[Peace-discuss] News notes 050416

[C. G. Estabrook]

	Notes from last week's 'war on terrorism' -- prepared
	for the AWARE meeting, Sunday, May 16, 2004. 

TORTURE REGIME. "The roots of the Abu Ghraib prison scandal lie not in
the criminal inclinations of a few Army reservists but in a decision,
approved last year by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, to expand a
highly secret operation, which had been focussed on the hunt for Al Qaeda,
to the interrogation of prisoners in Iraq ... the Pentagon’s operation
... encouraged physical coercion and sexual humiliation of Iraqi prisoners
in an effort to generate more intelligence about the growing insurgency in
Iraq." [SEYMOUR HERSH, NEW YORKER 5/24]

COMMENT, CGE. It's an important story, and it comes out only because of
bureaucratic infighting in the USG.  It places blame for the Abu Ghraib
torture where it belongs, on Rumsfeld and Cambone, and their secret,
illegal military operation. ("SAP" -- altho' Hersh doesn't say so here, it
seems to be the same as the Grey Fox unit that Cambone was said last
summer to be in charge of -- rightly called in this article "a stateless
terror group.") Hersh's primary sources are "several past and present
American intelligence officials," notably "a senior C.I.A. official"  and
"a former high-level intelligence official." It's hard not to see this
article, true as it may be, as CIA revenge against the high-handed
Rumsfeld Pentagon. Could Thursday's revelations (in the NYT) about the
CIA's tortures at "secret C.I.A. detention centers scattered around the
world"  (Hersh's phrase) be based on a Pentagon leak, a pre-emptive strike
against the CIA's version in Hersh's article?  Competitive leaking between
the Pentagon and Langley may allow the rest of us to see something of what
they're actually doing in our name. Hersh concludes correctly (quoting the
head of HRW) that "the military has systematically used third-degree
techniques around the world on detainees."  But his own summary is,
"Rumsfeld's decision embittered the American intelligence community,
damaged the effectiveness of elite combat units, and hurt America's
prospects in the war on terror" -- which could be interpreted as another
"call for unleashing the CIA on Osama bin Laden and his Al Qeada
accomplices" (as Doug Valentine writes in CounterPunch.org).

SELECTIONS FROM HERSH'S ARTICLE. [Pentagon secret teams] carried out
instant interrogations ... using force if necessary ... at secret C.I.A.
detention centers scattered around the world ... [Former intelligence
official]: "The rules are, 'Grab whom you must. Do what you
want.'" ... [The Taguba report] revealed that Miller urged that the
commanders in Baghdad change policy and place military intelligence in
charge of the prison. The report quoted Miller as recommending that
"detention operations must act as an enabler for interrogation."
	Miller's concept, as it emerged in recent Senate hearings, was
to "Gitmoize" the prison system in Iraq -- to make it more focussed on
interrogation. He also briefed military commanders in Iraq on the
interrogation methods used in Cuba -- methods that could, with special
approval, include sleep deprivation, exposure to extremes of cold and
heat, and placing prisoners in "stress positions" for agonizing
lengths of time. (The Bush Administration had unilaterally declared Al
Qaeda and other captured members of international terrorist networks to be
illegal combatants, and not eligible for the protection of the Geneva
Conventions.)
	Rumsfeld and Cambone went a step further, however: they expanded
the scope of the sap, bringing its unconventional methods to Abu Ghraib.
The commandos were to operate in Iraq as they had in Afghanistan. The male
prisoners could be treated roughly, and exposed to sexual humiliation...
	Kenneth Roth, the executive director of Human Rights Watch, said
[that]  Since September 11th ... the military has systematically used
third-degree techniques around the world on detainees.}

THE BUTCHER'S BILL. This weekend there is fighting throughout
Iraq, according to the AP: A U.S. soldier was killed Saturday night when
a bomb
exploded beside a vehicle in Baghdad. The death brought to 776 the number
of U.S. Service members who have died since the beginning of military
operations in Iraq last year. Of those, 566 died as a result of hostile
action and 210 died of non-hostile causes.

WHO'S THERE? In central Baghdad, several explosions were heard near the
U.S.-controlled green zone. 

FROM THE AP SUMMARY OF THE FIGHTING. The US attacked al-Sadr's militia (AP
not calls it an "army" now). American forces and al-Sadr fighters fought
heavy battles in recent days in the southern holy cities of Najaf (where
the prophets son-in-law is buried) and Karbala (the burial place of his
grandson). On Sunday, American tanks drove through the center of Karbala
and exchanged gunfire with insurgents. The tanks also opened fire to break
up an anti-American demonstration, but there were no casualties (again
acc. to AP). "Muslims can't tolerate the shameless incursion of American
forces into sacred places," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was quoted as saying by
the official [Iranian] Islamic Republic News Agency. Two U.S. tanks were
stationed Sunday in a main square in Najaf, while militiamen held
positions in the cemetery and other areas. Several mosque imams from
Fallujah [hence Sunnis] visited al-Sadr in Najaf to show solidarity. (The
siege of Fallujah by U.S. Marines ended when the coalition allowed an
Iraqi force led by former officers in Saddam Hussein's army to take over
security in the city.)

THE COALITION. Twenty-eight Iraqi civilians were wounded on Sunday as
Shiite militiamen battled Italian troops in the southern city of Nasiriyah
[AFP]

WHAT WE HAVE DONE. Iraqi children are living in conditions worse than
those endured under Saddam Hussein's regime and US sanctions, a children's
rights organisation said on Wednesday, warning that they were experiencing
a "humanitarian catastrophe". "Every child has some level of psychological
trauma," said Jo Baker, director of the London-based Child Victims of War.
[SA news]

AND ELSEWHERE. U.S. Military Hit by Another Afghan Abuse Charge [AP] In
London, Reuters reports, "A third Briton detained at Guantanamo Bay told
a newspaper he was mistreated by his U.S. captors and said guards at the
camp in Cuba filmed his beatings."

HOW'S OUR CHIEF CLIENT DOING? In some of the worst attacks in a while
Israeli Occipation Forces hit Gaza with rockets on Friday. A rally (200k?)
in Tel Aviv calls for withdrawal form Gaza. (70% of istraelis support such
a withdrawal, but the ruling Likud Party doesn't.) The IOF withdraws from
Rafah, after destroying 90 buildings; the Israeli Supreme Court agrees
that that is appropriate.

STAY ON MESSAGE. President Bush on Friday blamed al Qaeda supporter Abu
Musab al-Zarqawi for beheading American Nicholas Berg and cited him as an
example of Saddam Hussein's "terrorist ties" before the U.S.-led war in
Iraq. Bush's revival of accusations linking Saddam to terrorism comes as
the president faces growing doubts among Americans over his Iraq policy.
At a fund-raising lunch in Bridgeton, Missouri, Bush said Zarqawi was an
example of the threat posed by the ousted Iraqi leader. "We knew he
(Saddam) had terrorist ties. The person responsible for the Berg death,
Zarqawi, was in and out of Baghdad prior to our arrival, for example,"
Bush said. [REUTERS]

ALL THE PEOPLE, ALL THE TIME? A Newsweek poll released Saturday put Bush's
overall job approval at 42 percent, the lowest yet in that poll ... Bush's
approval on how he has handled Iraq has dipped to 35 percent in the
Newsweek poll, compared with 44 percent in April. Some 57 percent of
respondents said they disapprove. [AP 5/15] "Public satisfaction with
national conditions has fallen to 33%, its lowest level in eight years, in
the wake of revelations of prisoner abuse committed by U.S. soldiers at
Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq," reports the Pew Research Center for the People
and the Press. "President Bush's overall job approval rating also has
dropped into negative territory: 44% approve of his job performance, while
48% disapprove."

POLICE STATE. The sheriff of Los Angles wants technology to jam cell phone
transmission as an anti-terrorist weapon. [LADN]

THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE. London-based, Australian journalist John Pilger's
latest documentary film, Breaking the Silence: Truth and Lies in the War
on Terror, has won the gold award in the political category at the
prestigious 2004 WorldMedia Festival. 

DON'T WORRY. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld apologized for the
torture of Iraqi prisoners and said, "It's going to get a good deal more
terrible, I'm afraid."  Specialist Sabrina Harman, who faces court martial
because of her role in the torture, said in an email that she never even
saw a copy of the Geneva Conventions until recently. "I read the entire
thing," she said, "highlighting everything the prison is in violation of.
There's a lot." Harman said her job was to "soften up" prisoners for
interrogation. [Telegraph]  Charges included rape, murder, and child
molestation. [Intelwire]  "The system works," Rumsfeld told the Senate.
[Guardian] (This and the following notes are from Harper's Weekly.)

THE COUNTRY WITH THE MOST PRISONERS PER CAPITA. President Bush continued
to maintain that the Abu Ghraib torturers were un-American, but
human-rights advocates pointed out that similar abuse takes place in U.S.
prisons all the time, especially in Texas. [New York Times]  The Council
on American-Islamic Relations reported that anti-Muslim bias incidents are
up 70 percent, and a [New York Times]  new Justice Department report
warned that Al Qaeda is recruiting supporters in American prisons. [New
York Times]  

MARKET FORCES. It was reported that CACI International, the company that
employs one of the accused Abu Ghraib torturers, also sells the Bush
Administration ethics training tapes. [Intelwire] 

REFLEXIVITY ALERT. U.S. officials postponed the release of this year's
international human-rights report because the timing was somewhat
embarrassing. [New York Times] 

ETHNIC VIOLENCE IN SUDAN AND NIGERIA. Ethnic violence continued in Nigeria
between the Taroks and Fulanis. [Reuters] Wole Soyinka was arrested in
anti-government rally in Lagos, Nigeria.

OUR RECENT COUP. Haitian farmers have been reduced to eating the seed that
they should be planting, a German aid agency said; other [News24.com, SA]
Haitians were eating biscuits made out of butter, salt, water, and dirt.
[New York Times] 

WE'RE GOING TO KEEP DOING IT. The Pentagon was thinking about setting up a
new office to plan postwar operations for future wars, and the [New York
Times] Selective Service System proposed requiring women to register for
the draft. [Seattle Post-Intelligencer] 

MEANWHILE, AT HOME. A new study found that Americans get substandard
medical care most of the time, despite the fact that they spend about $1.4
trillion a year for it. [New York Times] Marijuana use was up in the
United States. [New Scientist] 

AND FINALLY, the US client government in Colombia has done a deal with
terrorist paramilitaries that you can read about in Phil's post to the
peace-discuss list and -- in part thanks to Google, on the brink of an
IPO -- almost no place else...

  ==============================================================
  C. G. Estabrook
  University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign [MC-190]
  109 Observatory, 901 South Mathews Avenue, Urbana IL 61801 USA
  office: 217.244.4105 mobile: 217.369.5471 home: 217.359.9466
  <galliher at alexia.lis.uiuc.edu> <cge at shout.net>
  <www.newsfromneptune.com>
  =========================================
  If the Nuremberg laws were applied today,
  then every post-war American president
  would have to be hanged.  --Noam Chomsky
  =========================================