Peace and Justice Post

By Prof. John Kozy, Global Research, Aug 20, 2010

Edmund Burke’s statement, “Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it” is frequently cited, but in truth, even history’s obvious lessons are unrecognized by many who know history very well.

There was a time when every school child could recite the Gettysburg Address from memory, especially its famous peroration: “we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.” But that resolution has largely gone unfulfilled. So exactly what did the Civil War accomplish?

Most certainly, it preserved the union territorially and abolished slavery—two noteworthy things. But the slaves who were freed, rather than being benefited by their freedom, were left in the lurch, and the prejudicial attitudes of Confederate whites were most likely hardened; they certainly were not softened. So although the war united the nation territorially, it failed to unite its peoples, and that division is still evident today.

Continues >>

By Ray McGovern, Consortiumnews.com, August 26, 2010

Just back from Afghanistan, Marine Commandant, Gen. James Conway held a news conference to add his voice to the Pentagon campaign to disparage the July 2011 date President Barack Obama set for U.S. troops to begin leaving Afghanistan.

On Tuesday, Conway claimed that intelligence intercepts suggest that this deadline has strengthened the conviction of those resisting the U.S.-led occupation that it is just a matter of time before most foreign forces leave. Conway said:

“In some ways … it’s probably giving our enemy sustenance. … We think he may be saying to himself … ‘Hey, you know, we only have to hold out for so long.’”

Conway, however, was quick to reassure supporters of the war in Afghanistan that Taliban morale is likely to drop when, “come the fall [of 2011] we’re still there hammering them like we have been.”

Conway began his press conference by adding a new measure to the refrain led by Gen. David Petraeus, commander of U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan, that considerable time will be required before Afghan forces can take over from U.S. troops.

Continues >>

Iraq Body Count group claims attention paid to Iraqi casualties has been derisory

by Lesley Docksey, Dissident Voice, August 24th, 2010

Regime Change

There are few legal justifications for waging war.  Where individual states are concerned, every state has the right to self defence (Article 51, UN Charter), but one must prove an attack on one’s territory has taken place (a breach of the state’s sovereignty) or that an attack is genuinely imminent.  The only other legal military action is that properly authorised by the Security Council, whether for peace-keeping, intervention or to enforce international law.

People want to see Blair tried for war crimes, crimes against humanity and the supreme crime, the crime of aggression.  But another crime was committed when we invaded Iraq and, more importantly, which has now been confirmed by papers released since the invasion and by evidence from the Iraq Inquiry.  The crime that Blair committed knowingly, deliberately and because, in his own words “I believe I was right” is regime change.

Continues >>

By Ali Ismail, wsws.org, Aug 26, 2010

The catastrophic floods spreading across Pakistan have dashed any hopes of an economic recovery in the poverty-stricken country. The estimated death toll is around 1,500, but this number is expected to increase significantly in the coming weeks.

Millions of displaced Pakistanis are threatened with starvation and an epidemic of water-borne diseases. According to the United Nations, there have already been over 120,000 documented cases of dengue and malaria, while hundreds of thousands have been affected by skin infections and diarrhea. The World Health Organization stated that there has been a 30 percent increase in cases of diarrhea around the country since the flooding began.

The Pakistani economy had already been reeling from the global economic crisis and the militancy fueled by Islamabad’s partnership with US imperialism even before the onset of the floods. Over 30 percent of the country’s cultivated farmland is submerged while nearly 20 million Pakistanis, 13 percent of the population, have been displaced by the floods. The Pakistani ruling elite and its allies abroad fear that widespread social unrest could arise out of food shortages and inflation caused by the devastation.

Continues >>

by Marwan Bishara, Al jazeera, Aug 26, 2010

ALRC-CWS-, Aug 26, 2010

A written statement submitted by the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC), a non-governmental organisation with general consultative status

The Asian Legal Resource Centre welcomes the discussion by the Human Rights Council during its 15th session concerning the report of the Secretary General on the question of the death penalty. In light of this discussion, the ALRC is hereby submitting information pertaining to the death penalty in Pakistan.

The government of Pakistan has failed to abolish the death penalty in spite of the pledge it made in 2008 to commute death sentences to life imprisonment. According to estimates, there are around 7400 prisoners on death row¹, the largest number in any country in the world. This number constitutes around one third of the death row prisoners in the world. It must be noted that the government has not carried out judicial executions since September 2008, which are typically carried out by hanging in Pakistan, but condemned prisoners remain seriously concerned for their future, as do their family members, while the death penalty remains in place. Many among them have already spent more than 10 years in prison. The ALRC recalls that prolonged detention on death row is at the very least cruel and inhuman treatment and therefore constitutes a violation of these persons’ rights in of itself.

Continues >>

A train carrying humanitarian aid left Turkey for Pakistan on Tuesday to heal the wounds of the flood disaster.

The train, known as “Mercy Train” is loaded with humanitarian aid collected by Sabah (daily newspaper)-ATV (TV channel) Group and Turkish Red Crescent.

“Pakistan has supported Turkey whenever Turkey faced a hard time whatever its (Pakistan’s) conditions were,” Turkey’s State Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Cicek said when seeing off the train from Ankara.

Cicek said international community had not dispatched enough aid to Pakistan.

Continues >>

In the interest of resisting external pressure aimed at imposing direct negotiations under Israeli conditions

Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi MP, Palestine Monitor, August 16, 2010

To our Palestinian People:

We have followed with great concern the increasing external pressure, especially from the U.S. and Israel, on the PLO leadership to shift from indirect negotiations (which have not resulted in any progress) to direct negotiations without clear and binding terms of reference regarding a complete halt of all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory – including in Jerusalem. The terms of reference should be based on international law and UN resolutions and to include a predetermined timetable to reach a final status agreement. The agreement will necessarily include ending the Israeli occupation of all territories occupied in 1967 and enabling the Palestinians to exercise the Right of Return, right to self-determination, and the right to an independent and sovereign state in the territory occupied in 1967 – with Jerusalem as its capital.

Continues >>