h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Robert Fisk is another journalist for whom I have a great deal of respect. I saw a lecture he gave at Concordia "9/11: Ask who did it, but don't ask why!" (I saw the video on TVO). In this lecture, he talks about the way that journalists perpetuate the "party line" by using such terminology as "war-won" or "disputed lands" when referring to Isreali occupation of land which is, in fact, Palestinian, and, in fact, "occupied" by Israelis.

I can only find the transcript of the speech, but there was an audio which I found previously. http://www.robert-fisk.com/transcript_robertfiskspeech.htm (from http://www.robert-fisk.com/)

From the last paragraph of his lecture: "Let me just mention one thing to you before you go on. Did you know I was in the Middle East 19 years ago covering Iraq? At that time, when Saddam Hussein was using poison gas against Iran - a war crime - President Reagan sent his envoy to reopen the American Embassy in Baghdad, and the envoy who went there and shook the hand of Saddam Hussein was Donald Rumsfeld. In the following year, Donald Rumsfeld went to meet Tariq Aziz, on the very day that the United Nations published its first report on the war crime of the use of gas by the Iraqi Army. So let me finish by saying one thing to you and one sentence only. Let's do what Americans used to tell their journalists to do and let's try to tell it how it is. Thank you very much. God bless."

Concordia officials initiated a campus ban on public discussions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Because, I guess, the University campus is not the place for the free discussion of such things.
http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2002/11/18/fisk_concordia021118

http://www.counterpunch.org/fisk0416.html
http://www.counterpunch.org/fisk0613.html
http://www.bintjbeil.com/articles/en/020709_fisk.html


I do like this quote that I found while browsing:
"Conservatives aren't necessarily stupid, but most stupid people are conservative." -John Stuart Mill

You might want to check out the audio of "Bananas from Equador
Steve Striffler"; Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Latin American Studies at the University of Arkansas, author of In the Shadows of State and Capital: The United Fruit Company, Popular Struggle, and Agrarian Restructuring in Ecuador, 1900-1995" at: http://www.chicagopublicradio.org/audio_library/wv_rajul02.asp (You will have to scroll to July 18, 2002)

and: "U.S. foreign military training
Lora Lumpe"; International Peace Research Institute, author of a new study "U.S. Foreign Military Training: Global Reach, Global Power" at the same link, scroll to July 10.

http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/?020916fa_fact

And just for good measure:

Terry Jones (yes, THAT Terry Jones) on "Why Grammar is the First Casualty of War".
http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0112-02.htm

He's a great guy, is Gwynne Dyer - his articles are syndicated here and I have always read them...

I read the (long) Robert Fisk article about American/Israeli relations - Robert Fisk is a brilliant and courageous man. That article should be more widely read! Thanks for the link!

Okay, this is rich! the U. S. is demanding that it's citizens being held in Japan on suspicion of rape and sexual assault should have rights and priveleges granted to them that Japanese citizens would not have. That's right, Americans should have more rights under the Japanese legal system than do Japanese. And the Americans are horrified that their soldiers are being held for up to 23 days without charges. Gee, 23 whole days. I wonder what some of those guys in Camp X-ray think when they read that. Oh, yeah, they haven't seen a newspaper (or been charged) in more than a year.

http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2003/08/02/japan_us_assaults030802

This is America's way of dealing with the world...

"I wonder what some of those guys in Camp X-ray think when they read that. Oh, yeah, they haven't seen a newspaper (or been charged) in more than a year."

Yes. More than eighteen months and counting. What absolute hypocrisy!

For some time America has believed that it's citizens are entitled to privileges that the rest of the world isn't. That's why America has always opposed the formation of an international criminal court.

This belief that they're above the law is, I suppose, a natural extension of the belief that one American life is worth hundreds (perhaps thousands) of foreign lives.

It's belief in god-given genetic superiority and it's got frightening implications for the future.

The newspaper I work at (http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/index-e.htm will give our local version of the story) devotes a lot of space to the various transgressions of US military personnel in Okinawa, both major　and incredibly minor - "Lance Cpl. Jarhead arrested for theft of candy bar, no injuries reported" - and its hard to say which side of the issue is more ridiculous. The attitude of many of the U.S. military types I've met whilst out boozing in Tokyo is either "If it weren't for us, these people would all be speaking Chinese or Russian - they should be grateful and we should be allowed to do whatever the hell we want with their daughters" OR acute embarrassment at the antics and comments of their comrades in arms. The first group is larger than the second sadly. The Japanese authorities however can and do arrest a foreigner whenever a crime is committed. It is the conventional wisdom among japanese that foreigners are responsible for most of the (street) crime in Japan. Absolute nonsense of course. We gaijin make up about one percent of the population and commit about 1 percent of the crimes - a third of them being immigration related.
The US does have a point about how its soldier are treated here by the police. While the status of forces agreement that gives US servicemen right that the japanese don't have is a stupid one from a japanese perspective, it was duly signed and ratified by the japanese government, so they should live up to it.

Paperboy, where does your proof that "foreigners are responsible for... ...about 1 percent of the crimes" come from? And is it a fair comparison or are you comparing dropping litter in the street with rape and murder?

Surely the type of crimes foreigners commit is more relevant than simple numbers.

http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/news/archive/200209/05/20020905p2a00m0dm012000c.html

This MAY help, though there is a fair controversy over Japan's methods of collecting and reporting data on crime statistics. Perhaps Rev. Paperboy can give you a better explanation about that than I would, being a foreigner there himself.

Let's say that Japan is rather insular and there is a strong bias against foreigners. The Japanese media tends to feed this bias in its reporting.

In regards to the cases of rape mentioned by Rev. Paperboy.... While the total reported number of rapes are relatively low, as with most statistics dealing with rape, many cases go unreported.

This doesn't diminish the fact that a number of cases of rape by American troops stationed on Okinawa and Iejima, many of the victims being young girls (including the 1995 rape of a 12 year-old girl by 3 American soldiers), and that the American government and the military have stonewalled prosecution of military personnel, in many cases blaming the victims even claiming they were prostitutes.

>>and the military have stonewalled prosecution of military personnel, in many cases blaming the victims even claiming they were prostitutes.<<
I recall cases like that, which have been reported here in NZ, fairly recently. I can see why the Japanese are angry!
I am reminded too, of the cable car in Italy, under which American pilots would fly, doing 'stunts' for fun. The inevitable happened, a plane cut the cables, Europeans were killed - and after an 'enquiry' the Americans announced that the men involved would not be prosecuted. Now *there's* a surprise! (This happened about 2000, I think).

Thank you, Empty Sky, it can be very hard to know the difference.

The most recent I remember was two Korean girls were run over by a US tank and the tank crew were ofcourse taken back to the US and found innocent.

... and the recent blowing up of Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan. In this case, the military said that the men were not going to be tried. This was most likely so that none of the people who actually gave the airmen who blew them up their faulty information, and insisted on overtired pilots flying would be called to account.

One of the pilots, Maj. Harry Schmidt, actually insisted on a court-martial because he felt that by not being tried, he was not going to be exonerated. He could face up to 64 years in military prison. However, that is unlikely, as most of the more serious charges have been dropped, and it is more likely that the trial would be a farce, anyway.

http://www.cbc.ca/storyview/CBC/2003/06/25/friendly_fire030625

http://edmonton.cbc.ca/regional/servlet/View?filename=ed_schmidt20030701

Well as far as proof I can offer a link to, I would have to look around, but the last time I edited a translation from the japanese parent paper about the National Police agency release of annual crime statistics they were crowing about the "huge leap" in the number of crimes committed by foreigners. The huge leap was about a 25 percent jump - from about one percent of the total crimes to about 1.25 percent. Of the crimes committed by foreigners, about 30 percent were immigration related and more than 50 percent were property crimes (from petty vandalism to a wave of burglaries committed by a chinese gang) but the end result was that per capita foreign residents were actually more law abiding than the native japanese, not something the NPA or our extremely conservative newspaper is likely to admit.
The police here are not like the police in North America or England. It reminds me of the scene in Casablanca after Bogart shoot the german officer at the airport in front of Claude Raines, the prefect of the Vichy police, who orders his men to round up the usual suspects. The usual suspects here are usually any chinese or koreans who happen to be around. If the Yakuza are involved (and they usually are) the police simply wait for someone to turn themself in...

The justice system has a conviction rate of over 85 percent as almost everyone confesses. You would too after being held for two weeks in solitary without a lawyer, and it is pretty much a given that confessions are often forcibly obtained. You have no right to an attorney until indicted as far as I know and can be held for up to 72 hours without any charge, simply on a police officer's say so.

Having said that - the U.S. military does get involved in an awful lot of trouble in Okinawa and here in tokyo. Most offenses are alcohol fuelled, but sexual assaults and even robberies are not uncommon. Mind you sexual assaults, especially of bar hostesses, are very common here and often are not treated very seriously by the police. In fact they seem to be part of the problem quite often.
One of my favorite headlines was "Policeman pinched for fondling girl on subway" - a police sargeant who had patted a woman on the buttocks on a busy train. Such conduct is rampant here - there are even men's magazines devoted to giving tips on how to get away with it.
Japan is an advanced nation, but in terms of equal rights for women and children and foreigners it is still in the dark ages.

back to the original subject of this thread:



http://aljazeerah.info/4n/US%20Tells%20Niger%20to%20Shut%20Up%20in%20Iraq%20Uranium%20Row.htm

"as far as I know and can be held for up to 72 hours without any charge, simply on a police officer's say so."

Anyone who's seen a US dective movie or TV programme would recognise that from US law. Also from docos and news and the like.


Anhaga, your link sounds familiar. US officials do seem prone to throwing wieght around.

"as far as I know and can be held for up to 72 hours without any charge, simply on a police officer's say so."

Appitition, you do realise that Paperboy was talking about Japan?

However, what ever that time period is in America, I'm sure it's not eighteen months. I believe that camp x-ray at Guantanamo Bay is technically American soil (perhaps someone can clarify) so this concentration camp that Bush and his cronies are running is in direct breach of American law (as well as international law and basic human rights). Why are Americans meekly accepting this, why isn't there an outcry?

Around 650 non-combatant prisoners were transported there in January 2002. Chained and shackled, they're kept in cages and allowed out for exercise for fifteen minutes twice a day. None of them have ever been charged with anything, many have never even been adequately identified. Some are minors, as young as thirteen.

They've never been granted any kind of status, as POWs or civillian criminals.

There are stories of prisoners in Iraq having been tortured by the American military, so anything could happen to the prisoners at Gitmo.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3100027.stm

All this from a nation that likes to claim the moral high ground.

These people should not be forgotten, this should not be allowed to quietly go away. America should be held accountable for this blatant breach of human rights.

Why has this been allowed to happen?

Sorry to keep harping on the japan thing, but here's the actual info on how long one may be held in Japan according to the legal specialist at our paper.
TECHNICALLY no one may be detained without being notified of a pending charge but since the public prosecutors office, not the police lay charges, the police are obliged to "refer a suspect to the public prosecutors office withing 48 hours." of course if you get pinched on a Thursday night, that could stretch to monday morning. Once referred Prosecutors have 24 to request a detention order or release the suspect. Detention can last up to ten days and is renewable for a second ten day period. Note that no charge has to be filed until the end of this 22 day period. It is common for people to serve this 22 days simply for pissing off the wrong cop, with no charge ever really being considered. No person can be detained without being provided with legal counsel, but your lawyer is not entitled to sit in on your interogation and there is no automatic presumption of innocence under the law.
The SOFA (status of forces agreement) states that serving members of the US military do not have to be handed over to police until they have been indicted (the charge has been officially made and a court has found a trial is warranted). Those arrested by the Japanese authorities are surrendered to the U.S. Military police until such time as they have been indicted.
The U.S. has promised to cooperate and have accused personnel come to the police station for "voluntary" questions but the main arguement centers around whether they have the right to bring their own translator and attorney to be present at the questioning.

Sorry to keep harping on the japan thing, but here's the actual info on how long one may be held in Japan according to the legal specialist at our paper.
TECHNICALLY no one may be detained without being notified of a pending charge but since the public prosecutors office, not the police lay charges, the police are obliged to "refer a suspect to the public prosecutors office withing 48 hours." of course if you get pinched on a Thursday night, that could stretch to monday morning. Once referred Prosecutors have 24 to request a detention order or release the suspect. Detention can last up to ten days and is renewable for a second ten day period. Note that no charge has to be filed until the end of this 22 day period. It is common for people to serve this 22 days simply for pissing off the wrong cop, with no charge ever really being considered. No person can be detained without being provided with legal counsel, but your lawyer is not entitled to sit in on your interogation and there is no automatic presumption of innocence under the law.
The SOFA (status of forces agreement) states that serving members of the US military do not have to be handed over to police until they have been indicted (the charge has been officially made and a court has found a trial is warranted). Those arrested by the Japanese authorities are surrendered to the U.S. Military police until such time as they have been indicted.
The U.S. has promised to cooperate and have accused personnel come to the police station for "voluntary" questions but the main arguement centers around whether they have the right to bring their own translator and attorney to be present at the questioning.