Looking for an honest US Senator my be a long shot, but we need one now to take forward the foiling of the British government’s attempts to block publication of the Senate report into torture and extraordinary rendition. Now we have got this into the mainstream media, it may have more traction. I am delighted that the Belhadj legal team have formally adopted the information that the UK is seeking to block release of key information in this report. Given that the Crown’s defence in the Belhadj case rests entirely on the argument that the USA does not want the facts revealed, that the Crown is then lobbying the USA to hide the same facts ought to be too much even for the most abject establishment lickspittle of a judge to stomach.
I have, however, never ceased to be surprised by the appalling quality of the English judiciary. Given the Megrahi case, nor can I pretend the Scots are any better.
Bernie Sanders
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senator_Bernie_Sanders
First post – yay!
The Megrahi case, as you point out Craig, was an appalling stain on Scottish justice. Given the recent tightening of the screws on the release of ‘undesirable’ information I suspect it is a very long shot, but we live in hope.
“…nor can I pretend the Scots are any better.”
I must confess, I’ll probably get some enjoyment out of watching you whinge about the inexcusable corruption of the Scottish political economy, the intellectual degeneracy of Scottish political parties, and the moral bankruptcy of Scottish foreign policy.
Just say pass the popcorn.
First of all congratulations Craig for pushing this forward. Praise to the Daily Mail for publishing. My best bet for a US senator would be Rand Paul. Unfortunately he has not had as much experience as his father, Ron. Don Seigelman might have been another option but Karl Rove, who engineered the illegal election of George W. Bush has had him stuffed away in prison and, if my understanding of the US penal system is correct, indefinitely, unless he confesses to some crime he did not do.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tag/don-siegelman/
Sorry the spelling is Siegelman.
Craig, if you really want an *honest* US senator, you’d better have a large deposit ready because all of the good ones have already been sold out.
Try Dennis Kuccinch
There was a pretty amazing acceptance speech tonight at the BAFTAs from the people who produced ‘Complicit, Guy Hibbert’s excellent ethical thriller about the use of torture on alleged terrorists’. It was incongruous to hear the words …’people being taken off by the CIA or MI5 to be sent to another country to be tortured’ in such a setting with all the luvvies.
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/complicit
This was quick.
http://beforeitsnews.com/politics/2014/05/honest-us-senator-wanted-2622370.html
Senator Elizabeth Warren appears to be a bit of a thorn in the side of the banksters, former Harvard professor of law, and is seemingly of independent social democrat mind:
http://www.warren.senate.gov/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Warren
Mr. Murray, you should have checked out with AIPAC before you asked this question. There were a few “honest” or “patriotic” law-makers in Congress and Senate – but they have all been defeated by AIPAC or died.
Rep. Ron Paul and Rep. Cynthia McKinney are the latest victims. And it’s a common knowledge how AIPAC pushed Sen. Chuck Hagel’s head in sand.
http://rehmat1.com/2012/05/11/rep-ron-paul-angers-israel-lobby/
John Conyers – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Conyers, or Rick Nolan – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Nolan. Both were one of the five senators to turn up for the congress hearing by the Pakistan family on US drone strikes in Pakistan. Despite not being well known senators they both seem committed to bringing about accountability. John Convyers was well known for the Downing Street memo, taking Bush to court and supporting Wikileaks. And even though not being a senator Eni Faleomavaega who I think is still on the Committee on Foreign Affairs seems a quality go to bloke after watching some of his Congressional Hearings.
Strike these ones off the list:
http://maplight.org/us-congress/interest/J5100/view/all
Paul Wellstone’s your man. There’s really no one else. He can be reached at
ciablewupmyplane219837 AT heaven DOT com
W. Reuther
Indeed. He was so good they killed him.
His friend Sen Al Frankin used to be quite good, but he may have become less good of late.
A Node
It’s important to see where funding comes from. You can see here that Sen Eliz Warren’s funding mostly comes from her own profession, unions and civil society, so I wouldn’t write her off on that basis alone.
She also has quite a high up and coming profile, though I’d agree that might well be a negative sign too.
There could well be something of the female Obama about her and she may well just be the stop Hillary candidate for 2016.
http://maplight.org/us-congress/legislator/1766-elizabeth-warren
The little known Dennis Kucinich was one of the few honest ones ,but he was neutralised when his district was gerrymandered ,so he was not re-elected. The bastards have big pockets and influence.
If they cannot buy a politician , they will try blackmail and other dirty tricks to discredit an honest pol.
Dana Rohrabacher might be another candidate for honesty.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/12/dana-rohrabacher-obama-impeachment_n_4949602.html
Stop revolving door between Human Rights Watch and U.S. Gov’t
Why did Human Rights Watch select a former CIA official (Miguel Díaz) to sit on its advisory committee for eight years?
Human Rights Watch characterizes itself as an “independent, international organization” — and yet its staff, board of directors and advisory committees boast deep ties to the highest levels of the U.S. government.
/..
http://act.rootsaction.org/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=9860
10,000 signatures already.
There are 100 US Senators.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_current_United_States_Senators#Members
“Given that the Crown’s defence in the Belhadj case rests entirely on the argument that the USA does not want the facts revealed, that the Crown is then lobbying the USA to hide the same facts ought to be too much even for the most abject establishment lickspittle of a judge to stomach.”
You have more faith in the judiciary than me. Look at the Supreme Court ruling that ensured Julian Assange lost his appeal against extradition to Sweden. As I recall the chair, Justice Nicholas Phillips, was already due to take up a highly-paid post in that exemplar of democracy and human rights, Qatar, before the hearing took place. Corrupt practices of government ministers leaning on judges or filling their glasses till they overflowed was well-captured in the series Judge John Deed. Deed himself was beyond this corruption. But then the series was fiction.
http://alibi.uktv.co.uk/shows/judge-john-deed/
All of the 32 comments, mostly one liners, on the Mail article are anti Blair or anti establishment.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2631607/Britain-tried-block-release-US-torture-files-prove-Blair-Government-complicit-ill-treatment-terror-suspects-claimed.html
Yes Mary, people today really hate Blair. Where were they in 2003? One of the best comments is from an ex-military man.
“Peter-Ex-Artillery, Manchester, United Kingdom, 19 hours ago
The net is closing on you Blair. I can’t wait to watch you try to wriggle your way out of this, you treacherous pig.”
What is even more disgusting on this is the UN and the ICC amnesia in prosecuting these war crimes.
Phil Shiner and his Public Interest Lawyers are determined that criminality in Iraq is punished.
“He’s optimistic of the ICC now getting to grips with the claims”
“He has no doubt where it could lead. “All levels, right up to Geoffrey Hoon [the Defence Secretary during the invasion], and those who followed him as Defence Secretary while we were in Iraq, but also the chiefs of intelligence and general staff. It should take in those at the very top, as well as the interrogators below.”
He draws breath. “I believe there are at least another 11 Baha Mousas, 11 other deaths in British custody.””
WARNING: Explicit details of British Army criminality included:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/phil-shiner-i-will-not-restuntil-i-know-how-many-iraqis-died-in-british-custody-9392990.html
From the Medialens editors FYI
The battle for Fallujah: Fighting returns to Iraqi city as al-Qa’ida-linked rebels gain stronghold
Posted by The Editors on May 19, 2014, 9:03 am
Patrick Cockburn
Thousands of civilians are fleeing Fallujah as the rebel-held city just west of Baghdad comes under heavy bombardment amid fears that the Iraqi army might launch an all-out assault. Some 42,000 Iraqi security forces are reported to be taking part in operations in the Fallujah area where there has been heavy fighting over the last four months.
Refugees from Fallujah expect a repeat of the assault by the US Marines in November 2004 when much of the city was destroyed by artillery and air attack. Some 60,000 families or about 300,000 people have fled on foot, mostly making for the western part of Anbar province according to a local council member.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/the-battle-for-fallujah-fighting-returns-to-iraqi-city-as-alqaidalinked-rebels-gain-stronghold-9392741.html
______
‘Fallujah’ the city that American troops fought so hard to take.’
Posted by The Editors on May 19, 2014, 9:06 am, in reply to “The battle for Fallujah: Fighting returns to Iraqi city as al-Qa’ida-linked rebels gain stronghold”
…reporting from Iraq, BBC Middle East correspondent Quentin Sommerville stated blandly on BBC News at Ten:
‘This is the road to Fallujah � the city that American troops fought so hard to take.’ (BBC One, April 30, 2014)
Yes, Fallujah – the city that was twice subjected to massive US onslaughts in April and November 2004 with devastating high-tech weaponry, killing at least 800 civilians in the second onslaught alone; the city that suffered numerous US war crimes, including the use of white phosphorus and depleted uranium munitions, leaving an ugly legacy of birth defects and increased incidence of infant mortality and cancer. (See our alert from September 2013 and the links therein to earlier media alerts). Casting this appalling devastation as ‘the city that American troops fought so hard to take’ strips meaning from BBC ‘journalism’. We might kindly call this ‘amnesia’.
http://www.medialens.org/index.php/alerts/alert-archive/2014/763-thinking-the-right-thoughts.html
Craig, you have made an important post. I always find it difficult to comprehend how shifty and untrustworthy our public representatives are.
To take us to war with a nation that possessed no direct threat to the UK, for a made up reason (WMD), for the only discernible purpose of seizing control of it’s oil supply is an utterly despicable act of a greedy and cowardly, bully. To engage in a further war in pursuit of deranged terrorist leaders and visit grotesque criminal acts of cruelty and outright torture on a whole nation already hostage to an autocratic theocracy is more like the action of a medieval despot. We badly need to have some illumination cast on the architects of this nightmare, I only hope some free thinking US senator can be found to bring this report to public view.
What price a bill of rights for the UK?
Dennis Kucinich, the 8-term Congressman did some very nasty thing – and had to be removed from Congress. He wanted the Federal Reserve (aka Bank of England) to be nationalize. He suggested that USAID to Israel, Egypt and Pakistan be stopped and those billions of dollars be spent on American citizens. He also had the nerve to visit Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus and dined with him. And worst of all, he urged Obama to stop threatening Iran for Israel.
http://rehmat1.com/2012/01/02/rep-kucinich-us-must-back-off-threatening-iran/
Herbie, thanks for the Phil Shiner link. I am not a Brummie myself, but I live here, and people like Phil Shiner raise pride. My university too.
“It was Shiner who doggedly pursued the case of Baha Mousa, the Iraqi hotel receptionist tortured to death by British troops in 2003. One soldier, Corporal Donald Payne, admitted to inhumane treatment of detainees and was imprisoned for one year. He has the distinction of being the only British soldier in history jailed for a war crime.”
In all likelihood Corporal Donald Payne was the only honest man, because there were others stood trial and closed ranks, whereas Payne pleaded guilty.
It occurs to me that if these cases that Phil Shiner is taking on are successfully prosecuted it might open the way for all the others, and what’s more important, for the secret services to be tried for being there when people were tortured. If so we might be able to get Shaker Aamer back home and Moazzam Begg out of prison. Begg is a victim of the anti-terrorism acts which have enabled our sick governments to bang people away indefinitely even though they have committed no crime.
Shiner is an example of a decent honest human rights’ lawyer but he knows he’s alone. Like the judges the rest have too comfortable a lifestyle to want to return to the days of habeas corpus when innocent people walked free.
Lies and Dreams of A. Blair (cont’d). A Weasel Lies to Clinton… This piece is interesting in that it identifies Blair as a conscious liar in 1999, well before any hint of his mendacity over Iraq, but in exactly the same fashion; and also in that it reminds us how many Americans felt on pre-emptive intervention (particularly by the UK) at this time. Please play this discussion to the Senator you choose, Craig.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSCSHQ4oH44