While the U.S. government has John Kerry jumping all over the
region to clarify just what terms they will dictate to people in Iraq, a case in
U.S. federal court is finally coming alive. Survivors of the 2007 Nisour Square
massacre (when Blackwater guards opened fire on civilian cars in Iraq and killed
17 people) are testifying in the manslaughter/murder trial of 4
guards.
The New York Times reported on June
25:
The Nisour Square shooting was a signature point in the Iraq war,
one that inflamed anti-American sentiment abroad and contributed to the
impression that Americans were reckless and unaccountable. The Iraqi government
wanted to prosecute the security contractors in Iraq, but the American
government refused to allow it.
That any trial (even of fewer
guards on reduced charges) is actually happening is due to the persistence of
people fighting for justice, and not from inside the U.S.
government.
Revolution asks today, "stop and think how the
government is training people to think," in The Calculations of a War Criminal... and a
Criminal System:
The debate over what to do in Iraq is being
framed by the system by how much America has already "done for Iraq," how much
the war has cost and any new moves will cost America.
Obama
invoked this logic to justify and build acceptance in a war-weary population for
his decision to send 300 military advisers to Iraq to help the reactionary Iraqi
government fight Sunni jihadists.
He talked about how much
American "blood and treasure ... has already been expended in
Iraq."
He talked about the "deep scars"—for Americans!—left by the
war in Iraq, such as "the loss of nearly 4,500 American patriots, many veterans
carry the wounds of that war, and will for the rest of their lives," as well as
the "intense emotions" the war generated.
More from Ross Caputi, on the 2nd Fallujah battle in 2004:
 We
had an idea in our head of who we thought we were fighting against. It
conflicted very much with the information on the ground. We had this idea that
the people we were fighting in Fallujah were some sort of a foreign element,
repudiated by the majority of the populartion in Fallujah, who had some kind of
ideological goals they were trying to impose onthe city of Fallujah. [Our
command] very much framed it as a hostage situation where there was a foreign
element oppressing the city, and we were going to come in and liberate the city
from this oppression.
This wasn't the case at all. This was a
popular resistance widely supported by the general population of Fallujah.
People didn't wear uniforms in the sense of a traditional army, because it
wasn't a traditional army. These were doctors, teachers, policeman, average
citizens who when we came would pick up weapons to fight, or if they had to
tend to their families, they wouldn't fight on other occasions. There was
this enormous gap between who we thought we were fighting and who we were
actually fighting.Continue reading Unthinkable Thoughts in the Debate About ISIS
in Iraq by Ross Caputi.
"Inventing Terrorists: The Lawfare of
Preemptive Prosecution"
Kevin Gosztola covers what's new in
the report just published by Project SALAM, which stands for Support and Legal
Advocacy for Muslims, and the National Coalition to Protect Civil Freedoms
(NCPCF) in ‘Inventing Terrorists’ Study Offers Critical
Examination of Government’s Use of Preemptive Prosecutions:
The report discusses the impact of the War on Terror, which has been
preying on the weakness and fear of the American people, and specifically the
use of preemptive prosecution, defined as "a law enforcement strategy, adopted
after 9/11, to target and prosecute individuals or organizations whose beliefs,
ideology, or religious affiliations raise security concerns for the
government.”
Inventing Terrorists reveals the stunning fact that only 4
of 399 individuals tried for terrorism in the U.S. since 9/11 were found guilty
of a crime. The remaining 395 were found guilty of "preemptive" crimes.
Inventing terrorists: a movement of creationism, and a "charade designed to make
the American people believe that a terrorist army is loose in the U.S... the
truth is... most of the people convicted of terrorism-related crimes pose no
danger to the U.S. and were entrapped by a preventive strategy known as
preemptive prosecution."
Continue reading... |
|
Share this message:
|
 |
 |
Day of / Day After Protests When the US
Starts Bombing Iraq
IN THE EVENT
of U.S. bombing of Iraq, choose the best protest location in your city/town, and
call on people to go there at 5:00 pm the day of the attack, or, in the case of
an evening attack, the next day at 5:00 pm.
Post your event on
Facebook.
Post your event
at worldcantwait.net.
New York City 5 PM at Times Square
Recruiting Station, 43rd & 7th Avenue when US bombs Iraq.
Chicago 5 PM the day of/day after the
US starts bombing Iraq
Federal Plaza, Adams and Dearborn
Join with World
Can't Wait, Gay Liberation Network, 8th Day Center for Justice, and many others
to say No US Attacks on Iraq! Facebook
event.
San Francisco 5 PM at the BART plaza on Powell &
Market, the day of the attack. If the
attack happens overnight, come out the next day at 5:00 PM. Bring signs and
prepare to rally, speak-out and march. Facebook
Event.
|
|
No comments:
Post a Comment