Nightmare Rape Meets Saudi Y "Utopia"

The illustrious "blueblood" cum Citibank bigwig Alwaleed Al-Talal, once described his kingdom as "Utopia" - we'll footnote that For Royal Men ... if you want to find justice, wealth or even utopia in Saudi Arabia, you'd better show your y chromosomes - even if you're born there...


Someone at the top must be in a state of shock. Not about the brutal gang-rape of a 19-year-old by seven Saudi thugs, or the rape of the male who was driving her home. Not about a judge meting out the brutal "punishment" of 200 lashes on the victim, plus six months prison. Not about her brother attempting to kill her for "shaming" her family by being raped at knife-point. Not about the initial sentence in which one of her rapists was given fewer lashes than she was. Not about doubling her sentence only because she told her story to "the media". Not even that this punishment has no basis in the Shari'a or in the Qur'an or in Islam - except insofar as they impose a "false Shari'a" worse than anything David Horowitz could dream up.

No. Saudi royal sensibilities are shocked that the rest of the world doesn't think 200 lashes and six months in jail is a suitable punishment for being in a car with a man who is not her relative. So they came up with a solution. Now the Saudis changed their story, and it's not just about her being in a car with a relative. The "real story" now is that she is an "adulteress." So this is simply a different way of administering the Scarlet Letter.

Now the Saudi Ministry of Justice issued a statement in defense ofthe decision to punish the gang-rape victim with what could only be described as "cruel and unusual", to say the least - definitely draconian - by saying she "deserved" 200 lashes and 6 months in jail. For being what Greta van Susteren once termed "a floozy." The statement implied "that the woman had owned up to having an extramarital affair with the man in the car."

"She admitted to ... exchanging sinful relations," the statement said, adding
the woman was in state of undress with the man in the car before the attack took
place.

While her own testimony, both in court and to Human Rights Watch and the press, in an ABC News report, stated:

"I had a relationship with someone on the phone. We were both 16. I had never
seen him before. I just knew his voice. He started to threaten me, and I got
afraid. He threatened to tell my family about the relationship... "

She only went to meet the young man to retrieve a photo of herself to prevent him from blackmailing her. Because women by law can't drive in Saudi Arabia, he was her only way home. The 2 were kidnapped within minutes of reaching her home. As she describes,

"One of the men brought a knife to my throat. They told me not to speak. They
pushed us to the back of the car and started driving. We drove a lot, but I
didn't see anything since my head was forced down.
"They took us to an area
... with lots of palm trees. No one was there. If you kill someone there, no one
would know about it. They took out the man with me, and I stayed in the car. I
was so afraid. They forced me out of the car. They pushed me really hard ...
took me to a dark place. Then two men came in. They said, 'What are you going to
do? Take off your abaya.' They forced my clothes off. The first man with the
knife raped me. I was destroyed. If I tried to escape, I don't even know where I
would go. I tried to force them off but I couldn't."

The rest is even worse, as the whole world now knows. Yet the Saudi Ministry of Justice has the guts to claim that her testimony, from which the above is pretty much the same, admits "guilt" to "sinful relations", which the "official press" interprets as an extramarital affair. So again, the Saudi government wants to show that she "deserved" those 200 lashes, while they further smear her reputation.

I guess wearing a black cloak is no guarantee of protection from rape, or from being publicly humiliated with libelous statements. So what then is the point of the "abaya"? Why not ask a Saudi woman?

Hatoon al-Fassi, a history lecturer at King Saud university in Riyadh and
another women rights activist, agreed that women suffer from the lack of written
laws, which subjects rulings to the discretion of judges. "It all depends on the
reasoning of the judge," she told AFP. "It is good that the case has taken an
international dimension. It is shameful that such a case could have stayed
unspoken of... This is a ruling that has treated the victim as a culprit," she
said. "Such logic is so distant from Islam. It is the result of a
male-chauvinist reasoning," she charged.

"The woman does not have the right to represent herself in a court. She enters the court covered entirely in black. Some judges do not even allow her to speak," she said.

The victim's husband describes her situation, and how the court railroaded her.

The events ended her pursuit of an education past high school, he said. "Her
situation keeps changing from bad to worse," he said. "You could say she's a
crushed human being." "The court proceedings were like a spectacle at times," he
said. "The criminals were allowed in the same room as my wife. They were allowed
to make all kinds of offensive gestures and give her dirty and threatening
looks." Of the three judges at the trial, one of them "was mean and from the
beginning dealt with my wife as guilty person who had done something wrong," he
said.

It's not even her word against theirs. It's their word against ... a standing, mute, black-cloaked object. The judge was actually on the rapists' side, saying that she "brought it on" by being in a car with a man not a member of her family. Even though she was kidnapped along with the young man with her. But now the Saudi Ministry of Justice one-ups the judge, accusing her, against her own sworn testimony, of not only adultery, but being in "a state of undress", while riding home in a car in Saudi Arabia, no less. And this is supposed to "defend" the Saudis' position. So of course the woman is supposed, in their view, to be "of ill repute" and hence, "fair game" for gang-rape.

But again, she couldn't actually tell her story. It's not even her word against theirs. It's their word against ... a standing, mute, black-cloaked object. Women in Saudi Arabia can't speak in a court of law. A lawyer, or another man, have to speak for them. So imagine what that means when the judge summarily removes her attorney from the case. She becomes a mute, standing object draped in black. So the only testimony that can be heard is not that of the victim, but of the perpetrator.

Along with the young woman's sentence, the General Court of Qatif confiscated
the license of her attorney, Abdul Rahman Al-Lahem, a lawyer known for taking on
controversial cases that push back against Saudi Arabia's strictly interpreted
system of sharia, or Islamic law.
"Asking me to appear in front of a
disciplinary committee at the Ministry of Justice ... is a punishment for taking
human rights cases against some institutions," Al-Lahem
told Arab News.

The ministry also stressed the Saudi judicial system was based on Islamic law derived from the holy Koran and that a court ruling in the kingdom was only made after both sides in a case are given a fair and balanced hearing.

And since there were "no confessions" and "no witnesses", there was not much of a case, according to the Saudi government. Right - the rapists conveniently withdrew their confessions when the thought of 100+ lashes began to sink in. And since their victim has no voice, their heads would remain safely on their necks.

On the other hand, a columnist in the Philadelphia Bulletin has opined:

The West has continuously failed to understand that the primary reason for the
Arab world's anti-Americanism is not because of our freedom, liberties and way
of life but because we are seen as meddling in the internal and sovereign
affairs of Arab countries.
Whether we like it or not, the Middle East, and
Saudi Arabia in particular, controls of much of the world's oil supply. Until
that situation changes, we would do well to heed the old adage "It's not what
you say; it's how you say it."

He's probably cool with Bush's original assessment: "astonishing." But until someone attacks and puts pressure on abusive governments, they will continue to act as they do without a care in the world. In the absence of conscience, what can human beings rely on if not social condemnation for abuse? The "Girl of Qatif", a Shi'a in a Sunni world, came before the court of the world because the Saudis do not hear. To remain silent on such abuse is to put oil before conscience, lucre before the soul.

It's not enough that Saudi Arabia has to smear a traumatized, innocent, and very young woman in a place where being smeared means being subhuman, "fair game" for brutality. They also smear Islam and the Qur'an, too, by claiming that this "justice system" is based on Islamic law. Since when did Saudi Arabia have anything to do with Islamic Law or the Qur'an, except in name only? Don't just blame David Horowitz...

200 lashes is not a punishment for any crime in the Qur'an. (And neither is stoning or beheading.) Being in the proximity of a man not a relative is also not a crime in the Qur'an. Nor does the Qur'an specifically require a woman to cover her face, or even her hair (except by interpretation of a word that means "ornaments"). But the Qur'an does mention the cutting off of hands for theft - which is also mentioned in the old Testament. But a greater law is "the rule of law must be by mutual agreement and discussion between you all." They call it "shura" and it's reduced under the Saudis to a few men lining up to politely ask for some favors from royals. What a farce!

Dictatorship is in fact against the Qur'an's guidance, if one were to take it seriously. But the Saudi royals wouldn't dare apply the real Shari'a. After all, they consider the country's resources as their pocket money. If the Shari'a were applied, imagine how many hands would fly... and considering the way judges lord it over their victims, they'd better watch their own necks .. or at least, backs.

As for the world's pressure on this case, at least it caused the Saudi delegation to the peace talks in Annapolis "embarrassment", according to sources. And judging by what "shame" means to a woman there, perhaps "embarrassment" on a public stage will have some impact on a man - or better yet, a few powerful men.

Dubai Bigger Than China? Same Boom, Labor Issues...

Check out this video on CNBC discussing Dubai's new emergence as a world tech Mecca - even allegedly bigger than China, according to the Guy from Google.

Note how the Dubai elite brush off issues regarding the slave labor conditions of their mostly Asian workers - who make up about 80% of the population in Dubai - who are not, and cannot become, Dubai citizens. Got a few issues here, if Dubai wants to be, as Mr. Alabbar, the man in charge of much of the building boom here, says, the new "hub" of the region that includes Pakistan, Iran, and of course, the Middle East. There has to be some honesty in the face of their long-held elitist attitude. One of the prices of the perks of progress. (Israel, are you listening?)

In Sports at Least, Palestine is a Nation - with a Winner

While doomed negotiations with the ever-refusing Israelis crawl in the vacuum tube called U.S. Foreign Policy, Palestine and its flag flies over athletics and bench-pressing as this record-setting athlete, Ahmed Abukhater, represents his country in world competition.

Who, incidentally, is also a water resources specialist at the University of Texas who can comment on the water crisis facing Gaza's 1.4 million residents.

Read more...

Be A Voice Against Torture

On Wednesday evening, the House of Representatives passed an Iraq withdrawal bill that provides interim funding for the hostilities in Iraq and calls for the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq. It includes an anti-torture provision that would require all government agencies - including the CIA - to follow the Army Field Manual when conducting interrogations. In doing so, it would prohibit torture and other such "harsh" interrogation techniques. Majority Leader Harry Reid has said that he will bring this bill before the Senate today (Friday, November 16, 2007).

Don't let the Senate debate a bill that relates to torture without expressing your support for the anti-torture provisions in the bill.

Please contact - by phone or by email - your Senators to express your support for the provision that would require the CIA and other government agencies to abide by the restrictions in the Army Field Manual on Interrogations. You can contact your Senators by calling the Senate switchboard at (202) 224-3121, or you can look up their direct lines and their email addresses at this website.

Bush/Cheney gun for Ahmedinejad; But Saudis "Tool up" for War, Too - The Devil is on Both Sides?

Richard Posner Favors Surveillance of All US Muslims

"There, but for the grace of God, go I." Under surveillance, Sheikh Posner! To the Kangaroo Court you go!"

The title is a link to this brainboggling article, which is the culmination of all things Orwellian where reason is replaced by the knee-jerk notion, "Have you screwed bin Laden today?"

Of course, it speaks volumes for the "First Freedom," freedom of religion. Which was right up there in the First Amendment along with freedom of speech until Mr. Posner came along and saw fit to class all Muslims with UBL, who has been trying hard to repent, but we just won't let 'im, folks.

Now bear in mind that Richard Posner is a possible Supreme Court Justice contender, and considered a "libertarian" or "liberal" as opposed to an "authoritarian". The Aussie article where this story broke, reports:

" Melbourne QC Tim Tobin said it was a shock to hear such hard and isolationist positions coming from a judge known as a liberal thinker. While he was disturbed by the judge's proposed crackdown on US and Canadian Muslims, he suspected the sentiment would be welcomed by the Howard Government.
Judge Posner raised the prospect of secret trials as a "tailored regime" to prosecute terrorists in cases where there was a concern about classified information going public.
Queensland SC Glenn Martin said he had been "jolted" by the address: "I hope we never have secret trials in Australia." "

It sounds like the notion of Big Brother and Kangaroo Courts is resonating in the supposed halls of justice. These guys no longer believe in justice. For justice cannot be meted out on the basis of fear, or on the basis of emotions. Maybe he never heard of the Salem witchcraft trials. Maybe he forgot about the Spanish inquisition. When emotions, especially fear, are running high, well, it's hard to really believe in due process. Ask any crime victim. On the other hand, shall we give up 200 years of due process for which our founding fathers fought so hard because some old guys are so whipped up into a state of fear that they forget the cause of all their terror in the first place?

And what's that "cause"? It's their own demons: greed, blindness, power-lust, oppression, cruelty, and prejudice. Withdraw the troops from invasive ill-begotten wars, stop financing the eternal Israeli occupation of the Palestinians (with oppression and murder and bulldozing rampant), take care of our own Americans, hold together our respected and free Republic, give what we can to the hungry and downtrodden, and the "terrorists", especially the "Islamic terrorists", will vanish into the sunset, quite suddenly. Leaving a struggling but peaceful, and terror-free landscape. Not a dream, not a promise, but an obvious, glaring truth.

One species, too many lies. Truth endures.

Record number of Chinese Muslims making pilgrimage to Makkah

Many people do not know that Islam is alive and well in China. Oh, yes, and that it's universal, and has nothing to do with being of one ethnicity or another. Contrary to popular opinion.

Just some stats:

To prevent possible accidents, China's Regulations on Religious Affairs,
which was promulgated in 2004, stipulates that all outbound pilgrimage
activities of Chinese Muslims should be organized by the national Islamic
association, referring to the IAC.

China has more than 20 million Muslims, mainly living in Xinjiang,
Qinghai, Ganshu, Ningxia, Yunnan, Shaanxi, Inner Mongolia and Henan. Starting in
1985, nearly 100,000 Muslims have fulfilled their pilgrimages.

Cyclone Sidr about to hit: Networks in Vegas

Bridgethought of the day: Do you ever get the feeling "World News" is just another franchise bought by - who else? - either Rupert Murdoch, Sam Walton's kids, or Alwaleed bin Talal?

Here's another post on the same subject - Cyclone Sidr, that is.

Surge Success: "There is no one left for them to kill"

The news is full of it: Casualties in Iraq are down, the Surge is a success. Bush/Cheney and Al-Maliki claim that they have "won" a "victory" over the "militants" - whatever that means. They cite recent lower casualty numbers, claiming the "surge" worked, and things are getting better. But people on the ground have a different explanation for the relative calm, which is atypical of the rest of 2007.
"There is no one left for them to kill," 55-year-old retired teacher Nathum Taha told IPS in Baghdad. "The Americans continue to use Arab Shia Iraqi militias to kill Sunnis, but most people have left by now."
Now the city of Baghdad, and much of the nation that was Iraq before we invaded it, is divided along sectarian lines. Where once Shi'a and Sunni families coexisted peacefully, there are ethnic cleansings that have driven many into "safe" neighborhoods, and others are refugees in strange cities, if they can't leave Iraq altogether. And it's not because they're naturally violent or divisive as the Republicans would have you believe...

This assessment from an Iraqi who voiced what people who have to live in the war zone are saying:

"Americans and Iranians have succeeded in realising their old dream of dividing the Iraqi people into sects. That is the only success they can talk about."

"If the situation is good, why are five million Iraqis living in exile," says 55- year-old Abu Mohammadwho was evicted from Shula in West Baghdad to become a refugee in Amiriya, a few miles from his lost home.

"Sectarian killings are less because all the Sunnis have been evicted from mixed areas in Baghdad," Salman Hameed, a teacher who was evicted from the al-Hurriya area west of Baghdad eight months ago told IPS. "All my relatives and Sunni neighbours who survived the killing campaign led by the militias under the eyes of American and Iraqi forces have fled either to Syria or to other Sunni cities."

Over 30 tons of cluster bombs, which are known for their heavy "collateral damage" on civilian populations, were dropped in the first 6 months of 2007. And that's not counting the
"Attacks against U.S. forces are not much less than they were last month, but media coverage has almost disappeared," Muhammad Younis from Mosul, in Baghdad on a business trip, told IPS. "The resistance is moving fast and changing locations in order to avoid intelligence provided by collaborators. Most Iraqis hate the Americans more than ever after the death and destruction caused by their occupation."

"American air raids are increasing in a way that shows a total failure on the ground," a retired general of the dissolved Iraqi army told IPS. "A whole family was killed near Madayin, southeast Baghdad on Saturday (Nov. 3) just after the tragic bombing of houses south of Tikrit (about 100 km north of Baghdad) where more than 10 civilians were killed."

On Nov. 4, Iraqi army personnel backed by U.S. soldiers detained 12 people during a raid on the Sunni Abu Hanifa mosque in the Adhamiyah district of northern Baghad.

"Those American and government forces could not face the resistance fighters, so they arrest innocent people," Aziz Thafir, a lawyer who witnessed the arrests, told IPS. "They started their raid with nasty sectarian words against Sunnis, and then arrested every one who was around in the mosque."
"They are more vicious than they were before," 44-year-old Abu Ahmed told IPS in the capital. "This is a religious war against Sunnis, who would not accept the occupation and division of the country."

Many Iraqis believe the sectarian violence is being perpetrated or orchestrated by the U.S., not prevented or stopped by them, as presented in American public propaganda, aka media blitzes. And they see that reporting is not accurate either - attacks by U.S. and Iraqi forces, as well as Iraqi police, against Iraqi civilians, are not being covered. They see the U.S. as working on a "divide and conquer" policy, and the lessening of violence as merely the result of so many people having either been killed or fled as refugees - plus the dividing of their cities into ethnically cleansed "havens".

"I would like to agree with the idea that violence in Iraq has decreased and
that everything is fine," retired general Waleed al-Ubaidy told IPS
in Baghdad. "But the truth is far more bitter. All that has happened is a
dramatic change in the demographic map of Iraq."
And as with Baquba and
other violence-hit areas of Iraq, he says a part of the story in Baghdad is that
there is nobody left to tell it. "Most of the honest journalists have
left."
"Baghdad has been torn into two cities and many towns and
neighbourhoods," Ahmad Ali, chief engineer from one of Baghdad's municipalities
told IPS. "There is now the Shia Baghdad and the Sunni Baghdad to start with.
Then, each is divided into little town-like pieces of the hundreds of thousands
who had to leave their homes."

The U.S. has to answer questions about possible complicity.

"The Americans ask (Prime Minister Nouri al) Maliki to stop the sectarian assassinations when they know very well that his ministers are ordering the sectarian cleansing," Mahmood Farhan from the Muslim Scholars Association, a leading Sunni group, told IPS.

At least they could have read

"A UN report released September 2005 held interior ministry forces responsible for an organised campaign of detentions, torture and killings. It said special police commando units accused of carrying out the killings were recruited from the Shia Badr and Mehdi militias.
Retired Col. James Steele, who served as advisor to Iraqi security forces under former U.S. ambassador John Negroponte, supervised the training of these forces.

Steele had been commander of the U.S. military advisors group in El Salvador in 1984-86; Negroponte was U.S. ambassador to neighbouring Honduras 1981-85. Negroponte was accused of widespread human rights violations by the Honduras Commission on Human Rights in 1994. The Commission reported the torture and disappearance of at least 184 political workers.
The violations Negroponte oversaw in Honduras were carried out by operatives trained by the CIA, according to a CIA working group set up in 1996 to look into the U.S. role in Honduras.
The CIA records document that "special intelligence units", better known as "death squads", comprised CIA-trained Honduran armed units which kidnapped, tortured and killed thousands of people suspected of supporting leftist guerrillas.
Negroponte was ambassador to Iraq for close to a year from June 2004. "

Makes you wonder what those in Iraq were really trained to do. Why then don't the Democrats put up a stronger fight to stop this disastrous war?

Here's a taste of life under an Emperor. We can be put in jail for not paying taxes. $10 billion of those taxes can be given unconditionally to a dictator in a far-away country, say, Pakistan, because Dick and George say they get it. And there ain't a damn thing you or Congress or anyone else can do about it. Because now it's Dick and George's money.

According to the Washington Post article:

U.S. assistance to the key anti-terrorism and nuclear armed ally _ which has totaled nearly $10 billion since 2001 _ is governed by legislative requirements that could trigger automatic aid cutoffs, but all are covered by locked-in presidential waivers, said officials familiar with a government-wide review.

Those waivers exempt Pakistan from aid restrictions.

If you look closely, you'll find a lot of those waivers. And Presidential directives. And signing statements. And there ain't a damn thing you or the Congress or anyone else can do about it. Because Dick wants George to be an Emperor, and y'all to be an Empire. An expensive enterprise, that. So far in human history, there's no nation that could ever really afford it.

Being an empire inevitably costs more than any one nation can produce, and its subjected sub-nations invariably hate the imposition, which usually leads to unrest, often civil war, and as long as it's an empire and handled militarily, rarely offers those riches and resources so desired by the invading powers.

So Pakistan, run by a military dictatorship, is actually "on the road to democracy"? And guess who's footing the bill for that democracy?

"Bush has been obligated by law since 2002 to issue waivers for most assistance to Pakistan, declaring that direct payments to Islamabad are in the U.S. national interest because they promote the transition to democratic rule. The officials familiar with the aid review conceded Musharraf's recent actions are at odds with the process of democratization but noted that unless Congress enacts new legislation or passes the new budget, the existing waivers continue to apply."

And the war in Iraq is also touted for promoting democracy. That's the whole point.

Building an empire. Democracy by force. And you pay ... or else...

Dalia Karpel Meets the Occupation: Her Riveting Story: "My God, What Did We Do?"

One night, Tamar Yarom was awakened by one of the soldiers in her unit. He said he wanted to show her something in the basement of the abandoned building where they were staying. "Before we opened the door, I heard this awful noise from a generator and there was a strong smell of diesel fuel. I saw a middle-aged Palestinian detainee lying with his head on the generator. His ear was pressed against the generator that was vibrating, and the guy's head was vibrating with it. His face was completely messed up. It amazed me that through all the blood and horror, you could still see the guy's expression and that's what stayed with me for years after - the look on his face." Yarom, now a film director, made two films following her army service as a mashakit tash (welfare officer) in an infantry company in the territories.

Read the rest...

"Aliens in America": Comic Diplomacy Trumps Guns ... Hopefully

In the war on terror, is there a more effective weapon in ... comedy? In a new sitcom on CW network, "Aliens in America," comedy wins.

An interview with "Mad About You" co-creator David Guarascio on the altmuslim website reveals how the show was conceived and ultimately became the first TV series with a lead character who is also a Muslim Pakistani teen in suburban America - and the whole thing actually succeeds in being funny. As Guarascio says,
"We also started talking about politics and the giant gap that exists between Americans and really the rest of the world, specifically the Muslim world. In that stew, we sort of came up with the idea for the show."

The "situation" involves "all the insecurities, anxieties, and nightmare experiences of high school" and the interviewer, Wajahat Ali, notes "the main character Justin Tolchuk, played by Dan Byrd, is one of the unluckiest and dorkiest teenagers I've seen on television in a long time." Guarascio describes him as "feeling like an alien in his own school."
"So, the idea is that we are all sort of aliens in one way or another."
The reaction from the American Muslim community has been very enthusiastic. As Guarascio reveals,
"The first results we usually get from Muslims is "thank you for doing a comedy," Nobody ever called MPAC with a comedy, usually it's very serious, a drama, not always terrorism, but always very, very serious. So, they said thank you for a comedy because it allows people to relax a bit and is a lot more inclusive, and more can identify with comedy than drama."
Interestingly, the idea for the main protaganist, Justin, comes from the experiences of Guarascio's co-creator for the show, Moses Port, who
"comes from a small town that is entirely Christian and he was just one of the couple of Jewish kids in his school. During Christmas time, the whole school would sing Christmas songs together, and they would put Moses and one other kid on stage to sing Hanukkah songs. So, he has distinctive feelings about being marked for his differences."
The feeling of being a stranger in a strange land could, through the universal medium of humor, bring together people who, in other circumstances, have been at war. The real war on terror is in breaking down the terror, the fear, the xenophobia, the ethnic prejudices on all sides. With comedy? Well, it's universal, it's a common language, it's not aggressive, it's compelling, and compared with the military weapons we've spent so much on, maybe it's more effective.
We need a surge of great universal sitcoms... right about now...
After all, America has successfully brought together vastly different people from clashing cultures to live together in relative peace in one society. The very charisma of that idea helps form the bond that keeps us together.
Maybe this comedy-to-peace thing should go farther. How about a surge of great universal sitcoms? ... once we get those explosives out of the way...

Omar Khadr Update

This from the ACLU:

"ACLU attorney Jamil Dakwar is in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba serving as a human rights observer at the hearing of a Canadian citizen named Omar Ahmed Khadr. Khadr was only 15 years old when he was captured by U.S. forces in Afghanistan. This is his third hearing; the first two resulted in the charges against him being thrown out.
After nearly six years of disarray and uncertainty about how to prosecute the 320 remaining prisoners being held at Guantánamo Bay, the U.S. government has failed to complete a single trial. As the prisoners continue to languish without being charged or tried, one thing remains crystal clear: We cannot arbitrarily detain prisoners, deny them access to lawyers, and hold them indefinitely.
It is also clear that Congress cannot continue to put off taking action, they need to close Guantánamo Bay, restore habeas corpus and repudiate torture once and for all. In the meantime, you and I cannot wait for a change in Congress or the White House to demand that our leaders fix the damage done to the Constitution, our freedoms and our most fundamental American values over the last seven years.
That’s why we’re asking ACLU members to bring the discussion about these vital issues to their friends and family by hosting a screening of the powerful documentary, "Ghosts of Abu Ghraib," on or before December 10, International Human Rights Day. Sign up to host a screening. "

P.S. You don't have to be an ACLU member to do this (I don't believe).

And this blockbuster from CTV:

Khadr legal team says eyewitness was 'buried'

"The defence team for Canadian Guantanamo Bay prisoner Omar Khadr said they have just recently been told about an eyewitness who could provide "exculpatory information."
The surprise announcement came after a U.S. military judge postponed making a decision on whether Khadr is subject to a war-crimes tribunal.
Upon arriving at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, defence lawyers for Khadr told reporters that there was an eyewitness to the 2002 firefight that led to Khadr being charged in the death of U.S. Army Sgt. Christopher Speer.
CTV's Lisa LaFlamme reported from Guantanamo Bay that the witness was a U.S. government employee, possibly a soldier.
Lt.-Cmdr. William Kuebler, Khadr's U.S. trial lawyer, told reporters Thursday that the government had known about the witness but had tried to bury him.
"It's an eyewitness that the government has always known about," said Kuebler.
"They weren't going to tell us who he was or how to get in touch with him or where he was. Their theory is that they've done their investigation and they've disclosed everything they have to disclose. And we don't necessarily have an entitlement to talk to people who were actually at the scene of the crime."
Khadr's defence team said they learned of the eyewitness only two days ago when they received disclosure prior to the appearance before a military tribunal.
"He's been in custody for how long? Coming up on six years?" asked Deputy Chief of Defence Mike Berringer. "How we can be on the eve of a hearing to determine his status, how we can have newly discovered evidence, is beyond me."
Meanwhile, Khadr's tribunal in Guantanamo Bay ended without a clear determination of his status.
The court is pondering the question of whether Khadr is an "alien unlawful enemy combatant."
"The judge decided to withhold that pending a Federal Court appeal," LaFlamme said Thursday.
In the end, Khadr was not arraigned. Instead, dates for December and January have been set to hear new pre-trial motions.
Khadr appeared relaxed during his hearing, telling the judge he was satisfied with his defence team.
Khadr was before the military judge for a pre-trial hearing as lawyers argued whether the U.S. Defence Department has the right to try him on charges of murder, attempted murder, conspiracy and spying.
Asked if he wanted to keep his current legal team -- a Pentagon-appointed lawyer and two civilian defence lawyers -- Khadr told the judge: "Yes, sir."
The 21-year-old entered the room dressed in a white uniform reserved for the most compliant prisoners.
He then sat unshackled with his legs crossed at the defence table, alongside his legal team.
Khadr is accused of killing Speer with a grenade during a firefight in Afghanistan on July 27, 2002 -- when he was 15.
In 2004, a military panel classified him as an "enemy combatant."
But because he wasn't classified as an "alien unlawful enemy combatant" -- required under rules written by Congress -- Col. Peter Brownback said last June that he had no choice but to throw the case out.
In September, a special military appeals court ruled that Brownback has the authority to determine whether Khadr was "unlawfully" fighting with the Taliban when Speer was killed.
Born in Canada, Khadr returned with his family to Pakistan and then travelled to Afghanistan as a child. He was captured at 15 at a suspected al Qaeda compound, badly wounded and blinded in one eye.

Despite Khadr's admission that he was satisfied with his legal team, Khadr's Canadian lawyer Dennis Edney said earlier Thursday that the trial was being manipulated.
He said Khadr is only able to choose between the prospect of representing himself or accepting a U.S. military system that's stacked against him.
Edney criticized his client's U.S. lawyer, Kuebler, saying his team was unprepared.
"The military defence team has not interviewed any of the prosecution's witnesses and only recently has looked at the disclosure -- notwithstanding that the prosecution team has been preparing for these days for the last two years," Edney told CTV's Canada AM on Thursday.
Edney also said Khadr's U.S. lawyer has no trial experience and only has a background in taxation law.
"The least you could provide him (Khadr) with is a competent lawyer familiar with the areas in which Mr. Khadr is charged," he said.

Edney has been barred from Thursday's arraignment because of his complaints about Kuebler.
"I think there's a concern that I would delay the process by advising the judge that first of all Mr. Khadr needs a psychiatric assessment to determine his fitness to stand trial," said Edney.
"You have to understand that Mr. Khadr has spent a quarter of his life in solitary confinement in that hellhole called Guantanamo Bay."
Edney's partner, lawyer Nate Whitling, did manage to meet with Khadr on Wednesday to explain that Edney would not be present today.

Meanwhile, Canada does have a representative at the base for the proceedings but officials are remaining very secretive, said LaFlamme.
"The Canadian government is the only Western nation that has done nothing to try to extradite their national from this prison," she said. "Every other country -- the U.K., Australia, New Zealand -- they've all reclaimed their detainees here at Guantanamo."
University of Toronto political scientist David Welsh criticized the military commissions at Guantanamo Bay saying that the detainees were not being treated with due process.
The U.S. have been "making it up as they go along," he said.
But Sgt. (Ret'd) Layne Morris, a former U.S. soldier injured in the 2002 firefight, said Thursday that he believes the evidence will be compelling.
"I think that's probably why those who would argue on behalf of Omar Khadr are so anxious to always go back and try and challenge the legal system and the circumstances of the trial because, to a certain extent, they think the outcome of this is probably inevitable," Morris told Canada AM.
Morris was left partially blind following the 2002 firefight. "

We hope that justice will prevail, but knowing the U.S. system on this, it's doubtful.

Peace Between the Semites: The Halloween Solution

First of all, OK, I know I'm late. But Mideast Peace is always late, so this should be appropriate.

Second of all, neither Israel nor the Palestinians (a people without a place) celebrate Halloween. But that's exactly what we need - an uninvolved 3rd party.

Third, Halloween is all about being scared, and the last thing we need more of in the Middle East is fear. Well, there's a huge difference between "being scared" and having your home bulldozed, your food supply and electricity cut off, and your ability to earn a living removed. What we need are more hobgoblins and Star Wars characters, less bloodbaths in the nursery. What we need is not a "Peace Talk" for Propaganda where nothing moves, nothing changes. What we need is a real costume party.

You see, it's all about make-believe, fake fears, and trust...

Now just imagine, for a moment, that your kids are in front of a house trick or treating. This requires a fair amount of trust. You trust that the house does not contain a man armed with an M-16 who will open the door and blow everybody's head off. You trust that the street also does not contain such men. In fact, you trust that the other children with your child are actual children, friends, not "enemy combatants", for example. And you trust that the candy is not poisoned.

The people in the house also trust that these children are not a come-on for some killers in the background. Or that they are not going to vandalize their house afterwards - or before. Or that they are not going to enter suddenly, by force, weilding knives or other weapons.

Normally, this trust is definitely kept. Halloweens come & go, mostly without incident. Incidents of a violent or other criminal nature are the rare exception. Parents take certain precautions, of course. But the level of trust is a sign of a relatively healthy society.

It's what you call neighbors, community... it's something Palestinians don't have much of, cross-nationally speaking. But they do have make-believe. And so do the Israelis. In fact, Israeli policy relies heavily on make-believe. The Israeli government is not a peace-maker, but plays one on TV.

They have no motive to make peace. Things are OK as is, apparently. Bush/Cheney have no intention of working on this thing. Giuliani, for one, doesn't see the "need" for a Palestinian state. The Israeli govt. has put peace on indefinite hold, and really doesn't give a damn. But one day, if doomsday prophesies are fulfilled (which we're plied with on Halloween) Israel may not even be able to exist with the power and might it now does - and Israelis and Palestinians may have to share shelters. So we need a little more, shall we say, empathy. Even fake empathy?

So when Palestinian civilians are killed in Israeli bombings, even in the Gaza, there should be a contingent of public Israelis wearing "tragedy" masks. And when a suicide bomber explodes in an Israeli marketplace and someone is killed, there should be also Palestinians wearing their "tragedy" masks. Of course, normally this would never happen, and both sides rarely feel for the other. But wearing the masks would put some make-believe into empathy.

And each side should don their "happy face" masks when the other has cause for celebration - that is, celebration that does not involve the thrill of revenge or the thrill of military/violent victory/conquest.

And when it comes to impossible "thorny" issues such as recognition of Israel - which they feel as preconditional endorsement of their own oppression with no promise of gain - or the Palestinians' right of return - which is seen on the other side as opening the Pandora's floodgate for a devastating influx of former refugees on an already strained system/infrastucture: well, in these two cases, each wears a "compromise" mask - a serious, but friendly face that shows willingness to consider the other sides' view.

And the media should only view the masks. Both sides' interests should receive equal coverage in all media. Palestinians whose homes were bulldozed should be allowed to air their grievances, and Israelis should wear their "tragedy" masks. It gives the impression of compassion, even if none is there.

And when it comes to collective punishment - tell me, what mask should the Israelis wear? And what mask should be worn when the Palestinians' home is bulldozed to clear the way for the Israeli settlers? And what mask should be worn by both sides when settlers move into what was once a Palestinian Semite's (and to the Nazis, btw, all Arabs were also "Juden") home in a nice new, much better Israeli home, after the pogrom? Shall the Palestinians wear "happy faces" welcoming their tormenters to their former piece of land, so they can wander looking for a place to "assimilate"? Does no one see the oppressed repeating his oppressor's crimes when he's in the driver's seat?

And what mask should be worn by the Israeli soldiers as they search and kill suspects in the Palestinian side, in their homes? What costume could terrify a Palestinian child more than that of an Israeli soldier? The blood, the death of people he knows are not make-believe.

We need more Star Wars costumes, less bayonets, less checkpoints, less militarism. We need more trust, more peace.

But peace is here only make-believe. And no mask can hide the glaringly obvious absence of conscience. Happy Halloween.

Hobgoblin NSPD-51 Meets Murphy's Law: Will There Even Be An Election?

Bridgethought of the Day: The most astounding and powerful things happen, and almost nobody notices. Until later, sometimes too late...

Let's see, it was just another day, another Presidential Decree... National Security Presidential Directive-51 (NSPD-51) and Homeland Security Presidential Directive 20 (HSPD-20), to be exact ... that was back on May , 2006 ... nobody noticed, but hey, ol' GWB just gave himself the right to declare martial law!

Yes, folks, just in case there should be a national emergency - something Bush, and Bush alone, can determine - then he can just up & declare it - and boom! Martial Law!

Now don't say it can't happen, because Bush/Cheney made it possible last May with the above-mentioned "Directive." And anything that's possible to happen ... oh, did you remember Murphy's Law? And what does that mean? And maybe that little gaff with Putin wasn't a "gaff" after all... maybe Bush just couldn't keep his trap shut...

So what's Martial Law? For starters it cancels the elections!

That's right. Puts elections on hold.

And what could be a better emergency than WWIII - or Nuclear war with Iran?

Do you see where I'm going with this? Ever wonder why Cheney/Bush and the neocons in general are so damn anxious to get into war, preferably nuclear war, with Iran??? I mean, it's not like we're overextended...

Well, why not so they can cancel the elections! And Republicans win! And that way, Hillary can't get elected. Because there won't be any elections. And Bush can say "I was right"... it's WWIII!

And if you're not up with that, may I suggest impeachment?? For survival's sake...

Ancient African Math/Science Shatters Stereotypes

Finally, more physical proof against the racist notion that Africans are culturally not all that science/math oriented, the old "dark Africa", "song-&-dance" routine. Thousands of books and manuscripts uncovered in what is now Mali, especially around Timbuktu, are just being studied, with stunning results: African scholars in an unfathomably wealthy civilization independently developing sophisticated math, astronomy, and other sciences, even while Europe was still crawling out of the Middle Ages...

From the world's oldest astronomical observatory to Timbuktu scholar Abul Abbas, who commented in 1723 on much earlier scholars' work in the same city - thus showing they were building an independent body of work (and whose conclusions show his lack of contact with, hence independence from, Europe), African mathematical and science achievements have heretofore been largely kept in the dark. All this, and so far only 14 out of more than 18,000 manuscripts have been translated and examined.
Let the racists read it and weep...

An article in the New Scientist (unless you subscribe, you can't get the full article though) reports the discovery and recent restoration and study projects of thousands of ancient manuscripts, called the Timbuktu or Mali Manuscripts, in/around Timbuktu, the site of an unfathomably wealthy, sophisticated civilization.


"In just a handful of the documents translated so far they have overturned the
received wisdom about early African science and astronomy. The scholars of
Timbuktu, they have discovered, were way ahead of their time."

In 1591, Moroccan invaders destroyed many documents and raided schools and universities in the city, mainly after their wealth. Much was lost, but there are still thousands of documents, many of them hidden in walls and tombs, which are only recently being restored and studied, in large part thanks to the renowned astrophysicist from S. Africa, Thebe Medupe.

In the 2003 documentary film Cosmic Africa, Medupe travels throughout Africa, visiting various indigenous societies seeking to find out their knowledge and understanding in the field of Astronomy. More recently, he has been working on the Timbuctu Manuscript project, teaming with other scientists to study the texts for knowledge of science and math. The results are astounding.

"We can now say with confidence that sub-Saharan Africans were studying math and science over 300 years ago," says Dr. Medupe.

Medupe himself is the motivating power behind what has become a rather sudden and stunning revelation of African intellectual achievement and advanced civilization, long buried under what he calls "Eurocentric" history. As he said in an interview,

"...when I was 15, I started to question why everything was Eurocentric.
Textbooks were using European things and so on. So I used to ask myself whether
it was because there was nothing Africa can offer. I refused to believe that. It
remained a very big question for me for a long time, until I came across a
review on African ethnoastronomy. I was very excited."

In making the film Cosmic Africa, he says:

We decided to select remote communities, where contact with the outside world
was minimal, but also living communities where you could clearly and graphically
show that astronomy was an important part of their lives. That's why we selected
the Bushmen, who live on the border of Botswana and Namibia, and the Dogon
people of Mali, West Africa. The Dogons still live the way they did 500 years
ago. They were dignified, and very hospitable. At the beginning, it was not easy
to get information from them — that's how they protect their culture from being
eroded. But once we won their trust, it was very pleasant to live among them.

We also read about a stone observatory—stone structures in the Sahara desert in
southern Egypt that were erected more than 6000 years ago; that's more than a
thousand years before the Pyramids. The stones were erected to mark the
directions of north and of the summer solstice sunrise.

One evening with the Dogons, I went with two old people to look at the stars. I
asked them what was the most important constellation for them. They said the
Pleiades, a star cluster, which is very important throughout the whole of
Africa, actually. The stars are used for planting and agriculture. I asked this
guy [for] positions of the stars, and he gave me the rising times and positions
at different times of the year. I checked with my laptop, and he was very much
correct. To me that proved he knew what he was talking about.

The Egyptian stones apparently contain alignments similar to those done a thousand or so years later at Stonehenge in Great Britain, but they are smaller in size. The Bushmen made out constellations just like the ancient Greeks and other peoples. To me, it shows the commonality between Africa and the rest of the world.

Medupe just discovered the tip of the great civilizations that were Africa, full and rich civilizations with original advancements in such fields as astronomy, mathematics, chemistry, medicine and climatology.

Timbuktu ... was one of the major cities of West Africa from 800 until just over
400 years ago. It was very prosperous, and had many learning centers, with
people collecting and writing books on law, poetry, astronomy, optics,
mathematics. This history of scholarship in Africa extended over large parts of
the continent. Ancient manuscripts are found all over West Africa and even in
East Africa. They are written in Arabic and in local African languages. ...In
Mali alone, there are around 200 private libraries, and literally hundreds of
thousands of books.

One of the sites featured in the film, Nabta Playa, is believed to be the world's earliest astronomical site.

The potential significance of Nabta as a ceremonial site was further
strengthened by the discovery of an arrangement of stone megaliths (large free
standing stones) on the western edge of the Nabta basin. Some of these stones
had been carefully shaped, and weighed up to one and a half tons. They appeared
to radiate out from a central point.

It is estimated that the Nabta site was built and used around 4800 B.C., and scientists say it shows evidence of having been used for astronomical purposes as well.

But most powerful in their refutation of the Eurocentric view of scientific development perhaps are the Mali manuscripts, some dating back 600 years, including beautifully drawn diagrams of the orbits of the planets in a geocentric universe, which demonstrate complex mathematical calculations and algorithms that were as accurate in some cases as anything we have today. And when as Muslims they needed to accurately determine the location of Timbuktu and Mecca, they surpassed the Greeks by inventing the functions of trigonometry.

This should be food for thought for the far right and racists, now apparently on the rise again, who try to delude the world into believing black intellectual and scientific accomplishment never existed or even cannot exist. But then, thought is something they avoid at all costs. And how can we expect non-thinking people to recognize higher intelligence?

David Horowitz Celebrates Racism: Margaret Kimberly Offers a Balance

I wanted to write much about the $15 million Horowitz-Coulter Fascist Let's-Make-More-Racists LuvFest promoting our New Gestapo Empire under the guise of demonizing Islam, but I ran into this great columnist...
and here's her column:

Christian/Jewish Fascism Awareness Week
by Margaret Kimberley (source: Black Agenda Report)
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Right wing propagandist David Horowitz has declared October 22nd through October 26th Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week. Horowitz is one of the biggest beneficiaries of right wing welfare, mostly from the hands of ultra-conservative foundations run by the Scaife and Bradley families. He has received more than $15 million in handouts to promote a white supremacist, pro-war agenda.
The current Horowitz obsession is focused on Islam and on keeping Americans whipped into a frenzy of fear and hatred against all Muslims. The very term Islamo-Fascism is a cynical creation of neoconservatives, designed to insure blind adherence to the Bush war on terror scheme.

The biggest perpetrators of terrorist acts are and always have been governments, not individuals of any religion. When the United States refers to "state sponsored" terror, it must be looking in the mirror. War is the very worst act of terror that can be practiced, giving governments permission to kill and commit brutal atrocities that would be loudly condemned if committed by individuals.

If the world's major religions are compared in terms of body count, it is clear that Islam should not be seen as the enemy. The two nations now in the fifth year of a plan to commit wars of aggression in the Middle East are Israel and the United States. If there should be warnings about particular religions and allegations of fascist connections, the perpetrators are Christianity and Judaism, not Islam.

It is manifestly unfair to label entire groups based on the behavior of a few. The Israeli lobby actively promotes war, but it can't be said that all American Jews are themselves pro-war. Around the world Bush is seen as the bogeyman representative of American Christianity. Many Christians may resent the verdict of guilt by association, but they would do well to remember that Muslims are also entitled to make their own pleas of individual innocence.

Instead Muslims are called upon to denounce any act of brutality committed by another Muslim, and to defend their religion from slanderous attacks. What is good for the Muslim goose, should also be good for the Christian and Jewish ganders. Therefore, October 22nd to October 26th in the year 2007 should also be known as Christian/Jewish Fascism Awareness Week.

The lawyers who wrote memos defending torture are all Jews and Christians, so are the members of Congress who advocate for endless warfare. All of the neocons who spent years plotting the occupation of Iraq and now the destruction of Iran are Christians or Jews. None are Muslim, nor are they atheist, agnostic, Baha'i, Zoroastrian, Buddhist, Hindu, or practitioners of Voodoo. All attend churches and synagogues and in fact brag about their religious piety.
Norman Podhoretz, father of neocondom, said of the prospect of bombing Iran, "I hope and pray we will...." Crackpot preacher Rev. John Hagee founded Christians United for Israel, whose sole reason for existing is to guarantee the killing of thousands of Iranians. Hagee wants war and wants Bush to start it whenever he feels like it. "We do not have a declaration of war for Iraq, and neither does the president need one to expand it into Iran." Giving political leaders permission to kill as they please is Fascism 101.

Horowitz and his gang have carried out a very sinister plan. They fit the description of fascists to a T. They believe in endless wars of aggression, the destruction of the last vestiges of civil liberties, and subservience to a corporate power. Yet they have succeeded in wielding the epithet of fascism because of Democratic party treason to Bush, a corporate media that deliberately withholds information from the public, and the apathy and confusion that dominate American life.

Americans do need to be aware of a fascist threat, a threat that comes straight from the White House, Wall Street, and the halls of Congress. It can only be fought if its presence is acknowledged and if citizens know that they still have the power to stop it.

Politicians will be of no help in this struggle. Looking to them for salvation is useless when they are in fact the source of the problem. The Democratic congressional victory is nearly one year old and has yielded nothing but one victory after another for the Bush regime.

In a little more than a year, November 4, 2008, a new president will be elected. Another Fascism Awareness Week should be declared at that time. It should be declared to remind us that the fight to maintain democracy will not end with George W. Bush. That is the awareness we really need now.

(Ms. Kimberley' maintains an edifying and frequently updated blog at freedomrider.blogspot.com. More of her work is also available at her Black Agenda Report archive page.)

Civil Extermination: Mob Justice or Justified Security?

"Almost God." Except that God is supposedly just. Now we have Israel cutting off electricity and food supplies to the people and families residing in Gaza in retaliation for rockets fired into Israel from the same area. The Israeli government justifies these measures as necessary security to put an end to the rockets, stating that families in Gaza "harbor" the "terrorists" who shot the rockets in the first place.

Congratulations, Israel. You have the power to confer life and death. And what better way to show off that power, and thus impress and hence deter your enemies, than by giving the civilian population under your thumb a slow "almost death", plunging them into the nether world of neither being exactly alive nor being exactly dead?

You know that "terrorists" have families, and those families must be punished for the crimes of their rocket-launching relatives. And nobody's saying the Palestinians in Gaza are drowning in tears over the Israelis' terror. So what's there to lose? The Mafia used this technique with success - i.e., punishing the families of those who do them wrong - so why not Israel? Why isn't the greater purpose of Israel's protection enough justification for applying mob justice?

Of course, we all hear "there will be international outcry." But who gives a damn about the so-called "international outcry"? Israel is a sovereign state, unlike that gulag archipelago commonly referred to as "Palestine" or "the territories". Nobody has the right to mess with Israel. Nobody has the right to criticize a sovereign state doing what it sees fit to solve a problem involving its own security.

Same law applies to, of course, to all sovereign states, such as the U.S. Nobody has the right to tell the U.S. it shouldn't invade Iraq to take their oil or force democracy on them against their will (as if that was even a logical premise for any reasonable creature to discuss), since they are a sovereign state and invading Iraq was essential to U.S. security. And nobody has the right to tell Burma not to make dissidents disappear the way they see fit to protect their own security, which is clearly threatened by these dissidents, monks or otherwise. Nobody has the right to tell oppressors not to oppress, and nobody has the right to tell invaders not to invade, or the right to tell racists, such as the janjaweed in Darfur, not to exterminate the population they want to loot, rape, pillage, then kill off, and finally subjugate. That is, if the oppressors, invaders, and exterminators happen to be "sovereign states". Like the U.S., like Burma, like Sudan.

Unless, of course, you're a superpower or in the "superpower loop". In which case you have the right to do whatever you damn well want to do, and the whole world be damned. No wonder former Mexican President Vicente Fox referred to Pres. George W. Bush as "cocky". That's the superpower perk. So GW is "cocky", and so is Israel. Compassion is old-think. Aggression and pre-emption and Mob justice is new-think.

And another superpower perk is being able to declare nations as "rogue", "evil" or "terrorism-sponsoring", thus cancelling their above-mentioned rights as "sovereign states" to do whatever the hell they want to do. So Iran doesn't get those "rights". We can condemn Iran. We impose sanctions. And Iraq, pre-invasion Iraq, was also condemned, hence opening the door to invasion, war, and occupation. Their status as a sovereign state was basically cancelled by the Superpower. We call the shots. We name the nations that get left alone, and the nations that get crushed. Baddest guys on the block. We are the sovereign of all sovereign nations.

So back to Israel and its mob justice in cutting off lifeline supplies to Gaza. You see, the Palestinians in Gaza are NOT a sovereign state. They have no rights. Their livelihoods have already been cut off, and they are in a state of poverty and dire need. Compared to the Israelis, who are in many ways on a roll. Nobody recognizes the Palestinians, their government, their right to exist or even live. They are definitely OUT of the Superpower loop.

They are relegated to the term "terrorists", which is the lowest of the low in terms of status. It means one can be picked up and jailed at the slightest provocation. It means one is essentially not human. So cutting off their power or food is not inhumane. And Israel would NEVER do this to a large community of animals, would they? But terrorists do not have the rights accorded to animals. And all Palestinians, including infants and children, are, at least in Gaza, terrorists. It's a form of civil extermination. You exterminate their right to self-determination, even insomuch as it means going out and making a living, or keeping one's family alive by one's own efforts.

Perhaps one can imagine why Palestinians are reluctant to recognize Israel. All they have in defense of their own right to exist as a people is their right to say "no" to oppression. And the right to oppress is afforded to sovereign states. So if they recognize Israel's sovereignty, then they are recognizing Israel's right to oppress and subjugate them and bulldoze their dignity beyond recognition. Would you, in their shoes, be ready for that?

On a more pragmatic note, will this tactic work like it worked for the great Mafia? Will it silence the rockets and attacks on Israel? In the short term, we'll see. In the long term, not a chance in hell. Life, especially human life, just don't work that way. Not in Burma, not in Sudan, not in the American south of yesteryear (or still?), and not even in Israel.

Nobody is "almost God." God always takes responsibility for His actions.

The Right-Wing Extremist in the Heart of the Left

Peace between Israel and Palestine is universally agreed to be the cornerstone to stability and security in the entire Middle East region. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is universally seen as the source and fuel for all other mideast crises - crises so bad many feel they could, or inevitably will, lead to Armageddon...

And yet no reasonable, logical, or even compassionate path to that peace is ever considered. Seriously. By the people that count. By the players.

According to polls, people in both Israel and Palestine want peace. They are ready to compromise to reach it. A majority feel a 2-state solution is the best under the circumstances to resolve the demands of both sides.

When someone says "two states" you think of two contiguous entities. You do not think of one powerful, homogeneous and contiguous entity, and another set of archipelagoes connected by "corridors" and "checkpoints". Who would want that? Who wants their country, be it Israel or Palestine, to forever take on the color and flavor of occupation? Who wants that "war zone feel" or "checkpoint atmosphere" forever in his backyard?

When one thinks of "solution", one thinks of something people can live with realistically for the long term. Then there has to be some human element taken into account. It can't be based on fantasy alone. It must have something to do with people and families on the ground.

It can't work when Palestinians are exclusively called "terrorists". When Israelis are given a carte blanche to do whatever they want with the "terrorists". Because "terrorists" are never human beings. Note the label "enemy combatants". The purpose of this label is to dehumanize the labelees. It makes them non-human. They're not "one of us" in any shape or form, and so we can do anything to them. Torture can be redefined. In the same way, calling Hamas or Palestinians in general "terrorists" precludes having to think about their side of issues. They are, in that case, not really people at all, but an "enemy" to be "combatted". And in the world of "combat", anything goes.

Top former U.S. officials have sent a letter to President Bush strongly urging that the U.S. have "genuine dialogue" with Hamas, the democratically-elected government of the Palestinian Authority. Of course, we all know the official U.S. position is that Hamas is "technically" a "terrorist" organization, and therefore, we cannot talk to them.

This is extremely stupid, and will do absolutely nothing good. Hamas is not the sort of organization pictured in such films as "Air Force One". But people are acting as if it is. They are not trying to kill children or threatening our way of life. They simply want to represent their people, and their people's dignity, humanity, and freedom - and ability to actually live. That is really being called into question. Not talking to people means we don't consider their humanity at all. We consider them as non-entities.

You can't make peace with non-entities.

So the Israeli and Palestinian people will never get what they want, as long as the right-wing Israeli in our foreign policy is King of the Hill. Democrats also have this right-wing thing in their hearts - they fear the spear. Saying in any way, shape or form "no" to Childe Israel, that petulant kid who always gets his way, is a sure way to political death in the U.S. So what drives U.S. policy is not the American, Israeli or Palestinian people, their desires or needs. No. It's what some Zionist right-wing Israelis want to be truth by fantasy. And that means getting their way.

Logic, reason, and compassion be damned.

Betrayal: The "Peace Process" Moves On Forked Roads

Bridgethought of the Day: Native Americans used to say of the Europeans when they invaded their lands, "White man speaks with forked tongue." Now when Israel moves into Palestinian lands, they follow a forked road: one for propaganda purposes, the other for their own purposes which do not involve giving the Palestinians their own "contiguous" state, let alone a "right of return".

That kind of "peace process" is a roadmap to nowhere. Well, not exactly nowhere. It's a roadmap to disaster. Hello, genocide. Hello, oppression. Hello, war without end. Goodbye, compromise. Welcome to Mideast Security Hell.

Now we have former President Jimmy Carter taking the undeniably brave stand of telling it like it is vis-a-vis Israel and the Palestinians. He said to Amy Goodman regarding his book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid,

“The word ‘apartheid’ is exactly accurate. This is an area that’s occupied by two powers. They are now completely separated. Palestinians can’t even ride on the same roads that the Israelis have created or built in Palestinian territory. The Israelis never see a Palestinian, except the Israeli soldiers. The Palestinians never see an Israeli, except at a distance, except the Israeli soldiers. So within Palestinian territory, they are absolutely and totally separated, much worse than they were in South Africa, by the way. And the other thing is, the other definition of ‘apartheid’ is, one side dominates the other. And the Israelis completely dominate the life of the Palestinian people.”
Carter lays much of the blame for the lack of momentum toward a solution on the absence of debate in the U.S.: “It’s a terrible human rights persecution that far transcends what any outsider would imagine. And there are powerful political forces in America that prevent any objective analysis of the problem in the Holy Land. I think it’s accurate to say that not a single member of Congress with whom I’m familiar would possibly speak out and call for Israel to withdraw to their legal boundaries or to publicize the plight of the Palestinians or even to call publicly and repeatedly for good-faith peace talks.”

That's nothing new, either. This is the policy of the United States since Israel was formed. The difference being that after so many years, the obvious apartheid and oppression have only increased, not mitigated. The Israelis are acting like the National Socialists who once oppressed them, not at all like people with a "higher moral authority" driving their actions. Oppression is nasty. Oppression is bad. It's evil. It's wrong. Face it.

There is no motivation for Israel to shape up, either. The Palestinians have very weak and inappropriate "supporters" indeed in the Arabs. The totalitarian dictatorships that make up Syria, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and previously Iraq - now replaced by a Disaster Area in Explosive Phase One - were perfectly content to buy off Yasser Arafat with bucks which he fed to his cronies, wife, and God only knows what else, but certainly did no good to the Palestinian people.

The money and oil such governments have are, in their view, nothing more than pocket money to spend on personal luxuries and pet fantasies. Like the fantasy of Prince Bandar who loves to promote himself as a "friend to Presidents" and a power-broker in the superpower game of chess, wherein Palestinians are mere pawns.

Meanwhile, Israel is secretly implementing another plan to divide Palestinian territory into little pieces of a land-locked archepelago joined by roads over which they have no control. Who cares? Palestinians are a topic that's verboten here. No politician in his right mind will touch it. They are supposedly "untouchables". And so here are the results:

(Source: http://www.btselem.org/English/)
When the Roadmap to Peace has to be paved by Palestinian bodies - men, women and children - what kind of peace, really, is at the end of that supposed Road? Since when was peace or democracy achieved by force, at gunpoint? When did ethnic cleansing become acceptable international policy? Obviously, the U.S. govt. is cool with it. But it never did, and never will, achieve any kind of peace. And peace and security are 2 sides of the same coin. Security doesn't mean war, guns & checkpoints. It means trust.

Try building trust at the end of a gunbarrel. Or a bulldozer. Or try depriving families of water, electricity and food. That ought to create a lot of trust.

There really is no roadmap to peace right now. What they're talking about is a forked road: one road to Israel, and the other road to a junkyard of flammable, volatile human debris. But that's just talk. In truth, neither the Israelis nor the Palestinians want hatred, distrust, and failure. So why do the power-brokers, the Israelis with their Superpower pals, keep traveling in that direction?

Bush Torture Policy Showcases Totalitarian Leanings

A totalitarian America: Couldn't happen here?

Take a look at how American adopted its secret torture policy and think twice.

It's Cheney/Bush again, consolidating executive power, eliminating checks & balances, signing secret executive orders, circumventing Congress, the Constitution and International Law, re-writing the meaning of legal terms that restrict their agenda, obfuscating and propagandizing like hell to keep the public completely in the dark and punishing anyone who dares move them toward accountability - in general, behaving like any totalitarian, Machiavellian dictatorship.

Sans open repression. Sans martial law, at least for now - the latter having been opened as an Executive Privilege, hence possibility, by one of those fanfare-free "Presidential Directives" that zipped out past the celbrity-dazed public and their attendant media ... all looking at everything, anything, but this...


According to the latest New York Times expose, once Cheney/Bush got the itch to torture as a supposed weapon in the so-called "war on terror", they were unstoppable.

Not the legislative branch - who's gonna tell Congress? - not the judicial branch - thanks to Ashcroft, Gonzales & other cronies; not the Constitution, not democratic tradition, and not, certainly not, international law or those pesky Geneva Conventions - No, none of these could get in the way of the Cheney/Bush torture agenda.

And not being familiar with torture, the CIA went straight to the experts in Egypt & Saudi Arabia for advice & guidance. Totalitarianism is a learned skill, apparently.

The McCain anti-torture bill (McCain’s Detainee Treatment Act), after much blitz, was a wash after the bite-numbing afterthought at the end basically saying to the CIA, who were conducting the torture in the first place, "Guys, gee, we're not saying that what you did was against the law!" Thus, creating of an anti-torture bill another useless piece of paper, in the long series of useless congressionally-inspired pieces of paper.

Notice the trend: Congress' pieces of paper get shunted, vetoed or nullified in the form of lesser-known addendum; Bush/Cheney's pieces of paper become the Law of the Land. That's why We the People get this feeling of overwhelming powerlessness. It's called Fascist Creep or Totalitarian Cancer. It starts with a few signing statements and Presidential directives and, before you know it, maybe even before our much-anticipated general presidential elections (!), you've got martial law... and nuclear war! And... the United States run by a closet King, the invisible strongman Cheney and his sidekick signer, known affectionately as "W".

Are you afraid for democracy yet?

No, we should fear the terrorists...?,,, Don't we need torture to stop them from taking away our democracy and freedom? Aside from the well-proven fact that torture fails to effectively obtain good intelligence and only exacerbates the problems that led to terrorism in the first place - aside from this, torture also makes what we call "detainees", who have never been given due process, potentially INNOCENT VICTIMS. They were arrested in other countries, accused of crimes not clearly defined, and given no due process, here or in their home countries, and essentially stripped of their humanity based on suspicion or accusation only.

Presumably, this policy has been blessed with the Holy Advice of our ever-present backroom Advisor in All Things Foreign & Terror-related, namely Israel, in order to "win the war". Israel, sitting on a time-bomb for 60 years and all they've won is a lot of neighbors who are either totalitarian or hate Israel or both, is still considered the Grand Master in the field of anti-terrorism. So we can look forward to more wars and more total failure in the field of international relations. Thanks to their uncompromising Principles: both Bush/Cheney and Israel share a strong belief in Goliath's First Commandment: Thou Shalt Not Engage in Diplomacy.

Of course, when was the fear of oppressing innocent victims ever a major concern in international relations? If it was, would torture even be "on the table"? The only second thoughts anyone seems to be having is reflected in the final line of the NYT article: "what happens when one of our people is captured and they do it to him?"

But if we were really afraid of losing democracy, then we should pay more attention to how Bush/Cheney are gaining the power to break the law in spite of the will of the American people - or even the will of people of the world... or worse yet, lose the very freedom & democracy we're supposedly torturing potentially innocent people to gain.

Consider impeachment seriously. So we can have another election before Armageddon...

Would You Buy a Nuclear War from This Man?

I want to nuke 'em, I want to nuke 'em NOW!

No? Well, congratulations! You already have! He's convinced Sweet Oxy-Condi to tag along on the nuke bandwagon, and pretty soon you, O Taxpayer of Little Faith, will be the proud owner of your Very Own Nuclear War! With that country about which I'm sure you know a whole hell of a lot, and for whom you feel the utmost ire & enmity, Iran!

Here's a slightly edited and worth-perusing excerpt from the "DownsizeDC" group, normally a libertarian group that endorses Ron Paul, is not so hot about socialized medicine, but really has it on the money on a number of issues, including the Department of Homeland Security and Patriot Act, two "Essentially Cheney" creations that really express his line of thinking ... and the American taxpayers are the catwalk!

Here's an area where both left, right, and middle may agree: duh... going to Armageddon and killing civilians unnecessarily is NOT a good policy.

"URGENT ACTION REQUIRED!

Subject: The immediate mortal danger of attacking Iran

There is increasing evidence that President Bush intends to bomb Iran. This would . . .

• Reverse the progress we have made with Iranian public opinion

• Further entrench the "hardliners" in the Iranian regime

• Further radicalize the Muslim population across the Middle East

• Recruit countless numbers of new terrorists
• Place us in a state of irreversible war with Iran and its people
• Threaten oil shipments from the Persian gulf

(Why would a Big Oil Administration want to threaten oil shipments?? Must be something even Bigger than Big Oil!)

(Regarding "radicalizing" - unlike the writer, I believe this is really alienating Muslims from a sense of free participation in world events, the response to which is to take action to "participate" from the "outside" - which is where they have been pushed. It becomes a case of Us vs. Them - and guess who started this? Us, of course! it's not "blowback" - it's just participation by those who are denied participation - by force, on both sides...)

The combined impact would be to destabilize the entire region, fostering bin Laden's goal of creating radical Islamist regimes throughout the area. Most chilling is the potential impact on Pakistan. If Pakistan's population becomes further radicalized because of U.S. attacks against Muslims the result could be the creation of an Islamist regime. Pakistan already has nuclear weapons, and elements of Pakistan's security service has close ties to the Taliban and Al Qaeda, dating back to the war against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan.

If President Bush bombs Iran the result could be exactly what he thinks he's trying to prevent -- nuclear weapons in the hands of terrorists. In addition, bombing Iran could slow that country's nuclear program, but it would not stop it. The Iranians could just begin again, with more secure underground sites, just like the Nazis did in response to allied bombing during World War II.

What would we do then? Use nuclear weapons? Vice President Cheney is said to already favor this!


There is nothing to be gained by bombing Iran, and everything to be lost. And yet, there are more and more reports that President Bush plans to attack Iran before he leaves office.


Worse yet, he already has Congressional authorization to do so because of the loose wording of previous war authorizations resolutions.


The whole world is at the mercy of President Bush's notoriously bad judgment, unless ALL OF US take action to constrain him. There is something we can do, in the short term, to stop an attack, and many things we can do in the long term to stabilize the situation and bring lasting security.In the short term . . .

• We must demand that Congress pass a resolution prohibiting an attack


• We must demand this of the Democrats even if the Republicans would resist


• We must focus extreme pressure on Congressional leaders Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid


• We must work to turn key Republicans in the House, and especially the Senate


• We must recruit more people to apply more pressure
  

Even if all we got was a majority vote in the House, because the Republicans blocked action in the Senate, that might be enough to stay the President's hand.

For the long term . . .We must compel Congress to recognize the truth of what Congressman Ron Paul and official reports of the C.I.A. and the Pentagon assert. Blowback against U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East is the main problem, which means pullback is the answer.


We must eliminate our footprint in Islamic countries. When we do that the process of radicalization will recede. This is the best path to peace and security for the American people. Specifically . . .

• We should exit Iraq, leaving the surrounding Islamic countries to create a settlement there


• We should renounce pre-emptive war and regime change, and adopt a policy of retaliatory deterrence
  
• We should recognize the government of Iran and establish formal relations with it


• We should apologize directly to the Iranian people for the 1953 C.I.A. coup and our support of the Shah


• We should lift trade sanctions on Iran to foster civil society there as a balance against extremism
  

Many facts form the basis of our proposals . . .We have a history of regime change in the Middle East, and especially Iran. We overthrew a democratic and secular Iranian government in 1953, and established the tyrannical Shah. The Iranians remember this. We have also just changed the regime in Iraq and placed Iran on the same target list.

Given these facts . . .You would want a nuclear weapon too, if you were part of the Iranian government!

We must take every possible step to make the Iranian regime feel secure, no matter how much we may dislike their form of government. It is possible . . .

• The Iranian government has repeatedly said that the main thing it wants from the U.S. is respect


• The Iranians have offered to defund Hezbollah as part of a broader settlement with the U.S.


• The Iranians have offered to help us against the Taliban in Afghanistan, which they also dislike


• The Afghanistan government favors Iranian aid against the Taliban, but we have blocked it.


• Our government has repeatedly snubbed Iranian overtures. We must stop doing this.

We recognized and negotiated with the Communists in China and the Soviet Union to good result, and we can do the same with the Iranians. We must remove the MOTIVATION for the Iranian government to develop nuclear weapons, and give them strong incentives for peaceful relations!

We must also bolster our relationship with the Iranian people. They have come to dislike their own government and are tending to have a neutral or even positive opinion of the U.S. After the 9-11 attack Iranians flooded the streets, demonstrating in support of America.

Bombing Iran would once again make us the enemy in the eyes of the Iranian people, when instead we could restore and foster their good opinion of us. It is important to repeat that we can do this by . . .

• Taking Iran off our enemies list
  
• Apologizing loudly and publicly for the 1953 coup and our support of the Shah


• Lifting trade sanctions!

Trade sanctions do not work. They cripple civil society and permit oppressive regimes to blame their own failings on foreign powers. They are counterproductive. We should end the sanctions unilaterally and bring Iran into the world community.
We have it in our power to enhance the peace and security of the whole world. All we have to do is stop provoking people. This does not mean that the radicals will stand down, but it does mean that the process of radicalization will slow, and perhaps even stop. But first . . .We must prevent an attack on Iran. Here's what we need to do . . .

• Send a message to Congress demanding a resolution prohibiting an attack


• Call the offices of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid and demand a vote on this issue


• Call Nancy Pelosi at this number: 202-225-4965


• Call Harry Reid at this number: 202-224-3542
  
• If one or more of your Senators are Republicans, call them too

Pelosi and Reid are blocking a vote on this issue because they're afraid of appearing soft. We must give them the courage to do the right thing. Republicans in the Senate are the key to getting a vote in that chamber. We must make them fear public opinion. * Send your message to Congress*

Note: There are many movements against bombing Iran, notably also Gen. Wes Clark's. Why don't these all join together in one big anti-bombing bloc??????