Justice for Khalid El-Masri

This documentary [from Witness, Al-Jazeera] tells the horrific story of Khalid El-Masri, the lebanese born German citizen who was taken off the street when holidaying in Macedonia as American forces believed he was an Al Qaeda agent because his name was similar to that of an Al Qaeda suspect. He was denied any contact with his family or German authorities, locked up in appalling conditions [in a covert CIA interrogation centre in Afganistan called 'The Salt Pit'], humiliated, sodomized and tortured for 5 months. El-Masri and several other inmates went on a hunger strike which lasted for almost a month and he demanded that they either release him immediately, allow him to contact the German authorities, or have him die of starvation.
Leaked diplomatic cables from Wikileaks reveal that the US administration was angered when the German authorities put out arrest warrants for some of those implicit in the deplorable affair and put significant pressure on the German government to weigh carefully the ramifications to their bi-lateral relationship if they were to pursue the charges.
He was then dumped in the woods in a remote region of Albania in the middle of the night, and walked off believing that he was going to be shot in the back.
In May 2006 U.S. Federal District Judge T.S. Ellis, III in Washington dismissed a lawsuit El-Masri filed against the CIA and three private companies allegedly involved with his transport, explaining that a public trial would "present a grave risk of injury to national security."
He is still in the process of appeal and fighting for justice, and it is imperative that all involved in the US administration be held accountable and that this kind of perversion of justice be stopped.


For more info read this aptly titled article from the New York Times, 'Supreme Disgrace'.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/11/opinion/11thu1.html?_r=1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khalid_El-Masri
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_salt_pit

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/spy-talk/2010/1/leaked_cable_us_warned_germany.html\

Bradley Manning, American Hero

Bradley Manning, the now world famous 22 year old miltary analyst allegedly responsible for leaking the cache of classified material to Wikileaks, is still languishing in solitary confinement after four miserable months.
Being denied sunlight, mental stimulation, human contact, the ability to exercise and basic human needs would take it's toll on anyone, but that coupled with the grave concern for his outcome and whatever other tortuous methods [that the U.S. military seem to keen on] are being metted out to him amount to a very grim picture.
Understandably, the U.S. military are embarrassed and are looking for someone to blame and shift the focus onto, but they cannot escape the fact that Bradley Manning merely revealed their own wrongdoing and they are responsible for the way that there has been such an erosion of morality within their ranks.
Bradley Manning has displayed incredible moral backbone and courage for standing up for truth and justice against the Goliath of the U.S. military and administration.
But, what kind of person wouldn't do the same when seeing mass deception of war crimes and atrocities committed in a war that was waged in the name of a lie?
So, as a human, put yourself in his shoes and appreciate the bravery and honour of his actions and consider the huge debt that we all owe him now and support the campaign for his release.
Michael Moore has now joined the campaign to free Manning, along with Daniel Ellsburg and numerous others and puts it aptly in saying, "To suggest that lives were put in danger by the release of the WikiLeaks documents is the most cynical of statements," Moore said.
"Lives were put in danger the night we invaded the sovereign nation of Iraq, an act that had nothing to do with what the Bradley Mannings of this country signed up for: to defend our people from attack. It was a war based on a complete lie and lives were not only put in danger, hundreds of thousands of them were exterminated.
"For those who organised this massacre to point a finger at Bradley Manning is the ultimate example of Orwellian hypocrisy."

Wikileaky

You know you have achieved international recognition when you are referenced on a sanitary napkin ad in Pakistan..

Assange Rally Melbourne-10/12/2010

A couple of days after spokesperson for Wikileaks, Julian Assange was arrested over farcical rape charges Melbournites gathered in support of him, and for truth, free speech, government transparency and justice.
Unfortunately 2 separate rallies were held on consecutive days, which resulted in an inaccurate representation of the number of people who showed their support, but nevertheless hundreds gathered each day to express their outrage over his unlawful treatment and the truth of the rotten and corrupt core of world politics that the Wikileaks cables irrefutably revealed.
The Wikileaked diplomatic cables reveal many truths about what is going on that have been veiled in government lies that the major news channels have been complicit in representing. I truly hope that these revelations will precipitate a mass movement of people standing up for truth, accountability and global justice and that will no longer be possible for governments to get away with mass deception and acting against the good of the people for the interests of the few.

Peace

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/12/10/3090312.htm?site=newcastle