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IN SYRIA AND AFRICA, OBAMA IGNORES US LAWS AND HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS
Is Obama trying to circumvent U.S. laws prohibiting military support
for foreign security forces that commit human rights violations.
Photo: President Obama at Fort Bliss 8-31-12 / AP
Saturday, June 29, 2013 - John Glaser: Taking Note of the World by
John Glaser John Glaser
WASHINGTON, July 29, 2013 - As it continues to proclaim its commitment
to human rights and democracy abroad, the Obama administration is
openly trying to circumvent U.S. laws prohibiting military support for
foreign security forces that routinely commit human rights violations.
Earlier this month, the Obama administration announced its decision
to directly send weapons to the rebel fighters in Syria; a departure
from standing policies that authorized direct military training of
select rebels and the delivery of arms from countries like Saudi
Arabia and Qatar via the CIA.
SEE RELATED: The Asia Pivot: Making an enemy of China The president
claims the arms will only be delivered to "vetted" rebel groups,
avoiding the hundreds of other rebel factions said by United Nations
investigators to have committed war crimes. But it's virtually
impossible to funnel weapons into a chaotic civil war without them
getting into the wrong hands.
Milton Bearden, a 30-year CIA veteran who oversaw the $3 billion
covert program to arm the Afghan mujahideen against the Soviets told
Foreign Policy that the Obama administration should beware. "If you
[arm the rebels], don't try to convince yourself that you're in
control," he said.
Bearden explained that "once you begin arming any rebellion that
involves fractious parties in the same rebellion against a common
enemy, you've got to understand that the materials you give to the
group of your choice will be sold, traded, bartered to most of the
other players."
This makes it difficult for the Obama administration to abide by the
spirit of the Leahy Law, given that many of Syria's rebel groups have
engaged in torture, extra-judicial killings, and mutilation of the
dead. The leading rebel groups have close ties to al-Qaeda groups.
SEE RELATED: Free Syrian Army likely to get US arms: Who is this
rebel group?
Enacted in 1997, the so-called Leahy Amendment, named after its author
Senator Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., makes it illegal for the U.S. to arm or
train foreign militaries credibly accused of human rights violations.
While the law hasn't stopped all U.S. support for atrocities, it is
an eminently reasonable measure that now the Obama administration
wants to do away with.
Adm. William McRaven, who heads the Special Operations Command,
told The New York Times recently that the law "has restricted us in
a number of countries across the globe in our ability to train units
that we think need to be trained."
The U.S. has a long history of supporting extreme brutality, even
genocide, through unsavory proxy militias. And now, as the Obama
administration is increasing its support for fighters in places like
Syria, Honduras and Nigeria, Washington is looking to revive that
storied pastime.
The Kennedy administration, for example, supported a military coup to
overthrow the democratically elected government of Brazil. Once the
military regime was established, it unleashed a campaign of repression,
torture, and mass killings, actions for which they were rewarded with
increased U.S. support.
SEE RELATED: Arming Syrian rebels: Obama's tactic of limited impact
and involvement Similar stories came out of the Nixon administration,
which was connected to military coups and the subsequent plagues of
state terrorism in Chile and Argentina. Henry Kissinger, secretary
of state at the time, famously told the Argentinian military junta to
finish up its "dirty war," in which tens of thousands of civilians were
ultimately killed, before Congress had a chance to cut military aid.
The Carter administration was the first to lend American support for
criminal militias in El Salvador, a policy that was quickly ramped
up by President Reagan. In just one minor glimpse of the U.S.-backed
terror, in 1981 Salvadoran forces massacred more than 900 innocent
peasants after torturing and raping many of the women.
In a rare break from the Reagan administration's persistent denials of
any human rights violations by U.S.-backed forces, the U.S. ambassador
to El Salvador, Deane Hinton said in 1982 that since 1979 "as many
as 30,000 Salvadorans have been murdered - not killed in battle,
murdered."
A Senate inquiry in 1984 found that "significant political violence -
including death squad activities - has been associated with elements
of the Salvadoran security establishment."
Reagan also ramped up another Carter administration policy of arming
and training death squads in Nicaragua. The Contra rebels, receiving
enthusiastic U.S. support, were accused of kidnapping and torturing
civilians, executing civilians caught in combat, assassinating health
care workers, mass rape, and systematically burning civilian homes.
And that was just for starters.
One Sandinista militiaman fighting the Contras at the time described
their brutality in detail to the Guardian: "Rosa had her breasts cut
off. Then they cut into her chest and took out her heart. The men
had their arms broken, their testicles cut off. They were killed by
slitting their throats and pulling the tongue out through the slit."
The Gipper was so committed to the Contra rebels in Nicaragua that
he secretly sold weapons to Iran and used the proceeds to fund the
Contras, despite congressional legislation prohibiting such support.
It was with this history in mind that Senator Leahy pushed through
legislation barring the U.S. from providing training or equipment to
foreign forces that commit "gross human rights violations."
The law isn't perfect: it does not apply to drug enforcement
and non-Defense Department counterterrorism assistance. These
technicalities have allowed the government to consistently violate the
spirit of the law and support foreign troops that commit atrocities,
as Clinton did in Colombia under the pretext of fighting the drug war.
President Obama, wary of his predecessor's legacy of military quagmires
in Iraq and Afghanistan, has been increasing support for these kinds
of unscrupulous proxies.
Washington's support for Honduran security forces has skyrocketed
since the coup there in 2009. U.S. troops have been working closely
with Honduran police in training and weapons procurement, even as
reports of extra-judicial killings, disappearances and other human
rights abuses have increased.
The Associated Press reported in March that, "in the last three years,
Honduran prosecutors have received as many as 150 formal complaints
about death squad-style killings" by forces under the command of
Juan Carlos Bonilla, a police chief with a record of human rights
violations.
"Since early 2010," writes Dana Frank in a piece at Foreign Affairs,
"there have been more than 10,000 complaints of human rights abuses by
[U.S. funded and trained] state security forces," and "in many ways,
Washington is responsible for this dismal turn."
And it doesn't end with the war on drugs. In northern Africa, the Obama
administration is trying to fight a proxy war to curb the growing
al-Qaeda presence in the region (which was triggered in part by the
NATO war in Libya that collapsed the Gadhafi regime and flooded the
area with foreign jihadists). The U.S. is trying to step up support
for thousands of Nigerian soldiers, but the Leahy law is getting in
the way.
Any nation that purports to have the slightest respect for democracy
and human rights ought to have the decency to refrain from using
taxpayer money to arm and train foreign militias that commit war
crimes. The Obama administration's eagerness to do away with such
restrictions speaks volumes about what values it actually holds dear.
Read more:
http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/john-glaser-intelligence-foreign-policy-world/2013/jun/29/despite-illegality-obama-administration-circumvent/#ixzz2Xp6GZ0Xn
Follow us: @wtcommunities on Twitter
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Is Obama trying to circumvent U.S. laws prohibiting military support
for foreign security forces that commit human rights violations.
Photo: President Obama at Fort Bliss 8-31-12 / AP
Saturday, June 29, 2013 - John Glaser: Taking Note of the World by
John Glaser John Glaser
WASHINGTON, July 29, 2013 - As it continues to proclaim its commitment
to human rights and democracy abroad, the Obama administration is
openly trying to circumvent U.S. laws prohibiting military support for
foreign security forces that routinely commit human rights violations.
Earlier this month, the Obama administration announced its decision
to directly send weapons to the rebel fighters in Syria; a departure
from standing policies that authorized direct military training of
select rebels and the delivery of arms from countries like Saudi
Arabia and Qatar via the CIA.
SEE RELATED: The Asia Pivot: Making an enemy of China The president
claims the arms will only be delivered to "vetted" rebel groups,
avoiding the hundreds of other rebel factions said by United Nations
investigators to have committed war crimes. But it's virtually
impossible to funnel weapons into a chaotic civil war without them
getting into the wrong hands.
Milton Bearden, a 30-year CIA veteran who oversaw the $3 billion
covert program to arm the Afghan mujahideen against the Soviets told
Foreign Policy that the Obama administration should beware. "If you
[arm the rebels], don't try to convince yourself that you're in
control," he said.
Bearden explained that "once you begin arming any rebellion that
involves fractious parties in the same rebellion against a common
enemy, you've got to understand that the materials you give to the
group of your choice will be sold, traded, bartered to most of the
other players."
This makes it difficult for the Obama administration to abide by the
spirit of the Leahy Law, given that many of Syria's rebel groups have
engaged in torture, extra-judicial killings, and mutilation of the
dead. The leading rebel groups have close ties to al-Qaeda groups.
SEE RELATED: Free Syrian Army likely to get US arms: Who is this
rebel group?
Enacted in 1997, the so-called Leahy Amendment, named after its author
Senator Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., makes it illegal for the U.S. to arm or
train foreign militaries credibly accused of human rights violations.
While the law hasn't stopped all U.S. support for atrocities, it is
an eminently reasonable measure that now the Obama administration
wants to do away with.
Adm. William McRaven, who heads the Special Operations Command,
told The New York Times recently that the law "has restricted us in
a number of countries across the globe in our ability to train units
that we think need to be trained."
The U.S. has a long history of supporting extreme brutality, even
genocide, through unsavory proxy militias. And now, as the Obama
administration is increasing its support for fighters in places like
Syria, Honduras and Nigeria, Washington is looking to revive that
storied pastime.
The Kennedy administration, for example, supported a military coup to
overthrow the democratically elected government of Brazil. Once the
military regime was established, it unleashed a campaign of repression,
torture, and mass killings, actions for which they were rewarded with
increased U.S. support.
SEE RELATED: Arming Syrian rebels: Obama's tactic of limited impact
and involvement Similar stories came out of the Nixon administration,
which was connected to military coups and the subsequent plagues of
state terrorism in Chile and Argentina. Henry Kissinger, secretary
of state at the time, famously told the Argentinian military junta to
finish up its "dirty war," in which tens of thousands of civilians were
ultimately killed, before Congress had a chance to cut military aid.
The Carter administration was the first to lend American support for
criminal militias in El Salvador, a policy that was quickly ramped
up by President Reagan. In just one minor glimpse of the U.S.-backed
terror, in 1981 Salvadoran forces massacred more than 900 innocent
peasants after torturing and raping many of the women.
In a rare break from the Reagan administration's persistent denials of
any human rights violations by U.S.-backed forces, the U.S. ambassador
to El Salvador, Deane Hinton said in 1982 that since 1979 "as many
as 30,000 Salvadorans have been murdered - not killed in battle,
murdered."
A Senate inquiry in 1984 found that "significant political violence -
including death squad activities - has been associated with elements
of the Salvadoran security establishment."
Reagan also ramped up another Carter administration policy of arming
and training death squads in Nicaragua. The Contra rebels, receiving
enthusiastic U.S. support, were accused of kidnapping and torturing
civilians, executing civilians caught in combat, assassinating health
care workers, mass rape, and systematically burning civilian homes.
And that was just for starters.
One Sandinista militiaman fighting the Contras at the time described
their brutality in detail to the Guardian: "Rosa had her breasts cut
off. Then they cut into her chest and took out her heart. The men
had their arms broken, their testicles cut off. They were killed by
slitting their throats and pulling the tongue out through the slit."
The Gipper was so committed to the Contra rebels in Nicaragua that
he secretly sold weapons to Iran and used the proceeds to fund the
Contras, despite congressional legislation prohibiting such support.
It was with this history in mind that Senator Leahy pushed through
legislation barring the U.S. from providing training or equipment to
foreign forces that commit "gross human rights violations."
The law isn't perfect: it does not apply to drug enforcement
and non-Defense Department counterterrorism assistance. These
technicalities have allowed the government to consistently violate the
spirit of the law and support foreign troops that commit atrocities,
as Clinton did in Colombia under the pretext of fighting the drug war.
President Obama, wary of his predecessor's legacy of military quagmires
in Iraq and Afghanistan, has been increasing support for these kinds
of unscrupulous proxies.
Washington's support for Honduran security forces has skyrocketed
since the coup there in 2009. U.S. troops have been working closely
with Honduran police in training and weapons procurement, even as
reports of extra-judicial killings, disappearances and other human
rights abuses have increased.
The Associated Press reported in March that, "in the last three years,
Honduran prosecutors have received as many as 150 formal complaints
about death squad-style killings" by forces under the command of
Juan Carlos Bonilla, a police chief with a record of human rights
violations.
"Since early 2010," writes Dana Frank in a piece at Foreign Affairs,
"there have been more than 10,000 complaints of human rights abuses by
[U.S. funded and trained] state security forces," and "in many ways,
Washington is responsible for this dismal turn."
And it doesn't end with the war on drugs. In northern Africa, the Obama
administration is trying to fight a proxy war to curb the growing
al-Qaeda presence in the region (which was triggered in part by the
NATO war in Libya that collapsed the Gadhafi regime and flooded the
area with foreign jihadists). The U.S. is trying to step up support
for thousands of Nigerian soldiers, but the Leahy law is getting in
the way.
Any nation that purports to have the slightest respect for democracy
and human rights ought to have the decency to refrain from using
taxpayer money to arm and train foreign militias that commit war
crimes. The Obama administration's eagerness to do away with such
restrictions speaks volumes about what values it actually holds dear.
Read more:
http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/john-glaser-intelligence-foreign-policy-world/2013/jun/29/despite-illegality-obama-administration-circumvent/#ixzz2Xp6GZ0Xn
Follow us: @wtcommunities on Twitter
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress