I didn't know whether to laugh, cry, or tear my clothes off, set my hair on fire, and run out into the street screaming obscenities when I saw an article entitled "US has become haven for war criminals, senator says."
Go ahead, read the article if you can bear the shameless duplicity of our "elected representatives." Apparently, Dick Durbin recently pulled his head out of his ass to feign outrage at the big "welcome" sign the US holds out to war criminals around the world. As one might expect, though, Dick wasted no time in shoving his smirking face right up someone else's posterior portal, namely, that of the supreme war criminal who comfortably directs his campaign of atrocities from just down the street at 1600 Pennsylania Ave.
The doctrinal system is functioning quite smoothly when a US Senator can squeal about war crimes and never even consider that the world's most dangerous and irredeemable war criminals are in fact a native species, ever-growing in the fertile soil of militarism and exceptionalism. Remember - no matter what the UN Charter says, no matter how the Nuremberg Charter reads, regardless of the clear meaning of every international law on the books - war crimes are committed by others, but never, never, never by us.
Posted: November 19, 2007 12:55 am by Joshua Jackson | 0 comments
Tags: human rights, militarism, war crimes
Here are a few books on the subject.
Universities and empire : money and politics in the social sciences during the Cold War. Edited and introduced by Christopher Simpson. New York : New Press : Distributed by W.W. Norton & Co., 1998.
Academic freedom in action: an up-to-date account of the counter-insurgency activities pursued by scholars round the world under the banner of ’academic freedom’. Hoch, Paul. London, Sheed and Ward, 1970.
The Cold War & the university : toward an intellectual history of the postwar years. Noam Chomsky ... [et al.]. New York : New Press : Distributed by W.W. Norton & Co., c1997.
The Cold War and American science : the military-industrial-academic complex at MIT and Stanford. Stuart W. Leslie. New York : Columbia University Press, 1993.
Posted: November 3, 2007 1:47 am by Joshua Jackson | 0 comments
Tags: complicity, human rights, Iraq, militarism, torture, war crimes, war on terror
Hey all you anthro students out there! Are you bored to death in that stifling classroom environment? Are you ready to escape from the tedious lectures of your professors and the endless course readings they assign? Sign up with Uncle Sam, grab the nearest rifle, and suit up for a real adventure in the "field" (the battlefield, that is).
That's right. As part of the Pentagon's latest counter-insurgency strategy, the War Department has been recruiting anthropologists and social scientists in the hopes of actually understanding the cultures they're trying to dominate.
Thankfully, not everyone has responded to the call, and some academics in the discipline are speaking out against this blatant manifestation of ivory-tower imperialism (see the Network of Concerned Anthropologists).
Posted: November 3, 2007 12:32 am by Joshua Jackson | 0 comments
Tags: Afghanistan, anthropology, complicity, counter-insurgency, human rights, war crimes, war on terror
Say it ain't so!
I truly do hate to bring this news to the loyal and devoted citizens of Red Sox Nation, but I'm afraid it's true: Philip H. Morse, part-owner of the Red Sox, has been lending his private Gulfstream jet to his buddies in the CIA, who have used the plane to transport illegally kidnapped "terror suspects" to third-party countries where they are tortured.
According to three articles in the Boston Globe (Mar. 20, 21, and Dec. 11, 2005), Morse's jet has been contracted out by Richmor Aviation of New York at least once, and was most likely the plane used to transport a Muslim cleric to Egypt where he was subsequently tortured.
The Dec. 11, 2005 article reads:
The case has prompted Italian prosecutors to charge 22 purported CIA operatives with kidnapping, although Italian prosecutors acknowledge they may never be able to find and arrest the agents.
Law enforcement officials in Germany, a newspaper in Portugal, and researchers with Amnesty have begun examining Richmor's flight records for signs that the flights may have violated local or international laws.
The Gulfstream jet that Richmor leased to the CIA, owned by Red Sox part-owner Phillip H. Morse,, is followed by plane-spotting hobbyists all over the world who report on the Internet when they spot the plane landing at airports and track its tail number originally N85VM in Federation Aviation Administration records. Every trip seems to spark scrutiny, said Mahlon Richards, a co- owner of the company.
"It has a very negative effect on our business," Richards said. "It is getting out of hand."
Awwww, big crocodile tears for Mr. Richards, everyone!
The ACLU and Amnesty International maintain informative pages on the CIAs euphemistically-phrased practice of "extraordinary rendition."
Posted: October 24, 2007 10:55 pm by Joshua Jackson | 0 comments
Tags: Boston Globe, CIA, extraordinary rendition, human rights, Phillip Morse, red sox, torture, war crimes
That's right, folks, that "crimson red" looks a little more life-like after four years of complicity in the bloodbath of Baghdad! Let's start our "Tour of Complicity" at nearby Harvard, with a first stop at the enterprising Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at the Kennedy School of Government.
Here we find some of the war's most charming apologists, whose work proves that militarism ultimately prefers no gender, and that "human rights" is now an ideological vehicle for what Jean Bricmont calls "humanitarian imperialism."
The rogue's gallery is headed by none other than Sarah Sewall, Director of the Carr Center and Lecturer in Public Policy. Sewall's resume includes stints "at a variety of defense research organizations" and as Clinton's Deputy Assistant Secretary for Peacekeeping and Humanitarian Assistance in the Dept. of Defense. Fortunately, she's not alone - as the Center's 2005/2006 Annual Report puts it, the Center is proud of its "unique role at the nexus of the military and human rights communities," consisting of what some may regard as "unconventional partnerships." General Abizaid made an appearance last fall, assuring a doting audience that "if we can stay together, nothing can stop us," and one Colonel Peter A. DeLuca made a stop in April, leading a seminar entitled "Asymmetric Warfare Mon Amour: What the "Long War" Means to Me". It's a veritable love-fest at the Center, with human rights "experts" and Marines marching hand in hand off into the imperial sunset!
Some of the Center's greatest recent hits also include:
* participation in a Jan. '05 conference at the Western Hemispheric Institute for Security Cooperation , also known as the School of Assassins, linked to a long history of political repression and murders carried out by its well-trained alumni in Latin America;
* an "Ethical Dilemmas for Special Forces" conference in June '03 at Ft. Bragg (it must have been a long conference - the Special Forces are notorious for their role in training and guiding some of the most ruthless and bloody "counter-insurgency" units, from Vietnam on down);
and on and on and on.
Sewall has no doubt been just gushing with pride over her latest achievement: the introduction to the latest edition of The U.S. Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Field Manual, published earlier this year by the University of Chicago Press.
Tom Hayden has written two short pieces for The Nation that puts Sewall's slavish self-subordination to power in the proper historical and political light, "Harvard's Humanitarian Hawks" and "The New Counterinsurgency".
Oh, and we shouldn’t forget Samantha “Sycophant to” Power, darling of what Edward Herman pithily refers to as the “cruise missile left.” As Herman amply argues, Power’s scholarship on genocide clearly and systematically avoids any uncomfortable mention of the massive slaughterhouses created by the US in Southeast Asia or Central America, such as the 30-year long bloodbath in East Timor that witnessed the killing of nearly one third of the entire population of the Timorese by the Indonesian military - all the while fully armed and trained by the U.S., which actually gave the green light to the invasion of tiny East Timor in 1975. Genocide is always something that “they” do, not us. Tell that to the Indians, Samantha!
Howard Zinn’s recent letter to the New York Times questions Powers’ dubious distinction between “intentional” and “unintentional” targeting of civilians, a distinction that has much value for those who drop 500-pound bombs on Iraqi houses, but little value for those innocent civilians who are inevitably murdered.
Edward S. Herman gave Howie’s critique a helpful shove in the right direction with a response, and readers should definitely read his discussion of “worthy genocides”.
You may ask yourself, "What does all this have to do with human rights?" A very good question, indeed!
Posted: October 20, 2007 12:53 am by Joshua Jackson | 0 comments
Tags: Carr Center, counter-insurgency, Harvard, human rights, militarism, Sarah Sewall, state terrorism
For: Technology Staff Only
Susannah Sirkin, Physicians for Human Rights’ Deputy Director for International Policy, will speak at the next Technology Diversity Team Lunch and Learn on Friday, September 28th, from 12:30-2:00pm in the Special Functions Room.
Susannah will speak about the importance of human rights work, the work of PHR, and their role in the issue of immigration and asylum. Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), the Co-Recipient of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize for the International Campaign to Ban Land Mines, is a national organization that mobilizes health professionals to advance the health and dignity of all people through action that promotes respect for, protection of and fulfillment of human rights. Ms. Sirkin has held the position of Deputy Director since 1987 when she joined the organization's staff shortly after its founding. Previously, she was Director of Membership Programs for Amnesty International USA. Ms. Sirkin also served from 1992-2001 for PHR as a member of the Coordination Committee of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, the co-recipient of the 1997 Nobel Prize for Peace. PHR is one of the six original non-governmental organizations that initiated the International Campaign to Ban Landmines in 1992.
Lunch will be provided so please RSVP promptly, by emailing ptrc@simmons.edu , to ensure the appropriate number of lunches has been ordered.
Posted: September 26, 2007 10:42 am by Shino Ito | 0 comments
Tags: human rights, sirkin, susannah, susannah sirkin, technology diversity committee, technology diversity committee event
