THE HANDSTAND

February 2005


T Garton Ash, Free World excerpt from book review by Tony Judt

As an international citizen, he notes, the United States is irresponsibly delinquent. The EU gave away $36.5 billion in development aid in 2003. The US just managed one third of that amount - and much of that foreign aid either went to Israel or else came with strings attaqched: nearly 80% of all American "development aid" obliges recipients to spend the money on American goods and services. On Iraq alone the US spent eight times the amount it gace in overseas aid to everyone else. The US is the meanest of all the rich countries on the OECD's Development Assistance Committee. The Europeans are by far the most generous.
There is more. The US contains just 5% of the world's population (and falling), but it is responsible for 25% of the world#s greenhous gas output per annum........ The real weapons of mass destruction, in Garton Ash's view, are global poverty and incipient environmental catastrophe. On these genuine threats to our common civilisation, the European Union has a strikingly superiuor record...."It was said of ancient Rome that the emperor Nero fiddled while the city burned. In the new Rome the president (of USA) fiddled while the Earth burned."


ISIS Press Release 07/01/05

No to Fluoridation

The "mass medication" of UK’s drinking water with a listed poison will cost London’s health authorities alone more than £21 million. Sam Burcher reports

Sources for this article are posted on ISIS members’ website. Details here.

Fluoridation for all of England and Wales

Fluoridation was introduced into the UK in the 1960s when areas in and around Birmingham and Newcastle were fluoridated, along with the Republic of Northern Ireland, making up 11% of the UK population. The Government has now decided to put fluoride into all public water supplies in England and Wales, with the aim of reducing tooth decay among children in "deprived" areas.

Under the Water Bill 2003, water providers will be obliged to add fluoride to their supplies. According to a letter from health minister Hazel Blears and environment minister Elliott Morley to the Deputy PM John Prescott, "those who remain adamantly opposed would be able to use water filters that remove fluoride or buy bottled drinking water".

Campaigners opposed to fluoride include the National Pure Water Association (NPWA), Green Network and The Green Party. Green Party spokesperson Martin Skrewsbury says, "The general trend in the world is against fluoridation." He pointed out that the risks of tooth decay in fluoridated Gateshead and non-fluoridated Liverpool are the same.

Dental disease increases six-fold by fluoridation

The American Journal of Diseases of Children states: "With few exceptions the biochemistry of fluorine (fluoride) emphasis its toxic features. The production of endemic dental fluorosis in human beings by drinking water is an outstanding example of the toxic effect of the excessive intake of the element." Dental fluorosis is fluoride poisoning that causes hypomineralisation (irregular calcification) and a disorder of ameloblasts (enamel forming cells) that mottle, weaken and discolour children’s teeth. In 2000, the Newcastle NHS Trust reported dental fluorosis in 54% of children aged 8-9 years compared to 24% of 8-9 year olds in non-fluoridated Northumberland.

In 1999, Baroness Hayman responded in a Written Answer for the Government, "We accept that dental fluorosis is a manifestation of systemic toxicity." Despite this sanction, the Government have backtracked on the safety of fluoride, supported by the British Dental Association, which states that fluoride is a positive step to narrowing the health inequalities that currently exist.

Fluoride is poison

Hydrofluosilic acid and other fluorosilicates are not naturally occurring. They are waste products derived from the industrial manufacture of aluminium, zinc, uranium, aerosols, insecticides, fertilizers, plastics, lubricants and pharmaceuticals.

Professor Kaj Roholm, the author of the first and most comprehensive monograph on fluorosilicates classifies hydrofluorisilic acid and hexafluorisilic acid as "extremely toxic." One chemical company selling fluoride to water suppliers describes it as "a colourless to straw yellow, transparent, fuming, corrosive liquid with a pungent odour and irritating action on the skin."

Hydrofluorsilic acid is listed as Part II poison under the Poisons Act 1972. As such its use as a commercially ingestible product in water contravenes the UK and EU pharmaceutical legislations governing the regulation of medicinal substances as well as the Poisons Act.

Natural fluoride occurs in mineral salts such as calcium fluoride and magnesium fluoride.

Worldwide rejection

Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Finland, Luxembourg, Norway Switzerland, West Germany, Netherlands and Italy have all banned the addition of hydrofluorosilic acid to drinking water. So have Japan and India, where fluoride occurs naturally and skeletal fluorosis (thickening of bones) is prevalent. In 1942, the Lancet reported severe dental fluorosis in areas where natural calcium fluoride concentrations of one ppm (part per million) - the Governments "safe" limit - caused skeletal defects in children with poor nutrition.

Professor Hardy Limeback, a consultant to the Canadian Dental Association also studied the health effects of fluoride on children in fluoridated Toronto. He found an increasing trend in Torontonians having double the level of fluoride in hipbones compared to children in unfluoridated Montreal. Prof Limeback warned that children under three years should never drink fluoridated water or use fluoride toothpaste or products and fluoridated water must never be used for making baby formula. He rebuts the safety of fluoride and is concerned that no tests have been undertaken by the international pro-fluoride lobby to assess the effects of fluoride accumulation.

Bad for bones

Five major epidemiological studies from France, the UK and the US show higher rates of hip fractures in fluoridated regions. The US has the highest number of hip and other bone fractures and the longest history of fluoride use. In 1997, the EPA scientists went on record against the practice of adding fluoride to drinking water.

Links to obesity and hypothyroid

Water in the West Midlands has been fluoridated for forty years. In 2003, the region topped the UK’s "fat list" with 22% of the population classed as clinically obese. Doctors are concerned that pregnant mothers ingesting fluoride from drinking water are pre- disposing their offspring to obesity.

Dr Barry Durrant-Peatfield, a thyroid specialist, believes that fluoride is partially to blame for the high incidence of under active thyroid problems in Birmingham. He says, "There is no doubt that fluoride is enzyme disruptive and one thing it affects is thyroid hormones." This is because fluoride interferes with the uptake of iodine crucial for the regulation of hormones. Dr Peatfield was suspended by the GMC (General Medical Council) because he made natural thyroid treatments available to his patients. He was subsequently reinstated.

Campaign against fluoride

A recent study of five primary schools around Birmingham indicated that 34% of young children had dental fluorosis. Peter Mansfield of The National Pure Water Association (NPWA) tested 200 volunteers in the West Midlands and found that 60% had four times the "safe" level of fluoride in their urine. The NPWA has campaigned against fluoridation for 4 decades. These are some of the their concerns:

  • The susceptibility of children to toxic substances in water and the environment
  • The toxicity of fluoride in water
  • The prevalence of dental fluorosis
  • Failure to apply the Precautionary Principle
  • Violations of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union 2000

The junior health minister for England and Wales estimates that 15% more children will have less dental decay because of mass fluoridation. But how many more will have dental fluorosis, and accumulative health problems caused by fluoride? And the chief target group for fluoridation, the less well off, are being deprived of choice, for it is precisely they who will not be able to afford bottled water and filters, to protect their children from a poison more toxic than lead.

Scotland’s devolved parliament pulled the plug on plans to add fluoride to Scotland’s drinking water in November 2004. The first minister said, "We will not be changing the current legislation on fluoridation of the water supply in this parliament. We will however bring forward a range of other measures to improve the dental health of children, especially in their early years."

To participate in a letter writing campaign to stop water companies adding fluoride to tap water contact the National Pure Water Association (NPWA) www.npwa.freeserve.c o.uk or www.greenparty.org.uk
This article can be found on the I-SIS website at http://www.i- sis.org.uk/NotoFluoridation.php

THE IDEAS AND PRACTICE OF INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE ARE GAINING GROUND
Below is a link to, and information from, the Center for Constitutional Rights' website detailing a legal complaint it has filed on behalf of Iraqis victimized at Abu Ghraib prison. For those who have followed the Sharon case and its aftermath in Belgium, this information will cover some familiar terrain.

The fact that Donald Rumsfeld, who played a key role in quashing Belgium's universal jurisdiciton legislation, should now find himself accused under the same sort of legislation in Germany is not only ironic but instructive.

Despite considerable disappointments in the field of international criminal prosecution over the last four years, most notably the US withdrawal from the Rome Treaty establishing the International Criminal Court, the launch of a war against Iraq in contravention of Chapter 7 of the United Nations Charter, and the cancellation of Belgium's progressive anti-atrocity legislation, there are many indications that the practice, not simply the idea, of international justice is indeed gaining ground: The International Court of Justice ruling on Israel's Wall, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's statement that the Iraq invasion and war were illegal, and renewed judicial interest in the crimes of Gen. Augusto Pinochet.

Thank you for your continued interest in the prosecution of humanitatian
crimes in general, and the theory and practice of universal jurisdiction in
particular. To show your support for and commitment to international justice, please visit the website mentioned below, and take a moment to send a letter to the German prosecutor expressing your encouragement of Germany's readiness to offer up its national courts for the prosecution of serious international crimes, such as those that occurred -- and are still occurring -- at Abu Ghraib prison.

Laurie King-Irani

wwwjohncurrantd.com
Dublin Mid-West TD, Deputy John Curran now has a E-zine Newsletter at the url above.

Center For Constitutional Rights Seeks Criminal Investigation in Germany into Culpability of U.S. Officials in Abu Ghraib Torture


http://www.ccr-ny.org/v2/legal/september_11th/sept11Article.asp?ObjID=
1xiADJOOQx&Content=472

The German Prosecutor Asked to Meet Obligations under Law Requiring Investigation into Torture and War Crimes. Doctrine of Universal Jurisdiction Permits Prosecution of Suspected War Criminals Wherever They May Be Found

Opinions and Documents
Introduction to Complaint in English
Complaint in German part 1
English Translation of German Complaint
Complaint in German part 2
List of Defendants
List of Plaintiffs


Synopsis
In a historic effort to hold high-ranking U.S. officials accountable for brutal acts of torture including the widely publicized abuses carried out at Abu Ghraib, on Tuesday November 30, 2004, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and four Iraqi citizens filed a criminal complaint with the German Federal Prosecutor's Office at the Karlsruhe Court, Karlsruhe, Germany.  Under the doctrine of universal jurisdiction, suspected war criminals may be prosecuted irrespective of where they are located.

The four Iraqis were victims of gruesome crimes including severe beatings, sleep and food deprivation, hooding and sexual abuse.

CCR President Michael Ratner, who traveled to Berlin to file the complaint, said "From Donald Rumsfeld on down, the political and military leaders in charge of Iraq policy must be investigated and held accountable. It is shameful that the United States of America, a nation that purports to set moral and legal standards for  world, refuses to seriously investigate the role of those at the top of the chain of command in these horrible crimes."  "Indeed," Ratner added "the existence of 'torture memos' drafted by administration officials and the authorization of techniques that violated humanitarian law by Secretary Rumsfeld, Lt. General Sanchez and others  make clear that responsibility for Abu Ghraib and other violations of law reaches all the way to the top."

The U.S. officials charged include Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Former CIA Director George Tenet, Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence Dr. Stephen Cambone, Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, Major General Walter Wojdakowski, Major General Geoffrey Miller, Brigadier General Janis L. Karpinski, Lieutenant Colonel Jerry L. Phillabaum, Colonel Thomas Pappas, and Lieutenant Colonel Stephen L. Jordan.

The criminal complaint was brought under the German Code of Crimes against International Law (CCIL) and seeks an investigation into war crimes allegedly carried out by high ranking United States civilian and military officials, including the incidents which occurred in Iraq.

[Please join our effort!   The German Prosecutor has discretion to decide
whether to initiate an investigation.  It is critical that he hear from you so he knows that people around the world support this effort.Send a letter here]

CCR is represented in Germany by Wolfgang Kaleck, a Berlin-based lawyer who has been involved in similar efforts on behalf of victims of the Argentine "dirty war." The charges include violations of the German Code, "War Crimes against Persons," which outlaws killing, torture, cruel and inhumane treatment, sexual coercion and forcible transfers.  The Code makes criminally responsible those who carry out the above acts as well as those who induce, condone or order the acts. It also makes commanders liable, whether civilian or military, who fail to prevent their subordinates from committing such acts.

The German Code of Crimes against International Law grants German Courts what is called Universal Jurisdiction for the above-described crimes. Article 1, Part 1, Section 1 states: "This Act shall apply to all criminal offenses against international law designated under this Act, to serious criminal offences designated therein even when the offence was committed abroad and bears no relation to Germany." This means that those who commit such crimes can be prosecuted wherever found: they, like pirates of old, are considered enemies of all humankind.

The German CCIL places a prosecuting duty on the German prosecutor for all crimes that constitute violations of the CCIL, irrespective of the location of the person, the crime, or the nationality of the persons involved. Complaints can be filed with the German prosecutor to seek an investigation of specific crimes, as was done here.  While outside parties can bring complaints to the attention of a prosecutor in the U.S., there is no duty to prosecute such complaints and they do not become part of an official court procedure. In Germany, the prosecutor is under a duty to determine if an investigation and indictments are warranted; if he fails to do so, the complainants can appeal to the court.

According to CCR lawyers, in this case there are particularly compelling
reasons the prosecutor should exercise his duty. Three of the defendants are present in Germany: Lt. General Sanchez and Major General Wodjakoski are stationed in Heidelberg, and Colonel Pappas is in Wiesbaden. Others, such as Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, often travel to Germany. In addition, the military units that engaged in the illegal conduct are stationed in Germany.  Although such links to Germany are unnecessary for the prosecutor to fulfill his duty, when the alleged perpetrators are actually on German soil the duty to investigate is even stronger. Their presence in Germany gives the prosecutor an important avenue to investigate these cases. Last, since the complainants are also victims, this places an additional duty on the prosecutor to investigate.

"We view Germany as a court of last resort," said CCR Vice President Peter Weiss, "We file these cases here because there is simply no other place to go. It is clear that the U.S. government is not willing to open an investigation into these allegations against these officials."  Weiss also pointed out that Congress has failed to seriously investigate the abuses and none of the various commissions appointed by the military and the Bush administration has been willing to look unflinchingly up the chain of command to consider what criminal responsibility lies with the military and political leadership. Instead, they asserted that the abuses and torture were the exclusive responsibility of rogue lower-level military personnel.

There are no international courts or courts in Iraq that can carry out investigations and prosecutions of the U.S. role, either: the United States has refused to join the International Criminal Court, thereby foreclosing the option of pursuing a prosecution in international courts; Iraq has no authority to prosecute; and the U.S. gave immunity to all its personnel in Iraq from Iraqi prosecution. Says Weiss, "We are doing what is necessary and expected when other systems of justice have failed: we are asking the German prosecutors, who have available one of the most advanced universal jurisdiction laws in the world, to begin an investigation that is required under its law."
.............................................
Rumsfeld cancels trip after accusations

Aljazeera.Net
Friday 21 January 2005, 13:23 Makka Time, 10:23 GMT

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld cancelled a planned visit to Germany after a US human rights organisation asked German authorities to prosecute him for war crimes, Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) has learned.Rumsfeld has informed the German government via the US embassy that he will not take part in the Munich Security Conference in February, conference head Horst Teltschik told dpa on Thursday.Rumsfeld made it known immediately after the complaint was filed that he would not attend the Munich conference unless Germany quashed the legal action.

The New York-based Centre for Constitutional Rights filed a
complaint in December with the Federal German Prosecutor's Office against Rumsfeld accusing him of war crimes and torture in connection with detainee abuses at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison.
German legislation violations
The organisation alleges violations of German legislation, which outlaws war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide independent of the place of crime or origin of the accused.The prosecutor's office in Karlsruhe reportedly is examining the roughly 170-page complaint to see whether an investigation is warranted. The Centre for Constitutional Rights said it and four Iraqis allegedly tortured in US custody filed a complaint with German authorities against Rumsfeld, former CIA director George Tenet and eight other senior military and civilian officials over abuses at Abu Ghraib and elsewhere in Iraq.The organisation said it had turned to German prosecutors "as a court of last resort" because the US government "is unwilling to open an independent investigation" and had "refused to join the International Criminal Court".

Britain 'sliding into police state'

Alan Travis, Clare Dyer and Michael White
Friday January 28, 2005
The Guardian

The home secretary, Charles Clarke, is transforming Britain into a police state, one of the country's former leading anti-terrorist police chiefs said yesterday.

George Churchill-Coleman, who headed Scotland Yard's anti-terrorist squad as they worked to counter the IRA during their mainland attacks in the late 1980s and early 1990s, said Mr Clarke's proposals to extend powers, such as indefinite house arrest, were "not practical" and threatened to further marginalise minority communities. Mr Churchill-Coleman told the Guardian: "I have a horrible feeling that we are sinking into a police state, and that's not good for anybody. We live in a democracy and we should police on those standards. He added: "I have serious worries and concerns about these ideas on both ethical and practical terms. You cannot lock people up just because someone says they are terrorists. Internment didn't work in Northern Ireland, it won't work now. You need evidence."

Mr Churchill-Coleman's team had to counter IRA cells which mounted the 1991 mortar attack on Downing Street. His criticism comes as Mr Clarke attempts to convince cabinet colleagues about the need for new powers.

The home secretary,Clarke, has already shown an appetite for the kind of political language favoured by his predecessor, David Blunkett, to justify the tools he says the state needs to fight the ongoing war against terror. In an interview in today's Daily Telegraph, he warns of the need to monitor not only alleged terror suspects but their family, friends and acquaintances. They could be subjected to potentially daily searches even though they are not accused of any crime, he said. He said: My first responsibility is to protect people. I don't regard their rights as absolute. There are serious people and serious organisations trying to destroy our society. We are in a state of emergency."

Guy Mansfield QC, the chairman of the Bar Council, said yesterday that house arrest without trial was as damaging as imprisonment without trial and would breed resentment among ethnic minorities. The leftwing Labour MP and QC, Bob Marshall-Andrews, called the proposals "the most substantial extension of the state's executive powers over the citizen for 300 years". He predicted the bill could face a Labour backbench revolt of up to 70 MPs.

Tony Blair mounted a strong defence of the plans.

Speaking from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland,Tony Blair said: "I pay great attention to the civil liberties of the country. But on the other hand, it is also right that there is a new form of global terrorism in our country, in every other European country and most countries around the world."

Some of the 11 foreign terror suspects held in Belmarsh and Woodhill prisons and Broadmoor high security hospital could be released under strict bail conditions within weeks or even days. Lawyers will be pressing for three of them to be freed from detention under restrictions similar to the proposed new control order in a series of bail hearings starting on Monday. The men's lawyers will argue that the home secretary had accepted that imprisonment was unnecessary to protect the public when he announced this week that it would be replaced by a new control order imposing restrictions on suspects in the community, up to and including house arrest. The Home Office refused to say yesterday whether Mr Clarke would oppose bail. But lawyers said it would be virtually impossible for him now to argue that imprisonment was necessary for public protection when he himself was proposing a maximum restriction of house arrest.

Lawyers believe the chances are strong that Mahmoud Abu Rideh, a Palestinian detainee whose bail application was heard in December, will be released when the commission delivers its judgment, which is expected imminently.

Mr Clarke's proposals face a hazardous passage through both houses of parliament as MPs and peers seek to condemn what some regard as a draconian extension of state power.

A new opinion poll shows that almost two-thirds of big business leaders in
the UK are against the EU Constitution.

Article >> http://euobserver.com/?aid=18097&rk=1

Key part of EU Constitution may be changed

14.01.2005 - 09:45 CET | By Honor Mahony

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Just as member states get down to the difficult task of persuading their citizens to vote for the Constitution, it emerged that a central part of the document may be revised.In a bid to ease French fears about Turkey membership of the EU and the voting power it would wield due to its size, the European Commission President told French daily Le Figaro on Wednesday that the rules may be changed.

"If it is necessary to change the rules [for Turkish membership] we will do so, but that is not an issue today" said José Manuel Durão Barroso in the interview.He was referring to the voting system to be used to take decisions under the new Constitution. After much wrangling during the negotiations, member states eventually settled on a double majority system based on population and a number of member states.In order for a decision to be taken 55% of member states representing 65% of the total EU population are needed.

By the time Turkey joins the EU, not before 2015, it is expected that its population will have outgrown Germany's - currently the biggest member state in the European Union.

Commenting on Mr Barroso's interview, his spokeswoman said "when the time comes to change the constitution we will discuss it but the time has not come".Member states in December agreed that EU talks with Turkey should be formally opened in October.But in France, particularly, there are fears that the referendum on the Constitution planned for May or June may become entangled in the Turkey question - French voters are largely hostile to Turkey's EU membership.

News that the part in the Constitution which determines the future balance of power in the Union may be changed is likely to fuel eurosceptics' campaign against the document.

If the rules were to be changed, all member states would have to unanimously agree to it and it would have to be done before 2015 - the earliest possible date for Turkey's EU entry.

German School Books altered
Wednesday 26, January 2005

Pressure from Turkey has resulted in the removal of a reference to the Armenian genocide from a German school curriculum, reports said Wednesday. The eastern German state of Brandenburg has eliminated half a sentence on the Armenians included in ninth and tenth grade history classes after a Turkish diplomat complained to state Prime Minister Matthias Platzeck, the newspaper Die Welt reported.

In a chapter entitled "War, Technology and Civilian Populations" the school book text said "for example, the genocide of the Armenian population of Anatolia." That passage has now been removed from school textbooks, the newspaper said.

Platzeck met regularly with Turkish diplomats and was "steeled" against their influence, the newspaper quoted him as saying. The prime minister added that genocide was too important an issue to be dealt with in just half a sentence. "Brandenburg's curriculum was the only one in Germany which up until now included a reference to the murder of the Armenians," said Die Welt.

Most historians say that between 600,000 and 1.5 million Armenians were killed in 1915 and 1916 under the Ottoman Turks during World War I. The Turkish government, which denies that a genocide took place, speaks of 200,000 dead.

A Turkish embassy spokesman in Berlin declined to comment directly on the report, but noted the initiative had come from the Turkish consulate responsible for Berlin and Brandenburg - not from the embassy itself.