Wednesday 27th of November 2024
Home » Blogs » John Richardson's blog

just gotta luuv that yankee hypocrisy .....

just gotta luuv that yankee hypocrisy .....

President Barack Obama, referring to the violent attacks on protesters against the controversial election results in Iran's just-completed presidential election, this week lectured Iran's government, saying, "Peaceful dissent should never be subject to violence."

Referring to the tens and hundreds of thousands of frustrated and angry Iranians who have taken to the streets accusing Iranian authorities of rigging the election in favor of incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Obama said that "the Iranian people and their voices should be heard and respected."

But there is a certain hypocrisy going on here.

Just days ago, the ACLU of Northern California issued a press release announcing that it had filed a complaint over a Pentagon anti-terrorism training manual. That training manual, aimed at Pentagon personnel, describes domestic protests as "low-level terrorist activity." As Staff Attorney Ann Brick and ACLU Washington National Security Policy Council member Michael German write in their complaint letter to the Department of Defense.

"For the DoD to instruct its employees that lawful protest activities should be treated as 'low-level terrorism' is deeply disturbing in and of itself. It is an even more egregious insult to constitutional values, however, when viewed in the context of a long-term pattern of domestic security initiatives that have attempted to equate lawful dissent with terrorism."

http://blog.buzzflash.com/lindorff/249

codswallop .....

Witnesses said police beat protesters and fired tear gas and water cannons at thousands who rallied in Tehran Saturday in open defiance of Iran's clerical government, sharply escalating the most serious internal conflict since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Witnesses described fierce clashes after some 3,000 protesters, many wearing black, chanted "Death to the dictator!" and "Death to dictatorship!" near Revolution Square in downtown Tehran. Police fired tear gas, water cannons and guns but it was not clear if they were firing live ammunition.

Some protesters appeared to be fighting back, setting fire to militia members' motorcycles, witnesses said. There were no immediate confirmed reports of fatalities and the head of Iran's police said his men had been ordered to act with restraint.

President Obama is challenging Iran's government to halt "all violent and unjust actions against its own people."

Obama said in a statement that the universal rights to assembly and free speech must be respected. He said the U.S. "stands with all who seek to exercise those rights."

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2009-06-20-iran-saturday_N.htm

yeah, right; thanks dopey.

Whilst you & yours are banging your gums about the dreadful Iranians, a written exam administered by the Pentagon labels "protests" as a form of "low-level terrorism" - enraging civil liberties advocates and activist groups who say it shows blatant disregard of the First Amendment.

The written exam, given as part of Department of Defense employees' routine training, includes a multiple-choice question that asks:

"Which of the following is an example of low-level terrorism?"

- Attacking the Pentagon

- IEDs

- Hate crimes against racial groups

- Protests

The correct answer, according to the exam, is "Protests."

"Its part of a pattern of equating dissent and protest with terrorism," said Ann Brick, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, which obtained a copy of the question after a Defense Department employee who was taking the test printed the screen on his or her computer terminal.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,526972,00.html

America just loves anti-government demonstrations - but only in countries we don't control.  So if there are ethnic and religious riots in China, we support these.  If there are leftist anti-government riots in Mexico, we support the violent suppression of say, teachers. The US is fixated on Iran's robust demonstrations by angry voters, whilst ignoring identical stories in say, Peru. Not to mention, the Pentagon teaches staff that voters who are demonstrating against say, the Vietnam War, are 'terrorists'.