Gerald Ford 12-29-2006

29, December 2006 Gerald Ford

It is customary to look favorably on the life of a demised public figure. Thus, the accolades accompanying President Ford come as no surprise. Documents made public after his death now reveal that it was Fords’ close friendship that was instrumental in his decision to pardon Richard Nixon. It is also been revealed that Ford vigorously opposed the Iraq war. It is a great pity such high profile politicians choose to remain silent  and remain disconnected from the public debate allowing the Bush administration to railroad the American public in what can arguably described as the largest foreign policy debacle in US history. 

Also, largely unreported, was Gerald Ford’s decision to support the Indonesian invasion of East Timor which resulted in the slaughter of one-third of the Timorese population. Ford and his secretary of state, Henry Kissinger, offered unconditional military support to the Indonesian government and they appeared largely unconcerned of the appalling human tragedy that resulted from their decision (see www.nsarchive.org.) It is also prescient that Ford selected key advisors in his administration that were instrumental in shaping Bush’s current Iraq war - Donald Rumsfeld served initially as his chief of staff and then subsequently as Secretary of Defense. Dick Cheney also served as Ford’s chief of staff. Paul Wolfowitz served in the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency. However, Ford deserves credit for ordering the final withdrawal of U.S. troops in Vietnam and offering amnesty to Vietnam era draft resisters.

Jimmy Carter 12-17-2006

17, December 2006 Jimmy Carter
It is troubling that so many letters have recently appeared vilifying Jimmy Carter who had the moral courage to expose the appalling plight of the oppressed Palestinians in his recent book, ‘Peace not Apartheid’. Carter has justly earned the reputation of one of the foremost humanitarians for his tireless work with “Habitats for Humanity’, monitoring elections in newly emerging democracies, and for his efforts in bringing about a peaceful settlement with Israel and Egypt for which he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. 

Many of your readers are clearly outraged and stung with the dreaded label ‘apartheid’. Perhaps these same people could offer a more palatable description for Israeli polices which are aimed at destroying the means of survival of the Palestinian people by demolishing their homes, the centuries old olive trees, theft of their land and water, forcing them to stand for hours at check points facing Israeli tanks and guns and imposing an economic blockade .which is driving them to the brink of starvation. It is encouraging that more and more courageous Jews such as Rabbi Michael Lerner are voicing their support for Jimmy Carter. I urge readers to view the searing testimonies of former members of the Israeli Defense Force who confirm the brutal horrors heaped on the Palestinians (see ww.peaceworkmagazine.org/pwork/0410/041008.htm)
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Finally, it speaks volumes when another great humanitarian with impeccable credentials, Rev. Desmond Tutu, was denied a visitor’s visa by Israel to conduct a fact finding mission to investigate the recent slaughter of Palestinian children.   

Robert Gates 12-5-2006

5, December 2006 Robert Gates

Listening to the confirmation hearings of Robert Gates, one might have assumed the Democrats were roundly defeated on November 7. So tepid were the questions, it appears that senators of both side of the aisle were suffering from self-induced amnesia. The Iran-Contra scandal which involved the sale of arms to Iran and subsequently to our good friend, Saddam Hussein, which should have resulted in criminal indictments of Gates and his superiors (William Casey, Ronald Reagan et al), were never raised. We the ‘good guys’ were supplying chemical and other weapons to Saddam Hussein which he used against the Iranians and Kurds for which he has been now been indicted as a war criminal 

The flirtations and demonizing of foreign leaders by our policy makers often resemble the eye catching headlines of the dalliances of movie stars prominently displayed at supermarket check stands. Forgotten or largely ignored were Gates close ties to defense contractors which raise potential conflict of interest concerns. Most important, Gates prior service with the CIA suggests that he is willing to manipulate intelligence to support administration policy decisions, aping the behavior of the discredited George Tenet. The Democrats have committed a monumental blunder in not demanding the hearings be delayed until January. This would have given them more time to gather critical evidence and summon witnesses to determine the suitability of Robert Gates as defense secretary.

Letter to Rep, John Conyers & Carter 12-3-2006

3, December 2006            Letter to Rep, John Conyers & Carter
Dear Rep. John Conyers,
I am writing to express outrage of your remarks criticizing Jimmy Carter’s use of the word ‘apartheid’ in his new book, “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid." It was reported that as the incoming chair of the House Judiciary Committee, you urged Carter to change the title of the book, which you described as "offensive and wrong." I fear you and many other public officials continue to buckle under the pressure of the hugely influential Jewish lobby, AIPAC, which continues to silence critics of Israel’s polices. There is little doubt that such pressure was used to drag our nation to its unprovoked attack on Iraq with its attendant disastrous consequences. AIPAC and its US supporters, applied similar pressures  in silencing critics of Israel’s attack on Lebanon using US taxpayer funded weaponry. A cursory glance of a map of the Occupied Territories speaks volumes of the dispossession of Palestinian land. What is even more egregious is that our tax money has been used and continues to be used to oppress the Palestinians.  My letter to the local press on this important issue follows:   
3, December 2006,              Jimmy Carter
President Carter, a Nobel Peace Prize winner and architect of the Camp David Accords, is to be applauded for his moral courage exposing the apartheid policies of Israel. Carter is intimately familiar with the long simmering Middle East conflict and his insightful knowledge and comments demand serious attention. In his new book, "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid.", Carter accuses Israel of practicing institutionalized discrimination against the native indigenous population which in many ways exceeds the scourge of apartheid formerly practiced by white South Africa. Carter laments the self-imposed conspiracy of silence which permits such appalling injustice to continue. He comments, “oppression of the Palestinians by Israeli forces in the Occupied Territories is horrendous. And it's not something that has been acknowledged or even discussed in this country.” Carter argues that the intended purpose of oppressing the Palestinians and driving them to utter despair is to encourage them to leave their ancestral lands to provide more land for their colonial oppressors. He writes, "Israel's continued control and colonization of Palestinian land have been the primary obstacles to a comprehensive peace agreement in the Holy Land." Carter reserves some of his harshest comments on the apartheid wall and the complete strangulation of Gaza. Carter castigates the role of the United States “which is squandering international prestige and goodwill and intensifying global anti-American terrorism by unofficially condoning or abetting the Israeli confiscation and colonization of Palestinian territories." His views are vigorously echoed by another Nobel laureate, Desmond Tutu of South Africa. 
A similar letter was sent to Speaker Nancy Pelosi,  and a letter of appreciation to former President Jimmy Carter on 3   December 2006

Letter to President Carter 12-3-2006

3, December 2006          Letter to President Carter
Dear President Carter,
I am writing to express my profound appreciation for the moral courage you have shown in focusing the public spotlight on the appalling plight of the Palestinians in your latest book, “Palestine Peace Not Apartheid”. Predictably, many public figures, especially high-profile Democrats, were critical of your use of the word apartheid. However, ‘apartheid’ is a very apt word to accurately describe the appalling injustice, squalor, and brutal occupation endured by the Palestinians. Sadly, these politicians were more in mortal fear of offending the all-powerful Israel Jewish Lobby and its possible impact on their re-election prospects than advancing the cause of peace and justice. 

The diagram of the occupied territories with its numerous check points and apartheid wall, outlined in your book, encapsulates the enormous injustice heaped on the Palestinians by their colonial oppressors, the Israelis. It is unconscionable that the tools of oppression are financed by our tax dollars.  This brings up a question which perhaps you hitherto omitted in your public discussions of your book, namely do not oppressed people have a fundamental right to resist oppression and occupation?  Indeed the same question is applicable to our immoral and illegal occupation of Iraq. 

With all due respect, I do fundamentally differ with your characterization of Israel being a democracy where all its inhabitants, Jews and Arabs enjoy the same basic rights. This myth was pierced very effectively by Susan Nathan, an Israeli Jew who is on worldwide crusade to expose the sad plight of Arab Israelis, in her widely acclaimed book, ‘Other Side of Israel’. 

A few additional examples of the glaring disparities of Arabs and Jews living in Israel.
All Jews throughout the world enjoy all the privileges of citizenship in Israel – a privilege denied to the indigenous people, the Palestinians, For example, Avigdor Lieberman's, Minister in charge of "Strategic Threats to Israel, was born in a remote province of the former Soviet Union but was bestowed with all the rights of full Israeli citizenship under Israel’s law of return, when he moved to Israel as an adult.
Incredibly, Israel is not a state defined by its inhabitants but Jews worldwide. Its land is owned by Jews worldwide not by its inhabitants. Non-Jews are forbidden from access to state land which they formerly owned.  

Israel's newly revised nationality law, similarly, prohibits Palestinian citizens of Israel from marrying Palestinians from the occupied territories and living with their spouses in Israel. The same law does not apply to Jewish Israelis who marry Jewish settlers living in the occupied territories. Interestingly, similar legislation had been proposed in South Africa at the peak of Apartheid, only to be rejected by that country's Supreme Court. Israel's nationality law, however, was endorsed by Israel's High Court just this year.

I have included several letters I wrote to the local press on the subject of Israel’s relentless persecution of the Palestinians, including one acknowledging your recent publication. Once again, my sincere thanks for your noble efforts to bring about a just and lasting settlement in the simmering Middle East conflict.

Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid 12-3-2006

3, December 2006                 Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid

Dear Rep. John Conyers,

I am writing to express outrage of your remarks criticizing Jimmy Carter’s use of the word ‘apartheid’ in his new book, “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid." It was reported that as the incoming chair of the House Judiciary Committee, you urged Carter to change the title of the book, which you described as "offensive and wrong." I fear you and many other public officials continue to buckle under the pressure of the hugely influential Jewish lobby, AIPAC, which continues to silence critics of Israel’s polices. There is little doubt that such pressure was used to drag our nation to its unprovoked attack on Iraq with its attendant disastrous consequences. AIPAC and its US supporters, applied similar pressures  in silencing critics of Israel’s attack on Lebanon using US taxpayer funded weaponry. A cursory glance of a map of the Occupied Territories speaks volumes of the dispossession of Palestinian land. What is even more egregious is that our tax money has been used and continues be used to oppress the Palestinians.  

My letter to the local press on this important issue follows:   

 3, December 2006                  Jimmy Carter Book critical of Israel

President Carter, a Nobel Peace Prize winner and architect of the Camp David Accords, is to be applauded for his moral courage exposing the apartheid policies of Israel. Carter is intimately familiar with the long simmering Middle East conflict and his insightful knowledge and comments demand serious attention. In his new book, "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid.", Carter accuses Israel of practicing institutionalized discrimination against the native indigenous population which in many ways exceeds the scourge of apartheid formerly practiced by white South Africa. Carter laments the self-imposed conspiracy of silence which permits such appalling injustice to continue. He comments, “oppression of the Palestinians by Israeli forces in the Occupied Territories is horrendous. And it's not something that has been acknowledged or even discussed in this country.” Carter argues that the intended purpose of oppressing the Palestinians and driving them to utter despair is to encourage them to leave their ancestral lands to provide more land for their colonial oppressors. He writes, "Israel's continued control and colonization of Palestinian land have been the primary obstacles to a comprehensive peace agreement in the Holy Land." Carter reserves some of his harshest comments on the apartheid wall and the complete strangulation of Gaza. Carter castigates the role of the United States “which is squandering international prestige and goodwill and intensifying global anti-American terrorism by unofficially condoning or abetting the Israeli confiscation and colonization of Palestinian territories." His views are vigorously echoed by another Nobel laureate, Desmond Tutu of South Africa.

A similar letter was sent to Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and a letter of appreciation to former President Jimmy Carter on 3   December 2006

Case for Impeachment of Bush & Close advisors 12-1-2006

1, December 2006 Case for Impeachment of Bush & Close advisors

Elizabeth de la Vega (EdlV), a former federal prosecutor, offers a compelling case for the impeachment of George Bush and his close advisors, in her new book, ‘United States vs. George W. Bush et al’.  EdlV argues that these officials committed high crimes by deliberately defrauding the United States. To buttress her case, EdlV has amassed an impressive set of testimonies from witnesses, public speeches of the accused, White House press briefings, interviews, official documents including Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and the 9/11 Commission. After examining all the data, EdlV concludes there is probable cause that the accused are guilty of violating Title 18, United States Code, Section 371.  EdlV is certainly not alone in presenting her arguments for impeachment. Her views are vigorously supported by experts such as Barbara Olshansky, David Lindorff, Michael Ratner, John Dean, and Elizabeth Holtzman. They collectively argue that President Bush knowingly misled the American public and the US Congress in waging an illegal, unprovoked war on Iraq and thus violated his oath of office to uphold the law of the land. 
The case for impeachment will require courage and political will from our lawmakers. Failure to hold the President and his advisors fully accountable will serve as a dangerous precedent, allowing high government officials to continue to act recklessly and with complete impunity.   Our lawmakers need to hear from we the People.  

Elizabeth de la Vega is a former federal prosecutor with more than 20 years of experience. During her tenure, she was a member of the Organized Crime Strike Force and Chief of the San Jose Branch of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California. She may be contacted at ElizabethdelaVega@Verizon.net.

Bogus News 11-30-2006

30, November 2006               Bogus News

The Center for Media and Democracy exposed another major threat to our democracy. a damning report of 46 stations in 22 states using bogus new clips disguised as news reports. These Video News Releases, or VNR’s, are carefully crafted to confuse the public in believing the prepackaged views of ‘experts’ beamed into our living rooms is delivered real time. Although the number of VNR’s is down from a high of 77 stations last April, this practice shows no signs of letting up. The clips appear on the 6 ’clock news to promote commercial products or political messages.

Large media conglomerates, such as Disney, News Corp. and the Tribune have been identified and are funded by the country’s largest corporations such as, Allstate Insurance, General Motors and GlaxoSmithKline. Public Relations firms, the hired guns, of this insidious practice, have sunk to new lows in promoting these corporate agendas. Sadly, corporate profits always seem to take precedence over the greater good. For example, the PR firm Medialink Worldwide, contracted a VNR production with “TCS Daily Science Roundtable” to challenge the ‘uncomfortable truth’ of global warming. It is outrageous that these attempts to influence public opinion by “fake reporters” are often paid by our tax dollars, I ask concerned readers to contact lawmakers and demand the Federal Communications Commission call an immediate halt to this gross abuse of the public airways.

DAFUR 11-28-2006

28, November 2006 DAFUR        

Nicholas Kristoff of the NYT and Jonathan Gurwitz of the San Antonio Express-News, deserve considerable credit for their relentless efforts in focusing the spotlight on the appalling genocide in Darfur. The deafening silence by a largely uncaring international community exposes the racism and callous unconcern for the sanctity of human life, especially when the victims are black Africans. The lessons of the Rwandan genocide are all but forgotten. The tragedy of Darfur is also a damning indictment of an international community which unhesitatingly dances with the ‘devil’ but remains unconcerned with the genocidal killings by its trading partner. Russia and China are Sudan’s principal weapons suppliers and are therefore complicit in the ensuing genocide. 

It is tragic that nation’s self-interests invariably trump human rights considerations. Arab nations especially deserve public scorn for their failure to reign in the genocidal savagery. It is shameful that the United Nations has failed to issue a no-fly’ zone and impose a tight weapons embargo to protect the black Sudanese from their Arab serial killers. This would also be a wonderful opportunity for the US to shore up its tattered image by flexing its military muscles for purely humanitarian reasons. After all, it did not hesitate to impose a tight embargo on Iraq and launch an unprovoked attack on a sovereign state. 

Neocons try to deflect criticism 11-26-2006

26, November 2006 Neocons try to deflect criticism
Hardly had the results of the midterm elections been announced, when the neocons – the architects of ‘America’s greatest blunder’ tried to distance themselves from their former leader to assuage their own guilt. Richard Perle, Kenneth Adelman, David Frum began finger pointing and claimed their grand Iraq prewar plans, had been undermined by the incompetence of the Bush administration. 

It is shameful that Richard Perle, who once occupied the lofty position of the  Pentagon's Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee had relied on Ahmad Chalabi’s, fictional account of Iraq’s WMD’s, to buttress the case for the Iraq war, is now heaping his scorn and disdain at his former ‘stay the course’ task master. In order to deflect mounting criticism and as a face saving measure, Perle still insists that Saddam Hussein had WMD’s. David Frum, the former White House speechwriter, also blamed his former boss. Kenneth Adelman, a diehard neocon who served on the Defense Policy Board until 2005, is also having difficulty justifying his earlier February 2003 op-ed article in the Washington Post in which he stated, "I believe demolishing Hussein's military power and liberating Iraq would be a cakewalk."
He has also jumped on the bandwagon blaming Bush and his close advisors for being ‘deadly dysfunctional.’ These self-serving neocons deserve public scorn for their role in railroading our great nation into a disastrous Middle East conflict which has drained our national Treasury and aborted of the lives of thousands of US soldiers and Iraqi civilians.

AIPAC 11-21-2006

21, November 2006                AIPAC
The recent results of the mid-term election have resulted in a stunning repudiation of Bush’s foreign policy and turned the spotlight on the activities of lobbyists such as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee or AIPAC. AIPAC boasts of being one of the nation’s most influential lobbies. Consider some of its more egregious activities:

1. Played a key role persuading the Bush administration and US lawmakers to wage the preemptive war on Iraq. 
2. Continues to exert enormous pressure on US lawmakers to continue the $3 billion a year funding of Israel’s apartheid policies. 
3. Pressuring US lawmakers to support future military strikes on Iran.
4. Lobbied US lawmakers to fund the apartheid wall which cuts into large acres of land belonging to the Palestinians. 
5. Silences all political opposition to Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian land, targeted assassinations, home demolitions and theft of Palestinian taxes. 

However, it is encouraging to hear more and more courageous Americans expressing their opposition to AIPAC’s undue influence.

Two eminent scholars, Professor Stephen Walt of Harvard University, and John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago, published a highly acclaimed paper arguing that AIPAC has adversely influenced U.S. foreign policy compromising our security in order to advance the interest of Israel. I urge readers to contact their local representatives and demand that we call a halt to unconditional support to Israel whose policies have in large measure contributed to the chaos and instability in the Middle East and enormous oppression of the Palestinians.

Iraq 11-20-2006

20, November 2006           Iraq

I call upon all South Asians to vigorously oppose the insane and immoral Iraq war. Every reason advanced by the godless neocons has proved to be utterly false. No weapons of mass destruction (formerly sold to Iraq by the US, Europeans, China and Russia – who now express moral outrage – such hypocrisy!), no role in 9/11 (the Bush mantra notwithstanding), no al-Qaeda connection; and no jalebees and gulab jaman greeted the invaders! It is incumbent for us to remember the dark days of the British Raj when our nation was forced to endure the indignities of British imperialism. We need to identify ourselves with nations yearning to be free from the horrors of undue US influence. The entire infrastructure of Iraq has been crippled by the grotesque ‘shock and awe’ invasion. US corporations swooped down and plundered the wealth of Iraq, uncaring and oblivious to the appalling suffering of the Iraqis. Heavy censorship prevented the horrors of the killings from being beamed into our living rooms. Over 650,000 Iraqis have died and many times that number seriously injured. Over 1,000,000 Iraqis have been displaced. Hundreds of intellectuals have been killed and others have fled leaving Iraq weak and fragile. The old strategy of ‘divide and rule’ has turned Iraq into a bloodbath of sectarian violence. The sinister influence of Israel in promoting the invasion and serving as military advisors, have been well documented by Robert Fisk (London Independent) and other reputable reporters. Medieval torture has been used to exact ‘confessions’ from hapless detainees making a complete mockery of our claim to be a law abiding nation. 

Cheap labor from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, is being exploited by private contractors to service the occupation forces. Earning a small percentage of their white colonial masters (about $300 per month) they work under extremely dangerous and hazardless conditions. 
Meanwhile, on the home front, our civil liberties have been severely curtailed and hate crimes have escalated. I urge Indo-Americans of all stripes to voice their opposition to the anti-democratic, imperial designs of our misguided administration. We need to hold the new crops of Democrats ‘feet to the fire’ and ensure they root out corruption and malfeasance and demand that the war profiteers return their ill-gotten gains to the US Treasury. Our elected officials must chart a new foreign policy based on peace and justice and not on advancing US corporate needs to the detriment of the poor and disenfranchised people of the world. 

Response to Sheree Roth RE: Israel 11-14-2006

14, November 2006         Response to Sheree Roth RE: Israel, Daily Nov. 14  

It is a pity Sheree Roth (Daily Nov 14), continues her diatribe against Hamas but deftly, tip toes around the egregious actions of the Israeli war machine (aided and abetted with our tax dollars). I wonder how Roth would react if she received a knock on her front door at 5 am demanding she vacate her home because an occupying power had earmarked her home for demolition. Replicating, Israel’s form of colonial domination, 20 minutes later, Roth’s home, contents and any remaining occupants would be crushed by a (US made Caterpillar) bulldozer.

There would, of course, be no compensation for such violations of international law and moral decency! How would Roth react if she had a medical emergency but was denied permission to travel by soldiers at military checkpoints? How would Roth react if her sole source of livelihood, olive and orange groves were razed to the ground to provide an occupying power with land for illegal settlements? How would Roth feel if her water supply was cut off and her children were severely malnourished by crippling economic sanctions and theft of tax dues withheld by an occupying power? If Roth resisted such actions, in the current rules of engagement which is the reality of the Middle East conflict, she would be branded a terrorist for denying the right of the occupying master power to impose its will unconditionally on its disenfranchised slave occupants. 

Susan Nathan’s book ‘Other Side of Israel’ 11-12-2006

12, November 2006 Susan Nathan’s book ‘Other Side of Israel’
Susan Nathan, an Israeli Jew was in Stanford University last week to discuss her widely acclaimed book, ‘Other Side of Israel’. After experiencing the sting of racism in England, Susan moved to Israel in the late 1990’s only to find enormous discrimination and persecution of Israeli Arabs living in Israel. Susan was the only Israeli Jew in the village of Israeli Arabs and what she experienced prompted her to launch a crusade to expose the ‘dark side’ of life for the disenfranchised Arabs. Susan drew a comparison of life for the privileged Israeli Jews living in the low density highlands with the high density overcrowded Arabs living in the lowlands in comparative filth and squalor. 

Sadly, all dark skinned Jews such as the Ethiopians suffer similar discrimination (even their blood was rejected as ‘tainted’). Susan gave many examples of blatant discrimination in education, housing and job opportunities. Susan speculated that this national policy was implemented to ‘encourage’ Arabs to leave Israel thereby mitigating the demographic time bomb when Israeli Jews may one day become a minority. Susan also confirmed the horrors of arbitrary home demolitions when bulldozers arrive at 5 am and the inhabitants are given 20 minutes to remove their all their possessions. Former IDF soldiers are now breaking the silence and voicing their opposition to the apartheid polices of their government (see www.breakingthesilence.org). 

More on the Cuban Five 11-7-2006

 7, November 2006                More on the Cuban Five
I am most troubled by the double standard applied by successive US administrations regarding the ‘war on terror’. Specifically, I am referring to the Cuban Five - Gerardo Hernández, Antonio Guerrero, Ramón Labañino, Fernando Gonzáles, and René Gonzáles - who were arrested in Miami, Florida on September 1998. They have been charged and on counts ranging from using false identification to espionage and conspiracy to commit murder. In June 2001, they were convicted of all 26 counts by a U.S. federal court in Miami and in December and sentenced to varying terms in maximum-security prison: two consecutive life terms for Hernández, life for Guerrero and Labañino, 19 years for Fernando Gonzáles, and 15 years for René Gonzáles. 

The group was closely monitoring the activities of anti-Castro exile groups CORU, Alpha 66, Omega 7 and Brothers to the Rescue. The anti-CASTRO group were allowed to of operate with complete immunity. The UN catalogued a staggering 3,478 deaths that were directly attributable to these groups. These acts include plane bombing and other acts of terrorism. Amnesty International noted a large number of irregularities during the trial which have yet to be addressed by an appeals court. 

Petitions filed by the defense team to move the trial out of Miami were denied. Cuban-Americans were excluded from the jury.  The Cuban Five languished in jail for three years pending commencement of the trial. The jury buckled under intense pressure and passed a guilty verdict.

On August 9, 2005, a three-judge appellate panel of the 11th circuit court of appeals in Atlanta reversed a decision of the lower court arguing that pre-trial publicity was prejudicial to the defendants and ordered a new trial. In November 2005 this ruling was reversed by the full panel of 11th circuit court [5] and the original convictions were reinstated. A rehearing is pending in the 11th United States circuit court of appeals. The courts actions generated world-wide outrage. Amnesty International criticized the US treatment of the Cuban Five as human rights violations,

Nobel Prize winners have written and sent a document to the U.S. Attorney General calling for freedom for the Cuban Five, signed by Zhores Alferov (Nobel Prize for Physics, 2000), Desmond Tutu (Nobel Peace Prize, 1984), Nadine Gordimer (Nobel Prize in Literature, 1991), Rigoberta Menchú (Nobel Peace Prize, 1992), Adolfo Pérez Esquivel (Nobel Peace Prize, 1980), Wole Soyinka (Nobel Prize in Literature, 1986), José Saramago (Nobel Prize in Literature, 1996), Günter Grass (Nobel Prize in Literature, 1999). [9]
Six British MPs wrote a letter to Tony Blair calling on the government to apply pressure on the US to act against terrorists in Florida and to immediately release the Five.

The incarceration of the Cuban Five is a travesty. I ask that you demand an independent investigation of the circumstances accompanying the arrest and trail of these men, permit family visitation rights, and demand that new trial free from jury tampering. I also ask that the shadowy group suspected of the most heinous crimes - the CORU, Alpha 66, Omega 7 and Brothers to the Rescue be thoroughly investigated. 

Saddam Hussein 11-6-2006

                                                                                                          

6, November 2006                             Saddam Hussein

It seems we are very selective in denouncing tyrants. Flash back to 1982 when our very own Donald Rumsfeld warmly greeted Saddam Hussein and promised to normalize relations after a five-judge court found Hussein guilty of executing 148 Shia men and boys from the town of Dujail. None-the-less, the trial of Saddam Hussein has mercifully come to an end. However, the fairness and legitimacy of the trial has received widespread criticism. Malcolm Smart, director of the Middle East and North Africa Program, of Amnesty International (AI) was highly critical of the verdict, declaring, “We don't consider it was a fair process. The court was not impartial.

There were not adequate steps taken to protect the security of defense lawyers and witnesses...." AI’s concerns were certainly validated by the facts. Three defense lawyers were assassinated and a sympathetic judge replaced. Predictably, the Bush administration has shamelessly exploited the trial to deflect criticism of its failed Iraq policy and insisted that the verdict be declared a day before the midterm elections. This long trial has consumed $138 million of our tax money. It is doubtful that many Iraqis still believe the invasion of their country was to remove the Ba’athist tyrant after their country has been decimated and its precious oil and gas resources expropriated.  Let us hope the mid-term election will result in a victory for the democrats so that the trial of our very own ‘dear leader’ can commence.

A grave miscarriage of justice. 11-6-2006

Nov 6, 2006.                            A grave miscarriage of justice.
Sent the following to Anna Eshoo, Senators Diane Feinstein and Boxer, and Amnesty International.

I am most concerned that a grave miscarriage of justice has occurred by the incarceration and death sentence of an Iraqi American, Mohammad Munaf. It appears that Munaf, a Pulitzer Prize winner, is being punished for working as a photojournalist. Munaf was arrested by US forces along with three Romanian journalists and subsequently released. He was then abruptly re-arrested. According to Scott Horton, Chair of the International Law Committee at the New York Bar Association, the presiding judge stated he would dismiss the case in the absence of corroborating evidence.

Subsequently, Munaf was hauled into court by two American officers who claimed that they had evidence from the Romanian government proving Munaf’s guilt. The Iraqi judge capitulated under American pressure and sentenced Munaf to death. The Romanian government denied any involvement. The claim appears to be patently false because the Romanian government does not even endorse the death penalty. I ask that you demand an immediate investigation into the arrest and imprisonment of Mohammad Munaf. 

I also ask that you demand an investigation into the seven month detention of Bilal Hussein, a Pulitzer Prize winner of the Associated Press reporter. No charges have been filed against him. The U.S. claims they are under no obligation to file charges and can hold him indefinitely. The presidents of the Associated Press Managing Editors, APME, the American Society of Newspaper Editors, ASNE, the Associated Press Photo Managers, have sent a joint letter to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, asking for the release of Bilal Hussein, saying, “the members of our three organizations stand united in our outrage at the imprisonment of our colleague.” 

Finally, I ask that you conduct an investigation into the shooting and subsequent arrest of Abdul Ameer Younis Hussein, a CBS photojournalist. Fortunately, Hussein was acquitted after the judge declared that his arrest and incarceration were highly improper. It is extremely disturbing that our government and military is becoming increasingly tyrannical and is abusing the draconian security powers granted by Congress. These cases are a travesty of injustice. Our image, already at an all-time low as a law abiding nation, will be further tarnished if we do not challenge the blatant bullying tactics and false charges of the US military.         

Israel 11-5-2006

5, November 2006     Response to Lisa Cohen (PA Daily) RE: Israel

In response to Lisa Cohen’s letter (November 3), I would respectfully suggest that she read President Carter, latest book, in which he described the current policies of Israel as “a system of apartheid, with two peoples occupying the same land but completely separated from each other, with Israelis totally dominant .  .  .depriving Palestinians of their basic human rights. Israel’s continued control and colonization of Palestinian land have been the primary obstacles to a comprehensive peace agreement . . “Israel continues to impose economic terror by withholding Palestinian tax revenues exacerbating the unemployment situation and fueling more anger and suffering. In a renewed effort to halt foreign based Palestinian entrepreneurs, Israel is denying them Palestinian residency. According to the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, the official Israeli policy since 1983, is to drastically reduce family reunification requests. There has been a concerted effort to split families and maintain the imprisoned population in a permanent state of abject poverty. Contrast this appalling injustice, with rights accorded to Jews from anywhere in the world who are granted immediate Israeli citizenship.

The disparity between Israel and its oppressed minority is vividly depicted in the award winning documentary ‘Occupation 101’. I urge Lisa and other interested readers to view the trailer at  www.occupation101.com. Finally, I would suggest that Lisa go to www.breakingthesilence.org.il and read the searing testimonies of a group of Israeli discharged soldiers exposing the appalling abuse heaped on the Palestinians on a daily basis.  

John Kerry 11-3-2006

3, November 2006                 John Kerry

There is little doubt that Kerry committed a faux pas which his detractors have seized with much relish. It is a pity Bush escaped the same media attention from his many misstatements. Kerry’s poor attempt at humor pales when compared to Bush’s monumental domestic and foreign policy blunders. Bush’s failed polices have resulted in human carnage of epic proportions in Iraq and Afghanistan while rewarding US war profiteers billions in no bid contracts.

Bush should apologize to our fighting men and women for sending them on suicide missions with no hope for a positive outcome. Bush has dishonored the memories of our fallen heroes whose coffins and injured remain hidden from the American people to avoid embarrassing our policy makers and muting public opposition to the war. Sadly, the media has jumped on the ‘kill Kerry’ bandwagon while remaining silent in the run up to the Iraq war allowing Bush and his advisors to railroad the American people with a blizzard of spin and outright lies. It took the perceptive John Stewart on Comedy Central to remind the American people of Bush’s pathetic efforts at humor when he made light of those ‘missing pesky WMD’s’, - accompanied by loud laughter from the compliant White House press corps. In his failed blinkered vision, ‘to stay the course’, Bush praised Cheney and Rumsfeld as doing a ‘heck of a job’! God bless America, we are certainly in great need of your help. 

Israel’s Covert Operations 10-31-2006

31, October 2006                    Israel’s Covert Operations

A new book, Der Krieg im Dunkeln (War in the Dark) by Udo Ulfkotte, formerly a correspondent for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, casts a disturbing light on Israel’s worldwide covert operations. These shadowy organizations engage in terrorist activities targeting violence on Muslims and conduct violent acts masquerading as Muslims to tarnish their image. Ulfkotte claims that Israel’s covert operator, Metsada, engages in sabotage and ‘false’ terrorist attacks and assassinations and the LOP (Lohamah Psichlogit) in psychological warfare. Ulfkotte further claims that agent’s provocateurs were recruited to stir up violence in the Muslim Banlieus of Paris and other cities in order to portray Muslims as hoodlums and terrorists. 

Even more disturbing is Ulfkotte’s contention that Israeli intelligence is engaged extensively in covert operations in the U.S.  Several days ago, Yechezkel Wells, a 21-year old dual U.S.-Israeli citizen, was found guilty of phoning in a false bomb threat on a Jet Blue flight on August 26 to Long Beach, California, Airport Emergency Services from a pay phone. Although Wells pleaded guilty, it is doubtful whether he will serve time for his criminal behavior. If history is any guide, Wells will simply be deported to Israel where he will be freed to continue serving his covert paymasters. I urge readers to write to their elected representatives and demand an immediate investigation to the sinister activities of these covert operations designed to compromise our security and stir up hatred against Muslim communities throughout the world. 

Our Dying Democracy 10-28-2006

28, October 2006                   Our Dying Democracy

Rolling Stone contributing editor, Matt Taibbi, confirms what most Americans decry, namely the 109^th Congress is “the worst ever.” He describes our lawmakers (or law breakers) as a “stable of thieves, .  . .  did their best to turn the mighty American empire into a debt-laden, despotic backwater.” Matt backups up his denunciation of Congress with compelling statistics.

Ø    The House ‘worked’ 218 days, including nine ‘short’ eleven minute days. The Senate had three days where they ‘worked’ less than 1 minute, qualifying it as the laziest Congress on record.

Ø    Drastically reduced the number of “open rules” effectively stifling debate and amendments.

Ø    Conference committees have been reduced to a total sham. Democrats are invited for a photo-op, then asked to leave after which the Republicans conduct the real meeting at an undisclosed location. Democrats are compelled to waste time knocking on doors to determine the meeting venues. There have been several instances where Republicans have hid behind doors to avoid detection resembling the antics of elementary school children.

Ø    Denied Democrats advanced notices of meetings to subvert any real debate. At one such meeting, the committee chairman, James Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin, adjourned the meeting abruptly, turned off the microphones and lights leaving the startled Democrats in total darkness.

Ø    Amendments (earmarks) are tacked on to bills as favors to select members to ensure their reelection prospects and as rewards to corporate donors. 

Israel Bleeding Palestinians 10-24-2006

24, October 2006                 Israel Bleeding Palestinians  

       

Israel continues to bleed the impoverished Palestinians withholding tax revenues exacerbating the unemployment situation and fueling more anger and suffering. The US administration has directed funds to the rival Fatah party in effort to further divide the Palestinians and weaken the opposition to Israeli’s state sponsored terrorism. In a renewed effort to halt foreign based Palestinian entrepreneurs, Israel is denying them Palestinian residency.

In complete violation of international law, Israel maintains control of all the borders and the Palestinian Registry. Simply stated nobody can enter or leave the West Bank or Gaza without Israeli permission, mimicking the draconian laws imposed by the white apartheid South African government. Take the example of Sam Bahour, a Palestinian-American businessman who moved to his old home town of El Bireh and established a thriving $100 million telecommunications company employing more than 2,000 Palestinians and a $10 million shopping center employing 220 Palestinians.  He has waited 12 long years to gain residency. 

Contrast this appalling injustice, with rights accorded to Jews from anywhere in the world who are granted immediate citizenship – a right denied the indigenous people who have lived there for centuries. According to the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem, the official Israeli policy since 1983, is to drastically reduce family reunification requests of the Palestinians.

Thousands of Palestinians are being denied residency and visitation rights. B’Tselem reports that in the last six years alone, more than 70,000 people have applied for permission to immigrate to the West Bank and Gaza to join their families. Most applicants have been denied. In addition to the appalling human rights violations imposed by Israel, there has been a concerted effort to split families and maintain the imprisoned population in a permanent state of abject poverty. 

The current policies of Israel are succinctly described in former President’s Carter, latest book, as a “a system of apartheid, with two peoples occupying the same land but completely separated from each other, with Israelis totally dominant and suppressing violence by depriving Palestinians of their basic human rights. Israel’s continued control and colonization of Palestinian land have been the primary obstacles to a comprehensive peace agreement in the Holy Land.”

Woodward 10-19-2006

 

19, October 2006                   Woodward

Woodward’s latest book, State of Denial, portrays the Bush administration as completely incompetent, obsessed with following their neo-con agenda of total world dominance. Rice ignored repeated warnings of the 9/11 attacks and for this alone she and her superiors, Bush and Cheney must be held accountable. Woodward exposes Rumsfeld as a bully ignoring the advice of his field commanders.

In spite of mounting opposition, Congress voted 100-0 to continue funding the war and granted US interrogators permission to continue torturing detainees with complete impunity. This speaks volumes of the complete lack of independent thinkers among our elected officials. The U.S. military budget has now peaked at $447 billion. The sane voices of retired generals are ignored. Even the ghost of Kissinger has reappeared urging the administration to ‘stay the course’, repeating the advice which led to the killings fields in Vietnam.

Money for critical domestic programs has all but evaporated. Iraq (and Afghanistan) is awash in blood as searing testimony to the failed policies of this administration. Drawing from the lessons of history, a united mass movement at the grass roots level is the only way to bring our troops home and bring an end to the sectarian violence in Iraq. The war profiteers must be held accountable for the obscene profits and wholesale theft as depicted in the documentary ‘Iraq for Sale.’  

Response to Nicholas Kristof 10-18-2006

18, October 2006                   Response to Nicholas Kristof,

18, October RE: Sami al-Hajj

Nicholas Kristof deserves much credit for exposing the appalling injustice meted out to fellow journalist, Sami al-Hajj – a cameraman for Al-Jazeera. This case is a glaring example of the abuse of the new interrogation law gifted by a feckless Congress to the President allowing interrogators to torture detainees with complete impunity. Al-Jazeera has been a constant thorn on the side of the Bush administration for exposing the searing, visual images of the mayhem that is the reality of Iraq and Afghanistan. Their headquarters was the target of a US missile attack in the early stages of the war in Iraq. They continue to be a constant embarrassment to the Bush administration which cannot tolerate ‘un-imbedded’ truthful reporting free from spin and propaganda.  It is outrageous that Sami al-Hajj should be savagely brutalized in an effort to force him to malign his employer.   

Israel 10-18-2006

18, October 2006                           Israel

Dear Sir,         Rachel Corrie RE: Israel

The release of a play, ‘My Name is Rachel Corrie’ was originally scheduled to open last March at New York Theatre Workshop, but was indefinitely postponed under intense pressure from influential Jewish organizations. The play is based on Rachel’s writings prior to her tragic death when she was crushed by an Israeli (U.S. made) bulldozer while attempting to prevent a Palestinian home from being demolished. The censorship was widely criticized by artists, and human rights activists through the world – including Pulitzer Prize-winning Nobel laureate, Harold Pinter who commented – “Rachel Corrie gave her life standing up against injustice. A theater with such a fine history should have had the courage to give New York theatergoers the chance to experience her story for themselves.” The play was a blockbuster success in London and provides a glimpse of the appalling plight of the Palestinians living in ghettoized prisons in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. 

Repeated efforts to prevent the screening of the play were finally overcome when the play opened at the Minetta Lane Theatre in New York last Sunday. It is a great tribute to the artists (including Vanessa Redgrave) and activists who were instrumental in allowing the general public to experience Rachel Corrie’s short, courageous life giving voice to the voiceless Palestinians.

North Korea 10-11-2006

11, October 2006                   North Korea

Add the Bush administration’s policy of containment of North Korea’s nuclear testing to the litany of foreign policy debacles. As a nation that has actually exploded nuclear bombs (Hiroshima and Nagasaki) and used chemical weapons (napalm in Vietnam, white phosphorus in Iraq) and (banned) cluster bombs, we are now wagging a finger of disapproval at North Korea’s intransigence. What hypocrisy! While we ramp up our arsenal of developing new nuclear weapons, we are threatening to impose crippling economic sanctions which will exacerbate the suffering of a nation already on the verge of starvation. It is high time we tone down the harsh ‘axis of evil rhetoric’ and engage North Korea in direct talks based on mutual respect. One can hardly blame North Korea’s desire to defend itself after the US preemptive attack on Iraq and its aggressive posture on Iran. It is time for the US to honor the 1968 Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty to eliminate all nuclear weapons. 

Response to local letter writer, RE: Israel 10-6-2006

6, October 2006               Response to local letter writer, RE: Israel
Daily 5th October
Dear Editor, ,

Sheree Roth (letters Daily, 5th October 2006) implies that Israel deserves unconditional support to compensate Jews who suffered from the Holocaust.  I would like to remind Roth it was the Germans who persecuted the Jews not the Palestinians. Perhaps Roth is unaware that the Israeli military occupation is in complete violation of international law and contrary to scores of United Nations resolutions. A staggering 80 percent of the land once owned by Palestinians has been illegally expropriated. 93 per cent of Israel’s land can only be leased or owned by Jews, a privilege denied non-Jews.
According to Phyllis Bennis, head of the Middle East Project at the Institute of Policy Studies, Israel is essentially an apartheid government where Jews are protected and enjoy privileges denied the indigenous inhabitants, closely paralleling the former white South African system of government. Anybody who resists the iron boots of repression and occupation is denounced as a ‘terrorist’.  Israel operates with complete immunity with targeted assassinations and arbitrary arrests. Currently, over 8,000 men, women and children are languishing in prisons, denied due process. Unless, the international community relaxes the crippling economic sanctions imposed on the Palestinians and Israel releases confiscated Palestinian funds, an appalling humanitarian catastrophe will result.  

Green card holders, beware! 9-28-2006

28, September 2006  Green card holders, beware!

Readers should be aware of a new law which may adversely impact green card holders Consider the case of Gurdev Singh Gill. Gill arrived in California from India in 1986. He began his American experience purchasing a gas station but soon acquired enough capital to purchase farm land. Like so many other Sikhs who had hailed from Punjab, Gill’s hard work and love of the land resulted in fulfilling the ‘American dream.’  Within a few years Gill had expanded a small ranch into a thriving 300-acre grape farm.  He gained local celebrity status last June appearing on the front cover of the American Vineyard magazine being nominated ‘Farmer of the Year’ for his contributions to the local community. He applied for US citizenship to culminate a successful career as an agro-farmer. 

The proverbial ‘shoe dropped’ when his application for citizenship was denied. Gill had fallen victim of to the draconian new law, One Strike, You’re Out. 15 years earlier the Gill family owned a gas station which became the target of drug dealers who would often vandalize his store. One day, Gill became incensed and feeling threatened took out his gun from his pick up and fired in the air. Gill was fined and given probation for possessing a firearm. Nothing more happened until Gill applied for US citizenship. His citizenship was denied and the court ordered Gill be deported because his earlier infraction made this frail 82 year ‘model citizen’ a ‘dangerous criminal’.  Bob Jobe, Gill’s attorney, has experienced the same selective use of the one strike rule in many parts of the country. This may well be a new tool to ethnically cleanse non-whites.  Other green card holders are also falling victim to the perverse interpretation of the one strike rule. Lucas Guttentag, who teaches immigrants' rights at UC Berkeley and Stanford law school, believes, “This is the most punitive immigration laws we've seen, I think, for a hundred years.” I would urge readers to contact their local representatives in Washington and demand that Gill’s deportation order be revoked and revocation of the One Strike Law. In the meantime all green card holders who are eligible for citizenship should not delay their application lest they become victims of the ‘One Strike Law.’ 

War on Terror 9-28-2006

28, September 2006               War on Terror

Spy agencies have confirmed what most Americans already know, namely, that the Iraq war has exacerbated the so called ‘war on terror’ and made America more vulnerable and less safe. Bush has displayed a callous disregard for the sanctify of human life – Americans and Iraqis -  by launching a war of terror on a sovereign state and sending thousands of innocent people to their early graves, fueling Islamic radicalism and deep hostility towards the US.

The Bush administration is now using the same script to intimidate and threaten Iran. Let us hope that logic will triumph over fear and our lawmakers will see fit to resist the failed policies of this reckless, dishonest and thoroughly incompetent administration. Finally, what is puzzling is the logic in creating 16 disparate spy agencies to perform essentially the same services. The average US citizen, armed with a calculator and a basic knowledge of the Iraq war would surely have come to the same conclusion and saved the treasury a great deal of money.

Torture American Style 9-21-2006

21, September 2006 Torture American Style 

Once again the Bush administration is pressuring Congress to serve as a rubber stamp to continue the despicable practice of torturing detainees. The pro-torture, anti-democratic neocons are attempting to slither around the Geneva Conventions humanitarian protections for detainees and thereby legitimize the CIA’s brutal interrogation tactics. Information extracted under torture is not only morally repugnant but worthless. A case in point was the rendition and torture of a Canadian citizen, Maher Arar. Mr. Arar was sent to Syria where completely false information was extracted under torture. Arar was completely vindicated by a Canadian Commission which issued a scathing report highly critical of both the US and Canadian governments. It is ironic that Syria, condemned for sponsoring terrorism, was selected as a target site for extracting information under torture! This should be a wakeup call for all Americans, especially we ‘brownies’ that may fit into a physical profile and merit unwanted attention from nervous security officials. 

It is laudable that Senator McCain and his colleagues are attempting to reign in the attempts of the Bush administration to gut the Geneva Conventions. However, what is critically absent from the McCain-Graham-Warner amendment is the absence of the writ of habeas corpus which gives detainees the right to challenge their detention. Abolishing habeas corpus would mean that anyone could ‘disappear’ and not be able to seek justice and protection through the US courts. This would be death blow to democracy and may serve as a brutal instrument to stifle dissent. This must not be allowed to happen. Congress needs to stiffen its spine and restore its oversight duties on this runaway presidency. Please contact your elected representatives and voice your support for the humane treatment of detainees and strict enforcement of the writ of habeas corpus.  

Response to local letter writer RE: Israel 9-18-2006

18, September 2006         Response to local letter writer RE: Israel                         

Norman Licht (Weekly, Sept. 15) repeats the Israeli official propaganda line that it is the Palestinians who are responsible for the lack of progress in bringing about a peaceful settlement of the Middle East crisis.  Sadly, this is a myth that has been perpetuated with a ‘Goebel’s like repetition (people will believe untrue statements provided they are repeated often enough). Our politicians have used this to great advantage. Remember the mantra, “Saddam Hussein is an imminent threat because he possessed WMD’s”? Similarly, the Israeli government has repeated the mantra, “the Palestinian Authority; Hamas are terrorists and therefore we have no negotiating partner.”

Meanwhile land belonging to the Palestinians has been stolen and its indigenous inhabitants removed at gunpoint. Israel has stolen millions of dollars of funds belonging to the Palestinians driving up unemployment and exacerbating the suffering. A record number of children are suffering from acute malnourishment, others have committed suicide. A new documentary that is sending shock waves through the country, Occupation 101, has ignited indignation from Americans of all stripes who are incensed that our tax dollars are being used by Israel to terrorize and subjugate a defenseless people, namely the Palestinians. Occupation 101 was shown yesterday in San Jose at a sold out audience. I urge readers to go to www.occupation101.com to see the trailer. 

Iraq – no 911 connection & no WMD’s 9-12-2006

12, September 2006               Iraq – no 911 connection & no WMD’s

The latest Senate Intelligence Committee report – release delayed until after the mid-term elections!  - concluded that Hussein had no connection to Bin Laden and the 9/11 attacks. This finding, coupled with the absence of any WMD’s should put to rest the bogus attempts of the Bush administration to justify the war on Iraq. The American people were deliberately misled by an administration determined to establish its unwelcome presence in the Middle East and steal its precious oil resources. Sadly our lawmakers and a compliant media allowed this massive fraud to be perpetrated.  CIA intelligence reports were ignored and opposition deemed ‘unpatriotic’.

The only proper course of action is for US troops to withdraw from Iraq immediately, extend an unconditional apology to the Iraqi people and offer payment of reparations for the ‘shock and awe’ destruction of their  infrastructure and the killing of so many of their people. Bush and his gang of neocons should be removed from office for ‘high crimes and misdemeanors’. A staggering number of 8,000 Iraqis (understated Pentagon numbers) are dying each week. ‘Staying the course’ is no longer an option!  I urge readers to obtain a copy of ‘HUBRIS: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq War by journalists Michael Isikoff of Newsweek and David Corn of The Nation, which described in detail the White House shenanigans in the run-up to the Iraq War.

9/11 Docudrama 9-8-2006

8, September 2006                             9/11 Docudrama

        

Well, the White House penchant of distorting the facts to deflect mounting criticism of its abysmal failure to reign in Osama Bin Laden    is in full swing. Its latest partner in crime is the ABC television network which unleashed a media blitz to promote its fictional account of 9/11. The new docudrama, called “the Path to 9/11”, erroneously claims to be factually based on the 9/11 Commission Report. Scriptwriter Cyrus Nowrasteh, a friend of Rush Limbaugh, claims President Clinton had "frequent opportunities in the '90s to stop Bin Laden in his tracks -- but lacked the will to do so." By playing fast and loose with the facts, ABC and its parent, Disney Productions, dishonors the victims of 9/11 in a crude attempt to ‘swift boat’ the democrats.

The fictional account, depicts a scene of a CIA official claiming he had Osama Bin Laden in his sights and seeks permission from the Clinton White House to ‘make his day’ only to be denied by Clinton’s executive order. Sandy Berger, President Clinton's National Security Advisor, and Richard Clarke – the counterterrorism czar for the Clinton administration has characterized the scene as "a total fabrication”. Roger Cressey, a top Bush and Clinton counterterrorism official, said it was "something straight out of Disney and fantasyland. It's factually wrong. And that's shameful."  I urge readers to call Walt Disney president, Robert Iger, and demand an unconditional public apology to all those officials that have been maligned by such gross fabrications.  

Torture 9-8-2006

8, September 2006                 Torture

The Bush administration has now admitted the existence of secret foreign torture dungeons, euphemistically called black sites. This comes as a huge embarrassment to our so called European allies who have steadfastly denied the existence of such ‘black holes.’ It is puzzling why the Europeans would choose to cooperate and cover-up the criminal conduct of our administration. New guidelines on the interrogation of ‘enemy combatants,’ euphemistically referred to as an "alternative set of procedures" for detainees forbidding water –boarding (simulated drowning), hooding and snarling dogs implies that these despicable practices were previously approved by this administration – a clear violation of the Geneva Convention which strictly forbids cruel and unusual punishment of detainees.

Our great nation, symbolized by the Statute of Liberty, was once the most admired democracy in the world. Sadly, we have now become the pariah of the world despised for our support for despotic regimes such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and Pakistan, and the brutal treatment of prisoners. We have clearly lost our moral compass allowing our administration and their corporate benefactors to subjugate smaller, weaker nations to relieve them of their precious resources at the barrel of a gun. For shame!

IRAQ – staggering violence 9-7-2006

7, September 2006                             IRAQ – staggering violence

                                                                 

President Bush wants us to “stay the course” and not to “cut and run”. It is a pity Bush and his neo-con paper warriors failed to walk the walk and serve their country by seeking deferment from the killing fields of Vietnam. Yes, Bush did serve in the National Guard but did ‘cut and run’ under mysterious circumstances going AWOL for about 12 months.  I sincerely hope the enlightened American public will ‘stay the course’ and remove this dangerous man before he is allowed to do more harm to the world. He has brought dishonor and shame to our nation by dragging us into a sinking quagmire based on a mountain of lies and deceptions which has resulted in enormous loss of life and has drained the US treasury of billions of U.S. dollars.

Pentagon conservative estimates of Iraqi fatalities are a staggering 8,000 per week. This would be equivalent to 80,000 fatalities in the U.S. which has a population 10 times that of Iraq. It is high time we abort the ‘Iraq mission’ and not wait a day longer for the ‘birth pangs of a new democracy’ to unfold.

New proposals by this administration to partition Iraq will inevitably lead to an escalation of more violence and a frenzy of ethnic cleansing that our ill-advised occupation helped to create.

ISRAEL builds more illegal settlements 9-5-2006

5, September 2006            ISRAEL builds more illegal settlements

Once again the Israeli government of Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert’s Kadima and the Labor Party has reneged on its promise to halt further settlements in the West Bank. Dismissing American opposition, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert authorized construction of 690 homes in the occupied West Bank. Olmert was elected earlier this year on a promise to withdraw thousands of Israeli settlers from the West Bank. Olmert also failed to pull down 20 illegal outpost created in March 2001. Yariv Oppenheimer, director of Peace Now in Israel, excoriated Olmert’s Kadima Party and the Labor Party for their failure to honor their election promises to halt further settlements.

Meanwhile, Israeli death squads continue to act with complete immunity killing scores of innocent civilians in the Gaza Strip. Members of Hamas, the democratically elected government, continue to be arrested and imprisoned in complete defiance of international law. These actions follow Israel’s massive destruction of Lebanon’s infrastructure and the slaughter of innocent civilians which has outraged much of the free world. Many high government Israeli and U.S. officials, by association, are now likely to face war crimes for their illegal actions. Israel is now asking U.S. taxpayers to reimburse them for the costs of the disastrous war on Lebanon. It is time for U.S. taxpayers to demand an immediate halt to unconditional financial and military support to Israel

Hugo Chavez 9-1-2006

1, September 2006 Hugo Chavez

Hugo Chavez stinging diatribe against his nemesis, George Bush, was hardly unexpected given the CIA attempted to orchestrate an abortive coup against him in 2003. It seems we only like democracies which result in electing leaders who are willing bend to our (US corporate) interests. Sadly, the US has a long history of stifling popular movements in Latin America. Remember the School of the Americas which provides expert training to Latin American military personnel in the delicate art of torture? While a number of media pundits expressed outrage over Chavez’s intemperate language, these same pundits remained silent when Bush effectively torpedoed years of quiet diplomacy by calling heads of state “Axis of Evil” and even mocked the ‘pint sized North Korean leader’ as a ‘pygmy’! What hypocrisy!

Middle East disaster (Lebanon) 8-23-2006

23, August 2006                       Middle East disaster (Lebanon)

A major environmental disaster, largely ignored by the corporate media, is the Israeli attack on a Lebanese power station’s five large fuel tanks which leaked 15,000 tons of oil into the Mediterranean. The spill has gone untreated for the past four weeks because of the ongoing Israeli air strikes and naval blockade. Satellite photographs show the oil spill has already reached the Syrian coastline and could end up affecting Cyprus, Turkey and Greece. One United Nations official described the oil spill as an “environmental massacre.” Friends of the Earth have described the oil spill as the greatest environmental disaster ever to strike the Eastern Mediterranean.  The damage grows exponentially with each day delay in cleanup operations. Local fisheries and tourism will be adversely impacted for many years.

Marine experts from Inforac, issued an urgent warning that the Israeli attack on the Jiyyeh Power plant in mid-July could pose a serious cancer risk to people living in the area. Spokeswoman Simonetta Lombardo said the spill of fuel oil was a ‘high-risk toxic cocktail made up of substances which cause cancer and damage to the endocrine system.’

The huge burning fire which has raged for 12 days has emitted clouds of toxic fumes and carbon deposits all the way to Beirut.

I would urge concerned readers to contact your representatives in Washington and urge our government’s active participation in cleanup operations. Israel and our government are morally bound to pay reparations to Lebanon for this environmental disaster.

60 Minutes Interview 8-22-2006

22, August 2006                     60 Minutes Interview Disgraceful RE: Iranian premier

Last August 13, Mike Wallace, of 60 Minutes, interview with the Iranian Prime Minister Ahmadinejad was a disgraceful spectacle of media bias pandering to the growing Islamophobia. Contrast Wallace’s condescending manner and bellicose demeanor with the fawning behavior when interviewing Israeli government officials leaves little doubt of lopsided news coverage. Leaders of all nations should be treated with deference and respect when being interviewed. Wallace should vent his anger on past US government which contributed to the Middle East crisis. Perhaps, Wallace is unaware that there was a functioning democracy in Iran in 1953 which was aborted by a coup orchestrated by the CIA and MI6 which ousted the highly popular Mossadegh with the autocratic tyrant, the Shah of Iran. The Shah stifled all dissent and slaughtered thousands of innocent civilians with weapons supplied by the US. The Shah’s reign of terror was eventually overthrown by a virulent form of Islam theocracy which the West so despises but which it unconsciously nurtured.