What was that quaint idea of trusting government officials in a time of war? Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld once declared that individuals captured by the US military in the aftermath of 9/11 and shipped off to the Guantanamo Bay prison facility represented the “worst of the worst.” During a radio interview in June…
Showing all posts tagged terrorism
The role of a journalist in a truly free state is to challenge the state
An Haaretz response to a growing Israeli and global scandal (does the Jewish state really want more attention on its clearly illegal policy of assassinating “terrorists” without a clear legal mandate?) Over the last two years, Haaretz reporter Uri Blau has exposed a series of details that shed light on the conduct of the Israel…
Wikileaks releases deadly video from Iraq that corporate hacks have not
Yet another scoop from Wikileaks, one of the most important websites in the world: WikiLeaks has released a classified US military video depicting the indiscriminate slaying of over a dozen people in the Iraqi suburb of New Baghdad — including two Reuters news staff. Reuters has been trying to obtain the video through the Freedom…
Of course the Israeli occupation of Palestine brings anti-Western anger
Thomas Hegghammer in Foreign Policy reminds us that ignoring Palestine, or suggesting that leaving the conflict unresolved doesn’t bring hatred towards the West, is deluding themselves: In recent weeks, U.S. Gen. David Petraeus and others have made headlines by suggesting that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict increases anti-Americanism in the Muslim world. The Wall Street Journal’s Bret…
Yes, a US official sits and talks with Hamas (that’s news, apparently)
Al-Jazeera reports on a story that shows the rather pathetic fear that accompanies even meeting an Islamist organisation. Better watch out, you may catch the resistance bug: I could not believe my eyes this morning at the Al Jazeera Centre for Strategic Studies conference on Political Islam.… Perusing the programme I noticed a panel that…
Why is a Muslim man being locked up indefinitely in the US?
America, land of the incarcerated: Today in New York City, the U.S. is torturing a Muslim detainee with no prior criminal record who has not even gone to trial. For the last almost three years, Syed Fahad Hashmi has been kept in total pre-trial isolation inside in a small cell under 24 hour video and…
Does the British government know the difference between Islam and Islamist?
Another example of a Western government (this time the British) seemingly incapable of understanding the nuance and shade in the non-Anglo world. How comforting to know that writing about Islam and being critical of the “war on terror” makes one a potential target for government intrusion: The UK Home Office last week released a study…
Being Tamil in Australia isn’t a crime (pass it along)
Some timely reading on the ways in which Australia deals with the Tamil question. First, a reminder of what’s at stake (in Murdoch’s Herald Sun, no less): Thousands of desperate Tamil refugees in Sri Lanka have a stark choice: stay and be persecuted or risk the long, dangerous voyage to Australia. A senior diplomat, experienced…
Tamil supporters walk free in Australia
A victory for common sense, a profound defeat for the Australian government and many unanswered questions. How many more failed terrorism cases will it take before authorities recognise the problems with the current strategy? It’s possible to support liberation movements and not back the killing of civilians. Hard to understand for some, but there you…
Don’t trust our government to keep us safe from terrorism
Next step you hear something in the media about the Australian government being “tough on terror” (and the media cheer-leaders behind them), remember this: A Supreme Court judge has attacked the Australian Federal Police for bungling a two-year investigation into three men who sent funds to Sri Lankan Tamil Tiger separatists. The agents’ action included…