Any Americans who thought their country was hard up for cash because of Obama’s deep welfare cuts can be happy to know that the USA still has huge amounts of money to spare. $100 million of US taxpayers’ cash is being spent on building a new Guantanamo for 2,000 political prisoners near Baghram airport, Afghanistan.
Baghram was of course already a notorious torture black site for the CIA, and there was a regular transport of prisomers between Baghram and Tashkent when I was British Ambassador in Uzbekistan. None, I believe, of the prisoners transferred by the CIA into Tashkent from Baghram has survived to tell their story.
The site of the new Obamamo complex is actually on the battlefield of Parvan, where the Emir Dost Mohammed defeated the British on November 2 1840. Alexander Burnes was present at the battle, at which his close friend and travelling companion Dr Percival Lord and another friend Lt James Broadfoot were killed. After the British had occupied Kabul a year earlier and installed a pupper ruler, the Emir of Kabul Dost Mohammed had originally fled to Bukhara, where he had been held prisoner by the mad ruler Nasrulla. Eventually escaping, he had raised a largely Uzbek force in Kunduz, but this had been dispersed by a British attack. Wandering with only a few hundred followers, at Parvan he encountered the large British force under General Bob Sale which had been sent out to find him.
The approach of Sale’s army had seen the local tribes abandon their villages and take to the hills, where they made hostile demonstrations and took long shots with their jezzails. But these locals were not really a part of the battle. Two squadrons of the 2nd Bengal Cavalry became detached on the right of the British advance, after a planned sweep went still wider to avoid fire from a fort in which a local chief had taken refuge. Seeing his chance, Dost Mohammed with 200 irregular cavalry swept down on the 2nd Cavalry. Numbers each side were about equal, but when the British officers of the 2nd Bengal Cavalry charged, they found almost all their men had panicked and routed, even running down and killing and wounding some of their own side coming up to support, including horse artillery. Seven British officers and about a dozen of their men completed the charge, and all were killed or severely wounded.
Afghan historians claim the battle of Parvan was a much more general affair with thousands engaged each side, but British military records do not bear this interpretation out – there just are not the causalties or use of supplies this would entail. Burnes was with Sale and saw his friends’ disaster from a distance. Precisely one year later he was himself to be killed, alongside James Broadfoot’s brother William and his own brother Charlie.
After his cavalry charge, Dost Mohammed rode on through the night and, considering honour satisfied, the next evening surrendered himself in Kabul to the British authorities.
For America to be building a new Guantanamo is terrible enough. To be building it on Parvan – which has strong associations for Afghans in their national history – is crass.
It confirms the suspicions of many commentators on this blog. If the US is building another prison-camp like Guantanamo in Afghanistan they are there for the long haul, and extraordinary rendition will become an increasingly present part of US NIMBY policy.
ordinary americans and ordinary people in the world, including ordinary muslims were happy to see a black american to be elected as a president of the most powerful country in the world. He even inspired me to the hope that there is justice and peace can be established finally on our planet by dialogue between different confession fololowers, not by by war, not by torture and not by lies. Alas, I ahve been wrong. The all ordinary americans, ordinary people of the planet, including ordinary muslims, were wrong by trusting this man. He turned out to be another puppet of the same evil system.
I can’t wait for this new book of yours to appear, Craig.
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I loved the Russian novelists as a kid (hence ‘Vronsky’) and it’s still strange to read Tolstoy’s ‘Cossacks’ and discover that way back then the Russians were fighting – er – the Chechens. Old sins cast long shadows, as they say. Seems history never gets tired of repeating itself.
We own a field in a village in near Sulaimaniyah, Kurdistan, where the picnic view is spoiled by a political prison constructed next door by the US. It reminds you of a castle in Wales with round towers on the four corners of the fortress square, and with
hundreds of cars filling the car park, where miserable families come to see their loved ones in jail.
Fucking yanks think they own the fucking world.
My body is not very strong in a hot climate and it doesn’t take much water deprivation to get a human body to fail. Often this is a death sentence for the prisoners, mitigated only by the regular visits by international Human Rights organisations who book a date well in advance so that the prison can be cleared of the most obvious evidence of overcrowding and destitution.
But this is happening in a country where the sight of an american with their white skinny legs sticking out their shorts is rare. They don’t have to be there for the jails to be full.
Sorry off the topic of Afghanistan but on the subject of support for Israel against a Palestinian state. 4500 words from the warmonger and hypocrite.
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PRESIDENT OBAMA: Mr. President, Mr. Secretary General, fellow delegates, ladies and gentlemen: It is a great honor for me to be here today. I would like to talk to you about a subject that is at the heart of the United Nations — the pursuit of peace in an imperfect world.
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War and conflict have been with us since the beginning of civilizations. But in the first part of the 20th century, the advance of modern weaponry led to death on a staggering scale. It was this killing that compelled the founders of this body to build an institution that was focused not just on ending one war, but on averting others; a union of sovereign states that would seek to prevent conflict, while also addressing its causes.
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contd
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/09/21/remarks-president-obama-address-united-nations-general-assembly
A list of US vetoes at the UN.
http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/geoff/UNresolutions.htm
“I would like to talk to you about a subject that is at the heart of the United Nations — the pursuit of peace in an imperfect world.”
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Zionist tele prompt reader.
‘Crass’ is somewhat mild; I would say exceedingly vulgar especially having listened, with concerted effort I might add, to President Obama’s second rate school-boy lecture to the UN that left me in a state of suspended animation and his audience in deathly silence.
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Is this man the result of some hideous mental tampering or flotation chamber brain-washing that rapes the mind; perhaps he is the product of CIA/MOSSAD hypnosis experiments such as projects Bluebird or Artichoke that created manchurian candidates by exploiting drug induced multiple personality disorders?
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Of course I am being unkind yet I cannot help wonder where this hideous path is taking us; feeling helpless, prostrate and pinned I am relying heavily on global consciousness and perhaps a ‘European Spring’ to fight back for humanity.
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Time to remind folks here of Obama’s many insults to a close ally and friend of America, but I refrain from boring you except to say this – I lost my best friend in the Falklands war so this part of Obama’s 2010 speech is also vulgar, “We are aware not only of the current situation but also of the history, but our position remains one of neutrality. The US recognises de facto UK administration of the islands but takes no position on the sovereignty claims of either party.”
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Time for us to downgrade the ‘special relationship’ if only our leaders had the balls to do it; indeed, the Anglo-American alliance is barely a blip on Obama’s teleprompter screen.
Axman, why would a black American be any different from a white American? Surely the essence of non-racism is ignoring that sort of superficial distinction. While I don’t believe black people are worse than white people, I certainly don’t believe they are any better. Just slightly different, in a way that should be unimportant.
Much more significant is the fact that Obama is a professor of law. Now that is a very bad sign indeed, as lawyers tend to have very weird mental models of the world – if anything, even more warped and inadequate than those of economists – and that’s saying something. Wasn’t Woodrow Wilson a law professor? And look at the harm he did: it is still with us today.
Tom Welsh
I do agree with you, however when I referred to “black american” I wanted to emphasize historic meaning of his presidency which he wasted serving his masters.
I have to go off topic here because a man’s life is in severe peril and those in authority in the good old US do not listen to individual voices.
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http://action.amnesty.org.uk/ea-action/action?ea.client.id=1194&ea.campaign.id=11962&utm_source=social&utm_medium=share&utm_campaign=deathpenalty&utm_content=troy_sharefb
What can be done?
http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/siteapps/advocacy/ActionItem.aspx?c=6oJCLQPAJiJUG&b=6645049&aid=516533
“Axman, why would a black American be any different from a white American? Surely the essence of non-racism is ignoring that sort of superficial distinction. While I don’t believe black people are worse than white people, I certainly don’t believe they are any better. Just slightly different, in a way that should be unimportant…”
The obvious answer is that black Americans have a distinct history: most of them are the descendants of slaves and all of them live in the shadow of Jim Crow. There is nothing superficial about the distinct experience of Black Americans, in the past and in the present. What happened in Georgia this evening is a very dramatic reminder of this.
The experiences of white Americans vary greatly, according to, inter alia, their class and region. But that is another series of stories.
It’s about 2.25am. Troy Davis was given a temporary “reprieve” (not a stay of execution). We are currently waiting for news from SCOTUS who are considering whether he should be killed or not … Protests all around the world. Eyes on Georgia. Live coverage here
http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/article/669892/live_broadcast_from_outside_the_prison_in_jackson,_georgia,_site_of_troy_davis%27_scheduled_execution/
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Some are saying Troy Davis is waiting strapped to the gurney. But we don’t know. It’s horrendous.
http://www.amnesty.org.uk/news_details.asp?NewsID=19701
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Davis has been on death row since being convicted in August 1991 of the killing of an off-duty policeman called Mark Allen MacPhail, who was shot in Savannah, Georgia in 1989. The 42-year-old has always protested his innocence and there was no physical evidence linking him to the crime.
Since his trial seven out of nine prosecution witnesses have recanted or changed their initial testimonies in sworn affidavits and in 2007 Amnesty International published a report detailing a pattern of police coercion of witnesses ahead of Davis’ trial. Meanwhile, ten people have pointed to one of the remaining witnesses as the actual killer.
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bleedin heck
So Troy Davis has been murdered by the state, with eyes wide open, in cold blood. Even though the individuals knew this was for political appeal, not just simply revenge. I’m reminded of Farzad Bazoft, and how disgusted we all were about his murder. Why is the US not condemned on equal terms for its filthy barbarity, even to its own people?
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What beats me about teabaggers, who are all cheering this as wonderful – a hard-right Christian, libertarian – victory, is that they think government can’t ever do a thing right, and it should be pretty much abolished. But when it comes to convictions – especially for the death penalty – government gets it right every single time.
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http://www.mediaite.com/tv/gop-debate-crowd-applauds-gov-rick-perrys-record-of-executions-in-texas/
Oh, the Baggers like government just fine, as long as it’s spending money on their pet projects…or mercilessly beating down people they don’t like. They are HUGE fans of authoritarian policies, too…what they don’t care for is seeing ‘their’ tax dollars going to help people that are not white or Christian, or wealthy.
Truly they are a sociopathic bunch…in a just society they would long ago have been relegated to the same sort of fringe as flat-earthers, but since they have the backing of the wealthy including Koch et al they are given a voice far in excess of their due.
At any rate- for what it’s worth I apologize for the actions of my country. It is not my choice…
Truly terrible.
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[…]The American political establishment for the most part reacted with indifference. Particularly noteworthy was the cowardly silence of President Barack Obama, who refused to intervene in the case. Press Secretary Jay Carney stated blithely Wednesday that the president had “worked to ensure accuracy and fairness in the criminal justice system,” but that he would not weigh in on Davis’s case because it was a “state prosecution.”
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Obama is on record supporting the death penalty, a practice banned by the vast majority of industrialized nations.
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This is of a piece with the policies of the entire political establishment in America—Democratic and Republican—which condones targeted assassinations, torture, secret prisons and the right to subjugate sovereign nations through the use of air strikes, invasions and occupations.[…]
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http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/sep2011/pers-s22.shtml
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We cannot crow either. It was only 48 years ago that we were hanging people including women. The death penalty was finally abolished in 1998.
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‘On 20 May 1998 the House of Commons voted to ratify the 6th Protocol of the European Convention on Human Rights prohibiting capital punishment except “in time of war or imminent threat of war.” The last remaining provisions for the death penalty under military jurisdiction (including in wartime) were removed when section 21(5) of the Human Rights Act 1998 came into force on 9 November 1998. On 10 October 2003, effective from 1 February 2004,[20] the UK acceded to the 13th Protocol, which prohibits the death penalty under all circumstances,[21] so that the UK may no longer legislate to restore the death penalty while it is subject to the Convention. It can only now restore it if it withdraws from the Council of Europe.
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As a legacy from colonial times, several islands in the West Indies still had the British Judicial Committee of the Privy Council as the court of final appeal; although the death penalty has been retained in these islands, the Privy Council would sometimes delay or deny executions. Some of these islands severed links with the British court system in 2001 in order to speed up executions.’
{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_the_United_Kingdom}
I am wondering whether or NOT Nobel Prize committee regret now awarding Nobel Peace Prize to Barak Obama?
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Should not this award be given to someone who did great good to bring peace or salvation from famine or brutality to a great number of people? Awarding it in ADVANCE was the stupidest act and discriminatory one which undermines importance of the award (this is in my humble opinion).
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Building another concentration camp will not help in battling Taliban, nor it will help to the US global reputation in general (this is again in my humble opinion).
As you say, Mary, truly terrible. I suspect the higher degrees of the Ku Klux Klan were behind the death of Troy Davis. They never went away.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxV9K3aw-h0
Mary and John,
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You cannot blame Obama for not intervening into the justice system. For what it takes he is not Karimov (president/dictator of Uzbekistan) who can overturn decision of any court or authority within the country. It has been more than 20 years since Troy Davis’s case been going through various courts. He and his lawyers have had plenty of time to prove his innocence. Why no one is bothered with the fact that the father of 2 young children who tried to protect innocent homeless victim was shot dead in cold blood?
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And for those who are blessing UK Criminal Justice system I say WELL DONE. In the UK murderers are allowed out of the prison in less than 10 year (Damiola murderers for example). Very humanising towards murderers and very inhuman toward families of the victims.
Obama is lovely. He accepts the American dream, the Zionist agenda, the Warrant of Error, the right of self-determination of ethnic communities, fairness in taxation, the independence of the Federal Reserve, Islam. Good boy. Everything is equal in your mind. Cool. The childlike acceptance of the Christian gospels.
He isn’t scared of monster raving teabagging nutpots or evil scheming Zio-masochist mass murderers of Muslims.
He is value-neutral, non-human. A medium for whatever value package is presented to him. So, yes, he is a processed individual and we should be very wary indeed of him.
Uzbek in the UK:
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“The execution came 20 years after Davis was convicted of the murder of Mark Macphail, a 27-year-old police officer who was shot and wounded after intervening in a fight outside the store. The case has been in and out of court ever since, as increasing doubts were cast on his conviction.
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“There was no physical evidence, blood samples, or DNA linking Davis to the crime. The murder weapon was never found. His conviction instead relied on witness statements from nine people, seven of whom have since recanted their evidence, saying they were coerced into delivering it by police officers.
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“Several members of the jury have since come forward to say that they reached the wrong verdict. Meanwhile, a further witness has claimed that another man, Sylvester Coles, privately confessed to the murder.
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“Coles is known to have owned a gun similar to the one used to shoot MacPhail, but claims to have lost it shortly after the killing. He was at the scene, and is one of the two remaining prosecution witnesses who is yet to recant his evidence.
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“Despite the apparent flaws in the conviction, lawyers for Davis failed to overturn it because they were unable to conclusively prove that he was innocent. The mere appearance of doubt regarding evidence presented to a jury at an original trial is not sufficient to have a death sentence commuted.
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“Last night, lawyers for Davis described his killing as a “legal lynching” described the execution as “racially bigoted”. They told reporters: “In the state of Georgia 48.4% of people on death row this morning were black males, and in Georgia they make up no more than 15% of the population”.”
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Amen.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/troy-davis-executed-after-appeals-fail-2358927.html
Nathan Deal has been governor of Georgia since January this year. It is hard to determine if he is a member of the Ku Klux Klan (which I suspect).
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http://knightriderskkkk.org/
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Uzbek In the UK. There is scant evidence that Troy Davis killed the policeman for who’s death he paid the ultimate penalty. His lawyers were ignored. He was coerced by law enforcement personnel. “Defense lawyers requested a new trial based on statements of mistaken identity.[72] On March 17, 2008, the Georgia Supreme Court denied the appeal by a 4–3 majority. The majority wrote that the recanting witnesses “have merely stated they now do not feel able to identify the shooter”, that the trial testimony could not be ignored, and that they “in fact, favor[ed] that original testimony over the new.”
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troy_Davis_case
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This is a case of racism, in a racist state.
I’ve tried to post concerning Nathan Deal (Governor of Georgia) and connections with Ku Klux Klan. And to respond to Uzbek in the UK. But the post did not go up and when I tried to re-post it came up with the message duplicate post detected.
Nathan Deal has been governor of Georgia since January this year. It is hard to determine if he is a member of the Ku Klux Klan (which I suspect).
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http://knightriderskkkk.org/
Uzbek In the UK. There is scant evidence that Troy Davis killed the policeman for who’s death he paid the ultimate penalty. His lawyers were ignored. He was coerced by law enforcement personnel. “Defense lawyers requested a new trial based on statements of mistaken identity.[72] On March 17, 2008, the Georgia Supreme Court denied the appeal by a 4–3 majority. The majority wrote that the recanting witnesses “have merely stated they now do not feel able to identify the shooter”, that the trial testimony could not be ignored, and that they “in fact, favor[ed] that original testimony over the new.”
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troy_Davis_case
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This is a case of racism, in a racist state.
I think the previous post did not go up because there were two links in it. That being so I’ve learnt something! This is the second half.
John, yes, your comment was held for moderation due to the two-links rule. I did not know of the “duplicate post detected” message, so I’ve leaned something, too. Thanks.
Amazing, aint it, how these crucial decisions come down to a majority vote of just one, or some wafer-thin majority of a few hundred or a few thousand votes?
Anno,
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I am NOT saying that Obama is saint BUT what I was saying is that one cannot blame him for not intervening into the Troy Davis’s case. As president he has no right or authority to overturn or influence the decision that has been reached by the court and supported by various of other courts during the last 20 years.
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As for other comments from John about racist state; have you noticed that on Wednesday evening white man was also executed in Texas for killing black man? As you can see it is evident that death penalty works both ways and not only against Afro-Americans. This is not to point out that there are no racial injustice issues in the US or racial discrimination BUT in this ONE case you cannot point out that this execution was only based on the racial background of Troy Davis. These kind of arguments and similar to them arguments of Zionism against humanity make one’s point truly pointLESS.