Portside

This week U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met with dissident State Department “diplomats” to hear their call for “targeted” U.S. military strikes on Syrian government troops, a dangerous plan that would violate both U.S. and international law. In an internal “dissent channel” memo leaked to the New York Times on June 16th, the 51 state department officials called for a major military escalation in Syria which, to date, has been rejected by President Barack Obama.

With his forthcoming visit to Vietnam, Obama can fortify his legacy by meeting with victims of Agent Orange the United States sprayed on Vietnam during the war.

In advance of President Barack Obama’s historic visit to Cuba on March 20, there was speculation about whether he can pressure Cuba to improve its human rights. But a comparison of Cuba’s human rights record with that of the United States shows that the US should be taking lessons from Cuba.

President Obama has the constitutional power to shut down the prison there and return Guantanamo to Cuba.

As we work toward a nuclear deal with Iran, the US government should abide by its commitment to nuclear disarmament in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. It is also time to fully compensate the victims of Agent Orange and fund a total cleanup of the areas in Vietnam that remain contaminated by the toxic chemical. Urge your congressional representative to cosponsor H.R. 2114, the Victims of Agent Orange Relief Act of 2015.

People and groups have been labeled terrorists by the Philippine government, the U.S. government and other countries at the behest of the U.S. government. The Philippine government engages in - red tagging - political vilification. Targets are frequently human rights activists and advocates, political opponents, community organizers or groups struggling for national liberation. Those targeted for assassination are placed on the order of battle list.

It is not just the U.S. image that is suffering. Drone strikes create more enemies of the United States. While Faisal Shahzad was pleading guilty to trying to detonate a bomb in Times Square, he told the judge, “When the drones hit, they don’t see children.”

In a normal grand jury proceeding, the prosecutor presents evidence for a few days, then asks the grand jurors to return an indictment, which they nearly always do. Of 162,000 federal cases in 2010, grand juries failed to indict in only 11 of them. The standard of proof for a grand jury to indict is only probable cause to believe the suspect committed a crime. It is not proof beyond a reasonable doubt, which is required for conviction at trial.

The deputy secretary general of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers and former president of the National Lawyers Guild calls for the criminal prosecution of U.S. and Israeli leaders for committing, aiding and abetting war crimes in the war against Gaza. She outlines the charges against the Israeli leaders for the commission of war crimes, "aided and abetted" by the U.S., which provided the "means for its commission" through its vast military aid.

The BDS movement is spreading throughout the world. European pension funds are divesting from banks and companies that operate in settlements, and European markets are labeling Israeli goods made in the West Bank. Special UN Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Richard Falk, called on the international community to comprehensively investigate the business activities of companies and financial institutions which profit from the settlements in Israel.