Peace and Justice Post

Chris McGreal in Washingto, The Guardian, July 12, 2011

George W Bush, whose administration is accused by Human Rights Watch of authorizing use of torture. Photograph: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

A US human rights group has called on foreign governments to prosecute George W Bush and some of his senior officials for war crimes if the Obama administration fails to investigate a growing body of evidence against the former president over the use of torture.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch said in a report released on Tuesday that the US authorities are legally obliged to investigate the top echelons of the Bush administration over crimes such as torture, abduction and other mistreatment of prisoners. It says that the former administration’s legal team was part of the conspiracy in preparing opinions authorising abuses that they knew to have no standing in US or international law.

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IceNews,  July 11, 2011.

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Exclusive: The Audacity of Hope, the U.S. boat among a small flotilla seeking to challenge the Israeli blockade of Gaza, was turned back by Greek authorities doing the bidding of Washington and Tel Aviv. However, for ex-CIA analyst Ray McGovern, who was among the passengers, the endeavor demonstrated the commitment of Americans from a variety of backgrounds to fight injustice.

By Ray McGovern, Consortium News, July 8, 2011

We passengers on the U.S. Boat to Gaza represent a cross-section of America. Yet, if there is an emblematic trait that sets us apart from “mainstream” America, it is a common, radical determination to take risks to bring Justice for the oppressed — in this case, the 1.6 million people locked in an open-air prison on a narrow strip of land called Gaza.

While most of those calling us “radical” hurl the word as a barb, we welcome the label — but radical as derived from the underlying meaning of this word, “root.” Like radishes, we are rooted in soil, the soil of Justice.

“Extremist?” Yes, we confess to that too — as Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. did in his Letter From the Birmingham City Jail.

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by Jack A. Smith, Foreign Policy Journal, July 11, 2011

During his speech on Afghanistan June 22, President Obama revealed that “Over the last decade, we have spent a trillion dollars on war.” He knew this was a deceptive understatement, as did everyone who has kept close watch on the Bush-Obama wars all these years.

Few Americans, however, have closely followed Washington’s 21^st century wars of choice, so a trillion probably sounds right to them, but that amount in 10 years — when the annual cost of air conditioning alone for the U.S. in Afghanistan and Iraq amounts to $20.2 billion a year — is  way off base.

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  Jurist.org, July 8, 2011

JURIST Contributing Editor Marjorie Cohn of Thomas Jefferson School of Law says that all instances of torture must be investigated as violations of US and international law and a failure to do so will allow impunity for those who authorized these actions…

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James Petras, Information Clearing House, July 10, 2011

The US government (White House and Congress) spends $10 billion dollars a month, or $120 billion a year, to fight an estimated “50 -75 ‘Al Qaeda types’ in Afghanistan”, according to the CIA and quoted in the Financial Times of London (6/25 -26/11, p. 5). During the past 30 months of the Obama presidency, Washington has spent $300 billion dollars in Afghanistan, which adds up to $4 billion dollars for each alleged ‘Al Queda type’. If we multiply this by the two dozen or so sites and countries where the White House claims ‘Al Qaeda’ terrorists have been spotted, we begin to understand why the US budget deficit has grown astronomically to over $1.6 trillion for the current fiscal year.

During Obama’s Presidency, Social Security’s cost-of-living adjustment has been frozen, resulting in a net decrease of over 8 percent, which is exactly the amount spent chasing just 5 dozen ‘Al Qaeda terrorists’ in the mountains bordering Pakistan.

It is absurd to believe that the Pentagon and White House would spend $10 billion a month just to hunt down a handful of terrorists ensconced in the mountains of Afghanistan. So what is the war in Afghanistan about? The answer one most frequently reads and hears is that the war is really against the Taliban, a mass-based Islamic nationalist guerilla movement with tens of thousands of activists. The Taliban, however, have never engaged in any terrorist act against the territorial United States or its overseas presence. The Taliban have always maintained their fight was for the expulsion of foreign forces occupying Afghanistan. Hence the Taliban is not part of any “international terrorist network”. If the US war in Afghanistan is not about defeating terrorism, then why the massive expenditure of funds and manpower for over a decade?

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For several weeks now, Israel’s army and navy have been in a state of high alert, bravely facing a deadly threat to the country’s very existence – 10 little boats trying to reach Gaza.

These vessels are carrying a dangerous gang of vicious terrorists, in the form of elderly veterans of peace campaigns.

Benjamin Netanyahu has affirmed Israel’s unshakeable determination to defend his country – he shall not let anyone break the blockade to smuggle rockets to the terrorists in Gaza, who will then launch them to kill innocent children.

This is a kind of record even for Netanyahu. Not a single word is true.

The flotilla is not carrying any weapons – the representatives of respected international media on the boats have provided assurance of this.

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Stephen Lendman, MWC News, July 9, 2011

Before and after Mubarak was ousted, Egypt’s military arrested, imprisoned, tortured, and disappeared thousands, a practice continuing to ruthlessly stay in power and prevent change.

Moreover, thousands arrested are being tried in military courts, denying them due process or judicial fairness. Allowed only court-appointed counsel, attorneys get minutes with clients to review charges before presenting their case in proceedings.

In addition, multiple defendants are tried simultaneously. Ten thousand or more were sentenced in recent months, some to death, and lawyers can’t appeal. Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) attorney Adel Ramadan said nothing under Mubarak was like this. The ruling junta is much more extreme, cracking down ruthlessly against challenges to its authority.

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The Israeli Air Force carried out, on Saturday at night, an air-strike targeting a brick factory, east of Gaza city; damage was reported, no injuries.

File – Israeli Attack On Gaza

Eyewitnesses reported that at least one missile directly hit the factory causing excessive damage, and also inflicting damage to nearby homes.

Medics and civil defense personnel arrived at the scene following the bombardment to asses the damage and reported no physical injuries among the residents.

Besides damages to the factory, the bombardment led to cracks in the walls of civilian homes, shattering their windows and doors.

The latest Israeli military attack comes only a few days after the Israeli Air Force killed two fighters in Al Masdar village, in central Gaza.

My daughter’s death shows the cruelty of an America that won’t protect its own and is complicit in harming Palestinian civilians

By Cindy Corrie

When Greek authorities prevented the US ship the Audacity of Hope leaving its port in Athens this week, they dealt a blow to a group of brave and principled Americans who were trying to carry thousands of letters from US citizens to those who wait on Gaza’s shores.

I know many of the people who were on this boat, and my family’s letter was part of their cargo.

In 2003 my daughter Rachel Corrie made her journey to Gaza and was run down and killed by a US-made Israeli military Caterpillar D-9 bulldozer. She was trying to protect a Gazan family and their home, one of thousands illegally destroyed in Israeli military clearing operations.

Now my family is on a parallel journey with those activists as we return this week to Israeli court to confront Colonel Pinhas Zuaretz, the commanding officer of the Gaza Division’s Southern Brigade in 2003. His testimony should shed light not only on actions of troops responsible for Rachel’s killing but also on the Israeli military’s broad failures as an occupying power to protect civilian life and property.

This week’s flotilla was travelling to Gaza, as Rachel did, to stand with Palestinians against oppression and illegal occupation and for a just, enduring peace.

Some liken the action to those of “freedom riders” who 50 years ago journeyed bravely to the American south to oppose racist laws that kept blacks and whites from sitting together on buses.

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