Transcripts For WHUT Democracy Now 20131107 : vimarsana.com

WHUT Democracy Now November 7, 2013

Now, and have always considered, the settlements to be illegitimate. I want to make it extremely clear that at no time did the agree asans in any way a matter of going back to the talks that they someh condone or accept the settlements. The palestinians believed the settlements are illegal. The United States has said they believe the settlements are not helpful and are illegitimate. Despite calling the settlements illegitimate, john kerry refused to demand an end to the construction, saying israeli expansion would be off limited as much as possible. Concluded study has former palestinian president Yasser Arafat may have been poisoned to death. The team of swiss scientists who examined his remains say their findings moderately support poisoning as the cause of death. On tuesday, arafats widow called for an investigation where he fell ill one month before dying in 2004. Speaking to al jazeera, forensic scientist David Barkley says he believes arafat was poisoned. If i was a judge and jury, this is absolutely stone cold certain, this is beyond any doubt in my opinion that it was polonium that cause the death of Yasser Arafat. The polonium found in arafats body mustve come from a Nuclear Reactor according to berkeley. Israel has denied responsibility for the debt. Other experts have questioned the poisoning theory, saying arafat show symptoms inconsistent with radioactive exposure. The pakistani government has reportedly acknowledged errors in his recent downgrading of civilian casualties from u. S. Drones. Shortly after Prime Minister nawaz sharif returned from a u. S. Visit last month, the pakistani government reported account of 67 deaths since 2004. Just months earlier, pakistan had estimated the toll at around 600. But a pakistani defense official has omitted the lower figure was wrong and fabricated, according to news of pakistan. A shift was announced earlier this year amidst questions over the Drone Program secrecy and accountability. Officials now say it is unlikely to happen anytime soon. Has asked ands International Tribunal to order russia to release the 30 people detained in a greenpeace protest against arctic drilling. The 28 environmentalists and two journalists have been jailed in russia on charges of hooliganism, facing up to seven years behind bars. On wednesday, a dutch government Legal Advisor made an appeal to the International Tribunal for the law of the sea. We have given our view on the case. It is now for the judges to decide. We have full confidence in the judges. We trust they will give us a well considered, wellreasoned decision in this case, which has a great amount of urgency, so that is what we are looking forward to. A multiple shooting a detroit has up to people dead and eight others wounded. One of the injured victims is in critical condition. , meanwhile,troit are investigating the shooting death of an africanamerican woman killed while seeking help for latenight car crash. 19yearold Renisha Mcbride knocked on the door of a home in a predominantly white neighborhood ask for help. The homeowner are currently thought she was an intruder and shot heard dead. Family members say they believe mcbride was racially profiled. The u. S. Border patrol has rejected calls to stop the use of deadly force against people throwing rocks. A governmentbacked task force recently urged the u. S. Customs and Border Protection agency to ban agents from shooting at rock throwers and assailants in vehicles. The recommendation came as part of her review sparked by the deadly shootings of 19 people by Border Agents since 2010. But speaking to the associated press, Border Patrol chief mike fisher said the proposed changes would put agents in danger. The military judge presiding over the tribunal of five 9 11 suspects has ordered the Obama Administration to hand over a trove of documents on prison conditions act Guantanamo Bay. Judge will review correspondence between the u. S. Government and the red cross, which has inspected the prison. He will then decide whether to turn it over to the defense. Its unclear material will become public. Both the pentagon and the red cross had argued against the disclosure, which was sought by prisoners attorneys. In a separate decision, the judge also eased restrictions on mail communication between the prisoners and their lawyers. Los angelese times, reports the Obama Administration is holding talks with yemeni officials on establishing a facility outside sanaa to hold prisoners from guantanamo and afghanistan. The talks could be one step toward closing guantanamo, which president obama has repeatedly vowed to do. More than half of prisoners currently at guantanamo are from yemen. Many have been held for over a decade without charge or trial. Yemeni officials have reportedly drafted tentative lands for the facility, but a final deal could take months. Former Guantanamo Bay prisoner david hicks has filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn his you thousand seven conviction. Captured in afghanistan, he was held at guantanamo for five years before reaching a plea deal to return to his native australia. He admitted to Material Support for terrorism and agreed to renounce his claim of suffering abuse in u. S. Custody. He was the first guantanamo prisoner convicted under the military commissions act. This week, hicks filed an appeal saying he pled guilty under duress. A statement, hicks said againstl judge ruled the new York City Police departments controversial stop and Frisk Program is seeking reinstatement after being removed from the case. In august, u. S. District judge scheindlin found stop and frisk unconstitutional, saying police had relied on a policy of indirect racial profiling that lead to officers routinely stopping blacks and latinos. Scheindlin appointed a federal Court Monitor oversee a series of reforms. But a threejudge panel froze the reforms and removed scheindlin last week, saying she had violated judicial standards by speaking to the media. On wednesday, judge scheindlin filed an appeal, arguing the court never gave her a chance to respond before taking action against her. And those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with juan gonzalez. Welcome to all our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. A year ago yesterday, on november 6, 2012, tens of millions of americans went to the polls to reelect president obama. On that same day thousands of miles away a 39yearold afghan farmer named Mohammed Qasim disappeared after being arrested by u. S. Special forces. He was never heard from again. Months later and afghan shepherd saw feral dog digging a human remains now believed to be the farmers. His decaying body was found just outside a base used by a team of u. S. Special forces known as the ateam. The body was found just weeks after u. S. Special forces were compelled by the Afghan Government to leave the base and it will occasions of torture and murder. More and more bodies were soon found just outside the base located in wardak province. In total, afghan Officials Say they have uncovered the bodies of 10 afghan man, all of whom disappeared after being arrested by u. S. Special forces. Eight other afghans were killed by the special forces during operations. The mr. Behind the killings as the center of a shocking article published by Rolling Stone magazine which reports the disappearances and killings could amount to some of the gravest war crimes perpetrated by u. S. Forces since the u. S. Led invasion in 2001. On wednesday, Human Rights Watch said any u. S. Personnel who participated in or were otherwise responsible for the abuses should be criminally prosecuted. So far only one person has been arrested an afghan translator who went by the name zikria kandahari. Zikria kandahari have been working for the american team. He was arrested in july by the Afghan Government. Rolling stone reports the u. S. Military opened a criminal investigation into the killings in july. However, none of the witnesses and family members who were interviewed by Rolling Stone in afghanistan during five months reporting say they have ever been contacted by u. S. Military investigators. To talk more about the story, were joined by an and Award Winning investigative journalist matthieu akins. His article is titled the a team killings. Why dont you start off by just laying out your findings. What we did was we interviewed dozens of witnesses, victims,mbers of the confidential investigations done by both the u. N. And red cross as well as the Afghan Government. We laid out what had happen in this isolated valley. Even though these allegations emerged last winter and continued into the spring and were quite controversial, led a local demonstrations, no one really knew who this mysterious unit was. Or speciale cia forces team. The military had categorically denied any responsibility up until this time. So we laid out a timeline of what happened and discovered who this unit was. We established conclusively these men who disappeared were picked up by American Forces them often in these mass roundups in broad daylight. He was not a question if they were picked up, but what happened afterwards. In the end, we are able to identify the unit and even get into see this translator. The meccafore military launched its investigation, this had become a major issue in afghanistan with president karzai actually demanding the u. S. Troops on that base be removed. Could you talk about that and when did that happen . Instances started in november, but they reached sort of a fever point in february when a body of a student was found with his throat slit. February of this year. But thats right. The family claimed it is not clear what happened. Thead been bubbling in local politics and press for a while. Master menstruations corrupted in wardak. Mass demonstrations erupted in wardak. That is when it reached a crisis point. Your talks between karzai and , the u. S. Anled isaf and nato military mission in afghanistan. What ended up happening is a of ofolitical point a kind became a political point. Theyre locked in these negotiations over the future of American Forces in afghanistan. One of the main Sticking Points is the legal status of the u. S. Forces. The u. S. Is adamant they should have immunity. The afghans are relented reluctant to grant that. In iraq, this led to the so called zero options, sudden withdrawal of u. S. Forces just a couple of years before. There is some speculation if they cant reach negotiation will provide legal age of u. S. Forces, they will have to pull out. It wasnt until july the u. S. Began a formal investigation of the charges . Something that is troubling raised by the timeline, because if you look, the allegations are first reported to the u. S. Army officer by the victims in november. Right at the beginning of all of these killings. And yet even as the allegations mounted, even as investigations were done by the u. N. , the red cross, the Afghan Government that all found the witnesses testimony credible that there were war crimes being committed by this unit, even as the bodies came out of the ground in april, may, the u. S. Military stuck to its vow saying the three investigations have cleared them of all wrongdoing. Spokesperson from the isaf, the International Security Assistance Force in afghanistan, told democracy now no one was available to join us for the show to respond to your new report, but he provided this statement your response . They did turn it over to the Army Criminal investigative command in july, and they say that is because they received new information from the red cross, touch this is according to the American Military had given them new evidence that led them to open to request that investigation be opened. The red cross investigation had a much happened much earlier on, essentially completed by the time the bodies came out of the ground, from what i understand, speaking to officials familiar with the report. But the question really is, who else knew about these incidences how is a possible at least one level in the chain of command above this unit could not have known there were war crimes . There was serious evidence of war crimes in wardak province. If they werent involved in the coverup, then they must have been willfully blind. And the ateam is from . Fort bragg. Matthieu akins is the author of, the ateam killings which has just come out. Stay with us. [music break] this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with juan gonzalez. , anduest is matthieu akins awardwinning investigative journalist based in kabul, afghanistan and just published the piece, the ateam killings. How theere talking military has now begun its own investigation, but you have discovered so far they havent interviewed any of the witnesses that youth talk to. That you talk to. Have you been contacted by the military asking if you could give names of some of the folks you talk to . I hope they will because they havent. It really was baffling to me how i could spend five months digging into the story and interviewed all the key witnesses and gathered all the key evidence myself and not have somehow run into this investigation which was taking place. It raises the question if this is been taking seriously. You have to see it in the context of the very poor track record the military has in reviewing allegations oabuse in custody and other instances like that in the past, and bringing the hope its to justice. Lets talk about some of the people who were killed and bodies were found. One of those who died after being detained by u. S. Special forces was the University Student named nasratullah. In february, his mother recalled how she was woken up at night by men she called americans who burst into her familys home. Two days later she said villagers found nasratullahs courts, have eaten by village dogs. My son was taken and his body was dropped under a bridge in the river. One of his fingers was cut off. He was being very badly. His throat was slit. The government not listing to our voices . Why are they not stopping the americans from doing such things . Up toi wanted to stand talk with the americans, they have me back and hit me in my chest with the but of a gun. Since ifeel pain here had been beaten. I cannot breathe. You can still see the marks of the beating on my chest. Can you talk about this case . It is pitiful when you consider the conditions these people are living in. They are living in absolute insecurity, pressed on both sides by the insurgents and the u. S. Military. The case of nasratullah is one of those that is less clear. We dont have the same evidence because it happened that night, because there werent multiple witnesses. But in other cases, especially these daylight raids were they did roundup whole villages, we know the u. S. Military took these people away. Describe one of the scenes. You begin your piece with that, the two men who are sitting in their home. This is one of the most disturbing incidences i came across. I dont mention the name, i give the pseudonym omar. But omar and his neighbor, 28 yearold shopkeeper, or in front hitheir house when and ied a special forces team traveling nearby november 10 of last year. They soon saw americans coming down the road toward them, so they went inside. Two translators, a bearded american, worst into the house and started burst into the house and started beating them or they found a command wire for the ied. As omar watched as one of the americans held him and beat him, the other translator, zikria kandahari, fired three shots from the killing him in front of the americans. Omar then says he was beaten and taken away to the u. S. Special forces base and held for several days, suspended with cables, interrogated by the americans and translators. He was the only civilian witness ofpoke to to the execution his neighborhood. At three different neighbors i spoke to from the same village told me they sell the American Special forces team arrived, heard gunshots. Afterwards they found his bullet riddled body lying among the apple trees. What about the translator who was arrested . You also delved into his own history as well and found some interesting things. This translator had been a mysterious figure for most of the story. Of thein the custody Afghan Intelligence service, so he reportedly blamed the americans for the deaths and disappearances. But no one was able to speak indirectly until i learned in august 2 is transferred to the main afghan prison to await trial. I managed to get into see him. As you can imagine, it was quite a nextdoor mary meeting. Andlked in and he came young looking, heavily bearded, speaking this kind of slain american that translators learned from hanging out with american soldiers. He did not admit to being involved in any of the killings, though we have multiple witnesses and a lot of evidence suggesting he was. But he blamed it all on the americans. He said what had happened was 1 the team sergeant, green beret ateam, had been wounded badly in a firefight at the beginning end of october, beginning of november. And his name was . Jeff. Is, leadership is really led by experience. He was the most experienced they call him the team daddy, the father of the team. His wounding mustve been traumatic for these green berets. Set is what happened to these instances off, i believe, that is what zikria kanda

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