I find the reports this week of the women and girls killed by NATO bombings quite disturbing. As usual, NATO bombers do not know males from females, adults from children, or sticks (they were collecting firewood) from weapons. They cannot tell combatants from non-combatants. Earlier this month, 29 people were killed by US drones in Yemen. Reportedly, four of them were children. If the US government had any decency, they would follow up on every drone strike to see what the results are - but they do not care.
And a report came out from Human Rights Watch on how the Bush administration sent prisoners (that they had kidnapped) to Gaddafi to be tortured. This was back when Gaddafi was our "friend". The men tortured were reportedly Islamic extremists. And Ambassador Stevens, killed in Libya, died from the very violence he helped unleash. In that attack, the US flag came down and an al Qaeda flag went up. Violence begets violence, always has and always will.
On top of all that, an innocent man died in Guantanamo this week. He spent a third of his life there, was cleared for release, and was not allowed out. Like so many hundreds of thousands, he found the freedom of the grave thanks to US policies, after horrific years of abuse and torture.
People in Iraq, especially children, are still suffering horribly from our war of aggression and occupation of their country. Cancers and birth defects are exploding. An Iraq War Veteran recently said this: "I have a certain sense of relief that I get to share in the sufferings of the Iraqis. We were conducting those burn pits in agricultural fields.... Americans are gaining awareness of the impacts of burn pits on soldiers, but not the impact they will have on Iraqi civilians." This veteran died of cancer last month, which he thinks came from his time in Iraq in 2004. His name was Joshua Casteel. Yes, we bring the freedom of the grave even to our own. He was wrong that Americans are gaining awareness of what is happening to our veterans. No one is noticing or caring, as far as I can tell.
Below is a link to the Human Rights Report on how Americans torture and other evil things.
US: Torture and Rendition to Gaddafi's Libya
(Washington) – The United States government during the Bush administration tortured opponents of Muammar Gaddafi, then transferred them to mistreatment in Libya, according to accounts by former detainees and recently uncovered CIA and UK Secret Service documents, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. One former detainee alleged he was waterboarded and another described a similar form of water torture, contradicting claims by Bush administration officials that only three men in US custody had been waterboarded.
The 154-page report, “Delivered into Enemy Hands: US-Led Abuse and Rendition of Opponents to Gaddafi’s Libya,” is based on interviews conducted in Libya with 14 former detainees, most of whom belonged to an armed Islamist group that had worked to overthrow Gaddafi for 20 years. Many members of the group, the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), joined the NATO-backed anti-Gaddafi rebels in the 2011 conflict. Some of those who were rendered and allegedly tortured in US custody now hold key leadership and political positions in the country.
http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/
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