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News Release Archive - War: Info, Analysis, Policy Options

Libya: “Hidden Agendas” and “Vital Interests”

March 29, 2011

JAN OBERG, Skype: janoberg
Secretary of State Clinton is in London today at a conference with other governments participating in the bombing of Libya, including those of Britain, France and Qatar. Based in Sweden, Oberg, who is director of the Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future Research, recently wrote the piece “Libya: Contradictions, Foolish Assumptions and Flawed Humanism.”

PEPE ESCOBAR, Skype: pepeasia
Escobar’s books include Obama Does Globalistan. His recent writings for the Asia Times are at: atimes.com.

He recently wrote the piece “There’s no Business Like War Business,” which states: “Lies, hypocrisy and hidden agendas. This is what United States President Barack Obama did not dwell on [in his speech last night] when explaining his Libya doctrine to America and the world. … It’s easy to identify who profits from the war in Libya: The Pentagon, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the ‘rebels,’ the French and al-Qaeda. But that’s only a short list of profiteers; control of an ocean of fresh water is crucial to the war mix and nobody knows who’ll end up getting the oil and the natural gas. … United Nations Security Council resolution 1973 has worked like a Trojan horse, allowing the Anglo-French-American consortium — and NATO — to become the UN’s air force in its support of an armed uprising. Apart from having nothing to do with protecting civilians, this arrangement is absolutely illegal in terms of international law.”

He also wrote the piece “Endgame: Divide, Rule and Get the Oil,” which states: “Odyssey Dawn is only happening because the 22-member Arab League voted to impose a no-fly zone over Libya. The Arab League — routinely dismissed in Western capitals as irrelevant before this decision — is little else than an instrument of the House of Saud’s foreign policy. Its ‘decision’ was propelled by Washington’s promise to protect the GCC [Gulf Cooperation Council] kings/sheikhs/oligarchs from the democratic aspirations of their own subjects — who are yearning for the same democratic rights as their ‘cousins’ in eastern Libya.

“This is exactly the same GCC, posing for Saudi Arabia that invaded Bahrain to help the Sunni al-Khalifa dynasty to crush the pro-democracy movement. … For Saudi Arabia this was a great deal; the perfect chance for King Abdullah to get rid of Gaddafi (the bad blood between both since 2002 is legendary), and the perfect chance for the House of Saud to lend a hand to a bewildered Washington.” [Brazil is one of a few non-Arab countries granted observer status at the Arab League.]

TOBY C. JONES, @tobycraigjones
Jones is an assistant professor of history at Rutgers University and author of the book Desert Kingdom: How Oil and Water Forged Modern Saudi Arabia. He said today: “While the United States has taken on a brutal dictator in Libya … its claims to be supporting Arab democratic movements elsewhere is belied by its policies in the Persian Gulf. Robert Gates remarked on Sunday’s Meet the Press that U.S. stands by its ally in Saudi Arabia and even justified a recent $60 billion arms deal to Riyadh. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia has conspired to brutally repress a pro-democratic movement in Bahrain. Gates remarked that intervention in Libya was justified in part because it was not a ‘vital interest’ to the United States, while the Gulf is. The cost of our strategic relationships with the Gulf means more oppression, greater instability, and a potential escalation of hostilities with Iran. Perhaps it is time to rethink what is vital about our ties to brutal regimes in the heartland of oil.”

For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167

Filed Under: , Tagged With: Libya, Saudi,

Bahrain Repression: Saudi Troops, U.S. Arms, Al-Jazeera Silence

March 25, 2011

A source in Bahrain who wishes to remain anonymous for their personal safety told the Institute of Public Accuracy this afternoon: “The regime has just arrested Lin Noueihed of Reuters and some other reporters. [Noueihed's last piece]

“Other countries are getting rid of their emergency laws, while Bahrain is imposing a new martial law. Things are incredibly tense. The regime is saying it wants a ‘cleansing operation’ — some Saudi and Kuwaiti media are using this term as well. The state media in Bahrain are continuing to be incredibly sectarian, creating enmity. Other media are being seriously intimidated, some have been beaten. Al-Jazeera is incredibly silent. I fear there could be a civil war and I fear it could spread. In this small country, 20 peaceful protesters have been killed and, according to the opposition, 100 people are missing and hundreds have been detained by the regime.

“We need serious help. The UN should at least meet to discuss what his happening here. The Saudis have moved into Bahrain and are interfering in one way or another in every Arab country. They don’t want positive developments in Tunisia and Egypt to spread to other countries.”

HUSAIN ABDULLA
Abdulla is director of Americans for Democracy and Human Rights in Bahrain. He said today: “There are extensive protests throughout Bahrain. It’s difficult to get one large protest in the central square because the regime has broken them up. The Saudi troops are still there of course, but getting them out has become a rallying cry for the protesters. The regime is using U.S. tear gas, weapons and Apache helicopters. Sen. Patrick Leahy is pressuring the Pentagon to make a determination about whether this violates U.S. law, using U.S. weapons to repress people. Al-Jazeera, and especially Al-Jazeera Arabic is incredibly quiet about the protests, they seem to only be for protests far away from Qatar [where Al-Jazeera is based].” See interview with The Real News

For Twitter pics and updates: #feb14, @MazenMahdi

For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167

Filed Under: , Tagged With: al-jazeera, Bahrain, qatar, Saudi,

AFRICOM as Libya Bombing Motive

March 24, 2011

HORACE CAMPBELL
Campbell is professor of African American studies and political science at Syracuse University and is currently working on a book on AFRICOM (United States Africa Command). He said today: “U.S. involvement in the Libyan bombing is being turned into a public relations ploy for AFRICOM. AFRICOM is fundamentally a front for U.S. military contractors like Dyncorp, MPRI and KBR operating in Africa. U.S. military planners who benefit from the revolving door of privatization of warfare are delighted by the opportunity to give AFRICOM credibility under the facade of the Libyan intervention. No African country has agreed to let AFRICOM onto the continent. It has 1,500 people operating out of Stuttgart, Germany. If Libya is indeed partitioned, that new state could provide a base for AFRICOM.

“The U.S. needs to stop bombing Libya and meaningfully work with the African Union, which (less mailable to Western interests than the Arab League) has been pushed aside. Note that Egypt and Tunisia are not among the Arab states participating in the Libya bombing. The states participating are Saudi Arabia and others that are among the most repressive Arab countries. The attack on Libya is largely being used to undermine the revolutionary gains in Egypt and prevent such changes in other Arabic and African countries.” Campbell notes that the U.S. is continuing to back Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and other oppressive Arab regimes.

He added: “An additional problem has been racist attitudes in the discussion of so-called ‘African mercenaries’ in the Arab and Western media.”

EMIRA WOODS
Woods is co-director of Foreign Policy In Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies. She specializes in Africa. Woods said today: “AFRICOM makes its first major foray in Africa with massive air strikes on Libya. The velvet glove of humanitarian trainer has at last been taken off to reveal the fist of the military and its dominant role in U.S. Africa engagement. Established under the Bush administration and strengthened under Obama, AFRICOM has been rejected by African governments, scholars, and human rights champions. AFRICOM’s lead role in the assault on Libya will breed greater anti-Americanism while draining much needed monies and threatening civilian lives, with each bomb dropped.”

For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167

Filed Under: , , Tagged With: Africa, AFRICOM, Libya,

Libya and War Powers

March 22, 2011

ROBERT NAIMAN
Naiman is policy director of Just Foreign Policy. He just wrote the piece “Congress Must Debate the Libya War,” which states: “To put it crudely: as a matter of logic, if President Obama can bomb Libya without Congressional authorization, then President Palin can bomb Iran without Congressional authorization. If, God forbid, we ever get to that fork in the road, you can bet your bottom dollar that the advocates of bombing Iran will invoke Congressional silence now as justification for their claims of unilateral presidential authority to bomb anywhere, anytime.”

MARJORIE COHN
Cohn is a professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law and just wrote the piece “Stop Bombing Libya,” which states: “The resolution authorizes UN Member States ‘to take all necessary measures … to protect civilians and civilian populated areas under threat of attack in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, including Benghazi, while excluding a foreign occupation force of any form on any part of Libyan territory.’ The military action taken exceeds the bounds of the ‘all necessary measures’ authorization.

“‘All necessary measures’ should first have been peaceful measures to settle the conflict. But peaceful means were not exhausted before Obama began bombing Libya. A high level international team — consisting of representatives from the Arab League, the Organization of African Unity, and the UN Secretary General — should have been dispatched to Tripoli to attempt to negotiate a real cease-fire, and set up a mechanism for elections and for protecting civilians.”

Cohn’s latest book is The United States and Torture: Interrogation, Incarceration, and Abuse.

For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167

Filed Under: Tagged With: Libya, war powers,

Egypt: Army Still Torturing People a “Red Line”

March 21, 2011

Dr. AIDA SEIF AL-DAWLA, Dr. MOSTAFA HUSSEIN, @moftasa
Al-Dawla is with the Nadeem Center for Victims of Torture. She is a psychiatrist. Hussein is a doctor at the Task Force Against Torture, which brings together non-profits, bloggers and activists highlighting the continuation of torture in post-Mubarak Egypt on the new webpage against-torture.net.

Hussein said today: “The army is engaging in massive and brutal torture. Civilians, many of them pro-democracy activists, are being detained and beaten. Then, many of them have been brought before military courts. These courts are conducted in secret, limit access to lawyers and do not allow appeals. People are getting sentences of three to five or even seven years for ‘thuggery.’ These civilians are sometimes shown on the nightly news on state TV in an apparent attempt to intimidate the public and ensure ‘order.’ We have testimony of people being beaten, electrocuted, whipped and seeing others beaten to death.

“Perhaps most distressing, the media in Egypt, even the independent newspapers, are largely ignoring army torture and abuse. The army is a red line. If we’re going to have a meaningful democracy in Egypt, this has to change. It’s critical that outside media now cover this; we’ve translated video and testimony from individuals.”

See testimonials: against-torture.net/node/146

The case of Rami Issam (“singer of Tahrir Square”) has received some coverage.

For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167

Filed Under: Tagged With: army, Egypt, torture,

Tipping Point in Yemen?

March 21, 2011

CNN is reporting: “Three top generals in Yemen declared their support for anti-government protests Monday as a wave of officials, including the deputy speaker of parliament, announced their resignations. … The ambassadors to Pakistan, Qatar, Oman, Spain and the consul general in Dubai announced their resignations together later on Monday. The envoys to China, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Algeria also quit, according to a government official who is not authorized to speak to the media and asked not to be named. … [President] Saleh dismissed his Cabinet on Sunday, after the weekend resignations of two top Yemeni officials to protest a government crackdown on protesters that left 52 people dead last week.”

JAMILA ALI RAJA
Available for a limited number of interviews, Raja is a former adviser to the Foreign Ministry who recently resigned. She said today: “The countdown for the president has started.”

IBRAHIM MOTHANA, @imothana
A Yemeni writer and youth activist, Mothana said today: “Today the Yemeni youth and nation are not only experiencing a birth of a new country but also an emergence of a culture of peace and democratic expression in a country that is one of the most highly armed societies in the world. The country has lived though decades of wars and conflicts which caused the deaths of more than 60,000 people in the past 30 years yet NOT ONE bullet was fired from protesters since the uprising started. Today a Yemen of equality, justice, peace, rule of law and democracy is being born.” [Note: According to Small Arms Survey, only the U.S. has more arms per capita than Yemen.]

SHEILA CARAPICO
Professor of political science and international studies at Richmond University and currently visiting at the American University in Cairo, Carapico said today: “The Post, the Times, and other sources are reporting the defection of Yemeni top military commanders including the very powerful, much-feared Major-General Ali Muhsin (al-Ahmar), a key figure in [President Saleh's] past military campaigns against Southern secessionists in 1994 and against al-Huthi rebels more recently. This could be the tipping point; it spells fragmentation within the military high command, or a revolt within the armed forces. Given that he has so much ‘blood on his hands,’ the response from the pro-democracy protesters to Ali Muhsin’s gesture of joining them is mixed.” Carapico is author of Civil Society in Yemen.

SUSANNE DAHLGREN
Dahlgren writes frequently on Yemen. She is Academy of Finland research fellow with the Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies and the author of Contesting Realities: The Public Sphere and Morality in Southern Yemen. (Syracuse Univ. Press 2010). She said today: “Saleh is trying to manipulate the situation, claiming that protesters are fighting each other, but he has been deploying snipers.”

On Friday, Human Rights Watch released a statement: “The United States should immediately suspend military assistance to Yemen until President Ali Abdullah Saleh ends attacks on largely peaceful anti-government protesters and prosecutes those responsible. … The United States has provided more than $300 million in military and security aid to Yemen in the past five years.”

For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167

Filed Under: , Tagged With: yemen,

Afghan Women’s Rights Advocate Barred from U.S.

March 18, 2011

The U.S. government has denied a travel visa to Malalai Joya, an acclaimed women’s rights activist and former member of Afghanistan’s parliament, said organizers of her U.S. tour. Joya, who was named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world in 2010, was set to begin a three-week U.S. tour to promote an updated edition of her memoir, A Woman Among Warlords, published by Scribner, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.

Tour organizers report that when Joya presented herself as scheduled at the U.S. embassy, she was told she was being denied because she was “unemployed” and “lives underground.” Then 27, Joya was the youngest woman elected to Afghanistan’s parliament in 2005. “Because of her harsh criticism of warlords and fundamentalists in Afghanistan, she has been the target of at least five assassination attempts. The reason Joya lives underground is because she faces the constant threat of death for having had the courage to speak up for women’s rights — it’s obscene that the U.S.  government would deny her entry,” said Sonali Kolhatkar of the Afghan Women’s Mission, a U.S.-based organization that has hosted Joya for speaking tours in the past and is a sponsor of this year’s national tour.

Joya has also become an internationally known critic of the U.S.-NATO war in Afghanistan. Organizers argue that the denial of Joya’s visa appears to be a case of what the American Civil Liberties Union describes as “Ideological Exclusion,” which they say violates Americans’ First Amendment right to hear constitutionally protected speech by denying foreign scholars, artists, politicians and others entry to the United States.

When contacted by AFP, the State Department declined comment on the case.

Joya’s publisher at Scribner, Alexis Gargagliano, said, “We had the privilege to publish Ms. Joya, and her earlier 2009 book tour met with wide acclaim. The right of authors to travel and promote their work is central to freedom of expression and the full exchange of ideas.” Joya’s memoir has been translated into over a dozen languages and she has toured widely including Australia, the UK, Canada, Norway, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, France, and the Netherlands in support of the book over the past two years.

Events featuring Malalai Joya are planned, from March 20 until April 10, in New York, New Jersey, Washington D.C., Maryland, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Minnesota, Oregon, Washington and California.

MALALAI JOYA, SONALI KOLHATKAR
Joya is available for a limited number of interviews. Kolhatkar is co-author of Bleeding Afghanistan: Washington, Warlords, and the Propaganda of Silence and is co-director of the Afghan Women’s Mission.

For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167

Filed Under: Tagged With: Afghanistan,

Declaration of War on Libya?

March 18, 2011

PHYLLIS BENNIS
A fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies, Bennis is author of Calling the Shots: How Washington Dominates Today’s UN. She said today: “Libya’s opposition movement faces a ruthless military assault. They have already paid a far higher price in lost and broken lives than activists in any of the other democratic uprisings shaping this year’s Arab Spring. They are desperate. So it is not surprising that they have urged, demanded, pleaded for international help, for support from the most powerful countries and institutions most able to provide immediate military aid. [Thursday night] the UN Security Council gave them what they asked for.

“Or did it? The legitimacy of the Libyan protesters’ demand does not mean that the decision by the United Nations and the powerful countries behind it was legitimate as well. The Libyan opposition, or at least those speaking for it, asked for a no-fly zone, for protection from the regime’s air force, to allow them to take on and defeat their dictatorship on their own terms. Many of us opposed that idea, for a host of reasons including the dangers of escalation and the threat of a new U.S. war in the Middle East. But whatever one thinks about that demand, the Security Council resolution went far beyond a no-fly zone. Instead, the United Nations essentially declared war on Libya.”

MICHAEL RATNER
President of the Center for Constitutional Rights, Ratner states that U.S. military action without Congressional authorization is unconstitutional.

MICHAEL MANDEL
Author of How America Gets Away With Murder, Illegal Wars, Collateral Damage and Crimes Against Humanity, Mandel said today: “This follows a depressingly familiar pattern: Create a righteous furor over a tragic third-world conflict, blame it all on a local strong man who you have directly or indirectly supported in the past, demonize him as a war criminal by referring him to your trusty attack-dog tribunal, in this case ICC, which has been very selective about who it prosecutes, all to justify unleashing the war machine. NATO motives are dressed up in humanitarian rhetoric but humanitarian military intervention usually causes more inhumanity than it prevents. Also, the execution always follows the geo-strategic goals, in this case pretty clearly a desperate attempt to control the course of the Arab revolutions and the oil. Gadafi is a petty thief compared to the monstrous criminality of what U.S. (and Canadian) leaders have done and continue to do in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. Just yesterday, the U.S. military reportedly killed over 40 people in Pakistan.” Mandel is a professor of law at York University in Canada.

For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167

Filed Under: , Tagged With: Libya,

St. Patrick’s Day and the Irish Famine

March 16, 2011

CHRISTINE KINEALY
Kinealy is author of “This Great Calamity: The Irish Famine 1845-52” and other books on Irish history. She is professor of history at Drew University in New Jersey and just returned from Ireland on Tuesday. She said today: “In 1997, the New York St. Patrick’s Day parade honoured the victims of Ireland’s Great Hunger of the 1840s. The Irish Hunger was triggered by a potato blight, but suffering was exacerbated by inappropriate and parsimonious relief policies. Consequently, in a period of just six years, over one million people died and an even higher number emigrated.

“At the time of the Famine, Ireland was governed from London, by British politicians who, for the most part, regarded the food shortages as an opportunity to change and modernize Ireland. But Ireland didn’t modernize and the human cost of the policies was that people died. Tormented by hunger, they endured painful and protracted deaths, while vast amounts of food left the country, often under armed guard. Those who emigrated fled from starvation only to face hostility and prejudice in their new homelands. Inevitably, many blamed the British government for their exile.

“Irish folk memory refers to the Famine dead as having ‘mouths stained green’ — because their last meal was often grass. When eating our green bagels this week, and celebrating our Irish-ness, perhaps we should spare a thought for victims of famine and social injustice wherever they may be.”

FRANCIS BOYLE
Professor of international law at the University of Illinois College of Law in Champaign, Boyle is author of “United Ireland, Human Rights and International Law.”

He said today: “Some controversy has surrounded the use of the word ‘genocide’ with regard to the Great Irish Famine. But this controversy has its source in an apparent misunderstanding of the meaning of genocide. No, the British government did not inflict on the Irish the abject horrors of the Nazi Holocaust. But the definition of ‘genocide’ reaches beyond such ghastly behavior to encompass other reprehensible acts designed to destroy a people.” Boyle wrote “The Irish Famine was Genocide.”

Background: “The Famine Year” by Speranza, the mother of Oscar Wilde

For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167

Filed Under: , Tagged With: Ireland,

The U.S. and Egyptian Army Are One?

March 15, 2011

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in Cairo.

RASHA AZAB
Azab is spokesperson for the Liberties Committee at the Press Syndicate in Cairo, which is holding a news conference tomorrow on the “hundreds of Egyptians protesting in Tahrir Square who have been subject to detention and torture by members of the army and Republican Guard … and the arrest of several of them and referral to military prosecution to stand military trials.”

Dr. AIDA SEIF AL-DAWLA
El-Dawla is with the Nadeem Center for Victims of Torture in Cairo. She was profiled by Time magazine as a global hero in 2004. She notes the beating of Rami Issam, known as the “singer of Tahrir Square,” by the army as part of a broader problem. Graphic video

NUBAR HOVSEPIAN
Hovsepian is an Armenian from Egypt who teaches political science at Chapman University in California. He said today: “Revising the constitution quickly seems to be leading to maintaining much of the old constitution, including authoritarian structures.

“Labor unions are organizing groups independent of state control. Time is also needed for the formation of national political parties before elections are held.

“We’ve seen protesters beaten up by the military.

“The Egyptian military is dependent on the U.S. government, which wants change to be limited and controlled, rather than substantial and deep. The latter is what most of the people who protested actually want.” Hovsepian recently wrote the piece “The Arab Pro-Democracy Movement: Struggles to Redefine Citizenship” for the new journal Jadaliyya.

For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167

Filed Under: , Tagged With: Egypt,
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