[Peace] News notes 2007-03-04

[C. G. Estabrook]

*The theme of the week's news is found in Chalmers Johnson's recent book, Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic: "We are on the cusp of losing our democracy for the sake of keeping our empire."*

[1] Perhaps the most shameful incident in the "Global War on Terrorism this week -- there are plenty to choose from -- occurred in a Virgina court room.  A three judge panel of the US Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals Friday upheld the dismissal of a rendition-related lawsuit by German citizen Khaled El-Masri against the CIA, deciding that the case could not be heard in a US court because of the government's state secrets privilege. The ACLU said that the ruling turned the state secrets doctrine into "a shield that covers even the most blatant abuses of power.”  The judges wrote derisively of the view that the "judiciary that possesses a roving writ to ferret out and strike down executive excess" -- exactly what the common law did provide from Magna Carta through the US Bill of Rights, but no more.  They said, "We decline to follow such a course, and thus reject [the idea] that the state secrets doctrine can be brushed aside on the ground that the President’s foreign policy has gotten out of line."  that of course makes the archaic remedy of impeachment all the more necessary. 
	As Johnson makes clear, "not only do we not know what the CIA does, we don't even know how much money it spends doing it" -- and it is not subject to the laws or the courts.  He observes, "I believe that George W. Bush and Dick Cheney have led the country into a perilous cul-de-sac, but they did not do it alone and removing them from office will not necessarily solve the problem."  What's needed, he thinks, is a true conservative policy: "I believe we will never again know peace, nor in all probability survive very long as a nation, unless we abolish the CIA, restore intelligence collecting to the State Department, and remove all but purely military functions from the Pentagon. Even if we did these things, the mystique of America as a model democracy may have been damaged beyond repair."  The alternative, he says, is ""a military dictatorship or its civilian equivalent." 

[2] The US government should account for all the missing detainees once held by the CIA, Human Rights Watch said in a report released this week.  It contains a detailed description of a secret CIA prison from a Palestinian detainee who was released from custody last year. Human Rights Watch has also sent a public letter to President Bush requesting information about the fate and whereabouts of the missing detainees. 
	"President Bush told us that the last 14 CIA prisoners were sent to Guantanamo, but there are many other prisoners 'disappeared' by the CIA whose fate is still unknown," said the terrorism and counterterrorism director at Human Rights Watch. "The question is: what happened to these people and where are they now?"
	Human Rights Watch's letter to Bush asks specifically about 38 missing detainees. 
	Bush has stated that the Military Commissions Act of 2006 permits the government to restart the CIA's secret prison program. 

[3] US Marines fleeing a militant ambush opened fire on civilian cars and pedestrians on a busy highway in eastern Afghanistan today.  It is reported that the Marines killed 16 and wounded 34.

[4] While they were killing civilians in Afghanistan, the US marines were introducing sensitivity training to their soldiers in Iraq by questioning whether the  troops' slogan T-shirts might not be such a good thing.  Some samples --
     * "Eat Pork Or Die" (in English and Arabic)
     * "Shrine Busters" (which show burning minarets, some with unit logos.)
     * "Napalm. Sticks Like Crazy."
     * "The road to Paradise begins with me." (Usually in Arabic, often with sniper's crosshairs)
     * "Guns don't kill people. I kill people."

[5] US commander David Petraeus' command gave a peculiar interview to the Guardian this week in which they said that they have six months to win the war in Iraq.  It was interesting to see what they thought the real enemy of the occupation's continuation was: "a Vietnam-style collapse in ... [American] public support that could force the military into a hasty retreat."

[6] The attachment of American Jews to Israel has weakened measurably in the last two years, the Jewish Forward reports. 37% agreed that they were “often disturbed by Israel’s policies and actions.” 

[7] Seymour Hersh reports that the Bush administration is funding anti-Shiite Sunnis linked to al Qaeda without Congressional approval and without appropriate appropriation. Hersh speculates that the money is coming from the pallet-loads of cash floating around Iraq and has already reached "three Sunni jihadist groups." He says that the president is "supporting groups indirectly that are involved with the same people that did 9/11."

[8] "It is worth reminding ourselves, that like it or not, the enemy we face in the war on terror has made Iraq the primary front in that war," Cheney told delegates at the Conservative Political Action Conference.  [That's quite true, if we're accurate about who the "the enemy we face on the war on terror" is.] "Anyone can say they support the troops ... we expect the House and the Senate to meet those needs on time and in full." [AFP]

[9] House Democratic leaders will add nearly $4 billion for farmers to a bill funding military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan to attract conservative Democrats concerned that the measure would wrongly constrict President Bush’s power as commander in chief. Democrats may also add money for children’s health insurance in the hope of winning the votes of Republicans such as Illinois Reps. Mark Kirk (R) and Judy Biggert (R) -- [Illinois] faces a $240 million deficit in its State Children’s Health Insurance Program ... half of the conservative Democrats [in a meeting Blue Dogs -- right-wing Democrats] raised concerns about language that Defense Appropriations subcommittee Chairman John Murtha (D-Pa.) said he would include in the supplemental -- giving soldiers returning from the war at least a year of rest before redeployment; limiting the Pentagon’s ability to extend enlistments, the so-called stop-loss policy; and stopping the Pentagon from extending combat tours. Murtha also said his bill would enforce equipment and training standards for troops ... conservative [Democrats] argued against interfering with Bush’s powers of command. “I don’t think we should be interfering with military strategy,” said Rep. John Tanner (D-Tenn.) ... House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D-Wis.) [supposedly a liberal] has said he may add waivers to the military bill that would allow the Department of Defense to circumvent Murtha’s proposed restrictions.

[10] In the Senate, someone dug up a quote from Democrat presidential nominee John Kerry: "'We should start now to talk about filibustering for the saving of lives and of our country.' Unfortunately it's from April, 1971, and Kerry was talking about Vietnam. Now Senator Kerry will not go so far as to vote against the supplemental appropriations to end the war. In a conference call with the Smedley Butler Brigade, the Boston Chapter of Veterans for Peace, Kerry refused on Tuesday to vote against the Supplemental Appropriation for the War on Iraq."

[11] Senators left town Friday with little to show for a week of debate on a massive anti-terrorism bill and squabbling over whether to let federal airport screeners join unions and risk a veto of a Homeland Security bill by President Bush.

[12] And finally, even the New York Times can't entirely white wash the truth: "The Bush administration's assault on some of the founding principles of American democracy marches onward despite the Democratic victory in the 2006 elections. The new Democratic majorities in Congress can block the sort of noxious measures that the Republican majority rubber-stamped. But preventing new assaults on civil liberties is not nearly enough."

[These notes on the "Global War on Terror" were prepared for the weekly meeting of AWARE, the Anti-War Anti-Racism Effort of Champaign-Urbana. Much of this material was discussed on the Saturday morning radio program, "News from Neptune," by me and Paul Mueth, with the assistance of producer J. B. Nicholson-Owens and research director Eric Sizemore. Archived programs and citations are at <www.newsfromneptune.com>. Other references will be provided on request. —CGE]