Author: olivia

Subtitle: “…the world’s richest nation couldn’t organise a p**s up in a brewery…”

I’m not sure which is worse: Declining the generous offers of aid made by nations to the US, or accepting the generous offers of aid, and then not letting any of it reach the affected people.

I just read this (via Steve Gilliard and on Drudge), Tons of British aid donated to help Hurricane Katrina victims to be BURNED by Americans.

Aid workers are livid.

(More below the fold)

The aid worker, who would not be named, said: “This is the most appalling act of sickening senselessness while people starve.

“The FDA has recalled aid from Britain because it has been condemned as unfit for human consumption, despite the fact that these are Nato approved rations of exactly the same type fed to British soldiers in Iraq.

“Under Nato, American soldiers are also entitled to eat such rations, yet the starving of the American South will see them go up in smoke because of FDA red tape madness.”

The worker added: “There will be a cloud of smoke above Little Rock soon – of burned food, of anger and of shame that the world’s richest nation couldn’t organise a p**s up in a brewery and lets Americans starve while they arrogantly observe petty regulations.

“Everyone is revolted by the chaotic shambles the US is making of this crisis. Guys from Unicef are walking around spitting blood.

“This is utter madness. People have worked their socks off to get food into the region.

“It is perfectly good Nato approved food of the type British servicemen have. Yet the FDA are saying that because there is a meat content and it has come from Britain it must be destroyed.

“If they are trying to argue there is a BSE reason then that is ludicrously out of date. There is more BSE in the States than there ever was in Britain and UK meat has been safe for years.”

And remember, it’s not just the food that is being wasted. The rations and their delivery has cost the British people millions in tax dollars. Food from Spain and Italy is also being held.

The food rations sent from Britain are detailed in this story, What’s in emergency ration packs?

1 French onion soup; 2 Hot chocolate; 3 Savoury biscuits; 4 Milk chocolate; 5 Tissues; 6 Cooked rice; 7 Boiled sweets; 8 Fruit biscuits; 9 Chewing gum; 10 Chicken pate; 11 Orange drink powder; 12 Curried lamb; 13 Fruit dumplings in custard; 14 Bacon and beans; 15 Condiments; 16 Hot pepper sauce

Each pack contains up to 4,000 calories – the recommended daily consumption is 2,000 for women and 2,500 for men – and is “designed to feed a young man aged 18 to 30 who has been involved in active operational duty,” says Brian Sheehan of the Defence Logistics Organisation.

“You’re looking at them getting a massive energy burst.”

Yes, I’m sure that the people will be so happy that the government is looking out for their best interests in this fashion. I mean, the food that has been sitting on store shelves since the hurricane hit, and the food scavanged among the water/sludge is much more fit for human consumption.

And, it’s not like … insulting or anything, to accept someone’s gift and then throw it in the trash before they’ve even left the party!

September 24, folks. September 24.

Update [2005-9-20 22:16:43 by olivia]: When I posted this diary, it was early this morning, and a quick google at that time didn’t bring up any additional links to this story. I just did another google on the story, and found a few more links. The Times-Picayune has posted a story in reponse to the Mirror article, British MREs held up in Arkansas for mad cow regulations. According to the TP article, Little Rock AFB is the ‘hub’ for international aid. They have received 1842 tons of goods from dozens of countries. It doesn’t say how much of that has been delivered though.

On the rations, they provide a statement by the U.S. Department of Agriculture spokesperson Terri Teuber,

“We have an obligation to hold the food we’re distributing to evacuees to the same standards we maintain for all Americans on a daily basis,” Agriculture Department spokeswoman Terri Teuber said. “We are not saying these MREs are unfit or unsafe. We’re saying they don’t meet the importation standards, and they are being set aside.” (emphasis mine)

Okay. Can someone w/ more knowledge explain what that bolded part means. They’re not saying that the rations are unfit or unsafe according to the spokesperson, but they’re not fit for human consumption. Really confused here.

And my next question was, if BSE is the concern, isn’t there some way to remove the pkgs w/ meat and beef product from the pack? The photo I posted above shows each item wrapped individually.

And … sure enough if you read a little further, according to yet another spokesperson, Army Major Paul Swiergosz, Defense Department,

When the food is needed it is easy to separate from other products because the meals are in divided pouches, Swiergosz said.

There are a million spokespeople. No wonder nobody knows what is going on. This is how they’ll get away with it all. Too many people. No one person is accountable. Circle. Circle. Circle.

Also, a good historical source of info on the international and national aid, are the Wikipedia entries:

International response to Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Katrina disaster relief

I’ve seen a few numbers here and there around the net and mentioned on the television news, and after reading duranta’s diary, They don’t want to know how many are dead, I got curious. I did a quick google to see what I could find.

I started to post this as a comment in the above diary, but it was so lengthy that I thought I’d put it in diary format.

If anyone else has links, please add a comment.  

(What I found below the fold)
(Please note that some of the numbers include overlap. I haven’t taken the time yet to piece that out.)

#

First, in a previous diary (The lid has blown off this place!) I paraphrased a television news report from Jed Kahane from CTV news,

There are 15 coroner’s working now, and they can’t keep up with the bodies.

The coroners are finding the bodies of their friends.

There are 6 refrigerated tractor trailers filling up with bodies. They showed them sitting side by side by side … you get the visual.

Rotten fish and food (pallets of chicken) is throwing off search dogs in their search for bodies.

What I didn’t catch at the time but saw in a re-broadcast and documented over at kid oakland’s blog in a comment (death toll), was a snippet from one of the coroners,

They interviewed one coroner who said he had been working for 2 1/2 hours and had already found 18 bodies.

• 6 refrigerator tractor trailors
• 15 coroners
• 18 bodies

#

The first official count of New Orleans’s dead stood at 59. But bodies were everywhere: floating in canals, slumped in wheelchairs, abandoned on highways and medians and hidden in attics. Michael Leavitt, the administration’s health and human services secretary, said: “It is evident that (the number of dead) is in the thousands.” (link)

• 59 ‘official’
• bodies everywhere
• in the thousands

#

“We don’t know how many people are actually stuck in houses,” Landrieu said. “We’re talking about hundreds of thousands of homes that have been under six, eight, 10, 12 feet of water for a long period of time.” (link)

• Many may have been rescued, but it is important to note that we’re talking 100s of 1000s of homes that will need to be searched.

#

“I think it’s evident it’s in the thousands,” Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt said Sunday on CNN, echoing predictions by city and state officials last week. The U.S. Public Health Service said one morgue alone, at a St. Gabriel prison, expected 1,000 to 2,000 bodies. (link)

• again, in the thousands
• one morgue alone expects 1000-2000 bodies

#

Body recovery teams, meanwhile, have begun the grim task of recovering the dead as rescues continue across the city — one week after Hurricane Katrina wreaked havoc on the Gulf Coast flooding New Orleans.

Only 59 bodies have been recovered so far, including 10 from the Louisiana Superdome where more than 20,000 people gathered in the immediate aftermath of Katrina.

But officials believe the death toll could easily be in the thousands.

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin told CTV’s Lisa LaFlamme on Canada AM Monday about 40,000 to 45,000 people remained unaccounted for.

“There was 500,000 people in this city before the storm. We evacuated probably 80 per cent of them which leaves about a hundred to a hundred and seven thousand.

“We have evacuated from the Superdome and the convention centre about 50 to 55,000 people. So that leaves you about 40 to 45,000 people unaccounted for.” (link)

• body recovery teams
• 10/59 ‘official’ from Superdome
• 40 000 to 45 000 not accounted for

#

For the first time, a U.S. federal official has acknowledged what many had feared. Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt said Sunday the death toll from Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath is in the thousands.

“It’s clear to me that this has been sickeningly difficult and profoundly tragic,” Leavitt said.

(…)

Earlier Sunday, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said “We need to prepare the country for what’s coming.” Chertoff declined to estimate the number of dead but conceded that an untold number of people could have perished in swamped homes and temporary shelters where many went for days without food or water. (U.S. must be prepared for what’s coming (Taken for title of this diary).)

• again in the thousands but from Chertoff and Leavitt

#

The recovered bodies are being taken to refrigerated trucks at collection sites and then moved to a portable morgue near Baton Rouge.

Officials there will use DNA technology, dental records, fingerprints and photographs to identify the victims. (link)

• refrigerated trucks
• portable morgue

#

The authorities said a fleet of refrigerated semi-trailer tractor trucks has been assembled to harvest the rotting corpses. But in an interview with ABC television, Honore was unable to say how many dead they would find.

“We expect it to be a significant number of people based on those who were evacuated and in the low-lying areas,” he said. “There’s some bad news still yet to come on that subject.” (link)

• fleet of refrigerated trucks
• significant number by Honore

#

Twenty-two bodies were collected at the Intestate 10 split with I-610, Cataldie said.

Authorities have not been able to gather bodies from the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. Witnesses there say they have seen dozens of dead bodies in the vast complex, which was used as a shelter earlier in the week.

Over the next few weeks, plans call for dead bodies to be collected along with whatever documentation and personal effects can be found, said Todd Ellis of FEMA’s disaster area mortuary operation response team. The corpses will go to a temporary morgue in St. Gabriel, where authorities plan to take photographs, dental X-rays and fingerprints.

At that point, the bodies will be released to the state, Ellis said. (link)

• 22 bodies from Intestate 10 split with I-610
• dozens of dead in Ernest N. Morial Convention Center
• temporary morque in St. Gabriel

#

Most of the 59 bodies recovered so far in the wake of Hurricane Katrina cannot be identified immediately because they floated in floodwaters too long or decomposed in stifling heat, state medical officials said Sunday.

Rescue workers continued to find survivors in the New Orleans area Sunday even as the gruesome task of recovering bodies began in earnest. Some of the bodies were people who have been dead almost a week.

The 59 victims were people who were killed by the hurricane in the New Orleans area or died later in hospitals.

“I don’t think a visual identification will be possible,” Dr. Louis Cataldie, state medical officer for the Office of Public Health, said Sunday. “It’s not about the numbers. It’s about the body. It’s an individual. Each death is enough. It’s horrific.”

Cataldie said he expects to be able to identify about 20 of the bodies collected Sunday because they were of people hospitalized before dying at evacuation centers, including the Superdome and New Orleans’ Louis Armstrong International Airport.

(…)

Crews are bringing the bodies by boat to a collection point at the intersection of interstates 10 and 610 east of New Orleans. From there, the bodies are taken to St. Gabriel.

“We treat each of these individuals with the respect they deserve,” Ellis said.

Digital dental X-rays, photographs, fingerprints and DNA samples are taken to help identify the bodies.

Four bodies each were recovered from Baton Rouge General Medical Center, Our Lake Medical Center and the East Baton Rouge Parish coroner’s morgue. Nine others were of people who died at the airport awaiting airlifts to hospitals. All were critically ill patients evacuated from New Orleans hospitals.

(…)

In Jefferson Parish, officials reported finding 95 bodies, but Cataldie said those will not be included in the official count until they are processed. Another four deaths were reported in Alexandria, and Don Smithburg, CEO of the LSU Health Sciences Center, said he knows of about a dozen bodies in his hospitals. Some could have been there before the storm hit, though.

The mortuary response teams expect to process 144 bodies per day when the morgue in St. Gabriel is fully operational. Cataldie said special care will be taken with each body because the process is not aimed at “just getting somebody through the line” quickly so another body can be processed. (link)

• not sure how this relates to the 59 ‘official’ – official means identified?
• 20 bodies from Superdome, Louis Armstrong International Airport
• 4 bodies from Baton Rouge General Medical Center, Our Lake Medical Center, East Baton Rouge Parish coroner’s morgue
• 9 bodies of those who died at the airport awaiting airlifts
• 95 bodies in Jefferson Parrish, not included in official count until processed
• 4 bodies from Alexandria,
• about a dozen from LSU Health Sciences Center

#

Okay. That’s enough for now. Info is out there. We can piece it together. We can get an idea I suppose. But in our hearts, we all know.

#

Update [2005-9-6 19:42:4 by olivia]: Just saw this on Brad Blog, Funeral director deploys to hurricane region:

A co-owner of Shelbyville-based Gowen-Smith Chapel has been deployed to Gulfport, Miss., to help with recovery since Hurricane Katrina, and his business partner here has described the grim task there.

“DMort is telling us to expect up to 40,000 bodies,” Dan Buckner said, quoting officials with the Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team, a volunteer arm of Homeland Security.

His partner, Dan Hicks, of Paducah, Ky., was deployed Monday. Buckner, of Dickson, is on standby. Their funeral home is one of several collection sites for donations to be taken to the Red Cross in Fayetteville on Wednesday for transfer to places in need.

The 40,000 estimate does “not include the number of disinterred remains that have been displaced from … mausoleums,” Buckner told the Times-Gazette Monday.

He also said that he believes it will take between 30-120 days to recover all the bodies.

“Out of control”

“Sinking into chaos”

I just watched the CTV news. Holy shit. I thought CNN was showing some strong footage.

You know all those ‘conspiracy nuts’ that said maybe the government doesn’t want any foreign help around to see what is really going down?

Well, I haven’t seen anything on American news feeds (not that I have acess to them all) that equals what I have just witnessed in the last 15 minutes.

(More after fold)
They began with a report from the superdome in NO.

People are crying begging, “We’re dying out here!”

They are lying in sewage. You could see the piles of crap.

A woman, also crying, said, “Look at this filth. Look at this. We’re dirty. We don’t live like this.”

They interviewed a woman in the basement of the superdome. She was in hysterics, frantically searching for food. She cried, “People are going into diabetic shock b/c they haven’t had anything to eat since monday. I have to find food.”

Another woman they were interviewing said, “I don’t want to die like this.” She went into insulin shock while on camera. Another refugee, a woman who is a nurse began yelling, “We need insulin here!” to the large group of people. She found some and administered it to the woman on the spot. She said she has been caring for people because there is no help.

#

Graham Richardson reported from the Houston astrodome. He said, “We are in the richest country in the world and the people are wandering around looking like refugees.”

They interviewed people coming from the buses. Those people said that the situation they came from is one of all out anarchy.

People are being murdered and raped.

A woman said she was carjacked and then raped.

Dead bodies litter the street.

One young white man said that the guard was not letting them out, which corresponds with what duranta is reporting in her diary, Our Government is Killing the People of New Orleans.

#

Jed Kahane reported from Gulfport. He talked about the dead. Finally, someone is talking about the dead.

There are 15 coroner’s working now, and they can’t keep up with the bodies.

The coroners are finding the bodies of their friends.

There are 6 refrigerated tractor trailers filling up with bodies. They showed them sitting side by side by side … you get the visual.

Rotten fish and food (pallets of chicken) is throwing off search dogs in their search for bodies.

He also said that looters are walking down the street picking up shampoo and clothing amid the debris – people’s property that has been scattered. They have nothing else, and nowhere to look.

#

They interviewed a Canadian family here in Canada, whose mother and aunt have been trapped down in NO. They were on a vacation. The mother is epileptic and doesn’t have enough medicine. They received word from the aunt, who told them that there is no help at all. They were in tears.

#

Plus, there is a fresh report from CTV on Vancouver BC’s Urban Search and Rescue (USAR)team, which arrived in LA Wednesday night “after being asked by state officials for assistance.”

They are describing mass chaos.

Gun fights.

Hostage situations.

“It’s absolutely crazy, the devastation is unreal — the gunfire, the shooting, the looting is like something you see in a movie.”

Acadian Ambulance Service says it was greeted by an armed and angry crowd as it tried to airlift supplies into Kenner Memorial Hospital late Wednesday.

Richard Zuschlag, president of the ambulance service, said his medics were “crying, screaming for help,” and that his pilots “refused to land.”

(…)

Although the team is equipped with satellite phones, Inglis says even they aren’t working.

“There is virtually no communications here. We’re using the MCI truck that’s been set up, and using their satellite communications network.”

From their website they are reporting,

“We’ve been attached to the Louisiana State Troopers, and we also have the National Guard assisting us. Unfortunately, from time we were given orders to move from Lafayette at 4:30 a.m. this morning up here, the lid has blown off this place. There’s a lot of gun fire, a number of hostage situations right down the street. So, all search and rescue has been halted in this area for now. We will not be performing any search and rescue operations for at least the next 8-12 hours.

I am shocked anew.

The title? That’s from me.

This post however comes from our defense department: a news conference with General Rick Hillier, Chief of Defense Staff that just aired live on CTV Newsnet.

“We stand ready to help,” said General Hillier. “They know what we are capable of.”

“All units for disaster relief are on high stand-by.”

“The US Ambassador knows that we can help and that we want to help.”

Gen. Hillier was asked if Canada was lobbying for a role.

“We are making sure that we are ready and ensuring that the chain of command in the USAF and here in Canada is aware of what we have. I have the full backing of the Governor General, the Canadian people and the PM, who I talked to last night.”

Gen Hillier was asked if he thinks pride has stopped the Americans from accepting our help, due to the size of the large American military vs Canada’s small military?

“No. I think they realize the desperate nature of the situation and will call on us for help if need be.”

Asked about a possible timeframe.

“We could have the first assist in the water nearby – we’d package whatever we could and go from there.”

He has spoken with his US counterpart and the Ambassador and let them know that, “We are willing and ready to respond to basically anything the US needs right now.”

The response he got back …

A heartfelt thank you.

After the interview, Roger Smith CTV reporter said the following:

• Canada really wants to help.
• A neighbour helping a neighbour.
• We are on stand-by.
• We are taking the unusual step of packing a vessel in Halifax, which would be ready to be sent to the gulf.
• There is no further news on being asked or if we will ever be asked to help.
• We could provide, CF-130 Hercules, helicopters, electric generators, water purification via DART, small boats for getting around, diving units to work underwater to retrieve bodies and remove debris, medical supplies, etc.

OTTAWA (CP) – Gen. Rick Hillier says the Canadian military is ready to respond immediately if the United States asks for help in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina.

Hillier says he told U.S. ambassador David Wilkins that there are contingency plans. Although he says the Americans have most or all they need to help with recovery from the devastating hurricane, there may be things they need in addition.

Prime Minister Paul Martin told U.S. President George W. Bush by telephone as well that Canada will help in any way needed. (link)

Canadian Government’s response site on Hurricane Katrina

PLEASE! Let us help you. Please!
Update [2005-9-1 18:36:7 by olivia]: Looks like the US is going to start accepting aid, via WorldTraveler’s diary on Kos:

In a dramatic turnabout, the United States is now on the receiving end of help from around the world as some two dozen countries offer post-hurricane assistance.

(…)

With offers from the four corners of the globe pouring in, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has decided “no offer that can help alleviate the suffering of the people in the afflicted area will be refused,” State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Thursday.

(…)

Offers have been received from Russia, Japan, Canada, France, Honduras, Germany, Venezuela, Jamaica, Australia, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Greece, Hungary, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Mexico, China, South Korea, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, NATO and the Organization of American States, the spokesman said. (Two dozen nations offer aid)

Let’s hope that it’s not too late to save lives. We need to get those poor people out of the crisis situation and stabilized.

This is a quick diary to update everyone about Drudge’s latest smear tactic on Cindy Sheehan today. As most are probably aware, he posted a letter on his site, that was supposedly written by an aunt and godmother to Casey, begging Cindy to stop what she was doing.

William Rivers Pitt (of truthout.org) was live blogging from the sit-in today. He asked Cindy about the letter, and posted the following on his page, One Mother’s Stand:

Thursday 11 August 2005
8:05 PM

I spoke to Cindy about the “so-called” family who attacked her today. This godmother, according to Cindy, did not know Casey at all. They saw each other maybe once a year. As for the other family members, they have always been at political loggerheads, so their response is no big shock.

Cindy treated it with a shrug. Her husband will send out a more detailed response soon. In the meantime, Cindy says the letter is to be treated as little more than bad, dumb noise.

The vigil goes on.

Here are a few other links (for posterity’s sake).

Via Crooks and Liars via Atrios: Does Cherie Quartarolo speak for Casey Sheehan? And via that link: Cindy Sheehan II, where the author posts an email confirming the identity of the aunt, Cherie Quartarolo.

Another day, another smear addressed. We’ll see what tomorrow brings.

Some context first. A CBC reporter was allowed access to Guantanamo Bay to do a report. All part of the military’s information warfare no doubt. (I wonder if he tried the glazed chicken…) His report included an interview with Army Spec. Sean Baker, who suffered brain damage when he was beaten during a training session by his fellow Americans, part of the initial response force team.

My rough transcript of Neil MacDonald’s report for the CBC’s The National on Guantanamo Bay follows.

The segment is available for viewing online (The National). Click on the ‘Watch the National Online’ link for Real Player. The segment begins 37:57 in.

(Again, note that these are a rough transcript taken while watching the television program. Some sections missing. And thanks to zander for initially catching the program.)

~

NM: Journalists have been allowed inside of Guantanamo Bay (G.B.).

[The piece starts with an image of detainees praying.]

NM: 5 times a day as stipulated by their prophet, they heed the call.

NM: 528 men are being held at G.B.

NM: They have been characterized as the worst, most dangerous criminals. Guarding them is a singular honour by their jailors.

NM: No court has ever agreed or had a chance to agree, because G.B. operates in shadows.

~

[Interview w/ Brig-Gen Jay Wood.]

NM: Do you regard the detainees as terrorists.

JW: Yes.

~

NM: A perfect limbo for men deemed no rights. A legal black hole.

Tom Wilner, lawyer for detainees: We’ve created a culture of illegality. We’re treating the law as an impediment.

~

NM: The military acts as judge and jury, and metes out punishment. Some are questioning this trust is dissolving because what is going on here is not right. A number of prominent politicians are speaking out.

[Clip of Jimmy Carter speaking out agasint G.B.]

[Clip of Sen. Leahy arguing for the closing of the base.]

[Military lawyer – missed name – giving testimony.]

NM: They say they are sorry, but there are new realities now.

[Clip of Rumsfeld talking about the new terrorism.]

~

NM: US laws do not apply at the camp, but after the exposure they did institute new rules.

[NM discusses what happens when a detainee is brought before the tribunal.]

NM: They have brought a detainee in front of the tribunal. He is chained to the floor, hands and feet. Three colonels face him. The tribunal has produced no evidence. The questions are brief and the detainee was told he’d have a decision shortly.

NM: Not one prisoner has been released due to these tribunals.

NM: We were not allowed to speak with any prisoners. But CBC radio was able to pick up this conversation between 2 guards and a detainee [via long range mic I suspect]:

Detainee: We’ve got no legal rights. Nobody knows us. The world doesn’t know about us.

~

NM: The attention paid to religious rights here is unbelievable.

NM: Arrows pointing to Mecca. [Shows arrow painted on cot under mattress.]

NM: Korans are hanging in every cell, and US guards are not allowed to touch them. [Shows books hanging in slings on cell bars.]

[Shows medical care centre – missed some information here.]

NM: Prisoner’s medical files have been used to hone interrogation techniques.

NM: Amnesty International has called it the gulag of our times.

NM: Reports of vindictive guards and extremely coercive interrogations.

NM: This is not a fun place to be.

~

[Interview with Sean Baker, army specialist, who was brutally beaten by fellow Americans when he posed as a detainee during a training session.]

NM: After 9/11 he enlisted. In 2003 he was sent to be a guard in G.B.

SB: I thought I was going there to play a key role in the war on terror.

NM: He learned quickly about the initial response force.

SB: I didn’t see people wailing on detainees, but mainly techniques used to control or restrain.

NM: He was asked to help with training and posed as a detainee.

SB: They grabbed me and pushed me down on the floor.

SB: When I started to run out of air I started to panic and get scared. I felt like I was going to black out. I said, ‘Red, red.’ [The code word to stop.]

SB: They slammed my head down against the floor. It stunned me real bad. I had enough sense about me to say ‘I’m a US soldier.’ I said it twice. Then he slammed my head against the floor two more times.

SB: He shouldn’t have treated a detainee that way. I never did.

NM: You weren’t kicking or biting? You were submitting?

SB: I was cooperating.

NM: The attack left Baker with brain damage and uncontrollable seizures. He was D/C from the military. There have been no reports on why it happened. To this day the Pentagon is still reviewing the matter.

[NM asked Baker if he believes the response team abuses the detainees.]

SB: I would not care to comment on that sir. I know what happens. I saw what happens.

[Again with Brig-Gen Jay Wood]

NM: Soldiers had a code word to stop the exercise.

NM: This young man was beaten within an inch of his life and left with brain damage.

JW: That’s what Baker told you. The guard force here is well trained and capable of extraction.

NM: He [Brig-Gen Wood] will not discuss what happened last year, before his watch.

~

Others wouldn’t talk about the past either.

[Interviewing guard Michael Bumgarner.]

MB: I care about them as human beings and that we treat them with dignity and respect.

~

NM: The military did release a lot of prisoners after the court intervened. 234 were released. 67 were handed over to the custody of other countries. 167 were released outright.

NM: Journalists and politicians tour regularly, but a lot of it remains in the shadows.

~

TW, detainee lawyer:  When we abandon our principles we give every other country the ability to use the same. Can you imagine the reaction of Americans, if some country began kidnapping citizens off the street and taking them away to some prison on some island somewhere.

~

[Again with Brig-Gen Jay Wood]

NM: Would you be happy with US nationals or uniformed soldiers getting the same treatment as these people are being treated?

JW: Sure. I think you’re really mixing apples and oranges if your mixing those who are members of the Geneva Conventions versus terrorists.

~

NM: That answer seems to satisfy the American public.

[Charles Swift, Military Lawyer.]

CS: Fear played a large part of why this was allowed to happen.

~

NM: The official line, G.B. will handle prisoners at the military’s pleasure until the global war on terror ends.

NM: And it might not be in this lifetime.

End.

Some positive news today for a change.

The Supreme Court of Pakistan has ordered the rearrest of 13 individuals who are responsible for the gang-rape as punishment aka honour rape of Mukhtar Mai/Mukktaran Bibi. From the CBC (Court orders rearrest of gang-rape suspects):

Tuesday’s ruling suspends an earlier decision by the provincial high court that overturned the convictions of five of the six men accused of attacking Mukhtar Mai.

Eight others, who served on the village council that ordered her to be raped, were also acquitted at that time, but were ordered rearrested on Tuesday.

(…)

“I was expecting justice from the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court has done justice,” Mai said Tuesday.

There was a huge outcry two weeks ago when Ms. Bibi was locked in her house and threatened by these same individuals, when it became known that she was in the process of traveling to the US to tell her story. When that did not stop her plans, Ms. Bibi was then kidnapped by the government and secreted away.

This courageous woman survived a gang rape by her community – those who sentenced, carried it out, and cheered it on. With the help of her Muslim leader, she took them to court and won. She was awarded $8000. She used the money to open a school for children, including those of the rapists.

The entire story is both disgustingly horrific and awe-inspiring.

From the BBC (Pakistan rape acquittals rejected):

She said: “I had three choices. Either to commit suicide by jumping in a well or shed tears all my life like any other victim in such cases, or challenge the cruel feudal and tribal system and harsh attitudes of society.”

The blog community and news orgs really put pressure on this story. I think they made a difference.

For more information see Ms. Bibi’s entry on wikipedia here. And I must acknowledge this blogger, Tom Watson, who has followed this story closely and covered it extensively. He considers Ms. Bibi a hero. And I must admit, I do as well.

Update [2005-6-28 11:45:20 by olivia]:

Thanks to susanhu for pointing out this link to Democracy Now/ Amy Goodman: “I Will Go On Until I Have Even the Slightest Hope of Justice” – Rare Broadcast Interview With Pakistani Rape Survivor Mukhtar Mai.

This is the message we should be left with, in Mukhtar Mai’s words (translated by Azra Rashid):

The whole world is with me if you think about it. Not just Pakistan, but the whole world. And if I’m not getting justice, then there is little hope for other women going through the same kind of abuse.

The world needs more Mukhtar Mai.

From The Sunday Times, Michael Smith reports today [link] on a new briefing that appears to show that pre-war bombings in Iraq did occur, and it is an American General who commanded allied air forces during the Iraq war who is quoted.

The briefing outlines the time frame (beginning mid-2002) and strategy used (number of missions, type of bombs, and target selection).

Addressing a briefing on lessons learnt from the Iraq war Lieutenant-General Michael Moseley said that in 2002 and early 2003 allied aircraft flew 21,736 sorties, dropping more than 600 bombs on 391 “carefully selected targets” before the war officially started.

The nine months of allied raids “laid the foundations” for the allied victory, Moseley said. They ensured that allied forces did not have to start the war with a protracted bombardment of Iraqi positions.

Smith states that if these air raids exceeded the response required (and allowed by UN) to maintain no-fly zones, then it shows that the US and UK have acted illegally.

Moseley told the briefing at Nellis airbase in Nebraska on July 17, 2003, that the raids took place under cover of patrols of the southern no-fly zone; their purpose was ostensibly to protect the ethnic minorities.

This further strengthens the legitimacy of the DSM, which described the tactic of increased air raids to put pressure on Saddam Hussein’s regime.

If true, the briefing shows that the US used these air raids not only to provoke Saddam, but to ease their way once the real or legitimate war began.

Also, the wording shows that the US was aware of the legalities of increased air raids, and so carried them out under the auspices of protection of ethic minorities.

My first diary – please be kind!

For those following the twists and turns of the minority Liberal government as they attempt to get things done in the face of non-confidence votes, another hurdle is fast approaching.

The Conservatives came out yesterday stating that they will not disrupt the passage of the budget amendment (scheduled for Thursday) if the Liberal government agrees to back off on Bill C-38 or the Marriage Bill. They want the Libs to postpone the introduction of C-38 until the fall session.

The Liberals, in fact Prime Minister Martin himself, have promised to get this bill passed before the summer recess (which is next week btw).

And as I was putting this diary together, the local news  (0200hEST) just reported that the liberal government has declined the Conservative’s offer.

Martin’s spokesman Scott Reid said, “There is no deal and there will be no deal between the government and the Conservatives to delay the civil marriage legislation until the fall. Period.”

We’ll see what happens later today when they meet to pass the budget bill. The Conservs have threatened to oppose and delay, with 90 speakers ready to cause as much havoc as possible.

O.