caption: Will the U.S. jump the Border Wall to intervene in the drug cartel war? U.S. officials are considering heightened intervention in Mexico if the drug cartel violence continues, according to recent reports. An enhanced U.S. role in battling Mexican drug cartels could include joint operations with Mexican forces. Involvement of U.S. contractors, military and intelligence personnel are further options, according to a Dallas Morning News report last week that cited anonymous sources. Juarez, Mexico's 2008 violent death toll--counting assassinations, murders, and beheadings--shot past 1600. This was the tip of the violent crime iceberg in a city additionally wracked by extortion, kidnapping and corruption. The violence continues unabated in 2009. The number of homicides in the Juarez area in January surpassed the number logged at the same time last year, an indicator that the drug cartel war is spiraling downward. An insertion of U.S. personnel on Mexican soil would mark a major reversal to Mexico's historical aversion to U.S. interference. However, the challenge of shoring up Mexican stability, particularly along the border, could overwhelm historical reservations. Friday's El Paso Times cites some precedent for U.S. involvement. For decades U.S. agents from the U.S. Marshals Service, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the FBI have operated offices in major Mexican cities and shared intelligence with Mexican authorities. In addition, Mexico has cooperated in the extradition of drug traffickers to the U.S. recently. A recent report on worldwide security threats issued by the U.S. Joint Forces Command designated Mexico as at risk for "a rapid and sudden collapse" due to the impact of drug cartel violence. The ramifications to the United States of a failed state in North America heighten the likelihood that U.S. intervention is indeed under consideration. U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence told the press this week that the situation was "very serious and very critical" and discouraged public speculation about potential U.S.-Mexican cooperation to stem cartel violence and restore stability. Reyes, however, announced that he helped arrange for a U.S. State Department official who was "pre-eminently qualified to share insights about what is really going on in Mexico, and between the governments of Mexico and the United States" to speak tomorrow in El Paso. crossposted on Border Explorer. This story deserves more coverage than it is receiving in the mainstream media.
All of us had relatives that used to share their Depression Era Stories...we should share those stories and that wisdom...we need to ..to help take care of each other...Learn how to be Frugal together...and survive. There is nothing wrong with yardsaling, and "Curb Shopping", and Good Will Stores, and Having a Garden and shopping at the Dollar Store....we should be emboldened and proud of "smarts" and share the wisdom....
"For those who bring unique and creative elements to their blogs. For those who incorporate art, music, creative writing, photo's, and other beautiful visual effects into their website. For those who put a unique spin on things and come up with new ideas. This award is for the artsy, the funky, the inventor, and even the rebel. This award is for those creative individuals who stand out from the crowd."
Since I have never claimed to speak for any of the authors of this blog, nor could I imagine doing so since each have their own uniquely wonderful voice, I have decided to let the other authors help in choosing the five blogs that best fit this category- artsy, funky, inventors, and rebels...
So, if you are an author here on The Peace Tree, please leave me a comment on this post and add your pick. One per author I suppose, if we go over five picks, so be it!
1. The Pagan Sphinx has been chosen by betmo for a Creative Blogger Award!
This blog, in my humble opinion, is certainly a no-brainer for the award. I mean her header image by William-Adolphe Bouguereau alone automatically places her in the creative arena of "art, love, peace and justice". Leonardo tells us all we need to know when entering the winged creature's lair. No! Not Leonardo Dicaprio, although he'd probably appreciate her passion and talents, I'm talking about Leonardo da Vinci! "Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen." Enough said.
2. Ben Heine The Blog has been chosen by The Pagan Sphinx, in her own words- what makes Ben's blog stand out is his conviction, particularly about his advocacy for the Palestinian people, for peace, equality and love; and how Ben demonstrates in his art these values and hopes. Also for his unabashed desire that his images be reproduced, printed and the messages spread around, to increase awareness of the struggles he continuously upholds.
Three things Pro Immigration Reformers can ask President Obama in 2009:
1. Stop/Reduce ALL Hate Crimes: Ask President Obama to state he is against All Hate Crimes. Acknowledge the increase in Hate Crimes particularly against Latinos (as the FBI reported), Blacks and Lesbian/Gays. These groups have the highest incidents of occurence. Ask for his public repudiation of Hate Crimes and Ask for his support in ensuring those guilty of these crimes are charged to the fullest extent of the law. This includes the Hate Crimes committed in Patchogue, NY and Pottsville, PA. 2. Stop/Reduce Racial Profiling: All Racial Profiling is wrong. We have seen a significant amount of racial profiling occur in Maricopa County by Sheriff Arpaio under the 287(g) provisions. Several Mayors in Arizona, including the Mayors of Phoenix, Mesa and Guadalupe have written Federal Authorities and requested an investigation. We should ask President Obama to put a hault to the 287(g) provisions and ask Eric Holder to conduct a Federal Investigation on the Mayors charges. 3. Stop the Inhumane Treatment occurring in ICE Raids and Detention Centers: Postville, with their CattleBarn injustice, was a prime example of what can go wrong during an ICE Raid. Ask President Obama to put a halt to these inhumane raids. Additionally ask President Obama to investigate the inhumane treatment in Detention Centers, particularly the Hutto Family Detention center where entires families are jailed.
Each of these three items are Humane, they can be completed without legislation and they can be accomplished this year. If he does them, this will serve as a significant message to all of his Latino and Humanitarian supporters that he supports our message and his Latino supporters. God Bless America God Bless our President
I'm sort of weak in my enthusiasm for complicated legal matters, you know? So the title of the Prop 8 video immediately caught my eye: Proposition 8 Made Simple. If you haven't seen this, you have to.
SEAN HANNITY: That’s somewhat frightening, you’re going to close Guantanamo Bay, you don’t know what’s going to happen, you don’t know where you’re going to put these people. [1/23/09] GLENN BECK: Somebody told me that if this goes through and we put 200 people into this system, that it will shut down our justice system. Our justice system just won’t be able to do it.[1/20/09] BRIAN KILMEADE: You’re talking about the worst of the Taliban, the worst of al Qaeda, and we have to let them go, give them trials? Why do we need to do this and compromise the CIA and our intelligence bureau — a lot of the intelligence was built on these guys, was done using our clandestine operations. So we have to expose that for these trials? [1/22/09]
Rep. Jack Murtha (D-PA) said last week that the U.S. could hold the detainees in federal prisons, just like we hold thousands of other dangerous inmates. This morning, Fox and Friends responded by sending a reporter to Murtha’s district to flash photos of suspected terrorists — their only identification being Muslim headgear — and ask residents, “Would you want a guy like this living in your backyard?” Watch it:
Despite Fox’s suggestion that detainees could be pitching a tent in your backyard, Guantanamo detainees transferred to the U.S. for trials would be housed in federal prisons — where dozens of dangerous terrorists are already held. In fact, the United States has already successfully prosecuted 145 terrorism cases in federal court, a sharp contrast to the series of debacles in Guantanamo prosecutions. Later in the segment, the Fox hosts repeated some of the right wing’s favorite myths about Guantanamo. They endorsed the “great idea” conservatives have been pushing of sending detainees to Alcatraz or a “haunted” prison in West Virginia:
CLAYTON MORRIS: We’ve got Alcatraz that exists. We give tours out there. Put them out on an island on Alcatraz, which is under our jurisdiction. What about Moundsville State Penitentiary? Someone from West Virginia wrote me and said it’s a haunted prison. It’s vacant.
In other words, Fox News and the right wing would prefer to send Guantanamo detainees to theme parks rather than to maximum-security federal prisons.
“One year from now, Gitmo won’t be closed…. If it is, there will be an uproar in the U.S. about where to put these people.”
Indeed, it will be very difficult to close Guantanamo, made harder in fact by the incompetence of the Bush administration. This weekend, the Washington Post reported that the administration’s plans to “quickly close the military prison there were set back last week when incoming legal and national security officials — barred until the inauguration from examining classified material on the [Gitmo] detainees — discovered that there were no comprehensive case files on many of them.” Update: Today’s Progress Report debunks the right-wing myths about closing Guantanamo.
And then, we have that as well:
Gregory allowed 61-detainee falsehood to stand unrebutted on Meet the Press On the January 25 edition of NBC's Meet the Press, host David Gregory allowed House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) to repeat the falsehood that, in Boehner's words, "we've already found" that 61 detainees released from the detention facilities at Guantánamo Bay are now "back on the battlefield." In fact, the figure, which comes from the Pentagon, includes 43 former prisoners who are suspected of, but have not been confirmed as, having "return[ed] to the fight." Moreover, even the Pentagon's claim that it has confirmed that 18 former Guantánamo detainees have returned to the battlefield has been questioned by experts. After Gregory asked if President Obama's executive order requiring that the detention facilities at Guantánamo Bay be closed within a year was "realistic," Boehner responded: "[W]hat do you do with these 270 prisoners? Some of them you might be able to release, but we've already found 61 of those that we've released back on the battlefield." Gregory did not note that according to the Pentagon, the 61-detainee figure includes 43 former prisoners who are suspected of, but have not been confirmed as, having engaged in terrorist activity -- detainees who have not been "already found [...] back on the battlefield," as Boehner asserted. Indeed, as Media Matters for Americanoted, during a January 13 press conference, Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell stated: "The new numbers are, we believe, 18 confirmed and 43 suspected of returning to the fight. So 61 in all former Guantanamo detainees are confirmed or suspected of returning to the fight." Further, the Pentagon's definition of "returning to the fight" has been challenged by some analysts. As CNN national security analyst Peter Bergen noted on the January 23 edition of Anderson Cooper 360: "[R]eturning to the fight, in Pentagon terms, could be engaging in anti-American propaganda, something that's not entirely surprising if you have been locked up in a prison camp for several years without charge." Bergen further stated: "[W]hen you really boil it down, the actual number of people whose names we know are about eight out of the 520 that have been released [from Guantánamo], so a little above 1 percent, that we can actually say with certainty have engaged in anti-American terrorism or insurgence activities since they have been released. ... If the Pentagon releases more information about specific people, I think it would be possible to -- to potentially agree with them. But, right now, that information isn't out there." Additionally, Seton Hall University School of Law professor Mark Denbeaux -- who has written several reports about Guantánamo detainees, including some challenging the Pentagon's definition of "battlefield" capture and published detainee recidivism rates -- has disputed the Pentagon's figures.
In a new telephone survey, Rasmussen Reports has found that 25 percent of voters “believe President Bush and senior members of his administration are guilty of war crimes.” Forty-four percent of Democrats and 21 percent of unaffiliated voters believe that war crimes were committed while just 4 percent of Republicans believe the same.
Only 25% percent of Americans realize, or understand, or accept the reality that war crimes have been committed - are still being committed - in their names.
(...) the barbarians and their savage followers are still living among us indeed ... and they are doing everything they can to keep us down to their primitive, uncivilized and savage level.
The problem here is that the primitive mind-thinking barbarians and savages appear to constitute the majority ...
much has been 'reported' on in the news about the genocide in gaza- oh, not so much by american news media, but the rest of the planet is acutely aware of the atrocities. not us. nope. we stand firmly behind our 'ally' in israel because of our belief in the judeo-christian religions and because hey, we need a non muslim force in the mid-east to keep our oil and natural gas safe.
i remember how i felt when i learned of abu ghraib. melodrama doesn't enter in when i say that i was sick to my soul. i naively never thought that america could or would willingly torture other people. it went against everything i had ever been taught to believe in as an american. it still does, but i am not as naive.
so, the words 'war crimes' are being bandied about in the media- for despots in africa; to now, perhaps, the israelis and it's being whispered....... america. for the first time in my life, i believe that my country needs to be held accountable for kidnapping, torturing, and even killing men and children- who for the most part have been innocent. i believe it to be right and fair if it happens. but i don't know if the world has enough nerve to go for it.
the western world assembled and decided that there needed to be certain rules to warfare- and they called it the geneva convention. the founding fathers in the new world believed that all men were created equal and they put together a starter charter called the constitution of the united states of america. both of these documents were considered 'quaint' by bushco and both shredded and ignored. the people responsible for this tragedy need to be held accountable. it's easy enough for the western world to trot out eastern european dictators or african warlords- they don't look and sound like 'us.' it is, apparently, next to impossible to bring up english speakers on charges of crimes against humanity.
for the last hundred years or so, america has bullied, frightened, blackmailed, and outright crushed anyone or any group who stood in her way of what she wanted. the rest of the world has cowed underneath the fist of military might. well, from the looks of things, the bully is getting her ass handed to her by greed and the world is figuring out that they don't have to be quite so afraid anymore. it has been by fear and luck that we have not had a foreign invasion on american soil. the fear is ebbing away and, i am afraid, that the luck is running out.
we need to do the right thing and hold the bush/cheney administration and the members of congress who helped them- accountable. be vigilant and vote out the corrupt congressmembers. keep pressure up on the rest of congress and the obama administration to do everything in their power to scrub away this very large stain on the american flag. it is one of many to clean up- but we have to start one at a time.
I grieve for the victims of the massacre in Gaza and in all places of war. Please visit Palestinian Mothers to view these and more unfiltered images and to read the latest accounts from Gaza.
More Articles on GITMO Closure:::: Read the DRAFT Document here about GITMO Closure, Please note that it acknowledges the Geneva Conventions...and yes, it RESTORES Habeus Corpus...really. 5 Pages. How BBC reported it. AP reports World Reaction and UN Reaction. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 6PM update::: It is interesting in Foreign papers they are mentioning that CIA Black Prisons will be shuttered as well, the Guardian explores this issue closer.
Three positive points to Obama's diplomatic strategy re Iran:
1) He did not mention Iran in his State Department speech, neither positively nor negatively; 2) Focused on necessity of Israeli PEACE with it's "Arab neighbors", indirectly implying that Iran and Israel are in no "fight" 3) Focused on Afghanistan and Pakistan with emphasizing a NEED to engage their neighboring countries.
This man is clever!
Also, Iranians have been repeatedly saying that "they are open to negotiations", if "old colonizing mentality is put aside".
This is a video of Glenn Beck's debut on Faux News, so who better than the faux champion of the people, Sarah Palin, to be his first guest to sickeningly schmooze with....
Watching this "little" interview made me... Well, in truth, it made me sick to my stomach. The way in which the two "danced" with one another in the faux backdrop of the frozen tundra made my stomach reel. It felt like Gregory Hines doing a Bojangles imitation on my colon! Suffice it to say it was not (is not) pretty... But it inspired a bit of a silly skit (below the video)...
BECK: Governor Sarah Palin. Hello! How are you?
PALIN: Fine, Glenn. I'm fine and dandy! And you?
BECK: Oh! I'm about to burst! Taut! Bulging with pride at having you on my show!
PALIN: Oh! Glenn! I need to tell you, after watchin' you tear up over our common bondage of special needs children, you need to stop your boo-hoo hooin' and get on with life!
BECK: Okay, but only because you're a hot gramma!
PALIN: Oh! Gee my knee... Thanks, Glenn.
BECK: Just sayin', ya know?
PALIN: Of course you are. Why should you be any different than all the other men I talk to on a daily basis?
BECK: Is Barack Obama your president, Sarah?
PALIN: Ummm... Sure... Sure he is. He's America's president, unless you're one of those strict constitutionalizers like me or you're like Chris Wallace who questions the validness of Barack bein' president due to the language manglin' which Chief Justice Roberts managed to pull off during the swearin' in process.
BECK: I'm certainly a constitutionalizer, and I, like you, believe everything out of Chris Wallace's mouth.
PALIN: Who doesn't, right?
BECK: The liberals don't.
PALIN: Who cares what terrorists think.
BECK: I believe anything you say because you have a special needs child like me! I was also thinking how lucky you are to live in Alaska. No illegal aliens, scumbags sneaking into your country. I mean state.
PALIN: Alaska's great! You betcha! We got Caribou and other critters roamin' free and we got oil runnin' out the ying yang!
BECK: I like the sound of that!
PALIN: Getting back to Obama, I mean President Barack Hussien Obama's policies, my daughter, Willow, who we were goin' to name Caribou but figured it'd be better to name her somethin' that Mommy doesn't shoot at from airplanes, was watchin' the news the other day, blessed child, and she heard someone say that 95% of Americans were goin' to get a tax cut and she asked me, I swear it was one of those precious Hallmark moments in a lovin' mommies life, she asked me, "What about the other 5%? Why should they be punished for bein' rich?"
BECK: Is she a looker like her mommy?
PALIN: Oh! Stop it now... I'm happily married to a champion snow-mobiler!
BECK: Yes, but she ain't, if you know what I mean?
PALIN: Yes and... Well it is true, she's not married to my husband. Hmmm? ...We'll talk about it after the program, `kay?
BECK: Great! Does she like ice cream? What kind?
PALIN: Would you let me finish? It's cold out here!
BECK: Sorry. You're right. Great view, by the way...
PALIN: Gee, thanks...
BECK: I'm just sayin', ya know?
PALIN: (Sarah giggles.) So instead of cryin' and gettin' all boo-hoo hooey about it, I held Willow close to my bosoms and said, "Honey, the money is goin' to be redistributized `cause Barack and all the devilish liberals in this country want it that way.
BECK: Amen, hot gramma!
PALIN: ...I went on to say, "Because Barack used to pal around with those kinds, those ilks, and well he's their president too, but he's ours as well, my sweet Willow." And she said something about Obama's daddy bein' from the country of black Africa and all and his mommy bein' from the state of white Kansas, so I quickly steered the conversation away from pre-marital sex and sinners and the mixin' of races and all that and just hugged her little ice cream cravin' body again and reassured her that we were safe from most of the world's trash heap. That's what mommies do, Glenn. They reassure their children against all that stuff.
BECK: Amen to that, my soul mate of a hotty gramma!
PALIN: Geeze, Glenn. Simmer down a bit would ya? We're on t.v. and you sound like you're speakin' in tongues...
Perhaps I am wrong (I always hope that I am on such matters) with regards to our democracies losing themselves beyond redemption. Just this week alone, some rays of hope have been shining brightly which leaves me to wonder if we are indeed on the road to reclaim our democratic, civil liberties and human rights values in order to hold onto them honestly and sincerely once and for all:
A federal judge ordered the release yesterday of a detainee at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, ruling that the government's evidence is too weak to justify the man's continued confinement.
It is the second time that U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon has ordered the release of a detainee after examining government evidence, most of it classified. Leon said that the Justice Department failed to prove that Mohammed El Gharani, 21, is an enemy combatant because it relied heavily on statements made by two other detainees whose credibility is questionable.
"A mosaic of tiles this murky reveals nothing about this petitioner with sufficient clarity" to justify his detention, Leon ruled.
Gharani, a citizen of Chad, was picked up in Pakistan and turned over to the United States in 2002. Since then, he has been held at Guantanamo Bay.
The government alleged that Gharani traveled to Afghanistan and trained at an al-Qaeda-affiliated military camp, fought in the battle of Tora Bora and was a courier for high-level al-Qaeda members.
The government also accused Gharani of belonging to a London-based al-Qaeda cell in 1998, an accusation that Leon questioned. Gharani was 11 at the time, living with immigrant parents in Saudi Arabia, his attorneys said.
Case #2: Former Gitmo prosecutor rips military trials, calling interrogators' practices 'despicable' (also via here)
In a declaration submitted to a Washington D.C. District Court Tuesday, Lt. Col. Darrel Vandeveld, a former prosecutor in the Military Commission trial system, delivered perhaps the most blistering attack on the US military's detention program by a former member of the Pentagon's team to date.
Speaking of the man he was once tasked to prosecute, Vandeveld said prisoner Mohamed Jawad's continued detention is "something beyond a travesty," and urged that Jawad be released given a "lack of any credible evidence."
Some of this information was revealed in September 2008, after Vandeveld resigned as a prosecutor, complaining that "potentially exculpatory evidence" had "not been provided" to Jawad's defense team, and that his accidental discovery of information relating to Jawad's abuse helped convert him from a "true believer to someone who felt truly deceived."
Vandeveld's declaration today constitutes the most sustained criticism of the Bush administration's trial system for terror suspects since Col. Morris Davis, the Commission's former Chief Prosecutor, resigned in 2007. Col. Davis said he'd quit because of the politicization of the trial system, attempts to endorse the use of evidence obtained through torture, and the refusal of Pentagon chief counsel William J. Haynes II to accept that any planned trials could end in acquittals.
Vandeveld's statement, seen by Raw Story, explained that he joined OMC-P in May 2007, and described how, based on his civilian experience as a Senior Deputy Attorney General in Pennsylvania, he initially thought that Jawad's case "appeared to be as simple as the street crimes I had prosecuted by the dozens in civilian life."
Jawad, an Afghan national, was accused of throwing a grenade at a jeep containing two US Special Forces soldiers and an Afghan interpreter while the vehicle was stuck in traffic in a marketplace in Kabul in 2002. Vandeveld said he initially thought Jawad was guilty because he'd been arrested "almost immediately" by Afghan police officers and had purportedly "freely confessed" to throwing the grenade. In addition, he'd allegedly explained that he'd "claimed sole responsibility for the attack" and "that he would repeat the attack if given the opportunity."
According to the interrogation report, US soldiers took Jawad to an operating base, where, after initial denials, he "eventually confessed to his role in the attack, this time on videotape recorded by US personnel."
But as Lt. Col. Vandeveld began to investigate the evidence in Jawad's case, he was shocked to discover that locating relevant documents was extraordinarily difficult. He said the Commissions' prosecution department was in a "state of disarray" and "lack[ed] any discernable organization." He explained that he did not "expect that potential war crimes would be presented, at least initially, in 'tidy little packages,'" such as those that would be "assembled by civilian police agencies and prosecution offices."
"The evidence, such as it was," he wrote, "remained scattered throughout an incomprehensible labyrinth of databases... or strewn throughout the prosecution offices."
As a result, Lt. Col. Vandeveld was unable to locate crucial documents, such as Jawad's videotaped confession. Although he explained that it was "difficult" for him "to accept that the US military could have failed so miserably in six years of effort," he began to doubt "the propriety" of prosecuting Jawad.
Despite these misgivings, Vandeveld said he clung to a belief that the case could be prosecuted "ethically and successfully" until May 2008, when a succession of discoveries led to his dramatic departure.
Case #3: Air Force Major David Frakt of the Military Commissions defends Mohammed Jawad
Download | PlayDownload | Play (h/t Heather) This is just horrific. I was on a conference call yesterday with the ACLU and we talked about this very case. Via email:
We focused on the cases of Omar Khadr and Mohammed Jawad, both teenagers when they were captured, and how their cases speak to the larger problem of the military commissions and why Guantanamo must be closed immediately. Bush administration is appealing a Guantánamo military judge's decision to throw out evidence against Jawad that was tainted by torture.
When Obama is sworn in I believe this trial is set to begin a week later. Major props goes to Air Force Major David Frakt for his work on this issue.
MADDOW: The big problem at Guantanamo is not that we locked up hundreds of people in an American-run prison in a foreign country without charges or trials or rights, the problem is that other countries won‘t help us out with that? Joining us now is an Air Force Major David Frakt. He is defense counsel with the Office of Military Commissions which administers the tribunals at Guantanamo. He is defending a young man named Mohammed Jawad. He was a teenager when he was arrested and is still at Guantanamo Bay. MADDOW: If today‘s reports are correct that President-elect Obama is getting rid of the military tribunal system, would that put you out of a job? And, in your eyes, would that be a good thing or a bad thing? FRAKT: Absolutely, Rachel. In fact, the defense counsel with the Office of Military Commissions have been trying from day one to do precisely that. That is put ourselves out of a job. My belief, I believe it is shared by my fellow co-counsel, is that this is an unfair, rigged system. You know, we took an oath to defend the Constitution of the United States, and we‘re doing that by serving as defense counsel and assuring that our clients are not tried in an unconstitutional system.
Case #4: Holder breaks with Mukasey, says ‘waterboarding is torture.’ (see also here)
In October 2007, during his confirmation hearings, Attorney General Michael Mukasey refused to call waterboarding torture and to this day has not called it torture. In his confirmation hearing today, Attorney General nominee Eric Holder clearly said that he believes waterboarding is torture:
HOLDER: If you look at the history of the use of that technique, used by the Khmer Rouge, used in the Inquisition, used by the Japanese and prosecuted by us as war crimes. We prosecuted our own soldiers for using it in Vietnam. I agree with you, Mr. Chairman, waterboarding is torture. In another break with Bush administration officials, Holder said other countries would be violating international law if they waterboarded U.S. citizens. Watch it:
Holder also said that the President cannot immunize officials who committed acts of torture. “No one is above the law,” he stated. (Keep reading ...)
Case #5: The Turning Point - How the Susan Crawford interview changes everything we know about torture (also via here and here)
When Vice President Dick Cheney told the Weekly Standard last week, "I think on the left wing of the Democratic Party there are some people who believe that we really tortured," he probably wasn't thinking about Susan J. Crawford, convening authority of the military commissions at Guantanamo Bay. Crawford, a retired judge who served as general counsel for the Army during the Reagan administration and as Pentagon inspector general, is hardly the kind of hippie moonbat Cheney would like to poke fun at. And that's why everything changed this morning when the Washington Post published a front-page interview by Bob Woodward, in which Crawford stated without equivocation that the treatment of alleged 20th Sept. 11 hijacker Mohammed al-Qahtani at Guantanamo Bay was "torture."
You're wondering how it is that Crawford's claim that the United States authorized torture (not "coercive interrogation" or "enhanced interrogation" or other "nontorturous forms of interrogation" or "abuse," but torture) changes anything. After all, the Senate armed services committee issued a report just last month pointing the finger of responsibility for the military interrogations at then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and his general counsel Jim Haynes. The committee did not use the T-word, however. And Crawford is hardly the first high-ranking military official to use the word. Alberto J. Mora, former general counsel of the U.S. Navy, wrote in a letter to the Navy's inspector general: "The interrogation techniques approved by the Secretary [of Defense] should not have been authorized because some (but not all) of them, whether applied singly or in combination, could produce effects reaching the level of torture." The 84-page log of al-Qahtani's interrogation has long been a matter of public record, and there is now little dispute that the treatment it describes rose to the level of torture. As described in Torture Team, London-based clinical psychiatrist and trauma specialist Dr. Abigail Seltzer studied the log and concluded that al-Qahtani had been tortured. It's also not an accident that Crawford is a military lawyer. From the very outset of the Bush torture regime, it was the military attorneys who warned him—if they were given a chance—that his program was illegal. What changes as a result of Crawford expressly using the word torture? First, the administration can no longer hide behind parsing the language of the Geneva Conventions and the torture statute. Whether or not Michael Mukasey is willing to call water-boarding torture—as the president-elect did on Sunday—a reputable senior military official has put that label on conduct that is arguably not as bad and has been widespread in Afghanistan and Iraq. In her interview, Crawford acknowledges that it was "the combination of the interrogation techniques, their duration and the impact on Qahtani's health that led to her conclusion. 'The techniques they used were all authorized, but the manner in which they applied them was overly aggressive and too persistent. … This was not any one particular act; this was just a combination of things that had a medical impact on him. … It was that medical impact that pushed me over the edge' to call it torture." What Crawford has done here is astounding. She has repudiated the formalistic (and perennially shifting) definitions of torture as whatever-it-is-we-don't-do. She has admitted that there is a medical and legal definition for torture and also that we have crossed the line into it.
And ... Case #6: Ontario judge declares secrecy law unconstitutional
A secrecy law frequently invoked by the federal government in terrorism cases has been declared unconstitutional by an Ontario Superior Court judge, amid fears a sprawling Toronto conspiracy case risks “bogging down and becoming unmanageable.”
The landmark decision strikes down a portion of the Canada Evidence Act, a controversial law passed by Parliament after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The law effectively directed debates involving government secrecy claims away from open trials and toward specialized hearings in other courts.
The 94-page ruling made Thursday affects the case of 10 Toronto men accused of a 2006 conspiracy to train as terrorists and explode truck bombs. The highly anticipated case is only incrementally moving toward trial.
Finding that justice delayed is justice denied, Mr. Justice Fletcher Dawson, of the Ontario Superior Court, ruled that trial judges like him need to be ones who ponder questions related to government secrecy, to preserve the fair-trial rights of the accused.
Otherwise, “there is a danger this case will collapse under its own weight,” said Judge Dawson, who is now weighing preliminary arguments in the case. “The risk of it bogging down and becoming unmanageable is an ongoing concern.”
The effect of the ruling will be to bring the terrorism case closer to trial – though it's still unlikely to happen in 2009. The broader implications are that police and intelligence agencies will have a much tougher time keeping sensitive information away from open trials.
Since 9/11, Section 38 of the Canada Evidence Act has been invoked in just about every Canadian national-security case of note, with the federal government arguing that it needs to shield intelligence related to the Khadr family, the Maher Arar affair, and the Mohammed Momin Khawaja terrorist trial.
These concerns stem from the possible disclosure of sources and methods used by Canadian agents and also from the intelligence received from foreign partners, such as the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, or Britain's MI6.
The invariable effect of the law has been to take secrecy arguments away from main-stage proceedings to a secretive side stage at the Federal Court of Canada, whose judges have specialized national security training and, until now, exclusive jurisdiction of all Canada Evidence Act matters. Judges pondering the overall cases have been forced to await the outcome of protracted Federal Court legal debates to determine what information would be in play.
Observers of the Toronto terrorism-conspiracy case have long dreaded the implications of this, especially given that defence lawyers push for disclosure and the Crown tends to guard sensitive intelligence. The fear was that Section 38 would create a never-ending legal ping-pong match that no jury could ever withstand: The Crown might shut down the Superior Court trial whenever a secrecy question arose, force debates into federal and appellate courts, and then, once matters returned to Superior Court, repeat the process as often as deemed necessary by the government.
Contemplating this, Judge Dawson drew a line in the sand.
“There can be no doubt that the liberty and security interests of persons on trial in the superior courts are at stake,” the ruling reads. “… By depriving them of the opportunity to enforce their rights to disclosure and to full answer and defence in the court of competent jurisdiction, all the ingredients of a Section 7 Charter violation are established.”
He took pains to point out that this was not a dig at his colleagues at Federal Court, and said it's “mug's game” to argue over which judges are better suited to weigh secrecy. He simply said Superior Court judges are also up to the job and need to see all the evidence.
And those who would rather "forgive and forget" are nothing more than tacit enablers which keep the gates wide open to "do it all over" should we ever find any quaint justifications to do so again.
This in turn brings me to repeat one of my mantras:
For the sake of our continued existence, we must strive to forget nevermore that rationalizations supporting the use of violence - other than the need for the rightful exercise of self-defense when set upon by a genuinely clear, present and immediate danger - invariably constitute deceitful fabrications meant to conceal, disguise or justify incompetence ...
... including our very own for embracing such mendacity. For what is the point of holding onto noble ideals and principles when those who would defile them remain unaccountable? What does this say of the actual value and sincerity of said noble ideals and principles?
Thus we are setting ourselves to repeat history - yet again.
This is the first year anyone has said "Happy Inauguration Day" to me. Several people have emailed me, called me, asked me if I was watching the events. This is remarkable. So many people are filled with a sense of Hope and Joy at the possibility of better days ahead.
An inauguration is a formal ceremony to mark the beginning of a leader's rule. The word comes from consecration, installment under good omens," from inaugurare "take omens from the flight of birds, consecrate or install when such omens are favorable."
Several Presidents have been inaugurated in my lifetime. The first I remember was John F. Kennedy. We had studied each candidate's backgrounds and issues they supported in 6th grade and my sister and I saw candidate Kennedy when he visited our state capital. He even sent me an autographed picture of himself. I was thrilled. But inauguration day, even for JFK, was not as anticipated or celebrated as was President Obama's. In fact, I don't remember the events for Presidents Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, or Bush I. I do remember Clinton's and do not remember Bush II's.
So far, today's events have been remarkable. It is estimated over 2 million people are in Washington observing/attending today's events. In addition to the millions watching the events in D.C., many millions are gathered in other locations across the country and the world, including New York's Times Square, Dallas, and movie theatres across the nation and the world to watch the address on jumbo screens. In fact, there is a massive flurry of activity across the blogosphere!
Today's Events include:
Invocation: Rick Warren: Calling America a "land of unequaled possibility," Warren's prayer invoked the memory of Martin Luther King, Jr. and asked that Americans "remember they are united by a commitment to freedom and justice for all." and "When we fail to give the respect to all humans that they deserve, forgive us."
Musical Quartet: Isaac Perlman, Jo-Jo Ma, Gabriela Montero, Anthony McGill: Ye Watchers and Ye Holy Ones(I remembered this song from my church Choir - Very Beautiful)
President Obama's Inauguration Speech:(excerpts; read entire speech here)
On the steps of the nation's Capitol, just a short distance from where Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech, using the same bible Abraham Lincoln did for his inauguration. He spoke of challenges looming over the country — the economy, the current wars — while also invoking the legacy of King.
"That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet. These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land - a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights...On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord..reaffirm our enduring spirit; ..to carry forward that precious gift, the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness."
Economy:..and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous.. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our Gross Domestic Product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart - not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.
World Peace: to all other peoples and governments who are watching today..know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more... We can meet .. new threats that demand even greater effort - even greater cooperation and understanding between nations. We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet. We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.
For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus - and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.
"To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect," Obama said. "To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West — know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist."
HUMANITY: To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.
AMERICA, OUR PLEDGE: ..we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains...For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate...
Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends - hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism - these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility - a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task. This is the price and the promise of citizenship. This is the source of our confidence - the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.
This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed - why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent mall, and why a man whose father less than sixty years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath. So let us mark this day with remembrance (as Patriots said) "Let it be told to the future world...that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive...that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet it." America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.
Let's all wish President Obama and each of ourselves a Happy Inauguration Day, a Better day tomorrow and over the next 8 years. God Bless America!!
Inaugural Poem - by Elizabeth Alexander Say it plain, that many have died for this day. Sing the names of the dead who brought us here, who laid the train tracks, raised the bridges, picked the cotton and the lettuce, built brick by brick the glittering edifices they would then keep clean and work inside of. Praise song for struggle; praise song for the day. Praise song for every hand-lettered sign; The figuring it out at kitchen tables. Some live by "Love thy neighbor as thy self." Others by first do no harm, or take no more than you need. What if the mightiest word is love, love beyond marital, filial, national. Love that casts a widening pool of light. Love with no need to preempt grievance. In today's sharp sparkle, this winter air, anything can be made, any sentence begun. On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp -- praise song for walking forward in that light.
Late Breaking News: During today's inaugural lunch, Senator Kennedy (76) and Senator Byrd (91) have both suffered some types of attacks at lunch (due to age and illnesses) and have been transported to Hospitals.
Through flood… and quaking earth And winds, those before our grand machinery Anointed the solemn granite With our foundation, left great trust in the future Of their manuscript here Upon our country's doorstep, That such swaying of the pillars toward failure Be remedied in the steadfast parchment.
On this day of days Let us consider love, Compassion, freedom, hope. The sky, ocean, seas, soil, Home to our limbs and joy Long misplaced and low, A glee sunken in our brow Like the whisper of our end Bending the corners of our mouths
Misplaced in the shadow of sand and war. Let this day be remarkable with its coming, Daring our better selves to stand upon The shoulders of history and predict our future With its smiling on the children of peace
In one long, joy filled stride. We have but to embrace ourselves; the wish We formed at this day’s birth Beneath the sun, reaching down to us, above The staining of men in trenches Whose lives wait in favor of ours. Holding for a rise from ashes, To cleanse this; our foul-bred hunger. Equipped with mercy
And kindness The prayer need rise out of us, but no further Than we might travel among the poor.
No further than the broken, The weary, hunkered down, begging Of our hands to fetch them up.
All of us, our strength, a sturdy column Unbent by the weight of courage, Tempests in the empty halls of power, Rumbling a refrain of unity As we break open the shackles of misuse Long left to fester on the people’s steps, Find that this dawn is upon our shoulders, It is we, who now negotiate with our own death, Our girth of indifference.
Rise now to greet this day, Our moment elevated from spirit, Breathing, throbbing, ready, Not for one, not for country, But for love.
Use it for more than our self-seeking, Use it as if it were the breath of mercy kneeling down. Indulge its hunger, it has been waiting so long, Hunkered down, bound and bleeding, ready For our rising shoulders to hoist it tall again.
and happy next four years at least. there is an electricity in the air that is, well, electric. history has indeed been made- and just as important- the 'reign of terror' has ended. let us take an opportunity to breathe a collective sigh of relief and enjoy the moment. sigh.....
i want to take an opportunity to thank all of the folks on the right who either sat out the vote so as not to vote mccain/palin (thank you, thank you) or actually crossed lines to vote democratic. that took courage, patriotism and genuine foresight- and, i, for one, am eternally grateful. we have a long row to hoe here in the united states of america. and we have to work together to do it. there are some who aren't as enthusiastic about obama- me, included, but i look at it this way- bushco is gone!!! we can take a moment to savor that at the very least.
there are many tough times ahead and i see the road getting longer and times more difficult. we must continue to remain vigilant against the neocons and the religious right because they don't go away- they reinvent themselves and keep coming. we have had decades of that dedication to self and it has led to class warfare not seen since the dark ages. we must continue to fight for our country against these folks and continue to work towards repairing our country and our planet.
but for today- let us take a moment and savor- and smile for the first time in a long time.
"[M]any people who voted for "Change" are instead getting a slicked up version of the status quo. That's likely to lead to some disappointment--a potentially productive disappointment. The sense of possibility tht Barack Obama has awakened is a very dangerous thing.
Toqueville [said] that the riskiest time for a bad regime is when it starts to reform itself. That's where our regime is right now, and it's a good time for us, whoever we are exactly, to go out and make it riskier. It's going to get easier to win recruits as the ranks of the disappointed swell."
The Heritage Foundation is a conservative think tank based in DC. They promote conservative public policy. They became influential in the Reagan years. They view themselves as traditional conservatives and they proudly display the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Shawn Hannity on their home pages. On January 13, 2009, they came out with their official Immigration policy statement. In reviewing their policy, their recommendations are consistent with past Conservative/ANTI policy.
I know you read and listen to all perspectives, but as you review their views, please keep in mind the PRO Immigration Reform perspective. I’ve listed the Heritage Foundation Views (in black) vs the PRO views (in red) as follows: 1. Secure Borders via Walls, more BP and partnering with States and Local Govt for added security. PRO: We DO agree with Secure Borders, there are issues with the Wall, particularly for those who live on the border and go to school on the border. Discussions need to be held on this. 2. Sanctions Against Employers via fines. Enforcing via Immigration Raids. PRO: We agree with employer sanctions, but the raids in Postville, Massachusetts and other locations were inhumane! The value of ICE Raids should be re-evaluated. 3. Mass Deportation of the 12M here through strict enforcement of existing laws, workplace raids, 287(g) programs promoting Racial Profiling. PRO: We adamently oppose Mass Deportations, inhumane ICE Raids, Detention Centers, Racial Profiling!
There are new additions to their recommendation: 1. Developing NEW Temporary Worker Programs that are truly temporary.: They go into extreme detail on this. NEW Temporary Workers. Not those here. Put them to work. Make sure they know where the door is. PRO: This is suspicious to me. Why does the Heritage Foundation support a NEW Temporary worker program. Sounds almost like support for Big Business having Slave Labor. They advocate None of the 12M here may participate in this program. Additionally they advocate changing the Jus Soli (birthright citizenship) constitution requirements. This needs more investigation and as it stands is unacceptable! 2. Promoting economic development in Latin America:. PRO: Also supports economic develop in Latin America. We would like to see the underlying details to their proposals. 3. Reform immigration services. PRO: Also supports Reforming immigration services. We would like to see the underlying details to their proposals. 4. Improving Legal avenues for immigrants. PRO: Also supports improving legal avenues for immigrants. We do not want it to serve as a restrictionist means to allow only White, Educated, Wealthy immigrants into our country. We would like to see the underlying details to their proposals.
President Obama, their recommendations truly illustrate the old axiom, “the devil is in the details!” Look for the underlying meaning in what they are requesting and you will see their true motivation.
Additionally, I see nothing in their policy that discusses the War on Drugs, the USA being the number 1 illegal drug abusing country in the world, the USA sending Mexico 2,000 illegal weapons a day or our partnership to help Mexico in their and our War on Drugs. This should be included in any policy.
I know, President Obama, that you and your advisors will support a sound and comprehensive immigration reform policy. Thank you for your dedication to an improved America!
Tomorrow, America honors the birthday of heroic civil rights activist Martin Luther King. Americans revere King across the political and ethnic spectrum for his wisdom, idealism, courage and practice of non-violent civil disobedience against the forces of racial oppression. Thanks in large part to the trailblazing efforts of King and his followers; America inaugurates its first black president the very next day when Barack Obama takes the oath of office on January 20th. Yet even as Americans celebrate the historical arc from Martin Luther King to Barack Obama, the scars of racial injustice remain woven into our country’s fabric.
Understandably, historians have overlooked the immediate aftermath of King’s assassination in a Memphis, Tennessee hotel on April 4th, 1968. The meaning of King’s life as well as the tragedy his loss represented has received considerable attention from historians and the body politic. Yet the immediate aftermath of King’s death was dwarfed by his iconic life as well as the assassination of Robert Kennedy and the violence that took place during the Democratic National Convention later that year.
Clay Risen, author of A Nation On Fire: America In the Wake of the King Assassination (John Wiley & Sons) argues that what transpired immediately after April 4th impacted America as intensely as King’s death itself. Within hours, there was rioting in Washington D.C. and before the violence subsided, the U.S. Army occupied three major American cities while National Guard units patrolled a dozen more. Overall, there were disturbances in nearly 120 cities. Ultimately, the riots helped facilitate forty years of conservative hegemony as urban America reaped the whirlwind of white resentment and indifference.
Risen specifically chronicles the period covering President Lyndon Johnson’s withdrawal from the 1968 campaign on March 31st, to King’s assassination on April 4th and culminates with Johnson’s signing of the 1968 Civil Rights Act on April 11th. The author relies on dozens of interviews as well as newly declassified documents to provide a dramatic day-by-day, city-by-city narrative of the riots, from the looting in Washington to violence in Chicago, Baltimore and other cities following King's death in Memphis.
Indeed, Risen skillfully takes the reader on a historical tour with larger than life personalities like the militant Stokely Carmichael to white racist vigilantes in Baltimore and political figures such as New York City Mayor John Lindsey, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, New York Senator Robert Kennedy and Maryland Governor Spiro Agnew. Perhaps the book’s most dramatic anecdote was when a young Deputy Attorney General named Warren Christopher, joined General Ralph Haines, and Public Safety Commissioner Patrick Murphy at a Washington DC gas station pay-phone to recommend to President Johnson that he deploy federal troops in the nation’s capitol.
George Pelecanos, author of The Turnaround and The Night Gardner issued the following praise for Risen’s book:
“Clay Risen’s A Nation on Fire is the long-awaited definitive account of one of the most important, underreported events of the 1960s. As important for its historical aspect as it is for understanding where we are today, it is an exciting, important document, excitingly told.”
Risen, was formerly an editor at The New Republic and is the founding Managing Editor of Democracy: A Journal of Ideas. He has also contributed to Smithsonian, Slate, the Atlantic, and the New York Times Sunday Magazine. Risen agreed to a telephone interview with me in a podcast format about his book as well as the fateful days following King’s death. Our conversation was just over forty-seven minutes. Please refer to the flash media player below.
Either searching for the Intrepid Liberal Journal or Robert Ellman can also access this interview at no cost via the Itunes Store.
caption: Will the U.S. jump the Border Wall to intervene in the drug cartel war?
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Then, we have that:
And then, we have that as well:
Now, here's the underlying problem:
Only 25% percent of Americans realize, or understand, or accept the reality that war crimes have been committed - are still being committed - in their names.
Which falls pretty much in line with this older poll which revealed that 44% of Americans approve torture.
As I said before:
The problem here is that the primitive mind-thinking barbarians and savages appear to constitute the majority ...
Vive la civilisation, eh?
Once again: we have met the enemy ... and the enemy is ourselves.