Search Results for: "Amnesty International"

Why I Don't Want to See the Drone Memo

And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us a secret memo that gets us out of the bit about Thou-shalt-not-kill.

And, lo, as I was driving home from the committee hearing I was pulled over for speeding, and I said unto the officer, “I’ve got a memo that lets me speed. Would you like to see it?” and he said, “No thank you, and not your grocery list or your diary read more

Why I Don't Want to See the Drone Memo Read More »

A 15-Year Murder Spree

“The notion of a ‘humanitarian war’ would have rang in the ears of the drafters of the UN Charter as nothing short of Hitlerian, because it was precisely the justification used by Hitler himself for the invasion of Poland just six years earlier.” —Michael Mandel

Fifteen years ago, NATO was bombing Yugoslavia.  This may be difficult for people to grasp who believe the Noah movie is historical fiction, but: What your government told you about the bombing of Kosovo read more

A 15-Year Murder Spree Read More »

From Helen to Hillary: Women in War

Accepted wisdom in U.S. culture, despite overwhelming evidence, holds that the two nuclear bombs dropped on Japan shortened World War II and saved more lives than the some 200,000 lives they took away.

And yet, weeks before the first bomb was dropped, on July 13, 1945, Japan sent a telegram to the Soviet Union expressing its desire to surrender and end the war. The United States had broken Japan’s codes and read the telegram. U.S. President Harry Truman referred in his diary to “the read more

From Helen to Hillary: Women in War Read More »

Finally a Drone Report Done Right

The U.N. and Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International recently released a flurry of deeply flawed reports on drone murders.  According to the U.N.’s special rapporteur, whose day job is as law partner of Tony Blair’s wife, and according to two major human rights groups deeply embedded in U.S. exceptionalism, murdering people with drones is sometimes legal and sometimes not legal, but almost always it’s too hard to tell read more

Finally a Drone Report Done Right Read More »

Drone Island in the East River

Remarks at New York University forum with http://NYACT.net

The primary problem with weaponized drones is that the weapons murder people.  And they murder people in a way that looks more like murder to a lot of observers than other forms of military murder do — such as murder by indiscriminate bombing or artillery or infantry or dropping white phosphorous on people.  When President Obama looks through a list of men, women, and children at a Tuesday terror meeting, and picks which read more

Drone Island in the East River Read More »

A New Kind of War Is Being Legalized

There’s a dark side to the flurry of reports and testimony on drones, helpful as they are in many ways.  When we read that Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch oppose drone strikes that violate international law, some of us may be inclined to interpret that as a declaration that, in fact, drone strikes violate international law.  On the contrary, what these human rights groups mean is that some drone strikes violate the law and some do not, and they want to oppose the ones read more

A New Kind of War Is Being Legalized Read More »

Charlottesville Forum on Preventing a U.S. Attack on Syria

A free, public, town-hall forum on Preventing a U.S. Attack on Syria: why and how.

Wednesday, September 4, 6:30 p.m.

Sign up to attend on FaceBook now
http://on.fb.me/15njYej

Friends Meeting House
1104 Forest Street
Charlottesville VA
(map http://mapq.st/15GOooV )

Speakers:
Helena Cobban
John Whitehead
Dave Norris
Roy Hange
David Swanson
and You

Helena Cobban is the founding owner of Just World Books, a Charlottesville-based book publisher. Previously, read more

Charlottesville Forum on Preventing a U.S. Attack on Syria Read More »

Spy on Me, I'm Innocent!

You’ve heard people say they want to be spied on, as long as it means that other people will be spied on too.  I know you’ve heard people say this, and which people it was, and how your face looked when you heard it, and what your next telephone call was.  Or, rather, I could know all of that if I were one of the thousands and thousands of low-level snoops it will take for our government to accomplish its surveillance goals.

The logic is completely flawed, however.  As read more

Spy on Me, I'm Innocent! Read More »

Dirty Wars Comes to Charlottesville VA on July 19

The amazing anti-war film Dirty Wars is coming to Vinegar Hill Theater in Charlottesville, Va.

I’ve been working, on behalf of the producers, with peace groups around the country to spread the word about this film, and the feedback has been incredibly encouraging.  I’ve led discussions at the conclusion of the film in DC and Norfolk and will do so in Charlottesville following the 7:30 p.m. screening on Friday July 19.

Get your tickets from Vinegar read more

Dirty Wars Comes to Charlottesville VA on July 19 Read More »