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Antiwar.com's Week
in Review | August 13, 2010
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Raimondo on Fox
Business -- Again!
Editorial Director
Justin Raimondo appeared on
Fox
Business Freedom Watch again this week to discuss the
situation in Afghanistan with Judge Andrew Napolitano. Military Analyst
Wayne Simmons admitted that we'll never be able to build democracy in
Afghanistan, but he argued that it doesn't really matter if we stay
indefinitely. He cited the fact that we still have troops in Germany
and Japan, and "things are fine." But things are not fine, Raimondo
interjected: as Obama is working to nation-build -- or whatever it is
he is trying to do -- America is crumbling.
On Antiwar Radio
Wednesday,
Scott
Horton called Simmons a war profiteer. "We know why he's motivated to claim
to believe the things he claims to believe and that is because he's
making money off of all those dying people." Mystified by the ease with
which Simmons was toppled in the interview, Horton continued, "These
war mongers are so used to going unchallenged, none of them really know
anything about what they are talking about. All they have is their
talking points... Neocons bring their talking points, Antiwar.com
brings the facts."
Please help us bring the
facts -- and continue our outreach to the press -- by making a
donation today!
"Trial" Begins for
8-Year Gitmo Detainee Arrested at Age 15
Jury selection began
this week in the military "trial" of Canadian citizen
Omar
Khadr. Khadr was
captured at age 15 for allegedly throwing a grenade at a U.S. soldier
and has been imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay for the last eight years.
Allegations against him have been widely disputed, and
a
top U.N. official
has condemned the trial, said Jason Ditz, warning that it would "set a
dangerous precedent for the treatment of child soldiers in future
wars." Khadr's defense lawyers argued unsuccessfully that
his
confession should not be admissible as it was elicited only through
repeated abuse and threats of gang rape. As of Friday,
one
potential juror was dismissed for believing that Gitmo should be closed.
For more, see
"The
Curious Case of Omar Khadr" by M. Junaid Levesque-Alam and
"The
Omar Khadr Travesty"
by Glenn Greewald.
Charge, Don't Kill,
Awlaki
U.S. citizen Anwar
Awlaki was the first American to be added to the CIA's public
assassination list. Since President Obama
declared
the right to kill Americans suspected of terrorism -- without charge or trial or
conviction -- Awlaki has already been the target of
one
failed attack,
which was successful only in killing several civilians. His father -- a
well-respected academic -- has been left trying to prevent the
impending execution by seeking legal help in a situation where there is
no obvious legal recourse. "As appalling as the detention of so-called
'enemy combatants' has been, the Awlaki situation is doubly tragic,"
said
Jason Ditz on Thursday in the Union Daily Times.
Also, listen to last
week's Antiwar Radio interview with Center for Constitutional Rights
attorney
Pardiss
Kebriaei, who
discusses the lawsuit being filed on behalf of Anwar Awlaki's father
and how CCR/ACLU representation could be construed as support for
terrorism. With Awlaki's life on the line, Kebriaei is dismayed that
the Treasury Department has failed to respond to the CCR/ACLU request
to represent a client.
The Information War
"The Internet is the
most valuable addition to the antiwar arsenal since the invention of
ethics,"
said
Justin Raimondo in a new column. Thanks to it and organizations like
WikiLeaks, "the time has long since passed when governments can commit
crimes in the dark, run secret wars, and have their passive and
narcotized citizens go along with it, fund it, and salute when they're
told." Both the Left and the Right -- and the Pentagon -- are trying to
"stop" WikiLeaks, but the cat is out of the bag. WikiLeaks, said
Raimondo, "comes at a propitious moment -- what the mainstream media
hacks like to call a 'defining moment' -- when the development of a new
technology intersects with the rise of a new political consciousness."
As the
death
knell of the MSM sounds -- giving way inevitably to the Internet -- count on the
state to renew its push to censor this medium.
At the Antiwar Blog,
James
Bovard had this to say: "WikiLeaks is wreaking havoc primarily because the U.S.
government has shoveled so much bilge on Afghanistan for the last 9
years. The easiest way for the U.S. government to reduce WikiLeaks'
impact is to disclose the truth at the time events occur."
While the president
previously issued a
"there's
nothing new here"
statement in an effort to downplay the embarrassment, the Pentagon is
now employing a different approach, claiming the impending release of
another 15,000 documents will be even
"more
explosive." Old
news? New news? At this point, who really believes anything they tell
us?
For more on WikiLeaks,
the situation in Afghanistan, and the now-infamous
TIME
magazine cover,
check out this
podcast with Jason Ditz (starts 14 min. in)
from Freedom News Hour.
Try Assange Under the
Espionage Act
Grant Smith suggested
that any attempt to try WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange under the
Espionage Act would be laughable,
so
why not? Smith
compares the current situation to the 2005 Rosen and Weissman espionage
case in which Congresswoman Jane Harman "thwarted accountability for
classified leaks...by promising a still-unknown Israeli agent she would
'waddle into' the case and use her influence to get it dismissed."
In Grant's hypothetical
courtroom, "Assange should ask Harman why she condemns classified
information leaks from WikiLeaks while protecting those of AIPAC. She
should be asked why it is permissible for AIPAC and Rosen to circulate
classified information and derivatives taken from the U.S. government
in order to negotiate a financial settlement behind closed doors. Then
Assange should simply walk out of the courtroom, claiming -- like Rosen
and Weissman before him -- he is always in a pure 'state of mind' when
he obtains and leaks documents. Case closed."
"Until the president,
the Department of Defense, and the CIA stop abusing the U.S.
classification system to cover up illegal, corrupt, or simply
ill-advised activities, they should expect tech-savvy activists to
continue -- much like the Internet -- routing around their obstacles."
U.S. Halts Aid to
Lebanon After Clash with Israel
After withholding
$100
million in aid to
Lebanon earlier this week in
an
effort to punish the country for a clash with Israel, the U.S. was outraged when
Iran
offered to fill the need. While some suggest that U.S. aid could resume on the
condition that Lebanon not use arms in future disputes with Israel,
Lebanese Defense Minister Elias Murr
mocked
the idea, said
Jason Ditz. If Lebanon can't defend itself from invasion, Murr said the
U.S. "should keep their money -- or give it to Israel instead."
Antiwar Radio
We need your help to
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Please
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Among this week's
excellent guests were:
- Glen
Ford, executive
editor of the Black Agenda Report, on the Left-Right antiwar coalition
and the irreconcilable differences between black Americans and the
racist elements of the Tea Party Right.
- Activist Cindy
Sheehan on what she learned about the
"so-called antiwar movement" and why the Iraq War will never be "old
news."
- Rep.
Barbara Lee on
saying "no" to President Bush after 9/11 and also on her support for
sanctions against Iran.
- Kevin
Zeese of
Voters
for Peace on why
the antiwar movement needs to be independent of both major parties, and
the relationship between corporate media and the defense industry.
Check out the complete
lineup
here, and don't forget to get your
donation in ASAP!
