| Progressive Calendar 03.17.08 | <– Date –> <– Thread –> |
From: David Shove (shove001 tc.umn.edu)
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| Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2008 08:12:54 -0700 (PDT) | |
P R O G R E S S I V E C A L E N D A R 03.17.08
1. Impeach rally 3.17 3pm
2. East Africa 3.17 6pm
3. Palestine/film 3.17 6:30pm
4. Whalen ceili 3.17 6:30pm
5. Non-Whalen ceili 3.17 7pm
6. Build yer website 3.17 7pm
7. New Haven Advocate - Darth Nader
8. Tod Fletcher - Review of Griffin's latest 9/11 book
9. Peter Erlinder - The 'Rwanda genocide' cover-up
10. ed - Help stop evil (bumpersticker)
--------1 of 10--------
From: Michael Cavlan <ollamhfaery [at] earthlink.net>
Subject: Impeach rally 3.17 3pm
Impeach or Else Rally
Monday, March 17th, 2008
3pm
St Paul Capitol Building
It is now undeniable that the Federal Government has failed us completely.
We have asked our representatives to hold the Bush Administration
accountable. Instead, they have blocked the Impeachment movement all over
our country.
As we approach the anniversary of the illegal Iraq invasion, we have not
given up on the idea of holding the criminals in the Bush Administration
or those who enable them accountable. There is something that you can do.
It is now time for Plan B.
Impeach for Peace researched a method for impeaching the President or Vice
President using a little known and rarely used part of the Rules of the
U.S. House of Representatives ("Jefferson's Manual"). This document
actually empowers individual states to initiate the impeachment process.
All that's required is that the MN House and Senate pass an impeachment
resolution.
So spread the word, tell your friends, your family, your coworkers, your
allies. We will hold a rally Monday, March 17th, on the steps of the
Capitol Building in St Paul. When we are finished with the rally, we will
storm the Capitol Building. We shall demand that the Minnesota House and
Senate immediately pass a resolution calling for the Impeachment of George
W Bush and Dick Cheney.
Our message will be clear to those inside. If you, as a representative do
not support this and treat it with all the urgency it deserves, then you
will face opposition in the next election cycle. The message that you will
face will be simple, direct and clear. It will be that you refused to
honor your Oath to Protect and Defend the Constitution from All Enemies,
Foreign and Domestic. That instead you, by your refusal to start
impeachment actually defend the criminals in the Bush Administration and
continue the illegal occupation in Iraq. We will actively work against
your reelection to the MN St ate Legislature, regardless of your party
affiliation. We will make this very personal. This is how we will ensure
that you listen to the demands of We the People, instead of the lobbyists
who fund your campaigns. Oh and before you try and give us excuses, we
have done our homework. We already know that according to the
Constitution, an impeachment resolution is virtually the only thing that
the Governor is unable to veto.
We can do this, we must do this. The future of our children and our
democratic republic depends on it. What we need is YOU showing up and
demanding accountability. Let us know if you're planning on coming.
For more information:
Contact Mike
Protest Organizer
Impeach for Peace
(612) 327-6902
--------2 of 10--------
From: "wamm [at] mtn.org" <wamm [at] mtn.org>
Subject: East Africa 3.17 6pm
East Africa Community Forum with Congressman Ellison
Monday, March 17, 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. University of Minnesota, Wiley
Hall, 225 19th Avenue South, Minneapolis. Special guest Congressman
Donald Payne (New Jersey's 10th District), Chairman of the
Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health, will discuss how current
disputes in the Eastern Horn of Africa are affecting East African
Communities in the U.S. and Minnesota. FFI: Call 612-522-1212.
--------3 of 10--------
From: "wamm [at] mtn.org" <wamm [at] mtn.org>
Subject: Palestine/film 3.17 6:30pm
FREE Third Monday Movie and Discussion: "Encounter Point"
Monday, March 17, 6:30 p.m. St. Joan of Arc Church, Hospitality Hall,
4537 Third Avenue South, Minneapolis. "Encounter Point" is the story
of an Israeli settler, a Palestinian ex-prisoner, a bereaved Israeli
mother and a wounded Palestinian's bereaved brother who risk their
safety and publicly stand to press for an end to the conflict in the
Middle East. Sponsored by: WAMM Third Monday Movies. FFI: Call
612-827-5364.
--------4 of 10--------
From: Mike Whelan <mpw4883 [at] yahoo.com>
Subject: Whalen ceili 3.17 6:30pm
Minnesotans for a United Ireland (MUI) announces its 34th annual Saint
Patrick's Day Ceili (Irish social dance), with live music by local Irish
band, The Blackbirds.
This is the longest running Saint Patrick's Day Ceili Dance in the Upper
Midwest. [34 years of dancing - now there's endurance]
The event will be held on Monday, March 17, 2008 from 6:30 to 10:00 p.m.,
in the gym at Randolph Heights Elementary School, 348 Hamline Avenue South
in Saint Paul.
Easy dance lessons will be offered at 6:30, with dancing to follow at
7:00. The dances will be taught and called by Mike Whalen.
Admission is $8; seniors and children under 9 get in free. There is also a
$1 discount with a non-perishable food shelf donation.
This is an alcohol-free and smoke-free event for people of all ages.
Celebrate Saint Patrick's Day and support Irish unity.
Information is available at 651-645-9506 or irishdancetc [at] yahoo.com
--------5 of 10--------
From: mnfolkfestival [at] aol.com
Subject: Non-Whalen ceili 3.17 7pm
St. Patrick's Day Irish Ceili Dance
Monday, March 17 - 7 pm
18th Annual Irish Ceili Dance
CSPS Hall - St. Paul, MN
383 Michigan Avenue, St. Paul, MN
(near St. Clair Avenue just off of West 7th Street)
Music: Barra (www.barraband.com)
Dance Instruction: Ann Wiberg
7 p.m. - $9.50 at the door. Seniors, 62+,and children 6 to 16 are $4.75,
children under 5 are free.
(If you would like to be a volunteer, you get in free plus free
beverages. Email us at Mnfolkfestival [at] aol.com or call 651-357-0400 if
you're interested.)
The annual Irish dance for St. Patrick's Day. This is probably the largest
Irish dance that takes place all year and it's at the CSPS Hall, a
historic vaudeville hall built around the turn of the century with a
wonderful wood dance floor. CSPS stands for Czeck-Slovakian Preservation
Society and they've done a wonderful job of taking care of this great
building. [They're just trying to make up for the fact that the other
ceili has Mike Whalen -ed]
Sponsored by the Minnesota Folk Arts Alliance - www.mnfolkarts.org
For more info: 651-357-0400
--------6 of 10--------
From: Jonathan Barrentine <jonathan [at] e-democracy.org>
Subject: Build yer website 3.17 7pm
On Monday, March 17th, St. Paul E-Democracy will be hosting a workshop on
building your own website at the Rondo Library in St. Paul. The workshop
will be a broad overview of basic concepts, from HTML to Content
Management Systems and Hosting. If you're looking to put yourself or your
organization online, but have no idea where to start, then I encourage you
to come to this workshop.
Building Your Own Website
FREE WORKSHOP
Date : Monday, March 17th
Time : 7:00 - 8:30 PM
Location : Rondo Community Outreach Library
461 North Dale
University & Dale, St. Paul
--------7 of 10--------
Darth Nader
By the Editors of the New Haven Advocate Newssource
Thursday, March 06, 2008
votenader.org
Let's make Ralph's latest run a new hope, not the return of the jaded.
Spoiled? Nope. Fresh.
Here's someone other than Ralph Nader to blame for Al Gore's loss in 2000:
Al Gore.
And for John Kerry's loss in 2004: John Kerry.
Hot on the heels of Nader's entrance into the 2008 presidential race,
commentators the world over are railing against the Connecticut native and
crusading consumer advocate for embarking on yet another "ego campaign."
The S-word is making the rounds again, too, with everyone weighing Nader's
odds of being The Great Spoiler of 2008.
Nader's longtime nemesis Chris Dodd, in endorsing Barack Obama last week,
said of Nader, "Eight years ago, obviously he cost Al Gore the election,
in my view, no question about it. We've paid an awful price the last eight
years because of one man's ego."
Nader's reply? The Democrats have run such cautious, centrist, mushy
campaigns that they've been unable to win the last two elections, even in
the face of one of the worst Republican administrations in a generation.
The suggestion that Nader's responsible for the George W. Bush presidency
is as tired as the argument that he shouldn't run is undemocratic. And it
relies on the false premise that electoral politics is a zero sum game: A
vote for Nader is a vote taken away from Gore...or Kerry...or Obama. But
as Obama's field operation has shown, there's practically no limit to how
many new voters you can sign up when the right candidate with the right
message comes along.
Nader has been made into the Darth Vader of presidential politics - a
phantom menace that could single-handedly bring balance to the Democratic
force if he'd simply go away. Nader won 2.7 percent of the vote the year
he supposedly threw the election to Bush, and a paltry 0.36 percent four
years later. Hanging chads threw more mistaken votes to Pat Buchanan than
Nader's accused of stealing from Gore. So what in God's name are the
Democrats so afraid of?
The argument goes that Nader should stick to his day job - consumer
advocacy - so he doesn't eclipse a legacy of getting seat belts and air
bags in cars with the buffoonery of hopeless campaigns for president. But
Nader has continued to run his consumer advocate foundations - and gets
scant attention for the work he does. If nothing else, joining the 2008
campaign - the most covered in our history - gives Nader a national stage
to bring forth his issues to an audience he otherwise has far less access
to. Caring about the issues rather than the power (since Nader readily
admits he can't win) seems the reverse of the ego-driven campaign he's
accused of.
Another argument says Nader's irrelevant because there are clear
differences between this year's presumptive Democratic and Republican
nominees, Obama and John McCain. Obama supports abortion rights; McCain
says he opposes them. Obama wants us out of Iraq; McCain would keep us
there 100 years or more. But both candidates, and Hillary Clinton for
that matter, are unsettlingly tied to big corporations that bankroll their
campaigns, and Nader's wasted no time again making that the centerpiece of
his message.
In the case of Obama, that's $11.2 million from lawyers and law firms, $6
million from the securities and investment industries and $3 million from
the real estate industry, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
For Hillary, it's $13 million from lawyers, $6 million from securities and
investments and $5 million from the real estate industry.
The Hartford Courant asked Nader the spoiler question in an interview last
week, and got a telling response. Ditch the electoral college system,
Nader said. Or use instant runoff voting, the rank-choice system of voting
that eliminates candidates until one of them wins over 50 percent. IRV's
not a cure all, but (if you believe Nader voters would have made Gore
their second choice) it would have solved the "problem" sore Democrats
have been squawking about for the last eight years.
Ralph Nader running for president is not a problem. Mocking and belittling
someone, and driving them out of a democratic race, for trying to make a
difference, is.
editor [at] newhavenadvocate.com
--------8 of 10--------
Griffin Takes Powerful New Approach to 9/11 Truth
Review of David Ray Griffin's latest book
by Tod Fletcher
Global Research, March 15, 2008
9/11 CONTRADICTIONS by David Ray Griffin is the fifth of his books to
examine the official account of the events of September 11, 2001.
This brilliant and highly readable book takes a new yet simple
approach to the truth about 9/11. It focuses entirely on
contradictory statements made by members of the Bush administration,
government departments and agencies, and official bodies such as the
9/11 Commission. All the statements that Griffin examines are
official claims in direct conflict with other official claims. How
could this be? Why would the government keep changing "the official
story"? The public, of course, is expected to take all the statements
as incontrovertibly true, yet they directly conflict with one another.
And why, if the government pronouncements are contradictory, haven't
members of Congress and the mainstream media launched investigations
to determine which are true and which are false, and to ask why are
obvious falsehoods about the events of 9/11 being promulgated by the
government? I say "obvious falsehoods" because, as Griffin explains
in the Preface, "If [Transportation Secretary Norman] Mineta said
"P," that is a fact. If the 9/11 Commission said "not P," that is a
fact. And it is a fact that "P" and "not P" cannot both be true" (p.
viii). The subtitle, "An Open Letter to Congress and the Press,"
indicates Griffin's hope that the juxtaposition of the contradictory
claims the book provides will stimulate such investigations. But the
book is really intended for the public at large, and its clear focus
makes it the easiest to read of all Griffin's books on 9/11. Because
of its relative simplicity it is a perfect introduction to the subject.
Drawing on government publications, media reports, testimony from the
9/11 Commission hearings, oral histories from the Fire Department of
New York, and other official sources, Griffin documents masterfully
25 of the most serious contradictions, divided into five parts:
"Part I. Questions about Bush Administration and Pentagon Leaders,"
reveals the contradictory claims about the activities of George Bush,
Dick Cheney, Richard Myers, Donald Rumsfeld and Ted Olson. In this
part Griffin shows that Bush's long stay at the Florida school was
initially confirmed and later denied by the White House, that various
government spokespersons and the 9/11 Commission could not agree on
where Cheney, Myers and Rumsfeld were at key times that morning, and
that DOJ Solicitor General Ted Olson's claims to have received phone
calls from his wife on Flight 77 were directly contradicted by the
DOJ's FBI.
"Part II. Questions about the US Military," explores the many
contradictions within government claims about when the military was
alerted to the emergencies on the flights, whether the military could
have shot down Flight 93, and whether it had envisioned 9/11-type
attacks prior to that day.
"Part III. Questions about Osama bin Laden & the Hijackers," examines
the contradictions in official claims about the religious devotion of
the alleged hijackers, where the luggage with the Arabic-language
flight manuals, attributed to Mohamed Atta, was found, whether cell
phone calls from the flights provided evidence of hijackers, and the
existence of hard evidence for Osama bin Laden's responsibility.
"Part IV. Questions about the Pentagon," spotlights contradictions in
the official account of Hani Hanjour's flying skills, what caused the
large hole in the interior C Ring wall of the building, and whether a
sophisticated US military reconnaissance plane was overhead during
the attack.
"Part V. Questions about the World Trade Center," exposes the
contradictions in Rudy Giuliani's account of his foreknowledge of the
catastrophic collapse of the Twin Towers, in the official claims
about explosions in the towers and WTC 7 before they disintegrated,
and in official statements concerning the presence of molten steel in
the subbasements after the buildings came down.
When examined under Griffin's microscope, it becomes clear that the
"official story" has kept changing over time, just like the stories
criminals tell as they are interrogated. As holes in the government's
explanations of the incomprehensible events opened up under
questioning, to some degree from the press but primarily from the
9/11 truth movement, they were plugged by new claims. And virtually
all of the new claims have been accepted by the press and Congress
without asking how they could be true in light of the earlier,
contradictory claims. You don't need to be a conspiracy theorist to
see that when the story keeps changing, doubt is cast on all of its
versions. Any police investigator knows this, as should investigative
journalists and elected representatives.
Of course, if Congress and the press won't do their jobs, it's up to
the rest of us. With this authoritative dissection of the conflicting
statements of the principal suspects, Griffin has done much of the
pre-trial legwork already. The American public should not allow his
selfless devotion to truth and justice to be squandered by inaction.
This may be one of those things that representatives just cannot do
for us.
Link to Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/11-CONTRADICTIONS-Letter-Congress-Press/dp/
1566567165/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1204734032&sr=1-1
David Ray Griffin is a frequent contributor to Global Research.
Global Research Articles by David Ray Griffin
--------9 of 10--------
The 'Rwanda Genocide' Cover-up
Peter Erlinder
JURIST Guest Columnist Peter Erlinder
<http://www.wmitchell.edu/academics/faculty/erlinder.asp>
of William Mitchell College of Law, lead defense counsel for former Major
Aloys Ntabakuze in the Military 1 Trial at the International Criminal
Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and president of the UN-ICTR Defense Lawyers
Association, says that recently issued French and Spanish international
war crimes warrants and new evidence at the UN Rwanda Tribunal have
exposed current Rwandan President Paul Kagame as the man primarily
responsible for the 1994 "Rwanda Genocide" and the beneficiary of a
decades-long US-sponsored "cover-up" of Pentagon complicity in the
massacres committed by his regime...
The 'Rwanda Genocide' Cover-up
As George Bush continues his much ballyhooed African safari, he has
heaped praise on Rwandan President Kagame as a "model for Africa," and
mourned with Kagame the victims of the "Rwanda Genocide". But recently
issued French and Spanish international "war-crimes" warrants, and new
evidence at the UN Rwanda Tribunal, have exposed Kagame as the war
criminal who actually touched off the 1994 "Rwanda Genocide" by
assassinating the previous President and who is benefiting from a
decades-long U.S.-sponsored "cover-up" of Pentagon complicity in massacres
committed by Kagame's regime, which even Britain's /Economist/ has called
"the most repressive in Africa." [1]
Multiple "War Crimes" Warrants Issued for Rwanda's Leaders
Just last week, a Spanish judge issued 40 international warrants for
current and former members of Kagame's government, including senior staff
at Rwanda's Washington Embassy. Judge Abreau's warrants charge Kagame's
clique with war crimes and crimes against humanity that may even fit the
definition of "genocide." But these are not the only international arrest
warrants issued for Rwanda's current leaders.
French Judge Bruguiere (famous for indicting "The Jackal") has also issued
international warrants against nearly a dozen members of Kagame's inner
circle. Bruguiere also met with Kofi Annan in late 2006 to personally urge
the U.N. Rwanda Tribunal to prosecute Kagame for the assassination of
Juvenal Habyarimana, the war crime that re-ignited the four-year Rwanda
War and the massive civilian killings in the war's final 90-days.
Could it be that no-one in the Bush Administration was aware of these
pending charges against their Rwandan hosts - or is it that they just
don't care?
In either case, the French and Spanish international arrest warrants have
pierced the wall of U.S./UK/Rwandan propaganda about who bears primary
responsibility for the massive tragedy that unfolded in Rwanda - but the
"official story" has actually been unraveling for some time.
Chief UN Prosecutor Del Ponte in 2003: "Rwanda's Leaders Guilty of
War Crimes"
In the summer of 2003, Swiss Judge Carla Del Ponte, then Chief Prosecutor
for both the Yugoslavia and Rwanda tribunals, publicly announced that she
would soon begin the prosecution of members of Kagame's government for the
same kinds of crimes now charged in the French and Spanish warrants. But
nearly five years later, not one case has been filed against one member of
Kagame's government, nor against Kagame himself, despite the direct
request of Judge Bruguiere.
The Del Ponte-announced prosecutions did not go forward because she was
replaced at the ICTR within 90 days of her announcement by Abubacar
Jallow, a US/UK-approved Prosecutor who pledged not to prosecute any on
Kagame's side, no matter what the Del Ponte and the European judges'
findings! Prosecutor Del Ponte's long-time press-aide, Florence Hartmann,
published a book in Paris in September 2007 that explains exactly how and
why Del Ponte was replaced.
According to the Hartmann book, that Del Ponte has not repudicated, Del
Ponte was called to Washington just after her 2003 announcement and
threatened with removal from office by Bush "war crimes ambassador"
Pierre Prosper because of a long-standing political /quid pro quo/ between
Washington and the Kagame regime that is spelled out in detail in the
book. (Ironically, Prosper was a former ICTR prosecutor under Del Ponte,
and must have had access to the same information motivated her decision to
prosecute the U.S. ally). When she refused to ignore her UN-mandate, to
prosecute all crimes committed during the 1994 Rwanda War, she was sacked
by the U.S. and U.K.[2]
ICTR Chief Investigator in 1997: "Rwanda's Kagame Assassinated
Previous President"
But this is not the first time that crimes of Kagame have been
"covered-up" at the ICTR. According to sworn affidavits, placed in the
ICTR record in early 2006, well respected ICTR Lead Investigative
Prosecutor Michael Hourigan, an Australian QC, recommended that Kagame
himself, be prosecuted for the assassination of Habyarimana in 1997! But
then-Chief UN Prosecutor, Louise Arbour of Canada, ordered him to drop the
Kagame investigation; to forget it ever happened; and, to burn his notes!
Hourigan resigned rather than comply and copies of his original notes are
now part of the ICTR public record for all to see. [3]
The "Rwanda Genocide" Cover-up on Clinton's Watch
The Hourigan affidavit makes clear that the "Rwanda Genocide" cover-up has
been going on for at least a decade, but the reasons for the cover-up did
not become clear until late 2007, when a senior Clinton administration
diplomat, Brian Atwood, was confronted with UN documents describing a 1994
"cover-up" meeting with the Rwandan Foreign Minister in Kigali and the
UN's Kofi Annan. According to the UN documents, U.S.-sponsored human
rights reports by investigator Robert Gersony had documented massive
military-style executions of civilians by Kagame's troops, during and
after the final 90 days of the four-year Rwanda War.[4]
The former Rwandan Foreign Minister at the meeting, Jean Marie
Ndagiyimana, testified at the ICTR that, rather than participate in the
proposed "cover-up," he resigned and went into exile, where he remains
today. His ICTR testimony confirmed that Clinton's USAID Chief for Africa,
Brian Atwood, and the chief of the UN Department of Peace Keeping
Operations Kofi Annan, were both in his office in late October 1994 urging
him to assist in the "cover-up" the war crimes committed by Kagame's
forces. [5]
The "Inconvenient Truth" Behind the Cover-up: Pentagon Complicity
in the 1994 Rwanda War
The damning "Gersony Report" included first-hand evidence of tens of
thousands of civilians being massacred by Kagame's troops in eastern
Rwanda, later confirmed by similar reports by Human Rights Watch and
Amnesty International. The U.N. document (also in the ICTR record) says
that Annan told the Foreign Minister that public knowledge of the Report
would be "embarrassing to the UN" and the former U.S. Clinton
administration diplomat, Brian Atwood, not only confirmed he was at the
meeting, but explained that he had engaged Gersony, and that Gersony's
findings of war-crimes being committed by Kagame were "...an inconvenient
truth" for both the United States and the UN.
According to Atwood, unknown to the State Department, "the Pentagon had
been supporting Kagame since before the 1990 invasion, when he was the
head of Military Intelligence for the Museveni government of Uganda."
The "Gersony Report" tied the Pentagon to the crimes of Kagame's invading,
Pentagon-trained and funded forces. More UN documents in the ICTR record
reveal that the State Department was negotiating for a peaceful settlement
of the war at the same time the Pentagon was supporting Kagame's invasion.
The Clinton Administration sought to enlist Atwood and Kofi Annan in
keeping evidence of Kagame's crimes from ever seeing the light of day, to
prevent Pentagon involvement in the "Rwandan Genocide" from ever coming to
light.[6]
The existence of a separate Pentagon foreign policy on Rwanda also tallies
with the ICTR testimony of former Ambassador Robert Flaten, who testified
that he seriously doubted that Habyarimana's supporters planned to kill
civilians on a massive scale because the CIA and other intelligence
agencies would have reported it when he was in Rwanda from 1990 to late
93.[7] He said that his requests for Pentagon-DIA spy satellite
photographs showing the status of the war in the countryside were turned
down because of "clouds over Rwanda," during his entire 3-plus years in
Rwanda. [8]
Former Amb. Flaten also noted the obvious: Uganda's military assistance
for the 1990 Kagame invasion coincided with increased Ugandan military
funding by the U.S./U.K. Most importantly, Flaten also testified that he
personally warned Kagame that "he (Kagame) would be responsible for
massacres like just happened in Burundi, if Kagame broke the cease-fire
and re-started that war". Now the evidence in the ICTR record, shows
Kagame did exactly that!
In short, the evidence that is now in the public record shows that during
the 1994 Rwanda Genocide, the Pentagon could have stopped the carnage with
a phone call, and the State Department apparently did not know enough
about the Pentagon's close ties to Kagame to ask them to do so, at least
until USAID's Atwood was informed of Pentagon panicked reaction to the
"Gersony Report," in the summer of 1994.
Other de-classified State Department documents show that it was the
invading Kagame forces that were the aggressors, and were blocking the
State Departments efforts to implement the Arusha Accords, peace
agreement.[9] The UN's General Dallaire has testified that Kagame would
not agree to a ceasefire to use troops to stop the massacres because "he
was winning the war."[10] And, now we know what Dallaire may not have
known, until later...Kagame was winning with the Pentagon's help.
The Great "Rwanda Genocide" Cover-up Continues under Bush
The "Rwanda Genocide" cover-up of Pentagon complicity in Kagame's crimes
is almost complete, with the U.S. cutting ICTR funding to shut it down by
the end of 2008. Carla Del Ponte's replacement, Abubacar Jallow, will be
conveniently unable to carry out the prosecutions that Del Ponte urged in
2003, or those initiated by Judge Bruguiere in 2006, or Judge Abreau, just
last week.
However, the international warrants are still in effect, and the Del Ponte
book and Hourigan's affidavit have begun to unravel the whole sordid
manipulation, but unless the "Rwanda Genocide" cover-up makes it onto
"page one" in Europe and North America, it may be too late for the ICTR
detainees who are being held responsible for the crimes of the Kagame
regime - a bit like the UN holding the Japanese responsible for Hiroshima
and the Germans for the fire-bombing of Dresden.
With U.S. and U.K. support, Kagame's government is actively campaigning to
have all ICTR matters transferred to Rwanda and has issued 40,000 warrants
for Kagame's Hutu and Tutsi opponents in the worldwide Rwandan diaspora (a
movement that includes such as figures Paul Rusesabagina, the real hero of
/Hotel Rwanda/).
Correcting the Historical Record and Ending the Cover-up
But I have to disclose my own bias. Under the laws of Rwanda, I too am a
criminal "negationist" for writing this essay, and President Kagame has
personally denounced me as a "genocidaire" for my work as an ICTR defense
lawyer. My former investigator is seeking asylum in Europe and the ICTR
Prosecutor who replaced Carla Del Ponte is now prosecuting another defense
investigator for asking too many questions in Rwanda while denouncing
Judge Bruguiere's request for the UN to prosecute Kagame and Spanish Judge
Abreau as well.
An ICTR defense lawyer like me has to hope that despite all that is now
known about the manipulations of the ICTR by the U.S. and U.K. for their
own political purposes, the ICTR judges will not be influenced by the
sacking of Del Ponte and that they will carefully evaluate the evidence in
my client's case. But it it is hard to be too optimistic.
At least my conscience is clear, now that the great "Rwanda Genocide"
cover-up has been exposed. But I wonder if the judges, prosecutors, other
UN-ICTR officials (who now know about the manipulation of their best
efforts) will be able to say the same, if they allow the cover-up to
continue?
During the week's festivities in Rwanda, Presidents Bush and Kagame are
sure to find much in common, as would Tony Blair, who has recently
signed-on as an "unpaid" advisor to Kagame. All three stand accused of war
crimes, and are mutually benefiting from the US/UK/Rwandan "cover-up" of
their own complicity in the "Rwandan Genocide" tragedy that should put all
three in the dock at the ICTR.
(c) 2008 Peter Erlinder. All of the documents and testimony referenced
above are in the court record at the ICTR, except for the interview of
Ambassador Brian Atwood, which occurred in December 2007 at his office at
the University of Minnesota, Humphrey Institute, Mpls. MN.
Notes
[1] /The Economist/, April, 2004
[2] Hartmann, /Paix et chatiment: les guerres del la politique/ (2007
Flammarion, Paris)
[3] See Hourigan Affidavit and related documents in Miltary 1 record at
the ICTR.
[4] See, UN documents in the Military 1 trial record at the ICTR.
[5] See ICTR Testimony of Ndagiyimana, November 2006, and related
documents
[6] Interview with Dean Brian Atwood, Humphrey Institute, University of
Minnesota, December 22, 2007.
[7] See Flaten ICTR testimony, June 2006.
[8] Interview with Robert Flaten in Arusha TZ, June 2006.
[9] See, April 1, 1994 Cable from U.S. Embassy in Kigali to Kampala Uganda
in the ICTR Military 1 Trial Record.
[10] See ICTR Testimony of Gen. Romeo Dallaire and associated documents,
January 2006.
/Peter Erlinder is a professor at William Mitchell College of Law. He is a
past-President of the National Lawyers Guild./
http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/forumy/2008/02/rwanda-genocide-cover-up.php
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H E L P !
STOP me before I vote
lesser-EVIL again!!
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