Peace and Justice Post

Iraqi detainees were severely tortured, beaten, and raped in an Iraqi National Police detention complex in 2006, according to a confidential State Department cable released by WikiLeaks. Discovery by US officials of the abuse did not lead to criminal investigations of the perpetrators and much of the mistreatment was permitted to continue.

On May 30, 2006, “a joint US-Iraqi inspection” of an Iraqi detention facility “discovered more than 1,400 detainees in squalid, cramped conditions,” many of whom were illegally detained. Prisoners “displayed bruising, broken bones, and lash-marks, many claimed to have been hung by handcuffs from a hook in the ceiling and beaten on the soles of their feet and their buttocks.”

The inspectors found a torture contraption where ”a hook…on the ceiling of an empty room at the facility” was “attached [to] a chain-and-pulley system ordinarily used for lifting vehicles” and that “apparent bloodspots stained the floor underneath.” All 41 prisoners interviewed by US inspectors had reported being tortured and 37 juveniles were held illegally.

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By Badri Raina, ZNet, September 13, 2011

It is a common recognition of Indian  “mainstream”  politics that however the various off-shoots of the Sangh Parivar may seem to be warring from time to time,  they all  obey the RSS.

A more macro  version of the above  is the following:  that however the Congress and the BJP may be warring on issue after issue, both  these faces of Indian Capitalism obey the Ambanis.  And sundry other corporates that have any real clout.

Think of the many  recent reports  on corruption of one kind or another germinated by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India  (CAG for short).  Apart from the lip service done to this  “constitutional authority” by all sections of the political class, the fact remains that  its findings are now endorsed,  now not by either of the two major parties, depending on  how the reports of this body suit or not suit  their realpolitik of the moment.  Too many instances here in  very recent public memory and media exposure to need recounting.

But, as the   CPI(M) has just pointed out in a most instructive Press Release, when it comes to the CAG  exposure of the corruption engaged in by the Reliance Group of Industries with respect to oil exploration rights and stipulations in the KG-6 deep water block, a pall of eloquent silence seems to have fallen over both the Congress and the BJP.  Not a squeak thus far.  True guru bhais in this regard, you may say.

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A US drone strike against the Hasou Khel village in North Waziristan Agency today killed at least five people and left a number of others wounded. The attack destroyed a pickup truck and also leveled a house, burying people within.

Pakistani officials said that the four people slain in the vehicle were “militants” but the identities of the people in the destroyed house have not been made clear. Locals say the toll may rise further as rescue workers continue to search for more people buried in the house.

The attack was reported as the 40th drone strike against North Waziristan Agency this year, and the 55th strike against Pakistan overall. The Pakistani government has repeatedly demanded the US halt such strikes.

The attacks have been one of the primary grievances among Pakistani civilians, and a key reason for the rising anti-US sentiment across the nation, as US officials treat the complaints about push-button killing as an afterthought, and certainly nothing that would cause a change in policy.

“We support your war of terror,” proclaims Borat to a cheering crowd of Americans in a stadium, in the popular Sacha Baron Cohen film. The crowd apparently thinks he got the preposition wrong, but what makes the line darkly humorous is that he didn’t.

Most of the victims of America’s wars that are supposedly “against terror” have been civilians, and torture has also been deployed as a weapon. Civilians in Pakistan are killed on average every week in drone strikes, according to a recent report from the Bureau of Investigative Journalism, and also regularly in Afghanistan in “night raids.”

And sometimes they are just shot point blank, as in March 2006 when US soldiers reportedly executed at least 10 civilians, including a 70-year old woman and a 5-month old baby, and then called in an airstrike to bomb the house and cover it up. Arecently discovered US diplomatic cable from Wikileaks provides evidence of this crime. Iraq veteranEthan McCord says that killings of civilians by US forces was “standard operating procedure” while he was deployed there.

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Lesley Docksey, uruknet.info, Sept. 11, 2011

‘Strike him so that he may feel that he is dying.’ Caligula, Emperor of Rome How many times does a practice have to be publicly outlawed before people stop pretending they didn’t know it was wrong? Suppose someone in a position of authority was being tried for murder. Would any court accept the excuse that he didn’t know it was illegal to kill someone? Yet this is precisely what has happened in the case of the British armed forces using illegal interrogation techniques. The techniques (hooding, stress positions, subjection to noise, sleep deprivation and food and drink deprivation) were banned under the Geneva conventions; by the UK parliament in 1972; again by the UK signing the Convention Against Torture (1987), and yet again when the Human Rights Act became part of UK domestic law (1998). Evidence at the Baha Mousa Inquiry showed the techniques were still being taught to troops in the 1980s and in 2002. Attempts to stop the practice of hooding were countermanded by directives from ‘higher up the chain of command’. In April 2003 hooding and other practices were banned by Lt General Brims, seen to be still in use in July 2003, clearly in use in September 2003 when Baha Mousa died, banned again by Lt Gen Sir John Reith in October 2003, and in May 2004 the order banning hooding was extended to other theatres in which UK forces were operating. Continues >>

Civilians Tried Since February Exceed Total Under Mubarak

(New York) – Since it took over patrolling the streets from the police on January 28, 2011, Egypt’s military has arrested almost 12,000 civilians and brought them before military tribunals, Human Rights Watch said today. This is more than the total number of civilians who faced military trials during the 30-year rule of Hosni Mubarak and undermines Egypt’s move from dictatorship to democratic rule, Human Rights Watch said.

“Nearly 12,000 prosecutions since February is astounding and shows how Egypt’s military rulers are undermining the transition to democracy,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “The military can end these trials today – all it takes is one order to end this travesty of justice.”

In a September 5 news conference Gen. Adel Morsy of the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) said that between January 28 and August 29, military tribunals tried 11,879 civilians. The tribunals convicted 8,071, including 1,836 suspended sentences; a further 1,225 convictions are awaiting ratification by the military.

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by Richard Falk, Foreign Policy Journal, September 12, 2011

When the UN Secretary General announced on 2 August 2010 that a Panel of Inquiry had been established to investigate the Israeli attacks of 31 May on the Mavi Marmara and five other ships carrying humanitarian aid to the beleaguered people of Gaza, there was widespread hope that international law would be vindicated and the Israelis would finally be held accountable. With the release of the Palmer Report, these hopes have been largely dashed, as the report failed to address the central international law issues in a credible and satisfactory manner. Turkey, not surprisingly, responded strongly that it was not prepared to live with the central finding of the 105-page report reaching the astonishing conclusions that the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip is lawful and could be enforced by Israel against a humanitarian mission even in international waters.

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Prelude to the War of Terror

by Nasir Khan, September 11, 2011

Note: I have slightly added some more text to the following article / comment that was published earlier.

I fully appreciate the concerns of Mr Engelhardt and agree with him that the attacks of 9/11 were horrific acts. Obviously, in the eyes of the Americans and their friends world-wide the terrorist plot was the work of al-Qaeda and its ubiquitous leader Osama. Thus the bogey of Osama was transformed into something what to believers may seem to be almost a mysterious ghoulish power! As a result, he could be a serious threat to the Empire and the greatest military power in the whole of recorded history. It was as if the fate of God’s own country was at stake! We all prayed for the safety of America.

The strange thing is that not long ago Osama was a CIA functionary who was trained and equipped to advance American military objectives in Afghanistan against the Soviet military involvement. After the Soviet withdrawal the Osama-CIA liaison came to an end. Now he had turned against his former mentors. After 9/11 the US presented itself almost in the Kafkaesque fashion as a weak beetle that could be crushed by the Great Threat! Even though Osama as a hireling had learnt much from his CIA bosses, he surreptitiously may have kept some of his secrets close to his chest. Who knows, as an Arab he might have used some mystical incantations to get the fabled Lamp of Aladdin. Just by rubbing his lamp, he could have the jinni standing in front of him to perform the impossible tasks and also to make himself invisible. The Empire was helpless and the jinni was on the rampage!!

But in a famous documentary film, Loose Change 9/11, produced in 2006, challenged the official explanation of the attacks of September 11, 2001. It also aroused a great deal of controversy; it had its supporters and opponents.

Since I am not an expert on the technical details of the attacks which the U.S. authorities offered or the views of those who contradict or refute the official version as in this film, I refrain from passing any final word on the issues involved. However, I try to find more about the events and will continue to do so because this tragic date became the sign-post, which was used by the Bush-Cheney administration to start and justify their wars of aggression and global terror that resulted in the occupation and destruction of Iraq and Afghanistan, the deaths of more than a million people and the uprooting and destitution of countless millions of people. The present U.S. administration under President Obama has not only continued the wars of aggression of his predecessor but also extended them to other countries and areas by using advanced technologies and weapons to kill and destroy with impunity and without any accountability for his actions to anyone in the United States or anywhere else in the world.

No matter who were the actual criminals or conspirators who committed the crimes on 9/11 that resulted in the deaths of 2749 Americans, one thing is absolutely clear that the people of Iraq and its ruler Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with the 9/11. The people or the rulers of Afghanistan or Pakistan were not involved in this crime either. Even if any individual from Afghanistan or Pakistan may have been involved in this crime in some way or the other that should have been the act of an individual. The people of Afghanistan or Pakistan had no part in such a crime, but they are still being killed by the U.S-led NATO forces and American drone attacks.

I assume it is only fair that  viewers should have a chance to see the whole film open-mindedly, without any  mental inhibitions.  Whether they  agree with every single detail of the happenings or  not is for each individual to discuss and decide after a critical scrutiny of the  well-known  story. But there is no doubt that some  viewers will have some questions about the main course and the details of the  events. Those who are interested in finding the facts will have to do some research themselves to find the  answers to such questions. No doubt, the matter is complicated and it is not easy to disentangle the facts from the legends. Consequently, there lies the challenge to those who aspire to find the truth about the 9/11. 

The magical and yet extremely subtle gift that Gilad Atzmon offers through his personal journeys in The Wandering Who? is the wisdom of disillusionment; the gift of not floating above water, but having to take an insightful dive into a shrouded underworld of appearances and disappearances.

The Wandering Who?: intelligent, bold, unapologetic.

At a certain stage, around 2005, I thought to myself that I might be King of the Jews. I have achieved the unachievable, accomplished the impossible. I have managed to unite them all: Right, Left, and Centre. The entirety of the primarily-Jewish British political groups: the Zionists, the anti-Zionists, Jewish Socialists, Tribal Marxists, The Board of Deputies, Jewish Trotskyites, Jews for this and Jews for that, for the first time in history all spoke in one single voice. They all hated Gilad Atzmon equally.

Gilad begins his book, The Wandering Who? with a brief story of his childhood and the tremendous influence of his grandfather on his adolescence. He writes “my grandfather was a charismatic, poetic, veteran zionist terrorist. A former prominent commander in the right-wing Irgun terrorist organization …” He writes about his attraction to jazz, his enlistment in the IDF (Israel Defense Force), and finally being sent to the first Lebanon war.  He writes of his experience in Lebanon saying:

I studied the detainees. The looked very different to the Palestinians in Jerusalem. The ones I saw in Ansar were angry. They were not defeated, they were freedom fighters and they were numerous. As we continued past the barbed wire I continued gazing at the inmates, and arrived at an unbearable truth: I was walking on the other side, in Israeli military uniform. The place was a concentration camp. The inmates were the ‘Jews’, and I was nothing but a ‘Nazi’. It took me years to admit to myself that even the binary opposition Jew/Nazi was in itself as result of my Judeo-centric indoctrination.

This becomes the focal point of the transformation in Gilad’s young character. He writes “This was enough for me. I realized that my affair with the Israeli state and with Zionism was over.” In TheWandering Who?, Gilad divides Jews into three main categories: (1), those who follow Judaism; (2), those who regard themselves as human beings who happen to be of Jewish origin; and (3), those who put their Jewishness over and above all of their other traits. He regards the first two categories as harmless and innocent groups of people. Gilad is not so kind to the third category, however. This group is the primary focus in his book. He goes beyond the what to the how and why. Like a forensic scientist, he dissects them piece by piece historically, economically, philosophically, psychologically, and politically.

Zionism: A Global Network

Israel is not a colonial power and does not function as such. Colonial powers form an equilibrium with the indigenous peoples whose land they occupy. They have a parasitic nature that knows their survival is based on cooperation with and even helping the indigenous peoples, albeit on a very minimum level. We have seen this with the colonization of India by the British, Algeria and Morocco by the French, and South Africa by Afrikana apartheid. Israel’s function is more that of a cancer that consumes its host resources until there is nothing left, consequently destroying itself as a result. As Farid Esack, a South African scholar, writer and political activist, known for his opposition to apartheid, says in his open letter to the Palestinian people, “Israel is not an apartheid, it’s worse.”

Gilad also writes:

Zionism is not a colonial movement with an interest in Palestine, as some scholars suggest. Zionism is actually a global movement that is fuelled by a unique tribal solidarity of third category members.

Zionism: Realm of Hungry Ghosts and Animals

By referring to hungry ghosts and animals the intention is not to dehumanize Zionists but is a reference, from a Buddhist teaching, to two of the six realms of existence, describing states of mind that human beings inhabit at any given time. The hungry ghost realm applies to those who are never satisfied, perpetually discontented no matter what they have. The animal realm refers to those without reason, who function solely by instinct and are incapable of identification with others. As Gilad put it:

Also, considering the racist, expansionist Judeo-centric nature of the Jewish State, the Diaspora Jew finds himself or herself intrinsically associated with a bigoted, enthnocentric ideology and an endless list of crimes against humanity.

Israel is the only country recognized by the United Nations without any roots in the land it occupies. In 1947, the newly formed United Nations brought a group of people from the four corners of the planet and located them in one place and called this ‘chicken soup’ the State of Israel. But more was needed in order to legitimize this newly made nation. They needed national history, which they conveniently borrowed from the Bible. It did not matter how fictional the Biblical story of Jews are. As Gilad put it, “the Jewish people is a made-up notion consisting of an imaginary past with very little to back it up forensically, historically, or textually.”

Zionists’ claim of Jewish ancestral homeland is echoed by the Christian right and Christian Zionists primarily in the historically ignorant United States population, 20% of whom still believe the earth is flat, and 55% regard evolution as a hoax. Furthermore, the majority of people in the U.S. accept the Bible as a historical and factual book.

The magical and yet extremely subtle gift that Gilad Atzmon offers through his personal journeys in The Wandering Who? is the wisdom of disillusionment; the gift of not floating above water, but having to take an insightful dive into a shrouded underworld of appearances and disappearances. He disarms his critics beforehand by saying: “I am a proud self-hating Jew”.

Although Gilad discusses an extremely sensitive phenomenon in every sense of its meaning and implications, nothing is taboo for him; even those subjects which have been expressly forbidden to explore lest one be labeled anti-Semitic or worse. Gilad recalls: “While in the past an anti-Semite was someone who hates Jews, nowadays it is the other way around, an anti-Semite is someone the Jews hate.”

Further on he writes about Holocaust as a religion:

To a certain extent, the Holocaust religion signals the final Jewish departure from monotheism, for every Jew is potentially a little God or Goddess. Abe Foxman is the God of anti-defamation, Alan Greenspan the God of ‘good economy’, Milton Friedman is the God of ‘free markets’, Lord Goldsmith the God of the ‘green light’, Lord Levy the God of fundraising, Paul Wolfowitz the God of US ‘moral interventionism’. AIPAC (the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee) is the American Olympus, where mortals elected in the US come to beg for mercy, forgiveness for being Goyim and for a bit of cash.

Whether or not one agrees with Atzmon’s views, his book would propel Jews and non-Jews equally toward a better understanding of Israel, Zionism, and Jewish identity, beyond news headlines or state propaganda. This book is the odyssey of one man’s transformation within transformation, the end of which is yet to be written.

Pre-order Gilad Atzmon’s New Book on Amazon.com  or Amazon.co.uk

Let’s bag it.

I’m talking about the tenth anniversary ceremonies for 9/11, and everything that goes with them: the solemn reading of the names of the dead, the tolling of bells, the honoring of first responders, the gathering of presidents, the dedication of the new memorial, the moments of silence. The works.

Let’s just can it all. Shut down Ground Zero. Lock out the tourists. Close “Reflecting Absence,” the memorial built in the “footprints” of the former towers with its grove of trees, giant pools, and multiple waterfalls before it can be unveiled this Sunday. Discontinue work on the underground National September 11 Museum due to open in 2012. Tear down the Freedom Tower (redubbed 1 World Trade Center after our “freedom” wars went awry), 102 stories of “the most expensive skyscraper ever constructed in the United States.” (Estimated price tag: $3.3 billion.) Eliminate that still-being-constructed, hubris-filled 1,776 feet of building, planned in the heyday of George W. Bush and soaring into the Manhattan sky like a nyaah-nyaah invitation to future terrorists. Dismantle the other three office towers being built there as part of an $11 billion government-sponsored construction program. Let’s get rid of it all. If we had wanted a memorial to 9/11, it would have been more appropriate to leave one of the giant shards of broken tower there untouched.

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