Tax Day Protests and Events 2012
The numbers are staggering: Over $1 trillion spent so far on the invasions and occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan since October 2001. The government says the Iraq War is over, but the Pentagon is paying thousands of contractors to continue the occupation. Nearly half of each tax dollar is going to the Pentagon and military contractors.
Get out on (or before) tax day — Tuesday, April 17 is the final day to file this year — to protest the obscene military budget while millions in the world go hungry. See the action list below, but if there’s not an action in your area, order some flyers (list at the bottom) and head out to a busy corner to leaflet for an hour.
April 17 is also the Global Day of Action on Military Spending. See other listings and resources on their website.
Mini-Me: US Government Witch Hunting Continues…
07 Other Atrocities, 09 Justice, 10 Security, 11 Society, Corruption, Director of National Intelligence et al (IC), Government, Intelligence (government), Law Enforcement, Secrecy & Politics of Secrecy
Huh?
My friends and colleagues,
Forgive the interruption. I reach out to you on a matter of some urgency, about my dear friend, a former CIA officer, dedicated, stoic, talented … and now in deep and terrifying trouble. What's happening to him is so stunningly crappy, and so unjustifiable, that his defense and support has become a personal priority. Though triggered — I believe — by a personal and political agenda, I see his cause as strikingly apolitical: this is about a man falsely persecuted, and the survival of his family.
Please, please take a minute to look at the below. Any questions, reach out to me, and/or check out the sites at the bottom of this email.
Thanks so much,
Peter Landesman
Dear Friends and Colleagues:
We write to ask you to join us in supporting, protecting and materially helping our friend and colleague, John Kiriakou, a long-time former C.I.A. official and case officer. Incredibly, John has been accused by the Department of Justice of crimes under the 1917 Espionage Act, a charge historically reserved for persons who betrayed their country to foreign governments for money.
Why? The prosecutors have not claimed that John talked to any foreign government, passed any government documents or accepted funds from anyone hostile to the United States. Instead, according to the facts asserted in the indictment, he committed the “crime” of responding honestly to a query from the New York Times related to the agency's interrogation program under the Bush Administration, which included waterboarding.
Continue reading “Mini-Me: US Government Witch Hunting Continues…”
Marcus Aurelius: State Department Moves to Fire Peter Van Buren Author of We Meant Well: How I Helped Lose the Battle for the Hearts and Minds of the Iraqi People
07 Other Atrocities, 09 Justice, 10 Security, 11 Society, Corruption, Government
For those of you with experience or interest in such things, State's Bureau of Diplomatic Security (DS, long ago SY), has developed for itself a very negative reputation in personnel security arena.
Through AFSA, American Foreign Service Association (I am not a member having never been a FSO), I have read numerous accounts of horror show DS cases.
Overall, DS comes across as an internal State Dept Gestapo, much different from the RSOs I dealt with in embassies in LATAM and Africa.
State Dept. moves to fire Peter Van Buren, author of book critical of Iraq reconstruction effort
Lisa Rein
Washington Post, 14 March 2012
Peter Van Buren, a foreign service officer who wrote anunflattering bookabout his year leading two reconstruction teams in Iraq, was stripped of his security clearance, banned from State Department headquarters for a time and transferred to a telework job that consists of copying Internet addresses into a file.
Phi Beta Iota: Most Departmental “security” services turn into little Gestapos, but they do so on command from the top. Peter van Buren's book was APPROVED by the proper Department of State publication review process, which has integrity. Evidently now someone at the top, probably not the Secretary of State but one of the top six mandarins, is abusing their authority and perhaps giving Peter van Buren a $10 million lawsuit on a platter. When governments stop telling the truth they lose legitimacy. When they begin persecuting people who tell the truth they lose authority. We're there.
Berto Jongman: Humanitarian Aid & Forgotten Conflicts
04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 06 Genocide, 07 Other Atrocities, 08 Wild Cards, Budgets & Funding, Civil Society, Cultural Intelligence, IO Deeds of Peace, Non-Governmental, Peace Intelligence, Policies
Some important connections drawn between aid, corruption, and positive change; and also important omissions — conflicts out of the news where paying attention could make a difference.
Singling Out Forgotten Conflicts
The ISN Blog, 15 March 2012
A popular method for identifying which conflicts necessitate more attention from the international community is to estimate the difference between supply and demand of humanitarian assistance in these conflicts. Supply and demand, however, are very hard to measure in emergencies. This has led to the development of several indicators used to measure ‘forgotten conflicts’.
These indicators are often applied on an annual basis and are intended to generate media attention (to increase donations) and/or support donor operations (to comply with impartiality). Have these efforts been successful? Have they effectively singled out and buttressed forgotten conflicts? Looking back on the past decade, in this blog post I’ll assess which conflicts received the least (and most) attention from international actors.
Continue reading “Berto Jongman: Humanitarian Aid & Forgotten Conflicts”
Event: April 4, National Mall in Wash DC, Who Killed Dr. King?
07 Other Atrocities, Corruption, HistoryApril 4, 2012
Who Killed Dr. King? Free the Files, Find the Truth
On the 44th anniversary of the 1968 assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. COPA will hold a vigil with banners and handout sheets at the new Martin Luther King Memorial site on the National Mall in Washington, DC. The event will start at 9:00 am and last until 10:00 pm in the Forecourt entrance to the Memorial, off Maine Avenue south of the Lincoln Memorial. We want to commemorate the event because we cannot remember his life if we forget his death. Our flyer will focus on the evidence of James Earl Ray’s innocence, the Memphis Civil Trial ruling, and our efforts to release the classified government records on his life and death. The Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Records Act is still pending introduction by Senator John Kerry and Representative John Lewis, and people attending our event are encouraged to visit their offices near the Capitol that day to urge them to move on the bill. We have been assisting in an effort to get the Memphis trial transcript up on the web, since it has been removed in large part at the Martin Luther King Center site. I hope you will join us there for a shift. RSVP.
Also see:
+ Videos of William Pepper (King friend and family attorney)
+ Audio interviews + book “An Act of State” by William Pepper
+ Review: An Act of State–The Execution of Martin Luther King, New and Updated Edition
+ Archive.org video talk of William Pepper from 2003 and the audio file version.
+ Honoring Martin Luther King — With Truth
Dolphin: US and Israeli Targeted Killings
07 Other Atrocities
Targeted Killings: US and Israeli Specialties
Anticipatory self-defense is illegal except for 2 well-defined exception inapplicable to US and Israeli targeted assassinations.
by Stephen Lendman
International law permits justifiable self-defense. Targeted killings are prohibited, especially premeditated ones like America and Israel repeatedly commit for reasons other than claimed.
These incidents constitute cold-blooded murder. US drone killings and rampaging death squads, as well as Israel's deplorable history and latest ritual slaughter highlight the issue. International law prohibits anticipatory self-defense. It amounts to using force to deter it.
Under the UN Charter's Article 2(4):
Reference: Political Terror Scale
09 Terrorism, Civil Society, Corruption, Government, Law Enforcement, Military, White PapersPolitical Terror Scale Home Page
Political Terror Scale Levels
Level 5 : Terror has expanded to the whole population. The leaders of these societies place no limits on the means or thoroughness
with which they pursue personal or ideological goals.
Level 4 : Civil and political rights violations have expanded to large numbers of the population. Murders, disappearances, and torture are a common part of life. In spite of its generality, on this level terror affects those who interest themselves
in politics or ideas.
Level 3 : There is extensive political imprisonment, or a recent history of such imprisonment. Execution or other political murders and brutality may be common. Unlimited detention, with or without a trial, for political views is accepted.
Level 2 : There is a limited amount of imprisonment for nonviolent political activity. However, few persons are affected, torture and beatings are exceptional. Political murder is rare.
Level 1 : Countries under a secure rule of law, people are not imprisoned for their views, and torture is rare or exceptional. Political murders are extremely rare.
Tip of the Hat to Berto Jongman.
