Posts from — March 2012

Rouge State – The Desert Herald
Vietnam
[excerpt] – In addition, the US Army employed CS, DM and CN gases, which, Washington officials insisted, did not constitute “gas warfare”. The designated these gases as “riot control” agents. The Army pumped CS gas-a violent purgative that causes uncontrollable vomiting-into Vietnamese tunnels and caves, causing many Vietcong to choke to death on their own vomit in the confined spaces. …source

2005 Use of Gas by Blackwater Leaves Questions
By JAMES RISEN – 10 January, 2008

WASHINGTON — The helicopter was hovering over a Baghdad checkpoint into the Green Zone, one typically crowded with cars, Iraqi civilians and United States military personnel.

Suddenly, on that May day in 2005, the copter dropped CS gas, a riot-control substance the American military in Iraq can use only under the strictest conditions and with the approval of top military commanders. An armored vehicle on the ground also released the gas, temporarily blinding drivers, passers-by and at least 10 American soldiers operating the checkpoint.

“This was decidedly uncool and very, very dangerous,” Capt. Kincy Clark of the Army, the senior officer at the scene, wrote later that day. “It’s not a good thing to cause soldiers who are standing guard against car bombs, snipers and suicide bombers to cover their faces, choke, cough and otherwise degrade our awareness.”

Both the helicopter and the vehicle involved in the incident at the Assassins’ Gate checkpoint were not from the United States military, but were part of a convoy operated by Blackwater Worldwide, the private security contractor that is under scrutiny for its role in a series of violent episodes in Iraq, including a September shooting in downtown Baghdad that left 17 Iraqis dead.

None of the American soldiers exposed to the chemical, which is similar to tear gas, required medical attention, and it is not clear if any Iraqis did. Still, the previously undisclosed incident has raised significant new questions about the role of private security contractors in Iraq, and whether they operate under the same rules of engagement and international treaty obligations that the American military observes. …more

Blundering police forced to pay out £38,000 after trainee officers suffered burns and blisters when being forced to walk through CS gas cloud

By Charles Walford – 30th January, 2012

Police recruits suffered burns and blisters during a training exercise using CS spray, it has emerged.

The 18 rookie officers at Greater Manchester Police were affected after being made to walk through a cloud of the noxious gas.

Police chiefs have paid now paid out £38,000 to the group of officers, one of whom suffered ill-effects for a year after the incident.

The training, at GMP’s Hough End Centre in Chorlton, Manchester, was designed to get the new recruits used to working with the spray, which is used to stop aggressive suspects or control crowds.
Officers at Greater Manchester Police were taking part in a training exercise when they were affected by the CS gas

Officers from Greater Manchester Police were taking part in a training exercise when they were affected by the CS gas

But the exercise used a training version of the spray 10 times stronger than used on the streets – the use of which the force has since banned.
…source

cb editor: Undoubtedly the headline above set off an alarm for some who ended up here. Lethal gassing of the Bahrainis continues every day. Its time the world pay attention. Not only do the standards by which the la Khalifa regime gasses Bahrainis, mostly Shiite, not meet acceptable use of Less-than-lethal it is condoned by the sales and distribution of the chemicals and weapons from US manufactures. The supply chain belongs to the United States as does the training of the Police that abuse them.

US Congress and the UK MPs need to step-up and stop this assault on humanity. It is way past time to demand a stop to this horrid abuse of the Bahraini people. Its unacceptable ans it it were indeed a Jewish Population the whole world would be outraged. Enough is enough already! Stop the gassing now! Is another dead infant or elderly person in Bahrain acceptable to you Members of Parliament and US Congress acceptable to you, or are you all just a bunch of amoral spineless bastards? Phlipn

Gassing the revolution: The US origins of Tahrir’s tears – is also the source Bahraini tears of greif
25 November 25, 2011

Egyptian security forces are digging deeper into their budget with each volley of increasingly fatal US-made tear gas they launch at demonstrators.

The human cost of the violent crackdown in central Cairo is increasingly clear — among the 39 fatalities reported to date, several are said to have died of asphyxiation caused by tear gas.
But the financial background to the use of crowd control weapons raises questions about the extent of Washington’s financial assistance to Egypt’s military and how this might filter down to the ministry of interior.

The USA is the biggest arms supplier to Egypt, providing an average of US$1.3 billion in military and law equipment every year since 2000.

Records from the US Department of State show the US supplied $1.7 million of “toxicological agents” — “including tear gases and riot control agents” — to Egypt in 2010.

This was the largest dispatch of such agents in at least 10 years.

In 2009, the US supplied 33,000 units of ‘tear gas and riot control agents’ worth $460,000. It did not supply in 2007 nor 2008, but gave 17,000 units worth $240,000 in 2006, documents show.

This assistance, however, was granted to the military, and it is not clear whether it was then channelled to the ministry of interior.

The Central Security Forces (CSF), Egypt’s riot control machine, is a division within the Ministry of Interior, but is closely tied to the armed forces, as its troops are conscripted through the military then transferred to CSF.

“The military’s arming includes tear gas and riot control weapons. The ministry of interior supposedly buys its own weaponry through other channels,” Mahmoud Kotri, a retired brigadier general who wrote a book suggesting radical police reforms, told Ahram Online.

Kotri confirmed that when the current minister of interior, Mansour El-Essawy, was appointed in March he issued explicit instructions to CSF not to carry live ammunition when confronting protesters. …more

Eric Holder: Targeted killings legal, constitutional
By JOSH GERSTEIN – 5 March, 2012 – Politico

CHICAGO — Attorney General Eric Holder Monday presented the Obama administration’s most detailed justification for armed drone strikes against Al Qaeda leaders, arguing that the U.S. government doesn’t legally need judicial review to kill terrorist operatives overseas — even when they’re Americans.

“It’s clear that United States citizenship alone does not make such individuals immune from being targeted. But it does mean that the government must take into account all relevant constitutional considerations with respect to United States citizens – even those who are leading efforts to kill innocent Americans,” Holder said in a speech delivered at Northwestern University School of Law.

Questions about the legal basis for lethal U.S. drone operations have swirled for years, particularly as the Obama administration stepped up drone strikes in Pakistan. However, the queries and criticism became more intense after reports in 2010 that a New Mexico-born cleric, Anwar al-Awlaki — killed in a Sept. 2011 drone strike — was on a list of terror suspects that the U.S. had decided to target using deadly force.

Holder is the highest ranking administration official yet to defend the administration’s position, arguing that placing terror suspects on a so-called kill list is subject to “robust oversight,” but should not and need not involve the courts.

“Some have argued that the president is required to get permission from a federal court before taking action against a United States citizen who is a senior operational leader of al Qaeda or associated forces. This is simply not accurate,” Holder said. “Due process and judicial process are not one and the same, particularly when it comes to national security. The Constitution guarantees due process, it does not guarantee judicial process.”

Holder’s half-hour speech came in the wake of months of internal administration debate about how to respond to calls for the release of a still-secret Justice Department legal opinion justifying the use of deadly force against al-Awlaki. The address appeared to reflect a decision to shed some more light on the legal standards the administration applies in such cases, but stopped short of the transparency demanded by many critics and even some supporters of the policy.
…more

Forty-five rights groups call on King to free Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, whose life is at risk in prison
5 March, 2012 – IFEX

(BCHR/IFEX) – 5 March 2012 – The following is a letter by 45 IFEX members and other rights groups calling on the Bahrain authorities to release from prison human rights defender Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, whose life is at risk after almost four weeks on hunger strike:

His Majesty the King
Shaikh Hamad bin ‘Issa Al Khalifa
Office of His Majesty the King P.O. Box 555 Rifa’a Palace, Manama, Bahrain
Fax: +973 176 64 587

5 March 2012

Your Majesty,

We, the undersigned 45 human rights organisations which are members of the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX) and other groups, call on the government of Bahrain to immediately and unconditionally release from prison well-known human rights defender Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja, the founder of the Gulf Centre for Human Rights and former president of the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights, a member of IFEX. Al-Khawaja is a courageous defender of the people’s rights in Bahrain and the Middle East and North Africa region who is at huge risk of dying in prison, having started a hunger strike on 8 February 2012, and now suffering deteriorated health as he enters his fourth week without nourishment. In an open letter, Al-Khawaja pledged to stay on hunger strike until “freedom or death.” …more

Tunisia conference supports Bahrain revolution
5 MArch, 2012 – Bahrain Freedom Movement

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) – A group of Tunisian bloggers hosted the “Bahraini Revolution from Tunisian Eyes” conference, also known as “Friends of Bahrain,” which was held today, March 3rd at the Hotel Majestic in downtown Tunis, in order to show support for the ongoing Bahraini Revolution.

“All Arab people have the right to choose their own destiny,” said Bahraini blogger Hussain Yousif in his opening speech at the conference. Yousif thanked Tunisian civil society for expressing solidarity with Bahrainis throughout their revolution and the Bahraini government’s suppression of demonstrators. “The Bahraini Revolution is a vital aspect of the Arab Spring. Human Rights need to apply to all people,” Yousif concluded while he also suggesting the nomination of a prominent Bahraini human rights activist for Nobel Peace Prize.

Yousif’s speech was followed by remarks from Tunisian lawyer Abdenasser Aouini and member of the Tunisian Human Rights League Mohamed Salah Kheriji. Both guests emphasized the importance of recognizing the Bahraini Revolution. “When I visited Manama, I was surprised and impressed. Bahrainis are really educated and creative. I knew they will revolt against their regime and forget about religious conflicts and ethnic divisions,” stated Kheriji.

“The Forgotten Flower of the Arab Spring” was the title of the 18 minute documentary that was presented during the conference. The short documentary by Al Jazeera, showcased the Bahraini Revolution since its beginning and the horror of the regime’s oppression against Bahraini civilians. Gory photos of activists who were shot, and whose bodies were badly beaten by state police were featured prominently in the film.

Yousif, who co-founded Bahrain.online in 2001, has been blogging since 1998. He was arrested in 2005 along with other fellow activists. His friend and fellow activist Ali Abdel Imam was sentenced to 25 years of jail, but Yousif managed to escape to Cairo, Egypt. During the Tunisian Revolution, Yousif took it upon himself to translate tweets and news posted by Tunisian bloggers into English, in order to keep the Bahrainis and the rest of the Arab world informed of what was developing.

“If we had a real national army, the current Bahraini regime would have already fallen apart,” said Yousif. He stated that the involvement of the Saudi regime in Bahrain complicated the situation. “We are not sure who our enemy is, the Bahraini or the Saudi regime. The government should stop wasting funds hiring public relations agencies. There is no PR agency that could explain why there has been the same prime minister for 40 years. There is no PR agency that can explain why people were shot in the street. Only people have the truth.”

Prominent Tunisian blogger Slim Amamou confirmed that Tunisian bloggers have always taken part in activism across the Arab world. According to Amamou, the conference was organized in reaction to the Friends of Syria conference, which was hosted by the Tunisian government. Among the attendees at the Friends of Syria conference was the Bahraini Minister of Foreign Affairs. …more

Bahrain Continues to Delay Human Rights Investigations
4 March, 2012 – POMED

Bahrain promised to grant Amnesty International additional visas for a fact-finding mission but will not allow the rights group to remain during weekends when clashes typically escalate. The visas would last no more than five days, whereas visas for Formula 1 race ticket holders last two weeks. Amnesty International cancelled a planned trip to Bahrain when representatives were informed of the new rules limiting them to five-day trips on visas that must be arranged through a Bahraini sponsor. ”Amnesty has chosen to put its objections to Bahrain’s visa regulations before its work to promote and protect human rights,” read a statement issued by the Bahraini government. Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, a regional Amnesty deputy director, said, “Regrettably we have cancelled the fact-finding visit to Bahrain … as the new five-day limit imposed by the Bahraini authorities for visits by international human rights organisations is a serious impediment.” Juan Mendez, a human rights investigator from the U.N. reported that he was asked to delay his scheduled March 8 to 17 trip until July. The government once again said it needed time to implement more changes so that Mendez could observe the progress that has been made.

Human Rights First wrote a letter (signed by Brian Dooley and observers from Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and Physicians for Human Rights) urging the King of Bahrain to lift the visa restrictions from human rights organizations. “We must object to the conditions placed on our visits, in particular the extremely short timeframe. The five-business-day limit appears to be arbitrary and will greatly impede our ability to monitor and research human rights developments,” it read.

In other news, Bahrain has once again delayed the trial of the medics who were arrested last March and April and were given long-term sentences in prison. The trial has been delayed til April 30th. “It’s very clear they just want to drag this on to infinity,” Dr. Fatima Haji said. “They failed to bring their witnesses, failed to get whatever information they needed about duty [rotations] from last year…It was just a copy and paste from the last three or four court hearings.” …source

All Palestinian prisoners to go on hunger strike in April
4 March, 2012 – Shia Post

Political bureau member of Hamas and in charge of the prisoners file in the movement said that Palestinian prisoners were preparing for an open ended hunger strike in April.

Aruri said in a TV statement on Saturday evening that Hamas has put five conditions for the improvement of prisoners’ conditions including ending solitary confinement, allowing family visits, improving living conditions within the detention cells and wards, and allowing newspapers into the wards.

“We are in constant contact with the Egyptian patron of the prisoners’ exchange deal to improve their (prisoners) conditions but the (Israeli) occupation always renege on its promises,” Aruri said.

He said that the Israeli occupation authority had pledged to improve prisoners’ conditions as part of the exchange deal.

The Hamas leader said that his movement was struggling to improve conditions of those prisoners but “our strategic effort focusses on their release”. …source

Anti-US Protest Holds in Cairo in Support of Bahrainis and Palestinians
4 March, 2012 – ABNA.co

Egyptians have gathered outside the US Embassy in the capital Cairo in another anti-American rally, aimed at showing support for Bahrainis and Palestinians.

Anti-US Protest Holds in Cairo in Support of Bahrainis and Palestinians

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) – Shouting anti-US slogans, protesters demanded the expulsion of the Bahraini envoy to Egypt. Demonstrators also chanted slogans in solidarity with the people of Bahrain and Palestine.

Demanding an end to their country’s gas exports to Israel, they also voiced support for Palestinian resistance against Israel. The rally comes as reports indicate the US has sent weapons to Bahrain to further the deadly Saudi-backed crackdown on protesters.

Since the country’s revolution which led to the ouster of Hosni Mubarak, anti-US and Israeli sentiments have intensified. Egypt was the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Tel Aviv in 1979, but the situation has drastically changed since the Egyptian revolution.

A number of Egyptian political parties are now calling for changes to the US-sponsored peace treaty as Israeli-Egyptian ties have suffered major setbacks in recent months. …source

Weapons smuggled into Egypt from Libya increase
5 March, 2012 – Al-Akhbar

Egyptian security officials say thousands of weapons are being smuggled into the country across the Libyan border.

They say residents of southern Egypt, where extended families often accumulate large arsenals to protect property and settle feuds, are the main buyers.

The officials said Monday that 576 weapons including modern sniper rifles were seized by police in the last three months in the Egyptian oasis of Siwa near the Libyan border.

They said the number of weapons that reached buyers undetected is believed to be five times the number seized.

Weapons smuggling out of Libya surged after its 2011 civil war, which freed up large numbers of arms for export.

NATO intervention in the civil war brought with it an influx of weapons, now in the hands of rogue militias throughout Libya, threatening its stability.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. …source

Children in Bahrain: Victims of physical & sexual abuse, abduction, arbitrary detention and unfair trial
04 March, 2012 – Bahrain Center for Human Rights

76 children between the prisoners in the latest security crackdown, making them 21% of the total detainees, whose numbers swelled to 355

Special Forces attack random people, especially children who are at risk of excessive use of force, rubber bullets and tear gas. Many obtained serious injuries as a result.

November 20, 2010 – on the occasion of Universal Children’s Day

“A child means every human being below the age of eighteen years unless under the law applicable to the child”
Article I of the International Convention for the Rights of the Child. ,,,more

Bahrain: Younis Ashoori (prisioner of conscience) pushed to near death by prison abuses
4 March, 2012 – For what we are… they will be

The Bahrain Center for Human Right alerts of the extreme danger that Dr. Younis Ashouri, 60, director of the maternity, has been pushed by the Khalifa dictatorship to near death.

Ashouri, who was kidnapped by masked policemen and then sentenced to three years after being forced to sign some papers under torture, has a number of illnesses:

… chronic urinary stone recurrences which needs a surgery, enlarged prostate, heart problem history and a type of migraine which leaves him temporarily paralysed.

Since he was imprisoned he’s been denied access to his medicines, what puts his health in extreme danger. …more

Saudis rally against Riyadh suppression of protests in east
Press TV – 3 March, 2012

Saudis have staged a protest rally in the eastern town of Rabiyia to condemn Riyadh’s suppression of anti-government demonstrations.

The demonstrators also expressed solidarity with the victims’ of government crackdown on protests in the Eastern Province.

Qatif and Awamiyah have been the centers of anti-government protests in the oil-rich region since last year, but despite a violent crackdown on demonstrations there, it seems that protests are now spreading to other towns and cities in the province.

Saudi troops have arrested at least 25 demonstrators over the past week. They were detained without warrant and taken to unknown locations… …source

Egyptians have gathered outside the US Embassy in the capital Cairo in another anti-American rally, aimed at showing support for Bahrainis and Palestinians.

Anti-US Protest Holds in Cairo in Support of Bahrainis and Palestinians
4 March, 2012 – Press TV – ABNA.co

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) – Shouting anti-US slogans, protesters demanded the expulsion of the Bahraini envoy to Egypt. Demonstrators also chanted slogans in solidarity with the people of Bahrain and Palestine.

Demanding an end to their country’s gas exports to Israel, they also voiced support for Palestinian resistance against Israel. The rally comes as reports indicate the US has sent weapons to Bahrain to further the deadly Saudi-backed crackdown on protesters.

Since the country’s revolution which led to the ouster of Hosni Mubarak, anti-US and Israeli sentiments have intensified. Egypt was the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Tel Aviv in 1979, but the situation has drastically changed since the Egyptian revolution.

A number of Egyptian political parties are now calling for changes to the US-sponsored peace treaty as Israeli-Egyptian ties have suffered major setbacks in recent months. …more

Children in Bahrain: Victims of physical & sexual abuse, abduction, arbitrary detention and unfair trial

76 children between the prisoners in the latest security crackdown, making them 21% of the total detainees, whose numbers swelled to 355

Special Forces attack random people, especially children who are at risk of excessive use of force, rubber bullets and tear gas. Many obtained serious injuries as a result.

November 20, 2010 – on the occasion of Universal Children’s Day

“A child means every human being below the age of eighteen years unless under the law applicable to the child”
Article I of the International Convention for the Rights of the Child …more

editor: Obama’s “hoodlum speak” causes one pause as the US arms thugs and gangsters in Middle East, Central America and Mexico and leads the world in illegal drug trade. Phlipn

Got your back, Bibi
Bam: We support Israel vs. Iran
By S.A. MILLER – 3 March, 2012 – NY Post

WASHINGTON — President Obama yesterday upped the ante in the Iran standoff by warning “I don’t bluff” about military strikes to stop its nuke program.

The tough talk preceded a high-stakes meeting Monday between Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who have been at odds about whether or when to bomb Iran’s alleged nuclear sites.

“I think that the Israeli government recognizes that, as president of the United States, I don’t bluff,” Obama told The Atlantic magazine in an interview published yesterday.

He said he would make sure Netanyahu knows that the US “has Israel’s back.”

The comments were aimed as much at Obama’s audience at home as at Israel and Iran.

The president wants to placate Jewish voters who are skeptical about his support for Israel and fend off Republican critics who say he is too soft on Iran.

Obama will address the influential American Israel Public Affairs Committee AIPAC tomorrow before hosting Netanyahu at the White House. Netanyahu also will give a speech at AIPAC.
…more

ELAINE MURTAGH: The Irish Woman Fighting for Bahraini Rights
Interview by Rachael Fulton – Safe World Correspondent – 4 March, 2012

On February 14 2012, four foreigners were arrested for taking part in a peaceful women’s rights demonstration in Bahrain.

They were tear-gassed and shot at with rubber bullets, before being deported from the country.

Amongst the deported foreigners was an Irish national, Elaine Murtagh, who was visiting to observe the human rights abuses inflicted on Bahraini citizens. She spent her time befriending ordinary civilians who had been beaten and abused – tending to their wounds and encouraging them to seek help.

The sights she encountered during her brief visit will haunt her forever.
About Bahrain

Bahrain is an archipelago of small islands situated West of the Persian Gulf and is governed by a constitutional monarchy, headed by King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.

On 14 February 2011, inspired by the surge of revolutions spreading across the Middle East and led by a Facebook page entitled ‘Day of Rage in Bahrain’, the country erupted in protests.protest-6

The protesters stormed Bahrain’s Pearl Roundabout to campaign for equal rights and democracy. The government responded with tear gas and rubber bullets – leaving four dead and hundreds injured.

Since then, human rights violations have been widespread across the country and democracy activists are frequently arrested, tortured and detained. The death toll of civilians killed by the government since the revolution began stands at 55, and Bahraini citizens continue to protest peacefully every day in their ongoing campaign for democracy.

Safe World correspondent Rachael Fulton spoke to Elaine Murtagh about her quest for human rights in Bahrain.

INTERVIEW
Tell us a bit about yourself – what’s your job, where do you come from and what family do you have?

Elaine-Murtagh2Elaine MurtaghMy name is Elaine Murtagh. I am a 40 year-old woman who lives in the West of Ireland. I am married and I have one son who is nearly 19 now (God, saying that makes me feel old!).

I work with people who have mental disabilities. They teach me about love, respect and trust and I truly love my job.

When did you first become involved in campaigning for human rights?

I do not belong to any human rights organisation and have never worked for any either, but I have always had an interest in people and most of all, I have been gifted with compassion for all people.

I have also been gifted with speech and have always been very opinionated.

What was your initial involvement in the events in Bahrain, and how did you come to visit the country?

I lived in Bahrain in the 90’s, and my son was born there.

This was, and still is, my aim. …more

Morally Bankrupt and without Compassion, MOI Police Abuse the Mentally Challenged

NGOs: The Missionaries of Empire
by Devon DB – Global Research – 3 March, 2012

Non-governmental organizations are an increasingly important part of the 21st century international lanscape performing a variety of humanitarian tasks pertaining inter alia to issues of poverty, the environment and civil libertites.However, there is a dark side to NGOs. They have been and are currently being used as tools of foreign policy, specifically with the United States. Instead of using purely military force, the US has now moved to using NGOs as tools in its foreign policy implementation, specifically the National Endowment for Democracy, Freedom House, and Amnesty International.

National Endowment for Democracy

According to its website, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) is “a private, nonprofit foundation dedicated to the growth and strengthening of democratic institutions around the world,” [1] however this is sweet sounding description is actually quite far from the truth.

The history of the NED begins immediately after the Reagan administration. Due to the massive revelations concerning the CIA in the 1970s, specifically that they were involved in attempted assassinations of heads of state, the destabilization of foreign governments, and were illegally spying on the US citizens, this tarnished the image of the CIA and of the US government as a whole. While there were many committees that were created during this time to investigate the CIA, the Church Committee (led by Frank Church, a Democrat from Idaho) was of critical importance as its findings “demonstrated the need for perpetual surveillance of the intelligence community and resulted in the creation of the permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.” [2] The Select Committee on Intelligence’s purpose was to oversee federal intelligence activities and while oversight and stability came in, it seemed to signal that the CIA’s ‘party’ of assassination plots and coups were over. Yet, this was to continue, but in a new way: under the guise of a harmful NGO whose purpose was to promote democracy around the world- the National Endowment for Democracy.

The NED was meant to be a tool of US foreign policy from its outset. It was the brainchild of Allen Weinstein who, before creating the Endowment, was a professor at Brown and Georgetown Universities, had served on the Washington Post’s editorial staff, and was the Executive Editor of The Washington Quarterly, Georgetown’s Center for Strategic and International Studies, a right-wing neoconservative think tank which would in the future have ties to imperial strategists such as Henry Kissinger and Zbigniew Brzezinski. [3] He stated in a 1991 interview that “A lot of what we do today was done covertly 25 years ago by the CIA.” [4]

The first director of the Endowment, Carl Gershman, outright admitted that the Endowment was a front for the CIA. In 1986 he stated:

We should not have to do this kind of work covertly. It would be terrible for democratic groups around the world to be seen as subsidized by the CIA. We saw that in the ‘60s, and that’s why it has been discontinued. We have not had the capability of doing this, and that’s why the endowment was created. [5] (emphasis added)

It can be further observed that the Endowment is a tool of the US government as ever since its founding in 1983, it “has received an annual appropriation approved by the United States Congress as part of the United States Information Agency budget.” [6]

No sooner than the Endowment was founded did it begin funding groups that would support US interests. From 1983 to 1984, the Endowment was active in France and “supported a ‘trade union-like organization that for professors and students’ to counter ‘left-wing organizations of professors,’” [7] through the funding of seminars, posters, books, and pamphlets that encouraged opposition to leftist thought. In the mid and late 1990s, the NED continued its fight against organized labor by giving in excess of $2.5 million to the American Institute of Free Labor Development which was a CIA front used to undermine progressive labor unions. …more

Secretary Clinton’s Appointee to Bahrain, Chief Timoney, Enjoys Coffee while Trainees let loose on Streets

Medea Benjamin – “Since assuming his new position, Timoney has claimed that Bahrain has been reforming its brutal police tactics in response to recommendations issued by the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry. He says that there is less tear gas being used and that while tear gas might be “distasteful,” it’s not really harmful.

I have no idea what country Chief Timoney is talking about, because it’s certainly not the Bahrain I saw this past week, a week that marked the one-year anniversary since the February 14, 2011 uprising.

Timoney should also meet the parents of 14-year-old Ali Jawad al-Sheik. He did not die from inhalation. No. He was killed on August 31, 2011, when the police fired tear gas at protesters from roughly 20 feet away. A canister busted open the young boy’s face. To his parent’s furor, the autopsy said the cause of death was “unknown.”

The same thing happened exactly four months later to 15-year-old Sayyed Hashem Saeed. The police then used tear gas to disperse mourners at Sayyed’s funeral.

Faisal Abdali, a businessman who lives at the entrance of Sitra, would also love to speak to the police chief. He is hopping mad and wants some justice and accountability.” Police Chief Timoney, Meet Bahraini Mothers by Medea Benjamin – full story HERE

Our friend and ally, the Kingdom of Bahrain
by Mehdi Hasan – 01 March, 2012 – New Statesman

The latest Human Rights Watch report makes for depressing reading.

Yesterday I tweeted a link to this piece in the Atlantic Monthly on how the repressive Bahraini regime has signed up a top public-relations agency to rebrand its image in the west:

Last year, in the early weeks of Bahrain’s violent crackdown on the largely Shia opposition protests, the minister of foreign affairs inked a contract with Qorvis to provide public-relations services for $40,000 per month, plus expenses. One of the largest PR and lobbying firms in Washington, Qorvis employs a number of former top Capitol Hill staffers and also works for Bahrain’s close ally, Saudi Arabia. The firm’s work for Bahrain came under scrutiny last year when it defended the government’s raid last year on a Doctors Without Borders office in Bahrain. Also in 2011, a Qorvis official wrote pro-regime columns in The Huffington Post without revealing his affiliation with Qorvis.

This morning, I was at a breakfast briefing with Joe Stork, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East and North Africa division, who was discussing the latest HRW report, “No Justice in Bahrain”.

From the report’s “Summary”:

Based on scores of interviews with defendants, former detainees, defense lawyers, and observers of the trials, as well as a comprehensive review of available court records, medical documents, and other relevant material, this report finds that the National Safety Courts repeatedly failed to respect and protect basic due process rights.

And:

Human Rights Watch interviewed eight defendants following their release in February 2011, all of whom said that they had been subjected to torture and ill-treatment, variously reporting beatings, sleep deprivation, forced prolonged standing, and extended detention in solitary confinement. Human Rights Watch had access to photographs of injuries and medical reports of government doctors that corroborated some of these accounts. Not only did the Public Prosecution Office reject without basis the defendants’ allegations of abuse, it premised its case largely on evidence that “came out of the mouths of the defendants themselves,” indicating that the case was built essentially on confessions.

In his briefing, Stork pointed out how HRW and other human-rights group have had their access to Bahrain “restricted since last April”. He also revealed how the UN’s special rapporteur on torture, Juan Mendez, who had been planning to visit Bahrain later this month, has been asked by the regime to postpone his trip. What do the Bahrainis – who hired John Yates (!), former assistant commissioner of the Met, to help “reform” their security forces – have to hide?

Perhaps it is the fact that, as Stork bluntly put it:

there is a patina of a justice system operating but, really, it’s a joke. There is no way if you’re a protester that you’re not going to get a conviction in court. . . The prosecutors are part of the problem.”

As I noted in the Guardian last year:

The Orwellian regime in Manama continues to round up people for the most minor of “offences”. Last month, for example, the 20-year-old university student Ayat al-Qarmezi was arrested, assaulted and sentenced to a year in prison – by a military court – for reading out a poem criticising the king at a rally.

The Bahraini government says things have changed; in a letter to the Times on 22 February, the country’s ambassador to the UK, Alice Samaan, wrote:

Last year our country experienced a period of unrest. Sine the demonstrations our response has been to introduce an independent investigation and a programme of reform.

But, as Stork pointed out this morning, the truth is that

just one Bahraini member of the security forces – a lieutenant accused of an extra-judicial killing of a protester – has been charged so far. The rest have been low-level, foreign members of the security forces from Pakistan and elsewhere.

For Stork, “there is no transparency here”. For example, the “independent” complaints unit set up to deal with protesters’ grievances is based inside – wait for it – the nation’s interior ministry. Hmm. And torture and abuses inside police stations may have stopped but, Stork pointed out, what is happening now is that

there are reports of demonstrators being picked up [by the security forces] and beaten before getting to the police station.

So what’s our government up to? Er, arming the Bahraini tyrants, that’s what. As I wrote in my column in the Times on 14 February:

Between July and September 2011, the [Conservative-Lib Dem] coalition authorised the sale of £2.2 million of arms to the regime. It was reprehensible and irresponsible, an official British betrayal not just of the Bahraini people, but of the Arab Spring itself.

The Bahrainis are concerned with their image but there is a huge disconnect between their self-image and what’s happening on the ground. Progressive? Perhaps you could call it ‘progressive authoritarianism’.

So, I ask again (as I have asked before), why on earth does the UK continue to support, defend and arm a progressive-authoritarian regime, which continues to beat and abuse its protesters, fails to conduct fair or transparent trials and investigations or allow in the UN’s special rapporteur on torture, and employs expensive foreign PR firms to help whitewash its crimes? Does our government have no shame?