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An editorial today in the Los Angeles Times gets it exactly right on the Bush Administration's unprecedented and unparalled secrecy in terrorism matters. From When Justice Goes Mute:
"The American people are losing rights and freedoms each time a federal judge sides with the Bush administration's blanket orders to close courtroom doors, silence detainees or withhold evidence from defense lawyers."
"Last week, a three-judge panel added another notch to the president's victory column by ruling that government agents could shut down a U.S.-based Islamic charity and then refuse to give any evidence to defense lawyers -- or the public -- of the group's alleged links to international terrorists."
"The Global Relief Foundation, based in Illinois, is one of the world's largest Islamic charities. The president insists that it was directing contributions to terrorists. In December 2001, U.S. Treasury agents froze its bank accounts and confiscated computers."
"Maybe Global Relief does aid terrorists. Maybe it doesn't, as the organization's lawyers insist. But by letting the government keep secret its evidence, the judges have rendered worthless the group's constitutional due process rights, including the right to contest these allegations. "If there is ... evidence," the charity's lawyer said, "it's evidence I've never seen."
"American citizens should be more than a little alarmed at a lengthening chain of decisions in which judges sanction presidential actions shredding constitutional rights and limiting the openness that democracy needs to function."
There's more, but this is the gist, and it is something more people need to wake up to. We have a President and an Attorney General who are trampling constitutional rights and too few are complaining because it's not happening to them....yet.
(link via Buzzflash)
Holly Burkhalter, Director of Physicians for Human Rights gives three reasons the U.S. should say No to Torture , and concludes:
"Treating captured combatants humanely should not be a difficult task for the United States when it goes to war; it is the bare minimum. To date, the Bush administration has flunked this rudimentary test of military professionalism, and in so doing degraded itself, along with the international law norms it flagrantly violates."
An estimated total of 2,122,244 people were killed during the war in Vietnam. Of these, 58,169 were Americans. Of those Americans, 11,465 were teenagers. An estimated 3,650,946 additional people were wounded, of whom 304,000 were Americans. 153,329 Americans were categorized as 'seriously' wounded. That total includes 10,000 amputees.According to the Oxford Companion to American Military History:An estimated 444,000 North Vietnamese and 220,557 South Vietnamese military personnel and 587,000 civilians were killed.
6,727,084 tons of bombs were dropped. This is about two-and-a-half times the total tonnage dropped on Germany during World War II.
3,750 fixed wing aircraft and 4,865 helicopters were lost.
18 million gallons of poisonous chemicals were poured on Vietnam.
The dollar cost of the United States involvement in the war in Vietnam is estimated at $140 billion.
The American movement against the Vietnam War was the most successful antiwar movement in US history. During the Johnson administration, it played a significant role in constraining the war and was a major factor in the administration's policy reversal in 1968. During the Nixon years, it hastened US troop withdrawals, continued to restrain the war, fed the deterioration in US troop morale and discipline (which provided additional impetus to US troop withdrawals), and promoted congressional legislation that severed US funds for the war. The movement also fostered aspects of the Watergate scandal, which ultimately played a significant role in ending the war by undermining Nixon's authority in Congress and thus his ability to continue the war. It gave rise to the infamous 'Huston Plan'; inspired Daniel Ellsberg, whose release of the Pentagon Papers led to the formation of the Plumbers; and fed the Nixon administration's paranoia about its political enemies, which played a major part in concocting the Watergate break-in itself. Based on that, one of the lessons to be learned as a result of the experience of the United States in Vietnam would seem to be that popular opinion can, in fact, change policy at the highest levels of power. Enough people, saying 'This is wrong', loudly enough and long enough, can make a difference.
We don't need a draft. We need people to speak up against a pre-emptive war in Iraq. We need to convince our elected officials in Congress to pass a bill limiting Presidential action in Iraq and Korea and elsewhere without Congressional approval, as the Senate did in 1970 with respect to Cambodia.
"The Pentagon has ordered some units of the 45,000-member U.S. 1st Marine Expeditionary Force to deploy from California to the Gulf region to join thousands of other American troops preparing for a possible war with Iraq, defense officials said on Friday."
"Spokesmen at 1st Marine Expeditionary Force headquarters in Camp Pendleton, Calif., confirmed that an order to deploy "elements" of the big force was received this week, but would not say how many or exactly when and where they would go."
"...The Army is already beginning to deploy more than 11,000 soldiers from the 3rd Infantry Division in the state of Georgia as well as hundreds of engineers and intelligence specialists from Germany to the Gulf in a new year surge of troops, warplanes and ships in case President Bush orders an invasion of Iraq. Nearly 60,000 U.S. military personnel are in the Gulf and that number could double in coming weeks."
"The Spanish judge who has made a world name for himself fighting terrorism launched a stinging attack on Sunday against US President George W. Bush, saying his government was trampling on the rights of suspects."
"The Bush administration does not recognise the rights of terrorists to defend themselves and has made those rights all but disappear," Baltasar Garzon said in an interview with El Pais newspaper. Garzon, who has fought against Basque separatists in Spain and led international efforts to prosecute former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet for war crimes, said Bush had crushed personal liberties since the September 11 attacks."
"The fight against terrorism since September 11 has increased the risk of a false system of security being put in place to the detriment of freedoms and rights," he said. "The case of terrorists held in Guantanamo (the US base in Cuba), Afghanistan and Pakistan proves that security is trumping every other principle of justice or rights," Garzon said."
Link via Buzzflash.
The Times of London is reporting that the bomb seized from the baggage handler at Charles De Gaulle airport in Paris was primed and "ready for action."
"The explosives and detonators that were allegedly found on Saturday in the car of Abderazak Besseghir, a French citizen of Algerian origin, amounted to a bomb that was "ready for action", police said today. The arsenal consisted of five sticks of plastic explosive, two detonators and a slow-burning fuse as well as an automatic pistol and a machine pistol."
"Mr Besseghir has not provided any information since his arrest at the end of his working shift on Saturday evening. He was detained by airport police after a member of the armed forces, who was passing through the airport, reported that he saw a man handling an automatic weapon in his car in one of the indoor car parks."
On the topic of airport security, we took two flights the other day, from two major U.S. cities, and neither one had screeners at the gate doing random security checks. A few people on the flight commented on their noticeable abscence. Does anyone know if this is permanent or just a fluke?
The agency now at the center of our domestic intelligence efforts is the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The FBI's mistakes before Sept. 11 are well-known. Yet only recently, the bureau's number two official said he was "amazed and astounded" by its continued sluggishness in fighting terror. The homeland security bill, which I supported, is a good step forward in many areas, but it leaves the FBI virtually untouched....We agree the FBI is not cut out to be an intelligence gathering agency. As to whether we need yet another agency with a "homeland" designation, we're not convinced.When asked about the terrorist threat, senior FBI officials won't tell you where the terrorists are and what they are planning. Instead, they'll tell you how many cases they have open and how many wiretaps they are running. The answer proves they don't get the intelligence question.
The central goal of a new homeland intelligence agency should be uncovering terrorist threats before they cause harm. That job will have three basic components: first, to gather information about terrorists, their activities and their plans; second, to analyze data, search for patterns and assess threats; and third, to get that information and analysis to the right people so we can stop terrorists cold.
Because the focus will be intelligence, the new agency's officers don't even need arrest powers. Those responsibilities should remain with law enforcement. Incompatible missions are the reason we have this problem in the first place....
I first proposed a new intelligence agency two months ago. Just last week, the joint congressional inquiry into the Sept. 11 attacks urged Congress to consider the idea promptly. The administration, after initially signaling support, has backed off, under bureaucratic pressure from the FBI. That's a huge mistake. At a time when even marginal agencies are shifting into a new department, we need the courage to reform where it's needed the most.
Politics in the Zeros reports first-hand on the anti-war march in Hollywood yesterday.
The International Herald Tribune last week featured an article and poll on the rising anti-American tide as demonstated by a survey of global citizens' attitudes to themselves and the world. The poll was conducted by the non-partisan Pew research center in Washington.
"Despite an initial outpouring of public sympathy for America following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, discontent with the United States has grown around the world over the past two years. Images of the U.S. have been tarnished in all types of nations: among longtime NATO allies, in developing countries, in Eastern Europe and, most dramatically, in Muslim societies."
"Since 2000, favorability ratings for the U.S. have fallen in 19 of the 27 countries where trend benchmarks are available. While criticism of America is on the rise, however, a reserve of goodwill toward the United States still remains. The Pew Global Attitudes survey finds that the U.S. and its citizens continue to be rated positively by majorities in 35 of the 42 countries in which the question was asked. True dislike, if not hatred, of America is concentrated in the Muslim nations of the Middle East and in Central Asia, today’s areas of greatest conflict."
"The Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States drew widespread sympathy abroad. But as the survey shows, that sympathy has dwindled in the publics of several countries, testing even the support of traditional allies. Huge majorities in France and Germany, as well as Russia, oppose the use of force to depose President Saddam Hussein of Iraq."
"Even as Washington has inaugurated a global campaign to improve its image in Muslim countries in hopes of eroding support for terrorism, the poll found substantial support in many Muslim countries for the notion that violence is justifiable in defense of Islam."
"Madeleine Albright, the former U.S. secretary of state, called that result ‘‘absolutely stunning’’ and ‘‘very difficult to absorb.’’ Albright, who chairs the Pew Global Attitudes Project, said that ‘‘clearly, an awful lot of work needs to be done for us to understand Islam, and for Muslim nations to understand what we’re about.’’
"The notion of justifiable violence found the lowest level of support among the Muslims of Tanzania, Turkey and Uzbekistan, all below 20 percent."
Lisa English over at RuminateThis has a list of the major anti-war protests scheduled for this weekend, and tells us to go over to the activist site United for Peace for details of even more planned events.
Digital surveillance critic and journalist Jack King directs us to this Department of Justice Press Release outlining the "improvements" in electronic surveillance for "law enforcement" purposes contained in the Joint Intelligence Committee Inquiry Recommendations:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE AG
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2002(202) 514-2008
WWW.USDOJ.GOVTDD (202) 514-1888
STATEMENT OF BARBARA COMSTOCK, DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, REGARDING THE JOINT INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE INQUIRY (JICI) RECOMMENDATIONS
"The Department of Justice welcomes the recommendations of the Joint Intelligence Committee Inquiry into the events preceding September 11th and views the recommendations as an endorsement of our FBI reforms over the past 15 months since the attacks, as we transform the FBI to meet the unprecedented terrorist threat. After September 11, we redefined the primary mission of the Department and the FBI to prevent future terrorist acts on the American people and immediately began to build the new FBI to meet this extraordinary challenge.
For nearly 100 years, the FBI has earned a reputation as the world's premier law enforcement agency based primarily on its ability to collect information - whether through physical surveillance, electronic surveillance, or human source development. The FBI has a national and worldwide presence with more than 11,500 highly trained Special Agents in 56 domestic field offices and 45 foreign offices. We have built upon those decades of experience to transform the FBI into an organization capable of preventing terrorist attacks against Americans. We are constantly improving and refining our efforts.
Under the direction of Attorney General Ashcroft and FBI Director Mueller, the Department and the FBI have undergone tremendous change, both in structure and culture, as the Department dedicates itself to prevent terrorist attacks. While improvements are necessary and ongoing as we adapt to this unprecedented threat, the Department believes that the FBI is well suited to serve as the domestic intelligence and terrorism prevention agency in the United States.
To that end, the Department began this transformation immediately after the 9/11 attacks. In fact, most of the recommendations of the joint inquiry reflect initiatives that have been ongoing within the Department since the early days following 9/11. And all this has been done while simultaneously conducting the largest investigation in the history of the United States.
Recommendations of the Joint Intelligence Committee that are already underway within the Department of Justice and the FBI include:
*The reorganization of the FBI for the prevention of terrorist attacks:
*Doubled the number of intelligence analysts.
*Established the National Joint Terrorism Task Force at FBI headquarters and 56 regional JTTFs.
*Established the Foreign Terrorist Tracking Task Force, which has identified 204 known or suspected terrorists.
*Enhanced its analytical capacity through the creation of the Office of Intelligence, the component which ensures that intelligence is shared as appropriate within the FBI and the rest of the United States Government. The FBI has also significantly increased the resources allocated to analysis.
*Reduced the legal and cultural barriers between law enforcement and intelligence agencies by implementing the USA PATRIOT Act and the Attorney General's Investigative Guidelines. USA PATRIOT allowed for the sharing of information obtained under provisions of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) between law enforcement and intelligence personnel, both within the FBI and the Intelligence Community.
*The FBI's reallocation of manpower and effort to combat terrorism since 9/11 has resulted in substantially increased efforts to penetrate terrorist organizations operating in the United States through greater use of electronic surveillance, development of human sources, and the use of undercover operations. While the exact numbers are classified, we have utilized these methods with much greater frequency - and to great effect -in terrorism investigations since 9/11.
*Information sharing concerning terrorist activity with other federal, state and local agencies has been improved in a variety of ways. The Bureau's Joint Terrorism Task Forces (JTTFs) currently have 649 state and local epresentatives and 438 representatives from other federal agencies participating. The pilot project JTTF Information Sharing Initiative is an integrated database of federal, state and local law enforcement information, which will soon be expanded to select cities across the country. The FBI Intelligence Bulletin is published once a week and provided to state and local law enforcement agencies. The Office of Law Enforcement Coordination was created as a new Division within the FBI to
enhance the coordination and communication between the FBI and state, municipal, county and tribal law enforcement on a national level.
*Following the terrorist attacks on 9/11, FBI HQ compiled what became known as the "Project Lookout Watch List." The project was successful in identifying a number of individuals potentially connected to the 9/11 investigation. Due to the success of this effort and in recognition of the need to maintain a centralized repository of names of investigative interest related to terrorism investigations, Director Mueller instructed the establishment of a permanent Terrorism Watch List (TWL) to serve as the FBI's single, integrated listing of individuals of investigative interest that is accessible throughout the law enforcement and intelligence communities.
*Significant improvements are underway in the FISA program.
*Better coordination between law enforcement and intelligence agents and prosecutors, recognizing the fact that persons involved in terrorism are often involved in other criminal activities.
*The development of a secure communications capacity in the field so that FBI Field Offices, FBI Headquarters and the Department of Justice can communicate and manage the FISA process in real time.
*Doubling the number of attorneys in the FBI's national Security Law Unit.
*The creation of a FISA unit within the FBI's General Counsel's Office to ensure all FISA applications move expeditiously through the process.
*Creation of a new mandatory training program in the use of FISA for FBI agents and Designated Justice Department prosecutors from every U.S. Attorney's office.
*The deployment of Office of Intelligence Policy Review (OIPR) attorneys to the field to work directly with Assistant U.S. Attorneys and FBI agents.
These reforms have led to major successes in the war against terrorism and our efforts to protect the American people from terrorist attacks:
*We've disrupted alleged terrorist cells in Buffalo, Detroit, and Portland and arrested 18 suspected terrorists.
*We arrested Zacarias Moussaoui (who is awaiting trial) and obtained guilty pleas from John Walker Lindh and the shoe-bomber, Richard Reid.
*We've brought criminal charges against 134 individuals and have secured 99 convictions, either through trial or plea to date.
*We've deported 478 individuals.
*We've designated 39 entities as terrorist organizations and frozen the assets of 62 organizations that fund terrorist activities resulting in $125 million in frozen assets worldwide.
The President's vision for Homeland Security emphasizes information sharing between agencies and the integration of law enforcement and intelligence capabilities. We have made great strides already at implementing that vision. Moreover, the FBI brings decades of experience working within the parameters of the 4th Amendment and within the processes and supervision of the Department of Justice which is charged with not only enforcing our laws, but with upholding and defending civil liberties.
We look forward to working with the Congress and the Administration to continue to improve our capacity to protect America and defend freedom."
That second to last paragraph about the FBI's experience with the 4th Amendment and DOJ's experience with upholding and defending civil liberties is really reassuring to us. We say watch these changes closely--Big Brother is not just out there, he's moving in with us.
Here is the original scope of the Joint Intelligence Committee Inquiry on Sept. 11.
Through a comment posted here by Skippy, we learn that 8 protesters were arrested December 4 at Colorado Senator Wayne Allards's office in Englewood Colorado. Here's the report, verbatim (scroll down to last entry):
Wednesday, 4th December, 2002: Englewood, CO: Eight Activists Opposed to War Arrested at Senator Allard’s Office
Eight nonviolent anti-war activists were arrested at Senator Wayne Allard’s office in Englewood, CO Wednesday evening. They went to his office to insist that the Senator hold a public forum with his constituents and respond to their concerns regarding the possibility of further military action in Iraq. The protestors, some affiliated with the Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center in Boulder, CO, began the peaceful sit-in at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, December 04, 2002, pledging to remain in the office until the Senator agreed to attend the forum. The Senator’s staff agreed to hold a "regular 60 minute-long Town Meeting", but not one exclusively dedicated to the looming war against Iraq.
Vowing to stay until the Senator agreed to a meeting exclusively dedicated to the topic of the war, the activists issued this statement to the Senator’s staff:
"We are disappointed that Senator Allard has decided not to hold a one hour forum with his constituents on the urgent issue of war with Iraq. This minimizes the issue, and all the Coloradoans who are disturbed by the immoral actions being taken by our government. We are committed to staying here until Senator Allard agrees to a one-hour Town Meeting dedicated to this crucial issue."
Refusing to change their position, Senator Allard’s staff had the activists arrested and taken to Arapaho County Jail for booking. "We feel that Senator Allard ignored the will of the people whom he represents when he voted to give President Bush the permission to preemptively start another war with Iraq," noted Andrew Tirman, a spokesperson for the group. The affinity group, named "Collateral Damage", is opposed to an increased military involvement in Iraq for many reasons, "We are here because we feel that the human and economic costs of Bush’s proposed war are much too great. We refuse to accept the Bush administration’s excuse of ‘regime change’ to cover for the
American imperialist quest for hegemony over the world’s oil fields," Tirman said.
For more information contact: Carolyn Bninski, Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice Center, (303) 444-6981 bninski@qwest.net
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