Murdering children, worshipping torture: the Empire we live under

That's what the Western Empire, the Leviathan under whose boot we survive, does every day. Some examples from just the last few days:

Imperial troops murder children who identified themselves as such  

The Afghan children awakened in the dead of night with a terrifying warning: An American soldier was in their village, and he had shot at least one man to death.

"He killed my man," their neighbor’s wife cried as she ran into their home. Sadiqullah, 13, hid behind a curtain. His older brother, Quadratullah, shouted "We are children! We are children!" only to see the soldier shoot his sister.

Haji Mohammed Naim, the father of the household, saw the American approach and asked, "What are you doing?"

The soldier shot him at close range, "here, here and here," Naim testified early Saturday, gesturing to wounds in his neck and upper torso.

Naim and his sons were among 13 Afghan witnesses testifying from Afghanistan’s Kandahar province over the past two nights in an extraordinary judicial hearing weighing evidence against Joint Base Lewis-McChord’s Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, who allegedly murdered 16 Afghan civilians and wounded six more in a nighttime rampage March 11. Bales could face the death penalty if his case proceeds to a court-martial.

The Afghan victims and their relatives gave haunting accounts of violence in Naim’s home in the village of Alkozai and the aftermath of another slaughter Bales allegedly committed in the village of Najiban.

One child, 7-year-old Robina, said she saw her father shot to death right in front of her, taking bullets to the neck and chest. She said she hid behind Nazar Mohamed and was shot in the knee herself.

"I didn’t realize I was shot until later," said the small girl wrapped in a red scarf. The chatty girl said she’s fine now, describing months of recuperation.

Bales watched the Afghan testimony intently Friday and Saturday, alternating between a television screen showing the testimony from Kandahar and another on a laptop at his table.

His wife, Kari, also attended the hearing. She has sat behind him every day in court, taking notes with supporters and occasionally exchanging glances with her husband.

The Afghans testified on the fifth and sixth days of the evidence hearing over a video link that piped their testimony into a Lewis-McChord courtroom from Camp Nathan Smith in Kandahar. Their testimony came in clearly, with attorneys in both countries interacting with witnesses and interpreters.

They described a shooter terrorizing children in Naim’s home and a grisly scene in Najiban where they discovered a pile of burned corpses.

... full story at Uruknet.

Imperial troops murder boy on hist 17th birthday, make up a story then gas funeral

Israeli soldiers fired tear gas and rubber bullets at West Bank protesters in Hebron Thursday, a day after a Palestinian teenager was shot dead by Israeli forces in the city. Five Palestinian youths are reported to be injured in the protests so far, and four teenagers have been detained by Israeli soldiers.

Thousands marched through the streets of Hebron during a funeral procession for  Mohammed Suleima, the 17-year-old boy who was shot dead by Israeli paramilitary border police on his birthday.

Protests against the shooting first broke out Wednesday night, with reports of Israeli forces using tear gas and live ammunition against the demonstrators, Al Jazeera reports.

"They have orders to shoot with live bullets now," a resident of Hebron told Al Jazeera Wednesday.

Suleima was unarmed at the time of the shooting and Palestinian sources claim he had failed to heed orders to halt at a military checkpoint because he was hard of hearing—although stories vary.

Some news agencies reported that Suleima had been shot up to six times.

Suleima's family said Israeli forces prevented them from burying hum in the cemetery next to their home, which is close to an Israeli settlement.

... full story at Uruknet.

Imperial secret services 'tortured and sodomized' German citizen

CIA agents tortured a German citizen, sodomising, shackling, and beating him, as Macedonian state police looked on, the European court of human rights said in a historic judgment released on Thursday.

In a unanimous ruling, it also found Macedonia guilty of torturing, abusing, and secretly imprisoning Khaled el-Masri, a German of Lebanese origin allegedly linked to terrorist organisations.

Masri was seized in Macedonia in December 2003 and handed over to a CIA "rendition team" at Skopje airport and secretly flown to Afghanistan.

... full story at Uruknet.

Just a few examples, which should be first page in the media and cause utmost scandal and political turmoil but remain hidden in the most remote corners of the disinformation and propaganda machinery that they call, quite Orwellianly, "free press".