Monday, December 8, 2014


News Clips For The Day


Eric Holder to release new racial profiling guidance
By PAULA REID CBS NEWS December 8, 2014, 6:00 AM

Attorney General Eric Holder will announce the Justice Department's release of its long-awaited revised racial profiling guidance for federal law enforcement on Monday.

In 2003, the Justice Department issued its first racial profiling guidance under former Attorney General John Ashcroft. That guidance banned profiling based on race and ethnicity, but granted exceptions for national security and border protection. Civil rights groups considered the exceptions a kind of permission to discriminate especially against Muslims in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

The newly revised guidance will expand the characteristics it protects -- beyond race and ethnicity -- to include bans on profiling on the basis of gender, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, and general identity. The guidance applies to federal law enforcement officers and also to state and local officers involved in federal law enforcement tasks. But the new guidance does continue to allow certain exceptions for the Department of Homeland Security.

The Department of Homeland Security has confirmed that there will be exceptions for its work in screening at the borders and in transportation settings. Other exceptions have been carved out for U.S. Border Patrol interdiction activities in the vicinity of the border and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigation (HSI) interdiction activities at ports of entry. Secret Service "protective activities" are also excluded from the new guidelines.

The Justice Department began the process of revising the guidance back in 2009. Attorney General Holder has pressed for the revised policy to be finalized before he leaves office, according to a Justice Department official. "It has been the first item on the agenda each day in his morning senior staff meetings," the official said.

"Particularly in light of certain recent incidents we've seen at the local level--and the widespread concerns about trust in the criminal justice process which so many have raised throughout the nation--it's imperative that we take every possible action to institute strong and sound policing practices," Holder said in a statement released in advance of the new guidance.

The revised guidelines are expected to be one of the signature accomplishments of the outgoing attorney general. At a speech last week in Atlanta, Holder promised these guidelines would be "rigorous new standards--and robust safeguards--to help end racial profiling, once and for all."

But civil rights groups are not satisfied that the new guidance follows through on the promised reforms. The ACLU has been one of the groups pushing for revised racial profiling guidance.

"It's baffling that even as the government recognizes that bias-based policing is patently unacceptable, it gives a green light for the FBI, TSA, and CBP to profile racial, religious and other minorities at or in the vicinity of the border and in certain national security contexts, and does not apply the Guidance to most state and local law enforcement," ACLU Washington Legislative Office Director Laura W. Murphy said in a statement.

Holder will hold a conference call on Monday to brief local law enforcement on the changes to the federal policy. He hopes that federal law enforcement will implement these standards and then set an example for local law enforcement agencies to adopt as well. The Attorney General is expected to make a series of stops in cities across the US as part of an effort to improve relations between communities and law enforcement starting Tuesday with a speech in Memphis.

The Justice Department is expected to release the full guidance Monday afternoon.




“The newly revised guidance will expand the characteristics it protects -- beyond race and ethnicity -- to include bans on profiling on the basis of gender, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, and general identity. The guidance applies to federal law enforcement officers and also to state and local officers involved in federal law enforcement tasks. But the new guidance does continue to allow certain exceptions for the Department of Homeland Security. The Department of Homeland Security has confirmed that there will be exceptions for its work in screening at the borders and in transportation settings. Other exceptions have been carved out for U.S. Border Patrol interdiction activities in the vicinity of the border and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigation (HSI) interdiction activities at ports of entry. Secret Service "protective activities" are also excluded from the new guidelines. ... "It's baffling that even as the government recognizes that bias-based policing is patently unacceptable, it gives a green light for the FBI, TSA, and CBP to profile racial, religious and other minorities at or in the vicinity of the border and in certain national security contexts, and does not apply the Guidance to most state and local law enforcement," ACLU Washington Legislative Office Director Laura W. Murphy said in a statement.... He hopes that federal law enforcement will implement these standards and then set an example for local law enforcement agencies to adopt as well. The Attorney General is expected to make a series of stops in cities across the US as part of an effort to improve relations between communities and law enforcement starting Tuesday with a speech in Memphis.”

Did I just read here that a “trickle down” policy has been announced? Holder's report says “federal law enforcement will implement these standards and then set an example for local law enforcement agencies to adopt as well.” This does not address the problem, which is a local law enforcement problem. Is Holder saying he doesn't want to tamper with local controls on police (assuming there are controls on police)? Will it take a law or constitutional amendment to get at the problem?

I would like to see more information on the legality under current law of federal overview of local policing. It seems to me that there is a need for a grassroots movement to force police to perform humanely while enforcing the law. This “broken window policing” needs to stop. I wonder what would happen if Congress and the Senate were flooded with calls and letters on the scourge of overly aggressive police actions which are interfering with our citizenry in their daily lives (like walking down the road.)





http://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2014/12/06/i-was-a-st-louis-cop-my-peers-were-racist-and-violent-and-theres-only-one-fix/

Being a cop showed me just how racist and violent the police are. There’s only one fix.
By Redditt Hudson 
December 6, 2014

Redditt Hudson, a former cop, works for the NAACP and chairs the board of the Ethics Project. The views expressed here are his own.

As a kid, I got used to being stopped by the police. I grew up in an inner-ring suburb of St. Louis. It was the kind of place where officers routinely roughed up my friends and family for no good reason.

I hated the way cops treated me.

But I knew police weren’t all bad. One of my father’s closest friends was a cop. He became a mentor to me and encouraged me to join the force. He told me that I could use the police’s power and resources to help my community.

So in 1994, I joined the St. Louis Police Department. I quickly realized how naive I’d been. I was floored by the dysfunctional culture I encountered.

I won’t say all, but many of my peers were deeply racist.

One example: A couple of officers ran a Web site called St. Louis Coptalk, where officers could post about their experience and opinions. At some point during my career, it became so full of racist rants that the site administrator temporarily shut it down. Cops routinely called anyone of color a “thug,” whether they were the victim or just a bystander.

This attitude corrodes the way policing is done.

As a cop, it shouldn’t surprise you that people will curse at you, or be disappointed by your arrival. That’s part of the job. But too many times, officers saw young black and brown men as targets. They would respond with force to even minor offenses. And because cops are rarely held accountable for their actions, they didn’t think too hard about the consequences.

Once, I accompanied an officer on a call. At one home, a teenage boy answered the door. That officer accused him of harboring a robbery suspect, and demanded that he let her inside. When he refused, the officer yanked him onto the porch by his throat and began punching him.

Another officer met us and told the boy to stand. He replied that he couldn’t. So the officer slammed him against the house and cuffed him. When the boy again said he couldn’t walk, the officer grabbed him by his ankles and dragged him to the car. It turned out the boy had been on crutches when he answered the door, and couldn’t walk.

Back at the department, I complained to the sergeant. I wanted to report the misconduct. But my manager squashed the whole thing and told me to get back to work.

I, too, have faced mortal danger. I’ve been shot at and attacked. But I know it’s almost always possible to defuse a situation.

Once, a sergeant and I got a call about someone wielding a weapon in an apartment. When we showed up, we found someone sitting on the bed with a very large butcher knife. Rather than storming him and screaming “put the knife down” like my colleagues would have done, we kept our distance. We talked to him, tried to calm him down.

It became clear to us that he was dealing with mental illness. So eventually, we convinced him to come to the hospital with us.

I’m certain many other officers in the department would have escalated the situation fast. They would have screamed at him, gotten close to him, threatened him. And then, any movement from him, even an effort to drop the knife, would have been treated as an excuse to shoot until their clips were empty.

* * *

I liked my job, and I was good at it.

But more and more, I felt like I couldn’t do the work I set out to do. I was participating in a profoundly corrupt criminal justice system. I could not, in good conscience, participate in a system that was so intentionally unfair and racist. So after five years on the job, I quit.

Since I left, I’ve thought a lot about how to change the system. I’ve worked on police abuse, racial justice and criminal justice reform at the Missouri ACLU and other organizations.

Unfortunately, I don’t think better training alone will reduce police brutality. My fellow officers and I took plenty of classes on racial sensitivity and on limiting the use of force. 

The problem is that cops aren’t held accountable for their actions, and they know it. These officers violate rights with impunity. They know there’s a different criminal justice system for civilians and police.

Even when officers get caught, they know they’ll be investigated by their friends, and put on paid leave. My colleagues would laughingly refer to this as a free vacation. It isn’t a punishment. And excessive force is almost always deemed acceptable in our courts and among our grand juries. Prosecutors are tight with law enforcement, and share the same values and ideas.

We could start to change that by mandating that a special prosecutor be appointed to try excessive force cases. And we need more independent oversight, with teeth. I have little confidence in internal investigations.

The number of people in uniform who will knowingly and maliciously violate your human rights is huge. At the Ferguson protests, people are chanting, “The whole damn system is guilty as hell.” I agree, and we have a lot of work to do.





“One of my father’s closest friends was a cop. He became a mentor to me and encouraged me to join the force. He told me that I could use the police’s power and resources to help my community. So in 1994, I joined the St. Louis Police Department. I quickly realized how naive I’d been. I was floored by the dysfunctional culture I encountered. I won’t say all, but many of my peers were deeply racist.... St. Louis Coptalk, where officers could post about their experience and opinions. At some point during my career, it became so full of racist rants that the site administrator temporarily shut it down. Cops routinely called anyone of color a “thug,” whether they were the victim or just a bystander.... But too many times, officers saw young black and brown men as targets. They would respond with force to even minor offenses. And because cops are rarely held accountable for their actions, they didn’t think too hard about the consequences.... Unfortunately, I don’t think better training alone will reduce police brutality. My fellow officers and I took plenty of classes on racial sensitivity and on limiting the use of force.  The problem is that cops aren’t held accountable for their actions, and they know it. These officers violate rights with impunity. They know there’s a different criminal justice system for civilians and police.”

“Prosecutors are tight with law enforcement, and share the same values and ideas. We could start to change that by mandating that a special prosecutor be appointed to try excessive force cases. And we need more independent oversight, with teeth. I have little confidence in internal investigations. The number of people in uniform who will knowingly and maliciously violate your human rights is huge.” This article is heartfelt, detailing an up-close picture of the police department atmosphere that is too common in our society. This one good officer was squashed in his attempt to report an abuse that he witnessed, and finally gave up on the police force.

He is now in the NAACP, which is a good fit for him. I am always in favor of individuals prospering. As likely as not he can help solve the racial problem better in the NAACP than on the force, because I think that is where the battlefield is going to be from now on. I think poor black and brown citizens and lots of others as well will be on the alert for new abuse cases now and ready to march. We as white liberals also need to join the fight within the legislature, by marching with blacks and by filing lawsuits when local courts fail to indict officers when needed. I certainly enjoyed reading this news article. Reddit is the writer, so he is a well-spoken and educated man as well.

See the following report on his participation in Missouri politics. His recommendation of what to do about the problem is more citizen oversight: “We could start to change that by mandating that a special prosecutor be appointed to try excessive force cases. And we need more independent oversight, with teeth.”


http://ballotpedia.org/Redditt_Hudson

Redditt Hudson
Redditt Hudson was a 2012 Democratic candidate for District 13 of the Missouri State Senate.
Elections
2012
See also: Missouri State Senate elections, 2012
Hudson ran in the 2012 election for Missouri State Senate, District 13. Hudson was defeated by Gina Walsh in the August 7 primary election.[1][2]





U.S., NATO officially end Afghan combat mission
CBS/AP December 8, 2014, 4:01 AM

KABUL, Afghanistan -- The U.S. and NATO have ceremonially ended their combat mission in Afghanistan, 13 years after the Sept. 11 terror attacks sparked their invasion of the country to topple the Taliban-led government.

NATO's International Security Assistance Force Joint Command, which was in charge of combat operations, lowered its flag Monday, formally ending its deployment.

U.S. Gen. John F. Campbell, commander of NATO and U.S. forces, says the mission is transitioning to a training and support role. He says from Jan. 1, the coalition will maintain a force of 13,000 troops in Afghanistan, down from a peak around 140,000 in 2011.

The mission ends as the Taliban is increasing its attacks. President Obama recently allowed U.S. forces to launch operations against both Taliban and al Qaeda militants amid the training mission.

And an augmentation of the U.S. role in that training mission was announced just days before Monday's ceremony, with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel saying about 1,000 more American troops than initially planned were to remain in Afghanistan beyond the end of the year.

At a news conference with President Ashraf Ghani, Hagel said the original plan to cut U.S. troop levels to 9,800 by the end of 2014 had been abandoned, but not because of the recent surge in Taliban attacks.

Hagel said the U.S. will keep up to 10,800 troops for the first few months of 2015 and then restart the drawdown, which is scheduled to reach 5,500 troops by the end of next year.

The U.S. decided to keep additional forces in the country temporarily because planned troop commitments by U.S. allies for a NATO train-and-assist mission starting in January have been slow to materialize.

Gen. John Campbell, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, told reporters in an interview later Saturday that he is confident NATO members will furnish the necessary number of troops for the new training mission, which begins Jan. 1. It's just going to take a few extra weeks or months to get them in Afghanistan, he said.

Campbell, who took over on Aug. 26 and has served two previous tours in Afghanistan, spoke glowingly of the new government led by Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah.

"It's like night and day difference dealing with this government," compared with the previous government led by Hamid Karzai, who was often publicly critical of U.S. military efforts against the Taliban insurgency, Campbell said.




“He says from Jan. 1, the coalition will maintain a force of 13,000 troops in Afghanistan, down from a peak around 140,000 in 2011. The mission ends as the Taliban is increasing its attacks. President Obama recently allowed U.S. forces to launch operations against both Taliban and al Qaeda militants amid the training mission.... Hagel said the U.S. will keep up to 10,800 troops for the first few months of 2015 and then restart the drawdown, which is scheduled to reach 5,500 troops by the end of next year. The U.S. decided to keep additional forces in the country temporarily because planned troop commitments by U.S. allies for a NATO train-and-assist mission starting in January have been slow to materialize.... Campbell, who took over on Aug. 26 and has served two previous tours in Afghanistan, spoke glowingly of the new government led by Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah. "It's like night and day difference dealing with this government," compared with the previous government led by Hamid Karzai, who was often publicly critical of U.S. military efforts against the Taliban insurgency, Campbell said.”

I am glad that the government of Afghanistan is not likely to fall to a new Taliban rule in the near future. It would be a shame for all that effort to be lost. It sounds as though the new leadership may be a forward looking group who will not favor Islamic fundamentalism, and I would like to think that the position of women in the society will be improved.





Top commander of al Qaeda in Yemen: Beheadings are "barbaric"
CBS/AP December 8, 2014, 10:04 AM

SANAA, Yemen -- A senior military commander of al Qaeda in Yemen denounced on Monday beheadings carried out by the rival Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), calling the act and its filming for propaganda purposes barbarous and asserting that U.S. drone strikes are expanding al Qaeda's popularity in the country.

The comments, by Nasr bin Ali al-Ansi, came in a video response to questions by reporters posted on one of the group's Twitter accounts. Both groups regularly execute prisoners but beheadings and other brutal acts have become a trademark of ISIS.

Al Qaeda in Yemen - seen by Washington as the group's most dangerous al Qaeda affiliate globally - has criticized ISIS before for trying to expand its territory.

ISIS extremists initially fought to oust Syrian President Bashar Assad. But other groups, including al Qaeda central command, denounced them as too violent. The group now controls large swaths of Iraq and Syria.

Al-Ansi said that previous beheadings by al Qaeda in Yemen were "individual acts" and were not endorsed by the leadership. He appeared to be referring to the beheading of 15 Yemeni soldiers by suspected al Qaeda militants in August.

"Filming and promoting it among people in the name of Islam and Jihad is a big mistake and not acceptable whatever the justifications are," al-Ansi said. "This is very barbaric," he added.

Al-Ansi appeared to have recorded the interview before the killing of American hostage Luke Somers and a South African hostage during a U.S. attempt to rescue them from Al Qaeda in Yemen.

On Monday, Somers' relatives blasted the American government for what they say was unnecessary military action that prompted his al Qaeda captors to slay him.

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the terror group's franchise in Yemen, has long faced attacks by U.S. drone aircraft that have killed several of its leaders but also scores of civilians, drawing criticism from the government and human rights groups.

Al-Ansi said that the drone strikes stoke popular outrage that boosts al Qaeda's popularity.

"While they kill some of the jihadis, the U.S. drone strikes increase the sympathy of Muslims with us," he said, adding: "thanks to the blood of the martyrs, the call for jihad spreads."

In addition to drone strikes, al Qaeda in Yemen has been battling Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, who took control of much of the capital in September. On Monday, three bombs exploded near the homes of Houthi leaders in Sanaa, security officials said.

The explosions damaged several houses and injured eight people, whose identities have not been disclosed, the officials said, adding that authorities had dismantled five other bombs also found in the capital. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to brief the media.

Opponents of the Houthis, who belong to the Zaydi branch of Shiite Islam, accuse them of being a proxy for Shiite powerhouse Iran. Houthis are allied with deposed Yemeni Leader Ali Abdullah Saleh, who the United Nations has put on a sanctions list, along with two Shiite leaders, for destabilizing the country.




“Al-Ansi said that previous beheadings by al Qaeda in Yemen were "individual acts" and were not endorsed by the leadership. He appeared to be referring to the beheading of 15 Yemeni soldiers by suspected al Qaeda militants in August. "Filming and promoting it among people in the name of Islam and Jihad is a big mistake and not acceptable whatever the justifications are," al-Ansi said. "This is very barbaric," he added. Al-Ansi appeared to have recorded the interview before the killing of American hostage Luke Somers and a South African hostage during a U.S. attempt to rescue them from Al Qaeda in Yemen. ... Al-Ansi said that the drone strikes stoke popular outrage that boosts al Qaeda's popularity. "While they kill some of the jihadis, the U.S. drone strikes increase the sympathy of Muslims with us," he said, adding: "thanks to the blood of the martyrs, the call for jihad spreads."

Houthis and Zaydis are new to me. They seem to be located only in Yemen. The Yemeni leader speaks scathingly of beheading, but his group just executed the American and Australian hostages there by some means. His statement doesn't indicate a liberalized viewpoint, apparently. Actually, according to the article, he just said that the publicizing of beheading is “a big mistake,” and “barbaric.” I take that to mean that it is politically unwise. I assume that means that stoning is more humane?






Can the American middle class make a comeback? – CBS
By ANTHONY MIRHAYDARI MONEYWATCH
December 8, 2014, 5:15 AM

There's no denying that the economic "recovery" from the housing bust and financial crisis has left a large swath of the population out in the cold.

The wealthiest Americans saw the quickest turnaround as stocks bottomed in early 2009 and started climbing to one new peak after another. Fueling that resurgence: plenty of cheap money courtesy of the Federal Reserve, near-zero interest rates and a rebound in corporate profits driven partly by the weak job market. Layoffs didn't dry up until the summer of 2009, when economists officially called the end of the recession.

But while stocks have zoomed to new records, home prices recovered some of their losses and businesses enjoyed record earnings, regular working Americans have been left behind. Wealth and income inequality has returned to Gilded Age extremes. The middle class is poorer than anytime since the 1940s, economists have shown.

Use of government welfare programs also remains high. Costs of living increased, driven by higher food, rent,and health care costs. Millions left the labor force and remain on the outside looking in. Hourly wages, on an inflation-adjusted basis, remain 7.5 percent below where they were in 1973.

But now, at long last, there are glimmers of a comeback for the middle class.

This is a key takeaway from Friday's blowout November jobs report, which featured a payroll gain of 321,000 jobs. That's the strongest initial print on this measure since October 2004 and caps the strongest run of job gains since the dot-com boom. The unemployment rate was unchanged at 5.8 percent, but the broader U-6 measure (which includes those marginally attached to the job market) dropped to 11.4 percent to its lowest level since the autumn of 2008.

Sure, it wasn't perfect, with blemishes if you know where to look. The labor participation and employment-to-population ratios were unchanged. Moreover, the number of full-time jobs dropped by 150,000 positions while part-time employment rose by 97,000.

Yet the overall impression is of a tightening labor market. This is corroborated by business surveys showing executives and small business owners are having a harder time finding workers, are planning to hire more workers, and are preparing to pay more for the workers that they can find and hire.

All of this suggests we're on the cusp of a long awaited, and much needed, bout of wage inflation. Average hourly earnings are growing at a meager 2.1 percent annual rate, or only slightly ahead of inflation. We need to see this increase at least above three percent to really start benefiting middle-class families that have seen their income stagnate for years, and even decades.

You can see in the chart above how inflation-adjusted median household income topped out at nearly $57,000 in 1999 but now stands at just under $52,000.

Philippa Dunne of the Liscio Report believes that it would take a few more months of hiring at the current pace "if the labor market is ever going to get back to normal" via higher take-home pay. Especially since the inflation-adjusted measure of average hourly wages is just 0.7 percent above where it was when the recession ended.




“The wealthiest Americans saw the quickest turnaround as stocks bottomed in early 2009 and started climbing to one new peak after another. Fueling that resurgence: plenty of cheap money courtesy of the Federal Reserve, near-zero interest rates and a rebound in corporate profits driven partly by the weak job market.... But while stocks have zoomed to new records, home prices recovered some of their losses and businesses enjoyed record earnings, regular working Americans have been left behind. Wealth and income inequality has returned to Gilded Age extremes. The middle class is poorer than anytime since the 1940s, economists have shown. Use of government welfare programs also remains high. Costs of living increased, driven by higher food, rent, and health care costs. Millions left the labor force and remain on the outside looking in. Hourly wages, on an inflation-adjusted basis, remain 7.5 percent below where they were in 1973.... The unemployment rate was unchanged at 5.8 percent, but the broader U-6 measure (which includes those marginally attached to the job market) dropped to 11.4 percent to its lowest level since the autumn of 2008.... business surveys showing executives and small business owners are having a harder time finding workers, are planning to hire more workers, and are preparing to pay more for the workers that they can find and hire.... Average hourly earnings are growing at a meager 2.1 percent annual rate, or only slightly ahead of inflation. We need to see this increase at least above three percent to really start benefiting middle-class families that have seen their income stagnate for years, and even decades.”

“Wealth and income inequality has returned to Gilded Age extremes. The middle class is poorer than anytime since the 1940s...” This “good news” article is leaving me very cold. My father said once that Republicans “squeeze the money,” leaving everybody on the lower economic levels poorer. This general tightening causes recession, which doesn't hurt the wealthy much, but severely handicaps the poor and middle class. Businesses are holding full time employment down, increasing part time positions which rarely offer benefits, and keeping wages low. If they do increase wages however, as the article said they could, some in our society will be doing better – probably the highly educated or the technically trained.

The statement that many businesses are finding it hard to recruit workers makes me wonder if that is because they are paying too little or they are requiring too much in skills. For instance, are tech savvy workers more needed now? Are high school graduates unable to do basic functions? The article doesn't say. While these businesses aren't finding workers, there are “millions” who have left the labor force – sometimes that means that their unemployment ran out so they aren't being counted anymore. Thank goodness there is still a welfare program in the federal and state governments, because more people are undoubtedly needing help now. The Republicans haven't yet managed to eliminate the system set up by FDR in the 1930's.





CBS/AP December 7, 2014, 2:57 PM
Critics predict violence and deaths over CIA torture report

WASHINGTON -- Foreign governments and U.S. intelligence agencies are predicting that the release of a Senate report examining the use of torture by the CIA will cause "violence and deaths" abroad, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee said Sunday.

Rep. Mike Rogers, a Michigan Republican, is regularly briefed on intelligence assessments. He told CNN's "State of the Union" that U.S. intelligence agencies and foreign governments have said privately that the release of the report on CIA interrogations a decade ago will be used by extremists to incite violence that is likely to cost lives. The 480-page report, a summary of a still-classified 6,000 page study, is expected to be made public next week.

"I think this is a terrible idea," Rogers said of the expected release. "Our foreign partners are telling us this will cause violence and deaths...Foreign leaders have approached the government and said, 'You do this, this will cause violence and deaths.' Our own intelligence community has assessed that this will cause violence and deaths."

A U.S. intelligence official, who was not authorized to be quoted discussing classified intelligence assessments, said Congress had been warned "of the heightened potential that the release could stimulate a violent response."

That concern was seconded Sunday by former CIA Director Michael Hayden, who told CBS News' "Face the Nation" that the report could "be used by our enemies to motivate people to attack Americans in American facilities overseas."

"I am genuinely concerned by that, as was the secretary of state and the director of national intelligence," he said.

He also warned that the report's release could undermine cooperation between the U.S. and other countries on intelligence and counterterrorism. "There are countries out there who have cooperated with us in the war on terror at some political risk who were relying on American discretion," he explained. "I can't imagine anyone out there going forward in the future who would be willing to do anything with us that even smacks of political danger."

On Friday, Secretary of State John Kerry urged the senator in charge of the report to consider the timing of the release, though Obama administration officials say they still support making it public. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat and chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, has not responded to reports of the Kerry call, though she told the Los Angeles Times in a story published Sunday that "We have to get this report out."

A congressional aide noted that the White House has led negotiations to declassify the report since April, and that both the president and his director of national intelligence have endorsed its release. The government has taken steps to beef up security at American posts around the world, said the aide, who was not authorized to be quoted by name and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The report amounts to the first public accounting of the CIA's use of torture on al Qaeda detainees held in secret facilities in Europe and Asia in the years after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

U.S. officials who have read the report say it includes disturbing new details about the CIA's use of such techniques as sleep deprivation, confinement in small spaces, humiliation and the simulated drowning process known as waterboarding. President Barack Obama has acknowledged, "We tortured some folks." The report also says the torture failed to produce life-saving intelligence, a conclusion disputed by current and former intelligence officials, including CIA director John Brennan.

Rogers questioned why the report needed to become public, given that the Justice Department investigated and filed no criminal charges.

"What good will come of this report?" he asked. "There's been a Department of Justice investigation. It was stopped under the Bush administration. There has been congressional action to stop this activity. President Obama put an executive order saying he wouldn't continue any of that activity."

Feinstein told the Los Angeles Times that the harsh interrogations undermined "societal and constitutional values that we are very proud of. Anybody who reads this is going to never let this happen again."




"I think this is a terrible idea," Rogers said of the expected release. "Our foreign partners are telling us this will cause violence and deaths...Foreign leaders have approached the government and said, 'You do this, this will cause violence and deaths.' Our own intelligence community has assessed that this will cause violence and deaths."... He also warned that the report's release could undermine cooperation between the U.S. and other countries on intelligence and counterterrorism. "There are countries out there who have cooperated with us in the war on terror at some political risk who were relying on American discretion," he explained. "I can't imagine anyone out there going forward in the future who would be willing to do anything with us that even smacks of political danger."... A congressional aide noted that the White House has led negotiations to declassify the report since April, and that both the president and his director of national intelligence have endorsed its release. The government has taken steps to beef up security at American posts around the world, said the aide, who was not authorized to be quoted by name and spoke on condition of anonymity.... The report also says the torture failed to produce life-saving intelligence, a conclusion disputed by current and former intelligence officials, including CIA director John Brennan.... "What good will come of this report?" he asked. "There's been a Department of Justice investigation. It was stopped under the Bush administration. There has been congressional action to stop this activity. President Obama put an executive order saying he wouldn't continue any of that activity." Feinstein told the Los Angeles Times that the harsh interrogations undermined "societal and constitutional values that we are very proud of. Anybody who reads this is going to never let this happen again."

I hope it is true that our society will “never let this happen again,” but I doubt it. I think every time a government body feels the need to bend a rule they will bend it, with the threat of severe punishment for any whistleblowers. That 's why the Snowden report didn't materially change the NSA procedures.

I personally, don't want to read all the details of torture. The news reports of such things as tying a man's arms over his head and requiring him to stand up for hours, stripping him and wetting him down in a cold place, pretending to throw “menstrual blood” on an Islamic fundamentalist, having female US agents parade around in front of the same men with no clothes on, etc. to shame them and cause them physical and mental stress are all outside the bounds of normal interrogation. There were also severe beatings and a few prisoners actually died at the hands of CIA and Blackwater related operatives.

There are ways that our government is out of control. I hate that, but I don't see how it can truly be stopped. Every time a law is made to prohibit something, there will be people who choose to disobey it. As likely as not, they won't be caught, and if they are there are factors which will affect whether or not they will be punished for their disobedience. Right now police officers across the nation are killing people in many of our cities and the local courts are allowing them to go unpunished. I'm afraid of that in a gut level way that I'm not worried by the NSA. I'm not likely to become a victim of the NSA. On the local level the beatings are real and the blood is red. Besides, I do really hate a bully, which is what those particular cops are. Not all policemen are, and I honor them for their commitment to ethical and moral actions in the service of the law.





Sweden's Tolerance Is Tested By Tide Of Syrian Immigrants – NPR
JOANNA KAKISSIS
December 05, 2014

Photograph – Sodertalje Mayor Boel Godner in her office. The city has been extremely welcoming to immigrants, but services are now strained. "What's going to happen to everyone who comes here? No one has given the answer to that yet," she says.

Every afternoon, Father Ayoub Stefan leads prayers at St. Gabriel's Syrian Orthodox Church in Sodertalje, a hilly, wooded city of factories and apartment buildings about 20 miles southwest of Stockholm.

The slight, bespectacled priest moved here six years ago from Qamishli, a city in northeastern Syria. In the past three years, as civil war has torn apart Father Ayoub's homeland, it seems like everyone from Qamishli has wanted to come to Sodertalje.

People call or email or write him on Facebook every week, all asking the same questions: "How can we come to Sweden? How can we come to Sodertalje? Can you help us get there? We are desperate."

"I always say, 'I am sorry, I can't help you,' " he says. "I can only pray for you."

Yet many are arriving every day, often after paying thousands of dollars to smugglers. Sweden's migration board projects that 95,000 people, many of them refugees from Syria, are expected to arrive in 2015. That would be a record in this country of 10 million people, which already has taken in more refugees, relative to its population, than any other country in Europe.

But the arrival of so many refugees is testing the country's famously tolerant identity.

Swedes voted out centrist Prime Minister Frederik Reinfeldt this September after he gave a speech asking people to "open their hearts" to those fleeing war.

Instead, an anti-immigrant party, the Sweden Democrats, won seats in parliament and helped bring down the center-left government of Prime Minister Stefan Lofven earlier this week.

One member of the Sweden Democrats, Linus Byland, told reporters they would fight any government proposal that would increase funding for immigration.

"There was a sense that our government didn't have a clear plan for how to manage immigration," says Boel Godner, the mayor of Sodertalje. "And the question that has come up lately, is, can the welfare system bear us all? What's going to happen to everyone who comes here? No one has given the answer to that yet."

New elections are set for March. They will be closely watched in Sodertalje, which takes pride in claiming that it welcomed more Iraqi refugees after the 2003 U.S. invasion and subsequent war than all of North America.

Even by Swedish standards, Sodertalje has been exceptionally welcoming to refugees.

Most are Syrian Christians. Assyrians — or Christians from Iraq, Turkey and Syria — have been moving to the city since the first wave of refugees began coming to Sweden in the 1970s.

That's when Afram Yakoub's parents left Qamishli.

"In the U.S., you always say that it's the land of dreams, yeah? I say it's actually Sweden," says Yakoub, who's now chairman of the Assyrian Community of Sweden. "Here you can get an education from kindergarten up to university without paying one cent. Society takes care of you because the social welfare system is good. Generally, it's an open society with good values."

Sodertalje now has five Syrian Orthodox churches, two professional soccer teams, and a TV channel that broadcasts in Neo-Aramaic, Arabic and English to eighty countries.

One third of the city's population — 30,000 out of 90,00 people — now hails from all around the Middle East, says city manager Martin Andreae.

"It's such a big group, with the same background," says Andreae. "And they come to one specific place. It makes a lot of effort to organize integration in a good way."

Integration begins with housing, and there's a huge shortage in Sweden and especially in Sodertalje. Refugees in the city crowd into small apartments with relatives and friends, says Johan Ward, an immigration specialist at the municipality of Sodertalje.

"You've got a situation where there are several families living in a one-bedroom apartment because there are literally no available flats in Sodertalje," he says. "And it's a problem that is increasing every year, as more people come here."

Sodertalje's unemployment rate is twice as high as Sweden's national rate. That's partly because refugees are struggling to learn Swedish, a requirement for a job.

Maria Silen sees this firsthand as a teacher an adult language school in Sodertalje, her hometown. On a recent evening, she listens as one of her newest students, a refugee from Syria, speaks in halting Swedish about the smugglers who brought him to Europe.

"The most difficult is for them to find places where they can use their Swedish," she says. "Because wherever they go, everybody speaks Arabic. So even if the newcomers — they try to speak Swedish, but they will meet people who speak Arabic."

Andreae, Sodertalje's city manager, says he hopes Swedish politicians find concrete ways to manage immigration instead of closing its doors to war refugees. He would like to see other municipalities take in more refugees, for example, since Sodertalje's resources are now stretched.

He says he chose to work in Sodertalje in part because it reflects Sweden's openness to the world. He hopes that doesn't change.

"Because I like to think that the Swedes still are a very tolerant people," he says. "But of course, when you are challenged in that view, when things are happening, that situation can move, and it can move quite rapidly."

You can follow Joanna Kakissis on Twitter @joannakakissis.

This story was reported with the help of the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.




“Sweden's migration board projects that 95,000 people, many of them refugees from Syria, are expected to arrive in 2015. That would be a record in this country of 10 million people, which already has taken in more refugees, relative to its population, than any other country in Europe.... Instead, an anti-immigrant party, the Sweden Democrats, won seats in parliament and helped bring down the center-left government of Prime Minister Stefan Lofven earlier this week. One member of the Sweden Democrats, Linus Byland, told reporters they would fight any government proposal that would increase funding for immigration.... "And the question that has come up lately, is, can the welfare system bear us all? What's going to happen to everyone who comes here? No one has given the answer to that yet."... Most are Syrian Christians. Assyrians — or Christians from Iraq, Turkey and Syria — have been moving to the city since the first wave of refugees began coming to Sweden in the 1970s.... One third of the city's population — 30,000 out of 90,00 people — now hails from all around the Middle East, says city manager Martin Andreae.... "It's such a big group, with the same background," says Andreae. "And they come to one specific place. It makes a lot of effort to organize integration in a good way."... "You've got a situation where there are several families living in a one-bedroom apartment because there are literally no available flats in Sodertalje," he says. "And it's a problem that is increasing every year, as more people come here." Sodertalje's unemployment rate is twice as high as Sweden's national rate. That's partly because refugees are struggling to learn Swedish, a requirement for a job.”

“He says he chose to work in Sodertalje in part because it reflects Sweden's openness to the world. He hopes that doesn't change. "Because I like to think that the Swedes still are a very tolerant people," he says. "But of course, when you are challenged in that view, when things are happening, that situation can move, and it can move quite rapidly."

There seems to be a fear among some of a destabilization of Swedish society because of all the immigrants. If the government would arrange for some of those who are in Sodertalje to move to other cities, it might help, city manager Martin Andreae said. Of course this very same kind of thing is happening in the US in certain places as the immigrants from Central and South America go to locations where they expect to find jobs. I hope the world governments will cooperate to solve this problem together rather than allowing certain places to be overwhelmed. I hope right wing thinking doesn't spring up everywhere in response to the situation. We don't need the old anti-semitism and now anti-immigrant feelings to dominate Western countries as we had during the 1920's and 30's. I wonder if the UN is addressing it? I think they should. I really am afraid of a new world war over the increasing destabilization in the Middle East.