Desecration of the Holy Koran By Minhaj Qidwai Al-Jazeerah, May 15, 2005

I find it strange that the "Arab World" has not shown like passion and protests and rioting about the holding of 500+ prisoners at Guantanamo as they have regarding desecration of the Holy Qur'an. why haven't the respective governments spoken up about about their citizens' mistreatment as have the British? if the prisoners are innocent, why aren't their governments fighting for their release?

whether they are guilty or innocent, there seems to be no doubt that international laws and common decency have been trampled. don't these governments care about their citizens? or is their looking the other way a tacit admission that they are guilty...of something(?)...or they just don't matter?.

J Reilly CA, USA

Pentagon attacks Newsweek over Qur'an story

Much has been made of Newsweek’s article and white House reaction regarding desecration of the Qur'an and subsequent anti-American protests that have followed.

The fact is that incidents such as this one, have been documented by detainees and human rights organizations over two years ago and that it is only now that we've chosen to address them publicly, speaks volumes about extent of control that this administration has exercised over what American's hear and see!

The attacks of this administration and its support base upon Newsweek represent yet another method of destroying dissent and whitewashing the many injustices and atrocities committed in the name of "spreading democracy".

However, as absolutely shameful and serious as this incident is, it is but one in a long list of misdeeds committed by this administration to include; torture of Muslims in military and civilian prisons in the U.S, Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantanamo Bay and other ghost facilities throughout the Middle East.

Finger printing, arbitrary arrest and incarceration of Arab and Muslim males in the U.S or those arriving in country.

Calls to have Muslims (even those who are U.S citizens) placed in internment camps.

Efforts on the part of Christian Missionaries to convert Muslims to Christianity.

Secret arrest and deportation of Muslims (including citizens of other countries) to countries for torture.

Killing of Arab or Muslim journalists (including bombings of the Palestine hotel and Aljazeera satellite locations) covering conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Covert overthrows of governments (Iran in 1953 with Great Britain's support).

Support of Israel in its campaign to take over Palestinian lands (to include construction of the wall), support of Israel's conventional and nuclear weapons programs, and the absence of reporting with regard to Palestinian (as well as international peace activists) casualties inflicted by the hands of Israel.

This unfortunate event could provide an opportunity for open discussion of Western, more specifically U.S involvement in the Middle East, in order to prevent repeating the same mistakes from decades past. In this country, we seem to believe that our involvement in the Middle East began with September 11, 2001 and such a discussion would go a long way in changing the mindset of those who so vehemently support the many calls for war by this administration and its supporters.

Unfortunately, it appears that yet another story of substance will be forgotten by next week, replaced by the next stage of the Michael Jackson trial or celebrity divorce!

Timothy Stinson

Miami Lakes, Florida

Not a Shell Game at a Texas Carnival "Hustle" Now. US. Courts will Decide ?

All those who promoted war and Destruction to make Monetary profits of the carnage deserve a Day in Court. There ill-gotten wealth taken away. And a long sentence to a Jail Cell to reflect on those that perished while they thought the wear Hustling the system.
     

By Griff Witte, Washington Post

   A federal judge in Alexandria yesterday questioned opposing attorneys over two questions at the center of a whistle-blower suit that could set precedents for future cases involving allegations of fraud by contractors in Iraq: Can a contractor that allegedly stole Iraqi money, not U.S. funds, be sued in U.S. court? And was the authority that ran Iraq for a year after the fall of Saddam Hussein part of the U.S. government?

   To view the entire article, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/12/

AR2005051201746.html?referrer=emailarticle

The Bush Boys thought the Fix was in. But The Courts will have there say now regarding  this earlier reported story.
   "The department gave no public explanation, but officials had previously told lawyers in the lawsuit that because the alleged fraud was against the Coalition Provisional Authority, federal prosecutors did not have jurisdiction. Some experts have questioned that reasoning."  link Below

Click here: The New York Times > Washington > Corruption Accusations: Memos Warned of Billing Fraud by Firm in Iraq

   It looks like the Bush Justice DEPT. has washed there hands of this "Fraud," Its up to the "Coalition Provisional Authority" To bring Law Suits in Courts for years for the   return of Iraqis Funds to the US Government and then to Iraq, after Expenses for Bushes Personal War. As the Coalition goes out of Business after the Election, The Legal fix is in place for this Sham Theft of Dollars belonging to the Iraqis. Hopefully this Backward Bush league Reasoning will go to United States Supreme Court. Which I believe will rule the Cases belong in American Courts, Against the American Government, On the prima facie evidence as the Fiduciary, Of the transfer of Iraqi Funds To the Coalition. This is not a Shell Game at a Texas Carnival "Hustle" by the Bush/Chaney clowns. 

Ronald Douglas Kennedy, CA, USA

Finally a Single Truth, Amid the Firestorm of Lies By Jim Kirwan Al-Jazeerah, May 14, 2005

A great article on America, the out of control beast. That it truly is..........no real head.......... no constraining reigns to guide it........ powerful and with a taste for blood......... she blunders where she is not wanted trampling lives under foot........

America now has Administrative Detention..... How many understand that one???????? Well Palestinians do! They have lived with it for years. One Israeli settler also now knows now from experience...... What will we do when it is being used on "White" Americans instead of just Arab Americans?

9/11 was a horrific experience for our nation but the Pandora's Box we opened with the loss of freedom in trade for "more security" is something no one here is prepared to live with. Why do you think America has been in training for years for Urban Warfare? Just for other nations? I think not.

Administrative Detention is for our citizens. Can concentration camps be far behind? I wish I didn't not think, "it is possible". It is an absolutely foolproof way to stop all demonstration and protest about anything. It is a foolproof means to establishing a dictatorship but in our case the logical head is just window dressing and hot air. The Department of Defence is the new ruler. Imprisonment without charges, trial, appeal, or representation is legal......... and we have slept through the process that set it all up.

Due process is effectively dead. It was done with a painless, bloodless surgery. The Patriot Act.

Bush senior quietly mentioned a New World Order.......... I'm wondering if it didn't arrive on a monster called 9/11. Is this beast pushing forward toward not just for world dominance but perhaps aiming for world control?

Administrative Detention allows our nation to have total control without demonstration or dissenting voice. Elections are meaningless.......we've already seen that anyway haven't we? Donald Rumsfeld the US Secretary of Defense is the World leader while the world looks at Bush and doesn't realise he's been neutered just below the ears. The presidency is effectively dead.

Dr. Mary Majayda

clergylady2@juno.com

Stop the Crime of the Century

 Mr. Martin,

the Blair government memos and meeting minutes concerning events leading to war in Iraq leaked during the recent British election add smoking gun detail to the case that Iraq was an illegal war.

But few Americans know about these leaked documents - there has been little American media coverage  As Paul Krugman points out in his NY Times column:

"There has been notably little U.S. coverage of the "Downing Street memo" - actually the minutes of a British prime minister's meeting on July 23, 2002, during which officials reported on talks with the Bush administration about Iraq. But the memo, which was leaked to The Times of London during the British election campaign, confirms what apologists for the war have always denied: the Bush administration cooked up a case for a war it wanted."

Hofstra University professor David Michael Green laments this lack of informed debate about what should be Watergate-sized news in America in the pasted on op-ed that should speak to all of us Mr. Martin: Stop the Crime of the Century

Not interested? Bogged down in political problems at home? Paradoxically, if you actually showed leadership and acted like a Canuck PM should and spoke out trying to get the full implications of illegal war and how it is creating a much, much more dangerous world for all of us into American debate, your sponsorship scandal and minority government problems would be greatly diminished.

And you could command American attention and should speak out as a Canadian PM rightly concerned with the corrosion of international law and multilateral global governance and as an informed close observer who could put the whole mess of premeditation, geostrategic temptation, lies, and continuing very harmful ineptitude out front, on the table.

British international law expert Phillipe Sands QC is echoing Harvard's Lisa Martin in warning about the damage of illegal war to international law and multilateralism. In an edited extract from his recent Mishcon lecture that also looks deeply at the recent leaked revelations,  Mr. Sands states why illegal war in Iraq is indeed the crime of the century:

"The events of the past three years matter because they have consequences for international governance. We live in a complex, interdependent world in which social, political, economic and religious values and interests collide with increasing frequency over an ever greater set of issues. International law sets minimum standards of behaviour. Outside of bullying and force, it is all we have to provide a framework for resolving those differences. Without it, we are back to the law of the jungle."

Bill Henderson