We can torture you with immunity, but you have to pay if you torture us

America the Exceptional - Glenn Greenwald - Salon.com
Excerpt:
So, to recap: the U.S. creates a worldwide regime of torture,
disappearances and lawless imprisonment. Then, the Bush administration,
the Obama administration, and the American federal judiciary all
collaborate to shield the guilty parties from all accountability (Look Forward, Not Backward!),
and worse, to ensure that not a single victim can even access American
courts to obtain a ruling as to the legality of what was done to them,
let alone receive compensation for their suffering, even while
recognizing that many of the victims were completely innocent and even
though other countries have provided the victims with compensation for their much more minor role in what happened. Our courts even ensure that Blackwater guards are shielded from prosecution for the cold-blooded murder of Iraqi citizens.

But we invade, occupy and destroy Iraq -- while severely abusing, torturing
and killing their citizens -- and then demand, as a condition for our
allowing the end of crippling sanctions, that they fork over hundreds of
millions of dollars in compensation to American torture victims, even
though it all happened 20 years ago, under an Iraqi regime that no
longer even exists. They hate us for our Freedoms.

Perspective on 9/11 and the invasions of Iraq and AfghanistanClick the link

Perspective On 9/11 And The Invasions Of Iraq & Afghanistan
Click the link to see the graphs

Canadian beaten by Israelis

Canadian detained on Gaza aid flotilla says he was beaten - thestar.com
Excerpts:

“The Israeli soldiers beat me on the ship,” said Audeh in a telephone
interview with CBC from Jordan.

“They had us bound, handcuffed
... and we were detained for an extensive period of time and were not
allowed to go to the washrooms ... or sleep. It's been a rough 24 to 48
hours, let's put it that way.”

...

Audeh said the attack began in the early hours of Monday morning when
Israeli naval ships began firing live rounds, rubber bullets and sound
bombs at the flotilla.

Troops then boarded the ships via
helicopter and began shooting at the passengers, Audeh said, adding that
dozens were injured in the attack.

Audeh denied Israeli reports
that the flotilla passengers responded to the raid with violence and
resistance, calling such accusations “ridiculous.”

“The question
is, why were they coming after us in international waters and attacking
us? It was a humanitarian aid ship. We were all civilians, we were
unarmed and we did not attack them.”

...

How the Israeli government and it's supporters are harming Israel

Rusty Idols: If you hate Israel...
"...and you pray for its destruction, you should:

    * Support the blockade of Gaza and the methods used to sustain it unreservedly and uncritically.
    * Support Netanyahu and his far right coalition of Likudniks, racist supporters of ethnic cleansing and petty grafters.
    * Denounce anyone offering even the mildest criticism as antisemites.
    * Describe those who attack foreign flagged vessels in international waters as victims when those on those vessels resist.
    * Oppose any compromise on settlements, Jerusalem or water rights.
    * Support and sustain the current government of Israel and any tactics it uses to maintain the current status quo.

If your goal is the isolation, abandonment and ultimate destruction of the state of Israel, these tactics will drastically accelerate your goals."

Israel's attack on the aid flotilla was "an act of illegal warfare"

The Legal Position on the Israeli Attack

...

A word on the legal position, which is very plain. To attack a
foreign flagged vessel in international waters is illegal. It is not
piracy, as the Israeli vessels carried a military commission. It is
rather an act of illegal warfare.

Because the incident took place on the high seas does not mean
however that international law is the only applicable law. The Law of
the Sea is quite plain that, when an incident takes place

on a ship on the high seas (outside anybody’s territorial waters) the
applicable law is that of the flag state of the ship on which the
incident occurred. In legal terms, the Turkish ship was Turkish
territory.

There are therefore two clear legal possibilities.

Possibility one is that the Israeli commandos were acting on behalf
of the government of Israel in killing the activists on the ships. In
that case Israel is in a position of war with Turkey, and the act falls
under international jurisdiction as a war crime.

Possibility two is that, if the killings were not authorised Israeli
military action, they were acts of murder under Turkish jurisdiction. If
Israel does not consider itself in a position of war with Turkey, then
it must hand over the commandos involved for trial in Turkey under
Turkish law.

In brief, if Israel and Turkey are not at war, then it is Turkish law
which is applicable to what happened on the ship. It is for Turkey, not
Israel, to carry out any inquiry or investigation into events and to
initiate any prosecutions. Israel is obliged to hand over indicted
personnel for prosecution.
...

Israel attacks Gaza aid fleet

Israel attacks Gaza aid fleet - Middle East - Al Jazeera English
Israeli forces have attacked a flotilla of aid-carrying ships aiming to break the country's siege on Gaza.

At least 19 people were killed and dozens injured when troops
intercepted the convoy of ships dubbed the Freedom Flotilla early on
Monday, Israeli radio reported.

The flotilla was attacked in international waters, 65km off the Gaza coast.

Read the link above for more information.

More related news:

Turks rally against Israeli Attack

Gaza's real humanitarian crisis

On Board the Freedom Flotilla

Canadian DND contracted with Blackwater

as we were saying: DND contracted with Blackwater
Excerpt:

National
Post: The National Defence Department has spent more than
$6-million having its troops trained by the controversial Blackwater
security company [recently renamed Xe Services], whose own employees
have been accused of needlessly killing civilians in Iraq and
Afghanistan, documents show.

The department sent a
succession of personnel to Blackwater's Moyock, NC, training compound
from 2005 to as recently as April 2009... The work continued even after
the US State Department cancelled its pricey security contract with the
company in Iraq amid mounting criticism of Blackwater's actions...

Richard Colvin Part 1 video

Facebook | Videos from Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament: Richard Colvin Part 1 [HQ]

Richard Colvin - Aghanistan Testimony - part 2 of 2 video

YouTube - Richard Colvin - Afghanistan Testimony - PT 2-2

Colvin testimony on torture in Afghanistan and the Canadian Government

Colvin torture testimony – the full transcript : Contrarian

A great list of links about the issue at hand - Harper proroguing parliament again

Re Canadians Against Proroguing Parliament - Links

Plan for the opposition parties when parliament resumes

Opposition Plan "B" < read me in full.

Regarding restructuring the Afghan issue committee so the Conservatives can't stop it from moving forward.

Under normal circumstances, it would be inappropriate for the opposition parties to do this. The House of Commons has always rested on principles of comity and traditions of respect in order to avoid having one political party run roughshod over another. However, I believe that these are exceptional circumstances. At common law, there is a famous maxim which states that "one who seeks equity must do equity." In light of the fact that the Prime Minsiter has suspended our democratically-elected legislature in mid-session two years in a row; in light of the government's outright defiance of a binding order of the House of Commons to release certain documents pertaining to the Afghan detainee torture scandal; in light of the Conservatives' boycott of a Parliamentary committee; and in light of Mr. Harper's contempt for the House of Commons and, by extension, the Canadian citizens it represents; in light of all of this, Mr. Harper and his government deserve no respect from the opposition and are certainly disentitled to benefits of Parliamentary comity.

...

Obama administration pushing Afghan war into Pakistan

Another Point of View: On The Expansion Of Afghanistan War Into Pakistan
US considering drone attacks on Pakistani city of 850,000: report

Senior US officials are pushing to expand CIA drone strikes beyond Pakistan's tribal region and into a major city in an attempt to pressure the Pakistani government to pursue Taliban leaders based in the city of Quetta -- a city with some 850,000 people, according to a report Monday.

The Obama Administration is eyeing Predator aircraft strikes in Quetta in an effort to decapitate the Taliban, according to the LA Times. But the prospect of launching a major attack in a highly populous city has struck some officials as unwise, officials who apparently leaked news of the program to a major US newspaper.

Pakistani officials have also warned that the fallout would be severe.

"We are not a banana republic," the Times quoted a senior Pakistani official as saying. If the United States follows through, the official said, "this might be the end of the road."

Read the top link for more on this story.

Iraq: The Proof is in the pudding...

Another Point of View: Iraq: The Proof Is In The Pudding - Or So They Say
As Britain's inquiry into the origins of the 2003 Iraq War goes ahead full steam, "shocking" revelations already abound.

I use the word shocking in quotes because, to be humbly honest, these revelations so far merely confirm what has been known for years: that the Bush administration had no valid reason to go to war with Iraq other than securing oil resources, and that the Blair government simply went along for the ride to get its fair share of said resources.

Read on for more details...

Stephen Harper - Will people kick him and call him names?

RedBedHead: Canada To Be Turfed From Commonwealth For Being A Nation Led By Assholes?

Canada To Be Turfed From Commonwealth For Being A Nation Led By Assholes?

NO WONDER STEPHEN HARPER HATES ATTENDING THESE INTERNATIONAL GATHERINGS. Because people everywhere hate him. He's like a George Bush mini-me and nobody liked Bush, as you'll recall.
Well, now poor Stephen is in Trinidad for the Commonwealth conference - that's a meeting of the countries that were once British colonies but still get together to make fun of the Queen and laugh at what a shit-hole the UK is these days. "Sun never sets on the British Empire? Ha. They can't even get enough hot water to fill their bathtubs."
It is something of a big deal, mind you, representing 53 countries with over 2 billion people. The British Empire was big once. So, to be kicked out of the club is really to be told that one-third of the world think you're a bunch of assholes. Well, that's what a coalition of politicians, campaigners and scientists are pushing for in Trinidad. Why? Because we suck when it comes to climate change. The folks in Alberta - the sphincter in the asshole that is our country, if you will - are happily digging up oil in the tar sands, which is several times more damaging than even regular oil extraction. And, oh yeah, we hand people over to be tortured in Afghanistan.
Read on at the link above...

Israel solidifies its control over web 2.0

Israel solidifies its control over web 2.0 « Paulitics

A while back here at Paulitics, I
discussed the campaign by the Israel lobby to pay university students
to agree with Israel in classroom discussions, university clubs and in
rallies.

This
programme and the overwhelmingly pro-Israel North American (and, to a
lesser extent, European) media coverage were however not enough for the
powerful and extremely well organized lobby.  The Israeli lobby then
created a desktop application called “Megaphone” about which many political commentators still remain blissfully unaware.  Megaphone
serves as a syphoning tool which has the power to instantly send
pro-Israel activists flooding into any online discussion, web poll or
other forum where Israel is being discussed in order to grossly
unbalance the discussion thus creating the impression among Internet
users that Israel’s support is both much wider and deeper than it
actually is.  However, as frightening and undemocratic as these two
operations were, they pale in comparison to what the government of
Israel is doing now in terms of making “crimestop” a reality.

The Israeli press is now reporting
that, in addition to the considerable influence of the Israeli lobby,
the government of Israel has decided to marshal its state treasury to
the cause further unbalancing the already obscenely unbalanced debate
over Israel’s illegal occupation of the Palestinian territories.  The
government of Israel will now directly pay pro-Israeli agents and
bloggers to infiltrate online discussions, message boards, online
newspaper comments et cetera with a ubiquitously pro-Israel, anti-Palestinian message.

... read the link at the top for the rest of the post.

Harper awarded for supporting genocide in Palestine

LeDaro: Stephen Harper - Reasons for his "Human Rights" Award
watch the video.
This is the reason that Harper received a "human rights" award from the
Canadian Jewish Council. It is sad. Do these children have no human
rights? If Harper had any credibility as a leader, this should put an
end to it. If the Canadian Jewish Congress had any claims of being an
organization for human rights, then this kind of award should put an
end to it.

US War Crimes Against Children

we move to canada: the best-kept secret of the US war crimes: crimes against children

... The first example of war crimes against children, which are well
documented, occurred during the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, when
the children's hospital in Kabul was bombed, its patients thereby
murdered, contrary to the Red Cross Convention of 1864. Other children
were killed as "collateral damage" during the wars in Afghanistan and
Iraq, contrary to the Geneva Convention ban on indiscriminate killing
in wartime, though numbers of dead are unknown. During spring 2004,
during the assault on Falluja, Iraq, some 300 children, including
peaceful demonstrators, were killed. Their dead bodies were filmed live
on al-Jazeera Television throughout the Arabic-speaking world. ...

Israel on trial

Canadian Dimension Blog / Israel on trial

(New York Times. Apr 4. By George Bisharat) CHILLING testimony by Israeli soldiers substantiates charges that Israel’s Gaza Strip assault entailed grave violations of international law. The emergence of a predominantly right-wing, nationalist government in Israel suggests that there may be more violations to come. Hamas’s indiscriminate rocket attacks on Israeli civilians also constituted war crimes, but do not excuse Israel’s transgressions. While Israel disputes some of the soldiers’ accounts, the evidence suggests that Israel committed the following six offenses:

Click the link for the whole story.

Israeli soldiers print t-shirts condoning shooting pregnant women

Israeli Army T-Shirts Mock Killing Palestinian Women And Children During Gaza Offensive | World News | Sky News