poor nations like El Salvador into global grain markets,
where prices surged.

The World Bank made one basic blunder, which is to think that markets would
solve problems of such severe circumstances, said Jeffrey Sachs, director of the
Earth Institute at Columbia University and a special adviser to UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon. ?But history has shown you need to help people
to get above the survival threshold before the markets can start functioning.

The Washington Consensus

Created in 1944, the Washington-based World Bank Group spent much of its first
35 years dispensing low-interest loans, grants and development advice to poor
countries with an eye toward promoting self-reliance. In 1980, the bank's
executives began attaching conditions to loans that required 'structural
adjustments' in the recipients' national economies. The mandates were designed
to have poor countries cut import tariffs, reduce government's role in
enterprises such as agriculture and promote cultivation of export crops to
attract foreign currency.

The philosophy, which came to be known as 'The Washington Consensus,' was based
in part on assumptions that importing basic grains would be inexpensive and that
farmers in developing nations could earn more producing exports. Food prices had
fallen for years and few economists thought that would change, said Mark
Cackler, manager of the bank's Agriculture and Rural Development Department in
Washington.

Exporter to Importer

In 2007 and the first half of 2008, an index of more than 60 food commodity
prices compiled by the FAO rose 82 percent. While costs have since eased, they
were 20 percent higher on Nov. 1 than at the end of 2006.

The increases hit hard in countries such as El Salvador, which had adopted the
principles of the Washington Consensus in return for loans. El Salvador's
Central Reserve Bank said the total amount of the lending was 'not available.'
The Agriculture Ministry did provide this measure of their effects: The country
was a net exporter of rice 20 years ago; now it imports 75 to 80 percent of what
it consumes.

The World Bank has "given consistently wrong advice," said Jose Ramos-Horta, the
president of East Timor in Asia and the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize winner.

"It is their advice -- that buying externally is cheaper than producing -- that
has resulted in this," he said.

More Than Underinvestment

Current and former World Bank officials say small countries hurt their own
agriculture industries by suppressing prices, taxing farms, inflating exchange
rates and favoring urban development. They reject the assertion that structural
adjustment loans hurt developing nations' self-sufficiency.

"The premise that this crisis was caused by these policies is something that we
don't agree with," said World Bank spokeswoman Geetanjali Chopra. "This crisis
was caused by much more than underinvestment in agriculture."

Still, in nations such as Honduras and Ghana, imports of basic grains climbed
after governments eliminated agricultural subsidies, sold off grain stores or
decreased tariffs to get World Bank loans in the 1990s, according to data from
the UN's FAO.

In Honduras, 23,000 rice farmers went out of business, and employment from rice
fell to 11,200 people from 150,000 after the government trimmed import duties,
according to the human rights group Oxfam International. Honduran farms now
supply 17 percent of the domestic demand for rice, down from 90 percent before
the tariffs changed.

McNamara's Shift

In Ghana, the World Bank required a tariff reduction on rice to 20 percent from
100 percent. Imports tripled, said Raj Patel, a scholar at the Center for
African Studies at the University of California at Berkeley.

The free-market policies were a sharp turn from the bank's earlier efforts --
led by former bank President Robert McNamara - - to develop poor countries'
domestic agriculture and self- reliance, said Uma Lele, a World Bank economist
from 1971 to 1991 and 1995 to 2005.

McNamara, who oversaw the escalation of the U.S. war in Vietnam as defense
secretary under presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson before joining the
bank in 1968, shifted his views. He introduced the structural adjustment concept
in 1979, in a speech in Manila urging rich nations to open their markets to
imports from poor countries.

"Developing countries will need to carry out structural adjustments favoring
their export sector," he said in the speech. McNamara, 92, declined to comment
for this story.

Free Market Principles

World Bank officials were frustrated that their investment in agriculture
through the 1970s wasn't paying off, especially in Africa, said Pierre
Landell-Mills, a bank economist at the time.

"There were state marketing organizations that were a complete nightmare of
mismanagement and corruption," said Landell-Mills, 69, now a principal at the
Policy Practice, a public policy consulting group in Brighton, England, in a
June interview. "There were unsustainable subsidies."

The 'preferred solution,' he said, was to dismantle the marketing boards, shrink
governments and remove barriers to entrepreneurship. McNamara in 1980 approved
the first three structural adjustment loans. By 1985, they made up more than 25
percent of the World Bank's total lending, according to Kyle Peters, its country
services director.

Free-market principles were on the rise in the U.S. and the U.K., the bank's
major funders. Margaret Thatcher had become British prime minister in 1979 with
promises of privatizing state-owned enterprises. Ronald Reagan was elected U.S.
president in 1980, pledging to cut taxes and government programs.

New Ideas, New Staff

Reagan appointed Alden "Tom" Clausen, a former chief executive officer of Bank
America Corp., to succeed McNamara in 1981. The new bank president was convinced
"that you could fight poverty better and more efficiently and more quickly if
you get the policies of a country right," Clausen said in an interview.

"I loved structural adjustment loans, and I made a lot of them," he said.

As the bank's philosophy evolved, so did its staff. Clausen hired Anne Krueger,
an economist known for her advocacy of 'getting prices right' by removing
government controls, as vice president for economics and research in 1982. She
"reshuffled the central economics staff," wrote Devesh Kapur, in the bank's
official history, "The World Bank: Its First Half Century."

"Of course the direction of research had changed," Krueger, 74, said in an
interview on Aug. 25. She acknowledged that some economists left because they
didn't agree with the bank's focus. "Research moved away from big planning
models with unreasonable incentives and swung toward things that were much more
conducive to agriculture."

Dysfunctional Systems

Krueger led a five-volume study that concluded developing countries were hurting
their own agriculture with tax and exchange rate policies. She said the bank's
free-trade principles boosted output and growth.

"These were largely dysfunctional systems," she said. "It made sense to reduce
tariffs so that countries could produce the goods that they were most efficient
at."

After leaving the bank in 1986, Krueger became first deputy managing director of
the International Monetary Fund, which makes loans to help countries correct
balance of payment problems and promotes economic policies.

As structural adjustment loans grew, the portion of the World Bank's lending
devoted to agriculture fell, to about 8 percent in 2000 from 30 percent in 1980.
Last year, farm-related loans made up 12 percent of the bank's $24.7 billion
portfolio.

A Human Face

"One of the reasons we have problems today is because of the cuts in
agriculture," said Montague Yudelman, 86, who was director of the World Bank?s
agriculture department under McNamara. "If they'd made a continuously high level
of investment, we'd have been in much better shape."

By the late 1980s critics began saying the bank, along with the IMF, was
fostering poverty and dependence. UNICEF, the United Nations Childrens Fund, in
1987 published a two-volume study titled, "Adjustment With a Human Face." It
concluded that some of the bank's programs led to increases in malnutrition and
disease in poor nations and urged new strategies to protect the most vulnerable
people.

In 1995, just 30 days into his tenure as bank president, James Wolfensohn
promised changes.

During a meeting with representatives of 12 non-profit organizations, Wolfensohn
heard their argument that 15 years of adjustment lending had wiped out small
farmers in countries from Africa, Latin America and Asia, damaging their ability
to feed people. Some called for the bank to be disbanded.

A Different Way

"What I'm looking for is a different way of doing business in the future,"
Wolfensohn, a former Australian Olympic fencer and New York banker, told them.
Wolfensohn, 75, who left the World Bank in 2005, declined to be interviewed for
this story.

The bank's commitment to free-market principles didn't waver.

In 2000, as a condition for a $6.8 million agriculture loan in East Timor, the
bank demanded that publicly funded agricultural service centers be privatized
and rejected money for a public grain silo and slaughterhouse, according to Tim
Anderson, a political economy lecturer at the University of Sydney. He has
written several papers on East Timor's development.

It also turned down proposals for the government to provide research and advice
to farmers and to supply seeds and fertilizer because "such public sector
involvement has not proved successful elsewhere," according to a World Bank
mission report that year.

Small Farms Ignored

At the time, there was already evidence that private entrepreneurs weren't
serving so-called smallholders, who the bank says make up 60 percent of the
world's 2.5 billion farm households.

A 1998 study by Michael L. Morris, then a senior economist and project
coordinator with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center in El
Batan, Mexico, found that private seed companies in Africa focused on supplying
large commercial operations and "often ignored small-scale, subsistence-oriented
farmers located in remote areas." Morris, 53, is now the World Bank's lead
agriculture economist for the Africa region.

In its 2008 World Development Report, the bank acknowledged that limiting
governments' participation in agriculture had hurt small farmers -- citing
Morris's 10-year-old study as part of the evidence.

The expectation was that removing the state would free the market for private
actors to take over these functions -- reducing their costs, improving their
quality, and eliminating their regressive bias. "Too often, that didn't happen,"
the bank said in the report.

No "Evil Force"

In 2000, Wolfensohn defended the bank to critics. During a meeting at Prague
Castle that year, he told an invited crowd of 300 activists, bankers and
government officials: "You should not regard us as a black and evil force. Maybe
we've gotten things wrong. I'm sure we have in many cases."

The next year, several non-profit groups that had worked with the bank to study
its loan conditions released a report saying that the policies "have undermined
the viability of small farms, weakened food security and damaged the natural
environment."

In response to the criticism from the Structural Adjustment Participatory Review
International Network, the bank issued its own analysis that listed successes as
well as missteps. It concluded that the required changes in agriculture were too
much, too soon.

Lessons Learned

"The lessons for future policies are that agricultural adjustments are complex
and require a sequence of modest steps," the bank said in the report.

In August 2004, James Adams, the World Bank's head of operations policy,
declared the end of structural adjustments.

"We have abandoned the prescriptive character of the old policy," Adams said in
a statement. At the same time, he said, the underpinnings of the Washington
Consensus "remain important themes of economic policy."

The next year, the bank demanded that Niger privatize its irrigation systems,
according to a 2007 report by Eurodad, a Brussels-based coalition of 56
non-profit groups. The requirement "has seriously damaging effects on poor
farmers' access to a precious and scarce resource," said the report, based on an
analysis of the bank's databases. In all, the group found economic policy
conditions were attached to 71 percent of loans and grants.

The World Bank in May pledged $1.2 billion for a Global Food Response Program
that's designed to speed money to the neediest countries without the usual red
tape. As of last month the Bank approved $364 million for 25 countries, and $541
million more is designated for 10 others.

Trade Talks Stalled

Current Bank President Robert Zoellick, a former U.S. trade representative, has
promised to double agriculture spending while touting free trade as a solution
to rising food prices. Zoellick, 55, declined to be interviewed.

Poor countries remained skeptical of open markets during the latest round of
World Trade talks in Geneva, in July. They insisted that they be allowed to
raise tariffs to protect domestic agriculture, stalling the negotiations.

El Salvador, meanwhile, has invested about $240 million in agriculture since
2004. It now gives farmers a $30 bag of the seed of their choice and a $30 sack
of fertilizer.

"The World Bank had a very short-term vision; it couldn't have been more wrong,"
said Mario Salaverria, El Salvador's agriculture minister, as he inspected corn
in Sonsonate province, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) west of San Salvador.

His country must regain self-sufficiency, he said. "We can stop using our cars
because of price increases, but we can?t stop eating."

(Recipe for Famine: Part 3 of 7.)

To contact the reporters on this story: Alison Fitzgerald in Washington at
Afitzgerald2@... ; Helen Murphy in Bogota at hmurphy1@....

Last Updated: December 9, 2008 19:01 EST



etanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetanetan

Support ETAN! Read a message from Noam Chomsky -  Read what
http://www.etan.org/etan/2008-09app.htm
<http://www.etan.org/etan/2008-09app.htm>

John M. Miller        john@...
National Coordinator, ETAN

Web site: http://www.etan.org <http://www.etan.org/>

Send a blank e-mail message to info@... to find out  how to learn more
about East Timor on the Internet

The University of Washington School of Public Health, the Department of Global
Health, World Health Cinema, and the Women's Center present:

A FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC screening of the Emmy-nominated documentary film
"revealing the truth about child sex trafficking in Nepal and India"

"The Day My God Died", narrated by Tim Robbins & Winona Ryder

Friday, October 17, 2008
3:30p
Hogness Auditorium
A 420, UW Health Sciences Building

Q&A with Brigitte Cazalis-Collins, Founder of Friends of Maiti Nepal, and
Andrew Levine, Producer of the film

For more information about Friends of Maiti, Nepal, www.friendsofmaitinepal.org


(Directions to Hogness Auditorium are attached)

Health Alliance International (HAI) is pleased to present Unembedded: Four
Independent Photojournalists on the War in Iraq. This exhibit is on display in
Odegaard Undergraduate Library from Sep. 20th - Dec. 6th, 2008.

Join two of the photographers, Thorne Anderson and Kael Alford, this weekend
for a book signing and artist lecture titled "Through the Looking Glass: Seeing
Iraq from the Other Side."

Saturday, Oct. 11th
1:00 PM - Book Signing, University Bookstore, 4326 University Way NE

Sunday, Oct. 12th
4:00 PM - Viewing & Reception, Odegaard Undergraduate Library
5:00-6:30 PM - Artist Lecture & Slideshow, Kane Hall 120


Unembedded is a nationally touring exhibit of 60 powerful and visually stunning
images that tell the story of the war’s impact on the lives of the Iraqi
people “on the ground” where the war is being waged. It is a powerful
expression of the effects of war that go largely ignored by the mainstream
media. It aims to enhance public awareness of the effects of U.S. policy on the
Iraqis, their country and returning American veterans and their families. For
more information please visit: http://www.unembedded.net/

“Truth, it has been said, is the first casualty of war. In the U.S.-led
invasion of Iraq, official truth died months before the bombing of Baghdad
began. Unembedded bears witness to the enduring power of independent
journalism. In their unflinching look at war-ravaged Iraq, four freelance
photojournalists show that life there is brutal yet poignant; that compassion
co-exists with anger, hatred and fear.” -excerpt from the book, Unembedded

_______________________________________________
Ghforum mailing list
Ghforum@...
https://mailman1.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/ghforum

An excellent conference.  This year's focus is on Iraq and Palestine
Occupations.

Amineh


---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Fri, 3 Oct 2008 07:26:37 -0700
From: Cindy Corrie <cindy@...>
To: Cindy Corrie <cindy@...>
Subject: Peace Works Conference in Olympia October 17-19


Peace Works Conference

Focus on Iraq and Palestine Occupations, Oct. 17-19

Register Now!



The Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice is sponsoring its third
annual Peace Works event, Dual Occupations: Sovereignty and Freedom from
Iraq to Palestine, October 17-19, in Olympia, Washington.  This
multi-generational conference will bring together journalists, scholars,
peace organizers, Iraq veterans, and community leaders to deepen
understanding of foreign military occupation in the Middle East and to
connect those who work for justice and an end to occupation and war.



The three-day conference centered at The Evergreen State College Longhouse,
will include panel discussions, workshops and cultural events, that provide
a forum for bridging communities, acknowledging differences, and building
broader and more effective coalitions for peace and justice.  The conference
will feature talks on U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, women and war,
personal witness of occupation, peace curriculum for middle and secondary
teachers, art and media activism, organizing with veterans and military
families, and other topics.



    Conference speakers include:

              Phyllis Bennis - Fellow of the Institute of Policy Studies and
the Transnational Institute

                  Haj Sami Sadiq Subaih - Palestinian Mayor of West Bank
village targeted for demolition

              Adam Shapiro - Filmmaker and co-founder of the International
Solidarity Movement

                  Dahlia Wasfi - Iraqi-American activist whose childhood was
spent in Saddam Hussein's Iraq

                  Dr. Simona Sharoni - Israeli scholar, researcher and
activist and Professor of Women's Studies

Representatives of Iraq Veterans Against the War and G.I. Voice

                  Zoriah Miller - award-winning photojournalist in Iraq,
Afghanistan, Lebanon, and the Gaza Strip

          Dr. Steve Niva - author and Professor of Middle East Studies and
International Politics

          Dr. Bill Dienst - Emergency room physician and recent passenger on a
Free Gaza boat

                  Dr. Rula Awwad-Rafferty - Palestinian Professor of
Architecture and Sustainable Communities

                  Dr. Susan Greene - artist/activist, clinical psychologist
and co-founder of Break the Silence Mural Project



Friday, October 17th, 7:30 pm at the Washington Center for the Performing
Arts, Phyllis Bennis of the Institute for Policy Studies will give the
conference keynote address, "The Presidential Elections and the Future of
the Middle East." This will be followed by a roundtable discussion with
Palestinian Mayor Haj Sami Sadiq Subaih and Iraqi-American activist Dahlia
Wasfi.  Tickets for this event are available to the general public through
the Washington Center for the Performing Arts at www.washingtoncenter.org
<http://www.washingtoncenter.org/>  or at (360) 753-8585.

Saturday, October 18th, a conference party with spoken word performance,
Palestinian hip-hop film, and a DJ dance party will begin at 8:00 pm in the
Old K Records Loft at the corner of 5th and Cherry, above Fishtail Ales in
downtown Olympia.  Tickets for the general public are available at the door
for $5.



The Peace Works Conference is sponsored by the Rachel Corrie Foundation for
Peace & Justice and the (Re) Imagining the Middle East Program at The
Evergreen State College.



For registration, an expanding list of speakers, and a full conference
schedule, go to http:// <http://www.rachelcorriefoundation.org/>
www.rachelcorriefoundation.org, email info@..., or
call (360) 754-3998.  Special rates are available for students, low-income
participants, veterans and military families, and K-12 teachers.

FYI:

UNEMBEDDED:
Four Independent Photojournalists on the War in Iraq
University of Washington Odegaard Undergraduate Library
September 20-December 5, 2008

UNEMBEDDED is a national touring exhibit of 60 powerful and visually
stunning images that tell the story of the war's impact on the lives of
the Iraqi people "on the ground" where the war is being waged. It is a
powerful expression of the effects of war that go largely ignored by the
mainstream media. It aims to enhance public awareness of the effects of
U.S. policy on the Iraqis, their country and returning American veterans
and their families.

Exhibition:
University of Washington Odegaard Undergraduate Library
September 20-December 5, 2008

Opening reception and artist lecture:
Sunday, October 12th, 2008
4:00 pm Viewing & Reception at Odegaard Undergraduate Library
5:00 - 6:30pm Artist Lecture and Slideshow at Kane Hall
Photographers Thorne Anderson and Kael Alford will share their experiences at a
presentation:
"Through the Looking Glass: Seeing Iraq from the Other Side"

Book signing and talk:
With Photographers Thorne Anderson and Kael Alford
Saturday, October 11th, 2008, 1 pm
University of Washington Bookstore
4326 University Way NE

For more information, please visit
www.unembedded.net
www.healthallianceinternational.org


********************************************************************************\
*****
Wendy Johnson, MD, MPH
Director of New Initiatives
Health Alliance International
wjohns@...<mailto:wjohns@...>
206-543-8382

skype id: wendy.l.johnson

For an energizing talk from a Seattle-area activist (and travel
writer) see below.

Mary Anne

* * * * * * * * *

Rick Steves on "Uncovering Iran"

Tuesday, October 14, 2008 | 7:30  9:30pm
Location: Town Hall, 8th and Seneca, Seattle
(in the Great Hall, enter on 8th Avenue)

Recently returned from ten-day trip to the Islamic Republic of Iran,
travel guru and social activist Rick Steves presents a slide-show lecture
about his experience. Steves believes travel is a necessary tool to break
down cultural barriers and potentially reduce conflict in our worldnow
more than ever. A Rick Steves public television special on Iran is slated
to premiere across the country in January 2009. Presented by the United
Nations Association of Seattle.

Advance tickets are $10 and available at www.brownpapertickets.com or
800/868-3006.

Visit www.unaseattle.org for more information.

* * * * * * * * * *

Note: if you think the possibility of an attack on Iran has faded, see the
following:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jamal-dajani/israels-october-surprise_b_127671.htm\
l

* * * * * * * * * *

If you are new to Seattle or do not know how to get to Town Hall:

Town Hall is conveniently located at Eighth Avenue and Seneca Street. Town
Hall's location offers easy access to and from the I-5 freeway. The best
parking option is the Washington State Convention and Trade Center Main
Garage, just 2 blocks north of Town Hall on 8th Ave. This garage is
available both daytime ($6 all day) and evenings ($4 after 5pm) with a
special voucher you can get from Town Hall. Just ask a member of the Town
Hall staff for a voucher while you are here attending an event and receive
the discount when you leave the garage. Please note: vouchers are only
available for use while attending events at Town Hall.

There is a large pay lot immediately adjacent to Town Hall; enter the
parking lot from Seventh Avenue, Spring or Seneca Streets. Additionally,
several commercial parking lots are located within 1.5 blocks of Town
Hall's front door. Landmarks are: Washington State Convention and Trade
Center, two blocks north; Freeway Park, just to the northwest; I-5
freeway, 1.5 blocks west, Virginia Mason Medical Center, one block east;
and First Presbyterian Church, one block south.

BY BUS
Town Hall is served by Metro bus lines 2 and 13, which stop directly in
front of the building at Seneca, and line 12, which stops 1.5 blocks south
on Madison at Eighth. Line 2 serves Madrona, south Capitol Hill, and Queen
Anne. Line 13 goes to West Queen Anne. Line 12 runs from Capitol Hill to
downtown. For more information on bus schedules and nearby routes, visit
http://transit.metrokc.gov/

DRIVING FROM THE SOUTH
Take I-5 north to the Madison Street exit downtown. After exiting continue
going north (Seventh Avenue). Go past Madison Street one block to Spring
Street. At this point, you may enter the commercial parking lot adjacent
to Town Hall. Town Hall is on Eighth Avenue at Seneca Street. Seneca
Street is two blocks north of Madison Street.

DRIVING FROM THE NORTH
Take I-5 to the James Street Exit. Take the first left after exiting
(Cherry Street). Stay in the right hand lane and continue to the next
traffic light (Seventh Avenue); turn left and continue north past Madison
Street one block to Spring Street. Town Hall is at Eighth Avenue between
Spring and Seneca Streets.

DRIVING FROM THE EASTSIDE
Take I-90 or 520 to I-5 and follow above directions.

Greetings,

Attached is an invitation to the annual fundraiser for RESULTS, one of the
more effective global health advocacy groups.  It will be held:

 		 SEPTEMBER 17, 2008
 	               7-9 PM

 	       At the  SEATTLE DESIGN CENTER
 		 5701 6TH AVENUE SOUTH
 		 SEATTLE, WA 98108


Please consider attending to support this worthy cause!

Mary Anne

Greetings,

Many of you were not in Seattle during the historic events of November
1999 -- if you were, you know that a contingent of students and faculty
from the UW IHP were represented among the many thousands who
participated.  That month Seattle was put on the map in a spectacular way
with what came to be known as the Battle of Seattle.  It has in fact since
then continued to be seen as the "first wave" of protest against the type
of corporate-controlled globalization that was then (and continues to be)
promoted by the World Trade Organization.

The movie, a dramatized version of the events, premiers in Seattle on
September 19 -- I hope it will be around for a while.  It it a
'don't-miss' movie for Seattleites, for sure.  See below.

Mary Anne

________________________________________________________________________

The Battle in Seattle

When:
Sep 19, 2008 all day (Friday)

Showtimes: 12:10p, 2:30, 4:50, 7:10, 9:30 PM

Where: in the University District:
Landmark Theaters Neptune
1303 N E 45th at Brooklyn Avenue
Seattle, Washington 98105

---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 9 Sep 2008 15:39:56
-0400 (EDT) From: "Andy Gussert, CTC National Director"
<action@...> To: mamercer@... Subject: Bring
"Battle in Seattle" to your local movie theater

I'm writing to ask for your help in getting a powerful story about
activism and trade into your local theater.

Opening next week, Battle in Seattle covers the events of November 1999,
when tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets in protest of
the World Trade Organization.  Our activism changed the course of trade
and globalization.

The top-notch cast of this independent movie includes a beleaguered mayor
(Ray Liotta), a riot cop on the streets (Woody Harrelson) and his pregnant
wife (Charlize Theron).  Stuart Townsend put this project together to
mobilize people into action, but as an Indi flick on a budget, we don't
enjoy the benefits of a huge studio distribution.

You can also see the trailer at the website, or catch it on you tube at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_B1Iybufic

Thanks,

Andy Gussert National Director, Citizens Trade Campaign
www.citizenstrade.org

This is an excellent training and I highly recommend it.  I participated in last
year's program where researcher/clinicians from Israel and Palestine delivered
many of the program's lectures.  For students who are first responders to
humanitarian crisis, post violent conflict situations..., this training could be
beneficial.

Amineh


---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 07 Aug 2008 14:23:40 -0700
From: Laura Jeffs <Laura.Jeffs@...>
To: Laura Jeffs <Laura.Jeffs@...>
Subject: Restorative Retelling:  September 12th and 13th at Virginia Mason
      Medical Center - CEUs Available

Restorative Retelling: An Innovative Treatment for Prolonged Grief After
Violent Death

Virginia Mason Medical Center's Separation and Loss Services will hold
a two-day national meeting in Seattle, Washington.

Restorative Retelling, a promising treatment intervention for
complicated grief after violent death, has been applied at multiple
national sites. This meeting, featuring researchers/clinicians actively
engaged in restorative retelling interventions after violent death, will
clarify the specific, restorative techniques for stabilization,
commemoration, restorative re-exposure and meaningful reengagement.

The plenary lectures will focus on instilling resilience and spotlight
creative innovations (journaling, poetry, drawing) in processing death
imagery and the restorative potential of spirituality.   A panel of
clinicians working in various clinical contexts (school-based,
home-based, district attorney's office, outpatient settings, grief
centers, faith-based centers, prison and juvenile detention and
post-disaster 9/11) will share their work, their triumphs and their
challenges.

We welcome clinicians, clergy, first responders, victims' assistance
representatives and other providers who work with families after a
sudden, violent death.

Date: 	 September 12 & 13, 2008
Place: 	 Virginia Mason Medical Center, Volney Richmond
Auditorium
 			 Seattle, Washington

Registration Fee:    $50
Registration:           Website registration:  www.vdbs.org
CEU's:  	 12 hours continuing education is offered to
(social workers, marriage & family therapists,
and mental health therapists)




3****************** CONFIDENTIALITY DISCLAIMER ******************

The information contained in this e-mail may be confidential. IF YOU RECEIVED
THIS IN ERROR, please call the Virginia Mason Privacy Officer at (206)
223-7505. Thank you.

Patients: E-mail is NOT considered secure. By choosing to communicate with
Virginia Mason by e-mail, you will assume the risk of a confidentiality breach.
Please do not rely on e-mail communication if you or a family member is injured
or is experiencing a sudden change in health status.

If you need emergency attention, call 911.

The Washington Post story below outlines a (to me) disturbing proposal
from this administration.  If it concerns you too - see the notes at the
end Of this posting with information about a web site that is
coordinating a response.

Mary Anne

* * * * * * * * * *

Workers' Religious Freedom vs. Patients' Rights

Proposal Would Deny Federal Money if Employees Must Provide Care to Which
They Object

By Rob Stein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, July 31, 2008; A01

A Bush administration proposal aimed at protecting health-care workers who
object to abortion, and to birth-control methods they consider tantamount to
abortion, has escalated a bitter debate over the balance between religious
freedom and patients' rights.

The
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/U.S.+Department+of+Health+a
nd+Human+Services?tid=informline> Department of Health and Human Services is
reviewing a draft regulation that would deny federal funding to any
hospital, clinic, health plan or other entity that does not accommodate
employees who want to opt out of participating in care that runs counter to
their personal convictions, including providing birth-control pills, IUDs
and the Plan B emergency contraceptive.

Conservative groups, abortion opponents and some members of Congress are
welcoming the initiative as necessary to safeguard doctors, nurses and other
health workers who, they say, are increasingly facing discrimination because
of their beliefs or are being coerced into delivering services they find
repugnant.

But the draft proposal has sparked intense criticism by family planning
advocates, women's health activists, and members of Congress who say the
regulation would create overwhelming obstacles for women seeking abortions
and birth control.

There is also deep concern that the rule could have far-reaching, but less
obvious, implications. Because of its wide scope and because it would --
apparently for the first time -- define abortion in a federal regulation as
anything that affects a fertilized egg, the regulation could raise questions
about a broad spectrum of scientific research and care, critics say.

"The breadth of this is potentially immense," said Robyn S. Shapiro, a
bioethicist and lawyer at the Medical College of Wisconsin. "Is this going
to result in a kind of blessed censorship of a whole host of areas of
medical care and research?"

Critics charge that the proposal is the latest example of the administration
politicizing science to advance ideological goals.

"They are manipulating the system by manipulating the definition of the word
'abortion,' " said Susan F. Wood, a professor at
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/The+George+Washington+Unive
rsity?tid=informline> George Washington University who resigned from the
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Food+and+Drug+Administratio
n?tid=informline> Food and Drug Administration over the delays in approving
the nonprescription sale of Plan B. "It's another example of this
administration's disregard for science and medicine in how agencies make
decisions."

The proposal is outlined in a 39-page draft regulation that has been
circulated among several HHS agencies. The FDA has not objected, but several
officials at the
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/National+Institutes+of+Heal
th?tid=informline> National Institutes of Health said that the agency had
expressed serious concerns.

"This is causing a lot of distress," said one NIH researcher who spoke on
the condition of anonymity to describe internal discussions. "It's a
redefinition of abortion that does not match any of the current medical
definitions. It's ideologically based and not based on science and could
interfere with the development of many new therapies to treat diseases."

Since a copy of the document leaked earlier this month, outside advocates
and scientists have voiced growing alarm that the regulation could inhibit
research in areas including stem cells, infertility and even such unrelated
fields as cancer.

Dozens of members of Congress have sent letters of protest to
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Michael+Leavitt?tid=informl
ine> HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt, as have scores of major medical and health
groups that say their supporters have sent Congress, the
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/The+White+House?tid=informl
ine> White House and HHS thousands of letters protesting the proposal.

HHS officials declined to discuss the draft, saying it is in the very early
stages of review. But HHS issued a statement that reads in part:

"Over the past three decades, Congress has passed several
anti-discrimination laws to protect institutional and individual health care
providers participating in federal programs. HHS has an obligation to
enforce these laws, and is exploring a number of options."

The draft states that numerous cases have been reported of health-care
workers being "required to violate their consciences by providing or
assisting in the provision of controversial medicine or procedures." It adds
that many states have recently passed laws requiring health plans to pay for
contraception, pharmacists to fill prescriptions for birth control, and
hospitals to offer Plan B to women who have been raped.

"In general, the Department is concerned that the development of an
environment in the health care industry that is intolerant of certain
religious beliefs, ethnic and cultural traditions, and moral convictions may
discourage individuals from underrepresented and diverse backgrounds from
entering health care professions," the document states.

The regulation would require any entity receiving HHS funding to certify
that it does not discriminate against organizations or individuals who do
not want to provide services they consider objectionable.

The most controversial section defines abortion as "any of the various
procedures -- including the prescription, dispensing and administration of
any drug or the performance of any procedure or any other action -- that
results in the termination of life of a human being in utero between
conception and natural birth, whether before or after implantation."

That definition would include most forms of hormonal birth control and the
IUD, which most major medical groups believe do not constitute abortion
because they primarily affect ovulation or fertilization and not an embryo
once it has implanted in the womb.

The regulation would apply to anyone who participates in "any activity with
a logical connection to a procedure, health service or health service
program, or research activity. . . . This includes referral, training and
other arrangements of the procedure, health service, or research activity."

If the administration decides to adopt the regulation, it would undergo
public comment and further review before becoming final.

Critics argue that the broad definitions of abortion and the types of
workers who could object would cover everyone from the top doctor at a
hospital to the janitor.

Cecile Richards of the
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Planned+Parenthood+Federati
on+of+America?tid=informline> Planned Parenthood Federation of America said,
"At a time when access to health care is at an all-time low, the idea that
the Bush administration would be creating more barriers is frankly
incredible."

The regulation could trump dozens of state laws that require health plans to
cover birth control, pharmacists to fill prescriptions for contraceptives,
and hospitals to offer emergency contraception to women who have been raped,
critics said.

"You could imagine a group of people with less than honorable intentions
seeking to get hired at a family planning clinic with the specific objective
of obstructing access. Under this regulation, there is little you could do
about it," said Jill Morrison of the National Women's Law Center.

Others said the rule could have additional implications, including
justifying discrimination against gays, single women or others seeking
health care.

"As soon as you have a definition in one part of federal law, it can become
the inspiration for the reinterpretation of other statutes," said R. Alta
Charo, a lawyer and bioethicist at the
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/University+of+Wisconsin?tid
=informline> University of Wisconsin at Madison.

Supporters dismissed such predictions.

"This would essentially simply require people to comply with laws that they
have been required to comply with for decades," said M. Casey Mattox of the
Christian Legal Society's Center for Law and Religious Freedom. "That does
not mean any organization or state can't keep doing exactly what it's been
doing. It means they have to make room for people who have sincere moral or
ethical concerns about doing something."

Conservative groups including the
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/United+States+Conference+of
+Catholic+Bishops?tid=informline> U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops,
Concerned Women for America and the Catholic Medical Association said the
regulation is needed.

David Christensen of the
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/related/topic/Family+Research+Council?tid
=informline> Family Research Council said: "Health-care professionals should
not be forced to engage in an action that they see is the taking of a human
life. Federal funds shouldn't be used for that kind of pressure."

Christensen and others said the regulations spell out legitimate differing
views about what constitutes abortion and when life begins.

Richard S. Myers, a law professor at Ave Maria School of Law in Ann Arbor,
Mich., said: "Religious freedom is an important part of the history of this
country. People who have a religious or moral belief should not be forced to
participate in an act they find abhorrent."



2008The Washington Post Company


___________________________________________________________________________



Dear Marilyn,

Thank you for contacting the Dept. of Health and Human Services and urging
Sec. Michael Leavitt to abandon recently leaked draft
regulations that would undermine women's access to birth control.

Your response was impressive and thousands of emails were delivered last
week.

Joining your efforts, the National Partnership - along with a broad
coalition of women's organizations, medical groups, and
prominent women leaders in the Senate and House - spoke out against these
radical, dangerous regulations.

However, the Bush Administration has offered no indication that it plans
to change course.

Take the next step - urge 3 friends to take action today. Just forward
this email or ask them to visit
http://www.NationalPartnership.org/Leavitt.

Marilyn, the stakes are too high to watch HHS Sec. Leavitt and the Bush
Administration redefine commonly used, FDA-approved
methods of contraception, such as birth control pills and IUDs, as
abortion.

This is a shameful political ploy in the waning days of the Bush
Administration which could cause immeasurable harm to the 17
million women in need of publicly funded contraceptive services.

Ironically, if implemented, these regulations could increase the need for
abortion by making it more difficult for women to
access the contraceptive services they need.

Take action! Urge 3 friends to get involved today. Ask them to tell the
Bush Administration to abandon these radical, dangerous
regulations.

Then stay tuned...we will notify you with any new developments on this
critical issue.

Sincerely,

   [27143.jpg]

Marilyn Keefe, Director of Reproductive Health Programs
National Partnership for Women & Families
[PixelServer?j=L0Xtmqg5_XicW-VyoWFTIA..]

1875 connecticut avenue nw, suite 650 ~ washington, dc 20009
202.986.2600 ~ 202.986.2539 (fax) ~ info@...
update your e-mail preferences ~ unsubscribe

Visit the National Partnership


(C) 2008 national partnership for women & families

FYI and if you please, action.

Mary Anne

> <http://www.americansforunfpa.org/NetCommunity/page.redir?
> target=http%3a%2f%2fwww.americansforunfpa.org
> %2ftakeaction&srcid=1826&srctid=1&erid=423083>
>
> Once again, President Bush blocks aid to the world's women
> Yesterday, President Bush used a loophole in the 2008 Foreign Operations
> Appropriations bill to withhold all $ 40 million that Congress allocated to
> UNFPA, the largest international source of assistance for women. This is the
> seventh consecutive year he has blocked these funds, bringing the total
> amount of United States support withheld during the Bush Administration to $
> 235 million.
> For one more year, the U.S. will not be part of global efforts to save the
> lives of 536,000 women who die in pregnancy and childbirth, or to provide
> contraception to the more than 200 million women who want it but do not have
> access to it, or to repair the lives of 2 million women living with
> debilitating fistulas.
>
> We need both Parties to Act
> Demand that your party stand up for global women's health and dignity:
> 1. If you are a Republican, Write a letter to RNC Chairman Mike Duncan <
> http://www.americansforunfpa.org/NetCommunity/page.redir?
> target=http%3a%2f%2fcapwiz.com
> %2famericansforunfpa%2fissues%2falert%2f%3falertid%3d11481761&s
> rcid=1826&srctid=1&erid=423083>.
> 2. If you are a Democrat, Write a letter to DNC Chairman Howard Dean <
> http://www.americansforunfpa.org/NetCommunity/page.redir?
> target=http%3a%2f%2fcapwiz.com
> %2famericansforunfpa%2fissues%2falert%2f%3falertid%3d11481691&s
> rcid=1826&srctid=1&erid=423083>.
>
> As sad and destructive as this decision was, it does not come as a
> surprise. President Bush has made it clear that UNFPA is an organization
> that he will never support. Fortunately, by the time the 2009 funds are set
> to be released to UNFPA, we will have a new President of the United States.
> We must take this moment to educate the NEXT President on the need to
> support the women of the world.
>
> One way to ensure that the next President, whether a Democrat <
> http://www.americansforunfpa.org/NetCommunity/page.redir?
> target=http%3a%2f%2fcapwiz.com
> %2famericansforunfpa%2fissues%2falert%2f%3falertid%3d11481691&s
> rcid=1826&srctid=1&erid=423083> or Republican <
> http://www.americansforunfpa.org/NetCommunity/page.redir?
> target=http%3a%2f%2fcapwiz.com
> %2famericansforunfpa%2fissues%2falert%2f%3falertid%3d11481761&s
> rcid=1826&srctid=1&erid=423083>, understands the challenges facing women
> around the world is to include the issue in the party platforms.
>
> Please take a moment to write a letter to the chairman of your political
> party. Ask him to put global women's health in the party's platform this
> year. We have provided some pre-written facts you can use to help you frame
> your letter.
> It's time for our leaders to show the political will to save women's lives.
>
> 370 Lexington Avenue, Suite 702, New York, NY 10017
> www.americansforunfpa.org <
> http://www.americansforunfpa.org/NetCommunity/page.redir?
> target=http%3a%2f%2fwww.americansforunfpa.org
> %2f&srcid=1826&srctid=1&erid=423083>
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> pid=187&srcid=1826&srctid=1&erid=423083>
>
>
>
>

FYI.  The exhibition is accompanied by excellent workshops and panel
discussions.

Amineh
NIHAC, Steering Committee Member
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/nihac



Please help us spread the word about this great event coming up. Thank
you!





FROM SOLFERINO TO GUANTANAMO: 145 YEARS OF RED CROSS PHOTOGRAPHY


Photography Exhibit:  June 11 - July 2, Monday - Friday, 7:00 a.m. to
6:00 p.m. Seattle City Hall, Lobby Gallery and Anne Focke Gallery 600
Fourth Ave. Humanitarian action would not be the same without
photography and its power to spark emotion that words cannot render.
Whether by historical happenstance or modern-day necessity, the Red
Cross was founded while the process of photography was finding its first
successes. The Red Cross is privileged that it possesses a complete
visual record, made up of thousands of pictures, of the movement's
inception in the wake of a battle, in 1859, to the diverse missions it
performs today.

This exhibit is open to the public and free of charge.



Join Us For The Accompanying Workshops And Panel Discussions:

All events are free and open to the public. Light refreshments provided.
For detailed descriptions, see www.seattleredcross.org
<http://www.seattleredcross.org/> . Please RSVP on our website or by
contacting international@... or 206-720-5285.




International Humanitarian Law: Humanity In The Midst of War


Wednesday, June 11, 9:30 a.m. - Noon Seattle City Hall, Room 370, Third
Floor, 600 Fourth Ave.

Explore the principles of International Humanitarian Law (IHL), which
help save lives and alleviate the suffering of civilians and combatants
during armed conflict.




Preventing Mass Atrocities: The Case of Burma


Thursday, June 12, 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. Seattle Public Library - Columbia
Branch, 4721 Rainier Ave. S.

View and discuss Alexandre Dereims's A Secret Genocide, a documentary
that sheds light on atrocities experienced by the Karen ethnic group.



Exhibit Reception: A Portrait of Humanity

Tuesday, June 17, 6:00 p.m. Seattle City Hall, Bertha K. Landes Room,
600 Fourth Ave.

Seattle author and documentary filmmaker Jen Marlowe, talks about her
experiences in Darfur, south Sudan and other areas of conflict around
the world. Michael Khambatta, deputy head of the International Committee
of the Red Cross discusses the humanitarian aspects of protecting the
displaced and the role of international humanitarian law.




Women In War: Humanitarian Challenges


Wednesday, June 18, Noon - 2:00 p.m. Seattle City Hall, Boards and
Commissions Room, 600 Fourth Ave.

Join representatives from local organizations that work with refugee
women to discuss the humanitarian challenges of women in war.





Providing Relief For The Displaced: The New Faces of Washington


Thursday, June 19, Noon - 2:00 p.m. Seattle Public Library - Central
Branch, 1000 Fourth Ave., Room 1 Level 4


Learn about the challenges faced by displaced individuals and families
as we watch Rain in a Dry Land, an award-winning documentary by Anne
Makepeace, that chronicles the lives of two Somali Bantu families as
they leave behind a legacy of oppression to face new challenges in the
United States.





Refugee Artvocacy

Friday, June 20, 7:00 - 9:30 p.m. Seattle Center, Center House, 305
Harrison St.

Learn about experiences that refugees face, while local refugee artists
and performers share their craft. Co-presented by the International
Rescue Committee. For more information, email Sayeeda.Afreen@...
<mailto:Sayeeda.Afreen@...> .





Prolonging The Conflict: The Lasting Humanitarian Effects of Landmines


Wednesday, June 25, Noon - 2:00 p.m. Seattle City Hall, Boards and
Commissions Room, 600 Fourth Ave.


Join representatives from local landmine action groups and the local Red
Cross as we discuss the effects and solutions to this lasting legacy of
war.





Understanding The Holocaust Sixty Years Later


Wednesday, July 2, Noon - 2:00 p.m. Seattle Public Library - Central
Branch, Room 1, Level 4, 1000 Fourth Ave.

This workshop provides insights and resources on how to teach and talk
about the Holocaust, ethical decision-making and individual
responsibility.



All events are free and open to the public. Light refreshments provided.
For detailed descriptions, see www.seattleredcross.org
<http://www.seattleredcross.org/> . Please RSVP on our website or by
contacting international@... or 206-720-5285.

A message from HAI:

Please join us at a dinner and auction fundraiser on June 19th to celebrate
HAIs more than 20 years of work in developing countries to expand primary
healthcare and promote equity and social justice!

As an organization working closely with ministries of health to strengthen
health systems, especially in post-conflict areas, we recognize that important
work still needs to be done in educating and advocating for policies that
enable developing countries to build infrastructure and provide quality
healthcare for all citizens. To engage in this work, which ultimately supports
our programs in the field, we need the financial support of individual donors
who believe in our mission and understand the importance of

o  stopping the brain drain of healthcare workers from developing
countries

o   cancelling the debt that is preventing investment in education and
healthcare

o  increasing funding for HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment and much more.

All of these issues are at the heart of what we believe will bring change. They
also require committed resources and energy. That is why we are holding our
first fundraising event on June 19th, and why we are inviting our friends to
join us in this effort.

When:  Thursday, June 19, 2008, 6-9pm

Where: Habesha Ethiopian Restaurant (1809 Minor Ave, Seattle, WA)

Tickets: $65 per person

Please join us for an evening of food and fun, including a delicious dinner,
fabulous desserts, and other exciting auction items! We hope to see you there.

For more information or to RSVP by June 11th, contact HAI at

hai@...       or purchase tickets online:

https://co.clickandpledge.com/sp/d2/default.aspx?wid=20451.

Space is limited, so act soon!

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 02 Jun 2008 23:51:17 +0000
From: rbblakn@...
Subject: Please participate on Tues., June 10th, in national call-in day on Iran

To NOWI and concerned persons,

I request you participate in the Tuesday, June 10th, national call-in day
to press your senators and representative for no attack on Iran as
described in the Council for a Livable World message below.

Thanks,

Dick Blakney
==========================
Top of Form

Bottom of Form From: Guy Stevens, Council for a Livable World
advocacy@... To: Richard Blakney rbblakn@... Sent: Mon, 2 Jun 2008
10:06 am Subject: [CLW] National Call-In Day on Iran!

   June 2, 2008
Dear Richard,

Drown out the drumbeat for war with your voice - Join members nationwide,
and call your members of Congress on June 10th!

National Call-In Day on Iran
Tuesday, June 10th
Tell Congress You Want Direct Dialogue Not War with Iran

The same people who called for attacking Iraq now are raising the drumbeat
for military action against Iran. Despite the November 2007 U.S. National
Intelligence Estimate concluding that Iran had halted its nuclear weapons
program, the Bush administration is bolstering its case for war by
labeling Iran one of the greatest threats to American security.

Bombing Iran would bring disastrous consequences.
The entire Middle East likely would descend into further violence putting the
well-being of innumerable civilians at risk.
U.S. standing in the world would plummet and oil prices would soar.
A U.S. attack would only strengthen hardliners in Iran.
Current U.S. policies are not working. Threats of military attacks and regime
change, while refusing to talk with Iran until they stop enriching uranium, are
only heightening tensions.

Call your Congressional Representatives on Tuesday, June 10th
1-800-788-9372

Tell them to work for direct and comprehensive talks, without preconditions,
between the U.S. and Iran.
The U.S. and Iran share common interests in a stable Iraq, Middle East and
Afghanistan.
The U.S. pursued negotiations with North Korea and Libya—it’s time to talk
with Iran.
Tell your Congressional leaders that you want dialogue not war!

Sincerely,
John Isaacs and Guy Stevens

Sponsored by The Campaign for a New American Policy on Iran. Council for a
Livable World is a member group of the Campaign for a New American Policy
on Iran.

You are invited to hear

                              Dahr Jamail
                      Telling Truth � Iraq and Iran

                       7:00 pm, Saturday, June 7, 2008

                   At University Temple United Methodist Church
                 1415 NE 43rd Street, University District, Seattle

Dahr Jamail, voice of truth and reason, is the 2008 winner of the Martha
Gellhorn Prize for journalism and author of the award winning book Beyond
the Green Zone: Dispatches from an Unembedded Journalist in Occupied Iraq.
He will speak about the current situation in Iraq and how Iraq and Iran
are parts of the puzzle that is the Middle East today.

Sponsors/co-sponsors include United Nations Association Seattle, American
Friends Service Committee, Church & Society Team UTUMC, Eastside Friends,
INOC, ISO, NOWI, NIHAC, Peace Action Washington, SNOW, Socialist
Alternative, Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility, WWFOR.

   ============================

IPS article by Dahr Jamail on Iraq Veterans Against the War on May 31st in
Seattle:

US/IRAQ: "Enough Is Enough, It's Time to Get Out"

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42622

The May 28, 2008 Asia Times story (below) states that Senators Diane
Feinstein (D-CA) and Richard Lugar (R-Indiana) would, "within days," write
an op-ed for the NY Times to express their opposition to a US air strike
on Iran, which "would likely create a groundswell of criticism that could
induce the Bush administration (to) reconsider its plan."  But the war
drums continue....

Learn more about the Iran-Iraq situation from award-winning Iraqi
journalist Dahr Jamail, author of "Beyond the Green Zone: Dispatches from
an Unembedded Journalist in Occupied Iraq."  He spoke some time ago to a
packed audience at Kane Hall -- and is not to be missed.

Mary Anne

 	        ===============

 	      Saturday, June 7, 2008
                      7-9 PM
              Dahr Jamail speaks on
           Telling Truth: Iraq and Iran

 	 University Temple United Methodist Church
     		 1415 NE 43rd Street
   		 Seattle, Washington

      Co-Sponsors: United Nations Association - Seattle, Network Opposing
War with Iran (NOWI), Interfaith Network Of Concern for the
      People of Iraq (INOC), Washington Physicians for Social
Responsibility(WPSR), Church and Society Team of the University Temple
        United Methodist Church, Northwest International Health Action
Coalition (NIHAC), Western Washington Fellowship of Reconciliation,
       Eastside Friends Meeting, Sound Nonviolent Opponents of War (SNOW)

 		 +++++++++++++++++

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/JE28Ak01.html
Bush 'plans Iran air strike by August'
By Muhammad Cohen , May 28, 2008

NEW YORK - The George W Bush administration plans to launch an air strike
against Iran within the next two months, an informed source tells Asia
Times Online, echoing other reports that have surfaced in the media in the
United States recently.

Two key US senators briefed on the attack planned to go public with their
opposition to the move, according to the source, but their projected New
York Times op-ed piece has yet to appear.

The source, a retired US career diplomat and former assistant secretary of
state still active in the foreign affairs community, speaking anonymously,
said last week that that the US plans an air strike against the Iranian
Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). The air strike would target the
headquarters of the IRGC's elite Quds force. With an estimated strength of
up to 90,000 fighters, the Quds' stated mission is to spread Iran's
revolution of 1979 throughout the region.

Targets could include IRGC garrisons in southern and southwestern Iran,
near the border with Iraq. US officials have repeatedly claimed Iran is
aiding Iraqi insurgents. In January 2007, US forces raided the Iranian
consulate general in Erbil, Iraq, arresting five staff members, including
two Iranian diplomats it held until November. Last September, the US
Senate approved a resolution by a vote of 76-22 urging President George W
Bush to declare the IRGC a terrorist organization. Following this
non-binding "sense of the senate" resolution, the White House declared
sanctions against the Quds Force as a terrorist group in October. The Bush
administration has also accused Iran of pursuing a nuclear weapons
program, though most intelligence analysts say the program has been
abandoned.

An attack on Iraq would fit the Bush administration's declared policy on
Iraq. Administration officials questioned directly about military action
against Iran routinely assert that "all options remain on the table".

Rockin' and a-reelin' Senators and the Bush administration denied the
resolution and terrorist declaration were preludes to an attack on Iran.
However, attacking Iran rarely seems far from some American leaders'
minds. Arizona senator and presumptive Republican presidential nominee
John McCain recast the classic Beach Boys tune Barbara Ann as "Bomb Iran".
Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton promised "total obliteration" for
Iran if it attacked Israel.

The US and Iran have a long and troubled history, even without the
proposed air strike. US and British intelligence were behind attempts to
unseat prime minister Mohammed Mossadeq, who nationalized Britain's
Anglo-Iranian Petroleum Company, and returned Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
to power in 1953. President Jimmy Carter's pressure on the Shah to improve
his dismal human-rights record and loosen political control helped the
1979 Islamic revolution unseat the Shah.

But the new government under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini condemned the US
as "the Great Satan" for its decades of support for the Shah and its
reluctant admission into the US of the fallen monarch for cancer
treatment. Students occupied the US Embassy in Teheran, holding 52
diplomats hostage for 444 days. Eight American commandos died in a failed
rescue mission in 1980. The US broke diplomatic relations with Iran during
the hostage holding and has yet to restore them. Iranian President Mahmud
Ahmadinejad's rhetoric often sounds lifted from the Khomeini era.

The source said the White House views the proposed air strike as a limited
action to punish Iran for its involvement in Iraq. The source, an
ambassador during the administration of president H W Bush, did not
provide details on the types of weapons to be used in the attack, nor on
the precise stage of planning at this time. It is not known whether the
White House has already consulted with allies about the air strike, or if
it plans to do so.

Sense in the senate Details provided by the administration raised alarm
bells on Capitol Hill, the source said. After receiving secret briefings
on the planned air strike, Senator Diane Feinstein, Democrat of
California, and Senator Richard Lugar, Republican of Indiana, said they
would write a New York Times op-ed piece "within days", the source said
last week, to express their opposition. Feinstein is a member of the
Senate Intelligence Committee and Lugar is the ranking Republican on the
Foreign Relations Committee.

Senate offices were closed for the US Memorial Day holiday, so Feinstein
and Lugar were not available for comment.

Given their obligations to uphold the secrecy of classified information,
it is unlikely the senators would reveal the Bush administration's plan or
their knowledge of it. However, going public on the issue, even without
specifics, would likely create a public groundswell of criticism that
could induce the Bush administration reconsider its plan.

The proposed air strike on Iran would have huge implications for
geopolitics and for the ongoing US presidential campaign. The biggest
question, of course, is how would Iran respond?

Iran's options Iran could flex its muscles in any number of ways. It could
step up support for insurgents in Iraq and for its allies throughout the
Middle East. Iran aids both Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Israel's
Occupied Territories. It is also widely suspected of assisting Taliban
rebels in Afghanistan.

Iran could also choose direct confrontation with the US in Iraq and/or
Afghanistan, with which Iran shares a long, porous border. Iran has a
fighting force of more than 500,000. Iran is also believed to have
missiles capable of reaching US allies in the Gulf region.

Iran could also declare a complete or selective oil embargo on US allies.
Iran is the second-largest oil exporter in the Organization of Petroleum
Exporting Countries and fourth-largest overall. About 70% of its oil
exports go to Asia. The US has barred oil imports from Iran since 1995 and
restricts US companies from investing there.

China is Iran's biggest customer for oil, and Iran buys weapons from
China. Trade between the two countries hit US$20 billion last year and
continues to expand. China's reaction to an attack on Iran is also a
troubling unknown for the US.

Three for the money The Islamic world could also react strongly against a
US attack against a third predominantly Muslim nation. Pakistan, which
also shares a border with Iran, could face additional pressure from
Islamic parties to end its cooperation with the US to fight al-Qaeda and
hunt for Osama bin Laden. Turkey, another key ally, could be pushed
further off its secular base. American companies, diplomatic installations
and other US interests could face retaliation from governments or mobs in
Muslim-majority states from Indonesia to Morocco.

A US air strike on Iran would have seismic impact on the presidential race
at home, but it's difficult to determine where the pieces would fall.

At first glance, a military attack against Iran would seem to favor
McCain. The Arizona senator says the US is locked in battle across the
globe with radical Islamic extremists, and he believes Iran is one of
biggest instigators and supporters of the extremist tide. A strike on Iran
could rally American voters to back the war effort and vote for McCain.

On the other hand, an air strike on Iran could heighten public
disenchantment with Bush administration policy in the Middle East, leading
to support for the Democratic candidate, whoever it is.

But an air strike will provoke reactions far beyond US voting booths. That
would explain why two veteran senators, one Republican and one Democrat,
were reportedly so horrified at the prospect.

Former broadcast news producer Muhammad Cohen told America's story to the
world as a US diplomat and is author of Hong Kong On Air
(www.hongkongonair.com), a novel set during the 1997 handover about
television news, love, betrayal, high finance and cheap lingerie.

(Copyright 2008 Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact
us for information on sales, syndication and republishing.) ###

Mark your calendars for this fascinating speaker on Middle East politics.




Saturday, June 7, 2008

Dahr Jamail

Telling Truth:  Iraq and Iran



University Temple United Methodist Church
1415 NE 43rd Street
Seattle, Washington

7 -9 PM

Co-Sponsors:  United Nations Association - Seattle, Network Opposing
War with Iran, Interfaith Network Of Concern for the People of Iraq,
Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility, Church and Society
Team of the University Temple United Methodist Church, NIHAC
(Northwest International Health Action Coalition), Western Washington
Fellowship of Reconciliation

Free will offering - no one turned away