Truthout roundup 7/18

Burma's opposition looks to begin new phase of armed resistance; distracted US government fails to address economy head on; summer heats up in the US as the globe warms; Guantanamo's war crimes court begins trials; contractors' poor job on electrical work at Iraq bases puts soldiers in danger; and more ... Browse our continually updating front page at http://www.truthout.org

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Friday 18 July 2008

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In Burma, Opposition Eyes Escalation
http://www.truthout.org/article/in-burma-opposition-eyes-escalation
Clancy Chassay, The Guardian UK: "Members of Burma's battered and disparate opposition are growing disillusioned with the old methods of the pro-democracy movement and are seeking ways to escalate their armed struggle with the help of covert western support. 'There is a very real debate among us about how to begin a more sustained armed struggle,' an organiser of last September's failed uprising told the Guardian. 'We are ready for that kind of action, if we can get the supplies and training that we need.'"

As Economy Sours and Oil Rises, Washington Postures
http://www.truthout.org/article/as-economy-sours-and-oil-rises-washington-postures
David Lightman, McClatchy Newspapers: "During a week of economic turmoil and wildly fluctuating energy prices, Washington lawmakers did little to calm consumers, opting instead to spent a lot of time trying to land political punches. Republicans kept talking about the importance of allowing drilling off US coastlines. Democrats countered with how releasing some oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve might help drive down oil prices."

Summers Hotter as Climate Changes
http://www.truthout.org/article/summers-hotter-climate-changes
David A. Fahrenthold and Juliet Eilperin, The Washington Post: "Climate change will have a 'substantial' impact on human health in the coming decades, making wildfires and hurricanes more likely, cooking up more smog, and making summer heat waves longer, hotter and deadlier, according to a new report today from the Environmental Protection Agency. The report details how rising temperatures could slowly but significantly shift the rhythms of nature that Americans are used to - with disruptive, sometimes even deadly, consequences. In the West, it found, changing weather patterns could thin the snowpacks that feed rivers, with repercussions for both hydroelectric dams and water supplies."

War Crimes Trials Begin at Guantanamo
http://www.truthout.org/article/war-crimes-trials-begin-guantanamo
Jim Loney, Reuters: "A Yemeni likely to be the first person tried before the US war crimes court at Guantanamo naval base was more than just a driver for Osama bin Laden, US agents said on Thursday. Salim Hamdan transported weapons and said he swore allegiance to and got his paycheck directly from the al Qaeda leader, the agents told a judge in pretrial hearings at the isolated US base in Cuba. Hamdan was captured in Afghanistan in 2001. Lawyers for the accused terrorist facing the first US war crimes tribunals since World War II say Hamdan was just a driver and mechanic in bin Laden's motor pool who did the job because he needed the $200 monthly paycheck."

Electrical Risks at Bases in Iraq Worse Than Previously Said
http://www.truthout.org/article/electrical-risks-bases-iraq-worse-than-previously-said
James Risen, The New York Times: "Shoddy electrical work by private contractors on United States military bases in Iraq is widespread and dangerous, causing more deaths and injuries from fires and shocks than the Pentagon has acknowledged, according to internal Army documents. During just one six-month period — August 2006 through January 2007 — at least 283 electrical fires destroyed or damaged American military facilities in Iraq, including the military’s largest dining hall in the country, documents obtained by The New York Times show. Two soldiers died in an electrical fire at their base near Tikrit in 2006, the records note, while another was injured while jumping from a burning guard tower in May 2007."