Gates Foundation pledges USD10bn over 10 years for vaccine research

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has today pledged to provide USD10bn over 10 years for vaccine research, in a speech at the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting. Amazing - and pretty wonderful, too. It is good to know that there are positive things going on the world.

I'm currently watching (as I have been since 9.30am) former Prime Minister Tony Blair give his evidence before the Chilcot Inquiry; I'm not so sure any of this exercise is particularly 'helpful', other than as a political 'point-scoring' exercise.

Rumours Iraq is to execute 128 prisoners, many for the "crime of homosexuality"

There has been credible information coming out of Iraq for at least a couple of years that a purge of gays in Iraq is underway; now there are reports that Iraq is to execute 128 prisoners soon, in batches of 20 starting this week.

(thru Miami Herald blog and Iraq LGBT blog)

This report in 2006 from Amnesty International called on the Iraqi authorities to investigate thoroughly what is going on (Bill remarks: but since then it appears little has happened). A major complication is that the Iraqi authorities do not confirm executions have taken place, nor do they divulge the names of those concerned; the news, such as it is, has to come through 'underground' organisations.

It is a bitter irony that during the time of Saddam Hussein, gays were largely left alone' even if not particularly liked.

Other reports:
Gays flee Iraq as Shia death squads find a new target (Aug 2006)
Iraq - more gay executions (Apr 2007)
Gay men, women in Irak: torture, executions, systematic eradication (Apr 2007)
430 Gay executions in "liberated" Iraq (Aug 2008)

Send a Parcel to our Boys/Girls in Iraq & Afghanistan

IMPORTANT - Please see update at end





Surprise Supplies is a scheme which aims to send parcels to every single member of the Armed Forces currently serving in operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. A lot of them receive little in the way of support parcels from home and they really do make all the difference. We are all aware of the disagreeable circumstances these soldiers are working in and this is a small way of our acknowledging what they do on our behalf.

The scheme is very simple and all you need to do is to put together a small parcel containing a few goodies and then send it in the post addressed to one of the addresses below. It will mean such a lot to these wonderful men and women serving so far away from home to know that people are thinking about them and that we value and appreciate the sacrifices that they are making.

It would make even more of a difference if you could organise for a group of people (your friends, colleagues or staff for example) to put together as many parcels as you can. Please forward this blogpost to all your friends and family and ask them to do the same. There are over 14,000 servicemen and women serving overseas in Afghanistan and the Middle East so the more parcels that we can send out the better.

How does it work?

All you need to do is to put together a parcel (or parcels) containing a few ‘goodies’ with a value of not more than £10, address the package to one of the addresses at the end of this post and then take it to the post office/put it in the post.

Royal Mail will deliver the parcel free of charge to the British Forces Posting Office who will then ship it on to the relevant BFPO number.

Padded jiffy bags and old shoe boxes are the best for packing things in but any kind of old cardboard box or packet will do. Use tissue paper, newspaper, bubble wrap and anything light to stuff the package and stop things rolling around.

Postage is only free of charge if the parcel weighs less than 2kg and they are very strict about this so we recommend that you weigh your parcels before taking them to the post office.

There are lots of women serving out there too so although the mailing labels says ‘a Serviceman’ if you would like to put a parcel together for a woman please just amend the label accordingly and it will be given to a female.

What do I put inside?

One of the main elements of this scheme is to provide a bit of variety. Therefore if you can, use your imagination to the full and think of a cross between Christmas stockings and tuck boxes and you will be on the right track. It is very hot in Afghanistan so please do not send things that melt such as chocolate. Alcohol (and pornography!) are forbidden but this still leaves plenty of goodies such as:

Biscuits, cake - homemade wonderful but bought wonderful too – but think long life like fruitcake, gingerbread or malt loaf. Anything in a tube, vacuum pack or tin to perk up their rather basic rations is great - toffee sauce, (M&S does a good range of savoury and sweet sauces in tubes) condensed milk, salsa dip and cheese straws, cream cheese, fish paste, chutneys, chorizo sausage, dried fruit and nuts, mint imperials, chewing gum and everyone loves Jelly Babies.

Soduko books and magazines – Nuts, Zoo and FHM we are reliably informed are the most popular but also the Week for current affairs and any kind of magazine will be very welcome, the more varied the better as there is lots of time for reading and magazines get swapped and shared around.

Candles (for illumination, not scent), lip salve, moisturiser, medicated talc, deodorant, toothpaste and cotton socks (M&S do a great range of cotton socks that are v. popular – black and olive green are good colours). They also have to drink vast quantities of water so any powder flavourings in a package like Berocca, Vitamin C sachets etc. would be both light and immensely appreciated. Finally old fashioned pick ‘n mix sweets are particularly recommended but please keep the contents within £10 for the sake of equality.

Who will get my parcel?

Your parcel is being sent to one of two addresses in either Iraq or Afghanistan. From there they will be distributed throughout theatre. You won’t know who has received your parcel but you can be sure that a deserving soldier will be very grateful. Please do write an encouraging message inside your card for your soldier but please sign with your Christian name only and do not give your address as we do not want the soldiers to feel obliged to write thank you letters.

What is Surprise Supplies?

Surprise Supplies came about because of an idea Lexi Douglas had whilst her son was serving in Afghanistan in 2007. She regularly sent him parcels stuffed full of cakes and other nice things and when Charlie wrote home he said how appreciated they were but that not all of the boys received parcels from home so he would share his out with them. Lexi told her friends and they volunteered to send parcels and the idea grew from there. You can read more about it HERE

Send your parcels to:

(For parcels to AFGHANISTAN)
A British Soldier
c/o Capt. S Beattie MBE
HQ Task Force Helmand
Lashkar Gah
BFPO 715

and/or

(For parcels to IRAQ)
A British Soldier
c/o JI Branch
HQ MND (SE)
Op Telic
BFPO 641


PS/ I sent off a parcel to each of the addresses today and now that I have assembled the 'goodies' for each, I know roughly what to buy for the other packages I plan to send over the next couple of days (I plan to send 4 more packages to each of the addresses, so that I will have sent 10 packages in all by the time I have finished). Each package with the contents below weighs just under 1 kilo (about 2lb) and the contents cost just a little more than the £10- suggested in the rules, but not so much more that I can be said to have completely ignored the suggested maximum; the contents listed below cost £12.45 for each parcel, with the cost of the 'Jiffy' bag, the Christmas card and the decorative bows and sticky 'Greetings' labels being minor extras. Each parcel I have sent/will send comprises (this is just my idea, you can vary it to suit your own tastes):

- Padded envelope ('Jiffy' size 3);
- Christmas card with a personal message inside, signed with forename only;
- a couple of small decorative bows (the kind you stick on presents); the package should be fun and colourful as well as useful;
- a small SuDoKu puzzle book (gift-wrapped: everyone needs to be able to unwrap at least one present, whether you're a child or an adult);
- small bag of 'Liquorice Allsorts';
- packet of almonds and raisins;
- tube of high-strength vitamin C 'fizzy' tablets (nice to drink and good for you);
- small tube of Lip salve;
- small bottle hand-cleansing gel (does not require water)(*);
- small tube of intensive hand cream (*) - you could instead send a small tube of foot cream.

(*) I got small 'travel' packs in the travel accessories section of my local Tesco superstore. I bought everything except the SuDoKu books in Tesco, the SuDoKu books came from Borders. No doubt other supermarket chains have the same or similar items.

If you can afford to send even one parcel it will I'm sure cheer up the brave soldier (male or female) who receives it. Please give as generously as you feel able.

PPS/ I have marked/will mark all my 'Jiffy' envelopes with the following: "Suitable for a male or a female soldier".

PPPS/ Most of this blog post is reproduced verbatim from here; I do not otherwise link to this blog because I have a personal disagreement with the writer, but I am happy on this occasion to link to and to acknowledge the source.

Note: The first link above is to a page on the Telegraph newspaper website, but for the past few days this seems to be completely unavailable (perhaps it is a DoS or simple excess activity over the festive period), so here is a .PDF link to the original source, with the main website address here.

Important UPDATE - the period for sending out parcels for Christmas to troops in Iraq and Afghanistand has now ended (on 7DEC07). I have myself had difficulty in desptaching the parcels I prepared as I have been told that the whole basis of this scheme was unworkable, because MOD regulations specify that parcels may be sent only to named soldiers. This is just a big a disappointment to me as anyone else, specially as I am now left with the contents of 10 parcels to make use of, probably by handing them to the Salvation Army or other similar charity.

Alaa of 'The Mesopotamian' blog moves to Canada with his family

I've been following Alaa's blog since he began to write it about four years ago, through my Bloglines subscription (although it's not currently in my public blogroll), and am both delighted and sad to note that he and his family have taken the major decision to emigrate to Canada, principally it seems for the safety and security of his children - it is very sad that he and his wife have felt it necessary to take such a step. Here is what I wrote in a comment to his latest post:
"I just read your recent posts about your move to Canada (I've been away recently and very busy with various matters) and am so glad you and your family have found safety there, although very sad that you, who know the situation in Iraq much better than any outsider can (looking in through the sometimes distorting lens of the media) have found it necessary to leave as so many others who have been able have chosen to do over the past couple of years. Scotland and Canada have close links (for example I have family ties there myself, as do many other Scots) and I am delighted you seem to be beginning the adaptation to a strange (but very friendly and civilised) country so well. Canada is lucky to have you."

I think this is a clearer indication than any number of media reports of what the situation really is like in at least some parts of Iraq; moves abroad by other Iraqi bloggers in the recent past have likewise been salutary indicators of the quasi-chaos engulfing the country. I wish Alaa and his family well in their new lives in Canada.

US military in Baghdad patrols with insurgents ...

... whom it has now comveniently re-designated as 'freedom fighters' and is re-arming these group of Sunnis in an effort to put more pressure on al-qa'ida. It is accepted some may "have the blood of US soldiers on their hands".

It is too soon to know whether this is the purest madness (in the words of one senior military commander they "have made a deal with the devil") or whether it is a belated recognition of the folly of having completely disbanded the former Iraqi army (largely dominated by Sunnis as a reflection of the Ba'ath policies of the Saddam Hussein regime aimed at controlling Shiite radicals). Alternatively it may be just one more signal that the US Administration has no clear strategy and is simply trying something it has not tried before. The 'surge' obviously is accepted now not to have been effective.

If you're gay in present-day Iraq, well you're not safe!

It seems the US and UK backed Iraqi government thinks persecution of gays is perfectly acceptable, if its rejection of the findings of a UN Assistance Mission to Iraq (UNAMI) report is a clue:

"There was information in the report that we cannot accept here in Iraq. The report, for example, spoke about the phenomenon of homosexuality and giving them their rights," said Mr al-Dabbagh, a spokesperson for the Iraqi government. "Such statements are not suitable to the Iraqi society. This is rejected. They (the UN) should respect the values and traditions here in Iraq."

This is the government that we (the US and the UK) have facillitated being put into place since the last crowd of monsters (Saddam Hussein and his accomplices) was ousted in 2003!!

Some of the consequences of the present Iraqi government's views:

"Anwar, aged 34, a taxi driver, was a member of Iraqi LGBT and helped run one of the group’s safe houses in the city of Najaf. He disappeared in January 2007. He was arrested in his taxi after being stopped at a police and militia checkpoint. His body was found in March 2007. He had been subjected to an execution-style killing. "Nouri, aged 29, a tailor, was kidnapped in the city of Karbala in February 2007. He had received many death threats by letter and phone in the past, accusing him of leading a gay life. He was found dead a few days later, with his body mutilated and his head severed. "Hazim, a 21-year-old man, was taken by police officers from his house in Baghdad in February 2007. He was well-known to be gay. After threats because of his homosexuality, his family was forced to leave their home. Hazim’s body was subsequently found with several shots to the head. "Sayf, a gay 25-year-old, worked for the Iraqi police as a translator. He was kidnapped in the Al-Adhamya suburb by black masked men in Ministry of Interior security force uniforms who drove a marked police car. Almost certainly they were members of the Badr militia which has infiltrated the Interior Ministry and police. Sayf’s body was found several days later, with his head cut off. "Khaldon, a 45 year old gay man lived in al-Hurriya, a mainly Shia neighborhood of Baghdad. He worked as a chef. The Sadr militia, the Mahdi army, kidnapped him in November 2006. His decaying corpse was found in February 2007. "Khalid, a 19 year old gay man, a college student who lived in al-Kadomya, was kidnapped in December 2006. Three months later, his family was handed his tortured and burned remains. "Hasan Sabeh, a 34 year old transvestite - also known as Tamara - worked in the fashion industry designing women’s clothes. He lived in the al-Mansor district of Baghdad. Hasan was seized in the street by an Islamist death squad and hanged in public on the holy Shia religious day, 11 January 2007. His body was mutilated and cut to pieces. When his brother-in-law tried to defend him, he was also murdered. "Four gay friends had been receiving threatening letters at their Baghdad houses. All four were arrested on 26 December 2006 by militia at a roadside checkpoint. They were interrogated about whether they were Sunnis. Their identity cards showed that three of the men were Shia. These three men were released after several hours of interrogation. The fourth man, Samer, a 26 year old a Sunni who lived in Zayona, was later found with gunshot wounds to his head, his eyes blindfolded and his hands tied behind his back. His body showed marks of torture and many burns. It is not clear whether Samer was executed because he was Sunni or gay or both. "Alan Thomas, was a 23 year old, Christian gay Iraqi who lived in al-Gadeer, a Shia majority district of Baghdad. He received many threats for being gay and was eventually kidnapped and executed by Shia death squads in late 2006. His older sister spoke to me over the phone from Baghdad; explaining how the murder of her only brother caused the death of their sick elderly mother. She told me: 'The new Iraqi evil regime does not provide effective protection to the population of Iraq. Shia militias act in collusion with security force gangs to take revenge on the Sunni’s and other minorities.’ "

But the monsters in Iraq are not even 'honest monsters'; like the morally bankrupt creatures they are they are prepared to sell out their odious beliefs when hard cash comes into play:

"Occasionally, some victims of the fundamentalists have been able to buy their survival. Hamid A, a 44 year old bisexual man, from the Al-Talibya district. He was kidnapped twice by the Sadr militia. The first instance was in April 2006 when he, his nephew and his brother were kidnapped and tortured. He was released in May 2006 after his tribe members paid a huge ransom to save his life and the lives of his relatives. Hamid was kidnapped for a second time in November 2006 by the same Sadr militia, when an informant reported that he was drinking alcohol and that he was suspected of being gay. He was held in a big office in Sadr city, along with other detainees - most of them Sunnis and Christians. Again, he was ransomed and is now in hiding; a rare survivor of the Sadr militia interrogation centres."

Even heterosexuals who dare to show decency towards homosexuals and contrive to try and help them, are not safe:

"Heterosexual friends of gays are also executed. This happened to Majid Sahi, aged 28, a civil engineer. He had been helping Iraqi LGBT members in Baghdad. Abducted by the Badr militia from his home, they objected to his association with gay Iraqis. His family was advised by the Badr forces that their son’s "immoral behavior" was the reason for his kidnapping. His body was found in Baghdad, with bullet wounds in the back of his head, on 23 February 2007."

Frankly, now I need to go and get some fresh air!!

A sad, and probably accurate, forecast about Iraq ...

... in the wake of the execution of Saddam Hussein and the way, and by whom, it was carried out. Zeyad at Healing Iraq has a link to a mobile telephone video recording of Saddam being hanged and a translation of what the exchanges were just prior to the trap-door being opened; the comments are less inflammatory (but still somewhat inflammatory) than some have been reporting, it would seem. Zeyad also has some comments about what he thinks (fears) might be in store for Iraq now; unfortunately the 'permalink' for this post is defective, but it is entitled "Saddam Hangs (Updated)" and was posted on 30th December 2006 at 1.25pm.

Speculation is rife about the imminent execution of Saddam Hussein

There are strong rumours tonight that Saddam Hussein is to be executed early morning Saturday, Baghdad time, perhaps around 6am (or about 03.00 GMT).

I oppose the death penalty, even for monsters such as the former President of Iraq; quite apart from my moral objections, though, it seems to me that death in this case would be far too easy on the former tyrant - surely a much more fitting outcome and punishment would be for Saddam Hussein to be kept under conditions of strict security for the remainder of his natural life?

However my qualms are of no importance, I suppose. The Iraqis appear to favour execution as punishment and if lancing the boil that Saddam's life represents is thought likely to have the potential to reduce violence there then I cannot see much utility in 'manning the barricades' over this issue. I don't rejoice in the prospect of any human being dying, far less a human being being deprived of life in an officially-approved execution, but the world will carry on very nicely without him. In summary, "Good Riddance, Saddam!" .

UPDATE: (Saturday 30DEC06 03.47 GMT) The deed has been done; it was reported on BBC News24 about 30 minutes ago and is now confirmed here. Two of his co-defendants are also reported to have been executed. I can now go to bed, if not happily, at least with some sense that a malign influence has been removed.

Saddam Hussein has today been sentenced to death

The former tyrant Saddam Hussein is sentenced to death by hanging for crimes against humanity.

Whilst I am fundamentally opposed to capital punishment for anyone, including monsters such as Saddam Hussein, it is pretty clear that a great many Iraqis will be profoundly relieved that the law is taking its course, although it is also likely that the terrorist insurgents will exploit the verdict and its aftermath. An automatic appeal is launched, it seems, whenever a death sentence is handed down in Iraq, probably something that didn't happen to his victims when he ran the country. Assuming the appeal is unsuccessful, under Iraqi law the sentence is carried out within 30 days of a decision being reached. May God, or Allah or whomever Saddam Hussein believes in, protect his soul (if he has one).