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July 8, 2008
OT 08-25
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Gaza is finished. Next: Dismantling the social and economic infrastructure in the West Bank
IDF shuts down Nablus mall in campaign against Hamas
The Israel Defense Forces shut down a shopping center that houses more than 70 stores in the northern West Bank city of Nablus Tuesday, as it pressed on with a campaign against Hamas’ civil and social infrastructure in the West Bank.
The chairman of the board of directors of the multiple-storey mall is Nablus Mayor Adli Yaish, who has links to Hamas and is currently imprisoned in Israel, residents said.
The IDF also shut down five other Hamas institutions in the northern West Bank city, including a support group for militants jailed in Israel, an Islamic trade union organization, a medical society and two aid organizations in the Nablus refugee camps of Askar and Balata.
The troops shut on Monday down a girls school, a sports club and the headquarters of the Solidarity charity. Witnesses said the medical center bears the same name as the charity, but is run by a different charitable organization that once was controlled by Hamas.
…
The picture at the link shows that this was not a “shutdown”, but all the stuff in the school was thrown onto the street.
Just a little note from the Happy Little Kingdom.
They say in Danish, “When it rains on the priest, it drips on the decan.” Anyway it applies on several levels with the Danish involvement with the Arrogant wars of aggression.
First, a handful of retired Danish ambassoders have gone public and said that the Danish foreign policy since 2001 has sucked in that it left the traditional policy of seeking non-violent solutions to international disagreement and gone on a policy to match that of the Great Codpiece.
The Prime Minister here, of course, puked green that people with such close connections to the gov’t should say something reality based.
Other than thet, in an echo I suppose of Arrogant incompetance, the Danish commander in Afghanistan asked for transport helicopters and airplanes. The gov’t, of course, sent 4 Fenec helicopters, which can only seat one passenger other than the pilot. After armor plate was put on the machines, the passenger can’t weigh more than 75 kg.
The point is, the USA does not have exclusive rights on bullshit.
Posted by: Chuck Cliff | Jul 8 2008 18:06 utc | 2
democracy now segment on the colombia deal – As Freed US Contractors Speak Out, a Look at the FARC, Colombian Paramilitary Groups and the Generals Being Feted for the Hostage Rescue
Mario, you have been writing about what happened, and now there’s serious questions, Swiss reports of whether in fact this was staged, whether $20 million wasn’t paid in ransom for these prisoners by the Colombian government.
MARIO MURILLO: Right. There’s a lot of questions, actually, because there’s three different versions. Unfortunately, the official version is the one that’s getting the most play, and obviously Alvaro Uribe is getting a lot of political mileage out of it. And that’s, of course, this dramatic rescue operation that you described in the introduction.
There’s two other reports. The one that you just alluded to from the French—Swiss radio—public radio service, that—based on high sources that the reporters had, saying that one of the wives of one of the guards, one of the FARC rebels who was involved in securing and maintaining security around the hostages, was in constant contact and made this arrangement for a $20 million ransom pay. And that’s from one report.
Another report, which probably is a lot more feasible if this—you know, I haven’t gotten deeper in that one, but the other report is that the Colombian government actually took advantage of a diplomatic effort that was already underway for a long time by the former French consul in Bogota, as well as a leading Swiss diplomat who was in Colombia, and they were making arrangements, and they even got the green light from the Colombian government. It was in the Spanish daily, El Pais, when the president, Colombian president, actually announced that, yeah, this interchange, this dialogue, was actually proceeding. And it turns out, apparently, according to this report, that the Colombian government intercepted the helicopters that were on their way, so it wasn’t really a high infiltration operation that was in the highest levels of the FARC commanders. The FARC were actually turning the folks over to specifically this delegation led by these two diplomats, and apparently the Colombian government kind of took, you know, a right turn and got a lot of political mileage as a result.
A lot of questions are still around what happened, but unfortunately, as I said, the official story is the one that’s getting out the most.
re the 20B payoff story, bill conroy @ narco news wrote on monday
Now, I’ve followed the drug war in Colombia enough to know that it is replete with corruption and payoffs. The Bogota Connection series proves that point — a case of narco-traffickers allegedly having DEA agents on their payroll in Bogota.
So, it wouldn’t suprise me to find that money changed hands somewhere along the line in this rescue operation — maybe a narco-trafficker getting paid off to provide intel on the FARC to support the operation or an informant inside the FARC getting paid off to plant satellite phones, that kind of thing.
But as the $20 million story is presented, at least as I understand it, the premise is based on a ransom being paid to some vague parties resulting in this elaborately staged rescue operation. In other words, agents of the U.S. or Colombia worked a deal with agents of the FARC to pay a $20 million ransom and someone within the FARC (composed of thousands of people) agreed to clandestinely stage a rescue for the money, and in the process helped to bolster the image of Uribe and the Colombian government, whom they have been warring against for decades.
I just think it’s a bit of a stretch. Typical ransom situations involve a payment of money upfront or at a drop location, with the hostages being delivered later, at an undisclosed location, to assure the kidnappers are not double-crossed. In this case, on video, we see 60-plus FARC rebels delivering the hostages in an open field, and two of them went onboard the helicopter with the hostages, were beaten up, arrested and now might face extradition (see this story) to the United States.
So if this was some kind of faked rescue, involving collusion between the FARC and the U.S./Colombian governments, then the FARC better catch up on some Scooby Doo episodes.
Whatever happened on July 2, I don’t believe the folks that showed up that day were playing games — in the sense that lives were really on the line on both sides, depending on how things went down. For whatever reason, that day, the gods were in a good mood, and no one died.
But that doesn’t preclude that at some later date we’ll discover that a bunch of cash was used to help grease the wheels of this operation in other ways or that some pecuniary-inspired treachery was involved.
Absent more compelling evidence of the ransom scenario, that’s my read as of now.
(follow link for embedded links)
garry leech @ colombia journal fleshes out the story in today’s IPS rpt that i linked to in the previous OT
A More Plausible Scenario for Colombia Hostage Saga
.. The government claimed it was an elaborate long-term operation that was conducted flawlessly.
However, there is a far more plausible scenario. The FARC had already decided to unilaterally release the 15 hostages following talks with two European envoys who had arrived in Colombia in late June to meet with high-ranking rebels in the region in which Supreme Commander Alfonso Cano is located. Consequently, it was Cano who gave the order to gather the hostages together from the three separate camps in which they were being held.
Meanwhile, the Colombian government was seeking to bribe FARC commander Gerardo Antonio Aguilar (alias “César”), who was in charge of guarding the hostages, in order to gain their release. The Colombian military had captured César’s rebel wife several months earlier and convinced her to contact her husband to offer him $20 million in return for the release of the hostages.
Ultimately, the coinciding events of FARC commander Cano ordering the hostages to be gathered in one place in preparation for their release, the interception of this information by Colombian and US intelligence services and the bribing of César allowed the Colombian military to exploit the situation and stage a rescue of hostages who would have been liberated anyway. The benefits of such a staged operation for the Uribe administration are clear: the government would receive the credit for the release of the hostages rather than the FARC; and the military could sow seeds of distrust in the ranks of the rebels by claiming it has infiltrated the guerrilla group at the highest levels.
This hypothesis is supported by various sources that have been quoted in the several media outlets over the previous few days and by certain events of the last few months.
[more]
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also, from narco news, on another story from last week
Company that Led Training in Torture Techniques for Mexican Police Is Risks Incorporated of Miami, Florida
Trainer Gerardo “Jerry” Arrechea is a high-ranking member of the Comandos F4, an armed Cuban terrorist organization
The foreign company captured on video training police in León, Mexico, in torture techniques is Risks Incorporated of Miami, Florida, and Great Britain, Narco News has learned. The Mexican daily El Universal identified the leaders of the torture workshop as “Jerry Wilson” of Great Britain and Cuban-Mexican Gerardo Arrechea on July 3, but officials refused to identify the company for which they worked.
Risks Incorporated has a Miami telephone number, which could explain why Mexican officials stated that the company they contracted to lead the torture training was a “US private security company.” Both individuals, according to information obtained and confirmed by Narco News, are Risks Incorporated employees.
again, follow link for embedded links
Posted by: b real | Jul 8 2008 19:10 utc | 3
b #1. disgusting. slow horrid death of 2 cultures. every time idf do this stuff people hate them more.
Posted by: annie | Jul 8 2008 19:23 utc | 4
at this year’s annual 4th of July Rainbow Gathering, despite assurances “law enforcement” (state sponsored provocateurs) wouldn’t aggressively police the grounds of the gathering, this happened. good going, you fucking pricks. pepper spraying kiddie camp is spectacular police work.
Posted by: Lizard | Jul 8 2008 20:25 utc | 5
well well. i just ran into some interesting old news. maybe someone linked to it back in the day, but i thought it was timely. catching up on a 6/23/08 newyorker (i am frequently behind) i stumbled apon an article i started a few weeks ago and never got around to the finale.
fidel’s heir
The Dominican President, Leonel Fernández, opened the meeting and gave Rafael Correa, of Ecuador, the floor. “The government of Colombia bombed my country,” Correa began. Ecuador, he said, was prepared to pursue its grievances to their “final consequences.” Looking at Uribe, Correa said, “Your insolence offends us even more than your murderous bombs.”
Chávez and the rest of the Venezuelan delegation gave Correa a standing ovation.
Uribe spoke next. He described Raúl Reyes, the FARC leader killed in the raid, as “one of the most frightening terrorists in the history of humanity.” (A Chávez adviser next to me rolled his eyes.) He conceded that his troops had bombed the camp in Ecuador—but said that the bombs had been launched from Colombian territory. As for the guerrillas who were killed, “they weren’t there preparing for Easter festivities.”
At one point, Daniel Ortega got up, walked behind Correa, and stared hard at Uribe, looking like a man spoiling for a fight. When Uribe suggested that he sit down, Ortega said, “I am not your son! Who do you think you are?” After a while, he sauntered back to his seat.
Following Uribe’s remarks, Correa said that Uribe would bomb the Dominican Republic if he suspected that it harbored another Raúl Reyes.
“Don’t inflict on me the cynicism of those who are nostalgic for Communism,” Uribe interrupted.
Correa, continuing, raised his arms. “These hands are clean and free of blood.”
The session seemed close to breaking down. Then Chávez spoke. He began by telling stories……Chávez said he found ironic the accusation that he was providing three hundred million dollars to the FARC, since he had recently financed a three-hundred-million-dollar gas pipeline for Colombia—he and Uribe had attended the groundbreaking together. Chávez looked across at Cristina Kirchner, the President of Argentina, whose populist, left-of-center government is supportive of his. “Witness the infamy that was invented that I had sent suitcases full of dollars to Cristina.”
By now, many of the leaders were laughing. Chávez had created an atmosphere of entente cordiale, and momentarily blunted Uribe’s charges against him. “I could have sent plenty of rifles to the FARC,” Chávez said. “I could have sent them plenty of dollars—I will not do it, ever.”
Chávez then had a surprise: the FARC, he said, had just informed him that it was prepared to release six more hostages. Uribe spoke in urgent whispers with his aides. Chávez asked President Fernández if protocol could be broken to allow the mother of Ingrid Betancourt to come into the hall. After some commotion, Betancourt’s mother, Yolanda Pulecio..entered. With her was Piedad Córdoba, a flamboyant left-wing Colombian senator who has worked with Chávez in negotiations with the FARC, and who was wearing a white turban. Uribe looked furious; Chávez was showing that he, not Uribe, was the one who could save the hostages’ lives.
By now, some eight hours had gone by, and waiters brought the leaders plates of food while they talked. Finally, an agreement was worked out, as part of which Uribe promised, reluctantly, not to conduct new cross-border raids. Fernández asked Uribe and Correa to embrace. After some hesitation, they shook hands. Chávez walked up to Uribe and greeted him, too, and the crisis seemed to be at an end. Then, moments later, Correa began berating Uribe, who bristled. The other leaders in the room looked alarmed. Chávez swiftly spoke in mollifying tones to Uribe, who relaxed.
I walked out with Piedad Córdoba and Yolanda Pulecio. Córdoba was gleeful. She said that she and Chávez and Cristina Kirchner had planned everything in detail—the revelation about the new hostages, and Pulecio’s dramatic appearance.
not sure what to make of this article. there is something eery about it, makes me a touch uncomfortable. wonder if this was part of the set up, having him at that meeting of all these presidents of south america to reconcile and no other reporters.
Posted by: annie | Jul 9 2008 3:32 utc | 6
annie – check your link
– – –
telegraph: G8 summit: Gordon Brown has eight-course dinner before food crisis talks
Gordon Brown and his fellow world leaders have sparked outrage after it was disclosed they enjoyed a six-course lunch followed by an eight-course dinner at the G8 summit where the global food crisis tops the agenda.
The Prime Minister was served 24 different dishes during his first day at the summit – just hours after urging the world to reduce the “unnecessary demand” for food and calling on British families to cut back on their wasteful use of food.
Mr Brown and his wife Sarah were among 15 guests at the “blessings of the earth and the sea social dinner”.
The dinner consisted of 18 dishes in eight courses including caviar, smoked salmon, Kyoto beef and a “G8 fantasy dessert”.
The banquet was accompanied by five different wines from around the world including champagne, a French Bourgogne and sake.
African leaders including the heads of Ethiopia, Tanzania and Senegal who had taken part in talks during the day were not invited to the function.
Posted by: b real | Jul 9 2008 3:49 utc | 7
ps, this is the author who ‘discovered’ che’s burial site… he probably has a connection or 2. cough. his dad was a diplomat and agricultural adviser for USAID and the Peace Corps, Anderson was raised and educated in South Korea, Colombia, Taiwan, Indonesia, Liberia, England, and the United States
Anderson’s been around the block a few times.
Posted by: annie | Jul 9 2008 4:03 utc | 9
TOT, but OT, hey, r’giap, got any idea what to take for prolongued heart arrhythmia?
What to take herbal, and what not to abuse? How are you doing, anyway? You know….
Posted by: Djem Beh | Jul 9 2008 5:19 utc | 10
Jim Lobe has written a good long piece on the psychological background of the Neocons: Speaking of Humiliation
So, might humiliation — whether in the form of physical beatings by the “Other”, as experienced by Adelson and Podhoretz and their generation; or taunting and social exclusion, as experienced by Perle and his generation; or learning about (through watching old film strips and photos and other means) the mass murder of a collective group of which you are a member, even if two generations removed, or some combination of two of the three, or all three — produce a rage that would translate into extremely and even irrationally aggressive policy recommendations against a perceived threat? At the least, it would make such a result more likely. Yet, while hard-line neo-cons recognize that dynamic in other groups, particularly those they see as enemies, they never seem to see how it might apply to their own experience and outlook.
Recommended …
link to WaPo
This is what I was referring to last night when I mentioned Ed Meese and his $1 Billion anti-drug initiative back in 1991 (unless mistaken).
The article only refers back to 2000 and $2 billion, and no mention of Ed Meese, but surely there’s a pre-history to this history.
Anyway, for what it’s worth, the Colombians did it themselves, and the Americans had to trust the process. They might be asking themselves why they can’t gin up the same level of performance in Iraq. Or they might not be….
Are they, Pat? (Word on France is forthcoming, I promise. And best wishes on your Colombian adventures….)
Posted by: alabama | Jul 9 2008 6:39 utc | 12
Perhaps a companion piece to b’s #11 in so far as, well, some could see it as the proverbial ‘rats jumping ship’ or true satori. Truth be known, it is prolly somewhere in the middle…
Richard Cohen wakes up….(Reagan piece)
…from his blissful, ignorant sleep.
It is not my intention to pummel the late Ronald Reagan for what he did or did not do back in the 1980s. It is my intention, though, to suggest that Reaganism — to which Republicans now swear allegiance — has outlived its very short usefulness and ought to be junked. This is not to say that government is the answer to all our ills.
It is only to note that if you think the answer is private enterprise, then drive to the nearest gas station and admire the prices brought to you by private companies.
The worst part of Reaganism was its political success. It left behind a coterie of panting acolytes who learned from Reagan himself that optimism, cheerfulness, an embrace of magical thinking and the avoidance of the painful truth was the formula for victory at the polls. For a time, it worked — the cost of gas went down — and Carter, that scold in the silly sweater, was banished. As they say in New Orleans, “Laissez les bons temps rouler!” (Let the good times roll!) Upbeat? You bet. But not a business plan.
In “The Age of Reagan,” Princeton historian Sean Wilentz posits that Reagan was the transformative president of our times. I don’t know about that. But I do know that in the recent primary debates, Republican after Republican invoked Reagan the way Democrats once did Roosevelt, and they vowed, knock on wood, to be a similar kind of president. If they meant what they said, that would mean no energy plan worth its name and, worse, chirpy assurances to the American people that all would be well.
This is the doleful legacy of Reaganism. We have become a nation that believes that you can get something for nothing. We thought that the energy crisis would be solved . . . somehow, and that no one would have to suffer. We still believe in the magical qualities of America, that something about us makes us better. Yet we have a chaotic and mediocre education system that desperately needs more money and higher standards, but we think — don’t we? — that somehow we will maintain our lifestyle anyway. Hey, is this America or what?
Somewhere in his peripatetic travels, the much-maligned Jimmy Carter — an artless politician, to be sure — must scratch his head at the reverence still accorded Reagan. The way things are going, the Gipper’s visage will be added to Mount Rushmore. Not that anyone will notice. It’ll be too expensive to drive there.
To use a wonderful Russian expression, he appears to have discovered the whereabouts of the sky . And now, he apparently also wants to be rewarded for his amazing insights.
Fool. Compliance and surrender are two very different things indeed.
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jul 9 2008 7:03 utc | 13
Or to put my comments of last night (the previous thread, that is) in the other perspective I was working from: this hostage operation was a really elegant instance of pickpocketing–I think they passed that exam (“the suit with the seven bells”) summa cum laude, and I trust the leaders of the FARC would agree.
And Uncle $cam, wasn’t Reagan the Great Enabler? Though organically damaged throughout his disastrous eight year spin, he always managed to sell, sell, sell the stuff he’d been selling ever since the end of WW II. And since the man never said an honest word in public–I don’t suppose he ever said an honest word to anyone, ever, anywhere–what Cohen chooses to refer to as Reagan’s “optimism, cheerfulness and magical thinking” was surely nothing more than a drunken binge on gold–gold that came flooding into California through the sluice-gates of JFK’s orgiastic defense-spending. Reagan’s real enemy–everyone’s enemy, it seems–was that fierce old poker-playing general who kept the lid on Southern California’s airplane and missile industries (and everyone else’s)–Mr. Eisenhower of Abilene Kansas….
Posted by: alabama | Jul 9 2008 7:32 utc | 14
“I don’t suppose he ever said an honest word to anyone, ever, anywhere–”
His son (Ron Jr I think) always said that as far has he knew, but could never understand that, “his dad never really ever had any personal friends.”
And RE the b#11 Lobe post, all I can say is to quote the last line of Citizen Kane…. “rosebud”.
Posted by: anna missed | Jul 9 2008 8:46 utc | 16
fucking typepad grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: Anonymous | Jul 9 2008 9:13 utc | 17
adding to my @ – the raids on the West Bank civil society continue
Earlier in the day, Israel Defense Forces troops raided the city hall of the West Bank town of Nablus, confiscating five computers as part of an ongoing crackdown on Hamas’ civilian and social infrastructure in the West Bank.
…
Nablus’ deputy mayor Hafez Shaheen said Wednesday that in addition to the raid on city hall, IDF troops raided six mosques and seized five buses belonging to schools affiliated with the Islamic organization that rules Gaza.
…
On Tuesday, the IDF also shut down five other Hamas institutions in the northern West Bank city, including a support group for militants jailed in Israel, an Islamic trade union organization, a medical society and two aid organizations in the Nablus refugee camps of Askar and Balata.
Djem Beh (10) – While you’re waiting for r’giap, read this.
Might help.
Posted by: beq | Jul 9 2008 14:21 utc | 19
recalling the spanish psychiatrist’s 1970 interview w/ pow mccain
He showed himself to be intellectually alert during the interview. From a morale point of view he is not in traumatic shock. He is neither dejected nor depressed. He was able to be sarcastic, and even humorous indicative of psychic equilibrium. From the moral and ideological point of view he showed us he is an insensitive individual without human depth, who does not show the slightest concern, who does not appear to have thought about the criminal acts he committed against a population from the almost absolute impunity of his airplane, and that nevertheless those people saved his life, fed him, and looked after his health, and he is now healthy and strong. I believe that he bombed densely populated places for sport. I noted he was hardened, that he spoke of banal things as if he were at a cocktail party.
back to the present
reuters: McCain jokes about killing Iranians with cigarettes
PITTSBURGH (Reuters) – Presidential candidate John McCain, who once sang in jest about bombing Iran, on Tuesday reacted to a report of rising U.S. cigarette exports to the country by saying it may be “a way of killing ’em.”
McCain, known for acerbic comments and for sometimes firing verbally from the hip, was responding to a report that U.S. exports to Iran rose tenfold during President George W. Bush’s term in office despite hostility between the two states.
A rise in cigarette sales was a big part of that, according to an Associated Press analysis of seven years of U.S. trade figures.
“Maybe that’s a way of killing ’em,” McCain said to reporters during a campaign stop in Pittsburgh. “I meant that as a joke, as a person who hasn’t had a cigarette in 28 years, 29 years,” he added, laughing.
He declined further comment on the report.
Posted by: b real | Jul 9 2008 15:07 utc | 20
That was me @#17…
Note:
I suspect it was merely a fluke, but it has happened to me more times than I care to count, in which I have a post that I have spent some time on to only have typepad burp and spit it out and then seems to always follow up with a complete knock out of my online connection, often for hours. I have spoken many times to my isp about these very precise incidents, and can never ever get a complete answer. I realize that these are two different issues, and have had on occasion to only have the typepad mishap, however, the one, two, punch, happens on such a consistent and timely basis, it leads one to wonder if it isn’t more to it than mere happenstance, especially, with knowing that militarism war on the internet as has been spoken and linked to by myself and others here many times. Someone else, can link to the latest and recent article with regards to control of said internet, now on with my post:
Kucinich to bring single article of impeachment for misleading US into war
Raw Story — Nick Juliano
Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) is sticking to his drive to impeach President Bush.
Few in the House of Representatives have any intention of doing anything with the last 35 articles of impeachment Kucinich set before them last month, so the former presidential candidate appears to be lightening the load. Kucinich sent a letter to colleagues Tuesday asking them to support a single article of impeachment, to be introduced Thursday, which accuses President Bush of leading the country to war based on lies.
“There can be no greater offense of a Commander in Chief than to misrepresent a cause of war and to send our brave men and women into harm’s way based on those misrepresentations,” Kucinich wrote in the “Dear Colleague” letter.
“There has been a breach of faith between the Commander in Chief and the troops. Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11 or with Al Qaeda’s role in 9/11. Iraq had neither the intention nor the capability of attacking the United States,” he continued. “Iraq did not have weapons of Mass of Destruction. Yet George W. Bush took our troops to war under all of these false assumptions. Given the profound and irreversible consequences to our troops, if his decision was the result of a mistake, he must be impeached. Since his decision was based on lies, impeachment as a remedy falls short, but represents at least some effort on our part to demonstrate our concern about the sacrifices our troops have made.”
Last month, Kucinich presented 35 articles of impeachment. Those have since been referred to the Judiciary Committee, where they are expected to die. Kucinich threatened to double the number of impeachment articles if the Judiciary Committee did not act…
Full article and Kucinich’s letter to his colleagues at the link.
Much food for thought follows…
It is said, there are three kinds of whisky—”cookin’ whisky, drinkin’ whisky, and sippin’ whisky.” , this here (see below) is ‘sippin whisky’ there are in turn serious drinkers thinkers, MOA is often said to be one hell of a drinkin/thinkin hole… Well patrons, turn down the lights, smoke if ya got em, and sip on this slowly…
let it sink in…
via: Larval subjects blogIn a breath takeningly honest and refreshing post entitled: Love of Truth
[quote]
All too often, I think, I’ve conflated philosophy with rhetoric. That is, I’ve conflated the necessity of speaking efficaciously with the question of truth. I was horrified, for example, to find that it was Kucinich who brought articles of impeachment against Bush not because his claims were false but because he couldn’t possibly be an effective rhetor due to who he is and the lack of credibility he possesses.
In this reaction, I was willing to sacrifice truth for the sake of effective rhetoric. Someone like Kucinich couldn’t be an effective rhetor because he lacks credibility and would therefore make it more difficult to propagate the truth in the public sphere (his lack of credibility would infect, in viral fashion, the nature of his claims, imbuing these claims themselves with a lack of credibility). What was needed was another rhetor who had the credibility to speak the same claims. In short, my problem wasn’t with what Kucinich was charging, but with who was making these charges. If, as I reasoned, the speaker hadn’t achieved the status of a “Statesman” whose words therefore had power, the speaker couldn’t but undermine the credibility of the charges themselves. Kucinich, in my view, has done much to undermine his credibility as a speaker through his actions and therefore could only do a disservice to the credibility of these charges. Having Kucinich speak these charges couldn’t but be a strategic blunder, regardless of whether he thereby “got them on the record” (a rationalization and convenient consolation no matter how you cut it). I could not see how this particular speaker could use words in a way that was powerful enough to create congressional consensus or public consensus to accomplish anything through the truth of his speech, and felt that his speech could even work to the detriment of the truth of that speech (Incidentally, I think this is a common failing of the left: it trusts in truth and ignores the necessity of creating consensus. This tendency to ignore the rhetorical dimension except in its capacity as critique is logically entailed by the love of truth insofar as the rhetorical dimension often involves a great deal of untruth, irrationalism, and injustice). Those who defended Kucinich ignored how the claims were spoken and who spoke, treating these things as irrelevant and secondary, instead focusing entirely on what was spoken. This denigration of the “how” and the “who” seems to be a constant misstep in leftist politics, as if it believes that these dimensions have no material efficacy. But if truth if what is loved, the speaker and the manner of speech should be irrelevant to the claim. I’m ashamed of this gut reaction on my part.
It seems that it’s no mistake that the Greeks simultaneously discovered political theory, rhetorical theory, and philosophy. The divide between rhetoric and philosophy seems to speak to an originary split at the heart of language between language as reference and language as persuasion or addressed to the other. The rhetor recognizes that dimension of language that must speak to local customs, the credibility of the speaker, the poetic power of language, etc., in order to produce persuasion. The effective rhetor cannot ignore these dimensions of language if they are to be successful in their rhetorical act. The philosopher, by contrast, attends only to relations of entailment, inference, and reference within language, without regard for an addressee.[/quote]
I need not add anything, as much of this –in particular the bolded parts– says it better than I ever could have. Don’t get me wrong, I like the little guy, and merely post this in half jest, if a bit callous, but that is the problem then isn’t it… that and the fact he doesn’t go all the way. in other words, does Dennis *once again* move to send his own so-called ‘privileged resolution’ to the black hole of the Judiciary Committee or will he realize this time “hey, I got this thing on the floor right now! And I can force a vote on it! I can actually demonstrate that ‘valor’ I wrote about!”
Dennis: “Are we at least willing to defend the Constitution from the comfort and security of our Washington, DC offices?”
The cynic in me: “Only if a half-hearted watered-down single resolution on it’s way to Conyers committee qualifies as ‘defend the Constitution’.
And of course there is the next question – when this one bites the dust, does Dennis promise/threaten another one in 30 days? I’d love to hear your thoughts…
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jul 9 2008 15:41 utc | 21
Uncle $cam, the problem may lie with the Kucinich’s topic, more than the man himself, or his choice of arguments. Of course Bush operates outside the law–he’s been an outlaw since the age of five. And he does so with the enough support to carry on. Who’s support? The support of those who support him in any way whatsoever–as with long suffering patience, for example.
So I don’t think we can get a perspective on this situation without introducing the difficult topic of “evil,” which is not (so far as I know) a term that appears in the Constitution. It has no legal standing even if it does, which makes for some of its difficulty. I certainly find it hard to think through, and I’ve been sipping on it for quite a while.
Posted by: alabama | Jul 9 2008 16:24 utc | 22
As someone who sips cookin’ whisky, all I want to know is how the prosecution is going.
Posted by: beq | Jul 9 2008 16:43 utc | 23
@ b real (20)- I watched these videos of McCain last night.
Creepy.
Posted by: beq | Jul 9 2008 16:51 utc | 24
It’s never just about oil but it seems oil is always in the mix. Sudan is moving to tap into Dar Fur’s oil resources with the help of comrade Mao’s glorious capitalists and few other investors including Al-Bashir’s lil brother (keeping it in the family you say).
Sudan talks to Chinese for help in Darfur oil exploration
Posted by: BenIAM | Jul 9 2008 17:16 utc | 25
[b – if you could, please move a copy of this comment over to the ‘coup in kenya ptII‘ thread to archive it there too. it supports my analysis & fills out more of the documentary record. thanks]
mcclatchy: Kenya’s president lost disputed election, poll shows
NAIROBI, Kenya — Six months after a deeply flawed election triggered a wave of ethnic killings in Kenya, a U.S. government-funded exit poll finds that the wrong candidate was declared the winner.
President Mwai Kibaki, whom official results credited with a 2-point margin of victory in the December vote, finished nearly 6 points behind in the exit poll, which was released Tuesday by researchers from the University of California, San Diego.
Opposition leader Raila Odinga scored “a clear win outside the margin of error” according to surveys of voters as they left polling places on Election Day, the poll’s author said.
…
The exit poll, whose existence McClatchy first reported in January, was financed by the Washington-based International Republican Institute, a nonpartisan democracy-building organization, with a grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development, the foreign-aid arm of the State Department.
Amid a worldwide furor over the election results, the institute decided not to release the poll, citing concerns about its validity. But the poll’s authors and the former head of the institute’s program in Kenya stand by the research, which the authors presented Tuesday in Washington at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, an independent research center.
In the exit poll, Odinga had 46.07 percent of the vote to 40.17 percent for Kibaki, a difference well outside the poll’s margin of error of 1.32 percentage points. The official results gave Kibaki 46.42 percent of the vote to 44.07 percent for Odinga.
“The results of the exit poll do show a clear win for Raila,” said the poll’s author, James D. Long, a Ph.D. candidate in political science at UCSD. His co-author is Clark C. Gibson, the chair of the university’s political science department.
…
The pollsters contracted Strategic Research, a veteran Kenyan public-opinion firm, which surveyed voters in each of Kenya’s eight provinces and in 179 out of 210 electoral constituencies. According to their projections, Odinga, who also led Kibaki in pre-election polls, should have received about 58,000 more votes than he was credited with. Kibaki should have received about 356,000 fewer votes.
…
It’s not clear what impact the poll will have now. The International Republican Institute maintained the rights to the poll for six months, ending June 26, after which the researchers could publish it themselves.
In that time, Kibaki and Odinga, under serious international pressure, formed a fragile coalition government, with Odinga as the prime minister. To top officials in both camps, the election and its bloody aftermath appear to be distant memories.
…
The institute, which also paid for exit polls in Kenya’s two previous national elections, in 2002 and 2005, has tried to distance itself from this poll. Officials initially cited concerns about the data, saying that many survey forms from far-flung areas were returned to pollsters in Nairobi several days after the election due to the violence, and that some forms may have gone missing.
Long and Gibson said those problems didn’t compromise the results. Surveys that were returned late showed no signs of being tampered with, and the polling firm eventually received all the allocated questionnaires, the authors said.
The authors also found that, despite the ethnic nature of the violence, most Kenyan voters chose presidential candidates for a variety of reasons, not just tribe.
Voters who were richer and who saw the economy as the most important issue in the election favored Kibaki, who’s presided over strong macroeconomic growth in Kenya. Poorer voters who felt shut out from such growth tended to vote for Odinga, the poll found.
CSIS did not make available any transcript or audio/video of the tuesday event. according to the UC newsroom, professors’ gibson & long were scheduled to discuss the poll results wednesday at john hopkin’s school for advanced int’l studies but the calendar there has no listing of the event.
Posted by: b real | Jul 10 2008 3:05 utc | 26
Anyway, for what it’s worth, the Colombians did it themselves, and the Americans had to trust the process. They might be asking themselves why they can’t gin up the same level of performance in Iraq. Or they might not be….
Are they, Pat?
Posted by: alabama | Jul 9, 2008 2:39:18 AM | 12
A lot are. But a lot don’t know where to look for answers.
Interest in Colombia among the CENTCOM set is, unsurprisingly, relatively recent. After Casey’s visit in May, however, in-coming CENTCOM CMDR Odierno was convinced to pay a visit here. Late summer, I guess. More will likely follow. Mullen made noise while he was here in Jan about going back to the mothership and enlisting wider interest in a close study of what has in the past handful of years gone right here (they’ve been at it 4 decades) and why, and applying what there is to be applied in the sand box – but didn’t mean a word of it. No movement from him.
You CAN do in Iraq – and Afghanistan – what has been done here. But only by radically changing the way most everyone thinks about and approaches the mission. You have to properly understand your role, which is NOT one of wag-the-dog. And it will still take a hellva long time. And numerous failures and set-backs. And considerable devotion of resources (the Big Green Machine, however, not being among them, which is or ought to be the major selling point, one would think). And luck. I am not one to gainsay luck.
Should it be done? That’s another question.
I know your answer.
Posted by: pat | Jul 10 2008 10:18 utc | 27
adding to @1 and @18 – the Nablus raid: witness account from Nablus
“For the past 3 days, the people in Nablus awoke in a great shock to
discover that the Israeli army has confiscated their property in a very
organised and well planned way. Here is what happened. During the
first night, at around 12, many military vehicles accompanied by huge
containers attacked a school, a clinic, and a mosque. The entrance
doors were broken,exploded and damaged. All the inside
furniture, equipments, tools, files, and other property were carried by
the soldiers into the lorries. You would never imagine that these
things would ever be taken. The computers, files, cameras, the chairs and
tables from the school, even the doors -unbelievable. These places
were left empty with a state of mess and damage. The school and
clinic were ordered closed for 3 years. The second night a huge
shopping center called Nablus mall was also attacked in the same
way. This building has over 50 stores, including a bank, many shops for
furniture–one of the shops was the one that I bought you your presents
dear Nancy and dear Laura–a restaurant, a supermarket, and many
offices. The property of 4 places was emptied into the lorries in the
middle of the night. Other shops were messed up and others were
damaged. A leaflet was left and it said that the mall will be closed
for 2 years, and that the property that has been taken—stolen,
confiscated—now belongs to the Israeli army…anyone dares to enter
will be imprisoned. At the same time, 5 mosques were entered and messed
up in different places in the city…
This new story of election rigging in an Arizona sales tax referendum is of interest, even if one may doubt that the matters testified to in the affidavit that accompanies the discussion will be confirmed. Needless to say, rigging a sales tax referendum fits in perfectly with the “wild conspiracy theories” frequently ventilated here.
Posted by: Hannah K. O’Luthon | Jul 10 2008 13:07 utc | 29
@29 Hannah
I had posted links about that Arizona situation earlier, but got a response minimizing the importance of it.
It still looks nationally significant to me, if for no other reason than one of the people charged with responsibility for safeguarding the tabulations has just admitted he did manipulate the results of a recent election.
Gaining access to the raw ballot data files CAN be significant, partly because the judicial decision granted the Democratic Party access to all past and all future election results.
Posted by: Anonymous | Jul 10 2008 16:58 utc | 31
john bellamy foster: Peak Oil and Energy Imperialism
The rise in overt militarism and imperialism at the outset of the twenty-first century can plausibly be attributed largely to attempts by the dominant interests of the world economy to gain control over diminishing world oil supplies. Beginning in 1998 a series of strategic energy initiatives were launched in national security circles in the United States in response to: (1) the crossing of the 50 percent threshold in U.S. importation of foreign oil; (2) the disappearance of spare world oil production capacity; (3) concentration of an increasing percentage of all remaining conventional oil resources in the Persian Gulf; and (4) looming fears of peak oil.
The response of the vested interests to this world oil supply crisis was to construct what Michael Klare in Blood and Oil has called a global “strategy of maximum extraction.” This required that the United States as the hegemonic power, with the backing of the other leading capitalist states, seek to extend its control over world oil reserves with the object of boosting production. Seen in this light, the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan (the geopolitical doorway to Western access to Caspian Sea Basin oil and natural gas) following the 9/11 attacks, the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the rapid expansion of U.S. military activities in the Gulf of Guinea in Africa (where Washington sees itself as in competition with Beijing), and the increased threats now directed at Iran and Venezuela—all signal the rise of a dangerous new era of energy imperialism.
(the entire july-august issue of monthly review is centered on “Ecology: The Moment of Truth”, though not all of the web articles are free to read yet)
Posted by: b real | Jul 10 2008 18:56 utc | 33
@ 33 broadly related J.B Foster talks about Capitalism and Climate Change
Posted by: BenIAM | Jul 10 2008 20:18 utc | 34
On a similar note the “climate causes war” thesis has been gaining more play beyond the journalistic accounts. UNEP released a conflict post-assessment report on the war(s) in Darfur The Heat Made me Do it Section 4 is of some interest.
The scale of historical climate change as recorded in Northern Darfur is almost unprecedented: the reduction in rainfall has turned millions of hectares of already marginal semi-desert grazing land into desert. The impact of climate change is considered to be directly related to the conflict in the region, as desertification has added significantly to the stress on the livelihoods of pastoralist societies, forcing them to move south and to find pasture p. 126.
More ominously the report imputes that this purported climate change-induced conflict in Darfur implicates a similar scenario for the wider climatic zone which stretches across Africa from Senegal to Sudan. In a “natural resources” or “oil” reading this would imply as Michael Klare does a range of resources conflicts from the Gulf of Guinea to the HoA. But is their anything serious to the social impact of climate change?
Any thoughts or info?
Posted by: BenIAM | Jul 10 2008 20:33 utc | 35
Open Letter to Airline Customers Airline CEOs sign joint letter to frequent fliers…
Stop Oil Speculation Now
Posted by: jony_b_cool | Jul 10 2008 23:38 utc | 36
today, kucinich introduced one definitive article of impeachment against bush.
here is the c span video
Posted by: annie | Jul 11 2008 1:29 utc | 37
@beq 24 – that canned laugh is really creepy. the guy makes such an easy target. it’s surprising there aren’t more photos of him huggin’ shrub all over the place.
@BenIAM – “the social impact of climate change”
it’s a topic i’ve been intending to research further for awhile now. one of the factors shaping AFRICOM is the perception of mass migrations & conflicts resulting from extended droughts & coastal flooding and how to control the flow of people in order to protect u.s. & ally interests. there’s a couple documents on this type of scenario, reports from somewhere i don’t recall, lying around here but i can’t find them at the moment & haven’t had the time to look them over to be able to comment. kip ward already mentioned in his nomination questioning that AFRICOM is aware of how climate change events will threaten the oil & gas infrastructure in the gulf of guinea. there’ve got to be some forecasts they’re working from.
last week i was trying to find a good map of how african coasts will be impacted by the projected sea level rise accompanying climate change, but didn’t have any luck looking at some IPCC materials. i’ve read that large cities like egypt & lagos are at serious risk. if anyone has any good links, please share.
as is the case in sudan, there has been a lot of ongoing debate over whether pastoralist groups can even be supported on the continent, seeing as how they require such an expanse of territory. and lots of other groups, such as the kalahari bushmen in botswana or the bagyeli in cameroon, have been driven off their homelands, essentially forced to ‘modernize’ w/ all the dependency problems that that then adds. it all ties in together w/ climate change & , but i don’t have any good resources to share/recommend yet.
and on sudan, i haven’t had any time to follow it, but there’s been so much going on there lately. the attacks from chad & the captured child soldiers being held for a month now. the stories of ugandan & ethiopian battles w/ sudanese forces. the trip by the darfur rebel leader to the u.s. mia farrow’s call for blackwater to intervene in darfur. sudan not renewing the lockheed no-bid contract. the ambushed peacekeepers. the rwandan cmdr of the peacekeepers being indicted by spanish courts for genocide. the upcoming ICC indictments, of which rumor has it that al-bashir himself will be charged and, in retaliation, the sudanese govt is expected to kick the u.n. out of the country. the upcoming elections. etc etc. it’s too overwhelming for me to try to follow, on top of my regular beat.
Posted by: b real | Jul 11 2008 5:02 utc | 38
when the President of China told the Presidents of Africa that China seeks to be an equal partner with African countries in its dealings with them, it really was not that big a deal for either the Chinese or the Africans.
the West should take note because this might be the new order.
Posted by: jony_b_cool | Jul 11 2008 8:00 utc | 39
Caught this on the AM junt to the store today,
NPR*: Expert: Iran `doctored’ photo of missile launches
As per my norm, this article and story reeks of <*)))><
Not because I believe Iran to be above these type things, hardly, and who could blame them, but I digresss, for other reasons of which I can't honesty put my finger on yet...
* That would be, National Prop-agenda Radio ;-)
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jul 11 2008 12:40 utc | 40
yikes. in #38 i obviously meant ward’s confirmation hearing questions.
Posted by: b real | Jul 11 2008 14:36 utc | 41
b real, High-Resolution Sea Level Rise Flooding Animations In Google Earth
Posted by: annie | Jul 11 2008 14:58 utc | 42
from a jamestown foundation rpt on the situation in the niger delta
What seems inevitable is that the United States, currently Nigeria’s biggest oil importer, will be drawn into the fray, as Washington expects its oil imports from the Gulf of Guinea to increase to more than 25 percent by 2015. On February 6, 2007, the Pentagon established its AFRICOM military command to oversee the deployment of U.S. forces in the area and supervise the distribution of money, material and military training to regional militaries and client states.
On June 28 Nigerian Vice President Goodluck Jonathan received a delegation of six United States Congressmen in Abuja led by Howard Berman, chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Relations and solicited Washington’s assistance in pacifying the volatile Delta region, saying: “It will therefore be welcomed if the U.S. Government will assist Nigeria in curbing the criminalities within the area, since the U.S. has its security installations in the Gulf of Guinea, protecting its investments situated there” (The Tide [Port Harcourt], June 30). Nor is possible U.S. assistance all—British Prime Minister Gordon Brown will meet President Yar’Adua in London on July 17, with British press reporting that oilfield security will head the agenda.
…
British Prime Minister Brown has already proffered assistance; at Saudi Arabia’s oil summit last month Brown said that Britain would “support Nigeria, Iraq and others seeking to overcome security constraints on increased production.”
The end result of the rising unrest is that Washington’s AFRICOM, currently orphaned in Stuttgart, might finally acquire a home on the Dark Continent. American maritime firepower in Africa to protect rising American oil imports would dovetail neatly with current administration policy; in his 2006 State of the Union address President George W. Bush announced his intention “to replace more than 75 percent of our oil imports from the Middle East by 2025.” It is not as if Nigeria can allow its oil industry to deteriorate, as it currently provides 20 percent of the nation’s GDP, 95 percent of its foreign exchange earnings and 80 percent of budgetary revenues.
…
Next month … when Gbaran-Ubie comes online, Abuja may be unable to resist the Pentagon’s blandishments if it does not want to risk having 425,000 offshore bpd production off-lined by further militant attacks.
MEND announced on wed that it was ending it’s ceasefire this w/e due to yar’adua’s appeals to brown for assistance.
MEND Vows Attack On British Interests, Calls Off Ceasefire!
Nigeria’s main rebel group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) says it is calling off its unilateral ceasefire effective Saturday July 12, 2008. MEND also threatened to attack British interests in Nigeria if it provides any military or logistic support to the Nigerian government.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Wednesday that Britain was ready to help Nigeria tackle lawlessness that has hit oil output from its southern Niger Delta region.
“We stand ready to give help to the Nigerians to deal with lawlessness that exists in this area and to achieve the levels of production that Nigeria is capable of, but because of the law and order problems has not been able to achieve,” Brown told a news conference at the Group of Eight summit.
Brown’s statement drew immediate fire from MEND who released a statement calling on Britain to steer clear of the region of face dire consequences.
the stmt from jomo reads:
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) wishes to sound a stern warning to the British Prime Minister, Mr. Gordon Brown over his recent statement offering to provide military support to the illegal government of Umaru Yar’Adua in further oppressing the impoverished people of the Niger Delta.
To demonstrate our seriousness to the UK support of an injustice, MEND will be calling off its unilateral ceasefire with effect from midnight, Saturday July 12, 2008.
Mr. Yar’Adua in a fraudulent appeal to the G8 leaders in Japan misled the international community into believing that the unrest and agitation in the region is due to oil theft which encourages “blood oil”.
The international community and independent researchers are very well aware that the unrest in the region is as a result of over five decades of oil exploration that has developed other parts of Nigeria to the detriment of the environment and people of the Niger Delta.
The United Kingdom is part of this problem with the politics it played pre-independence that gave leverage to some sections of the country which has helped in marginalizing and exploiting the region today.
Should Gordon Brown make good his threat to support this criminality for the sake of oil, UK citizens and interests in Nigeria will suffer the consequences.
Posted by: b real | Jul 11 2008 14:59 utc | 43
So, looks like Freddie and Fanny are at long last tanking. Anyone has popcorn and beer left?
Posted by: CluelessJoe | Jul 11 2008 15:08 utc | 44
here are some graphs and stuff on Freddie and Fannie and Sally.
It is really quite frightening to behold. I guess that is why I don’t look at it and have been trying very hard to ignore the fact that my meager savings have evaporated.
Posted by: dan of steele | Jul 11 2008 16:06 utc | 45
47 Afghan civilians killed by US bombs, group says
KABUL, Afghanistan—A U.S. military airstrike this week killed 47 civilians traveling to a wedding, the head of an Afghan government commission investigating the incident said Friday.
The airstrike on Sunday in Deh Bala district of Nuristan province also wounded nine civilians, said Burhanullah Shinwari, the deputy chairman of the Senate, who led the delegation.
The U.S. military on Sunday denied that any civilians were killed in the incident. At the time Afghan officials said 27 civilians had been killed.
On Friday, U.S. coalition spokesman 1st Lt. Nathan Perry said that “any loss of innocent life is tragic.”
Ahem. Calling askod!!!
Time to make one of those action dreams come true.
link
Can you make some kind of citizen’s arrest at least?
Posted by: beq | Jul 11 2008 17:03 utc | 47
from b’s link:
“The group was targeted twice on Sunday, as they walked along with the bride from her village toward the groom’s house in another village, Shinwari said.
WTF?!
Posted by: beq | Jul 11 2008 17:14 utc | 48
Book Cites Secret Red Cross Report of C.I.A. Torture of Qaeda Captives
Red Cross investigators concluded last year in a secret report that the Central Intelligence Agency’s interrogation methods for high-level Qaeda prisoners constituted torture and could make the Bush administration officials who approved them guilty of war crimes, according to a new book on counterterrorism efforts since 2001.
…
A.P.B. (All points bulletin)
Calling all Interpol agentsStop.
please be advised WE HAVE A LATE/MIDDLE AGED WHITE American MALEStop.
A.P.B. (All points bulletin)Stop. Nationality, American. Hangs out in the homosexual culture and quartersStop.
PASSPORT # (REDACTED)
Name: Karl Christian Rove
Age:58
Last seen: Washington D.C. Area.
Last location:Washington’s more ‘discreet’ gay bars (Redacted)
Last seen with: James Dale Guckert/Jeff Gannon Ex-White house stenographer (Redacted)
Red Notice*: Wanted for an International arrest warrant (IAW) questioning,
Green Notice** : possible Felonies/Misdemeanors, contempt of Congress, Crimes within the (DOJ) Department Of Justice , including but not limited to possible Genocide, War Crimes, and Crimes Against Humanity. Stop.
Apprehend immediately if encountered. Stop.
Contact your local International liaison upon arrest.
*Red Notice
To seek the arrest or provisional arrest of wanted persons with a view to extradition.
**Green Notice
To provide warnings and criminal intelligence about persons who have committed criminal offences and are likely to repeat these crimes in other countries.
Criminal activity or missing persons should, in the first instance, be reported to your local police department or your National Central Bureau (NCB).
If you still need to contact Interpol directly then please use the address, fax number or e-mails below.
INTERPOL
General Secretariat
200, quai Charles de Gaulle
69006 Lyon
France
Fax: (33) 4 72 44 71 63
U.S. Department of Justice
INTERPOL
United States National Central Bureau
Washington, DC 20530
(202) 616-9000 Phone
(202) 616-8400 Fax
My meme dream…
I’d find it awful funny if, as an act of civil disobedience, their fax and phone lines were jammed with hundreds of calls with the above or similar satire. But alas, as Kant was said to have quoted,
“A Master is an awakened person who can wake up the ones who are still sleeping. But it is very dangerous, because to wake up a sleeping person is to annoy him. You are disturbing his sleep. He is enjoying his dreams, he is resting, and you are unnecessarily harassing him.”
Posted by: Uncle $cam | Jul 11 2008 23:23 utc | 50
more than confusion, less than contagion
the meaning of dreaming not lost, but latent…
Posted by: Lizard | Jul 11 2008 23:30 utc | 51
two from inner city press today
At UN, Zim Sanctions Killed by Double Veto, Colonialism Charged, Sudan and ICC Foreshadowed: Who Is Isolating Whom?
UNITED NATIONS, July 11 — Past 4 p.m. on Friday, the Security Council went into an open meeting on Zimbabwe. On his way in, Chinese Ambassador Wang said, “It is extremely difficult for China,” which to many reporters meant that China would veto the sanctions resolution. But then the vote was called for.
…
Indonesia abstained, and five voted against: Vietnam, Libya, South Africa and Russia and China, the latter two with veto power. When their arms went up to vote no, many were surprised. But the proponents must have known, from their consultations earlier on Friday. So why did they still call it for a vote? A lone veto-er, as the U.S. has sometimes been, can be described as isolated. But to have a partner in the veto, and three other no’s and an abstention, is hardly isolation.
For now we add: if a resolution were proposed to suspend an ICC indictment of Sudan’s president, it would face vetoes in reverse…
China Opposes Any Sudan Indictments, Would Support Suspending, Darfur Threat Level Raised
UNITED NATIONS, July 11 — With the prospect of Sudan’s president being indicted for war crimes as early as July 14, Inner City Press on Friday asked Chinese Ambassador to the UN Wang Guangya if China thinks such an indictment would be helpful to people in Darfur. “I don’t think so,” Ambassador Wang said. Impunity is part of the problem in Sudan, he said, but “there are more important problems” such as political negotiations, humanitarian access and “peacekeeping modalities.”
This last is a reference to already delayed deployment of peacekeepers in Darfur, which was at least partially suspended on Friday by the UN, as confirmed to Inner City Press by Australia’s Defense Minister Joel Fitzgibbon. Sudan’s Ambassador to the UN told Inner City Press that the UN has raised its threat level for Darfur to the highest category, Four, and raised the level for Khartoum to Three. He had just met with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, telling him “we hold you responsible if our President is indicted.” Mr. Ban, he said, remained impassive. The idea of asking the Security Council to suspend any International Criminal Court proceeding against President Omar al Bashir has been broached.
Inner City Press asked Amb. Wang for China’s view on this. “There are elements in the [Rome] statute,” he said. “It depends on the Council… the Council members have to take up this responsibility.” … This last is taken to mean that China supports putting a stop on the ICC and prospector Luis Moreno Ocampo.
…
..would the U.S., France and / or the UK veto any draft resolution to suspend ICC proceedings? Inner City Press asked U.S. Ambassador to the UN Zalmay Khalilzad, but he said, “I don’t want to answer that today.” In fairness, the U.S. sponsored Zimbabwe sanctions resolution had just be vetoed by both China and Russia, and Amb. Khalilizad wanted to speak about their votes, and that of South Africa, which he called “disturbing” as well as longing for Jacob Zuma to take over..
…
Footnote: Of Burkina-Faso vote in favor of Zimbabwe sanctions, Sudan’s Ambassador pointed to the appointment of that countries former former minister Bassole as Darfur mediator and said, “everything must be paid for.” He said he no loner favors expansion of the Security Council to include more developing countries, after Burkina-Faso’s vote, he prefers to stick with the Permanent Five and their vetoes. “It is better to deal with the Devil than the disciplines,” he said.
Posted by: b real | Jul 12 2008 3:05 utc | 52
tack this onto #43
times of nigeria: Angry Nigerian Rebels To Support Scottish Armed Group!
Nigeria’s main rebel group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) says it has been approached by a militant group in Scotland for logistics support to wage guerrilla warfare in Scotland against British interest.
The un-named Scottish group which shares the same philosophy with the Scottish National Party wants to believe that Scotland should be independent and have full control over its North Sea Oil resources.
Jomo Gbomo, spokesman for MEND told The Times of Nigeria that the Scottish group contacted MEND after the furor over the offer of military support to Nigeria made by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown during the G-8 Summit.
…
“The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) has been approached for its expertise by an emerging militant group in Scotland who shares the sentiments of the Scottish National Party who believe that Scotland should be independent and have full control over its North Sea oil resources like the oppressed people of the Niger Delta region of Nigeria.
“Scotland would be one of the richest countries in the world if it was allowed to keep all its oil revenues – worth around $112 billion over the next six years.
“Although Scotland is still relatively better off compared to many African countries, they still have among the worst health, poverty, crime and life expectancy records in the developed world – while the huge profits which could help tackle these problems go to the oil companies and Gordon Brown’s government in London.
“MEND supports the Scottish peoples fight for independence and the right to profit from their natural resources, rather than see it drained away by a ‘foreign’ country.
“We share the same pain and sentiments and together we will work with freedom fighters in Scotland to emancipate it’s people from the similar bondage the people of the Niger Delta face” according to Gbomo.
Posted by: b real | Jul 12 2008 3:44 utc | 53
reuters: Former US diplomat gets year for anti-Arab comments
WASHINGTON, July 11 (Reuters) – A retired U.S. diplomat was sentenced on Friday to one year in prison and fined $10,000 for sending racist, threatening messages to an Arab-American group, the Justice Department said.
The diplomat, Patrick Syring of Arlington, Virginia, sent abusive and intimidating e-mails and voice mails to employees of the Arab American Institute, a Washington group.
He was sentenced in federal court in the U.S. capital after pleading guilty to federal civil rights charges, the Justice Department said in a statement.
Among his comments in a series of e-mails, Syring wrote that “the only good Arab is a dead Arab.”
Of particular target was the institute’s president, James Zogby, “and his wicked Hezbollah brothers.”
“They will burn in hellfire on this earth and in the hereafter,” said Syring, 50, in an e-mail that was included in the indictment last year.
Syring was a U.S. diplomat in the Middle East and had worked more recently in the Human Resources division at the State Department.
Posted by: b real | Jul 12 2008 4:02 utc | 54
missed this story during the week
Brazil’s Lula visits Vietnam’s General Giap
HANOI (AFP) — Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on a Vietnam visit Thursday paid his respects to General Vo Nguyen Giap, the architect of military victories over France and the United States.
Lula, a former leftist trade union activist, posed for a photograph with the 97-year-old general dressed in a white army uniform and said he would send the picture to Cuba’s ailing veteran revolutionary Fidel Castro.
“The Vietnamese can be proud of being the people that defeated the French and the Americans in the same century,” said Lula. “That says a lot about who the Vietnamese people are and how resilient they are.”
– – –
really digging this new seun kuti & egypt 80 cd (fela’s youngest son, now running the show.) 3 trax avail at their my space presence
Posted by: b real | Jul 13 2008 5:03 utc | 56
WaPo’s Hoagland prepares for new sanctions on Iran: Jitters Over Iran
Washington wants the focus kept on expanding financial and trade restrictions triggered by three U.N. Security Council resolutions condemning Iran’s enrichment program. An interagency working group headed by the Treasury Department is drafting a plan to get international insurance companies to withdraw coverage from Iranian cargo shipments, infrastructure and businesses rather than face the “reputational risks” of maintaining links with Iran.
Israel sees this as a good first step but expects even greater pressures to be adopted urgently, Ambassador Sallai Meridor emphasized to me last week. Asian and Persian Gulf ports “take major risks by handling Iranian cargo that could contain contraband nuclear-related items” and must restrict Iranian shipping by air and sea, he said.
“Sanctions on insurance and maritime and air transportation would raise the cost of Iran’s doing business. But effective sanctions on the import of refined petroleum products could be a game-changer,” since Iran produces crude oil but lacks refining capacity. The world’s oil companies “should not sell gasoline that is used by Iran’s nuclear scientists and its terror chiefs to drive to ‘work,’ ” Meridor said.
Hadn’t seen this before: the new, improved internet?
A net-neutrality activist group has uncovered plans for the demise of the free Internet by 2010 in Canada. By 2012, the group says, the trend will be global.
Bell Canada and TELUS, Canada’s two largest Internet service providers (ISPs), will begin charging per-site fees on most Internet sites, reports anonymous sources within TELUS.
—-
The plans made by the large telecom businesses would change the Internet into a cable-like system, where customers sign up for specific web sites, and must pay to see each individual site beyond a certain point. Subscription browsing would be limited, extra fees would be applied to access out-of-network sites. Many sites would be blocked altogether.
—-
The plans would in effect be economic censorship, with only the top 100 to 200 sites making the cut in the initial subscription package. Such plans would likely favor major news outlets and suppress smaller news outlets, as the major news outlets would be free (with subscription), and alternative news outlets, like AFP, would incur a fee for every visit.
—-
“By 2012 ISPs all over the globe will reduce Internet access to a TV-like subscription model, only offering access to a small standard amount of commercial sites and require extra fees for every other site you visit. These ‘other’ sites would then lose all their exposure and eventually shut down, resulting in what could be seen as the end of the Internet,” Leysen said.
Revenge of the Gatekeepers.
Posted by: lg | Jul 13 2008 11:50 utc | 59
annie @57 🙂 sounds like it could have be, doesn’t it. as the earlier link pointed out, they’re royally pissed @ the scotsman gordon brown.
Posted by: b real | Jul 14 2008 4:25 utc | 61
Interesting …
US, West provocative toward Iran: Kuwait speaker
The United States and other Western countries are dealing in a provocative way with Iran over its nuclear programme and should respect its sovereignty, Kuwait’s parliament speaker said.
Jassem al-Kharafi said the West was using double standards in the dispute by trying to prevent Iran’s nuclear programme while saying nothing about Israel, which is widely believed to posses the Middle East’s only nuclear arsenal. The Jewish state neither confirms nor denies possessing nuclear weapons.
…
Sunni Muslim-ruled Kuwait, a staunch U.S. ally, is home to thousands of U.S. troops.
Kuwaiti officials rarely criticise the United States.
“Such a sensitive issue requires the language of dialogue, not escalation…It is necessary to respect Iran’s sovereignty because a resolution will not be reached by treating it like a U.S. state,” he said.
i’ve tried to access deananders sight for a few days but it seems blocked – would love news of our comrade
Posted by: remembereringgiap | Jul 14 2008 15:42 utc | 63
yea, hubbert’s toboggan never loads. feralscholar.org is down. insurgent american is still up, but last post was april 25. last diary @ eurotrib was april 30. hmm.
also, where’s alamet?
Posted by: b real | Jul 14 2008 16:09 utc | 64
cached page @ de’s personal site from june 16 reads “I’m in the process of moving my personal web space off my employer’s server and onto my own vserver space here in eggplantland. Stay tuned.”
Posted by: b real | Jul 14 2008 16:13 utc | 65
hey, remember the 2004 veep debates where cheney told some lies about el salvador?
CHENEY: Twenty years ago we had a similar situation in El Salvador. We had — guerrilla insurgency controlled roughly a third of the country, 75,000 people dead, and we held free elections. I was there as an observer on behalf of the Congress.
The human drive for freedom, the determination of these people to vote, was unbelievable. And the terrorists would come in and shoot up polling places; as soon as they left, the voters would come back and get in line and would not be denied the right to vote.
And today El Salvador is a whale of a lot better because we held free elections.
heh. “a whale of a lot better”. strange metric there, but anyway it ends up that also in 2004, as was pretty known but never officially acknowledged, elections in el salvador were still anything but free & fair – courtesy of uncle sam
U.S. Embassy Admits to Intervention in 2004 Salvadoran Presidential Elections
During a recent heated meeting at the US Embassy in El Salvador, Ambassador Charles Glazer admitted to U.S. intervention in the 2004 Salvadoran Presidential Elections. The meeting on June 27 was requested by a group of 12 U.S. citizens, including professors, students, journalists and community activists who were taking part in a 10-day delegation organized by the Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES).
In their meeting with the Ambassador, the group focused specifically on the history of U.S. political and military intervention in El Salvador. They cited statements made by US State Department officials denouncing. the leftist Farabundo Marti Liberation Front (FMLN) party during the 2004 presidential campaign. The delegates also referenced legislation put forward in Congress by Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO) that threatened to cut off remittances sent by Salvadorans in the U.S. to their families in El Salvador should the FMLN win. “The U.S. Embassy in El Salvador never countered this absurd threat or clarified the impossibility of such legislation being passed,” said Rosa Lozano, a delegate from Washington D.C. “Ultimately, such intervention helped turn a close race for the presidency into a decisive victory for the right-wing National Republican Alliance (ARENA) party.”
When asked directly if the U.S. government had intervened in the 2004 presidential elections on behalf of the ARENA party, Glazer replied in the affirmative. When asked if such intervention would occur again, he said “no”. “We believe that this is the first time that a representative of the Bush Administration has taken responsibility for the manipulative interference that took place during the 2004 presidential campaign,” said Burke Stansbury, Executive Director of CISPES and a participant in the meeting with the ambassador. “It’s really quite remarkable; CISPES and others have been crying foul since State Department intervention began in mid-2003 but the Embassy has always denied it played a role in President Saca’s victory,” continued Stansbury. “But admitting fault last time is not enough. We will continue to demand that no such intervention occurs, not in 2009 nor ever again.”
now get ready for the punch line…
During the meeting, the Embassy labor attaché claimed that the possibility of fraud in the 2009 would be diminished because of the active monitoring of various international organizations and emphasized the role to be played by the International Republican Institute (IRI) and the National Democratic Institute (NDI), both subsections of the National Endowment of Democracy (NED).
Posted by: b real | Jul 14 2008 19:10 utc | 66
@lg #59:
Sounds like it’s time to get serious about decentralized-wireless. I’m gonna go pick up a second cheap wireless router and crank up my old linux box and get started.
Just like the War On Drugs, if you force it underground, you lose control.
Posted by: Dr. Wellington Yueh | Jul 15 2008 0:44 utc | 67
Does anyone have a tip for how to find out the frequency of news articles containing a certain phrase? Ideally I would want a bar graph showing the frequency of “chemical weapon drone” month by month through 2003, but raw data would be OK too
Posted by: boxcar mike | Jul 15 2008 1:12 utc | 68
@boxcar mike – Google trends may work for you. Other than that Nexis is supposed to have such features but it costs.
Video
Omar Khadr (16) questioned by Canadian agents in Guantanamo in 2003 when he was 16.
Omar Khadr is Canadian.
Story another videolink by Globe and Mail.
You CAN do in Iraq – and Afghanistan – what has been done here. But only by radically changing the way most everyone thinks about and approaches the mission. You have to properly understand your role, which is NOT one of wag-the-dog. And it will still take a hellva long time. And numerous failures and set-backs. And considerable devotion of resources (the Big Green Machine, however, not being among them, which is or ought to be the major selling point, one would think). And luck. I am not one to gainsay luck.
Should it be done? That’s another question.
I know your answer.
Pat, sorry for the late reply (I’m spending the week in a place that doesn’t like to connect with the “internets”).
Anyway, with all good humor, courtesy and due respect, I don’t agree that you “know my answer”–for the simple reason that I don’t know it myself. Because, rather to my shame, I know next to nothing about Colombia, and, if I know anything about my own mental habits, they move as a kind of “casuistry”–i.e. they try to receive each problem on a case-by-case basis (the basic operation, I’m told, for English Common Law, habits not incompatible, I’m also told, with a drive to be absolutely logical, quite the contrary).
But I haven’t reached the starting-point where Colombia’s concerned, and now I’d like to try. Any reading suggestions–as to history, economics and such–would be most welcome, and I’d like to buy those books here, in the USA, since prices for English-language books in France have become one of those evaporating-dollar-spectaculars mentioned earlier.
Posted by: alabama | Jul 15 2008 16:33 utc | 71
walking ghosts (murder & guerilla politics in colombia)- steven dudley – routledge – 2006 – new york
also many abstracts on internet from the latin american studies dept at la trobe university, melbourne – directed by professors barry carr & steven niblo
Posted by: remembereringgiap | Jul 15 2008 17:56 utc | 72
the house subcommittee on national security and foreign affairs, committee on oversight and govt reform (wheez.. huuuuh)held a hearing tuesday morn titled AFRICOM: Rationales, Roles, and Progress on the Eve of Operations. it was originally announced as being open to the public w/ a live video feed during the event, however that feed was missing – or at least there was none avail on two diff client attempts at my end.
anyhoo, since i haven’t read thru the prepared testimonies just posted, i’ll draw attention to AFRICOM’s mission stmt, as contained in yates & snodgrass’ written remarks:
The USAFRICOM mission is “United States Africa Command, in concert with other U.S. Government agencies and international partners, conducts sustained security engagement through military-to-military programs, military-sponsored activities, and other military operations as directed to promote a stable and secure African environment in support of U.S. foreign policy.”
iow, imperialism
Posted by: b real | Jul 15 2008 18:44 utc | 73
scott horton: Six Questions for Jane Mayer, Author of The Dark Side
In a series of gripping articles, Jane Mayer has chronicled the Bush Administration’s grim and furtive dealings with torture and has exposed both the individuals within the administration who “made it happen” (a group that starts with Vice President Cheney and his chief of staff, David Addington), the team of psychologists who put together the palette of techniques, and the Fox television program “24,” which was developed to help sell it to the American public. In a new book, The Dark Side, Mayer puts together the major conclusions from her articles and fills in a number of important gaps. Most significantly, we learn the details on the torture techniques and the drama behind the fierce and lingering struggle within the administration over torture, and we learn that many within the administration recognized the potential criminal accountability they faced over these torture tactics and moved frantically to protect themselves from possible future prosecution. I put six questions to Jane Mayer on the subject of her book, The Dark Side.
Posted by: b real | Jul 16 2008 3:21 utc | 74
nyt article from july 13th (it’s by simon rivero so some of it is likely dis/misinfo, but what the hey..)
U.S. Aid Was a Key to Hostage Rescue in Colombia
BOGOTÁ, Colombia — The United States played a more elaborate role in the events leading up to this month’s rescue operation of 15 hostages in the Colombian jungle than had been previously acknowledged, including the deployment of more than 900 American military personnel members to Colombia earlier this year in efforts to locate the hostages, according to an official briefed on these efforts.
At one point in the first three months of 2008, the number of American military personnel members in Colombia passed the limit of 800 established by law, but a legal loophole in the United States allowed the authorities to go above that level since the service members, including more than 40 members of the Special Operations forces, were involved in search and rescue operations of American citizens.
The official who provided this detailed account spoke to The New York Times and several other news organizations, asking not to be identified because of the political sensitivity surrounding the involvement of American forces in Colombia. (Normally only about 400 to 500 American military personnel members are believed to operate in Colombia in noncombat roles.) A spokesman at the United States Embassy here declined to comment on the account.
…
In the earlier search-and-rescue effort with heavier American involvement, personnel included F.B.I. hostage negotiators embedded with Colombian counterparts at a location in San José del Guaviare, a provincial capital 200 miles southeast of Bogotá, and members of American Special Operations forces inserted into small Colombian reconnaissance teams tracking the rebels on foot through the jungle.
Hundreds of American support personnel members on the ground in Colombia complemented these elite forces, in addition to a frenzied intelligence-gathering operation located in the United States Embassy here, drawing on intercepts of the rebel group’s radio systems, human intelligence, satellite imaging and “air breathers,” as piloted surveillance aircraft are called in military jargon.
…
Posted by: b real | Jul 16 2008 4:09 utc | 75
Obama outlines policy of endless war
16 July 2008
Any misconception that Barack Obama is running in the 2008 election as an “antiwar” candidate should have been cleared up Tuesday in what was billed by the Democratic presidential campaign as a “major speech” on national security and the US war in Iraq.
Speaking before a backdrop of massed American flags at the Reagan Building in Washington, Obama made it clear that he opposes the present US policy in Iraq not on the basis of any principled opposition to neo-colonialism or aggressive war, but rather on the grounds that the Iraq war is a mistaken deployment of power that fails to advance the global strategic interests of American imperialism.
What emerges from the speech by the junior senator from Illinois is that the November election will not provide the American people with the opportunity to vote for or against war, but merely to choose which of the two colonial-style wars that US forces are presently fighting should be escalated…
_________
“Last night I was dreamed that I was chasing a pack of wolves, trying to belong”
Posted by: Juan Moment | Jul 16 2008 13:37 utc | 76
this very good march 2008 media analysis from FAIR’s extra is now available online – highly recommended for those following coverage on somalia
Rediscovering Somalia: Press downplays U.S. role in renewed crisis
Posted by: b real | Jul 16 2008 16:42 utc | 77
Hundreds of super-rich American tax cheats have, in effect, turned themselves in to the IRS after a bank computer technician in the tiny European country of Liechtenstein came forward with the names of US citizens who had set up secret accounts there, according to Washington lawyers investigating the scheme.
Posted by: beq | Jul 16 2008 16:54 utc | 78
cnn: Colombian military used Red Cross emblem in rescue
BOGOTA, Colombia (CNN) — Colombian military intelligence used the Red Cross emblem in a rescue operation in which leftist guerrillas were duped into handing over 15 hostages, according to unpublished photographs and video viewed by CNN.
Photographs of the Colombian military intelligence-led team that spearheaded the rescue, shown to CNN by a confidential military source, show one man wearing a bib with the Red Cross symbol. The military source said the three photos were taken moments before the mission took off to persuade the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia rebels to release the hostages to a supposed international aid group for transport to another rebel area.
Such a use of the Red Cross emblem could constitute a “war crime” under the Geneva Conventions and international humanitarian law and could endanger humanitarian workers in the future, according to international legal expert Mark Ellis, executive director of the International Bar Association.
…
Misuse of the Red Cross emblem is governed by articles 37, 38 and 85 of Additional Protocol One to the Geneva Conventions, the international rules of war. The articles prohibit “feigning of protected status by the use of … emblems” of neutral parties and say that such misuses are considered breaches of international humanitarian law that qualify as a “war crime.”
Colombia signed the Geneva Conventions in 1949.
…
Other photos shown to CNN indicate how little was done to disguise equipment used in the rescue. The two military MI-17 helicopters used in the rescue were repainted white and orange without removing armor-plated panels positioned around the outside of the cockpit. Another shot shows the pilots wearing what appear to be military pilots’ helmets that have been repainted white with orange or red V-shaped stripes. The helmets still have prominent mounts on the front used for attaching night vision goggles.
One other video clip shows the two guerrilla commanders, who had boarded the helicopter with their hostages, carried out of the chopper over the shoulders of two men the CNN source identified as plain-clothes military personnel. The rebels were blindfolded and partially stripped. As they were dumped on the ground, they appeared groggy and stunned.
Before the departure of the operation, two soldiers in camouflage uniforms can be seen on the farm where the helicopters were staged, chasing a chicken and stunning it with a stun gun.
Posted by: b real | Jul 16 2008 22:04 utc | 80
Well, heres the first blush of jealousy from the Israeli’s, worried that the U.S. has started eyeballing and flirting with the Iranians. Oh! big daddy don’t dump me now.
Posted by: anna missed | Jul 17 2008 7:16 utc | 81
this goes w/ #80
ips: COLOMBIA: Hostage Rescue, According to Captured Guerrilla Leader
When the guerrilla unit and their captives arrived at the place, “I had some doubts; I was excited but nervous at the same time,” César said, according to lawyer Ríos who was relating the story to IPS.
The first thing the veteran guerrilla saw were two airplanes at a great height, circling the area. These had not been mentioned before in any of the accounts of the operation.
Then he saw the helicopters, white with a red stripe in the same design as those used in January and February to transport hostages unilaterally released by the FARC after mediation by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, in operations coordinated by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which César had watched on television in the jungle.
One helicopter landed and four civilians wearing jeans and T-shirts got out. Two wore T-shirts with the image of Argentine-Cuban guerrilla Ernesto Che Guevara and a stripe at stomach height saying “International Red Cross.” The other two had the ICRC logo on their T-shirts, the insurgent said.
“According to César, he could make out the International Committee of the Red Cross, the ICRC logo perfectly clearly,” his lawyer Ríos told IPS.
Colombia’s President Alvaro Uribe has since admitted the unauthorised use of the ICRC emblem in the rescue operation — a ruse that is specifically prohibited by the Geneva Conventions — and apologised to the humanitarian group, saying is was a mistake.
…
Ríos asked César several times if he was sure that the troops in the operation were wearing the ICRC logo, and he has always answered, “Yes, I’m absolutely sure, and that is what gained my confidence, because I had a lot of doubts.”
The ICRC symbol is a red cross surrounded by a double circle in black, with the inscription “COMITE INTERNATIONAL GENEVE.”
“The International Red Cross symbols gave me confidence,” César told Ríos.
…
“Ruses are not forbidden in war. In fact, they are praised because they save lives. The condition is that no humanitarian matters are interfered with,” Gustavo Gallón, head of the Colombian Commission of Jurists (CCJ), told IPS.
But if those who planned and executed Operation “Check” “used a humanitarian mission as cover, that is perfidy, and a breach of International Humanitarian Law (IHL)” under the Geneva Conventions.
“It’s like using a white flag of truce to get close to an enemy and then killing him,” Gallón said.
He said “humanitarian missions are protected, and cannot be used in any way, either for acts of war or for confrontations with the enemy. Their absolute inviolability is the grounds of their credibility.”
“If combatants perfidiously makes use of any humanitarian organisation, they simply annihilate the action capability of legitimate humanitarian organisations in future, because they lose their own credibility and also undermine the confidence” of the other side, the jurist said.
also from that account, was the use of fake journalists. of those of the resuce team arriving on the helicopters,
Then a “double” looking very like Colombian journalist Jorge Enrique Botero appeared, according to César. Botero is the only journalist who has been able to visit the hostages’ camps, and has written several books on the FARC.
The presumed Botero was followed by another man who had a Venezuelan accent and wore press identification for the multi-state owned South American television network Telesur, based in Caracas.
…
“Journalists who are covering armed conflicts are protected by International Humanitarian Law (IHL),” Andrés Monroy, legal adviser at the Solidarity Centre run by the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), told IPS in Bogotá.
“Soldiers passed themselves off as journalists, which is unlawful because they posed as persons protected by IHL,” said Monroy, referring to the Jul. 2 military intelligence operation that freed Ingrid Betancourt and 14 other hostages held by guerrillas.
The impersonation of a team of journalists as part of the operation was made public by the Colombian Defence Ministry itself.
Monroy said that “journalists on missions to war zones are also protected by the Colombian Criminal Code, Article 135, which defines such journalists as protected persons.”
the ends justify the means?
Posted by: b real | Jul 17 2008 15:23 utc | 82
uribe’s apology, according to democracynow
The Colombian government has admitted a military pilot falsely used the Red Cross symbol during the operation that rescued fifteen hostages of the rebel group FARC earlier this month. On Wednesday, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe apologized.
Colombian President Alvaro Uribe: “When the officer confessed his mistake to his superiors, he said that as the helicopter was landing, he saw such a quantity of guerrillas that he became very nervous and that he was afraid for his life and that he took out of his pocket the piece of cloth with the symbol of the International Red Cross Committee logo that he carried in his pocket and put it on his bulletproof vest. We regret that this has occurred.”
now, compare that to the rpt in #82
Then he saw the helicopters, white with a red stripe in the same design as those used in January and February to transport hostages unilaterally released by the FARC after mediation by Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, in operations coordinated by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which César had watched on television in the jungle.
One helicopter landed and four civilians wearing jeans and T-shirts got out. Two wore T-shirts with the image of Argentine-Cuban guerrilla Ernesto Che Guevara and a stripe at stomach height saying “International Red Cross.” The other two had the ICRC logo on their T-shirts, the insurgent said.
and from the cnn rpt @#80
Other photos shown to CNN indicate how little was done to disguise equipment used in the rescue. The two military MI-17 helicopters used in the rescue were repainted white and orange without removing armor-plated panels positioned around the outside of the cockpit. Another shot shows the pilots wearing what appear to be military pilots’ helmets that have been repainted white with orange or red V-shaped stripes.
a reuters story quotes uribe
Uribe said Wednesday that the use of the Red Cross symbol was not part of the government’s original rescue plan.
“One of the officers has admitted that when the helicopter was landing at the start of the operation he saw so many guerrillas that he got nervous. He feared for his life and he pulled out a jersey that had the Red Cross symbol and put it over his vest,” Uribe said.
more bullshit
Posted by: b real | Jul 17 2008 16:19 utc | 83
garry leech @ colombia journal picks up on uribe’s lie re the ICRC ruse
Is the Colombian Government Guilty of War Crimes?
…
No doubt, the Colombian president believed that this simple explanation would defuse the controversy and the issue would simply go away.
…
..CNN reported that it had seen video footage and photos that showed one military intelligence agent boarding the helicopter at the start of the mission wearing a Red Cross emblem. This contrasts sharply with Uribe’s explanation that the emblem was only donned when the rescue team arrived at the rendezvous point. It also dispels Uribe’s ludicrous claim that a nervous agent was able to miraculously pull out of nowhere a T-shirt bearing the Red Cross logo.
…
On its own, César’s testimony about the use of the Red Cross logo would not constitute a credible rebuttal of Uribe’s explanation. But it is lent credence by the fact that most other aspects of the guerrilla’s description of the rescue operation have been corroborated. Consequently, César’s testimony in conjunction with the CNN reports and video footage of a member of the rescue team wearing the emblem suggest that the Colombian government intentionally impersonated the Red Cross. Uribe only admitted to the rescue team’s use of the Red Cross logo after his government was caught red-handed and then it appears that he lied in his explanation in order to cover up the extent of the war crime perpetrated by his government.
One can only imagine the outcry from both the Uribe administration and the international community that would result from FARC guerrillas disguising themselves as Red Cross workers to penetrate a Colombian prison in order to liberate 15 high-ranking rebel commanders. Is the violation of the Red Cross’s neutrality by the Uribe government any less abhorrent? Is it any less of a war crime?
Posted by: b real | Jul 17 2008 19:12 utc | 84
@b real – some German media had reports on the red cross abuse.
It is (legally) no war crime but a breach of legal obligations.
I am sure there is even more about this to learn. Who paid how much to whom?
latest analysis on somalia from michael weinstein
A Paper Cease-Fire Turns in to Ashes
…
July 9 has come and gone, and it is starkly evident that the Djibouti peace process has been an abject failure.
…
In light of the rejection of the Djibouti process by the militant faction of the A.R.S. and al-Shabaab, the West’s hopes for a cease-fire were dashed from the start and the A.R.S.’s diplomatic faction was left hanging on a limb and has responded to its precarious situation by moving closer to the alliance’s military faction and seeking to heal its rift with the latter by entering talks with it brokered by Yemen. On July 15, Garowe Online reported that Sheikh Yusuf Ali Aynte, a spokesman for the Islamic Courts, which dominate the A.R.S., had announced that an agreement had been reached between the two factions on “ending their differences.” With no details of the agreement available, it is not possible to assess its political effects, but it is likely that the diplomatic wing of the A.R.S. will be drawn to take a harder line toward the T.F.G. and the withdrawal of the Ethiopians. There is little promise that a cease-fire will come into effect and that in its absence reconciliation will proceed or the U.N. Security Council will approve a stabilization force. Ethiopia will be pressured to continue to be exhausted by a war of attrition that it is losing. One can only conclude that the Djibouti process is already a thing of the past and that it will have little, if any, effect on the future political configuration of Somalia.
Posted by: b real | Jul 18 2008 4:46 utc | 86
Can’t resist a bit of tourist promotion for my old home town (even if it comes from a source the locals execrate). A day pass on the T lets you even take the T-boat down to Weymouth or stop at George’s Island. When I visited Deer Island in July of last year it was as cold and windy as Mark Twain’s August in San Francisco. Off the beaten track, but accessible in minutes from “The Hub”.
Posted by: Hannah K. O’Luthon | Jul 18 2008 6:52 utc | 87
I don’t vouch for the veracity of this link but a bit of soft-core conspiracy theory should be useful grist for this gin mill. If it’s true, it might even improve the chances that thecriminal elements in the current U.S. government might be indicted. There’s nothing obviously wrong about funding the international criminal court. I would guess that other links from the same page regarding the philanthropist in question would be subject to more intense discussion.
Posted by: Hannah K. O’Luthon | Jul 18 2008 12:36 utc | 88
following up on my question at the end of #82
coha: Does The End Justify The Means? The Misuse Of The ICRC Emblem By Colombian Intelligence In Its Hostage Rescue Mission
The now famed Colombian rescue mission Operation Jaque, responsible for the rescue of former Colombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and 14 other important and high visibility hostages from the FARC, is being criticized for using emblems from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) as part of its elaborate ruse. … Furthermore, in previously unpublished video footage of the rescue mission, an emblem can be seen on the helicopter of the “Mision Internacional Humanitaria,” which is supposedly an NGO based in Spain.
In fact, that organization was an invention of Colombian Intelligence. Moreover, the alleged NGO’s registry number is identical to that of the Spanish NGO, Humanitarian Global, which is now demanding from Colombian authorities why they copied its registry data to create this fictitious organization. Furthermore, the website description of this fake NGO is almost an exact copy of the website of the legitimate NGO, Humanitarian Global.
At the end of the video footage, which zooms in on the helicopter, it is evident that the emblems of the fake NGO had now been removed and burned after the rescue was over.
…
The explicit abuse of the ICRC emblem technically could be classified under the Geneva Convention as a War Crime. Moreover, the event raises questions concerning the already tainted rectitude of the Uribe administration that has been afflicted by many damaging revelations of scandals that for months have been impugning his office as well as staining his close political and legislative allies. In recent days, Uribe has taken an almost casual attitude towards the illicit activities of his close military and political operatives. For example, the government has taken no official action against the soldier who used the ICRC emblem.
To emphasize his dismay over Uribe’s attitude, Colombian Senator Jorge Robledo told the Bogota newspaper El Tiempo that it was shameful and “unacceptable that the theory that the end justifies the means” was being used to excuse the Colombian military’s behavior in Operation Jaque. He also expressed his belief that this type of behavior would further strain Colombia’s relations with its neighbors. As a result of this latest event, for example, area leaders such as Ecuadorian President Correa claim that relations with Colombia cannot resume since “they don’t have a decent government to deal with.”
Posted by: b real | Jul 19 2008 3:54 utc | 89
Electrical Risks at Iraq Bases Are Worse Than Said
Shoddy electrical work by private contractors on United States military bases in Iraq is widespread and dangerous, causing more deaths and injuries from fires and shocks than the Pentagon has acknowledged, according to internal Army documents.
During just one six-month period — August 2006 through January 2007 — at least 283 electrical fires destroyed or damaged American military facilities in Iraq, including the military’s largest dining hall in the country, documents obtained by The New York Times show. Two soldiers died in an electrical fire at their base near Tikrit in 2006, the records note, while another was injured while jumping from a burning guard tower in May 2007.
And while the Pentagon has previously reported that 13 Americans have been electrocuted in Iraq, many more have been injured, some seriously, by shocks, according to the documents. A log compiled earlier this year at one building complex in Baghdad disclosed that soldiers complained of receiving electrical shocks in their living quarters on an almost daily basis.
Posted by: b real | Jul 19 2008 4:04 utc | 90
Interesting new revelations on PTSS, from an individual study from the Vietnam era:
First let me give you the numbers. We have located 73 men who served in the platoon (Marines and corpsmen) from January through November 1967. Of the 73, 12 were killed in action, and 18 (roughly 30 percent) have died since leaving the military — many of them at unusually young ages. Of the 44 still alive, the vast majority is on full posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) disability. While as accurate as we can get them, these numbers need to be taken with some caution.
Most of those still alive have sought and received aid from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). In most cases it took years of torment to get there. In talking to surviving relatives of those who have died since leaving the Service, it is obvious that most of them died after years of struggling with the symptoms of PTSD (with Agent Orange as a contributor.)
The article cited above states that studies show that up to 30 percent of combat veterans suffer from PTSD. Based on the experience of this small unit, the number is more like 75 or 80 percent of infantrymen. The Marine Corps needs to more aggressively intervene while it still has control of the Marine. The VA will tell you that once discharged, veterans tend not to show up asking for help until they are far down the PTSD road.
I think this is true, especially amongst infantry companies. And because of the endless multiple deployments in Afghanistan/Iraq, spent doing the dirty work of occupation, these vets will suffer an even worse epidemic.
Posted by: anna missed | Jul 19 2008 5:05 utc | 91
U.S. Position Complicates Global Effort to Curb Illicit Arms
Since 2001, United Nations members have endorsed a broad but loosely defined initiative, called the program of action, for a collective effort against illegal arms circulation. The agreement in part encourages governments to tighten controls on manufacturing, marking, tracing, brokering, exporting and stockpiling small arms and to cooperate to restrict illicit flows, particularly to regions perennially in armed conflict. It addresses hundreds of millions of weapons, ranging from pistols to shoulder-fired rockets, that the United Nations says are in circulation worldwide.
The initiative has spotlighted the dire effects of the flood of small arms and led to expanded research into its often chilling consequences.
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The movement for greater controls has also raised worries in Washington that a call to curb transfers to “nonstate actors” could restrict governments that now distribute arms to rebel groups or work with armed private contractors. United States intelligence agencies and the Pentagon do both.
The United States’ positions, and the less vocal resistance of other arms exporting countries, including China and Iran, deadlocked discussions in 2006, when the last full meetings on the subject were held here.
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The agenda at the latest meetings, held Monday through Friday, was limited to issues for which broader support exists, including managing weapons and munitions stockpiles, restricting illegal brokering, and improving efforts to mark and trace weapons. A vote supporting such measures passed unanimously on Friday, with the support of 134 countries and 2 abstentions. Many nations were absent, including the United States.