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VERY GOOD NEWS
2003-06-06 15:04:39
Cambodia to Try Khmer Rouge for Genocide
By KER MUNTHIT, Associated Press Writer
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia - Cambodia and the United Nations signed an agreement Friday that would create the first genocide trials for former leaders of the Khmer Rouge, whose reign of terror caused an estimated 1.7 million deaths.
The agreement, six years after Cambodia asked for U.N. help in creating a tribunal, must be ratified by the legislature, and officials warn it may be a long time before the trials convene.
But the accord provides a measure of hope that some of those responsible for atrocities will be prosecuted.
"It's time for justice to be done, because it has been too long already," Heang Vuthy, a 20-year-old student, said as he toured a museum that once served as a torture center for the regime.
Sok An, Cambodia's chief negotiator of the pact, and Hans Corell, the U.N. chief legal counsel, signed the agreement in an auditorium before an audience of 500 that included students, government officials, diplomats and representatives of non-governmental organizations.
"For some, this moment may bring back painful memories of the past and cause deep sorrow," Corell said. "For others, it may be the question: Did we not know? Could we not have prevented what happened? What did we do to stop the atrocities?"
No leaders of the Khmer Rouge, which held power from 1975 to 1979, have faced trial for a brutal rule that led to the death of nearly a quarter of the Cambodian population. Surviving members of the regime live freely in the country after surrendering before the movement's collapse in 1998.
Under the agreement with the U.N., a majority of judges will be Cambodians, but at least one foreign judge must support any tribunal ruling — a formula intended to protect the nation's sovereignty while ensuring international standards of justice.
"Their wait is not over yet," Corell said, referring to Cambodia's people, "but hopefully it is fast nearing an end."
Many Cambodians were unaware of the signing ceremony, but cautiously applauded it. "This might be a concrete effort in seeking justice for the Khmer Rouge's victims," said Hem Daung, a 24-year-old truck driver.
The Khmer Rouge was led by Pol Pot, who died in 1998. He and his top aides were educated in France but greatly influenced by the most radical aspects of China's communist revolution.
The regime sought to purge Cambodia of Western influences and base the economy on massive agricultural communes. They evacuated cities, forcing urban workers to work in the countryside, and persecuted educated professionals.
Many died under the Khmer Rouge were victims of failed utopian plans that led to starvation and disease. Others were tortured and killed.
Sok An said at a post-signing news conference that the preliminary estimated cost of the tribunal is $19 million. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan will ask member states for contributions, Corell said.
Leading human rights groups, including Amnesty International, opposed the tribunal agreement, claiming it is susceptible to political influence.
The Cambodian government first asked for U.N. assistance in 1997 to set up an international tribunal in Cambodia, but negotiations proceeded fitfully because the United Nations was concerned about giving too much power to Cambodia's corrupt and politicized judiciary. Cambodia said it feared infringement of its sovereignty.
U.N. negotiators withdrew from talks in 2002, claiming Cambodia was insincere in guaranteeing conditions for fair trials.
Under pressure from some major powers, including the United States, talks resumed, and the negotiators reached a draft agreement in March.
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AMERICA was indavertantly responsible for helping Pol Pot come to power. The illegal bombing of Cambodia (under Nixon) and the abandonment of this nation were elements that caused this horror to happen. I have always been troubled by this travesty that has stained our nation... (I don't have nearly enough time to write about it right now)
America is now helping (along with the UN) to help bring some of these monsters to justice... and that is good news and will help wash away some of the stain of our own fault in this situation.
To me, this is very good news and I was so happy when I read this article. I will be happier if the actions started today carry real weight in the future.
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Why does it bother me?
2003-06-04 15:05:06
I asked a question in a recent post as to why the jerks who post trash bother me.
I suppose it's because I've always been annoyed with apathy.
I just can't understand why the continuous posting of offensive comments on messageboards (no matter where they are on the internet) has just become "accepted".
The internet creates a safe zone, of course, where people can say whatever they want with no real fear of reprecusions, because they don't have to even be there for the replies.
I know that when a thread just becomes a Milo-bashing festival, I simply leave it because what's the point of being there? I don't plan on reading such drivel and trying to rationalize with people like that is impossible.
However... a frequent example on anime boards like this one is that a group of people form a thread so they can discuss a show they like. They are comparing notes and discussing in a way they might if they were actually in person... then a bunch of yahoos come along an snipe the topic with asshole comments and offensiveness that simply disbands the whole conversation... and people always say "well... that's what happens"
This has nothing to do with liking or disliking a series, this has everything to do with manners and civility which people simply abandon when they come to the internet (and some don't have it in the real world either). The problem is that I try to uphold values I believe in no matter where I may be... internet or otherwise.
I honestly wish people took more action to keep snipers out of the message boards... blocking them from certain forums where they offer nothing but disruption (maybe leaving some sort of play-pen forum, so they can do all their sniping there and leave the adults alone)
I hold no value to people who do that... and so when I encounter snipers and disruptors in the forum, I feel no need to extend them any courtesy, because their behavior warrents it.
Obviously, I don't expect the forums to follow the highest levels of courtesy and civility, but I think people should know where the lines are.
Of course, I will continue to follow the concept of treating others as they treat me. You behave like an animal at me, I'll treat you like an animal. You act like a human being and I will treat you with the same respect. -
VERY SCARY!!
2003-06-02 15:03:35
FCC Loosens Media Ownership Limits
Mon Jun 2,12:45 PM ET Add Top Stories - Reuters to My Yahoo!
By Jeremy Pelofsky
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. communications regulators on Monday narrowly approved sweeping new rules that will allow television broadcasters to expand their reach, despite fears about reducing the diversity of viewpoints.
The Republican-led Federal Communications Commission voted 3-2 to allow the broadcast networks to own television stations that reach 45 percent of the U.S. audience, up from 35 percent.
Citing a need to update decades-old rules to reflect new sources of entertainment, information and news via cable television and the Internet, the FCC also voted to lift a ban that prevents a company from owning both a newspaper and a television or radio station in the same market -- except in cases involving the smallest markets.
"I have heard the concerns expressed by the public about excessive consolidation," FCC Chairman Michael Powell said ahead of the vote. "They have introduced a note of caution in the choices we have made."
The two Democrats on the FCC opposed relaxing the regulations, arguing that the changes would concentrate ownership in the hands of a few, reduce the diversity of viewpoints and stifle reporting of local news.
"The Federal Communications Commission empowers America's new media elite with unacceptable levels of influence over the ideas and information upon which our society and our democracy depend," said Commissioner Michael Copps.
The FCC is required to review media ownership rules every two years, but the revamping follows federal appeals court criticism that the agency had not justified the need for them.
Stocks of some companies affected by the decision rose, including a 3 percent gain in shares of Viacom Inc., which owns the CBS and UPN networks. Clear Channel Communications Inc. shares rose 4.7 percent, despite the radio company's disappointment with the decision.
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News Article
2003-05-30 14:54:58
US Intel 'Simply Wrong' on Chemical Attack-General
By Charles Aldinger
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. intelligence was "simply wrong" in leading military commanders to believe their troops were likely to be attacked with chemical weapons in the Iraq war, the top U.S. Marine general there said on Friday.
But Lt. Gen. James Conway said in a teleconference with reporters at the Pentagon that it was too early to say whether the United States also was wrong in charging that Iraq had chemical and biological arms when the invasion began 2-1/2 months ago.
"We were simply wrong," he said of the assessment that chemical shells or other weapons were ready in southern Iraq and likely to be used against invaders by deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's forces.
"Whether or not we are wrong at the national level I think still very much remains to be seen. ... 'Intelligence failure,' I think, is still too strong a word to use at this point," added the commander of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force who was speaking from Hilla, 62 miles south of Baghdad.
U.S. forces have been scouring Iraq -- thus far unsuccessfully -- for chemical and biological weapons. The United States cited the need to rid Iraq of such weapons of mass destruction as a key reason for the war.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other Bush administration officials have expressed confidence that such arms will be found, although Rumsfeld this week conceded that Iraq may have decided to destroy them ahead of the invasion.
Conway said he was convinced when U.S. and British troops swept into Iraq from Kuwait that they would come under chemical or biological attack before they reached Baghdad.
But such shells have not been found even in ammunition storage sites, he told reporters.
"It was a surprise to me then. It remains a surprise to me now that we have not uncovered weapons ... in some of the forward dispersal sites," said Conway.
"Believe me, it's not for lack of trying. We've been through virtually every ammunition supply site between the Kuwaiti border and Baghdad. But they're simply not there."
U.S. and British troops carried chemical masks and protective outfits into Iraq during the invasion and donned them frequently early in the war in anticipation of possible attack.
"What the regime was intending to do ... in terms of its use of weapons we thought we understood," the general said.
"We certainly had our best guess -- our most dangerous, our most likely courses of action -- that the intelligence folks were giving us."
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And the lies keep coming...
2003-05-29 15:07:11
Iraq Hospital: Lynch Rescue Unnecessary
By SCHEHEREZADE FARAMARZI, Associated Press Writer
NASIRIYAH, Iraq - The U.S. commandos refused a key and instead broke down doors and went in with guns drawn. They carried away the prisoner in the dead of night with helicopter and armored vehicle backup — even though there was no Iraqi military presence and the hospital staff didn't resist.
In the tale of Pfc. Jessica Lynch's rescue, this is the Iraqi side.
New attention has been drawn to the April 1 rescue since a BBC report earlier this month created controversy by charging the Pentagon exaggerated the danger of the raid.
An Associated Press reporter spoke to more than 20 doctors, nurses and other workers at the hospital. In interview after interview, the assessment was the same: The dramatics that surrounded Lynch's rescue were unnecessary. Some also said the raid itself was unneeded because they were trying to turn Lynch over, although they conceded they made no attempt to notify U.S. troops of that effort.
U.S. military officers answer that the rescuers didn't know Iraqi troops had left Nasiriyah General Hospital and that the Americans had to storm in ready to deal with any circumstance. They add that U.S. troops outside the hospital were fired on and that fighting was still going on elsewhere in the southern city, which saw some of the fiercest combat of the war.
"If they had come to the door and asked for Jessica, we would have gladly handed her over to them. There was no need for all that drama," said Dr. Hazem Rikabi, an internist.
"Why the show? They just wanted to prove they were heroes," he said. "There was no battle."
American military doctrine calls for using overwhelming force in such situations. "We don't want it to be a fair fight," Marine Lt. Col. David Lapan, a Pentagon spokesman, told AP this week. "The fact that we didn't encounter heavy resistance in the hospital was a good thing."
Pentagon officials bristle at any suggestion that Lynch's rescue was staged or that any details were exaggerated. They have never claimed there was fighting inside the hospital, but stress that Nasiriyah was not a peaceful place.
"We didn't need to create any drama. It was there already," Lapan said.
Nasiriyah was a combat zone and American troops were being attacked by Iraqis dressed in civilian clothes elsewhere in the area, he said. U.S. troops supporting the raid — though not the rescue team itself — were fired on from other parts of the hospital compound, Lapan said.
"You don't have perfect knowledge when you go in of what resistance you will face, so you prepare for the worst," Lapan said.
Spokesmen for the Navy SEAL, Army Ranger and Marine commando units involved in the rescue declined requests to allow participants to be interviewed.
Lynch, an Army supply clerk, was captured March 23 after her convoy was ambushed in Nasiriyah three days after the war began.
Even among the quickly famous U.S. POWs, Lynch stood out — West Virginia girl, not even 20, held up within days as an American ideal. Her fate, and her family's vigil back in Palestine, W.Va., became fodder for the front pages.
In the hospital, staffers said, Lynch made friends from around the building with her kind ways and jokes, and employees went out of their way to keep her comfortable.
For a week, Dr. Wajdi al-Jabbar said, he and an ambulance driver rode the perilous streets to get her fruit juice. Suad Husseiniya, a nurse, said she grew so attached to Lynch that she repeatedly rubbed talcum powder into the soldier's sore back.
"She knew everyone by their first name," said the hospital's deputy director, Dr. Khodheir al-Hazbar.
Al-Jabbar said the staff never spoke to Lynch about the war. "We didn't want her to lose our trust."
U.S. officials have said Lynch, who is recovering in a Washington hospital, doesn't remember anything about her capture, and she has not yet commented publicly about her time in Iraq.
Lynch's parents turned aside questions Thursday about their daughter's rescue, saying they were reluctant to talk about it. Her mother, Deadra, told reporters at the family's rural West Virginia home that "We're not focusing on the reports. We're just focusing on Jessi."
The family called the news conference to thank supporters and volunteers who are building an addition the couple's house to accommodate their daughter when she comes home from the hospital. Lynch's health is improving daily, but she "has a long road" to full recovery, her father, Greg, said.
Randy Coleman, a family spokesman, said last week that the Lynches were unconcerned about claims the rescue may not have occurred as previously reported because "Jessi never asked to be made a hero."
Palestine resident Miriah Duckworth, 21, a high school softball teammate of Lynch's, also wasn't concerned about those claims. "I'm just glad they got her out," Duckworth said.
U.S. officers have said Lynch's rescue was launched after an Iraqi lawyer, Mohammed Odeh al-Rehaief, mapped out her location for U.S. Marines over several days.
Al-Rehaief and his family were moved to the United States for safety, and he has accepted a job with the Livingston Group, a lobbying firm in Washington. Jim Pruitt, an associate of the firm, said Wednesday that al-Rehaief had no comment about the rescue. "When the time comes, Mohammed will tell his story in great detail," Pruitt said.
The hospital's staff contends the Americans could have retrieved Lynch without the show of force.
A day before Iraqi troops left the hospital, doctors said, the staff received instructions from Nasiriyah's governor, Younis Ahmed al-Thareb, to transfer Lynch to the Maternity and Children's Hospital on the other side of the Euphrates River, where American forces were in control.
The governor told them it was for her own safety because he feared the Americans might attack the hospital because Iraqi soldiers were there, al-Jabbar and others said.
But they also said they didn't try to notify U.S. troops of their intention. They said an ambulance carrying Lynch set out at 11:45 p.m., but as it approached the al-Zaytoun Bridge in the darkness it was fired on by American troops and the driver sped back to the hospital.
"The next day, we decided to put her on a donkey cart so she would be in open view of the U.S. soldiers," said Dr. Miqdad al-Khazaei.
But before they could do that, Iraqi forces — including the regional commander of the Baath Party, Adel Abdallah al-Doori, and the governor — began pulling out of the hospital and the city, al-Khazaei said. "By noon, they were all gone," he said.
Hours later, the Americans arrived.
Al-Hazbar, the deputy director, had moved his wife and their two sons into the hospital to ride out the battle for Nasiriyah. He had just put his sons to bed when heavy explosions sounded at 11:45 p.m.
Less than 30 minutes later, he heard helicopters flying over the hospital. Tanks and armored personnel carriers parked outside. Then he heard loud voices: "Go! Go! Go!"
The commandos burst in.
Al-Jabbar said the soldiers declined an offer of the hospital's master key so they wouldn't have to break down the doors.
"They pointed the gun at us for two hours," he said. "Their manner was very rude. They even handcuffed the director of the hospital. ... Not a single shot was fired at them. They shot at doors — all doors. They broke them, kicked them open."
Al-Hazbar said he had expected a raid but was surprised by its intensity. Now that there was no Iraqi military around, why so much force? He said he and his family found themselves surrounded by about 20 American soldiers firing their guns.
"They were shooting indiscriminately, everywhere, at windows, between our legs, on the floor. We were terrified," al-Hazbar said.
He said it then occurred to him that no one was being hit by bullets. "They were shooting at me, but nothing happened to me," he said.
Al-Hazbar said he concluded the Americans were firing blanks. "They didn't shoot real bullets because they knew there was no military force in the hospital," he said.
Lapan said the idea that the rescue team would be carrying blanks in a combat zone was absurd.
"To ever send a force into a combat situation with blanks is just ludicrous," he said. "You don't use blanks in a war. You use blanks for training."
Weapons experts also have scoffed at the claim the rescuers fired blanks. They say the use of blanks in M-16 assault rifles and M-4 carbines requires a special attachment at the end of the barrels and no sign of those were seen in the video of the raid released by the Pentagon.
In addition, they say, it takes time to remove the attachment and change ammunition, which would leave a soldier dangerously exposed if fighting broke out.
For the hospital staff, Lynch is now a memory, there for a while, suddenly gone, a strange story in the midst of a strange war.
Despite the way she was taken, she is remembered fondly. "She always smiled when she saw me," said Zanouba Abdel-Zahra, a cleaner at the hospital.
JOURNAL: UncleMilo (Jonathan Osborne)
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