Briefly, the international laws of warfare dictate that warfighters are to make every opportunity to minimize civilian casualties. They do this by, among other things:

- Wearing uniforms
- NOT hiding in private residences
- NOT hiding in religious sites
- NOT attacking civilians
- NOT using human shields

The al Qaeda side is shooting 0 for 5 there. So are the Baathists in Iraq. Those captured have human rights and that is it. Prisoners of War must be repatriated at the end of hostilities, but illegal combatants have no such rights. Spies, which are in the same legal category, languish for decades in prison long after the attached war ends. There is certainly no requirement to do anything with them before the end of the war. Since al Qaeda is highly unlikely to sign a formal surrender, the end of the war is whenever the US/UK/Australia decide it is. Presumably the UN could pass a resolution, but both the US and UK have veto power over that. There may well be a formal end to hostilities with the Baathists, but the overwhelming majority of Iraqi insurgents violated the aforementioned international laws of warfare.

Well Put! Thanks Octagon...

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There was a mental typo in my response... warfighters are to make every EFFORT to minimize civilian casualties. Sorry if my grammar slip confused any non-native readers of English.

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No animals were harmed in the making of the above post... much.

China rebukes U.S. on human rights record

By Joseph Kahn
NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE

March 10, 2006

BEIJING – China criticized the human rights record of the United States yesterday, arguing that racial discrimination remained pervasive and that the U.S. military abused prisoners held at detention centers abroad.

In a sharply worded response to the annual State Department report on human rights conditions globally, which was released Wednesday in Washington, China's State Council, or Cabinet, said the U.S. government should concentrate on improving its own rights record.

“As in previous years, the State Department pointed the finger at human rights situations in more than 190 countries and regions, including China, but kept silent on the serious violations of human rights in the United States,” the Chinese report said.

The State Department's survey, which assesses conditions in all foreign countries, “fully exposes its hypocrisy and double standard on human rights issues,” the Chinese study said.

The section of the State Department's report dealing with China said rights conditions had worsened there in 2005, reversing a modest trend toward improved respect for rights that the department had observed earlier. It cited “increased harassment, detention, and imprisonment” of people viewed as threats to the government.

The report also criticized tighter controls on the Chinese press and more assertive censorship of all kinds of media, including the Internet.

Chinese diplomats play close attention to the tone of the State Department report because it often indicates how aggressively the United States will work on censuring China at the United Nations' annual human rights convention in Geneva, which takes place in April.

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There is considerable confusion about the status of the detainees.

You may wish to sow the seeds of doubt about detainee status through your obfuscation and misleading statements....

But there is no 'confusion' in the Geneva conventions.....

All of the detainees retain certain rights under US law and the Geneva conventions.

The US is/was denying these people their rights....

".....the Geneva Conventions impose a prohibition on torture in relation to every single category of detainee they consider (civilians, POWs, captured insurgents, captured members of irregular forces)"

...a prohibition on torture in relation to every single category of detainee.......

The only 'confusion' is that which you keep trying to create....

Torture is illegal

Secret detention is illegal.... the courts just forced the Pentagon to release the names of the detainees... and last week, the Pentagon reluctantly complied.

Once you get through the fog of false, misleading, and midirected rhetoric, ...once you see through the diversionary talking points which are crafted to deflect inquiry into the illegal acts of the Bush administration you find there is no 'confusion' other than that crafted to divert attention away from illegal acts and atrocities.

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Shocking news for our best Arab ally

DAVID IGNATIUS
THE WASHINGTON POST

March 11, 2006

DUBAI – It was Karl Rove who conveyed the bad news. President Bush's political adviser called a top manager of Dubai Ports World Thursday and said the White House couldn't hold out any longer against congressional pressure to kill the Arab company's plan to acquire freight terminals at six U.S. ports. The initial response of one Dubai executive was: “Who's Karl Rove?” But in the end, political leaders here recognized that it was time to fold a losing hand.

Until Rove's call, Dubai's business leaders had insisted they would fight on. The chairman of Dubai Ports World, Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, told me emphatically on Wednesday that his company would do whatever was necessary to convince Congress the deal posed no security risk – new investment, additional equipment, more scanning of cargo, special checks of UAE personnel, including himself. But that was before the House Appropriations Committee voted 62-2 to kill the deal.

I suspect America will pay a steep price for Congress' rejection of this deal. It sent a message that for all the U.S. rhetoric about free trade and partnerships with allies, America is basically hostile to Arab investment. And it shouldn't be surprising if Arab investors respond in kind. One could blame it all on craven members of Congress, if the opinion polls didn't show that Americans are overwhelmingly against the deal – and suspicious of Muslims in general. Those poll numbers tell us that America hasn't gotten over Sept. 11, 2001. If anything, Iraq has deepened the country's anxiety, introspection and foreboding.

To appreciate how cockeyed America's Dubai-phobia is, you have to spend a little time here, as I did this week. The truth is, this is one of the few places in the Arab world where things have been going in the right direction – away from terrorism and Islamic fundamentalism and toward an open, modern economy. That's why congressional opposition came as such a surprise here. People in the UAE think they're America's friends.

The ports deal was part of the UAE's embrace of things Western. Wednesday night, I traveled with the minister of higher education, Sheik Nahayan bin Mubarak, to the dusty city of Al Ain to attend a Mozart festival performed by the Vienna Chamber Orchestra. And I visited the American University of Sharjah, created nine years ago as a beacon of liberal arts education. On a wall next to the chancellor's office is a photo of the twin towers in New York, taken by one of the students on June 8, 2001. “There are no words strong enough to express how we feel today,” reads a statement signed by UAE students.

It's hard to imagine an Arab more pro-American than bin Sulayem. He took a degree in economics from Temple University in 1981, and he's still a fanatic about Philadelphia cheese steaks. He described a pilgrimage last New Year's Eve from New York to Pat's King of Steaks in South Philly, only to find the place closed.

Before the deal collapsed, Sulayem had a free-trader's conviction that good business judgment would prevail over political rhetoric. “We are businessmen – we don't understand politics – but it is a surprise to us. We have been cooperating with the U.S. We are their best friends.”

Many of the UAE's political leaders, including the crown prince, Mohammed bin Zayed, had grown increasingly convinced this week that the wisest course would be to pull out. But that view was resisted until almost the end by the business leadership in Dubai, including Dubai's ruler, Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid.

Arab radicals will be gloating, admonishing the UAE leaders, “We told you so.” But officials here recognize that they're in a common fight with us against al-Qaeda. And unlike some Arab nations, the UAE really is fighting – reforming its education system to block Islamic zealots and taking public stands with the United States despite terrorist threats. They have created one of the best intelligence services in the Arab world, and their special forces will be fighting quietly alongside the United States in Afghanistan tomorrow, and the day after.

President Bush tried to do the right thing on the Dubai ports deal, but he got rolled by a runaway Congress. The collapse of the deal was a measure of Bush's political weakness – but even more, of America's traumatized post-Sept. 11, 2001, politics. The ironic fact is that the UAE is precisely the kind of Arab ally the U.S. needs most now. But that clearly didn't matter to an election-year Congress, which responded to the Dubai deal with a frenzy of Muslim-bashing, disguised as concern about terrorism. And we wonder why the rest of the world doesn't like us.

......fact is that the UAE is precisely the kind of Arab ally the U.S. needs most now..

The UAE is precisely the kind of ally we need most?
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According to US State Dept. reports:

Problems remain in the UAE Government's respect for human rights,

Trafficking in women and girls used as prostitutes and domestic servants, men used as servants, laborers, and unskilled workers, and very young boys used as camel jockeys, who also are subject to physical abuse, including sexual abuse, continues to be a serious problem, despite government pledges to end these practices.

The Government law permits incommunicado detention.

Individuals can be held without charges indefinitely.

The Government does not always notify foreign embassies when their citizens are detained or arrested.

Citizens can be denied representation of an attorney indefinitely.

There are no general elections.

Citizens do not have the right to change their government.

There are no democratic elections or institutions.

The Government restricted freedom of speech and of the press.

The Government restricted free assembly and association, and it restricted religious freedom.

in an economy in which 98 percent of the private sector workforce is foreign,

The Government restricted the rights of workers.

There are no labor unions.

There is no minimum wage.

There are failures to pay wages, and abuse of foreign domestic servants.

There are no independent human rights organizations.

Non citizens comprise 85 percent of the total population and societal discrimination against noncitizens is prevalent and occurred in most areas of daily life, including employment, housing, social interaction, and healthcare.

Freedom of religion is restricted.

Muslim men may marry women of other religions, however, Muslem women are forbidden from marrying any but Muslim men.

The law permits men to have more than one wife, but not more than four at any given time.

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That's not mentioning that the UAE recognized the Taliban, supports the Isreali boycott, two of the 9/11 hijackers were UAE nationals, and it's banking organisations were known to have transferred funds for 9/11, and their port operations allowed transhipped illegal nuclear weapons to Iran, Pakistan and North Korea.

Precisely what we need to ally ourselves with?

The tyranny in the UAE is precisely the kind of tyranny we as a nation used to stand and fight against, ......yet now David Ignatius would tell you otherwise. He said "the UAE is precisely the kind of Arab ally the U.S needs most".

Forget that commitment to ......'the freedom'.... our 'need' apparently lies elsewhere.

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Red Bull Air Racing

Gas price by zip at Seti

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Red Bull Air Racing

Gas price by zip at Seti

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Red Bull Air Racing

Gas price by zip at Seti

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