Rolled-up Trousers

Haditha and the need to get Iraqis cameras

The massacre at Haditha is at last getting some media coverage. Don't know why it's taken six months, but better late than never.

I remember an episode of the BBC's Spooks in the last series where the intelligence services decided to serve up one of their own as having carried out a crime so as to show transparency within the system. Dahr Jamail thus reminds us that there are daily reports of civilian abuse by US forces lest we think Haditha is a one off.

Maybe the difference is that someone had a camera to film the aftermath of Haditha. It just couldn't be ignored. The same way the only things people know about Abu Ghraib is what pictures have been released when it is known that more footage - even worse footage than what we've been exposed to - has been suppressed.

The best form of protection we can give to Iraqis then is cameras. But maybe we'd get bored of that footage after a while too. This letter in today's Herald summarises our despicable attitude to dead Iraqis:

Welcome convert

Expat academic historian Niall Ferguson has thrown his weight behind the Scottish independence movement:

“Devolution gives Scots the illusion of self-government but not the reality of it. The parliament is essentially a glorified council and cannot flourish while it acts as a mere channel for aid from England,” he said.

“I now find myself feeling that independence would be preferable to this halfway house we have at the moment.

“Ireland and some of the east European countries like Estonia are showing that small countries which embrace economic liberalism can thrive.”

I hated his comments on Scotland at the turn of the year (where he suggested Scotland should be "liquidated"), but it's great that he's got more constructive words on the future of the country now.

International community

Bush and Blair like to speak of how the "international community" is being challenged and how big their global coalition is. Haroon dissects the spin by examining the numbers:

If we take the European Union and the United States, we have a total population of about 750 million. If we add to that other countries concerned by Iran enough to want to censure, sanction or bomb it, well that's possibly Israel and Australia might come along for some good up and over fun, too, so let's add another 25 million, for a grand total of 775 million. Sounds like a lot. At first.

Outside of that, major countries of the world, such as China (1.3 billion), India (1.1 billion) and Russia (150 million) don't really feel Iran is a meaningful threat, and entire continents like Africa (795 million) just don't care enough to say anything. They have other, more pressing concerns, like Americans should have, if it wasn't for our rabble-rousing media. Of course, the typical neo-con will counter: "China and Russia aren't democracies." Well, India is a democracy, and the total number of Indians outnumbers all America and the EU. By a couple hundred million.

So what international consensus are we talking about? What about Latin America, whose democracies also really don't care about what Iran does or doesn't do? Keep in mind that the population of Latin America is some 790 million, again outnumbering the US, EU and Israel; moreover, many Latin American countries are democracies, such as Brazil (185 million) and Argentina (about 40 million) and Mexico (roundabout 100 million); right there, we've got more voters than the United States.

Dual nationality

"Foreign criminals" have been in the news recently, but what do we mean by "foreign"? According to this week's Socialist Worker (via) if you have dual nationality, it could be you.

Saqib Almas is being deported to Pakistan even though he is a British citizen, because he also has Pakistani nationality.

This is going to be a major issue moving forward. A good percentage of expat and second generation Asians have dual nationality. And as I've previously warned, the government seems hell-bent on having the power to deport as many people as they can.

Signed Hutton reports (updated)

This surely can't be real - Cherie Blair and Alastair Cambell have autographed copies of the Hutton Report which were auctioned to raise funds for the Labour Party.

More at BlairWatch and Obsolete.

What next?

Foreign criminals

Why all the fuss about foreign criminals not being deported? Surely once someone has done their time in prison, they have paid their dues and have a clean slate?

Unusually, Harry's Place bring a sense of proportion to the debate - only 2% of these foreign criminals have reoffended, which is way below average. Despite this, the PM is saying they should be deported no matter what.

The poster at HP is called Brett, who is probably new. Hopefully he won't pick up the bad habits as he goes along. Harry's Place in left wing shocker!

"We think the price is worth it"

Former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright yesterday condemned George Bush for "alienating Muslims".

Before we get carried away, I thought I'd post a quick reminder on her opinion regarding the genocide of Iraqi children during her tenure under Bill Clinton. In an interview with 60 minutes she was asked:

Lesley Stahl on U.S. sanctions against Iraq: We have heard that a half million children have died. I mean, that's more children than died in Hiroshima. And, you know, is the price worth it?

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright: I think this is a very hard choice, but the price--we think the price is worth it.

"Not in my back yard"

I was at the public meeting in Newton Mearns last night where the proposal to build a long-awaited East Renfrewshire mosque was discussed by the local community council.

The Herald noted that over 500 people were in attendance, where normally there would be 20 for such a planning application. One local resident was quoted in today's Herald saying:

"Plans have been lodged for a huge floodlit building that would be more at home in Mecca than Newton Mearns. Obviously the local residents are up in arms about this."

Despite this, the opposers of the mosque claim that they would be against any sort of building on the site, and are not motivated by racism or Islamophobia. The meeting was kept rigidly on the topic of the planning application and people trying to explain what a mosque was were closed down by a hostile audience.

Church of Scotland report on Israel and Palestine

The Church of Scotland have announced they are going to compile a report on the future of Israel and Palestine. However, their initial comments betray an understanding that is so warped as to render their no doubt good intentions entirely meaningless.

They identify 6 principles on which this work will be based:

Christian rights in Muslim countries

The head of the Catholic Church in England has called on Muslim countries to provide the same rights to Christian minorities that Muslims enjoy in Britain. He also said British Muslims should speak up on this matter.

My view is simple. Everyone needs more rights in these so-called Muslim countries. It's not as if the Muslim populations of many of these despotic regimes are engaging with vibrant democracies with freedom of speech, while only Christians languish. Even in terms of freedom to practice religion, some Muslim states have banned the hijab.

Western powers have for decades watched idly-by while legitimate political opposition has been mercilessly crushed by the dictators. The voices of a few British Muslims is hardly going to be worth much when our own Foreign Office does nothing. Cormac Murphy-O'Conner would do well to look at the wider picture.

Hopefully he'll also be speaking to British Jewry, Hindus, and Chinese.

Israel hold Islamic Relief worker for weeks without charge

I know Ayaz Ali personally, and a gentler man you will not meet. Please keep him in your prayers for a safe release.

More - Daily Telegraph

Palestinian situation more dramatic than apartheid - ANC leader

Ronnie Kasrils writes in today's Guardian about the similarities between his struggle against apartheid and the Palestinian struggle for freedom today - except that the Palestinian situation is more "dramatic":

Never in the long struggle for freedom in apartheid South Africa was there a situation as dramatic as in Palestine today: even though children were killed for resisting a second-class education; the liberation movement's leaders were locked up for decades on Robben Island; new leaders were assassinated; church leaders were poisoned; house demolitions and forced removals were frequent; and western governments told South Africans who their leaders should be, and what their policies should be.

He gave hope by saying that the struggle against apartheid was initially dismissed by the West who had their own interests in the area - their resistance brought it to worldwide attention though:

300 babies a year born drug-dependent

The Herald - the Scots robbed of their childhood.

11-year-olds on heroin, 11-year-olds getting pregnant, MSPs calling for methadone to be laced with contraceptives to stop drug addicts having kids - to stop these 300 babies being born drug dependent, to stop thousands of kids being brought up in misery. What's going on in Scotland?

This Herald article paints MSPs being out of touch with what's going on under their noses.

Scottish water in Scottish shops

West of Scotland MSP Stewart Maxwell raises the issue of Scottish bottled water not being available from shops like WH Smith in Scotland.

I've often wondered about this strange situation myself. You want to buy something healthy to drink but are just confronted with the usual cartel from Coca-Cola, Danone and Nestle. Why can't we buy the best water in the world in the country it comes from?

WH Smith's response has been pathetic, saying that products displayed are based on market share. But as Maxwell points out, if they don't stock it, it's not going to have a market share! It's inconceivable that Scottish water wouldn't sell in Scotland.

People are urged to write about this to Ms Kate Swann, Chief Executive, WH Smith, Greenbridge, Swindon, SN3 3LD.

Who bombed London? (updated)

In the MCB's press statement last week calling for a full public enquiry into the July bombings, they rather innocuously put this link at the bottom of it.

They didn't explain what it was or give any context. It didn't flow from the rest of the statement. It is the website of the July Seventh Truth Campaign. It questions the popular narrative concerning last year's bombings. The campaign points out that not a shred of evidence has been produced that would convict the four men who have been accused of carrying out the atrocity.

They raise a whole series of questions that surely needs a proper enquiry to thrash out. The Antagonist gives a summary of the key issues.

UPDATE: Thanks to Bridget in the comments for pointing out that the MCB have now taken down the link since I originally posted this up.

Bush Demands That Iran Halt Production of Long Letters

By Andy Borowitz

Days after receiving an 18-page letter from Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President George W. Bush called the lengthy missive “an act of war” and demanded that Iran halt its production of long letters at once.

At the White House, aides said that writing a letter of such length to President Bush, who is known for his extreme distaste for reading, was the most provocative act Mr. Ahmadinejad could have possibly committed.

Blair thought women were forced into hijab

The Prime Minister held a summit with Muslim women at Number 10 this week. Apparently, he revealed his ignorance about the hijab there:

"I will be absolutely frank with you. From my perspective, a few years ago, I would probably have thought that someone would not wear it from choice but because that was what people were made to do."

For someone with so much to say about Islam, his recent ignorance is galling.

Civil servants stealing your ID

The Independent reports

An internal investigation at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has found that civil servants are colluding with organised criminals to steal personal identities on "an industrial scale".

Ministers have been privately warned that the investigation will show that hundreds of thousands of stolen personal details have been ripped off from official databases, often with inside help. Key personal details such as national insurance numbers can be used to commit benefit fraud, set up false bank accounts and obtain official documents such as passports...

...Today, however, it can be revealed that the scam is just one of 25 incidents of "significant organised fraud" so far uncovered.

Hat tip

Anyone still think ID cards will protect them?

Ming has his Jenny Tonge moment

Apologies for coming onto this one a bit late, but the resignation of Chris Davies, Lib Dem leader in the European Parliament, needs a mention.

He went apparently for telling an email corespondent to enjoy "wallowing in her own filth" in a second email. The original conversation before it degenerated was about his comparison of the treatment of Palestinians today to the Nazi Holocaust.

Following this, Menzies Campbell deemed he should resign his position. There seems to be a discrepancy in the reasons though. According to Davies it was about the email:

"I apologise for the language and tone of my email, which was unacceptable and without justification. I should never have used the words I did in the email.

Ming though apologised to the whole Jewish community:

"I deeply regret the offence his remarks have caused to the Jewish community."

Granted, the "wallowing" comment may have been upsetting to the lady it was addressed to. But it cannot have affected all Jews. What Campbell is thus saying is that the resigning issue for Davies is his comments on the situation of the Palestinians.

Campbell clarified matters in comments to the Jewish News who brought forward the whole issue:

“The comparison of the experience of the Palestinians under occupation to the experience of the Holocaust is unfounded and is not a view shared by my party.”

He adds: “I do not believe that the actions of the Israeli state in the Palestinian territories are motivated by racism. I can understand the profound insecurity caused by terrorist attacks on civilians and the desire to prevent such attacks with a security wall.”

So he also voluntarily defends the "security wall". And pro-Israelis worried that Campbell was an "Arabist" when he was elected.

Charles Kennedy never recovered amongst pro-Palestinians after he sacked Jenny Tonge. Chris Davies comments are pale in comparison to that episode. Have the Lib Dems no spine at all?

Wiping Iran off the map

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has called for Israel to be wiped off the map, should bear in mind that his own country could also be destroyed, Israeli elder statesman Shimon Peres said on Monday.

Peres, vice prime minister in Ehud Olmert's new government, said Iran was mocking the international community's attempts to resolve the crisis over its nuclear ambitions and that the credibility of the U.N. Security Council was on the line. (...)

"They want to wipe out Israel ... Now when it comes to destruction, Iran too can be destroyed (but) I don't suggest to say an eye for an eye," Peres told Reuters in an interview.

OK so not an "eye for an eye" because Israel would strike first making it any eye for, well, nothing.

The height of the chutzpah must be the emphasis Israel is placing on Iran's nuclear intentions, with Peres saying a mockery is being made of the UN!

"If Iran becomes nuclear many other countries will follow suit ... and whoever will have a conflict will produce a bomb. and finally some bombs will reach the hands of terror," he said.

Hitchens: Prophet an "epileptic plagiarist"

The West needs to take the threat of fundamentalist, militant Islam more seriously, controversial British commentator Christopher Hitchens told a predominately older audience at the Geology Corner auditorium last night. In an hour-and-a-half program, the liberal-socialist contrarian with a wry British wit and a sharp English tongue offered up barbs against Osama bin Laden, Muslims, liberals and Jacques Chirac.

"You don't have to be paranoid, racist or a bigot to take alarm," he said. "There is a civil war within Islam. We are not in a war on terror. We cannot be at war with an expression."

Hitchens, an editor for Vanity Fair, described himself as an atheist and issued a sharp rebuke of the Muslim prophet Muhammad.

"Of course, he's not a prophet," he said. "He's an epileptic plagiarist."

He said the Quran - Islam's holiest book - was full of "evil fairly tales" that were "unimaginably recycled."

"It's a boring plagiarism of the worst parts of Christianity and Judaism," he added.

Source

Rise of the BNP

There's been much consternation over the rise of the BNP at last week's local elections in England. It was in some way lower than predicted - Margaret Hodge said 80% of people were considering voting for them, while a poll found in some areas 25% of people would consider it.

What has been revealing for me is the lack of any focus in this concern about the BNP's central flagship policy at the moment. They called these elections a "Referendum on Islam". Yet in the polite media and political circles the focus was still all on ethnicity issues. No doubt this is easier for the establishment to talk about, but it betrays yet again an unwillingness on the part of public figures to stick their necks out for Muslims. It's unfashionable. It's not a vote winner. That makes them as bad as the BNP.

In many cases, these very same people that condemn the BNP, say and write things which stoke up hate against Muslims, thereby aiding the fascists. An example is given at Islamophobia Watch which at the bottom of the page has some comments from a post at Harry's Place. I've asked people at HP before, despite their protestations of respectability, if they are comfortable with their posts attracting such vile nutters.

Fundamentally, it is hard to differentiate the BNP's discourse on Islam from that of many politicians, public figures and national newspapers.

Auto Wudu Washer

This is class.

Were Muslims in America before Columbus?

The popular Muslim narrative of history is under fire.

Jewish experience of faith schools

Simon Rocker of the Jewish Chronicle writes in the Guardian of how faith schools reduce fanaticism, not increase it.

The Jewish community's experience of their own schools is an interesting one. As he points out, they are held up as the very model of an integrated community, yet half of all Jewish kids attend a Jewish school:

British Jewry is often held up as a model of an integrated "minority". That makes one contemporary feature of it all the more notable: the dramatic swing towards religious schooling. No community has taken greater advantage of successive governments' willingness to subsidise faith schools. Between 1997 and 2005, the number of state-aided Jewish schools rose 50 per cent from 24 to 36.

(...)

Invading and bombing Iran

Chick Yog makes an interesting observation about the Prime Minister's position on Iran. Every time he is asked about bombing Iran he moves the question onto invading Iran - two very different things.

Reid and Karadzic

Chick Yog reveals why John Reid is at the Home Office rather than the Foreign Office - his admiration for a certain war criminal:

In the international arena, Reid, during his drinking days, fell into bad company in the Balkans with the Bosnian Serb mass-murderer Radovan Karadzic, who tops The Hague's International War Crimes Tribunal list of wanted men. Reid has admitted spending three days in 1993 at a luxury Geneva lakeside hotel as a guest of Karadzic. "He used to talk to Karadzic, he admired Karadzic. He mistook the Bosnian Serb project as the inheritor of the united Communist ideal," says Brendan Simms, a Cambridge academic and author of Unfinest Hour: Britain And The Destruction of Bosnia.

Source

That would further explain the "let's be slow to condemn troops that engage in prisoner abuse" stuff.

Justin also gives good expression to what everyone's thinking about the Blair reshuffle:

And where is the fresh meat? Is New Labour really this short of new talent? A radical reshuffle? It’s the Bay City Rollers dressed up to look like the Arctic Monkeys. It’s nothing more than a rearranging of the chairs in a care home sunroom in order to give the residents different views and a bit of stimulation while they’re waiting to die. Won’t somebody please fetch John Prescott a cup of milky tea?

Letting a man rot while pretending you're too civilised to kill him

Te decision not to put to death Zacarias Moussaoui has been hailed as a victory for civilisation.

Indigo Jo points out the reality of the the situation from reports in the Times:

He can look forward to a lifetime of solitary confinement in a facility that houses 399 other high security prisoners including former al Qaeda operatives, drug barons, and ganglords. Set in the middle of the desert and equipped with sophisticated surveillance technology, the prison is considered almost impossible to escape from.

Most of the prisoners are held in solitary confinement for 23 hours every day. For one hour each day they are allowed to exercise in a concrete chamber, fettered by leg irons and handcuffs. Prisoners stay in sound-proofed cells measuring seven feet by twelve. Each cell is bolted shut with a steel door.

The psychological effect of long-term solitary confinement is profound, leading to prisoners suffering from hallucinations, anxiety, depression and self-harm. One former prisoner David Clark told The Guardian in 2002 of extreme restraint methods used by the prison, even during family visits.

"Your family has to look at you chained up like Hannibal Lecter or something. They have to look at you in pain, squirming," he said.

A taste of life ahead was offered by James Aiken, a former prison warden called as a defence witness during his trial. “We are not preparing him for a return to society. We are not even preparing him for a return to the general population. The mission here is incapacitation.

“Time takes a toll on all of us, something he doesn’t even know yet. I have seen them rot. They rot.”

Pointedly, how is this any better than killing him?

Another attempt to boycott Israel

Haaretz report that NATFHE are to lodge a boycott Israel motion at their conference later this month.

Why Straw had to go

It came as a surprise to many when Jack Straw was booted from the Foreign Office on Friday to be replaced by Margaret Beckett. The news was overshadowed by the sacking of Charles Clarke, meaning there has not been a lot of analysis of the move by Blair.

The Guardian though have speculated it is because of Washington fury over Straw's alleged opposition to any strikes on Iran:

Straw has said repeatedly that it is "inconceivable" that there will be a military strike on Iran and last month dismissed as "nuts" a report that George Bush was keeping on the table the option of using tactical nuclear weapons against Tehran's nuclear plants.

But Mr Blair, who sees Iran as the world's biggest threat, does not agree with his former foreign secretary. The prime minister argues that, at the very least, nothing should be ruled out in order to keep Iran guessing. Downing Street phoned the Foreign Office several times to suggest Mr Straw stop going on the BBC Today programme and ruling it out so categorically.

His fate was sealed when the White House called Mr Blair and asked why the foreign secretary kept saying these things. In any case, Mr Straw had boxed himself in on Iran to the extent that he would have had to resign if a military strike became a reality.

I'm not sure whether Straw is going to be the next Robin Cook who was similarly moved from the FCO before Iraq came on the agenda. What is clear is that the FCO was a client department of Blair's under Straw and will be even more so under Beckett.

The Jerusalem Post are celebrating what they see as further hardening of pro-Israel positions in the government, as apparently Straw was soft on issues like Hamas - even though he was relatively isolated in the government in wanting to make them a proscribed organisation in this country.