21 May 2004


Nick Berg's father calls for Peace...!

...George Bush never looked into my son's eyes. George Bush doesn't know my son, and he is the worse for it. George Bush, though a father himself, cannot feel my pain, or that of my family, or of the world that grieves for Nick, because he is a policymaker, and he doesn't have to bear the consequences of his acts. George Bush can see neither the heart of Nick nor that of the American people, let alone that of the Iraqi people his policies are killing daily.

[...]

So what were we to do when we in America were attacked on September 11, that infamous day? I say we should have done then what we never did before: stop speaking to the people we labelled our enemies and start listening to them. Stop giving preconditions to our peaceful coexistence on this small planet, and start honouring and respecting every human's need to live free and autonomously, to truly respect the sovereignty of every state. To stop making up rules by which others must live and then separate rules for ourselves.

[...]

George Bush's ineffective leadership is a weapon of mass destruction, and it has allowed a chain reaction of events that led to the unlawful detention of my son which immersed him in a world of escalated violence. Were it not for Nick's detention, I would have had him in my arms again. That detention held him in Iraq not only until the atrocities that led to the siege of Fallujah, but also the revelation of the atrocities committed in the jails in Iraq, in retaliation for which my son's wonderful life was put to an end.

My son's work still goes on. Where there was one peacemaker before, I now see and have heard from thousands of peacemakers. Nick was a man who acted on his beliefs. We, the people of this world, now need to act on our beliefs. We need to let the evildoers on both sides of the Atlantic know that we are fed up with war. We are fed up with the killing and bombing and maiming of innocent people. We are fed up with the lies. Yes, we are fed up with the suicide bombers, and with the failure of the Israelis and Palestinians to find a way to stop killing each other. We are fed up with negotiations and peace conferences that are entered into on both sides with preset conditions that preclude the outcome of peace. We want world peace now.
Complete statement here.

20 May 2004


Bush budget stalls....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republicans retreated Thursday and decided to postpone a Senate vote on their $2.4 trillion budget until at least next month, GOP aides said, averting a certain defeat by party moderates demanding curbs on future tax cuts.

The decision, described by aides on condition of anonymity, was an election-year embarrassment for both the Republicans who control Congress and President Bush. [Emphasis mine.]
When asked what might make moderate Republicans change their minds and support the budget, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said, "Some of us could get killed in tragic accidents.''

Whoa. I'd be careful what I said around the bunch in the White House.

Complete story here.

Sad, sad news....

David Reimer, a Canadian man who was raised as a girl in a controversial case that drew international attention to issues of gender and biology, took his own life last Tuesday.

According to press reports, Reimer, 38, had been depressed following a series of personal and professional setbacks, including the loss of his job, separation from his wife and the death of his identical twin brother two years ago.
David's story was the subject of the book, "As Nature Made Him," The Boy Who Was Raised a Girl," by journalist John Colapinto.

As I can vouch, being gender-variant in this narrow-minded world can take a toll on a person. I'm very sad that David reached a point where he felt he couldn't soldier on.

Complete story here.

19 May 2004


Horrific....

RAFAH REFUGEE CAMP, May 20 — As a throng of Palestinians marched in protest here today, an Israeli tank and helicopter gunship opened fire, leaving at least nine people dead, including children, and dozens wounded, witnesses said.

The incident began when more than a thousand Palestinians responded to a public committee's call to demonstrate this afternoon by walking down a central avenue toward the Tel al-Sultan neighborhood on Rafah's outskirts, where Israeli forces seized control Tuesday in what the Army called a hunt for militants.

As the leading edge of the crowd of men and boys approached an Israeli tank position, two thunderous explosions rang out, interspersed with jackhammer blasts of machine gun fire. Clouds of dust rose in the air as debris and blood sprayed across the road. The Palestinians turned to flee, some carrying bleeding children in their arms.

[Complete story here.]
The Palestinian death toll in the military sweep the Israeli army is nauseatingly dubbing "Operation Rainbow," stands at 33 in two days, and will probably go higher.

I am sickened and feel complicit in that the carnage could not be taking place without U.S. arms sales and tax dollars.

Most Americans feel otherwise, if they care at all. One woman I used to work for who describes herself as a "tax and spend liberal," says she might vote for Bush in November due to his support for Israel and strong "war on terrorism."

Tragically, she is not alone. (See here.)

In a somewhat heated argument, she justified to me her utter lack of sympathy for Palestinians by saying, "But they are killing my children!" speaking in the larger sense of Jewish family.

What confounds me is how this intelligent, caring mother of four can feel no compassion for murdered Palestinian children.

Not only that, but how can she fail to see that our support for "Israel no matter what" puts us at risk of terrorist attack? Incidents like "Operation Rainbow," in which American-made helicopters and missiles mow down Palestinians are precisely why Arab extremists consider the U.S. a legitimate military target.

I support Israel's right to exist, as I do a viable Palestinian state. If Bush truly wanted to protect Americans from terrorism, he would make all aid to Israel contingent on an immediate and just resolution of the Palestinian question.

And more....

Not only did the policy to torture detainees originate at the highest levels of the U.S. government, but Bush and his officials knew damned well that what they were doing was wrong!
May 17 - The White House's top lawyer warned more than two years ago that U.S. officials could be prosecuted for "war crimes" as a result of new and unorthodox measures used by the Bush administration in the war on terrorism, according to an internal White House memo and interviews with participants in the debate over the issue.
And they should be tried for war crimes, for actions in both Afghanistan and Iraq.

Complete story here.

Abu Ghraib....

If you still believe the torture at Abu Ghraib was a case of privates and sergeants gone amok, rather than policy ordered from above, check this out:

...Top military officials have claimed the abuse seen in the photos at Abu Ghraib was limited to a few MPs, but Provance says the sexual humiliation of prisoners began as a technique ordered by the interrogators from military intelligence.

"One interrogator told me about how commonly the detainees were stripped naked, and in some occasions, wearing women's underwear," Provance said. "If it's your job to strip people naked, yell at them, scream at them, humiliate them, it's not going to be too hard to move from that to another level."
Complete story here.