Zero Dark Thirty 1-18-13

18, January 2013 Zero Dark Thirty

The movie, Zero Dark Thirty, may be a blockbuster but sadly carries a dangerous message that torture elicited useful information that led to the capture of Osama bin Laden and may therefore be justified. Torture did not lead to the capture of bin Laden. This was stated unequivocally by the Senate Intelligence Committee which spent four years investigating the CIA's torture programs. Water-boarding, sleep deprivation, stress positions, savage beatings and humiliation, the U.S. government once euphuistically dubbed “enhanced interrogation,” is an affront to our claim to be a civilized nation. Human rights have been enshrined in our laws. We often waggle our fingers at other nations on the need to close gulags and free their dissidents.  Leading senators stated, "The use of torture in the fight against terrorism did severe damage to America's values and standing that cannot be justified or expunged. It remains a stain on our national conscience." It is time for the Senate Intelligence Committee's findings — a 6,000-page factual report — be made public so that the practice of torture can be forever banished. We should also hold accountable all those government officials responsible for its barbaric practice. 

Gang Rape in India 1-4-13

4, January 2013 Gang Rape

The gang rape of the unnamed victim in Delhi has focused much needed attention into the epidemic of sexual violence. According to the Indian National Crime Registry, one woman is raped every 20 minutes. The actual numbers may be significantly higher as most victims are too humiliated and fearful to report the crimes. Out of the 24,206 rape cases reported in 2011, three-fourth of the perpetrators have not been arrested and the conviction rate is a pitiful 26%. Many cases linger on indefinitely which underscores ineptness and rampant corruption in law enforcement and the judiciary emblematic of the general malaise gripping Indian society. Currently, there are 100,000 pending cases. Delhi has now become the rape capital of the country exceeding the combined rape in all other cities. According to the London Guardian 260 men have been appointed to political office despite serious charges of crimes against women. Women activists were incensed with the careless, insensitive comments of the President’s son, who is also member of the ruling Congress Party.  He mocked the demonstrators as ‘painted women who should not be taken seriously’. Women activists are calling for a standard set of laws or protocols for investigating all acts of violence including “honor crimes” and domestic violence. Women also need to take a pledge against female fetal abortions. This repugnant practice is creating an alarming gender imbalance leading to the growing practice of bride ‘snatching’. On the home front there is no room for complacency; American women suffer a major sexual assault every 2 minutes. Regrettably, the House Republican leaders have stalled the 2012 reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act. Finally, the US has yet to ratify the U.N. Bill of Rights for Women; only eight countries have failed to ratify the convention, leaving the U.S. in the company of Iran, Somalia and Sudan.

Aurora Shooting 7-23-12

23, July 2012 Aurora Shooting

The horrific terrorist attack in Aurora, Colorado should reignite the national debate on gun control. The alleged shooter was able to purchase more than 6,000 rounds of ammunition online and a high-capacity "drum magazine" large enough to hold 100 rounds and capable of firing 50 or 60 rounds per minute – all with a few clicks of a keyboard mouse. How can we allow our highly paid, Rip Van Winkle legislators to stall pending legislation that would have prevented such mayhem? President Obama and president wannabe, Mitt Romney both chose to avoid calls for tighter gun control. Such is the power of the NRA gun lobby who vowed to ' take down any legislator in an election” if they campaigned against the interests of the lobby. The country is awash in guns and assault weapons of every description. According to FBI statistics there are over 200 million privately-owned firearms in the U.S. It is time to jettison the Wild West mentality of our nation and challenge the archaic laws of our nation.  The second amendment of the US Constitution  “A well-regulated militia, . . .  the right to bear arms shall not be infringed. “ is an anachronistic obscenity and must be repealed. We already have well-regulated militias; we call them law enforcement agencies.

Obama’s kill list 6-2-2012

June 2, 2012               Obama’s kill list

A new documentary, ‘Reckoning with Torture’, presents a stark and extremely troubling post 9/11 period – during which the most brutal acts of torture were perpetrated in our name against our alleged enemies, many of whom were found to be completely innocent. It is a travesty that no one has been held accountable for these crimes.

Extrajudicial assassinations have now replaced Bush’s torture policies. President Obama, desperate to portray a ‘get tough’ image in an election year personally approves the targeted killings of suspected terrorists. Victims include US citizens, as well as teenage girls as young as 17. This is certain to degrade our security and provoke hostile reactions. Painstaking interrogation and due process has been bypassed in favor of vigilante assassinations based on CIA input – an agency that is notorious for acquiring faulty intelligence.

Obama’s kill list actions will be conducted in total secrecy, without any due process, without transparency or oversight of any kind. Innocent victims and their bereaved families will be of no consequence and such actions are certain to be kept well hidden from the American public. Remember, secrecy is the enemy of democracy. We have established an extremely dangerous precedent of violating international law and the sovereignty of other nations. It will only be a question of time when hostile nations acquire our drone technology and release its awesome firepower on American cities.

NATO 5-23-2012

23, May 2012                            NATO

NATO has increasingly been used as a US surrogate and serves as a cover for United States military operations, to provide the false belief that there is a united front on all the wars we choose to fight. For example, Austria has only 3 troops in Afghanistan but is nonetheless considered a NATO partner.  NATO is an outmoded military alliance which regards all conflicts and disputes solvable by pounding away with its awesome US led ‘hammer’ power. We have witnessed the utter failure of this approach with our decade old war in Afghanistan. How can the Afghan forces degrade the Taliban resistance fighters with the planned withdrawal of NATO forces in 2014? The small remnant of troops will be extremely vulnerable to the Afghan army who have weak loyalties to the Karzai government and have repeatedly demonstrated their hostility to NATO forces. Furthermore, a Taliban surge is likely to emerge in 2014. The partial withdrawal is largely a political decision to pacify the war hawks and those on the political left. If  Europe is concerned about its enemies it should invest in its own defense and not drain the US currency on futile projects such as the ‘star wars’ missile defense shield in Poland which has unnecessarily provoked a Russian threat of retaliation.  NATO undermines the goal of the United Nations Charter, which seeks to resolve regional disputes non-violently. It is a Cold War relic and has lost any shred of legitimacy.

JP Morgan 5-16-2012

16, May 2012             JP Morgan

It is baffling to understand how JP Morgan CEO Mamie Dimon can still retain his lofty position after he admitted that he and other bank executives repeatedly ignored warnings of extremely risky trades. Doesn’t the buck stop at Dimon’s desk? It seems as Dimon’s moral outrage was a carefully crafted to blunt public criticism. It is also puzzling why President Obama would choose the occasion to remind us that Dimon “is the smartest banker we’ve got’. If that is true, we are in big trouble.

Surely this is a wakeup call for more stringent regulations to rein Wall Street banks who regard investors’ money as their pile of gambling chips. Gambling is a serious addiction and executives are encouraged to place risky bets because their huge bonuses are directly tied to their banks profits. These large, - too big to fail - banks have a huge competitive advantage and pose a systemic risk to taxpayers. Our lawmakers need to legislate ‘anti-trust’ laws to downsize these banks to prevent another financial debacle. Let is bring back Glass-Steagall to separate commerce and investment banking and apply the Volker Rule which mandates more transparency in derivative trading. It is disappointing that JP Morgan stockholders didn’t raise Caine and demand an end to these obscene bonuses. Finally, in the interests of full disclosure, President Obama should have admitted that JP Morgan had given him a nice juicy check of $1 million to aid his re-election.

Afghanistan 5-9-2012

9, May 2012                                Afghanistan

There is little to cheer with the announcement that US troops are planning to stay in Afghanistan until 2024. This is bad for the troops who are yearning to return home from a mission that has been so ill-defined. This is sure to alienate the Afghan people who are war weary of our presence, night raids and drone attacks. Just this week, an Afghan mother and her five children were mistakenly killed and another 14 civilians were killed in another incident in Badghis. A 2011 poll taken by the International Council on Security and Development revealed over 80% opposed the NATO war efforts and viewed them to be detrimental to the Afghan people.  Contrary to President Obama’s assertions, the war is going very badly. See Colonel Davis’ unclassified report in Rolling Stone magazine, entitled “Dereliction of Duty II”, which draws a strong parallel to H.R. Masters’ classic report of Vietnam.

President Obama’s highly publicized visit to Afghanistan may win a few votes at home but will have little outcome on the war itself. We should not be subjecting the people of Afghanistan and US troops as pawns in the high stakes of the US presidential election. How much more blood will be shed on a war without purpose and without end?