Better Late Than Never? Let’s Hope So

Once again the New York Times is better late than never on reporting human rights abuses.  It took them nearly a decade to start reporting on rogue US soldiers killing civilians for sport in Iraq and Afghanistan. I call your attention to the Winter Soldier testimonies of 2008 which were ignored by the mainstream media — New York Times, LA Times, et al; even the Washington Post only

Once again the New York Times is better late than never on reporting human rights abuses.  It took them nearly a decade to start reporting on rogue US soldiers killing civilians for sport in Iraq and Afghanistan. I call your attention to the Winter Soldier testimonies of 2008 which were ignored by the mainstream media — New York Times, LA Times, et al; even the Washington Post only covered it briefly in their local edition — apparently because to report on civilian atrocities during Bush made you a traitor. You had to go to a noncorporate show like Democracy Now to even be aware of such crimes.  We’ve also got paramilitaries there operating freely above the law, which only got acknowledged in the New York Times this year due to Wikileaks forcing the Times‘ hand. Thankfully, now that Obama’s in power the mainstream media seems to feel freer to at least tentatively discuss such matters as they relate to Iraq and Afghanistan.

I’m not sure what their excuse is for waiting 39 years to let us in on this 1971 nightmare that wasn’t deemed particularly newsworthy at the time it was happening, when something could perhaps have been done to stop it.  I know, I know, there are many such horrors during wars around the world all the time, I get it.  Welp, here’s one more.  Maybe it’s not too late to bring some of the war criminals responsible for it to justice. It’s the least these women and their families deserve.

Bangladesh War’s Toll on Women Still Undiscussed

By NILANJANA S. ROY
Published: August 24, 2010

NEW DELHI — The numbers are in dispute, but the story they tell has remained the same for four decades: 200,000 women (or 300,000, or 400,000, depending on the source) raped during the 1971 war in which East Pakistan broke with West Pakistan to become Bangladesh.

The American feminist Susan Brownmiller, quoting all three sets of statistics in her 1975 book “Against Our Will: Men, Women and Rape,” compared the rapes of Bangladesh with the rapes of Chinese women by Japanese soldiers at Nanjing in 1937-38.

Accepting even the lowest set of figures for Bangladesh forces a horrifying comparison — the 1992-95 Bosnian war saw one-tenth the number of rapes as did the Bangladesh war. The rapes of Bosnian women forced the world to recognize rape as “an instrument of terror,” as a crime against humanity. But so far no one has been held to account for the sexual violence against Bangladeshi women in 1971.

As the 40th anniversary of the 1971 war approaches, the Bangladeshi government has set up an International Crimes Tribunal to investigate the atrocities of that era. But human rights advocates and lawyers fear CONT’D AT NEW YORK TIMES>>

Iran’s Regime Prepares for 2/11 by Arresting People in Advance

NY TIMES:  Arrests by Iran Are a Bid to Quell Wide Protests
By MICHAEL SLACKMAN
Iranian security officials were believed to have arrested as many as 1,000 people in the past two months, a rights group said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/10/world/middleeast/10arrests.html?th&emc=th

NY TIMES:  Arrests by Iran Are a Bid to Quell Wide Protests
By MICHAEL SLACKMAN
Iranian security officials were believed to have arrested as many as 1,000 people in the past two months, a rights group said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/10/world/middleeast/10arrests.html?th&emc=th

Violence or Victory on 2/11?

Unite 4 Iran“Censorship, torture, executions – Iranian authorities will stop at nothing to stamp out peaceful dissent and protest.

“Last week, two men were hanged after being accused of inciting the post-June 12 election violence that erupted last summer in Iran. The Iranian government failed to answer one key question – how these

Unite  4 Iran“Censorship, torture, executions – Iranian authorities will stop at nothing to stamp out peaceful dissent and protest.

“Last week, two men were hanged after being accused of inciting the post-June 12 election violence that erupted last summer in Iran. The Iranian government failed to answer one key question – how these men could have been responsible for the violence when they were being held in detention long before it even occurred?

“As if this injustice wasn’t enough, now the lives of 9 more men hang in the balance on similar charges. Amnesty fears some of them may be executed before February 11th – a date holding much significance in Iran and one that could signify an end to these abuses.

“February 11th is known as Victory of the Revolution Day – equivalent to the Fourth of July in the United States; it is meant to symbolize liberty, independence and freedom. Authorities in Iran fear that February 11th will spark a wave of massive protests and unite Iranians in their calls for change and accountability.

“That is why on February 11th Amnesty International intends to do all it can to stand in solidarity with the Iranian people on this important date.  In the days following the contested Presidential election, Iranian authorities took aggressive measures to stifle dissent and stem the flow of information. No outside reporters were allowed in. Iranians were not allowed to freely report out. Virtually the only way the Iranian people could expose the horrific treatment being inflicted on them was to share their stories online, using blogs and websites like Twitter and Facebook.

“Amnesty expects Iranians will once again rely solely on the Internet to carry their messages during next week’s expected demonstrations. That is why they are asking everyone to show their solidarity online on February 11th – whether it’s on your blog, website, or social networking profile. Help us raise the voices of those calling for freedom and justice inside Iran.”

Please go here for more info.