29, January 2008 CIA destroyed Torture Tapes
As further evidence of our nation’s decline in morality and the rule of law, we now learn that the C.I.A has destroyed critical evidence of its harsh treatment of detainees. The agency’s nonchalant response was to defend its unlawful activity by stating that to preserve such evidence would expose its employees to legal risks. Really, how inconvenient! The destruction of the tapes raises serious, important issues of what additional information the C.I.A. withheld from Congress, the courts, the September 11 Commission and the general public. General Hayden, only ‘came clean’, after the New York Times’ exposed the insidious torture practices.
Two top members of the House Intelligence Committee vigorously denied that had been informed of the planned destruction of the tapes, as Hayden claims. Clearly someone is not telling the truth. The then committee chair, Representative, Peter Hoeksra was’ incensed’ that he was not informed of the planned destruction of the tapes. Jane Haman, of California, had previously informed the C.I.A. that destruction of interrogation tapes was a “bad idea”. The response from our lawmakers has been extremely disappointing. Congressional hearing should be held to investigate the malfeasance of the C.I.A. Predictably, the newly appointed Attorney General, Michael Mukasey, failed to live up his promise to distance himself from the dark shadow of the White House by failing to vigorously investigate the unlawful conduct of the C.I.A. and refusing to acknowledge that Water-Boarding constitutes torture.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Friday, January 25, 2008
GAZA 1-25-2008
25 January 2008 GAZA
Despite Licht and Cohn’s efforts (Daily January 25) to put a positive spin on the medieval blockade of Gaza, the facts speak for themselves. Since its inception, Israel has driven out the indigenous people from their homes at the barrel of a gun. Their homes have been demolished and the basic source of income from their land has been destroyed. A million-and-a half refugees are now residing in Gaza and find themselves locked in a giant prison without food, electricity, medicine and are being subjected to a daily bombing barrage which has killed 30 (mainly civilians) in four days. To subject a population to such brutal collective punishment is a clear violation of international law and borders on genocide. The people of Gaza are on the point of starvation. Many civilians, including men, women and children have died at health clinics because of lack of medical supplies.
In an act of utter desperation, the wall separating Gaza and Egypt was breached allowing its citizens to replenish their household goods. As award winning Israeli journalist Gideon Levy (a fierce critic of Israel’s occupation), explained “when you try to make an experiment in human beings, putting them into a huge cage for months and months, you can’t expect that they will not do anything possible to find a way out.” It is time for all Americans to demand an immediate halt of our tax dollars which is funding Israel’s maniacal occupation and state sponsored terrorism.
They are from a group called Combatants for Peace that’s made up of former fighters from both Israel and Palestine. Bassam Aramin spent seven years in an Israeli prison, was an armed member of Fatah, the Palestinian political faction once led by Yasser Arafat. Bassam’s ten-year-old daughter Abir died one year ago after being shot by Israeli soldiers while she was on her way home from school. Yonatan Shapira is a captain in the Israeli Air Force and Black Hawk pilot squadron—well, he was. In 2003, he authored the “Pilots’ Letter,” refusing to participate in attacks against Palestinians. The organization in 2005 by four Palestinians and seven Israelis. Now we are around 400 ex-combatants from both sides.
Despite Licht and Cohn’s efforts (Daily January 25) to put a positive spin on the medieval blockade of Gaza, the facts speak for themselves. Since its inception, Israel has driven out the indigenous people from their homes at the barrel of a gun. Their homes have been demolished and the basic source of income from their land has been destroyed. A million-and-a half refugees are now residing in Gaza and find themselves locked in a giant prison without food, electricity, medicine and are being subjected to a daily bombing barrage which has killed 30 (mainly civilians) in four days. To subject a population to such brutal collective punishment is a clear violation of international law and borders on genocide. The people of Gaza are on the point of starvation. Many civilians, including men, women and children have died at health clinics because of lack of medical supplies.
In an act of utter desperation, the wall separating Gaza and Egypt was breached allowing its citizens to replenish their household goods. As award winning Israeli journalist Gideon Levy (a fierce critic of Israel’s occupation), explained “when you try to make an experiment in human beings, putting them into a huge cage for months and months, you can’t expect that they will not do anything possible to find a way out.” It is time for all Americans to demand an immediate halt of our tax dollars which is funding Israel’s maniacal occupation and state sponsored terrorism.
Yonatan Shapira, Former Captain in the Israeli Air Force and Black Hawk pilot squadron. In
2003 he authored “The Pilots’ Letter,” refusing to participate in attacks in
the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Bassam Aramin, Former Fatah fighter, now a peace activist with Combatants for Peace.
Spent seven years in an Israeli prison. His ten-year-old daughter Abir was
killed on January 16, 2007, when an Israeli Border Police jeep fired rubber
bullets in a school zone. He is also the head of the Al Quds Association for
Democracy and Dialogue.
They are from a group called Combatants for Peace that’s made up of former fighters from both Israel and Palestine. Bassam Aramin spent seven years in an Israeli prison, was an armed member of Fatah, the Palestinian political faction once led by Yasser Arafat. Bassam’s ten-year-old daughter Abir died one year ago after being shot by Israeli soldiers while she was on her way home from school. Yonatan Shapira is a captain in the Israeli Air Force and Black Hawk pilot squadron—well, he was. In 2003, he authored the “Pilots’ Letter,” refusing to participate in attacks against Palestinians. The organization in 2005 by four Palestinians and seven Israelis. Now we are around 400 ex-combatants from both sides.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Petro-euros 1-24-2008
24, January 2008 Petro-euros
The white hot rhetoric from our government, directed against Iran, coupled with the falling US dollar may be worsening the US economic crisis. Next week the Iran Bourse will open to trade Iran’s oil revenue in euros, precipitating the further decline in the dollar. Following the Wall Street crash of 1929, the US insisted that it receive gold as payment for its trading goods leading to a huge stockpile of the precious metal in US vaults. This led to the establishment of the dollar as the ‘gold standard’ reserve currency. A staggering 66% of the total wealth of the world is stored in US dollars – mainly overseas. In 1971, attempts were made by several countries to exchange their dollar holdings to gold but all such requests were rejected by the US government.
Coincidently, in 2000 Saddam Hussein announced Iraq would switch from selling its oil from dollars to euros and began converting all their petro-dollars to euros. Could this have been the reason for the preemptive strike on Iraq? In the early days of the invasion, the oil fields were well protected but Iraq’s priceless national treasures, housed in its museums, were looted. Predictably, oil sales reverted back to dollars following the invasion. To better comprehend the exchange currency dilemma, just Google `petroeuro'.
To better understand our bellicose attitude towards Iran, and the identity of the foreign government which persuaded the US administration to embark on its disastrous war in Iraq, Google ‘Mearsheimer and Walt’. There you will find the answer
The white hot rhetoric from our government, directed against Iran, coupled with the falling US dollar may be worsening the US economic crisis. Next week the Iran Bourse will open to trade Iran’s oil revenue in euros, precipitating the further decline in the dollar. Following the Wall Street crash of 1929, the US insisted that it receive gold as payment for its trading goods leading to a huge stockpile of the precious metal in US vaults. This led to the establishment of the dollar as the ‘gold standard’ reserve currency. A staggering 66% of the total wealth of the world is stored in US dollars – mainly overseas. In 1971, attempts were made by several countries to exchange their dollar holdings to gold but all such requests were rejected by the US government.
Coincidently, in 2000 Saddam Hussein announced Iraq would switch from selling its oil from dollars to euros and began converting all their petro-dollars to euros. Could this have been the reason for the preemptive strike on Iraq? In the early days of the invasion, the oil fields were well protected but Iraq’s priceless national treasures, housed in its museums, were looted. Predictably, oil sales reverted back to dollars following the invasion. To better comprehend the exchange currency dilemma, just Google `petroeuro'.
To better understand our bellicose attitude towards Iran, and the identity of the foreign government which persuaded the US administration to embark on its disastrous war in Iraq, Google ‘Mearsheimer and Walt’. There you will find the answer
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
IRAN 1-15-2008
15, January 2008 IRAN
The White House propaganda machine is in overdrive spewing out more unsubstantiated claims of a dangerous provocation in the Strait of Hormuz. New evidence now reveals that contrary to White House claims, the encounter was a routine incident. A Navy spokesman told ABC News that the recorded threat to US ships might not have come from Iranian gun boats.Vice Admiral Kevin Cosgriff, commander of the 5th fleet in Bahrain, made it abundantly clear that US ships were never in danger, and had no intention on firing on the Iranian patrol boats – an important statement completely ignored by the US media.
It is tragic that the mainstream media which failed to challenge Bush’s bogus claims of Iraqi WMD’s, is still willing to echo more false claims of the White House which could easily have precipitated our nation into launching another war. Both CNN, CBS and other networks, as well as the print media, allowed itself to be completely duped by misleading White House statements. It is time the mainstream media insulates itself from the cancerous influence of the Pentagon and White House and serves as an honest watchdog.
It is incredulous that anybody would still believe public statements from the president who has demonstrated his complete disdain for the truth and the rule of law. It is time for Congress to stiffen its spine and remove this president and his partner in crime, Vice-President Cheney, from office. Failure to do so will plunge our nation deeper into the abyss.
Ref: Gareth Porter, Investigative historian specializing in U.S. national security policy. He writes regularly on Iran for the Inter Press Service. His latest book is called “Perils of Dominance: Imbalance of Power and the Road to War in Vietnam.” Material from Democracy Now, 1-11-08
The White House propaganda machine is in overdrive spewing out more unsubstantiated claims of a dangerous provocation in the Strait of Hormuz. New evidence now reveals that contrary to White House claims, the encounter was a routine incident. A Navy spokesman told ABC News that the recorded threat to US ships might not have come from Iranian gun boats.Vice Admiral Kevin Cosgriff, commander of the 5th fleet in Bahrain, made it abundantly clear that US ships were never in danger, and had no intention on firing on the Iranian patrol boats – an important statement completely ignored by the US media.
It is tragic that the mainstream media which failed to challenge Bush’s bogus claims of Iraqi WMD’s, is still willing to echo more false claims of the White House which could easily have precipitated our nation into launching another war. Both CNN, CBS and other networks, as well as the print media, allowed itself to be completely duped by misleading White House statements. It is time the mainstream media insulates itself from the cancerous influence of the Pentagon and White House and serves as an honest watchdog.
It is incredulous that anybody would still believe public statements from the president who has demonstrated his complete disdain for the truth and the rule of law. It is time for Congress to stiffen its spine and remove this president and his partner in crime, Vice-President Cheney, from office. Failure to do so will plunge our nation deeper into the abyss.
Ref: Gareth Porter, Investigative historian specializing in U.S. national security policy. He writes regularly on Iran for the Inter Press Service. His latest book is called “Perils of Dominance: Imbalance of Power and the Road to War in Vietnam.” Material from Democracy Now, 1-11-08
Thursday, January 10, 2008
GAZA 1-10-2008
10, January 2008 GAZA
The situation in Gaza is deteriorating by the hour. The Israeli siege of Gaza constitutes an international crime of collective punishment. Food and other basic necessities, including desperately needed medical supplies, have been halted. Garbage rots on the streets because Israel has severely restricted fuel supplies to operate garbage trucks. Most businesses have closed their doors and laid off their workers. Local health clinics are closing down due to lack of medical supplies. The 1.5 million Palestinians residing in Gaza, driven from their ancestral homes, constitute one of the most impoverished people of the world.
The 25 mile strip, under total Israeli control, has been reduced to a giant concentration camp. Israel has destroyed the airport and prevented the construction of a harbor. It is reneged on its promise to allow a “safe passage” to the West Bank. Predictably, President Bush has failed to condemn the illegal settlements which have stolen huge swaths of Palestinian land. It is time for Americans of all stripes to vigorously oppose the state sponsored terror unleashed on the Palestinians and demand Israel abides by international law.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)