The excerpt of FDP aritcle:
US calling for early election
6-Dec-2008 09:49 AM
FIJI has become increasingly isolated from international community and its Pacific neighbours as foreign assistance to vital sectors is in doubt and the economic outlook remains uncertain.
These were the sentiments of US ambassador Steve McGann as Fiji commemorated the second anniversary of the military overthrow in 2006.
According to McGann, the United States Government has repeatedly condemned the military takeover and restated its call for the rapid restoration of a democratically elected government. “The interim Government has had sufficient time to announce an election date and make the appropriate preparations.”
McGann said the United States stands with the Pacific Islands Forum and other international partners calling for a timely return to democracy in Fiji in 2009.
“On the second anniversary of the coup, we call on the Interim Administration to hold elections and return Fiji to democratic governance without further delay,” he said.
McGann was present at the launching of the fund and Movement for Democracy in Fiji (MDF) held at the Fijian Teachers Association Hall yesterday.
What is at question, is the integrity of McGann to comment about human rights issues, being a representative of a state that is presently, abusing International Law.
Fiji Times article also quotes McGann. The excerpt of the FT article:
Democracy a must in protecting human rights
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Update: 11:52AM The United States Ambassador Steven McGann says democracy is the only form of government capable of securing and protecting human rights and fundamental freedoms over the long term.
Mr McGann was making his address on the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR) and International Human Rights Day, today.
He said the human rights and fundamental freedoms enshrined in the UDHR are endowed at birth to all human beings.
"If the great promise of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is to be fulfilled, the international community and especially the world's democracies, cannot accept that any people in the world are condemned to live without dignity or under tyranny," he said.
"Democracy is a system of government of, by and for the people, based on the principle that human beings have the inherent right to shape their own future.
"But we humans are flawed creatures and therefore there must be built-in correctives and counterweights to democratic government, such as a robust civil society, a vibrant free media, a legislature and judiciary independent of the executive power, and a well established rule of law."
One should be reminded of the disastrous US track record of democracy and the rule of law, in the context of extraordinary rendition.
National Public Radio (NPR) web article describes one interesting case, that will be heard in a Federal Appeals court in New York, outlines the depravity and multitude of offenses carried out by the US Government agencies under the auspice of 'national security'.
The excerpt of the NPR article:
Court Weighs 'Extraordinary Rendition' Case
by Dina Temple-Raston
All Things Considered, December 9, 2008·
A federal appeals court in New York heard arguments Tuesday in the case of Maher Arar, a Canadian citizen who was flown from the U.S. to Syria for interrogation in a case of "extraordinary rendition."
Arar wants to sue the U.S. government for violating his constitutional right to due process — something he has not been permitted to do thus far because the Bush administration has said to do so would imperil national security.
The facts of the case are not in dispute. In 2002, U.S. authorities detained Arar at John F. Kennedy airport in New York. He was suspected of terrorism ties and was sent to Syria for interrogation. Arar spent 10 months there in a cell he called the "grave." He says he was tortured.
Eventually, Arar was allowed to return to Canada and a Canadian commission cleared him of all charges. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has even said mistakes were made in Arar's case.
National Security Grounds
In court Tuesday, one of the 12 appeals court judges present grilled government attorney Jonathan Cohn on the government's national security contention.
"So the minute the executive raises the specter of foreign policy, national security, it is the government's position that is a license to torture anyone?" Judge Sonia Sotomayor said. "License meaning you can do so without any financial consequence. That's your position?"
"No. That is not our position," Cohn countered. "That is emphatically not our position."
Cohn said he thought the court should wait until Congress acted and found a new way to address these kinds of cases so that they could be tried but still protect national security interests. This was not a normal case, he said, because state secrets were at its root.
So far, two courts have blocked Arar's case from being heard, siding with the Bush administration that it could unintentionally reveal things that would hurt national security. That's why Tuesday's hearing was important and why all 12 judges on the court heard the arguments.
Something Fundamental At Stake
Maria LaHood of the Center for Constitutional Rights argued on behalf of Arar. She said the judges were weighing something fundamental. "What's at stake is whether our courts will uphold the law," LaHood said. "Whether they will say that, 'Yes, we will enforce the laws against torture in this country, we will enforce the laws that permit people to come into court, and we will uphold human rights.'"
While this was Arar's big day in court, he couldn't attend the hearing because he is still on a no-fly list and can't come to the United States.
Arar told NPR's Morning Edition that he was pursuing the case because no U.S. officials had been held to account for violating his human rights. "This needs to stop," he said. "Not only is it destroying the lives of innocent people, but it's not doing any good to the image of the United States."
It is unclear when the judges are expected to rule on his case.
New York Times article
Washington Independent article.
Globe and Mail article
Another shocker of a story covered by Press TV article, reports that an Italian court has suspended the trial of 25 CIA agents, allegedly involved in the act.
The excerpt of the Press TV article:
Italy to delay trial of CIA agents
Wed, 03 Dec 2008 19:26:05 GMT
Central Intelligence Agency headquarters in Langley, Virginia: A total of 25 agency operatives participated in the kidnapping of an Egyptian cleric.
Italy will delay the trial of 25 CIA agents and a US air force colonel involved in the 2003 kidnapping of an Egyptian cleric in Milan.
ASNA news agency reported Wednesday that an Italian judge had ruled for the trial of the kidnapping suspects to be delayed until May 18. Osama Mustafa Hassan, better known as Abu Omar, was snatched from a Milan street on February 17, 2003, in an "extraordinary rendition" operation coordinated between the CIA and Italian military intelligence.
The Egyptian cleric was then flown to his home country and was held in a high-security prison outside Cairo, where he says he was tortured. The case against the 26 Americans would be the first criminal trial in Europe over the secret US "extraordinary rendition".
The Italian government has rejected a request by Milan prosecutors to seek the extradition of the CIA agents and US Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Romano.
Among the CIA agents awaiting trial are former CIA Milan station chief Robert Seldon Lady and Rome CIA Station chief Jeffery Castelli.
Another shrill for the hybrid democracy in Fiji, whose opinion article which was published in the Fiji Times, had the tone of selective amnesia.
Kotoisuva's article contained some interesting points, that don't' exactly square with the facts brought about by the victims of extraordinary rendition. Among these points are:
- Human rights are international norms generally accepted as inherent in each person by virtue of their humanity. These norms help protect people everywhere from severe political, legal, and social abuses.
- Examples of human rights are the right to freedom of religion, the right to a fair trial, the right not to be tortured and the right to engage in political activity (civil and political rights collectively).
- These principles govern how the State and executive bodies relate to the citizens and how citizens relate to each other. You cannot compromise some rights for the achievement of others. Social, economic and cultural rights cannot exist without civil and political rights.
Sadly, it is now accepted worldwide that these egalitarian nations, who frequently preach about democratic principles are often the greatest abusers. Perhap's McGann's comment was selective to ignore US role in rendition and their subsequent isolation and ridicule for grand hypocrisy.
Kotoisuva's opening sentence:
WE live in a time when rhetoric is confused with action, and political semantics
confused with genuine achievements.
therefore holds true for the criminal actions perpetrated by the US and EU.
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