Just Foreign Police collected over 1,500 signatures in less than a day against US drone strikes in Pakistan, which will be delivered to the US embassy in Pakistan by our policy director, Robert Naiman, next week.
Just Foreign Policy
4410 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, #290
Washington, DC 20016
And if you haven't already, be sure to sign and share our petition against drone strikes in Pakistan: CLICK here
Thank you for all you do to help bring about a more just foreign policy,
Robert Naiman, Sarah Burns, Chelsea Mozen and Megan Iorio
Just Foreign Policy
References:
1. Add your pledge at http://freetpp.org or GO here
2. Check out our Iran Fact Check campaign at http://iranfact.org or GO here
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Remembering Aafia and her Request this Day in 2010
September 23
This day in 2010 Richard Berman Condemned Aafia to 86 Years of Isolation
In response, on Sep 28, 2010, approximately half a million people poured into the streets of Karachi to peacefully express their support for Dr. Aafia Siddiqui following the actions of Richard Berman on Sept 23, 2010. This has to date been the largest public rally in recent Pakistani history and one that stayed true to Aafia's request that no violence be done in her name.
=============
A Reflection from British Author and Commentator, Andy Worthington:
September, 2012
I’m sorry to report that it’s two years since the Pakistani neuroscientist Dr. Aafia Siddiqui received an 86-year sentence in a court in New York...
The trial of Aafia Siddiqui, which culminated in her sentence, and which I described at the time as “barbaric,” appeared to be a cover for a much grimmer story — one of the darkest in the whole of the torture-filled “war on terror” — in which, on the basis of alleged connections with terrorism that have never been proved, she had disappeared with her children in Pakistan in March 2003 and was then held in a “black site” until her engineered reappearance in Ghazni in 2008.
According to the US authorities, after being captured in a bewildered state, she allegedly tried and failed to shoot the Americans guarding her, which provided an excuse to render her to the US to be put on trial — an unusual move given that most people accused of anti-American activities in Afghanistan did not end up in the US — and for her to be silenced as a result of the 86-year sentence handed down after a trial that critics called “a grave miscarriage of justice,” and to be held in isolation in a psychiatric prison/hospital for women in Carswell, Texas, notoriously referred to as the “hospital of horrors”, where her health continues to deteriorate, and where she is denied meaningful contact with her family...
As time passes ...several significant figures have very publicly expressed their disgust at Aafia’s plight, and the severity of her sentence. Recently, for example, former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark visited Pakistan and stated, “Justice demands that Aafia Siddiqui should immediately be released. I haven’t witnessed such bare injustice in my entire career.” In addition, Khurshid Kasuri, Pakistan’s foreign minister under Pervez Musharraf, the President at the time of Aafia’s disappearance, has stated, “I’m so sorry for handing over the innocent Dr. Aafia Siddiqui to the Americans. It was my biggest mistake ever.”
Furthermore, just this week US Senator Mike Gravel, accompanied by the attorney Tina Foster of the International Justice Network, also visited Pakistan, where, as the Express Tribune described it, they “said that the Musharraf regime had illegally kidnapped Dr. Aafia along with her three children from Karachi in March 2003, and handed her over to the US government for illegal interrogation and secret detention based on completely false information.” The Express Tribune added that Sen. Gravel “maintained that Dr Aafia’s trial in the United States was illegal,” and “added that the US government had no moral or legal justification for their actions.”
Both he and Tina Foster stressed, however, that the Pakistani government “would have to take serious action if it wanted Dr. Siddiqui to be repatriated.” Foster said, “We have received no cooperation from the Government of Pakistan in securing Dr Siddiqui’s repatriation to Pakistan. There’s been a lot of talk, but no concrete steps have been taken despite numerous requests for assistance.” She added, “I’ve come on a humanitarian mission to ask Pakistani leadership for its assistance in returning Dr. Siddiqui to Pakistan. It’s obvious that the will of the Pakistani people is being ignored by their leadership.” (Find more from Author, Worthington just below)
=====
The NEWS from The NATION Pk
Sept. 15, 2012
Former American Senator Mike Gravel has said that convicting Dr Aafia Siddiqui is a crime committed on the American land, adding that she was kept in illegal detention for a long time.
He expressed these views at a seminar titled “Implementation of Human Rights at International Level” organised by the Judicial Activism Panel where he was the chief guest.
Gravel said Aafia was not allowed to contact her lawyer or her relatives and they had no clue about her whereabouts for a long time.
He said Dr Aafia’s fundamental rights were infringed upon in America and the US government was constantly showing stubbornness over the issue. He said Dr Aafia was kidnapped in 2003 but she was tried in court of law only two years before.
Dr Aafia’s American lawyer, Tina Foster, said she was recently appointed as the counsel for Dr Aafia, adding that the previous lawyers for Dr Aafia did not plead her case well. She said legal requirements were not fulfilled in Aafia’s case.
To see the Video from this event GO here
=====
Imran Khan Demands Release of Aafia from US
Sep 12, 2012 The NEWS.com
Chairman Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan has demanded from the United States to release Dr Aafia Siddiqui immediately.
The PTI Chief was talking to the former US senator Mike Gravel during their meeting here on Wednesday. Dr Fauzia Sidiqui was also present in the meeting.
On the occasion, Imran Khan said that the PTI would continue their efforts for the release of Dr Aafia.
He said that his party is not against any country but oppose polices. Innocent people are being killed in drone attacks, he added.
Imran said the former US senator confirmed that the release of Dr Aafia Siddiqui has not been demanded on the government level.
=====
Andy Worthington has called Aafia's case "...one of the darkest in the whole of the torture-filled “war on terror” — in which, on the basis of alleged connections with terrorism that have never been proved, she had disappeared with her children in Pakistan in March 2003 and was then held in a “black site” until her engineered reappearance in Ghazni in 2008..."
CLICK to read what Andy Worthington wrote for this occasion here as well as an earlier item upon attorney receiving compelling new evidence here and upon the sentencing of Aafia here and hear Andy Speak last spring here Andy Worthington is speaking upon the anniversary of Aafia's abduction: 'Remembering 03 30 03'
Find much more from the Official Family Site -- GO here
See earlier items from this blog and others -- here's one with her address -- keep in mind that she loves nature and the card is best kept simple with no political language GO here
Memorandum from February 2012 with key links here
Dr Aafia Siddiqui: In Her Own Words here Dr Aafia said during her trial: “I died in that very moment when my tiny baby soul was snatched from me, when my children were separated from me.."
Another with plenty of photos including one of her missing baby SEE DR AAFIA SIDDIQUI here
A theory as to Why Aafia? October 2010 here
Among the most moving and still timely post for us all are the well-spoken words of Aafia's brother --I'm glad I transcribed this talk since the audio seems to be unavialable// GO here
I also recommend you watch some of the YouTube videos of Imran Khan on Aafia...and of
the events concerning Dr. Aafia Siddiqui in Soweto, South Africa...
May all moved and concerned pray to find one small or larger act of empathy for Aafia.
May Aafia's request for no violence in her name continue to be honored.
May Allah and the people who pray to Him soon bring Aafia and her precious children to freedom and healing. May she, all her family, her legal advice and her supporters be given hourly strength, wisdom, openings and vision to last from here through eternity. Amin.
Thursday, September 20, 2012
From the Republic of Rumi BlogPosts on...what word-legacy do we value most?
This morning, before my own writing, I decided to post a sample on the effect of words from The Republic of Rumi collection - where there is always food for thought.
This may be a way of getting the truth herein deep into my own soul as I write...?
Recently, I found this profound post which speaks to me in a stronger way than perhaps before that what is written and lifted up as literature (whether classical or popular) has a lasting effect on our societies.
If Words Could Kill By Khurram Ali Shafique at Republic of Rumi Blog Saturday, September 15, 2012 Part of the text is here:
Recently, I was interviewed for BBC Radio Urdu Service. One of the questions asked to me was about the role of literature in society. The answer I gave there was restricted by the limited time of the interview but I would like to share a few details through this blog.
Principles of literature
Should it not be ironic that despite hundreds of books written about Iqbal, it is still very difficult to come across a clear statement about how he envisaged the role of literature in society? As far as I understand, the basic principles which Iqbal offers us on this issue are three:
Societies prosper when their poets, writers and artists portray beauty, love and hope, and when they offer an idealistic picture of the world - giving us a virtual experience of the world as it should be.
Societies suffer and may perish when their posts, writers and artists portray ugliness and despair, and deny the centrality of love.
Pessimism in literature cannot be justified by arguing that it is a depiction of the real world, because the purpose of art and literature is to paint a picture of the world as it should be, and not just as it appears to be.
The first two of these principles were stated in a chapter on literary reform in Secrets and Mysteries (1915-22). The third was elaborated in 'The Book of Servitude' in Persian Psalms (1927). Both those works are in Persian, but the principles were later summarized altogether in English in the preface to Muraqqa-i-Chughtai.
Scope
The overall conclusion to be drawn from these three principles is that literature is the main factor in determining the destinies of nations. Other variables also play their roles, such as politics, religious thought, science, education and so on. However, even the impact of those factors is eventually moderated by literature.
In other words, if a society - or the whole world - is facing problems today, we first need to look at the kind of literature it has been patronizing. Did it place pessimist writers on the pedestal of high literature? Did it assign importance to literature which portrayed the world as it appeared to be?
For this writer/scholar's theory, READ more in the original here
( Connie's note: Again and again I am recognizing how legacy counts not only in politics, education, CURRENT EVENTS, as well as values we and our loved ones know best. How do we ask ourselves about what we leave behind in words? Written, spoken, seen, discussed? And educators, how do we choose what we recommend for others to read? And what are we reading our very young? While we may see many other dynamics that effect our social well-being and how we interact with the rest of the world -- it's hard to deny the time-honored wisdom that we are largely what we subsist on and live by in terms of literature -- even if it's mouthed through others...
I offer links to a few posts which bear out the point the scholar Khurram Ali Shafique makes about the effect of literature...
here
For those interested in a well-known poet to many Muslims worldwide and to those who love Rumi, here's an introduction to a new volume on Allama Iqbal (and note that much on Iqbal is available in English.)
A new paperback and ebook on these topics here
Finally, I want to end with this post which again touches on the uneven value of much that proposes to be truth and that which we may ignore or miss if we don't pay attention. CLICK here Robert makes in effective point via question form in a conversation in comments to his post:
"How do we attempt to track light?. Do we track it as it skitters through the personality? Or do we track it to its source?"
Again please go to the original post to read in full and to see the interesting and varied comments CLICK here
==
Photo Credits:
Top item here
The end photo is sunrise_photography_33.jpg from public internet cache
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
ON IRAN: Tell the US Media to Challenge False Information
JUST IN 2 PM 19 September 2012 By Robert Naiman with Jamal Abdi "Meet the Press Gives Netanyahu Cheney's Bully Pulpit for War" here
Jamal Abdi is the Policy Director of the National Iranian American Council, the largest grassroots organization representing the Iranian-American community in the US. He previously worked in Congress as a Policy Advisor on foreign affairs issues. He is based in Washington, DC and blogs at www.niacINsight.com. Follow him on Twitter here or @jabdiand See bio for Robert Naiman end of this post.
Together, Abdi and Naiman have begun a new FACT CHECK project IranFact.org GO here and TAKE ACTION here
Tell Meet the Press to challenge their guests when they make false statements on Iran.
Here are some of the details:
On Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared on US Sunday talk shows, scaremongering about Iran's nuclear program. Meet the Press allowed Netanyahu to give a completely false picture of the Iran nuclear issue, without challenging his scaremongering through reference to known facts.
In response to the pervasiveness of false information on Iran in the mainstream media, Just Foreign Policy and the National Iranian American Council have launched a new initiative, the Iran Media Fact Check, with a new website at IranFact.org. Our first joint campaign is to pressure Meet the Press to correct misinformation on Iran.
Here's what Netanyahu told Meet the Press on Sunday:
"So I think that as they get closer and closer and closer to the achievement of the weapons-grade material, and they’re very close, they’re six months away from being about 90 percent of having the enriched uranium for an atom bomb, I think that you have to place that red line before them now, before it’s—it’s too late." [1]
Netanyahu was clearly trying to create the impression that he believed Iran was 6 months away from being "on the brink" of acquiring a nuclear weapon, and therefore urgent action is needed within the next six months—in particular, setting a "red line," i.e. threatening the use of military force. Indeed, Reuters reported Netanyahu's remarks with the headline, "Iran on brink of nuclear bomb in 6-7 months: Netanyahu." [2] But that impression is demonstrably false; Iran is not six months from being "on the brink" of acquiring a nuclear weapon.
Here's what journalists on Meet the Press should have pointed out:
The most highly enriched uranium that Iran is currently known to be producing—and the sort which Netanyahu was referring to in his statement—is "medium-enriched" uranium, not weapons-grade uranium. [2] That enrichment is currently under UN inspection, so to convert it to weapons-grade uranium Iran would have to first expel UN inspectors; a recent bipartisan experts' report, signed by former senior military and political officials from both Republican and Democratic Administrations, noted that UN inspections "would almost certainly reveal any Iranian efforts to begin enriching uranium beyond 20% at declared sites." [3] Furthermore, the IAEA's most recent report stated that Iran's stockpile of 20% enriched uranium actually decreased in the three months period proceeding the report, since Iran converted a portion of the stockpile into fuel plates for use in their medical research reactor. [4]
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta recently said the United States would have at least a year to take action if Iran decided to build nuclear weapons and that the US is well-prepared to act if Iran were to make such a decision. [5] The bipartisan experts' report said, "Conservatively, it would take Iran a year or more to build a military-grade weapon, with at least two years or more required to create a nuclear warhead that would be reliably deliverable by a missile." [6]
Israeli politicians have a long track record of scaremongering about Iran's nuclear program. [7] To give Israeli leaders a media platform without challenging their false assertions does a deep disservice to the American people, who in the last ten years already suffered from a major war on false pretenses caused in no small part by the failure of US news media to do its job. Meet the Press it has an obligation to challenge false statements of Israeli leaders about Iran's nuclear program when it invites these leaders to appear as guests.
References:
1.http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/17/us-iran-nuclear-netanyahu-idUSBRE88F06P20120917
2."Israeli Leader Makes Case Against Iran on U.S. TV," Steven Lee Myers, New York Times, September 16, 2012 http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/17/world/middleeast/netanyahu-says-iran-is-20-yards-from-nuclear-bomb.html
3."Weighing Benefits and Costs of Military Action Against Iran," The Iran Project, http://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/IranReport_091112_FINAL.pdf
4.“IAEA Report Shows Iran Reduced Its Breakout Capacity,” Gareth Porter, Inter Press Service, September 1, 2012, http://www.ipsnews.net/2012/09/iaea-report-shows-iran-reduced-its-breakout-capacity/
5."If Iran builds bomb, US has a year to act: Panetta," AFP, 1 September 2012, http://www.france24.com/en/20120911-iran-builds-bomb-us-has-year-act-panetta
6."Weighing Benefits and Costs of Military Action Against Iran," The Iran Project, http://www.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/IranReport_091112_FINAL.pdf
7."Imminent Iran nuclear threat? A timeline of warnings since 1979," Scott Peterson, Christian Science Monitor, November 8, 2011, http://www.csmonitor.com/layout/set/print/content/view/print/422252
Robert Naiman, who co-wrote the recent Huff Post article linked above is Policy Director at Just Foreign Policy where he edits a daily news summary. Naiman has worked as a policy analyst and researcher at the Center for Economic and Policy Research and Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch. He has masters degrees in economics and mathematics from the University of Illinois and has studied and worked in the Middle East.
Contact Just Foreign Policy here:
Phone: (202) 448-2898
Mail: Just Foreign Policy
4410 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, #290
Washington, DC 20016
Thank you for all you do to help bring about a more just foreign policy,
Robert Naiman, Chelsea Mozen, Sarah Burns and Megan Iorio
Just Foreign Policy
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
How the light gets in (To my dear friend Barb)...
OTHERWISE, be sure to view the beautiful posting 'Meetings and Miracles' by my friend Noor in the post just below which was meant to stay on top.
MEANTIME, tonight, I'm haunted by the words and music of "Anthem" by Leonard Cohen
I really don't know much about this writer/composer/singer -- yet this one set of poetry has struck a chord of recognition with me. So universal as to time, people, situation...this poem itself seems to LET IN THE LIGHT. The words and music provide such a resonance with people from so many backgrounds and ages. And somehow it's so true to the darks and lights of reality -- yet comforting because there's room in this song for both! You may want to hear and watch Cohen sing with a CLICK here or just hear him sing watching beautiful natural background with the feeling of changing weather -- looking at the storm while watching for the glimmers of light imaging your own storms and 'glimmers' with a CLICK here. (These were the two places I listened to earlier on Monday evening with my son, husband and a very dear friend who reminded me of 'Anthem' recently.)
So, Barb, this is sent with prayers to you for your upcoming journey...
"Anthem"
The birds they sang
at the break of day
Start again
I heard them say
Don't dwell on what
has passed away
or what is yet to be.
Ah the wars they will
be fought again
The holy dove
She will be caught again
bought and sold
and bought again
the dove is never free.
Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in.
We asked for signs
the signs were sent:
the birth betrayed
the marriage spent
Yeah the widowhood
of every government --
signs for all to see.
I can't run no more
with that lawless crowd
while the killers in high places
say their prayers out loud.
But they've summoned, they've summoned up
a thundercloud
and they're going to hear from me.
Ring the bells that still can ring ...
You can add up the parts
but you won't have the sum
You can strike up the march,
there is no drum
Every heart, every heart
to love will come
but like a refugee.
Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in.
Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in.
That's how the light gets in.
That's how the light gets in.
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Meetings and Miracles (healing repost of a friend's)
12.9.12 Meetings And Miracles from TAGHEYYUR http://lightupthedarkness-noor.blogspot.com/ or GO here
They say we get parents by fate but choose our friends for ourselves. But sometimes we don't even get to choose and Allah materialize special people in our lives 'just like that'. Most beautiful people we hadn't realized, until then, living oceans apart yet in our hearts.
Meeting is an eternal desire of man. Even the beauty, bounty and serenity of paradise were not enough for Adam to live in bliss, peace and happiness alone, he missed something, he didn't know what, but Allah knew, so he was given the companion, Eve.
We need the others always in the times of bliss or in times of tremor because that other works as our mirror, and we love to see mirror. Maulana Rumi says: "for every Jacob there is a Joseph somewhere whose fragrance assures him that the meeting time is not that far away. And for each of us there is a Joseph waiting to meet us, to make our life meaningful."
The Creator always Knew that humans live and thrive in association so from Eternity they were subjected to this, and it is narrated in beautiful tradition (hadith) of Holy Prophet that:
"There were large flocks of spirits, who loved each other in the Eternity and so they are Friends in this World too. And those who weren't familiar with others There, lived in oblivion of them Here as well." (From Bukhari)
Further, in the opening chapter of Quran Al-Fatiah, the entire humanity prays together that it be shown the right path, this is extremely significant because when we pray we are alone but here we are not praying as 'me' but as 'us'. This shows that spiritually we are always bounded with the others for their well being like flocks in eternity which is so beautifully mentioned in the hadith of Holy Prophet.
"Our world that is before our eyes is not the only world. There are many other worlds. When we stand to say our prayers, right in the beginning reciting Surah Fateha, we acknowledge the existence of all other worlds though we are not aware of their laws and principles." (Col. Retired Ashfaq Hussein)
Entrance
Whoever you are: step out of doors tonight,
Out of the room that lets you feel secure.
Infinity is open to your sight.
Whoever you are.
With eyes that have forgotten how to see
From viewing things already too well-known,
Lift up into the dark a huge, black tree
And put it in the heavens: tall, alone.
And you have made the world and all you see.
It ripens like the words still in your mouth.
And when at last you comprehend its truth,
Then close your eyes and gently set it free.
--Dana Gioia
"In their seeking, madness and wisdom are one and the same. On the path of Love friend and stranger are one and the same." Maulana Rumi
(For cherie, Connie L. Nash who inspired this post.)
( Prepared with Mr. Akhtar Wasim from http://mypageonweb.blogspot.com/ or GO
here )
END re-posting *******************************
MY NOTES: Thanx so much Cherie Noor! and also Thanx to the dear friend who encouraged her so seamlessly. If difficulty with the link above, plz GO to Republic of Rumi Blog and find 'Light up the Darkness - Noor' for the FULL impact of the visuals used, etc. in the original posting. Also find Mr. Akhtar Wasim Dar's superb and sublime site under Noor's.
The photo I posted above was found here and used as reminder of the most significant "meeting" of all -- the place of prayer(wherever we are)to the One Divine The Most Transcendent yet Deepest Inner Meeting -- here the setting/symbol is the Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba which I added with respect for the blog-artist's faith, heritage, our shared appreciation for Allama Iqbal -- as well as her current study of Spanish. Also see: The Mosque of Cordoba (Urdu: مسجد قرطبہ Masjid-e Qurtaba) is an eight-stanza Urdu poem by Muhammad Iqbal, written circa 1932 and published in his 1935/6 collection Bāl-e Jibrīl ('The Wing of Gabriel'). It has been described as "one of his most famous pieces" and a "masterpiece". It has also been compared to Ahmad Shawqi's Arabic poem Siniyyah. (I haven't read this and can't read Urdu but I trust if it's the quality of Iqbal's other work, it's superb.)
"Today Muslim immigrants and Spanish converts to Islam are seeking the right to pray inside what was once Europe's most spectacular mosque. It would be a grand gesture and a salve to old wounds to let this happen!" From Journals "Five Days in Andalusia"
Another amazing photo of the great Mosque of Cordoba can be found here
CHRIS HEDGES UPDATE 17 Sep: An Historic Repudiation of Government Overreach (ACTION)
Chris Hedges on His NDAA Victory
"We Won—For Now" -- In January I sued President Barack Obama for authorizing the military to detain U.S. citizens indefinitely. U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest, in short, just declared the law unconstitutional. Plz read the full comment by Hedges URGENTLY if you are
a follower/activist of human rights or even if you aren't. And plz read the 112 page ruling.
And that’s why President Obama and Congress should change course and work together to repeal the detention provisions in the NDAA—Sections 1021 and 1022—and ensure that anyone accused of a crime is charged and fairly tried, or released. If you agree, then let your Senators know— they’ll be working on the 2013 NDAA later this year: www.amnestyusa.org/ndaa SEE UPDATE just in from CHRIS HEDGES but first FIND THE RULING BY JUDGE KATHERINE FORREST CLICK here
We ALL need to do this -- our nation, our legacy and our world is at stake.
here
==============
UPDATING: Media sources & right groups are reporting on this breaking news -- see the number of folk who agree with Judge Katherine B. Forrest's May and recent rulings (an invisible majority?) Judge Forrest is evidently an Obama appointee who nevertheless sees the illegality of much of our current administration's choices.
Indefinite detention - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia GO here -- Indefinite detention is the incarceration of an arrested person by a national government or law enforcement agency without a trial. It is a controversial practice.
Look for some great explication and commentary soon from Clive Stafford Smith, Andy Worthington, Glenn Greenwald and an array of Civil and Human Rights groups -- more from Amnesty and others. SEE Suggested ACTION at end of this post)
Judge Katherine B. Forrest of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York Blocks Indefinite Detention Law SEE NYTimes article By Charles Savage publ. 12 Sep., 2012 -- CLICK here and read IN FULL on this site below the excerpts.
Summary of article by Charles Savage below:
1) A federal judge on Wednesday (12 Sep, 2012) (who just reaffirmed her May 2012 ruling against indefinite detention) blocked the government from enforcing a controversial statute about the indefinite detention without trial of terrorism suspects. Congress had enacted the measure last year as part of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
2) The ruling came as the House voted to extend for five years a different statute, the FISA Amendments Act, that expanded the government’s power to conduct surveillance without warrants.
3) In the detention case, Judge Katherine B. Forrest issued a permanent injunction barring the government from relying on the defense authorization law to hold people in indefinite military detention as suspects...at least if they had no connection to the Sept. 11 attacks.
The United States has been detaining ... suspects indefinitely since 2001, relying on an authorization by Congress...Last year, Congress sought to codify such a law -- an overreach -- even extended to American citizens and others arrested on United States soil.
It was challenged by Chris Hedges, a journalist, argued that FISA's existence chilled their constitutional rights by creating a basis to fear that the government might seek to detain them under it by declaring that their activities made them supporters of an enemy group. (In May, Judge Forrest agreed, issuing a preliminary injunction barring the government from relying on the law to detain anyone without trial.)
NOW, on this Wednesday, 12 September,2012, the same Judge Forrest made that injunction permanent in a 112-page opinion. The Obama administration fought the move” In an interview, Bruce Afran, an adjunct law professor at Rutgers University who helped represent the plaintiffs, called the ruling a “historic” repudiation of government overreach.
On the other hand, In Congress, the House voted, 301 to 118, to extend the FISA Amendments Act for five years. The law, first enacted in 2008, grew out of a once-secret Bush administration program of warrantless wiretapping. It is set to expire without new legislation at the end of 2012, and the Senate has yet to vote on it.
Republicans overwhelmingly supported the bill — just seven voted against it — while Democrats were split...
Representative Jerrold Nadler, Democrat of New York, said Congress was not performing adequate oversight to protect civil liberties.
“The American people deserve better, and Congress has an obligation to exert more control over spy agencies than simply to give them a blank check for another five years,” he said.
IN FULL:
NOTE: I find this article below by Savage helpful although a bit misleading in implying or actually saying that those the activists so named interview or simply report on or advocate for independently are associating with "terrorists" which is often a misnomer or blanket term used to engender fear among the activists or the general citizen. Nevertheless it's an early and informative article in a large paper with an international reach.)
The New York Times
September 12, 2012
Judge Rules Against Law on Indefinite Detention
By CHARLIE SAVAGE
WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Wednesday blocked the government from enforcing a controversial statute about the indefinite detention without trial of terrorism suspects. Congress enacted the measure last year as part of the National Defense Authorization Act.
The ruling came as the House voted to extend for five years a different statute, the FISA Amendments Act, that expanded the government’s power to conduct surveillance without warrants. Together, the developments made clear that the debate over the balance between national security and civil liberties is still unfolding 11 years after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11.
In the detention case, Judge Katherine B. Forrest of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York issued a permanent injunction barring the government from relying on the defense authorization law to hold people in indefinite military detention on suspicion that they “substantially supported” Al Qaeda or its allies — at least if they had no connection to the Sept. 11 attacks.
The United States has been detaining terrorism suspects indefinitely since 2001, relying on an authorization by Congress to use military force against perpetrators of the Sept. 11 attacks and those who helped them. Last year, Congress decided to create a federal statute that codified authority for such detentions.
The new statute went beyond covering the perpetrators of the Sept. 11 attacks to also cover people who were part of or substantially supported Al Qaeda, the Taliban or associated forces engaged in hostilities against the United States or its allies. Its enactment was controversial in part because lawmakers did not specify what conduct could lead to someone’s being detained, and because it was silent about whether the statute extended to American citizens and others arrested on United States soil.
It was challenged by Chris Hedges, a journalist who interacts with terrorists as part of his reporting, and by several prominent supporters of WikiLeaks. They argued that its existence chilled their constitutional rights by creating a basis to fear that the government might seek to detain them under it by declaring that their activities made them supporters of an enemy group.
In May, Judge Forrest agreed, issuing a preliminary injunction barring the government from relying on the law to detain anyone without trial, and Wednesday she made that injunction permanent in a 112-page opinion.
The Obama administration fought the move, saying the law did not cover free-speech activities. It also claimed that the statute created no new detention authority that did not already exist in the original authorization to use military force. While Judge Forrest said she thought that it did expand detention authority, the fact that the government took the narrower view was “decisive” because it meant that “enjoining the statute will therefore not endanger the public.”
In an interview, Bruce Afran, an adjunct law professor at Rutgers University who helped represent the plaintiffs, called the ruling a “historic” repudiation of government overreach.
“It’s an absolute guarantee of freedom of political debate even in a time of war,” he said.
In Congress, the House voted, 301 to 118, to extend the FISA Amendments Act for five years. The law, first enacted in 2008, grew out of a once-secret Bush administration program of warrantless wiretapping. It is set to expire without new legislation at the end of 2012, and the Senate has yet to vote on it.
Republicans overwhelmingly supported the bill — just seven voted against it — while Democrats were split, with 74 voting for it and 111 voting against it.
Representative Lamar Smith, Republican of Texas, urged the Senate to quickly approve it as well, saying it was needed to protect the country. But Representative Jerrold Nadler, Democrat of New York, said Congress was not performing adequate oversight to protect civil liberties.
“The American people deserve better, and Congress has an obligation to exert more control over spy agencies than simply to give them a blank check for another five years,” he said.
(A version of this article appeared in print on September 13, 2012, on page A21 of the New York edition with the headline: Judge Rules Against Law On Indefinite Detention."
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Here's another call for action from DemandProgress.org:
We need your help putting pressure on Obama...Please click here to tell Obama to back off of his support of indefinite detention, and tell your senators to oppose it when it comes up for a vote this fall...It's an egregious violation of the Constitution, a disgusting infringement upon our due process rights, and has already had a chilling effect on activists and journalists. That's why writer Chris Hedges, Noam Chomsky, Tangerine Bolen and four others sued to block it. Shockingly, the Obama administration has consistently supported indefinite detention this year -- signing it into law in the dark of night on New Year's Eve and defending it in court. If we don't do anything, they'll probably keep fighting to protect this law! Click here to tell Obama -- and your senators -- to stop supporting indefinite detention.And please forward this email or use these links to share it with your friends -- Obama will make the decision about an appeal in a matter of days.
THE ACTION here only takes a few moments. GO here
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RELATED -- many Rights Groups & Experts speak out against recent US Dept of Justice under Holder's recent ruling: GO here
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Adnan Latif : 12 years later TRAGIC Injustice!
Adnan Farhan Abdul Latif
They are artists of torture,
They are artists of pain and fatigue,
They are artists of insults and humiliation.
Where is the world to save us from torture?
Where is the world to save us from the fire and sadness?
Where is the world to save the hunger strikers?
- Adnan Latif
Poems from Guantánamo*
Poems from Guantánamo is a collection of 22 poems from seventeen of the detainees. A brief biographical statement about each detainee is provided before the poems. As the collection’s editor Mark Falkoff writes, “Many of the men at Guantánamo turned to writing poetry as a way to maintain their sanity, to memorialize their suffering and to preserve their humanity through acts of creation…. Perhaps their poems will prick the conscience of the nation.”
...in July of 2010, Judge Henry Kennedy Jr. granted the Habeas corpus petition for Adnan Latif, now 34, and instructed the Obama administration to “take all necessary and appropriate diplomatic steps to facilitate Latif’s release forthwith.”
For many years now, Adnan Latif has lived in suicidal despair and is held in the psych ward. According to his lawyer, he sees “death as the only way out.” Adnan Latif once referred to himself as “a caged bird.”
...In 2007, Adnan Latif participated in a hunger strike which lasted for over six months. As a result, Mark Folkoff explains, “Twice a day, the guards immobilize Latif’s head, strap his arms and legs to a special restraint chair, and force-feed him a liquid nutrient by inserting a tube up his nose and into his stomach a clear violation of international standards. The feeding, Latif says, ‘is like having a dagger shoved down your throat.’”
In 2008, Latif Adnan lost a Federal Court case for his plea to get a blanket and mattress in his cell... the physical and psychological torture perpetrated at Guantánamo is systematically and legally upheld.
...As David Remes, one of Adnan Latif’s attorneys, responds, “Why they continue to defend holding him is unfathomable. Adnan’s case reflects the Obama administration’s complete failure to bring the Guantánamo litigation under control.”
For an article and the journal of Mark Falkoff’s meetings with Adnan Farhan Abdul Latif, please follow our links to the documents at www.witnesstorture.org
Adnan Latif was held indefinitely and ultimately for life because of his Yemeni citizenship, not his conduct.
CCR Blames Courts and Obama for Tragedy
press@ccrjustice.org
September 11, 2012, New York – The Center for Constitutional Rights issued the following statement in response to the Defense Department’s announcement today of the death of Adnan Latif at Guantanamo—the ninth man to die since the prison opened, and the fourth on President Obama’s watch.
Adnan Latif is the human face of indefinite detention at Guantánamo, a policy President Obama now owns. Mr. Latif, held without charge or trial, died a tragic and personal death—alone in a cell, thousands of miles from home, more than a decade after he was abducted and brought to Guantánamo Bay. Like other men, Mr. Latif had been on hunger strike for years to protest his innocence. His protests were in vain.
Adnan Latif was indeed innocent of any wrongdoing that would have justified his detention. President Obama’s Justice Department knew he was innocent but appealed a district court order directing his release rather than send him home to Yemen. The president has imposed a moratorium on all transfers to Yemen, which is why more than half of the remaining detainees are Yemenis.
Adnan Latif was held indefinitely and ultimately for life because of his Yemeni citizenship, not his conduct.
When the D.C. Circuit overturned the order for Adnan Latif’s release, a strong dissenting opinion criticized the majority for not just “moving the goal posts, [but calling] the game in the government’s favor.” At the end of the day, the U.S. Supreme Court remained locked away in its ivory tower, ignoring an innocent man’s plea and its own promise of “meaningful review.” They all share in the responsibility for this innocent man’s fate.
Adnan Latif’s death is a stark reminder that locking up someone for more than a decade with no foreseeable end has irreparable human consequences. More men will die needlessly unless President Obama finally closes the prison. Adnan Latif’s death must be a clarion call to resume transfers and end this dark period.
The Center for Constitutional Rights has led the legal battle over Guantánamo for the last 10 years – representing clients in two Supreme Court cases and organizing and coordinating hundreds of pro bono lawyers across the country, ensuring that nearly all the men detained at Guantánamo have had the option of legal representation. Among other Guantánamo cases, the Center represents the families of men who died at Guantánamo, and men who have been released and are seeking justice in international courts. In addition, CCR has been working through diplomatic channels to resettle men who remain at Guantánamo because they cannot return to their country of origin for fear of persecution and torture.
The Center for Constitutional Rights is dedicated to advancing and protecting the rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Founded in 1966 by attorneys who represented civil rights movements in the South, CCR is a non-profit legal and educational organization committed to the creative use of law as a positive force for social change.
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Leaving the urls as they are for easier use in disseminating:
Statement from Lawyers for Adnan Latif, Most Recent Prisoner to Die at Guantánamo [ http://www.worldcantwait.net/index.php/home-mainmenu-289/7977-lawyers-for-adnan-latif-the-latest-prisoner-to-die-at-guantanamo-issue-a-statement ]
Andy Worthington writes:
Over the weekend, Adnan Farhan Abdul Latif, a Yemeni, became the ninth prisoner to die in Guantánamo. *Adnan had been repeatedly cleared for release* - under President Bush and President Obama, and by a US court - *but had never been freed*, like so many others in that disgraceful prison [ http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/2012/09/11/lawyers-for-adnan-latif-the-latest-prisoner-to-die-at-guantanamo-issue-a-statement/# ], which remains an insult to the rule of law ten years and eight months since it first opened. Read more... [ http://www.worldcantwait.net/index.php/home-mainmenu-289/7977-lawyers-for-adnan-latif-the-latest-prisoner-to-die-at-guantanamo-issue-a-statement ]
Thursday, September 6, 2012
President, what will your legacy be?
This is the question I ask in most of my many petitions/letters to officials.
(Also see an Op Ed on Holder's no accountability for torture decision in my blog,
"No More Crusades" -- where I hope to keep blogging on the fast expanding use of drones by the US and the just as quickly expanding network of activists saying NO MORE....
Connie
Truthdig
No Papers, No Fear at the Democratic Convention
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/no_papers_no_fear_at_the_democratic_convention_20120905/
Posted on Sep 5, 2012
By Amy Goodman
CHARLOTTE, N.C.—As the Democratic National Convention was gaveled into session Tuesday, outside in the rain, in the paramilitarized heart of Charlotte, democracy in its finest form found expression. Democracy, that is, if you believe that it’s built on a foundation of grass-roots movements: the abolitionist struggle, the fight for women’s suffrage, the civil-rights movement. In this city, where one of the first lunch counter sit-ins against segregation occurred, 10 undocumented immigrants blocked an intersection, risking arrest and possible deportation while calling on President Barack Obama and the Democratic Party to embrace the immigrant-rights movement and pass meaningful immigration reform.
“We are here to ask President Obama what his legacy will be,” Rosi Carrasco said as she climbed down from the “UndocuBus,” colorfully painted with butterflies, that the activists traveled in from Arizona. “What we want to say to President Obama is, on which side of the history is he going to be? Is he going to be remembered as the president that has been deporting the most people in U.S. history, or he is going to be on the side of immigrants?” Rosi’s husband, Martin Unzueta, said: “I am undocumented. I’ve been living here for 18 years. I pay taxes, and I’m paying more taxes than Citibank.”
The border state of Arizona has become ground zero in the national immigration crisis, with the passage of the notorious SB 1070 law that sought to criminalize simply being in the state without documentation. Such immigration determinations are under federal jurisdiction, and violations of them are actually civil offenses, not criminal. With SB 1070, Arizona pre-empted federal immigration policy, until most of its provisions were struck down in federal court.
While immigrant-rights activists consider the court’s decision a victory, our nation remains plagued by its broken immigration policy. The Arizona law prompted similar bills in Republican-controlled state legislatures across the country. When a draconian anti-immigrant bill was signed into law in Alabama, Latinos fled east to Georgia and Florida, while Alabama farmers, unable to find hired help willing to do the backbreaking work typically reserved for migrants, saw their crops rot in the fields.
This is where movements come in. When the machinery of government breaks down, when politicians and bureaucrats create gridlock, it takes the power of the people to effect meaningful change, often at great personal risk. Across the U.S., well-organized immigrant-rights activists are increasingly engaging in civil disobedience, especially the young. Just as it was young people in North Carolina more than half a century ago who defied the advice of their elders to be more patient in the fight against segregation. Today, many young people have targeted President Obama with sit-down actions in his campaign offices, pressuring for passage of the DREAM Act. Many of these young activists came to this country as children, without documentation.
President Obama showed some sympathy for these “DREAMers” last June, when he announced a decision within the Department of Homeland Security to free 800,000 of them from the threat of potential deportation proceedings: “Imagine you’ve done everything right your entire life—studied hard, worked hard, maybe even graduated at the top of your class—only to suddenly face the threat of deportation to a country that you know nothing about, with a language that you may not even speak ... it makes no sense to expel talented young people, who, for all intents and purposes, are Americans—they’ve been raised as Americans; understand themselves to be part of this country.”
Many celebrated the announcement, then challenged the president to act on his pledge. Several activists got themselves detained so they could enter the Broward Transitional Center, a pre-deportation jail in Florida, and interview detainees. They found dozens of people who are eligible for release under President Obama’s policies, but who languish in the jail nevertheless.
Here in Charlotte, outside the convention center, 10 brave souls, among them a young woman and her mother, a couple and their daughter, sat down in the pouring rain on a large banner they placed in the middle of the intersection. The banner read “No Papers, No Fear” (in Spanish, “Sin Papeles, Sin Miedo”), with a large butterfly in the center. As the police surrounded them, I asked one of the women about to be arrested, “Why a butterfly?” “Because butterflies have no borders,” she told me. “Butterflies are free.”
Denis Moynihan contributed research to this column.
Amy Goodman is the host of “Democracy Now!,” a daily international TV/radio news hour airing on more than 1,000 stations in North America. She is the author of “Breaking the Sound Barrier,” recently released in paperback and now a New York Times best-seller.
© 2012 Amy Goodman
Distributed by King Features Syndicate
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