Jose Padilla 11-26-2005

26, November                                    Jose Padilla               

Once again the Bush cabal has demonstrated its complete contempt for the law and the basic right of due process, driving another stake into our cherished freedoms.

Jose Padilla a U.S. citizen has been charged as a trained terrorist and accused of making a ‘dirty bomb’ after returning from a visit to Pakistan. He has been incarcerated in a Navy brig for three long years without access to his family or lawyer. These charges have been suddenly dropped, and new, unsubstantiated charges have been filed. Attorney General Gonzales refused to discuss the earlier allegations in the indictment.

This latest maneuver is an obvious attempt by the administration to avoid a showdown with the Supreme Court. Retiring Justice Sandra Day O’Connor clarified the law in stark terms, “A state of war is not a blank check for the president when it comes to the rights of the nation’s citizens.”

Law professor Eric Freedman said the Padilla indictment was an effort by the administration “to avoid an adverse decision of the Supreme Court.”

Jerry Martinez, a Stanford Law professor expressed a similar opinion. The government case is extremely weak and is based in double or triple hearsay evidence. 

As a US citizen Jose Padilla is entitled to his day in court, and the charges should remain as before. Failure to make a strong stand will create an extremely bad precedent for all Americans by granting unfettered powers to the president, in complete violation of the Constitution. 

Bush’s Speech 9-17-2005

17, September 2005               Bush’s Speech           

Bush’s speech to the nation last Thursday was a disappointing spectacle aimed at saving his beleaguered presidency and buttressing his declining approval ratings. The speed and efficiently of Karl Rove’s ‘makeover ‘image team, that offered the president a backdrop for his speech, was a sharp contrast to the glacial speed of the FEMA bureaucrats responsible for the Katrina relief efforts.

Bush’s tardy and disorganized performance to Katrina was eerily similar to his September 11 response exposing his complete lack of leadership qualities. There is little doubt that ‘no bid’ contracts will be offered to the well-connected Republican corporate benefactors who will return the favor by opening up their purse strings at election time to ensure the process of mutual enrichment continues.  Lucrative contracts have already been awarded to Halliburton, Bechtel and Flour Daniels, totally oblivious of the massive accounting fraud already perpetrated against US taxpayers in their virtual rebuilding efforts in Iraq. Billions of dollars will be squandered, with little oversight and when the dust settles, the poor and impoverished will be forgotten and invisible, the corporate robber barons will become richer and an enormous debt will be bequeathed to our children and the yet unborn.

Gaza Evacuation 8-17-2005

17, August 2005                                 Gaza Evacuation

We Americans must share the blame for the fiasco masquerading as US Middle East policy. We have funded Israel's occupation, colonization of the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and East Jerusalem and must therefore share the responsibility of aiding and abetting the enormous repression and suffering of the Palestinians. American Jews and the former settlers of Gaza should vent their anger and outrage against the Israeli government and Ariel Sharon, the undisputed architect of these illegal settlements. Since the inception of Israel in 1948, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were forced from their land and thousands of acres expropriated for the exclusive use of Israel's Jewish citizens.

Israeli historians, Israeli Human rights organizations and leading Israeli journalist, Amira Mass, have been highly critical of Israel's apartheid policy of ethnic cleansing. Consider one example of such a disparity. A majority of the Jewish settlers have accepted a compensation package - between $150,000 to $400,000 - from the Israeli government in return for leaving Gaza. In addition, they are reimbursed removal expenses and receive 2 years free rent! By contrast the thousands of Palestinians working for the settlers will receive nothing. Israel is seeking an additional $2 billion dollars in more aid to help defray operating costs to vacate the Gaza Strip which was seized illegally! While much of the world focuses on the evacuation of the Gaza Strip, Israel continues to build more settlements in the West Bank and is expropriating more Palestinian land to construct the apartheid wall. Such actions tarnish the image of the Jewish faith which is supposedly  based on truth, peace and justice for all.

Israel 8-3-2005

3, August 2005                        Response to local letter RE: Israel

It is a pity that Shree Roth (Daily Tuesday August 2) failed to digest the premise of my letter regarding reparations for actions violating basic human rights. Roth's blinkered vision of the Middle East betrays her obvious bias. Roth fails to condemn the polices of the Bush administration which has caused so much suffering to the Iraqi people. The 'shock and awe' campaign based on 'cooked intelligence' has resulted in tens of thousands of Iraqi fatalities and over 1800 US soldiers. We attacked a sovereign state who posed no threat to us and we are therefore morally responsible to compensate the Iraqis for loss of life and property. Has Roth ignored our own history? Our ancestors were the enemy combatants or insurgents repelling the imperial armies of the British.

My original letter asked the Muslim community to unequivocally condemn the actions of the suicide bombers and offer to pay reparations to the families of the victims. Roth may not be aware that a disproportionate number of Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli army. International and Israeli human rights groups have condemned such killings. Should not the families of all victims be compensated? Killing innocent civilians can never be justified and must be universally condemned. These are crimes against humanity and violate the basic tenets all religious faiths.

Israel undermining the PA 8-1-2005

1, August 2005                       Israel undermining the PA

It has patently evident to the most doubting Thomas that Ariel Sharon is hoping that the Palestinian Authority (PA) and President Mahmoud Abbas will implode following the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. Sharon has made every effort to undermine Abbas’s PA and prevent it becoming a potent force to maintain law and order and thus serve as a reason to continue to maintain check points, and persecution of the Palestinians. Consider the facts. The PA was destroyed by the Israeli military three years ago and ceased to function as a stabilizing force to maintain law and order. Currently it is ill-equipped and under-armed and is in desperate need to have its security equipment upgraded. The US government has finally acknowledged this dire need and appointed Lt. General William Ward to coordinate the overhaul of PA’s arms and equipment. Predictably, the Israeli government has prevented the importation of new armed vehicles and a fresh supply of arms. This is yet another shameful example of the ‘the tail wagging the dog’ to ensure the PA fails in its mission thereby allowing Israel to continue its oppression of the Palestinian people and theft of its land and resources.

Isreal 7-11-2005

11, July 2005                          Israel

Once again Israel has demonstrated its callous disregard for the legitimate rights of the Palestinians. Israel has now admitted that its separation barrier in Jerusalem will cut off a staggering 55,000 Palestinians - about a quarter of the city's Arab

population from the rest of the city. More illegal settlements are planned in the West Bank The Israeli announcement came a year and a day after the International Court of Justice at The Hague ruled that the separation barrier inside the West Bank violated international law. It is tragic that US taxpayers continue to support Israel's land theft and ethnic cleansing by funding illegal settlements, construction of the separation wall and arms shipments which have been used to subjugate the Palestinians. Israel continues to be the largest recipient of US aid. Last year, it received $2.3 billion in military aid and $500 million in economic assistance. According to the Israeli embassy, Israel has received $100 billion since its founding in 1948. The Israeli government has now made an additional request for the costs incurred for resettling the illegal squatters in the Gaza Strip.

The new Israeli request is in addition to the regular annual assistance provided by Washington. It is time for US taxpayers to be heard. This continuous largesse cannot be tolerated. The blatant US partiality towards Israel is fueling much of the rage and frustration of the Palestinians and exposes the  hypocrisy of the US Middle East policy. Peace will never reign until the legitimate rights of the Palestinians has been realized.

Israel’s Apartheid Wall 7-7-2005

7 July, 2005                  Israel’s Apartheid Wall

Once again Israel has demonstrated its callous disregard for the legitimate rights of the Palestinians. Israel has now admitted that its apartheid wall will cut off a staggering 55,000 Palestinians - about a quarter of the city's Arab population . from the rest of the city. More illegal settlements are planned in the West Bank The Israeli announcement came a year and a day after the International Court of Justice at The Hague ruled that the separation barrier inside the West Bank violated international law.

It is tragic that US taxpayers continue to support Israel’s land theft by funding illegal settlements, construction of the separation wall and arms shipments which have been used to subjugate the Palestinians. Israel continues to be the largest recipient of US aid. Last year, it received $2.3 billion in military aid and $500 million in economic assistance. According to the Israeli embassy, Israel has received $100 billion since its founding in 1948. The Israeli government has now made an additional request for the costs incurred for resettling the illegal squatters in the Gaza Strip.

The new Israeli request is in addition to the regular annual assistance provided by Washington.

It is time for US taxpayers to be heard. This continuous largesse cannot be tolerated. The blatant US partiality towards Israel is fueling much of the rage and frustration of the Palestinians and exposes the   hypocrisy of the US Middle East policy. Peace will never reign until the legitimate rights of the Palestinians have been granted.