[Peace-discuss] Fw: JFP 2/5: Drone Strike White Paper; Sens. Push for Memo; Groups Push on Iran Medicines

Wed Feb 6 06:17:56 UTC 2013

Some good stuff here...

--- On Tue, 2/5/13, Just Foreign Policy <naiman at justforeignpolicy.org> wrote:

From: Just Foreign Policy <naiman at justforeignpolicy.org>
Subject: JFP 2/5: Drone Strike White Paper; Sens. Push for Memo; Groups Push on Iran Medicines
To: jencart7 at yahoo.com
Date: Tuesday, February 5, 2013, 3:34 PM

        Just Foreign Policy News, February 5, 2013

Drone Strike White Paper; Sens. Push for Memo; Groups Push on Iran Medicines

Read This Edition of the Just Foreign Policy News on the Web

http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/node/1370

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Go Straight to the News Summary in this Email

I) Actions and Featured Articles

Robert Naiman: Was Chuck Hagel 'Just Plain Bad' in His Confirmation Hearing?

Some Washington pundits claim that Hagel gave a bad performance at his confirmation hearing. But their evidence for the claim is extremely weak. Hagel kept his cool under withering fire, and stood his ground on issues of principle.  

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-naiman/hagel-secretary-of-defense_b_2611593.html

Brandon Friedman: Just Who Do They Represent: At Hagel Hearing, Concern for Israel Tops U.S. Troops in Combat

A veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan takes the Senate Armed Services Committee to task: "In nearly eight hours of interrogation and testimony, Israel and its interests were referred to by the Senate Armed Services Committee a total of 106 times. On the other hand, there were a mere 24 references made to Afghanistan and the Americans fighting there—most by Democratic Senator Carl Levin, chairman of the committee... It's difficult to interpret this message any other way: the Senate Armed Services Committee—particularly its Republican membership—is more concerned with the apparent American defense secretary's relationship with Israel than with the future of Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the fate of U.S. troops engaged in both locations." Nice graphic compares Israel vs. Afghanistan mentions for different Senators. 

http://nation.time.com/2013/02/04/just-who-do-they-represent-at-hagel-hearing-concern-for-israel-tops-u-s-troops-in-combat/

5 Broken Cameras is on Netflix

Five Broken Cameras, the Academy Award-nominated Palestinian-Israeli documentary about nonviolent resistance to land confiscation in Bilin, is on Netflix. Even if you don't have direct access to Netflix, you probably know someone who does. Why not organize a little viewing party? It's an incredibly powerful documentary. Encourage all your friends to see it. If you know anyone who gets to vote in the Academy Awards, encourage them to vote for 5 Broken Cameras as Best Foreign Documentary. If it wins, many millions of people around the world will see the film who will not see it otherwise. 

Get the Facts: Land Confiscation and the Palestinian Protest Villages

Read and share our fact sheet. 

http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/babs-factsheet

Sunday, February 17th: rally and march in Washington, DC for action on climate

In his second inaugural, President Obama promised action on climate change. First step: stop the Keystone XL pipeline. Sierra Club, 350.org, and others are organizing a major action in DC on Feb 17. 

http://forwardonclimate.org/

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Summary:

U.S./Top News

1) According to a Justice Department "white paper," it would be lawful for the government to kill a US citizen if "an informed, high-level official" of the government decided that the target was a ranking figure in Al Qaeda who posed "an imminent threat of violent attack against the United States" and if his capture was not feasible, the New York Times reports. The paper is not the classified memorandum of the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel which Members of Congress have sought, but it tracks that document closely, the Times says. 

2) FCNL led a broad coalition of 25 national organizations calling on President Obama to take action to ensure that Iranian civilians are not blocked from accessing food, medicine, and other humanitarian goods under existing U.S. sanctions, FCNL reports. Just Foreign Policy was a signatory of the letter.

3) Senators Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Mark Udall (D-Colo.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Dick Durbin (Ill.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Tom Udall (D-N.M.), Mark Begich (D-Alaska) and Al Franken (D- Minn.) have sent a letter to President Obama seeking the legal opinions outlining the President's authority to authorize the killing of American citizens during the course of counterterrorism operations, Senator Wyden's office reports. These legal opinions issued by the Department of Justice have remained hidden from the general public and have been withheld from members of Congress, inhibiting Congress' ability to conduct necessary oversight, Wyden's office says. 

4) Last year, more active-duty soldiers killed themselves than died in combat, the Guardian reports. In 2012, for the first time in at least a generation, the number of active-duty soldiers who killed themselves, 177, exceeded the 176 who were killed while in the war zone. 349 service members took their own lives in 2012, while a lesser number, 295, died in combat. 6,500 former military personnel killed themselves in 2012. The department of defense suicide report for 2012 has yet to be released, but when it is it is expected to record a sea change. For the first time, the majority of the those who killed themselves had been deployed.

5) A Washington Post article on the problem of fake drugs in Africa failed to address policy causes and solutions, writes Stephanie Burgos of Oxfam in a letter to the Washington Post. The U.S. trade representative has made matters worse by negotiating numerous trade agreements that have increased medicine prices in poor countries by undermining the supply of low-cost generic medicines, she writes.

Israel/Palestine

6) A UN panel said Israel has pursued a creeping annexation of the Palestinian territories through the creation of Jewish settlements and committed multiple violations of international law, possibly including war crimes, calling for an immediate halt to all settlement activity and the withdrawal of all settlers, the New York Times reports. The panel noted that the settler population was growing much faster than the population of Israel outside the settlements. The report quotes the Israeli finance minister, Yuval Steinitz, as saying the government had doubled the budget for West Bank settlements "in a low-key way because we didn't want parties in Israel or abroad to thwart the move."

According to the report, Palestinians' rights to freedom of movement and expression and their access to places of worship, education, water, housing and natural resources "are being violated consistently." The settlements are maintained through "a system of total segregation" between the settlers, who enjoy a preferential legal status, and the rest of the population, the report concludes. The settlements have resulted in the creation of legal zones in which settlers are subject to Israeli laws but Palestinians come under a patchwork of military orders and laws dating back to Ottoman and British rule, the report says.

7) A group of New York City officials, including members of the House of Representatives, have threatened the funding of Brooklyn College for hosting an event in which the speakers are expected to criticize the policies of the Israeli government, Glenn Greenwald reports for the Guardian. Brooklyn College president Karen Gould issued a statement proclaiming that the college's "commitment to the principles of academic freedom remains steadfast" and that "students and faculty, including academic departments, programs, and centers, have the right to invite speakers, engage in discussion, and present ideas to further educational discussion and debate."

Iran

8) Vice President Biden said the US is prepared to hold direct talks with Iran amid the standoff over its nuclear ambitions, the Guardian reports. Asked when Washington would hold direct talks with Tehran, Biden replied: "When the Iranian leadership, the supreme leader, is serious."

Syria

9) Last summer the White House rejected a plan drafted by Secretary of State Clinton and then-CIA head Petraeus for the U.S. to arm the Syrian resistance, the New York Times reports. The White House has been reluctant to arm the rebels for fear that it would draw the US into the conflict and raise the risk of the weapons falling into the wrong hands, the Times says.  

-- 

Just Foreign Policy is a membership organization devoted to reforming US foreign policy so it reflects the values and interests of the majority of Americans. The archive of the Just 'Foreign Policy News is here:          

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