Jindal’s D efense of Bush misguided 12-23-2014

23, December 2014                Jindal’s Defense of Bush misguided

It is baffling why Louisiana governor, Bobby Jindal, should stubbornly defend the heinous torture practices authorized by former President Bush. There was a time when the United States urged all nations to strictly adhere to international treaties and respect for human rights, freedom of expression and liberty for all. American leaders denounced dark dungeons where people were held without charge, tortured and killed. All that changed during the disastrous years of the Bush/Cheney (BC) administration. In a short eight years BC gave the green light to the CIA and US military to establish rendition sights to conduct medieval torture, violating every norm of human behavior and decency – and international law. By so doing the Bush administration has dishonored our former high moral standing and squandered the respect of nations who now rightly accuse us of dishonesty and hypocrisy. Not only did President Bush and his aides condone torture and appalling abuse of mostly innocent victims at secret prisons, but also conducted a systematic campaign to mislead Congress and the American people. Following the 9/11 attacks, Mr. Bush ordered the creation of Gestapo like interrogation sites where Central Intelligence Agency operatives were told to use brutal torture methods to extract confessions from the hapless victims. Some of their methods — simulated drownings, exposure to extreme heat and cold, prolonged stress positions and isolation — had been classified as torture for decades by civilized nations. The Japanese who conducted waterboarding on prisoners were tried and hanged. A compliant US media and a thoroughly meek Congress were cowered into silence by a nasty and thoroughly belligerent White House. No, Governor Jindal, Bush was not a good man. He was a bad man – a very bad man who, with his co-conspirators, should be tried for war crimes. I urge you, as a devout born again Christian, to review the Good Book and ask yourself whether Jesus would condone such appalling abuses. Finally, contrary to your false assertion that Bush helped keep America safe, his torture practices and Rambo attitude were the impetus in generating so much anger and hostility towards the United States.

CUBA 12-22-2014

22, December 2014                CUBA

Cuba is yet another example of our government’s penchant of imposing its will and military might on smaller nations – with disastrous results. Our relations with Cuba have been frayed for more than half a century. The botched attempt by the CIA to overthrow the Castro government is generally considered one of the greatest military fiascos of the modern era. Fabian Escalante, the former head of Cuban counterintelligence, estimated at least 638 assassination attempts on Castro’s life. Preceding Castro’s rise to power was the thoroughly despised dictator, Fulgencio Batista, who was closely allied to the US mafia making huge profits from opulent hotels and casinos. His regime engaged in arbitrary arrests, torture and executions. Under his rule, the Cuban people suffered in dire poverty with virtually no access to education, health care or decent paying jobs. This established the climate for a violent revolution and Castro was initially lauded as a great hero of the Cuban people. While Castro certainly has his detractors, today Cubans enjoy the same life expectancy as the US and experience less infant mortality. Cuba has one of the highest literacy rates in the world far surpassing the US. The island has developed one of the finest medical systems in the world sending doctors to the Ebola crisis and, earlier, to victims of Hurricane Katrina. President Obama made the right decision to begin the process of normalizing relations with Cuba. Congress should follow his example by lifting the crippling embargo.

Israel’s identity crisis 12-18-2014

18, December 2014                      Israel’s identity crisis

Israel is undergoing a significant identity crisis. Its image has been severely tarnished following the attack on Gaza last summer. Public statements by US officials notwithstanding, Netanyahu’s relationship with the Obama administration has turned outright hostile. In a desperate move to salvage his falling popularity, Netanyahu has called for new elections for March 17 and is aggressively wooing right wing settler and ultra-religious zealots like Naftali Bennett, the economics minister. If Bennett, who is the front runner, displaces Netanyahu as prime minister, Israel will make a dangerous tilt to the Right.

New York Times reporter, Thomas Friedman,  and Ari Shavit the Haaretz columnist, expressed grave concern that Israel is edging towards becoming a pariah state - shunned by the rest of the free world. American and European Jews are speaking out in larger numbers unfraid of being labelled ‘anti-Semites’ a favorite strategy used to silence critics of Israel.  It is become apparent that Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders have no intention of negotiating a peace treaty with Palestinians lest they are forced to negotiate borders and thus foreclose on their vision of a greater Israel encompassing the whole of the West Bank.  The only way forward is for Israel to adhere to its core principle as enshrined in its Declaration of Independence, by ending its crippling occupation, lift the siege of Gaza and guarantee equal rights for all its citizens – the hallmark of a true democracy. 

Cuba 12-17-2014

17, December 2014            Response to NYT OP ED RE Cuba

A double standard has been applied by successive US administrations regarding the ‘war on terror’. The Cuban Five 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.
The group were closely monitoring the activities of anti-Castro exile groups CORU, Alpha 66, Omega 7 and Brothers to the Rescue. The anti-CASTRO group was allowed to operate with complete impunity. 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. 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.

Nobel Prize winners have written and sent a document to the U.S. Attorney General calling for freedom for the Cuban Five. 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.

President Obama has made the right decision in normalizing relations with Cuba.

CIA Torture Practices 12-11-2014

11, December 2014                CIA Torture Practices

The CIA has made frantic efforts to prevent its dark insidious, medieval torture practices made public. It is using the Bush/Cheney playbook to warn of dire consequences should the full torture report be published. This surely implies that they were well fully aware of the repercussions of their crimes. The CIA has a long history of misleading the public and hiding its brutal interrogation practices and black sites. Their claim that such techniques provided useful intelligence leading to the capture of Bin Laden defies belief. This sentiment was forcefully rejected by the Senate Intelligence Committee. It concluded the intelligence agency failed to disrupt a single plot despite torturing al-Qaeda and other captives, many of whom were innocent of any crimes.

Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International are calling for a criminal investigation of senior Bush administration officials. Many victims made false confessions under extreme duress out of fear their family members would be assaulted and their women folks raped. The architects of these torture practices were two clueless psychologists who had no interrogation experience and no knowledge of the local culture or language; to add insult to injury they were paid a staggering $81 million. Unless we hold these torturers, and more importantly their Washington enablers, fully accountable for war crimes, these disgusting practices will surely continue (remember Vietnam, Blackwater, Abu Ghraib). The complete unredacted report should be made public and President Obama should fire top CIA officials.

Response to NYT OP ED RE: Israel’s policies 12-8-2014

8, December 2014          Response to NYT OP ED RE: Israel’s policies

Jonathan Schanzer betrays his utter bias in echoing Israel’s tiresome propaganda to deflect growing criticism over its apartheid policies. Israel uses the standard playbook of former colonial powers describing any opposition parties to its occupation as terrorists. It is time Israel stops being coy about its own huge arsenal of nuclear weapons. Unlike the US who pledges undying love for Israel regardless of its mammoth crimes, a seismic shift is occurring in European capitals increasingly frustrated by Israeli’s intransigence towards Palestinian sovereignty, – building more and more settlements on Palestinian land - and its home demolitions. The European Union has urged Israel to immediately halt its expansionist policies, end its illegal occupation and lift the siege of Gaza. Current Israel policy, driven by right wing ideologues, is fueling much of the intensifying Palestinian rage and the cycle of unending violence.

Dahlia Scheindlin, an Israeli analyst and pollster, said, “Israel is losing Europe and Public opinion has shifted decidedly against Israel.” There is a growing realization that the soft talk of the US Administration has been an abject failure and must be replaced with European economic sanctions.

7, December 2014                  Afghanistan

We now learn to our dismay that American jets, bombers and drones will be deployed .to bolster Afghan troops on combat missions. U.S. air-strikes would be used to support Afghan military operations throughout the country. Ghani has reportedly lifted limits on U.S. airstrikes and joint raids that his predecessor Hamid Karzai had banned. This is certain to intensify resentment of US presence and serve as a recruitment aid for the Taliban. With the impending departure of Defense Secretary Hagel, the US generals are once again in charge exerting undue influence in foreign policy decisions. Contrary to Obama’s earlier declaration of no combat troops in the Middle East, General. Dempsey has upended his boss declaring a possible combat role to fight ISIS. Since President Ashraf Ghani’s inauguration there have been about 41 street-side bombing attacks across the country and 24 of those in Kabul. President Ashraf Ghani is caught in the same military madness as the U.S.-NATO coalition. Meanwhile the suffering of Afghans continues. Local labor organizations put the unemployment figure as high as 80%. A vast majority of the people are suffering from severe malnutrion and a feeling of utter despair. More and more Afghans are ending their lives through self-immolation and administering poison - so bleak and hopeless is their future. Let’s replace bullets with acts of kindness and a massive infusion of resources to improve the lives of ordinary Afghans. This would be a winning strategy – far more effective then more bombs and night raids.

Black Rage 12-5-2014

5, December 2014                 Black Rage                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

The multi-generational racism that blacks have had to endure has recently bubbled to the surface. If white America had to walk in their shoes and face the same daily humiliations there is little doubt white folks would explode with the same seething rage. Blacks are disproportionately arrested and indicted on the most minor infractions presumably to bolster crime statistics.

There is a strong message that blacks are not valued in society. A majority have no access to good schools and are condemned to eking out a living often in low paid jobs with inadequate housing and no access to affordable health care.

So many have been stripped of their manhood - Randolph Evans, Patrick Dorismond, Abner Louim, Oscar Grant, Trayvon Martin, and countless others brutalized by police officers who are largely immune from accountability – insulated by a dysfunctional grand jury system. The public prosecutor assigned in Mike Brown’s case went to extraordinary measures to influence the Grand Jury to indict the victim instead of his killer. The testimony of 18 witnesses who insisted that Brown’s hands was raised – were ignored. His dead body was left 4.5 hours in a final gesture of extreme callousness and insensitivity. The police officer who performed an illegal chock hold on Eric Garner was guilty of murder and his 4 officers who jumped on Garner’s back were guilty of accessories to murder. What makes this crime even more egregious is the cavalier way police officers looked on as Garner was gasping for life.