Project Censored: Independent News from Media Freedom
CURRENT TOPICS (full stories below):US Special Forces Murder Family in Syria
Florida Imprisons Black Children for Life
Global Censorship Technology used in U.S.
US Weapons Still Killing in Vietnam
H-Bomb Missing in Savannah Swamp Since 1958
Cancer Spreading In Iraq due to Depleted Uranium Weapons
Massacre in Peruvian Amazon over US Free Trade Agreement
Iranian Election not Stolen
Illegal Arms Trade Experts in Air France Crash
Wealthy Petition for Tax Increase
Texas Writing Our Nation’s History Textbooks
British Global Brands Reject Amazon Deforestation
No Water for Palestinians
Florida Imprisons Black Children for Life
Global Censorship Technology used in U.S.
US Weapons Still Killing in Vietnam
H-Bomb Missing in Savannah Swamp Since 1958
Cancer Spreading In Iraq due to Depleted Uranium Weapons
Massacre in Peruvian Amazon over US Free Trade Agreement
Iranian Election not Stolen
Illegal Arms Trade Experts in Air France Crash
Wealthy Petition for Tax Increase
Texas Writing Our Nation’s History Textbooks
British Global Brands Reject Amazon Deforestation
No Water for Palestinians
College and University Reviewed and Validated News
US Special Forces Murder Family in Syria
On October 26, 2008, U.S. helicopters stormed a farm near the Iraq-Syria border and brutally killed 7 people within the farm walls. Anonymous Pentagon sources claimed that there was an Al-Qaeda terrorist, Abu Ghadiya, with in the walls of the farm. This terrorist is held responsible for smuggling men and arms across the Iraqi-Syrian border.
In the process of “killing” this terrorist, U.S. killed 7 people within the farm walls. They killed a father, his four sons, including a teenage boy, the father’s visiting friend, and the night watchman. The U.S. troops also severely wounded the night watches wife; she and her six-year-old son along with a man Hamid, were the only survivors. As witnesses of this event say that there was no one was shooting back at the U.S. Soldiers because they had no weapons to fire back.
It became suspicious when there were no reports of Al-Qaeda terrorists, or Abu Ghadiya, death. These people were brutally shot, 10 or more bullets to each body, and there is no body or official report that this terrorist was killed. There also was no official announcement about the raid. Al-Qaeda in Iraq, in August of 2006, announced the death of Ghadiya. One Syrian official says that the U.S. never showed him any proof that Ghadiya was alive after 2006.
Title: The Murders at al-Sukariya
Source: Vanity Fair October 27, 2008
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Author: Reese Erlich and Peter Coyote
Student Researcher: Trinity Cambon
Faculty Advisor: Keith Gouveia
Sonoma State University
Florida Imprisons Black Children for Life
There are 73 children, 14 and younger, who have been imprisoned for life without parole Florida. 84 percent of prisoners in Flordia are black, and African American youths are serving life without parole 10 times that of white youths. For the age 13 and younger, there are nine kids serving life in prison including both homicide and non-homicide
In the 90's there was the myth of the “super predator” which was introduced as packs of mostly Black and Latino kids who were “wilding” or being rowdy and said to be the new breed of criminal. What people didn't know was that by stereotyping these packs of minority kids as the “super predator” they created a monsterous stereotype that led to many faulty arrests.
One of the key persons who created the idea of the “super predator” was John DiIulio, a professor at Princeton, who stated he was wrong, but still many groups of black teens were targeted, arrested, and paid for the mistake.
Title: Ugly Truth Most U.S. Kids Sentenced to Die In Prison Are Black
Author: Liliana Segura
Source: Alternet.org, 11/11/09
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Student Researcher: Garet West
Faculty Evaluator: Peter Phillips
Sonoma State University
Global Censorship Technology used in U.S.
Deep packet inspection technology monitors everything that goes through the internet. It is readily available in the United States and there’s no legislation that prevents the US government from employing it. Deep packet inspection is currently used in Iran. The Iranian Government has the ability to look through everything, land line telephones, mobile telephones, email, websites, looking for keywords and actually monitoring the entire traffic going through one chokepoint in Iran. Deep packet inspection is the use of sophisticated equipment that literally watches the entire internet for every piece of data, voice, and video looking for key words, such as “rebel” or “grenade.” It is widely known that since 9/11, AT&T and Verizon were being asked by the Bush administration to deploy this sort of off-the-shelf technology. And they did. Again, Obama came out against the law and said we must punish these carriers for doing this, because it’s illegal, and then he flipped under enormous pressure from the lobbies.
Title: Deep Packet Inspection: Telecoms Aided Iran Government to Censor Internet, Technology Widely Used in US”
Source: Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzales, Democracy Now!, 6/23/09
Title: Deep-Packet Inspection in U.S. Scrutinized Following Iran Surveillance
Author: Kim Zetter,
Source: Wired,
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Student Researcher: Mira Patel
Faculty: Ben Frymer
Sonoma State University
US Weapons Still Killing in Vietnam
American War weapons and artillery still killing many in Vietnam. American bombs, artillery shells, rockets, landmines, grenades, and other type of unexploded ordnance still haunt Vietnam citizens. The explosive ordinance left over from the American war has killed thousands, in one village alone it has killed in alarming 1300 people.
In one case a six year old boy named Nguyen Vu Lan was watching his cousin as they came across a bomb used in the American War, the young boys were pounding on the metal, only to see their youth disappear in front of them, as the boy watching on took the grunt of the explosion shredding the whole front of his body. The bomb killed the other two boys. The mom of this young boy wants America to be accountable for there actions and contribute towards the many that were injured.
There is little medical care in which these people can receive in Vietnam; they are seeking American doctors to cover surgeries due to American post war destruction. There are many cases similar to this one and America still denies involvement. The Vietnam Veterans are forming a group to inform there citizens about explosive ordinance. They meet with a non-profit group named Golden West Humanitarian Foundation, who focuses strictly on explosive ordinance. They are coming up with ideas to reduce explosion related deaths. The recent estimates have calculated that it will take billions of dollars to clean up Vietnam’s bomb littering. Project RENEW is pushing hard for a casualty decrease and a clean swept of their country.
Title: Vietnam Still in Shambles after American War
Author: Nick Turse
Source: In These Time “Magazine”, May 2009
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Student Researcher: Ryan Stevens
Faculty Evaluator: Mryna Goodman
Sonoma State University
H-Bomb Missing in Savannah Swamp Since 1958
Where did the missing H-Bomb Go? That is the question on many people’s minds and especially the residents near Tybee Island in Savannah Georgia.
On February 5, 1958 two USA air crafts collided during a night training flight. On one of the aircrafts lay what the pentagon described as the “Mother of all Weapons”. After colliding with each other the pilot was order to “jetton” the bomb before landing the damaged plane. The pilot did so over the shallow waters of Wassaw Sound.
To this day this bomb has still not been discovered. Since the 200 pounds of TNT that was attached to the bomb exploded scattering debris everywhere, residents and officials know that the bomb was dropped. After less then two months the government ordered the search for the bomb to stop. Residents concerns have increased over time due to the fact that they are aware that plutonium, which is a major part of the H-Bomb, becomes even more dangerous and deadly over the years as it erodes and disintegrates. They are afraid that the bomb is leaking radioactive materials into the area around them, which some scientists feel is definitely the case.
Title: The Case of the Missing H-Bomb: The Pentagon Has Lost the Mother of all Weapons
Author: Jeffery St. Clair
Publication: Rock Creek Free Press, June 2009
Student Researcher: Kristin Laney
Community Evaluator: Gary Evans MD
Sonoma State University
Cancer Spreading In Iraq due to Depleted Uranium Weapons
Cancer is spreading like wildfire in Iraq. Thousands of infants are being born with deformities. Doctors say they are struggling to cope with the rise of cancer and birth defects, especially in cities subjected to heavy American and British bombardment.
Dr Ahmad Hardan, who served as a special scientific adviser to the World Health Organization, the United Nations and the Iraqi Ministry of Health, says that there is scientific evidence linking depleted uranium to cancer and birth defects. He
Iraqi doctors say cancer cases increased after both the 1991 war and the 2003 invasion. Abdulhaq Al-Ani, author of "Uranium in Iraq"
Not everyone is ready to draw a direct correlation between allied bombing of these areas and tumors, and the Pentagon has been skeptical of any attempts to link the two. But Iraqi doctors and some Western scholars say the massive quantities of depleted uranium used in U.S. and British bombs, and the sharp increase in cancer rates are not unconnected.
In Falluja, which was heavily bombarded by the US in 2004,
The cancer rate in the province of Babil, south of Baghdad has risen from 500 diagnosed cases in 2004 to 9,082 in 2009
The water, soil and air in large areas of Iraq, including Baghdad, are contaminated with depleted uranium that has a radioactive half-life of 4.5 billion years.
Title: Cancer – The Deadly Legacy of the Invasion of Iraq
Source: New American Media: January 6, 2010
Author: Jalal Ghazi
Research/evaluator, Peter Phillips
Massacre in Peruvian Amazon over US Free Trade Agreement
On June 5, 2009 World Environment Day, Peruvian Amazon Indians were massacred by the government of Alan Garcia in the latest chapter of a long war to take over common lands—a war unleashed by the signing of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Peru and the United States. Three MI-17 helicopters took off from the base of the National Police in El Milagro at six in the morning of Friday, June 5. They flew over Devil’s Curve, the part of the highway that joins the jungle with the northern coast, which had been occupied for the past 10 days by some 5,000 Awajun and Wampi indigenous peoples. The copters launched tear gas on the crowd (other versions say they also shot machine guns), while simultaneously a group of agents attacked the road block by ground, firing AKM rifles. A hundred people were wounded by gunshot and between 20-25 were killed. The versions are contradictory. The government claimed days after the events that there are 11 indigenous dead and 23 police. The indigenous organizations reported 50 dead among their ranks and up to 400 disappeared. According to witnesses, the military burned bodies and threw them into the river to hide the massacre, and also took prisoners among the wounded in hospitals. In any case, what is certain is that the government sent the armed forces to evict a peaceful protest that had been going on for 57 days in five jungle regions: Amazonas, Cusco, Loreto, San Martin, and Ucayali.
Title: Massacre in the Amazon: The U.S.-Peru Free Trade Agreement Sparks a Battle Over Land and Resources
Source: Americas Program, Center for International Policy (CIP) 6/16/2009
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Title: ‘Police Are Throwing Bodies in the River,’ Say Native Protesters
Author: Raul Zibechi, Translated by Laura Carlson, ‘Police Are Throwing Bodies in the River,’ Say Native Protesters” Milagros Salazar,
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Student Researcher: Kelsea Arnold
Faculty Evaluator: Eric McGuckin, PhD
Sonoma State University
Iranian Election not Stolen
Because the issue of whether the election was stolen will remain relevant, both to our understanding of the situation and to US-Iranian relations, it is important to recognize the legitimacy of the Iranian election results.
Title: Iranian Elections: The ‘Stolen Elections’ Hoax
Author: James Petras,
Source: Global Research, 6/18/2009
Student Researcher: Meg Carlucci
Faculty Evaluator: Janet Hess, PhD
Sonoma State University
Corporate Media Source:
Title: Was the Iranian Election Stolen? Does It Matter?”
Author: Mark Weisbrot, Washington Post, 6/26/2009
Illegal Arms Trade Experts in Air France Crash
Amid the media frenzy and speculation over the disappearance of Air France flight 447, the loss of two of the world's most prominent figures in the war on the illegal arms trade has been virtually overlooked. Pablo Dreyfus, who was traveling with is wife aboard the flight from Rio de Janerio to Paris, had worked with the Brazilian authorities for years to stop the flow of weapons and ammunition that have fueled drug wars in Rio. Also traveling with Dreyfus was his friend and colleague Ronald Dreyer, a Swiss diplomat and coordinator of the Geneva Declaration on Armed Violence. Dreyfus and Dreyer were on their way to Geneva to present the latest edition of the Small Arms Survey handbook, of which Dreyfus was a joint editor. It was to have been an important step in their relentless fight towards a less profitably violent future.
Title: Key Figures in global battle against illegal arms trade lost in Air France crash
Author: Andrew McLeod,
Source: Sunday Herald (Scotland Independent0, June 7, 2009
Student Researcher: Travis Hann
Faculty Evaluator: Rick Luttmann
Sonoma State University
Wealthy Petition for Tax Increase
Over 200 people who would pay these taxes have signed onto the petition which will be delivered to President Obama, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and House Republican Leader John Boehner.
Title: Wealth for the Common Good,
Author: Katrina Vanden Heuvel
Source: The Nation, 07/30/2009
Student Researcher: Marissa Warfield
Faculty Evaluator: Stephanie Dyer, PhD
Sonoma State University
Texas Writing Our Nation’s History Textbooks
Approved textbooks, the standards say, will teach students to identify significant conservative organizations and individuals, such as Newt Gingrich, Joe McCarthy, Phyllis Schlafly, and the Moral Majority in heroic terms. In sharp contrast, the historic roles of liberal figures and groups such as Martin Luther King, Betty Friedan, and the American Indian Movement are either not mentioned or minimized. Texas is one of two states with the largest student enrollment in the nation. California is the other. Publishers vie to get their books adopted by these states. Changes that are inserted to please Texas and California are then part of the textbooks made available to every other state.
Title: Could Texas’ Gingrich-Based High School History Curriculum Go National?”
Author: Justin Elliott,
Source: Civil TPMMuckraker, 09/04/2009
Student Researcher: Megan Vosburgh
Faculty Evaluator: Rich Sevendsen
Sonoma State University
British Global Brands Reject Amazon Deforestation
Four of the biggest companies involved in Brazilian cattle farming have joined forces to stop the purchase of cattle from newly deforested areas of the Amazon. Meat companies Marfrig, Bertin, JBS-Friboi and Minerva yesterday signed a formal moratorium in which they pledge better protection for the rainforest.
The move follows a three-year Greenpeace investigation, reported extensively in the Guardian in June, which exposed the link between forest destruction and the expansion of cattle ranching in the Amazon. The investigation prompted calls for action from key international companies, including food group Princes and footwear manufacturers Clarkes, Adidas, Nike, and Timberland, which threatened to cancel contracts unless their beef and leather products were guaranteed free from raw materials linked to Amazon destruction.
John Sauven, head of Greenpeace, said: "Today's announcement is a significant victory in the fight to protect the Amazon. Cattle ranching is the single biggest cause of deforestation globally, and the fact that these multibillion dollar companies have committed to cleaning up their supply chains will lead to real change in the Amazon."
Title: Global brands refuse to endorse 'slaughter of the Amazon'
Author: David Adam,
Source: guardian.co.uk, 10/5/2009
Title: British Supermarkets Acussed Over Destruction of Amazon Rainforest
Author: David Adam,
Source: guardian.co.uk, 5/31/2009
Student Researcher: Dani Wright
Faculty Evaluator: Robert Girlin
Sonoma State University
No Water for Palestinians
In a new extensive report, Amnesty International revealed the extent to which Israel’s discriminatory water policies and practices are denying Palestinians their right to access to water. Israel uses more than 80 percent of the water from the Mountain Aquifer, the main source of underground water and the OPT, while restricting Palestinian access to a mere 20 percent. The Mountain Aquifer is the only source for water for Palestinians. Some 180,000-200,00 Palestinians living in rural communities have no access to running water and the Israeli army often prevents them from even collecting rainwater. To cope with the water shortages and lack of network supplies many Palestinians have to purchase water, of often dubious quality, from mobile water tankers at a much higher price. Others resort to water saving measures which are detrimental to their and their families’ health and which hinder socio-economic development. Israel has also imposed a complex system of permits in order to carry out water related projects. Applications are often rejected or subject to long delays.
Title: Israel Rations Palestinians To Trickle Of Wate
Source: Amnesty International Website, 27 October 2009
Student Researcher: Ashley Housley
Faculty Evaluator: Andrew Roth
Sonoma State University
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