By Yvonne Ridley in New York

February 02, 2010 "Information Clearing House" -- Dr Aafia Siddiqui is a bright, intelligent woman who has been through hell having being kidnapped, tortured in secret prisons, gunned down by US soldiers and renditioned to America where she is now facing attempted murder charges against those who shot her .

Only in the cock-eyed crosshairs of George W Bush's War on Terror could this happen and I hope to God that the jurors who will go through the evidence during the next few hours, if not days, see through this rotten legacy and recognise the case for what it is ... a tissue of lies enveloped in a web of deceit.

The last seven years of Dr Aafia's life could have been penned by a Hollywood scriptwriter, but instead all the folk from Tinsel Town could come up with was the rather tame blockbuster movie Rendition starring Reese Witherspoon.

On February 3, a Department of Justice press release headlined "Aafia Siddiqui Found Guilty in Manhattan Federal Court of Attempting to Murder US Nationals in Afghanistan and Six Additional Charges."

At her scheduled May 6 sentencing, she "faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison on each of the attempted murder and armed assault charges; life in prison on the firearms charge; and eight years in prison on each of the remaining assault charges. SIDDIQUI faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 30 years in prison on the firearms charge."

February 02, 2010 "Information Clearing House" -- The conference concerning the resistance, held in Beirut from the 15th to 17th January 2010, was an overwhelming experience for me personally with its almost 10 000 delegates from all over the Arab world and a small number from Europe and the US. It was indeed a great honour for Sweden to have a delegation of four. The conference opened at the UNESCO Palace where the leaders of Hezbollah, Hamas and Iraq’s armed resistance, in that order, held introductions that set the tone for the conference. Prominent religious Muslim leaders and representatives of Syria’s government also spoke. It was a powerful manifestation of unity against the politics of Israel and the US and, with no name mentioned serious criticism of Egypt, and open praise for Iran.

An interview with Franklin Lamb, PhD

By Mike Whitney

January 23, 2010 "Information Clearing House" - - Mike Whitney --- Are the Lebanese people grateful to Hezbollah for forcing Israel to retreat in the war of 2006?

Franklin Lamb---I think in their hearts most Lebanese are indeed grateful and even proud that for the first time since the founding of the State of Israel Lebanon has been able to effectively resist its numerous aggressions. Certainly Hezbollah has plenty of detractors particularly among the American and to a lesser extent French supported right wing Phalangist Christian factions and some Sunni communities fearful of the rise of the long discriminated against Lebanese Shia. But when Lebanon is threatened by Israel they tend to unite behind the National Lebanese Resistance. Expelling Israel on May 24, 2000 earned Hezbollah general respect in Lebanon and the region.