cd editor – note to Bahrain: I know hurts and I know its tough to keep up the good fight at times, so whats the alternative, what else is there but to make them relent. …it does makes me wonder if they, my government, are ever going to learn, are they every going to get it – that there is a better way than brutality. ..that Human Rights are foundational, they have to come first, before all other actions. I know at times it feels hopeless, but there are still a lot of us here in the US – still fighting, still trying to help them see the horrible things that come from the way they operate. I’m not stopping, no way. Phlipn

anyway, one of my favorites for the people of Bahrain…

If I had a Rocket Launcher
by Bruce Cockburn – 1983

Here comes the helicopter — second time today
Everybody scatters and hopes it goes away
How many kids they’ve murdered only God can say
If I had a rocket launcher…I’d make somebody pay

I don’t believe in guarded borders and I don’t believe in hate
I don’t believe in generals or their stinking torture states
And when I talk with the survivors of things too sickening to relate
If I had a rocket launcher…I would retaliate

On the Rio Lacantun, one hundred thousand wait
To fall down from starvation — or some less humane fate
Cry for guatemala, with a corpse in every gate
If I had a rocket launcher…I would not hesitate

I want to raise every voice — at least I’ve got to try
Every time I think about it water rises to my eyes.
Situation desperate, echoes of the victims cry
If I had a rocket launcher…Some son of a bitch would die

November 1984 (Bruce Cockburn speaking at a Concert by)

“If one needed a reason to; needed an example of why there wasn’t a Nicaraguan revolution, you can look at the situation in Guatemala, because the situation is, if anything, worse than what was happening in Nicaragua under Somosa, has been for the last 30 years.

Since the military government presently in power was installed with a little help from your neighborhood agents…. the Washington boys. They ran the country on behalf of themselves and a small land owning elite, using everybody else in the country as their personal servants; and with a cheap labor force. The way they do that is they make sure that the people don’t have enough land to support themselves on. Aside from keeping them from any access to medical care or education, they make sure that they don’t have enough land to grow enough food for a family. Which means that people have to go work for them if they want to survive.This doesn’t necessarily guarantee survival either, of course , because if people object in anyway to that kind of situation…..or maybe if they just sort of go about peacefully trying to rectify things on their own.

Getting together with their neighbours to pool resources. Getting together…. Those attempts are met with acts of incredible ferocity in order to prevent it from spreading. You never knew when one [helicopter] was gonna swing in from the north and start shooting. That situation — thats the first time I’d even seen anything like that. First hand, you know, you watch it on TV, and it doesn’t look the same somehow when you’re there. Partly because of the incredible spirit of the people. Because of that spirit and the sense of that spirit and the stories that they told of what they had survived and what they witnessed, it was impossible not to feel great sympathy for and with them. And the ease at which that sympathy slid over to a willingness to kill those who were inflicting that agony on them was a little bit shocking. It’s not an answer, especially for us, you know, to go down there and start shooting Guatemalans…. maybe for them…”

” Yeah,well, there are people in them [helicopters], you know? Which is something that – the thing is, the weird thing about it is they stop looking like people because of what they’re doing. I guess that’s what makes it so easy to want to shoot them down because they make- – -they make you feel like they forfeited their humanity somehow. But they’re pawns in it. Anyway, this song is all about that. The one thing I must stress in case anybody’s under any delusion that this is so, is that this is not a call to arms. This is, this is a cry…”

Death in Bilin: IDF Doctors Found ‘Prolonged Exposure’ to CS Gas Lethal
by Tikun Olam

Teargas clouds in Bilin: prolonged exposure can cause death (Oren Ziv/Active Stills)

The Forward publishes today an eye-opening follow-up to the Jawaher Abu Rahme story. It seems that the IDF’s own doctors published a study in an academic journal noting that the type of CS gas used in the Bilin demonstrations could be lethal:

A 2003 article published by four Israeli army doctors in Archives of Toxicology noted that CS gas…causes tearing and burning for about 15 to 30 minutes, and this is lessened if people are moved into fresh air. The army has insisted on the safety of CS beyond these immediate effects. But the Israeli army doctors’ article noted, “At high concentrations, enclosed spaces, or prolonged exposures, severe side effects may occur and human deaths…have been reported.”

A 2009 article in the British Medical Journal came to similar conclusions, noting that tear gas is “not a gas at all, but a toxic chemical irritant.”

Instead of examining the circumstances under which the IDF prepared and conducted its teargas barrage on unarmed Palestinian protestors to determine whether something might have led this particular incident to be more lethal than others, the IDF obfuscates by insinuating that Abu Rahme really died of cancer or asthma or that she wasn’t even at the protest (she was in fact 150 feet away near her home, but the massive flow of teargas engulfed her and her mother).

You remember the standard definition of insanity: repeating the same failed action in the belief that next time it will work. In that light, and after reading that the army’s own doctors warned of such lethal effects from CS, we must call the IDF’s approach to policing the Bilin demonstration certified insanity:

The Israeli military source says the army does not plan to change its methods. A statement released by the spokesman noted: “The tear gas used by the IDF, like all other riot dispersal means, is checked rigorously before being put into active use. During the approval process, the device passed all the necessary tests and approvals.” …more

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