Friday, December 30, 2011

Montanans Launch Recall of Senators Who Approved NDAA Military Detention. Merry Christmas, US Senate.

http://warisacrime.org/content/montanans-launch-recall-senators-who-approved-ndaa-military-detention-merry-christmas-us-sen

Published on War Is A Crime .org (http://warisacrime.org)

Montanans Launch Recall of Senators Who Approved NDAA Military Detention. Merry Christmas, US Senate.

By Ralph Lopez - Posted on 25 December 2011

Disclaimer: I am now a volunteer press contact for this campaign.

From the press release (last revised 12/28/2011):

Moving quickly on Christmas Day after the US Senate voted 86 - 14 [1] to pass the National Defense Authorization Act of 2011 (NDAA) which allows for the indefinite military detention of American citizens without charge or trial, Montanans have announced the launch of recall campaigns against Senators Max Baucus and Jonathan Tester, and Congressman Denny Reberg, who all voted for the bill.

Montana is one of nine states [2] with provisions that say that the right of recall extends to recalling members of its federal congressional delegation, pursuant to Montana Code 2-16-603, on the grounds of physical or mental lack of fitness, incompetence, violation of oath of office, official misconduct, or conviction of certain felony offenses.

Section 2 of Montana Code 2-16-603 reads:

"(2) A public officer holding an elective office may be recalled by the qualified electors entitled to vote for the elective officer's successor."

The website Ballotpedia.org cites [3] eight other states which allow for the recall of elected federal officials: Arizona, Colorado, Louisiana, Michigan, Nevada, North Dakota, Oregon, and Wisconsin. New Jersey's federal recall law was struck down when a NJ state judge ruled that "the federal Constitution does not allow states the power to recall U.S. senators," despite the fact the Constitution explicitly allows, by not disallowing ("prohibited" in the Tenth Amendment,) the states the power to recall US senators and congressmen:

"The powers not...prohibited...are reserved to the States...or to the people." - Tenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Montana law requires grounds for recall to be stated which show conformity to the allowed grounds. The recall drive makes the following points:

1. "The Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees all U.S citizens: "a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed..."

2. The National Defense Authorization Act of 2011 (NDAA 2011) permanently abolishes the Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial, "for the duration of hostilities" in the War on Terror, which was defined by President George W. Bush as "task which does not end" to a joint session of Congress on September 20, 2001.

3. Those who voted Aye on December 15th, 2011, Bill of Rights Day, for NDAA 2011 have attempted to grant powers which cannot be granted, which violate both the spirit and the letter of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.

4. The Montana Recall Act stipulates that officials including US senators can only be recalled for physical or mental lack of fitness, incompetence, violation of the oath of office, official misconduct, or conviction of a felony offense.

5. Section 1021 of the National Defense Authorization Act [4] reads in substance: "Congress affirms that the authority of the President to detain ...A person who was a part of or substantially supported al-Qaeda...or associated forces...including any person who has...directly supported such hostilities in aid of such enemy forces...The disposition of a person...may include...Detention...without trial until the end of the hostilities..."

6. “Substantial support” of an “associated force” may imply citizens engaged in innocuous, First Amendment activities. Direct support of such hostilities in aid of enemy forces may be construed as free speech opposition to U.S. government policies, aid to civilians, or acts of civil disobedience.

7. Section 1021 reads: "Nothing in this section shall be construed to affect existing law." But "existing law" may be construed to refer to Padilla v. Rumsfeld in the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, which upheld the government's claim of authority to hold Americans arrested on American soil indefinitely.

8. Thus Senators Bacus, Tester, and Congressman Rehberg who voted Aye on December 15th, 2011, Bill of Rights Day, for NDAA 2011 have violated his Oath of Office to protect and defend the U.S. Constitution which guarantees all citizens the right to a jury trial "In all criminal prosecutions."

Montana residents William Crain and Stewart Rhodes are spearheading the drive. Mr. Crain is an artist. Mr. Rhodes is an attorney, Yale Law School graduate, and the national president of the organization Oath Keepers, who are military and law enforcement officers, both former and active duty, who vow to uphold their Oath to the US Constitution and to disobey illegal orders which constitute attacks on their fellow citizens. Rhodes said:

"These politicians from both parties betrayed our trust, and violated the oath they took to defend the Constitution. It's not about the left or right, it's about our Bill of Rights. Without the Bill of Rights, there is no America. It is the Crown Jewel of our Constitution, and the high-water mark of Western Civilization."

Rhodes noted that:

"Two time Medal of Honor winner Marine General Smedley Butler once said "There are only two things we should fight for. One is the defense of our homes and the other is the Bill of Rights." Time to fight. "

Butler famously ended his career as a Marine General by touring the country with his speech and book denouncing war, "War is a Racket." [5]Butler confessed that he had spent most of his life as a "high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers...a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism..."

Eighteen states at present have recall laws, most of which do not apply to federal officials. For these and other states to recall federal officials, state legislatures would have to first pass or amend such laws.

Rising on the House floor to oppose the bill based on the military detention provisions for Americans, Rep. Tom McClintock said before the House vote:

" today, we who have sworn fealty to that Constitution sit to consider a bill that affirms a power contained in no law and that has the full potential to crack the very foundation of American liberty."

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders said in opposing the final NDAA:

”This bill also contains misguided provisions that in the name of fighting terrorism essentially authorize the indefinite imprisonment of American citizens without charges.”

And in a New York Times op-ed piece by two retired four-star U.S. Marine generals, Charles Krulak and Joseph Hoar, Krulak and Hoar said that "Due process would be a thing of the past."

Rep. Justin Amash warned the NDAA was“carefully crafted to mislead the public,” [6] The deceptions in the language of the NDAA, intended to allow defenders to argue that the provisions do not apply to American citizens, center around some of the wording in Sections 1021 and 1022. Rep. Tom McClintock opposed [7] the bill on the House floor and said in a speech:

[The NDAA] specifically affirms that the President has the authority to deny due process to any American it charges with “substantially supporting al Qaeda, the Taliban or any ‘associated forces’” — whatever that means.

Would “substantial support” of an “associated force,” mean linking a web-site to a web-site that links to a web-site affiliated with al-Qaeda? We don’t know.

And Section 1022 "(b) APPLICABILITY TO UNITED STATES CITIZENS AND LAWFUL RESIDENT ALIENS" states:

(1) UNITED STATES CITIZENS.—The requirement to detain a person in military custody under this section does not extend to citizens of the United States.

However, although the section says it is not “required” that US citizens be held in military detention, it is nevertheless “allowed.” Most worrisome, all accusations rest solely on the word of the government, with no witnesses, evidence, or any other form of due process available when the government is either wrong or lying.

Montana would be the first recall drive to be launched as a result of the vote for the NDAA military detentions provisions. A number of Facebook pages appeared after the passage of the bill from locations across the country.

References:

Facebook: "Recall Every Congressman Who Voted for the NDAA [8]"

[8]

"Recalling Senators and Congressmen" (PDF) [9]

[9]

"How to Recall US Senators and Congressmen" [10]

[10]

Maintained by a union shop at MayFirst.org

Source URL: http://warisacrime.org/content/montanans-launch-recall-senators-who-approved-ndaa-military-detention-merry-christmas-us-sen

Links:
[1] http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=112&session=1&vote=00230#position
[2] http://www.ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/Laws_governing_recall_in_Montana
[3] http://www.ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php/Laws_governing_recall#State.2C_local.2C_and_federal
[4] http://democrats.rules.house.gov/112/text/112_hr1540conf_txt.pdf
[5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_is_a_Racket
[6] http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2011/11/us_rep_justin_amash_opposes_de.html
[7] http://www.blippitt.com/code-red-white-house-drops-veto-threat-on-national-defense-authorization-act-video/
[8] http://www.facebook.com/pages/Recall-Every-Congressman-Who-Voted-for-the-NDAA/248343955227401?sk=info
[9] http://www.uscitizensassociation.com/pdfs/Recalling%20U.S.%20Senators%20and%20Congressmen.pdf
[10] http://recallthetraitors.blogspot.com/2011/12/how-to-recall-us-senators-and.html
[11] http://warisacrime.org/activism
[12] http://warisacrime.org/taxonomy/term/121
[13] http://warisacrime.org/taxonomy/term/15

Contractors' Role Grows in Drone Missions, Worrying Some in the Military

Published on Truthout (http://www.truth-out.org)

Contractors' Role Grows in Drone Missions, Worrying Some in the Military

Thursday 29 December 2011

by: David S. Cloud, McClatchy Newspapers [3] | Report

Washington - After a U.S. airstrike mistakenly killed at least 15 Afghans in 2010, the Army officer investigating the accident was surprised to discover that an American civilian had played a central role: analyzing video feeds from a Predator drone keeping watch from above.

The contractor had overseen other analysts at Air Force Special Operations Command at Hurlburt Field in Florida as the drone tracked suspected insurgents near a small unit of U.S. soldiers in rugged hills in central Afghanistan. Based partly on her analysis, an Army captain ordered an airstrike on a convoy that turned out to be carrying innocent men, women and children.

"What company do you work for?" Maj. Gen. Timothy McHale demanded of the contractor after he learned that she was not in the military, according to a transcript obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

"SAIC," she answered. Her employer, SAIC Inc., is a publicly traded Virginia-based corporation with a multiyear $49 million contract to help the Air Force analyze drone video and other intelligence from Afghanistan.

America's growing drone operations rely on hundreds of civilian contractors, including some, such as the SAIC employee, who work in the so-called kill chain before Hellfire missiles are launched, according to current and former military officers, company employees and internal government documents.

Relying on private contractors has brought corporations that operate for profit into some of America's most sensitive military and intelligence operations. And using civilians makes some in the military uneasy.

At least a dozen defense contractors that supply personnel to help the Air Force, special operations units and the CIA fly their drones are filling a void. It takes more people to operate unmanned aircraft than it does to fly traditional warplanes that have a pilot and crew.

The Air Force is short of ground-based pilots and crews to fly the drones, intelligence analysts to scrutinize nonstop video and surveillance feeds, and technicians and mechanics to maintain the heavily used aircraft.

"Our No. 1 manning problem in the Air Force is manning our unmanned platforms," said Gen. Philip M. Breedlove, Air Force vice chief of staff. Without civilian contractors, U.S. drone operations would grind to a halt.

About 168 people are needed to keep a single Predator aloft for 24 hours, according to the Air Force. The larger Global Hawk surveillance drone requires 300 people. In contrast, an F-16 fighter aircraft needs fewer than 100 people per mission.

With a fleet of about 230 Predators, Reapers and Global Hawks, the Air Force flies more than 50 drones around the clock over Afghanistan and other target areas.

The Pentagon plans to add 730 medium and large drones in the next decade, requiring thousands more personnel.

The Air Force is rushing to meet the demand. Under a new program, drone pilots get 44 hours of cockpit training before they are sent to a squadron to be certified and allowed to command missions. That compares with a minimum of 200 hours' training for pilots flying traditional warplanes.

The Air Force also has converted seven Air National Guard squadrons into intelligence units to help analyze drone video. About 2,000 additional Air Force intelligence analysts are being trained.

After the attack that killed the Afghan villagers in February 2010, the U.S. Army Special Operations Command questioned whether civilian contractors had a "potential conflict of interest" in analyzing drone video feeds.

A civilian "might be reluctant to make a definitive call, fearing liability or negative contractual action" if he or she passed on incorrect information that was used to call an airstrike, the command said.

McHale rejected that argument. "Although I recognize that a contractor will have a corporate interest separate and distinct from the military interest, in this instance I found no action or inaction by screeners that negatively influenced the engagement," he responded, according to Pentagon documents.

By law, decisions to use military force must be made by the military chain of command or, in the case of CIA strikes, by civilian officials authorized to conduct covert operations under presidential findings or other specific legal mandates.

Writing in a military law journal in 2008, Lt. Col. Duane Thompson, chief lawyer for the Air Force Operations Law Division, warned that allowing nonmilitary personnel to communicate targeting information directly to pilots would violate international laws of war.

Moreover, civilians are not subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which subjects military personnel to prosecution for war crimes or for violations of rules of engagement on use of force.

"Persons who relay target identification for an imminent real-world mission to persons causing actual harm to enemy personnel or equipment should be uniformed military," Thompson wrote.

The "involvement of civilians in intelligence collection, analysis and planning" is "less objectionable" because it is "further removed" from actual combat, he said.

That involvement is now substantial. In a recent job advertisement, SAIC said it had 450 employees working for the Air Force Special Operations Command and other units analyzing video feeds from the battlefield.

BAE Systems Inc., a U.S. subsidiary of a British aerospace firm, posted an ad seeking an Air Force Special Operations Command veteran to manage "several hundred employees while conducting ISR/FMV missions." ISR and FMV are military abbreviations for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance, and Full Motion Video, both of which commonly come from drones.

Michael D. Teegardin, a spokesman for BAE, said the "recruiting ad was for a (Department of Defense) customer, which I cannot name."

Pentagon officials say civilian contractors play a vital role.

"The civilians and the contractors are very important to what we do," said an Air Force colonel, who agreed to discuss the subject on condition of anonymity. "But they're not going to be making a call on any action. They're making an assessment, and that may generate a decision" by a military commander to launch a missile.

A ground-based Air Force pilot is in command of every drone flight and has formal responsibility for any attack.

"Any contractor analysis contributing to operational decisions, such as targeting, must be reviewed" by someone in uniform, said Maj. Eric Hilliard, a spokesman for the Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Agency, which is based at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas.

Contractors are especially common in the CIA, which has used armed Predators to kill dozens of al-Qaida members and hundreds of insurgents in Pakistan since 2008. CIA drones also operate in Yemen, collect intelligence on Iran's nuclear facilities and study other potential targets, current and former officials said.

The Air Force Special Operations Command flies armed drones in Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia and elsewhere. The command said in a statement that it employs 165 civilians to analyze video and other intelligence. Many work alongside uniformed military personnel in a vast facility at command headquarters at Hurlburt Field.

An additional 300 civilians support other Air Force drones at 10 military bases in the U.S., Germany and South Korea, although most work in technical jobs, officials said. Many are military retirees who kept their security clearances, enabling them to do the same classified work they did on active duty.

After the 2010 accident in Afghanistan, the SAIC employee described her role in a sworn interview with McHale, the chief investigator. Her name was not made public and SAIC declined to identify her. A company spokeswoman, Melissa Koskovich, said Thursday that the woman was still employed by SAIC.

As the mission's "primary screener," she oversaw six enlisted personnel trained in video analysis, including her husband, an active-duty airman. The analysts spent hours that night watching the live video feed as three vehicles neared the U.S. troops.

She condensed her team's observations and her own into minute-by-minute written reports, which she forwarded via a chat system to the Air Force pilot flying the drone from Creech Air Force Base in Nevada. He passed the information to the Army unit in Afghanistan.

Others were watching the drone video, as well. In addition to the pilot, the military crew at Creech consisted of a camera operator, mission intelligence coordinator and a safety observer. A transcript shows they believed the convoy contained insurgents.

The SAIC analyst in Florida was more guarded in her assessment. She reported "military aged males" in the vehicles holding what she described as "possible weapons"; it was impossible to tell from the video what the men were carrying, she said.

"We thought they could have been hostile," she told McHale.

But she also reported seeing children in the convoy. Later, she changed that description and called them "adolescents" after deciding they appeared to be 7 to 13 years old. She also reported at one point that the vehicles had turned off the road and were no longer moving toward the U.S. troops, suggesting that the threat had receded, she said.

The civilian analyst was not in direct communication with the Army captain who called in the airstrike, and she was surprised when she learned later about the attack. But she said it was not her job to second-guess military commanders.

"There have been a lot of times when someone has called out something that was later found to be a mistaken assessment," she told McHale. That's the danger of "real time" analysis, she added.(David S. Cloud reports for Tribune's Washington Bureau) Copyright 2011 . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source URL: http://www.truth-out.org/contractors-role-grows-drone-missions-worrying-some-military/1325271287

Links:
[1] http://www.truth-out.org/print/10823
[2] http://www.truth-out.org/printmail/10823
[3] http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/12/29/134436/contractors-role-grows-in-drone.html#storylink=omni_popular
[4] http://www.truth-out.org/printmail
[5] http://www.truth-out.org/david-s-cloud/1325270748
[6] http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/6694/p/salsa/web/common/public/signup?signup_page_KEY=2160
[7] https://members.truth-out.org/donate
[8] http://www.truth-out.org/?q=cia-disputed-civilian-toll-drone-strikes/1313167342
[9] http://www.truth-out.org/?q=obama-national-security-team-pilotless-drone/1310481281

Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218. Ph: 410-366-1637; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/

"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs

Thursday, December 29, 2011

War Crimes Court Should Strengthen Victims' Participation

War Crimes Court Should Strengthen Victims’ Participation

By Tressia Boukhors

Most of the cases brought before the Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) include gender-based crimes, but advocates say the court is still falling short in ensuring that women play an active role in decision-making and outreach at the highest levels.

The NGO Women's Initiatives for Gender Justice recently launched its seventh "Annual Gender Report Card on the International Criminal Court", examining the court's internal policies, recruitment and personnel statistics, and offering detailed recommendations to improve gender equality and gender competence.

The ICC has made progress on some issues. With her election on Dec. 1, Fatou Bensouda became the first woman and the first African to be appointed chief prosecutor of the court, which focuses on genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

"It is hugely symbolic that a woman has been elected," said Brigid Inder, executive director of Women's Initiatives for Gender Justice, an international rights organization that advocates for gender justice through the ICC and domestic mechanisms in Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, the Central African Republic, Kenya, Libya and Kyrgyzstan.

"It is a wonderful and historic moment," Inder told IPS.

However, she said access and outreach to victims remains a challenge, and noted that there is currently a huge backlog of 6,000 victims' applications, which have not been processed by the court.

Excerpts from the interview follow.

Q: What is the link between the number of women in the ICC staff and the treatment of gender issues at the court?

A: There are two issues: one is gender equality and another is gender competence. From our review and analysis of the court, we can see that the gender equality issue is good overall but we still found differences when we looked at the positions to which women are appointed. They tend to be clustered in the lower to mid-level positions, with few women appointed at (higher) level decision-making or leadership positions.

Gender equality is also about structural power within the hierarchy and not only the number of women appointed to positions. It is also about the capacity and opportunity for women to contribute to key decision making moments: the identification of cases, the construction of case hypotheses, the decision regarding the construction of charges. We need more improvement in those areas to increase the court's gender capacity.

The second area touched upon is gender competence and this involves both men and women. Specifically, gender competence refers to the ability to identify and understand the gender implications and dimensions of all of the work of the ICC, and the different ways in which women and men, boys and girls, are affected by the kinds of violence that have been committed in conflicts.

And we see this as a responsibility for both men and women. When we talk about the gender competence of the court, we are referring to its ability as an institution to deliver gender-inclusive justice.

Q: Would a quota policy and affirmative action be an effective solution?

A: One of the key advantages of the Rome Statute (the treaty that created the ICC) is that it explicitly identifies the need for gender legal advisers and for people to be hired with expertise in addressing sexual violence, including sexual violence committed against women and children.

The statute itself requires this expertise to be a part of the development of the institution. We think that this can certainly help in terms of women being appointed, but there is also a general article in the Rome Statute requiring fair representation, that is to say geographical representation so that States Parties are fairly represented in the staff of the ICC, and also a fair representation of men and women.

So there is a structural requirement for the court to address these issues and, I think, in a very positive and helpful way. It doesn't mean a forced and false construction of creating special conditions, it is instead a recognition of the right of men and women to be appointed to those positions and also the need for the necessary capacity around sexual violence against women and the capacity to provide legal advice on gender issues that is a requirement of the statute itself.

Q: Is there a gap in terms of outreach and access for women victims?

A: We have seen in our review of the ICC that 29 percent of the participants in the ICC outreach activities are women. That is a very low number: less than a third of the participants are women. And when you look at the cases before the ICC, almost all of them include charges of gender-based crimes.

There is a mismatch between the people who are victims of the crimes, the charges in the ICC cases, and those who are being reached by the court's outreach activities. We can also see that there is a lower number of women who are applying to the court to be recognized as victims and who have been formally recognized to participate in the ICC cases.

There is a direct link between information, outreach and access. The court needs to develop more women-specific meetings and strategies, and to be more creative in the fora they are providing in order to reach women who may have less access to mainstream forms of media and formal communication systems within villages and communities. It appears women are requiring strategies that will allow them to access this information directly.

Q: Does the situation most often concern less developed countries?

A: All of the conflict situations right now that are situations under investigation by the court would be described as developing countries. The court is also working in countries that have experienced long periods of armed conflict, which has usually caused disintegration of public institutions and infrastructure.

Often the security sector, including the police force, is no longer functioning. In many instances, the judicial system is also not operating or is functioning with high levels of corruption. The structure of communities has disintegrated from decades of conflict and suffering.

Q: How open has the ICC been to recommendations of your Gender Report Card since 2005, and have you seen any progress?

A: We have seen progress over the seven years we have been reporting. The court has been in existence for almost 10 years. Certainly, they are learning lessons. Some lessons they are learning slowly, and in some areas these lessons are absorbed, while in other areas it appears the lessons are bound for unfortunate repetition.

It is an institution that is continuing to grow and develop and learn. We can see that they are being increasingly responsive to our advocacy around investigating and prosecuting sexual gender-based crimes, which have now been charged in six of seven situations and in eight of 14 cases.

The ICC has the best record in relation to charging the gender-based crimes of any of the international tribunals. The challenge for the court now is the quality of the charges and the efficacy of the prosecution strategies. This is where they have been slow to learn some of the lessons.

This article was published at NationofChange at: http://www.nationofchange.org/war-crimes-court-should-strengthen-victims-participation-1325177228. All rights are reserved.

Military Allies Take Ex-Guerrillas, Journalists to Court

Published on Truthout (http://www.truth-out.org)

Military Allies Take Ex-Guerrillas, Journalists to Court

Wednesday 28 December 2011

by: Danilo Valladares, Inter Press Service [3] | Report

Guatemala City - Relatives of former military personnel and businessmen are bringing lawsuits against ex guerrillas and journalists in Guatemala in connection with the 1960-1996 civil war – a legal offensive that human rights defenders say is politically motivated.

"I studied two of the lawsuits filed by ex military personnel, and their legal basis is very thin. Evidently the plaintiffs want to transform themselves from perpetrators to victims," Ramón Cadena, a representative of the International Commission of Jurists, an NGO working for the rule of law for human rights, told IPS.

"They are also seeking to criminalise various professionals, who today are working for peace, for the work they do as journalists or human rights defenders," he said.

The armed conflict between Guatemalan security forces and leftwing guerrillas left 250,000 people dead or disappeared, most of them rural indigenous villagers, with the army being responsible for 93 percent of the crimes, according to the United Nations-sponsored Historical Clarification Commission (CEH).

But the battle continues, now in the legal arena.

Just a few days before the Dec. 29 commemoration of the 15th anniversary of the signing of the peace agreement that ended the armed conflict, the law courts received three lawsuits against ex guerrillas and human rights activists.

One of them was filed Nov. 2 by businessman Ricardo Méndez against 26 former members of the now-defunct Guerrilla Army of the Poor (EGP) and Guatemalan Labour Party (PGT), insurgent groups active during the war, whom he alleges kidnapped and tortured him 29 years ago.

One month later, Estela de Mata, head of the Guatemalan Association of Military Widows (ASOMILGUA), formally accused 32 former members of both guerrilla factions "of committing terrorist acts."

The third lawsuit was presented Dec. 12 by U.S. coffee businessman Theodore Plocharski against 52 former insurgents, accusing them of the kidnapping, torture and murder of diplomats, including the 1968 assassination of John Gordon Main, then U.S. ambassador in Guatemala.

Among the accused is Yolanda Colom, the sister of outgoing social democratic President Álvaro Colom, and Margarita and Laura Hurtado Paz, relatives of Attorney General Claudia Paz y Paz, who is in charge of criminal prosecutions.

Human rights activist Iduvina Hernández and journalist Marielos Monzón are also named as defendants in the lawsuit. They presented themselves to the Attorney General's Office to clear their names.

"It is perfectly well known that I have never belonged to any political or guerrilla organisation nor ever committed any crime; I am being accused of these things in order to cast aspersions on my character and so prevent me from working in my profession and publishing opinion-editorials," said Monzón, who has defended access to justice for victims of the counterinsurgency war.

In the view of Magdalena Sarat, of the National Coordination of Widows of Guatemala (CONAVIGUA) - an NGO working for the rights of indigenous Maya women who lost family members in the civil war - the legal offensive carried out by allies of the armed forces is a strategy "to silence the survivors of the internal armed conflict so that they will stop denouncing the abuses committed by the army."

Sarat told IPS, "This is revenge because some cases of genocide [4] and military personnel responsible for the massacres have been prosecuted, thanks to the Attorney General's work."

The Attorney General's Office has secured the arrest and conviction of a number of military and police officers who were found guilty of genocide, forced disappearance and other abuses against civilians during the war.

In 2010, two former police officers were sentenced to 40 years in prison for the Feb. 18, 1984 forced disappearance of Fernando García, a university student and trade unionist.

This year's arrests included those of retired general Héctor López, accused of genocide in the massacres of over 300 persons between 1978 and 1985, and former chief of police Héctor Bol, for the disappearance of García, as well as other members of the armed forces facing prosecution.

But Sarat said "the highest ranking military commanders, responsible for massacres of the indigenous population, are still at large, like general Efraín Ríos Montt [5]" (1982-1983), who is accused of carrying out a scorched earth policy [6] that involved the wholesale destruction of some 440 villages.

"And yet we see him going about free and easy, without a care in the world, after they left thousands of widows and orphans," she said.

Sarat acknowledged that crimes committed by the guerrillas during the war should also be cleared up, but she emphasised that the army is to blame for 93 percent of the human rights abuses perpetrated during the war, compared to just three percent attributed to the guerrillas, according to the CEH.

Héctor Nuila, a lawmaker of the leftwing Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity, formerly a coalition of guerrilla movements and now a political party, told IPS the lawsuits brought against ex insurgents, journalists and activists "are politically motivated."

He said part of the strategy is to seek the removal of Attorney General Paz y Paz, who has succeeded in getting several military officers arrested and convicted for abuses committed during the conflict.

"The plaintiffs have publicly stated that the competence of the attorney general is on trial. Moreover, they have accused people of crimes that were committed before they had even been born, and have accused people who happen to have worked very hard on strengthening the security and justice systems," Nuila said.

On the other side of the issue, they are standing firm. "I hope the attorney general does not represent just one group. They (the guerrillas) were terrorists who planted bombs, blew up bridges and killed innocent people and businesspersons. I hope the attorney general will investigate their families," de Mata said.

"Members of the army are being prosecuted for war crimes. Now the Attorney General's Office should investigate the criminal acts committed by the guerrillas," Plocharski told the media.

[7]

Source URL: http://www.truth-out.org/military-allies-take-ex-guerrillas-journalists-court/1325084104

Links:

[3] http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=106314
[4] http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41551
[5] http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=35853
[6] http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49639
[7] http://www.ipsnews.net/

Baltimore Activist Alert - Part 1

Baltimore Activist Alert Dec. 29 – Jan. 5, 2011

"I speak as an American to the leaders of my own nation. The great initiative in this war is ours.

The initiative to stop it must be ours." -Martin Luther King Jr.

Friends, this list and other email documents which I send out are done under the auspices of the Baltimore Nonviolence Center. Go to www.baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com. If you appreciate this information and would like to make a donation, send contributions to BNC, 325 East 25th Street, Baltimore, MD 21218. Max Obuszewski can be reached at 410-366-1637 or mobuszewski [at] verizon.net.

Tune into the Maryland Progressive Blog at http://mdprogblog.org.

1] Books, buttons and stickers

2] Web site for info on federal legislation

3] Join Nonviolent Resistance lists

4] Buy coffee through HoCoFoLA

5] Occupy Freedom Plaza – Dec. ??

6] Occupy Baltimore evicted—vows to stay relevant -- Dec. ??

7] Faith & Resistance Retreat – Dec. 29 - 30

8] White House vigil – Dec. 30

9] WIB Inner Harbor vigil – Dec. 30

10] WIB Roland Park vigil – Dec. 30

11] Justice for Palestine/Israel vigil – Dec. 30

12] Remember Costs of War – Dec. 30

13] Ballroom dancing – Dec. 30

14] Farmer's Market – Dec. 31

15] Olney peace vigil – Dec. 31

16] West Chester, PA demo – Dec. 31

17] Silent vigil at Capitol – Dec. 31

18] Occupy Philly Festive March – Dec. 31

19] Progressive New Year's Eve – Dec. 31

----

1] – Buttons, bumperstickers and books are available. "God Bless the Whole World, No Exceptions" stickers are in stock. Donate your books to Max. Call him at 410-366-1637.

2] – To obtain information how your federal legislators voted on particular bills, go to http://thomas.loc.gov/. Congressional toll-free numbers are 888-818-6641, 888-355-3588 or 800-426-8073. The White House Comment Email is accessible at http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/.

3] – THE ORGANIZING LIST will be the primary decision-making mechanism of the National Campaign of Nonviolent Resistance [NCNR]. It will be augmented by conference calls and possibly in-person meetings as needed. It will consist of 1 or 2 representatives from each local, regional, or national organization (not coalitions) that wishes to actively work to carry out the NCNR campaign of facilitating and organizing nonviolent resistance to the war in Iraq.

To join the ORGANIZING List, please send your name, group affiliation, city and email address to donmuller@msn.com. Different local chapters of a national organization are encouraged to subscribe.

THE NOTICES LIST will include only notices of NCNR actions and related information and is open to any interested person to subscribe. It will be moderated to maintain focus & will include periodic notices about getting involved in NCNR national organizing. To join the NOTICES List, send an email message to ncnrnotices-subscribe@lists.riseup.net. You will get a confirmation message once subscribed. If you have problems, please write to the list manager at ncnrnotices-admin@lists.riseup.net.

4] – You can help safeguard human rights and fragile ecosystems through your purchase of HOCOFOLA Café Quetzal. Bags of ground coffee or whole beans can be ordered by mailing in an order form. Also note organic cocoa and sugar are for sale. For more details and to download the order form, go to http://friendsoflatinamerica.typepad.com/hocofola/2010/02/hocofola-cafe-quetzal-order-form-2010.html. The coffee comes in one-pound bags.

Fill out the form and mail it with a check made out to HOCOFOLA on or before the second week of the month. Be sure you indicate ground or beans for each type of coffee ordered. Send it to Adela Hirsch, 5358 Eliots Oak Rd., Columbia, MD 21044. Be sure you indicate ground (G) or bean (B) for each type of coffee ordered. The coffee will arrive some time the following week and you will be notified where to pick it up. Contact Adela at 410-997-5662 or via e-mail at adela4peace@verizon.net.

5] – The occupation of Freedom Plaza, 14th & Pennsylvania Ave. NW, continues as U.S. troops, contractors and mercenaries remain in Afghanistan now for an 11th year. The idea is to make the space a Tahrir Square, Cairo or Madison, Wisconsin. NONVIOLENTLY resist the corporate machine by occupying Freedom Plaza to demand that U.S. resources be invested in human needs and environmental protection instead of war and exploitation. Stop the Machine! Create a New World! Go to http://october2011.org/.

6] – Occupy Baltimore was evicted from McKeldin Square, Pratt and Light Sts. Participants indicate the operation will continue in some fashion. Sign up at http://groups.google.com/group/occupy-baltimore/. Ask for the digest or you get hundreds of emails.

7] – Join the Holy Innocents Faith and Resistance Retreat which takes place at Stephen's and the Incarnation Church, 16th and Newton Sts. NW, WDC. It began on Tues., Dec. 27 and closes on Fri., Dec. 30. Besides other activities, there will be a demo on Thurs., Dec. 29 at noon at the White House. And on Fri., Dec. 30 at 11 AM, there will be another demo at the White House. Contact Art Laffin at artlaffin at hotmail.com.

8] – A peace vigil takes place every Friday from noon to 1 PM at Lafayette Park facing the White House. Join the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker and friends. Contact Art Laffin: artlaffin@hotmail.com.

9] – Every Friday from noon to 1 PM, Women in Black, Baltimore, host a vigil at Pratt and Light Sts. in the Inner Harbor. Peace signs will be available. See http://www.peacepath911.com/ or write wibbaltimore@hotmail.com or call 410-467-9114.

10] – There is also a noon vigil on Dec. 23 at Roland Park Place at 830 W. 40th St. Call 410-467-9114.

11] – A vigil for Justice in Palestine/Israel (now in its 8th year) takes place every Friday from noon to 1 PM at 19th & JFK Blvd., Philadelphia (across from Israeli Consulate. It is sponsored by Bubbies & Zaydes (Grandparents) for Peace in the Middle East. Email cswartz@pil.net. Go to http://phillyjewishpeace.org/.

12] – On Fri., Dec. 30 from 5 to 7 PM, there is a Time of Remembrance and Prayer for Peace, and to Remember the Cost of War. This solemn and bell-tooling vigil takes place at the Arch Street United Methodist Church, Broad & Arch Sts., Phila., PA. The visuals include coffins with Iraqi and U.S. flags, a wheelchair and boots remembering all the war dead and casualties. At 6 PM, there will be a Time of Prayer and Remembrance in the Church Chapel. December 30th marks the final Friday vigil at Broad & Arch Sts. which began six years ago by Gold Star Mother for Peace, Celeste Zappala, whose son, PA Guard Sgt. Sherwood R. Baker, was killed in Iraq, April 2004, guarding the unit looking for Iraq's non-existent weapons of mass destruction. Call 610-544-1818 or visit www.brandywinepeace.com.

13] – There is an opportunity to participate in ballroom dancing, usually every Friday of the month, in the JHU ROTC Bldg. at 8 PM. Turn south on San Martin Dr. from the intersection of Univ. Parkway and 39th St. Drive on campus by taking the third left turn. The next dance will be Dec. 30. Call Dave Greene at 410-599-3725.

14] – Go to the West Baltimore Farmer's Market for fresh fruits, vegetables, breads and other treats every Saturday from 8 to noon. CPHA has worked with the West Baltimore Marc TOD and Transit Inc. (WBMTTI) to establish a Farmer's Market at the West Baltimore Marc Train stop at Smallwood Road at Franklin and Mulberry Sts. Since opening in June, over 300 people buy fresh groceries there every Saturday morning. WBMTTI will continue to include the community in the transit-oriented developments on the west side and continue to improve the area around "the highway to nowhere" until it becomes the highway to somewhere. Go to www.cphabaltimore.org.

15] – Friends House, 17715 Meeting House Rd., Sandy Spring, MD 20860, hosts a peace vigil every Saturday, 10:30 to 11:30 AM, on the corner of Rt. 108 and Georgia Ave. in Olney, MD. The next vigil is Dec. 31. Call Chuck Harker at 301-570-7167.

16] – Each Saturday, 11 AM – 1 PM, Chester County Peace Movement holds a peace vigil in West Chester in front of the Chester County Courthouse, High & Market Sts. Go to www.ccpeace.org. Email ccpeacemovement@aol.com.

17] – There will be a peace vigil on the West Lawn of the Capitol at noon on Dec. 31. Look for the blue banner with the message, "Seek Peace and Pursue It.--Psalms 34:14." The vigil lasts one hour and is silent except when one responds to the occasional questions. Go to http://www.quaker.org/langleyhill/seekpeace.htm or email seekpeacevigil@yahoo.com.

18] –On Sat., Dec. 31 from noon to 3 PM, Occupy Philly will hold a Festive Community Parade to rejoice in the power of the people to create a better future. It will start at the Phila. Art Museum, 26th & Benjamin Franklin Parkway, and march to Rittenhouse Square, 18th & Walnut Sts. Gather for face painting and music. The parade begins at 1 PM sharp! If there is inclement weather, the rain date is Sat., Jan. 7. Call 610- 544-1818 or visit www.brandywinepeace.com.

19] – Bring in the New Year 2012 with Friends in the Baltimore Progressive Community on Sat., Dec. 31 from 9 PM until at the home of Sharon and Cindy, 115 Springside Drive, Timonium, MD 21093. Enjoy music, dancing, conversation, good food and drink with Ice cream sundaes at midnight. Bring a dish or drink to share. RSVP or to carpool from Baltimore: 410- 433-3269; 443-604-2298. From Baltimore, take I- 83N to Exit 16, Timonium Road East; cross York Rd. Go 5 blocks to Hollow Brook Rd. Turn right. Take first right onto Springside Drive. Go about 1 block. House on left.

To be continued.

Baltimore Nonviolence Center

Friday, December 30, 2011