Law and Disorder October 14, 2013

Afghanistan War, CIA Sponsored Terror, Civil Liberties, Criminalizing Dissent, FBI Intrusion, Habeas Corpus, Human Rights, Political Prisoner, Prison Industry, Surveillance, Targeting Muslims, Torture, War Resister

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Updates:

  • Lynne Stewart Turns 74
  • Phone Campaign For Lynne Stewart To Be Let Out Of Prison Under Compassionate Release
  • Director of Federal Bureau of Prisons – 202-307-3250
  • U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder – 202-353-1555
  • U.S. President Barack Obama – 202-456-1111
  • Che Guevara Anniversary
  • Shocking Statistics On Americans Under 30

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The United States Military Kidnapping In Libya And Failed Kill or?Capture In Somalia

The United States military had gone into 2 parts of Africa. In one case they went into Libya and brazenly seized a man who they claim to be a leader of Al-Qaeda, his name is Abu Anas al-Libi.  He was seized out of Tripoli, Libya. The U.S. also went into Somalia and attacked a house or a compound in apparently an effort to grab or kill  an alleged senior leader of the Somali group al-Shabab. Michael Ratner reports in this update.

Attorney Michael Ratner:

  • It was shocking news to see that the United States think it can go into sovereign countries and kidnap, kill whoever they want. Did the US have the right to go into Libya at all?
  • Article 24 of the UN Charter says that the territorial integrity of the a country is complete, except of the case of self-defense or authorized by the UN.
  • There was no authority by the UN or international law to go into Libya.
  • Then the question came up – Did Libya consent to it?
  • He’s on some U.S. ship. It’s called the San Antonio.
  • They’re keeping him floating on this ship while they’re going to interrogate him.
  • Its true, Obama when he took office 5 years ago, he banned torture and he said all interrogations had to be done according to the Army Field Manual.
  • Annex M allows 3 kinds of techniques that I think constitute cruel and inhuman, degrading treatment and taken together would constitute torture.

Law and Disorder Co-host Attorney Michael Ratner,  President Emeritus of the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), a non-profit human rights litigation organization based in New York City and president of the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) based in Berlin. Ratner and CCR are currently the attorneys in the United States for publishers Julian Assange and Wikileaks. He was co-counsel in representing the Guantanamo Bay detainees in the United States Supreme Court, where, in June 2004, the court decided his clients have the right to test the legality of their detentions in court. Ratner is also a past president of the National Lawyers Guild and the author of numerous books and articles, including the books The Trial of Donald Rumsfeld: A Prosecution by Book, Against War with Iraq and Guantanamo: What the World Should Know, as well as a textbook on international human rights.

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The United States, Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Syria and Israel Part 2

October 7th of 2013 marked the 12th anniversary since the United States invaded Afghanistan as the war drags into its 13th year. The Afghanistan war and the Iraq war have been estimated to cost tax payers up to 6 trillion dollars. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Iraq War – an illegal war launched despite the global protest in the streets.

Phyllis Bennis:

  • On the one hand it was a huge victory for the U.S. and the anti-war mobilization effort, that we managed to prevent what was a very imminent US strike. The British also had their missiles ready to go. They were very close.
  • In combination with the British Parliament decision to say no, led to a huge shift in what the Obama Administration was prepared to do.
  • It turns out they were prepared to go to war without UN permission. They were ready to do without the UN, without NATO, without the Arab League, but not without the Brits.
  • This was a political decision, this wasn’t rooted in concerns about international law or any kind of strategic or military necessity.
  • When it was turned over to Congress, a lot of organizations mobilized and said you know what, we’re not going to let this happen.
  • Members of Congress were reporting that their emails were running 500 to 1, 800 to 1, 1000 to 1 against US military intervention.
  • What we found is that people were not willing to sign on to another war after so many failed wars in the region.
  • You can call it war fatigue but it’s really about learning a lesson, that war is not an answer to these problems.
  • Given that there have been 100 thousand victims in this war (Syria) about a third of them civilians, about 43 percent regime soldiers and militia, about 18 percent rebel soldiers. The rest were civilians.
  • To claim this was all about the humanitarian consequences, simply, that’s not the case.
  • The voices that have been marginalized the most are the original political opposition in Syria, who were incredibly brave and courageous, still out there fighting.
  • The regime in Syria was forced to sign on to the chemical weapons treaty. That’s huge, there are only 7 countries in the world that had not signed that treaty.
  • Israel of course being another one.
  • The number of people killed with chemical weapons in Syria is tiny compared to the number of people killed with conventional weapons.
  • The five wars in Syria, the regional power struggle, the sectarian war, the US-Russian war, the US-Israel vs. Iran war, those are still underway in Syria.
  • President Rouhani, the new president of Iran, was on a major charm offensive.
  • Rouhani has said ” I have the backing of the Supreme Leader in a new approach to our nuclear negotiations.”
  • There are enormous pressures in the U.S from the arms industry, from AIPAC, from hawks in Congress of all sorts.
  • The Palestinians are the ones that will pay the price if there is an agreement between the US and Iran because the US will be determined to give Israel something.
  • Iraq has become as violent as it was in the height of the sectarian wars of 2006 and 2007.
  • Hundreds of people are being killed on a daily basis. It’s a disaster. Much of that is the result of the exploding war in Syria. Syria and Iraq share a long border. It’s a very porous border.
  • The division of Libya into 2 or 3 regions is a very likely possibility.
  • Saul Landau was a giant in our movement, he made one of the first films about Fidel. It was called Fidel it was made in 1960 a year after the revolution.
  • He died about a month ago after a 2 year battle with a very virulent cancer.
  • Saul had been at IPS almost at the beginning. He wrote the book Assassination on Embassy Row that documented with such precision on how Operation Condor had gone forward.

Guest – Phyllis Bennis, directs the New Internationalism Project at IPS. She is also a fellow of the Transnational Institute in Amsterdam. She has been a writer, analyst, and activist on Middle East and UN issues for many years. In 2001 she helped found and remains on the steering committee of the U.S. Campaign to End Israeli Occupation. She works closely with the United for Peace and Justice anti-war coalition, co-chairs the UN-based International Coordinating Network on Palestine, and since 2002 has played an active role in the growing global peace movement. She continues to serve as an adviser to several top UN officials on Middle East and UN democratization issues.

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