…from beneath the crooked bough, witness 230 years of brutal tyranny by the al Khalifas come to an end

Britain to increase support for Syrian rebels
Al Akhbar – 3 August, 2012

Britain promised more support for Syrian rebels on Friday after the resignation of envoy Kofi Annan highlighted the failure of international diplomacy to halt the 17-month-old conflict in Syria.

“That doesn’t mean … that we give up on diplomacy,” British Foreign Secretary William Hague told BBC Radio 4. “We don’t give up on the diplomacy with Russia and with China. But we will have to do other things as well.”

Moscow and Beijing have frequently complained about Western and Gulf Arab backing for the insurgents locked in an increasingly bloody drive to topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, saying such support undermines peace efforts.

“We will over the coming weeks increase our practical but non-lethal support to the opposition,” Hague said. “We have helped with communications and matters of that kind and we will help them more in this situation given the scale of death and suffering and the failure so far of the diplomatic process.”

Assad says the insurgency is the work of foreign-backed “terrorists”, with his own forces acting to restore stability.

Britain and the United States have blamed Russia and China for the failure of the peace mission Annan had conducted on behalf of the United Nations and Arab League.

“It (the diplomatic process) is not dead but … it is a bleak moment,” said Hague, who met Russian President Vladimir Putin in London on Thursday. “Diplomacy has not worked so far. Diplomacy has so far failed the people of Syria.”

Annan cited the continued “finger pointing” among world powers as one of the reasons for his resignation, but Britain, the US and Germany insist on blaming Russia and China for the failure of his project.

Russia and China thwarted three Western attempts at the UN Security Council to push through resolutions that would have paved the way for military action in Syria.

Moscow and Beijing are wary that the West is seeking to exploit the Syrian crisis to further their interests.

The two powers point to a UN resolution in 2011 on Libya, which ultimately led to Western military intervention that toppled Muammar Gaddafi, with Europe grabbing much of Libya’s lucrative oil resources. …source

Sponsors of Terrorism: A U.S. List with anti-Cuban Tinge
3 August, 2012 – nsnbc

Havana, Aug 1 (Prensa Latina via Cubadebate) Cuba’s inclusion for the twentieth time consecutive in the list of sponsors of terrorism that makes the United States unilaterally aims to justify the hostile policy of the White House against Havana. As before, since it inserted in 1982 this country in that list, Washington referred to the alleged support to foreign groups considered as terrorists, but only based on media reports.

This time also said that Cuba has deficiencies with respect to international standards in fighting money laundering and the financing of terrorist groups.

Immediately the State Department report was rejected by the Cuban Foreign Ministry, considering as hoax the attempt to ignore the collaboration of the country with the mechanisms of the United Nations (UN) in the fight against that scourge.

United States hides the fact that Cuba gives truthful and accurate information periodically to the appropriatet UN mechanisms on these issues (money laundering) and others referred to the fight against terrorism, the statement said.

It also ignores that in February this year the government renewed the proposal to agree a bilateral program to fight against terrorism, to which the U.S. government has not responded.

Thus, Washington justifies the policy of blockade it maintains against its neighbor for over 50 years, by establishing through this list that Cuba can not receive financial aid or enjoy of trade benefits or financial treaties.

The statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cuba also discredited exercise considering that the United States does not have the slightest moral authority in the matter.

It is well known that the Washington government has used state terrorism as a weapon of its policy against Cuba, which has caused 3 478 dead and 2 099 disabled.

It has also sheltered tens of terrorists, some of whom still live freely in that territory, the statement continued, referring to Luis Posada Carriles, a Cuban-born terrorist who lives in Miami.

Posada Carriles is responsible with the midair bombing of a Cuban airliner in 1976 with 73 people aboard, fact which he admitted, and for which Venezuela claims for his extradition to finish judging him, a request which was denied by the U.S. authorities.

Beyond the current justifications for keeping Cuba on the list of sponsors of terrorism is the decision of the White House to continue its hostility against this nation of 11.2 million inhabitants.

Undoubtedly, with its exercise the United States discredits a fight that humanity must carry out for the sake of its own survival. …source

Expect Resistance

Bahrain bus attacked, opposition member held
3 August, 2012 – Agence France Presse – The Daily Star

DUBAI: An interior ministry bus was attacked in Bahrain on Friday, state news agency BNA reported, as the opposition reported the arrest of a woman member trying to travel abroad for an Amnesty International conference.

“A group of rioters and saboteurs attacked the bus with Molotov cocktail bombs” near the Shiite village of Bani Jamra, BNA quoted a police official as saying.

The agency said the driver and a companion were unhurt but the bus was gutted.

“Police have launched an inquiry to identify the perpetrators and bring them to justice,” the official was quoted as saying.

Witnesses said protesters and police clashed in several Shiite villages late on Thursday and early on Friday.

Dozens of people chanted “Down with (King) Hamad” and “The people want to overthrow the regime,” as they waved the kingdom’s red and white flag, they said.

Security forces fired tear gas and birdshot, the witnesses said, adding that several people were wounded.

The authorities accuse Shiite protesters of using petrol bombs against security forces during frequent demonstrations in villages outside the capital Manama.

Sporadic protests have intensified since a March 2011 crackdown ended month-long protests in Manama’s main Pearl Square demanding democratic reforms in the Sunni-ruled Shiite-majority Gulf state.

The main Shiite opposition bloc Al-Wefaq said the authorities detained a leading female member, Ahlam al-Khuzai, at the airport early on Friday.

Khuzai was arrested as she was travelling to Tunisia for a conference organised by London-based rights watchdog Amnesty International, Al-Wefaq said in a statement.

“Al-Wefaq is following with great concern the arrest of its general secretariat member Khuzai… She is still in custody,” it said.

Al-Wefaq has said more than 240 people were arrested in July, and dozens were injured in clashes with the police.

Amnesty says 60 people have been killed since the protests first erupted in February last year.

…more

Financing of US Rep. Dan Burton trip to Bahrain raises issues
3 August, 2012 – Bahrain News

When U.S. Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind., and his wife, Samia, arrived in Bahrain in April, they were greeted with a huge welcome poster featuring oversized smiling headshots of the Burtons.

The veteran lawmaker, who is the third-ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, met with the crown prince, after which a local pro-government newspaper ran a picture of the two men under the headline, “Bahrain’s reforms are hailed.” The paper reported that Burton had “lauded His Majesty for his statesmanship (and) steps to modernise Bahrain and promote reforms,” amid continuing pro-democracy protests.

When the congressman returned to Washington from Bahrain, he took to the House floor to praise Bahrain’s leaders and criticize protesters

Burton’s soothing words for the embattled government weren’t the only unusual thing about this trip.

The $20,966 cost of the trip, including business-class flights for Burton and his wife, was paid by a nonprofit group, the Bahrain American Council, created last year by the lobbying and public relations firm Policy Impact Communications to promote the Bahraini government line in Washington. …more

Bahrain riot police fire tear gas, stun grenades on protesters
3 August, 2012 – RT

Published: 03 August, 2012, 14:58
Bahraini policemen arrest protestors during an anti-government demonstration in the village of Bani Jamrah, West of Manama, on August 2, 2012 (AFP Photo / Mohammed Al-Shaikh)

Bahraini policemen arrest protestors during an anti-government demonstration in the village of Bani Jamrah, West of Manama, on August 2, 2012 (AFP Photo / Mohammed Al-Shaikh)

TAGS: Arms, Conflict, Middle East, Protest, Politics, Human rights, Opposition, Police

Bahraini riot police have fired tear gas and stun grenades at hundreds of demonstrators attempting to block a highway. Frequent antigovernment protests have wracked the country since February 2011.

Protesters and police clashed in several Shiite villages late Thursday and early Friday, witnesses told AFP. The recent protests are a move by Bahrain’s opposition to spark further street demonstrations in the country.

The ongoing uprising by the country’s Shiite majority, which claims systematic discrimination on the part of Bahrain’s Sunni monarchy, has weakened after multiple mass arrests. At least 50 people have been killed and many more detained since protests began 18 months ago.

Advocacy group Physicians for Human Rights released a new report this month titled ‘Weaponizing Tear Gas,’ which accused Bahraini authorities of badly injuring and even killing protesters with tear gas by flooding enclosed spaces like cars and houses with the toxic chemicals.

The report stated that government officials misused tear gas against Shiite Muslim civilians, and that the attacks caused severe suffering amounting to torture. The report concluded that Bahraini authorities had “routinely violated every UN principle governing police use of force.”

The EU and US have made few statements and taken no direct action against the Bahraini government’s crackdown on the uprisings.

Richard Sollom, Deputy Director of Physicians for Human Rights and author of the report, noted that the report would likely not be well-received by the Obama administration, which has refrained from criticizing the Bahraini government, he said in an interview with New York Times.

Bahrain is home to the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet, which patrols the Persian Gulf and is a strategic check against Iran.

The Bahraini government did not respond to the group’s request for an account of the exact types of tear gas used by the police, Sollom said. It also refused to reveal where it is obtaining the tear gas, although canisters recovered on the street by activists suggest that they were manufactured in the US, France and Brazil. …more

EU, US race to reward Israel’s massive human rights violations
Jonathan Cook – The Electronic Intifada – 30 July, 2012

The EU upgraded relations with Israel just as it announced plans to demolish several Palestinian villages.

Israel has barely put a foot right with the international community since its attack on Gaza more than three years ago provoked global revulsion.

The right-wing government of Benjamin Netanyahu has serially defied and insulted foreign leaders, including US President Barack Obama; given the settlers virtual free rein; blocked peace talks with the Palestinians; intimidated and marginalized human rights groups, UN agencies and even the Israeli courts; and fueled a popular wave of Jewish ethnic and religious chauvinism against the country’s Palestinian minority, foreign workers and asylum seekers.

No wonder, then, that in poll after poll Israel ranks as one of the countries with the most negative influence on international affairs.

And yet, the lower Israel sinks in public estimation, the more generous western leaders are in handing out aid and special favors to their wayward ally. The past few days have been particularly shameless.

EU violates its own commitments

It was revealed last week that the European Union had approved a massive upgrade in Israel’s special trading status, strengthening economic ties in dozens of different fields. The decision was a reversal of a freeze imposed in the wake of the Gaza attack of winter 2008.

Amnesty International pointed out that the EU was violating its own commitments in the European Neighborhood Policy, which requires that, as a preferred trading partner, Israel respect international human rights, democratic values and its humanitarian obligations.

Equally troubling, the EU is apparently preparing to upend what had looked like an emerging consensus in favor of banning settlement products — the only meaningful punishment the EU has threatened to inflict on Israel. …more

Children Injured in Police Crackdown on Chile’s Mapuche Indians
By Marianela Jarroud – IPS

SANTIAGO, Jul 27 2012 (IPS) – “We have been trampled by this racist Chilean state, which oppresses us. The police force represses all Mapuche people…they shoot at us in cold blood.”

This comment came from a 16-year-old boy describing a police crackdown of which he and other native peasant farmers were victims in the region of Araucanía, 680 km south of Santiago, during an eviction of several indigenous communities occupying land that they claim as their ancestral property.

“That is how children in communities involved in land conflicts feel, because they have grown up in the midst of violence,” Ana Cortés, the head of the ANIDE children’s rights foundation, told IPS.

“The adolescent who gave this account belongs to a community that for years has been trying to recover territory that would make it possible for them to survive and make a living. Racism and repression are all he has known from the state, as reflected by what he says,” she added.
Related IPS Articles

RIGHTS-CHILE: New Wave of Mapuche Land Conflicts
RIGHTS-CHILE: Mapuche Land Conflict Stained With Blood
“We Tripantu”, the Mapuche people’s new year celebration

This complaint about police repression published by the Mapuche language on-line daily Werken offers concrete testimony of the escalation of violence over the last few days, in which a dozen people were arrested and several were injured, including five children.

The conflict broke out on Monday Jul. 23, when residents of Temucuicui, a Mapuche community, were evicted by Carabineros police from the La Romana and Montenegro forestry plantations, where the Mininco and Arauca logging companies operate.

According to indigenous spokespersons, the native demonstrators were holding a peaceful protest and occupation to draw attention to the government of right-wing President Sebastián Piñera’s failure to live up to promises made in the context of the long-running Mapuche struggle for the recuperation of their ancestral land.

The land, they say, forms part of the territory that was seized from their ancestors in the second half of the 19th century during a military invasion process known as the “pacification of Araucanía”.

The Mapuche, Chile’s largest indigenous group, number nearly one million in this country of over 16 million people. The struggle for their rights to what they claim as their ancestral lands in the south of the country has frequently spilled over into violence, as they clash with extractive industries and logging companies.

Monday’s occupation was carried out by some 60 members of the Mapuche community. But some 200 police were sent in to evict the families, using tear gas and shooting both pellets and shotgun bullets, according to witnesses.

Twelve people, including three minors, were arrested, and denounced that they were the victims of abuses, beatings, and sexual harassment by the Carabineros.

The repression continued a few hours later outside the hospital in the nearby community of Collipulli, where police opened fire on a group of Mapuche people who were waiting for the demonstrators being treated for their injuries.

A 12-year-old girl was shot in the back with pellets, and a 16-year-old boy was hit in the head with rubber bullets.

The attack prompted President Piñera to announce an investigation into the role of the Carabineros in the incident, although he emphasised that his government “supports the police action 100 percent.”

According to the Anide Foundation, between 2001 and 2011, Mapuche children between nine months and 16 years of age have been the target of rubber bullets, pellets, tear gas, and beatings by the police. …more

Oaxaca: Protests against “imposition,” detentions, and torture
23 July, 2012 – SIPAZ blog

In observation of the mobilizations agreed upon at the “National Convention against Imposition” on 14 and 15 July in San Salvador Atenco to protest Enrique Peña Nieto–ones that were carried out on 22 July in several states of the country–several protestors were arrested in Oaxaca de Juárez. State police detained David Venegas, “El Alebrije,” just before the end of the “March against imposition” organized by #IAm132. Members of this movement sought to mobilize against this arrest, and for this reason they were beaten and subjected to tear gas, with 24 others being arrested, all of whom were released on 22 July, like David Venegas. Human-rights organizations indicated, based on testimony received, that during the arrests there was psychological and physical torture as well as beatings, with some youth being subjected to electric shocks, in addition to death-threats and rape threats, sexual assault, and robbery. It should be mentioned that the events occurred amidst the Guelaguetza festivities, this being the most important Oaxacan celebration, and two months previous to the “Second National Convention against Imposition,” which is planned to be held in Oaxaca.

In León (Guanajuato), six members of the #IAm132 movement were similarly arrested during mobilizations “against imposition” on 22 July. They were released 18 hours later, in accordance with journalistic accounts. …more

Minneapolis Occupy protesters in court, defend the right to protest
By Staff – 31 July, 2012 – FightBack News

Minneapolis, MN – The Minnesota Occupy movement won a victory in their battle against the Minneapolis city attorney’s office, July 30. Four protesters got their charges reduced to only petty misdemeanors for an October 2011 civil disobedience action at U.S. Bank. This came about despite the Minneapolis city attorney office’s efforts to escalate the charges to crack down on the use of civil disobedience in the fight against home foreclosures.

On October 20, 2011, hundreds of people participated in a demonstration in front of U.S. Bank in downtown Minneapolis to draw attention to the fact that over 25,000 Minnesotans lost their homes to foreclosure in 2010 alone. Seven people were arrested in the intersection in front of the bank and charged with “interfering with pedestrian and vehicular traffic.” Four of them were scheduled to go to trial for that charge on July 30, but on July 20 the prosecutor added the charges of unlawful assembly, public nuisance and not complying with a ‘peace officer.’

In the July 30 hearing, Judge Daniel Moreno sided with the defense’s motion against adding the new charges. He encouraged the prosecution to charge the protesters with petty misdemeanors instead of misdemeanors and, when they would not, he encouraged the accused to do a straight plea to him directly so that he could give them a lesser punishment. All four protesters pled out to petty misdemeanors, despite the prosecution’s courtroom antics to prosecute them to their fullest extent in an effort to crush the local anti-foreclosure movement.

Nationally, the Occupy movement is facing increasing police brutality, police infiltration and trumped up charges. Locally, the Minneapolis city attorney’s office has decided to try to shut down the growing movement of people standing in solidarity with families struggling to save their homes from foreclosure, by giving protesters outrageous charges. For example, the city prosecutors have escalated charges on the 14 protesters who defended the Cruz family home on May 30. Prosecutors at the City Attorney’s office originally charged these supporters with trespassing, but now they are facing riot in the third degree, which is a gross misdemeanor and carries a sentence of up to one year in prison and a $3000 fine. …more–

Solidarity Statement: Speak out against FBI raids & Grand Jury repression in Oregon and Washington
27 July, 2012 – Committee to Stop FBI Repression

Portland Committee Against Political Repression

The Committee to Stop FBI Repression is circulating the following statement on FBI raids and grand jury repression in Portland, Oregon and in Olympia & Seattle in Washington. We urge all progressive organizations to sign on to this statement. To add your group’s name to the solidarity statement, please send an email to:nopoliticalrepression@gmail.com.

On Wednesday July 25th, the FBI conducted a series of coordinated raids against activists in Portland, Olympia, and Seattle. They subpoenaed several people to a special federal grand jury, and seized computers, black clothing and anarchist literature. This comes after similar raids in Seattle in July and earlier raids of squats in Portland.

Though the FBI has said that the raids are part of a violent crime investigation, the truth is that the federal authorities are conducting a political witch-hunt against anarchists and others working toward a more just, free, and equal society. The warrants served specifically listed anarchist literature as evidence to be seized, pointing to the fact that the FBI and police are targeting this group of people because of their political ideas. Pure and simple, these raids and the grand jury hearings are being used to intimidate people whose politics oppose the state’s agenda. During a time of growing economic and ecological crises that are broadly affecting people across the world, it is an attempt to push back any movement towards creating a world that is humane, one that meets every person’s needs rather than serving only the interests of the rich.

This attack does not occur in a vacuum. Around the country and around the world, people have been rising up and resisting an economic system that puts the endless pursuit of profit ahead of the basic needs of humanity and the Earth. From the Arab Spring to the Occupy movement to now Anaheim, people are taking to the streets. In each of these cases, the state has responded with brutal political repression. This is not a coincidence. It is a long-term strategy by state agencies to stop legitimate political challenges to a status quo that exploits most of the world’s people.

We, the undersigned, condemn this and all other political repression. While we may have differences in ideology or chose to use different tactics, we understand that we are in a shared struggle to create a just, free, and liberated world, and that we can only do this if we stand together. We will not let scare tactics or smear campaigns divide us, intimidate us, or stop us from organizing and working for a better world.

No more witch-hunts! An injury to one is an injury to all. …more

Black Horse Lawsuit: No Files Released 7.24.12
26 July, 2012 – Break The Chains

“NorthWest Aim, circa 1972”
donated by Robert Robideau (rip)
LONG RIDE HOME:

PELTIER/BLACK HORSE LAWSUIT STALLED

July 25, 2012
by antoinette nora claypoole
South Texas. July 23, 2012. The secret to a human psyche, the truth of corrupt and global powers, are as elusive as peace in a world gone violent. As brutal as a people gone cloud cuckoo with desire to enslave once wild. Beauty. Women. People of “color” (is white a color), children, the “poor” and those living connected to the land: hippies, counter culture and traditional First Nations: we are all in this dirge on the River Styx, together.

The efforts to be released, into some semblance of justice and chances to rebirth freedom become plagued by not enough gold coins on our eyes.
On July 20, 2012, Judge McCarthy in Buffalo NY, ruled he could find “no public documents” in the 900+ FBI files, in the “Black Horse case”: Michael Kuzma vs. Dept of Justice. Subsequently releasing not one page. To Kuzma and his legal team. Kuzma and the hopeful supporters of Leonard Peltier “lost” this round. But there are more rabbits to pull out of the black hat of fate. Kuzma’s counsel, Daire Brian Irwin, explains a “more complex response to all this” is pending. Meaning, that he will “persist in challenging subsequent FOIA requests” if/as they are corrupted, or denied. As well as “framing the FOIA differently”. And Kuzma says “new FOIA request (s) have already been filed” with the Federal Courts. Requests. Regarding the alleged shooting of an FBI Agent Fitzgerald, by “Frank Black Horse” back in the 1970’s. Where that ride takes us, still begs a map. Maybe a “wanted” poster. As Black Horse is not ‘officially” known to be “dead or live” and privacy acts for the living, prevail. Irwin suggests “Black Horse” give them a call. Why not. Irwin says. “Let us know if he is alive. if he has nothing to hide he can let us know he is alive. And waive the FBI privacy act”.

Yes. The current “loss” in court was perhaps anticipated.
Yet. Irwin reassures the effort by insisting “we will not stop until Leonard is free”.
Current affairs warrant, as always, another peek into the complexities of this historical, brutal mess.

MORE TAR, MORE FEATHERS

Trying again, various long time Leonard Peltier/ American Indian Movement (AIM) supporters are rallying this summer. And Fall. The effort includes a revived Clemency effort, the current Black Horse lawsuit and FOIA requests filed by Peltier’s FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) lawyers, Kuzma. What initially seemed a fine and perhaps “expedited” Court ruling, is now potentially become long and drawn out affair. Down the river, with a couple lost paddies. That initial effort, demanding FOIA information about potential operatives in AIM, which may impact Peltier’s status as prisoner, has been quashed. All along it seemed there were slim chances for a significant, favorable ruling And. Most in Indian Country were/are prepared for the Black Horse case to simply drag on.

Like a tar and feathered crook busted in a local 1890’s saloon.

The May 2012 request for Black Horse files was at best. A wild card suit filed, a belated effort to nail the FBI to their own cheating ways. Kuzma had tried for a few years to simply have access to “anything of public source” about Frank Black Horse, now a verified “operative or informant” for the FBI during the 1970’s. Black Horse had infiltrated the American Indian Movement, and could possibly be implicated in the murder of Anna Mae Aquash, if ANY information about him, is made visible. But the request was compromised from the onset, as Kuzma had narrowed his request for files, to mere “public documents”, news clippings, anything sourced from outside the FBI. …more

The CS Gas used in Bahrain is “Weaponized” in the truest sense of the word. The use of Military Grade CS GAS an Order of Magnitude more potent than “riot control agents” used in the streets of the United States and the United Kingdom is well documented in Bahrain. The weapon being discussed here is a Combat grade CS Gas.

Use of CS Gas in war is prohibited under the terms of the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention, signed by most nations in 1993, with all but five other nations signing between the years of 1994 through 1997. Only five nations have not signed the Chemical Weapons Convention and are therefore unhindered by restrictions on the use of CS gas: Angola, Egypt, North Korea, Somalia, and Syria.

The “weaponization” that the PHR Report discusses concerns the use of CS Gas, typically considered “less-than-lethal”, as a “lethal weapon”. Gas Canisters are being fired as a projectile directly are protesters causing death and CS Gas is being fired directly into homes, transforming them into “gas chambers” where infants and elderly die from asphyxiation. – Phlipn

SEE REPORT FROM PHYSICIANS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS HERE

Bahrain Is Criticized for Its ‘Torrent’ of Tear Gas Use
1 August, 2012 – NYT

Despite a pledge to stop abuses by its security forces, the ruling Sunni minority in the tiny Persian Gulf kingdom of Bahrain is engaged in systematic and disproportionate use of tear gas on its restive Shiite majority, permitting police officers to routinely fire volleys at point-blank range at crowds and into homes and vehicles in Shiite neighborhoods, a leading rights group said in a report released on Wednesday.

A Bahraini protester hit by a tear gas canister on Sunday was treated by underground doctors and nurses in a house after clashes with the police.

The group, the Physicians for Human Rights, which has been highly critical of the Bahraini monarchy’s behavior since the Shiite protests inspired by the Arab Spring uprisings began there 18 months ago, called the policy on tear gas use unprecedented in the world, even among dictatorships where tear gas is a staple tool for crowd control.

Its report, based on dozens of interviews of victims in Bahrain and forensic evidence gathered there by the group’s investigators in April, said the Shiite populace’s abnormally prolonged exposure to the tear gas’s toxic components had already led to an alarming increase in miscarriages, respiratory ailments and other maladies.

It documented examples of grievous wounds suffered by civilians whose skulls and limbs had been struck by metal tear gas canisters blasted from a few feet away. The report also described instances in which people not engaged in protests were attacked with tear gas fired into their cars and through the windows or doors of their homes, including at least two cases in which residents died from complications from exposure to the gas because they were trapped in enclosed spaces.

“Since February 2011, the Bahraini government has unleashed a torrent of these toxic chemical agents against men, women and children, including the elderly and infirm,” asserted the report, titled “Weaponizing Tear Gas.” …more

Netanyahu :U.S. assurances on Iran not enough
2 August, 2012 – By Robert Burns – The Daily Star

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that U.S. statements of solidarity with Israel and its assurances that military strikes are still an option aren’t working to convince Iran that the West is “serious about stopping them” from developing nuclear weapons.

Standing with Leon Panetta, Netanyahu dismissed the U.S. defense chief’s counsel to give diplomacy more time to halt Iran’s nuclear program.

“Right now the Iranian regime believes that the international community does not have the will to stop its nuclear program,” Netanyahu said at his residence in Jerusalem. “This must change, and it must change quickly because time to resolve this issue peacefully is running out.”

Earlier Wednesday, at an Israeli defense site south of Tel Aviv, Panetta stood beside Defense Minister Ehud Barak to declare that the Obama administration is serious about the possibility of resorting to military force against Iran, while adding that all non-military measures must be exhausted first.

Barak sounded as unconvinced as the prime minister, saying he appreciated U.S. support but adding there was an “extremely low” probability of international sanctions ever compelling Iran to give up its nuclear program.

Netanyahu’s and Barak’s statements dramatized the growing strains in U.S.-Israeli relations over Iran.

Tehran has said its nuclear work is for civilian energy uses only, but suspicions it will use enriched uranium for nuclear weapons have resulted in international sanctions and saber-rattling from Israel, which perceives a nuclear Iran as an existential threat. The U.S. has discouraged Israel from a unilateral, pre-emptive military strike on Iran.

Panetta Wednesday said repeatedly “all options,” including military force, are on the table to stop Iran, should sanctions and diplomacy – the preferred means of persuasion – ultimately fail.

However, Panetta said, “If they continue and if they proceed with a nuclear weapon … we have options that we are prepared to implement to ensure that that does not happen.”

Netanhayu has said that if necessary he will order military action against Iran even if Washington objects. Panetta said in his appearance with Barak that he understands Israel must make such important decisions on its own terms.

“Their effort to decide what is in their national security interest is something that must be left up to the Israelis.”

The Panetta visit comes just days after U.S. Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney met with top Israeli officials and said that if he becomes president, he will “honor” whatever Israel decides to do about Iran’s nuclear capabilities.

….more

Excerpts from Manufacturing Consent – Noam Chomsky interviewed by various interviewers

Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media, 1992

QUESTION: You write in Manufacturing Consent [(Pantheon, 1988)] that it’s the primary function of the mass media in the United States to mobilize public support for the special interests that dominate the government and the private sector. What are those interests?

CHOMSKY: Well, if you want to understand the way any society works, ours or any other, the first place to look is who is in a position to make the decisions that determine the way the society functions. Societies differ, but in ours, the major decisions over what happens in the society — decisions over investment and production and distribution and so on — are in the hands of a relatively concentrated network of major corporations and conglomerates and investment firms. They are also the ones who staff the major executive positions in the government. They’re the ones who own the media and they’re the ones who have to be in a position to make the decisions. They have an overwhelmingly dominant role in the way life happens. You know, what’s done in the society. Within the economic system, by law and in principle, they dominate. The control over resources and the need to satisfy their interests imposes very sharp constraints on the political system and on the ideological system.

QUESTION: When we talk about manufacturing of consent, whose consent is being manufactured?

CHOMSKY: To start with, there are two different groups, we can get into more detail, but at the first level of approximation, there’s two targets for propaganda. One is what’s sometimes called the political class. There’s maybe twenty percent of the population which is relatively educated, more or less articulate, plays some kind of role in decision-making. They’re supposed to sort of participate in social life — either as managers, or cultural managers like teachers and writers and so on. They’re supposed to vote, they’re supposed to play some role in the way economic and political and cultural life goes on. Now their consent is crucial. So that’s one group that has to be deeply indoctrinated. Then there’s maybe eighty percent of the population whose main function is to follow orders and not think, and not to pay attention to anything — and they’re the ones who usually pay the costs.

QUESTION: … You outlined a model — filters that propaganda is sent through, on its way to the public. Can you briefly outline those?

CHOMSKY: It’s basically an institutional analysis of the major media, what we call a propaganda model. We’re talking primarily about the national media, those media that sort of set a general agenda that others more or less adhere to, to the extent that they even pay much attention to national or international affairs.

Now the elite media are sort of the agenda-setting media. That means The New York Times, The Washington Post, the major television channels, and so on. They set the general framework. Local media more or less adapt to their structure.

And they do this in all sorts of ways: by selection of topics, by distribution of concerns, by emphasis and framing of issues, by filtering of information, by bounding of debate within certain limits. They determine, they select, they shape, they control, they restrict — in order to serve the interests of dominant, elite groups in the society.

The New York Times is certainly the most important newspaper in the United States, and one could argue the most important newspaper in the world. The New York Times plays an enormous role in shaping the perception of the current world on the part of the politically active, educated classes. Also The New York Times has a special role, and I believe its editors probably feel that they bear a heavy burden, in the sense that The New York Times creates history.

That is, history is what appears in The New York Times archives; the place where people will go to find out what happened is The New York Times. Therefore it’s extremely important if history is going to be shaped in an appropriate way, that certain things appear, certain things not appear, certain questions be asked, other questions be ignored, and that issues be framed in a particular fashion. Now in whose interests is history being so shaped? Well, I think that’s not very difficult to answer.

Now, to eliminate confusion, all of this has nothing to do with liberal or conservative bias. According to the propaganda model, both liberal and conservative wings of the media — whatever those terms are supposed to mean — fall within the same framework of assumptions.

In fact, if the system functions well, it ought to have a liberal bias, or at least appear to. Because if it appears to have a liberal bias, that will serve to bound thought even more effectively. …more

US Department of State
Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism
Country Reports on Terrorism 2011
Report
July 31, 2012

[excerpt from chapter 3]

IRAN

Designated as a State Sponsor of Terrorism in 1984, Iran remained an active state sponsor of terrorism in 2011 and increased its terrorist-related activity, likely in an effort to exploit the uncertain political conditions resulting from the Arab Spring, as well as in response to perceived increasing external pressure on Tehran. Iran also continued to provide financial, material, and logistical support for terrorist and militant groups throughout the Middle East and Central Asia. Iran was known to use the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF) and terrorist insurgent groups to implement its foreign policy goals, provide cover for intelligence operations, and support terrorist and militant groups. The IRGC-QF is the regime’s primary mechanism for cultivating and supporting terrorists abroad.

In 2011, the United States discovered that elements of the Iranian regime had conceived and funded a plot to assassinate Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador to the United States in Washington D.C. Mansour Arbabsiar, an Iranian-born U.S. dual-national working on behalf of the IRGC-QF, was arrested in September 2011 for his role in the plot; also indicted in the case was an IRGC-QF officer who remains at large. Arbabsiar held several meetings with an associate whom Iranian officials believed was a narcotics cartel member. This associate, in fact, was a confidential source for U.S. law enforcement. The thwarted plot underscored anew Iran’s interest in using international terrorism – including in the United States – to further its foreign policy goals.

Despite its pledge to support the stabilization of Iraq, Iran continued to provide lethal support, including weapons, training, funding, and guidance, to Iraqi Shia militant groups targeting U.S. and Iraqi forces, as well as civilians. Iran was responsible for the increase of lethal attacks on U.S. forces and provided militants with the capability to assemble explosives designed to defeat armored vehicles. The IRGC-QF, in concert with Lebanese Hizballah, provided training outside of Iraq as well as advisors inside Iraq for Shia militants in the construction and use of sophisticated improvised explosive device technology and other advanced weaponry.

Qods Force provided training to the Taliban in Afghanistan on small unit tactics, small arms, explosives, and indirect fire weapons, such as mortars, artillery, and rockets. Since 2006, Iran has arranged arms shipments to select Taliban members, including small arms and associated ammunition, rocket propelled grenades, mortar rounds, 107mm rockets, and plastic explosives. Iran has shipped a large number of weapons to Kandahar, Afghanistan, in particular, aiming to increase its influence in this key province.

During the wave of pro-democracy demonstrations in Syria, Iran provided weapons and training to assist the Asad regime in its brutal crackdown that has resulted in the death of more than 5,000 civilians. Iran also continued to provide weapons, training, and funding to Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist groups, including the Palestine Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command. Since the end of the 2006 Israeli-Hizballah conflict, Iran has assisted in rearming Hizballah, in direct violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701. Iran has provided hundreds of millions of dollars in support of Hizballah in Lebanon and has trained thousands of Hizballah fighters at camps in Iran.

In 2011, Iran remained unwilling to bring to justice senior AQ members it continued to detain, and refused to publicly identify those senior members in its custody. It also allowed AQ members to operate a core facilitation pipeline through Iranian territory, enabling AQ to carry funds and move facilitators and operatives to South Asia and elsewhere.

Since 2009, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has called for its members and the international community to institute countermeasures to protect their respective financial sectors as well as the global financial system from the risks – in particular the terrorist financing threat – posed by Iran. In October 2011, the FATF strengthened its language and again called for countermeasures against Iran. Iran has had some limited engagement regarding anti-money laundering/counterterrorist finance and has responded to overtures by multilateral entities such as the UN’s Global Programme against Money Laundering, but it has failed to criminalize terrorist financing and require that financial institutions and other obliged entities file suspicious transaction reports. It has not engaged with FATF and is not a member of a FATF-style regional body. ….source

A reporter’s reflections on ‘the pornography of violence.’

Watching Torture
9 December, 2007 – The Daily Beast – Newsweek

I think I know why Jose Rodriguez, then head of the CIA’s clandestine service, destroyed those two videos of the interrogations of a pair of suspected Al Qaeda operatives. They were disgusting.

We have taken refuge in euphemisms. “Enhanced,” sometimes “aggressive” interrogation techniques—or, the latest offering of a CIA spokesman, “special methods of questioning”—are, deliberately, verbal anesthetic. In the wake of the last great war to save civilization, George Orwell taught us to distrust euphemisms. Always and without exception, they are designed to dull us to the truth. Those CIA videos would have stripped anyone who saw them of that comfortable distancing—confronted everyone who viewed them with the unimaginable reality of what the U.S. government has authorized in our name.

Why do I suspect this? Because I’ve seen two films of torture sessions. Years ago, both of them. Even now, on bad nights, images surface. The unerasable pornography of calculated violence.

One film came from Tehran. The shah’s secret police, the Savak, were notoriously savage. (My first instruction in this came in Amman, Jordan, in the early 1970s. A British consular official told me about an Iranian exile who had gone from Jordan into Iran to try to organize unions. Savak caught him, surgically amputated his arms and legs, and sent his living trunk back to his family in Amman as a warning. I looked for the man, but his family had fled with him from Jordan. The consul knew him, though, and had talked with him.) After the Shah fell in 1979 and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini took over, one of his early appointees to a top job, Sadegh Ghotbzadeh, decided to delve into the Savak archives. He found neatly filed certificates recording the demise of everyone who had died under torture—hundreds and hundreds of forms. “How Ottoman we are,” Ghotbzadeh marveled. “Even in this, there is a procedure to be followed.” He also found a shelf of reels of film. He smuggled a couple out to Cairo, and it was there that, under an oath of secrecy, I viewed one in the Nile-side apartment of an Egyptian friend and ally of Ghotbzadeh’s. (Ghotbzadeh was terrified, trembling. He suspected, correctly as it turned out, that Khomeini’s regime would turn to just these measures, so anyone who knew of them would be at risk. His fear proved prescient; he was executed in 1982.)

I recall the reel unspooling with a clatter through the 16mm projector in that apartment with its curtains drawn. The film lasted, I think, for close to an hour, though my memory may be at fault. It seemed endless. I have no words to convey the horror. The film showed sequences of torture on living victims, men and women, all naked and shackled to what looked like a bed frame. A variety of techniques were demonstrated: cigarette burns to sensitive parts of the body, the effects of electricity, and then on into other savageries I shy from recalling. One technique shown on the film used water. The film was clearly professionally made. There was a commentary, which Ghotbzadeh translated—explaining, among other things, the varying sensitivities of men and women to different techniques, with a filmed example to illustrate each lesson. This was an instructional film. These torture sessions were not even designed to elicit information. The film was intended to teach Savak recruits.

The other film I saw in, of all places, Copenhagen. After a military junta took power in Greece in a coup in 1967, allegations of torture spread swiftly. The Council of Europe decided to have its human rights commission investigate the rumors. Proof was hard to come by. But a film of what was alleged to be a torture session in Athens surfaced in Denmark. (By what route I never could find out.) With a member of the Commission’s inquiry team, a longtime friend, I flew to Copenhagen to view the film. …more

Bahrain: Updates on the case of the 13 political and human rights leaders at the higher court of appeal
2 August, 2012 – ABNA

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) – In the case of the 13 political and human rights leaders, the judge on 4 July 2012 decided to have a closed off informal hearing session for the defense witnesses. When the lawyers threatened to withdraw from the case, the judges decided to hold the hearing in the court, but in private. The judge then also issued a gag order on 14 July 2012 preventing all media from reporting on this case. As a result, the 13 political prisoners asked their lawyers to withdraw from the case.

On 14 July 2012 the court issued an order to assign new lawyers for the defendants. The defendants wrote a letter saying they refuse the assignment of new lawyers to them, as constitutionally speaking lawyers cannot represent a client without their consent. The next hearing on the 14 August 2012 is expected to be the verdict reading. …source

US backs dictatorial regime in Bahrain to retain hegemony
2 August, 2012 – By Colin S. Cavell- PressTV

And why did the US government pressure King Hamad to establish this commission and to issue this report? Because the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet is based in Bahrain, and the US wants to maintain its basing rights on the island kingdom in order to protect its hegemonic position to assert its dominance and control over the Middle Eastern Arab regimes. The commission and the report would demonstrate, it was argued, the maturity of the Al-Khalifa regime and its ability to learn from its mistakes and reform its government.”

Hearings were held today, Wednesday, August 1, 2012, in the US Congress on the “Implementation of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry Report” by the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission (named in honor of the former Democratic representative from California who died in 2008).

Rep. James P. McGovern (D-MA) and Rep. Frank R. Wolf (R-VA) co-chaired the hearings which took place in Room 2237 of the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, DC.

And what did they examine you ask? They purportedly examined the extent to which the government of Bahrain has implemented the BICI proposals.

And what are the BICI proposals? These are recommendations included in a report issued by a commission headed by renowned Egyptian-born international criminal law professor Mahmoud Cherif Bassiouni in November of 2011.

And why did Bassiouni issue this report? Because he was paid by Hamad Al Khalifa, King of Bahrain, to investigate the allegations of human rights abuses during the regime crackdown on democracy protesters from February 14, 2011, when the Arab Spring rebellion commenced in Bahrain, until Saudi Arabia sent in the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council’s (PGCC) so-called Peninsula Shield Forces on March 14, 2011 to “restore order”. Presumably what happened from the 14th of March, 2011 and afterwards could not be attributed to the King or his hangmen and, therefore, were off-limits to Bassiouni and his investigators, even though the killings, the torture, the arrests and jailings, the beatings and harassments continue to this day-i.e. 17 months after the civil conflict erupted-as do the near-daily protests by the pro-democracy citizenry which periodically march in the streets in the hundreds of thousands to demonstrate their resolve against the monarchy.

In essence, King Hamad was strongly urged by the US Department of State and others to whitewash the murders, tortures, beatings, arrests, jailings, beatings, harassment and other crimes of his regime by establishing a commission-the so-called Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI)- on June 29, 2011, headed by a distinguished jurist-i.e. Cherif Bassiouni-so as to indicate a degree of self-reflection and self-criticism in the hope that the world community would absolve him and his regime of any responsibility for maintaining an autocratic 229-year-old hereditary monarchy and allow the kingdom to return to business as usual.

And why did the US government pressure King Hamad to establish this commission and to issue this report? Because the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet is based in Bahrain, and the US wants to maintain its basing rights on the island kingdom in order to protect its hegemonic position to assert its dominance and control over the Middle Eastern Arab regimes. The commission and the report would demonstrate, it was argued, the maturity of the Al-Khalifa regime and its ability to learn from its mistakes and reform its government.

When did Bassiouni issue this report? The date of the issuance of this infamous 500-page Bassiouni Report was Wednesday, November 23, 2011 when senior members of the Al-Khalifa family gathered in one of the King’s palaces, along with numerous reporters, to hear Bassiouni present a 45-minute verbal summary of his findings. Allegedly, the Report “took 9,000 testimonies, offered an extensive chronology of events, documented 46 deaths, 559 allegations of torture, and more than 4,000 cases of employees dismissed for participating in protests.” To his credit, Bassiouni rejected the regime’s completely unfounded claims that the pro-democracy protests were externally initiated by the country of Iran, and he also recommended a series of reforms designed to prevent human rights abuses from re-occurring. The Report, however, failed to place any blame on the leaders of the Al-Khalifa regime, assigning responsibility for instances of torture, excessive use of violence, and other human rights abuses to low-level functionaries.
[Read more →]

BAE Systems H1 profit dips, cautions on US outlook
02 August, 2012 – Bloomberg Business Week

LONDON (AP) — Defense contractor BAE Systems cautioned about its U.S. outlook in the presidential election year as it reported a slight dip in first-half profits.

The company said Thursday its outlook is clouded by uncertainties over defense spending in the United States ahead of November’s election and pricing for Typhoon fighter aircraft ordered by Saudi Arabia.

For the six months ending June 30, BAE said sales were down from 9.2 billion pounds ($14.3 billion) last year to 8.3 billion pounds, primarily because there were no Typhoon deliveries to the Saudis in the period. The completion of deliveries of Gripen fighter deliveries to South Africa last year also impacted on this year’s sales.

Net profit was 1 percent lower at 474 million pounds.

Despite its caution over the U.S., the company reaffirmed previous guidance that it expects modest growth in underlying earnings this year.

Underlying earnings per share — excluding impairments, non-cash finance movements and one-time items — rose from 18.6 pence a year ago to 18.8 pence. BAE declared a 4 percent increase in its first-half dividend, to 7.8 pence.

BAE shares were down 1.9 percent at 306.5 pence in morning trading in London.

“Overall results are fine given the challenging environment, but we feel there is not quite enough here to materially drive the rating following the share’s recent strong performance,” said Andrew Gollan, analyst at Investec Securities.

The company’s main hurdles ahead are likely to center on the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, both big buyers of BAE products. …more

Bahraini Crown Prince orders police to use restraint with protesters
2 August, 2012 – Daly News Egypt

The move came after Bahraini authorities banned public demonstrations by Bahraini political association

The Bahraini crown prince ordered security forces on Tuesday to show more restraint while dealing with Bahraini protesters, according to state-run Bahraini news agency BNA.

“The king’s instructions are clear and decisive, and today I direct them to you again as orders to be implemented, and these are to respect the constitution and the law and (ensure) they are not violated in any form,” Crown Prince Salman was reported by BNA as saying.

The crown prince also stressed the importance of avoiding the use of force against protesters “unless all alternative methods to the security approach are exhausted,” as well as warning against discriminatory action toward citizens of different sects.

The move came after Bahraini authorities banned public demonstrations by Bahraini political associations.

Al Wefaq National Islamic Society – the biggest opposition group in Bahrain – launched a report on its website on Wednesday, stating more than 240 civilians were arrested during the month of July.

The report also noted that some 100 civilians were wounded by authorities – apart from those who remain unknown to the group – and that almost 200 homes have been raided by security forces. …source

Obama signs covert action backing Syrian rebels: reports
2 August, 2012 – Agence France Presse – The Daily Star

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama has signed a covert document authorizing US support for Syrian rebels locked in a battle to overthrow beleaguered President Bashar al-Assad, reports said Wednesday.

The directive was contained in a “finding” — a device authorizing clandestine action by the Central Intelligence Agency, NBC and CNN said, citing unidentified sources.

White House officials declined to comment on the reports but did not specifically rule out the idea that Washington was providing more intelligence support to anti-Assad forces than had previously been made public.

Washington has previously said that it is offering medical and communications assistance to Syrian rebels but declined to supply arms, warning it would be counter-productive to further “weaponize” the conflict.

Officials have confided they are wary of sending armaments to groups about which little is known and who some experts fear may eventually display extremist tendencies.

Reports of an increased US role with Syrian rebels came as the violent showdown in Syria appeared to be edging closer to an endgame, and clashes raged between government and opposition forces in Damascus and Aleppo.

They also coincided with rising political pressure on the White House to demonstrate more support for the opposition in Syria, despite US reluctance to become more directly involved in another Middle Eastern war.

It was not clear when Obama signed the secret order. There was no indication however that Washington had changed its overarching policy of not directly providing arms to the rebels.

On Monday, Obama spoke by telephone with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the two leaders agreed to “accelerate a political transition in Syria,” the White House said.

This “would include the departure of Bashar al-Assad and be responsive to the legitimate demands of the Syrian people,” the statement said.

Syria is in the grip of a conflict now in its 17th month, triggered by Assad’s brutal repression of a pro-democracy revolt. Western and Arab powers have called for him to step down and allow an orderly transition of power.

Washington has been frustrated by Russian and Chinese opposition to direct punitive action against Assad in the UN Security Council and appears now to be seeking ways outside the world body to pressure his regime.

…more

Bahrain understands need for further reforms
By Houda Ezra Nonoo – Bahrain’s Ambassador to the U.S. – 31 July, 2012

On Wednesday, the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission will hold a hearing to assess Bahrain’s progress in implementing the recommendations of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI) Report. Despite what some critics continue to allege, the Government of Bahrain has made tangible, measurable, and verifiable progress in enacting reform in response to the events of February and March 2011. These reforms were not simply made to quiet Bahrain’s critics. Rather, they are a natural extension of a pluralistic, religiously tolerant society that has undergone constant reform over the past 11 years.

The decision by His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa to establish an Independent Commission offered Bahrain an unprecedented opportunity to learn the truth about a painful time in our nation’s history. This forward-thinking move also provided a roadmap to ensure such events would not take place again.

Over the past eight months, Bahrain’s government has worked diligently to enact reforms in line with the Commission’s suggestions. To date, Bahrain has fully implemented 18 of the Report’s 26 recommendations. Work on seven of them has begun and they are in various stages of implementation. One is not yet applicable. The government’s actions resulted in meaningful steps toward reform that has positively impacted the situation on the ground.

Bahrain has begun the process of rebuilding religious sites demolished during the unrest. So far, five sites are nearing completion, eight sites have been prepared for work, and an additional nine sites have been designated for future construction.

With the help of former Miami-Dade Police Chief John Timoney, Bahrain has instituted a new police code of conduct, installed security cameras in all detention centers, begun a comprehensive retraining effort for Bahraini police officers and is working to expand the diversity of the police force.

Substantial progress has been made to reinstate those Bahrainis who lost their jobs during the unrest. To date, most government employees and 92 percent of private sector workers – excepting those charged with serious crimes – have returned to work at a level commensurate with the position they held before the unrest.

The Special Investigations Unit has investigated over 122 cases of misconduct. These investigations led to charges against 21 different police officers, including a lieutenant-colonel. These officers were charged with a variety of crimes up to and including murder.

Although a full accounting of the Bahrain’s response to the BICI report would take much more time and space, the above mentioned actions demonstrate the seriousness with which the government has taken its commitments. For a full accounting, I encourage you to visit my blog.

The progress made over the past eight months provides a genuine opportunity to re-engage with the opposition in a comprehensive, inclusive, multi-lateral dialogue without preconditions aimed at resolving our political differences. Bahrain’s government has repeatedly demonstrated its commitment – through His Royal Highness the Crown Prince’s dialogue initiative during the unrest, the comprehensive National Dialogue held in July 2011, and the National Commission appointed following the release of the BICI report – to resolve matters peacefully and at the negotiating table. The opposition failed to take advantage of each opportunity.

Despite this intransigence, the government has not lost sight of the need for political reform. A variety of constitutional amendments expanded the powers of elected parliament to reject the government and its program, and updates to our freedom of expression law provide greater protection for those who engage in peaceful demonstrations. We have more to do, but progress is being made.
…more

Lobbyist-linked Group Footed Bill for Rep. Burton’s Bahrain Trip
by Justin Elliott – ProPublica – 31 July, 2012

When Rep. Dan Burton (R-IN) and his wife Samia arrived in Bahrain in April, they were greeted with a huge welcome poster featuring oversized smiling headshots of the Burtons.

The veteran Indiana Republican, who is the third-ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs committee, met with the crown prince, after which a local pro-government newspaper ran a picture of the two men under the headline, “Bahrain’s reforms are hailed.” The paper reported that Burton had “lauded His Majesty for his statesmanship [and] steps to modernise Bahrain and promote reforms,” amid continuing pro-democracy protests.

When the congressman returned to Washington from Bahrain, he took to the House floor to praise Bahrain’s leaders and criticize protesters. (See video of the speech below.)

Burton’s soothing words for the embattled government weren’t the only unusual thing about this trip.

The $20,966 cost of the trip, including business-class flights for Burton and his wife, was paid by a nonprofit group, the Bahrain American Council, created last year by the lobbying and public relations firm Policy Impact Communications to promote the Bahraini government line in Washington.

Members of Congress are not allowed to accept travel funds from any entity that “employs or retains” a lobbyist. The rule was instituted in 2007 after the Jack Abramoff scandal, which involved the corrupt lobbyist paying for luxury junkets for members of Congress and other officials.

Given the prohibition, how could a lobbyist-connected group finance Burton’s trip?

Because the Bahrain American Council says it doesn’t have any lobbyists on its staff.

But it sure is close to them.

The Bahrain American Council is located at 1401 K Street, NW, Suite 600 in Washington. That’s the same office as Policy Impact, which does employ a registered lobbyist and thus would be barred from paying for Burton’s trip.

William Nixon, the CEO of Policy Impact and a registered lobbyist, and two other Policy Impact officials originally incorporated the Bahrain American Council and made up its board, according to the group’s articles of incorporation.

Nixon told ProPublica a new board of directors, led by current council president Khalafalla, was installed soon after the group’s creation. But Nixon remains on the group’s advisory board, which met in May. And Policy Impact employees handled our phone calls seeking comment from the Bahrain American Council.

The current vice chairman of the Bahrain American Council is another Policy Impact executive, Richard Carlson (the father of conservative commentator Tucker Carlson). Until March of this year, Policy Impact itself was listed in Washington records as the corporate agent of the Bahrain American Council.

Policy Impact also distributes op-eds written council president Al Khalafalla. One Khalafalla op-ed posted on Policy Impact’s website states, “For 300 years, Bahrain has been a stable, peaceful, and tolerant land, marching steadily toward continued openness and inclusion.” Khalafalla accompanied the Burtons on their April trip.

Asked about the relationship between Policy Impact and the council, Khalafalla told ProPublica that “Policy Impact has helped with the business development of the BAC, as well as extending public relations services.” He said the council is funded by donations from private businessmen and described the group as wanting “to ensure that commercial, trade, and cultural relationships between the [U.S. and Bahrain] remain strong.” …more