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Bay Area United Against War Newsletter
Table of Contents:
A. EVENTS AND ACTIONS
B. VIDEO, FILM, AUDIO. ART, POETRY, ETC.
C. SPECIAL APPEALS AND ONGOING CAMPAIGNS
D. ARTICLES IN FULL
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A. EVENTS AND ACTIONS
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FREEDOM OF SPEECH
SUPPORT THE IRVINE ELEVEN PLUS ERIC-MICHAEL WILSON
The Irvine 11 are students from UC Irvine who spoke out against Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren for Israel's massacre of over 1,300 Palestinians in Gaza during "Operation Cast Lead." For this exercise of their free speech, they have faced academic suspension and probation, and misdemeanor criminal charges that they continue to fight. (Visit irvine11.com for more info).
Wednesday, April 27, 5:30pm at UC Berkeley
Clark Kerr Campus
Dining Center (Building 10) • Garden Room
Warring Street and Parking Street
Berkeley, CA
With Summer Hararah, Civil Rights Organizer with the Asian Law Caucus, and Eric-Michael Wilson
Thursday, April 28, 7pm at San Francisco State University
Business 113
1600 Holloway Ave.
San Francisco, CA
With Zahra Billoo, Executive Director of CAIR in San Francisco, and Claire Douglas, activist at SFSU against budget cuts
Eric-Michael Wilson is a UC Berkeley student and activist against the budget cuts and fee hikes. He attended a protest in November outside the office of the UC Regents, where the Regents were considering whether to raise tuition for the 6th time in 4 years. At this protest, a UCSF police officer drew his gun on the protesters.
Eric-Michael -- despite clear video evidence to the contrary -- is accused of assaulting a police officer, when in fact he was only exercising his right to protest to fight for the rights of everyone to get an education. He will talk about his case and the fight against the budget cuts.
We will meet twice this week to build awareness of these cases and discuss what we can do to defend these activists.
Cosponsored by the International Socialist Organization, United National Antiwar Committee, Socialist Action, Berkeley SJP, Committee to Defend Lynne Stewart, Mobilization to Free Mumia Abu-Jamal.
For more information, contact iso@norcalsocialism.org.
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Ninth Annual International Al-Awda Convention
April 29 & 30, 2011
The Embassy Suite Hotel, Anaheim South
11767 Harbor Boulevard
Garden Grove, Ca 92840
A significant event at a critical time in Arab history!
CONVENTION WEBSITE: http://www.al-awda.org/convention9/index.html
Ninth Annual International Al-Awda Convention - Onward, United and Stronger Until Return!
JUST IN: Hugh Lanning, Deputy General Secretary of the Public and Commercial Services Union, one of the 'big five' trade unions in Britain, and Palestine Solidarity Campaign's Chair UK will be addressing Al-Awda's Ninth Annual International Convention.
Strategy, tactics and planning discussions:
* The Palestine Papers and the Arab people's uprising; Impact on the Palestinian struggle and future organizing
* Boycotts & Divestment
* Refugee Support
* Return From Exile Project with Free Palestine Movement
* Cultural Resistance Through Various Forms of Art
* Palestinian Children's Rights Campaign
* Young activist program with hands on workshops
Speakers include:
* Dr. Salman Abu Sitta, Founding President of the Palestine Land Society
* Abbas Al-Nouri, Syrian Arab actor of "bab el-hara" fame, political activist
* Diana Buttu, Palestinian lawyer, former legal advisor to Palestinian negotiating team
* Hugh Lanning, Deputy General Secretary of the Public and Commercial Services Union, and Palestine Solidarity Campaign's Chair UK
* Ali Abunimah, Palestinian author and co-founder Electronic Intifada
* Lubna Masarwa, Palestinian activist, survivor of Mavi Marmara massacre
* Laila Al-Arian, Palestinian Author, writer and Al-Jazeera English producer
* Dr. Jamal Nassar, Specialist in Middle East politics, Dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences at CSUSB
* Rim Banna, Palestinian singer & activist
* Najat El-Khairy, Palestinian porcelain painting artist
* Remi Kanazi, Palestinian spoken word artist, activist
* Youth from Al Bayader Center Yarmouk Refugee Camp
Plus . . .
Cultural presentations, films, books and solidarity items, network with friends and fellow activists & lunch keynote presentations & evening banquet with live music! (Baby-sitting available for entire convention)
Al-Awda Convention on Facebook
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CELEBRATE THE HISTORIC RETURN OF JEAN-BERTRAND ARISTIDE TO HAITI!
A REPORT BACK
Saturday, APRIL 30, 4-6PM
La Pena Cultural Center, 3105 Shattuck Ave, Berkeley (wheelchair accessible)
$5-$20 donation requested (no one turned away for lack of funds)
Pierre Labossiere and Robert Roth, co-founders of Haiti Action Committee, were eyewitness to the joyful return of President Aristide and his family to Haiti. Come hear their account of the President's arrival and the response of the Haitian people, as well as the background to this remarkable event.
The program will include updates on the latest developments in fraudulent elections imposed on Haiti, and what's ahead for the solidarity movement.
In the wake of sham elections and an ongoing 7-year military occupation, Haiti's grassroots movement for democracy is vital and alive and an essential part of movements around the world fighting for dignity and freedom. Let us continue to stand in solidarity!
Haiti Action Committee
www.haitisolidarity.net
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STRIKE MAY 1, 2011!
CodePINK, Cindy Sheehan, and all Vulnerable Folks are calling on you to join us May 1st, 11:30am at the IWD march & rally in San Francisco to Civic Center - where we will kick-off our STRIKE MAY 2011 march to Sacramento!
We are planning to take 8 days to march to Sacramento, doing actions - marches, rallies, press conferences, flyering, bannering - in towns along the way. We will do a combination walking, biking, skating, carpooling, train, etc. to get there.
And we are arriving in Sacramento on the 9th, the same day as the teachers occupation begins, setting up a tent city, occupying the grounds until the legislature votes OUR budget!
Our general theme is: 1) NO MORE TAXES for WARS & OCCUPATIONS; and 2) NO MORE TAX BREAKS for the RICH & their CORPORATIONS!
We are hoping everyone will join in the MARCH & TENT CITY for however long, however many day(s), hour(s) you choose.
AND we hope you will bring YOUR main focus/issue and represent! We are thinking of making each day of the walk a different issue/focus. And certainly at the TENT CITY, we are hoping everyone will do teach-ins to share their information and build a strong coalition.
If you are willing to endorse, please email info AT bayareacodepink.org or call 510-540-7007 and leave your name, number, email, and organization.
If you are willing to be active and work on this STRIKE MAY 2011 for however long, in any capacity, before, after, during, please also email or call ASAP!
TOGETHER we WILL direct our STATE BUDGET to become OUR BUDGET!
End war on women!
End war on workers, immigrants, people of color!
End wars of occupation!
End wars of corporate greed!
End wars on our Mother Earth!
End all wars!
Bring our tax$$ home!Take our tax$$ back from the rich!
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Middle East Children's Alliance
Bay Area book release event: The Goldstone Report
Thursday, May 5, 2011, 7:00 P.M.
First Congregational Church
2501 Harrison St.
Oakland, Ca. 94610
$15, $10 low income/ students
The Middle East Children's Alliance presents the bay area book release of "The Goldstone Report: The Legacy of the Landmark Investigation of the Gaza Conflict" -- an edited version of Judge Richard Goldstone's UN report which documents war crimes during Operation Cast Lead, with a Forward by Desmond Tutu, an Introduction by Naomi Klein, and essays by leading journalists/activists/academics. Two of the book's editors, Phillip Weiss & Adam Horowitz of Mondoweiss.net, will speak about first-hand testimonies and lead a discussion about why these stories matter and what we can do. Also, George Bisharat, law professor at UC Hastings, will introduce the event.
Tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/167898
A Benefit for MECA's Maia Project: http://www.mecaforpeace.org/project/maia-project
Event page: http://www.mecaforpeace.org/events/bay-area-book-release-goldstone-report-legacy-landmark-investigation-gaza-conflict
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JUSTICE FOR JEREMY MARKS
DEFEND COPWATCHERS!!!
The Jeremy Marks case is one of the worst cases of state repression and deserving of everyone's support across the state of California and the country.
In May 2010 Jeremy videotaped a school police woman brutalizing one of his fellow students at a school bus stop. The police officer assault was witnessed by many at Marks' high school that day. Unbelievably Jeremy was arrested for "Attempted Lynching" an outdated charge of inciting a riot. 18 year old Jeremy was put in jail with a $150,000 bail. He stayed in jail until December when a Google engineer put up the bail money and he got out of jail in time to spend Christmas at home.
JEREMY MARKS
Our collective reality has been drastically changed since New Year's 2009 when witnesses captured BART police on video murdering Oscar Grant and since the outbreak of rebellions in Oakland of 2009 and 2010. For the first time in our lifetimes a white policeman is doing time for murdering an unarmed black man.
An Injury to One is an Injury to All
The powers that be certainly do not want the people to photograph police when they brutalize, terrorize and murder our people. But we will continue to film the brutal actions of the police and share those videos for all to see. There is no stopping the people's demand to be free from police terror.
Since Oscar's murder, laws are pending in 13 states making it illegal to record on-duty police. Prior to Oscar's assassination, only three states had such anti-copwatching laws!
The Oscar Grant Committee stands in solidarity with Jeremy Marks and in defense of all copwatchers! We support his struggle for justice and demand that the DA drop all the charges against him now!
A Black Mother's Fight to Save Her Son
Please join Ms. Rochelle Pittman, Jeremy's mother, on Mother's Day for a very special afternoon in Solidarity with Jeremy Marks
Sunday, May 8th at 3 p.m.
Eastside Arts Alliance Center
2277 International Boulevard, Oakland
Hear Ms. Pittman speak on:
Monday, May 9th at 7:00 pm
Humanist Hall
390-27th Street, Oakland
(between Broadway & Telegraph)
Also on:
Wednesday, May 11 at 6:30 p.m.
HOMIES EMPOWERMENT PROGRAM
1612 - 45th Avenue - Eastlake YMCA
2 blocks from Fremont High School
Sign the on-line petition at: http://www.answercoalition.org/la/news/sign-the-petition-to-support.html
Sponsored by: Jeremy Marks Defense Committee, ANSWER Coalition, Berkeley CopWatch, Center for Progressive Action, Homies Empowerment Program & OSCAR GRANT COMMITTEE Against Police Brutality & State Repression
For more info: call (510) 225-9212 or email oscargrantcommittee@gmail.com
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Save the Date!
NATIONAL LABOR-COMMUNITY CONFERENCE TO DEFEAT THE CORPORATE AGENDA AND FIGHT FOR A WORKING PEOPLE'S AGENDA
Kent State University
Kent, Ohio
June 24-26, 2011
Working people across the country -- from Wisconsin and Ohio to New York, Oregon, and California -- are facing unprecedented attacks by corporations and the rich with the help of the federal, state and local politicians that they fund.
The corporate agenda is clear: It is to bust unions and cut workers' pay and benefits -- both in the private and public sectors. It is to erode and privatize Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. It is to dismantle the public sector and social services by denying funds for job creation, education, health care, environmental protection, and rebuilding the infrastructure. It is to ensure that taxes on the wealthy are constantly lowered while the bite on workers and the poor is constantly increased. It is to perpetuate U.S. wars and occupations whenever it serves the interests of the multinationals. It is to divide the working class by race, gender, national origin, religion, and sexual orientation. It is also to limit and restrict constitutionally guaranteed civil liberties. The list goes on.
In state capitals, communities and workplaces across the country, workers are fighting back. But if we're going to be successful in pushing back the attacks on collective bargaining, stopping the budget cuts and concessions, creating jobs, and defending social services and education, we need to build unity within our movement, including forging stronger ties with labor's allies: communities of color, students and youth, single-payer advocates, environmentalists, antiwar activists, immigrant rights supporters, and other progressive forces.
Relying on politicians to defend us -- the so-called "friends of labor" -- has proven to be disastrous. During the past three decades, working people have suffered a dramatic decline in their standard of living while the rich have amassed an unprecedented amount of wealth at the top, regardless of which of the major parties was running the government. We have had every combination imaginable: Republicans occupying the White House with a majority in Congress, Democrats occupying the White House with a majority in Congress, or some kind of "divided government." But in each case the result for working people has been the same: conditions got worse for workers while the corporations prospered even more. Why should we continue this vicious cycle?
The working class has the power to put an end to this situation. And as the debate over the debt and the deficit intensifies, the need has never been greater for an organized campaign to demand "No Cuts, No Concessions!" whether in regard to social programs or workers' wages and benefits. We say place the burden for solving the financial crises squarely where it belongs: on the rich. They caused the crisis, let them pay for it!
The Emergency Labor Network (ELN) was initiated earlier this year at a historic meeting of 100 union leaders and activists from around the country. Join us June 24-26, 2011 at Kent State University in Ohio for a national labor-community conference to spur the campaign to build a more militant fight-back movement and to launch a national campaign for an alternative agenda for working people. Together we can move forward on both fronts.
This conference is open to all who agree with its purpose, as explained in this Call. To register for the conference, please go to our website at www.laborfightback.org. If you prefer to register offline, write emergencylabor@aol.com or call 216-736-4715 for a registration form.
For more information, e-mail emergencylabor@aol.com or call 216-736-4715.
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Oct. 7 - Protest, March & Die-In on 10th Anniversary of Afghanistan War
Friday, Oct. 7, 2011, 4:30-6:30pm
New Federal Building, 7th & Mission Sts, SF
Protest & Die-In on 10th Anniversary of Afghanistan War
End All the Wars & Occupations-Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine, Libya, Haiti . . .
Money for Jobs, Healthcare & Schools-Not for the Pentagon
Friday, October 7, 2011 will be the exact 10th anniversary of the U.S./NATO war on the people of Afghanistan. Hundreds of thousands of Afghani people have been killed, wounded and displaced, and thousands of U.S. and NATO forces killed and wounded. The war costs more than $126 billion per year at a time when social programs are being slashed.
The true and brutal character of the U.S. strategy to "win hearts and minds" of the Afghani population was described by a Marine officer, quoted in a recent ANSWER Coalition statement:
"You can't just convince them [Afghani people] through projects and goodwill," another Marine officer said. "You have to show up at their door with two companies of Marines and start killing people. That's how you start convincing them." (To read the entire ANSWER statement, click here)
Mark your calendar now and help organize for the October 7 march and die-in in downtown San Francisco. There are several things you can do:
1. Reply to this email to endorse the protest and die-in.
2. Spread the word and help organize in your community, union, workplace and campus.
3. Make a donation to help with organizing expenses.
Only the people can stop the war!
A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
http://www.AnswerCoalition.org
http://www.AnswerSF.org
Answer@AnswerSF.org
2969 Mission St.
415-821-6545
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B. VIDEO, FILM, AUDIO. ART, POETRY, ETC.:
[Some of these videos are embeded on the BAUAW website:
http://bauaw.blogspot.com/ or bauaw.org ...bw]
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Labor Beat: We Are One - Illinois
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOntwNsWHac
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BRADLEY MANNING "BROKE THE LAW" SAYS OBAMA!
"He broke the law!" says Obama about Bradley Manning who has yet to even be charged, let alone, gone to trial and found guilty. How horrendous is it for the President to declare someone guilty before going to trial or being charged with a crime! Justice in the U.S.A.!
Obama on FREE BRADLEY MANNING protest... San Francisco, CA. April 21, 2011-Presidential remarks on interrupt/interaction/performance art happening at fundraiser. Logan Price queries Barack after org. FRESH JUICE PARTY political action.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfmtUpd4id0&feature=youtu.be
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More troops join anti-government protests in Yemen
More soldiers have been joining anti-government protests on the streets of the capital Sana'a.
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=6658
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W.E. A.L.L. B.E.: Miss. Medical Examiner Dr. Adel Shaker On Frederick Carter Hanging (4/19/2011)
http://blip.tv/file/5057532
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Egyptian Soldiers Join Protest Demanding End to Military Dictatorship
Adam Hanieh: Class struggle in Egypt enters a new stage
http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=6626
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Row over Wikileaks leaker Bradley Manning treatment (12Apr11)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vv8xyHhDKkY&feature=related
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AP writer--State Department on Human Rights Abuse of Bradley Manning
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUctxdsKk9Q
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Max Romeo - Socialism Is Love
http://youtu.be/eTvUs4rY4to
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Cuba: The Accidental Eden
http://video.pbs.org/video/1598230084/
[This is a stunningly beautiful portrait of the Cuban natural environment as it is today. However, several times throughout, the narrator tends to imply that if it werent for the U.S. embargo against Cuba, Cuba's natural environmet would be destroyed by the influx of tourism, ergo, the embargo is saving nature. But the Cuban scientists and naturalists tell a slightly different story. But I don't want to spoil the delightfully surprising ending. It's a beautiful film of a beautiful country full of beautiful, articulate and well-educated people....bw]
Watch the full episode. See more Nature.
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VIDEO: SWAT Team Evicts Grandmother
Take Back the Land- Rochester Eviction Defense March 28, 2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2axN1zsZno&feature=player_embedded
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B. D. S. [Boycott, Divest, Sanction against Israel]
(Jackson 5) Chicago Flashmob
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4tXe2HKqqs&feature=player_embedded
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Afghans for Peace
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ror0qPcasM&NR=1
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The Kill Team
How U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan murdered innocent civilians and mutilated their corpses - and how their officers failed to stop them. Plus: An exclusive look at the war crime photos censored by the Pentagon
Rolling Stone
March 27, 3011
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-kill-team-20110327
Afghans respond to "Kill Team"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3guxWIorhdA
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END THE U.S./UN/NATO KILL TEAM NOW!
WARNING: THESE ARE HORRIFIC, DISGUSTING, VIOLENT CRIMES COMMITTED BY THE U.S. MILITARY MAKING THE UPCOMING APRIL 10 [APRIL 9 IN NEW YORK] MARCH AND RALLY AGAINST THE WARS A FIRST PRIORITY FOR WE, THE PEOPLE OF THE U.S. WE DEMAND OUT NOW! END THE WARS AGAINST WORKING PEOPLE HERE AND EVERYWHERE! BRING ALL THE TROOPS, UN/NATO/US/ and CONTRACTORS HOME NOW!
The Kill Team Photos More war crime images the Pentagon doesn't want you to see
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/photos/the-kill-team-photos-20110327
'Death Zone' How U.S. soldiers turned a night-time airstrike into a chilling 'music video'
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/photos/death-zone-20110327
'Motorcycle Kill' Footage of an Army patrol gunning down two men in Afghanistan
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/photos/motorcyle-kill-20110327
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BOB MARLEY - WAR
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73zaNwyhXn0&playnext=1&list=PLA467527F8DD7DE1F
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Frederick Alexander Meade on The Prison Industrial Complex
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vqzfEYo6Lo
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BP Oil Spill Scientist Bob Naman: Seafood Still Not Safe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3VdxvMnDls
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Exclusive: Flow Rate Scientist : How Much Oil Is Really Out There?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zsHl3kn63ZA&NR=1
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Iraq Veterans Against the War in Occupied Capitol, Madison, WI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7K0wn73uJU
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Stop LAPD Stealing of Immigrant's Cars
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0lf4kENkxo
On Februrary 19, 2011 Members of the Southern California Immigration Coalition (SCIC) organized and engaged in direct action to defend the people of Los Angeles, CA from the racist LAPD "Sobriety" Checkpoints that are a poorly disguised trap to legally steal the cars from working class people in general and undocumented people in particular. Please disseminate this link widely.
Venceremos,
SCIC
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WikiLeaks Mirrors
Wikileaks is currently under heavy attack.
In order to make it impossible to ever fully remove Wikileaks from the Internet, you will find below a list of mirrors of Wikileaks website and CableGate pages.
Go to
http://wikileaks.ch/Mirrors.html
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Labor Beat: Labor Stands with Subpoenaed Activists Against FBI Raids and Grand Jury Investigation of antiwar and social justice activists.
"If trouble is not at your door. It's on it's way, or it just left."
"Investigate the Billionaires...Full investigation into Wall Street..." Jesse Sharkey, Vice President, Chicago Teachers Union
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSNUSIGZCMQ
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Oil Spill Commission Final Report: Catfish Responds
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m3ZRdsccMsM
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Free Bradley Manning
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4eNzokgRIw&feature=player_embedded
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Domestic Espionage Alert - Houston PD to use surveillance drone in America!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpstrc15Ogg
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Julian Assange: Why the world needs WikiLeaks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVGqE726OAo&feature=player_embedded
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Coal Ash: One Valley's Tale
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6E7h-DNvwx4&feature=player_embedded
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Flashmob: Cape Town Opera say NO
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wElyrFOnKPk
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"Don't F*** With Our Activists" - Mobilizing Against FBI Raid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyG3dIUGQvQ
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C. SPECIAL APPEALS AND ONGOING CAMPAIGNS
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Defend our liberties! In solidarity, buy a Civil Liberty Bond today
Committee to Stop FBI Repression Defend Our Civil Liberties!
PO Box 14183, Minneapolis MN 55414 Buy a Civil Liberty Bond Today!
www.StopFBI.net An Injury to One is an Injury to All!
Dear Friends,
Statements of support and actions taken by your organization are deeply appreciated. Thank you!
Do you want another way to actively support the defense of our Civil Liberties and the antiwar and international solidarity activists targeted by the FBI in the current sweep of repression?
Civil Liberty Bonds are perfect birthday or holiday or any-day gifts! For organizations and for individuals.
Civil Liberty Bonds are available in denominations of $10, $25, $50, $100, $250 & $500. They may be purchased online and printed directly from the website by clicking on this link: Civil Liberty Bonds.  Or from a link that appears in the upper right corner on the www.stopfbi.net home page that takes you directly to the Civil Liberty Bond page.
Show your visible support for Civil Liberties. Buy a Civil Liberty Bond for your organization! Civil Liberty Bond can a gift to a liberty-loving individual or presented to honor a courageous organization like yours. Or a bond may be framed to hang on wall in an office or home to boldly declare, as it says: Material Support for the defense of freedom of speech, thought and action in the service of solidarity and peace. The bearer is entitled "as are we all" to a future free from harassment and repression.
All 23 of the targeted activists say that they will not cooperate with this witch hunt against the movements so many of us have worked to build. The U.S. attorney is working to put these activists in prison. Whether some of them are indicted, or others are jailed for refusing to testify, the threat is very real. We will carry forward the fight for our right to speak out, organize and to stand in solidarity with those who want freedom.
We invite your organization to purchase a Civil Liberty Bond to help with legal expenses for the subpoenaed activists. National Lawyers Guild attorneys are donating countless hours of time and expertise to ensure the protection of First Amendment rights. As the legal processes continue and several more people have been subpoenaed, the costs of legal office staff, court fees, and supplies are mounting.
Please also forward this request to purchase bonds to your membership via a special mailing or your regular communications. Remember that Civil Liberty Bonds are perfect birthday or holiday or any-day gifts!
Gratitude for your solidarity can hardly be expressed in words. Thank you for your continuing support of our Civil Liberties and those who are specifically targeted by the FBI. Your support is essential for all of us.
Sincerely,
the Committee to Stop FBI Repression
www.StopFBI.net
http://www.stopfbi.net/donate/liberty-bonds
CSFR
P.O. Box 14183
Minneapolis MN Â 55414
612-379-3585
P.S. Don't forget to go to Stop FBI.net and sign the Pledge to Resist!
++++++++++
Please forward and otherwise distribute this message!
Committee to Stop FBI Repression StopFBI.net
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Abolish the Death Penalty Blog
http://www.ncadp.org/blog.cfm?postID=165
Abolish the Death Penalty is a blog dedicated to...well, you know. The purpose of Abolish is to tell the personal stories of crime victims and their loved ones, people on death row and their loved ones and those activists who are working toward abolition. You may, from time to time, see news articles or press releases here, but that is not the primary mission of Abolish the Death Penalty. Our mission is to put a human face on the debate over capital punishment.
You can also follow death penalty news by reading our News page and by following us on Facebook and Twitter.
1 Million Tweets for Troy! April 12, 2011
Take Action! Tweet for Troy!
The state of Georgia is seeking to change the drugs they use to carry out executions so they can resume scheduling execution dates, including that of Troy Davis, a man with a strong claim of innocence. Doubts in the case persist, including the fact that no physical evidence links him to the murder, most of the witnesses have recanted or contradicted their testimony and newer testimony implicates a different person (including an eyewitness account).
The Davis case has already generated hundreds of thousands of emails, calls, and letters in support of clemency, including from leaders such as the Pope, Jimmy Carter and former FBI chief Bill Sessions. We need to continue to amass petitions in support of clemency, demonstrating the widespread concern about this case and what it represents.
Please help us send a message to Georgia officials that they can do the right thing - they can intervene as the final failsafe by commuting Davis' sentence. Please help us generate 1 million tweets for Troy Davis!
Share this tweet alert with your friends and family that care about justice and life as soon as you can.
More information about the case is available at www.justicefortroy.org
Here are some sample tweets:
When in doubt, don't execute!! Sign the petition for #TroyDavis! www.tinyurl.com/troyepetition
Too much doubt! Stop the execution! #TroyDavis needs us! www.tinyurl.com/troyepetition
No room for doubt! Stop the execution of #TroyDavis . Retweet, sign petition www.tinyurl.com/troyepetition
Case not "ironclad", yet Georgiacould execute #TroyDavis ! Not on our watch! Petition: www.tinyurl.com/troyepetition
No murder weapon. No physical evidence. Stop the execution! #TroyDavis petition: www.tinyurl.com/troyepetition
7 out of 9 eyewitnesses recanted. No physical evidence. Stop the execution of Troy Davis www.tinyurl.com/troyepetition #TroyDavis
Thanks!
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FREE BRADLEY MANNING! HANDS OFF JULIAN ASSANGE!
In a recent New York Daily News Poll the question was asked:
Should Army pfc Bradley Manning face charges for allegedly stealing classified documents and providing them for WikiLeaks?
New York Daily News Poll Results:
Yes, he's a traitor for selling out his country! ...... 28%
No, he's a hero for standing up for what's right! ..... 62%
We need to see more evidence before passing judgment.. 10%
https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2011/03/05/2011-03-05_wikileaks_private_loses_his_underwear.html?r=news
Sign the Petition:
We stand for truth, for government transparency, and for an end to our tax-dollars funding endless occupation abroad...
We stand with accused whistle-blower
US Army Pfc. Bradley Manning
Stand with Bradley!
A 23-year-old Army intelligence analyst, Pfc. Manning faces decades in prison for allegedly leaking a video of a US helicopter attack that killed at least eleven Iraqi civilians to the website Wikileaks. Among the dead were two working Reuters reporters. Two children were also severely wounded in the attack.
In addition to this "Collateral Murder" video, Pfc. Manning is suspected of leaking the "Afghan War Diaries" - tens of thousands of battlefield reports that explicitly describe civilian deaths and cover-ups, corrupt officials, collusion with warlords, and a failing US/NATO war effort.
"We only know these crimes took place because insiders blew the whistle at great personal risk ... Government whistleblowers are part of a healthy democracy and must be protected from reprisal," noted Barack Obama while on the campaign trail in 2008. While the President was referring to the Bush Administration's use of phone companies to illegally spy on Americans, Pfc. Manning's alleged actions are just as noteworthy. If the military charges against him are accurate, they show that he had a reasonable belief that war crimes were being covered up, and that he took action based on a crisis of conscience.
After nearly a decade of war and occupation waged in our name, it is odd that it apparently fell on a young Army private to provide critical answers to the questions, "What have we purchased with well over a trillion tax dollars and the deaths of hundreds of thousands in Iraq and Afghanistan?" However, history is replete with unlikely heroes.
If Bradley Manning is indeed the source of these materials, the nation owes him our gratitude. We ask Secretary of the Army, the Honorable John M. McHugh, and Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army, General George W. Casey, Jr., to release Pfc. Manning from pre-trial confinement and drop the charges against him.
http://standwithbrad.org/
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The Arab Revolutions:
Guiding Principles for Peace and Justice Organizations in the US
Please email endorsement to ekishawi@yahoo.com
We, the undersigned, support the guiding principles and demands listed in this statement. We call on groups who want to express solidarity with the Arab revolutions to join our growing movement by signing this statement or keeping with the demands put forward herewith.
Background
The long-awaited Arab revolution has come. Like a geologic event with the reverberations of an earthquake, the timing and circumstances were unpredictable. In one Arab country after another, people are taking to the street demanding the fall of monarchies established during European colonial times. They are also calling to bring down dictatorships supported and manifested by neo-colonial policies. Although some of these autocratic regimes rose to power with popular support, the subsequent division and subjugation of the Arab World led to a uniform repressive political order across the region. The Arab masses in different Arab countries are therefore raising a uniform demand: "The People Want to Topple the Regimes!"
For the past two decades, the Arab people witnessed the invasion and occupation of Iraq with millions killed under blockade and occupation, Palestinians massacred with the aim to crush the anti-Zionist resistance, and Lebanon repeatedly invaded with the purposeful targeting of civilians. These actions all served to crush resistance movements longing for freedom, development, and self-determination. Meanwhile, despotic dictatorships, some going back 50 years, entrenched themselves by building police states, or fighting wars on behalf of imperialist interests.
Most Arab regimes systematically destroyed the social fabric of civil society, stifled social development, repressed all forms of political dissent and democratic expression, mortgaged their countries' wealth to foreign interests and enriched themselves and their cronies at the expense of impoverishing their populations. After pushing the Arab people to the brink, populations erupted.
The spark began in Tunisia where a police officer slapped and spat on Mohammad Bou Azizi, flipping over his produce cart for not delivering a bribe on time. . Unable to have his complaint heard, he self-immolated in protest, igniting the conscience of the Tunisian people and that of 300 million Arabs. In less than a month, the dictator, Zine El Abedine Ben Ali, was forced into exile by a Tunisian revolution. On its way out, the regime sealed its legacy by shooting at unarmed protestors and burning detention centers filled with political prisoners. Ben Ali was supported by the US and Europe in the fight against Islamic forces and organized labor.
Hosni Mubarak's brutal dictatorship fell less than a month after Tunisia's. The revolution erupted at a time when one half of the Egyptian population was living on less than $2/day while Mubarak's family amassed billions of dollars. The largest population recorded in Egyptian history was living in graveyards and raising their children among the dead while transportation and residential infrastructure was crumbling. Natural gas was supplied to Israel at 15% of the market price while the Rafah border was closed with an underground steel wall to complete the suffocation of the Palestinians in Gaza. Those who were deemed a threat swiftly met the fate of Khalid Said. 350 martyrs fell and 2,000 people were injured.
After Egypt and Tunisia, Yemen, Bahrain, Oman, Iraq, Lebanon and Jordan exploded in protest. Some governments quickly reshuffled faces and ranks without any tangible change. Some, like Bahrain and Yemen, sent out their security forces to massacre civilians. Oman and Yemen represent strategic assets for the US as they are situated on the straits of Hormuz and Aden, respectively. Bahrain is an oil country that hosts a US military base, situated in the Persian Gulf. A new round of US funded blood-letting of Arab civilians has begun!
Libyan dictator Qaddafi did not prove to be an exception. He historically took anti-imperialist positions for a united Arab World and worked for an African Union. He later transformed his regime to a subservient state and opened Libya to British Petroleum and Italian interests, working diligently on privatization and political repression. He amassed more wealth than that of Mubarak. In the face of the Libyan revolution, Qaddafi exceeded the brutality of Ben Ali and Mubarak blind-folding and executing opponents, surrounding cities with tanks, and bombing his own country. Death toll is expected to be in the thousands.
Qaddafi's history makes Libya an easy target for imperialist interests. The Obama administration followed the Iraq cookbook by freezing Libyan assets amounting to 30% of the annual GDP. The White House, with the help of European governments, rapidly implemented sanctions and called for no-fly zones. These positions were precipitated shortly after the US vetoed a resolution condemning the illegal Israeli colonization of the West Bank. Special operations personnel from the UK were captured by the revolutionary commanders in Ben Ghazi and sent back. The Libyan revolutionary leadership, the National Council clearly stated: "We are completely against foreign intervention. The rest of Libya will be liberated by the people ... and Gaddafi's security forces will be eliminated by the people of Libya."
Demands of the Solidarity Movement with Arab Revolutions
1. We demand a stop to US support, financing and trade with Arab dictatorships. We oppose US policy that has favored Israeli expansionism, war, US oil interest and strategic shipping routes at the expense of Arab people's freedom and dignified living.
2. We support the people of Tunisia and Egypt as well as soon-to-be liberated nations to rid themselves of lingering remnants of the deposed dictatorships.
3. We support the Arab people's right to sovereignty and self-determination. We demand that the US government stop its interference in the internal affairs of all Arab countries and end subsidies to wars and occupation.
4. We support the Arab people's demands for political, civil and economic rights. The Arab people's movement is calling for:
a. Deposing the unelected regimes and all of its institutional remnants
b. Constitutional reform guaranteeing freedom of organizing, speech and press
c. Free and fair elections
d. Independent judiciary
e. National self-determination.
5. We oppose all forms of US and European military intervention with or without the legitimacy of the UN. Standing in solidarity with the revolution against Qaddafi, or any other dictator, does not equate to supporting direct or indirect colonization of an Arab country, its oil or its people. We therefore call for:
a. Absolute rejection of military blockades, no-fly zones and interventions.
b. Lifting all economic sanctions placed against Libya and allowing for the formation of an independent judiciary to prosecute Qaddafi and deposed dictators for their crimes.
c. Immediately withdrawing the US and NATO troops from the Arab region.
6. We support Iraq's right to sovereignty and self determination and call on the US to immediately withdraw all occupation personnel from Iraq.
7. We recognize that the borders separating Arab nations were imposed on the Arab people by the colonial agreements of Sykes-Picot and the Berlin Conference on Africa. As such, we support the anti-Zionist nature of this revolution in its call for:
a. Ending the siege and starvation of the Palestinian people in Gaza
b. Supporting the right of the Palestinian people to choose their own representation, independent of Israeli and US dictates
c. Supporting the right of the Lebanese people to defend their country from Israeli violations and their call to end vestiges of the colonial constitution constructed on the basis of sectarian representation
d. Supporting the right of the Jordanian people to rid themselves of their repressive monarchy
e. Ending all US aid to Israel.
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Committee to Stop FBI Repression
NATIONAL CALL-IN DAY -- ANY DAY
to Fitzgerald, Holder and Obama
The Grand Jury is still on its witch hunt and the FBI is still
harassing activists. This must stop.
Please make these calls:
1. Call U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald at 312-353-5300 . Then dial 0
(zero) for operator and ask to leave a message with the Duty Clerk.
2. Call U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder 202-353-1555
3. Call President Obama at 202-456-1111
Suggested text: "My name is __________, I am from _______(city), in
______(state). I am calling _____ to demand he call off the Grand Jury
and stop FBI repression against the anti-war and Palestine solidarity
movements. I oppose U.S. government political repression and support
the right to free speech and the right to assembly of the 23 activists
subpoenaed. We will not be criminalized. Tell him to stop this
McCarthy-type witch hunt against international solidarity activists!"
If your call doesn't go through, try again later.
Update: 800 anti-war and international solidarity activists
participated in four regional conferences, in Chicago, IL; Oakland,
CA; Chapel Hill, NC and New York City to stop U.S. Attorney Patrick
Fitzgerald's Grand Jury repression.
Still, in the last few weeks, the FBI has continued to call and harass
anti-war organizers, repressing free speech and the right to organize.
However, all of their intimidation tactics are bringing a movement
closer together to stop war and demand peace.
We demand:
-- Call Off the Grand Jury Witch-hunt Against International Solidarity
Activists!
-- Support Free Speech!
-- Support the Right to Organize!
-- Stop FBI Repression!
-- International Solidarity Is Not a Crime!
-- Stop the Criminalization of Arab and Muslim Communities!
Background: Fitzgerald ordered FBI raids on anti-war and solidarity
activists' homes and subpoenaed fourteen activists in Chicago,
Minneapolis, and Michigan on September 24, 2010. All 14 refused to
speak before the Grand Jury in October. Then, 9 more Palestine
solidarity activists, most Arab-Americans, were subpoenaed to appear
at the Grand Jury on January 25, 2011, launching renewed protests.
There are now 23 who assert their right to not participate in
Fitzgerald's witch-hunt.
The Grand Jury is a secret and closed inquisition, with no judge, and
no press. The U.S. Attorney controls the entire proceedings and hand
picks the jurors, and the solidarity activists are not allowed a
lawyer. Even the date when the Grand Jury ends is a secret.
So please make these calls to those in charge of the repression aimed
against anti-war leaders and the growing Palestine solidarity
movement.
Email us to let us know your results. Send to info@StopFBI.net
**Please sign and circulate our 2011 petition at http://www.stopfbi.net/petition
In Struggle,
Tom Burke,
for the Committee to Stop FBI Repression
FFI: Visit www.StopFBI.net or email info@StopFBI.net or call
612-379-3585 .
Copyright (c) 2011 Committee to Stop FBI Repression, All rights
reserved.
Our mailing address is:
Committee to Stop FBI Repression
PO Box 14183
Minneapolis, MN 55415
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Call for EMERGENCY RESPONSE Action if Assange Indicted,
Dear Friends:
We write in haste, trying to reach as many of you as possible although the holiday break has begun.......This plan for an urgent "The Day After" demonstration is one we hope you and many, many more organizations will take up as your own, and mobilize for. World Can't Wait asks you to do all you can to spread it through list serves, Facebook, twitter, holiday gatherings.
Our proposal is very very simple, and you can use the following announcement to mobilize - or write your own....
ANY DAY NOW . . . IN THE EVENT THAT THE U.S. INDICTS JULIAN ASSANGE
An emergency public demonstration THE DAY AFTER any U.S. criminal indictment is announced against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. Spread the word and call people to come out, across the whole range of movements and groups: anti-war, human rights, freedom of information/freedom of the press, peace, anti-torture, environmental, students and youth, radicals and revolutionaries, religious, civil liberties, teachers and educators, journalists, anti-imperialists, anti-censorship, anti-police state......
At the Federal Building in San Francisco, we'll form ourselves into a human chain "surrounding" the government that meets the Wikileaked truth with repression and wants to imprison and silence leakers, whistleblowers and truthtellers - when, in fact, these people are heroes. We'll say:
HANDS OFF WIKILEAKS! FREE JULIAN ASSANGE! FREE BRADLEY MANNING!
Join the HUMAN CHAIN AROUND THE FEDERAL BUILDING!
New Federal Building, 7th and Mission, San Francisco (nearest BART: Civic Center)
4:00-6:00 PM on The Day FOLLOWING U.S. indictment of Assange
Bring all your friends - signs and banners - bullhorns.
Those who dare at great risk to themselves to put the truth in the hands of the people - and others who might at this moment be thinking about doing more of this themselves -- need to see how much they are supported, and that despite harsh repression from the government and total spin by the mainstream media, the people do want the truth told.
Brad Manning's Christmas Eve statement was just released by his lawyer: "Pvt. Bradley Manning, the lone soldier who stands accused of stealing millions of pages secret US government documents and handing them over to secrets outlet WikiLeaks, wants his supporters to know that they've meant a lot to him. 'I greatly appreciate everyone's support and well wishes during this time,' he said in a Christmas Eve statement released by his lawyer...." Read more here:
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/12/mannings-message-christmas-eve-i-gr/
Demonstrations defending Wikileaks and Assange, and Brad Manning, have already been flowering around the world. Make it happen here too.
Especially here . . .
To join into this action plan, or with questions, contact World Can't Wait or whichever organization or listserve you received this message from.
World Can't Wait, SF Bay
415-864-5153
sf@worldcantwait.org
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DEFEND LYNNE STEWART!
Write to Lynne Stewart at:
Lynne Stewart #53504 - 054
Unit 2N
Federal Medical Center, Carswell
P.O. Box 27137
Fort Worth, TEXAS 76127
Visiting Lynne:
Visiting is very liberal but first she has to get people on her visiting list; wait til she or the lawyers let you know. The visits are FRI, SAT, SUN AND MON for 4 hours and on weekends 8 to 3. Bring clear plastic change purse with lots of change to buy from the machines. Brief Kiss upon arrival and departure, no touching or holding during visit (!!) On visiting forms it may be required that you knew me before I came to prison. Not a problem for most of you.
Commissary Money:
Commissary Money is always welcome It is how Lynne pay for the phone and for email. Also for a lot that prison doesn't supply in terms of food and "sundries" (pens!) (A very big list that includes Raisins, Salad Dressing, ankle sox, mozzarella (definitely not from Antonys--more like a white cheddar, Sanitas Corn Chips but no Salsa, etc. To add money, you do this by using Western Union and a credit card by phone or you can send a USPO money order or Business or Govt Check. The negotiable instruments (PAPER!) need to be sent to Federal Bureau of Prisons, 53504-054, Lynne Stewart, PO Box 474701, Des Moines Iowa 50947-001 (Payable to Lynne Stewart, 53504-054) They hold the mo or checks for 15 days. Western Union costs $10 but is within 2 hours. If you mail, your return address must be on the envelope. Unnecessarily complicated? Of course, it's the BOP !)
The address of her Defense Committee is:
Lynne Stewart Defense Committee
1070 Dean Street
Brooklyn, New York 11216
For further information:
718-789-0558 or 917-853-9759
Please make a generous contribution to her defense.
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Help end the inhumane treatment of Bradley Manning!
Bradley Manning Support Network.
Contact the Marine Corps officers above and respectfully, but firmly, ask that they lift the extreme pre-trial confinement conditions against Army PFC Bradley Manning.
Forward this urgent appeal for action widely.
Sign the "Stand with Brad" public petition and letter campaign at www.standwithbrad.org - Sign online, and we'll mail out two letters on your behalf to Army officials.
Donate to Bradley's defense fund at www.couragetoresist.org/bradley
References:
"The inhumane conditions of Bradley Manning's detention", by Glenn Greenwald for Salon.com, 15 December 2010
"A Typical Day for PFC Bradley Manning", by attorney David E. Coombs, 18 December 2010
"Bradley Manning's Life Behind Bars", by Denver Nicks for the Daily Beast, 17 December 2010
Bradley Manning Support Network
Courage To Resist
484 Lake Park Ave. #41
Oakland, CA 94610
510-488-3559
couragetoresist.org
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In earnest support of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange:
http://readersupportednews.org/julian-assange-petition
rsn:Petition
We here undersigned express our support for the work and integrity of Julian Assange. We express concern that the charges against the WikiLeaks founder appear too convenient both in terms of timing and the novelty of their nature.
We call for this modern media innovator, and fighter for human rights extraordinaire, to be afforded the same rights to defend himself before Swedish justice that all others similarly charged might expect, and that his liberty not be compromised as a courtesy to those governments whose truths he has revealed have embarrassed.
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KEVIN COOPER IS INNOCENT! FREE KEVIN COOPER!
Reasonable doubts about executing Kevin Cooper
Chronicle Editorial
Monday, December 13, 2010
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/12/13/EDG81GP0I7.DTL
Death penalty -- Kevin Cooper is Innocent! Help save his life from San Quentin's death row!
http://www.savekevincooper.org/
http://www.savekevincooper.org/pages/essays_content.html?ID=255
URGENT ACTION APPEAL
- From Amnesty International USA
17 December 2010
Click here to take action online:
http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/siteapps/advocacy/index.aspx?c=jhKPIXPCIoE&b=2590179&template=x.ascx&action=15084
To learn about recent Urgent Action successes and updates, go to
http://www.amnestyusa.org/iar/success
For a print-friendly version of this Urgent Action (PDF):
http://www.amnestyusa.org/actioncenter/actions/uaa25910.pdf
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Free the Children of Palestine!
Sign Petition:
http://www.gopetition.com/petition/41467.html
Published by Al-Awda, Palestine Right to Return Coalition on Dec 16, 2010
Category: Children's Rights
Region: GLOBAL
Target: President Obama
Web site: http://www.al-awda.org
Background (Preamble):
According to Israeli police, 1200 Palestinian children have been arrested, interrogated and imprisoned in the occupied city of Jerusalem alone this year. The youngest of these children was seven-years old.
Children and teen-agers were often dragged out of their beds in the middle of the night, taken in handcuffs for questioning, threatened, humiliated and many were subjected to physical violence while under arrest as part of an ongoing campaign against the children of Palestine. Since the year 2000, more than 8000 have been arrested by Israel, and reports of mistreatment are commonplace.
Further, based on sworn affidavits collected in 2009 from 100 of these children, lawyers working in the occupied West Bank with Defense Children International, a Geneva-based non governmental organization, found that 69% were beaten and kicked, 49% were threatened, 14% were held in solitary confinement, 12% were threatened with sexual assault, including rape, and 32% were forced to sign confessions written in Hebrew, a language they do not understand.
Minors were often asked to give names and incriminate friends and relatives as a condition of their release. Such institutionalized and systematic mistreatment of Palestinian children by the state of Israel is a violation international law and specifically contravenes the Convention on the Rights of the Child to which Israel is supposedly a signatory.
Petition:
http://www.gopetition.com/petition/41467.html
We, the undersigned call on US President Obama to direct Israel to
1. Stop all the night raids and arrests of Palestinian Children forthwith.
2. Immediately release all Palestinian children detained in its prisons and detention centers.
3. End all forms of systematic and institutionalized abuse against all Palestinian children.
4. Implement the full restoration of Palestinian children's rights in accordance with international law including, but not limited to, their right to return to their homes of origin, to education, to medical and psychological care, and to freedom of movement and expression.
The US government, which supports Israel to the tune of billions of taxpayer dollars a year while most ordinary Americans are suffering in a very bad economy, is bound by its laws and international conventions to cut off all aid to Israel until it ends all of its violations of human rights and basic freedoms in a verifiable manner.
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"Secret diplomacy is a necessary tool for a propertied minority, which is compelled to deceive the majority in order to subject it to its interests."..."Publishing State Secrets" By Leon Trotsky
Documents on Soviet Policy, Trotsky, iii, 2 p. 64
November 22, 1917
http://www.marxists.org/history/ussr/government/foreign-relations/1917/November/22.htm
FREE JULIAN ASSANGE! FREE BRADLEY MANNING! STOP THE FBI RAIDS NOW!
MONEY FOR HUMAN NEEDS NOT WAR!
To understand how much a trillion dollars is, consider looking at it in terms of time:
A million seconds would be about eleven-and-one-half days; a billion seconds would be 31 years; and a trillion seconds would be 31,000 years!
From the novel "A Dark Tide," by Andrew Gross
Now think of it in terms of U.S. war dollars and bankster bailouts!
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For Immediate Release
Antiwar movement supports Wikileaks and calls for and independent, international investigation of the crimes that have been exposed. We call for the release of Bradley Manning and the end to the harassment of Julian Assange.
12/2/2010
For more information: Joe Lombardo, 518-281-1968,
UNACpeace@gmail.org, NationalPeaceConference.org
Antiwar movement supports Wikileaks and calls for and independent, international investigation of the crimes that have been exposed. We call for the release of Bradley Manning and the end to the harassment of Julian Assange.
The United National Antiwar Committee (UNAC) calls for the release of Bradley Manning who is awaiting trial accused of leaking the material to Wikileaks that has been released over the past several months. We also call for an end to the harassment of Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks and we call for an independent, international investigation of the illegal activity exposed through the material released by Wikileaks.
Before sending the material to Wikileaks, Bradley Manning tried to get his superiors in the military to do something about what he understood to be clear violations of international law. His superiors told him to keep quiet so Manning did the right thing; he exposed the illegal activity to the world.
The Afghan material leaked earlier shows military higher-ups telling soldiers to kill enemy combatants who were trying to surrender. The Iraq Wikileaks video from 2007 shows the US military killing civilians and news reporters from a helicopter while laughing about it. The widespread corruption among U.S. allies has been exposed by the most recent leaks of diplomatic cables. Yet, instead of calling for change in these policies, we hear only a call to suppress further leaks.
At the national antiwar conference held in Albany in July, 2010, at which UNAC was founded, we heard from Ethan McCord, one of the soldiers on the ground during the helicopter attack on the civilians in Iraq exposed by Wikileaks (see: http://www.mediasanctuary.org/movie/1810 ). He talked about removing wounded children from a civilian vehicle that the US military had shot up. It affected him so powerfully that he and another soldier who witnessed the massacre wrote a letter of apology to the families of the civilians who were killed.
We ask why this material was classified in the first place. There were no state secrets in the material, only evidence of illegal and immoral activity by the US military, the US government and its allies. To try to cover this up by classifying the material is a violation of our right to know the truth about these wars. In this respect, Bradley Manning and Julian Assange should be held up as heroes, not hounded for exposing the truth.
UNAC calls for an end to the illegal and immoral policies exposed by Wikileaks and an immediate end to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and an end to threats against Iran and North Korea.
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Courage to Resist needs your support
By Jeff Paterson, Courage to Resist.
It's been quite a ride the last four months since we took up the defense of accused WikiLeaks whistle-blower Bradley Manning. Since then, we helped form the Bradley Manning Support Network, established a defense fund, and have already paid over half of Bradley's total $100,000 in estimated legal expenses.
Now, I'm asking for your support of Courage to Resist so that we can continue to support not only Bradley, but the scores of other troops who are coming into conflict with military authorities due to reasons of conscience.
Please donate today:
https://co.clickandpledge.com/sp/d1/default.aspx?wid=38590
"Soldiers sworn oath is to defend and support the Constitution. Bradley Manning has been defending and supporting our Constitution."
-Dan Ellsberg, Pentagon Papers whistle-blower
Iraq War over? Afghanistan occupation winding down? Not from what we see. Please take a look at, "Soldier Jeff Hanks refuses deployment, seeks PTSD help" in our December newsletter. Jeff's situation is not isolated. Actually, his story is only unique in that he has chosen to share it with us in the hopes that it may result in some change. Jeff's case also illustrates the importance of Iraq Veterans Against the War's new "Operation Recovery" campaign which calls for an end to the deployment of traumatized troops.
Most of the folks who call us for help continue to be effected by Stoploss, a program that involuntarily extends enlistments (despite Army promises of its demise), or the Individual Ready Reserve which recalls thousands of former Soldiers and Marines quarterly from civilian life.
Another example of our efforts is Kyle Wesolowski. After returning from Iraq, Kyle submitted an application for a conscientious objector discharge based on his Buddhist faith. Kyle explains, "My experience of physical threats, religious persecution, and general abuse seems to speak of a system that appears to be broken.... It appears that I have no other recourse but to now refuse all duties that prepare myself for war or aid in any way shape or form to other soldiers in conditioning them to go to war." We believe he shouldn't have to walk this path alone.
Sincerely,
Jeff Paterson
Project Director, Courage to Resist
First US military service member to refuse to fight in Iraq
Please donate today.
https://co.clickandpledge.com/sp/d1/default.aspx?wid=38590
P.S. I'm asking that you consider a contribution of $50 or more, or possibly becoming a sustainer at $15 a month. Of course, now is also a perfect time to make a end of year tax-deductible donation. Thanks again for your support!
Please click here to forward this to a friend who might
also be interested in supporting GI resisters.
http://ymlp.com/forward.php?id=lS3tR&e=bonnieweinstein@yahoo.com
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Add your name! We stand with Bradley Manning.
"We stand for truth, for government transparency, and for an end to our tax-dollars funding endless occupation abroad... We stand with accused whistle-blower US Army Pfc. Bradley Manning."
Dear All,
The Bradley Manning Support Network and Courage to Resist are launching a new campaign, and we wanted to give you a chance to be among the first to add your name to this international effort. If you sign the letter online, we'll print out and mail two letters to Army officials on your behalf. With your permission, we may also use your name on the online petition and in upcoming media ads.
Read the complete public letter and add your name at:
http://standwithbrad.org/
Courage to Resist (http://couragetoresist.org)
on behalf of the Bradley Manning Support Network (http://bradleymanning.org)
484 Lake Park Ave #41, Oakland CA 94610
510-488-3559
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Committee to Stop FBI Repression
P.O. Box 14183
Minneapolis, MN 55414
Dear Friend,
On Friday, September 24th, the FBI raided homes in Chicago and Minneapolis, and turned the Anti-War Committee office upside down. We were shocked. Our response was strong however and we jumped into action holding emergency protests. When the FBI seized activists' personal computers, cell phones, and papers claiming they were investigating "material support for terrorism", they had no idea there would be such an outpouring of support from the anti-war movement across this country! Over 61 cities protested, with crowds of 500 in Minneapolis and Chicago. Activists distributed 12,000 leaflets at the One Nation Rally in Washington D.C. Supporters made thousands of calls to President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder. Solidarity statements from community organizations, unions, and other groups come in every day. By organizing against the attacks, the movement grows stronger.
At the same time, trusted lawyers stepped up to form a legal team and mount a defense. All fourteen activists signed letters refusing to testify. So Assistant U.S. Attorney Brandon Fox withdrew the subpoenas, but this is far from over. In fact, the repression is just starting. The FBI continues to question activists at their homes and work places. The U.S. government is trying to put people in jail for anti-war and international solidarity activism and there is no indication they are backing off. The U.S. Attorney has many options and a lot of power-he may re-issue subpoenas, attempt to force people to testify under threat of imprisonment, or make arrests.
To be successful in pushing back this attack, we need your donation. We need you to make substantial contributions like $1000, $500, and $200. We understand many of you are like us, and can only afford $50, $20, or $10, but we ask you to dig deep. The legal bills can easily run into the hundreds of thousands. We are all united to defend a movement for peace and justice that seeks friendship with people in other countries. These fourteen anti-war activists have done nothing wrong, yet their freedom is at stake.
It is essential that we defend our sisters and brothers who are facing FBI repression and the Grand Jury process. With each of your contributions, the movement grows stronger.
Please make a donation today at stopfbi.net (PayPal) on the right side of your screen. Also you can write to:
Committee to Stop FBI Repression
P.O. Box 14183
Minneapolis, MN 55414
This is a critical time for us to stand together, defend free speech, and defend those who help to organize for peace and justice, both at home and abroad!
Thank you for your generosity! Tom Burke
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Short Video About Al-Awda's Work
The following link is to a short video which provides an overview of Al-Awda's work since the founding of our organization in 2000. This video was first shown on Saturday May 23, 2009 at the fundraising banquet of the 7th Annual Int'l Al-Awda Convention in Anaheim California. It was produced from footage collected over the past nine years.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTiAkbB5uC0&eurl
Support Al-Awda, a Great Organization and Cause!
Al-Awda, The Palestine Right to Return Coalition, depends on your financial support to carry out its work.
To submit your tax-deductible donation to support our work, go to
http://www.al-awda.org/donate.html and follow the simple instructions.
Thank you for your generosity!
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COURAGE TO RESIST!
Support the troops who refuse to fight!
http://www.couragetoresist.org/x/
Donate:
http://www.couragetoresist.org/x/content/view/21/57/
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D. ARTICLES IN FULL (Unless otherwise noted)
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1) The "Bradley Manning Exception to the Bill of Rights" Devastates the Credibility of the Military Justice System
By Kevin Zeese
President Obama Makes a Fair Trial of Bradley Manning Impossible
By Declaring Him Guilty
April 25, 2011
http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-Bradley-Manning-Excep-by-Kevin-Zeese-110425-129.html
2) Seven Students Arrested at Emory during Tent City Stand-off
By MATTHEW CARDINALE
4-25-2011
http://www.atlantaprogressivenews.com/interspire/news/2011/04/25/seven-students-arrested-at-emory-during-tent-city-stand-off.html
3) TORTURE - As American As Apple Pie
By Luke Hiken
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PROGRESSIVE AVENUES
Marguerite (Marti) Hiken, Director
415-702-9682
April 26, 2011
www.progressiveavenues.org
info@progressiveavenues.org
4) NATO Says It Is Broadening Attacks on Libya Targets
By THOM SHANKER
April 26, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/27/world/middleeast/27strategy.html?_r=1&hp
5) The Guantánamo Papers
New York Times Editorial
April 25, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/26/opinion/26tue1.html?hp
6) Public Pensions, Once Off Limits, Face Budget Cuts
"...officials in strapped states from California to Illinois have begun to take a second look, to see whether there might be loopholes allowing them to cut the pension benefits of current employees."
By MICHAEL COOPER and MARY WILLIAMS WALSH
April 25, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/26/us/26pensions.html?hp
7) Height: Very Poor Women Are Shrinking, as Are Their Chances at a Better Life
By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.
April 25, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/26/health/26global.html?ref=world
8) Demonstrators in Germany Demand End of Nuclear Power
By JUDY DEMPSEY
April 25, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/26/world/europe/26iht-germany26.html?ref=world
9) Report Urges Storing Spent Nuclear Fuel, Not Reprocessing It
By MATTHEW L. WALD
April 26, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/26/science/earth/26nuke.html?ref=us
10) Labor Board Plans to Sue 2 States Over Union Rules
"Unions like using card check because it makes it easier to win unionization campaigns. Organizers can gather signature cards quietly until they get a majority of workers, making it more difficult for an employer to mount an opposition campaign."
By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
April 25, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/26/business/26labor.html?ref=business
11) Is This the Poster Food for a Radiation Menace?
By DENISE GRADY
April 11, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/12/health/12essay.html?ref=health
12) Poll: More Americans disapprove of Obama's management of Afghan war
By Scott Wilson and Jon Cohen
"...49 percent of respondents said they disapprove of Obama's management of the war and 44 percent voiced approval..."
Monday, April 25, 4:41 PM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/poll_more_americans_disapprove_of_obamas_management_of_afghan_war/2011/04/25/AFBjpnjE_story.html?wpisrc=nl_cuzheads
13) US court grants new sentencing for Mumia Abu-Jamal
(AP) - 2 hours ago
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jmujyktf0thHYzlPtCp70rXgmkzw?docId=28296761d1ef48f99e7be880ec2b718c
EXCERPTS:
PRECEDENTIAL
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT
No. 01-9014
MUMIA ABU-JAMAL,
a/k/a WESLEY COOK
http://www.ca3.uscourts.gov/opinarch/019014p2.pdf
14) Thousands march in Germany against NATO war in Libya and Afghanistan
April 23, 2011
http://nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/International/23-Apr-2011/Thousands-march-in-Germany-against-NATO-war-in-Libya-and-Afghanistan
15) In WikiLeaks' Growth, Some Control Is Lost
By BRIAN STELTER and NOAM COHEN
April 26, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/27/world/guantanamo-files-wikileaks-loses-control-of-some-secrets.html?_r=1&hp
16) Detainees' Lawyers Can't Click on Leaked Documents
By SCOTT SHANE
April 26, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/27/world/guantanamo-files-detainees-lawyers-restricted-leaked-documents.html?ref=world
17) Secret Case Against Detainee Crumbles
By WILLIAM GLABERSON and CHARLIE SAVAGE
April 26, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/27/world/secret-case-against-detainee-crumbles.html?ref=world
18) Culture of Complicity Tied to Stricken Nuclear Plant
"In 2000, Kei Sugaoka, a Japanese-American nuclear inspector who had done work for General Electric at Daiichi, told Japan's main nuclear regulator about a cracked steam dryer that he believed was being concealed. If exposed, the revelations could have forced the operator, Tokyo Electric Power, to do what utilities least want to do: undertake costly repairs. ...Just as in any Japanese village, the like-minded - nuclear industry officials, bureaucrats, politicians and scientists - have prospered by rewarding one another with construction projects, lucrative positions, and political, financial and regulatory support. The few openly skeptical of nuclear power's safety become village outcasts, losing out on promotions and backing."
By NORIMITSU ONISHI and KEN BELSON
April 26, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/27/world/asia/27collusion.html?ref=world
19) Pennsylvania: New Sentencing in Officer's Killing
[This is the only article about Mumia Abu-Jamal's new sentencing hearing that appeared in the New York Times...bw]
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
April 26, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/27/us/27brfs-NEWSENTENCIN_BRF.html?ref=us
20) Anti-Abortion Ad Provokes Lawsuit
"The most dangerous place for an African-American is in the womb."
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
April 27, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/27/nyregion/anti-abortion-group-is-sued-over-girls-photo-in-ad.html?ref=nyregion
21) GE Sees Best Profit Outlook in a Decade, Execs Say
By REUTERS
April 27, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2011/04/27/business/business-us-ge.html?src=busln
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1) The "Bradley Manning Exception to the Bill of Rights" Devastates the Credibility of the Military Justice System
By Kevin Zeese
President Obama Makes a Fair Trial of Bradley Manning Impossible
By Declaring Him Guilty
April 25, 2011
http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-Bradley-Manning-Excep-by-Kevin-Zeese-110425-129.html
["He broke the law!" says Obama about Bradley Manning who has yet to even be charged, let alone, gone to trial and found guilty. How horrendous is it for the President to declare someone guilty before going to trial or being charged with a crime! Justice in the U.S.A.! ...bw]
Obama on FREE BRADLEY MANNING protest... San Francisco, CA. April 21, 2011-Presidential remarks on interrupt/interaction/performance art happening at fundraiser. Logan Price queries Barack after org. FRESH JUICE PARTY political action.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfmtUpd4id0&feature=youtu.be
The credibility of the military justice system is being undermined by the prosecution of Bradley Manning. His abusive punishment without trial violates his due process rights; his harsh treatment in solitary confinement-torture conditions violates the prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment; and now the commander-in-chief has announced his guilt before trial making a fair trial impossible. A Bradley Manning exception to the Bill of Rights is developing as the Obama administration seeks Manning's punished no matter what constitutional protections they violate.
On Thursday April 21, 2011 in San Francisco a group of Bradley Manning supporters protested the prosecution of Manning at a Barack Obama fundraising event. One of Manning's supporters was able to question the president directly afterwards and during the conversation, Obama said on videotape that Manning was guilty.
Can you imagine if the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Khamene'i, pronounced an Iranian military whistle blower "guilty" before any trial was held? Khamene'i is the commander-in-chief of all armed forces in Iran, just as President Obama is the commander-in-chief of the U.S. armed services. Would anyone in the United States think that a trial before Iranian military officers that followed such a pronouncement could be fair? The U.S. government would use the situation to make propaganda points about the phony justice system in Iran.
President Obama's pronouncement about Manning, "He broke the law," amounts to unlawful command influence -- something prohibited in military trials because it is devastating to the military justice system. Manning will be judged by a jury of military officers in a military court where everyone involved follows the orders of the commander-in-chief. How are these officers going to rule against their commander-in-chief, especially after Manning has been tortured in solitary confinement for almost a year? Any officer who finds Manning "not guilty" will have no chance of advancing his career after doing so.
Article 37 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice makes undo command influence unlawful . Unlawful Command Influence has been called "the carcinoma of the military justice system " and is often described as " the mortal enemy of military justice ." The importance of the command structure in the military makes command influence a threat to fair trails, i.e. " because the inherent power and influence of command are necessary and omnipresent facets of military life, everyone involved in both unit command and in military justice must exercise constant vigilance to protect against command influence becoming unlawful."
Accordingly , "Unlawful Command Influence occurs when senior personnel, wittingly or unwittingly, have acted to influence court members, witnesses, or others participating in military justice cases. Such unlawful influence not only jeopardizes the validity of the judicial process, it undermines the morale of military members, their respect for the chain of command, and public confidence in the military." Further, even : "The "appearance of unlawful command influence is as devastating to the military justice system as the actual manipulation of any given trial.'" The commander-in-chief announcing guilt before trial is an unprecedented case of unlawful command influence.
When unlawful command influence occurs a heavy burden is put on the prosecution to "prove beyond a reasonable doubt that: (1) the facts upon which the unlawful command influence is based are untrue; (2) those facts do not constitute unlawful command influence; or (3) the unlawful command influence will not affect the proceedings." Since President Obama is on videotape announcing the finding of guilt it will be impossible to prove either of the first two points. To prove the third point will require the court to enter into a charade where officers claim they are not influenced by the commander-in-chief . In reality, the president announcing the guilt of Manning before he is tried will influence every officer who wants to continue to advance in his or her career. And, since Manning has already been punished severely before trial officers will be even less likely to find Manning not guilty because that would raise questions about his abusive treatment.
Military case law indicates that " pretrial publicity itself may constitute unlawful command influence." When the president speaks it results in national media attention (see a google search for "Obama Manning guilty" produced 1.5 million stories by April 24th). Of course, the president's statement of Manning's guilt was not the only pre-trial publicity in Manning's case. In addition, the brutal treatment Manning has received during pre-trial detention has also received widespread media attention. The combination of this mistreatment and the president's statements shows that the military from the Quantico command to the commander-in-chief saw Manning as guilty and wanted him punished harshly.
Military courts have held over and over that if unlawful command influence is proven then dismissal of the case is appropriate. (See United States v. Douglas, 68 M.J. 349 (2010) and the cases cited therein.) "[D]ismissal of charges is appropriate when an accused would be prejudiced or no useful purpose would be served by continuing the proceedings." There is no question Manning has been prejudiced and it is hard to imagine how the proceedings can be cleansed of this unlawful command influence so there is no useful purpose in continuing.
The White House made an inept attempt to try and change the obvious meaning of the president's statement. Politico reports: "White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said Obama was in fact making a general statement that did not go specifically to the charges against Manning. "The president was emphasizing that, in general, the unauthorized release of classified information is not a lawful act,' he said Friday night. "He was not expressing a view as to the guilt or innocence of Pfc. Manning specifically.'" This clarification is inept because Obama was quite specific in his comments saying: "He broke the law."
Unlawful command influence causes " exceptional harm . . . to the fairness and public perception of military justice when it does arise " This harm is magnified in the case of Bradley Manning because of the severe mistreatment he has received in Quantico before even being tried. This is a case where punishment in Quantico and a finding of guilt by the commander-in-chief both came before trial. The sooner this prosecution ends the less damage that will be done to the reputation of the military justice system.
Kevin Zeese is an attorney who directs Come Home America (www.ComeHomeAmerica.US) and is on the steering committee of the Bradley Manning Support Network (www.BradleyManning.org).
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2) Seven Students Arrested at Emory during Tent City Stand-off
By MATTHEW CARDINALE
4-25-2011
http://www.atlantaprogressivenews.com/interspire/news/2011/04/25/seven-students-arrested-at-emory-during-tent-city-stand-off.html
(APN) DEKALB COUNTY -- Seven students were arrested during a stand-off with the Emory University administration tonight, Monday, April 25, 2011, Atlanta Progressive News has learned.
Last week, APN reported that 150 students protested at Emory regarding its contract with Sodexo to operate its cafeterias. During that protest, two dozen students occupied the Administration Building, but they left the building after being threatened with arrest and after being promised a meeting with the University's President.
That meeting, which took place the following day at 5pm, was not fruitful, Alex Zavell, 20, an Emory sophomore majoring in Political Science, told APN in an interview.
The University insists it undertook an investigation of students' claims that Sodexo was mistreating cafeteria workers on Emory's campus and found no evidence of any problem, Zavell said. Yet, Zavell insists that University has failed to even hear what the problems are and has not explained what its so-called investigation consisted of.
Since the protest last week, the students erected a Tent City on the University quad outside the Administration building.
"At 630pm, students who were a part of the Tent City we set up on Wednesday and maintained constant peaceful presence... the Vice President came and delivered a notice of policy of the quad that said there needed to be a reservation if there needed to be events," Zavell said.
"A lawyer for our group looked at it and said the language of the policy did not apply to what we're doing," Zavell said.
"The Administration forcibly removed tents and signs. The grounds crew ordered by the Administration were told to start removing tents," Zavell said.
"In response, three tents were placed in a tight circle and students sat in them. Police backed off for about a half hour," Zavell said.
"John Ford, at that point came and told students they would be arrested if they remained in the tent," Zavell said.
"After which, the Emory police and Dekalb police came and arrested seven students who were sitting in the tent," Zavell said.
According to Zavell, the seven students are: Laura Emiko Soltis, an Emory fifth year graduate student in interdisciplinary studies; Roger Sikes, Emory second year graduate student in Public Health; Andrea Nicholls, Emory second year graduate student in Public Health; Joseph Diaz, Emory first year graduate student in Philosophy; Christopher Wells, undergraduate studying Film at Georgia State University; Amariah Love, an undergraduate studying Women's Studies at GSU; and Michael Iannocone, a graduate student from Georgia Tech in Computer Science.
"The Administration has consistently evaded dialogue, refused to acknowledge the existence of the problem on our campus, and responded with force in the face of peaceful student protest," Zavell said.
"I believe these actions fly in the face of Emory's mission statement and student values to create knowledge in the service of humanity, social responsibility, courageous inquiry, and ethical engagement," Zavell said.
The students were arrested at about 8pm, and Zavell said he believed the charges were for criminal trespassing, based on threats made by Administration prior to the arrests.
"Students were handcuffed with zip-tie handcuffs and dragged out by police officers," Zavell said.
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3) TORTURE - As American As Apple Pie
By Luke Hiken
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PROGRESSIVE AVENUES
Marguerite (Marti) Hiken, Director
415-702-9682
April 26, 2011
info@progressiveavenues.org
Along with waging wars and building weapons, the United States has become the leading nation in the world to adopt torture as a lifestyle. We have elevated it to the most sophisticated and widespread tool of our foreign and domestic policies. While it is both disappointing and tragic that this country would be so open and transparent in its torture of Bradley Manning, what is of even greater concern is the fact that "liberal" President, Barack Obama, was not even embarrassed or humiliated when publicly confronted by his country's abuse of Manning. Instead, the President's comment that [Manning] is guilty because he "broke the law," barely touches the tip of the iceberg concerning the unfeeling, oblivious emotions of the man supposedly running this country.
Another liberal Democrat, Jerry Brown, when questioned about Manning's treatment replied in the manner characteristic of politicians these days: "Who's Bradley Manning?"
Perhaps the reason this kind of abuse happens is because Americans have become numbed to the existence of torture as a national policy. Whether it be Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, or renditions, we have come to expect nothing more from our [mis]leaders. The daily hellacious treatment of the millions of prisoners inhabiting our jails, prisons, mental hospitals and juvenile halls, is simply par for the course.
Incarcerating a young man or woman for life, with no opportunity for growth, education, rehabilitation, surrounded by sickness, both mental and physical, is a psychosis-inducing process. Our prison recidivism rate is over 70%. No other nation in the world could compete with both the numbers and the failures of our warehousing and incarceration of poor people and minorities.
Torture comes in many forms: people in destructive relationships often describe their day-to-day lives as a type of torture. Enduring humiliation, degrading treatment, or contempt can be as violent as physical blows. Abandonment by loved ones, the state, the law, or other avenues of protection can leave the victim as weak as somebody given the lash. By attributing such destructive behavior to the failures of select individuals, or as the exception, rather than the rule, we blind ourselves to what we're becoming.
While the media loves to focus on shock and awe, the rack and screw, and the savagery of Guantanamo, the real torture that takes place in this country goes unreported and unmentioned. It is our treatment of prisoners, of the poor, of the addicted and the mentally ill, that will ultimately destroy us. The violence we watch on television, our abusive slaughter of undefended Muslims throughout the Middle East, the incessant violence perpetrated against women in this society -- none of that could take place were it not for the process of desensitization tolerated in our ever-expanding prison system. Pretending that our treatment of prisoners is even minimally humane is both dishonest and hypocritical. Instead of being hidden from view in out of the way gulags, this daily torture has become a tumor in the American psyche.
With the ever-expanding use of strip cells, CMUs (Communications Management Units), and SHUs (Security Housing Units), the impact is two-fold. Not only do these facilities and methods of control drive inmates insane, and render them incompetent, they turn the perpetrators of such confinement into madmen, as well. The PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) seen in soldiers returning from the Middle East has a parallel in the mental breakdown of prison guards, doctors, and administrators active in such forms of confinement. The military is having to deal with the highest suicide rate of any war in history among returning GIs, and the families and loved ones of prison guards face a perilously similar reaction from their husbands and wives who work in these facilities.
While the world looks on in horror, we remain blissfully unaware of the implications of our conduct. A nation that normalizes and ignores torture in its own backyard cannot assume the moral high ground anywhere, under any conditions. We sow the seeds of our own moral destruction every time we remain silent in the face of these atrocities.
Three recent pieces on torture in the United States warrant review:
The United States and Torture: Interrogation, Incarceration and Abuse, by Marjorie Cohn, NYU Press, January 2011.
The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism, by Naomi Klein, Metropolitan Books, 2007.
Prison Legal News, published by Paul Wright, Vol. 22, No. 2, February 2011.
Luke Hiken is an attorney who has engaged in the practice of criminal, military, immigration, and appellate law.
The Progressive Avenues website, www.progressiveavenues.org, is updated regularly in the "What's Added, What's New" link on the Home page, at
http://www.progressiveavenues.org/Whats_New_Added.html
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4) NATO Says It Is Broadening Attacks on Libya Targets
By THOM SHANKER
April 26, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/27/world/middleeast/27strategy.html?_r=1&hp
WASHINGTON - NATO planners say the allies are stepping up attacks on palaces, headquarters, communications centers and other prominent institutions supporting the Libyan government, a shift of targets that is intended to weaken Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi's grip on power and frustrate his forces in the field.
Officials in Europe and in Washington said that the strikes were meant to reduce the government's ability to harm civilians by eliminating, link by link, the command, communications and supply chains required for sustaining military operations.
The broadening of the alliance's targets comes at a time when the rebels and the government in Libya have been consolidating their positions along more static front lines, raising concerns of a prolonged stalemate. Although it is too soon to assess the results of the shift, a NATO official said on Tuesday that the alliance was watching closely for early signs, like the recent reports of desertions from the Libyan Army.
Strikes on significant bulwarks of Colonel Qaddafi's power over recent days included bombing his residential compound in the heart of the capital, Tripoli - an array of bunkers that are also home to administrative offices and a military command post - as well as knocking state television briefly off the air.
If the new approach effectively cripples Colonel Qaddafi's ability to command his military and visibly erodes his legitimacy, NATO strategists say, it may eventually persuade him to flee into exile - or it might prompt someone in his inner circle to force him out.
The strike on Colonel Qaddafi's palace and command center was denounced by Libyan officials as an assassination attempt, but alliance officers rejected the suggestion. Pentagon officials said the mission was mounted against a legitimate military target, and noted that it was carried out by F-16 jets from Norway - a nation hardly associated with assassination attempts against foreign leaders.
For now, they said, the armed Predator drone aircraft being used in Libya have been flying over rebel-held towns that are under attack or are threatened by loyalist forces - not over the capital.
But officials acknowledged that the alliance is turning to intelligence based on cellular phone and radio intercepts that might indicate which barracks, buildings or compounds are serving as the government's hidden command posts.
One NATO officials said that from the Libyans' point of view, "if you know your main headquarters is going to be hit, you get out and set up an alternative in some nondescript barracks." Attacks on those hidden military command posts are wholly legitimate, officials said - but there is always a chance that Colonel Qaddafi may be inside one of them.
NATO put its new campaign plan in place over the past week or more, but so far the North African climate has not been cooperative. The alliance had intended to step up airstrikes on prominent institutional targets over this past weekend, but the effort was postponed because of bad weather.
In interviews, NATO officials acknowledged that overall, their air campaign had been frustratingly slow in taking shape after a vigorous start. But they said it was following a carefully planned step-by-step progression spanning the front lines, the middle echelons of the supply chain and now the rear areas, mostly in the capital, where the centralized command and control institutions are located.
The heavy strikes by American cruise missiles and warplanes across the country that began the campaign were aimed mainly at crippling air defense systems so allied combat jets could fly without hindrance. The American military turned over command of the mission to the alliance once it had established a no-fly zone for Libyan warplanes. NATO strikes then focused on the front lines of the fighting, to suppress government forces' attacks on the rebels and on population centers that were sympathetic to them.
"After the early attacks on his integrated air-defense systems, the next stage was to stop the pro-Qaddafi forces that were schwacking the villages and cities," one NATO official said. "You have to stop the bleeding. Only then can you treat the wound."
As the front lines began to stabilize - some senior officials describe the current situation as a stalemate - NATO warplanes tried to smash the supply lines snaking toward government troops in the field, which were calling for ammunition and reinforcements as they besieged rebel-held cities.
More than 80 government arms caches have been destroyed, officials said. Military transport and fuel trucks have been hit. Armored vehicles and rocket launchers have been targets for attacks, including the first by a Predator. But pro-Qaddafi forces began digging in under cover and using unmarked civilian vehicles, making them harder to identify and attack from the air. Meanwhile, the shelling of rebel towns has ebbed and flowed.
So last week, as Western political leaders pronounced that they had no intention of allowing Colonel Qaddafi to remain in power indefinitely, the alliance turned its attention to a target set of static military and government structures.
"Now we are going after his rear echelon," one NATO official said. "We are going after his ability to command and control his forces - his headquarters, his command posts, his communications - all those things that allow him to coordinate his attacks at the front."
Military officials privately acknowledge that removing Colonel Qaddafi from power is the desired secondary effect of striking at state television and other symbols of his authoritarian rule. "His people may see the futility of continued resistance," one Pentagon official said.
On Tuesday, Lt. Gen. Charles Bouchard, the operational commander of the NATO mission, told reporters at his headquarters in Italy that alliance intelligence officers were picking up reports of Libyan government soldiers abandoning their positions. "We are well aware of troops not reporting for duty," he said.
Senior officers who served in NATO's previous air war, fought in 1999 to protect the population of Kosovo from advancing Serbian forces, said that the current air campaign over Libya drew on lessons from Kosovo.
Gen. John P. Jumper, who commanded United States Air Force units in Europe during the Kosovo campaign, recalled that allied "air power was getting its paper graded on the number of tanks killed" - even though taking out armored vehicles one by one was never going to halt "ethnic cleansing."
So NATO began to hit high-profile institutional targets in Belgrade, the Serbian capital, instead of forces in the field. While they were legitimate military targets, General Jumper said, destroying them also had the effect of undermining popular support for the Serbian leader, Slobodan Milosevic.
"It was when we went in and began to disturb important and symbolic sites in Belgrade, and began to bring to a halt the middle-class life in Belgrade, that Milosevic's own people began to turn on him," General Jumper said. "They began to question why the whole thing in Kosovo was going on, because it was ruining the country."
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5) The Guantánamo Papers
New York Times Editorial
April 25, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/26/opinion/26tue1.html?hp
The internal documents from the prison in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, published in The Times on Monday were a chilling reminder of the legal and moral disaster that President George W. Bush created there. They describe the chaos, lawlessness and incompetence in his administration's system for deciding detainees' guilt or innocence and assessing whether they would be a threat if released.
Innocent men were picked up on the basis of scant or nonexistent evidence and subjected to lengthy detention and often to abuse and torture. Some people were released who later acted against the United States. Inmates who committed suicide were regarded only as a public relations problem. There are seriously dangerous prisoners at Guantánamo who cannot be released but may never get a real trial because the evidence is so tainted.
The torture has stopped. The inmates' cases have been reviewed. But the detention camp in Cuba remains a festering sore on this country's global reputation. Hampered by ideologues and cowards in Congress, President Obama has made scant progress in healing it.
Evidence obtained from torture and the uncorroborated whispers of fellow prisoners fill the more than 700 classified documents obtained by The Times and other news organizations. Mohammed al-Qahtani, a Saudi believed to have been an intended participant in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, was leashed like a dog, sexually humiliated and forced to urinate on himself. Yet claims Mr. Qahtani is said to have made about at least 16 prisoners are cited in their files with no mention of the coercion.
Some assessments relied on innuendo, gossip or information supplied by individuals whose motives were untrustworthy and whose information later proved false. Haji Jalil was captured in 2003 after an Afghan intelligence official said he had taken an "active part" in an ambush that killed American soldiers. He was sent home two years later, an inexcusable delay, after American officials determined that Mr. Jalil had been used to provide cover for the involvement of the intelligence official and others in the attack.
The Obama administration objected to release of the classified documents. The administration notes that the assessments were written between 2002 and early 2009 and that the task force established by Mr. Obama in January 2009 came to different conclusions about some of the remaining 172 prisoners. We accept that caution. But the administration is wrong to insist on secrecy. Inordinate resort to secrecy and resistance to testing evidence in fair and credible legal proceedings put the nation in this fix.
The administration should make its assessments of the remaining Guantánamo detainees public to the extent possible and free lawyers for detainees to fully communicate their clients' side of the story.
The military commission trial of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and five other alleged Sept. 11 plotters should be pursued by the Defense Department using only evidence that would pass muster in federal court, and with maximum transparency.
The disaster at Guantánamo Bay is now Mr. Obama's problem. He should not compound Mr. Bush's mistakes in his efforts to correct them.
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6) Public Pensions, Once Off Limits, Face Budget Cuts
"...officials in strapped states from California to Illinois have begun to take a second look, to see whether there might be loopholes allowing them to cut the pension benefits of current employees."
By MICHAEL COOPER and MARY WILLIAMS WALSH
April 25, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/26/us/26pensions.html?hp
When an arbitrator ruled this month that Detroit could reduce the pensions being earned by its police sergeants and lieutenants, it put the struggling city at the forefront of a growing national debate over whether the pensions of current public workers can or should be reduced.
Conventional wisdom and the laws and constitutions of many states have long held that the pensions being earned by current government workers are untouchable. But as the fiscal crisis has lingered, officials in strapped states from California to Illinois have begun to take a second look, to see whether there might be loopholes allowing them to cut the pension benefits of current employees. Now the move in Detroit - made possible, lawyers said, because Michigan's constitutional protections are weaker - could spur other places to try to follow suit.
"These things do tend to be herd-oriented," said Sylvester J. Schieber, an economist and consultant who studies pensions.
The mayors of some hard-hit cities have said that the high costs of pensions have forced them to lay off workers: Oakland, Calif., laid off one-tenth of its police force last year after failing to win concessions on pension costs.
Elsewhere there is pension envy: some private sector workers, who have learned the hard way that their companies can freeze or reduce their pensions, resent that the pensions of public workers enjoy stronger legal protections. But government workers, many of whom were recruited with the promise of good benefits and pensions, say that it would be unfair - and in many cases, very likely illegal - to change the rules in the middle of the game.
It has been far more common for cities and states to adopt more modest retirement plans for future workers. But the savings from new plans are initially small, growing only over time. Other states have gone further, requiring workers to work more years before retiring, or to contribute a higher portion of their salaries toward their pensions. A few states have rolled back cost-of-living increases for retirees, prompting lawsuits. Reducing the rate at which government workers earn pension benefits - even modestly, as Detroit did - has been rare.
Pension funds can run out of money. In Prichard, Ala., a small city outside of Mobile, the fund ran out in 2009. The city stopped sending pension checks to its 150 retired workers, defying a state law that requires it to pay what it has promised. In the 19 months since the checks stopped, 18 retirees have died while waiting for their money.
When Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, a Republican, moved to curtail the collective bargaining rights of public worker unions in the state, he exempted police and fire unions. But they often have among the most expensive pension benefits.
That is, in part, because they must be paid for more years. Because police work and firefighting are dangerous, physically demanding jobs, it is not uncommon for cities to promise workers full pensions after as little as 20 years of service, even if that means paying retirees from their 40s until they die. Such pensions are powerful recruiting tools.
When the mayor of Jacksonville, Fla., addressed a recent conference there for the trustees of police and fire pension funds, he said that he would not attend the "Guns 'n' Hoses" boxing tournament on the last night. The mayor, John Peyton, had spent the past year in rancorous, fruitless negotiations trying to get his local unions to agree that future police officers and firefighters should have to work 25 years before getting full pensions, instead of 20, among other things.
"I fear that if I showed up, I'd be put in the ring and I'd come out unrecognizable," he said, joking.
In Omaha, the police union recently agreed to reduce the benefits being earned by current officers after the city agreed to put more money into the teetering pension fund.
The struggles of Detroit, of course, are extreme. The report by the arbitrator, Thomas W. Brookover, noted that although the city's unemployment rate was officially 28 percent, there was evidence that less than 37 percent of the city's residents were actually working. The population had crashed. Property tax revenues were dwindling. Detroit had drained its rainy day fund, reduced overtime, offered property-tax amnesty, sold public assets, borrowed money, allowed casinos to set up shop - and still its deficits kept growing.
The average pension for retired police officers in Detroit is not especially rich: it is $28,501 a year. But with more than twice as many retirees as active workers, Mr. Brookover wrote, the costs of paying for the pensions "threaten both the city's fiscal viability, as well as its wherewithal to provide public safety for its citizens."
Detroit's efforts to cover those costs through aggressive investing have not helped. In a 2010 report, an auditor warned that $103 million of alternative investments were unaccounted for. The city's bets have included Tradewinds Airlines, which went bankrupt for the third time in 2008, and a luxury hotel in Detroit. The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating.
The city initially sought to freeze its pension fund immediately, which is almost unheard of in the public sector. The arbitrator rejected that proposal, but agreed that the city could reduce the rate at which lieutenants and sergeants earn pension benefits from 2.5 percent of their salary per year to 2.1 percent. Although rare, the reduction is not particularly large, given the magnitude of Detroit's problems. The arbitrator did not try to find a solution to the fund's imbalance.
Michigan's new Republican governor, Rick Snyder, has taken a carrot-and-stick approach to the state's troubled cities. The carrot: He scrapped the old way of distributing state aid, and wants to make aid contingent on having cities adopt "best practices," which he says should include reducing the rate at which workers earn pension benefits. The stick: A new law allowing the state to appoint fiscal managers with broad powers over distressed local governments.
Mayor Dave Bing of Detroit referred to both carrot and stick in his budget address this month, when he spoke of the need to reduce pensions for current workers, and to move away from traditional pension plans to those more like 401(k)'s for "at a minimum all new hires."
"If we are unable or unwilling to make these changes, an emergency financial manager will be appointed by the state to make them for us," he said. "It's that simple."
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7) Height: Very Poor Women Are Shrinking, as Are Their Chances at a Better Life
By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.
April 25, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/26/health/26global.html?ref=world
The average height of very poor women in some developing countries has shrunk in recent decades, according to a new study by Harvard researchers.
Height is a reliable indicator of childhood nutrition, disease and poverty. Average heights have declined among women in 14 African countries, the study found, and stagnated in 21 more in Africa and South America. That suggests, the authors said, that poor women born in the last two decades, especially in Africa, are worse off than their mothers or grandmothers born after World War II.
"It's a sobering picture," said S. V. Subramanian, a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health and lead author. "It tells you the world is not getting to be a better place for women of lower socioeconomic status. For them, it's getting worse."
The study, published last week in the online journal PLoS One, analyzed data on 365,000 adult women in 54 poor and middle-income countries from the hundreds of huge Demographic and Health Surveys paid for largely by American foreign aid.
Only women ages 25 to 49 were included to avoid counting those young and growing, or old and shrinking. Women from Senegal and Chad were the tallest, while those from Guatemala and Bangladesh were the shortest.
The study found that the richest 20 percent of women in all the countries surveyed have grown. Those born in the 1940s averaged 5 feet 1 1/2 inches; those born in the 1980s averaged 5-foot-2.
Those in the poorest 20 percent averaged 5-foot-1, no matter what decade they were born in. Guatemala and Honduras had the biggest gaps in height between rich and poor women; Uganda and Ethiopia (above, where women sorted coffee) had the smallest.
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8) Demonstrators in Germany Demand End of Nuclear Power
By JUDY DEMPSEY
April 25, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/26/world/europe/26iht-germany26.html?ref=world
BERLIN - An estimated 120,000 people demonstrated across Germany on Monday, protest organizers said, demanding an end to nuclear power and increasing pressure on Chancellor Angela Merkel's government to speed up the closing of the country's 17 nuclear plants.
Demonstrations that take place each year over the Easter holidays have tended in the past to be pacifist, for instance, calling for the end of the war in Afghanistan. But this year, because of the 25th anniversary of the nuclear accident at the Chernobyl plant in Ukraine, in addition the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan, the rallying theme was nuclear power.
Some of the biggest protests took place in the western state of Lower Saxony, where, according to the organizer's spokesman, Peter Dickel, more than 20,000 demonstrators gathered near the Grohnde nuclear plant.
In the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein, 17,000 protested at the Krümmel nuclear plant, Mr. Dickel said.
In Bavaria, which has three nuclear plants, more than 15,000 people gathered near the Grafenrheinfeld power plant and thousands of others marched toward the Isar 1 and Isar 2 plants. "We are many, we will be more and we will not keep quiet until the last nuclear power plant is shut," said Martin Heilig, an organizer of the demonstrations there.
Last month Mrs. Merkel imposed a moratorium on new nuclear plant construction. Seven of the oldest plants were temporarily closed, and the remaining 10 are undergoing security checks. She made it clear that she was going to reconsider her decision, made last year, to extend the life of the nuclear plants by an average of 12 years. "Japan had changed everything," she said.
Mrs. Merkel has already set up two committees, one to consider how nuclear energy could be phased out earlier than the mid 2030s and the other to see what impact the end of nuclear power would have on energy prices. They are expected to complete their work by June.
Despite her U-turn on energy policy, the Greens party was swept into power in the state of Baden-Württemberg last month. It is the first time the Greens will head a state government. On Monday, Winfried Kretschmann, premier designate of the Green-led government in Baden-Württemberg, was putting the finishing touches to his coalition with the Social Democrats - thus ending 58 years of conservative government.
Stricter E.U. tests sought
Austria's environment minister said safety tests for European nuclear plants must be mandatory and take into account the possibility of terror attacks, The Associated Press reported on Monday from Vienna.
European Union nations agreed last month to submit their plants to tests, but Nikolaus Berlakovich said Monday draft criteria for the tests do not go far enough and "must incorporate human influences such as plane crashes or terror attacks."
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9) Report Urges Storing Spent Nuclear Fuel, Not Reprocessing It
By MATTHEW L. WALD
April 26, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/26/science/earth/26nuke.html?ref=us
Experts on nuclear power predict that Japan's Fukushima crisis will lead to a major rethinking of how spent nuclear fuel is handled in the United States but have cast doubt on a proposed solution: reprocessing the fuel to recover plutonium and other materials for reuse.
The challenge at the Fukushima Daiichi plant in Japan involves not only damage to three reactors but also the loss of cooling water in at least one pool of spent radioactive fuel, which prompted some American experts to recommend an evacuation to a radius of 50 miles. And that pool was not loaded nearly as heavily as pools at similar reactors in the United States.
In a study to be released on Tuesday, engineers and scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology therefore suggest that "the entire spent-fuel management system - on-site storage, consolidated long-term storage, geological disposal - is likely to be re-evaluated in a new light because of the Fukushima storage-pool experience."
The accident in Japan has already generated calls for sending the fuel to factories where it would be mechanically chopped up and chemically dissolved to recover the plutonium that is made in routine reactor operations, as it frequently is in Europe and Japan. The plutonium could then be used as a substitute for uranium fuel at nuclear plants.
But in the M.I.T. report, experts argue that there is no reason to find a substitute for uranium because the existing global supply is plentiful. In fact, there is enough uranium available to fuel 10 times as many reactors as exist today, even if each of the new ones ran for 100 years, the study says.
Rather than processing the fuel to retrieve plutonium, the report suggests, the fuel should be "managed" so that the option of doing so is preserved - perhaps by storing the fuel in above-ground silos for a century. It recommends moving it to a centralized repository, starting with fuel from nuclear reactors that have been retired and torn down.
A summary of the report released last fall also made that point, but the conclusion is likely to gain far more attention in coming months as federal regulators and Congress awaken to the potential for an accident involving spent fuel.
Congress chose Yucca Mountain, a site in the Nevada desert, as the top candidate for a nuclear waste burial site in 1987, but President Obama shut down an Energy Department program to develop the repository and appointed a commission to study alternatives, including reprocessing. The panel is expected to issue a preliminary report this spring.
Also standing in the way of Yucca is the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada, who has effectively blocked money for the program.
The M.I.T. study also raises the idea of storing more waste in small steel and concrete silos, known as dry casks, in a central area with low population density. All the spent fuel produced so far would fill an area under 300 acres, experts say.
Another alternative for nuclear waste disposal is to build a new class of reactors powerful enough to break up the elements that are hardest to dispose of: materials that are created in reactors and remain significantly radioactive for tens of thousands of years. But that would require development of new technologies at a substantial cost and, like reprocessing, would carry a risk of releasing radioactive contaminants from fuel that is now mostly packaged in compact and airtight forms.
The new reactors and conventional reprocessing would each create a waste stream for which a repository would be needed anyway, the scientists add. The executive director of the M.I.T. study, Charles W. Forsberg, said the Fukushima accident would therefore "place more emphasis on getting a geological repository program up and running."
All the same, engineers involved in the Yucca Mountain project say that even if Congress could be persuaded to authorize money for a permanent repository, it would be a few years before the government could decide whether the site was suitable and many more years before it could absorb a major fraction of the waste now sitting at reactor sites.
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10) Labor Board Plans to Sue 2 States Over Union Rules
"Unions like using card check because it makes it easier to win unionization campaigns. Organizers can gather signature cards quietly until they get a majority of workers, making it more difficult for an employer to mount an opposition campaign."
By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
April 25, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/26/business/26labor.html?ref=business
The National Labor Relations Board has told state officials that it will soon file federal lawsuits against Arizona and South Dakota in seeking to invalidate those states' constitutional amendments that prohibit private sector employees from choosing to unionize through a procedure known as card check.
In a letter sent on Friday, the labor board told those states that it would invoke the United States Constitution's supremacy clause in asserting that the state constitutional amendments conflict with federal laws and are pre-empted by those laws. One federal official said the lawsuits would be filed in the next few days.
The Arizona and South Dakota constitutional amendments were promoted by various conservative groups worried that Congressional Democrats would pass legislation allowing unions to insist on using card check in organizing drives, meaning that an employer would have to recognize a union as soon as a majority of workers signed pro-union cards. Under current law, private sector employers can insist that secret ballots be used when unions are trying to organize.
Unions like using card check because it makes it easier to win unionization campaigns. Organizers can gather signature cards quietly until they get a majority of workers, making it more difficult for an employer to mount an opposition campaign. Congressional Republicans blocked passage of the card-check bill.
In January, the labor board threatened to sue four states, including South Carolina and Utah, which also have constitutional amendments barring card check. But in a letter sent on Friday to the four states' attorneys generals, N.L.R.B. officials said they were suing just two states to conserve legal resources.
The labor board's acting general counsel, Lafe Solomon, said the government reserved "the right to initiate a suit against the other two states at the appropriate time."
N.L.R.B. officials evidently hope that victories in the Arizona and South Dakota cases would serve as precedents to invalidate the South Carolina and Utah prohibitions.
In an interview, Tom Horne, Arizona's attorney general, criticized the board's planned suit, saying, "I find it shocking that they do not believe in the fundamental principle of democracy that people have a right to a secret ballot." He said that while federal pre-emption might apply to laws passed by Congress, it should not apply to the labor board's decision allowing card check to be used in some unionization campaigns.
South Dakota's attorney general, Marty J. Jackley, said he respectfully disagreed with the board's analysis, adding that he did not believe the agency "has the authority under circumstances like this to sue a state."
Last week, the N.L.R.B. infuriated South Carolina officials when it announced that it was bringing a case against Boeing that seeks to press the company to move an airline production line from a nonunion plant in South Carolina to a unionized facility in Washington State. The labor board said that Boeing had unlawfully moved the production line, originally planned for Washington, to retaliate against unionized employees there for engaging in repeated strikes.
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11) Is This the Poster Food for a Radiation Menace?
By DENISE GRADY
April 11, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/12/health/12essay.html?ref=health
One of the many endearing things about my husband is that he has five Geiger counters.
I didn't have much use for them until I started writing about radiation from the damaged nuclear reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant in Japan. Recently, one of my interviews took a turn for the weird. I asked a scientist about possible health effects from radioactive materials leaking out of the plant, and he started talking about bananas.
"Why, we ingest radioactive material every day," he said in a tone of wonderment. "Bananas are a most potent source."
They contain a naturally occurring form of radioactive potassium, more than other fruit, he explained.
"It stays in our body, in our muscles," he said. "Every second, our bodies - yours and mine - are irradiating."
Brazil nuts are even hotter than bananas, he added, sounding almost gleeful. "The radium content is off the wall!"
I tried to steer the interview back to nuclear reactors, and for a few minutes it seemed to work. He said unnecessary exposures to radiation should be avoided.
But then he said: "I love bananas. I will not give them up."
A few days later, I tried another expert, halfway across the country from the first. I asked about radioactive iodine and cesium being found in some Japanese milk and produce.
He said there wasn't much risk, but it would probably still be better not to eat the food. Then he said, "I just had a banana for lunch."
Uh oh, I thought, here comes the banana speech again. Is there a script circulating out there in radiation land, "How to Calm the Public With Bananas"?
"Bananas are radioactive," he went on soothingly. "Everything is radioactive, including the food we eat and, for many people in this country, the water we drink. There is a point at which we say there's no more than Mother Nature out there."
Is there a point at which we say the urge to reassure people might get in the way of straight answers? A point at which, for instance, a reporter might think that if one more person brings up bananas, she herself will melt down, or, with all due respect, giggle.
I know the experts were just trying to put the invisible menace of radiation into perspective. But it did feel like a Wizard-of-Oz effort to distract the audience from the real questions: Pay no attention to those fuel rods behind the curtain!
When I told Peter Sandman about the banana speech, he laughed. Dr. Sandman is a risk communication expert based in Princeton, N.J., who has spent much of his long career advising scientists to avoid doing things like answering in bananas when the question is milk.
"The right comparison is the food they're talking about," Dr. Sandman said. "You can say: 'The average amount is X. Now we're seeing Y.' "
"It's very bad risk communication to communicate in ways that make people feel as if you think they're stupid," he said.
He said he had worked with nuclear scientists who were irritated by the public's ignorance about radiation, but were also proud to be recognized as experts. Pride plus irritation, he said, can be a recipe for pronouncements that come off as pompous and condescending. Mix in an agenda - whether it's the urge to reassure people, or to stir them up - and the message can really backfire.
"People smell it," Dr. Sandman said. "And they don't trust you."
That's where the Geiger counters come in handy. Just how radioactive are bananas?
My husband, who teaches high school chemistry, took a banana to school and tested it with one of the Geiger counters he keeps in his classroom. He put the probe near the banana, then against the skin, then poked into the fruit - two five-minute runs at each spot. He did multiple runs to test the background radiation in the classroom. For good measure, he even tested an apple, an orange and a granola bar. The banana was not so hot. Not hot at all, in fact, no more counts per minute than the other stuff, or the background. He ate the banana.
I'm not saying the experts were wrong. But my husband staunchly defends the sensitivity of his Geiger counter. Maybe it was an odd banana. It doesn't matter now.
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12) Poll: More Americans disapprove of Obama's management of Afghan war
By Scott Wilson and Jon Cohen
"...49 percent of respondents said they disapprove of Obama's management of the war and 44 percent voiced approval..."
Monday, April 25, 4:41 PM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/poll_more_americans_disapprove_of_obamas_management_of_afghan_war/2011/04/25/AFBjpnjE_story.html?wpisrc=nl_cuzheads
More Americans disapprove of President Obama's management of the war in Afghanistan than support it, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, a finding that reflects the public's broader concern over the course of the nearly decade-old conflict.
Americans have given Obama wide leeway in escalating the conflict in Afghanistan, which as a presidential candidate he called "the war we have to win." That latitude is changing and fairly quickly as the longer-running of the two wars he inherited approaches the 10-year mark.
In the Post-ABC News survey released Monday, 49 percent of respondents said they disapprove of Obama's management of the war and 44 percent voiced approval. The disapproval mark is the highest on record in Post-ABC News polling. Overall, the figures have essentially flipped since January, the last time the poll asked the question. In that survey, 49 percent approved of Obama's handling of the Afghanistan war and 41 percent disapproved.
The change in public opinion comes at the start of the annual fighting season in Afghanistan, a period that U.S. military commanders have warned will probably be more intense than previous ones as the Taliban seeks to retake ground lost to U.S. forces over the past year.
After a months-long strategy review in fall 2009, Obama announced that he would send an additional 30,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan in hopes of changing the course of the war. He also set July 2011 as the date he would begin pulling out those forces, putting U.S. commanders and Afghan leaders under pressure to show progress over that time.
In recent months, U.S. military officials have described battlefield achievements against the Taliban, including in some of its traditional strongholds. But they have also warned that the gains remain "fragile and reversible."
There are about 100,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, twice the number in Iraq.
On Monday, Obama met with his senior national security team at the White House for a monthly assessment session, as the debate over how quickly to begin withdrawing U.S. forces from Afghanistan this summer and how many to pull out gains momentum.
But at a time of rising concern at home about the national fiscal health, the American public is clearly tired of the U.S. involvement in Afghanistan, according to the Post-ABC News poll.
Last month, the survey revealed that nearly two-thirds of Americans think the war is no longer worth fighting, the highest number recorded in response to that question.
The steadily waning support for the war - and Obama's stewardship of it - might have political implications as the president fights for reelection.
The poll released Monday showed that a majority of self-identified independents - 53 percent - disapprove of Obama's handling of the war.
Independents were an essential part of the coalition that elected him in 2008, and the White House has been seeking to win back those voters as 2012 nears.
The last time the Post-ABC News poll recorded such high dissatisfaction among independents over Obama's management of the Afghanistan war was in November 2009, the month before he announced his new surge strategy. It is only the second time that a majority of independents have said they disapprove of his approach.
Partisan lines are also deeply drawn over the issue.
Although half of the Republican respondents in last month's poll said the war remains worth fighting, nearly 70 percent of Republicans in the latest survey said they disapprove of Obama's handling of it.
Among Democratic respondents, 30 percent disapproved.
The telephone poll was conducted April 14 to 17 among a random national sample of 1,001 adults. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
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13) US court grants new sentencing for Mumia Abu-Jamal
(AP) - 2 hours ago
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jmujyktf0thHYzlPtCp70rXgmkzw?docId=28296761d1ef48f99e7be880ec2b718c
EXCERPTS:
PRECEDENTIAL
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE THIRD CIRCUIT
No. 01-9014
MUMIA ABU-JAMAL,
a/k/a WESLEY COOK
http://www.ca3.uscourts.gov/opinarch/019014p2.pdf
direct quotes from decision
"Accordingly, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court failed to evaluate whether the complete text of the verdict form, together with the jury instructions, would create a substantial probability the jury believed both aggravating and mitigating circumstances must be found unanimously. See id. For these reasons, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court's application of Millswas objectively unreasonable.
"thereby making clear that, although aggravating circumstances must be found unanimously, mitigating evidence need not be found unanimously in order to be considered by individual jurors during the weighing and balancing process."
"For the foregoing reasons, we will affirm the District Court's grant of relief on the mitigation instruction claim. As the District Court noted, the "Commonwealth of Pennsylvania may conduct a new sentencing hearing in a manner consistent with this opinion within 180 days of the Order accompanying this [opinion], during which period the execution of the writ of habeas corpus will be stayed, or shall sentence [Abu-Jamal] to life imprisonment." Abu-Jamal, 2001 WL 1609690, at *130."
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - A federal appeals court on Tuesday ordered a new sentencing hearing for convicted police killer and death-row activist Mumia Abu-Jamal, finding for a second time that the death-penalty instructions given to the jury at his 1982 trial were potentially misleading.
The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered prosecutors to conduct the new sentencing hearing within six months or agree to a life sentence. Abu-Jamal's first-degree murder conviction nonetheless stands in the fatal shooting of Officer Daniel Faulkner.
Prosecutors said they were considering another appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
"We continue to maintain that granting this new sentencing hearing is contrary to clearly established precedent of the United States Supreme Court," District Attorney Seth Williams said in a statement.
Abu-Jamal's lawyer, Widener University law professor Judith Ritter, did not immediately return a call to The Associated Press.
Tuesday's ruling is the latest in Abu-Jamal's long-running legal saga.
A federal judge in 2001 first granted the former Black Panther a new sentencing hearing over the trial judge's instructions on aggravating and mitigating factors. Philadelphia prosecutors have been fighting the order since, but the 3rd Circuit ruled against them in a pivotal 2008 decision.
In rejecting a similar claim in an Ohio death-penalty case last year, the Supreme Court ordered the Philadelphia appeals court to revisit its Abu-Jamal decision.
On Tuesday, the 3rd Circuit judges stood their ground and noted differences in the two cases.
Under Pennsylvania law, Abu-Jamal should have received a life sentence if a single juror found the mitigating circumstances outweighed the aggravating factors in Faulkner's slaying. The three-judge appeals panel found the verdict form confusing, given its repeated use of the word "unanimous," even in the section on mitigating circumstances.
"The Pennsylvania Supreme Court failed to evaluate whether the complete text of the verdict form, together with the jury instructions, would create a substantial probability the jury believed both aggravating and mitigating circumstances must be found unanimously," Judge Anthony J. Scirica wrote in the 32-page ruling.
Tuesday's decision upholds the 2001 ruling by U.S. District Judge William H. Yohn Jr., who first ruled that the flawed jury instructions warranted a new sentencing hearing. While prosecutors were fighting that ruling, Abu-Jamal has been fighting unsuccessfully to have his conviction overturned.
Faulkner, a white 25-year-old patrolman, had pulled over Abu-Jamal's brother on a darkened downtown street in 1981. Prosecutors say Abu-Jamal saw the traffic stop and shot Faulkner, who managed to shoot back. A wounded Abu-Jamal, his own gun nearby, was found at the scene when police arrived.
Abu-Jamal is now 58. His writings and radio broadcasts from death row have made him a cause celebre and the subject of numerous books and movies. Hundreds of vocal death-penalty opponents and supporters typically turn out for hearings in his case.
Copyright (c) 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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14) Thousands march in Germany against NATO war in Libya and Afghanistan
April 23, 2011
http://nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/International/23-Apr-2011/Thousands-march-in-Germany-against-NATO-war-in-Libya-and-Afghanistan
Thousands of people marched across Germany to protest against NATO's wars in Libya and Afghanistan as part of the country's traditional Easter marches.
German peace and church groups as well as labor unions have planned numerous anti-war campaigns over the Easter holidays in major German cities and towns, including Berlin, Dortmund, Bremen Frankfurt, Hamburg, Munich, Nuremberg, Duesseldorf and Stuttgart.
Several US military bases in smaller German cities like Ramstein, Ansbach, Wiesbaden, Heidelberg were also targeted by peace demonstrators as Germany is a major logistics center for US military operations abroad and was also the staging ground for American wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya.
The German peace rallies focus this year mostly on NATO's escalating war in Libya.
A NATO member, Germany is not directly supporting the mission of the western military alliance in the north African country.
The Easter marches dwell also on the need for global disarmament, specifically the removal of some 20 US nuclear weapons based in Germany.
The German peace movement has repeatedly called for the abolition of all nuclear weapons and has used the Eastern peace marches to press the center-right government of Chancellor Angela Merkel to step up its campaign for a nuke-free Germany.
The issue of American atomic weapons and militarism in Germany has been a thorny one for most of Germans who view themselves as pacifists.
In fact, the history of Easter peace marches dates back to over 50 years and reached its peak when more than 500,000 people demonstrated against the controversial deployment of medium-range US Pershing missiles in Europe in the early 1980s.
However, public interest in the Easter marches has significantly faded since the end of the Cold War.
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15) In WikiLeaks' Growth, Some Control Is Lost
By BRIAN STELTER and NOAM COHEN
April 26, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/27/world/guantanamo-files-wikileaks-loses-control-of-some-secrets.html?_r=1&hp
WikiLeaks, the Web site responsible for publicizing millions of state secrets in the last year, has tried to pick its media partners carefully. But the site has become such a large player in journalism that some of its secrets are no longer its own to control.
WikiLeaks' latest release - files related to the detainees at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba - took place Sunday in partnership with eight news organizations in the United States and other countries, including The Washington Post and the McClatchy newspapers and The Telegraph of London. The "official" release was sped up when WikiLeaks learned that two news organizations that were collaborators with WikiLeaks in the past but were explicitly shut out this time - The New York Times and The Guardian - were preparing their own Guantánamo stories anyway, having obtained the information independently.
This resulted in a mad scramble to be first online with secrets that would never have leaked so quickly if WikiLeaks had not possessed the documents to begin with. For journalism, it was a recalibration of the traditional relationships among competitors and sources. And for WikiLeaks, it was a lesson in how hard it is to steer news coverage rather than be buffeted by it.
In its first prominent collaboration with newspapers, last July, WikiLeaks gave exclusive access to a secret archive of Afghan war logs to The Times, The Guardian in Britain, and Der Spiegel in Germany. Now, as it gradually releases 250,000 United States diplomatic cables, WikiLeaks says it has more than 50 local partners, most of them newspapers, from the Daily Taraf in Turkey to Expresso in Portugal to The Hindu in India. Some of those newspapers describe the relationship with WikiLeaks as a contract.
WikiLeaks' intent has always been to maximize its impact, but its media strategy has changed significantly since it began in 2007, with the idea that if it posted important documents to its site - come one, come all - journalists would eagerly report the news there. Since then, it has learned the value of an "exclusive" to journalists, creating partnerships with publishers that impose a collective embargo on when the material can be published in return for privileged access to the material.
On its Twitter page, WikiLeaks suggested that it did not mind that it had lost control of its cache of secrets, saying it was pleased that its former partner publications had "added their weight to increasing our impact."
Yochai Benkler, the co-director of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University, said he thought that WikiLeaks' anti-secrecy quest was "enhanced, not undermined, by the intensification of competition to cover the documents." The Guantánamo files, he said, confirmed what the earlier releases already suggested: that "the future of the networked Fourth Estate will involve a mixture of traditional and online models, cooperating and competing on a global scale in a productive but difficult relationship."
In an essay this month in the British magazine New Statesman, the founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, explained his reasoning. While he described WikiLeaks as "firmly in the tradition of those radical publishers who tried to lay 'all the mysteries and secrets of government' before the public," he added that "for reasons of realpolitik, we have worked with some of the largest media groups."
While the exclusive-access strategy has had obvious advantages in getting the news out, WikiLeaks faced criticism for allowing only a few news organizations to have access to the cables, said Greg Mitchell, a blogger for The Nation who published "The Age of WikiLeaks." "Now," he said, "it's busting loose and other people are getting them."
That owes partly to the falling out between Mr. Assange and The Times and The Guardian.
Bill Keller, the executive editor of The Times, said Mr. Assange seemed to sour on the newspaper after he read both a front-page profile of himself and an article about the Army intelligence analyst suspected of leaking information to WikiLeaks. The profile he deemed unflattering and the other article inadequate. He also complained to Mr. Keller that the newspaper's Web site had not linked to the WikiLeaks site. "Where's the respect?" he asked Mr. Keller.
Mr. Keller said Monday, "It's been a long time since I've had any communication with Julian Assange."
In essays and interviews Mr. Assange has complained that The Times had worked too closely with the United States government before publishing its material and had a "hostile attitude" toward WikiLeaks.
Similarly, Mr. Assange's relationship with The Guardian started to fray "right at the beginning," said David Leigh, the newspaper's investigations editor. In late July, two days before The Guardian was to publish articles about the Afghan war logs, it learned that WikiLeaks had also shared the material with another British organization, Channel 4.
"Julian had gone behind our backs because he knew that it would upset us," Mr. Leigh said in an interview this week.
In November, WikiLeaks chose to share the diplomatic cables database with The Guardian but not The Times. When The Times and The Guardian decided to collaborate nonetheless, Mr. Leigh said Mr. Assange "burst into our editors' office, accompanied by a lawyer, threatening that he was going to sue us."
He did not sue, but the dissatisfaction cut both ways. Mr. Leigh said he was particularly troubled in December when Mr. Assange tried to suppress the newspaper's coverage of the sexual assault charges against him.
By then, a competing newspaper, The Telegraph, had started holding meetings with WikiLeaks. It wanted to replace The Guardian as the group's go-to outlet in Britain. "We were willing to ensure that their material got a worldwide hearing," said Tony Gallagher, the editor of The Telegraph.
The Telegraph was looped in on the Guantánamo Bay file release, but The Guardian was not. Mr. Leigh called WikiLeaks' attitude "spiteful and petty."
WikiLeaks' other new media partners, including The Post and McClatchy, received the Guantánamo files several weeks before WikiLeaks lifted its embargo. Unknown, at first, to the WikiLeaks partners, The Times had independently obtained the files from a source Mr. Keller would not name, and shared them with both The Guardian and NPR.
WikiLeaks itself showed some old-fashioned competitive instinct. Responding to accounts that said its partners had not been first to publish, the organization wrote: "Enough. Our first partner, The Telegraph, published the Gitmo Files 1am GMT, long before NYT or Guardian."
Mr. Benkler, a critic of the Guantánamo Bay prison, concluded that even the "scoop the scoop" aspect of the coverage had been productive. What it amounted to, he said, were "more sources providing greater attention to what is basically continued indefensible behavior on the part of the U.S. government."
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16) Detainees' Lawyers Can't Click on Leaked Documents
By SCOTT SHANE
April 26, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/27/world/guantanamo-files-detainees-lawyers-restricted-leaked-documents.html?ref=world
WASHINGTON - Anyone surfing the Internet this week is free to read leaked documents about the prisoners held by the American military at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, to print them out or e-mail them to friends.
Except, that is, for the lawyers who represent the prisoners.
On Monday, hours after WikiLeaks, The New York Times and other news organizations began publishing the documents online, the Justice Department informed Guantánamo defense lawyers that the documents remained legally classified even after they were made public.
Because the lawyers have security clearances, they are obligated to treat the readily available files "in accordance with all relevant security precautions and safeguards" - handling them, for example, only in secure government facilities, said the notice from the department's Court Security Office.
It is only the latest absurdist challenge posed by the flood of classified material obtained by WikiLeaks over the past year: field reports from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq; State Department cables; and now the military's risk assessments of 700 past or present Guantánamo prisoners.
Joseph Margulies, a Northwestern law professor who represents Abu Zubaydah, the detainee accused of being a terrorist facilitator who was waterboarded by the Central Intelligence Agency, said he could not comment on the newly disclosed assessment of his client, which is posted on The Times Web site.
"Everyone else can talk about it," Mr. Margulies said. "I can't talk about it."
The ballooning category of public-but-classified documents has befuddled officials and led to a series of unusual pronouncements from government agencies and those who work with them.
In December, Columbia University warned international relations students that commenting on the documents disclosed by WikiLeaks online or linking to them might endanger their chances of getting a government job. The same month, the United States Agency for International Development told workers that viewing the documents on an unclassified computer at work or home could violate security rules that govern their employment. In February, an Air Force unit cautioned that employees and even their family members could be prosecuted under the Espionage Act for looking at the WikiLeaks documents at home.
Some of those warnings were quickly modified or withdrawn after attracting public ridicule. But the general principle that the leaked files remain classified remains in effect, with varying consequences.
Some foreigners applying for asylum in the United States have attached diplomatic cables printed from the Internet that describe repression in their native countries - requiring the Department of Homeland Security to store their applications in special safes and to apply cumbersome security rules.
State Department employees have confided that they read leaked cables on newspaper Web sites at home rather than risk trouble by viewing them at work. A Times reporter who appeared with a State Department official on a recent panel was advised not to show leaked cables as slides - the official was prohibited from looking at them.
But the prohibition for Guantánamo lawyers has serious implications, said Mr. Margulies, who wrote a book on Guantánamo and has represented five prisoners there. Decisions about who gets released have been influenced by politics and public pressure as much as by legal standards, he said.
"It's important to be able to use these documents to shape and inform the discussion in the public square," he said. If a leaked risk assessment contains clearly disproved accusations about a prisoner, a lawyer should be able to publicly refute it, he said.
On Tuesday, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. told reporters that he considered the dissemination of the classified Guantánamo documents, prepared under the Bush administration, to be "deplorable." And he said the Obama administration would not make public, even with redactions, its own assessments of the 240 prisoners who were still at Guantánamo when it took office in 2009.
The new files, Mr. Holder said, "involve a whole variety of information gleaned from a wide assortment of sources, some of which are classified."
"That being the case," he continued, "I would be concerned about putting out information that was incomplete."
Meanwhile, Dean Boyd, a Justice Department spokesman, said the department was trying to answer questions posed by lawyers for Guantánamo prisoners about the restrictions on using the leaked documents.
"We're working through these issues right now," Mr. Boyd said. "We simply want to ensure that any information released by WikiLeaks is handled properly."
At the Congressional Research Service, the branch of the Library of Congress that advises senators and representatives, employees were advised in December that they could not quote the classified documents obtained by WikiLeaks in their reports. Some analysts with the service grumbled privately that members of Congress were asking about diplomatic cables, but they were not permitted to quote the cables in reply.
Janine D'Addario, a spokeswoman for the research service, said she could not say whether the restrictions had hampered its work because its research was supposed to be confidential. But Steven Aftergood, director of the Project on Government Secrecy at the Federation of American Scientists, said there was no question that the researchers were handicapped as they reported on the wars, foreign relations or Guantánamo.
"It's the definition of self-defeating," Mr. Aftergood said. "It doesn't serve the interest of Congress or the public."
Mr. Aftergood said the problems had resulted from the unprecedented scale of the WikiLeaks disclosures, which the rules did not anticipate. Tens of thousands of military documents have been disclosed, and about 8,000, so far, of a cache of 250,000 diplomatic cables.
"The surge of classified documents into the public domain has tied the system up in knots," he said. The rush to impose patently pointless restrictions "does demonstrate a disappointing lack of agility in the security system," Mr. Aftergood said.
But Peter J. Spiro, who teaches international law at Temple University, said the government's dilemma was real. The law is clear: only a document that is properly declassified loses its protections. And if the government ruled that classified documents disclosed to the public were automatically declassified, that would simply create a more powerful incentive for disgruntled government employees to leak.
"The trouble is, it makes the government look totally ham-handed," Mr. Spiro said. "There are documents on the front page that everyone's talking about, and it looks ridiculous to pretend they're not there."
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17) Secret Case Against Detainee Crumbles
By WILLIAM GLABERSON and CHARLIE SAVAGE
April 26, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/27/world/secret-case-against-detainee-crumbles.html?ref=world
The secret document described Prisoner 269, Mohammed el-Gharani, as the very incarnation of a terrorist threat: "an al Qaeda suicide operative" with links to a London cell and ties to senior plotters of international havoc.
But there was more to the story, as there so often is at the Guantánamo Bay prison in Cuba. Eight months after that newly disclosed assessment of Mr. Gharani was written by military intelligence officials, a federal judge examined the secret evidence. Saying that it was "plagued with internal inconsistencies" and largely based on the word of two other Guantánamo detainees whose reliability was in question, he ruled in January 2009 that Mr. Gharani should be released. The Obama administration sent him to Chad about five months later.
The secret assessment of Mr. Gharani, like many of the detainee dossiers made available to The New York Times and other news organizations, reflected few doubts about the peril he might have posed. He was rated "high risk," and military officials recommended that he not be freed. But now, a comparison of the assessment's conclusions with other information provides a case study in the ambiguities that surround many of the men who have passed through the prison at Guantánamo Bay.
The murkiness of the secret intelligence - and the fact that interrogators gathered much of their information from the Guantánamo equivalent of jailhouse informers - has been highlighted in news reports and has drawn criticism from human rights groups in recent days. But some commentators who say the government faced difficulties sorting intelligence in a time of war have noted that such reports were often uncertain, based on bits of information, educated guesses and accounts of witnesses with their own agendas.
"Why is anybody shocked here?" asked James Jay Carafano, a national security expert at the Heritage Foundation in Washington. "The nature of intelligence is it is ambiguous sometimes. It is sometimes based on sources you wouldn't take to Sunday school."
Mr. Gharani's was not the only case to crumble when the Guantánamo intelligence was tested in court. Judges have been unpersuaded by the government's evidence in several habeas corpus cases, including another federal judge who in 2009 threw out "90 percent" of the case against a young detainee from Afghanistan, Mohammed Jawad, because it was based on a confession he gave that she ruled was "the function of torture." Mr. Jawad was released soon after.
Mr. Gharani, who was one of Guantánamo's youngest prisoners, has said he was subjected to abusive treatment at the prison, including solitary confinement and sleep deprivation.
His May 2008 prisoner assessment unambiguously states the most elementary of facts: born in Medina, Saudi Arabia, in 1981.
The document, though, contains few clues that even such statements may be uncertain. In an interview, Mr. Gharani's lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith, called the quality of the information in the dossier "drivel." He said Mr. Gharani was six years younger than the military believed. That means he would have been 11, not 17, when he was said to have been linked to a London terrorist cell.
"After seven years of having him in custody," Mr. Stafford Smith said, "they didn't even know how old he was."
The dossier noted that at Guantánamo, Mr. Gharani had confessed to being a member of Al Qaeda and then retracted his admission. "His original admission is assessed to be truthful," the file said with little explanation.
The strongest statements in the assessment, which was a pattern in many of the files, were attributed to other detainees. In Mr. Gharani's case, two of those were a Yemeni and a Saudi detainee who provided incriminating information that was quoted in many of the dossiers.
For Mr. Gharani's file, the two serial informers provided telling details. One, Yasim Muhammed Basardah, said he recalled traveling with Mr. Gharani and other members of Al Qaeda. The other, Abdul Hakim Bukhary, said he had heard that Mr. Gharani was a member of the London terrorist cell and claimed that he "would sing about what he was going to do to the Americans" if he were released.
The assertions from the two men, both since released from Guantánamo, did not note information that might have put their damaging claims in context.
Mr. Basardah, according to other documents reviewed by federal judges in court cases, was an unreliable informer with serious psychiatric problems. The references to Mr. Bukhary did not provide an important caveat: his own dossier said he had acknowledged deliberately misleading interrogators and "has no recollection of a lot of things."
While Mr. Gharani's dossier leaves doubts about some of the evidence against him, it also leaves some important questions unanswered. He claimed that he happened to be praying in a mosque in Karachi, Pakistan, when he was arrested amid the tumult after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
The dossier dismissed that as a familiar terrorist "cover story." It noted that he was arrested by Pakistani forces in the company of a group of Qaeda fighters escaping the battle of Tora Bora, Afghanistan, in December 2001.
Like many of the files, his paints a picture of suspicion: a young man in the wrong place at the wrong time. His name supposedly was on a terrorist's computer; he was said to be a Qaeda courier with ties to leaders, including Osama bin Laden; he reportedly received militant training; and he was described as "hostile" to prison guards.
Even after his release, the ambiguity about Mr. Gharani remains. The Obama administration sent him to Chad, where he is a citizen, and another set of secret government documents obtained by WikiLeaks, the anti-secrecy organization, and provided to The Times, suggests that the American government is quietly watching the Chadian government watch Mr. Gharani with suspicion.
Secret diplomatic cables show that the American Embassy had been told by law enforcement officials in Chad that months after he arrived there, Mr. Gharani "obtained a fraudulent birth certificate" and "used it to obtain a Chadian national identity card under a false name." Mr. Gharani, the embassy cable went on, had used the card to apply for a Chadian passport under the false name. It said he also produced supporting documents indicating that, under his new identity, he attended law school in London.
"Our contacts tell us that the passport application was denied, apparently because the Chadian side became aware" of who he was, the cable said.
Moreover, Mr. Gharani recently told the British legal charity that represented him, Reprieve, that a Chadian official had bluntly told him he would never be issued a passport because the Ministry of the Interior viewed him as "a terrorist."
But there is once again another side to the story. Mr. Gharani is desperate to get out of Chad - not for any nefarious reason, his lawyers insist, but because his family lives in Saudi Arabia, where he grew up. He is struggling to earn an income and is suffering from an undiagnosed illness and wants to seek medical treatment outside of Chad.
"He's having a really terrible time," said Katherine O'Shea, a spokeswoman for Reprieve, the British legal nonprofit founded by Mr. Stafford Smith. "He doesn't know anyone in Chad."
Mr. Gharani's lawyers also said that they had never heard about any effort on their client's part to obtain a false passport and did not believe that the account was true. They said Mr. Gharani had limited phone service in Chad and could not be reached for comment.
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18) Culture of Complicity Tied to Stricken Nuclear Plant
"In 2000, Kei Sugaoka, a Japanese-American nuclear inspector who had done work for General Electric at Daiichi, told Japan's main nuclear regulator about a cracked steam dryer that he believed was being concealed. If exposed, the revelations could have forced the operator, Tokyo Electric Power, to do what utilities least want to do: undertake costly repairs. ...Just as in any Japanese village, the like-minded - nuclear industry officials, bureaucrats, politicians and scientists - have prospered by rewarding one another with construction projects, lucrative positions, and political, financial and regulatory support. The few openly skeptical of nuclear power's safety become village outcasts, losing out on promotions and backing."
By NORIMITSU ONISHI and KEN BELSON
April 26, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/27/world/asia/27collusion.html?ref=world
TOKYO - Given the fierce insularity of Japan's nuclear industry, it was perhaps fitting that an outsider exposed the most serious safety cover-up in the history of Japanese nuclear power. It took place at Fukushima Daiichi, the plant that Japan has been struggling to get under control since last month's earthquake and tsunami.
In 2000, Kei Sugaoka, a Japanese-American nuclear inspector who had done work for General Electric at Daiichi, told Japan's main nuclear regulator about a cracked steam dryer that he believed was being concealed. If exposed, the revelations could have forced the operator, Tokyo Electric Power, to do what utilities least want to do: undertake costly repairs.
What happened next was an example, critics have since said, of the collusive ties that bind the nation's nuclear power companies, regulators and politicians.
Despite a new law shielding whistle-blowers, the regulator, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, divulged Mr. Sugaoka's identity to Tokyo Electric, effectively blackballing him from the industry. Instead of immediately deploying its own investigators to Daiichi, the agency instructed the company to inspect its own reactors. Regulators allowed the company to keep operating its reactors for the next two years even though, an investigation ultimately revealed, its executives had actually hidden other, far more serious problems, including cracks in the shrouds that cover reactor cores.
Investigators may take months or years to decide to what extent safety problems or weak regulation contributed to the disaster at Daiichi, the worst of its kind since Chernobyl. But as troubles at the plant and fears over radiation continue to rattle the nation, the Japanese are increasingly raising the possibility that a culture of complicity made the plant especially vulnerable to the natural disaster that struck the country on March 11.
Already, many Japanese and Western experts argue that inconsistent, nonexistent or unenforced regulations played a role in the accident - especially the low seawalls that failed to protect the plant against the tsunami and the decision to place backup diesel generators that power the reactors' cooling system at ground level, which made them highly susceptible to flooding.
A 10-year extension for the oldest of Daiichi's reactors suggests that the regulatory system was allowed to remain lax by politicians, bureaucrats and industry executives single-mindedly focused on expanding nuclear power. Regulators approved the extension beyond the reactor's 40-year statutory limit just weeks before the tsunami despite warnings about its safety and subsequent admissions by Tokyo Electric, often called Tepco, that it had failed to carry out proper inspections of critical equipment.
The mild punishment meted out for past safety infractions has reinforced the belief that nuclear power's main players are more interested in protecting their interests than increasing safety. In 2002, after Tepco's cover-ups finally became public, its chairman and president resigned, only to be given advisory posts at the company. Other executives were demoted, but later took jobs at companies that do business with Tepco. Still others received tiny pay cuts for their role in the cover-up. And after a temporary shutdown and repairs at Daiichi, Tepco resumed operating the plant.
In a telephone interview from his home in the San Francisco Bay Area, Mr. Sugaoka said, "I support nuclear power, but I want to see complete transparency."
Revolving Door
In Japan, the web of connections between the nuclear industry and government officials is now popularly referred to as the "nuclear power village." The expression connotes the nontransparent, collusive interests that underlie the establishment's push to increase nuclear power despite the discovery of active fault lines under plants, new projections about the size of tsunamis and a long history of cover-ups of safety problems.
Just as in any Japanese village, the like-minded - nuclear industry officials, bureaucrats, politicians and scientists - have prospered by rewarding one another with construction projects, lucrative positions, and political, financial and regulatory support. The few openly skeptical of nuclear power's safety become village outcasts, losing out on promotions and backing.
Until recently, it had been considered political suicide to even discuss the need to reform an industry that appeared less concerned with safety than maximizing profits, said Kusuo Oshima, one of the few governing Democratic Party lawmakers who have long been critical of the nuclear industry.
"Everyone considered that a taboo, so nobody wanted to touch it," said Mr. Oshima, adding that he could speak freely because he was backed not by a nuclear-affiliated group, but by Rissho Kosei-Kai, one of Japan's largest lay Buddhist movements.
"It's all about money," he added.
At Fukushima Daiichi and elsewhere, critics say that safety problems have stemmed from a common source: a watchdog that is a member of the nuclear power village.
Though it is charged with oversight, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency is part of the Ministry of Trade, Economy and Industry, the bureaucracy charged with promoting the use of nuclear power. Over a long career, officials are often transferred repeatedly between oversight and promotion divisions, blurring the lines between supporting and policing the industry.
Influential bureaucrats tend to side with the nuclear industry - and the promotion of it - because of a practice known as amakudari, or descent from heaven. Widely practiced in Japan's main industries, amakudari allows senior bureaucrats, usually in their 50s, to land cushy jobs at the companies they once oversaw.
According to data compiled by the Communist Party, one of the fiercest critics of the nuclear industry, generations of high-ranking officials from the ministry have landed senior positions at the country's 10 utilities since Japan's first nuclear plants were designed in the 1960s. In a pattern reflective of the clear hierarchy in Japan's ministries and utilities, the ministry's most senior officials went to work at Tepco, while those of lower ranks ended up at smaller utilities.
At Tepco, from 1959 to 2010, four former top-ranking ministry officials successively served as vice presidents at the company. When one retired from Tepco, his junior from the ministry took over what is known as the ministry's "reserved seat" of vice president at the company.
In the most recent case, a director general of the ministry's Natural Resources and Energy Agency, Toru Ishida, left the ministry last year and joined Tepco early this year as an adviser. Prime Minister Naoto Kan's government initially defended the appointment but reversed itself after the Communist Party publicized the extent of amakudari appointments since the 1960s. Mr. Ishida, who would have normally become vice president later this year, was forced to step down last week.
Kazuhiro Hasegawa, a spokesman for Tepco, denied that it was an amakudari appointment, adding that the company simply hired the best people. The company declined to make an executive available for an interview about the company's links with bureaucrats and politicians.
Lower-ranking officials also end up at similar, though less lucrative, jobs at the countless companies affiliated with the power companies, as well as advisory bodies with close links to the ministry and utilities.
"Because of this collusion, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency ends up becoming a member of the community seeking profits from nuclear power," said Hidekatsu Yoshii, a Communist Party lawmaker and nuclear engineer who has long followed the nuclear industry.
Collusion flows the other way, too, in a lesser-known practice known as amaagari, or ascent to heaven. Because the regulatory panels meant to backstop the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency lack full-time technical experts, they depend largely on retired or active engineers from nuclear-industry-related companies. They are unlikely to criticize the companies that employ them.
Even academics who challenge the industry may find themselves shunned. As Japan has begun looking into the problems surrounding collusion since March 11, the Japanese news media has highlighted the discrimination faced by academics who raised questions about the safety of nuclear power.
In Japan, research into nuclear power is financed by the government or nuclear power-related companies. Unable to conduct research, skeptics, especially a group of six at Kyoto University, languished for decades as assistant professors.
One, Hiroaki Koide, a nuclear reactor expert who has held a position equivalent to assistant professor for 37 years at Kyoto University, said he applied unsuccessfully for research funds when he was younger.
"They're not handed out to outsiders like me," he said.
In the United States, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the main regulatory agency for the nuclear power industry, can choose from a pool of engineers unaffiliated with a utility or manufacturer, including those who learned their trade in the Navy or at research institutes like Brookhaven or Oak Ridge.
As a result, the N.R.C. does not rely on the industry itself to develop proposals and rules. In Japan, however, the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency lacks the technical firepower to draw up comprehensive regulations and tends to turn to industry experts to provide that expertise.
The agency "has the legal authority to regulate the utilities, but significantly lacks the technical capability to independently evaluate what they propose," said Satoshi Sato, who has nearly 30 years' experience working in the nuclear industry in the United States and Japan. "Naturally, the regulators tend to avoid any risk by proposing their own ideas."
Inspections are not rigorous, Mr. Sato said, because agency inspectors are not trained thoroughly, and safety standards are watered down to meet levels that the utilities can financially bear, he and others said.
Dominion in Parliament
The political establishment, one of the great beneficiaries of the nuclear power industry, has shown little interest in bolstering safety. In fact, critics say, lax oversight serves their interests. Costly renovations get in the way of building new plants, which create construction projects, jobs and generous subsidies to host communities.
The Liberal Democrats, who governed Japan nearly without interruption from 1955 to 2009, have close ties to the management of nuclear-industry-related companies. The Democratic Party, which has governed since, is backed by labor unions, which, in Japan, tend to be close to management.
"Both parties are captive to the power companies, and they follow what the power companies want to do," said Taro Kono, a Liberal Democratic lawmaker with a reputation as a reformer.
Under Japan's electoral system, in which a significant percentage of legislators is chosen indirectly, parties reward institutional backers with seats in Parliament. In 1998, the Liberal Democrats selected Tokio Kano, a former vice president at Tepco, for one of these seats.
Backed by Keidanren - Japan's biggest business lobby, of which Tepco is one of the biggest members - Mr. Kano served two six-year terms in the upper house of Parliament until 2010. In a move that has raised eyebrows even in a world of cross-fertilizing interests, he has returned to Tepco as an adviser.
While in office, Mr. Kano led a campaign to reshape the country's energy policy by putting nuclear power at its center. He held leadership positions on energy committees that recommended policies long sought by the nuclear industry, like the use of a fuel called mixed oxide, or mox, in fast-breeder reactors. He also opposed the deregulation of the power industry.
In 1999, Mr. Kano even complained in Parliament that nuclear power was portrayed unfairly in government-endorsed school textbooks. "Everything written about solar energy is positive, but only negative things are written about nuclear power," he said, according to parliamentary records.
Most important, in 2003, on the strength of Mr. Kano's leadership, Japan adopted a national basic energy plan calling for the growth of nuclear energy as a way to achieve greater energy independence and to reduce Japan's emission of greenhouses gases. The plan and subsequent versions mentioned only in broad terms the importance of safety at the nation's nuclear plants despite the 2002 disclosure of cover-ups at Fukushima Daiichi and a 1999 accident at a plant northeast of Tokyo in which high levels of radiation were spewed into the air.
Mr. Kano's legislative activities drew criticism even from some members of his own party.
"He rewrote everything in favor of the power companies," Mr. Kono said.
In an interview at a Tepco office here, accompanied by a company spokesman, Mr. Kano said he had served in Parliament out of "conviction."
"It's disgusting to be thought of as a politician who was a company errand boy just because I was supported by a power company and the business community," Mr. Kano said.
Taking on a Leviathan
So entrenched is the nuclear power village that it easily survived postwar Japan's biggest political shake-up. When the Democratic Party came to power 20 months ago, it pledged to reform the nuclear industry and strengthen the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.
Hearings on reforming the agency were held starting in 2009 at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, said Yosuke Kondo, a lawmaker of the governing Democratic Party who was the ministry's deputy minister at the time. But they fizzled out, he said, after a new minister was appointed in September 2010.
The new minister, Akihiro Ohata, was a former engineer at Hitachi's nuclear division and one of the most influential advocates of nuclear power in the Democratic Party. He had successfully lobbied his party to change its official designation of nuclear power from a "transitional" to "main" source of energy. An aide to Mr. Ohata, who became Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism in January, said he was unavailable for an interview.
As moves to strengthen oversight were put on the back burner, the new government dusted off the energy plan designed by Mr. Kano, the Tepco adviser and former lawmaker. It added fresh details, including plans to build 14 new reactors by 2030 and raise the share of electricity generated by nuclear power and minor sources of clean energy to 70 percent from 34 percent.
What is more, Japan would make the sale of nuclear reactors and technology the central component of a long-term export strategy to energy-hungry developing nations. A new company, the International Nuclear Energy Development of Japan, was created to do just that. Its shareholders were made up of the country's nine main nuclear plant operators, three manufacturers of nuclear reactors and the government itself.
The nuclear power village was going global with the new company. The government took a 10 percent stake. Tepco took the biggest, with 20 percent, and one of its top executives was named the company's first president.
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19) Pennsylvania: New Sentencing in Officer's Killing
[This is the only article about Mumia Abu-Jamal's new sentencing hearing that appeared in the New York Times...bw]
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
April 26, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/27/us/27brfs-NEWSENTENCIN_BRF.html?ref=us
A federal appeals court on Tuesday ordered a new sentencing hearing for Mumia Abu-Jamal, a convicted police killer, finding for a second time that the death-penalty instructions given to the jury at his 1982 trial were potentially misleading. The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit told prosecutors to conduct the new sentencing hearing for Mr. Abu-Jamal, a former Black Panther, within six months or agree to a life sentence. Mr. Abu-Jamal was convicted of first-degree murder in the shooting of Officer Daniel Faulkner in Philadelphia. The prosecution said it would appeal the Third Circuit ruling.
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20) Anti-Abortion Ad Provokes Lawsuit
"The most dangerous place for an African-American is in the womb."
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
April 27, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/27/nyregion/anti-abortion-group-is-sued-over-girls-photo-in-ad.html?ref=nyregion
A mother sued an anti-abortion group on Tuesday for using her 6-year-old daughter's image on a giant billboard in SoHo that some people denounced as racist and offensive.
The girl's mother, Tricia Fraser, sued the Texas group Life Always over the billboard, which went up briefly in February.
Life Always did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The billboard pictured Ms. Fraser's daughter, who is black, and the words, "The most dangerous place for an African-American is in the womb." Some officials called it offensive to women and minorities, and it was quickly taken down by the advertising company.
The lawsuit called the billboard racist and the use of Ms. Fraser's daughter's image defamatory.
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21) GE Sees Best Profit Outlook in a Decade, Execs Say
By REUTERS
April 27, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2011/04/27/business/business-us-ge.html?src=busln
SALT LAKE CITY (Reuters) - General Electric Co believes the global economy is continuing to improve and that earnings growth at the largest U.S. conglomerate over the next few years will be the best it has seen in a decade, top executives said.
Rising oil prices have not yet taken a toll on global growth rates, Chief Executive Jeff Immelt said at the company's shareholders meeting on Wednesday.
"Things are getting better every day. The global economy outside the U.S. is strong," he told reporters ahead of the annual meeting.
Asked about oil prices, which have risen about 33 percent over the past year on rising demand, particularly in emerging markets, Immelt said they have not yet taken a toll on growth.
"It's something to think about, but it doesn't seem to be hurting the economy," he said.
The U.S. economy is also improving, he added, although the housing sector remains a weak spot.
The company believes its profit growth over the next few years will be the best it has seen in a decade, officials said.
"This is the best earnings outlook we've had in the last 10 years," Chief Financial Officer Keith Sherin told the shareholders.
GE no longer provides investors with numeric profit forecasts, but analysts on average look for earnings per share excluding one-time items to rise 16.5 percent this year, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
NUCLEAR OUTLOOK UNCLEAR
The future of the nuclear power industry is unclear in the wake of the disaster at Japan's Fukushima power plant, where GE designed the turbines, Immelt said.
"It's too soon to say what the future of the nuclear business is going to be," he said. GE's nuclear operations are a joint venture with Japan's Hitachi Ltd.
The world's largest maker of jet engines and electric turbines has seen its stock price more than triple from its recessionary lows below $6, though the shares remain at about half their level before Immelt took the top job from Jack Welch a decade ago.
In his address to shareholders, Immelt noted that even through the recession and financial crisis, "in every year we earned more money than when the stock traded at an all-time high."
GE shares were up 2.7 percent to $20.64 in midday trading on the New York Stock Exchange. Over the past year, the shares have risen 4 percent, lagging the 12 percent rise of the Dow Jones industrial average, of which it is a component.
The Fairfield, Connecticut-based company has raised its dividend three times by a total of 50 percent since last July, pushing the quarterly payout to 15 cents per share, in line with the company's goal of paying out 45 percent of profit to shareholders.
But the dividend is still less than half the 31 cents a share GE was paying quarterly before it slashed the payout during the financial crisis.
GE, which employs about 134,000 people in the United States, each year holds its shareholders meeting in a different city where it has operations. Its energy, healthcare and finance arms all have a presence in Salt Lake City.
The company competes with some of the world's largest businesses, including Germany's Siemens AG, French industrial group Alstom SA and Swiss engineering company ABB Ltd.
(Reporting by Scott Malone; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn, John Wallace, Dave Zimmerman)
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