Citizen Attempts to Arrest British War Criminal

DailyMail.co.uk:

Tony Blair in citizen's arrest scare as Brussels journalist tries to detain him over 'war crimes'

By Justin Stares
Last updated at 11:19 PM on 23rd March 2010

A journalist tried to arrest Tony Blair for 'crimes against peace' as the former prime minister arrived to give a speech at the European Parliament in Brussels.

Mr Blair flinched as his accuser, left-wing writer David Cronin, wearing a press pass and carrying a notepad, put a hand on his wrist and told him: 'This is a citizen's arrest.'

The former leader is then said to have given would-be detainer a 'bewildered and contemptuous' stare before bodyguards pounced.

As Mr Cronin was pushed away on Monday, he shouted 'Mr Blair, you are guilty of war crimes' referring to the Iraq invasion.

Attempted arrest: Tony Blair at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee Policy Conference in Washington yesterday, where he spoke in his capacity as Mid-East Envoy

'War of aggression': David Cronin

English law allows anyone to try and arrest someone they know has committed a crime when it is not practical for the police to do so.

Although the concept of citizen's arrest is woollier in Belgian law, Mr Cronin said he wanted to to escort the former leader to a nearby police station to be charged with committing a 'war of aggression'.

Mr Cronin, who has written for the Guardian, said: 'It was an attempt to draw attention to Mr Blair's crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan.'

He left the room of his own accord after the incident, although when he returned half an hour later he was refused entry by security.

'My motivation in trying to arrest Blair is entirely based on my contempt for the crimes he has committed and abetted in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine, Lebanon and Serbia,' Cronin told EUobserver.com.

It is the second time that Mr Blair's bodyguards have had to step in to protect him in six months.

In October of last year the former Prime Minister was touring a West Bank mosque when he was assailed by a young Palestinian who accused him of being a terrorist.

'He is not welcome in the land of Palestine,' the man shouted before he was dragged away by Palestinian security forces.

'You know, he made his protest and that's fair enough,' Mr Blair, 56, told reporters at the time.

Taking no chances: A bodyguard (left) scuffles with the Palestinian man after he shouts 'You are a terrorist' at Tony Blair while on a visit to a West Bank mosque in October 2009

'I think it's important for you guys as well to not always mistake the protest for the general view of the whole population.'

He studied history and development studies at University College Dublin, followed by journalism at Dublin City University.

After writing for a variety of Irish publications, he moved to Brussels in 1995, initially working as a press officer and research assistant in the European Parliament for a Green Party MEP.

He was appointed the European Correspondent for The Sunday Tribune, a leading Irish newspaper, in 1998. He then worked from 2001 till 2006 as Political Correspondent for European Voice, a weekly newspaper owned by The Economist.

Cronin has also written about rock, jazz and world music for The Wall Street Journal Europe and The Bulletin, the main English-language magazine targeting expatriates living in Belgium.

He has written a book on EU -Israeli relations which he says is coming out later this year.

But the most telling part of the story is in the comments. Here are the highest rated ones:

well done that man, someday the rat will run out of holes to hide in and justice will prevail.

- frank bird, london, 23/3/2010 12:09

Click to rate Rating 198

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Well done Mr Cronin!!! You attempted to do what thousands of British people want to do. It's just so appalling that we are paying for his security when most of us want him brought to justice for his crimes. He is an evil man and I object to paying for his protection against his egotistical motivated crimes. He doesn't realise just how much he and his party are hated.

- SP, Bar, 23/3/2010 12:02

Click to rate Rating 191

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Well done, Mr. Cronin. You have put your money where your mouth is, unlike your media colleagues.

- P Stewart, UK, 23/3/2010 12:04

Click to rate Rating 178

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Well done that man-could you also arrest him for wrecking Great Britain and inflicting the most incompetent government onto the poor people of this once great country too.

- Disgusted, Kent, 23/3/2010 11:57

Click to rate Rating 171

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"Protected by bodyguards"... Paid for by whom, exactly? .....thought so

- Erika, London, 23/3/2010 12:00

Click to rate Rating 156

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'I think it's important for you guys as well to not always mistake the protest for the general view of the whole population.'

The general opinion of the majority of the population is that YOU ARE a war criminal so wake up and smell the coffee

- Derek, Barnet, 23/3/2010 14:10

Click to rate Rating 107

Rogue Nation Slaughters Innocents at Funeral

Imagine if the nation was North Korea. What would be the US reaction?

Or if Iran were doing it? Neocons and liberals alike would call for an invasion.

After all, collective punishment is a war crime.

But alas. It's only us. So, not a peep out of our representatives.

I'm still waiting for that change you can believe in.


via Truthout:

"Dozens Dead" in US Drone Strike

Tuesday 23 June 2009

by: | Visit article original @ BBC News

Qari Zainuddin, shown here with his bodyguards, was assassinated on Tuesday.
(Photo: Ishtiaq Mahsud / AP)

At least 45 people have died in a missile strike by a US drone aircraft in Pakistan, officials there have said.

The people killed in South Waziristan region had been attending a funeral for others killed in a US drone strike earlier on Tuesday.

Intelligence officials said at least 45 people had been killed and dozens more injured in the later strike, when two missiles were fired.

But a local official told BBC News the death toll was more than 50.

The region is a stronghold of Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud.

George Galloway explains what's happening in Gaza

To a pretty reporter for Russia Today...

How many ways does this look like a war crime?

Let's see now.
1) the boat was unarmed
2) it was in international waters
3) it was carrying medical supplies
4) it was carrying doctors
5) No attempt was made to contact the boat by radio unti after it was rammed

Sounds pretty convincing to me. I heard someone reporting from the ship today on Flashpoints on KPFA, but I got this link from Bonnie.

The damaged Free Gaza boat Dignity arrives in Lebanon after its encounter with the
Israeli navy. Photograph: Ali Hashisho/Reuters (UK Guardian article)

Free Gaza:

Israeli Gunboats Came Out of the Darkness and Rammed us Three Times

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE date: 12-30-2008

For more information, please contact:
(Gaza) Ewa Jasiewicz, +972 598 700 497 / freelance@mailworks.org
(Cyprus) Lubna Masarwa +357 99 081 767 / lubnna@gmail.com
(Lebanon) Caoimhe Butterley +961 70 875 727 / sahara78@hotmail.co.uk
http://www.FreeGaza.org

(Lebanon, Tuesday 30 December) - Today the Free Gaza ship "Dignity" carefully made its way to safe harbor in Tyre, Lebanon's southern-most port city, after receiving serious structural damage when Israeli warships rammed its bow and the port side. Waiting to greet the passengers and crew were thousands of Lebanese who came out to show their solidarity with this attempt to deliver volunteer doctors and desperately needed medical supplies to war-ravaged Gaza. The Lebanese government has pledged to provide a forensic analysis of what happened in the dark morning, when Israel rammed the civilian ship in international waters, and put the people on board in danger of losing their lives.

The Dignity, on a mission of mercy to besieged Gaza, was attacked by the Israeli Navy at approximately 6am (UST) in international waters, roughly 90 miles off the coast of Gaza. Several Israeli warships surrounded the small, human rights boat, firing live ammunition around it, then intentionally ramming it three times. According to ship's captain Denis Healy, the Israeli attack came, ""without any warning, or any provocation."

Caoimhe Butterly, an organizer with the Free Gaza Movement, stated that, "The gunboats gave us no warning. They came up out of the darkness firing flares and flashing huge flood lights into our faces. We were so shocked that at first we didn't react. We knew we were well within international waters and supposedly safe from attack. They rammed us three times, hitting the side of the boat hard. We began taking on water and, for a few minutes, we all feared for our lives. After they rammed us, they started screaming at us as we were frantically getting the life boats ready and putting on our life jackets. They kept yelling that if we didn't turn back they would shoot us."

Cynthia McKinney, former U.S. congresswoman and Green Party presidential candidate, was traveling to Gaza aboard the Dignity in order to assess the impact of Israel's military onslaught against the civilian population of the Gaza Strip. According to McKinney, "Israeli patrol boats...tracked us for about 30 minutes...and then all of a sudden they rammed us approximately three times, twice in the front and once in the side...the Israelis indicated that [they felt] we were involved in terrorist activities."

The Dignity departed from Larnaca Port in Cyprus at 7pm (UST) on Monday 29 December with a cargo of over 3 tons of desperately needed medical supplies donated to Gaza by the people of Cyprus. Three surgeons were also aboard, traveling to Gaza to volunteer in overwhelmed hospitals and clinics. The ship was searched by Cypriot Port authorities prior to departure, and its passenger list was made public.

Israel's deplorable attack on the unarmed Dignity is a violation of both international maritime law and the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which states that "the high seas should be reserved for peaceful purposes."

Delivering doctors and urgently needed medical supplies to civilians is a just such a "peaceful purpose." Deliberately ramming a mercy ship and endangering its passengers is an act of terrorism.

CALL the Israeli Government and demand that it immediately STOP attacking the civilian population of Gaza and STOP using violence to prevent human rights and humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people.

Mark Regev in the Prime Minister's office at:
+972 2670 5354 or +972 5 0620 3264
mark.regev@it.pmo.gov.il

Shlomo Dror in the Ministry of Defence at:
+972 3697 5339 or +972 50629 8148
mediasar@mod.gov.il

Major Liebovitz from the Israeli Navy at:
+ 972 5 781 86248

###
The Free Gaza Movement, a human rights group, sent two boats to Gaza in August 2008. These were the first international boats to land in the port in 41 years. Since August, four more voyages were successful, taking Parliamentarians, human rights workers, and other dignitaries to witness the effects of Israel's draconian policies on the civilians of Gaza.
http://www.FreeGaza.org

Mr. Fish understands international law, the true nature of illegal invasions and those who participate in them

Phony War On Terror means Iraq War = International War Crime

Really. If all the justifications for a war are admitted, by those who promoted it, to have been a "political ploy" all along, how can anyone ignore the conclusion that BushCo and those who mindlessly supported their rush to war committed a major war crime?

Gingrich: War on Terror is Phony

Scott Horton in Harpers, August 7, 2007:

It’s reassuring, isn’t it, to learn that at an insiders’ conference of young conservative activists, former House Speaker and G.O.P. presidential wannabe Newt Gingrich is spreading the word that the Bush Administration’s war on terror is a sham, and that the current struggle is all really just about oil.

Here’s Bob Dean’s report in today’s Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Thursday the Bush Administration is waging a “phony war” on terrorism, warning that the country is losing ground against the kind of Islamic radicals who attacked the country on Sept. 11, 2001. A more effective approach, said Gingrich, would begin with a national energy strategy aimed at weaning the country from its reliance on imported oil and some of the regimes that petro-dollars support.

“None of you should believe we are winning this war. There is no evidence that we are winning this war,” the ex-Georgian told a group of about 300 students attending a conference for collegiate conservatives. Gingrich, who led the so-called Republican Revolution that won the GOP control of both houses of Congress in 1994 midterm elections, said more must be done to marshal national resources to combat Islamic militants at home and abroad and to prepare the country for future attack. He was unstinting in his criticism of his fellow Republicans, in the White House and on Capitol Hill.

“We were in charge for six years,” he said, referring to the period between 2001 and early 2007, when the GOP controlled the White House and both houses of Congress. “I don’t think you can look and say that was a great success.”

Newt always struck me as a fascinating creature. A multilingual former college professor and the author of a fascinating study of the cruelty of the making of King Leopold’s Congo, he’s the smartest of the G.O.P. contenders by a mile. But you wouldn’t necessarily know this from his public rhetoric, which is often geared to the lowest common denominator (and when we’re talking about the Republican “base,” that’s pretty low). Put him in a room with bright young college kids, however, and he expresses himself well, offering some real insights and the sort of honesty that has been remarkably absent from conservative corners of late. (The exceptions to that sweeping generalization: George Will and Andrew Sullivan.) I give Newt strong points for candor and daring in these remarks.

But then–can one be too harsh in condemning a leadership team that takes the nation to war based on false premises? That manipulates the nation’s fear and hate senses in such an extreme way for such dubious purposes? The correct response to such misconduct should be political exile. Why should the public even listen to people who have engaged in such reprehensible conduct? Why should they fill our television screens? Newt was on the periphery of this team–but he was there, egging them along.

Reading these remarks brought two scenes into my mind. The first was from a recent conference I attended in Italy with a group of European and American counterterrorism experts. A large team of U.S. Department of Justice officials, drawn from its uppermost echelons, was there, including three of the principal architects of the legal policies for the war on terror. In not-for-attribution comments, one openly acknowledged that the war on terror was cast in the first instance as a political ploy and that it was a conceptual failure. It was now essential for the Americans to move on to something else, he argued. None of the others challenged that view; indeed, two of them said that they agreed with it. So even inside of the Bush Administration, the war on terror has been written off as a scam that served its limited political purpose and is finished. However, this intellectual refuse continues to be the policy of the U.S. government: people suffer in prison and are tortured and abused because of it. That’s intellectual bankruptcy.

The second incident is from the winter of 2003, in the lead-up to the war. I remember walking to class across the quadrangle at Columbia University and coming across some students protesting with a “no blood for oil” banner.

“Isn’t that just a bit cynical?” I asked them. “Do you honestly believe that the country is going to war over oil, and not for the reasons that the government has cited?”

“Yes,” they replied.

These young leftists turn out to have been right on the money. In the last couple of weeks, Gingrich, Cheney, and several other major architects have “revealed” that the war was always just about oil. And you thought it was weapons of mass destruction . . .