Lou Dobbs Flip Flopping on His Hatred of Illegal Immigration etc. eyeing a seat in the Senate & a run at the Presidency

"Lou Dobbs is almost single-handedly responsible for creating, for being the architect of the young-Latino-as-scapegoat for everything that ails this country," Geraldo Rivera .

"The truth is, Dobbs has done as much as anyone to poison the immigration debate by repeatedly reporting false information about immigrants.

The most outrageous statement was his claim that immigrants were responsible for bringing thousands of new cases of leprosy to the United States during a recent three-year period. He also lent legitimacy to conspiracy theories, such as the claim that undocumented immigrants are part of a plot to reconquer the American Southwest. Most recently, he gave credence to the utterly baseless idea that President Obama is not a native-born American citizen."
by SPLC President Richard Cohen

"And now, in the ultimate betrayal of the faux-populist shtick he's been riding all these years, Dobbs told Telemundo (in an interview caught by the Wall Street Journal) that he now favors the very legalization process for unauthorized immigrants that he's long derided as a brain-dead "amnesty" policy pushed by pernicious liberal elites in order to keep down the wages of good, hardworking Americans." by Joshua Holland AlterNet

Birthers, North American Union ,New World Order, Immigration Invasion Hysteria, Hate Mongering, Supports White Supremacist groups -The Minutemen, John birchers
Dobbs' History of Hate and Paranoia-Sept. 15, 2009



Fact-checking Lou Dobbs
March 11, 2008
Truth In Immigration
http://www.truthinimmigration.org

Truth In Immigration

Following a report on illegal immigrants carrying diseases into the U.S., one of the correspondents on his show, Christine Romans, told Dobbs that there have been 7,000 cases of leprosy in the U.S. in the past three years. 60 Minutes checked that and found a report issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, saying that 7,000 is the number of leprosy cases over the last 30 years, not the past three. The report also says that nobody knows how many of those cases involve illegal immigrants.

"We went to try and check that number, 7,000. We can't...," Stahl says.
"Well, I can tell you this. If we reported it, it's a fact," Dobbs replies.

Lou Dobbs, Looking at Public Office, Says He's in Favor of Policy He Used to Spin as "Shamnesty for Illegals" By Joshua Holland, AlterNet. Posted November 26, 2009.

Dobbs said he now favors the very legalization process for unauthorized immigrants that he's long derided as a brain-dead "amnesty".

First, under pressure from above, Lou Dobbs gave up on the birther conspiracy theories.

Then he said that perhaps he'd been wrong to assert that illegal immigrants were spreading leprosy far and wide across the U.S. (or at least he claims to have said he'd been wrong).

And now, in the ultimate betrayal of the faux-populist shtick he's been riding all these years, Dobbs told Telemundo (in an interview caught by the Wall Street Journal) that he now favors the very legalization process for unauthorized immigrants that he's long derided as a brain-dead "amnesty" policy pushed by pernicious liberal elites in order to keep down the wages of good, hardworking Americans.

If you've followed Dobbs' career at all, you'll understand that this is no standard-issue flip-flop:

Former CNN anchor Lou Dobbs, pondering a future in politics, is trying to wipe away his image as an enemy of Latino immigrants by positioning himself as a champion of that fast-growing ethnic bloc.

In a little-noticed interview Friday, Mr. Dobbs told Spanish-language network Telemundo he now supports a plan to legalize millions of undocumented workers, a stance he long lambasted as an unfair "amnesty."

Mr. Dobbs twice mentioned a possible legalization plan for the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the U.S., saying at one point that "we need the ability to legalize illegal immigrants under certain conditions."

Lou Dobbs: Legalize Illegal Aliens


Lou Dobbs gets nailed by Maria Celeste for lying about immigrants being lepers. thumpandwhip.com


Funny bit by the Young Turks on Lou Dobbs- Dobbs has the gall to claim he has integrity and only reports the facts in an honest manner. His vile attacks on undocumented immigrants were far from honest as he interviewed right-wing racists who claimed to be experts. He claims he is above partisanship and ideology which is just another big lie about himself as he was more interested in whipping up his base of Uberconservatives, Nativist and racists.The question is will Lou Dobbs become even more influential by leaving CNN and becoming more involved in politics.

What's the Real Reason Lou Dobbs Left CNN? The Young Turks
Nov. 12,2009 watch more at http://www.theyoungturks.com




Lou Dobbs for president! The former CNN host sounds like he's running for office -- and if so, he's a GOP nightmare By Joe Conason at Salon.com Nov 12, 2009

The evening of Nov. 11, when Lou Dobbs formally ended his career in journalism, may mark the beginning of a political nightmare for conservatives. In his departing remarks, he surely hinted at bigger ambitions when he said that "some leaders in media, politics and business have been urging me to go beyond the role here at CNN and to engage in constructive problem solving as well as to contribute positively to the great understanding of the issues of our day."

The next day, in his first radio broadcast after resigning from the news network, he appealed directly to independent voters, whom he said "dominate the registration rolls in this country for the first time," and went on to criticize President Obama as a leader who "focuses on the partisan and racial" in a "21st century post-partisan, post-racial society."

Having observed the former CNN anchor for many years, including a number of recent appearances on his nightly broadcast, I suspect that he may well nurture ambitions to run for president, as reported in the trade press -- and could mount a formidable campaign drawing upon the same resentful remnant that Republicans hope to mobilize in 2012. Except that he probably won't be running as a Republican.

Thanks to the crusade mounted against him by Media Matters for America, Presente.org and a host of other progressive and ethnic organizations, Dobbs is known most widely these days for his inflammatory attacks on illegal immigrants. Stoking nativist paranoia, he has blamed undocumented workers for problems both real and imaginary, from lost jobs and violent crime to increasing leprosy and conspiracies against U.S. sovereignty. On more than one occasion, he has encouraged far-right suspicions about Barack Obama's citizenship, allowing the "Birthers" to spout their theories on a network that had already discredited them (even on his own program). As those incidents were documented repeatedly and amplified by his critics, the tension between Dobbs and CNN executives inevitably rose toward a breaking point.

But in Lou's own mind, at least, there is more to the Dobbs brand than stoking white fears and resentments. Unlike Patrick Buchanan, a populist who more or less admits that he is a racist and Nazi sympathizer, Dobbs resents accusations of prejudice (and happens to be married to a Mexican-American woman -- with whom he lives on a 300-acre horse farm in New Jersey).

The image that he has crafted for himself over the past several years is "Mr. Independent," an identity that has always seemed more appropriate for a political candidate than a news anchor. Mr. Independent is a star-spangled superhero, dazzling enemies with his ferocious smile as he restores truth, justice and the American Way to a grateful "independent nation." If that sounds like a ridiculous exaggeration, check out his Web site.(Lou Dobbs on the web)

The Southern Poverty Law Center takes some credit along with Media Matters etc. for exerting enough pressure on CNN and its advertisers that finally they caved and bought Lou Dobbs out of his contract for 8 million dollars.

Statement by SPLC President Richard Cohen on the Departure of Lou Dobbs from CNN at Southern Poverty Law Center Nov. 11, 2009

Earlier this year, we called upon CNN to remove Lou Dobbs from the air for trading in falsehoods and racist conspiracy theories. Tonight we are glad that Dobbs has announced his departure from his influential position at CNN.

In his announcement, Dobbs complained that the public debate over important issues is now defined by "partisanship and ideology rather than rigorous empirical thought and forthright analysis and discussion."

The truth is, Dobbs has done as much as anyone to poison the immigration debate by repeatedly reporting false information about immigrants. The most outrageous statement was his claim that immigrants were responsible for bringing thousands of new cases of leprosy to the United States during a recent three-year period. He also lent legitimacy to conspiracy theories, such as the claim that undocumented immigrants are part of a plot to reconquer the American Southwest. Most recently, he gave credence to the utterly baseless idea that President Obama is not a native-born American citizen.

Dobbs was certainly capable of fine journalism. But, as his ratings grew, he became a prisoner of the independent image he tried to cultivate, someone seemingly incapable of admitting a mistake. CNN should have asked him to resign long ago.

Mark Potok of Media matters laments that Lou Dobbs didn't just change his attitude and become more honest in his reporting and thereby become an example for other media journalist to follow. Instead Lou Dobbs chose the low road appeared to get more beligerent and down right nasty in his views and in his interviews.


Earth to Lou: It Could Have Been Different
by Mark Potok on November 12, 2009
Dobbs UPDATED: So, what really happened to Lou Dobbs? media Matters November 12, 2009 by Karl Frisch

It didn’t have to end this way for Lou Dobbs. He could have been a contender.

But Dobbs, a supremely self-confident man who often mentions his Harvard education in private conversation, just wouldn’t listen. Time after time, as the “Lou Dobbs Tonight” show he has hosted on CNN since 2003 grew more rabidly critical of undocumented immigrants, he was warned of the kind of people he was putting on his show. He was told that many of the “facts” he was presenting just weren’t so. At first, he was gently called out for his defamations of Latino immigrants, then, as his tone grew sharper still, he was subjected to all kinds of public criticism from human rights groups, the journalism trade press, even a leading New York Times financial columnist. Instead of righting his course, or even slightly moderating his tone, Dobbs called his critics “commies” and “fascists.” He fudged facts, defended earlier falsehoods, and promoted racist conspiracy theories. He fumed.

Anchor Lou Dobbs resigns from CNN by Howard Kurtz Washington Post, Nov. 12, 2009

Lou Dobbs, the most opinionated and divisive anchor at a cable network that bills itself as a straight-news oasis, resigned from CNN on Wednesday night, saying in his final broadcast that he wants "to go beyond the role" of a television journalist in tackling the country's problems.

Framing his move as a response to the urging of "some leaders in media, politics and business," Dobbs struck a populist tone, attempting to position himself as a political leader who would mount a campaign "to overcome the lack of true representation in Washington, D.C." He said that public debate was now defined by "partisanship and ideology" and that he would continue to speak out "in the most honest and direct language possible."

Lou Dobbs does play fast and loose with the truth and will go to great lengths even using his family to get more media attention. So recently he claimed someone had tried to shoot his wife and him at their house. But the story didn't add up and was finally characterized as being the result of a careless hunter . Still Lou Dobbs tried to turn it all into an assassination attempt by someone on the left.

Lou Dobbs House Shooting Story Contradicted By Police
Watch more at http://www.theyoungturks.com



And Lou Dobbs fits in with a number of other racist "real Americans" who pretend to be impartial trustworthy political pundits such as Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity & Fox News.
Conservative Pundits Stoke "Black Obama" Fear July 31 2009



Lou Dobbs' has people on his program who are supposed to be experts but often they are not experts. His aim is to spread fear and hysteria about what he has characterized as an invasion of Illegal-Immigrants who bring disease , immorality undermining American society.

Lou Dobbs stakes his journalistic reputation on atomic whackjob Madeleine Cosman. thumpandwhip.com Nov. 21, 2009
http://thumpandwhip.com. Lou Dobbs tries to defend, again, his b.s. reporting that Leprosy is being brought into America by illegal immigrants. This time, he relies upon absolute nutjob (now deceased) Madeleine Cosman. A Ph.D. in English. Brilliant. Thanks to http://www.truthinimmigration.org



Members of FAIR are often brought on Lou Dobbs program to act as experts on immigration. But FAIR is really a Nativist racist propaganda Hate Group.
Yet Lou Dobbs with his shady connections to Hate Groups & racists is planning to get more involved in politics and possibly run for the presidency.
SPLC on Federation for American Immigration Reform FAIR
FAIR connected to white supremacist organizations



and so it goes,
GORD.

NO Free Speech Zone at Palin Book Signing & Mary Walsh & Glenn Beck " Obama =Pharaoh: Twisted View of The Exodus"

Update : 11:26 AM & 2:13PM

NO Free Speech Zone at Palin Book Signing

"Palin Tricked By Comedian Again, Says Canada Should Drop Public Health Care" First Posted: 11-26-09 via Huffington Post

At a recent stop on her "Going Rogue" book tour, Sarah Palin told Canadian comedian Mary Walsh that Canada should get rid of its public health care system.

Walsh is the co-creator and star of This Hour Has 22 Minutes -- a nightly news parody show in the same vein as The Daily Show -- and she arrived in character, as the conservative Marg Delahunty, to the Borders where Palin (the "Alaskan Aphrodite") was signing books.

"I just wanted to ask you if you have any words of encouragement for Canadian conservatives who have worked so hard to try to diminish the kind of socialized medicine we have up there." Walsh shouted to Palin as she approached the table.

Palin's handlers tried to help her by ushering Walsh out of the Borders, but Palin could not be deterred. When Palin left the signing, Walsh caught up with her in the parking lot, where Palin suggested that Canada should get rid of its public health care system. "Keep the faith" Palin said, "because common sense conservatism can be plugged in there in Canada too. In fact, Canada needs to reform its health care system and let the private sector take over some of what the government has absorbed."

Raw Story points out that it is unlikely this plan will go over well among Canadians -- even among conservatives.

A recent study found that 90 percent of Canadians support universal, single-payer health care. A poll taken last summer shows 82 percent of Canadians believe their health care system to be better than the US's, despite constant grumbling about waiting times for treatment of non-life-threatening conditions.

This is Palin's second brush with Canadian comedians. Last November a comedian from Montreal convinced the former governor she was speaking with French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Later, Walsh remarked to the Canadian Press that "It was great fun, but also very strange."

Walsh said, she found it equally bizarre that no one was allowed to ask Palin any questions at the book-signing....


"We're in a bookstore, at a public event, in a place one would think was a bastion of free speech. And no one was allowed to ask questions. What are they afraid of?"

Glenn Beck in his newest rant argues that all Americans are descendants of the Israelites who left Egypt during the so called Exodus. Does he really mean all Americans including Muslim Americans , Asian Americans, hispanic Americans and native Americans ? Or does Glenn Beck mean only those descendant from the Europeans ? Does Glenn Beck just mean all Christian and Jewisn Americans?
Or is Glenn Beck actually referring to the history of ideas and that Western Civilization can trace its roots as in its world view and its laws back to Mount Sinai.
After stating that "we left the Pharaoh," Beck says of Washington Monument: "Just like in Egypt. Isn't that strange?"
November 25, 2009



Glenn Beck claims we all came from Egypt. The exodus is all about freedom. He appears to be arguing that all "Real Americans" or all Americans are descendants of the Israelites who left Egypt in the biblical exodus.

In his anology is Obama the evil Pharaoh and is Glenn Beck Moses since he is able to see things more clearly he seems to have had an epiphany a vision or two five nights of the week

There are many things wrong with his thesis. Besides the fact that there is little or no proof outside the Bible that such an exodus from Egypt took place .
Beck's belief in the Exodus from Egypt is based upon faith and that the belief that the Bible is to be taken as being literally true.

Beck also skips over a major part of this story of the Exodus which is that of Moses miraculous escape from Egyptian assassins who were ordered to kill all the first born male children.

Next we are told that the Egyptian princess takes on Moses as her own as she retrieves him from a basket floating in the bull-rushes. Moses then becomes a greatleader but gets tossed out of Egypt. While in excile has visions talks to God or angels returns to Egypt to free the Israelites. If Moses was so just why didn't he ask for the release of all of those who were unjustly held as slaves in Egypt-why just the Israelites.
Next we have to accept that Moses with the help of the God of the Israelites brought about the ten plagues to convince Pharaoh to release the Israelites.

Anyway at some point the Israelites reach Mount Sinai and God gives Moses the Ten Commandments and the rest of the law. For all we know if Moses actually existed he might have been mentally ill , having seizures, delusions of grandeur, and auditory and visual hallucinations.

The Israelites after years of wandering enter the Promised Land and there they slaughtered the inhabitants of villages, towns and cities without any mercy. Because we are told the God of the Israelites is a jealous and revengeful God.
At this point in the story God does not claim to be the one and only God but rather the highest God or at least The God of the Israelites and that the Israelites should pray to this God and to stop worshiping other Gods. By the end of the old testament God/Jahweh sounds less like a vengeful warrior God and now presents himself as the only existent God.

So is Glenn Beck talking about the Israelites as any who who adhered to the faith of the Israelites or is he making claims about race. And is he suggesting that Islam represents a different religion one which by definition is inferior to Judaism and Christianity. But Muhammad believed that he was just another prophet in a long line of Biblical Prophets going back to Abraham and Noah . Muhammad believed he was adding a new revelation from the Judaic /Christian God whom he referred to as Allah. Muslims were taught by Muhammad that there would be no compulsion in matters of religion.
Part of the problem becomes which is the final message from God is it that delivered to Moses on Mt. Sinai or that of Jesus of Nazareth preaching the Beatitudes in "The Sermon on the Mount" or was the book of the Prophets opened once again so that a new prophet Muhammad as "The Messenger of God" under God's command could deliver a new message or to add to these previous messages.

So is the Quran a further elaboration of God's word and his laws or does it cancel out all that went before in the teachings of Judaism and Christianity.Muhammad claimed this new revelation was part of the continuing narrative of God revealing himself and his law to man.

If the Book Of Mormon LDS is defended by Glenn Beck as being another additional book to be added to the Bible or as an extentsion of the Bible why couldn't the Quran be accepted as an extension of the Bible


as one of the commentators on the post at media Matters poses the question

by 3amnoise (November 25, 2009 6:09 pm ET)
He's just trying to put as much biblical, apocalyptic imagery into his rants as he can. It riles up "the base". Also, you are not a Jew. You can not suddenly claim their heritage as your own.

On another note, if this the New Egypt...well, then FLEE M'Fer! If you are the Jewish slaves and America is Egypt, take your flock and FLEE! Get out of here!

So if his analogy is correct then the "True Christians " like Glenn Beck are not truly free but are oppressed and treated like second class citizens or as slaves.
So should these American Christians and Jews instead of battling with the Non-Christians try to create a separate nation of their own. For instance since they are anti-diversity, anti-multiculturalism, anti-tolerance they could negotiate to have a tract of land for instance a couple of states in the Midwest or North West turned over to them so they could live as they please and no longer be an irritant to the rest of American society.

By moving to such an area these Evangelical Christian Fundamentalists and Jewish counterparts could then be in total control rather than having to make compromises with those who are not of the Judeo-Christian tradition. In such a place they could make the laws reflect God's Law as found in the Old and New Testament.
where they can indulge in their intolerance of all other faiths and all those who do not tow the Christian Party-Line . Beck and others in such a place could also adhere to their racist views without being forced to justify them.

Is he assuming that the story of Noah and the "Tower of Babel" and the exodus prove Go to be a racist who views the Israelites as the superior race .
And what about all the people who were not part of the Exodus from Egypt are they all lost unsaved souls for all time.
anyway the comparison of Obama to the Pharaoh in this case King Tut has been made by a host of people. Even Obama recognized the resemblance as we see in this video.

Antiquities expert says Pres. Obama looks like King Tut. CNN's Jeanne Moos sets her sights on Presidential sightseeing. June 5, 2009



Beck: "We are stomping all over the Pilgrims this holiday"
November 25, 2009



Glenn Beck glosses over the fact that the Pilgrims would not have survived except for the help they received from the Native Americans. The Native Americans supplied these newly arrived Europeans with food and materials. The Natives taught the Pilgrims how to grow various crops corn, tobacco etc. The native Americans on the east coast made their living through farming, hunting and fishing. They lived in large settlements and towns.


and so it goes,
GORD

Rachel Maddow With Frank Schaeffer: Some Religious Right Calling For Obama's Death?

UPDATE: 3:00 PM, Nov. 26, 2009

Billboard encouraging hate spreading irrational "Conspiracy Theories" about Obama



Owner of 'President Or Jihad?' Billboard: Obama is An 'Anti-Christian'
on the ED Show-Nov. 23,2009 from TPM




"What they don't understand is, I've got you. You may not save my life, but you will be responsible for saving the republic."Glenn Beck referring to his audience who will be able to oust the Obama administration.



President Barack Obama bows while being greeted by Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on Nov. 14.

The Obama administration is more dangerous to America in many ways than any terrorist organization. What this cabal is doing to the country in stripping it of its most cherished values, its basic morality, its foundation on the rule of law, its liberties and its economy is more devastating than anything Mohammed and his zealots could have ever imagined.

From Joseph Farah founder, editor and CEO of WorldNetDaily.com"Trying terrorists, or Bush-Cheney?" between the lines Joseph Farah at WorldNetDaily Nov. 19, 2009

"O'Reilly Asks Dobbs: Is Obama the Devil?"
at The Young Turks Nov 17 2009

Are Republicans and Conservatives hoping to stir up their base in order to entice a would be assassin to take a shot at Obama while the Religious Right will feign complete and utter innocence.

Schaeffer says the Religious Right is America's equivalent to the Taliban . They want only "real Christians" & "Real Americans " to be in positions of authority and to represent the US federal government. Their rhetoric has been ginned up to the point of justifying violence against Obama who is according to them a foreign element ie not born in America or not having white parents or being a "secret Muslim" or "Secret Jihadist" who has usurped the presidency.

The religious right uses quotes from the Bible to justify their beliefs and ideology in the same way the Taliban and other extremist Muslims use the Quran to support their beliefs and their violent actions. And both groups have a habit of sherry picking their Holy Books and interpreting the text to fit their own personal views and beliefs and their ideology even if this means distorting the original intent of the text they are using. Meanwhile Republicans and Fox News including Glenn beck & Bill O'Reilly etc. support the rhetoric and violent actions of the Religious Right and the secular Far Right.

Obama they all claim is a foreign presence who is not a real American and who now joins the ranks of the unjust kings of Ancient Israel who must be deposed.
They characterize Obama as being anti-Christian and as a Muslim who favors a Jihad against America. Beck and others have labeled Obama a Communist, a socialist , a Fascist and as a racist who hates whites and they even claim Obama is an anti-Semite.





Rachel Maddow: Some Religious Right Calling For Obama's Death?

Here's the verses from the Bible referred to in order to justify hating and eventually ousting Obama from the presidency by legal or illegal means.

Psalm 109- from St. James version of the Bible

5: And they have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love.
6: Set thou a wicked man over him: and let Satan stand at his right hand.
7: When he shall be judged, let him be condemned: and let his prayer become sin.
8: Let his days be few; and let another take his office.
9: Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.
10: Let his children be continually vagabonds, and beg: let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places.
11: Let the extortioner catch all that he hath; and let the strangers spoil his labour.
12: Let there be none to extend mercy unto him: neither let there be any to favour his fatherless children.
13: Let his posterity be cut off; and in the generation following let their name be blotted out.
14: Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the LORD; and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out.
15: Let them be before the LORD continually, that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth.
16: Because that he remembered not to shew mercy, but persecuted the poor and needy man, that he might even slay the broken in heart.
17: As he loved cursing, so let it come unto him: as he delighted not in blessing, so let it be far from him.
18: As he clothed himself with cursing like as with his garment, so let it come into his bowels like water, and like oil into his bones.
19: Let it be unto him as the garment which covereth him, and for a girdle wherewith he is girded continually.
20: Let this be the reward of mine adversaries from the LORD, and of them that speak evil against my soul.

O'Reilly Asks Dobbs: Is Obama the Devil? the young turks
Nov 17 2009

They confuse ceremonial traditions which Obama adheres to out of politeness and respect and a willingness to listen to the opinions of others. Instead the Republicans and the Conservatives want Obama to show not deference or mutual respect instead to appear as the bully and tell China, Japan , Saudi Arabia who's the most powerful. But so do they want other world leaders to bow to Obama and not look him in the eye because he is their superior .It appears the confuse an elected president with an Emperor as in Rome or with the ancient form of God-King as in ancient Egypt.

Of course if Obama had acted more in the way they claim he should have we can be assured they would find something objectionable to that as well. They forget President Obama in part wants to restart American diplomacy and American good-will rather than promoting American arrogance and reminding all these leaders how many Nukes the US has and that if they don't tow the American Party line then get ready for a hard rain of nuclear missiles or a few hundred bombing raids on their country. Obama is trying to get rid of the "Ugly American" view of the United States.

The thing of it is that it is not China that is in debt to the US but the US is in debt to China for some 400 billion or so- just imagine the interest on that. China and other nations to whom the US is indebted to are concerned the US will not make good on these loans.

" The diplomacy of deference" by Mike Allen at Politico.com, Nov. 17, 2009

BEIJING — Greeting the Japanese emperor at Tokyo’s Imperial Palace last weekend, President Barack Obama bowed so low that he was looking straight at the stone floor. The next day, Obama shook hands with the prime minister of repressive Myanmar during a group meeting. The day after that, the president held a “town hall” with Chinese university students who had been selected by the regime.

The images from the president's journey through Asia carried a potent symbolism that has riled critics back home. One conservative website called the episodes “Obamateurism.” Former Vice President Dick Cheney told POLITICO that Obama was advertising “weakness.”

But White House aides say the approach is deliberate — part of Obama’s determination to deliver on his campaign promise of directly engaging friends and enemies alike, giving America a less belligerent posture abroad.

“I think it's very important for the United States not to assume that what is good for us is automatically good for somebody else,” Obama told the students at the town hall, in Shanghai. “And we have to have some modesty about our attitudes towards other countries.”

...But critics call Obama’s outstretched hand a miscalculation. Cheney said: "There is no reason for an American president to bow to anyone. Our friends and allies don't expect it, and our enemies see it as a sign of weakness."

...“When you accept the meeting you know that may happen,” the official said. “The president’s not going to run away from that. The risk of some negative press is outweighed by the benefits of developing a more civil relationship that may change the way that Myanmar’s leaders interact with their own people.”

Aides said that in the meeting, Obama called on Myanmar to free all political prisoners, including pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi; end violence against minority groups; and carry out dialogues with democratic movements there.

“The president sees it as a chance to present our points and advance our interests, and you’re not conceding anything,” the official said. “What’s more powerful that the president of the United States making these points to your face?”

While Obama aides are disappointed that his town hall in Shanghai did not get wider coverage in China’s state-controlled media, the official said that the president’s call for freedom of expression and association now will “spread out on the Internet.”

PRUDEN: Obama bows, the nation cringes at WshingtonTimes.com, Nov. 17, 2009
(• Wesley Pruden is editor emeritus of The Washington Times. )

So far it's a memorable trip. He established a new precedent for how American presidents should pay obeisance to kings, emperors, monarchs, sovereigns and assorted other authentic man-made masters of the universe. He stopped just this side of the full grovel to the emperor of Japan, risking a painful genuflection if his forehead had hit the floor with a nasty bump, which it almost did. No president before him so abused custom, traditions, protocol (and the country he represents). Several Internet sites published a rogue's gallery showing how other national leaders - the prime ministers of Israel, India, Slovenia, South Korea, Russia and Dick Cheney among them - have greeted Emperor Akihito with a friendly handshake and an ever-so-slight but respectful nod (and sometimes not even that).

Now we know why Mr. Obama stunned everyone with an earlier similar bow to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, only the bow to the Japanese emperor was far more flamboyant, a sign of a really deep sense of inferiority. He was only practicing his bow in Riyadh.


But Mr. Obama, unlike his predecessors, likely knows no better, and many of those around him, true children of the grungy '60s, are contemptuous of custom. Cutting America down to size is what attracts them to "hope" for "change." It's no fault of the president that he has no natural instinct or blood impulse for what the America of "the 57 states" is about. He was sired by a Kenyan father, born to a mother attracted to men of the Third World and reared by grandparents in Hawaii, a paradise far from the American mainstream.

He no doubt wants to "do the right thing" by his lights, but the lights that illumine the Obama path are not necessarily the lights that illuminate the way for most of the rest of us. This is good news only for Jimmy Carter, who may yet have to give up his distinction as our most ineffective and embarrassing president.

Trying terrorists, or Bush-Cheney? between the lines Joseph Farah at WorldNetDaily Nov. 19, 2009
(Joseph Farah is founder, editor and CEO of WND)

Further, this action by the Obama administration shows that it believes the real threat to life and liberty in America comes from Republicans, not Islamo-fascist terrorists.

This is going to be a "show trial" – not in the usual sense of the term, but a political trial all the same.

In this case, the terrorists are going to be given a high-profile media platform to spew their vile hatred of America. The prosecution doesn't really care about whether they are found guilty or innocent. What they really care about is using the trial to indict the previous administration, to ensure that our enemies learn every last detail about our interrogation techniques and, frankly, to guarantee that the next time they attack America, they won't make the same mistakes.

It's an amazing spectacle we're watching.

The Obama administration has been marked by a year of governing dangerously. But this may be its ultimate coup de grace.

and:

The Obama administration swears they won't be released in America.

Where then?

They won't say.

Because they can't say.

Because no other civilized country would have them.

Maybe they'll get to go back to Afghanistan, just in time for Obama's surrender there.

Maybe they will get to plot their next attack on America right back where it all began.

If it weren't so tragic, it would be hilariously funny.

But I have a feeling the families of those New York victims of the 9/11 attack fail to see any humor in this matter.

The Obama administration is more dangerous to America in many ways than any terrorist organization. What this cabal is doing to the country in stripping it of its most cherished values, its basic morality, its foundation on the rule of law, its liberties and its economy is more devastating than anything Mohammed and his zealots could have ever imagined.

Is Glenn Beck Paranoid, delusional or just a conman

"Glenn Beck - There is Evil at Play and Obama is Trying to Destroy Me" from DauntingIdeas Aug. 24,2009

Beck sounds more and more confused as each day goes by. He states that everything he says and does is not about ratings and then goes on to brag about how he beats Maddow and Olbermann combined. Beck knows damn well it's about ratings and he will see that soon with many companies pulling their advertising from Beck's show.

You have to love the fact Beck thinks there is evil at play. He is convinced that they are on to him and his only option is to destroy them. I assume the "they" and "them" is in reference to the Obama administration.
"What they don't understand is, I've got you. You may not save my life, but you will be responsible for saving the republic."

"Glenn Beck is becoming President Barack Hussein Obama….A COMMUNITY ORGANIZER!"at White Noise Insanity| November 25, 2009

Isn’t that great? Glenn Beck announced yesterday morning on his radio show (and posted a letter to his Mormon Militia on his website about it) that he is officially a community organizer and is damn proud of it. Yep, gone are the days of Beck saying things like, “Obama is an EVIL community organizer who roams the streets looking to brainwash the masses into believing his agenda and who uses organizations like ACORN to help him out!”. See? Glenn Beck wants us to believe he’s a DIFFERENT kind of community organizer and he doesn’t want you to remember all the right wing fringe rhetoric that community organizers are losers and a detriment to the sanctity of our nation. He wants to evily brainwash you with his 2 national microphones today, with his books, and he doesn’t want you to think of his 100 Year Plan as anything similar to Mein Kampf! Okay?

Dick Armey’s “Freedom Works” is Glenn Beck’s ACORN & Moveon.org all wrapped into one! And don’t you forget it.

and so it goes,
GORD.

"Blackwater's Secret War in Pakistan" Jeremy Scahill

UPDATE: 2:44 PM Nov. 25

Spreading Freedom and Democracy The American Way



Cartoon depicting Blackwater's Reputation as God's Warriors indiscriminately killing Iraqi Citizens.



Blackwater Van in Iraq-No Limits and No Rules- Privatization of War Kidnappings, assassinations, killing without any constraints reflecting the Bush Regime's Wild West world view.



Erik Prince Evangelical Fundamentalist who founded Blackwater as a means to Crusade against Muslims and other Non-Christians. Even though Erik Prince is a religious fanatic who claims to be doing God's Work The Bush/Cheney Regime saw him as the perfect fit for their Global War on Terrorism which was or is actually the fight between the Godly and those who were anti-God anti-Christian who are fighting on the side of Evil and of Satan.


The continuing Saga of American Mercenary Christian Crusading army Blackwater/XE Inc.

The Dirty War US style expands to Pakistan but there should be little surprise America for the past fifty years has been involved in Dirty Wars / Covert operations to oust unfriendly regimes without any real concern for any country's sovereignty or its interests. The only interests that matter are America's and that of its elite and its corporations and besides war is profitable after all for some that is.

Blackwater a Military arm of Christian Evangelical Supremacist.
Erik Prince's family is one of the most powerful families in the Religious Right.
Erik Prince a Christian Supremacist kills critics and kills Iraqis Afghans and Pakistanis indiscriminately. With all of the charges of criminal activity including fraud and smuggling illegal guns and explosives into Iraq why does President Obama continues to support Blackwater Inc. aka XE inc. or whatever

Blackwater Christian Evangelical Mercenaries widening their Crusade into Pakistan
Democracy Now!



Blackwater's Secret War in Pakistan By Jeremy Scahill Nov. 23, 2009 at The Nation.com

At a covert forward operating base run by the US Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) in the Pakistani port city of Karachi, members of an elite division of Blackwater are at the center of a secret program in which they plan targeted assassinations of suspected Taliban and Al Qaeda operatives, "snatch and grabs" of high-value targets and other sensitive action inside and outside Pakistan, an investigation by The Nation has found. The Blackwater operatives also assist in gathering intelligence and help direct a secret US military drone bombing campaign that runs parallel to the well-documented CIA predator strikes, according to a well-placed source within the US military intelligence apparatus.

The source, who has worked on covert US military programs for years, including in Afghanistan and Pakistan, has direct knowledge of Blackwater's involvement. He spoke to The Nation on condition of anonymity because the program is classified. The source said that the program is so "compartmentalized" that senior figures within the Obama administration and the US military chain of command may not be aware of its existence.

...The previously unreported program, the military intelligence source said, is distinct from the CIA assassination program that the agency's director, Leon Panetta, announced he had canceled in June 2009. "This is a parallel operation to the CIA," said the source. "They are two separate beasts." The program puts Blackwater at the epicenter of a US military operation within the borders of a nation against which the United States has not declared war--knowledge that could further strain the already tense relations between the United States and Pakistan. In 2006, the United States and Pakistan struck a deal that authorized JSOC to enter Pakistan to hunt Osama bin Laden with the understanding that Pakistan would deny it had given permission. Officially, the United States is not supposed to have any active military operations in the country.

...A former senior executive at Blackwater confirmed the military intelligence source's claim that the company is working in Pakistan for the CIA and JSOC, the premier counter terrorism and covert operations force within the military. He said that Blackwater is also working for the Pakistani government on a subcontract with an Islamabad-based security firm that puts US Blackwater operatives on the ground with Pakistani forces in counter-terrorism operations, including house raids and border interdictions, in the North-West Frontier Province and elsewhere in Pakistan. This arrangement, the former executive said, allows the Pakistani government to utilize former US Special Operations forces who now work for Blackwater while denying an official US military presence in the country. He also confirmed that Blackwater has a facility in Karachi and has personnel deployed elsewhere in Pakistan. The former executive spoke on condition of anonymity.

...One of the concerns raised by the military intelligence source is that some Blackwater personnel are being given rolling security clearances above their approved clearances. Using Alternative Compartmentalized Control Measures (ACCMs), he said, the Blackwater personnel are granted clearance to a Special Access Program, the bureaucratic term used to describe highly classified "black" operations. "With an ACCM, the security manager can grant access to you to be exposed to and operate within compartmentalized programs far above 'secret'--even though you have no business doing so," said the source. It allows Blackwater personnel that "do not have the requisite security clearance or do not hold a security clearance whatsoever to participate in classified operations by virtue of trust," he added. "Think of it as an ultra-exclusive level above top secret. That's exactly what it is: a circle of love." Blackwater, therefore, has access to "all source" reports that are culled in part from JSOC units in the field. "That's how a lot of things over the years have been conducted with contractors," said the source. "We have contractors that regularly see things that top policy-makers don't unless they ask."

Keith Olbermann interviews Jeremy Scahill
Blackwater (Xe): Killing their critics



also see:

Blackwater: CIA Assassins?
By Jeremy Scahill August 20, 2009 The nation

In April 2002, the CIA paid Blackwater more than $5 million to deploy a small team of men inside Afghanistan during the early stages of US operations in the country. A month later, Erik Prince, the company's owner and a former Navy SEAL, flew to Afghanistan as part of the original twenty-man Blackwater contingent. Blackwater worked for the CIA at its station in Kabul as well as in Shkin, along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, where they operated out of a mud fortress known as the Alamo. It was the beginning of a long relationship between Blackwater, Prince and the CIA.

Now the New York Times is reporting that in 2004 the CIA hired Blackwater "as part of a secret program to locate and assassinate top operatives of Al Qaeda." According to the Times, "it is unclear whether the CIA had planned to use the contractors to capture or kill Qaeda operatives, or just to help with training and surveillance."

The Times reports that "the CIA did not have a formal contract with Blackwater for this program but instead had individual agreements with top company officials, including the founder, Erik D. Prince, a politically connected former member of the Navy Seals and the heir to a family fortune." A retired intelligence officer "intimately familiar with the assassination program" told the Washington Post, "Outsourcing gave the agency more protection in case something went wrong." The Post reported that Blackwater "was given operational responsibility for targeting terrorist commanders and was awarded millions of dollars for training and weaponry, but the program was canceled before any missions were conducted."

"What the agency was doing with Blackwater scares the hell out of me," said Jack Rice, a former CIA field operator who worked for the directorate of operations, which runs covert paramilitary activities for the CIA. "When the agency actually cedes all oversight and power to a private organization, an organization like Blackwater, most importantly they lose control and don't understand what's going on," Rice told The Nation. "What makes it even worse is that you then can turn around and have deniability. They can say, 'It wasn't us, we weren't the ones making the decisions.' That's the best of both worlds. It's analogous to what we hear about torture that was being done in the name of Americans, when we simply handed somebody over to the Syrians or the Egyptians or others and then we turn around and say, 'We're not torturing people.'"

"What we know now, if this is true, is that Blackwater was part of the highest level, the innermost circle strategizing and exercising strategy within the Bush administration," Schakowsky told The Nation. "Erik Prince operated at the highest and most secret level of the government. Clearly Prince was more trusted than the US Congress because Vice President Cheney made the decision not to brief Congress. This shows that there was absolutely no space whatsoever between the Bush administration and Blackwater."

As The Nation has reported, Blackwater continues to operate on the US government payroll in both Iraq and Afghanistan, where it works for the State Department and the Defense Department. The CIA will not confirm whether Blackwater continues to work for the agency (or, for that matter, if it ever has).

Blackwater's work for the CIA was the result of meetings in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 between Prince and Alvin "Buzzy" Krongard, then-executive director of the CIA, the agency's number-three man. Krongard and Prince, according to a former Blackwater executive interviewed by The Nation, "were good buddies." In a 2006 interview for my book, Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army, Krongard said that the company was hired to provide security for the CIA in Afghanistan. "Blackwater got a contract because they were the first people that could get people on the ground," Krongard said. "The only concern we had was getting the best security for our people. If we thought Martians could provide it, I guess we would have gone after them."

"Blackwater Founder Implicated in Murder" By Jeremy Scahill August 4, 2009

The former employee, identified in the court documents as "John Doe #2," is a former member of Blackwater's management team, according to a source close to the case. Doe #2 alleges in a sworn declaration that, based on information provided to him by former colleagues, "it appears that Mr. Prince and his employees murdered, or had murdered, one or more persons who have provided information, or who were planning to provide information, to the federal authorities about the ongoing criminal conduct." John Doe #2 says he worked at Blackwater for four years; his identity is concealed in the sworn declaration because he "fear[s] violence against me in retaliation for submitting this Declaration." He also alleges, "On several occasions after my departure from Mr. Prince's employ, Mr. Prince's management has personally threatened me with death and violence."

In a separate sworn statement, the former US marine who worked for Blackwater in Iraq alleges that he has "learned from my Blackwater colleagues and former colleagues that one or more persons who have provided information, or who were planning to provide information about Erik Prince and Blackwater have been killed in suspicious circumstances." Identified as "John Doe #1," he says he "joined Blackwater and deployed to Iraq to guard State Department and other American government personnel." It is not clear if Doe #1 is still working with the company as he states he is "scheduled to deploy in the immediate future to Iraq." Like Doe #2, he states that he fears "violence" against him for "submitting this Declaration." No further details on the alleged murder(s) are provided.

Blackwater Killers Immune From prosecution by James Joyner, Outside The Beltway, Oct. 30, 2007

The State Department offered limited immunity to Blackwater contractors involved in the shooting deaths of 17 Iraqi civilians last month, despite having no authority to do so and an ongoing FBI investigation.

A front page piece in today’s WaPo by Karen DeYoung discusses the problems this has caused.

FBI agents called in to take over the State Department’s investigation two weeks after the Sept. 16 shootings cannot use any information gleaned during questioning of the guards by the department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security, which is charged with supervising security contractors.

Some of the Blackwater guards have subsequently refused to be interviewed by the FBI, citing promises of immunity from State, one law enforcement official said. The restrictions on the FBI’s use of their initial statements do not preclude prosecution by the Justice Department using other evidence, the official said, but “they make things a lot more complicated and difficult.”

...The State Department investigators from the agency’s investigative arm, the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, offered the immunity grants even though they did not have the authority to do so, the officials said. Prosecutors at the Justice Department, who do have such authority, had no advance knowledge of the arrangement, they added.

[...]

The immunity deals were an unwelcome surprise at the Justice Department, which was already grappling with the fundamental legal question of whether any prosecutions could take place involving American civilians in Iraq.

Blackwater employees and other civilian contractors cannot be tried in military courts, and it is unclear what American criminal laws might cover criminal acts committed in a war zone. Americans are immune from Iraqi law under a directive signed by the United States occupation authority in 2003 that has not been repealed by the Iraqi Parliament.

and more injustice:

"Pioneering Blackwater Protesters Given Secret Trial and Criminal Conviction" ( While Blackwater Killers go free) By Jeremy Scahill, AlterNet. Posted January 29, 2008.

Protesters who re-enacted one of Blackwater's worst civilian massacres in Iraq got jail time, while the real killers remain free.


Last week in Currituck County, N.C., Superior Court Judge Russell Duke presided over the final step in securing the first criminal conviction stemming from the deadly actions of Blackwater Worldwide, the Bush administration's favorite mercenary company. Lest you think you missed some earth-shifting, breaking news, hold on a moment. The "criminals" in question were not the armed thugs who gunned down 17 Iraqi civilians and wounded more than 20 others in Baghdad's Nisour Square last September. They were seven nonviolent activists who had the audacity to stage a demonstration at the gates of Blackwater's 7,000-acre private military base in North Carolina to protest the actions of mercenaries acting with impunity -- and apparent immunity -- in their names and those of every American.

The arrest of the activists and the subsequent five days they spent locked up in jail is more punishment than any Blackwater mercenaries have received for their deadly actions against Iraqi civilians. "The courts pretend that adherence to the law is what makes for an orderly and peaceable world," said Steve Baggarly, one of the protest organizers. "In fact, U.S. law and courts stand idly by while the U.S. military and private armies like Blackwater have killed, maimed, brutalized and destroyed the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis."

And the Judge does all he can to protect Blackwater's reputation:

The symbolism was stark: Re-enact a Blackwater massacre, go to jail. Commit a massacre, walk around freely and perhaps never go to jail. All seven were charged with criminal trespassing, six of them with an additional charge of resisting arrest and one with another charge of injury to real property. "We feel like Blackwater is trespassing in Iraq," Baggarly later said. "And as for injuring property, they injure men, women and children every day." The activists were jailed for five days and eventually released pending trial.

When their day in court arrived, on Dec. 5, the activists intended to put Blackwater on trial, something the Justice Department, the military and the courts have systematically failed to do. Their action at Blackwater, the activists said, was in response to war crimes, the killing of civilians and the fact that no legal system -- civilian or military -- was holding Blackwater responsible. The Nisour Square massacre, they said, "is the Iraq war in microcosm."

But District Court Judge Edgar Barnes would have none of it. So outraged was he at Baggarly, the first of the defendants to appear before him that day, that the judge cleared the court following his conviction. No spectators, no family members, no journalists, no defense witnesses remained. The other six activists were tried in total secrecy -- well, secret to everyone except the prosecutors, sheriffs, government witnesses and one Blackwater official. Judge Barnes swiftly tried the remaining six activists behind closed doors and convicted them all. It was as though Currituck, N.C., became Gitmo for a day.

in case you missed it:
More recent expose of secret torture Prisons run by America
CIA Secret 'Torture' Prison Found at Fancy Horseback Riding Academy-Nov. 19, 2009



and so it goes,
GORD.

Harper's Gov't Caught Lying About POWs Being Tortured In Afghanistan & Omar Khadr Part 2. & Update: Blackwater in Pakistan

Today's Menu:

Canadian Government and military lied about the torture of POWs handed over to Afghans and American authorities.

Omar Khadr part 2, Child Soldiers and Canada's shame

Blackwater Mercenaries killing ,kidnapping, assassinating and planing Drone attacks in Pakistan. Does NATO & Canada approve-It is becoming another American engineered Dirty War.

UPDATE: 2:47 Pm -Is this also what Canada and NATO have signed up for to terrorize the Pakistan peoples and to foster the notion of a Christian Crusade against Islam.. Jeremy Scahill charges that Blackwater Mercenaries are working for the American Government in covert operations in Pakistan-targeted assassinations,kidnappings, Drone attacks etc.

Here's a rousing video for Blackwater's founder and CEO Evangelical Fundamentalist Erik Prince's on going crusade against Islam. see more at end of post or go to DemocracyNow! Nov. 24, 2009




This post was going to be mainly a follow up to the case of the Canadian Citizen "Child Soldier" Omar Khadr - it still is but I begin with the breaking news of Canada's culpability in the torture of POWs handed over to Afghan authorities. Note I prefer to use POWs Prisoners of War because "Detainee " is just part of the Bush/Cheney Regimes Newspeak. The people detained are accused of being "enemy combatants". According to the definition of "Terrorists" and "detainee" the U.S. government or Canadian and British Government s would be justified in abusing and torturing any criminal suspected of being a Domestic Terrorists or having known at some point someone who may have had contact with an International Terrorist Organization.

This becomes a slippery slope so why not abuse, beat up, torture your average Child molester or rapists or thief or murderer where does it end. We hear this all the time from the military, the government and police forces that they must be completely and utterly and unconditionally to do whatever they need to to get the bad guys. So torturing some perp because he might know where there is a Marijuana Grow-op or knows who robbed a bank etc. So if the public is in favor of these Draconian Fascistic ways of policing society then Canadians should be ashamed of themselves.

" An Afghan agency, at one time entrusted to monitor Canadian-captured insurgents in Kandahar, says it has documented nearly 400 cases of torture across the war-ravaged country…The Conservative government has described Colvin’s allegation as hearsay, unsubstantiated and “simply not credible.” However, the Afghan commission said it uncovered 47 cases of abuse in Kandahar, which was ranked third in terms of the number of abuse claims in the country.

Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment are common in the majority of law enforcement institutions, and at least 98.5 per cent of interviewed victims have been tortured,” said the commission’s April 2009 study."

The independent study, which tracked abuse claims between 2001 and early 2008, shows the vast majority of them — 243 — were leveled in 2006 and 2007. That is the time frame when Colvin was in Afghanistan and warning the federal government about torture."

Quoted From:
"Report cites 400 torture cases Natynczyk admits transferring of prisoners to Afghans was halted more than once" By MURRAY BREWSTER The Canadian Press/Chronicle Herald.ca, Nov 23,2009

“We don’t minimize the seriousness of the crimes for (which) Khadr was accused. But he’s done, what is it, seven, eight years in Guantanamo in horrendous conditions, and we think it’s time he was brought home and re-integrated.”

Quote from: Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff , Aug. 25, 2009 Globe & Mail

"The judges here are under a lot of pressure ...This prosecution is an embarrassment to the United States. The US has been a leader in international efforts to protect child soldiers, but we're flouting them in Omar's case."
Quote by Lt-Cdr William Kuebler head of Mr Khadr's defence team

Anyway I'm not surprised by these new revelations since if one just Googles some of the tags to the story you'll find members of Parliament and the Press has been asking questions about the issue of making sure POWs handed over to third parties are not abused or tortured.Though I am surprised this all went public so quickly which may be a good sign that the Canadian people will insist that the government do the right thing -but highly unlikely- bureaucrats and politicians always circle their wagons when it comes to certain issues since they believe in the notion of "Entitlement" that is being a special breed better than the rest of us they are not to be questioned or doubted.When something good happens these strange creatures are all too eager to take responsibility but when things don't go well they all go on holiday or take a few sick days or scurry to their oak and walnut offices too busy for appointments or calls. ( like Major Major in Catch 22- only receives people when he is not in-)

So it appears Peter McKay, Prime Minister Harper and other members of the Canadian Government and military may have been lying for years as part of an ongoing cover-up about how bad the situation is or was in Afghanistan . So Canada's hands are not so clean after all. We like the Americans have our own lust not for justice but for "Bloody Revenge" for each and every Canadian soldier wounded or killed.

This also shows that the Harper Governments lack of interest in the case of the "Child Soldier" Omar Khadr or other cases involving Canadian Citizens held by the Americans who are also known to torture and abuse of POWs (detainees)as part of standard Operations Procedures not just in GITMO where we know prisoners are still being abused and tortured as Jeremy Scahill ( documented recently. Now they use these gangs of soldiers or guards to beat the shit out of prisoner just for the fun of it or are they still getting orders from the Pentagon and the President to do these things.


" Afghan agency reported 400 cases of torture - 47 of them in Kandahar " by Scott Tribe of Scott's Diatribes November 23, 2009

I’m presuming that Peter MacKay and the rest of the Conservative government will claim since this agency didn’t actually, you know, see the torture first hand, it’s ‘not reliable’:

" An Afghan agency, at one time entrusted to monitor Canadian-captured insurgents in Kandahar, says it has documented nearly 400 cases of torture across the war-ravaged country…The Conservative government has described Colvin’s allegation as hearsay, unsubstantiated and “simply not credible.” However, the Afghan commission said it uncovered 47 cases of abuse in Kandahar, which was ranked third in terms of the number of abuse claims in the country.

“Torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment are common in the majority of law enforcement institutions, and at least 98.5 per cent of interviewed victims have been tortured,” said the commission’s April 2009 study."

The independent study, which tracked abuse claims between 2001 and early 2008, shows the vast majority of them — 243 — were levelled in 2006 and 2007. That is the time frame when Colvin was in Afghanistan and warning the federal government about torture.

MacKay and the Conservatives are still out there claiming there is still no solid proof anyone turned over to the Afghan NDS has been abused or tortured – solid proof apparently meaning to the Conservatives that someone has to see it happening first-hand (and how many bets if someone came forward to say that they had – the Conservatives would ask where the video tape of it was.. etc etc? Is there any doubt they’d trip over themselves raising the standard of proof needed on this?).

As Aaron Wherry queries, he wonders if that means more then a few reports on this topic are also going to be officially dismissed by the Canadian government:


And don’t forget the Afghan prison warden that Canwest interviewed who readily admitted there was torture there, but it wasn’t THAT bad:

Prisoners were tortured at Sarpoza Prison in Afghanistan, but not in nearly the numbers alleged this past week by a Canadian diplomat, the prison’s chief warden has told Canwest News Service. “Yes, there was torture and people were certainly beaten,” chief warden Col. Abdullah Bawar said Saturday during an interview conducted inside the prison’s heavily guarded walls. “Hands and legs would be tied and they would be beaten with cables. I even remember one man who broke his leg from a beating.”

Although his timeline was a bit fuzzy as to when such abuses stopped, Bawar estimated that “around 100 prisoners” from a population of about 1,100 had been physically abused during 2006 and 2007, which he referred to as “this dark period.”

So let’s get this straight: The warden of an Afghan prison admits to torture occurring, but the Conservative government can’t admit that any of the reports it received or a report such as this is are ‘credible instances of torture’?

also see:"Report cites 400 torture cases Natynczyk admits transferring of prisoners to Afghans was halted more than once" By MURRAY BREWSTER The Canadian Press / Chronicle Herald.ca, Nov 23,2009

And via Huffington Post story from NY Times:
"Canadian Military Has Quit Turning Detainees Over To Afghans" Nov. 24, 2009,New York Times

The Canadian military secretly stopped transferring prisoners to Afghanistan's government in November after Canadian monitors found evidence that they were being abused and tortured.

The suspension, which began Nov. 5, was disclosed in a fax sent by government lawyers to Amnesty International and the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association, which are seeking to block the prisoner transfers.

The government's internal concerns about detainees is also at odds with Canadian officials' repeated public statements that the Afghan government does not engage in systematic torture.

"The denials and political posturing and name-calling that have gone on over this at various points is very disheartening when all along there's been this information," said Alex Neve, the head of Amnesty International's Canadian branch.

Despite the suspension, Mr. Neve and Jason Gretl, president of the British Columbia association, said their lawyers would appear at the Federal Court of Canada in Ottawa on Thursday to seek an injunction blocking more transfers.

Obama continuing much of the illegal,unethical, immoral programs of abuse and torture of "detainees" , renditions, kidnappings, targeted assassinations, Unmanned Drones still blowing up wedding celebrations, birthday parties, funerals etc. in Pakistan. So the US and Obama have declared war on Pakistan ???

And now a little reminder of how little the obama administration has done to either stop the abuse of POWs or to investigate all those involved in torturing thousands of so called "detainees' in the various facilities run by American personnel either military,or Navy Seals, Special Forces or private contractors. Bush and Cheney used private contractors to give them another degree or two from the actual torture and abuse. And now Mr. Change & Hope holds out no real change and no hope of getting these war criminals from the top down to face the consequences. President Obama and his American supporters may think he's doing the right thing but he is not. We have numerous stories now of torture and abuse increasing in non-military prisons in the US and tasking place in police stations for instance just watch a few videos of Tazerings in which police get their jollies by torturing someone and some these victims have in fact died but that's the American way of Rough Cowboy Justice. This is the same sort of justice Stephen Harper being a Westerner also believes in nothing like a good old lynching party . And so what if soldiers act up a bit smear a detainee with feces or sodomize them the Canadian and American publics have now decided that's ok. If so then don't complain when an American, a Canadian or British soldier is tortured by the enemy. So who are the Barbarians those who don't seem to know any better or those who in fact do know better and who claim at some level to be civilized. Hard to tell the players apart sometimes . Its like what's the difference between a suicide bomber and a remote controlled Drone purposely dropped in Afganistan in a small village during a wedding because there might be high level Al Qaeda or Taliban or insurgents in attendance.

Torture Photos: US Soldiers Raped, Sodomized Iraqi Prisoners By Tom Eley 29 May, 2009
WSWS.org CounterCurrents.org

In an interview with the British newspaper the Daily Telegraph published Wednesday, former US General Antonio Taguba said that photographs the Obama administration is seeking to suppress show images of US soldiers raping and sodomizing Iraqi prisoners. Taguba, who conducted the military inquiry of prisoner abuse at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison in 2004 after some photos of US soldiers torturing prisoners became public, said that among the photos are images of soldiers raping a female prisoner, raping a male detainee, and committing “sexual assaults on prisoners with objects including a truncheon, wire and phosphorescent tube,” according to the Telegraph.

Gen. Taguba said even the description of the photos is explosive. “These pictures show torture, abuse, rape and every indecency,” Taguba said. “The mere description of these pictures is horrendous enough, take my word for it.”

Taguba’s revelations expose the deceit of President Barack Obama’s claim, used to justify the photos’ suppression, that they “are not particularly sensational, especially when compared to the painful images that we remember from Abu Ghraib.” In all, it is believed that there are some 2,000 photographs depicting about 400 cases of US military personnel torturing Iraqis and Afghans at seven military prisons. The Bush administration, and now Obama, have sought to block publication of the images.

Obama also claimed that “the most direct consequence of releasing them...would be to inflame anti-American public opinion and to put our troops in greater danger.” While this may likely be true, the criminal nature of the US occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan is already well known by the nations’ populations, who have died and been made refugees in the hundreds of thousands since being invaded in 2003 and 2001, respectively. Indeed, this claim only exposes the true nature of the US occupations: they have never been about establishing democracy, but aimed at stamping out resistance to US control of the strategically important nations through mass bloodletting and terror, the historical modus operandi of every imperialist occupying power.

However, the central reason Obama has chosen to fight the photos’ release is that top US generals announced their opposition to their publication. The generals’ intervention came in the midst of increasingly open dissension from the ranks of the military-intelligence apparatus over Obama’s handling of “the war on terror.” After Obama released four Bush administration legal memos justifying torture, a campaign, spearheaded by Bush Vice President Dick Cheney, was launched, appealing to the military brass and spies. Obama responded by promising he would block any investigation of the previous administration’s carefully crafted and controlled torture policies. He then reversed an earlier decision to not appeal a judge’s ruling in response to an American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) freedom of information lawsuit launched in 2004, which demanded the release of dozens of the torture photos.

An Obama Pentagon spokesman denied that the suppressed images depict rape, while a carefully worded statement seemed to indicate other photos depict precisely such actions. Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said the Telegraph “has completely mischaracterized the images.... None of the photos in question depict the images that are described in that article.” Whitman did not specifically deny Taguba’s claims.

Obama claims that the torture depicted in the photographs was committed by “a small number of individuals,” and that those “involved have been identified, and appropriate actions have been taken.” Here we may safely assume Obama is referring to a small handful of rank-and-file soldiers.

But what of the high-ranking officers who oversaw, endorsed and most likely ordered the torture and rape of prisoners? If there are 2,000 photographs of prisoner torture that fell under the control of the Pentagon, how many more cases were not photographed? It is clear that the torture and rape of prisoners went far beyond the actions of “a few bad apples.” This torture and sexual humiliation of prisoners—up to and including rape—can only be described as the systematic policy of the US military and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), sanctioned at the highest levels of government. Indeed, the generals’ opposition to further publication of the photos is likely based in part on their own association with the crimes.

The policy of torture came from higher still, however, as recently released Justice Department legal memos and other evidence show. Various forms of torture, including forced nudity and sexual humiliation were studied, justified, and individually approved by top White House and congressional officials. A US Senate Armed Services Committee report issued in April reveals that Bush Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld personally approved 15 “harsh interrogation” methods. A version of Rumsfeld’s document was used, verbatim, at Abu Ghraib, according to the report. (See “Bush, top cabinet officials monitored torture of detainees”)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Part 2 more on Omar Khadr.

Soldiers and Children in Armed Conflict A CSR (Child Soldier Relief)Special Report

Kate Davey Director of Research Projects

Sarah Pierce Legal Intern and Director of Outreach, Development and Communication

Children have been used as tools of war throughout history, serving not only as foot soldiers on the front line, but also as spies, porters and sexual slaves. Lawmakers and human rights organizations generally recognize the following from the 1997 Capetown Principles as the standard for defining a child soldier: “a child soldier is any person under 18 years of age who is part of any kind of regular or irregular armed force or armed group in any capacity, including but not limited to cooks, porters, messengers and anyone accompanying such groups, other than family members. The definition includes girls recruited for sexual purposes and for forced marriage. It does not, therefore, only refer to a child who is carrying or has carried arms.”

"Guantanamo's Child: The Untold Story of Omar Khadr-1/2
Democracy Now May 6, 2008 Michele Shephard of Toronto Star

"Guantanamo's Child: The Untold Story of Omar Khadr"A US military judge dismissed the argument Friday that Guantanamo's youngest detainee, Omar Khadr, was a child soldier when captured in Afghanistan and therefore in need of protection and not prosecution. US Army Colonel Peter Brownback's ruling clears the way for Khadr's trial, which will be the first war crimes trial in history of anyone under the age of eighteen.

Interrogator accuses this child soldier Omar Khadr of faking it in order to manipulate him. US guards insist he put his shirt back on they seem agitated that he may have told the truth about lack of medical treatment and possible abuse at Gitmo..

Guantanamo Bay child soldier CSIS interrogation - Omar Khadr




"Canadian becomes first child soldier since Nuremberg to stand trial for war crimes" by Michael Savage May 7, 2008

After the publication of the ruling, the head of Mr Khadr's defence team, Lt-Cdr William Kuebler, said the decision to go ahead with the trial was "disappointing, but not surprising".

"The judges here are under a lot of pressure," he said. "This prosecution is an embarrassment to the United States. The US has been a leader in international efforts to protect child soldiers, but we're flouting them in Omar's case."

Human rights organisations have voiced concerns over Mr Khadr's treatment since his arrival at Guantanamo nearly six years ago. Despite his age at the time, Mr Khadr was never treated as a juvenile inmate. He went into the adult camp, rather than Camp Iguana, a camp for minors. His case has also prompted an official protest from the UN's Special Representative for Children in Armed Conflict, Radhika Coomaraswamy.

Lt-Cdr Kuebler now believes Mr Khadr's only hope of receiving a fair trial is through the Canadian courts, but the Canadian government has refused to intervene in the case, despite growing international pressure. The UK's five leading legal associations have raised concerns with the Canadian Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, urging him to repatriate Mr Khadr home. The former attorney general Lord Goldsmith, who masterminded the return of the British nationals from Guantanamo, is also calling for Mr Khadr to be tried in his home country.

"It's the principle that matters as far as I'm concerned," said Lord Goldsmith. "For a long time I have felt Guantanamo Bay was not right in principle or practice. But I think that is accentuated in the case of someone who was a child at the time, and different considerations therefore apply in how they are dealt with. I would support Omar's return to Canada, and for Canada to deal with him within their law."

Mr Khadr was detained by US soldiers after a firefight at a compound in a small village near Khost, eastern Afghanistan, in July 2002. He is accused of throwing a grenade that killed US Delta Force soldier, Christopher Speer.

November 16, 2009
" What Will Happen to Guantanamo's "Child Soldier," Omar Khadr?-Omar Khadr was captured at 15 and grew up in Gitmo. It's time to give him a fair shake at justice." By Suzanne Ito at AlterNet.org, Nov. 16, 2009

The world knows Khadr as one of the child soldiers detained at Gitmo since he was 15. (The other child soldier, Mohammed Jawad, was released back to Afghanistan after the government failed to produce enough credible evidence to bring charges against him.) Khadr is accused of throwing a grenade that killed an Army medic in Afghanistan, a charge that the U.S. government itself later threw into question by accident during one of his pre-trial hearings:

During a break in the hearing, members of the press were given copies of legal motions on the issue of whether the military commission has the authority to try Khadr, given his status as a juvenile at the time of his alleged offenses. Included in those papers was a classified attachment, which, according to military commissions officials, should have been redacted, instead of released.

The significance of the document was made clear by Khadr's military defense counsel, Lt. Cmdr. William Kuebler. Asked to describe it later in the day, Lt. Cmdr. Kuebler said it dispelled what he referred to as a myth propagated by the government: that Khadr was the only person who could have lobbed the grenade that killed U.S. soldier Christopher Speer -- the basis of the most serious charge against him. The document, created in 2004, turned out to be an interview of a witness to Khadr's capture. In it, the witness describes finding two people alive in the Afghan compound in which Khadr was captured -- the witness shot and killed the first man before he saw Khadr. Then, according to Lt. Cmdr. Kuebler, Khadr, who was 15 years old at the time, "was shot on sight -- in the back -- twice -- while wounded, sitting and leaning against a wall facing away from his attackers." (emphasis ours)

Earlier [Friday], the Supreme Court of Canada heard arguments in an appeal by the Canadian government on two lower court decisions that found Khadr's rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms had been breached when Canadian officials interviewed him at the prison in Guantánamo in 2003 and shared the resulting information with U.S. authorities. Khadr's lawyers argued that Canada was complicit in his abuse and maintain that the Canadian government is obliged under international law to demand the prisoner's return. Since Khadr was only addressed in passing at Attorney General Eric Holder's news conference this morning, Canadian news outlets are reporting the possibility that Khadr could still be repatriated to Canada and tried in a Canadian court.

Or, he could still be tried in the flawed military commission system. But as Dafna Linzer points out ... in ProPublica, the evidence against those the government won't transfer is flimsy:

[…]Most of the remaining [Guantánamo] detainees are considered too difficult to prosecute, mostly because the evidence against them is thin or based on statements obtained through coercion.

One defense attorney said federal prosecutors had so little on his client that they asked the detainee to suggest a charge he would be willing to plead guilty to.

The U.S. government has refused to acknowledge his status as a child or to apply universally recognized standards of juvenile justice in his case. According to Human Rights Watch:

No international tribunal since Nuremberg has prosecuted a child for alleged war crimes. The United Nations committee that monitors the rights of children found that the United States has held alleged child soldiers at Guantánamo without giving due account of their status as children and concluded that the “conduct of criminal proceedings against children within the military justice system should be avoided.

It's time for all Guantánamo detainees to be moved to federal court, a system that's successfully prosecuted more than 150 defendants on terrorism-related charges, both before and after 9/11. Compare that to the whopping three convictions achieved by the broken military commissions. Tell Attorney General Eric Holder to send all detainees' cases to federal court.

Khadr grew up in Gitmo. It's time to give him a fair shake at justice, or better yet, repatriate him to Canada for rehabilitation, and reintegration into society and a second chance in life.

Stephen Harper following the lead of former President Bush and current President Obama ignore the Human Rights issue and the International Conventions on Child Soldiers who are supposed to be treated as victims. So Canada under Stephen Harper has no interest it appears in adhering to International Law. The other issue this raises is this why Canada has shown little interest or concern over POWs being tortured and abused once they are turned over to American officials or Afghans or Pakistanis since America is now a torture state along with Afghanistan Pakistan Iraq, Syria,Israel, Jordan, Somalia etc.Stephen Harper and other government officials refused to take action in the Maher Arar case until it became a Public Relations nightmare for them.

So Canada is now like other nations which have little interests even in the human rights of their own citizens on the one hand and an absolute unconditional deference in such matters to their overlords in the United States whether Bus/Cheney or Obama. If Obama would just recognize Omar Khadr and others in their custody who fit the criteria of a Child Soldier the issue could be resolved . But Obama appears to believe as did Bush and most Republicans and Democrats that International Laws agreements , pacts etc. are just meaningless pieces of paper by which they con the world into believing that they care about human rights in other words its just a Public Relations stunt to be seen voting in the United Nations and signing such agreements while they chuckle to themselves. Americans in general being Machiavellian who have no scruples about treating other countries unfairly and unjustly or as mere colonies Other countries have to follow international law including the Geneva Conventions but the Americans and other superior nations make the rules up as they go along. As it is Obama has given a de facto pardon to all those Americans who were involved in kidnappings, renditions, abuse and torture and targeted assassinations. So once again America gets away with war crimes and crimes against humanity as they did in Vietnam War, and America's dirty wars in Latin America and in the middle East "Coups R'US"

Meanwhile Canada , Britain and other countries fearing America -the Bully in the playground -they act as enablers and apologist defending America unconditionally.Now we seem to have lost our moral compass as it were as the Canadian public demands revenge in the form of blood and flesh to satisfy our lust. Is this what we have become. Just one of America's side kicks like Great Britain which is no longer so Great as it bends to America's will.



Canadian Government Discounts Human Rights Omar Khadr Left in Guantanamo Bay as Ottawa Appeals Court Rulings
Rupert TaylorAug 27, 2009

Canadians Protest Omar Khadr’s Incarceration., Joshua Sherurcij
Prime Minister Stephen Harper has asked the Supreme Court to overturn court orders to seek the return of Omar Khadr.

Omar Khadr is a Canadian citizen. At the age of 15, which by definition made him a child soldier, Mr. Khadr got caught up in a firefight in Afghanistan. He was in that war-torn country because his father, who had terrorist connections, had taken him there. Captured by U.S. soldiers, he was accused of killing an American. He has been held under that charge in the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba prison since 2002.

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Canada was prominent in writing and ratifying, extends protection to child soldiers from prosecution for war crimes.
Canadian Officials Violated Khadr’s Rights

Held in solitary confinement and subjected to “enhanced interrogation” by U.S. agents, Omar Khadr was said to be in a fragile mental state when Canadian officials visited him in prison. Writing in The Globe and Mail, Bill Curry (August 26, 2009) reported, “Canadian officials violated his Charter rights in 2003 and 2004 by interrogating him at Guantanamo while he was under duress, and then sharing that information with the Americans.”

This was the judgement on August 14, 2009 of the Federal Court of Appeals, which then ordered Ottawa to seek the release of Khadr. This decision upheld an April 2009 ruling by Federal Court Judge James O’Reilly.

Now, the Conservative government of Stephen Harper has asked the Supreme Court of Canada to overturn the decisions of the two lower courts.

Khadr’s Prison Conditions Described as Poor

The Globe and Mail article reports that “Mr. Khadr is now being held with other detainees. His Canadian lawyer, Dennis Edney, describes the area as a ‘cage’ in which his client is chained to the floor.”

According to Edney, Khadr has lost the sight in one eye and the vision in his other is deteriorating. Citing security concerns, prison guards won’t allow inmates at Guantanamo to have glasses.

Toronto Star writer Tonda McCharles says (August 26, 2009) that “Even some Conservatives privately admit they have been taken aback by Harper’s utter indifference to pleas about Khadr’s plight.

“There’s no clear explanation for it. Is it good foreign policy? Good politics? Or simple ideological stubborness?”
Campaign for Khadr’s Release

Among the human rights groups pressing for Omar Khadr’s release is the Canadian Coalition for the Rights of Children. Its Chair is Kathy Vandergrift and she was quoted in Embassy magazine (July 29, 2009) as saying her group has advocated that Omar Khadr to be considered a child solider. "At senior levels, we don’t think we have a problem," she said, "we think the (foreign affairs) department understands, but at the political level there is a sense that children involved with terrorists groups are not child soldiers, and that’s simply not the case under international law.”

End Notes on Child Soldiers:

Amnesty International
Child soldiers: Criminals or victims? December 22, 2000

This report examines the complex questions surrounding child soldiers. It addresses such issues as criminal responsibility, where children have committed atrocities voluntarily or through involuntary submission, as well as the need to prosecute those responsible for recruiting and controlling child soldiers.

...3. Amnesty International's view on impunity: investigations and prosecutions are vital.

Amnesty International calls for all perpetrators of crimes involving serious violations of human rights - genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity - to be brought to justice. To do otherwise contributes to the phenomenon of impunity,that is, those who have perpetrated serious crimes or might consider doing so will be encouraged to commit further atrocities, knowing that the matter will not be investigated, and they will not be held accountable. It is extremely important to set an example for others. Impunity also denies victims their right to reparations, which includes the right to an apology and to justice. Amnesty International does not have a position on truth commissions or other forms of restorative justice per se, provided that these are not a substitute for justice.

Amnesty International has underlined the following basic requirements to combat impunity:

''First, there should be thorough investigations into allegations of human rights violations. The object of such investigations should be to determine individual and collective responsibility and to provide a full account of the truth to the victim, their relatives, and society. Investigations must be undertaken by impartial institutions, independent of the security forces, and must be granted the necessary authority and resources for their task. The results of such investigations should be made public.


Second, those responsible for human rights violations must be brought to justice whether they are officials of a past or current government and regardless of whether they are members of the security forces or unofficial paramilitary groups. Alleged perpetrators should be brought to trial and such trials should conclude with a clear verdict of guilt or innocence. Although Amnesty International takes no position on the nature of the sentence, the systematic imposition of penalties that bear little relationship to the seriousness of the offences brings the judicial process into disrepute and does not serve to deter further violations. It is, of course, also important that such trials are conducted in full conformity with internationally-recognised standards and that the defendants are not subjected to the death penalty.

Third, amnesty laws which have the effect of preventing the emergence of the truth and subsequent accountability before the law, should not be acceptable, whether effected by those responsible or by successor governments. However Amnesty International takes no position regarding the granting of post-conviction pardons once the truth is known and the judicial process has been completed.''(6)

4. Amnesty International's policy on child soldiers.

Amnesty International believes that the voluntary or compulsory recruitment and participation in hostilities, whether on the part of governments or armed opposition groups, are all activities that ultimately jeopardize the mental and physical integrity of anyone below the age of 18. For this reason, the organization actively opposes the voluntary or compulsory recruitment, not just the participation in hostilities,of persons below 18 years of age by governments or armed opposition groups.


Recent international standards have underlined that the use of children as soldiers is an abuse of human rights. The Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict prohibits absolutely any forced recruitment of children under 18 into the armed forces (Article 2). It allows those under 18 to be recruited voluntarily to state armed forces under certain strict conditions to ensure that such recruitment is voluntary (Article 3). Article 4 of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child states that ''armed groups that are distinct from the armed forces of a State should not, under any circumstances, recruit or use in hostilities persons under the age of 18 years.'' This is an absolute prohibition.

ILO Convention No.182 of June 1999 on the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Form of Child Labour includes the prohibition of forced or compulsory recruitment of children under 18 for use in armed conflict.

Article 22(2) of the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child(7) states that all parties ''shall take all necessary measures to ensure that no child shall take a direct part in hostilities and refrain in particular from recruiting any child.''

These recent developments follow the prohibitions on the use of children under 15 in Additional Protocols I(8) and II(9) of 1977 to the Geneva Conventions of 1949. Both Additional Protocols forbid the recruitment of children under 15 to armed forces, and the use of children under 15 in hostilities. Both Additional Protocols emphasise children's special right to care, respect and protection.

The rehabilitation of child soldiers is a paramount concern of international law: Article 6(3) of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child requires that''States parties shall take all feasible measures to ensure that persons within their jurisdiction recruited or used in hostilities contrary to this Protocol are demobilised or otherwise released from service. States parties shall, when necessary, accord to these persons all appropriate assistance for their physical and psychological recovery and social reintegration.''

also see:

Blackwater is responsible for Drone attacks and kidnappings, targeted assassinations in Pakistan and other Black-ops programs and secret bases in Pakistan.Cheney & Rumsfeld set up a parallel clandestine force who reported directly to Cheney & Rumsfeld. This program was set up in such a way that even top officials including Obama may not know about its existence or its activities.

Blackwater’s Secret War in Pakistan: Jeremy Scahill Reveals Private Military Firm Operating in Pakistan Under Covert Assassination and Kidnapping Program at DemocracyNow!Nov. 24, 2009

In an explosive new article in The Nation magazine, investigative journalist and Democracy Now! correspondent Jeremy Scahill reveals the private military firm Blackwater is part of a covert program in Pakistan that includes planning the assassination and kidnapping of Taliban and Al-Qaeda suspects. Blackwater is also said to be involved in a previously undisclosed U.S. military drone campaign that has killed scores of people inside Pakistan. The article says the program has become so secretive that top Obama administration and military officials have likely been unaware of its existence. In a Democracy Now!

Blackwater in Pakistan for '' TARGETED KILLINGS ''Sept. 8,2009



Jeremy Scahill: “Little Known Military Thug Squad Still Brutalizing Prisoners at Gitmo Under Obama” May 19, 2009 at DemocracyNow!

Jeremy Scahill reports the Obama administration is continuing to use a notorious military police unit at Guantanamo that regularly brutalizes unarmed prisoners, including gang-beating them, breaking their bones, gouging their eyes and dousing them with chemicals. This force, officially known as the Immediate Reaction Force, has been labeled the “Extreme Repression Force” by Guantanamo prisoners, and human rights lawyers call their actions illegal.

and so it goes,
GORD.