Barack Obama

Amnesty TV episode two - torture

Emerson — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 10:04:27 +0100

URGENT message to US, UN, Human Rights Watch & all human rights organisations re DIRE situation in Daraa, Syria

FlashNewsPlus — Wed, 04 May 2011 15:27:08 +0100

Human tv.. youtube channel.

protectthehumanatshoreditchchurch2010 — Fri, 17 Sep 2010 11:38:04 +0100

Interesting interactivity. showing protect the human project.

Source: Human tv.. youtube channel.

President Obama for Gay Rights

Joakimprojekt`s — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 12:40:56 +0100

President Obama for Gay Rights<object width="560" height="315"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=7293017&server=vimeo.com&amp

Joakimprojekt`s — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 12:35:16 +0100

Barack Obama does not hate Israel, says Binyamin Netanyahu

DrPot — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 12:23:13 +0000

Hagai Ben-Artzi, the brother of the Israeli premier's wife, said on Israeli Army Radio that the US president dislikes Netanyahu and the Israeli people because he had spent years in the church of the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, who he said is "antisemitic, anti-Israeli, and anti-Jewish." Obama once declared the fiery liberal Chicago preacher was his spiritual mentor but disavowed him during the campaign.

"As a politician running for [the] presidency he had to hide it," Ben-Artzi said, "but it comes out every time and I think we just have to say it plainly: there is an antisemitic president in America."

Source: Barack Obama does not hate Israel, says Binyamin Netanyahu

Rove 'proud' of US waterboarding terror suspects

DrPot — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 09:07:40 +0000

A senior adviser to former US President George W Bush has defended tough interrogation techniques, saying their use helped prevent terrorist attacks.
In a BBC interview, Karl Rove, who was known as "Bush's brain", said he "was proud we used techniques that broke the will of these terrorists".
He said waterboarding, which simulates drowning, should not be considered torture.
In 2009, President Barack Obama banned waterboarding as a form of torture.

Source: Rove 'proud' of US waterboarding terror suspects

Inside the world of Obama's secret-service bodyguards

DrPot — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 20:19:09 +0000

The Southern Poverty Law Center began life in 1971 as a tiny law firm specialising in civil rights cases. It took on the might of the Ku Klux Klan, and was duly rewarded by having its offices razed and its senior lawyers targeted for assassination. But it kept on going and grew to be one of the most respected monitoring groups of rightwing extremism in America today.
Recently it brought out a report called Terror From the Right, which identifies, in chronological order, the serious home-grown plots, conspiracies and racist rampages that have been cooked up in America since the Oklahoma City bomb in 1995...<snip>....... one name crops up time and time again: Barack Obama.

Source: Inside the world of Obama's secret-service bodyguards

G20 RAW - Trailer

PieNMashFilms — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 13:15:30 +0000

Guantanamo guard reunited with ex-inmates

DrPot — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 12:45:51 +0000

"You look different without a cap."
"You look different without the jump suits."
With those words, an extraordinary reunion gets underway. The last time Ruhal Ahmed met Brandon Neely, he was "behind bars, behind a cage and [Brandon] was on the other side". He would say, 'you ever listen to Eminem or Dr Dre' and... I thought how could it be somebody is here who's doing the same stuff that I do when I'm back home
Mr Neely was one of his guards.

Source: Guantanamo guard reunited with ex-inmates

Fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan

DrPot — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 20:53:23 +0000

"I heard Kilo company lit up nine guys today," said Craig, a young US marine, his face illuminated by the flickering flames that separated us.
Craig, square-jawed and of Irish American stock from Boston, looked like a young Kennedy stranded in Afghanistan. Night had fallen over the shattered compound in Now Zad where we were bedding down.
The company that Craig and I were attached to, Lima, had spent its day blasting its way through an area of abandoned farms believed to be host to dozens of Taliban.

Source: Fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan

A Reflection on Humanity

Joakimprojekt`s — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 21:54:09 +0100

From Gitmo to Bagram | Sean Duggan | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

DrPot — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 21:08:54 +0100

It is disappointing that the panels responsible for reviewing the Obama administration's detention policy at Guantánamo Bay and its interrogation policy overall announced on Tuesday that they would need more time to complete their evaluations. Thankfully, though, the pending review of the Afghan prison and judicial system is on track to be completed swiftly and thoroughly by the US military at this critical juncture in the nearly eight-year-long conflict.

Source: From Gitmo to Bagram | Sean Duggan | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

Darfur

legofesto — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 22:11:45 +0100

US elected to UN rights council

DrPot — Tue, 12 May 2009 18:05:17 +0100

The United States has been elected to a seat on the UN Human Rights Council for the first time.
The council had been shunned by the Bush administration, which accused it of admitting states with poor rights records and having an anti-Israel bias.
But the Obama administration has reversed its predecessor's policy of boycotting the Geneva-based body.
The US was one of 18 countries elected to the 47-seat council in a vote by the UN General Assembly.

Source: US elected to UN rights council

'This machine surrounds hate and forces it to surrender': Pete Seeger at 90

Patrick Corrigan — Thu, 07 May 2009 00:14:17 +0100

He’s “outlasted the bastards” said Springsteen in a moving tribute at the gig, “a stealth dagger through the heart of our country’s illusions about itself.”

Seamus Heaney wrote this dedication for Seeger’s nine-decade milestone:
"Pete Seeger's singing has fulfilled the high classical expectation that poetry be both sweet and helpful. His art managed to take the strain of his activism, the banjo in his hand was his hammer of justice, and his music was more than equal to the music of what happened."

I’ll put it more simply. Pete Seeger is a human rights hero. Happy Birthday.

Source: 'This machine surrounds hate and forces it to surrender': Pete Seeger at 90

BOOK REVIEW: 'Into the Killing Zone: Dispatches from the Frontline in Afghanistan'

Patrick Corrigan — Wed, 06 May 2009 00:53:43 +0100

With the media reporting that citations for bravery earned by soldiers of the Royal Irish Regiment (RIR) in Afghanistan, may have been falsified, it is perhaps timely to consider the role of our neighbours in that distant land.

Source: BOOK REVIEW: 'Into the Killing Zone: Dispatches from the Frontline in Afghanistan'

U.S. To Delay Sri Lanka IMF Loan, Putting its Money Where its Mouth Is | UN Dispatch

Fulup — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 16:01:31 +0100

The Obama administration is seeking to delay a $1.9 billion loan to Sri Lanka from the International Monetary Fund.

Source: U.S. To Delay Sri Lanka IMF Loan, Putting its Money Where its Mouth Is | UN Dispatch

PRESIDENT OBAMA RETREATS FROM ARMENIAN GENOCIDE PLEDGE

krease chan — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 21:44:26 +0100

Despite repeated statements properly characterizing the Armenian Genocide during his Senate career and a clear pledge stating that “As President, I will recognize the Armenian Genocide,” President Barack Obama today issued an April 24th statement evading the proper characterization of the Armenian Genocide, reported the Armenian National Committee of America

Source: PRESIDENT OBAMA RETREATS FROM ARMENIAN GENOCIDE PLEDGE

BOOK REVIEW: A Problem from Hell - America and the Age of Genocide, Samantha Power - Amnesty Blogs

Patrick Corrigan — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 23:27:02 +0100

This brilliant and angry book is the story of those few who, since the time of the Armenian slaughter, fought to bring the new crime (and the new word) of 'genocide' onto the international statute books. It is also the story of the many presidents and others who have held and influenced power in the US, who chose to turn a blind eye to the moral and actual law against genocide.

Source: BOOK REVIEW: A Problem from Hell - America and the Age of Genocide, Samantha Power - Amnesty Blogs

NI 'should take Guantanamo freed'

Patrick Corrigan — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 00:00:31 +0000

Northern Ireland should offer to take some prisoners freed from Guantanamo Bay by US president Barack Obama, Amnesty International has said.

Amnesty called on First Minister Peter Robinson and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness to offer to help.

Source: NI 'should take Guantanamo freed'

Ulster should say 'yes' to Guantánamo prisoners

Patrick Corrigan — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 16:11:42 +0000

Northern Irish politicians have never been shy about going cap in hand to Washington to ask for help with our political and economic problems. They were there again this week for the annual St Patrick's Day shindiggery.

Now it's time for them to return the favour by helping Obama out of the hole dug by his predecessor: Guantánamo Bay.

Source: Ulster should say 'yes' to Guantánamo prisoners

Convention on Modern Liberty in Belfast

Linda J — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 16:39:20 +0000

Mike Ritchie at the Convention on Modern Liberty in Belfast

Linda J — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 16:43:38 +0000

Obama backs Bush: No rights for Bagram prisoners - washingtonpost.com

Wily Fox — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 22:22:07 +0000

The Obama administration, siding with the Bush White House, contended Friday that detainees in Afghanistan have no constitutional rights.

Source: Obama backs Bush: No rights for Bagram prisoners - washingtonpost.com

JURIST - Hotline: Obama Administration must define 'enemy combatant' consistent with traditional laws of war

Wily Fox — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 11:31:05 +0000

"Enemy combatant" as a trigger for detention authority must be retired. It was born of a misguided, reverse-logic assumption that anyone with potential intelligence value should be detainable, and therefore, should be designated a "combatant" in order to justify the detention.

Source: JURIST - Hotline: Obama Administration must define 'enemy combatant' consistent with traditional laws of war

Barack Obama grants CIA permission to retain right to carry out renditions - Times Online

vero — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 11:52:29 +0000

The banner headlines greeting President Obama’s decision to close the detention centre at Guantánamo Bay and secret CIA prisons may have concealed how he has retained one of the most controversial weapons in the War on Terror.

Source: Barack Obama grants CIA permission to retain right to carry out renditions - Times Online

Burma and Obama

Wily Fox — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 23:23:57 +0000

Washington remains the Burmese people’s best hope for reliable support in their struggle for democracy

Source: Burma and Obama

Obama’s Torture Loopholes

boatrocker — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 15:07:40 +0000

On January 22, 2009, President Obama signed a number of executive orders purporting to end the Bush administration’s abusive practices in dealing with treatment of terrorism suspects. Before Americans get too elated, however, they should look carefully at the inhumane interrogation practices these orders may still permit.

Source: Obama’s Torture Loopholes

What next for Guantanamo inmates?

Aggy — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 10:48:22 +0000

Ordering the closure of the prison at Guantanamo Bay was the easy bit.

Working out what to do with the 245 or so inmates who are still there will be much harder.

The Obama administration has a number of options, but none of them will satisfy everybody.

Source: What next for Guantanamo inmates?