US-Canada “Terror Justice”: I Will Never Forget Omar Khadr
Global Research
October 1, 2012
by Nulwee Follow
I’ve known about Omar Khadr since he was a boy. He’s 26, like me. At age 15, U.S. military found Khadr face-down, unconscious, under a pile of rubble in Afghanistan. When Khadr regained consciousness a week later, he was at Bagram air force base, “one of the worst places on Earth“:
Damien Corsetti, who was known as “Monster” at Bagram, based on a tattoo on his chest, and also as “The King of Torture,” described himself as “a disabled veteran suffering post traumatic stress disorder as a result of his interrogation work in both Afghanistan and Iraq,” and explained how, on seeing Khadr on July 29, 2002, just two days after his capture, he was struck by how he was an injured “child” detained in “one of the worst places on Earth.” He added, “More than anything, he looked beat up. He was a 15 year-old kid with three holes in his body, a bunch of shrapnel in his face. That was what I remember. How horrible this 15 year-old child looked.”
The well-circulated photo of Khadr at age 14, only a little younger than he was at his capture, still haunts me, not unlike the photo of the bombing victim Ali Ismael Abbas which I used to wave at Iraq Occupation protests. It has been alleged that Omar Khadr, a Canadian citizen, was a child soldier, used as a pawn first by terrorists and then punished by the U.S as if he were an adult with agency.Khadr is being released to Canada after a decade long battle by civil rights groups. He will serve out his sentence in Canadian prison, with eligibility for parole in 2013.
The U.S. defence department issued a statement Saturday referring to the five war crimes to which Khadr pleaded guilty before a military commission:murder in violation of the law of war attempted murder in violation of the law of war conspiracy providing material support for terrorism spying
There are too many ironies and outrages to catalogue in this diary entry.Khadr was still injured when the torture began. The interrogators pried open his mind and used fear to transform him:
There is much more in the affidavit – casual cruelty, whereby guards made Khadr do hard manual labor when his wounds were not healed, and, significantly, threats “to have me raped, or sent to other countries like Egypt, Syria, Jordan or Israel to be raped.” He also noted, “I would always hear people screaming, both day and night,” and explained that other prisoners were scared of his interrogator. “Most people would not talk about what had been done to them,” he declared. “This made me afraid.”Khadr also described what happened to him in Guantánamo, where, as I explained last week, he “arrived around the time that a regime of humiliation, isolation and abuse, including extreme temperature manipulation, forced nudity and sexual humiliation, had just been introduced, by reverse-engineering torture techniques, used in a military program designed to train US personnel to resist interrogation if captured, in an attempt to increase the meager flow of ‘actionable intelligence’ from the prison.”
At various points in 2003, while the use of these techniques was still widespread, Khadr stated that he was short-shackled in painful positions and left for up to ten hours in a freezing cold cell, threatened with rape and with being transferred to another country where he could be raped, and, on one particular occasion, when he had been left short-shackled in a painful position until he urinated on himself:
Military police poured pine oil on the floor and on me, and then, with me lying on my stomach and my hands and feet cuffed together behind me, the military police dragged me back and forth through the mixture of urine and pine oil on the floor. Later, I was put back in my cell, without being allowed a shower or a change of clothes. I was not given a change of clothes for two days. They did this to me again a few weeks later.
Khadr was subjected to a ‘Palestinian hanging’:
The first to reveal a glimpse of the regime at Bagram was, ironically, a medic called as a witness by the prosecution. “Mr. M,” as he was identified, who testified by video link from Boston, countered Khadr’s claims that, while he was at Bagram, “five people in civilian clothes would come and change my bandages,” and that they “treated me very roughly and videotaped me while they did it,” stating that he alone changed his bandages twice a day, and that no rough treatment was involved.He did, however, note that, on one occasion, he found Khadr hooded and chained to a cage by his wrists with his arms “just above eye level,” and that when he lifted the hood, Khadr was visibly upset. The medic added, as Carol Rosenberg described it in the Miami Herald, that “he didn’t object to Khadr’s treatment, because chaining was an approved form of punishment” at Bagram, “adding that he didn’t know the reason for the punishment nor how long Khadr had been chained.”
This rather nonchalant description of “chaining” may not have shocked the medic, especially as the chains were apparently “slack enough to allow Khadr’s feet to touch the floor,” but the only reason for this was because of the severity of his wounds, as Khadr explained in his affidavit, in which he also stated that he was chained up “several times.” Otherwise, like numerous other prisoners, including Dilawar (the subject of “Taxi to the Dark Side”) and Mullah Habibullah, the two prisoners who were killed at Bagram in December 2002, he would have been fully suspended by his wrists, in a torture technique more commonly known as the “strappado” technique or “Palestinian hanging.”
Nevertheless, as Barry Coburn, Khadr’s lead lawyer, explained, the medic’s testimony provided “critically important validation” of statements in his client’s affidavit, and another of his lawyers, Kobie Flowers, added, “Had this been an American soldier in North Korea, people would be outraged. Here we have a 15-year-old individual who was nearly killed with bullets in his back who was left up there to hang as punishment.”
There’s more in the long, sad, tale of Omar Khadr. But that gives you some idea.This is a critical story and its embers have to remain hot. These are the stakes. The U.S. can choose to forget that it captured and tortured a boy for years, physically and psychologically. That it tortured many people, some Middle Eastern, some Western. I guarantee you that the price of forgetting will revisit us in the future. Or we can remember the stain on our nation, like many other countries have to each day.
Horrible Chemtrails Sunset Over Dead Trees In Halifax [video]
FolkPhotographer
October 3, 2012
[hat tip: Aircrap.org]
INTERNATIONAL DAY OF ACTION – Oct. 6, 2012 — Canadian Peace Congress: End the Aggression Against Syria! Stop the Drive to War Against Iran!
Global Research
October 1, 2012
The Canadian Peace Congress condemns the ongoing foreign intervention in Syria and the escalating drive to war against Iran, and calls for the immediate withdrawal of all Canadian, NATO and foreign mercenary forces from the region. We further call upon the Conservative government of Stephen Harper to restore and normalize its diplomatic relations with Syria and Iran, and to re-orient Canadian foreign policy toward peace, international cooperation and solidarity.
The Harper government’s decision to adopt an international policy of belligerence, and to do so without consulting Parliament, is further evidence of its abandonment of a foreign policy of peace and diplomacy in favour of aggressive and hostile interference in the internal affairs of sovereign countries. Syria and Iran are member states of the United Nations and have expressed no hostile intent towards Canada or its people. Prime Minister Harper is actively contributing to the danger of war, through hostile policies that are out of step with the Canadian peoples’ longstanding support for peace.
The Canadian government has allied itself with a minority of Western governments who, along with pro-war forces within Israel and a few reactionary Arab regimes, are seeking new pretexts for intervention and war. These include the protection of human rights or the prevention of the alleged proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. These objectives cannot be achieved by breaking diplomatic relations, imposing economic sanctions, arming foreign mercenaries, or forging international campaigns for regime change and by installing puppet governments favourable to the strategic goals of the major western power.
Foreign intervention, sanctions and military aggression only weaken the human and democratic rights of the Syrian and Iranian people, and diminish their ability to develop and improve their societies. The aftermath of NATO intervention in Libya last year, in which Canadian armed forces bombed Libyan territory, has been disastrous for the people of Libya who are now plunged into factional warfare. This, plus the catastrophic consequences of the military occupation of Iraq, including the deaths of over one million Iraqis, clearly indicate that the main victim of any war is the civilian population.
As in the case of Libya last year, the drive to interfere in Syria and Iran is driven by the strategic and economic interests of imperialist powers. These countries – including the United States, Britain, the European Union and Canada – choose militarism and war as their preferred option for expanding their spheres of influence and control over resources and markets. The result is destruction, displacement and despair to the peoples of the developing countries who have been targeted. Far from resolving conflicts, these policies of interference only deepen current crises and escalate the danger to world peace.
Pro-war forces have seized upon the many complexities in the situations in Iran and Syria, to promote misinformation and confusion. The threat to peace in the Middle East does not arise from countries who exercise their sovereign right to develop the nuclear energy industries to build their economies. Nor does it originate with countries who oppose Western efforts to re-colonize the Middle East and control its vast energy resources, through the New Middle East Plan. Rather, the concrete threat to peace is the existing conventional and nuclear weapons that the US, its NATO allies and Israel constantly brandish in their effort to destabilize the region, to demonize governments that oppose imperialist plans, and to justify interference and war.
The Canadian Peace Congress asserts that the direction of economic, political and social development in any country is the sole right of the people of that country to determine, without foreign interference. We hold this principle to be true for the people of Canada, as we hold it to be true for the people of Syria and Iran. We are completely opposed to any foreign political or military intervention, under any pretext. This includes efforts to interfere with and divert genuine democratic domestic movements.
The role of the Canadian government in both of these crises has been shameful. Under Stephen Harper’s Conservatives, Canada has abandoned its reputation as a country with an independent stance in international relations, and assumed the posture of a vocal NATO aggressor state. In all dimensions – political-diplomatic, economic and military – Canada’s recent policies toward Syria and Iran have been geared toward three goals:
- Isolate and neutralize sources of information that conflict with imperialist aims, by cutting off communication with the governments and peoples in Syria and Iran;
- Increase the suffering of the people and generate anti-government sentiment, by imposing economic sanctions that particularly target energy industries who produce for local consumption;
- Increase the active military threat in the region, by deploying warships and other military resources to the region.
These goals all directly serve the overall objective of pro-Western regime change in Syria and Iran, and the Harper government has campaigned hard internationally, to convince other countries to assume similar policies against both countries.
In the case of Syria, the Conservatives have also campaigned aggressively to create and promote a political opposition movement to the government. In November 2011, the NATO Parliamentary Assembly received a report that “virtually no one [in Syria] is calling for international military intervention” and that Syria was “without a clearly identifiable opposition with precise political ambitions.” Yet, just prior to that report, Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird had met with the Syrian National Council and proclaimed them to be the legitimate opposition who has “continuously outlined their appetite for change.” It is unclear how Baird identified an organized and “legitimate” opposition when NATO could not, and it suggests that the Syrian National Council is little more than a pro-Western puppet government-in-waiting that has been fashioned by imperialist forces.
Furthermore, Canada has supported the arming of an estimated 40-60,000 foreign mercenaries to fight inside Syria. These mercenaries form the backbone of the Free Syrian Army, and indicate the degree of armed foreign intervention already underway in Syria. The recent elections in Syria had a higher voter turnout than in Canada, and a number of independents and government opponents were elected and have been included in the cabinet. The Syrian people have spoken, yet Canada and other interventionist forces continue to pick sides in an internal matter.
In the case of Iran, the frenzied drive to war has obscured certain significant facts from the public eye:
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Iran is a non-nuclear state and a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), and is under the supervision of the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Iran has repeatedly stated that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes and not for military ends. The fact of the matter is that neither the IAEA nor the U.S. administration has been able to show any substantiated evidence about the weaponization of Iran’s nuclear energy program. The U.S. Secretary of Defence, Leon Panetta, has publicly conceded, “there is no evidence that Iran has a nuclear weapon.”
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Israel is a nuclear weapons state with an estimated 200-400 nuclear weapons, who has refused to join the NPT. There is no UN supervision over Israel’s nuclear activities. It has pre-emptively attacked other neighbouring states, and has threatened Iran with military attack many times.
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United States is a nuclear weapons state with more than 10,000 nuclear weapons, and it has not allowed any inspection of its nuclear facilities by the IAEA. The U.S. has used nuclear weapons against other countries, when it exploded two nuclear bombs on Japan and when it used uranium-enriched weapons in Iraq. The U.S. also has repeatedly threatened Iran with military attack, and has nuclear-equipped forces currently stationed in the region.
The Canadian Peace Congress supports the October 6 Day of Protest Against War, initiated by the Canadian Peace Alliance. After more than a year of conflict and violent foreign intervention, thousands of Syrian people have died. If governments like Canada are allowed to continue their current policies of aggression, interference and colonization, thousands more will die. All peace-supporting groups in Canada – including trade unions, faith communities and student groups – need to speak out and mobilize against intervention in Syria and Iran and the threat of a far broader war in the region.
The Canadian Peace Congress demands that the Canadian government:
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Immediately withdraw Canadian military forces from the region, and oppose military intervention in Syria and Iran, under any pretext;
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Restore diplomatic relations with Syria and Iran, remove sanctions, and support the peace initiatives of those states and organizations advocating a cease fire and negotiated end to the war;
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Withdraw from NATO, which has a nuclear first-strike policy and complimentary sea- and land-based ballistic missile systems, and all other military alliances;
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Promote full nuclear disarmament, beginning with the nuclear stockpiles of the United States, Israel and NATO;
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Adopt a new independent Canadian foreign policy of peace, non-intervention and diplomacy in international relations.
Canadian Peace Congress Executive Council
30 September, 2012
The Canadian Peace Congress was formed in 1949 as an organization of Canadian people that works for world peace and disarmament. We maintain that peace, not militarism and war, is the guarantor of democracy, human rights, and social and economic justice. The Peace Congress is affiliated to the World Peace Council and is a founding member of the Canadian Peace Alliance.
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Don’t Attack Iran
Join the International day of Action, October 6
Events Listings
Edmonton
A peace rally organized by the Edmonton Coalition Against War & Racism (ECAWAR) urging the Canadian government not to use military intervention in Iran.
The program includes:
Dr. Rose Geransar (Iranian-Canadian activist)
Siavash Saffari (Iranian-Canadian activist)
Peggy Morton (ECAWAR)
Dr. Dougal MacDonald (ECAWAR)
Paula Kirman (political singer/songwriter)
….more details to come!
Hands off Iran!
Hands off Syria!
No Sanctions – No War!
Canada Needs and Anti-War Government!
Facebook event
Halifax
Join us for a rally and march on Saturday, October 6, part of a pan-Canadian day of action to oppose a war against Iran.
1:00 p.m. Rally at Halifax Commons Triangle
1:30 p.m. March to Megan Leslie’s Community Office on Gottingen St.
Hamilton
No Attack on Syria and Iran!
Join thousands of people around North America and England in protesting the run-up to the looming wars in the Mideast! Stop the Harper government’s preparations for military intervention in both Syria and Iran!
Saturday, October 6, 2012, at the Federal Building, 55 Bay Street North, Hamilton, 1 pm.
For further info on the October 6 demonstrations, e-mail hcsw-at-cogeco.ca, phone 905-383-7693, or go to our events page at www.hamiltoncoalitiontostopthewar.ca . Colin Powell says: Don’t Get Fooled Again!
Toronto
Don’t attack Iran – Rally and March
Join the Toronto Coalition to Stop the War for a city-wide rally and march on Saturday, October 6, part of a pan-Canadian day of action to oppose a war against Iran.
2:00 p.m. Rally at Queen’s Park
3:00 p.m. March
3:30 p.m. Public meeting: ‘Why Harper cut ties with Iran’ – featuring special guest speakers (TBA)
Vancouver
Stop Harper’s Warmongering Against Iran
International Day of Action Against War
Saturday October 6
12 Noon
Meet at Peace Flame Park (also known as Seaforth Peace Park) – south end of Burrard Bridge, between Cornwall & 1st Ave Join StopWar.ca and allies in a display of banners and signs for drivers, cyclists and transit riders.
This action is in solidarity with an international day of action. Below, please find the callout for actions across Canada.
More information: stopwar-at-resist.ca
Journalist Almost Assasinated for Exposing Turkey Delivering Weapons to Syrian Insurgents [video]
Syrian Girl
October 3, 2012
Lebanese Journalist for Al Jadeed TV, Yumna Fawaz was embedded with Syrian opposition groups on the Syria-Lebanese border. When she witnessed Turkish officers distributing weapons to insurgent groups inside Syria, as a result she was taken hostage by the Turkish officers and her video tapes seized. The intention may have been to execute and silence her and blame the Syrian government, because at the same her station received news from the Free Syrian Army claiming that she has been killed by the Syrian government. A phone call may have saved her.
Youtube seems to be advertising on my videos against my consent.
Syria Does Not Want a War With Turkey – Ziad Fadel [video]
108morris108
October 4, 2012
Syria Will Not Be The West’s Failed State, If a War with Turkey developed then Iran and the Russian Bear would enact their military obligations and support Syria.
Turkey Syria Border Attack False Flag Planned in Advance by NATO [video]
Syrian Girl
October 4, 2012
Syria has continuously defeated the terrorists inside Aleppo. The Army has held together, defections were too few. NATO has to find another way to attack Syria. One was to accuse her of firing mortars into turkey as a pretext for Turkey to Attack start artillery strikes into Syrian territory. The scenario is very much what was detailed in the brookings institute report, as pointed out by Toni Cartalucci from Land destroyer. http://landdestroyer.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/turkey-attempts-to-trigger-war-vs…
The Building 7 Challenge [video]
The Intel Hub
September 26, 2012
Bob Tuskin of The Intel Hub presents “The Building 7 Challenge”
PN 