Difference between revisions of "Anarchopedia:Current events"

Logo of Xe Watch, representing opposition to Blackwater Worldwide. Blackwater became Xe Services in October 2007

Logo of the Central Intelligence Agency ; a large bureaucracy with many branches; these divisions do not necessarily reflect an operational separation of CIA activities (WP)

Raymond Allen Davis
On January 27, 2011 a US citizen claiming to be working as a consultant at the U.S. Consulate in Lahore and later said to be a CIA operative ^[1] killed two armed men in the Pakistani city of Lahore.^[2][3][4] The identification papers he submitted to the Pakistani police are in the name of Raymond Allen Davis, although initially it was categorically stated by the US State Department that this name was not correct.^[5] He is now facing two separate criminal charges, one of double murder and the second of illegal possession of a firearm. Two petitions seeking prosecution against him on charges of forgery for obtaining a visa under a fake name have also been registered with the Lahore High Court.^[6]

CIA-Al-Qaeda Link
On February 20th a Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) report has referred to Pakistan's ISI stating that top-secret CIA documents found in Davis's possession point to him and/or TF373 (Task Force 373 (WP)) providing people linked to al Qaeda members with "nuclear fissile material" and "biological agents". ^[7][8]

According to the report, the combat skills exhibited by Davis, along with documentation taken from him after his arrest, prove that he is a member of US TF373 black operations unit currently operating in the Afghan War Theatre and Pakistan's tribal areas.^[9]

Response and details
The incident led to a diplomatic furor and deterioration in the ties between Pakistan and USA. The US government claimed that Davis is protected by diplomatic immunity under the Vienna Conventions and has demanded that he be released from custody immediately.^[10] The Foreign Minister of Pakistan, Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that according to official records and experts in the Foreign Office, Davis is "not a diplomat and cannot be given blanket diplomatic immunity". It has been suggested that Qureshi's stand on the issue led to his sacking by the government.^{[11][12][13][14]} The incident also led to widespread protests in Pakistan demanding action against Davis.^[15]

US president Barack Obama (WP) asked Pakistan not to prosecute Davis and treat him like a diplomat and said “There’s a broader principle at stake that I think we have to uphold.”^[16] The Pakistani Foreign Office stated that “this matter is sub judice in a court of law and the legal process should be respected.”^[17]

The American focus has been on the claimed diplomatic status. Pakistani media and officials dispute the claim of immunity from a murder charge, allege that Davis was involved in clandestine operations and question the scope of Davis' activities in Pakistan.^[18][19]

Almost a month after the incident, U.S. officials admitted Davis was a contract employee of the CIA (WP) after this was reported in The Guardian.^[1][20] Davis has also been shown to be an erstwhile employee of security outfit Blackwater Worldwide (called Xe Services since Oct '07) and was a member of CIA's Global Response Staff, who assist case officers when they meet with sources.

His two victims are also reported to be operatives of Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).^[1] An ISI official has made a statement saying that Davis had contacts in the tribal regions along the Afghanistan border and already knew both the men he shot. He said the ISI is investigating the possibility that the encounter on the streets of Lahore stemmed from a meeting or from threats to Davis.^[21]

It has been suggested that while Davis may be a contractor for the CIA, he could also be something else: a still active-duty member of US Special Forces. One of the items found on him by arresting police was an ID card identifying him as a DOD (Department of Defence) contractor. "It could be the US government has decided now to fall back to claiming he's CIA, which would probably at least spare him a hanging, even if it leaves him with a long jail sentence in a Lahore prison.^[22]

Davis was working within areas of espionage covered by multiple departments of the CIA: wetworks (SAD (WP)), black propaganda (Political Action Group (WP)), and military reconnaissance, which is not even a department of the CIA, despite the fact that there has been a CIA operative on the ground before every single US invasion. It most closely resembles army Special Forces activity. Therefore it is apparent that the bureaucratic divisions of the CIA do not necessarily reflect a separation of operations carried out by the CIA (WP) into operatives under each division's authorization carrying out operations specific to that division.

Other News
US-wide racial profiling commences; do you feel safer?
King hearings

In December 2010, Congressman King announced that when he became chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee he would hold hearings on the radicalization of Wikipedia:American Muslims. "The overwhelming majority of Muslims are outstanding citizens," he said, overreaching a little in compensation; the overwhelming majority, surely, would be pretty close to average?

In 2011, at the opening of the "Radicalization" hearings, King warned Americans not to forget 9/11, and yet his own records apparently go back only two years, in which time frame no "Neonazis, environmental extremists, or other isolated madmen", as he puts it, have been charged with major acts of terrorism. Although the Homeland Security Committee chair cites Justice Department statistics claiming that over the past two years fifty U.S. citizens have been charged with major acts of terrorism, and all fifty individuals were motivated by radical Islamic ideologies,^[23] one wonders, what happened just a little over two years ago that does not quite fit with the rest of his statistics?

Whenever the right is beaten, it reaches for the biggest weapon that is easiest to wield. Accusation of Political Correctness is a blunt instrument; it never works on anyone who knows they are in the right. The opposition to New York Republican Congressman Peter King, chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security. "Radicalization" committee, although they surely must have noticed the faint hint of their success in applying pressure to King prior to the proceedings, must have felt the phrase lacked its usual sting when he used it to explain why he was continuing his hearings: "to back down would be a craven surrender to Political Correctness".

Using the phrase in the middle of a battle which relies entirely on Patriotic Correctness for its very existence probably shows that the Right, never very good at seeing the relative values of things, is not aware of the danger of cognitive dissonance when the two PCs are placed in such close proximity.^[24]

King had earlier claimed that Islamic clerics are telling their congregations to ignore extremism.^[25]

The first hearing, held on March 10, 2011, was entitled “The Extent of Radicalization in the American Muslim Community and that Community's Response.” John Stewart of the Daily Show has a quick wit, but he is the first to point out that anyone who gets their news from a comedy show deserves what they get at the polls. So did anyone else notice that the, "...and that Community's response" part of the hearings was requiring of the "...American Muslim Community..." to have done a job that the combined forces of the entire Homeland Security network had already failed to do?^[26]

Stewart also reported on the inconsistency between the Congressman's aim of "rooting out terrorists" in the 21st Century and his "rooting for terrorists" in the 20th.^[27] But then, even Wikipedia knew that one. Well, they knew that he had supported the IRA. There was no comparison between the two periods of time.

The hearing included testimony from Representative John D. Dingell of Michigan, Representative Keith Ellison of Minnesota, who is one of two Muslims in the U.S. Congress, Representative Frank Wolf of Virginia, and Los Angeles County Sheriff Leroy Baca. Others to provide testimony included Dr. M Zuhdi Jasser, a devout Muslim and Founder of the American Islamic Forum; Marvin Bledsoe, whose son was arrested in Little Rock, Arkansas, and Abdirizak Bihri, the Director of the Somali Education and Social Advocacy Center.^[28]

Reactions
Wikipedia:Bennie Thompson, the ranking member of the committee which Congressman King heads, has responded by saying that "none of these law enforcement and intelligence officials have backed King’s assertions that the Muslim community has not been helpful in thwarting terrorist attacks."^[29] In a letter written to King Rep. Thompson demanded that the scope of the hearings be widened to include all extremist groups in the United States, disregarding any ideological underpinnings.^[30] Los Angeles County sheriff Lee Baca said that there was nothing to support King's claims of non-cooperation by American Muslims. Baca invited King to Los Angeles to show the cooperation between Muslim-Americans and law enforcement; a King spokesperson declined to comment on the invitation.^[31]

The Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) in a letter to Congressman King claimed that his call was sweeping and misguided, calling for a meeting with King to discuss his initiatives, the proposed hearings, and the efforts of the Muslim American community in fighting radicalization.^[32]

The Council on American Islamic Relations joined 50 other organizations, including Amnesty International, the Sikh Coalition, the Japanese American Citizens League and Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, and put out a letter to Speaker of the House John Boehner and Nancy Pelosi stating:^[33][34]

Singling out a group of Americans for government scrutiny based on their faith is divisive and wrong. These hearings will inevitably examine activities protected by the First Amendment, an affront to fundamental freedoms upon which our country was founded. It harkens back to hearings held in the 1950s by then-U.S. Senator Joe McCarthy. That dark chapter in our history (McCarthy era) taught us that Congress has a solemn duty to wield its investigatory power responsibly (McCarthyism).

Jay Sekulow, Chief Counsel for the conservative religious organization, American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), founded by Pat Robertson^[35] as a counter to the American Civil Liberties Union opposed the building of the Park 51 mosque,^[36] which King had accused of receiving terrorist funding. Sekulow invoked the flag waving (WP) buzzwords 'our nation' and 'homeland', along with some more traditional loaded words like 'havoc', 'manipulating', in his declaration of support for Rep. King and the hearings.

“Without question, there’s a troubling factual pattern of American Muslims becoming radicalized and focusing on creating havoc here on U.S. soil. This hearing is designed to get to the bottom of what’s taking place in our nation — how al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations are recruiting and manipulating American Muslims to attack the U.S. This hearing isn’t about profiling — it’s about protecting our homeland.”^[37]</blockquote>

During the Park 51 mosque debate, King had said "There are too many mosques in America". It was clearly a turn of phrase, as opposed to a call to systematically remove mosques, but it was still a gaffe, and not one that he recognized making until others did, either.^[38][39]

King’s district has very few Muslim residents, minimizing political backlash from his anti Muslim hearings.

Social programs cut by 112th USA Congress
The programs are small, the problems that cutting them are supposed to solve, huge. But counting on fooling enough Americans enough of the time is something the establishment (and its bastions it knows stands just within reach to the right) have grown accustomed to.

As deficit reduction
Ran it up in the first place with wars
Democracy Now!:

• "America is Not Broke!": Michael Moore addresses thousands in Madison, Wisconsin March 07, 2011
• As Public Broadcasting and Community Media Face Potentially Massive Cuts at Home, Hillary Clinton Calls for Increased Funding for U.S. Propaganda Overseas
• Union Voices from Madison: "We Will Be Out Here Marching Until Justice is Served"
• Naomi Klein on Anti-Union Bills and Shock Doctrine American-Style: "This is a Frontal Assault on Democracy, It’s a Kind of a Corporate Coup D’Etat"

As financial stimulus
The middlemen are the weak link

• US Fed Chairman demands plan to cut social programs by Barry Grey "Maintaining the confidence of the financial markets" for the captains of industry

Protection against job killers
And the Republican cure for ad nauseum is...?

• Partisan 112th Congress will mix cooperation, conflict starting Jan. 5

As New World Order

• Wrecking the American Dream By Stephen Lendman

As Pox Americana

• Tax Starved USA to Introduce Online Gambling Laws Later This Year

• The 14th Amendment may be reinterpreted if a current bill passes. The Arizona House bill HR 140^[40][41] is the second such in a week; the first, introduced in Indiana.^[42][43]
• An unprecedented inquiry this week submitted evidence pertaining to the death of President Salvador Allende, and hundreds more unresolved deaths during the 1973 U.S.-backed military coup that brought Augusto Pinochet to power.^[43]
• The FBI says it has executed 40+ search warrants as part of a probe into cyberattacks waged in support of the whistleblowing website WikiLeaks. Five people have also been arrested in the United Kingdom in a related probe.^[43]
• The Obama administration has publicly confirmed it is continuing the Bush-era policy of opposing the return of Haiti’s ousted former president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Overthrown in a 2004 U.S.-backed coup, Aristide has renewed his pleas to return to Haiti following the recent re-emergence of exiled dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier. In a statement issued through Twitter, U.S. Department of State spokesperson P.J. Crowley said, "We do not doubt President Aristide’s desire to help the people of Haiti. But today, Haiti needs to focus on its future, not its past." The Haitian government has refused to issue Aristide a new passport, reportedly under U.S.-led pressure. - Democracy Now!
• Just after his return this week, Jean-Claude Duvalier was indicted on corruption charges stemming from his embezzlement of millions in state funds before a popular uprising forced him to flee Haiti in 1986. Alleged victims of human rights abuses under his regime have also filed criminal complaints. Duvalier says he returned to assist Haiti’s rebuilding effort, but critics say he’s making a last-ditch attempt to recoup some $6 million frozen in a Swiss bank account. A Swiss law passed in response to Duvalier’s longtime effort to obtain the money goes into effect on February 1. Before the new rules kick in, Duvalier would be able to receive the money if he could prove he is not under criminal investigation in his home country. His return is seen as a gamble that he would have been able to enter Haiti and then depart without being charged, which he would then cite as proof to the Swiss he’s not under legal scrutiny. - Democracy Now!

One of the crowd 'celebrating' Duvalier's return told a reporter from The Telegraph that he had been paid $10 Haitian dollars to cheer. Duvalier "declared himself 'impressed by the welcome I have received, especially from the crowd of young people who don't know me.'"- The Telegraph

• (In January 2011), "a group of U.S.-based human rights groups and legal organizations filed an emergency petition with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to halt the roundups, detention and deportations of Haitian nationals by the U.S. government." - Democracy Now! On the 20th of January, the U.S. government resumed deportations to Haiti. Haitian refugees face a completely different standard than Cuban refugees for entry into the US, according to Human Rights Watch. Other human rights groups criticized deporting people into a triad of disasters: a cholera outbreak, violence surrounding the election and earthquake devastation.

Citations

^[44]