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LONDON – The conviction of three soldiers by a military court for abusing Iraqi prisoners is seen to have put the British military on trial. But reports on the way the trial has been conducted put Britain’s judicial system itself on trial. The three soldiers were convicted by a British military court at a base … Continue reading “UK: Torture All You Want, but Leave the Cameras at Home”

At Fort Bragg, the largest U.S. army installation in the world and home to the famed 82nd Airborne Division, the mood is not exactly buoyant. "There are people here who are being deployed for the third time," said Lou Plummer, a veteran with a son on active duty. "At least 50 people from the base … Continue reading “Antiwar Movement Gears Up for Global Protests on War Anniversary”

WASHINGTON – The World Bank, an international development institution that says it has no political agenda, may be preparing to fund Israeli security checkpoints around a controversial separation wall under construction on occupied Palestinian territories. Israel is not eligible for World Bank lending because of its high per capita income, but Palestinians are. According to … Continue reading “World Bank and US: Palestinians Should Pay for Israeli Checkpoints”

Even as defense attorneys were filing court papers charging that the U.S. government was hiding behind secret evidence, and demanding their client’s release from a Saudi Arabian prison, Ahmed Abu Ali was being whisked back to the United States and charged with conspiring to kill President George W. Bush. The 23-year-old U.S. citizen, who had … Continue reading “Student in ‘Rendition’ Case Returns to US for Trial”

One issue raised in my Feb. 19 interview [stream] [download] of the coincidentally named Scott Horton, director of the International League of Human Rights, was that certain crimes, particularly war crimes, are subject to prosecution by any nation. That is, when the people of a criminal state refuse to hold the individuals in charge accountable … Continue reading “Torturing Our Sovereignty”

LONDON – New anti-terror legislation proposed in Britain makes Guantanamo Bay appear liberal in some respects. Britain has had its own Guantanamo Bay in the high security Belmarsh prison, where 10 foreign nationals have been held without charge and without trial for most of three years since December 2001. A panel of law lords, the … Continue reading “Proposed UK Law Makes Guantanamo Look Liberal”

Whoever said Hunter S. Thompson was dead? You wouldn’t believe it for a moment if you were wading through the paranoia and zaniness festering in the mind of Michael Ledeen. But while the Mad Monk of 17th Street is chewing the carpet at the thought of washing clean the filthy domains, the similarities between the … Continue reading “The Gonzocons Live On”

The "Unfinished War" Rages On Neither the ongoing trouble in Iraq, threats to Syria, North Korea’s nuclear weapons, nor the increasing belligerence toward Russia sufficed to divert the advocates of "independence" for the occupied Serbian province of Kosovo, who resumed their diplomatic and media offensive launched in late January with another set of high-profile editorials. … Continue reading “Convergence in Kosovo”

“Magnanimity in politics is not seldom the truest wisdom; and a great empire and little minds go ill together,” Edmund Burke admonished the haughty rulers of the British Empire of his time. Our American empire is suffering from a similar want of wisdom and plenitude of the hubris that cost George III his 13 colonies. … Continue reading “Who Lost Russia?”

The situation for Iraqi women has gotten worse in many respects since the U.S.-led invasion two years back, says a report from Amnesty International. “The current lack of security has forced many women out of public life and constitutes a major obstacle to the advancement of their rights,” says the report, “Iraq: Decades of Suffering … Continue reading “In Iraq, It Could Be Getting Worse for Women”