Assalamu aleikum. The antichrist of our age, Dajjal Bush, strikes again - strikes out, that is.
Please note that 6 articles follow: *15-Year-Old Combatant in Afghanistan to Face Guantanamo Trial Three Years Later *8 FC men among 16 killed in Waziristan: `Cleric's house hit by US copters' *US troops seize award-winning Iraqi journalist *Sunnis protest raid on mosque in hunt for US reporter *Bush Advisor Says President Has Legal Power to Torture Children *Bush Sends Eid al-Adha Greetings to World's Muslims --- (1) 15-Year-Old Combatant in Afghanistan to Face Guantanamo Trial Three Years Later Haider Rizvi OneWorld US Sun., Jan. 8, 2006 http://us.oneworld.net/article/view/125238/1/ UNITED NATIONS, Jan 7 (OneWorld) - When the terror suspects held at Guantanamo Bay prison are brought before United States military judges next week, among them will be a minor captured as an "enemy combatant" by the U.S. army in Afghanistan some three years ago. Omar Khadr, a Canadian citizen, faces imminent trial by military commission at Guantanamo Bay for war crimes he had allegedly committed at the age of 15, his lawyers say. "This would be the first such trial of an individual under the age of 18 at the time of alleged offense in modern history," says American University law professor Richard Wilson who, along with Munir Ahmed, also a law professor, represents Khadr. Khadr was born in Canada in September 1986 and is therefore a citizen of that country. He and his family left Kabul, Afghanistan in October 2001, shortly after his 15th birthday, as U.S. forces started military action in that country, according to the two lawyers. Khadr was later captured by U.S. armed forces during a July 2002 skirmish near the town of Khost in which he allegedly lobbed a hand grenade that killed a U.S. soldier. He was then transferred to the U.S. air base at Bagram where his lawyers say interrogation, torture, and other severe mistreatment began immediately, although he was hospitalized and recovering from wounds. Khadr was transferred to Guantanamo Bay in October 2002, and since then he has been held there in solitary confinement. In the face of intense criticism from human rights groups, the U.S. Defense Department released many children in January 2004, but Khadr was not one of them. By then the military, according to Wilson, had decided that any child over the age of 16 at the time of his arrival at Guantanamo Bay would be treated as an adult for all purposes. "Had Khadr not been held for more than two months in Bagram, when he was 15, before being transferred to Guantanamo, presumably he would have been treated as a child too and sent home," says Wilson, who claims that Khadr has been severely mistreated and continuously interrogated, without charges. Khadr did not have access to counsel until July 2004 when Wilson and Ahmed entered into representation of him on pro bono basis, Wilson says, adding, "our appearance was limited at that time to representation in habeas corpus proceedings arising from the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Rasul vs. Bush in 2004, which held that Guantanamo detainees had a right to access to the courts." Now more than a year after that decision, the government continues to argue that the U.S. courts have no jurisdiction over the detainees, and refuses to provide even the most basic information about names and countries of origin for a majority of the detainees. Wilson and Ahmed say they have visited Khadr only five times over the past 18 months because access is "extremely limited" due to court orders and other restrictions imposed by the military. Two months ago, Khadr was finally charged with four alleged "war crimes," which also include "murder by an unprivileged combatant." Khadr's lawyers say they have reviewed the records of trials held by international tribunals, beginning with Nuremberg after World War II, and have found no record of trial of a juvenile under the age of 18 for war crimes in any tribunal, including those for the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, or East Timor. Last week, Wilson and Ahmed sent a letter to Kofi Annan, the U.N. Secretary General, and Karin Sham Poo, Annan's special representative for Children and Armed Conflict, asking for U.N. intervention into Khadr's case. "This unprecedented action cries out for your intervention," they wrote. "We request that your office fully investigate, document, and denounce this development." They also urged Annan to send a representative to Guantanamo to attend the military hearings as an observer for "the protection of this child victim of armed conflict." In October, U.N. Commission on Human Rights special rapporteur Leandro Despouy presented a report to the General Assembly in which he took the U.S. government to task for its policy on Guantanamo prisoners. In his report, which focused on the independence of judges and lawyers, Despouy described the continued detention and trial of suspects at Guantanamo by the U.N. military commission as a "disturbing development." "They do not allow appeals to be brought before a civil judge, and discriminate between national and foreign national among other things," he said. Last year, the U.S. government continued to insist that the "circumstances were not favorable" to honor U.N. requests by several human rights experts to visit Guantanamo, Iraq, Afghanistan, and other detention centers. In response the U.N. experts said they had decided to conduct an investigation regardless of whether or not they are allowed to visit the U.S.-run prisons. In their appeal to Annan, Wilson and Ahmed drew Annan's attention to Khadr's case by citing the Optional Protocol to the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which declines jurisdiction over any one under the age of 18 at the time of their alleged offenses. But the U.S. has no obligation to abide by these treaties because it has not ratified any of them. The military trial at Guntanamo Bay prison is scheduled to start Wednesday. http://us.oneworld.net/article/view/125238/1/ --- (2) 8 FC men among 16 killed in Waziristan: `Cleric's house hit by US copters' By Pazir Gul and Zulfiqar Ali Dawn January 8, 2006 http://www.dawn.com/2006/01/08/top3.htm MIRAMSHAH / PESHAWAR, Jan 7: Eight paramilitary troops and eight civilians were killed and nine others wounded in two attacks in the North Waziristan Agency on Friday night, official sources said. The sources said that 11 paramilitary soldiers were missing, apparently being held hostage by militants. Officials said that the residential compound of a local cleric came under a missile attack in Saidgi area near the Afghan border, killing eight people and wounding nine. The victims included women and children of the same family, sources said. Officials and area people said that two US helicopters were seen hovering over the area before the house of Maulvi Noor Mohammad was blown up in Saidgi, about 5km from the Afghan border. "One of the helicopters hovered above while the other fired a missile," these sources said. Military spokesman Maj-Gen Shaukat Sultan confirmed casualties. "Of course, we have reports about the casualties in Saidgi, but it is yet to be established whether US helicopters were involved in the attack," he told Dawn on Saturday. Local tribal elder Momin Khan said that before the missile attack some US troops riding five vehicles had intruded into the Pakistani territory from the Khost province past midnight. "The intruders besieged a cluster of mud houses and took away two tribesmen after a brief search operation in the area," Momin Khan said. After an hour, he said, a helicopter crossed over into the tribal area from Afghanistan and fired a missile, hitting the house of Maulvi Noor Mohammad. Officials said that two women, one child and five men were killed in the attack. "The helicopter fired one missile, which completely destroyed the house," said another official source. A doctor at a hospital in Miramshah, headquarters of the North Waziristan Agency, said that the wounded had received multiple shrapnel injuries, but their condition was stable. The area people said that paramilitary forces had conducted a raid on Maulvi Noor Muhammad's house on Thursday, but failed to recover anything. The cleric was suspected of providing shelter to militants who crossed over into Afghanistan to attack the US-led coalition forces. In the other incident on Friday night, eight Frontier Corpse soldiers were killed and 11 others went missing when militants attacked a check-post in Mirali Tehsil. Officials said that militants attacked the troops in Eisokhel village, East of Miramshah. The militants fired rockets and used heavy and light machineguns in the attack on the check-post near Khaisaro bridge on the Mirali-Bannu Road. A captain, a subedar and a naib subedar of the Touchi Scouts were among the dead. On Saturday, two helicopter gunships fired rockets on some houses in the Eisokhel village in which one Khasadar and three tribesmen were wounded. The Khasadar identified as Mohibullah later succumbed to injuries in a hospital, doctors said. Maj-Gen Sultan said that the security forces invariably launched follow-up attacks after such incidents. He did not give details. Sources said that before the helicopter gunships' attack the local authorities had given two hours to villagers to vacate their houses. The helicopters targeted hilltops and some houses in the area. AGENCIES ADD: Talking about the militants' attack on the check-post, Maj-Gen Sultan said: "Miscreants attacked a newly set-up paramilitary post near Mir Ali last night which resulted in the deaths of eight security officials." He said nine paramilitary soldiers went missing after the attack, but three returned on Saturday. "Six are still missing we hope they will be back soon." http://www.dawn.com/2006/01/08/top3.htm --- (3) US troops seize award-winning Iraqi journalist The Guardian Monday January 9, 2006 http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1682207,00.html American troops in Baghdad yesterday blasted their way into the home of an Iraqi journalist working for the Guardian and Channel 4, firing bullets into the bedroom where he was sleeping with his wife and children. Ali Fadhil, who two months ago won the Foreign Press Association young journalist of the year award, was hooded and taken for questioning. He was released hours later. Dr Fadhil is working with Guardian Films on an investigation for Channel 4's Dispatches programme into claims that tens of millions of dollars worth of Iraqi funds held by the Americans and British have been misused or misappropriated. The troops told Dr Fadhil that they were looking for an Iraqi insurgent and seized video tapes he had shot for the programme. These have not yet been returned. The director of the film, Callum Macrae, said yesterday: "The timing and nature of this raid is extremely disturbing. It is only a few days since we first approached the US authorities and told them Ali was doing this investigation, and asked them then to grant him an interview about our findings. "We need a convincing assurance from the American authorities that this terrifying experience was not harassment and a crude attempt to discourage Ali's investigation." Dr Fadhil was asleep with his wife, their three-year-old daughter, Sarah, and seven-month-old son, Adam, when the troops forced their way in. "They fired into the bedroom where we were sleeping, then three soldiers came in. They rolled me on to the floor and tied my hands. When I tried to ask them what they were looking for they just told me to shut up," he said. http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1682207,00.html --- (4) Sunnis protest raid on mosque in hunt for US reporter AFP Tuesday January 10, 2006 http://sg.news.yahoo.com/060110/1/3xs1ci.html - photo: Sunnis protest raid on mosque in hunt for US reporter http://sg.news.yahoo.com/060110/1/3xs1ci.html AFP Photo - Angry Sunni Arabs protested at a raid on a Baghdad mosque by US and Iraqi soldiers looking for a kidnapped US woman reporter, the latest victim in a series of abductions of Westerners in Iraq. The demonstration came as Iraqis celebrated the Muslim Eid Al-Adha holiday a day after a twin suicide bombing at the interior ministry, claimed by Al-Qaeda, that left at least 28 policemen dead. Waving banners and chanting anti-US slogans, about 700 people rallied in the gardens of the Umm al-Qura mosque in the west of the capital to denounce the Saturday night raid. "The attack on the Umm al-Qura mosque is an attack on Muslims and Islam," read one of the banners at the protest. The US military said the raid was linked to the hunt for kidnapped Jill Carroll, a freelance journalist working for the Christian Science Monitor. Lieutenant-Colonel Barry Johnson, a US military spokesman, said the raid was ordered "as a direct result of a tip by an Iraqi civilian that activities related to the kidnapping were being carried out inside the mosque." The 28-year-old reporter was seized by gunmen on Saturday after calling by the office of a prominent Sunni politician in the neighbourhood. Her interpreter, Allan Enwiyah, 32, was shot dead and his body abandoned nearby by the kidnappers, while her driver got away. "Both Iraqi and coalition forces raided the mosque in the early morning hours in order to minimize the impact on worshippers and the surrounding neighborhood," Johnson said on Tuesday. Six people were detained for questioning, he added. The Sunni Committee of Muslim Scholars which is based at the mosque, confirmed that one of its members, Yunis Aikali, and five mosque guards were arrested in the raid. In a statement, the committee also accused US soldiers of desecrating the mosque and carrying away files containing the names of members. "We call on the occupiers to withdraw from Iraq because they are the reason for every crime and the death of every innocent in Iraq," Harith al-Aubaidi, a member of the scholars' committee, said in his sermon at the prayers ahead of the protest. Ashraf Qazi, the UN special representative in Iraq, also deplored the raid. "This again underlines the importance of all parties respecting the sanctity of holy sites and places of worship," he said in a statement. Iraqi security forces, meanwhile, were on alert in western Baghdad looking for hostages, security sources said. The US embassy said it had nothing new to report on Carroll. The Christian Science Monitor said it was urgently seeking information about its reporter after confirming her abduction on Monday. Carroll's driver, quoted in a story posted on the Monitor's website, said gunmen jumped in front of the car, pulled him from it, and drove off with their two captives all within 15 seconds. Several Westerners are currently being held hostage by insurgents in Iraq, including an American, a Briton and two Canadians who are members of a Christian peace group. Carroll was the 31st media worker to have been kidnapped in Iraq since the start of the war in 2003, according to watchdog group Reporters without Borders. Five of the journalist kidnap victims -- four Iraqis and Enzo Baldoni of Italy -- were killed by their abductors. The others were released. Frenchman Bernard Planche, a 52-year-old engineer, managed to evade his captors on Saturday after being held for more than a month. He landed late Monday at a military base in France where he was met by his daughter and niece, along with Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy. In other developments, Spanish police arrested at least 17 people across the country suspected of recruiting radical Islamist volunteers to fight in Iraq, national radio said. In the United States, a new study co-authored by a Nobel Prize winning economist, claimed that -- in addition to the human cost of the war, with 2,209 US servicemen killed and over 16,000 wounded -- the Iraq campaign will likely cost the United States anywhere between one and two trillion dollars. http://sg.news.yahoo.com/060110/1/3xs1c.html --- (5) Bush Advisor Says President Has Legal Power to Torture Children Philip Watts revcom.us January 8, 2006 http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11488.htm 01/08/06 "revcom.us" -- -- John Yoo publicly argued there is no law that could prevent the President from ordering the torture of a child of a suspect in custody including by crushing that child's testicles. This came out in response to a question in a December 1st debate in Chicago with Notre Dame professor and international human rights scholar Doug Cassel. What is particularly chilling and revealing about this is that John Yoo was a key architect post-9/11 Bush Administration legal policy. As a deputy assistant to then-Attorney General John Ashcroft, John Yoo authored a number of legal memos arguing for unlimited presidential powers to order torture of captive suspects, and to declare war anytime, any where, and on anyone the President deemed a threat. It has now come out Yoo also had a hand in providing legal reasoning for the President to conduct unauthorized wiretaps of U.S. citizens. Georgetown Law Professor David Cole wrote, "Few lawyers have had more influence on President Bush's legal policies in the 'war on terror' than John Yoo." This part of the exchange during the debate with Doug Cassel, reveals the logic of Yoo's theories, adopted by the Administration as bedrock principles, in the real world. Cassel: If the President deems that he's got to torture somebody, including by crushing the testicles of the person's child, there is no law that can stop him? Yoo: No treaty. Cassel: Also no law by Congress. That is what you wrote in the August 2002 memo. Yoo: I think it depends on why the President thinks he needs to do that. The audio of this exchange is available online at revcom.us Yoo argues presidential powers on Constitutional grounds, but where in the Constitution does it say the President can order the torture of children ? As David Cole puts it, "Yoo reasoned that because the Constitution makes the President the 'Commander-in-Chief,' no law can restrict the actions he may take in pursuit of war. On this reasoning, the President would be entitled by the Constitution to resort to genocide if he wished." What is the position of the Bush Administration on the torture of children, since one of its most influential legal architects is advocating the President's right to order the crushing of a child's testicles? This fascist logic has nothing to do with "getting information" as Yoo has argued. The legal theory developed by Yoo and a few others and adopted by the Administration has resulted in thousands being abducted from their homes in Afghanistan, Iraq or other parts of the world, mostly at random. People have been raped, electrocuted, nearly drowned and tortured literally to death in U.S.-run torture centers in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Guantánamo Bay. And there is much still to come out. What about the secret centers in Europe or the many still-suppressed photos from Abu Ghraib? What can explain this sadistic, indiscriminate, barbaric brutality except a need to instill widespread fear among people all over the world? It is ironic that just prior to arguing the President's legal right to torture children, John Yoo was defensive about the Bush administration policies, based on his legal memo's, being equated to those during Nazi Germany. Yoo said, "If you are trying to draw a moral equivalence between the Nazis and what the United States is trying to do in defending themselves against Al Qauueda and the 9/11 attacks, I fully reject that. Second, if you're trying to equate the Bush Administration to Nazi officials who committed atrocities in the holocaust, I completely reject that too I think to equate Nazi Germany to the Bush Administration is irresponsible." If open promotion of unmitigated executive power, including the right to order the torture of innocent children, isn't sufficient basis for drawing such a "moral equivalence," then I don't know what is. What would be irresponsible is to sit by and allow the Bush regime to radically remake society in a fascist way, with repercussions for generations to come. We must act now because the future is in the balance. The world cannot wait. While Bush gives his State of the Union on January 31st, I'll find myself along with many thousands across the country declaring "Bush Step Down And take your program with you." Philip Watts - [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article11488.htm --- (6) Bush Sends Eid al-Adha Greetings to World's Muslims White House via US State Department 09 January 2006 http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p==washfile-english&y= 06&m==January&x= 060109175301ndyblehs0.8724024&t==livefeeds/wf-latest.html Three-day Islamic celebration begins January 9 President Bush sent greetings to Muslims around the world January 9 for Eid al-Adha, the Islamic celebration of Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son out of obedience to God. "When God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son, Abraham placed his faith in God above all else," Bush said in a statement. "During Eid al-Adha, Muslims celebrate Abraham's devotion and give thanks for God's mercy and many blessings." Bush highlighted the contributions that Muslim Americans make to American society. "Through generosity, compassion, and a commitment to faith, Muslim Americans have helped make our country stronger," he said. Following is the text of Bush's statement: (begin text) THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary January 9, 2006 Presidential Message: Eid Al-Adha I send greetings to Muslims around the world as you celebrate Eid al-Adha. When God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son, Abraham placed his faith in God above all else. During Eid al-Adha, Muslims celebrate Abraham's devotion and give thanks for God's mercy and many blessings. Eid is also a time for demonstrating charity and reaching out to family, friends, and those in need. America is blessed to have people of many religious beliefs who contribute to the diverse makeup of this country. Through generosity, compassion, and a commitment to faith, Muslim Americans have helped make our country stronger. Laura and I send our best wishes for a joyous celebration. Eid Mubarak. GEORGE W. BUSH (end text) (Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov) http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p==washfile-english&y= 06&m==January&x= 060109175301ndyblehs0.8724024&t==livefeeds/wf-latest.html ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Join modern day disciples reach the disfigured and poor with hope and healing http://us.click.yahoo.com/lMct6A/Vp3LAA/i1hLAA/TXWolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> *************************************************************************** {Invite (mankind, O Muhammad ) to the Way of your Lord (i.e. Islam) with wisdom (i.e. with the Divine Inspiration and the Qur'an) and fair preaching, and argue with them in a way that is better. Truly, your Lord knows best who has gone astray from His Path, and He is the Best Aware of those who are guided.} (Holy Quran-16:125) {And who is better in speech than he who [says: "My Lord is Allah (believes in His Oneness)," and then stands straight (acts upon His Order), and] invites (men) to Allah's (Islamic Monotheism), and does righteous deeds, and says: "I am one of the Muslims."} (Holy Quran-41:33) The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "By Allah, if Allah guides one person by you, it is better for you than the best types of camels." [al-Bukhaaree, Muslim] The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) also said, "Whoever calls to guidance will have a reward similar to the reward of the one who follows him, without the reward of either of them being lessened at all." 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