Peace and Justice Post

Amnesty International obtained a copy of the draft anti-terrorism law

Amnesty International, July 22, 2011

A Saudi Arabian government council reviewed the law in June

© AP

A draft Saudi Arabian anti-terrorism law obtained by Amnesty International would allow the authorities to prosecute peaceful dissent as a terrorist crime.

The organization has obtained copies of the Draft Penal Law for Terrorism Crimes and Financing of Terrorism, which would also allow extended detention without charge or trial. Questioning the integrity of the King or the Crown Prince would carry a minimum prison sentence of 10 years.

The leak of the draft comes as ongoing peaceful protests across the Middle East and North Africa are being met with government repression.

“This draft law poses a serious threat to freedom of expression in the Kingdom in the name of preventing terrorism,” said Philip Luther, Amnesty International’s Deputy Middle East and North Africa Director.

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Nisreen El-Shamayleh, MWC News, July 22, 2011

In a rare outbreak of violence, a protest in Amman last Friday demanding political reforms ended in broken bones and cameras.

Several pro-reform protesters and journalists were injured in clashes with the police, leaving the media and officials wondering what exactly went wrong.

The Public Security Department said it is fully responsible for what happened but accused the pro-reform protesters and the Muslim Brotherhood of provoking the police and instigating the violence.

Journalists were promised compensation and four policemen were arrested for suspicion of being involved in the July 15 attacks.

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Ahmed Barghouti was taken for interrogation while Akram Jabarin was also put in solitary confinement.

Israeli prison authorities have placed jailed Palestinian MP Marwan Barghouti into solitary confinement just one day after he called for “million-man marches” in Israel and the Palestinian diaspora. The Fatah leader wants the protests to coincide with the attempts to get Palestine recognised by the UN in September.

The Ministry of Prisoners’ Affairs in Gaza said that officers of Israel’s internal security agency, Shin Bet, and Special Forces targeted the MP’s cell when they trashed through the prison on the pretext that he was using a mobile phone. According to Riad Al-Ashkar, Director of Information at the Ministry, the officers searched the cell thoroughly and then destroyed everything inside, including the personal belongings of all the prisoners in the room. After three hours, Barghouti and another prisoner, Nasser Abyat, were put in solitary confinement.

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Sherwood Ross, Global Research, July 22, 2011

It’s time to impeach President Obama and urge candidates who stand for peace to run in the upcoming presidential primaries. 

President Obama is no Democrat in the traditional meaning of the word. He has not only failed to tackle the nation’s unemployment woes and retraining needs, as a real Democrat would do, but he’s been a player in the Bankers’ Bailout and he’s indicated his willingness to compromise Social Security and Medicare, two highly successful, humanitarian systems that are a lifeline to the vast majority of the nation’s elderly, sick, and infirm.

Mr. Obama has also failed to lift his hand effectively in behalf of the struggling poor, particularly our Hispanic, African-American and rural poor. Again, as in the time of Franklin Roosevelt, we see one-third of a nation ill-housed, while true unemployment hovers at Depression Era levels, closer to 20 per cent than 10 per cent and college graduates cannot find jobs.

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By Paul Craig Roberts

opednews.com, July 22, 2011

By Jeremy Schwartz, statesman.com,  July 19, 2011

At first blush, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan appear less violent and less deadly than previous American conflicts over the last century. While 53,000 U.S. service members died in the Korean War and 405,000 in WW II, a relatively small 6,051 (and climbing) troops have been killed in action in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001.

But a deeper dive into the casualty counts reveals a staggering amount of loss and pain carried by a relatively small group of American troops.

Last month, Brown University’s Watson Institute tried to give a fuller accounting of casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan and the results should get our attention. Citing conservative estimates, researcher Catherine Lutz found the total number of casualties for allied troops and contractors to be 28,000 dead and 218,000 wounded. And if we include mental injuries, traumatic brain injury and toxic exposures, the real number of wounded is closer to half a million.

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The United States has a long history of deception and invisible weaponry. Even before the Second World War was over, biological, chemical, radiological, and environmental weapons were being tested by the US Chemical Corps, writes Dallas Darling.

Middle East Online, July21, 2011

One of the greatest strategies for an army to employ in order to win a war is deception. From the use of smoke, to hide military maneuvering and movements, to unique modern-day camouflage techniques and special paints on military equipment and weaponry, so as to deflect radar and appear invisible to the enemy, deception has been utilized by many armed forces and militaries throughout the history of warfare.

At the same time, armies that are unseen, stealth, covert, and even invisible, have a tremendous advantage in wartime. But effective deception and invisibility requires an enormous commitment of significant resources and endless hours of human ingenuity and innovation to convince an enemy. It can also backfire, causing friendly fire or national self-destruction, as can be observed in several military campaigns of the 20th and 21st centuries.

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uruknet.info, July 20, 2011

AFP

RAMALLAH (AFP)— Jailed Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti has called for large-scale peaceful protests in support of a Palestinian bid for United Nations membership in September. In a statement released from his cell in Israel’s Hadarim prison, Barghouti, who is widely considered as the architect of the second Palestinian intifada, said winning the “battle of next September” would require mass mobilization in the territories and abroad. “Winning the battle of next September, which is an important step in our struggle, requires the biggest peaceful popular protests here and in the diaspora, and in Arab and Muslim countries and international capitals,” Barghouti said in the statement. “This means the mobilization of all the energies of our people and the involvement of everyone in this battle.” Continues >>

Most Americans turn a blind eye to the violent acts being carried out in their name.

An Iraqi policeman walks past destroyed cars at the site of a blast near the Iranian embassy in Baghdad. Iraqi forces were on high alert in Baghdad on Monday after 30 people were killed in bomb attacks on foreign embassies blamed on delays in forming a new government after the general election a month ago.

Photo Credit: AFP – Ali al-Saadi

As the U.S. war in Iraq winds down, we are entering a familiar phase, the season of forgetting—forgetting the harsh realities of the war. Mostly we forget the victims of the war, the Iraqi civilians whose lives and society have been devastated by eight years of armed conflict. The act of forgetting is a social and political act, abetted by the American news media. Throughout the war, but especially now, the minimal news we get from Iraq consistently devalues the death toll of Iraqi civilians.

Why? A number of reasons are at work in this persistent evasion of reality. But forgetting has consequences, especially as it braces the obstinate right-wing narrative of “victory” in the Iraq war. If we forget, we learn nothing.

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