Psyche, Science, and Society

Pelosi against immunity for Bush admin

Speaker Nancy Pelosi is now coming out against immunity for Bush administration figures as part of a Truth Commission process:

Pelosi said she supported the investigation, but any plan should hold open the possibility of prosecution.

“Senator Leahy has a proposal, Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which is a good idea,” Pelosi told Rachel Maddow on MSNBC Wednesday. “What I have some concern about there is it has immunity. And I think that some of the issues involved here, like the politicizing of the Justice Department and the rest, may have criminal ramifications, and I don’t think we should be giving them immunity.”

If a report by the Inspector General on warrantless wiretapping, expected to be released by summer, reveals crimes have been committed, Pelosi said criminal investigations should follow.

“I don’t think we should have immunity for some of those issues,” Pelosi said. “No one is above the law, the president has said that.”

After Pelosi refused to discuss impeachment, her insistence on denying immunity is odd.

Watch her discuss these matters on Rachel Maddow:

February 26th, 2009

Israeli psychoanalyst: Memo to Obama on Mideast

Israeli psychoanalyst Carlo Strenger writes in Haaretz about the actions he hopes President  Obama will take in the Middle East:

Memo to Obama: Urgent action needed in Mideast

By Carlo Strenger

We do not know what special envoy George Mitchell told President Barack Obama after his tour of the Middle East. But here is what I hope he is telling the president now.

“Mr. President, unfortunately I do not have good news. It is easy to misjudge Israel. It is indeed a country that thrives in certain respects, but politically it has reached complete paralysis. Never in my long experience have I seen a developed economy and seemingly functioning democracy in a state of such anxiety and hopelessness.

“The Israeli electorate sees no way out of the cycle of violence and oppression. In the coalition talks there is much talk about the ‘nationalist bloc’ vs. the ‘center-left’ bloc. I think the most discernible bloc is that of fear, confusion and paralysis, which includes the Labor Party and Kadima. The election results show that Israelis do not believe that there is a way out of the stagnation, confusion and lack of direction that has characterized Israel since the failure of the Camp David talks in 2000 and the onset of the second intifada. The ascent of politicians like Avigdor Lieberman is always an indication that a democracy has lost its direction and seeks to channel its fear and hopelessness into hatred.

“Israel seemed unified only during the three weeks in which the Israel Defense Forces turned Gaza into rubble. Benjamin Netanyahu, Lieberman and Ehud Barak try to capitalize on this and compete with each other for the title ‘most belligerent man in the country.’ Netanyahu plays on the fears of Iran, Lieberman fans the fear and hatred of Arabs in general and Israeli Arabs in particular, and Barak throws around statements about how brutal his retaliation to any Palestinian aggression will be.

“Israel’s democracy has become dysfunctional, not only because of the electoral system (which should indeed be changed). Israel has not truly been governed by a democratic process for a long time. Policy in the West Bank is run far from the public eye, as the IDF’s recent internal document has shown. Quiet deals between the military and the settlers determine facts on the ground, and there is no real political control over what the army or the settlers do.

“In this respect Israel is a mirror image of the Palestinian situation. There is no longer a unified Palestinian authority. Hamas is incapable of overcoming its internal divisions to reach clear decisions on anything, and Fatah is losing support and legitimacy because Israel is incapable of making even the smallest step to convince the Palestinians that it is moving toward peace. The Palestinian public is gradually won over by the idea of ‘resistance’ i.e. violent struggle against Israel, no matter what the cost, and even if it doesn’t lead to any tangible result.

“In brief: I believe that both Israel and the Palestinians are fragmented and paralyzed, and that bilateral talks would at this point be doomed to failure. I am afraid that if we don’t do anything, a third intifada will start. The Arab regimes in the Middle East will not be able to deal with the rage that further Israeli military actions like the one in Gaza will generate in their streets, and the whole region could be destabilized.

“Mr. President, I know that you have your hands full because of the economic meltdown, but I am afraid that we, the United States, do not have the luxury of letting the Middle Eastern situation deteriorate. Israel could well move further to the right, and there is a scenario under which Lieberman, who champions a presidential system, might become Israel’s leader, and the mess might become intractable because he is likely to polarize the situation even further.

“My suggestion is that we, the U.S., apply our full leverage and do the following: We should pressure Israel into engaging with the Arab peace initiative. We could do so if we provide Israel with the guarantee that we will use our might to prevent any attack from Iran, even if it goes nuclear, but that in return for this guarantee Israel will have to start dismantling the settlements in the West Bank.

“We should convince Arab countries to dispatch military forces to take over security in the West Bank and Gaza, and we should set up an ongoing peace conference under the auspices of the U.S., EU, Russia and the Arab League that is committed to continue until a settlement is reached. I have used this model in Northern Ireland, and it has worked there. And please convince Bill Clinton to stand by my side in this process, because Mr. Clinton used to be loved and trusted in Israel, and he might help me generate trust in the possibility of peace that has evaporated.”

*********

The writer, a philosopher and psychoanalyst, teaches at the Psychology Department at Tel Aviv University and is a member of the Permanent Monitoring Panel on Terrorism of the World Federation of Scientists.

February 26th, 2009

Coalition calls for torture prosecutions

A coalition of organizations, including the National Lawyers guild and the Center for Constitutional Rights have issued a statement rejecting a truth Commission as an alternative to prosecution of Bush administration figures for torture and illegal wiretapping:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 24, 2009
11:37 AM

CONTACT: National Lawyers Guild (NLG)

Marjorie Cohn, NLG President, marjorie@tjsl.edu, 619-374-6923
Heidi Boghosian, NLG Executive Director, director@nlg.org, 212-679-5100

Statement on Prosecution of Former High Officials

NEW YORK – February 24 – We urge Attorney General Eric Holder to appoint a non-partisan independent Special Counsel to immediately commence a prosecutorial investigation into the most serious alleged crimes of former President George W. Bush, former Vice President Richard B. Cheney, the attorneys formerly employed by the Department of Justice whose memos sought to justify torture, and other former top officials of the Bush Administration.

Our laws, and treaties that under Article VI of our Constitution are the supreme law of the land, require the prosecution of crimes that strong evidence suggests these individuals have committed. Both the former president and the former vice president have confessed to authorizing a torture procedure that is illegal under our law and treaty obligations. The former president has confessed to violating the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

We see no need for these prosecutions to be extraordinarily lengthy or costly, and no need to wait for the recommendations of a panel or “truth” commission when substantial evidence of the crimes is already in the public domain. We believe the most effective investigation can be conducted by a prosecutor, and we believe such an investigation should begin immediately.

Drafted by The Robert Jackson Steering Committee

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/robertjackson

Signed By:

Center for Constitutional Rights

http://www.ccrjustice.org

The National Lawyers Guild

http://www.nlg.org

After Downing Street

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org

American Freedom Campaign

http://www.americanfreedomcampaign.org

Ann Wright, retired US Army Reserve Colonel and US diplomat

http://www.voicesofconscience.com

Backbone Campaign

http://www.backbonecampaign.org

Brad Blog

http://www.bradblog.com

Cities for Peace

http://citiesforprogress.org

CODE PINK: Women for Peace

http://www.codepink4peace.org

Daniel Ellsberg, Truth-Telling Project

http://www.ellsberg.net

Defending Dissent Foundation

http://www.defendingdissent.org

Delaware Valley Veterans for America

http://www.delvalvets4america.org

Democrats.com

http://www.democrats.com

Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space

http://www.space4peace.org

Gold Star Families for Peace

http://www.cindysheehanssoapbox.com

Grandmothers Against the War

http://www.grandmothersforpeace.org/gatw

Grassroots America

http://www.grassrootsamerica4us.org

High Road for Human Rights Advocacy Project

http://www.highroadforhumanrights.org

Iraq Veterans Against the War

http://ivaw.org

Justice Through Music

http://www.jtmp.org

Marcus Raskin, co-founder of Institute for Policy Studies, member of editorial board of the /Nation/, member of the special staff of the National Security Council in the Kennedy Administration

Media Freedom Foundation/Project Censored

http://www.projectcensored.org

Naomi Wolf, author of /End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot/, and /Give Me Liberty: A Handbook for American Revolutionaries/

http://naomiwolf.org

National Accountability Network

Northeast Impeachment Coalition

http://www.neimpeach.org/wp

Op Ed News

http://www.opednews.com

Peace Action

http://www.peace-action.org

Peace Team

http://www.peaceteam.net

The Progressive

http://www.progressive.org

Progressive Democrats of America

http://www.pdamerica.org

Republicans for Impeachment

http://republicansforimpeachment.com

United for Peace and Justice

http://www.unitedforpeace.org

Velvet Revolution

http://www.velvetrevolution.us

Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity

http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/vips

Veterans for Peace

http://www.veteransforpeace.org

Voters for Peace

http://votersforpeace.us/index2.php

War Crimes Times

http://www.warcrimestimes.org

Wisconsin Impeachment/Bring Our Troops Home Coalition

http://www.impeachwi.com

World Can’t Wait

http://www.worldcantwait.net

Organizations and individuals can add their names to this statement at http://prosecutebushcheney.org

February 26th, 2009

Binyan Mohamed: Worse Than My Darkest Nightmare

A statement from just released Guantanamo detaine

Worse Than My Darkest Nightmare
As I gain my freedom, I am determined that neither those who remain in detention, nor their abusers, are forgotten past.”

By Binyam Mohamed

February 24, 2009 “The Guardian” – - I hope you will understand that after everything I have been through, I am neither physically nor mentally capable of facing the media on the moment of my arrival back to Britain. Please forgive me if I make a simple statement through my lawyer. I hope to be able to do better in days to come, when I am on the road to recovery.

I have been through an experience that I never thought to encounter in my darkest nightmares. Before this ordeal, “torture” was an abstract word to me. I could never have imagined that I would be its victim. It is still difficult for me to believe that I was abducted, hauled from one country to the next, and tortured in medieval ways – all orchestrated by the United States government.

While I want to recover, and put it all as far in my past as I can, I also know I have an obligation to the people who still remain in those torture chambers. My own despair was greatest when I thought that everyone had abandoned me. I have a duty to make sure that nobody else is forgotten.

I am grateful that, in the end, I was not simply left to my fate. I am grateful to my lawyers and other staff at Reprieve, and to Lt Col Yvonne Bradley, who fought for my freedom. I am grateful to the members of the British Foreign Office who worked for my release. And I want to thank people around Britain who wrote to me in Guantánamo Bay to keep my spirits up, as well as to the members of the media who tried to make sure that the world knew what was going on. I know I would not be home in Britain today, if it were not for everyone’s support. Indeed, I might not be alive at all.

I wish I could say that it is all over, but it is not. There are still 241 Muslim prisoners in Guantánamo. Many have long since been cleared even by the US military, yet cannot go anywhere as they face persecution. For example, Ahmed bel Bacha lived here in Britain, and desperately needs a home. Then there are thousands of other prisoners held by the US elsewhere around the world, with no charges, and without access to their families.

And I have to say, more in sadness than in anger, that many have been complicit in my own horrors over the past seven years. For myself, the very worst moment came when I realised in Morocco that the people who were torturing me were receiving questions and materials from British intelligence. I had met with British intelligence in Pakistan. I had been open with them. Yet the very people who I had hoped would come to my rescue, I later realised, had allied themselves with my abusers.

I am not asking for vengeance; only that the truth should be made known, so that nobody in the future should have to endure what I have endured. Thank you.

*********

This is the statement issued by Binyam Mohamed on his return to the UK

February 26th, 2009