May 2009 archive

Crossposted from Antemedius

The picture at left,  from The First Statement of David Hicks,  at  the UC Davis Center for the Study of Human Rights in the Americas, depicts an Immediate (or Initial)  Reaction Force (IRF) training exercise, demonstrating the manner and formation in which an IRF team would rush at a detainee, slamming the detainee to the ground. Normally, however, members of the team would be wearing body armour, helmets and shin guards,  and would be accompanied by dogs.

‘Soon after arriving at Guantanamo Bay, it became apparent that physical force would be used against the detainees. This was done most openly by the Initial Reaction Force (“IRF”), which consisted of a group of approximately half a dozen soldiers, wearing body armour, helmets and shin guards, and carrying shields and accompanied by dogs. The IRF team would rush in to a cell and slam the detainee to the ground, at which point, in the majority of cases, the soldiers would also strike or kick the detainee”, said Hicks in his opening statements taken from an affidavit filed in the United Kingdom in support of his efforts to retain his British citizenship, in that article.

The remainder of David Hicks  ‘first statement’ goes on to describe much worse treatment of Guantanamo detainees.

I also witnessed many other types of physical abuse of the detainees. I witnessed a Saudi detainee being beaten by an Army guard while at Camp X-Ray. The Saudi, whose name is Jumma, was arguing with a guard by the name of Smith, who was a member of the IRF team and wore kneepads and IRF gear. This incident happened close to when I was transferred from X-Ray to Camp Delta. Jumma was ordered to lie on his stomach in his cell. Jumma lay down as ordered, but continued to argue with Smith, who became very angry, jumped up and came down with his knees on Jumma’s back. Smith then grabbed Jumma by the head and slammed his face into the concrete 10 to 20 times.

Amid all the various woes and glooms about the state of journalism today, a bright spot has appeared.

Sanctuary, a wonderful blog whose editors represent the cutting edge when it comes to work on educating and enlightening folks on migrant issues, is to receive the NAM journalism award for journalism in ethnic media.

If you have a chance, go over and give them some love and congratulations.

If you want to know why they’ve received the award, I suggest you read this outstanding post, written by the Editors, entitled The Luis Ramirez Murder: A Logical Step in the Process of Establishing a Subhuman Class.

These writers are changing the face of journalism — individual bloggers who got together and pooled their talents to create something new in the world.

Congratulations to Nezua, Kyle, Duke, Edmundo, Kai and Kety.

Torture Is A Crime  

CIA Chief Rebuts Pelosi’s Charges

Panetta Says Lawmakers Were Told About Use of Interrogation Methods

By Perry Bacon Jr. and Joby Warrick

Washington Post Staff Writers

Saturday, May 16, 2009

CIA Director Leon Panetta yesterday rejected  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s charge that the agency misled her about its use of coercive interrogation methods, escalating a controversy that has dogged the speaker for weeks and intensifying a debate over Bush administration policies that the Obama administration has tried to avoid.

Panetta, whom President Obama tapped to lead the CIA this year, reasserted the agency’s claim that it told congressional leaders about the use of such methods during a closed-door briefing in September 2002.

Pelosi (D-Calif.) has acknowledged attending the briefing but says she was told only that the CIA was considering the use of waterboarding, a technique that simulates drowning.

Rumsfeld’s renegade unit blamed for Afghan deaths

Special Forces group implicated in three incidents that claimed the lives of hundreds of innocent civilians / MarSOC was set up by former defence secretary despite opposition from within the Marine Corps

By Jerome Starkey in Kabul

Saturday, 16 May 2009

A single American Special Forces group was behind at least three of Afghanistan’s worst civilian casualty incidents, The Independent has learnt, raising fundamental questions about their ongoing role in the conflict.

Troops from the US Marines Corps’ Special Operations Command, or MarSOC, were responsible for calling in air strikes in Bala Boluk, in Farah, last week – believed to have killed more than 140 men, women and children – as well as two other incidents in 2007 and 2008. News of MarSOC’s involvement in the three incidents comes just days after a Special Forces expert, Lieutenant-General Stanley McChrystal, was named to take over as the top commander of US and Nato troops in Afghanistan. His surprise appointment has prompted speculation that commando counterinsurgency missions will increase in the battle to beat the Taliban.

USA

The machinery behind health-care reform

Lobbyists score unexpected victory channeling billions to electronic records

By Robert O’Harrow Jr.

Washington Post Staff Writer

WASHINGTON – When President Obama won approval for his $787 billion stimulus package in February, large sections of the 407-page bill focused on a push for new technology that would not stimulate the economy for years.

The inclusion of as much as $36.5 billion in spending to create a nationwide network of electronic health records fulfilled one of Obama’s key campaign promises — to launch the reform of America’s costly health-care system.

But it was more than a political victory for the new administration. It also represented a triumph for an influential trade group whose members now stand to gain billions in taxpayer dollars.

Smooth Tunes

WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN SMOKING?

A Gifu man who admitted to a judge that he stole 229 comic books “to pay off debts and buy marijuana” was told by the jurist that he was baka (basically, “an idiot”). Gotta agree with the judge in this case.

It was discovered that the DNA of a 62-year-old man serving a life sentence for killing a toddler in 1990 in Tochigi Prefecture does not match the DNA samples found on the victim.

An unmanned rail carriage in Mie traveled nearly 10 km after the driver got out at a station and forgot to apply the parking brake. The “ghost train” cruised past three stations and 23 crossings before finally coming to a halt.

A group of women in Yokohama who are separated from abusive husbands went to court in a bid to stop the men from receiving the government cash handouts intended for them.

A new bill is in the works that will allow children under the age of 15 to become organ donors.

A total of ¥70 million has been earmarked by the Justice Ministry for a job database that can be accessed by former jailbirds and juvenile delinquents.

A headline in The Japan Times claimed that “Dutch Kids are Happiest in Europe; Brits Rank Among Most Miserable.” Hmmm … one place has legal weed and hookers, and the other has bad food, bad weather and the British Royal Family… go figure.

Despite claims of huge emissions cuts during production, the Fair Trade Commission said that a new line of fridges put out by Hitachi were not quite as eco-friendly as they were being billed.

I’ve been spending quite a while following certain events, news, and writers on the issue of torture.  I’ve written some essays, poems and comments as well, but looking back there’s a real beginning for me on this and that was getting involved in the Special Prosecutor Project and the view I got from that, way more than anything I’ve written.

Seeing Bob Fertik post a question at Obama’s .gov website and then seeing George Stephanopolous ask Obama the question on teevee.  That was quite an amazing experience.

This effort was driven by so many different groups of people, from all areas of the political spectrum.  From my corner of the liberal world, I paid particular attention to the ACLU and the Center for Constitutional Rights, and, of course various bloggers who educated me on not only the facts but the politics and political strategies of confronting the issue of torture.

This week there’s been an explosion of traditional media attention on this issue.  From Nancy Pelosi’s involvement, dragged into the fray by the Republicans and the CIA, to the Whitehouse Judiciary subcommittee hearings earlier this week where I had the interesting experience of seeing Lindsay Graham literally speaking out of both sides of his mouth, to the controversy over Obama deciding to fight the release of the DOD torture pictures, everyone’s chattering now.

I’ve also seen this issue covered very differently in the diversosphere, where torture is not the top story for those who have had to face this kind of behavior by the USA for generations.  That view is stunningly different.

In some ways the moral high ground on this issue is clear — torture is wrong.

In other ways, the moral high ground is bitterly contested.

(Crossposted from Free Speech Zone where it is un-cut)

(Part 4 of a 13 part series)

VOTED NAY on Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009

http://www.senate.gov/legislat…

Current Office: U.S. Senate

Seniority: Senior Seat

First Elected: 2000

Last Elected: 11/07/2006

Next Election: 2012

Party: Democratic

Background Information

Gender: Male

Family: Wife: Martha Ann

2 Children: Benjamin, Christopher.

Birth Date: 01/23/1947

Birthplace: Beckley, WV

Home City: Wilmington, DE

Religion: Presbyterian

Education:

MBA, University of Delaware, 1975

BA, Economics, Ohio State University, 1968.



Professional Experience:

Captain, United States Navy/United States Naval Reserves, Vietnam, 1968-1992

Industrial Development Specialist, Delaware Division of Economic Development, 1975-1976.

Political Experience:

Senator, United States Senate, 2001-present

Deputy Minority Whip, United States Senate, 2004

Governor, State of Delaware, 1992-2000

Representative, United States House of Representatives, 1982-1992

Treasurer, State of Delaware, 1976-1982.

Organizations:

Vice Chair, Board of Directors, American Legacy Foundation

American Legion

Member, Amtrak Board of Directors, 1994-1998

Chair, Executive Board, Board of Jobs for America’s Graduates

Common Cause

Veterans of Foreign Wars

Vietnam Veterans of America.

Caucuses/Non-Legislative Committees:

Chair, National Governors’ Association Center for Best Practices, 2000-2001

Democratic Policy Committee

Trustee, Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee

Senate Centrist Coalition

Co-Chair, Senate New Democrat Coalition.

1. The NY Times reports Afghan villagers describe chaos of U.S. strikes. “The number of civilians killed by the American airstrikes in Farah Province last week may never be fully known. But villagers, including two girls recovering from burn wounds, described devastation that officials and human rights workers are calling the worst episode of civilian casualties in eight years of war in Afghanistan.”

   “We were very nervous and afraid and my mother said, ‘Come quickly, we will go somewhere and we will be safe,’ ” said Tillah, 12, recounting from a hospital bed how women and children fled the bombing by taking refuge in a large compound, which was then hit.

   The bombs were so powerful that people were ripped to shreds. Survivors said they collected only pieces of bodies. Several villagers said that they could not distinguish all of the dead and that they never found some of their relatives…

   Tillah, the 12-year-old girl, whose face bears the scars of a scorching blast, still twisted in pain from the burning in her leg at the provincial hospital in Herat, where she and other survivors were taken to a special burn unit. Her two sisters, Freshta, 5, and Nuria, 7, were barely visible under the bandages swathing their heads and limbs.

   The three girls were visiting their aunt’s house with their mother when a plane bombed the nearby mosque, around 8 p.m., Tillah said. That is when they fled to Said Naeem’s seven-room home.

   “When we reached there we felt safe and I fell asleep,” Tillah said. She said she heard the buzzing noise of a plane, but then only remembers coming to when someone pulled her from the rubble the next morning.

   A second girl, Nazo, 9, beside her in another hospital bed, said she saw two red flashes in the courtyard that kicked up dust seconds before the explosion.

   “I heard a loud explosion and the compound was burning and the roof fell in,” she said.

   The Obama administration “deeply, deeply regrets” the loss of life, but not enough to stop the bombings.

Four at Four continues with an update from Pakistan, a former ‘extraordinary rendition’ agent worried about arrest, and Hubert Van Es and the fall of Saigon.