Posts from — December 2012

Egypt’s Constitution, The Opposition, and the Dialogue of the Deaf
By ESAM AL-AMIN – 14 December, 2012 – COUNTERPUNCH

December 8 was the day President Muhammad Morsi had chosen two nights earlier during his address to the nation. In his speech, he called for an open dialogue with the opposition and other political parties as they tackled the political crisis engulfing the country since he issued his controversial constitutional declaration of November 22.

With the exception of Al-Ghad Party, all leaders of the National Salvation Front (NSF), the main opposition coalition that includes most secular parties, refused to attend the meeting with the president, insisting first on the annulment of the constitutional declaration and the cancellation of the referendum scheduled for December 15. The NSF’s main leaders, including former presidential candidates Amr Moussa, Hamdein Sabbahi, and Dr. Mohammad ElBaradei, not only boycotted the gathering but also issued a stern warning that if the president did not accede to their demands they would escalate their protests by calling for general strikes and civil disobedience.

Other revolutionary youth groups such as the April 6 Movement also refused to attend the meeting, charging that it was a ploy by the besieged president in his attempt to placate the opposition. Former presidential candidate and moderate Islamist Dr. Abdelmoneim Abol Fotouh, of the Strong Egypt Party, also boycotted the meeting on the grounds that the president had not demonstrated seriousness in trying to resolve the political dispute.

A missed opportunity: A dialogue with oneself

By the afternoon of December 8, fifty four prominent individuals showed up to meet with Morsi and his top lieutenants. Most of the participants were senior representatives of Islamist parties such as the Muslim Brotherhood’s affiliated Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), which Morsi headed before becoming president, the Salafist Al-Noor Party, Al-Wasat, Al-Asala, and other smaller Islamist parties. Dr. Ayman Noor of Al-Ghad Party also participated but his was the only secular party in attendance. In addition, many constitutional scholars such as Dr. Ahmad Kamal Abol Magd, Dr. Tharwat Badawi, Dr. Gamal Gibreel and Dr. Muhammad Salim Al-Awwa took part in the meeting that also included other renowned intellectuals such as author and columnist Fahmy Howaidy and political scientist Dr. Manar El-Shorbagy.

After a twelve-hour marathon meeting, the participants held a press conference announcing a new constitutional decree by the president that annulled the infamous Nov. 22 declaration. On its face, it was a major concession to the opposition since this was its principal demand ever since the previous decree had been issued. Although the new declaration voided the previous one, it also preserved some of its direct consequences, primarily the sacking of the former general prosecutor.

Morsi’s main motivation for issuing the first decree was to place his decisions outside any judicial review in order to prevent the Supreme Constitutional Court (SCC) from dissolving the Constitutional Constituent Assembly (CCA), charged with drafting the new constitution, and Majlis Al-Shura (the upper house of parliament, dominated by the FJP and Al-Noor Party). But when the CCA concluded its work on November 30 followed by the presidential announcement of holding a general referendum on December 15, there was no more danger of the SCC dissolving the CCA. If the court were to eventually dissolve the Majlis Al-Shura, the FJP calculated that it would likely win any new Shura elections over its divided rivals.

So in Morsi’s judgment replacing the constitutional declaration was a desirable outcome since he would appear to have given a concession to the opposition without endangering the work product of the CCA. But perhaps a more important reason for backing down was the strong negative reaction of Egypt’s judges, an overwhelming number of whom were on strike because of his earlier decree. Most judges also threatened that unless Morsi rescinded that decree they would not supervise the referendum as stipulated in law, which in turn would have doomed it and delayed the passing of the constitution. In short, it was a smart political move by Morsi to issue the new decree by appearing conciliatory, getting the referendum on the agenda, and gaining back most of the judges.

According to the participants in the meeting, most of their time was spent discussing ways to cancel or postpone the constitutional referendum, the other main demand of the opposition. Ultimately, the constitutional scholars in attendance concluded that the president could not delay the referendum on technical legal grounds. The March 2011 public referendum that passed with 77 percent of the vote stated that once the CCA concluded its work the public must vote on it within fifteen days. Hence, the legal scholars reasoned that any cancellation or postponement could only occur by holding another public referendum. But what no one argued was the fact that the president had earlier contravened the same public referendum unilaterally in his first decree when he extended the time frame of the CCA from six to eight months. These same scholars failed to point out that such an extension could not have occurred by a presidential decree but would have required a public referendum.
[Read more →]

The “International Cartel” of Drug Money Banks & Their Political Protectors

Banking on Criminality: Drug Money & the Above-the-Law Global Banking Cartel
14 December, 2012 – boiling frogs

In what the New York Times declared as a “dark day for the rule of law” on December 11, 2012, HSBC, the world’s second largest bank, failed to be indicted for extensive criminal activities in laundering money to and from regimes under sanctions, Mexican drug cartels, and terrorist organizations (including al-Qaeda). While admitting culpability, and with guilt assured, state and federal authorities in the United States decided not to indict the bank “over concerns that criminal charges could jeopardize one of the world’s largest banks and ultimately destabilize the global financial system.” Instead, HSBC agreed to pay a $1.92 billion settlement.

The fear was that an indictment would be a “death sentence” for HSBC. The U.S. Justice Department, which was prosecuting the case, was told by the U.S. Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve that taking such an “aggressive stance” against HSBC could have negative effects upon the economy. Instead, the bank was to forfeit $1.2 billion and pay $700 million in fines on top of that for violating the Bank Secrecy Act and the Trading with the Enemy Act. In a statement, HSBC’s CEO stated, “We accept responsibility for our past mistakes… We are committed to protecting the integrity of the global financial system. To this end, we will continue to work closely with governments and regulators around the world.” With more than $7 billion in Mexican drug cartel money laundered through HSBC alone, the fine amounts to a slap on the wrist, no more than a cost-benefit analysis of doing business: if the ‘cost’ of laundering billions in drug money is less than the ‘benefit,’ the policy will continue.

As part of the settlement, not one banker at HSBC was to be charged in the case. The New York Times acknowledged that, “the government has bought into the notion that too big to fail is too big to jail.” HSBC joins a list of some of the world’s other largest banks in paying fines for criminal activities, including Credit Suisse, Lloyds, ABN Amro and ING, among others. The U.S. Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer referred to the settlement as an example of HSBC “being held accountable for stunning failures of oversight.” Lanny Breuer, who heads the Justice Department’s criminal division, which was responsible for prosecuting the case against HSBC, was previously a partner at a law firm (along with the U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder) where they represented a number of major banks and other conglomerates in cases dealing with foreclosure fraud. While Breuer and Holder were partners at Covington & Burling, the firm represented notable clients such as Bank of America, Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo, among others. It seems that at the Justice Department, they continue to have the same job: protecting the major banks from being persecuted for criminal behavior.

With a great deal of focus on the $1.9 billion in fines being paid out by HSBC, little mention was made of the fact that HSBC had roughly $2.5 trillion in assets, and earned $22 billion in profits in 2011. But not to worry, HSBC’s executive said that they “accept responsibility for our past mistakes,” and added: “We have said we are profoundly sorry for them, and we do so again.” So not only did the executives of the world’s second largest bank apologize for laundering billions in drug money (along with other crimes), but they apologized… again. Thus, they pay a comparably small fine and face no criminal charges. I wonder if a crack dealer from a ghetto in the United States could avoid criminal prosecution if he were to apologize not once, but twice. Actually, we don’t have to wonder. In May of 2012, as HSBC executives were testifying before the U.S. Senate in Washington D.C., admitting their role in drug money laundering, a poor black man was convicted of peddling 5.5 grams of crack cocaine just across the river from the U.S. Capitol building, and he was given 10 years in prison. …more

Americans Are The Most Spied On People In World History
5 December, 2012 – by WashingtonsBlog

TechDirt notes: In a radio interview, Wall Street Journal reporter Julia Angwin (who’s been one of the best at covering the surveillance state in the US) made a simple observation that puts much of this into context: the US surveillance regime has more data on the average American than the Stasi ever did on East Germans.

Indeed, the American government has more information on the average American than Stalin had on Russians, Hitler had on German citizens, or any other government has ever had on its people.

The American government is collecting and storing virtually every phone call, purchases, email, text message, internet searches, social media communications, health information, employment history, travel and student records, and virtually all other information of every American.

Some also claim that the government is also using facial recognition software and surveillance cameras to track where everyone is going. Moreover, cell towers track where your phone is at any moment, and the major cell carriers, including Verizon and AT&T, responded to at least 1.3 million law enforcement requests for cell phone locations and other data in 2011. (And – given that your smartphone routinely sends your location information back to Apple or Google – it would be child’s play for the government to track your location that way.) Your iPhone, or other brand of smartphone is spying on virtually everything you do (ProPublica notes: “That’s No Phone. That’s My Tracker“).

As the top spy chief at the U.S. National Security Agency explained this week, the American government is collecting some 100 billion 1,000-character emails per day, and 20 trillion communications of all types per year.

He says that the government has collected all of the communications of congressional leaders, generals and everyone else in the U.S. for the last 10 years.

He further explains that he set up the NSA’s system so that all of the information would automatically be encrypted, so that the government had to obtain a search warrant based upon probably cause before a particular suspect’s communications could be decrypted. But the NSA now collects all data in an unencrypted form, so that no probable cause is needed to view any citizen’s information. He says that it is actually cheaper and easier to store the data in an encrypted format: so the government’s current system is being done for political – not practical – purposes.

He says that if anyone gets on the government’s “enemies list”, then the stored information will be used to target them. Specifically, he notes that if the government decides it doesn’t like someone, it analyzes all of the data it has collected on that person and his or her associates over the last 10 years to build a case against him.

As we’ve previously documented, the spying isn’t being done to keep us safe … but to crush dissent and to smear people who uncover unflattering this about the government … and to help the too big to fail businesses compete against smaller businesses (and here).

And as we point out at every opportunity, this is not some “post-9/11 reality”. Spying on Americans – and most of the other attacks on liberty – started before 9/11.

Senator Frank Church – who chaired the famous “Church Committee” into the unlawful FBI Cointel program, and who chaired the Senate Foreign Relations Committee – said in 1975:

Th[e National Security Agency’s] capability at any time could be turned around on the American people, and no American would have any privacy left, such is the capability to monitor everything: telephone conversations, telegrams, it doesn’t matter. There would be no place to hide. [If a dictator ever took over, the N.S.A.] could enable it to impose total tyranny ….

We can debate whether or not dictators are running Washington. But one thing is clear: the capacity is already here. …more

Everyone is Fair Game: Spy Agency Conducts Surveillance on All US Citizens
By Russia Today – Global Research – 14 December, 2012

The Obama administration overruled recommendations from within the US Department of Homeland Security and implemented new guidelines earlier this year that allow the government to gather and analyze intelligence on every single US citizen.

Since the spring, a little-know intelligence agency outside of Washington, DC has been able to circumvent the Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution and conduct dragnet surveillance of the entire country, combing massive datasets using advanced algorithms to search and seize personal info on anyone this wish, reports the Wall Street Journal this week.

There’s no safeguard that says only Americans with criminal records are the ones included, and it’s not just suspected terrorists that are considered in the searches either. The National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) has been provided with entire government databases and given nearly endless access to intelligence on everyone in the country, regardless of whether or not they’ve done anything that would have made them a person of interest. As long as data is “reasonably believed” to contain “terrorism information,” the agency can do as they wish.

What’s more is the NCTC can retain that information for years, reviewing it whenever they’d like to take a look.

The update to the agency’s policies, reported by RT at the time and reexamined this week in the Journal, expose any person in the country to invasive and nearly endless government surveillance.

“This is a sea change in the way that the government interacts with the general public,” Mary Ellen Callahan is reported by the Journal to have said during a Situation Room meeting earlier this year within the walls of the White House. At the time, Callahan was chief privacy officer at DHS as well as one of the only staffers inside the Obama administration concerned with what was about to happen.

According to documents obtained by the Journal through Freedom of Information Act requests and conversations between the paper and persons familiar with that Situation Room sound-off, Ms. Callahan unsuccessfully argued against updating a 2008 Justice Department memo about what intel the NCTC can have and how they use it. Just weeks after that meeting, new guidelines were authorized and, within months, Ms. Callahan was working elsewhere.

Despite her efforts, a 32-page document, “Guidelines for Access, Retention, Use and Dissemination by the National Counterterrorism Center and other Agencies of Information in Datasets Containing Non-Terrorism Information,” went into effect, and with that the NCTC was no longer restricted to only terrorism-related intelligence and instead

“The 2008 memo’s title referred to NCTC’s access to ‘terrorism information’ contained in non-terrorism datasets. The 2012 title simply refers to ‘information’ in those datasets,” reports the Journal. “The removal of the world ‘terrorism’ is an indication of how this memo expands NCTC’s mandate to allow surveillance of US citizens based on more than just the terrorism information.’”

Indeed, the changes aren’t just within the name of the document. The 2012 update to the NCTC’s data-mining policies expand the intelligence the agency can comb while at the same time removing safeguards that were in place for privacy’s sake. Under the new rules, data on innocent Americans can be retained for five years, and intel on anyone “reasonably believed to constitute terrorism information” can be kept until the end of time.

“It’s breathtaking” in its scope, one former senior administration official tells the Journal.

According to the paper, “flight records, casino-employee lists, the names of Americans hosting foreign-exchange students and many others” can be collected indefinitely and searched at will within the NCTC, an agency only nine years old and not nearly as well-known as her sister spy groups: the CIA and FBI.

Once the NCTC has the info, though, they can decide who else can be made privy to it. If the US government is so inclined, intelligence on specific citizens can be sent to any foreign nation in the world. …source

Government Spying Out of Control
by Andrew P. Napolitano – 13 December, 2012 – AnitWar.com

After President Richard Nixon was forced from office in 1974, congressional investigators discovered what they believed was the full extent of his use of the FBI and the CIA to engage in domestic spying. In that pre-digital era, the spying consisted of listening to telephone calls, opening mail, and using undercover agents to infiltrate political organizations and, as we know, break into their offices. Nixon claimed he did this for the protection of national security. He also claimed he was entitled to break the law and violate the Constitution. “If the president does it, that means that it’s not illegal,” he once famously said.

Since no one was prosecuted on the basis of data stolen or retrieved by his spies, the courts rarely encountered this behavior and never had to rule on it, and thus it went largely unchecked. A few victims challenged the spying, but the Supreme Court ruled that without palpable harm, the challengers lacked the legal ability to complain in court — what judges call “standing.”

But many Americans did complain to Congress, which in 1978 enacted the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, commonly called FISA. FISA provided that all domestic surveillance be subject to the search warrant requirement of the Fourth Amendment, except for spying on foreign agents operating in the U.S. For those cases, FISA established a secret federal court that has been authorized to issue search warrants to spy on foreign agents.

The constitutional standard for all search warrants is probable cause of crime. FISA, however, established a new, different and lesser standard — thus unconstitutional on its face since Congress is bound by, and cannot change, the Constitution — of probable cause of status. The status was that of an agent of a foreign power. So, under FISA, the feds needed to demonstrate to a secret court only that a non-American physically present in the U.S., perhaps under the guise of a student, diplomat or embassy janitor, was really an agent of a foreign power, and the demonstration of that agency alone was sufficient to authorize a search warrant to listen to the agent’s telephone calls or read his mail.

Over time, the requirement of status as a foreign agent was modified to status as a foreign person. This, of course, was an even lesser standard and one rarely rejected by the FISA court. In fact, that court has rarely rejected anything, having granted search warrants in well over 97 percent of applications. This is hardly harmless, as foreign persons in the U.S. are frequently talking to Americans in the U.S. Thus, not only did FISA violate the privacy rights of foreigners (the Fourth Amendment protects “people,” not just Americans); it violated the rights of those with whom they were communicating, American or non-American.

It gets worse. The Patriot Act, which was enacted in 2001 and permits federal agents to write their own search warrants in violation of the Fourth Amendment, actually amended FISA so as to do away with the FISA-issued search warrant requirement when the foreign person is outside the U.S. This means that if you email or call your cousin in Europe or a business colleague in Asia, the feds are reading or listening, without a warrant, without suspicion, without records and without evidence of anything unlawful.

The Patriot Act amendments to FISA also permit the feds to use anything they see or hear while spying in a federal court. The amended FISA statute permitting these warrantless searches of emails, telephone calls and postal mail expires at the end of this month. Last month, the House quietly voted to extend this dreadful authority for another five years, and in the next week, the Senate will consider doing the same.

What’s wrong with Congress?

FISA gives the government unchecked authority to snoop on all Americans who communicate with any foreign person, in direct contravention of the Fourth Amendment. The right to privacy is a natural human right. Its enshrinement in the Constitution has largely kept America from becoming East Germany. Moreover, everyone in Congress has taken an oath to uphold the Constitution, which could not be more clear: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects…” shall not be violated, except via a warrant issued by a neutral judge upon the judge finding probable cause of crime. If we let Congress, which is a creature of the Constitution, change the Constitution, then no one’s liberty or property is safe, and freedom is dependent upon the political needs of those in power. …more

Syrian jihadists form ‘Supporters of the Khilafah’ Brigade
By Bill Roggio – 14 December, 2012 – Long War Journal

Five Syrian jihadist groups based in western Aleppo have joined together and announced the formation of the Supporters of the Khilafah (Caliphate). The group vowed to impose an Islamic state and fight democracy.

The five groups, which US intelligence officials described to The Long War Journal as local units within the Al Nusrah Front, al Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria, announced the creation of the Supporters of the Khilafah in a short video that was released on YouTube on Dec. 12. In the video, scores of Islamists, many dressed in military fatigues and brandishing RPGS and assault rifles, are seen standing on what appears to be a hill while the announcement is read. Numerous black banners of jihad are seen being flown by the fighters.

“We are the leaders of the following brigades,” one of the commanders, who is not named, stated. He then listed the brigades as the “Ansar Al Sharia Brigade, Abdullah Ibn El-Zubeir Brigade, The Men of Allah Brigade, The Martyr Mustafa Abdul-Razzaq’s Brigade, and the Swords of The Most Compassionate Brigade.”

The group said it “will strive actively to overturn the criminal, kaafir Baath regime” of President Bashir al Assad, and “will object to the conspiracies of the plotters, both internal and external (to Syria), and to bring down their sly plan: the plan of a civil democratic state.”

The Supporters of the Khilafah also indicated that they will seek to take the fight outside of Syria.

“And that we will work with the sincere people of our Ummah [the worldwide Muslim community] to establish the Islamic Khilafah state, and to use it to end decades of colonization and enslavement,” the statement said. “And to return to the way we were — as the nobles of the East and the West.”

The Supporters of the Khilafah also cautioned “our brothers” against taking Western aid and weapons.

“And indeed we invite our brothers who are fighters in the sincere brigades that they walk our path, and to declare their release from being tied to these new agents [of the West],” the statement said. “And we warn them against offering compromises in their religion, for the sake of receiving money or weapons. Because certainly, therein lies their destruction.”

Syrian jihadist groups coalescing

US intelligence officials have told The Long War Journal that Syrian jihadist groups are continuing to unite under the banner of the Al Nusrah Front, which was designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization on Dec. 11 [see LWJ reports, Syrian jihadists, including al Qaeda’s Al Nusrah Front, form Mujahideen Shura Council, and US adds Al Nusrah Front, 2 leaders to terrorism list, for more information].

In the terrorism designation, the US called the Al Nusrah Front “a new alias” for al Qaeda in Iraq, and said Al Nusrah is under the direct control of Abu Du’a, the emir of the Iraqi terror group.

In the past month, jihadist groups have organized under Al Nusrah’s banner in both Aleppo and Deir al Zour. On the same day the US government announced that al Qaeda in Iraq’s Al Nusrah Front was a terrorist organization, Al Nusrah and nine other jihadist groups banded together in the Syrian province of Deir al Zour and formed a Mujahideen Shura Council. The move is reminiscent of al Qaeda in Iraq’s creation of a Mujahideen Shura Council in Iraq in 2006, a development that was quickly followed by the establishment of the Islamic State of Iraq, al Qaeda’s political front.

And in mid-November, 14 jihadist groups based in the Syrian city of Aleppo banded together to reject the newly formed National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces. The 14 groups, which include the Al Nusrah Front, called instead for the establishment of “a just Islamic State.”

Despite Al Nusrah’s known affiliation with al Qaeda and its radical ideology, Syrian opposition groups, including the supposedly secular Syrian National Coalition, have rallied to support Al Nusrah. In recent days, 29 Syrian opposition groups have signed a petition that not only condemns the US’s designation, but says “we are all Al Nusrah,” and urges their supporters to raise Al Nusrah’s flag [see Threat Matrix report, Syrian National Coalition urges US to drop Al Nusrah terrorism designation].
…source

The U.S. government has used Qatar to support “democracy promotion” in the Middle East, including as a logistical base for the invasion of Iraq. But Qatar’s rulers don’t like threats to their own tyrannical powers, even jailing a poet for life for implicitly criticizing the ruling sheikh, William Boardman reports.

Qatar’s Hypocrisy on Freedom
12 December, 2012 – By William Boardman – Consortiumnews.com

Life in prison may seem a harsh sentence for reciting a poem out loud, but it’s apparently what state security demands in Doha, Qatar, where a secret court delivered this sentence at the end of a short, secret trial in a state security case tried there in November.

Muhammed ibn al-Dheeb al-Ajami, 37, a Qatari poet with a wife and child, was studying literature at Cairo University when the Tunisian revolution broke out in December 2010. Inspired by events in Tunisia and Egypt, al-Ajami wrote a short poem, “Tunisian Jasmine” [see below], celebrating the overthrow of repressive elites. He recited the poem to private audiences and the audio of at least one such performance appeared on YouTube, but al-Ajami sayshe didn’t post it, and doesn’t know who did.

Qatari authorities took notice of the performance and, some months later, in November 2011, they arrested al-Ajami and held him in solitary confinement for most of a year before bringing him to trial. The state charged the poet with “insulting” Qatar’s ruling emir, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, as well as “inciting to overthrow the ruling system,” an offense that carries the death penalty.

Al Ajami’s 2011 poem “Tunisian Jasmine” mentions no other country and does not name the Qatari emir or any other ruler. There is a report that the secret charges against al-Ajami also include a poem he wrote in 2010 that does criticize the emir.

Hereditary Monarch or Progressive?

Sheikh Al Thani, 60, came to power as emir in 1995 when, as Minister of Defense, he led a bloodless military coup that deposed his father who was then in Switzerland, and who lived in exile until 2004 (when he returned at 72).

Despite his dictatorial powers, Sheikh Al Thani is “considered to be progressive among leaders of Muslim countries. In a break with the traditional role, his second wife Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al Missned, 53, has been a visible advocate for education and children’s causes.” She has two daughters and five sons, one of whom is friends with the poet al-Ajami.

According to al-Ajami’s lawyer, Najeeb al-Nuaimi, state security called the poet in fall 2011 and asked him to report to the police. When he asked why, he was told just to report. Then he called his friend, the emir’s son, who assured him the police just wanted him for routine registration. So he went, and they questioned him about his poetry and arrested him. …more

New Year’s Eve Jail Solidarity Noise Demo
7 December, 2012 – Committee Against Political Repression

This New Year’s Eve join us for a noise demonstration outside the SeaTac Federal Detention Center. This is in response to the international call-out for noise demos and other actions against prisons, jails, and detention centers on New Year’s Eve.

Bring banners, loud noise-makers, pots and pans, sound systems, flyers, and whatever else could be useful. Please send this announcement to listserves and invite your friends.

Matt and Kteeo have been locked away inside the Detention Center since September 13 and September 27, respectively, for refusing to cooperate with a secret federal Grand Jury investigation targeting anarchists in the Pacific Northwest. It is likely that Maddy Pfeiffer will be joining them on December 14th.
Noise demonstrations are meant to break the isolation of prison by breaking through the walls with the sounds of solidarity. In a very real way, this small gesture can remind those on the inside that they are not alone and that there are many of us out here who are fighting alongside them. Like other solidarity actions, this noise demo is meant to strengthen the resolve of the defiant, courageous rebels the state is trying to coerce into participating in their strategy of repression.

…MORE

Caged in the USA: Torture in America’s many prisons
By Aviva Stahl – Contributed by angola3news – Cageprisoners.com – 14 December, 2012 – Mostly Water

(Reprinted by Angola 3 News)

Last week, I was lucky enough to be in the audience for a truly remarkable event: a conversation between two men whose lives have been indelibly altered by American’s brutal prison regime, Robert King and Omar Deghayes. At first glance, it might seem as if these two men have nothing in common. King grew up in New Orleans in an era of violent racial repression and is a Black Panther to this day; he was convicted by an all-white jury in 1973 for a murder he did not commit, and spent 32 years in Louisiana state prison. In his earliest childhood, Deghayes lived in Libya, but after his father was murdered by Gaddafi, he and his family fled to the UK. Deghayes was arrested in Pakistan in 2002, where he had been living with his Afghan wife and child, and spent over six years detained at Guantanamo without charge or trial.

Angola, Louisiana and Guantanamo Bay are actually quite near to each other. But for anyone present at the event, it was clear that what Omar and Robert had in common was more than geographic proximity during their confinement. After all, they were both unjustly imprisoned. They both fought for years for their freedom. And they both endured the same torture whilst on the inside: long-term solitary confinement.

Now that the words “Guantanamo Bay” have become synonymous with torture, it’s easy to assume that the tiny isolation cells where Omar and many others were kept, are something new, invented for the Muslim bogeyman. But solitary confinement in America’s “supermax” prisons didn’t begin at Gitmo; it began long before 9/11, long before the War on Terror, long before al-Qaeda or the Taliban. In the 1970s, “control units” were put in place, first in Marion prison (which replaced Alcatraz) and then elsewhere. These control units were largely implemented to neutralize activists imprisoned for struggling for Black and Third World liberation – people like Robert King, Ojore Lutalo, Ray Luc Levasseur, Siliva Baraldini, Leonard Peltier, Assata Shakur, and many others. The idea has always been to break prisoners by invoking in them a sense of total dependence on their captors. As Ralph Arons, a former warden at Marion, once testified in federal court, “The purpose of the Marion Control Unit is to control revolutionary attitudes in the prison system and in the society at large”.

Nor is the use of solitary to control political or politicized prisoners something confined to the era of COINTELPRO. Take Ojore Lutala, who survived 22 years in solitary in the Management Control Unit in Trenton State Prison, New Jersey. In February 2008, the Review Committee rejected Ojore’s request to be released into general population for the umpteenth time, noting:

“The [Committee] notes your concerns regarding your feelings of persecution and discrimination based on your political affiliation. The Committee continues to show concern regarding your admitted affiliation with the Black Liberation army and the Anarchist Black Cross Foundation. Your radical views and ability to influence others poses a threat to the orderly operation of this Institution…”

Interestingly, Marion – where control units were first born – now houses a Communication Management Unit (CMU), in which Muslims are overrepresented by over 1000%. The two CMUs are so strikingly similar to that dark place where Omar was held, that they’ve been nicknamed “Guantanamo North”: they both hold Muslim prisoners with political affiliations deemed to be dubious, in tortuous conditions of long-term solitary confinement.

Control units now exist in almost every state in the nation, and have also morphed into large supermax prisons like ADX Florence. In fact, it’s estimated that today, at least 80,000 people are suffering in solitary confinement in America’s prisons, overwhelmingly poor people and people and colour. And it’s not just the “most dangerous” (read: most political) prisoners languishing in solitary anymore. Oftentimes, it’s the most vulnerable prisoners who end up in solitary – people who are mentally ill, mentally retarded, learning-disabled, or illiterate; these are people who find it the most difficult to follow the minutia of prison rules. More recently, its people perceived to be associated with prison gangs – though as recently explored in an excellent series in Mother Jones, prisoners in Pelican Bay in California may be “gang validated” for seemingly innocuous items like a Christmas card or a drinking cup with a dragon drawn on it.

Solitary confinement… can you imagine it? This is how one inmate at Pelican Bay, Gabriel Reyes, describes it in a 2012 article:

“Unless you have lived it, you cannot imagine what it feels like to be by yourself, between four cold walls, with little concept of time, no one to confide in, and only a pillow for comfort – for years on end. It is a living tomb. I eat alone and exercise alone in a small, dank, cement enclosure known as the “dog-pen.” I am not allowed telephone calls, nor can my family visit me very often; the prison is hundreds of miles from the nearest city. I have not been allowed physical contact with any of my loved ones since 1995. I have developed severe insomnia, I suffer frequent headaches, and I feel helpless and hopeless. In short, I am being psychologically tortured.” …more

Mr. Gnjidic said. “The question is: What is with the big fish, with Germany, with the U.S.A.? All he ever wanted was to know why this was done to him and an apology.”

Court Finds Rights Violation in C.I.A. Rendition Case
By NICHOLAS KULISH – 13 December, 2012 – NYT

BERLIN — A German man who was mistaken for a terrorist and abducted nine years ago won a measure of redress on Thursday when the European Court of Human Rights ruled that his rights had been violated and confirmed his account that he had been seized by Macedonia, handed over to the C.I.A., brutalized and detained for months in Afghanistan.

In a unanimous ruling, the 17-judge panel, based in Strasbourg, France, found that Macedonia had violated the European Convention on Human Rights’ prohibition on torture and inhuman or degrading treatment, and ordered it to pay the man about $78,000 in damages. It was the first time a court had ruled in favor of the man, Khaled el-Masri, 49, in a case that focused attention on the C.I.A.’s clandestine rendition program, in which terrorism suspects were transported to third countries for interrogation.

The decision, which Amnesty International hailed as “a historic moment and a milestone in the fight against impunity,” is final and cannot be appealed. The C.I.A. declined to comment. A lawsuit against the United States filed on Mr. Masri’s behalf by the American Civil Liberties Union was dismissed in 2006 on the grounds that it would expose state secrets. The group filed a petition in 2008 at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in 2008; the United States government has yet to respond.

Mr. Masri, a German citizen of Lebanese descent, was pulled off a bus at the Macedonian border on New Year’s Eve in 2003 after guards confused him with an operative of Al Qaeda who had a similar name. He was taken to a hotel in the capital, Skopje, and locked in a room there for 23 days. His detention, along with the threat that he would be shot if he left the hotel room, “amounted on various counts to inhuman and degrading treatment,” the ruling said.

When he was handed over to the C.I.A. rendition team at the Skopje airport, he was “severely beaten, sodomized, shackled and hooded” in the presence of Macedonian officials, the ruling said, a treatment that “amounted to torture.” He was then flown to Afghanistan, where he spent more than four months in captivity before being flown to Albania and dropped on the side of a road.

His German lawyer, Manfred Gnjidic, said his mental state had suffered not only from the abuse but also from the “nine years of constantly fighting, being called a liar, a terrorist, an Islamist, a hard-liner.” Mr. Masri has broken off contact with his lawyers while serving a prison sentence on unrelated charges involving a 2009 assault on the mayor of Neu-Ulm in Bavaria.

Mr. Gnjidic said he had written to Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany asking the government to appeal to Washington on Mr. Masri’s behalf. “Macedonia was only the henchman of the great powers,” Mr. Gnjidic said. “The question is: What is with the big fish, with Germany, with the U.S.A.? All he ever wanted was to know why this was done to him and an apology.” …source

Beirut Hosts “Democracy Support in Bahrain” Conference
al-Ahed News – translated and edited by moqawama.org – 14 December, 2012

Bahrain Forum for Human Rights held its second “International Conference to Support Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain” in Beirut, with international legal and media figures, members of government and parliamentary from Lebanon, the Islamic and Arab world, among other countries attending the event.

The organizers held slogans of: “Bahrain a sectarian regime, but no sectarian demands,” and “Organizations admit Bahrain with no public right.”

In addition, a small documentary was screened exposing the unjust arrests that Bahrainis consistently suffer, chasing down protestors with cars, severely beating Bahrainis, destroying houses, and displaying slides of martyrs and injured. The reportage further stated that the Bassiouni Report on Bahrain did not change the regime’s severe oppression.

In this context, Head of The Bahrain Forum for Human Rights Youssef Rabie accentuated during the conference opening that, “Support Democracy and Human Rights was a title chosen for its constitutional right and international guarantee, and it is the base of the Bahraini movement away from media mislead.”

Rabie mentioned, “There are more than 400 martyrs and 54 ruined and vandalized mosques and worship places, many laid off work, political oppressive verdicts, student expulsion, abuse of human dignity, and summoning Saudi forces.”

For his part, member of Loyalty to the Resistance Bloc MP Nawwar Saheli reiterated that “organizations and human rights associations worldwide are politicized and biased,” wondering, “where these associations are during Bahrain’s events?”

“The world must listen to the mass majority of the Bahrainis and not a mere sect, and it must oblige the Bahraini government to include the oppressed majority in ruling on democratic basis,” Saheli added.

Moreover, Imam of al-Quds Mosque in Sidon Maher Hammoud accentuated in an interview with al-Ahed News website that “this conference must be supported by everyone,” indicating that “there are more than 50% of the Bahraini people who demand basic rights, however the regime takes sectarianism as an excuse to not meet their demands.”

Furthermore, the Bahraini opposition abroad Sheikh Hussein Haddad told al-Ahed News website that, “all conferences organized by the abroad Bahraini opposition are weapons to demand Bahraini rights,” indicating that “the conference, in participation of international representatives, conveys a message to the world of the Bahraini oppression and exposes major facts occurring in Bahrain.”

Under the sight of the Arab League, the Islamic Organization Conference, and the US, who always speak of human rights and democracy, the Bahraini regime still oppresses innocent civilians who demand the least of human rights, kills peaceful protestors, arrests legal activists, postpones detainees’ trials, as well as arrests and assaults innocent children. ….source

The Obama administration should seize the opportunity to reinvigorate a national security policy long plagued by the absence of legal accountability. President Obama should immediately and publicly acknowledge the wrong that was done to Mr. Masri, apologize on behalf of the American people and offer reasonable compensation to Mr. Masri.

Rendition Condemned
By JAMES A. GOLDSTON – 13 December, 2012 –

THE United States government has been trying for almost a decade to hush up what it did to Khaled el-Masri, a German citizen whose story of mistaken identity, abduction and abuse was one of the low points in the C.I.A.’s post 9/11 “war on terror.”

This morning, the cover-up ended. The European Court of Human Rights held that Mr. Masri’s forcible disappearance, kidnapping and covert transfer without legal process to United States custody nine years ago violated the most basic guarantees of human decency. Notably, the court found that the treatment suffered by Mr. Masri in 2003 “at the hands of the special C.I.A. rendition team,” at an airport in Skopje, the capital of the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia, “amounted to torture.”

Although the case was filed against the Macedonian government and the court does not have jurisdiction over the United States, the ruling is a powerful condemnation of improper C.I.A. tactics and of the abject failure of any American court to provide redress for Mr. Masri or the other victims of Washington’s discredited policy of secret detention and extraordinary rendition.

The 17 judges in the European court’s grand chamber, several of whom grew up under Communism, have done what the United States Supreme Court has declined to do: condemn an egregious abuse of an innocent man by out-of-control security services.

Mr. Masri was seized by local security officers in Macedonia on Dec. 31, 2003, while crossing the border from Serbia by bus. At the American government’s request, he was held incommunicado for 23 days, then turned over to the C.I.A. at Skopje airport, where, according to the court ruling, he was “severely beaten, sodomized, shackled and hooded,” and flown to Kabul, Afghanistan. He was kept for four months in a putrid, unheated cell in a secret American-run prison known as the Salt Pit. He was never charged with a crime or given access to his family, a lawyer or German consular officers.

In fact, as the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, declared in December 2005 after meeting with Condoleezza Rice, then the secretary of state, the C.I.A. blundered in seeking Mr. Masri’s capture. As became clear shortly after his forced disappearance commenced, Mr. Masri was the wrong guy; he was detained because his name resembled that of an Al Qaeda suspect.

But Mr. Masri was kept in prison long after Washington realized its error. It was only on May 28, 2004, that Mr. Masri was reverse-rendered by the C.I.A. to another American ally, Albania. There, he was told not to tell anyone what had happened to him, then placed on a commercial flight back to Germany.

Although inquiries by the Council of Europe and the German Parliament pointed to the United States’ responsibility, the American government has never publicly admitted what happened. To the contrary, American officials sought to block German and Spanish criminal inquiries and obtained dismissal of Mr. Masri’s attempts to engage United States courts on the grounds that “state secrets” precluded consideration of his claims.

Now that the European Court of Human Rights has ruled, the key governments implicated in the affair must make good.

Macedonia should commit to the establishment of a commission of inquiry capable of leading to the identification and punishment of the Macedonian officials who participated in his extraordinary rendition. Germany should disclose its own role, and its ministry of justice should transmit to the United States authorities arrest warrants issued in January 2007, but never sent, for 13 C.I.A. operatives accused of involvement in the case.

The Obama administration should seize the opportunity to reinvigorate a national security policy long plagued by the absence of legal accountability. President Obama should immediately and publicly acknowledge the wrong that was done to Mr. Masri, apologize on behalf of the American people and offer reasonable compensation to Mr. Masri.

And beyond this case, the administration should abandon the policy of excessive secrecy that has diminished the moral authority of, and public support for, its counterterrorism program. …more

This vote marks an important step towards ensuring that past policies and practices of torture and official cruelty in U.S. intelligence operations will not be repeated. Pray tell how? This is “business as usual” for the CIA. Is Feinstein really serious? Does she think CIA crimes documented in the report were unnoticed by those who sit on Senate oversight committees. Senator, the public isn’t as stupid as you pretend to be… Until the Senate puts together something with far reaching prosecutorial powers and actual convicts those issuing the orders to conduct these operation there will be “business as usual”. And what’s up with the liberals at HRF pushing such obligingly shallow commentary and analysis for Feinstein? Phlipn out.

Senate CIA Torture Report Adopted, Provides Factual, Comprehensive Review of U.S. Torture Program
13 December, 2012 – Human Rights First

Washington, DC – Human Rights First applauds the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) for voting to adopt a 6,000 plus page report on the former CIA detention and torture program. This vote marks an important step towards ensuring that past policies and practices of torture and official cruelty in U.S. intelligence operations will not be repeated. The committee, led by Chair Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and joined by 8 members, including Republican Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME), voted 9-6 to adopt the report, which will now go to the Obama Administration for review and comment.

“By voting to adopt this report, the committee has sent a clear message that torture and abuse have no place in U.S. intelligence operations,” said Human Rights First’s Melina Milazzo. “The American people deserve to know the truth, and the committee should now commit to publicly releasing the report with as few redactions as possible.”

In a statement released after the vote, Senator Feinstein stated, “The report uncovers startling details about the CIA detention and interrogation program and raises critical questions about intelligence operations and oversight.” She concluded, “I strongly believe that the creation of long-term, clandestine ‘black sites’ and the use of so-called ‘enhanced-interrogation techniques’ were terrible mistakes. The majority of the Committee agrees.”

In a statement sent to the committee today, Senator John McCain (R-AZ) said, “It is my hope that we can reach a consensus in this country that we will never again engage in these horrific abuses, and that the mere suggestion of doing so should be ruled out of our political discourse, regardless of which party holds power. It is therefore my hope that this Committee will take whatever steps necessary to finalize and declassify this report, so that all Americans can see the record for themselves, which I believe will finally close this painful chapter for our country. “

Today’s vote comes in advance of the soon-to-be-released film “Zero Dark Thirty,” which provides a fictionalized account of how the United States carried out its operation to find Osama bin Laden. The film has renewed the debate over the efficacy of torture in providing actionable intelligence, despite statements made to the contrary by senior government officials, including Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Senator Feinstein.

“It’s high-time to put an end to this debate,” Milazzo noted. “The committee’s comprehensive, factual review of the classified record – information that no one else has – can finally set the record straight. The committee has taken a critical first step by adopting its report. Now, it should work to publicly release it and let the facts speak for themselves.”

As Brigadier General David R. Irvine (Ret.), a former Army strategic intelligence officer who taught prisoner of war interrogation, said of the CIA Torture report earlier this week in a conference call, “[It] won’t be made into a Hollywood movie, but it will be enormously valuable to the next generation of leaders who need to understand at the very highest levels that democracy and torture cannot exist in the same body politic.”

“It is only by having all the information available that the American public can understand how this failure of U.S. policy occurred and be better positioned to prevent it from happening again,” concluded Milazzo. …source

U.S. to deploy Patriot missiles, troops to Turkey
By Dan De Luce – Agence France Presse – 14 Decemebr, 2012 – The Daily Star

INCIRLIK, Turkey: The United States will deploy two Patriot missile batteries to Turkey along with 400 troops to help defend its ally against potential threats from neighbouring Syria, US officials said Friday.

The move was part of a wider NATO effort to bolster Turkey’s air defences amid growing tension on the Turkish-Syrian border, with Ankara siding with opposition forces battling President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta issued the order before landing at the Incirlik airbase in Turkey after a visit to Afghanistan, his spokesman said.

“The secretary, as we are en route to Turkey, has signed an order that will deploy some 400 US personnel to Turkey to support two Patriot missile batteries,” George Little told reporters aboard Panetta’s plane.

“We expect them to be deployed in the coming weeks.”

Turkey is a “very strong ally” and the US government is prepared in the context of NATO to support the defence of Turkey,” Little said.

Germany and the Netherlands also have agreed to provide advanced “hit-to-kill” Patriot weapons, which are designed to knock out cruise and ballistic missiles as well as aircraft.

The move coincides with rising fears the Syrian regime may resort to using chemical weapons against rebel forces and after Assad’s army unleashed Scud missiles in recent days.

US and European leaders have warned the Assad regime not to use its arsenal of chemical arms, calling it a “red line” that would trigger international military action.

Turkey has vowed to defend its territory after cross-border artillery fire wounded civilians and following the downing of one of its fighter jets.

The Patriot, or ‘Phased Array Tracking Radar to Intercept on Target,’ came into its own during the 1991 Gulf War when they were deployed to protect allies and US forces from Iraqi Scud missiles. The Patriot’s boxy launch units became instantly recognisable in TV images of the conflict.

The anti-ballistic defence system was developed by arms manufacturer Lockheed Martin for the US Army.

Panetta arrived in Turkey for a brief stop after a two day visit to Afghanistan, where he consulted with commanders on future troop numbers.

…more

Human Rights activists demand immediate end to Al Khalifa crackdown on Bahrainis
13 December, 2012 – ABNA

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) – During a meeting in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, on Thursday, the participants sought to raise awareness about the flagrant human rights violations in the Persian Gulf kingdom, amid the brutal crackdown by the ruling Al Khalifa regime.

“The regime has been using an excessive amount of tear gas even throwing it into homes, to collectively punish groups for protests. They have been maiming protesters with bird shots, and they have also been torturing doctors, journalists, and even school children. So, these human rights abuses have been very rampant, and also have been worrisome. When it comes to the West, it is worrisome that the US continues to support this regime,” Amber Lyon, former CNN correspondent and a guest to the conference, said.

She added, “The main issue here to be discussed is a way to get everyone together, the human rights groups, the journalists, doctors from all over the world, and politicians to coalesce into a group that can come up with solutions.”

“The biggest issue, I think, facing Bahrain is the inability for people to communicate in person because we are not allowed to go to Bahrain. As a journalist, I have been blacklisted. I have been denied a visa. So, it is very difficult for all of us to come together as a group and discuss solutions. This conference offers us that opportunity and hope,” Lyon said.

The Bahraini revolution began in mid-February 2011, when the people, inspired by the popular revolutions that toppled the dictators of Tunisia and Egypt, began holding mass demonstrations.

The Bahraini government promptly launched a brutal crackdown on the peaceful protests and called in Saudi-led Arab forces to help quell the unrest.

Dozens of people have been killed in the crackdown, and Bahraini security forces have arrested hundreds, including doctors and nurses accused of treating injured protesters.

A report published by the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry in November 2011 found that the Al Khalifa regime had used excessive force in the crackdown and accused Manama of torturing political activists, politicians, and protesters.

The protesters say they will continue holding anti-regime demonstrations until their demand for the establishment of a democratically elected government is met. …source

Bahrain opposition seeks UK support as tension simmers
By Frank Gardner – BBC

The leader of Bahrain’s main opposition party has called on the UK government to act as a mediator with the ruling al-Khalifa family if progress towards democracy remains stalled in the troubled Gulf state.

In a meeting with the BBC, Sheikh Ali Salman, the leader of the al-Wefaq party, said western countries, including Britain and the US, needed to do more to prevent Bahrain falling prey to extremism by both sides.

“I believe that we need more from Britain and the US to achieve, on the ground, the change to democracy without any delay. The advantage is for everyone – Bahrainis, Americans, British,” he said.

His call came as both the ruling family and the political opposition said they wanted to resolve Bahrain’s difficulties by dialogue. Yet, in practice, the two remain far apart, with ongoing criticism of the country’s human rights record.

This has been my fourth visit to Bahrain since the Arab Spring uprisings began last year and, despite the calm on the streets in the heart of the capital, Manama, it is still a deeply divided and troubled place with tension simmering in the restive villages that ring the capital.

Dozens have been killed in clashes since protests erupted in February 2011 and Bahrain has been heavily criticised recently by human rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

Al-Wefaq says that if anything, human rights in Bahrain are deteriorating, with a recent blanket ban on protests.

There have however been some reforms, following an international commission of inquiry last year. There are now CCTV cameras in police stations and prisons, and police are given extensive training in public order. …more

“Friends of Syria” meeting demands Assad cede power to Islamist opposition
By Alex Lantier – 13 December, 2012 – WSWS

Representatives of 130 governments, led by Washington and its European and Arab allies, attended a “Friends of Syria” meeting in Marrakesh, Morocco yesterday. Moroccan Foreign Minister Saad Eddine El Othmani said they had agreed to declare the National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces the sole representative of the Syrian people.

The meeting came the day after US President Barack Obama officially recognized the National Coalition. The Islamist-dominated coalition was organized by the US State Department to represent the armed opposition groups fighting a NATO-backed proxy war against the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

A draft declaration circulated at the Marrakesh meeting stated, “Participants acknowledge the National Coalition as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people and the umbrella organization under which the Syrian opposition are gathering … Bashar al-Assad has lost legitimacy and should stand aside to allow a sustainable political transition.”

Countries that still support Assad, including Russia, China, and Iran, did not attend the meeting in Marrakech. Speaking of the meeting, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said, “The United States has decided to place all its bets on an armed victory of the National Coalition.”

The meeting highlighted the criminal and reactionary character of the NATO proxy war against Syria, in which the US’ Arab allies arm Al Qaeda-linked forces in a terrorist campaign with devastating consequences for Syrian civilians.

Syrian Muslim Brotherhood deputy leader Farouq Tayfour set the tone, suggesting that National Coalition forces would extra-judicially murder Assad. He compared Assad’s fate to that of Libyan head of state Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi, whose government was overthrown last year in a NATO war. Gaddafi was ultimately tortured and lynched by US-backed guerrillas after his convoy was bombed by NATO warplanes as he fled his hometown of Sirte.

Tayfour said: “Bashar is under siege. His end will be like Gaddafi’s end. Didn’t Bashar say, ‘I was born in Syria and I will die in Syria’? That is what Gaddafi said as well, and that’s it.”

Washington’s Islamist proxies criticized the State Department’s decision announced on Tuesday to designate the Al Nusra Front, an Al Qaeda affiliate inside the Syrian opposition, as a terrorist group. The State Department Spokeswoman charged the Al Nusra Front with having carried out nearly 600 attacks over the last year in Syria, in which “numerous innocent Syrians have been killed.” …more