Alfred,
Sunday I was in Syracuse, NY for a mass protest against drones, and of the
outrageous "orders of protection" granted by a local judge against specific
protesters, aimed at keeping them away from Hanock Air Force Base, from where
drone operations in Afghanistan are piloted. We began at Tucker Missionary
Baptist Church with almost 500 as Cornel West spoke about poverty, racism
and drones. "How does virtue stand up to brute force?" he asked, quoting WEB
Dubois? One way Cornel answered is that we cannot allow the victims of US
imperialism to be invisible.
We left the church and gathered in a parking lot adjacent to the base, but
out of sightline of the base, because more than 40 people subject to the orders
of protection were warned they would be arrested if they approached the base --
or even if they could be seen from the base! Rae Kramer, one of those
under the orders, spoke about years of work in supporting victims of domestic
violence, the very women for whom "orders of protection" were created in
response to advocates' struggle. Ironically, those actual orders are often
violated, or unenforced. But to use the same framework to cast political
protesters as a danger to the commander of the base is an outrageous attack on
the free speech and assembly rights of the people who are risking their freedom
to stop US drone war through holding signs on public property.
Most of the focus on yesterday's protest, though, was on past victims, and
possible targets of the US drone war. We head this message from
Afghanistan:
Last year, Raz Mohammad, a young man from
MaidanShahr, Wardak Provice, Afghanistan, submitted a request for an Order of
Protection for his family and community after his young brother-in-law was
killed in a drone strike. Raz said:
“On
Friday,the 30th of May, 2008 my brother-in-law was killed by a drone, along with
four of his friends. My brother-in-law was a student and was innocent.
Accountability from the U.S. military for this incident was non-existent.
This incident created a situation which was beyond
imagination.
It affected the minds of my sister and all members
of my family. When my nephew was 5 years old, he asked his mother, “Where is
father?” My sister replied, “Your father was killed by a computer.” These
negative effects on all of us persist till today.
I am worried for my
family and the people of MaidanShahr. I request that the U.S. courts protect my
sister, my family and my village.
I wish that U.S. will be able to save
all humanity from drones.” **Translated by Hakim Young
World Can't Wait was there with a model Reaper drone (the same model piloted
from Hancock AFB computers). There were hundreds of photos of past and
potential vicitms from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen & Somalia, carried in a
solemn procession which ended in a "free speech zone" behind barricades. The
military filmed us from every direction, erected a tower 35' above the
gathering, where shooters were posted, and lined up armed guards on hits
perimeter. While we read our own "orders of protection" for the victims of
their base. "NO MORE inappropriate touching" of children and people by the
U.S!
Dear Spain: Please do what the U.S.
won’t. Prosecute Torture.
A Spanish judge has just decided to proceed with
a case against Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld.
The Spanish legislature
can be expected to try to block the case, unless perhaps they hear our voices
loudly and clearly enough.
We began this effort in 2011, visiting
Spanish embassies, generating media and placing advertisements in Spain, and
communicating our appreciation for Spanish efforts to prosecute U.S. torturers.
Now we need another big push.
Please sign this letter now, and we will
deliver it to Spain: To the people of Spain
From the people of the
United States of America and allies abroad
We are writing to thank you
and to ask for your support as your courts consider cases to bring American
officials to justice for the crime of torture. A Spanish judge, acting under
international law, will soon decide whether to investigate U.S. officials' roles
in authorizing torture. We hope you agree that such cases must go forward,
despite pressure from the Obama administration to drop them.
The
organizations signing this letter represent hundreds of thousands in the
American public who believe the U.S. government must be held to the same rule of
law as other countries. We are profoundly disappointed that our own government
refuses to prosecute former officials, despite open admissions and government
documents showing that they approved torture.
It
will take a public show of support for the case to withstand pressures from
Washington. WikiLeaks cables show the extremes to which U.S. officials have gone
to thwart any attempt by Spain or other countries to uphold justice. We applaud
the courage shown by Spanish officials who insist on giving priority to the rule
of law.
Despite earlier assertions by President Barack Obama and
Attorney General Eric Holder that waterboarding is torture, former President
George W. Bush has publicly stated that he authorized waterboarding and added
proudly that he would do it again. In a TV interview aired on November 8, 2010,
Bush said he considered waterboarding legal "because the lawyer said it was
legal." Waterboarding and other forms of torture were banned by the UN
Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment, ratified by the United States in 1994.
If international law
is to serve any useful purpose, other countries must condemn violations "by any
other nations, including those which sit here now in judgment," in the words of
the chief prosecutor at Nuremberg.
We sincerely hope that the citizens
of Spain and its judiciary will dispel the notion that any country is above the
law.
Sign this petition.
International Lawyers Seek Justice for
Iraqis
Dahr Jamail writes:
International lawyers
and activists converged at a conference titled The Iraq Commission, in Brussels,
Belgium, April 16 and 17, with the primary aim of bringing to justice government
officials who are guilty of war crimes in Iraq.
"Within a few days of
this, a lawless atmosphere developed within my unit,” Ross Caputi, a former
marine who took part in the brutal November 2004 siege of Fallujah told the Iraq
Commission. "There was a lot of looting going on. I saw people searching the
pockets of the dead resistance fighters for money. Some people were mutilating
corpses."
Ross Caputi served in the US military,
from 2003 to 2006, and participated in the massive military siege of Fallujah in
November 2004. (Photo: Dahr Jamail) |
...Ross Caputi spoke at length about the war crimes and atrocities he
witnessed during the November 2004 US military siege of Fallujah.
He went
on to explain that he and his fellow soldiers were not told that US military
personnel, who were manning the checkpoints that surrounded Fallujah, were not
allowing any "military-aged males" to flee the city, despite a lack of evidence
proving they may have been resistance fighters.
"This contributed to the
indiscriminate nature of the operation," Caputi said, of the siege that,
according to the Iraqi Fallujah-based human rights and environmental NGO
Conservation Center of Environmental and Reserves in Fallujah, resulted in
approximately 5,000 residents being killed, at least 60 percent of them
civilians.
"We called in airstrikes and used tanks and bulldozers in
residential neighborhoods," Caputi told a silent audience populated by many
Iraqis. "There could have been civilians trying to hide out in their homes, but
we never took any precautions to make sure there wasn't. We simply fired
wherever we thought there were combatants."
Caputi told of a tactic used
called "reconnaissance by fire," which is, as he explained, "when you fire
somewhere, into a building for example, to see if any combatants are there. This
tactic is obviously indiscriminate, but we never even considered the possibility
that there might be civilians in these houses that we were firing
into."
"I even saw a unit bulldozing an entire neighborhood, one house
after another without checking to see if anyone was inside," Caputi, who has
since founded the Justice for Fallujah project,
added.
Caputi went on to tell of the use of the restricted weapon white
phosphorous in civilian areas, as well as another incident: "When a 10-year-old
boy was bunkered inside a house with two resistance fighters. We demolished the
house on top of all three of them."
He concluded his remarks by telling
the audience his life since that time has been about "finding and facing the
truth" and working to make amends to the people of Fallujah...
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World Can't Wait Conversations:
 10pm Eastern / 7pm Pacific
May 1: Discussion among activists on key issues
World Can't Wait is acting on: prosecution of war crimes, closure of Guantanamo,
recent drone strikes in Yemen, and the wave of deportations by the current
president & Deporter in Chief.
On May 15: Conversation with
Carlos Warner, a federal defender and attorney for Guantanamo prisoners, as we
prepare for protests May 23 to Close
Guantanamo NOW.
Sat
May 3 Ft. Meade Maryland NSA Action Against
Killer Drones 1:00
pmDirections
The National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance is
organizing an action against drones at the NSA. All are welcome. There will be
an opportunity to risk arrest, but also other opportunities if you are not
risking arrest. If you considering risking arrest, please contact joyfirst5@gmail.com
Tuesday
May 6 New Brunswick NJProtest
Condoleezza Rice at Rutgers
5:30 pm Teach-in protesting invite to
Condoleezza Rice to give the Rutgers University Commencement on May 18. Rutgers
University Student Activities Center, New Brunswick, NJ, followed by a screening
of the Academy Award winning documentary, "Taxi to The Dark Side."
Details here. Cheers
to Rutgers University Faculty for opposing honors for Condoleezza Rice
(more
here).
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