Author: Eric Garris

How can anyone be unmoved by the images of devastation? With the billions of dollars spent on deliberate destruction (wars), we should be motivated to counter with our individual help to the victims of this natural disaster.

I have been most impressed with the work of Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres). They have been focusing on some of the areas most devastated by the 9.2 earthquake, like Sumatra, where the island actually moved 100 feet, destroying virtually every structure on it.

Their website is swamped, but you can call 1-888-392-0392 to make a contribution. I urge you to do so.

It looks like their server overload is causing some web visitors to be offloaded to Network Solutions’ Earthquake Relief page, which doesn’t include DWB. Please ignore this and call 1-888-392-0392 directly.

The Daily Yomiuri, the leading newspaper in Japan, has chosen Antiwar.com as their favorite website of 2004.

They choose six favorites, and Antiwar.com is listed first:

For news and opinion related to conflicts around the world, Antiwar.com (www.antiwar.com) continues to lead year after year with the most comprehensive and interesting collection of information. Antiwar.com features both original content and links to news sources large and small, well known and obscure, local and international.

In doing so, Antiwar.com presents the kind of comprehensive picture of the world that practically no other newspaper, media outlet, or Web site can match. Whether you agree with its anti-imperialist stance or not, Antiwar.com should be on your list of news sources, especially if you are tired of the pattern of media consolidation and the endless narrowing of news coverage.

Today at 6pm Eastern, 3pm Pacific (on some satellite systems, 6pm Pacific), the History Channel is running “The Christmas Truce” on “Histories Mysteries.”

In 1914, British and German troops along the front declared a truce — they celebrated, shared food and gifts, and played football together. The truce was broken when commanders threatened to court-martial or shoot soldiers who did not resume fighting.

It is a wonderful piece of forgotten history.

Tomorrow’s Antiwar.com will have a special section on The Christmas Truce.

Check local listings, right away!

From Marines Hampered by Security Fears in Falluja:

Standing over a crater six meters (20 ft) across and six meters deep in a street created by what he said was a 2,000-pound bomb during the offensive, Staff Sargeant Jonathan Knarth, 29, of Florida, looked at down the deep water at the bottom.

“Hey look all you have to do is extend a slide from that rooftop to the water and you have an amusement park right here courtesy of the United States Air Force.”

Yesterday the death toll for GIs in Iraq hit 100 for the month of November (1221 total since the war began). With only two-thirds of the month over, Americans in Iraq are on track to exceed the previous high of 135 deaths in April of this year.

This is an average of 5 Americans killed every day in Iraq. While the media has acknowledged some major milestones, they have largely ignored the alarming level of US casualties in Iraq.

The tragedy of the death of each individual American, as well as the death of each individual Iraqi are not reflected by mere numbers. But the numbers must be reported loudly so that Americans realize the rising costs of this disaster.

And I thought Zarqawi was the beheading mastermind!

But no. Apparently, that title goes to Moayad Ahmed Yasseen (also known as Abu Ahmed).

Ahmed reportedly heads the group “Muhammad’s Army.” Ahmed seems to be incredibly well-connected. Iraqi Prime Minister Allawi said that Muhammad’s Army was known to have co-operated with Jordanian terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and al-Qaida and Saddam loyalists and was responsible for killing and beheading a number of Iraqis, Arabs and foreigners in Iraq.

If Ahmed is working with Zarqawi and al-Qaeda and Saddam loyalists, he seems to be more of the terror mastermind than Zarqawi.

It will be interesting to see if his capture has any effect.