Peace and Justice Post

by Jeremy R. Hammond, Foreign Policy Journal, July 4, 2011

The New York Times this week reports under the headline “Taking Lead, Iraqis Hope U.S. Special Operations Commandos Stay” that the security situation in Iraq “may be at risk now that American forces are withdrawing this year” as per the U.S.-Iraqi Status of Force Agreement (SOFA). “Even as few Iraqi politicians are willing to admit publicly that they need American help, Iraqi soldiers say that American troops must stay longer to continue training and advising”, the Times reports, citing “senior Iraqi military leaders” who “have advised Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki that some troops should stay.” Naturally, “American officials have said they would agree to a such a request.” The article then goes on at length praising the abilities of the U.S. Special Operations units working with Iraqi forces.

Continues >>

By Franklin C. Spinney, Counterpunch, July 5, 2011

Villefranche, France.

The United States has always meddled in other people’s affairs. For those readers who think this statement is an exaggeration, I urge them to peruse the chronology of interventions compiled by the Congressional Research Service. This historical predilection for meddling, however, grew enormously in depth and breadth during the Cold War, and to make matters worse, it is now clear that it exploded after the end of the Cold War.

The Bush-Obama perpetual war on terror is now the longest and second most expensive war in US history, exceeded only in cost by WWII, even if one removes the effects of inflation from the comparison. And this war comes on top of the incessant warmongering during the 1990s, including the bombing of air defense sites in Iraq, the drive by shootings with cruise missiles in the Sudan and Afghanistan, and the bombing in Bosnia and Kosovo during the Wars of the Yugoslavian Succession. Anyone who opposes the meddling and warmongering is labeled an isolationist by the defenders of the status quo, like Senators McCain, Graham, and Lieberman. . . .

Continues >>

At least 11 people reported killed by Syrian forces in city that has become focal point for anti-government protests.

Al Jazeera English, July 5, 2011

An image grab taken from YouTube apparently shows hundreds of thousands of Syrian anti-government protesters flooding the streets of the central city of Hama on July 1. (photo: AFP)

At least 16 people have been killed in the central Syrian city of Hama as government forces intensify their operations in the city, human rights activists have told Al Jazeera.

Sumer al-Said, a resident of Hama, told Al Jazeera by phone on Tuesday afternoon that security forces had shot people indiscriminately in the streets, and that water and electricity had been cut off.

“Two days ago, they arrested a lot of people in my area, and a lot of people were badly beaten,” he said.

Troops and tanks have surrounded the city in recent days in an apparent attempt to quell protests against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad.

With tanks and armoured vehicles moving closer to the edges of the city in the early hours of Tuesday, residents said hundreds of youths had blocked roads leading to residential neighbourhoods with garbage containers, wood and metal to try to prevent a possible advance.

Continues >>

Dear Mr. Papandreou,

We, members of the Gaza-Flotilla II who have come to the shores of Greece from all parts of the world, leaving behind our workplaces and families in order to put into practice our solidarity with the oppressed people of Gaza, are outraged by the decision of your government to close by force the ports of
Greece to our humanitarian initiative.

Continues >>

By Tom Carter, wsws.org, July 5, 2011

As part of its cover-up of Bush administration war crimes, the Obama administration announced June 30 that it would shut down 99 investigations into deaths of prisoners in US custody during the so-called “war on terror,” leaving only two investigations with the potential to develop into criminal prosecutions.

The announcement underscores the fact that the anti-democratic policies developed during the presidency of George W. Bush continue unchallenged under President Barack Obama, who is doing everything in his power to keep the lid on the crimes of his predecessor.

Following the events of September 11, 2001, the Bush administration quickly and quietly erected a network of secret prisons and “black sites,” where opponents of US imperialism in the Middle East—as well as, in many cases, their friends, relatives and acquaintances—were jailed, tortured and murdered.

Continues >>

Stephen Lendman, MWC News, July 3, 2011

Daily, Israel keeps proving its lawless rogue credentials, notably by blocking humanitarian aid to Gaza. As a result, it finds new ways to show contempt for human rights, rule of law standards, civility, fundamental Judaic tenets, and its very legitimacy as a nation state, established by mass slaughter and displacement of indigenous Palestinians from their homeland.

Today, its war against humanity dirty tricks/state terrorism arsenal includes propaganda, intimidating lawsuits, pressure on other governments, sabotage, subversion, cold-blodded murder, and whatever else it takes to ruthlessly commit slow-motion genocide against nearly 1.7 million Gazans, besides daily crimes against others in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

No wonder growing numbers of fed up Jews are leaving,  voting with their feet, including studies showing half or more there actively consider it, and why not.

Continues >>

By Dr Gideon Polya, Countercurrents.org, July 4, 2011

We all  know the great words of the 4 July 1776 American Declaration of Independence: “ We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”. However these words did not apply to American Indians or to African slaves then any more than they apply today to Indigenous People in Palestine , Iraq , Afghanistan , Somalia or indeed in any part of the World under violent US hegemony. The World must make 4 July Independence From America Day.

These great words beloved of all decent folk today were an immense lie in 1776 and hid a major strategic objection of Independence for the Thirteen American Colonies: the invasion and ethnic cleansing of Indian lands to the West. . .

Continues >>

All signs indicate that the government of Israel has taken steps to receive the present Gaza flotilla in a manner much more systematic than last year’s actions. Instead of relying entirely on the use of force, diplomatic measures were taken this time, and friendly states, first and foremost Greece, mobilized to help Israel and hampered the flotilla’s departure. This diplomatic action proved that there are alternatives less violent than Israel’s predilection for discharging armed soldiers to suppress civilian protests.

Yet the industriousness and creativity which Benjamin Netanyahu and his government have displayed merely underscore the folly that serves as the foundation of their policy. Israel removed its settlements and soldiers from the Gaza Strip six years ago, and withdrew to the Green Line in order to end its occupation of a strip of land densely populated by Palestinians. . . .

Continues >>

By Rami G. Khouri, Al Arabiya News, July 2, 2011

This has been a bad week for killers in the Arab world. The indictments now being handed down by the UN Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) in the case of the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, and the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) arrest warrant for Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi, represent two important steps on the road to corralling criminals who have plagued the modern Middle East for decades.

The case for moving these cases into trials is compelling on moral and political grounds.

Fair trials for the accused might achieve three things: hold accountable those who now stand accused of grievous crimes, so that justice can be achieved at last for those who have died or suffered; send a message to others in the region and abroad that they cannot kill and terrorize with impunity; and, send the important message to the ordinary people of the Arab world that perhaps they can look forward to a future of more normalcy and security.

Continues >>

Why has the United States government supported counterinsurgency in Colombia, Guatemala, El Salvador, and many other places around the world, at such a loss of human life to the populations of those nations? Why did it invade tiny Grenada and then Panama? Why did it support mercenary wars against progressive governments in Nicaragua, Mozambique, Angola, Ethiopia, Afghanistan, Indonesia, East Timor, Western Sahara, South Yemen, and elsewhere?

Is it because our leaders want to save democracy? Are they concerned about the well-being of these defenseless peoples? Is our national security threatened? I shall try to show that the arguments given to justify U.S. policies are false ones.

But this does not mean the policies themselves are senseless. American intervention may seem “wrongheaded” but, in fact, it is fairly consistent and horribly successful.

The history of the United States has been one of territorial and economic expansionism, with the benefits going mostly to the U.S. business class in the form of growing investments and markets, access to rich natural resources and cheap labor, and the accumulation of enormous profits.

Continues >>