terrorism

President Obama's 4 June 2009 speech in Cairo briefly turned the media's spotlight back to the conflict between the Israeli government and the Palestinian people. In keeping with the traditional role of the commercial press, the reports of CNN, The New York Times, the ever-reactionary FOX News, and others faithfully reiterated the "official" position of the two ruling parties and their array of "experts" (although FOX News did take the time to find a fanatical settler who would venture even farther right than the experts). The mainstream media's historically one-sided coverage of the issues that Obama raised in his speech has consistently failed to offer any critical analysis of the popular assumptions regarding the conflict between Israel and the Palestinian people. Consequently, most people in the United States who rely on the media for their information have an extremely distorted perception of what's actually happening in the Occupied Territories, and why Israel has been such a significant source of tension in the Middle East. This article attempts to eliminate some of this ignorance by filling in a few of the contextual lacunae left by the corporate media's irresponsible journalism.

Politicians, human rights activists, citizens and soldiers around the globe are debating whether the treatment of prisoners by U.S. forces is consistent with international and national laws. Although the U.S. government refuses to extend Constitutional protections or treat them as 'prisoners of war' or 'civilians under enemy control', officials repeatedly claim that they are treating prisoners in a manner 'consistent with international law'. Conversely, repeated reports of abuses and illegal practices from soldiers, FBI agents, prisoners and foreign governments have created serious doubts about whether the U.S. government is being entirely truthful in these claims. Given the current administration's history of misrepresentation, the fact that many reject claims that the government is in compliance with international human rights laws as outright lies is not at all surprising.

Originally posted on A contrario on 27 May 2008

On 2 May, I received a response from Congressman Steve Buyer to my 16 April letter requesting an independent investigation into the abuse and torture of prisoners by U.S. forces. He included an 'Issue Position Statement' with his response, which I have reproduced in its entirety below1:

1. 1. To the best of my knowledge, a position statement is by definition intended for public distribution, and can therefore be freely distributed. As it claims to reflect the views of its original author, however, any intentional alteration to such a statement could probably be construed as libel.

Originally posted on A contrario on 5 May 2008

The letter requesting that certain politicians be subpoenaed for testimony that is quoted below was sent by the ACLU on my behalf to the House Judiciary Committee and several other members of Congress on 5 May. The ACLU provided the introductory paragraph, and I wrote the rest of the letter. This letter was one of many petitions delivered to Congress as part of the ACLU's 'Citizen's Subpoena' campaign. Hopefully, the Judiciary Committee's call for testimony marks the beginning of a serious investigation into Executive policies on the use of torture or 'aggressive interrogation techniques'.

I demand to know the truth about torture. It's time to conduct a full investigation to determine what laws may have been broken and whether war crimes or other torture crimes were committed. John Ashcroft, John Yoo, George Tenet, Douglas Feith and others must testify. It's time to legally compel Bush's torture team to tell the truth.

Originally posted on A contrario on 16 April 2008

In the letter quoted below, I request that Steve Buyer, the U.S. Representative for Indiana's 4th district, take the necessary steps to stop the U.S. government's use of torture and to identify and reprimand the officials responsible for this obscene policy. This letter is in response to Bush's latest statement that he personally approved the use of torture (see the Washington Post's summary of the interview), and the structure of this letter is based loosely on the form letter that ACLU is hosting over here. If you wish, you are welcome to use any part or all of the below text (except my signature!) in your own letter. According to the House web site, all physical mail is currently being screened for biological agents, so the fastest way to contact your Representative is probably through the House's Write Your Representative form.

Originally posted on A contrario on 22 March, 2008

This is the extended and original version of a letter I submitted to the editor of the local paper. It is the first of a growing series of documents to come out of my research into the human rights violations that are being committed by or in the United States. While I am disgusted by my government's behavior, I am even more incensed by the general public apathy (at least in my area) toward the issue . I wrote this letter in an attempt to dissolve that apathy and implore people to start attending to what the U.S. government is doing in our name. Democracy will not survive in this nation if we do not monitor our own government at least as vigilantly as it seems to be monitoring us.