Torturers Covering Up

And at the end of it all they are shuffling petrified pathetic dishonourable cowards who smear black marker over the truth of their crimes.

US defence officials are preventing Barack Obama from seeing evidence that a former British resident held in Guantánamo Bay has been tortured, the prisoner’s lawyer said last night, as campaigners and the Foreign Office prepared for the man’s release in as little as a week.

Clive Stafford Smith, the director of the legal charity Reprieve, which represents Ethiopian-born Binyam Mohamed, sent Obama evidence of what he called “truly mediaeval” abuse but substantial parts were blanked out so the president could not read it.

In the letter to the president [PDF] , Stafford Smith urges him to order the disclosure of the evidence.

Stafford Smith tells Obama he should be aware of the “bizarre reality” of the situation. “You, as commander in chief, are being denied access to material that would help prove that crimes have been committed by US personnel. This decision is being made by the very people who you command.”

It is understood US defence officials might have censored the evidence to protect the president from criminal liability or political embarrassment.

I think in order to get action Stafford Smith is being very polite and giving Obama the benefit of a shitload of doubt, nevertheless his job is to get Mohamed released and if we have to play this game so be it.

Yet something stirs, the politicians are running scared of the shitstorm, is Binyam Mohamed about to be released? If he is killed by Gitmo the value of a witness being silenced (and they have made those calculations) is outweighed by the furore it will cause.

Those Filthy Communists At Oxfam & Their Evil ‘Facts’

Government-provided healthcare is weak in many countries, but it is more effective to improve public health than to turn to private care, the report states. Evidence shows that making the public health sector work “is the only proven route to achieving universal and equitable healthcare”.

A growing number of international donors are promoting an expansion of private-sector health-care delivery to fulfil this goal. The private sector can play a role in health care. But this paper shows there is an urgent need to reassess the arguments used in favour of scaling-up private-sector provision in poor countries. The evidence shows that prioritising this approach is extremely unlikely to deliver health for poor people. Governments and rich country donors must strengthen state capacities to regulate and focus on the rapid expansion of free publicly provided health care, a proven way to save millions of lives worldwide.

For over two decades, the World Bank advocated a solution based on investment and growth of the private health-care sector. Decrying the failure of public health services in poor countries, failure in which the Bank’s enforced public sector spending cuts and widescale restructuring have played a significant role, the argument was that the private sector could do a better job. Although in recent years the World Bank has acknowledged the key role of the government in health care, this is largely as a regulator and ‘steward’ rather than as a provider of services.

Despite the poor performance of private sector-led solutions, there has been a noticeable increase in efforts in recent months by a number of donors and influential organisations, to encourage and fund an expansion of health care by the private sector. The idea is that those who can afford it should buy their own health care in the private sector and governments should contract private providers to serve those who can’t. The approach is promoted not only as a matter of ‘common sense’ but as essential to reverse the lack of progress in health care and to save the lives of poor people.

This paper examines the arguments made in favour of increased private for-profit provision of health services as a means of scaling-up to achieve health care for all. It finds the evidence in favour of private-sector solutions is weak. On the contrary, there is considerable and increasing evidence that there are serious failings inherent in private provision which make it a very risky and costly path to take. All too often these risks are not taken into account.

At the same time, a growing body of international research reaffirms that despite their serious problems in many countries, publicly financed and delivered services continue to dominate in higher performing, more equitable health systems.

[Link to full paper] And indeed support the poor benighted Americans and their struggle to replace their third world health care- Thursday, February 12, Is National Call In Day for Single Payer Healthcare

Equal Justice

While even Truth & Reconciliation ideas which would involve no prosecutions over crimes including- kidnap, rape, murder, torture, war of aggression causing over 1 million deaths are given a luke warm non-committal pass, the journalist who threw a shoe at Bush faces 15 years in jail.

Iconography

[click to get full size]

Top one is new with correct-o font technology, the second is the old one with notquite-o font technology.

I don’t think you get to trade on ‘Change’ & ‘Hope’ while covering up torture and continuing with Bush policies.

Will This Cancer Be Fought?

Judge Schroeder asked, “The change in administration has no bearing?”

Once more, he said, “No, Your Honor.” The position he was taking in court on behalf of the government had been “thoroughly vetted with the appropriate officials within the new administration,” and “these are the authorized positions,” he said.

Read Valtin, Jotman. And as has been asked elsewhere, will those who enthusiastically supported Obama bring the same energy to bear to fight his administration as it does exactly what the Bush administration did?

Adam Curtis- The Way Of All Flesh

[NB. Image quality improves after the first minute, stick with it]

Or higher quality watch/download @ The Internet Archive

At long last it has finally made its way to the World Wide Webular Tubes of the Internets!

Follows the story of the cells of Henriettta Lacks. She dies in 1951 of cancer, before she died cells were removed from her body and cultivated in a laboratory in the hope that they could help find a cure for cancer. The cells (known as the HeLa line) have been growing ever since, and the scientists found that they were growing in ways they could not control.

Also see Wikipedia on Henrietta Lacks.

And in order for this online debut of this rarely seen Curtis doco thanks must go to-

• John Whiting (and check his KPFA site) who got this topic going when he provided The Living Dead.
• To commenter Bill (sorry it took this long, the wait is over!) who tracked a VHS copy down to a lonely library shelf in Customs House Library, Sydney Australia.
• So unto the World Wide Thingamy-Jig I appealed Hey Australia! And who should answer that call so selflessly and heroically? Non other than Anne of People’s Geography and the mighty PULSE. She undertook the crucial mission of borrowing the VHS tape and transferring it to DVD. Then after safely encasing the disc in a very nice plastic sleeve she AirMailed it to my oceanic lair c/o wild & windy secure undisclosed location.

And…that’s where it got a little bogged down. Sorry. I Handbraked it to a web video friendly format and uploaded to Google Video on Boxing Day! But…this version in the process of Google er, processing it, ended up with totally out of sync A/V, so I deleted it and set about recoding it (the bad sync was encoded using h.264 which I like but maybe GV didn’t, anyway old skool mpeg4 we go). Then Gaza got attacked and that took focus for the duration.

Then, some weeks later with a super new file to upload the sorry saga plods into another morass of disappointment…First off, did you know Google Video are discontinuing the service? Keeping the vids that are there, expanding the search engine functions but they will soon no longer provide a service to upload new content. Maybe that had something to do with the trouble. But a couple of weeks of faltering uploads, crashing uploader and I was set to go insane. One last try on another computer with another connection under a different ISP, while simultaneously sending it up to the Internet Archive via another line and would you know it? They both worked. Proviso- the Google vid has some terrible resolution/artifact issues at first but they soon resolve themselves so don’t worry keep with it. Internet Archive has the highest quality version plus you can download it (also rather than use the Google Video option for iPods I would use the Internet Archive versions, but that’s just me). Also if an enterprising soul wants a DVD version to torrent, then get in touch (HAL top left) and something can be arranged!

[And a final note on copyright, this film is not available commercially, nor is it likely it will be, so this is not taking away from someone's income. This is posted not to make money, but because knowledge should be shared. It was made by the BBC so as a UK citizen and occasional licence fee payer I have in fact part paid for this. And after the BBC's stance on Gaza, they owe the world back anyway!]

Manchester Uni, Still Occupied!

Hats off to the demonstrators who are doing Manchester proud, occupied since Wednesday!

Check manunioccupation.wordpress.com

Snippets-

• Manchester students called an Emergency General Meeting of their Student Union to take place on February 4th. Students submitted a motion that called for the development of links between students in Manchester and Palestine; a condemnation of Israel’s recent attacks and the facilitation of fundraising to help alleviate the humanitarian crisis Israel has caused in Gaza. This democratic meeting was sabotaged and ultimately destroyed by pro-Israeli Zionist students who were desperate to shield Israel from criticism and couldn’t stomach the thought of their university helping to stop the suffering in Palestine. These students employed both bureaucratic and thuggish tactics to stop the meeting from taking place. There are countless reports from students who wanted to get in but were physically prevented and the chair of the meeting refused to hear students’ complaints at the blockade and dissolved the meeting. Around 300 pro-Palestinian students then held a demonstration that went to the main administrative corridor at the university. Deprived of the means of using the normal channels of speaking to management they decided to occupy the corridor (which holds the Vice Chancellor, Alan Gilbert’s office) until the university management dealt with their demands.
  
• The movement is growing and the universities are recovering their role as place of critical thinking and action. Today the largest trade union and professional association for academics, lecturers, trainers, researchers and academic-related staff has come out in support of the people of Gaza and the occupying students throughout the country.
• The people of Manchester have been a key part of that support and instrumental in keeping us comfortable and well fed. Yesterday we received fresh fruit, bedding and kitchen equipment amongst a whole host of other supplies kindly donated by individuals and campaigns across Manchester.
• message of solidarity sent from the Student Council of An-Najah university in Palestine:- The Student Council of An-Najah National University extends its sincerest thanks and appreciation for the courageous and principled action you have taken in solidarity with our people in Gaza. This non-violent action to pressure the administration of your university to take a more proactive stance to condemn Israeli aggression on Gaza reminds us, as an oppressed people, that we are not alone in our fight for freedom and justice.
• Article in The Independent!
• Even Wes Streeting, NUS careerist, has woken up- “What we’ve seen over the Gaza issue is a resurgence of a particular type of protest: the occupation. It’s a long time since we’ve seen student occupations on such a scale. It’s about time we got the student movement going again and had an impact.”
• The Manchester Uni occupation applauds Wes for this sentiment. We would be very happy if he came over to address our occupation on the importance of building a fighting student movement for Palestine as well as using his position to push the NUS to put pressure on our Vice-Chancellor Alan Gilbert to concede to our demands, send a letter to our union’s Gen Sec Rob Pinfold congratulating us for our actions as well as Labour Students in Manchester who have been hostile to us. We would also be very happy if the NUS pledged to campaign to defend occupying students against any reprisals from management.

Change This

• In a statement, the White House said it “thanked the UK government for its continued commitment to protect sensitive national security information”. It added that this would “preserve the long-standing intelligence sharing relationship that enables both countries to protect their citizens”.
• President Barack Obama’s pick to head the CIA retreated on Friday from a charge that the United States sent terrorism suspects to other countries so they could be tortured under questioning. “On that particular quote, that people were transferred for purposes of torture, that was not the policy of the United States,” Leon Panetta told a Senate hearing on his nomination to be director of the Central Intelligence Agency. “To that extent, yes, I would retract that statement.”
• Although Obama banned the “black site” program, the CIA might continue to send suspects to third countries for questioning, provided there are verifiable assurances they would be treated humanely, Panetta said.
  
• Panetta said he would if necessary ask Obama to allow harsher interrogations than those covered by the Army Field Manual, which the president last month set as the government standard. The manual bans techniques such as waterboarding. “I would not hesitate,” to seek broader interrogation authority, Panetta said, adding “I think that this president would do nothing that would violate the laws that are in place.”

{NOTE: The Army Field Manual (AFM) in appendix M does allow for torture anyway, it needs redrafting.}

The Physicians for Human Rights statement is very good (and gives praise where it is due but does not ignore the work yet to be done) and shows an independence sadly lacking from Human Rights Watch who are sold on the AFM and rendition (retooled but still an illegal expression of imperial brute force). Are we now seeing the shaking out of those who opposed Bush for more partisan instincts from those who opposed for reasons of principle that remain to be upheld whomever is in power. The team sports approach to politics will pave the way for torture to continue and I suppose those who opposed Bush do not necessarily oppose Imperial America they just prefer a friendlier management style.

I don’t really give a fuck for your political affiliation, torture’s torture and if you enable it you’re a piece of shit.

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) praises President Obama for signing historic executive orders today that end the US’ illegal detention and interrogation program, marking a clear departure from the abuses of the past administration and a return to the rule of law.

“PHR applauds President Obama’s swift action to reclaim America’s legacy as a nation committed to the rule of law,” said Frank Donaghue, Chief Executive Officer of PHR. “The reforms enacted today represents a victory for human rights and a blow against the use of torture.”

Despite today’s major progress, additional work remains to be done.  PHR calls on President Obama and Congress to immediately authorize a non-partisan commission to investigate the authorization, legal justification, and implementation of the Bush Administration’s regime of psychological and physical torture. Any accountability mechanism must include a subgroup tasked with investigating the participation of health professionals in detainee abuse. Additionally, any evidence that U.S. officials violated anti-torture law should be turned over to the Department of Justice.

“The desire to turn the page on the past seven years of detainee abuse and torture by US forces is understandable,” Donaghue said. “However, President Obama, Congress and the health professions will not have fulfilled their obligation to the Constitution and medical ethics if we settle only for reform without accountability.”

PHR urges the Obama Administration to end the use of Behavioral Science Consultants (BSCs) in interrogations. The continued use of BSCs violates medical ethics and subverts the traditions of the healing professions. Any procedures currently in place involving health professionals  in interrogations which violate medical ethics should be prohibited.

“The past administration’s weaponization of the health professions to inflict harm on detainees constitutes a war crime unto itself,” said Donaghue. “Despite all that has been disclosed so far about abuses committed by health professionals, many questions remain, chief among them is whether there will be any accountability for gross violations of medical ethics and the law.”

Additionally, PHR also calls on the task force appointed by the president to review US interrogation and transfer policies to revoke Appendix M of the Army Field Manual. This section allows the use of sleep deprivation, sensory deprivation, and isolation—tactics which can constitute torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment under U.S. and international law. PHR encourages the task force to consult with human rights organizations as part of the review process.

[Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) mobilizes the health professions to advance the health and dignity of all people by protecting human rights. As a founding member of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, PHR shared the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize.]

Friday! Flight of the Conchords- Robots/The Humans Are Dead

Israel Commits More Piracy

Via FreeGaza who helped with this aid shipment-

The Israeli navy has captured and diverted a ship from Lebanon carrying more than 60 tonnes of aid to the Gaza Strip.

Al Jazeera’s correspondent aboard the Al-Ikhwa (The Brotherhood) ship said the navy first opened fire, then five Israeli soldiers boarded the ship, beating and threatening the passengers.

“They are pointing guns against us – they are kicking us and beating us. They are threatening our lives,” Al Jazeera’s Salam Khoder said.

Communications with the ship broke off shortly thereafter.

According to the owner of the vessel, the Israelis destroyed its communication equipment and confiscated the phones of those on board.

The Israeli military told Al Jazeera it had captured the Lebanese vessel and taken it to Ashdod, where authorities were examining its cargo. The passengers and crew, meanwhile, were being questioned by police.

In a statement, the Israeli military said it had warned the ship on Wednesday night against entering Gaza’s coastal waters.

“During today’s morning hours, the cargo ship changed its bearing, and began heading towards the Gaza Strip …. disregarding all warnings made,” it said.

Maan Bashour, an aid co-ordinator for the group End the Blockade of Gaza, said the ship was carrying medical equipment, food supplies and books, toys and milk for small children.

“This ship was searched in Cyprus and in Lebanon,” Bashour told Al Jazeera in Beirut, Lebanon. “And we were very eager to let it be searched by Lebanese and Cypriot authorities in order that there be no reason for the Israelis to prevent it from going to Gaza.”

Foud Siniora, Lebanon’s president, condemned the attack on Al-Ikhwa, emphasising that it was on a humanitarian mission to Gaza.

“It is no surprise for Israel to perpetrate such an action as it has been accustomed to ignoring all international resolutions and values,” he said during a speech in Beirut.

“I made a number of necessary phone calls with international parties in order to exert pressures on Israel which is violating laws. I hold Israel responsible for the safety of the ship and passengers. “

Also note Israel is effectively banning Al Jazeera-

Danny Schechter: Everyone in the media world praised AlJazeera’s coverage of Gaza as fair and multi-sided with frequent appearances by Israeli officials. This is Israel’s response, a clear sign that they want to dominate the media with their perspective or else. This is consistent with a refusal to allow journalists from other media into Gaza. It shows contempt for a free media even as Israel mobilizes campaigns against media “bias.”

IMEMC: The Israeli Foreign Ministry decided to place restrictions on the Qatari based Al Jazeera Channel office staff in areas controlled by Israel, Israeli media reported on Tuesday.

The decision by Israeli is part of a government response to closing the Israeli trade office by the Qatari government in Doha last month.

Qatar closed the office to protest the Israeli offensive on Gaza which started on December 27th, and lasted for 22 days. 1,340 Palestinian were killed by the Israeli air, sea, and ground bombardment.

According to the sources, the restriction will be implemented in three steps and will be carried out in Israeli areas and Palestinian Authority controlled areas. First, Israel will not renew the visas of Al Jazeera staff that do not hold Israeli documents.

Second, the reporters of Al Jazeera will not be allowed to speak to Israeli MP’s, and will only be given access to three government spokespeople that will include the Israeli PM’s office, the Israeli Army and the Foreign Ministry.

Third, Al Jazeera reporters will have reduced accessibility to government and military bodies, and will not be allowed into briefings or press conferences.

Al Jazeera is the largest Arab satellite News Channel, and the only Arab channel that has an English TV and web service.  The Jerusalem office of Al Jazeera told IMEMC that their office has not received an official notice by the Israeli government regarding the new restrictions.

Not something the BBC will have to worry about, is it?

Abusive Relationship

The US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, lavishly praised the “special relationship” between the US and Britain after discussions in Washington yesterday with David Miliband, the first foreign minister to meet her in the new job.

How nice…

Evidence of how a British resident held in the Guantánamo Bay detention camp was tortured, and what MI5 knew about it, must remain secret because of serious threats the US has made against the UK, the high court ruled today. The judges made clear they were deeply unhappy with their decision, but said they had no alternative as a result of a statement by David Miliband, the foreign secretary, that if the evidence was disclosed the US would stop sharing intelligence with Britain. That would directly threaten the UK’s national security, Miliband had told the court.

[Lord Justice Thomas and Mr Justice Lloyd Jones]- “Indeed we did not consider that a democracy governed by the rule of law would expect a court in another democracy to suppress a summary of the evidence contained in reports by its own officials … relevant to allegations of torture and cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatment, politically embarrassing though it might be.

“We had no reason … to anticipate there would be made a threat of the gravity of the kind made by the United States Government that it would reconsider its intelligence sharing relationship, when all the considerations in relation to open justice pointed to us providing a limited but important summary of the reports.”

Seems a tad fraught this ‘relationship’. But again like the Saudi BAE pulaver it’s not really smart to take the nationalist bait here, rather recognise ruling classes colluding. Both the US and the UK are guilty of using torture, so such threats help both sets of elites and their agencies (to such an extent that I am sure they concocted them in concert). After all this investigation Jacqui Smith ordered did sound too good to be true. I think I now recognise Miliband, someone who thinks they are a good person but never has the courage to actually do the right thing against prevailing pressure to conform, the sacrifice is always just that bit too much for him to bear. So he builds a bit more denial into his ego and wonders when he’ll get the PM gig. When you’re not willing to end your ascent on principle the only route left is careerism, to believe in the establishment that now holds you ever tighter in its poisonous embrace. A common trait in the technocrats & Atlanticists who dominate the UK establishment.

-Ok, you make a really scary sounding threat and I’ll be all like ‘Oh noes!!!! We must do what they say!!!’ Kewl.

-And we’ll both do our utmost to make sure no one from current or former administrations ever see the inside of a jail cell yeah?

-Yeah.

-Awesome.

-Fancy another scone?

Previously on what was done to Binyam Mohamed-

The former Kensington caretaker alleges he was repeatedly slashed in the genitals with a razor blade while being held in Morocco. Finally, he was rendered to Guantánamo, where he has spent the past four years.

The lawyer told the judges the US authorities denied that Mohamed had been subjected to extraordinary rendition or torture. But there were strong grounds for believing that MI6 and MI5 held independent evidence supporting his story of torture.

Dr Daniel Creson, a respected psychiatrist from Texas who has extensive experience in the treatment of the victims of torture, warns that the deterioration in Mr Mohamed’s health suggests that he “is reaching the end of his psychological tether”.

Ironically this government recently outlawed ‘extreme pornography’ whereby images of people engaged in [eg.] consensual blood play (among other consensual kinks) are now illegal, yet the government, involved in non-consensual genital torture, is reluctant to let justice be done here. Even though there is clear evidence of extremely violent sexual abuse. Which perhaps explains the ‘special relationship’, one where consent plays no part, just a competition of rapists and torturers all of which naturally is entirely proper and moral when the magic safe word ‘terrorist’ is played.

Manchester Uni Occupied!

Ah, Manchester Mon Amour, if you’re in the area and looking for something to fill your evening, go along, via Dave-

manunioccupation.wordpress.com

GBU-39 DIME in Gaza

“There will be small chest wounds, but then the lungs will be destroyed. Or minor abdominal entry wounds but then kidneys and liver destroyed.” I heard today that it seems that the dense metal shrapnel splinters into tiny particles upon entry to the body, which are then carried by the bloodstream, swiftly shredding everywhere they reach. So many patients appear to stabilise, and then die shortly afterwards. As if that wasn’t enough, Lebanon experience suggests that those who do survive experience quick onset of cancer. What kind of mind dreams this stuff up?

-Tales To Tell

Kick Out The Fascists. Kick Out British Wildcats

The BNP have been trying to bend the strikes to their advantage, one particularly noxious plot has been exposed by the Ministry of Truth (complete with proof). The website calling itself britishwildcats.com (slogan, you guessed it:- British jobs for British Workers) is a BNP front-

Ministry of Truth:- I can exclusively reveal that the operator of the British Wildcats website, which featured on tonight’s Newsnight, is actually BNP ‘web guru’, Simon Bennett.

This is crucially important now because the unions are getting wise to this infiltration and migrant workers are joining the strikes, something fascists, the ruling class and the lazy corporate media really don’t want to see happen. (ht2 Penny Red, Stroppyblog)

I Don’t Care

© SPIEGEL ONLINE 2009

It’s a White Bengal Tiger from West Midlands Safari Park rolling a snowball! If this is wrong, I don’t want to be right.