Page 714 – Toward Freedom

Obama Resuming Bush’s Extraordinary Renditions

Sherwood Ross November 9, 2009 Sherwood Ross

Even though Barack Obama, the candidate, pledged to end “the practice of shipping away prisoners in the dead of night to be tortured in far-off countries,” his FBI has been rendering kidnap victims to the U.S. The practice is still kidnapping, however; and it’s still illegal.

Unlucky victim No. 1 was Raymond Azar, 45, flown from Afghanistan to Alexandria, Va., not to a foreign country. The construction manager for Sima International, a Lebanese outfit that did work for the U.S. military, Azar said he was tortured by his abductors. He might just as well have been flow to Egypt under the Bushies. read more

Honduras: Talks Are Off with Coup Government After Deal Collapses

Democracy Now! November 9, 2009 Democracy Now!

Source: Democracy Now!

An American-mediated accord to end the four-month political crisis in the country appears to be in shambles just a week after it was signed. On Friday, ousted President Manuel Zelaya, who remains in the Brazilian embassy, declared the deal was over. Meanwhile, coup president Roberto Micheletti said he would install a national unity government without the participation of Zelaya. We speak to President Zelaya from the Brazilian embassy.

AMY GOODMAN: We go now to Honduras, where an American-mediated accord to end the four-month political crisis in the country appears to be in shambles just a week after it was signed. On Friday, the ousted president, Manuel Zelaya, who remains in the Brazilian embassy, declared the deal over. Meanwhile, the coup leader, Roberto Micheletti, said he would install a national unity government without the participation of Zelaya.
read more

Public Option is Just Another Private Party – and We’re Not Invited

Sandy LeonVest November 9, 2009 Sandy LeonVest

The elaborate Congressional circus whimsically referred to as 'healthcare reform' - the one that has held the nation captive since President Obama's earliest weeks in office - came complete with dancing clowns, disappearing acts and trained tigers jumping through hoops. But today the magic is gone. The performance is degenerating. The public is beginning to understand what the political players knew all along - that this three ring circus was never meant to be more than a sideshow.

A Call for Clarity on the Afghanistan War

Sonali Kolhatkar November 5, 2009 Sonali Kolhatkar

Source: Foreign Policy in Focus

While President Barack Obama reviews his strategy on Afghanistan, a perfect moment to send a strong unified message to end the war is slipping through our fingers. Whether it’s because we seem to have bought into the lies about the goals of this war or because we mistakenly feel that a Democratic president is going to come to the right conclusion on his own, one thing is clear: There’s no debate within the Democratic Party or in the White House about whether to end the war. The only thing being debated is how to continue the war. read more

US Establishes Military Bases in Colombia as Honduran Crisis Continues

Benjamin Dangl November 5, 2009 Benjamin Dangl

Colombian President Uribe

In a quiet ceremony behind closed doors in the Colombian Presidential Palace, US Ambassador William Brownfield sat down with three Colombian ministers to sign a deal allowing for 1,400 US military and private contractors to operate in seven expanded military bases in the country. The date was October 30, just one day after an apparent solution had been reached to allow ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya to return to power. These two developments are central to the mixed messages the Obama administration is sending to Latin America.

Human Rights Violations in the Name of Fighting Terror

Dinyar Godrej November 4, 2009 Dinyar Godrej

With President Obama in the White House, there is the announced future closure of Guantánamo Bay and a move away from legitimizing torture. But there is no promise yet on ending rendition or 'prolonged detention', and no moves to gain justice for those who were detained in barbaric conditions for years or to prosecute their torturers. Can the damage done ever be reversed now that the Western democracies, who've ridden the high horse of human rights, have lost all moral authority on this front?