http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/26/opinion/26sun1.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin
A Judicial Green Light for Torture NY Times Lead Editorial: February 26, 2006 The administration's tendency to dodge accountability for lawless actions by resorting to secrecy and claims of national security is on sharp display in the case of a Syrian-born Canadian, Maher Arar, who spent months under torture because of United States action. A federal trial judge in Brooklyn has refused to stand up to the executive branch, in a decision that is both chilling and ripe for prompt overturning. Mr. Arar, a 35-year-old software engineer whose case has been detailed in a pair of columns by Bob Herbert, was detained at Kennedy Airport in 2002 while on his way home from a family vacation. He was held in solitary confinement in a Brooklyn detention center and interrogated without proper access to legal counsel. Finally, he was shipped off to a Syrian prison. There, he was held for 10 months in an underground rat-infested dungeon and brutally tortured because officials suspected that he was a member of Al Qaeda. All this was part of a morally and legally unsupportable United States practice known as "extraordinary rendition," in which the federal government outsources interrogations to regimes known to use torture and lacking fundamental human rights protections. The maltreatment of Mr. Arar would be reprehensible - and illegal under the United States Constitution and applicable treaties - even had the suspicions of terrorist involvement proven true. But no link to any terrorist organization or activity emerged, which is why the Syrians eventually released him. Mr. Arar then sued for damages. The judge in the case, David Trager of Federal District Court in Brooklyn, did not dispute that United States officials had reason to know that Mr. Arar faced a likelihood of torture in Syria. But he took the rare step of blocking the lawsuit entirely, saying that the use of torture in rendition cases is a foreign policy question not appropriate for court review, and that going forward would mean disclosing state secrets. It is hard to see why resolving Mr. Arar's case would necessitate the revelation of privileged material. Moreover, as the Supreme Court made clear in a pair of 2004 decisions rebuking the government for its policies of holding foreign terrorism suspects in an indefinite legal limbo in Guantánamo and elsewhere, even during the war on terror, the government's actions are subject to court review and must adhere to the rule of law. With the Bush administration claiming imperial powers to detain, spy on and even torture people, and the Republican Congress stuck largely in enabling mode, the role of judges in checking executive branch excesses becomes all the more crucial. If the courts collapse when confronted with spurious government claims about the needs of national security, so will basic American liberties. *** Bush in India: Just Not Welcome By Arundhati Roy February 27, 2006, The Nation http://www.thenation.com/doc/20060313/roy On his triumphalist tour of India and Pakistan, where he hopes to wave imperiously at people he considers potential subjects, President Bush has an itinerary that's getting curiouser and curiouser. For Bush's March 2 pit stop in New Delhi, the Indian government tried very hard to have him address our parliament. A not inconsequential number of MPs threatened to heckle him, so Plan One was hastily shelved. Plan Two was to have Bush address the masses from the ramparts of the magnificent Red Fort, where the Indian prime minister traditionally delivers his Independence Day address. But the Red Fort, surrounded as it is by the predominantly Muslim population of Old Delhi, was considered a security nightmare. So now we're into Plan Three: President George Bush speaks from Purana Qila, the Old Fort. Ironic, isn't it, that the only safe public space for a man who has recently been so enthusiastic about India's modernity should be a crumbling medieval fort? Since the Purana Qila also houses the Delhi zoo, George Bush's audience will be a few hundred caged animals and an approved list of caged human beings, who in India go under the category of "eminent persons." They're mostly rich folk who live in our poor country like captive animals, incarcerated by their own wealth, locked and barred in their gilded cages, protecting themselves from the threat of the vulgar and unruly multitudes whom they have systematically dispossessed over the centuries. So what's going to happen to George W. Bush? Will the gorillas cheer him on? Will the gibbons curl their lips? Will the brow-antlered deer sneer? Will the chimps make rude noises? Will the owls hoot? Will the lions yawn and the giraffes bat their beautiful eyelashes? Will the crocs recognize a kindred soul? Will the quails give thanks that Bush isn't traveling with Dick Cheney, his hunting partner with the notoriously bad aim? Will the CEOs agree? Oh, and on March 2, Bush will be taken to visit Gandhi's memorial in Rajghat. He's by no means the only war criminal who has been invited by the Indian government to lay flowers at Rajghat. (Only recently we had the Burmese dictator General Than Shwe, no shrinking violet himself.) But when Bush places flowers on that famous slab of highly polished stone, millions of Indians will wince. It will be as though he has poured a pint of blood on the memory of Gandhi. We really would prefer that he didn't. It is not in our power to stop Bush's visit. It is in our power to protest it, and we will. The government, the police and the corporate press will do everything they can to minimize the extent of our outrage. Nothing the happy newspapers say can change the fact that all over India, from the biggest cities to the smallest villages, in public places and private homes, George W. Bush, the President of the United States of America, world nightmare incarnate, is just not welcome. [Arundhati Roy, the Booker Prize-winning author of 'The God of Small Things' and 'The Ordinary Person's Guide to Empire', lives in New Delhi, India.] © 2006 The Nation *** Ed - This should be an outstanding show. Sasan is always really, really informative and insightful and there are some good Intl Women's Day/peace/resistance calendar items below, too. Sherna RADIO INTIFADA Voices from Kolkota to Casablanca Voices of Struggle, Voices for Change Thursday, March 2, 2006, 3 to 4pm KPFK 90.7 fm and streaming live at kpfk.org "Iran's Nuclear Project: Repeating the Iraqi WMD Script?" Radio Intifada host Afshin Matin will interview two leading experts on the international campaign led by the Bush administration to threaten Iran with sanctions and military strikes to stop that country's alleged nuclear weapons project. But is there evidence of Iran making WMDs, or do we see a repeat of the scenario that led to Iraqi sanctions and invasion? Guests: Professor Sasan Fayazmanesh, California State University Fresno's Iran expert Dr. James Gordon Prather, nuclear weapons physicist and US government consultant The guests will also answer calls from Radio Intifada listeners. Brought to you by SWANA (South and West Asia and North Africa) Collective of KPFK SWANA CALENDAR - International Women's Day Events Malalai Joya, one of the youngest and most popular members of the new Afghan parliament. She is also one of the most vocal critics of the US-backed warlords that now dominate Afghanistan. She has been threatened many times and has survived 4 assassination attempts. Malalai Joya will be visiting the US for the first time since her election to the parliament and will be kicking off a nationwide tour in Los Angeles at the following events: Monday, March 6 7-10-pm Immanuel Presbyterian Church (Westminister Chapel), 663 S. Berendo St, Los Angeles Tuesday, March 7, noon - at Pasadena, CA - California Institute of Technology, Avery Hall information: www.afghanwomensmission.org. Or call 626-676-7884 Wednesday, March 8, 5-7pm Int'l Women's Day at Orange Circle A Women's Call for Peace! (all men and children welcome too!) Traffic Circle, Old Towne Orange (at the Intersection of Chapman Ave. & Glassell St. off the 22 and 55 Freeways) This event will be held in solidarity with other major women's rallies worldwide on March 8th! Saturday, March 11 International Women's Day Celebration Women's Resistance Through Art and Culture featuring Samia Halaby, artist, activist and Made in Palestine Exhibitor (keynote speaker) Suheir Hammad, Palestinian-American poet and political activist Hanna Al-Wardi, Iraqi-American multi-media studio artist and Natasha Attala + Al-Juzoor Dabke Troupe Sponsored by Palestinian-American Women's Association of Southern California (PAWA) Holiday Inn Select 14299 Firestone Blvd. La Mirada, CA 90638 Reception: 6:00pm, Arabic Dinner: 7:00pm Tickets $50, Students $35 For more information and to purchase your tickets contact: 714-305-7120 or 949-369-6510, 909-861-8645 website: www.pawasca.org email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] --------------------------------------------------------------------------- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Digest: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Help: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
