19, February 2013
Dear Editor, John Brennan and drone warfare
The confirmation hearings of John Brennan to head the CIA were profoundly disappointing. There was no discussion of the so-called signature strikes which has resulted in the death of so many innocent victims. Jeremy Scahill, of the Nation magazine, recently returned from a visit to Yemen and reported the massacre of 40 villagers, including many women and children with U.S. cluster bombs. A US independent fact finding mission visiting Pakistan reported horrific killings by US drones. The study conducted by NYU and Stanford Law School, ‘Living Under Terror –Under Drones’, highlights the terror inflicted on entire populations being exposed to drones buzzing overhead 24 hours a day disrupting entire communities and according to General McCrystal” unleashing visceral hatred of the U.S.” The entire Senate Intelligence Committee has abdicated its responsibility by failing to demand an oversight role and has allowed the CIA to become a ‘007 license to kill’ death squad. The checks and balances of our government have been seriously eroded.
President Obama would do well to reflect on his earlier speech in 2000 – “the Bush policies failed to rely on our legal traditions and our time-tested institutions and have failed to use our values as a moral compass.” The White House should do some soul searching and re-calibrate its own moral compass. Contrary to Obama’s earlier promise to be ‘the most open administration in U.S. history’, the White House is shrouded with unprecedented secrecy which is the enemy of an open democratic society.
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Saturday, February 16, 2013
Israel-Palestinian Conflict 2-16-13
16, February 2013 Israel
Three great documentaries shed new light on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
"The Gatekeepers" is a collective narrative of six former heads of Israel’s internal security who voice their frustration with successive Israeli government policies. All six heads are now critical of the methods they were assigned to use and they warned that successive governments have undermined Israel’s future by refusing to make peace. A former head, Carmi Gillon, admits that “We are making the lives of millions unbearable, into prolonged human suffering. Another - Avraham Shalom adds, “ we have become a brutal occupation force. “Five Broken Cameras” - tells the story of Emad Burnat, a Palestinian farmer, who partnered with an Israeli film maker Guy Emad to chronicle Emad’s life in his village, Bil’in. Israeli Defense Forces tried to halt the filming by breaking a number of cameras – hence the title. This is now available from Netflix. Finally, an American Jew, Anna Baltzer, the granddaughter of Holocaust refugees, and an award-winning lecturer and author (http://vimeo.com/6977999), traveled to Israel to capture the lives of ordinary Palestinians in the Occupied Territories. She has appeared on ‘The Daily Show with Jon Stewart’, and lectured at more than 500 universities, schools, religious institutions, and policy institutes around the world with her acclaimed presentation, "Life in Occupied Palestine: Eyewitness Stories & Photos." I urge readers to see all three documentaries to broaden their understanding of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Three great documentaries shed new light on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
"The Gatekeepers" is a collective narrative of six former heads of Israel’s internal security who voice their frustration with successive Israeli government policies. All six heads are now critical of the methods they were assigned to use and they warned that successive governments have undermined Israel’s future by refusing to make peace. A former head, Carmi Gillon, admits that “We are making the lives of millions unbearable, into prolonged human suffering. Another - Avraham Shalom adds, “ we have become a brutal occupation force. “Five Broken Cameras” - tells the story of Emad Burnat, a Palestinian farmer, who partnered with an Israeli film maker Guy Emad to chronicle Emad’s life in his village, Bil’in. Israeli Defense Forces tried to halt the filming by breaking a number of cameras – hence the title. This is now available from Netflix. Finally, an American Jew, Anna Baltzer, the granddaughter of Holocaust refugees, and an award-winning lecturer and author (http://vimeo.com/6977999), traveled to Israel to capture the lives of ordinary Palestinians in the Occupied Territories. She has appeared on ‘The Daily Show with Jon Stewart’, and lectured at more than 500 universities, schools, religious institutions, and policy institutes around the world with her acclaimed presentation, "Life in Occupied Palestine: Eyewitness Stories & Photos." I urge readers to see all three documentaries to broaden their understanding of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
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