121Contact

May 27 2012 Dept. of Homeland Security Forced to Release List of Keywords Used to Monitor Social Networking Sites

Forbes reports: Dept. of Homeland Security Forced to Release List of Keywords Used to Monitor Social Networking Sites

And 121Contact comments: Make no mistake, the DHSS word list is an attack on our domestic security. Whether or not it is a practice drill, this exercise by law enforcement is a toxic  intrusion and a threat to our security. This Homeland Security response marks an epidemic of paranoia that pervades the DHS, FEMA, USCG, CBP, USSS, NOC, ICE, CIA, DEA, SBI, FBI, ATF, CIS, FAMS, TSA, FAA, and the UN.

Are we to be taken hostage  by this breach of our constitution? We think the police would be focused on organized crime, gangs, looting, shootings, riots, and national security, not on the recovery  of certain words and phrases. We cannot recall an outbreak, or plague, of government intrusion in the name of emergency response that equals this plume of infection of our ‘free’ space.  

What’s next in this assassination of freedom? Is the agent/air marshall sitting next to me reporting me for saying, “This word screening makes for an explosive political standoff.”?

[The full list is on the Forbes site.]

May 8, 2012 NRA invades Iraq: New gun laws ensure peace and tranquility

In a startling development the U.S. National Rifle Association has successfully invaded Iraq.No American media has reported on the issue, nor have they reported on the the following:

CRI (1) reports that the Iraqi government on Sunday legalized the possession of one gun in each house in the country, as Iraqi army soldiers started the gradual handover of security control to the police, government officials said.

Iraqi government spokesman Ali Dabbagh said in a statement that the Iraqi security authority "decided to license a rifle or a pistol in each house, on condition that the owner must register it (the gun) in the nearest police station."

Violence in Iraq has ebbed from its climax in 2006 and 2007 when sectarian conflicts pushed the country to the brink of a civil war, but sporadic shootings and bombings still occur across the country.

That Maliki's government decided the best way to still the violence is to arm each household can only be explained by a coordinated and evidently successful  attack by the NRA. 
No NRA spokesperson agreed to comment. (Actually, no NRA spokesperson was asked to comment.)

1) China Radio International , (CRI) is the only overseas broadcaster in the People's Republic of China. CRI was founded on December 3, 1941 and is owned and operated by the state. CRI is one of the "three central media organizations in China" along with China National Radio (CNR) and China Central Television (CCTV).

 

May 1 2012 Karzia/Obama: A Harmony of Erosion of Civil Liberties

The Afghan Peace Volunteers remind us that “Today, Afghanistan and the U.S. initialed and locked the text of the strategic partnership agreement,” said Karzai’s spokesman, Aimal Faizi. “This means the text is closed…”

The Obama administration's continued assault on civil liberties gained a new partner as Karzai agreed to keep the U.S./Afghanistan agreement a secret from the public. How many troops will remain? For how long? Will U.S. assassinations/drone strikes in Afghanistan continue? By whose orders? What will the level of military aid be?

The Public: That's the Afghan citizen whose life is directly affected by this agreement. They have a right to know. You Think!?

The Public: That's you, boss. You who are supposed to be intelligently informed so that you may better govern yourselves. Democracy gives you the vote, but with less and less knowledge of what your elected representatives do (enact, attack, choose to assassinate, support, agree to) your vote becomes more meaningless. (with your power to vote). You have a right to know. You Think!?

"A popular Government without popular information or the means of acquiring it, is but a Prologue to a Farce or a Tragedy or perhaps both. Knowledge will forever govern ignorance, and a people who mean to be their own Governors, must arm themselves with the power knowledge gives." - James Madison, 1822  OMG, he could actually see into the future...

We brought Democracy to Afghanistan, but we stifle one of the most important powers of the people: the right to know. We are beginning to live the farce and generate the tragedy that Madison envisioned.

For those too lazy to click the links: The Afghan Peace Volunteers are a grassroots group of ordinary Afghans seeking a life of non-violence, the unity of all people, equality, and self-reliance. ‘I wish to live without wars.’ An Afghan boy Abdulai, 15 year old student and farmer... [Read more of this review]

 

 

April 1 2012 Getting Rachel Maddow's "Drift", The Constitution, and you.

Rachel Maddow's "Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power"  is a sometimes humorous look (she can't help it) at:

1-the depressing distance the American Government has put between itself (especially the Executive) and the Constitution,

2-the depressing extent to which the Military operates beyond the knowledge and control of the legislature (let's hear it for the Contractors, public and private), and

3-the depressing state of our Nuclear Arsenal and its attendant, uselessly rising, costs.

One of the first things many Iraqi refugees we met in New York said, with uniform incredulity, was "There's no war here." This book goes a long way to explaining why.

It is the unmooring of the American people from the realities of our foreign policy actions that is most worrisome to me.

Did you know that in the last 2 years there were 182 U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan? [New America Foundation] Some 1,280 people died in these dronings. Most of America knows nothing about this.

U.S. Special Operations Command spokesman Colonel Tim Nye the number of nations in which U.S. Special Forces will be operating in 2012 "will likely reach 120." [Nick Turse, Salon] This includes operations in which there are only Contractors with no legal accountability.

Unfortunately, Maddow's proscription for change fails to move me to more optimism. Her ideas are fine. "Let's do away with the secret military" is a good thought, but how? How can this trend of out-of-popular-control be reversed?

It will take a transformation of the American psyche. More facts will help. Exposing the truth of the extralegal, extraconstiturional, beyond oversight mechanisms [like Maddow's "Drift"] will help, but the change must be deeper than statistics. Our failure to act to oppose and change these systems is not just a deficit of information. It is a moral failure. I must admit that the solution eludes me.

 

March 3 2012 Do you support Civilian Trials for terrorists? Open your eyes.

For those of you who so passionately support civilian trials of suspected terrorists I suggest two things:  1) a visit to FreeTarek.com, and 2) take a long hard look at our post-9/11 Justice system. You might try a visit to the Center for Consitutional Rights.

Bragging about the conviction rate of terrorists in civilian courts ignores the abolition of defendants' rights in this War on Terror that justifies so much, accomplishes so little, and alienates so many. It also has a high likelihood of putting innocent people in jail, or perhaps worse, in the endless limbo of indefinite detention.

We headed out to see Karen Malpede's Another Life at the Irondale Center last night. It'll be there until 3/24 and it's worth seeing; for the inspired writing, passionate performances, and sadly accurate skewering of America's pathetic, violent, and irrational response to 9/11.

Since October, 2009 Tarek Mehanna has been held in pre-trial 23-hour solitary confinement because he is a suspected terrorist.

Tarek's web site presents his case  quite clearly. His brother spoke after the play last night and we found him credible. Of course we haven't attended the trial, haven't read all the relevant documents, etc., and don't know if he is really guilty or not. But it is not hard to believe that he was set up, knocked down like a bowling pin, and stuck away for what could be the rest of his life. All this on what appears to be flimsy evidence at best, and possible a fabrication.

The sad state of the U. S. Constitution today:

• extraordinary rendition to make sure that torture is not done on American soil,
• the right of the President, without judicial oversight, to declare a person a valid target for assassination,
• the FBI's right to declare someone a terrorism suspect, and thereby negate his/her constitutional rights,
• the Government's, Federal and Local (e.g. New York City's Police Department) illegal surveillance and wiretapping,
• the classification of many First Amendment activities as “material support” to groups the U.S. has labeled as terrorist organizations.

Yes, the list is longer, and yes it is frightening. A whisper of fear rises at the thought of dark consequences for even mentioning his name.

Military trials for terrorists may be an abomination, but civilian trials aren't necessarily better if the interpretation of our Constitution is so distorted as to make the rights of defendants disappear.

Feb 24 2012 Two conversations: Syrian Slaughter, Iraqi Bombings, and Iran

We stand in the cold drizzle and talk of Syria. The Lieutenant, a disabled Vietnam vet, is wearing his khakis, smoking his cigarette, and talking loudly of the cruelty of the Syrian government. I listen.

"They are killing women and children. The bastards. They're bastards, you know. These people should be hung. They don't even let the Red Cross in. No food. Nothing," he rants. He goes on for quite a while before I find a place to break in with some quiet assent, a word for the future, and a damp goodbye.

I don't have the heart to bring up Fallujah. Every day the Syrian slaughter reminds me of Fallujah, especially the assault on Homs. Fallujah has become a symbol to me of the utter illogical cruelty of our invasion and occupation of Iraq;  where we crushed the innocent civilians with every bit as much gusto as the Syrian government has mustered now.

---

Later I'm on the phone to Baghdad, and the news is not good.

"The neighborhood is closed since yesterday. We cannot go anywhere. The older children cannot go to college. We are trapped. Again. There is no hope."

"But there is hope in the future...the  young ones who are coming out of college," is my reply. It is also my hope.

He tells me, "This is a dead hope. I have been in Syria for 4 years before I come back now. Baghdad is not Baghdad. It is Iran. Even the cars that blew up yesterday are Iranian taxis. Everything is Iran here. Do you think these children can change that?"

"Do you know," he continues, "the government paid 60 million for their cars? 60 million American. Now they ride in safety in their armoured cars. They don't care for the people. Only themselves and all they can steal. This is Baghdad now."

The conversation shifts to the children and how they are coping with the madness around them. Little K has taken to biting. Each time he is upset, each time he hears a loud noise, each time he is angry he bites. Usually his mom, but anyone around is in danger. They don't know what to do about it, how to handle it, how to punish, reward, prevent...

The line is cut and I am in the rain again, or maybe it's tears.

Nov 28 2011 Iraqi Civil Society Solidarity Initiative-a defense against Western domination.

As a measure of the growing maturity of the Iraqis who are engaged in the non-violentm Iraqi-led transformation of Iraq we note the presence of an Iraqi delegation at the South Asian Social Forum. No longer are progressive Iraqis thinking of themselves as isolated and powerless. Their resistance to the domination of of Iraq by corporations and capital is laudable.

Iraqi Civil Society Solidarity Initiative - مبادرة تضامن المجتمع

A message to all members of Iraqi Civil Society Solidarity Initiative - مبادرة تضامن المجتمع

28th November 2011 Press Release by the Iraqi delegation at the South Asian Social Forum Dhaka, Bangladesh, 24th November 2011 An Iraqi delegation composed by eight members of the Iraqi Civil Society Solidarity Initiative (www.iraqicivilsociety.org) took part in the South Asian Social Forum (Dhaka, 18-22 November 2011, www.wsfsouthasiabd.org) meeting local representatives of social movements, unions, professional organizations and political parties of Bangladesh. South-South coordination proved to be fundamental to break the isolation of Iraqi civil society. On November 23rd in Dhaka a meeting was held between the Iraqi delegation and seven local political parties and union members, aimed at creating direct links with Iraqi social movements, not mediated by Iraqi governmental forces.  Activists from Brazil, Belgium, Germany, Palestine, Tunisia, Morocco, India, Italy, France, Pakistan, Canada, and Turkey’s Kurdistan participated in the meeting as well. Iraqis spoke about the need of creating direct links with the people of South Asia and its social movements. Due to Iraq's isolation for decades form its geographical surroundings and from the world social movements, political life has been controlled by parties and Iraqi communities didn't have opportunities to discuss about regional and global issues. The Iraqi delegation stressed that such an absence from the global civil society must end: Iraqi social movements, unions and NGOs must take initiative to join international struggles for freedom and social justice. Participants in the meeting stressed on the urgency to re-establish an Iraqi cultural and political role in the region and the world, wishing the complete withdrawal of US troops. Turning the page of war and occupation is essential to develop a new scenario where social and civic action re-builds on new bases what was destroyed by war. The Iraqi delegation finally took part in the International Council of the World Social Forum, where the plan to organize in 2012 the Maghreb-Mashreq Social Forum (Tunis) and in 2013 an Iraqi Social Forum (Baghdad) was discussed and approved. The second will be an open space for independent movements and networks operating in Iraq, with a clear position against the project of New-Liberalism that western powers tried to implement through the war, which aims at full transition to the market economy and domination of Iraq by corporations and capital. Iraqi people hold human rights, national sovereignty and social justice higher than economic profit, and will resists foreign grab of their resources. The Iraqi group was composed by representatives of the Engineering Professional Union (Electricity section), Al Masalla Organization for Human Resources Development, Iraqi Women Network, Tamouz Organization for Social Development, Information Centre for Research and Development, Basrah Civil Forum, Iraqi Centre for Research and Studies, in addition to the Italian NGO Un ponte per... (www.unponteper.it) who facilitated coordination through the Iraqi Civil Society Solidarity Initiative. Active support of the network Alternatives International (www.alterinter.org) and financial help by Karibu عربي

Visit Iraqi Civil Society Solidarity Initiative - مبادرة تضامن المجتمع at: http://icssi08.ning.com/?xg_source=msg_mes_network

November 11, 2011 Baghdad, Iraq: The good, the bad, the treacherous.

Baghdad, Iraq: The good, the bad, the treacherous.
November 11, 2011 by Bruce Wallace, 121Contact

In the midst of the good news from Iraq about the emerging civil society organizations and their good non-violent works for peaceful transition to a more democratic society we find ourselves dismayed at the rising violence.

Baghdad is once again a city of fear in which parents, reporting to us, are afraid to let their children go out to play, shopping is becoming scary, and just going to work, if you are lucky enough to have a job, is an event filled with dread. The lack of central electricity is still an issue and generators (one for your house, one for the neighborhood) are still the mainstay.

Journalists are once again under fire, and freedom of the press is no longer guaranteed. Assassinations and attacks  of reporters have increased lately, and press offices are also being attacked by 'them'. The 'them'... Some say these are government backed forces who seek out media critical of the regime, or media trying to publish honest accounts of the situation on the ground. It is a sad, and dangerous, state of affairs.

On the good side of the ledger:

Mercy Corps is expanding its Baghdad offices and continuing its work of building schools and medical clinics, teaching women to read and empowering people with disabilities.

The final declaration of the Iraqi Civil Society Solidarity Initiative (ICSSI) third conference is now available, offering a window of hope for all who wish for progress in Iraq. Looking at the list of over 100 Iraqi representatives of emerging and growing NGOs yields insight into the current momentum.

All in all we remain hopeful, but it is obvious that the road ahead is treacherous for the good people who still believe that Iraq can find non-violent paths to more peaceful tomorrows.

Please write your representatives to try and alter the distribution of funds slated for Iraq. As it stands now: the non DoD allocations increase the 2012 moneys destined for Iraq's military (about US$ 2 Billion), and decrease the allocations for civil society measures. Foreign Assistance.gov reports that support for Human Rights, Health, Education and Human services have dropped to $300 million each. Allocations for the environment and Humanitarian Assistance have been cut to zero.

 

Today in Iraq:

Baghdad:
#1: A roadside bomb targeted a bus carrying Iranian pilgrims, killing one Iranian and wounding four others in Baghdad's northwestern Kadhimiya district, a police source said.

#2: Gunmen on a motorcycle opened fire at an Iraqi army checkpoint, killing one soldier and wounding another in Baghdad's northern Adhamiya district, late on Saturday, police and hospital sources said.

#3: "Two policemen have been injured in an attack by a group of unknown gunmen, who used silencer-fixed guns in their attack on a police patrol in west Iraq's Jami'a district on Monday" the Security Source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency, adding that the attackers have escaped to an unknown destination.

#4: In another incident, "an explosive charge, planted on the roadside blew off close to western Baghdad's Baya'a Garage, wounding 3 civilians and causing severe damage to a number of vehicles, parked in the garage."

#5: Four Iraqi civilians have been injured in an explosive charge blast east of Baghdad on Monday, a security source reported. "An explosive charge, planted on the roadside in one of a main road, leading to east Baghdad's al-Sadr city, has blown up early on Monday, wounding 4 civilians and causing damage to a number of vehicles, parked close to the venue of the blast," the security source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

#6: Three terrorists, wearing explosive belts, have been killed while driving a booby-trapped car in west Baghdad on Monday, according to the Baghdad Operations Command (BOC). "Three terrorists, wearing explosive belts and driving a booby-trapped car close to a checkpoint in west Baghdad's al-Jami'a district, have been killed close to a checkpoint," the BOC statement was announced on the semi-official al-Iraqiya TV Satellite Channel on Monday.

Taji:
#1: Two roadside bombs went off near the car of an Electricity Ministry employee, killing him and wounding seven others, including four policemen, in Taji, 20 km (12 miles) north of Baghdad, police and hospital sources said. The second bomb went off when police rushed to the scene.

Tikrit:
#1: A roadside bomb targeted an Iraqi army patrol, killing one officer and wounding a soldier north of Tikrit, 150 km (95 miles) north of Baghdad, a source at the police operations centre in Salahuddin province said.

Samarra:
#1: A cop was killed by unknown gunmen in Samarra city, security sources said here today. The source told Aswat al-Iraq that "unknown gunmen with pistols equipped with silencers attacked a group of cops west of Samarra that led to the killing one member of the patrol before fleeing to unknown destination.

Mosul:
#1: A soldier was killed when a mortar shell landed at an Iraqi army checkpoint in northern Mosul, 390 km (240 miles) north of Baghdad, a local police source said.

#2: A bomb attached to a car exploded, wounding a prison guard officer, in eastern Mosul, a local police source said.

#3: Gunmen in a car shot dead a teenager in western Mosul, a local police source said.

Al Anbar Prv:
#1: Gunmen using silenced weapons shot dead a police lieutenant colonel near his house in central Falluja, 50 km (32 miles) west of Baghdad, late on Saturday, a local police source said.

Nov 5 2011 Maliki's Shameful Attacks on Sunnis, and Sadaam's Attacks on Shiites

Maliki's Shameful Attacks on Sunnis, and Sadaam's Attacks on Shiites
November 5, 2011 by Bruce Wallace 121Contact

We don't disagree with the New York Times editorial of Nov. 5, 2011 titled, "The Prime Minister and the Sunnis" 

We do, however note that the sentence, "The majority Shiites were badly persecuted under Saddam Hussein’s Sunni-led regime" oversimplifies a complex situation, and marks history from an arbitrary and biased point.

Sadaam's greatest travesties against the Shiite population were not against 'the majority Shiia', but were focused attacks on particular groups of Shiia that he perceived as specific enemies of his government. In both the North and the South of Iraq there were groups of Shiia that were aiding the Iranians in the Iraq/Iran war. Sadaam sought to punish these groups with sadistic, broad attacks that killed many innocent people along with his perceived enemies, but they were not random aggressions motivated by religious concerns. We don't condone these attacks. They were a brutal part of his most brutal years in power. We do, however, wish to put them in a broader historical context.

On the other hand, Maliki's recent roundups of Sunnis, especially in Mosul and Baghdad, seem to target random groups based solely upon their religious beliefs. The perception of sectarian oppression is once again becoming widespread and this elevates the spectre of sectarian violence to levels unseen in years. Maliki also effectively banned Mosul's non-violent civil protests against these detentions by imposing a curfew the night before the planned events.

We call on Maliki to free those recently arrested without charges, allow non-violent civil demonstrations, and move a little closer to the Rule of Law which holds so much promise for the Iraqi people.

 

Nov 1 2011 Ground Zero: A Monument to Violence?

Ground Zero: A Monument to Violence?
Nov 1, 2011 by Bruce Wallace, 121Contact

It is with great anger and sadness that I write this piece about the monument ‘they’ are planning to site at Ground Zero.  It will carry the Green Beret motto and depict a lone U.S. commando on horseback in the Afghan mountains; a monument to violence at the very spot at which so many victims of violence were murdered. 

My anger is directed both at the group of cowardly members of Wall Street banking firms (they ask to remain anonymous) who have privately financed this monument to violence,  and to the bureaucrats  that are allowing this to go forward. Where was the public hearing?  Where was the sensitivity? 

In a particularly callous statement one of the private backers was quoted by CNN as saying, “We wanted to do [this]…because every day since 9/11, we've had to look at that hole in the ground." A statement seemingly cold to the fact that for so many Ground Zero is much more than a ‘hole in the ground.’ 

My sadness stems from the lack of compassion inherent in this proposal. We have just witnessed 10 years of useless loss and devastation as a result of our invasion and occupation of Iraq and the ongoing operations in Afghanistan. The American lives lost are countable, as are the wounded soldiers who gave so much for so little. The ‘collateral damage’ (as the military likes to refer to innocent civilians killed or wounded in or as a result of war) was enormous. Millions of displaced persons, hundreds of thousands of civilian deaths, and countless wounded and traumatized victims follow in the wake of the wars. 

And this speaks nothing of the tax dollars that went from the American people into the pockets of those who profit handsomely from military actions. Don’t forget: the US10 billion dollars a month we spent (for ten years) in Iraq, did not just vanish into the air. And now we are spending that much on both Iraq and Afghanistan.   

My hope is that we can stop the statue from ever sitting at Ground Zero, and let our government, and those heartless bankers know we need monuments to peaceful solutions, not to violent profit taking.