December 2006


What’s Good for Saddam May Be Good for Mubarak or the Saudi Royals

By TARIQ ALI Counterpunch 12/30/06

It was symbolic that 2006 ended with a colonial hanging— most of it (bar the last moments) shown on state television in occupied Iraq. It has been that sort of year in the Arab world. After a trial so blatantly rigged that even Human Rights Watch—the largest single unit of the US Human Rights industry— had to condemn it as a total travesty. (more…)

The sacrifice of the Iraqi President on the first day of Eid could make a prophet of Saddam Hussein.

By Paul Wolf International-lawyers.org 12/30/06

Today is the first day of the Eid al adha, or Feast of Sacrifice. Celebrated by Muslims worldwide, it’s a major holiday like Christmas or Hanukkah, commemorating the willingness of the Prophet Abraham to sacrifice his son Ishmael to God. (more…)

By Colonel Ann Wright, Retired Truthout 12/23/06

On January 11, 2002, the first detainees from Afghanistan arrived at the prison in the US Naval Base, Guantanamo, Cuba. In the succeeding five years, Guantanamo has symbolized to the world the Bush administration’s abandonment of international and domestic law, and the development of a policy of inhumane treatment and use of torture. (more…)

[This article mentions Dr. Dhafir’s case.]
By Stephen Lendman ICH 12/27/06

Borrowing the opening line from Dickens’ Tale of Two Cities – “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times….” He referred to the French Revolution promising “Liberte, egalite and fraternite” that began in 1789, inspired by ours from 1775 – 1783. It ended a 1000 years of monarchal rule in France benefitting those of privilege and established the nation as a republic the way ours did for us here a few years earlier. (more…)

Ayman Jarwan was released yesterday and is now being held in a county jail awaiting deportation to Jordan. I’m still working on getting the video interview with his lawyer up on the internet.

Katherine: I have had no news of whether Ayman Jarwan has been released or not, I’ll post any information as soon as I have it.

Below are links to: an article from the year anniversary of the arrests in the “Help the Needy” (HTN) case, a link to a government document listing the HTN defendants as terrorists for sending aid to starving Iraqi civilians, and a video that shows Ayman Jarwan and Dr. Dhafir speaking at a fundraising event for HTN. (more…)

The Bill of Rights Defense Committee’s e-mail newsletter December 2006, Vol. 5, No. 8

Dr. Dhafir’s case is updated in the newsletter.

Available here: BORDC Newsletter

Ayman Jarwan one of the other “Help the Needy” defendants will be released on Friday, December 22, 2006, and most likely deported to Jordan. He took a plea bargain and despite the government telling him he wouldn’t serve time, he was sentenced to 18 months. On December 6th I did a 15-minute interview with Jarwan’s lawyer, Jim McGraw, which I hope to have available online in the next day or two.

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