News and Analysis (10/29/12)

The depleted-uranium-doped armor-piercing bullets the US used in the first Gulf War is only one of the factors suspected to  lie behind the “tales of inexplicable sickness and deformities have abounded in Iraq….” A new study suggests that “in 2011, a child born in Basra was 27 times more likely to suffer from a birth defect than 16 years earlier”:

• Is the Detritus of the Iraq War Harming the Babies of Fallujah? (Christian Science Monitor)

“It’s not easy to inherit a country with no state institutions, with no constitution, no army, no functioning security apparatus…. It’s almost like a vacuum”:

• Libyans Disillusioned with Government Amid Chaos (AP / abc News)

Your school tax dollars at work: The mother of one of the students reported that Linda “White told her students that president should not be re-elected because he’s Muslim, WJTV reports. Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, however, should be elected to office because he’s ‘a good Christian””:

• Linda White, Mississippi Science Teacher, Under Fire For Calling Obama ‘A Muslim’ (Huffington Post)

“The authorities are not solving the problem and soldiers are not defending us” — Kyaw Myint, “a Muslim man who took refuge at Thechaung camp outside Sittwe. He fled his home in nearby Pauktaw when it was torched Wednesday”:

• Muslim-Buddhist Violence in Myanmar Has Displaced 28,000, Killed 84 (Silicon Valley Mercury)

“Syrian authorities blame ‘terrorists’ for breaking the truce and the opposition says a ceasefire is impossible while Assad moves tanks and uses artillery and jets against populated areas” …

• “Syria Air Force Bombs Cities, Truce Practically Over’” (Reuters)

“Majorities of women in virtually every country we surveyed say that women deserve the same legal rights as men, to vote without influence from family members, to work at any job they are qualified for, and even to serve in the highest levels of government”:

• What Do Muslim Women Want? An excerpt from the book Who Speaks for Islam? (Gallup)

“Alhaji Bello Sa’eed … explained that Nigerians should realize that God is one and as such, ‘we should stop being at each others’ throats at every slight provocation’ … [and] Farida Abubakar … blamed violence in the country on the lack of fear of God”:

• Nigeria: How Christian/Muslim United On Peace at Sallah in Kaduna (Daily Ttust / AllAfrica)

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