Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Peacekeepers Abusing Children In Post-Conflict Areas. A leading UK charity, Save The Children, has issued a report saying that peacekeepers are abusing children in post-conflict areas such as the Sudan and Haiti: Children in post-conflict areas are being abused by the very people drafted into such zones to help look after them, says Save the Children... ...Save the Children says the most shocking aspect of child sex abuse is that most of it goes unreported and unpunished, with children too scared to speak out. A 13-year-old girl, "Elizabeth" described to the BBC how 10 UN peacekeepers gang-raped her in a field near her Ivory Coast home. "They grabbed me and threw me to the ground and they forced themselves on me... I tried to escape but there were 10 of them and I could do nothing," she said. After research involving hundreds of children from Ivory Coast, southern Sudan and Haiti, the charity said better reporting mechanisms needed to be introduced to deal with what it called "endemic failures" in responding to reported cases of abuse. The deputy chief investigator with the United Nations Office of Internal Oversight Services in Congo from 2005 to 2007 addressed the issue of who will watch the peacekeepers in an op-ed in the New York Times just 4 days ago: The BBC and Human Rights Watch have both brought forward evidence that the United Nations covered up evidence of gold smuggling and arms trafficking by its peacekeepers in Congo. The peacekeepers are said to have had illegal dealings with one of the most murderous militias in the country, where millions have died in one of the bloodiest yet least visible conflicts in the world. Last month, Inga-Britt Ahlenius, the head of the Office of Internal Oversight Services at the United Nations, told the BBC that her investigators drew the right conclusions based on the evidence they found: that there was little that warranted prosecution or further investigation. I wish that were true. I was the investigator in charge of the United Nations team that in 2006 looked into allegations of abuses by Pakistani peacekeepers in Congo and found them credible. But the investigation was taken away from my team after we resisted what we saw as attempts to influence the outcome. My fellow team members and I were appalled to see that the oversight office's final report was little short of a whitewash. [The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com] 11:14:45 AM    comment []

Siegelman On Rove: Probably The Most Devious, Evil Political Operative In History. Recently released from prison, Don Siegelman refuses to drift away quietly. The former Alabama governor, whose corruption charge reeked of political motivation, accused former Bush strategist Karl Rove of outright lying for claiming non-involvement in the prosecution. "Karl Rove saying he's had nothing to do with firing U.S. Attorneys and nothing to do with my case is like President Bush saying he's had nothing to do with the war in Iraq because he hasn't pulled a trigger," said Siegelman. The comments came just one day after Rove said his involvement in le affaire Siegelman consisted of learning about the investigations in a newspaper article. The former governor, who was sentenced to more than seven years in prison in 2006, wasn't exactly sold on the line. "I think Rove is probably the most devious and evil political operative who has been trained to come on to the political scene in certainly the last fifty years," he said. "I can't think of anybody in the annals of history who could even rival this man's pernicious thoughts. It is a lifetime's work for him... I think he learned two things from Watergate: you don't need to establish a secret plumbers union at a mid level office in the White House when you can take over Department of Justice and have them do your dirty work for you, and secondly, you don't leave tapes behind, you destroy evidence." Last week, the political world moved closer to unraveling the political malfeasance that surrounded Siegelman's prosecution when Rove was issued a subpoena to testify before the House Judiciary Committee. Siegelman had recently been released from jail after, among other developments, a Republican campaign volunteer said she overheard a phone conversation suggesting Rove was linked to his case. The former governor heralded the subpoena -- which came after Rove refused to appear voluntarily -- as a late-in-coming but still important development. "I think the objective from my point is not my case or my vindication or proving any one particular egregious act, but to expose a pattern and practice of political wrongdoing, of abuse of power, of misusing the Department of Justice as a political tool," he said. "I do think that my case offers the best route to prove that, and it is the easiest and fastest way to get at abuse from Karl Rove." Aware of Rove's past refusals to cooperate, Siegelman suggested that House Democrats compel testimony from lower-level players in his prosecution, including: Bill Canary, an Alabama GOP consultant who reportedly said he would have his wife, Leura, a U.S. Attorney, "take care" of the case, and Rob Riley, the son of the Alabama governor who allegedly helped grease the wheels of Siegelman's trial. Even then, he cautioned, the taint of the Rove legacy will likely still have its mark on the political landscape. For starters, the man known as Bush's brain is currently occupying a consulting capacity for Sen. John McCain (Rove downplayed the role yesterday as mere "chit-chat"). "I will hope that Sen. McCain did that as a method of implementing the old axiom that you keep your friends close and keep your enemies closer," said Siegelman. "I think he recognizes that Rove is someone who could do you a lot of damage if you don't bring him in, you would rather have him inside the tent than outside. I would trust John McCain to have wisdom enough to realize this." More significantly, however, is the politicization of the Department of Justice, a development that Siegelman attests "has subverted our constitution" and requires more than just a congressional hearing to unravel. "This is not about me or any other U.S. Attorneys who were fired. This is about the issue of restoring justice and preserving our democracy," said Siegelman. "The Rove-led abuse of powers and misuse of the DOJ makes Watergate look like child's play. And it is only one aspect, I predict, of the abuse of power that will be exposed when Congress gets its hands on the Rove documents and emails which will confirm his misdeeds. It is not about me, it is not a partisan issue... this is about our country. This is about America and the only place we can look to at this point for a correction is Congress." [The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com] 10:39:32 AM    comment []

Debate Over Women In Combat Likely To Heat Up In '08. Soon after the Gulf War in 1991, a group of military women pressed Congress to allow female pilots to fly combat missions. But a Vietnam War hero in the Senate, John McCain, pushed back hard. "The purpose of the military is first to defend this nation's vital security interests throughout the globe and only second to ensure equality," the Arizona Republican argued on the Senate floor, framing the issue in a way that infuriated feminists. McCain lost that legislative battle, and women pilots started moving into combat roles in the mid-1990s. In the last five years in Iraq, women have flown hundreds of combat missions. And though they remain barred from ground combat units, women -- who make up about 15% of the military -- are playing a bigger fighting role than ever. About 100 have died in Iraq and Afghanistan. [The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com] 8:53:38 AM    comment []

Bill Clinton: 1992 Race Ended In April, According To Autobiography. Despite Sen. Hillary Clinton's insistence that her husband didn't clinch the Democratic presidential nomination until June 1992, Bill Clinton had a very different recollection in his own memoir, My Life. He writes: "On April 7, we also won in Kansas, Minnesota, and Wisconsin. On April 9, Paul Tsongas announced that he would not reenter the race. The fight for the nomination was effectively over." [The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com] 8:50:55 AM    comment []

Deborah King: Warren Jeffs Gives 12-Year-Old Girl Wedding-Style Kiss. Have you seen the photo of the FLDS spiritual leader, 51-year-old Warren Jeffs, cradling in his arms and deeply kissing -- and we're talking about a "wedding"-type kiss here -- a then twelve-year-old girl? What did you think was happening in those big happy polygamous families? Anyone who's ever left the cult has written about their main religious belief -- The Principle of Plural Marriage -- and the abuse that it engenders. It's vitally important in the FLDS culture for a man to have at least a Quorum of wives (3 is the minimum) in order to enjoy the benefits of the heavenly kingdom; he really needs at least seven wives to be considered an important member of the priesthood and the community. As for that kiss in the photo possibly being anything other than a wedding kiss? A man in FLDS can have physical contact with a female only if they are married. Period. Judge Walther acknowledged that she'd been criticized for not allowing enough evidence to be let in during the initial hearing in April. With the Appellate Court's decision hanging over her head, she has announced, "We're going to have a full blown adversarial hearing. If it takes two to three days, we're going to do it." I have a feeling this case is far from over yet. [The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com] 8:47:20 AM    comment []