If the United States is the world’s second worst human rights abuser, which is the worst?
26 May, 2012 – Paul Craig Roberts – Stop The War Coalition

The US government is the second worst human rights abuser on the planet and the sole enabler of the worst–Israel.

But this doesn’t hamper Washington from pointing the finger elsewhere.

The US State Department’s “human rights report” focuses its ire on Iran and Syria, two countries whose real sin is their independence from Washington, and on the bogyman- in-the-making–China, the country selected for the role of Washington’s new Cold War enemy.

Hillary Clinton, another in a long line of unqualified Secretaries of State, informed “governments around the world: we are watching, and we are holding you accountable,” only we are not holding ourselves accountable or Washington’s allies like Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Israel, and the NATO puppets.

Hillary also made it “clear to citizens and activists everywhere: You are not alone. We are standing with you,” only not with protesters at the Chicago NATO summit or with the Occupy Wall Street protesters, or anywhere else in the US where there are protests. (ref)

The State Department stands with the protesters funded by the US in the countries whose governments the US wishes to overthrow. Protesters in the US stand alone as do the occupied Palestinians who apparently have no human rights to their homes, lands, olive groves, or lives.

Here are some arrest numbers for a few recent US protests. The New York Daily News reports that as of November 17, 2011, 1,300 Occupy Wall Street protesters were arrested in New York City alone. Fox News reported (October 2, 2011) that 700 protesters were arrested on the Brooklyn Bridge. At the NATO summit in Chicago last week, 90 protesters were arrested (Chicago Journal).

In the US some protesters are being officially categorized as “domestic extremists” or “domestic terrorists,” a new threat category that Homeland Security announced is now the focus of its attention, displacing Muslim terrorists as the number one threat to the US. In September 2010, federal police raided the homes of peace activists in Chicago and Minneapolis. The FBI is trying to concoct a case against them by claiming that the peace activists donated money to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. As demanded by Israel, the US government has designated the PFLP as a terrorist group.

In Chicago last week, among the many arrested NATO protesters with whom the State Department does not stand are three young white americans arrested for “domestic terrorism” in what Dave Lindorff reports was “a warrantless house invasion reminiscent of what US military forces are doing on a daily [and nightly] basis in Afghanistan.” If the US government, which stands with protesters everywhere except in America, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Palestine, can make this into a terrorism case, the three americans can be convicted on the basis of secret evidence or simply be incarcerated for the rest of their lives without a trial.

Meanwhile the three american “domestic terrorists” are being held in solitary confinement. Like many of the NATO protesters, they came from out of town. Brian Church, 20 years old, came from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Jared Chase, 27, came from Keene, New Hampshire. Brent Betterly, 24, came from Oakland Park, Florida. Charged with providing material support for terrorism, the judge set their bail at $1.5 million each.

These three are not charged with actually throwing a Molotov cocktail at a person or thing. They are charged with coming to Chicago with the idea of doing so. Somehow the 16 federal intelligence agencies plus those of our NATO puppets and Israel were unable to discover the 9/11 plot in the making, but the Chicago police knew in advance why two guys from Florida and one from New Hampshire came to Chicago. The domestic terrorism cases turn out to be police concoctions that are foiled before they happen, so we have many terrorists but no actual terrorist acts.

Two other young americans are being framed by their Human Rights Government. Sebastian Senakiewicz, 24, of Chicago is charged with “falsely making a terrorist threat,” whatever that means. His bail was set at $750,000. Mark Neiweem, 28, of Chicago is charged with “solicitation for explosives or incendiary devices.” His bail is set at $500,000.

This is human rights in america. But the State Department’s human rights report never examines the US. It is a political document aimed at Washington’s chosen enemies.

Meanwhile, Human Rights america continues to violate the national sovereignty of Pakistan, Yeman, and Afghanistan by sending in drones, bombs, special forces and in Afghanistan 150,000 US soldiers to murder people, usually women, children and village elders. Weddings, funerals, children’s soccer games, schools and farmers’ houses are also favorite targets for Washington’s attacks. On May 25 the Pakistani Daily Times reported that Pakistani Foreign Office spokesman Moazzam Ali Khan strongly condemned the drone attacks: “We regard them as a violation of our territorial integrity. They are in contravention of international law. They are illegal, counter productive and totally unacceptable.”

The US reportedly funnels money to the Iranian terrorist group, MEK, declared terrorists by no less than the US State Department. But it is OK as long as MEK is terrorizing Iran. Washington stands with MEK’s protests delivered via bombs and the assassin’s bullet. After all, we have to bring freedom and democracy to Iran, and violence is Washington’s preferred way to achieve this goal.

Washington is desperate to overthrow the Syrian government in order to get rid of the Russian naval base. On May 15 the Washington Post reported that Washington is coordinating the flow of arms to Syrian rebels. Washington’s justification for interfering in Syria’s internal affairs is human rights charges against the Syrian government. However, a UN report finds that the rebels are no more respectful of human rights than the Syrian government. The rebels torture and murder prisoners and kidnap civilians wealthy enough to bring a ransom. ….more

Bahrain Activist Free on Bail Before Twitter Trial
17 January, 2013 – AP

MANAMA, Bahrain – A lawyer in Bahrain says a human rights activist has been freed on bail after more than two months in custody on charges of posting false news on Twitter.

The case is seen by opposition groups as part of expanding Internet crackdowns by authorities in the Sunni-ruled Gulf nation, which has faced nearly two years on non-stop unrest over demands by majority Shiites for a greater political voice.

Lawyer Mohamed al-Jishi says activist Yousef Al Muhafedha was released Thursday on bail of 100 dinars ($268). His trial was set for Jan. 29.

Al-Muhafedha, a senior figure with the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, was taken into custody in early November on allegations he fabricated details about demonstrations in the capital, Manama. …source

Love and Terror in Bahrain
by Elizabeth Hames – Readers Digest Canada

Naser Al Raas lay disoriented on the cell floor. He felt a tingling in his hands; his 
left foot twitched. Hours earlier, guards had burst in, forced a bag over his head, tied a cable around his wrists and dragged him into a dank room. There, hoisted by his arms and hung like a butcher’s pig, he heard the crackle of electricity. A current shot up his leg, grabbing hold of every muscle in his body and twisting them. He uttered a scream so deep he didn’t recognize his own voice, and he passed out.

Now awake, he squinted up at the bright light bulb dangling from the ceiling. It had been days since he’d seen the sun. There was a burst of angry voices and hurried footsteps outside his cell—the guards, once again, had left his door open. “They did it after each interrogation,” he says, “so I could listen to the other detainees cry out.”
Every day, men and women were hauled down the hallway into the torture room, where they were kicked, punched, whipped, electrocuted—or worse. Al Raas didn’t know how much longer he could take it. “I wished I would die,” he says, “so my suffering would end.”

Six weeks earlier, Al Raas, a 30-year-old IT specialist from Ottawa, had been working in Kuwait, where he began following the news coming out of nearby Bahrain. From the moment the Al Khalifa royal family, who are Sunni Muslims, assumed control of the former British protectorate in 1971, the island kingdom’s Shia majority has complained of widespread discrimination. Shia citizens cannot purchase property in some areas, are excluded from certain jobs and have watched their underfunded neighbourhoods deteriorate. Four decades of discontent exploded on February 14, 2011: inspired by the Arab Spring, tens of thousands of Bahrainis stormed the capital, demanding democracy and greater political rights.

Al Raas’s sister and nieces lived just outside of the capital, Manama, in one of the country’s most troubled neighbourhoods. The intensity of clashes, with reports of injuries and fatalities, worried Al Raas, so he decided to check in. On March 6, he flew to Bahrain on a two-week tourist visa.

His family had barricaded themselves in their tiny flat. Every morning, they woke to the news of burned-out cars, destroyed generators and vandalized schools. His sister described the police raids—how officers would fire tear gas and stun grenades to disperse protesters who had occupied Pearl Square at the city’s centre. She urged her brotherto stay away, but Al Raas had never witnessed a revolution up close. He wanted to see it for himself. …source

For Washington, There Is No Arms Control Abroad
by Tom Engelhardt, 14 January, 2013 – antiwar.com

Given these last weeks, who doesn’t know what an AR-15 is? Who hasn’t seen the mind-boggling stats on the way assault rifles have flooded this country, or tabulations of accumulating Newtown-style mass killings, or noted that there are barely more gas stations nationwide than federally licensed firearms dealers, or heard the renewed debates over the Second Amendment, or been struck by the rapid shifts in public opinion on gun control, or checked out the disputes over how effective an assault-rifle ban was the last time around? Who doesn’t know about the NRA’s suggestion to weaponize schools, or about the price poor neighborhoods may be paying in gun deaths for the present expansive interpretation of the Second Amendment? Who hasn’t seen the legions of stories about how, in the wake of the Newtown slaughter, sales of guns, especially AR-15 assault rifles, have soared, ammunition sales have surged, background checks for future gun purchases have risen sharply, and gun shows have been besieged with customers?

If you haven’t stumbled across figures on gun violence in America or on suicide-by-gun, you’ve been hiding under a rock. If you haven’t heard about Chicago’s soaring and Washington D.C.’s plunging gun-death stats (and that both towns have relatively strict gun laws), where have you been?

Has there, in fact, been any aspect of the weaponization of the United States that, since the Newtown massacre, hasn’t been discussed? Are you the only person in the country, for instance, who doesn’t know that Vice President Joe Biden has been assigned the task of coming up with an administration gun-control agenda before Barack Obama is inaugurated for his second term? And can you honestly tell me that you haven’t seen global comparisons of killing rates in countries that have tight gun laws and the U.S., or read at least one discussion about life in countries like Colombia or Guatemala, where armed guards are omnipresent?

After years of mass killings that resulted in next to no national dialogue about the role of guns and how to control them, the subject is back on the American agenda in a significant way and – by all signs – isn’t about to leave town anytime soon. The discussion has been so expansive after years in a well-armed wilderness that it’s easy to miss what still isn’t being discussed, and in some sense just how narrow our focus remains.

Think of it this way: the Obama administration is reportedly going to call on Congress to pass a new ban on assault weapons, as well as one on high-capacity ammunition magazines, and to close the loopholes that allow certain gun purchasers to avoid background checks. But Biden has already conceded, at least implicitly, that facing a Republican-controlled House of Representatives and a filibuster-prone Senate, the administration’s ability to make much of this happen – as on so many domestic issues – is limited. …more

Canadian human rights group finds countries including Bahrain use Blue Coat devices to track and censor

Harsh regimes use US-made surveillance, censorship technologies
By Natasha Lennard – 16 January, 2013 – Salon.com

Some of the world’s most repressive regimes employ U.S.-made surveillance and censorship technology. Citizen Lab Internet research group, based at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto, discovered that that governments around the world use systems from made by Blue Coat Systems of Sunnyvale, California.

As the New York Times reported, Citizen Lab “determined that Egypt, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Republic employed a Blue Coat system that could be used for digital censorship. The group also determined that Bahrain, China, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Kenya, Kuwait, Lebanon, Malaysia, Nigeria, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Turkey and Venezuela used equipment that could be used for surveillance and tracking.”

“We hope Blue Coat will take this as an opportunity to explain their due diligence process to ensure that their devices are not used in ways that violate human rights,” a statement from Citizen Lab noted. The Canadian human rights group used computer servers to scan for the distinctive signature of Blue Coat systems in global networks.

In 2011, the U.S. Department of Commerce investigated Blue Coat when it was found that Syria’s Assad regime was using the California company’s technologies to monitor dissidents. Since Syria is on the U.S. embargo list, technology is restricted from export. Blue Coat acknowledged that Syrian authorities were in possession of their surveillance devices, but claimed that they were sent without the company’s knowledge via a distributor in Dubai.

While the U.S. cannot block exports to countries outside the sanction lists, Citizen Lab hopes their findings will prompt a closer look at the proliferation of surveillance and censorship technologies. …source

Bahrainis hold demonstrations against Al Khalifa
16 January, 2013 – PressTV

Bahraini demonstrators have once again taken to the streets in several towns and villages to protest against the Al Khalifa regime.

The protesters chanted slogans against the regime and called for the immediate release of political prisoners.

A new release of US Defense Department’s documents revealed that Washington has been providing the Al Khalifa regime with weapons and combat vehicle parts.

The United States has also been giving Manama communications equipment, Blackhawk helicopters, and a missile system.

The Bahraini regime has arrested many activists, politicians and medical personnel over the past months.

Recently, Bahrain’s highest court upheld jail terms and life sentences to dozens of activists, a move vehemently denounced by human rights groups.

The Bahraini uprising began in February 2011. The regime promptly launched a brutal crackdown on the protests and called in forces from neighboring Persian Gulf states to help quell the demonstrations.

Bahraini protesters say they will continue holding demonstrations until their demands for the establishment of a democratically elected government and an end to violations of rights are met. …source

Keeping it real: CS Gas is a lethal Chemical Weapon when used as such. It is has been used to deliberately and recklessly to kill and injure people in Bahrain. Those who argue the finer aspects of classifications of such weapons as “riot control agents” vs “chemical weapons” are deluded and cynical when it comes to the misery, suffering and murder of people with such weapons. The symptoms of Chemical Weapons attack in Homs, Syria last December included; labored breathing, disorientation, hallucination, nervousness and lack of limb control and those much closer to the source of the gas had much more severe symptoms, including paralyses, seizures, muscle spasms and in some cases blindness. Six people were killed by chemical gas and scores injured.

U.S. officials said the symptoms suffered by those who inhaled the gas in Homs were similar to those in people exposed to Agent 15. Agent 15 is an incapacitating and easily manufactured and kept in arsenals throughout the Middle East. Agent 15 is controlled by the Chemical Weapons Convention. CS gas is also prohibited in war under the terms of the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention, though it is widely used by domestic police for riot control. The Chemical Weapons Convention prohibits only military use of CS gas. Five nations have not signed the Chemical Weapons Convention: Angola, Egypt, North Korea, Somalia, and Syria.

People have been suffering the symptoms; labored breathing, disorientation, hallucination, nervousness and lack of limb control, paralyses, seizures, muscle spasms, blindness and miscarriage as a result of Agent 15 or lethal use of toxic CS gas since the brutal repression started in Bahrain in February, 2011. Early use of Chemical Agents against protesters in Bahrain were treated in emergency rooms, resulting in arrest and imprisonment of scores of doctors and medical staff who treated what they understood as symptoms of Chemical Weapons attacks. Chemical Weapons attacks resulting in death have occurred as recently as last week in Bahrain – [Jan.2013]. Entire Villages in Bahrain are suffocated in Clouds of Chemical Gas on a daily basis. There have been no investigations into the lethal Chemical Weapons attacks or misuse of Chemical Weapons in Bahrain by US State Department or any other International Agency. Phlipn Out

U.S.: Syria didn’t use chemical weapons in Homs incident
By Elise Labott – 16 January, 2012

The Syrian government did not use chemical weapons against residents of Homs in a December attack, a U.S. State Department investigation shows, but did apparently misuse a riot-control gas in the incident, according to senior U.S. officials.

The investigation stemmed from allegations inside Syria about the use of chemical weapons during an attack on the city of Homs on December 23. The officials said the State Department launched a probe from its consulate in Istanbul after doctors and activists reported dozens of victims suffering from nervous system, respiratory and gastrointestinal ailments after inhaling the gas.

Foreign Policy’s “The Cable” blog reported Tuesday that a secret diplomatic cable provided a “compelling case” that President Bashar al-Assad’s military used chemical weapons in the attack.

The United States was informed of the incident by representatives of a non-governmental organization working in Syria, who told the U.S. consulate in Turkey that they believed a chemical attack took place in Homs, according to a U.S. official. The NGO set up some interviews for the consulate, which then wrote a cable discussing the concerns. The U.S. official said the cable noted that the evidence was inconclusive that there was a chemical attack.

However, the concern triggered a more extensive investigation by the State Department, with intelligence personnel assessing online videos of the attack and pictures of the victims. Chemical weapons experts and doctors experienced in treating patients exposed to chemical weapons were also consulted, according to U.S. officials. And interviews were conducted with Syrian doctors and activists inside the country by a U.S. partner there.

The gas was determined to be a “riot control agent” that was not designed to produce lasting effects, but became more dangerous when it was released in dense areas and was not dispersed in the air quickly, the officials said.

“It is meant to be short term,” one of the officials said. “But just like with tear gas, if you breathe in an entire canister, that can have a severe effect on your lungs and other organs.”

“That doesn’t make it a chemical weapon, however,” the official said.

Dr. Abu al Fida, who treated about 30 of the approximately 100 people who were affected by the mysterious gas, told CNN the victims’ symptoms depended on their proximity to the substance.

People who were further away from the source suffered labored breathing, disorientation, hallucination, nervousness and lack of limb control, al Fida said.

But those closer to the source of the gas had much more severe symptoms, including paralyses, seizures, muscle spasms and in some cases blindness, he said. Six people were killed by the gas, the doctor said.

The senior U.S. officials said the symptoms in those who inhaled the gas were similar to those in people exposed to Agent 15, an incapacitating gas controlled by the Chemical Weapons Convention, although it was later determined not to be Agent 15.

The officials also said that while some Syrian doctors on the ground were convinced the gas was a chemical weapon, others were not.

A senior Turkish diplomat told CNN that Turkey also conducted its own investigation into the chemical weapons allegations, but found the claims to be unsubstantiated.

President Barack Obama has said the use of chemical weapons by al-Assad’s government would cross a “red line” which would trigger a robust U.S. and international response.

“We have been very clear to the Assad regime, but also to other players on the ground, that a red line for us is we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized,” Obama first said in August. “That would change my calculus.”

National Security Council Spokesman Tommy Vietor said that reports about the use of chemical weapons by the regime have “not been consistent with what we believe to be true about the Syrian chemical weapons program.”

“The president was very clear when he said that if the Assad regime makes the tragic mistake of using chemical weapons, or fails to meet its obligation to secure them, the regime will be held accountable,” Vietor told CNN.

Officials tell CNN there are no plans for more robust specific action in light of the investigation. A Deputies Committee meeting of top administration officials is scheduled for Thursday, but officials say they do not expect any policy shifts. …source