Peace and Justice Post

Photos from the Ground Show Civilian Casualties

By Hasnain Kazim, Spiegel Online, July 18, 2011

Noor Behram

In the US, remote-controlled drones are considered great tools in the war on terror. For years Washington has sent these high-tech weapons into western Pakistan, lauding their precision. But a local journalist says he has photographic evidence that civilians are often the victims.

Noor Behram remembers why he started on his mission to photograph the scenes of drone attacks in Pakistan. The reason was 12 dead people — an entire family extinguished in what was officially a US attack on militants. But the 39-year-old, who works for Arabic language news network Al Jazeera, had sources in Waziristan who told him the official story was only half of the truth.

He climbed in his car and travelled from his home in Miranshah to Shawal, the location of the bombing, and he saw something that remains burned into his mind: charred body parts and shredded clothes, hanging from the trees.

“In actuality an American helicopter had attacked a hotel where insurgents were allegedly hiding out,” Behram said. “A family that lived on a neighboring slope heard the noise and watched the incident down in the valley. In this moment a US fighter jet roared over and shot a rocket at their home. Eight women and girls, along with four men, died.”

Continues >>

An interview with Basil Fernando, director for Policy and Programme Development of the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)

SPECIAL REPORT
Torture in the Philippines & the unfulfilled promise of the 1987 Constitution

OVERVIEW: In this eighth interview in the series, Basil Fernando, a Sri Lankan human rights lawyer and director for Policy and Program Development of the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), shares his thoughts about why the issue of police torture is of the utmost importance in his country

Basil has been helping numerous torture victims, published books and carried out in-depth research and studies on the issue of police torture in Sri Lanka for over a decade. You can read more of his writings online at: http://www.basilfernando.net/

Basil: I think everybody knows the situation of our countries, whether it is the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Thailand or any other country here in Asia except for a few places were rule of law and democracy is more established. The answer to the question as to why we concentrate on police torture is simply because police torture is so common, so widespread and creates so much intimidation on the people as it is a common experience of our daily lives.

Continues >>

A war strategy built around drone attacks is not only unethical, but will hurt US interests in the long run.

by Ted Rall, Al Jazeera, July 19, 2011

One of the pleasures of traveling through the developing world is that things develop. They change. There’s always something new.

Afghanistan is, depending on one’s point of view, developing, deteriorating, or doing both at once.

Example: Last August found me and two fellow Americans in a hired taxi zooming past bombed-out fuel trucks through Taliban-held Kunduz, a city in northern Afghanistan near the Tajik border. The sense of menace was palpable, but our driver seemed calm.

Then his face darkened. We were passing into the flatlands east of Mazar-i-Sharif. We saw nothing but dirt, dust and rocks, all the way to the horizon. Yet our driver was nervous. He scanned this bleak landscape. “Motorcycles,” he said. “I am looking for the motorcycles.”

Continues >>

Socialist Worker, July 14, 2011

Leon Trotsky in Mexico in 1939

EVERY SO often, one scholar will assess another’s book so harshly that it becomes legendary. The most durable example must be A.E. Housman, whose anti-blurbs retain their sting after a century and more. Housman is best-known for the verse in his collection A Shropeshire Lad (1896). But classicists still remember his often-pointed reviews of other philologists’ editions of ancient poetry, and can sometimes quote snippets from memory.

Continues >>

Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a new report Tuesday. As they stated in the press release announcing the 107-page report, “Getting Away with Torture: The Bush Administration and Mistreatment of Detainees” (HTML, PDF), there is “overwhelming evidence of torture by the Bush administration.” As a result, President Barack Obama is obliged “to order a criminal investigation into allegations of detainee abuse authorized by former President George W. Bush and other senior officials.”

In particular, HRW singled out “four key leaders” in the torture program. Besides former President George W. Bush, the report indicts former Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, and CIA Director George Tenet. But others remain possible targets of investigation and prosecution. . . .

Continues >>

by Jacob G. Hornberger, MWC News, July 18. 2011

The Egyptian people are getting a harsh lesson in militarism and tyranny. After successfully ousting Egypt’s dictator, Hosni Mubarak, from power, through the power of protest and demonstration, dissenters are discovering that the problem involves much more than “getting better people in public office.” Instead, the problem is a systemic one, in this case one involving a large permanent military establishment, similar in some respects to that which exists here in the United States.

What ultimately backs up a dictatorship is its military. The power of a dictatorship involves its ability to enforce its dictates. That’s why regimes maintain powerful military establishments within the government — not so much to protect against foreign invasions but rather to maintain “order and stability” within the country. Of course, “order and stability” means keeping the dictatorship in power.

Continues >>

By Shaik Zakeer Hussain, Countercurrents.org, July 18, 2011

Even before the real perpetrators of the recent attack on Mumbai are brought into light, even before the investigation and investigators have come out with evidences against the presumed outfits behind the attack, Some sections of the media, civil society, and politicians have given their verdict; ‘Islamic Terrorism.’

In its July 16th Print, Times of India, the Nations largest selling English newspaper, came out with a list of Groups, which were involved in terror activities in India. Its list contained the obvious Organisations, Lashkar-e-Taiba, SIMI, Harkat-ul-Jihad-e-Islami(a Bangladesh based outfit) and the so-called Indian Mujahideen. Given the impact of the attacks purpotrated by these Organisations, the list conspicuously missed the name of Abhinav Bharat, whose members were arrested for their involvement in the 2007 Samjhauta Express bombings, and the list also did not include Organisations behind terror attacks like the 2007 Ajmer Sharif blast, 2006 Malegaon blasts, and the 2008 Malegoan & Modasa bombing.

Continues >>

By Marjorie Cohn, ZNet, July 19, 2011

The torture of prisoners in U.S. custody isn’t confined to foreign countries. For more than two weeks, inmates at California’s Pelican Bay State Prison have been on a hunger strike to protest torturous conditions in the Security Housing Unit (SHU) there. Prisoners have been held for years in solitary confinement, which can amount to torture. Thousands of inmates throughout California’s prison system have refused food in solidarity with the Pelican Bay prisoners, bringing the total of hunger strikers to more than 1,700.

Inmates in the SHU are confined to their cells for 22 ½ hours a day, mostly for administrative convenience. They are released for only one hour to walk in a small area with high walls. The cells in the SHU are eight feet by 10 feet with no windows. Fluorescent lights are often kept on 24 hours per day.

Solitary confinement can lead to hallucinations, catatonia and even suicide, particularly in mentally ill prisoners. It is considered torture, as journalist Lance Tapley explains in his chapter in The United States and Torture: Interrogation, Incarceration, and Abuse.

Continues >>