Blackwater accountability

US guards charged over Iraq deaths

The suspects had earlier handed themselves in to a court in Utah [Reuters] Five US security guards employed by the Blackwater firm have been charged over the killings of at least 14 Iraqi civilians and injuries to 20 others in a 2007 shooting in Baghdad. In a 35-count indictment, the five men were charged with manslaughter, attempt to commit manslaughter and weapons violations, the US justice department said on Monday. "The government alleges in the documents unsealed today that at least 34 unarmed Iraqi civilians, including women and children, were killed or injured without justification or provocation by these Blackwater security guards in the shooting at Nisoor Square," said Patrick Rowan, assistant attorney-general for national security. The five had handed themselves over at a federal court in Salt Lake City, Utah, earlier on Monday. A sixth Blackwater guard had already pleaded guilty to charges on December 5. If convicted, the men face 10 years in prison for each manslaughter charge, plus additional sentences for other charges. The shooting by Blackwater's guards as they escorted a convoy of US diplomats through Baghdad on September 16 2007, angered Iraqis and led US officials to tighten controls on private security firms. The shooting also enraged the Iraqi government, which wanted to put security contractors under Iraqi legal jurisdiction. Identity protected The five men's identities and the nature of the charges against them had been kept secret for more than a year, but were also released on Sunday. They were named as Evan Liberty and Donald Ball, both 26-year-old former marines; Dustin Heard, a 27-year-old ex-marine; Nick Slatten, 25, an ex-army sergeant; and Paul Slough, a 29-year-old army veteran. Paul Cassell, a Utah attorney on the defence team, said as the guards were being heard: "We think it's pure and simple a case of self-defence ... Tragically people did die." IN VIDEO Blackwater on trial Khalid Ibrahim, a 40-year-old electrician who said his 78-year-old father, Ibrahim Abid, died in the shooting, said: "The killers must pay for their crime against innocent civilians. "Justice must be achieved so that we can have rest from the agony we are living in. We know that the conviction of the people behind the shooting will not bring my father to life, but we will have peace in our minds and hearts." An Iraqi government spokesman said that they believed that the attack was tantamount to deliberate murder. Ali Al-Dabbagh told Al Jazeera that Baghdad would maintain the victims' right to a fair trial and would not accept anything less than "normal standards available in such cases". Decorated veterans The Blackwater guards are decorated war veterans who were contracted to protect US diplomats in Iraq. FBI investigators found in late 2007 that most of the deaths had been unjustified and the incident created a furore about the perceived ability of private guards to act with impunity in Iraq. FBI investigators found that most of the 17 deaths in Baghdad had been unjustified Blackwater said that the guards were returning fire after their convoy was shot at in al-Nisoor Square. The head of Blackwater appeared before the US congress shortly after the incident, saying that the men acted responsibly. The case has also been complicated because, at the time of the attack, private contractors like Blackwater operated without any clear legal oversight and it could be argued they did not have to answer either to Iraqi or US laws. Under the deal Blackwater had with the US government, it was allowed to repair the vehicles involved in the attack before investigators saw them, taking away key forensic evidence.

Challenging The Myths Of The "Good War"

We are so fortunate to have one of C.A.N.'s points of unity be against the occupation of Afghanistan because it allows us to work as a group to educate others about why this occupation is wrong. This article offers a neat perspective. Some of the important things I got out of it were that the U.S. military is treating the occupation of Iraq and the occupation of Afghanistan as the same thing. This is shown because the troops who first went to Afghanistan and then to Iraq (or vice versa) did not receive training in between deployments. We must argue that the two are different conflicts. Yes, they are similar in that the justification to invade both nations was false, but they are two separate and distinct countries, with different cultures, histories, and peoples. Another point is that the Taliban, political turned terrorist group, has now gained more power because of the U.S. occupation of Afghanistan. Also, the people of Afghanistan are now angry about the destruction of their country.

This article also points to the horrible attrocities against women's rights, making the group RAWA (Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan) much more vital to the nation. It is unfortunate, because with all of the attacks on civil rights in Afghanistan, the people have been turning to the Taliban as a "lesser of two evils" approach.

The part of the article which I enjoyed most, and which I have never heard being argued before was, is the U.S. justified in being in Iraq and Afghanistan to capture Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden, respectively. The argument against this is brilliant and simple: why should entire nations, civilians and all, be held accountable for the attrocities committed by one person, or a handful of people? Was the entire U.S. population held accountable for Timothy McVeigh? Another argument could possibly be to punish the supporters of Hussein and bin Laden. Wait a minute, though, because the U.S. government supported them, right? So, we can't possibly just do that!

To close, both of these occupations, though not the same, and yet not completely different, need to be ended immediately. The people of both nations deserve to live in sovereign states, free of the U.S. and free from having to turn to terrorist organizations as governments to have the "lesser of two evils."

-Patricia
College Not Combat, Troops Out NOW!

On The Side Of The Road In Iraq

This article is the speech that Duane gave at our Winter Soldier event on Thursday, November 13 2008. His speech was of his experience in Iraq as a medic. It involved a huge miscommunication, and perfectly represents the misrepresentation of Iraqis as terrorists. It was quite gruesome, and descriptive. Also, another thing I got from the speech was that Duane was not that skilled in Arabic, and then had a hard time communicating with his patient. This, to me, showed the lack of cultural training for U.S. troops.

Proposed UK Counter Terror bill to criminalize publishing information about police

UK Indymedia has some disturbing information about a new Counter Terror bill being discussed in the House of Lords:

We need to stand with our British brothers and sisters in stopping the criminalization of information - whether it be by fighting the CCTV panopticon that is London (and increasingly, many US cities), arresting or otherwise abusing journalists at demonstrations, or by criminalizing - or at the least creating a chilling effect around - the publication of police actions.

A CAN perspective of the SOA protest

Ft. Benning, GA – On November 21-23, over 20,000 people gathered outside the gates of Ft. Benning to demand to end to Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC), formerly known as the School of Americas (and sometimes called the School of Assassins by its detractors). The demonstrators encompassed the full spectrum of American liberals and leftists, from progressive Catholics to Anarchistic Atheists.

Protests at the SOA/WHINSEC began 19 years ago, following the massacre of 5 Jesuit persists, their house keeper, and her daughter by paramilitaries in Latin America. Opponents of the school decry it as a training camp for oppressive militaries and paramilitaries in Latin America, with a curriculum ranging from the use of fear and oppression to torture and kidnapping, all infused with a pro-America, pro-corporate ideology.

Over a dozen members of the Campus Antiwar Network from across the country were part of the weekend-long demonstrations.

Saturday saw a large gathering outside the gates with speakers, musicians, and scores of tables. It was a very lively atmosphere, a sort of politically-infused Burning Man-esq festival celebrating life and condemning those who brutally destroy it. In downtown Columbus, there were workshops and lectures lasting long into the night, covering a wide array of political and social issues.

Early Sunday morning, six brave individuals crossed the line of Ft. Benning in an attempt to physically close the school. Crossing the line at the highway rather than at the main gates – which were blocked by a temporary chain link fence topped with barbed wire – the six were detained half a mile into the base. They are expected to face felony trespassing charges, with 6 months in jail and $5,000 in fines, on top of the $1,000 bail.

At the gates of Ft. Benning, Sunday saw the 20,000 protesters gather with wooden crosses adorned with the names of the victims of the Latin American state terrorism. The crowd filed solemnly past the gate, placing their crosses in the chain link fence until they literally blocked out the sun. As the crowd marched, speakers on the stage sang out the names and ages of the victims of over 40 years of repression. After each name was sung, the crowd raised their crosses and sang back “Presenté.”

In addition, some members of the demonstration carried coffins which they laid before the gates. Dressed in black robes and white face paint, these representatives of death lay before the gates all day in a die-in, their black robes stained with red paint to represent blood.

As the day progressed, a Puppetista celebration made its way to the gates. Telling the story of how the people will eventually crush the oppression of Imperialism and terrorist governments with tools such as Women Power and Worker Power, the Puppetistas and their accompanying drum corps added the perfect splash of color and culture to the procession.

For more than 500 demonstrators, the procession was not enough. Led by a number of the Puppetistas, the group – mostly youth – burst forth through the police barricades into the town of Columbus. With chants of “SOA? Tear it down!” and “Whose Streets? Our Streets!” the bloc marched down two major streets and a number of side streets in an unpermitted expression of the Democracy and opposition to the SOA/WHINSEC. CAN members then led the bloc to the gates of Ft. Benning, where a drum circle and impromptu speak out energized the crowd. However, due to the chain link fence, no one crossed the line.

Over all, the SOA protest was an incredibly successful event. There is great hope among the organizers that Obama will help close the school, prompting organizer and SOA Watch founded Father Roy Bourgeois – who is facing excommunication for ordaining female priests – to declare that if the SOA/WHINSEC is closed down this upcoming year, there will be a final gathering in 2009 – for a celebratory fiesta.

Terrorist attack in Mumbai ends after three day stand-off

This past week, a group of approximately 10 armed extremists wrought havoc in Mumbai (formerly Bombay), the most populous city in India. Their motives are still unknown, and it is still unclear who was behind the attacks - while the organization Deccan Mujahideen claimed responsibility, the group was totally unknown before the attacks, and one of the terrorists claimed to have been trained by Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, a Pakistan-based terror group that opposes India over the disputed Kashmir region.

Over 150 were killed in the attacks, which targeted two hotels and a police station. The confrontation lasted for over three days until all the terrorists were either caught or killed.

The Independent has an excellent timeline of the events, while NPR has a good analysis of the fallout of the attacks - increasing tensions between Pakistan and India. Relations between the two nuclear powers have recently been fairly amenable, but with increasing pressure by the US on Pakistan's border with Afghanistan, this attack may have re-awakened tensions over the contentious region of Kashmir. The Pakistani army has already begun moving troops from from its western Afghanistan border to the east.

The Army's School For Terrorism

This article talks about the protest that Pete and Chris just went to in Georgia over Thanksgiving Break. Since we have taken up the topic of torture as an important issue for C.A.N., this protest and article are interesting for our message.