Rachel Corrie was killed while non-violently protesting home demolitions

 

 

Attorney Hussein Abu Hussein’s statement on verdict in Corrie wrongful death lawsuit

Posted in News and Updates, Trial, Trial Press Releases on August 28, 2012 by Dave.

(Haifa, Israel – August 28, 2012) – While not surprising, this verdict is yet another example of where impunity has prevailed over accountability and fairness. Rachel Corrie was killed while non-violently protesting home demolitions and injustice in Gaza, and today, this court has given its stamp of approval to flawed and illegal practices that failed to protect civilian life. In this regard, the verdict blames the victim based on distorted facts and it could have been written directly by the state attorneys.

We knew from the beginning that we had an uphill battle to get truthful answers and justice, but we are convinced that this verdict distorts the strong evidence presented in court, and contradicts fundamental principles of international law with regard to protection of human rights defenders. In denying justice in Rachel Corrie’s killing, this verdict speaks to the systemic failure to hold the Israeli military accountable for continuing violations of basic human rights.



We would like to thank everyone who supported the family and the legal team; including activists, NGOs, legal observers, US embassy officials, interpreters, reporters who covered the trial, and we look forward to talking to you at the press conference.

..............shameful,

This week, defense lawyer David Coombs seeks more evidence surrounding Bradley Manning’s abusive, illegal pretrial treatment at the Quantico Marine Brig. Will the prosecution continue to withhold thousands of Quantico emails relating to Bradley’s confinement conditions?

 Prosecution is withholding thousands of emails regarding Bradley’s brutal treatment
By the Bradley Manning Support Network. August 28, 2012.

Demonstrators march to end Bradley’s abusive conditions in Quantico.

In a new post on his blog, in an effort to bring transparency to Bradley Manning’s otherwise secretive trial, lawyer David Coombs published a motion to compel “the remaining 1,290 emails that it obtained from Marine Corps Base Quantico (MCBQ) regarding the confinement conditions of PFC Manning.”
The Government has reviewed a total of 1,374 Quantico emails regarding Bradley’s confinement conditions, but decided that only 84 of them were “obviously material to the preparation of the defense” and gave those to the defense. But Coombs says that the prosecution delayed production of the emails:

“In spite of receiving the 1,374 emails in response to its preservation request, the Government elected to permit these emails to collect dust in one of its file cabinets until two days before the Defense’s Article 13 motion was due.”

Coombs says the Government is using too narrow a scope in producing relevant documents, and that the remaining emails fall under the original request:

“These emails are clearly “documents … by employees of Quantico confinement facility relating to PFC Manning” and should have been produced a long time ago pursuant to the Defense’s discovery request.”

Because of the prosecution’s delay in producing these vital emails, some of which have already revealed that a three-star general, removed from Quantico, ordered Bradley’s needlessly and illegally punitive treatment, Coombs had to delay litigation of the Article 13 motion until the October 1-5 hearing.
As this motion shows, however, the prosecution could drag its feet even further in producing 1,290 more emails. If that happens, it’s possible the Article 13 motion – and likely the rest of the scheduled proceedings – could be delayed yet again. August 28 is already Bradley’s 828^th day in prison without court martial. How many more will it be?

Assange Asylum Wins Correa Anti-U.S. Cachet as Trade to Suffer.

U.S. sanctions against Ecuador is a sure sign the Assange asylum is nothing but a with-hunt. Private Manning is a true patriot for exposing atrocities committed in the name of Americans, a hero........ for the whistle-blowing.  Had Americans known the true nature of the pentagons behavior many deaths may have been prevented. 

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Rains a little on the just......and much on the unjust

http://yfrog.com/nzxdzqgj


See if Issac dodges or "legitimately rapes" the RNC, biologically shutting the party down or aborts the futile process altogether.....wtf files, kosmicdebris

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U.S. Arms Sales Make Up Most of Global Market

By THOM SHANKER

Published: August 26, 2012

 WASHINGTON — Weapons sales by the United States tripled in 2011 to a record high, driven by major arms sales to Persian Gulf allies concerned about Iran’s regional ambitions, according to a new study for Congress.

Overseas weapons sales by the United States totaled $66.3 billion last year, or more than three-quarters of the global arms market, valued at $85.3 billion in 2011. Russia was a distant second, with $4.8 billion in deals.

The American weapons sales total was an “extraordinary increase” over the $21.4 billion in deals for 2010, the study found, and was the largest single-year sales total in the history of United States arms exports. The previous high was in fiscal year 2009, when American weapons sales overseas totaled nearly $31 billion.

A worldwide economic decline had suppressed arms sales over recent years. But increasing tensions with Iran drove a set of Persian Gulf nations — Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Oman — to purchase American weapons at record levels.

These Gulf states do not share a border with Iran, and their arms purchases focused on expensive warplanes and complex missile defense systems...........read more

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REDD-plus schemes in El Salvador: Low profile, friendly fancy dresses and commodification of ecosystems and territories
Yvette Aguilar[1], Maritza Erazo[2], Francisco Soto[3]
San Salvador, July 17th 2012
Summary
The Durban Platform and the Cancun Agreement adopted REDD-plus as an option for climate change mitigation, which was designed to offset emissions from developed countries by reducing emissions from the forestry sector in developing countries, even though the mechanism has serious inherent problems that make it ineffective for climate change mitigation, such as leakage, lack of additionality, temporality and complexities related to measurability.
El Salvador has been involved in the issue of REDD-plus through its incorporation into the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) of the World Bank (WB), which was created to purchase and trade carbon credits directly in the carbon markets or through brokerage funds, such as the Forest Carbon Fund (FCF) to offset emissions from developed countries. Such an approach fosters the commodification of nature through the trading of carbon stored in ecosystems and territories from which indigenous, rural and peasant communities depend for survival.
The adoption of REDD-plus in El Salvador would occur in a fashion disconnected from the strategic policy framework on climate change, and without the best technical, scientific and methodological knowledge or the social legitimacy required to ensure its political viability and effective implementation.
The lack of such a framework and an appropriate environmental policy for addressing climate change effectively in the country, has led to the implementation of improvised and scattered actions, dissociated from the legal mandates and commitments under the international climate change treaties, as evidenced by the preparation without consultation by the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (MARN) of the proposal (R-PP) submitted to the FCPF for an eventual REDD-plus strategy, without a previous ex ante analysis of the potential social, economic, political and environmental implications and impacts at local, national and global levels.
The proposal has fundamental misconceptions and scientific and technical failings which are insurmountable even under the lax FCPF´s criteria, and which could be summarized in four substantive issues:

• the “Mitigation based on Adaptation” approach which does not consider climate change and lacks a scientific and methodologically sound basis to properly address adaptation;
• the weaknesses and gaps in the national strategic policy framework on climate change;
• the direct link to international trade mechanisms for offsetting emissions from developed countries; and
• the failure to establish an information system to monitor and report on the approach and compliance with the seven REDD-plus safeguards.

These concerns explain why the REDD-plus proposal for the country would generate increased vulnerability, impacts and maladaptation to climate change, posing serious threats to environmental governance. The disrespect of the safeguards adopted in the multilateral process and the weakening of global efforts to mitigate climate change effectively, which would result from the eventual implementation of the proposed National Strategy for REDD-plus in the country, as has been drawn up by the MARN, legitimize its rejection and the demand to adopt the national strategic framework for comprehensive and effective approach to climate change.

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[1] ^^ yvette.a@gmail.com

[2] ^^ mlerazo@yahoo.com

[3] ^^ francisco.soto.monterrosa@gmail.com

 

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