Saturday, October 27, 2007

THIS JUST IN! RUDY G DECLARES "CLAYTON SPEAKS FOR ME!"

 
FAILED NYC MAYOR AND 2008 GOP PRESIDENTIAL HOPEFUL RUDY G WENT TO TEXAS WITH NARY A GAY ROOMMATE IN SIGHT BUT HE DID LATCH ON TO FORMER TEXAS GOVERNOR CLAYTON WILLIAMS WHO ENDORSED HIM.
 
RUDY G EXPLAINED TO THESE REPORTERS THAT HE WAS NOW ATTEMPTING TO COURT THE PREPPY RAPIST AND MUDRERER ROBERT CHAMBERS VOTE.  RUDY G DECLARED, "CLAYTON SPEAKS FOR ME."
 
CLAYTON WILLIAMS LOST THE 1990 GOVERNOR'S RACE TO ANN RICHARDS.  THIS FOLLOWED WILLIAMS DECLARING OF RAPE THAT RAPE VICTIMS "MIGHT AS WELL LIE BACK AND ENJOY IT."
 
RUDY G SAID THOSE WERE "WISE WORDS" AND ONES HE'S PROVIDED TO "MANY FEMALE COMPANIONS OVER THE YEARS."
 
 
 
Starting with war resisters.  Agustin Aguayo will be taking part in an Impeach Bush and Cheney Meetup with Ann Wright and David Swanson on November 2nd (6:30 pm) at the Veteran's Memorial Building in Santa Barbara (112 West Cabrillo Boulevard).  That's next Friday, November 2nd.  In other war resister news, Ontario's OPIRG Brock notes that war resister Michael Espinal and his partner Jennifer Harrison spoke at Brock University on Tuesday: "Michael put a very real human face on the horrors that are being committed everyday in Iraq. He spent 14 months as an explosives expert doing house raids, disarming landmines, and other explosives.  Michael was reprimanded for breaking military procedure for only placing enough explosives on the doors to open them, rather than blowing the entire door and frame in the houses.  If you use the amount of explosives the military states you should in its procedurces, "anyone within 5 feet of the door would be killed instantly."  According to Michael most of the intelligence they relied on was from other Iraqi's who told US forces of locations where 'bad' people were.  Those informants were paid about $5.00 'In all the raids I found only two grenades, and a few guns . . . if you were a male over 5 feet you were bound and taken away.'  Michael said.  Bibles were regularly shoved in the pockets of Iraqi's as soldiers would taunt them and tell them their religion was wrong.  We constantly hear on the news of deaths and injuries of Coalition Forces in Iraq due to roadside bombs.  From Michael's experience 'Most of the IED's (Improvised Explosive Device), I found were unexploded US ordinance,' or US placed landmines.  When convoys would drive near the ordinance sometimes the vibration of vehicles passing would be enough to detonate it.  Regardless of the source of the explosive, it is always blamed on 'terrorists'."
 
Meanwhile, Iraq Veterans Against the War is taking part in an event on Saturday, October 27th:
 
If you are a soldier or veteran who has served on active duty or in the Reserves or National Guard since 9/11, and your are frustrated and angry with the way our military has been used and abused to wage an occupation against the people of Iraq, then know that you are not alone.  On October 27th, veterans, soldiers, and citizens will gather in 11 cities around this country in a national expression of the breadth and depth of antiwar sentiment in this nation.  One of the biggest gatherings of IVAW members will be in Boston, where IVAW members from across the Northeast will come together for a fundraiser on Friday night, the march on Saturday, and a regional meeting immediately following the march.  If you area aveteran or active duty person interested in meeting IVAW members in Boston, please e-mail newengland [at] ivaw.org or boston [at] ivaw.org.  The seattle chapter has also been integral in the planning of their regional march, please contact seattle [at] ivaw.org to connect with fellow veterans in the Northwest.  For additional information on regions and chapters participating in the October 27 marches and demos, including those in NYC, LA, and Orlando, please contact the regional coordinator or chapter in your area, http://www.ivaw.org/chaptersandregions.  Check www.Oct27.org for directions to the events and addtional information.
 
Also, Wally has discussed  how he made his own support IVAW t-shirt to wear on campus.  IVAW now has t-shirts that read "I SUPPORT IRAQ VETERANS AGAINST THE WAR." 
 
There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes James Stepp, Michael Espinal, Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Carla Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, Blake LeMoine, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Wilfredo Torres, Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum.


Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline [(877) 447-4487], Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. Tom Joad maintains a list of known war resisters.
 
 
The National Lawyers Guild's convention begins shortly: The Military Law Task Force and the Center on Conscience & War are sponsoring a Continuing Legal Education seminar -- Representing Conscientious Objectors in Habeas Corpus Proceedings -- as part of the National Lawyers Guild National Convention in Washington, D.C.  The half-day seminar will be held on Thursday, November 1st, from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., at the convention site, the Holiday Inn on the Hill in D.C.  This is a must-attend seminar, with excelent speakers and a wealth of information.  The seminar will be moderated by the Military Law Task Force's co-chair Kathleen Gilberd and scheduled speakers are NYC Bar Association's Committee on Military Affairs and Justice's Deborah Karpatkin, the Center on Conscience & War's J.E. McNeil, the National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee's Peter Goldberger, Louis Font who has represented Camilo Mejia, Dr. Mary Hanna and others, and the Central Committee for Conscientious Objector's James Feldman.  The fee is $60 for attorneys; $25 for non-profit attorneys, students and legal workers; and you can also enquire about scholarships or reduced fees.  The convention itself will run from October 31st through November 4th and it's full circle on the 70th anniversary of NLG since they "began in Washington, D.C." where "the founding convention took place in the District at the height of the New Deal in 1937,  Activist, progressive lawyers, tired of butting heads with the reactionary white male lawyers then comprising the American Bar Association, formed the nucleus of the Guild." 
 
From the National Lawyers Guild to the Center for Constitutional Rights.  On October 11th, CCR filed suit against Blackwater over the September 16th slaughter of civilians in Baghdad by Blackwater USA on behalf of the families of Himoud Saed Atban, Usama Fadhil Abbas and Oday Ismail Ibraheem (all three killed in the slaughter) and Talib Mutlaq Deewan who was wounded in the attack.  Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez (Democracy Now!) broke the news that day and interviewed CCR's Susan Burke who explained, "We were approached by the families of three gentlemen who were shot and killed, as well as a gentleman who was very seriously injured.  They came to us because they know of our work representing the torture victims at Abu Ghraib, and they asked us whether it would be possible to try to get some form of justice, some form of accountability, against this rogue corporation."  CCR continues to pursue the issue of torture.  Today Juan Gonzalez (Democracy Now!) interviewed CCR president Michael Ratner and Jeanne Sulzer of the International Federation of Human Rights about the lawsuit filed by CCR and IFHR
 
JUAN GONZALEZ: Jeanne, I'd like to ask you, what happened this morning in France?
 
JEANNE SULZER: Well, the complaint was filed yesterday before the Paris prosecutor around 5:00 p.m. Paris time. This morning, Rumsfeld was present at the conference where he was scheduled. So what we are awaiting now is signs from the prosecutor to know whether an investigation has been opened or not. So what we needed here in France was to make sure that Rumsfeld was actually present on the French territory, which is the case. He's still here in Paris.
 
JUAN GONZALEZ: And now, was he actually served with any papers there, or what happened when he actually spoke?
 
JEANNE SULZER: Well, actually, the information we have is that the complaint has not been served on him. He has not been yet asked to account for the accusations in the complaint. So, as of now, again, we are waiting to see whether the prosecutor is still reviewing the complaint, and hopefully he will not wait too long, because our fears are that Rumsfeld will escape as soon as he can. So now the big issue is the pressure on the prosecutor and, of course, the higher-ups of the French authorities to take a decision on the complaint. But France has a very clear obligation to investigate and prosecute into this case under the torture convention, as Rumsfeld is present on the French territory.
 
Gonzalez noted that this is case number five against Rumsfeld.
 
MICHAEL RATNER: The big difference with this case and the other cases is Rumsfeld is actually in France. And when an alleged torturer goes into a country, but particularly France, the obligation on the prosecutor to begin an investigation is much stronger than in other cases of so-called universal jurisdiction. We brought two cases in Germany; one of those is still on appeal. There's a case in Argentina, and there's a case in Sweden.
I think the point of all of this is to really give Rumsfeld no place to hide. And the French case, really, because he is there, is extraordinary. I mean, that he was, in my -- in a sense, Juan, dumb enough to go to France, knowing that they have this kind of jurisdiction, is shocking. And, you know, I think one of the things that people can do right now is to put pressure on the French prosecutor to make sure he opens an investigation. We're going to have that fax number, etc., on our website, which the Center has a new website now: ccrjustice.org, ccrjustice.org, which in a couple of hours you can go to to fax materials. So this is a very, very exciting effort, and I think we're going to really pin Rumsfeld in in this.
I have a question, Jeanne: if they somehow don't open the prosecution and he leaves, do they still have an obligation to open the prosecution, even after he's gone?
 
JEANNE SULZER: In theory, there is, because what you need is, when the complaint is being filed, that the person, the alleged person, is present on the territory, and he was when the complaint was filed. So, yes, but they could, of course, say that now that he is not present on the territory anymore, there is no jurisdiction. But, yes, they should -- actually, the investigation should be opened now. If he escapes today, there is still basis for the French jurisdiction.
 
 
CCR notes that they and IFHR have joined with the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) and the French League for Human Rights in the filing "charging former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld with ordering and authorizing torture. . . .  The criminal complaint states that because of the failure of authorities in the United States and Iraq to launch any independent investigation into the responsibility of Rumsfeld and other high-level U.S. officials for torture despite a documented paper trail and government memos implicating them in direct as well as command responsibility for torture -- and because the U.S. has refused to join the International Criminal Court -- it is the legal obligation of states such as France to take up the case.  In this case, charges are brought under the 1984 Convention against Torture, ratified by both the United States and France, which has been used in France in previous torture cases. . . . Former U.S. Army Brigadier General Janis Karpinski, former commander of Abu Ghraib and other U.S.-run prisons in Iraq, submitted written testimony to the Paris Prosecutor for the plaintiffs' case on Rumsfeld's responsibility for the abuse of detainees." 
 
 
Dorren Carvajal (International Herald Tribune) notes Karpinski "contended that the abuses started after the appearance of Major General Geoffrey Miller, who was sent as an emissary by Rumsfeld to assist military intelligence interrogators.  Miller crticized the interrogators for 'being too nice to the prisoners,' she said, and promised more resources.  In her statement, Karpinski said he summed up the new approach in two sentences: 'Look, you have to treat them like dogs.  If they ever felt like anything more than dogs, you have effectively lost control of the interrogation.'  Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, said in a statement that the aim of the latest legal complaint was to demonstrate 'that we will not rest until those U.S. officials involved in the torture program are brought to justice'."   
 
Karpinski (PDF format warning) notes, "MG Miller was working almost exclusively with the military intelligence people and the military intelligence interrogators during the course of his visit.  He was not interested in assisting with detention operations; rather he was focusing on interrogation operations and teaching interrogators harsher techniques as a means to obtain more actionable intelligence.  MG Miller was spending almost all of his time with the Military Intelligence Officers (J2) BG Barbara Fast and the Commander of the Military Intelligence Brigade, Colonel Pappas.  During his in-brief, his introduction when he first arrived there with his team, he responded to a military interrogator's question. . . .  Then MG Miller said, 'My first observation is you are not in charge of the interrogations.'  He said they were being too nice to the prsioners.  MG Miller said they the interrogators were not being aggressive enough.  He used an example from Guantanamo Bay."  In addition, Karpinski notes the Rumsfeld Memo -- "a memo posted on a column just outside of their small administrative office.  The memorandum was signed by the Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, and it discussed Authorized Interrogation techniques including use of loud music and prolonged standing postions, amongst several other techniques.  It was one page.  It mentioned stress positions, noise and light discipline, the use of music, disrupting sleep patterns, those types of techniques.  There was also a handwritten note out to the side in the same ink and in the same script as the signature of the Secretary of Defense.  The notation written in the margin said 'Make sure this happens!'  And people understood it to be from Rumsfeld.  This memorandum was a copy; a photocopy of the original, I would imagine.  I thought it was unusual for an interrogation memorandum to be posted inside of a dtention cell block, because interrogations were not conducted in the cell block, at least to my understanding and knowledge." 
 
Rumsfeld served as Secretary of the Defense under both Gerald Ford and the Bully Boy.   On May 7, 2004 Rumsfeld testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee then examining the Abu Ghraib torture and declared, "Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, in recent days there has been a good deal of discussion about who bears responsibility for the terrible activities that took place at Abu Ghraib.  These events occurred on my watch.  As secretary of defense, I am accountable for them and I take full responsibility."  Rumsfeld was replaced with Robert Gates on December 18, 2006.  There was not and has not been any accountability. [FYI, Ratner is also a co-host -- along with Heidi Boghosian, Dalia Hashad and Michael Smith -- of WBAI's Law and Disorder -- which also airs online and on other radio stations across the US.]
 
 
 
 

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