The Iraqi governmnet executed 34 people in a single day last week, and judicial killings are running at over 600 people a year. Extra-judicial killings by state sponsored actors are much higher, and still higher are killings by various violent factions.
Meantime there are less than a third as many operational hospital beds as before the invasion, and less than 20% of the doctors. There are three million maimed people in Iraq. Available electricity in MW/h is about 30% of pre-invasion levels.
I am waiting for a neo-con acolyte to tell us now how the “liberal intervention” has greatly improved the lot of the people of Iraq.
Jack, “The truth speaks for itself” is still true. If people do not want to listen, what can we do about that?
Ingo The LibDem twerp on QT landed a job in the Foreign Office as a mouthpiece for Hague and Cameron. One of his latest offerings as he doesn’t speak much in the HoC hence his excesses on last night’ platform. He reminds me of the school goody goody who ingratiates himself with those higher up the food chain.
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David Winnick (Walsall North, Labour) To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the 20 states his Department records as having the worst record on human rights.
Hansard source (Citation: HC Deb, 9 May 2011, c987W)
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Jeremy Browne (Minister of State (South East Asia/Far East, Caribbean, Central/South America, Australasia and Pacific), Foreign and Commonwealth Office; Taunton Deane, Liberal Democrat)
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The Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s (FCO) Command Paper on Human Rights and Democracy published in March covers 26 countries of concern. These are among the countries where we have the most serious, wide-ranging human rights concerns and where the UK Government are engaged in promoting and protecting human rights. They are (in alphabetical order): Afghanistan, Belarus, Burma, Chad, China, Colombia, Cuba, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Iran, Iraq, Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Libya, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Yemen and Zimbabwe.
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However, the FCO does not maintain a human rights league table. We have concerns about many countries not included in the Command Paper list. All our embassies and high commissions monitor and raise human rights issues in their host countries. It is important to focus FCO resources where we can make a difference, while continuing to speak out about human rights violations wherever they occur.
~~~~~
I see he worked for Beith who is an ardent Friend of Israel. Note how many others he has worked for. Good at inserting himself obviously using the old boy’s network.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_Browne
Day of Mass Action Against War on Iran – USA – February 4
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1170/p/salsa/event/common/public/index.sjs;jsessionid=1AD7218AE00DFD48437817B31DF897C2-n2?distributed_event_KEY=655
Mary – That nice lady on RT this morning also struggled to get a word in on post-invasion Libya and the ‘necessary’ regime change. To that twerp from the Telegraph who believes we ‘done a grand job’ this:
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“Despite the changes sweeping Libya, violence and bloodshed have not stopped. In shocking revelations, military and security forces stand accused of torturing detainees to death. Rights groups say Libya’s new rulers have not addressed the problem.”
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http://rt.com/news/libya-torture-death-detainees-817/
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Guano – Yes agreed but what power lies behind those ‘blind, featherless nestlings?’
BBC Question Time last night was a Neo-con love fest. On the question regarding Iran’s nuclear program…Unbelievable. Melanie Phillips getting away unchallenged with her vitriolic and dangerous lies, ably supported by The vile Jeremy Browne MP.
Comedian Mark Steel did his best, but as usual, he had to contend with David Dimbleby’s bias toward the zio’ freaks.
Thanks Nuid for the link and this:
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Hands Off Iran and Syria
Protest Saturday 28 January
US Embassy 2pm-4pm
Grosvenor Square London W1
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I have RAF contacts and a ‘Let’s roll’ on Iran will be known to us.
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At least 10,000 children would be murdered if Iran is razed. Can agent Cameron or ‘nodding dog’ Clegg reflect on that horror? No of course they cannot – not with the images of the Iraq massacre in the minds eye of every ‘thinking’ soul in Britain.
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The ‘attack’ on Iran can only be realised as ‘self defense’ – a deception that would take many months – even years to plan. Time thankfully is not on their [the goons] side. The power of intention – that mass mental commitment has worked so far and will continue.
Anyone recollect the cheesy adverts for electric shavers; “hello my name is Victor Kiam”? (circa 1980s)
Back then millionaires used to buy shaver companies and lets us all now about it.
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Zeitgeist;
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Prince Bin Talal, a nephew of the Saudi King Abdullah, buys twitter and stops the bastards tweeting now.
so the advert would go;
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Hello my name is, his most excellency nephew of the kings, and prince of princes Bin Talal, I heard these yobs tweeting about; equality, justices, homes, jobs, and asking for a living wage, so I bought the company, now the bastards will shut up moaning about all that stupid nonsense. (with a strong Arabic accent of course)
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Tweeter is to stop tweeting in certain countries/states. Does this include US too? However, we can all be assured that this news will not make it out either, because the prince owns half of the Murdoch “news” empire too.
May I also point out re: Iraq – Compare and Contrast
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3 months in prison (maximum, if he actually serves any jail time at all) for massacre that killed 24 Iraqi civilians.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/marines-light-sentence-iraqi-deaths-sparks-anger/story?id=15442482
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6 months for human rights activist who climbed over a fence at Fort Benning (School of the Americas)
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http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/2012/01/14/1892449/soa-watch-protestor-theresa-m.html
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‘American values’ indeed
And Craig, if you want to know how ‘liberal intervention’ was right, you can read this highly-placed cretin in FP and his ‘How the neocons were right’
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Note that he quotes Dubya speaking at the National Endowment for Democracy – that’s right, the same NED that includes funding the coup in Venezuela as part of its ‘democracy-promoting’ activities.
sorry – http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/01/23/a_forward_strategy_of_freedom
Yes, Twitter is about to censor tweets.
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“Twitter announced Thursday that it would begin restricting Tweets in specific countries, renewing questions about how the social media platform will handle issues of free speech as it rapidly expands its global user base.
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“Until now, Twitter had to remove a tweet from its global network if it received a takedown request from a government. But the company said in a blog post published Thursday that it now has the ability to selectively block a tweet from appearing to users in one country …”
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Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/business/Twitter+censor+content+some+countries/6061160/story.html
“Tweeter is to stop tweeting in certain countries/states. Does this include US too? However, we can all be assured that this news will not make it out either, because the prince owns half of the Murdoch “news” empire too.”
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It’s all over Twitter since Twitter announced it publicly. And he didn’t “buy” Twitter. He invested in it. As have many others. And ‘The research firm eMarketer estimates Twitter will generate close to $140-million in ad revenue this year (2011) and $260-million in 2012’.
From 38 Degrees
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Have you seen the news today? Stephen Hester, chief of the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), has been awarded a bonus worth £1 million.
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We’ve already had to bail RBS out to the tune of billions of pounds. Since then, it’s failed to meet small business lending targets set by the government. Now, we’re expected to cough up £1 million to reward the chief executive for good work.
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Politicians have failed to stop RBS awarding this bonus to Stephen Hester. Today, lots of them are speaking out, asking him to refuse to accept the money. If we all add our names to a huge petition telling Stephen Hester to refuse his bonus, we can shame him into doing the right thing.
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Click here to sign the petition:
https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/RBS-chief-bonus
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The gap between the have and have-nots in our society is getting bigger all the time. Many wealthy bankers, politicians and businessmen seem to live in a different world from the rest of us. In their world, it’s the done thing to make as much money as possible for yourself while watching others struggle to get by.
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Government ministers have failed to stop this massive payout – so let’s tell Stephen Hester that tens of thousands of us are disgusted at his bonus and demand that he do the right thing.
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When half a million of us spoke out together this time last year, we stopped the sell-off of England’s woodlands. People power worked! Now, together, we can demand that Stephen Hester does the right thing and refuses his million pound bonus. We’ll deliver all the signatures to him at the RBS offices. He might decide that the money means more to him than his sense of what’s right and wrong. Or he might bow to our pressure and refuse to accept the payout.
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One way or the other, we can send this bank boss a clear message – tens of thousands of us believe that it is wrong for him to take this money.
“…he didn’t “buy” Twitter.”
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So they gave him an IOU, and took his $ 300 mill, although are suppose to be making projected $260 mill in 2012. That makes it OK to censor away then. Interesting yardsticks of “human rights”, and “freedoms of expression” we find rammed down into our ears at these times.
Courtenay “But – what else can we do but struggle for some justice under the rules”
Well of course. I was’nt advocating going and blowing stuff up. Since you mention you are a lawyer, has there been any protest from your trade association (bar association?) about the lack of due process accorded to hapless Muslims charged under the terrorism act in the UK? I think it is especially incumbent on lawyers to try and protect the law.
“That makes it OK to censor away then.”
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I didn’t say that. Nor am I ever likely to.
Making statements like, “Prince Bin Talal, a nephew of the Saudi King Abdullah, buys twitter and stops the bastards tweeting now”, is a waste of space on a blog like this. It’s estimated that he bought a 3.57% stake. When he bought it, Twitter was valued at $8.4 billion.
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You’re a loose cannon. Period.
“I didn’t say that. Nor am I ever likely to.
Making statements like,”
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Lack of imagination could be a curse. However to just take on the face value the pulp fiction on demand masqueraded as “news” is another matter.
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$8.4 * 10^9 for a business with a convoluted business model, and little in the way of tangible assets, that is dependant on microbloggers chatting away. This effectively values each blogger at $8,400. sold in part to prince bin Talal at $300 million, is not the point of interest,instead a lecture on heavy weighty blog,….loose cannon ….bollocks….
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When you see me in your blog then get on with the business of classifications, until then …………. fill as applicable (hint; not meant to be complimentary at all)
Jay, indeed, not surprising, is it? I haven’t watched ‘Question Time’ for years, nor really have I listened to ‘Any Questions’ unless by mistake. I wasted a lot of time in the 1980s watching and listening to those entertainment shows. No more. Now, I simply try to keep an eye on power. Everything else is persiflage.
@Kenny Boy (@Fedup)
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If you change your handle please declare it – especially in the one thread.
I think the Twitter thing is interesting – people are right to be concerned. But the move permits Twitter to genuflect somewhat to some nasty regimes, whilst knowing full well that people will find ways of getting around the block – inside and outside of that particular platform.
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For example – if the mechanism allows for the censoring of the word “freedom”, then people will say “fr33dom” and everyone will know what it means – and there are a huge number of variations. How will messages in pictures be censored? These can’t be (reliably) read by a machine yet – though of course that means they cannot be searched for.
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I wonder indeed whether this will prevent people *searching* rather than Tweeting – and some enterprising sort in a (relatively) free country will build their own real-time search index, which will be made available in locked-down countries via secure channels.
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I know it can be a corporate excuse, but I wonder whether making a semi-free Twitter available in a country that would normally block it at the edges of the country is better or worse? How would one tell whether a decision of this kind improved or reduced the levels of justice in that country?
Jon, a post on the Twitter thing which is interesting – I haven’t had time to think about it properly yet:
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“Why Twitter’s new policy is helpful for free-speech advocates”
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http://technosociology.org/?p=678
Jon,
Fair cop, happens to best of us; in our haste to press the submit. Must commend your attention to detail.
Guano
“Saddam made the mistake of persecuting his people in full knowledge of the fact that the West would use its fancy rules to justify invasion and full knowledge of their mafia system.”
They invaded on the pretext of WMD – not persecution of anyone. As for nationalism – was Saddam supposed to side with the enemy? I think you are confusing nationalism with patriotism. Saddam was a Pan-Arabist by the way.
@nuid – very interesting piece, thanks.
After reading the few first replies here, It surprises me how people are still discussing if Iran involved in Iraq or not.
Yes, Iran is the one who is occupying Iraq now, even the current Iraqi government was formed in Tehran. Last week Iad Allawi accused the US of conceding to Iran and supporting their choice of Al-Maliki to be form Iraqi government, despite the fact he came second in the election and Allawi coalition came first.
The first thing Iran did after the fall of Iraq, is to send it’s secret militia to assassinate almost hundreds Iraqi pilots and military officers whom Iran suffered from during its war with Iraq.
“The first thing Iran did after the fall of Iraq, is to send it’s secret militia to assassinate almost hundreds Iraqi pilots and military officers whom Iran suffered from during its war with Iraq. ……Iad Allawi accused the US of conceding to Iran and supporting”
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The war on Iraq did not do much damage to Iraq, and left the Iraqis alive and well then based on this assessment.
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Surely Ayad Allawi links to those who planned the war that was waged on Iraq, is not forgotten by those Iraqis who were left alive. after a war that destroyed Iraq, and set Iraq back at least a century, contributed to his defeat despite his best efforts in ballot ox stuffing.
While we’re on the subject of Iraq:
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http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/30/world/middleeast/iraq-is-angered-by-us-drones-patrolling-its-skies.html?_r=1&hp=&pagewanted=all
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The Yanks are flying drones over Iraq, without having sought or obtained permission from the Iraqis, and are soliciting contractors to run the programme for them. It seems they’re just assuming the Iraqis will allow it. I hope they get shot down.
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They also fly helicopters around: ” Often, two contractors armed with machine guns are tethered to the outside of the helicopters.”
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Arrogant, criminal bastards.
@Fedup;
I’m not sure what you are rambling about; where did I see Iraq was not destroyed by the Americans? and how did you labelled my contribution a assessment??
What I wrote above is NEWS. Iad allawi himself uncovered the agreement between the US and Iran on Aljazeera interview last week.
Every Shiat Militia in Iraq is liked to Iran. I myself saw a document on the net sometimes ago to spare Ammar Alhakim (leader of Iraq revolutionary party, the largest mimitia in Iraq) from serving in Iran Army as a cadet, while he was living in Iran.
More evidence?
The person who filmed Saddam Hussain being hanged is Muwaffaq Alrubai’i, labelled as Iraq security advisor, do you know his real name is Not Alrubaii but Tabtbaii and he is Iranian not an Iraqi?
[Duplicate post removed]
Ahmed is speaking the truth. In fact some of the points he made, I wanted to post myself (e.g. the Iraqi airforce pilots that were assassinated by Iranian hit-squads) but chickened out as some of the people here are not that clued up about the real situation in Iraq and I was afraid I would be ridiculed. Iraq is a real country with a lot of complexity that does’nt fit neatly into people’s preconceived ideas based on what the media tells them.