On May 5, 7:38 pm, Richard Moore <r...@quaylargo.com> wrote:>http://www.countercurrents.org/lendman050510.htm
New York Car Bomb Incident: Another False Flag?
By Stephen Lendman
05 May, 2010 Countercurrents.org
On May 1, New York Times writers Al Baker and William Rashbaum
headlined, "Police Find Car Bomb in Times Square," saying:
"A crude car bomb of propane, gasoline and fireworks was discovered
in a 'smoking' Nissan Pathfinder in the heart of Times Square on
Saturday evening, prompting the evacuation of thousands of tourists
and theatergoers on a warm and busy night."
Mayor Michael Bloomberg claimed "We were very lucky. We avoided
what could have been a very deadly event."
For much of the evening, Midtown New York, from 43rd - 48th streets,
was closed, heightening fear reported for hours on cable news shows,
including statements by Bloomberg, Governor David Paterson, Police
Commissioner Raymond Kelly and Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne,
saying the bomb "appeared (to be) in the process of detonating, but
it malfunctioned."
Good luck or something else? We've seen this too often not to be
suspicious.
This one, like others, has all the earmarks of a false flag, more
likely given its coverage and location in Times Square on Saturday
night, followed by a May 2 video saying the Pakistani Taliban claimed
responsibility.
Who could imagine they had a branch office in New York, and no one
even noticed. At least that's the impression from media disinformation,
hyped to spread fear and prepare the public for what's to come,
perhaps something much worse.
In addition, like previous times, a suspect is already in custody,
a Muslim, of course, as part of the anti-Islamic post-9/11 rage,
and given how abusively he may be treated (including frightening
threats of life in prison or the death penalty), perhaps will confess
to anything or make it appear that he did so headlines can blare
it.
According to Reuters, a statement on an Islamic web site
(http://www.muslm.net/vb/showthread.php?t=387309) said:
"The Pakistani Taliban announces its responsibility for the New
York attack in revenge for the two leaders al-Baghdadi and al-Muhajir
and Muslim martyrs."
Videos are easy to fake, including strategically timed bin Laden
ones, exposed by digital experts as fakes, aside from convincing
evidence he died in 2001.
See David Ray Griffin's important book titled, "Osama Bin Laden:
Dead or Alive?" In his latest April 30 article, "Did Osama Bin Laden
Confess to the 9/11 Attacks, and Did He Die in 2001," Griffin notes
his book's convincing evidence of his death, that if so, proves all
subsequent video and audio tapes attributed to him are fakes.
According to Hactor Factor's Neal Krawetz, bogus ones are characterized
by low quality visual and audio splices and more. His analysis of
a September 2007 video showed bin Laden's beard black when in earlier
images it's gray. It also had him dressed in a white hat, shirt and
yellow sweater, precisely the same attire as in October 2004. In
addition, the background, lighting, desk and camera angle were the
same.
Most obvious were the edits, showing obvious splices, at least six
video ones and even more for audio that appeared to be words and
phrases spliced together.
Videos like these are easy to make as are special effects clever
enough to make anyone look like bin Laden, convincingly enough to
fool the public, especially when media reports hype them.
Post-9/11, it's vital to remind the public by strategically timed
"Enemy Number One" bin Laden incidents and the "security threat"
he represents. If he didn't exist, he'd have to be invented so why
not perpetuate the myth, omitting that he was a CIA asset and likely
remained one until his death.
Noteworthy is that CBS News anchor Dan Rather reported that he was
admitted to a Rawalpindi, Pakistan hospital on September 10, 2001,
and France's Le Figaro said:
"Dubai....was the backdrop of a secret meeting between Osama bin
Laden and the local CIA agent in July (2001). A partner of the
administration of the American Hospital....claims that (bin Laden)
stayed (there) between the 4th and 14th of July (and) received
visits from many members of his family as well as prominent Saudis
and Emiratis. (During the same period), the local CIA agent, known
to many in Dubai, was seen taking (the hospital's) main elevator
(to) bin Laden's room." Why not if he was a valued asset.
On May 2, the Israeli news website Debka.com featured an "Exclusive
Report"
saying:
"On April 30, twenty-four hours before a smoking SUV Nissan containing
an improvised bomb was defused (in) Times Square....the Pakistani
Taliban's top bomb-maker, Qari Hussain Mehsud, took 'full responsibility
for the recent attack in the USA' in an audiotape with images on a
You Tube website."
Saying no proof of overseas involvement was forensically found,
"DEBKAfile's counter-terror sources" noted similarities between the
New York bomb and earlier 2005 and 2007 ones in London and Glasgow,
Scotland respectively. In each case, they used propane and failed
to detonate - the Glasgow one, in fact, causing the car used to
burn but not cause a major catastrophe.
DEBKA also quoted Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud saying
on an April 4 nine minute tape that "The time is very near when our
fedayeen will attack the American states in the major cities."
Earlier, Qari Hussein Mehsud "warned NATO governments to denounce
the US and apologize for the 'massacres in Iraq, Yemen, Afghanistan,
and Pakistani tribal areas - otherwise be prepared for the worst
destruction and devastation in their own countries.' "
A mid-April Debka report had Iran threatening to retaliate against
US cities with nuclear weapons if they're used against Iranian
cities or sites.
"For the first time, DEBKAfile's military sources (IDF and/or Mossad
ones stoking fear) report, Tehran indicated the possibility of
passing nuclear devices to terrorists capable of striking inside
the United States....Although Iran has yet to attain operational
nuclear arms, our military sources believe it does possess the
makings of primitive nuclear devices or 'dirty bombs.' "
With no supportive evidence, these type reports hype fear to prepare
the public for what's to come, so if a planned major terrorist event
in a Western city, there's a ready suspect to blame and popular
approval to act.
Noted Previous False Flags
The historic record is full of false flags, some especially noteworthy.
Below are a few examples:
-- in 1898, America falsely accused Spain of blowing up the USS
Maine in Havana, Cuba harbor. The Spanish-American war followed;
-- in 1933 Germany, a week before general elections, the strategically
timed Reichstag fire (home of the German parliament) was blamed on
communists. It got President Paul von Hindenburg to sign an emergency
decree. Civil liberties were suspended. Weimar Republic democracy
ended, and Hitler assumed fascist powers after enough Nazis were
elected to assure it;
-- on August 31, 1939, Nazis impersonating Polish terrorists attacked
the Gleiwitz radio station on the border between the two countries,
starting WW II;
-- on December 7, 1941, the Roosevelt administration succeeded in
manipulating Japan to attack Pearl Harbor, giving FDR the war he
wanted from the early 1930s, but had to convince a pacifist public
of the threat; the fleet was also tracked across the Pacific, but
Admiral HE Kimmel wasn't warned or given known intelligence to
assure enough mass casualties for congressional and public support;
-- in 1962, a US Joint Chiefs of Staff proposed false flag attack
never happened because President Jack Kennedy rejected it; called
Operation Northwoods (a part of Operation Mongoose), the scheme
included sinking US ships, shooting down US commercial airliners,
blowing up buildings in US cities, attacking America's Guantanamo
base, other incidents, and blaming it on Cuba as a reason for war;
-- the fake August 1964 Gulf of Tonkin incident initiating full-scale
retaliation against North Vietnam after Congress passed the Gulf
of Tonkin Resolution authorizing war without declaring it; and the
seminal event of our time -
-- September 11, 2001, clear evidence showing it was a false flag,
the Afghan and Iraq wars made possible by fear-mongering blame on
the Al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein.
On February 16, 2010, a Washington's blog web site
(georgewashington2.blogspot.com) article titled, "Governments ADMIT
That They Carry Out False Flag Terror" listed some examples,
including:
-- the CIA admitting its 1950s role in toppling Iran's democratically
government in 1953;
-- Israel admitting a 1954 attack in Egypt, including planting bombs
in US diplomatic facilities, leaving "evidence" of Arab involvement;
-- Indonesia's former president, Abdurrahman Wahid, saying the
nation's police or military most likely were involved in the 2002
Bali bombing, killing over 200 people;
-- a former Italian prime minister, judge, and military counterintelligence
head, General Gianadelio Maletti, saying America's CIA instigated
and abetted right wing terrorist groups in the 1970s and earlier,
including bombing a Milan bank in 1969, to rally popular anti-communist
support in Italy and other European countries; and
-- many others, including former Carter administration National
Security Adviser, Zbigniew Brzezinski, telling a Senate committee
that a false flag terror attack on US soil might occur to blame
Iran and justify war.
In his 1997 book, "The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy and its
Geostrategic Imperatives," he said:
"Moreover, as America becomes an increasingly multicultural society,
it may find it more difficult to fashion a consensus on foreign
policy issues, except in the circumstance of a truly massive and
widely perceived direct external threat," the kind 9/11 created -
predicted, planned, orchestrated, and carried out to further new
world order dominance globally.
Other False Flag Examples
(1) The March 2004 Madrid train bombings occurred three days before
Spain's general elections. With no supportive evidence, they were
blamed on Al Qaeda, yet they stoked public fear and were used to
warn that other Western cities were threatened, including in America.
Nearly always, Muslims are blamed and arrested, the DEBKAfile citing
advance bin Laden tapes threatening to punish Spain for supporting
the Bush administration. This time, Basque separatists were also
named, again without evidence, and the bin Laden tapes were fakes.
(2) The July 7, 2005 London underground bombings (called 7/7) were
a series of attacks on the city's public transport system during
the morning rush hour for maximum disruption and casualties. At
precisely the same time, an anti-terror drill occurred, simulating
real attacks. It was no coincidence this time or ever, others in
America and Britain coming on the same day as a real event, other
notable ones covered below.
AP reported that the London Israeli embassy warned Scotland Yard
about the 7/7 one in advance, and Israeli Army Radio reported that
"Scotland Yard had intelligence warnings of the attacks a short
time before they occurred," but didn't act or issue warnings. In
addition, Israel's finance minister at the time, Benjamin Netanyahu,
was told not to attend an economic conference in the city where he
was scheduled to deliver an address.
Other dignitaries were also warned, but not the public. Even without
smoking gun proof, the 7/7 attack was a false flag operation to
heighten fear and keep Britain and the West embroiled in war.
(3) On the morning of the 9/11 attack, the CIA ran a "pre-planned
simulation to explore the emergency response issues that would be
created if a plane were to strike a building." Held at the Agency's
Chantilly, Virginia Reconnaissance Office, AP reported (on August
22, 2002) that it simulated "a small corporate jet (hitting) one
of the four towers....after experiencing a mechanical failure."
Unmentioned at the time was a later revealed (but unreported)
Homeland Security conference announcement a year later to commemorate
the 9/11 event.
Held under the auspices of the National Law Enforcement and Security
Institute, one of its speakers was John Fulton, CIA Chief of the
Strategic War Gaming Division of the National Reconnaissance office
in charge of the operation. Another coincidence, or was something
more sinister afoot?
The previous year in October, the Pentagon simulated a commercial
plane striking the Pentagon, coordinated by its Command Emergency
Response Team and the Defense Protective Services Police. This and
the 9/11 exercises are more than coincidental, given what's now
known and the fallout.
(4) On June 30, 2007, a Jeep Cherokee with propane canisters crashed
into Glasgow International Airport's glass doors, the BBC reporting
that it "was in the middle of the doorway burning....The car didn't
actually explode. There were a few pops and bangs which presumably
was the petrol."
The usual suspects were blamed, Al Qaeda and Islamic terrorists,
Prime Minister Gordon Brown saying:
"We are dealing, in general terms, with people who are associated
with Al Qaeda," followed by his initiating draconian security
measures, hyped by the UK Telegraph saying:
An "unknown Al Qaeda terrorist cell (was) thought to be preparing
to launch a series of Baghdad-style car bombings." Another Telegraph
article mentioned Washington's involvement with UK authorities in
hyping the threat, and an ABC News report suggested foreknowledge
of the incident based on advance warnings (by unnamed intelligence
officials) of Al Qaeda "target(ing) nightclubs and other soft
targets....All of this comes just three weeks after what was described
as an Al Qaeda graduation ceremony for suicide bombers at a training
camp in Pakistan."
Fear mongering and false flags? Draw your own conclusions, understanding
the need to stoke fear to keep public support for the "war on
terror," the loss of civil liberties for "security," the Afghan and
Iraq wars, and whatever else may be planned.
(5) the Christmas 2009 airliner incident involving Umar Farouk
Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian citizen on an Amsterdam - Detroit bound
flight. US officials claimed he was trained in Yemen by Al Qaeda,
obtained explosive chemicals (PETN), and tried to detonate them on
board.
In a December 29 Russia Today interview, Webster Tarpley called him
a "protected (CIA) patsy (for a) provocation designed to facilitate
US meddling in (Yemen's) civil war (pitting) the Saudi-backed central
government against the Iranian-backed Shiite Houthi rebels," being
bombed by US and Saudi air strikes.
Abdulmutallab was denied a UK entrance visa, wasn't on a No Fly
List, paid cash for a one-way ticket to Detroit, checked no luggage,
had a US visa but no passport, and was helped on board by a
"well-dressed Indian" to facilitate the likely false flag plot using
him as a convenient dupe.
The Wayne Madsen Report called the incident a false flag operation
"carried out by (the) intelligence tripartite grouping of CIA,
Mossad, and India's Research Analysis Wing (RAW)." Earlier they
conspired with "former Afghan KHAD intelligence agents to assassinate
former Pakistani Prime Minister Benezir Bhutto....to destabilize
Pakistan" for planned balkanization, the same scheme planned for
Afghanistan and already implemented in Iraq.
Madsen explained that Abdulmutallab's PETN was "weak, technically
deficient,"
failed to go off properly, and if so would have had the impact of
an exploding fire cracker.
Madsen also reported that the same tripartite CIA, Mossad, and RAW
alliance was behind the November 2008 Mumbai, India attacks, killing
nearly 200 and wounding hundreds more. Webster Tarpley said almost
for certain Pakistan's ISI radical wing was involved, and that
Indian and Mossad operatives conduct regular cross-border missions
into Pakistan from India and Afghanistan.
(6) Make of it what you will, but in Miami on January 11, 2010 (one
day before Haiti's earthquake), the Pentagon's US Southern Command
(SOUTHCOM) simulated a hurricane striking Haiti in preparation for
subsequent measures to be implemented, that, in fact, would be a
carefully planned military operation for occupation, control, and
planned plunder.
Also, Deputy SOUTHCOM head, General PK Keen, was in Haiti when the
quake struck, ready to assume command when it did and use a
communication tool called the Transnational Information Sharing
Cooperation project (TISC), linking other nations and NGOs with the
Pentagon and US government to facilitate measures to be implemented,
none to help Haitians.
Final Comments
As long as imperial ambitions and rogue agencies like CIA and their
foreign counterparts exist, false flag operations will be commonplace,
the May 1 New York one the latest example, and maybe a forerunner
of what's to come - another 9/11 some believe, far worse than the
first one, perhaps involving a nuclear incident in a US city. Then
using it as a pretext for more war and to divert attention from
America's deepening economic crisis, likely to erupt in protests
because of Washington's indifference to millions affected.
Whether or not the direst predictions occur will only be known in
the fullness of time. In the meantime, stay tuned for more updates
as events unfold, and be prepared for the worst.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at
lendmanstep...@sbcglobal.net<mailto:lendmanstep...@sbcglobal.net>. Also
visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to
cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive
Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM
US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are
archived for easy listening.
http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.
posted by Steve Lendman @ 3:03 AM
Tuesday, May 04, 2010 Soldier Committed Violence Against Palestinian
Detainees
Soldier Committed Violence and Abuse Against Palestinian Detainees
- by Stephen Lendman
The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PACTI - stoptorture.org)
calls "torture and ill treatment of any kind....incompatible with"
moral democratic values. It "advocates for all persons" in Israel
and Occupied Palestine to protect them from abusive treatment of
all kinds.
In June 2008, its report titled, "No Defense: Soldier Violence
against Palestinian Detainees" is just as relevant today, perhaps
more so given Israel's intensified violence and abuse in Gaza and
the West Bank in the past year.
PACTI interviewed detainees and participating soldiers, included
media reports, IDF provided information, and comments of political
figures regarding these practices.
Observed was a phenomenon dating back decades, and, of course,
remains ongoing today. Hence, the report's relevance and need to
discuss it. Especially since September 2000 (the beginning of the
second Intifada), "the number of arrests has been unprecedented.
Thousands of Palestinians are arrested each year....and are executed
by a large number of combat units in the Israeli military."
Violent arrests followed by torture and ill treatment are commonplace.
For decades, Israeli soldiers have abused Palestinian detainees "on
a routine basis." Recognizing and exposing it is key to stopping
it.
Ill Treatment in Arrests
Force is routinely used even for those posing no threat. It begins
during and after arrests, in transit, and at military bases and
installations, prior to being transfered to a detention facility.
Detainees are beaten, blindfolded, and painfully shackled for hours,
a practice often causing permanent injury. In response to PACTI
requests, an IDF spokesperson cited no regulations, guidelines,
procedures, or orders relating to the process. Order 9810, not
applicable to all arrest stages, merely says:
"only metal shackles are to be used (and) tightening (them) should
be undertaken in such a manner as to prevent injury to the detainee
(particularly to blood vessels)."
As a result, abuses occur routinely, including violence and threats.
Typical are severe beatings while shackled and blindfolded, enough
to cause serious injuries. They begin at arrest and continue during
transport with detainees forced to sit, lie, or be thrown on vehicle
floors.
Soldiers commonly put their feet on detainee bodies and/or heads,
creating enough friction to cause abrasions and injuries. Commanders
are there to observe it.
Before imprisonment, detainees are often held in makeshift detention
facilities on military bases where abuse continues. One prisoner
said he was taken to a concrete yard, handcuffed to a concrete pole,
made to sit on the ground, and be beaten on the face every 30 or
60 minutes.
Abuse, ill treatment, and humiliation continue through each stage
of the process. For Nidal Shataya, it was especially egregious as
he explained:
"....After the soldiers searched the house and the entire building,
they arrested me and my brothers....They put us into a military
jeep using force and violence and shoves. They shouted at us and
cursed us....They put us on the floor of the jeep, handcuffed and
blindfolded. (They) were taking us to Hawara base to the south of
Nablus, where we were interrogated by Intelligence officers....The
soldiers beat us while we were waiting in the outer yard.
Every soldier that walked past would beat and curse us. We were not
allowed to lean or to sleep.
At the Hawara military checkpoint....they put us on the floor in a
small, dirty room next to the checkpoint. The soldiers handcuffed
us very tightly and blindfolded us. My hands and eyes hurt a lot
and we could not...stand this situation any longer....
Then the soldiers came and started to beat us with their army boots
and their weapons. The beatings were repeated three times," at first
for about 15 minutes, the second the same time, and the third for
over 10 minutes, "continuously and without any interruption....Then
the Israeli soldiers dragged and pulled us along the road to the
other side of the checkpoint....and threw us on the road there.
There were taxi drivers there who called for an ambulance and they
took us to the hospital, almost unconscious...."
Use of Dogs
After September 2000, their use increased - at checkpoints, on
military bases, and accompanying soldiers, especially during arrests.
According to one soldier:
"Today, the dogs in the unit are trained for one of five capabilities:
Assault, identification of explosives, scouting, weapons and
ammunitions searches, or rescue and release."
PACTI attorney Yaara Kalmanovich wrote Israel's Judge Advocate
General saying:
"The....graver aspect is the phenomenon of deliberate ill treatment
with the means of dogs. These cases....are shocking and they must
be quickly and effectively eliminated. (In addition), the mere
contact with the dogs may be terrifying and humiliating. According
to Islam, the dog is an impure animal, and accordingly many Muslims
feel humiliated and dishonored whenever a dog is close to their
person or touches them....The soldiers should be required to keep
the dogs in such a manner that they will not come into contact with
the detainees whenever there is no tangible operational need for
this."
In response, the military denied the allegation, stonewalled, and
lied, claiming the opposite of what, in fact, happens. Soldier
testimonies confirm it, saying dogs are trained and used specifically
for assault and do it - not for a potential threat, but on the
assumption that Palestinian detainees are offenders, whether or not
true. As a result, highly aggressive dogs cause serious injuries.
Unless muzzled, they present a clear and present danger, even to
their handlers, and detainees report being terrified and bitten.
Mistreating Children
Soldiers treat them like adults, the Israeli penal code allowing
it in defiance of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, other
international laws, and Israeli law (nominally) affording minors
special protection. It prohibits injuring or psychologically harming
them, and obligates anyone witnessing mistreatment to report it.
International law protects all civilians from violence and threats
thereof, and requires occupiers to treat them humanely, especially
children.
According to Protocol I to Fourth Geneva: "Children shall be the
object of special respect and shall be protected against any form
of indecent assault.
The Parties to the conflict shall provide them with the care and
aid they require, whether because of their age or for any other
reason."
However, soldiers exploit children's weaknesses and regularly abuse
them, at times seriously enough to require hospitalization. Like
adults, they're handcuffed, blindfolded and beaten, including with
rifle butts and boots.
"Accordingly, the ill treatment of minor Palestinian detainees
constitutes the most extreme manifestation of a broader phenomenon
whereby the various state authorities that implement the occupation
routinely treat minor detainees as adults, ignoring the legal and
human obligations to ensure special safeguarding and protection for
those who have not yet reached the age of eighteen."
Military procedures make no distinction between adults and children,
some as young as 12 or younger. Grave consequences thus happen
regularly as part of Israel's systematic pattern of ill treatment
and abuse.
Systematic Detainee Abuse and Mistreatment
A 2007 joint B'Tselem-Hamoked Center for the Defence of the Individual
report titled, "Absolute Prohibition: The Torture and Ill-Treatment
of Palestinian Detainees" confirmed PACTI's findings through victim
testimonies. It said Israel disregards international law and its
own throughout the arrest, transport, interrogation, and imprisonment
process. Abuses range from "softening up" to torture. Common ones
includes:
-- "Isolation from the outside world - prohibition on meetings
between detainees and their attorneys or ICRC representatives;"
-- psychological pressure, including in "putrid, stifling" solitary
confinement;
-- sleep deprivation and inadequate and poor food;
-- painfully binding hands and feet to a chair in the "shabah"
position;
-- other forms of torture, including severe beatings;
-- threats and intimidation, including against family members;
-- use of informants to extract information, whether or not true;
and
-- routine "cover up and whitewashing" of grievous crimes; rarely
are abusive practices investigated; most are dismissed, and almost
never are abusers punished.
Further, Israel's arrest-interrogation-imprisonment process "is
significantly aided by the HCJ (High Court of Justice), which serves
as a rubber stamp on orders which regulate isolation" and subsequent
abuse, half or more of the time causing one or more injuries, at
times serious.
According to (retired) Col. Gadi Amir, part of the process is "the
dehumanization of the enemy, (that he, or she, is regarded as) an
object" to be treated any way we wish. As a result, "we have become
jaded and phenomena that we once considered horrifying we now seem
to have become accustomed to...."
Yet the IDF won't acknowledge it, and by so doing "encourages and
reinforces"
abuse and degrading treatment, despite clear international and
Israeli law prohibitions, binding at all times, under all circumstances,
with no allowed exceptions.
Ill Treatment After Arrest Under Israeli Law
Under Israeli military law, "ill treatment" is an offense, prohibiting
beating and other forms of abuse with offenders liable to three
years imprisonment if charged and convicted. Under "aggravating
circumstances," it's seven years.
Soldiers are legally responsible for detainees in their custody,
and according to Israel's Military Court of Appeals:
"The discrepancy of powers and status between the person wielding
control and authority and the person lacking the ability to resist
leaves the victim defenseless against the abuse of the power held
by the person in authority."
Yet the court has yet to address the minimum threshold beyond which
ill treatment occurs as distinguished from the lesser offense of
assault. In fact, however, abusive ill treatment happens whenever
soldiers use violence or humiliating tactics against defenseless
shackled, blindfolded detainees.
In all cases PACTI examined, ill treatment, assault or "assault in
aggravating circumstances" occurred, in violation of articles 378
- 382 in Israel's penal code. Other offenses are also common,
including injury, battery, forcible extortion, and ill treatment
of a minor. Some violate military law, others civil or both.
"In any case, however, violence by soldiers against shackled detainees
is a criminal phenomenon penalized under an entire system of offenses
in Israeli criminal law."
Crime and Punishment
Despite Israeli law, military judges rarely act or go easy on
offending soldiers, and compared to civil courts they're lax,
regardless of how serious the offense. Yet the Military Court of
Appeals ruled that commanders are responsible for preventing detainee
ill treatment, especially if he ordered the abuse.
Yet, like US military law, a soldier who disobeys an illegal order
isn't culpable. In fact, under paragraph 498 of the US Army Field
Manual (FM) 27-10, any person, military or civilian, who commits a
crime (even if ordered by a superior) under US or international
law, is responsible for it and may be punished. It's the same under
Israeli law, but enforced under neither, except in America to charge
low level recruits to absolve their commanders.
In Israel, there is "no disagreement as to the clear illegality of
an order to harm persons not involved in combat, or removed, and
the obligation not to obey such an order." The standard for commanders
is even higher, given their position of authority and reluctance
of subordinates to disobey fearing punishment.
Failure to Enforce - Military Investigatory Bodies
Israel's Military Justice Code establishes three interrogation
authorities - an examining officer, the Military Police Investigation
Unit (MIU), and an investigative judge.
They're explicitly separate from debriefings by those involved in
investigating incidents, including by commanders. Material from
them is to go only to the military advocate general (MAG) or his
representative. The latter then decides whether a debriefing offense
was committed and if an investigation is warranted. If so, a summary
of findings "shall not be transferred to a person undertaking a
criminal investigation in accordance with the law." Nor "shall it
indicate suspicion against any person involved in the incident."
An examining officer or investigative judge is charged with handling
the case, the latter only if deaths are involved. The former may
be a senior adjudicating military officer, another one appointed
by him, or a MAG-designated military police person.
The examining officer may then hear witnesses, review evidence, and
arrest suspects. He only decides whether to recommend prosecution,
not order it himself. The MAG decides whether or not to proceed
further. In practice, however, MIU army officers handle most ill
treatment examinations, not trained lawyers familiar with the law.
The process of soldiers judging others in the ranks taints the whole
process, especially the way Israel goes about it, taking care of
its own. A clear conflict of interest delivers injustice.
Troublesome Forms of Investigation
They rarely happen, and when they do are effectively whitewashed,
given that examining officers rely on operational debriefings
supplied by the offending forces or their commanders. As a result,
they're tainted and wholly unreliable. It shows up in how few are
charged, let alone convicted of serious offenses, including torture
and killings.
According to Law Professor Mordechai Kremnitzer:
"....There are two problems with the operational debriefing. Firstly,
the person who undertakes it is not a professional investigator,
with all due respect to the military commander. (In addition), when
people have acted unlawfully, they have a natural motivation not
to admit this, to deny it, to tell incorrect stories, and to back
up each other's incorrect stories."
As a result, cases are closed for "lack of evidence," suppressed,
and to absolve offenders, and it happens regularly.
Prosecutions, Convictions, and Punishment - Soldiers and Commanders
Based on IDF Spokesperson supplied figures, investigations of ill
treatment rarely happen, and almost never lead to prosecutions or
convictions. Out of hundreds of them launched, a mere handful of
indictments followed, amounting to about two per year since September
2000. Of those, acquittals were common, and hand slaps (like 10
days imprisonment) followed convictions most often.
Also, practically never are commanders charged or prosecuted even
when they issued direct orders. In rare instances, they face
disciplinary hearings, in others, demotion. No senior commanders
have been prosecuted for the offenses of their subordinates. In
these cases, command responsibility "is an extremely restricted
concept," an alien one.
B'Tselem explained that many complaints are closed "due to various
defects during the processing of the case. (For example), months
pass between the submission of the complaint and the transfer of
the case to the MIU for investigation....The conclusion from all
this is that the system does not attach the necessary importance
to investigating cases of violence by security force personnel
against Palestinian residents and ensuring that justice is meted
out to those responsible. This conveys a lenient message to those
in the field that such actions are not regarded as severe."
Even after beginning, investigations can drag out for months, so
long, in fact, that those involved often complete their military
service and leave.
Further, as long as the IDF investigates and prosecutes its own,
justice is virtually impossible, unlike in civil courts. A possible
solution is ending military involvement, so far not considered. Yet
Human Rights Watch suggested that:
"a consensus is emerging in international law that military personnel
should not be tried in military courts in cases when the victims
are civilians, and that military jurisdiction systems should relate
solely to offenses of a clearly military nature."
In December 2007, Yediot Ahronoth, Israel's most widely circulated
newspaper, published a survey showing widespread soldier abuse
during inspections at checkpoints alone. According to one soldier
interviewed:
"When you deny thousands of people a day freedom of movement, it
is impossible to do it in a nice way."
Yet the security establishment denies it and claims abuses there
are exceptions, localized, and unusual, and military courts often
quote a ruling declaring that "the basic rules of human morality
and human dignity guide the Israel Defense Force," despite clear
evidence of the opposite - "inconsistent with the testimonies and
reports from the field, which leave no doubt that the phenomenon
(is) widespread."
Steps for change include ending denial, exposing falsified evidence,
obeying the law, and holding abusers accountable. Yet "the military
does not make proper preparations for arrest operations; refrains
from imposing responsibility on commanders for the ill treatment
of detainees; and is extremely disinclined to launch investigations
(to) indict soldiers suspected of abusing Palestinian detainees."
Civilian authorities are part of the coverup and denial, the Defense
Ministry ignoring abuse and holding no one accountable. Crimes
against Palestinians "are not considered worthy of....attention."
The topic is unaddressed in the Knesset.
"A review of Knesset Protocols (from) January 2006 through April
2008 reveal(ed) that no discussions took place in the plenum of the
Knesset regarding the ill treatment by soldiers of Palestinians in
general, or Palestinians in particular."
In addition, no legislative action occurred, and the Knesset Foreign
Affairs and Defense Committee, in charge of supervising the defense
system, "failed abysmally to protect the public interest when it
comes to ensuring the rule of law in the actions of the executive
branch in the Territories." They deliberately ignored the issue,
even during the height of the Intifada.
PACTI concluded saying:
"We hope that this report will encourage the Knesset Constitution,
Law, and Justice Committee to address the phenomenon of ill treatment
of Palestinian detainees by soldiers as part of the responsibility
the committee has accepted for scrutinizing, inspecting, and
encouraging change on behalf of the public in matters relating to
human rights violations in the Occupied Territories."
A Final Comment
To date, the Knesset hasn't acted, and, in fact, performed worse,
the Mossawa Advocacy Center and Coalition Against Racism calling
the current body the most racist in Israeli history in a 2010 report
- Mossawa saying "almost every day"
another Israeli Arab is victimized by racist acts, 100s in various
categories confirmed by media and police reports.
In the Territories, Gaza remains under siege, and West Bank and
East Jerusalem Palestinians endure daily neighborhood incursions,
loss of homes, frequent arrests, killings, various other assaults,
and violations of their dignity, civil and human rights on streets,
at work, in their homes, and in detention.
On April 27, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) reported
the killing of Ali Isma'el Ali Swaiti in Beit 'Awwa, his home
demolished on top of him. PCHR condemned the crime, calling it an
extrajudicial execution in charging politicians and commanders with
war crimes.
On April 28, PCHR condemned Fatah's General Intelligence Service
(working collaboratively with Israel) for harassing and arresting
Palestinian writers Muhannad Salahat and Walid al-Hodali to prevent
their free expression right to document West Bank crimes against
innocent civilians.
Outlandish abuses happen daily, endorsed by IDF commanders, MKs,
and the fascist Netanyahu government, as extremist and morally
decadent as any in Israeli history. As a result, Palestinians suffer
grievously, including in detention where torture remains official
Israeli policy.
Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at
lendmanstep...@sbcglobal.net<mailto:lendmanstep...@sbcglobal.net>. Also
visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to
cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive
Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM
US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are
archived for easy listening.
http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/
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