December 19, 2011

Iraq by the numbers

October 31, 2011

Bush in B.C.: Canada Hosts a War Criminal


(source)

Article: Let the U.S. judge Bush (source)

There was a Canadian chill in the air when George W. Bush turned up in Surrey, B.C., on Thursday to speak to a business audience. A couple of hundred raucous protesters were on hand, chanting “Arrest George Bush” and urging the Mounties to clap the former U.S. president in irons.

“Complicit in torture,” one sign read. “Waterboard Bush.” “War criminals out of Canada.” And “Shame, shame, shame.”

The campaign to make Bush a pariah in this country seems to have legs. Groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch are trying to shame the Canadian government into doing what the U.S. government won’t: To arrest and try Bush for authorizing the waterboarding of terror suspects when he next sets foot on our soil.

It’s a misguided demand that puts Prime Minister Stephen Harper and potentially other leaders needlessly on the spot.

. . . .

Posted Canadian Responses:

Re: Let the U.S. judge Bush, Editorial Oct. 22

You advocate that only the U.S. can hold their former president responsible for behaviour widely seen as criminal and which involved many foreign nationals and activities on many foreign shores. By this logic, Canada should never have extradited former SS guard Michael Seifert or any other Nazi war criminals, as their crimes did not take place in Canada.

Arresting and trying George W. Bush here would certainly be a slap in the face to our American friends and allies, this is true. So what Canada should do is give fair warning to Bush and the American government that he is not welcome here and would be arrested and turned over to the Hague if he enters Canada.

If that shames them then they should be shamed.

Rory McRandall, Bancroft

Even if one does accept the argument that George W. Bush should be prosecuted in the U.S., why was he given a green light into Canada? Numerous individuals have been denied entry at the border because of their association, sometimes quite tenuous, with subversion, violence or terrorism.

However, there is overwhelming evidence that the Bush administration was responsible for systematic abuses — kicking captives, confining them in boxes, depriving them of sleep and exposing them to cold temperatures, waterboarding, shackling them for prolonged periods, and threatening their families with ill-treatment.

You can bet your throwing booties that any former leader from Sudan, Iran or North Korea with that kind of record wouldn’t be in Canada giving speeches at $600-a-plate dinners.

Larry Kazdan, Vancouver

You’ve come up with some very logical and powerful arguments in support of this, primarily, being the responsibility of U.S. and not Canada to bring a villainous Dubya to book for his gross disrespect to international law and wanton violations of human rights. No reasonable person could disagree with you.

However, I’ve a small question. Would you be offering the very same cogent reasoning for not hauling up a foreign villain in Canadian courts had the person been, for the sake of argument, Mahmoud Ahmedinejad of Iran?

Karamatullah K. Ghori, Richmond Hill

Since when did human rights stop being a Canadian concern? When did Canada stop being concerned about justice and accountability?

Carol Rawson, Toronto

If Spanish prosecutors had a chance to read your “Let Bush Be” editorial, the murderous Augusto Pinochet of Chile would never have been arrested and brought to justice for his heinous crimes.

The reason Canada can’t arrest Bush is obvious: The U.S. would invade us or drain us economically.

But someone should arrest that devil. Respect for law, tradition and custom demands it.

Vito Cupoli, Toronto

You are right, “Americans who have a problem with their past president should deal with it.”

However, by the same token, Canada should stop encouraging George W. Bush to visit Canada, for launching his book, justifying “extraordinary rendition” techniques, or doing business with Americans solely on American terms.

I have his recent visits to Calgary, Alberta and Surrey, B.C. in mind!

Jalaluddin S. Hussain, Brossard, Que.

We and the rest of the signatories of the ICC don’t need to arrest Bush to punish him, we just have to advise him that we will if he shows up. I’m disappointed that Mr. Arrar didn’t use some of that money he received from the government of Canada to pursue a charge of extraordinary rendition against the Bush administration, and if accepted by the court, effectively imprison him in the U.S.

Gordon Deane, Mississauga

(source)

September 20, 2011

9/11 Commission Whistleblower

6 out of 10 members of the government's 9/11 Commission, which was charged with investigating the causes of the terrorist attack, have publicly denounced the report as unreliable and a whitewash.



In his 2009 book Ground Truth, John Farmer (US Attorney General) explains that the U.S. government hid the truth about 9/11. He resigned from his position on the Commission's Senior Counsel after being disgusted by the obstructions and conflicting stories given by government officials.




Many other whistleblowers, family members, politicians, and prominent professionals are demanding a new investigation into 9/11 as well.

Please vistit RememberBuilding7.org to learn more.

September 11, 2011

9/11: 10th Anniversary -- Look What We've Learned


It is with deep respect and profound reverence that I reflect on the loss of life on 9/11, as well as our world today, 10 years later. In memory of that historic day, here is a collage of media footage from that time period:


Many people regard the horrific event of 9/11 as the defining point of history in their lifetime. When the towers fell, people got very angry. In the aftermath, certainly there have been changes to our lives in small, direct ways, such as invasive procedures at airport security, or seeing loved ones deployed to fight wars in distant lands.

Here is what I have come to know and not know since then:

I know that:
- many important civil liberties have been stripped and civil rights abused (Patriot Act, Military Commission Act, FISA bill) during the War On Terror
- the admitted and documented use of torture has been argued as necessary to discover terrorist plots in the War On Terror
- approximately 1,00,000 deaths (mostly civilian) have occurred due to the War On Terror
- the USA, in an economic crisis, spends as much on it's military "defense" as the rest of the world COMBINED for the War On Terror
Terrorism has always existed throughout civilization; it existed before 9/11, and it will continue to exist forever. Why do we let it erode our freedoms and liberties today, as we hand over more and more power to our governments to "protect" us? And at what cost of these global wars?

I do not know why so much physical evidence concerning the collapse of the towers was completely ignored by the US government's NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) official reports:
- the collapse of WTC 7 and its free-fall descent
- reports of explosions in the lobby and basement by hundreds of eye witnesses including William Rodriguez
- thermite incendiary residue was scientifically found in the building powder and in first responders' lungs
- molten metal found at the bases of the towers for weeks, with corresponding thermal images from NASA
- virtually no plane wreckage found at the alleged flight 93 crash site in Pennsylvania
Any of these points deserves to be investigated and explained; all of them combined DEMAND a new, thorough, non-partisan, and authoritative investigation.

I do not know why NIST, who compiled the government's official technical report on the initiation of collapse for the three WTC towers, refuses to release their computer models used to demonstrate the collapse of WTC 7.

I do not know why the Congress has ignored that 6 of the 10 panelists/members on the 9/11 Commission denounce the official report they compiled, calling it weak, full of lies, and not to be trusted!

I DO know that some day these answers will come to light, in large part because of the efforts of many credible and diligent 9/11 victim family members and experts who put their reputations on the line to declare the government's Official Conspiracy Theory a cover-up, a sham, and a lie.






Won't you please take the time to examine the evidence about 9/11? It will take courage, but the world's future LITERALLY depends on it.

August 4, 2011

9/11: Explosive Evidence - Experts Speak Out, Trailer

Click to watch the documentary trailer

To learn more about demolition evidence, visit AE911Truth.org (Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth).

July 26, 2011

“In Gitmo, I was punished with 30 days in darkness for feeding iguanas”

Murat Kurnaz was arrested in the street and sent to Guantanamo Bay for torture. After five years, America released him without charge. To this day, the US has given no explanation or said sorry.


Guantanamo Bay continues to wreck lives, despite President Obama's pledge to shut the notorious prison. RT spoke to one former prisoner, Murat Kurnaz, who says the US has not issued even a simple apology for his years of torment.


Attempts to justify torture seem outrageous to those who have been unjustly subjected to inhumane treatment at US prisons overseas. Murat Kurnaz was captured in Pakistan in 2001. He was working for an NGO that helped young people there to quit drugs and adopt a healthier lifestyle. He was sent to Guantanamo and tortured – for five years. The vast majority of the hundreds of individuals who have been held at Guantanamo since 2002, just like Murat, are said to be of no intelligence value whatsoever. Some of them were children, when they were captured, like Canadian citizen Omar Khadr, who was just 15 when he was taken into US custody. He said because he was tortured, he was ready to say anything the torturers wanted to hear to stop the pain.







(source, source, source, source)

Also: Human Rights Watch report on evidence of torture (download pdf)

This systemic evil is truly monstrous and disgusting -- It must be stopped, investigated, and prosecuted IMMEDIATELY!

Update: This NEWS brings a little hope!

July 19, 2011

A Truly Inspiring Story of Forgiveness

"I strongly believe what Mark Stroman did was a hate crime because of his ignorance, and he was not capable of distinguishing between right and wrong. Otherwise, he would not have done what he did,” Bhuiyan (the victim) said. “The way my parents raised me, and my Islamic faith teaches me, that he is the best who can forgive easily. And my faith teaches that no one has a right to take another human life. Islam doesn’t allow for hate and killing.

Rais Bhuiyan

Mark Stroman

(source)

July 8, 2011

Report: Study Finds U.S. Spending $4 Trillion on War

(full headline: As Debt Talks Threaten Medicare, Social Security, Study Finds U.S. Spending $4 Trillion on War)


A new report from Brown University has estimated the true cost of the U.S. wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan will end up costing approximately $4 trillion — far more than the Bush or Obama administrations have acknowledged.

(source, more news)

Here is the report webstie: LINK.

June 27, 2011

New Indepentdant Poll Of New Yorkers Finds Lingering Doubts About Official Explanation Of 9/11 Attacks, Including Third Tower’s Collapse

(New York – June 8, 2011)

Amid its June 6th launch of 425 advertising spots on New York television, Remember Building 7 – an advocacy campaign calling for a new investigation into the collapse of a third skyscraper on 9/11 – has released findings from a new poll it commissioned on what New Yorkers believe about that day.

The May polling of 643 New Yorkers (including respondents in all of New York City’s five boroughs) by the independent Siena Research Institute shows meaningful levels of doubt and concern regarding the truth about what happened that day, with only 60 percent of New Yorkers ready to “move on”, and 48 percent in favor of the Manhattan District Attorney or New York City Council opening a new investigation into the collapse of World Trade Center Building 7.

The poll finds:
. . .

[READ THE REST!]

The poll findings can be found at Siena Research Institute site, www.siena.edu/sri/research (June 08, 2011) and the Remember Building 7 campaign site, www.RememberBuilding7.org.

Sources:

More information, contact:

“Remember Building 7”:
Michael Shepley
516-564-3480
shepleypr@aol.com
buildingwhat.org

Siena Research Institute:
Dr. Donald Levy
Director
518-783-2901
dlevy@siena.edu
http://www.siena.edu/sri/research

June 26, 2011

Egypt marks Intl. Day in Support of Victims of Torture

The International Day of Torture (June 26th) coincides with the trial of the former Interior Minister Habib el-Adly, where massive numbers of protesters and human rights activists gathered outside the court chanting anti-police slogans and demanding death penalty for the once widely feared interior minister.

Activists say International Day of Torture is an occasion for the world to speak up against the unspeakable. It is also a day dedicated to remembering and supporting the many victims of torture in Egypt and around the world.

[ENTIRE STORY AND VIDEO...]

I speak out about the pure evil of all torture! And for justice to those who authorize and perform it, no matter where they live or what their excuse may be!

June 24, 2011

Leaked WikiLeaks Cable: 2005 Democracy Now! Report on Haiti Killings Irked U.S. Embassy

Many people who know me will also know that I try to get my news from as many unbiased/bipartisan sources as time permits. I like to see all sides of a story if possible. However, the primary source I have settled on (when time is tight) is DemocracyNow! This independent new station is called "The War and Peace Report" and does a great job of focusing on US international and foreign affairs, the massive corruption and pain that is caused by the US throughout the world.

Apparently the US agrees, and so it tried to "set the narrative straight" when DemocracyNow!'s story contradicted.

(source)

It's a short clip that I just wish to share for a couple of blunt reasons. First, DemocracyNow! is not a parrot for government spokespersons. Second, the government often DOES try to sell its people a story that is not true. Or they hide the facts. It's about keeping their reputation untarnished, not about revealing Truth. The question is, what will you choose to believe? Does Truth matter to you? It matters to me, because Truth is reality. It seems like we should each be taking advantage of our "freedom to learn" by learning about our country, government, and policies which affect us and many others less fortunate. I believe that the founding fathers saw information as the currency of democracy. Thus freedom of the press was a right granted from the start. Today there is a long list of important issues, for example:
  • Torture & Indefinite imprisonment
  • Domestic spying & Warrant-less wiretapping
  • Racial profiling
  • 9/11 lies and misinformation
  • Wars of aggression and false flag attacks
  • Military coups & Puppet governments
  • Debt/financial crisis
  • Energy crisis
  • Food crisis
  • Water crisis 
  • Education crisis
Did I miss anything? This is our world. So sad, I'm sorry to admit. (NOTE: there is lots of good happening in the world too, of course, which gives me hope.)

We, the people, are supposed to decide how our governments conduct their business. As we do so, "Love thy neighbour as thyself" is a principle that needs to be practiced a lot more often in this terror-spooked world we live in. I have optimism that one day a righteous leader will take the reigns and guide us into peace, prosperity and happiness. When that day finally happens, I intend to follow Him. Meanwhile, I will continue to fumble my way through life, trying to make a difference for Good on this Earth.

June 18, 2011

AE911Truth Goes to Ireland

The truth about 9/11 continues to spread globally:


For more information visit: AE911truth.org

Update:
Reports and stories about this tour are starting to come in:
? - Attendees: 261 (20 turned away at the door - with a free 9/11 DVD in hand)
Audience: 5 architects; 23 engineers
47 never heard of WTC7
Before presentation: 21 believing the Government's Official Conspiracy Theory (OCT); 53 unsure
Afterward: 0 OCT; 38 unsure

Rotterdam - Attendees: 81
Audience: 5 architects; 15 engineers
18 never heard of WTC 7
Before presentation: 5 believing the OCT; 25 unsure
Afterward: 0 OCT; 7 unsure

Amsterdam - Attendees: 154
Audience: 3 architects; 27 engineers
24 never heard of WTC 7
Before presentation: 7 believing the OCT; 37 unsure
Afterward: 0 OCT; 5 unsure

June 16, 2011

The cycle of war

SIMPLE  PROPAGANDA:
~Signed: al qaeda, taliban, united states

** help stop the vicious cycle of war -- support efforts to stop wars of aggression, and love your neighbour **

March 27, 2011

Remember Building 7






A TV ad to promote awareness of WTC Building 7 and gain support for a new 9/11 investigation. And it's working. REMEMBER: 9/11 began the "war on terror", causing costly wars in countries around the world, and stripping constitutional rights from millions of people -- all in the name of "national security".

1,400+ professional architects and engineers have looked at the scientific evidence surrounding 9/11, and believe the government story does not add up in very significant ways. Please look and the evidence and support a new official investigation.

January 17, 2011

I Have A Dream


MLK: A Call to Conscience (source)

Martin Luther King, Jr. was a strong, courageous, selfless man who stood up to the Establishment against the grave social injustices of his time. These included black segregation and suffrage, war against poverty, and the unjust Vietnam war. Like Martin Luther King, I too have a dream that one day this country with such great potential to do good will pull itself together and tackle the many hard issues which it faces at home, and become a guiding light to the rest of the world once again. He preached love, justice, and human equality straight into the ugly face of terror and elitists. It is my prayer that we will each find the moral courage to do the same.

Quotes:

An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.
A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.
An individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law.
At the center of non-violence stands the principle of love.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness.

(More discussion by Tavis Smiley)