PREAMBLE: In this issue we offer a selection of extracts from reputable sources that focus on the disastrous trajectory of the current US administration in undermining the beliefs that underpin western democracies. We dedicate the issue to Pastor Martin Niemoller (1892–1984), whose famous poem “First they came…” about the inactivity of German intellectuals during the Nazi rise to power and the subsequent purging of their chosen targets, group by group, most devastatingly to German Jews.
For historical perspective on this poem visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_they_came...
The Sidebar addresses Canada’s posture on US Foreign Policy, and related vignettes.
SUPPORT BUILDING FOR IMPEACHMENT
Impeachment is the first step under the US Constitution for removing a president from office, a process by which possible crimes may be investigated and charges laid. In a Gallup survey recently released by USA Today, 36% of respondents believe there is justification for Congress to begin impeachment proceedings against George W. Bush. [1] Since 2006, Democratic lawmakers have openly discussed Bush’s impeachment, either for not telling the truth about his reasons for going to war in Iraq, and/or for authorizing wiretapping of Americans. [2] State and local governments can also play a major role in the impeachment process by sending charges to the Congress for it to act on. Eleven states have initiated Impeachment Resolutions. Vermont has passed its resolution, while numerous cities and counties have also passed such resolutions. Efforts are now underway in several other states to initiate impeachment. [3]
Sources: 1. Angus Reid Global Monitor. July 12, 2007. http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/index.cfm/fuseaction/viewItem/itemID/16461 2. Atlanta Progressive News, Global Research. March 11, 2006 http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=20060311&articleId=2085 3. Editorials and information on how to impeach Bush and Cheney. http://www.impeachbush.tv/impeach/bystate.html
THE TRAGIC CASE OF THE STATELESS UIGHARS
Tirana, Albania: Ahktar Qassim Basit says he is not angry about the 4 years he spent incarcerated at Guantanamo Bay. He and fellow Muslims from western China’s Uighar ethnic minority, were living in a hamlet near Tora Bora (Afghanistan), when US Forces bombed the area in 2001.Taken prisoners, then interned at Guantanamo, the men were “freed” after being found to pose no threat to the US. Their captors mumbled a perfunctory apology before flying them to Albania as “refugees” versus repatriation, citing China’s past treatment of the minority. Living for over a year in a squalid government refugee centre under armed guard, they are told that to gain their liberty, they must first learn Albanian to get work permits, and somehow must accomplish this on their own; they are losing hope of seeing their wives and children again.
Source: Tim Golden. New York Times. June 10, 2007. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/10/world/europe/10resettle.html?amp;amp;amp;ei=5088&en=5c446ec162d28fc6&ex=1339128000&partner=rss&pagewanted=print
NOTE: US political influentials such as former Secretary of State Colin Powell are now pressing for closure of the Guanatamo prison camp, surely too long a silence. BBC News June 11, 2007.
WEB OF DECEIT – Book Review
Because of restrictions imposed by the Special Tribunal prosecuting Saddam Hussein, the role of the US and its allies in his crimes was never explored at his trial. This investigative history reveals the full extent of western complicity in Iraq. The deceit described by author Barry Lando, ranges from CIA backed coups to help the Baath Party seize power, to the US encouraging Saddam to invade Iran, to America’s willful ignorance of his chemical weapons use, and the tragic impact of trade sanctions, maintained long after being proven ineffective and despite huge numbers of Iraqi civilians (mainly children) dying as a result. An unrestricted international trial might have divulged these facts, but victor’s justice prevented it. Most media coverage has ignored these facts; Web of Deceit breaks the silence.
Reference: Lando B. Web of Deceit - the History of Western Complicity in Iraq: from Churchill to Kennedy to George W Bush. Doubleday Canada. 2007.
NOTE: Lando is a graduate of Harvard and Columbia universities, and for 25 years was an investigative producer with 60 Minutes.
BELATEDLY UPHOLDING THE RULE OF LAW
For several years, President Bush has claimed that congressional authority to attack Afghanistan after 9/11 was a “declaration of a war on terror” that gave him power to decide who combatants are and incarcerate them in military prisons indefinitely without charges, even foreign nationals living legally within the US. On June 11, 2007 in a 2-1 decision, a 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals rejected this claim, demonstrating how threatening this policy is to the US Constitution and the rule of law. The court said that the Constitution and precedents made it clear that foreigners living legally in the US have the same right to due process as any citizen.
Source: Editorial. International Herald Tribune. June 13, 2007.
IRAQ’s HUMANITARIAN DISASTER
The US-led invasion in March 2003 caused many civilian casualties, but did not immediately create a major humanitarian crisis or set off mass migration. Soon after however, counter-insurgency operations, including attacks on Iraq cities eg., Falluja, led to increased mortality and displacement affecting hundreds of thousands of people. Beginning in 2006, sectarian clashes and communal violence led to rising death and injury, with massive new displacement.[1]
According to OXFAM child malnutrition rates have risen from 19 % before the US-led invasion in 2003 to 28% now, and 8 million people are in need of emergency assistance.[2] This includes:
• 4 million who are ‘food-insecure and in dire need of different types of humanitarian assistance’
• >2 million displaced people inside Iraq
• >2 million Iraqis in neighbouring countries, mainly Syria and Jordan, making this the fastest-growing refugee crisis in the world.
According to the United Nations Development Programme, 1/3 of the population now lives in poverty.[1] Education has broken down. Worse, basic needs such as drinking water, food, sanitation and electricity are not being met. Hospitals lack basic supplies and are understaffed. The international relief system is not able to respond to the growing humanitarian challenges.
References:
1. Global Policy Forum. July 11, 2007. http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/issues/iraq/attack/crisisindex.htm
2. OXFAM Briefing Paper. July 30, 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/18_07_07_oxfam_iraq.pdf
JUXTAPOSING MORAL CHOICES
“But what is $1.5 billion in today’s world? That is what we spend every day on the Pentagon. That’s our daily military budget. So here is the calculation, and here is the choice. One day’s Pentagon spending would provide all sleeping sites in Africa with five years of bed-net coverage, to fend off a disease (malaria) which kills millions every year. That’s a choice. We haven’t made it. My suggestion is, the Pentagon take off next Thursday”.
Source: Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the Earth Institute, Columbia University. Convocation Address to Ursinus College. As reported in: New York Times, June 10, 2007.
US DOMESTIC IMPACTS OF THE IRAQ WAR Example: Education
13 Days in Iraq: $3.4 billion = Cut in education budget in President's FY 07 budget from FY 06 funding support for the arts, technology and parent resource centers.
2.5 days in Iraq: $ 664 million = Perkins Loan program cut in president's FY 07 budget (would help 463,000 low-income students attend college).
9 hours in Iraq: $99 million = Even Start (eliminated in President's budget).
Source: Congressman John Murtha (Pennsylvania D). Information Clearing House. July 13, 2006. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article13976.htm
THE ASSAULT ON REASON – Book Review
According to former US Vice President Al Gore’s new work “The Assault on Reason”, the Bush administration, in pursuit of its “war on terror”, has violated international laws and norms of conduct, seriously damaged alliances, and thrown away the global goodwill that emerged following 9/11. Gore also addresses global warming, the insidious power of televised control of public discourse, and the role of wealth in US politics, and calls for a rebirth of democracy. Parenthetically, we note that current impacts and consequences of global warming dwarf terrorism, even while noting that the latter has been hyper-stimulated by the war in Iraq.
According to Gore, the Bush Administration’s use of extra-judicial measures at home and abroad has undermined basic principles of law, justice, human rights and democracy. The Geneva Conventions are not being observed (termed “quaint" by the Attorney-General Gonzales), despite the seminal role of the US in their origins. By facilitating torture the Administration has placed its own troops at moral hazard and also physical risk (in the event of their capture). Its practice of “extraordinary rendition” (kidnapping “terror suspects” and forcible relocation to marginal states for interrogation so as to circumvent habeas corpus), has resulted in imprisonment and torture of innocent people (see sidebar on Canadian Mahar Arar). More troubling, it has suppressed its own legal processes in support of what appear to be show trials, in which defence lawyers are unable to gain access to information that would allow them to properly defend their clients. A code of secrecy prevents evidence of human rights abuses from coming to light.
According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, some 90% of Guantanamo Bay inmates, held without charge, are innocent of any unlawful activity.
Background Source: BBC World. Mystery Flights. June 10, 2007.
Reference: Gore A. The Assault on Reason. The Penguin Press. New York. 2007.
A BREAKDOWN IN TRUST
July 24: “I don't trust you” asserted Sen. Patrick Leahy, Vermont Democrat, and chair of a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight panel, to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales's on his handling of the U.S. Attorneys firings and civil liberties abuses by the FBI. He stated doubts about the sincerity of Mr. Gonzales' vow to fix "problems" at the Justice Department, and criticized his promise to better police the use of counter-terrorism information gathering tools as insufficient. "With a history of civil liberties abuses and cover-ups, this administration has squandered our trust," Mr. Leahy said. The criticism is bipartisan: ranking Republican Sen. Arlen Specter, Pennsylvania, stated "a very heavy cloud" hangs over the Justice Department, and asked "Is your department functioning?" Mr. Gonzales did not respond to these criticisms in the opening statements, but instead asked the panel to help the Justice Department fight terrorism.
Source: Jon Ward, White House correspondent, The Washington Times. Posted July 24, 2007. http://video1.washingtontimes.com/fishwrap/2007/07/i_dont_trust_you.html
Wednesday 1 August 2007
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