Friday, May 14, 2004

Befoul The Unholy Alliance FEATURED ARTICLES - Now Indians Cry Foul Over Iraq, by Siddharth Srivastava, Asia Times, - Exporting America's Prison Problems, by Dan Frosch, The Nation, - Open letter to President George W. Bush, From Irene Khan, Secretary General of Amnesty International QUOTE OF THE DAY "Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people. To destroy this invisible government, to befoul the unholy alliance between corrupt business and corrupt politics is the first task of the statesmanship of the day." - - Theodore Roosevelt  (April 1906) KNOW YOUR HISTORY - MAY 14th 1970 -- Jackson State University, Jackson, Mississippi: 2 African American students killed and 30 wounded by police during a protest of the Cambodian invasion and the Kent State killings. 2000 -- Washington, DC: Million Mom March to end to gun violence in America. The Moms demand licensing & registration for all gun owners in the U.S. RHINO HERE: From Utah to New Delhi and all over the world, people of the world are having to re-evaluate their thoughts & feelings about the "Good 'Ol U.S. of A."  Some may remember when Ronald Reagan was elected President, the new Secretary of State, General Alexander Haig told the nation, "Human rights will not be a priority in this administration."  The current administration, led by many people who hold General Haig & his world view in high regard, have bet their wad on a belief that being the world's foremost military super power, is the way to safety, salvation & riches.  Rhino sez, "The way to life's greatest potentials for safety, salvation & riches is to be the world's foremost humanitarian super power.  It would take far less billions & it's the only way, in the long run, to quell the upscaling violence. Today, 2 new angles on the inhumane results of a war that never needed to be fought. And then today's RHINO'S BOTTOM LINE, a recent open letter from the Secretary General of Amnesty International to U.S. President George W. Bush. Now Indians Cry Foul Over Iraq By Siddharth Srivastava, Asia Times, May 8,2004 NEW DELHI - While the world gets a first-hand peek into the prison horror stories of Iraq, Indian workers who have managed to "flee" US military camps have an equally harrowing account to tell. The tales add to the fast-receding image of the United States as the moral keeper of the world, and have brought the Indian government under severe criticism for its failure to protect the interests of its citizens. The war in Iraq has not only witnessed hordes of Indian ex-soldiers looking for non-combat employment opportunities, but has also engendered a rush of workers looking to perform back-end menial jobs for coalition troops stationed in Iraq and Kuwait. Various travel agencies across India have recruited hundreds, perhaps thousands, of military support staff - chefs, kitchen assistants, service assistants, camp supervisors, mess supervisors, accountants, financial supervisors and bus drivers... ...The four were promised $1,000 per month to work in Kuwait, but ended up in a US military camp living in horrible conditions. They claim they were made to work non-stop for 18 hours, beaten up when they complained and paid only $200 a month instead of the promised amount. Faisal says he counted at least 30 other Indians in the camp living under similar conditions. He and his friends managed to escape by bribing an Iraqi truck driver, as well as getting some help from local citizens who are friendly to Indians. MORE: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/FE08Df06.html Exporting America's Prison Problems by Dan Frosch, The Nation, May 12, 2004 In 1997 a 29-year-old schizophrenic inmate named Michael Valent was stripped naked and strapped to a restraining chair by Utah prison staff because he refused to take a pillowcase off his head. Shortly after he was released some sixteen hours later, Valent collapsed and died from a blood clot that blocked an artery to his heart.  The chilling incident made national news not only because it happened to be videotaped but also because Valent's family successfully sued the State of Utah and forced it to stop using the device. Director of the Utah Department of Corrections, Lane McCotter, who was named in the suit and defended use of the chair, resigned in the ensuing firestorm. Some six years later, Lane McCotter was working in Abu Ghraib prison, part of a four-man team of correctional advisers sent by the Justice Department and charged with the sensitive mission of reconstructing Iraq's notorious prisons, ravaged by decades of human rights abuse. While McCotter left Iraq shortly before the current scandal at Abu Ghraib began and says he had nothing to do with the MPs who committed the atrocities, his very presence there raises serious questions about US handling of the Iraqi prison system. It's bad enough that the Justice Department picked McCotter--whose reputation in Utah was at best controversial and at worst disturbing. But further, the Justice Department hired him less than three months after its own civil rights division released a shocking thirty-six-page report documenting inhumane conditions at a New Mexico jail, run by the company where McCotter is an executive. Here was a man whose prisons had been plagued by reports of inmate mistreatment for nearly a decade... MORE: http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i?040524&;s=frosch 12:14:54 PM    comment

RHINO'S BOTTOM LINE - An open letter to President George W. Bush on the question of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment An open letter to President George W. Bush         on the question of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment From Irene Khan, Secretary General of Amnesty International, 7 May 2004 To:     George W. Bush, The President         The White House, Office of the President         1600 Pennsylvania Avenue        Washington DC 20500, USA Dear Mr President, The world is watching as your administration responds to the most recent evidence of torture and degrading treatment of Iraqis at the hands of US personnel. While Amnesty International welcomes official statements that the allegations are being taken seriously, the ultimate proof of this will be in actions not words. In this regard, your government's record in the context of "war on terror" detentions gives cause for concern, as fundamental principles of law and human rights continue to be violated despite the administration's stated commitment to these principles. Amnesty International recalls your statement on 26 June 2003, made on the occasion of the United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, in which you said that "the United States is committed to the worldwide elimination of torture and we are leading this fight by example". The organization urges you now to ensure that the USA fully meets its international obligations, including as a state party to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, to investigate all allegations of torture and ill-treatment, publish all findings, prosecute all perpetrators, compensate all victims, and prevent any future torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. We call on the USA to open the doors of its detention facilities in Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantánamo Bay, and at undisclosed locations elsewhere, to independent bodies, including visits by United Nations Special Rapporteurs.  In July 2003, Amnesty International sent your government a Memorandum on Concerns Relating to Law and Order in Iraq... READ IT ALL AT: http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGAMR510782004 "RHINO'S BLOG" is the responsibility of Gary Rhine. (rhino@kifaru.com) Feedback, and requests to be added or deleted from the list are encouraged. SEARCH BLOG ARCHIVES / SURF RHINO'S LINKS, AT: http://www.rhinosblog.info RHINO'S OTHER WEB SITES: http://www.dreamcatchers.org (INDIGENOUS ASSISTANCE & INTERCULTURAL DIALOG) http://www.kifaru.com (NATIVE AMERICAN RELATIONS VIDEO DOCUMENTARIES) Articles are reprinted under Fair Use Doctrine of international copyright law. http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html All copyrights belong to original publisher. Tell a friend about Rhino's Blog 12:11:07 PM    comment

Public Incredulity FEATURED ARTICLES - Bogus GI rape photos used as Arab propaganda, by Sherrie Gossett, WorldNetDaily, 5/4/04 - Ex-Iraq interrogator says many prisoners innocent, Reuters , May 7, 2004 - US Army Report on Iraqi Prisoner Abuse, by Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba, May 5, 2004 - Red Cross describes systematic abuse in Iraq, International Hearld Tribune, 5/8/04 - The ICRC in Iraq, www.icrc.org, 5/8/04 - Kerry Might Well Pause, Listen to Nader, by William Raspberry QUOTE OF THE DAY "Only puny secrets need protection. Big discoveries are protected by public incredulity." - - Marshall McLuhan KNOW YOUR HISTORY - MAY 12th 1310 -- Fifty-four Knights Templars burned at the stake as heretics in France. 1958 -- Robert S. McNamara, future US Defense Secretary, suggests Americans eat cabbage & broccoli to withstand radiation fallout. 1963 -- Bob Dylan walks out of dress rehearsals for "The Ed Sullivan Show."  CBS censors tell Dylan he can't perform his "Talking John Birch Society Blues." When told the tune may be libelous, Dylan refuses to appear. RHINO HERE: Today's BOTTOM LINE, referred by The Coyote, looks at how relations between Nader & Kerry could have dynamic effects on the election. It's penned by Pulitzer-Prize winning Washington Post columnist, William Raspberry, who teaches public policy courses on the history and impact of equal opportunity and affirmative action; on the effect of socioeconomic changes on families, children and communities; on the ways citizens seek political power; and on the press and the public interest. He won the 1994 Pulitzer for commentaries on crime, AIDS, the Nation of Islam and violent rap lyrics. He's author of Looking Backward at Us, a (1991, University Press of Mississippi).   But first, an array  of news & info bites on what's referred to on The Daily Show as the "Giant Mess Of Potamia." Rhino sez (from experience), "Beware the phony photos." Bogus GI rape photos used as Arab propaganda Pictures purporting to be U.S. troops actually taken from porn sites By Sherrie Gossett, WorldNetDaily.com, May 4, 2004 Graphic photos appearing on Arabic websites of U.S. servicemen raping and sexually abusing Iraqi women were actually taken from American and Hungarian pornography sites. Albasrah.net and a Tunisian website produced in France by Committee for the Defense of Saddam Hussein [Comité de Défonce de Saddam Hussein En Tunisie], posted not only the recently broadcast photos of U.S. troops abusing and humiliating Iraqi prisoners but additional ones of alleged group rape of women by American soldiers, some who are depicted holding rifles against their victims' heads. MORE: http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=38335 Ex-Iraq interrogator says many prisoners innocent Reuters , May 7, 2004 LONDON - A former U.S. interrogator at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib jail says that many of its prisoners are innocent Iraqis, picked up at random by U.S. troops and questioned by underqualified intelligence officers. Former military intelligence officer Torin Nelson said in an interview with the Guardian newspaper on Friday many of the detainees at Abu Ghraib were "innocent of any acts against the coalition". "I've read reports from capturing units where the capturing unit wrote, 'the target was not at home. The neighbour came out to see what was going on and we grabbed him'," Nelson said...   ...The innocence of some detainees made them more likely to be abused because interrogators refused to believe they had been rounded up arbitrarily and regarded them as "tough targets" to be broken, he said. Nelson, who resigned from his job in February, is listed as a witness in the official military report into the abuse scandal at the prison, the Guardian said... MORE: http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&;storyID=506202&section=news US Army Report on Iraqi Prisoner Abuse by Maj. Gen. Antonio M. Taguba, May 5, 2004 http://www.antiwar.com/article.php?articleid=2479 Red Cross describes systematic abuse in Iraq Compiled by International Hearld Tribune Staff From Dispatches by AP & Reuters , 5/8/04 GENEVA,  The International Red Cross said Friday that the abuse it found in Iraq's U.S.-run prisons was systematic and amounted to torture. It added that it had first raised concerns with the United States more than a year ago... http://www.iht.com/articles/518957.html The ICRC in Iraq International Committee of the Red Cross, www.icrc.org, 5/8/04 ... the report (excerpts of the report) was made available to the public without the consent of the ICRC. The preparation and submission of such reports is part of the ICRC's standard procedures in the field of its visits to prisoners worldwide. As a reminder, the ICRC last year visited 469,648 detainees, held in 1,923 places of detention, in about 80 countries. These reports carry a specific mention that they are strictly confidential and intended only for the authorities to which they are presented. It adds that the reports may not be published, in full or in part, without the consent of the ICRC.  As already indicated this report was, however, released without our consent. In view of the fact that this notion of confidentiality is an element vital to obtaining access to prisoners world-wide and that access is in turn essential for us to carry out meaningful work for the persons detained, the ICRC is unhappy to see this report being made public. A second point I would like to make is that this report includes observations and recommendations from visits that took place between March and November 2003. The report itself was handed over to the Coalition Forces (CF) in February of 2004. It is important to understand that this report represents the summary of concerns that were regularly brought to the attention of the CF throughout 2003... MORE: http://www.icrc.org/Web/Eng/siteeng0.nsf/htmlall/special_iraq 11:45:36 AM    comment

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