(Thursday January 08, 2009 22:04 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC News)

As the Israeli occupation terrorist forces continue to pound the crowded, impoverished and imprisoned population of the Gaza Strip with the full force of its military might, Israel's strongest ally, the United States, announced plans to ship large amounts of ammunition to the Israeli forces – as it did during Israel's 2006 invasion of Lebanon when the Israelis ran out of (internationally banned) cluster bombs and the US shipped them tens of thousands more.

The US Military Sea Lift Command on Dec. 31st published a solicitation for bids from shipping companies to ship two boats, each containing 168 TEU's (twenty-foot equivalent container units) of ammunition from Greece to Israel.

The description of the vessels required was brief:

“Required: Request US or foreign flag container vessel (coaster) to move approximately 168 TEU's [standard twenty-foot containers] in each of two consecutive voyages both containing ammunition.”

Bids were requested by January 5th, but it is unclear whether bids were submitted or a contract awarded as of January 8th.

According to the US Military's solicitation, "Funds are not currently available for this procurement. In the event funds remain unavailable, this procurement will be canceled without an award being made."

During the Israeli assault on Lebanon in the summer of 2006, in which 1,200 Lebanese people were killed, 90% of whom were civilians (and 168 Israelis were killed, 10% of whom were civilians), the US Congress approved funding for an 'emergency' shipment of cluster bombs after Israel had dropped their entire store of the banned weapon on civilian population centers in southern Lebanon. Over one million cluster bomblets were dropped in southern Lebanon, largely due to the US 'emergency' shipment. Many of those bomblets remain on the ground in Lebanon, unexploded two years later. They continue to kill and maim Lebanese civilians, mainly children and farmers, who come across the unexploded bomblets and step on them or pick them up.

According to Wired magazine's security correspondent Nathan Hodge, the current solicitation for bids is the first such solicitation in several months. He said that, according to his research, the most recent announcement of a potential arms delivery to Israel was posted by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency on Sept. 29 -- for sale of F-35 Joint Strike Fighters. Earlier that month the agency notified Congress of the pending upgrades to Israeli Patriot missile fire units as well as sales of the GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb.

Israel has long used US weapons in its attacks on the civilian population of the two Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories, the West Bank and Gaza.

In addition to $3 billion in direct aid a year, the US government supplies around $3 billion in weapons transfers to Israel, and $6 billion in loan guarantees (none of which have ever been repaid by Israel).

I wonder what would have happened in WWII if people were caught blogging/communicating the location, times, and content of shipments of military goods into our allies' ports?

There is a difference between disagreeing with a US government policy, and communicating information that can lead to the harm of our troops, citizens, or allies.

This is not World War II.

LONDON (Reuters) - 09Jan09 __ The U.S. is seeking to hire a merchant ship to deliver hundreds of tons of arms to Israel from Greece later this month, tender documents seen by Reuters show.

The U.S. Navy's Military Sea Lift Command (MSC) said the ship was to carry 325 standard 20-foot containers of what is listed as "ammunition" on two separate journeys from the Greek port of Astakos to the Israeli port of Ashdod in mid-to-late January. A "hazardous material" designation on the manifest mentions explosive substances and detonators, but no other details were given.

"Shipping 3,000-odd tons of ammunition in one go is a lot," one broker said, on condition of anonymity. "This (kind of request) is pretty rare and we haven't seen much of it quoted in the market over the years," he added.

The U.S. Defense Department, contacted by Reuters on Friday in Washington, had no comment.

The MSC transports amour and military supplies for the U.S. armed forces aboard its own fleet, but regularly hires merchant ships if logistics so require. The request for the ship was made on December 31, with the first leg of the charter to arrive no later than January 25 and the second at the end of the month. The tender for the vessel follows the hiring of a commercial ship to carry a much larger consignment of ordnance in December from the United States to Israel ahead of air strikes in the Gaza Strip. A German shipping firm which won that tender confirmed the order when contacted by Reuters but declined to comment further.

Shipping brokers in London who have specialized in moving arms for the British and U.S. military in the past said such ship charters to Israel were rare. A senior military analyst in London who declined to be named said that, because of the timing, the shipments could be "irregular" and linked to the Gaza offensive.

The ship hired by the MSC in December was for a much larger cargo of arms, tender documents showed. That stipulated a ship to be chartered for 42 days capable of carrying 989 standard 20-foot containers from Sunny Point, North Carolina to Israel's largest port, Ashdod. The tender document said the vessel had to be capable of "carrying 5.8 million pounds (2.6 million kg) of net explosive weight," which specialist brokers said was a very large quantity. The ship was requested early last month to load on December 15.

In September, the U.S. Congress approved the sale of 1,000 Gbunker-buster missiles to Israel. The Jerusalem Post, citing defense officials, reported last week that a first shipment of the missiles had arrived in early December...

BB: You are right. Despite the fact that there is a war going on, the media and many of our citizens feel no concern or regret about exposing our military and our nation to danger.

Short of actually bombing or physically attacking our nation and our troops, what would you think constitutes treason in this day and age?

Rational_Thinker - Wow. I hadn't even thought of that.

I suggest you get in touch right away with Reuters UK and Al Jazeera who were, I believe, the first to publish the story worldwide. Hurry. Victory for the Allies hangs in the balance.

Rational_Thinker -

Golly, I hadn't even thought of that! Thanks.

You may want to get in touch with Homeland Security. Tell them Reuters, IMEMC News, The Guardian UK, Al Jazeera and the US Military Sea Lift Command, DOD, published the news worldwide. But I had no idea I could make trouble for the IDF by citing the story. The fate of the Allies may hang in the balance.

If the president says it's treason, then it's treason. Remember Jose Padilla? He didn't do anything that could be tried in court (no dirty bomb, no al Qaeda connection) but the president just KNEW he was an evildoer, so he's serving year seven of a life sentence of solitary confinement in a military prison at an undisclosed location.

Remember, loose keyboard security slips can sink US private contractor explosives ships.

Israel Using Palestinians in Gaza as Guinea Pigs to Test U.S. Weapons___

11Jan2009 (TEV-MILANO, ITALIA) - Media Reports revealed that Israel, in its invasion on the Gaza Strip, tests part of a huge arsenal of weapons developed by the USA during the past few years, adding that USA arms manufacturers encouraged the Israeli invasion in Gaza.

The inter press service news agency quoted Mou'in Rabbani, editor of the Middle East Report in Washington, as saying that the nature of the strong Israeli-American military relationship and Israel's persistence in making wars reveal that its military establishment tests new weapons in real wars for the US.

Rabbani added that the less effective style of the same weapons is sold at huge prices to Arab countries, which in fact finance the US arms industry and US military grants to Israel.

The Bush administration alone provided Israel with security aid valued at more than 21 billion dollars in the last eight years including 19 billion dollars as a grant.

In 2008, Israel signed a 22 billion contract with the US for 75 F-35 jet fighters, nine military transport planes and four naval vessels.

Democratic congressman Dennis Kuchinch sent last week a letter to US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice telling her that Israel's use of American weapons in Gaza constitutes a violation of the law on arms export control.

In related news, a ship will arrive in Israel with a lot of new weapons from the United States so it can continue its ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. The United States is seeking a ship to move arms to Israel for more massacres of Palestinians.

[...]

US arms and explosives manufacturers "live testing" weapons in non-simulated combat situations sound far-fetched? Think again.

In 2003, for example, the Pentagon admitted to having tested biological/chemical agents on 5,842 service members in secret trials conducted over a ten-year period (1962-73). Chapter 32/Title 50 of the United States Code says If the President or Congress decides we're at war then the Secretary of Defense doesn't need anybody's consent to test chemical or biological agents on human beings.

Two Norwegian doctors who were sent into the Gaza war zone by the pro-Palestinian aid organisation NORWAC said they had seen clear signs that Dense Inert Metal Explosives (DIME), an experimental kind of explosive, were being used in Gaza. "This is a new generation of very powerful small explosives that detonates with an extreme power and dissipates its power within a range of five to 10 metres (16-98 feet)," said Dr. Gilbert, 61.

Dense Inert Metal Explosive (DIME) is an experimental type of explosive that has a relatively small but highly effective blast radius. It is manufactured by producing a homogeneous mixture of an explosive material (such as HMX or RDX) and small particles of a chemically inert material such as powdered aluminum and tungsten and other metals such as cobalt and nickel or iron.

"We have not seen the casualties affected directly by the bomb because they are torn to pieces and do not survive, but we have seen a number of very brutal amputations... without shrapnel injuries - - which we strongly suspect must have been caused by US DIME weapons," he added.

The weapon "causes the tissue to be torn from the flesh. It looks very different (from a shrapnel injury). I have seen and treated a lot of different injuries for the last 30 years in different war zones, and this looks completely different," said Dr. Fosse, 58. "If you are in the immediate (vicinity of) a DIME weapon, it's like your legs get torn off. It's an enormous pressure wave but there is no shrapnel," he explained.

Gilbert also confirmed reports that Israel used the weapon in the 2006 Lebanon War and previously in Gaza, and referred to studies showing wounds from the explosive caused lethal forms of cancer within four to six months.

As reported in the French national newspaper Le Monde, a team of journalists from the Italian State radio-television RAI demonstrated that DIME-type bombs were being used in the Gaza strip by the IDF against Palestinians during July/August 2006. In the current Israeli offensive against the Hamas there are also reports of use of DIME bombs. Al Jazeera also reported the use of DIME-type bombs in the Gaza Strip by the IDF.

Boeing has developed a version of the SDB I- GBU-39 which replaces the steel casing with a lightweight composite casing and the warhead with a focused blast explosive Dense Inert Metal Explosive (DIME). American-developed but untested GBU-39 laser guided bombs have been supplied to Israel.

-

If you love your freedom, thank a veteran.

Isn't it nice to be able to criticize, beat, drag, insult and demean your country with total impunity. That's what I meant by freedom.

Have a great day, I hope you all feel better now.

Treason is bankrupting your country to protect the interests of another country.

Loom: If you're referring to me, I deliberately withheld my opinion, comments and judgment. I presented the news articles on the subject of US participation in the Gaza genocide as I found them.

I am a disabled veteran. If you love your freedom, thank the men who drafted the Bill of Rights.

loomisresident __ What criticism? If reprinting simple facts from the news sans comment is insulting or demeaning to a nation, that nation needs to do some serious soul-searching. Politicians, however, are never above criticism.

BTW, I am a disabled veteran but don't thank me; thank the brave men who drafted the Bill of Rights.

Thank you, Skeptic. There is certainly nothing traitorous about helping out your fellows. Some folks seem to have an innate fear of speaking their minds & for some reason or another are afraid to challenge the governments policies when the government is in the wrong. Speaking the truth is what our forefathers did & the English considered them traitors... I guess I'm in pretty good company.

P.S. Israel is NOT the United States.

Serious, very serious. BB and Skeptic are feeding on each other, and the result can only be something akin to a matter/anti-matter annihilation. I am sure they both think that resistance is futile, and we will all be assimilated. When you mind is as creative as theirs, you tend to loose touch with reality. Next thing you know, one of them will be posting as God himself. That is when we truely worry about them.

One other point, BB and Skeptic (and your fan club), I think it is great that you have something to believe in. I also think most of it is junk. And I will continue to call it as I see it, since you really need someone to offset your garbage posts.

I know you have a choice in blogs & I do appreciate the fact that you choose mine. Please continue to read, contemplate & comment.... I thank you.

killing em softly with his song, killing em softly.

BB You sound like the nuts at ELF! If you don't like the laws, revolt! We are not working against the King of England here. We have a Representative form of government. I support Israel and hope they destroy Hamas. How many years should Hamas be permitted to launch rockets into Israel? How many terrorist acts must they endure?

Skeptic, the two doctors you referred to are propagandists for Hamas, are they not? Sorry, but I don't care what they have to say.

timeslip:

That's all you have to say, "most of it is junk?" Facts matter. Got any?

Thanks for your comments.

The Independant, UK - 13 Jan 2009

Jerusalem___“We are treating everything as hostile right now. We were told not to take chances - to shoot rather than ask questions.”

That is the policy of the invading Israeli soldiers described by one of their officers. And indeed, they’re doing plenty of shooting. As for who they’re shooting, that’s one of those questions that not only are they not supposed to ask, but they’d just as soon not have to answer.

Even among the invading IDF army there is no small amount of shock at the destruction of residential neighborhoods. To quote the same IDF officer, “it looks destroyed, demolished, like we were bombing it for years. You can’t imagine what damage we have done.”

Nor can we rely on the international press to tell us, because they are still being kept from entering the strip by the Israeli military. But we do get plenty of eyewitness accounts from the ground.

The death toll has reportedly exceeded 975 now, with untold thousands wounded, and the promised “phase three” of Operation Cast Lead hasn't even started in earnest yet.

Israeli rights group B’Tselem reported that Israeli soldiers opened fire on a group of civilians trying to flee their homes, even though they had been ordered to come out by the Israeli military and were waving white flags at the time they were killed.

The toll seems bound to rise as the troops move into the most densely populated parts of downtown Gaza City.

Palestinian hospital officials revealed that the death toll has risen to at least 952, half of them women and children.

John Ging, the UN Relief and Works Agency's director of operations in Gaza, called on the international community to protect civilians in Gaza; he also wants a full investigation into allegations that Israeli military forces have used illegal weapons.

On the relatively peaceful West Bank, a Palestinian man was killed after he tried to grab a gun from an Israeli soldier in Hebron and a 15-year-old boy was shot near the city of Qalqiliya while throwing stones at a road used by soldiers and settlers. Palestinian officials said a settler had fired the fatal shot.

UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon is heading to the region for talks with leaders in Egypt, Israel, Jordan and Syria. He said: "My message is simple: the fighting must stop. To both sides, I say: Just stop now."

In Gaza, Munir Shafik al-Najar told B'Tselem that members of his extended family were trying to leave their homes after the Israeli army began demolishing buildings nearby. Mr Najar said the Israeli soldiers were using gunfire to signify that residents should leave, but then started shooting at them "indiscriminately". He testified that his relative Rawhiya had stepped out of the family-owned building whose walls had been destroyed by a bulldozer, expecting her family to follow, but she was shot. The military subsequently attacked another group escaping, leaving two more of his relatives dead. ___

Pray for Gaza.

"The Times (UK) has identified stockpiles of white phosphorus (WP) shells from high-resolution images taken of Israel Defense Forces (IDF) artillery units on the Israeli-Gaza border this week. The pale blue 155mm howitzer rounds are clearly marked with the designation M825A1, an American-made WP artillery munition. The shell is an improved version with a more limited dispersion of the phosphorus, which ignites on contact with air, and is being used by the Israeli artillery gunners."

This is from the UK Times Online, and includes a photo of an Israeli soldier handling US-made White Phosphorus shells.

Thank goodness that there are folks out there with digital phone cameras to capture real-time live footage and digital photographs.

Missionary International Service News Agency, Rome

13 Jan 2009

__“We are in contact with the doctors working in Gaza, we have seen the images, already studied the weapons used by Israel in Lebanon in 2006 and we have reached the conclusion that the wounds we are seeing in Gaza are identical to those seen in Lebanon; there, DIME and white phosphorous weapons were used”, said Paola Manduca, a genetics professor and member of the Genoa-based ‘New weapons committee’ comprising researchers from all over the world studying the effects of new weapons on individuals and populations.

“DIME," says Dr. Manduca, "are made in the USA, and they first appeared in 2004; theoretically they should be on sale, based on official statements; in fact, it has been ascertained that Israel used these weapons in Lebanon in 2006”.

The ‘New weapons committee’ representative noted that ‘DIME’ have been devised for urban warfare and conceived, say their American inventors, as ‘adequate tools’ to reduce collateral damage because their power can be adjusted as well as their destructive range varying from 5 to 10 meters. “The ‘DIME’ – says Dr. Manduca – contain nano-particles of heavy material that, according to the thickness of the shell, can be spread in either a homogeneous manner or they can be made to assume particular forms; the many amputations have likely been caused by ‘DIME’ which release the particles delivering them as a blade that makes a clean cut of anything it finds within its range of action; this explains why so many people, children, women, have suffered amputations of limbs, without fragments on the rest of the body; the trigger can also be modified on the basis of need. If we wish to compare ‘DIME’ to something more familiar, one can imagine giant axes being launched against you at very high speed”.

Dr. Manduca added that the DIME weapons leave those who are hit with very serious disabilities. Some of the images witnessed by the researchers of the ‘New weapons committee’ also suggest that Israel has used white phosphorous weapons: “We do not yet have sufficient witness accounts," said Dr. Manduca, " but some TV images would imply they have been used; unlike ‘DIME experimental weapons for which there is no special international position, the use of white phosphorous in civilian areas such as Gaza is explicitly forbidden by a Geneva convention because it burns anything containing oxygen, such as a human body”.

According to Manduca, the asphyxiating gases that some reporters have described as having been used in Gaza are likely ‘CS gas’, a type of more intense tear gas that make it almost impossible to breathe. [AB]