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Author: Ellen

Life in a private army in Iraq

Published by Ellen on July 2, 2006

“THOSE times when Iraqi insurgents would attack American facilities in Baghdad with rockets and mortars, I would ask myself, is this worth the $3,000 a month I’m here for?”

JP (for understandable reasons, we are not giving his real name) was sharing with us, one afternoon last week, his experience as security specialist for Private Military Contractors (PMC) securing American facilities and officials in Iraq.

JP, 42, was one of the 25,000 armed personnel in Iraq working for PMCs in a $100 billion industry spawned by the privatization of war jobs normally performed by national military forces. They are also referred to as “mercenaries.”
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Berdugo

Published by Ellen on July 2, 2006

Grabe talaga itong si Palparan.

Ipinahayag ni Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan, ang pinakamataas na military commander sa Central Luzon, ang kanyang kawalan ng simpatiya sa tatlong estudyante ng University of the Philippines na dinukot noong Lunes sa Hagonoy, Bulacan.palparan.jpg

Sinabi ng League of Filipino Students sina Karen Empeño, Sherlyn Cadapan at Manuel Merio ay pwersadong kinuha ng anim na armadong lalaki mga 2:30 ng umaga sa knilang tinitirhan na bahay sa Hagonoy habang sila ay nagre-research sa kalagayan ng mga magsasaka.

Si Empeño ay BA Sociology student sa College of Social Sciences and Philosophy sa UP Diliman. Si Cadapan naman ay isang premyadong athlete sa College of Human Kinetics (CHK). Sya ang representative ng CHK representative sa University Student Council. Community organizer siya ng Anakbayan.

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Breaking the Dam

Published by Ellen on July 1, 2006

(The author, Dr. Ma. Dominga “Minguita” Padilla, is an ophthalmologist and president of Sinag, a people’s crusade for good governance. She is a signatory to the “Citizens impeachment complaint. )

“Where are all the good leaders?” “Who is the alternative to the present leadership?” “Yes we believe that the Gloria Arroyo cheated, lied and stole her way to the presidency, and we believe that the stealing goes on, but will fighting the present wrongs, resisting the present injustice, bring us anything better?” “All we see waiting in the wings are politicians who will simply give us more of the same, if not worse”. “Show us something, some light at the end of the tunnel, and then we might have the courage to act”.

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United 93

Published by Ellen on July 1, 2006

I attended the preview of the movie “United 93” and one thing struck me: whatever our religion, whoever is the God we worship, in desperate times, our last recourse is prayer.

In the movie, United 93, reconstructing the drama inside the fourth hijacked plane on Sept. 11, 2001 there were many scenes showing both passengers and terrorists praying.

Their words were different but they were all directed to the Divine Being. The leader of the terrorist team was shown fervently praying before he moved to capture the cockpit. Surely, a positive answer to his prayer meant tragedy to the passengers. Many of the passengers, on the other hand, were praying to have the terrorist plan foiled.
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None of the 40 passengers and four terrorists survived. But unlike American Airline Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175, both from Boston bound for Los Angeles, which both crashed into the World Trade Center in New York and killed thousands, United Airline Flight 93 missed its target, the Capitol building in Washington D.C. (The third plane, American Airline Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon.)

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