Go to this link to read a US diplomat's notes on police brutality in Egypt. In your post, answer these questions:
1. Why are some police abusing suspects or prisoners?
2. What group(s) are police targeting?
3. What connection does this brutality have to what's happening now?
4. How might this leak affect how Egyptians view the United States as this situation unfolds?
Friday, January 28, 2011
Egyptian Demonstrations: Best of the Tweets
Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images/New York TimesMonday, January 24, 2011
Hamas Sweeps Palestinian Elections, Complicating Peace Efforts in Mideast
Read the archived article about Hamas' election in 2006. You should post one high level discussion question.
By Scott WilsonWashington Post Foreign Service
Friday, January 27, 2006
RAMALLAH, West Bank, Jan. 26 -- The radical Islamic movement Hamas won a large majority in the new Palestinian parliament, according to official election results announced Thursday, trouncing the governing Fatah party in a contest that could dramatically reshape the Palestinians' relations with Israel and the rest of the world.
In Wednesday's voting, Hamas claimed 76 of the 132 parliamentary seats, giving the party at war with Israel the right to form the next cabinet under the Palestinian Authority's president, Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of Fatah.
Fatah, which has dominated the legislature since the previous elections a decade ago and the Palestinian cause for far longer, won 43 seats. A collection of nationalist, leftist and independent parties claimed the rest.
Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia, another Fatah leader, resigned his post along with his cabinet early Thursday, as reports of Hamas's victory began to circulate. Although the cabinet would have been required to step aside even if Fatah had retained its majority, Qureia acknowledged in submitting his resignation that Hamas had earned the right to form the next cabinet.
"This is the choice of the people," Qureia, a member of the party's discredited old guard who did not run for reelection, told reporters here. "It should be respected."
Abbas, on the other hand, will continue to serve the four-year presidential term he won in an election a year ago, shortly after the death of his predecessor, Yasser Arafat, the founder of Fatah. Abbas will maintain the broad power to create national policy and control the security services, though he needs parliamentary approval for his budget and legislative proposals. He will also shape peace policy with Israel as head of the Palestine Liberation Organization, which does not include Hamas.
The arrival of Hamas, formally known as the Islamic Resistance Movement, in the Palestinian Authority as a nearly equal partner will severely complicate Abbas's efforts to begin negotiations with Israel under the U.S.-backed peace plan known as the "road map." Hamas, which emerged in 1987 during the first Palestinian uprising as an offshoot of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, favors the creation of a Palestinian nation on land that now includes Israel rather than the road map's two-state solution.
The election results stunned U.S. and Israeli officials, who have repeatedly stated that they would not work with a Palestinian Authority that included Hamas, which both countries and the European Union have designated as a terrorist organization. In Washington, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that a party could not "have one foot in politics and the other in terror. Our position on Hamas has therefore not changed."
Javier Solana, the European Union's foreign policy chief, said in a statement that the Palestinian people had "voted democratically and peacefully." But, he added, "these results may confront us with an entirely new situation which will need to be analyzed" at a meeting of European foreign ministers next week.
Jubilant Hamas leaders reiterated Thursday that they had no plans to pursue peace talks or disarm the party's armed wing, a condition Israel has set for beginning negotiations under the road map. The plan, which calls for the creation of an independent Palestinian state by the end of 2005, has been frozen during recent years of violence.
Here in Ramallah, a Fatah stronghold where Hamas won every parliamentary seat except the one reserved for a Christian, dozens of activists from both parties clashed in front of the Palestinian Legislative Council, as the parliament is formally known.
The dispute started when a Hamas supporter hung the party's emerald-green banner above the entrance in place of the national flag. Fatah activists arrived and tore down the banner, which bears the Islamic axiom, "There is no God but God, and Muhammad is his prophet." The fight that ensued was broken up by police officers, who fired warning shots into the air.
"What they did offended not only Hamas but the Islamic nation," said Saleh Mikdad, 40, a print shop employee from the Amari refugee camp here. "But now we are all brothers."
In the past, the Fatah-dominated parliament approved the initiatives of Abbas and Arafat without much debate. But that could change with Hamas controlling the legislature, which will have the power to bring down cabinets if it does not agree with policy and would likely have to approve the terms of a final peace agreement with Israel.
In proceeding with elections despite Hamas's strong showing in last year's municipal races, Abbas gambled that it would be easier to disarm the group and modulate its policies, which include adopting Islamic law in the territories, with its members inside the Palestinian Authority. But Hamas's showing was far stronger than predicted by anyone in Fatah -- or by Palestinian pollsters who severely underestimated the movement's performance in its first national elections.
Hamas leaders must now decide how to form a cabinet whose ministers will run a Palestinian Authority bureaucracy dominated by Fatah supporters. Several Fatah officials said the party would probably decline any invitation to join the next cabinet so that Hamas, its sharpest critic for years, would get a sense of the difficulties involved in governing an angry electorate living under military occupation.
"They want to see how Hamas will act once it's responsible for running the government," said Bassem Barhum, a spokesman for the Palestinian Legislative Council. "They want to show the public that this is what they got. This is Hamas."
Barhum said rules required Abbas, who has threatened to resign if Hamas blocks his political program, to invite the largest party in parliament to form the next cabinet. Although it has the votes in parliament to name any cabinet it chooses, Hamas could be hampered by its lack of experience if it chooses to govern without a partner.
Party leaders chose candidates with backgrounds in medicine, education, computer sciences and other fields so that Hamas would have the expertise to run the various ministries. But Mahmoud Zahar, a victorious Hamas candidate from Gaza, said before the vote that the party favored a coalition government if it won.
One possibility is that Hamas will choose the leader of a third party to be prime minister while its own members grow accustomed to their new roles. One likely candidate for the job is Salam Fayyad, a former finance minister who won a parliamentary seat as the head of the anti-corruption Third Way party.
"My hunch is that they do not want to form a government on their own and would prefer a coalition with Fatah," said Ali Jarbawi, a political science professor at Bir Zeit University in the West Bank. "If this is not possible, I think they'll support a government of technocrats."
The Fatah Central Committee convened Thursday evening to begin discussing whether to join a Hamas-led cabinet, if invited to do so. Abbas Zaki, a committee member, said the decision would "depend on the program."
"If it is only Hamas, then it will be very hard to join," Zaki said. "And it is also necessary for us to understand what happened. We need to study this so we can make a recovery."
Some angry Fatah activists called for Abbas, who is commonly known as Abu Mazen, to step down.
"Abu Mazen led us to this catastrophe," said Shukri Radaideh, a Fatah leader in the Bethlehem district. "He must now resign."
Abbas postponed these parliamentary elections last July to secure a new election law beneficial to Fatah's prospects. One of the law's chief provisions allowed more members of parliament to be elected from parties' national candidate lists rather than from the district level, where Hamas's organization is strongest.
The results announced Thursday, however, showed Hamas winning three more seats from the national list than Fatah and nearly three times as many in district races. In addition to its sweep here in Ramallah, Hamas won all seats except those reserved for Christian candidates in such traditional Fatah territory as Bethlehem and Jerusalem, where the Israeli cabinet had prohibited Hamas candidates from campaigning.
By Scott WilsonWashington Post Foreign Service
Friday, January 27, 2006
RAMALLAH, West Bank, Jan. 26 -- The radical Islamic movement Hamas won a large majority in the new Palestinian parliament, according to official election results announced Thursday, trouncing the governing Fatah party in a contest that could dramatically reshape the Palestinians' relations with Israel and the rest of the world.
In Wednesday's voting, Hamas claimed 76 of the 132 parliamentary seats, giving the party at war with Israel the right to form the next cabinet under the Palestinian Authority's president, Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of Fatah.
Fatah, which has dominated the legislature since the previous elections a decade ago and the Palestinian cause for far longer, won 43 seats. A collection of nationalist, leftist and independent parties claimed the rest.
Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia, another Fatah leader, resigned his post along with his cabinet early Thursday, as reports of Hamas's victory began to circulate. Although the cabinet would have been required to step aside even if Fatah had retained its majority, Qureia acknowledged in submitting his resignation that Hamas had earned the right to form the next cabinet.
"This is the choice of the people," Qureia, a member of the party's discredited old guard who did not run for reelection, told reporters here. "It should be respected."
Abbas, on the other hand, will continue to serve the four-year presidential term he won in an election a year ago, shortly after the death of his predecessor, Yasser Arafat, the founder of Fatah. Abbas will maintain the broad power to create national policy and control the security services, though he needs parliamentary approval for his budget and legislative proposals. He will also shape peace policy with Israel as head of the Palestine Liberation Organization, which does not include Hamas.
The arrival of Hamas, formally known as the Islamic Resistance Movement, in the Palestinian Authority as a nearly equal partner will severely complicate Abbas's efforts to begin negotiations with Israel under the U.S.-backed peace plan known as the "road map." Hamas, which emerged in 1987 during the first Palestinian uprising as an offshoot of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, favors the creation of a Palestinian nation on land that now includes Israel rather than the road map's two-state solution.
The election results stunned U.S. and Israeli officials, who have repeatedly stated that they would not work with a Palestinian Authority that included Hamas, which both countries and the European Union have designated as a terrorist organization. In Washington, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that a party could not "have one foot in politics and the other in terror. Our position on Hamas has therefore not changed."
Javier Solana, the European Union's foreign policy chief, said in a statement that the Palestinian people had "voted democratically and peacefully." But, he added, "these results may confront us with an entirely new situation which will need to be analyzed" at a meeting of European foreign ministers next week.
Jubilant Hamas leaders reiterated Thursday that they had no plans to pursue peace talks or disarm the party's armed wing, a condition Israel has set for beginning negotiations under the road map. The plan, which calls for the creation of an independent Palestinian state by the end of 2005, has been frozen during recent years of violence.
Here in Ramallah, a Fatah stronghold where Hamas won every parliamentary seat except the one reserved for a Christian, dozens of activists from both parties clashed in front of the Palestinian Legislative Council, as the parliament is formally known.
The dispute started when a Hamas supporter hung the party's emerald-green banner above the entrance in place of the national flag. Fatah activists arrived and tore down the banner, which bears the Islamic axiom, "There is no God but God, and Muhammad is his prophet." The fight that ensued was broken up by police officers, who fired warning shots into the air.
"What they did offended not only Hamas but the Islamic nation," said Saleh Mikdad, 40, a print shop employee from the Amari refugee camp here. "But now we are all brothers."
In the past, the Fatah-dominated parliament approved the initiatives of Abbas and Arafat without much debate. But that could change with Hamas controlling the legislature, which will have the power to bring down cabinets if it does not agree with policy and would likely have to approve the terms of a final peace agreement with Israel.
In proceeding with elections despite Hamas's strong showing in last year's municipal races, Abbas gambled that it would be easier to disarm the group and modulate its policies, which include adopting Islamic law in the territories, with its members inside the Palestinian Authority. But Hamas's showing was far stronger than predicted by anyone in Fatah -- or by Palestinian pollsters who severely underestimated the movement's performance in its first national elections.
Hamas leaders must now decide how to form a cabinet whose ministers will run a Palestinian Authority bureaucracy dominated by Fatah supporters. Several Fatah officials said the party would probably decline any invitation to join the next cabinet so that Hamas, its sharpest critic for years, would get a sense of the difficulties involved in governing an angry electorate living under military occupation.
"They want to see how Hamas will act once it's responsible for running the government," said Bassem Barhum, a spokesman for the Palestinian Legislative Council. "They want to show the public that this is what they got. This is Hamas."
Barhum said rules required Abbas, who has threatened to resign if Hamas blocks his political program, to invite the largest party in parliament to form the next cabinet. Although it has the votes in parliament to name any cabinet it chooses, Hamas could be hampered by its lack of experience if it chooses to govern without a partner.
Party leaders chose candidates with backgrounds in medicine, education, computer sciences and other fields so that Hamas would have the expertise to run the various ministries. But Mahmoud Zahar, a victorious Hamas candidate from Gaza, said before the vote that the party favored a coalition government if it won.
One possibility is that Hamas will choose the leader of a third party to be prime minister while its own members grow accustomed to their new roles. One likely candidate for the job is Salam Fayyad, a former finance minister who won a parliamentary seat as the head of the anti-corruption Third Way party.
"My hunch is that they do not want to form a government on their own and would prefer a coalition with Fatah," said Ali Jarbawi, a political science professor at Bir Zeit University in the West Bank. "If this is not possible, I think they'll support a government of technocrats."
The Fatah Central Committee convened Thursday evening to begin discussing whether to join a Hamas-led cabinet, if invited to do so. Abbas Zaki, a committee member, said the decision would "depend on the program."
"If it is only Hamas, then it will be very hard to join," Zaki said. "And it is also necessary for us to understand what happened. We need to study this so we can make a recovery."
Some angry Fatah activists called for Abbas, who is commonly known as Abu Mazen, to step down.
"Abu Mazen led us to this catastrophe," said Shukri Radaideh, a Fatah leader in the Bethlehem district. "He must now resign."
Abbas postponed these parliamentary elections last July to secure a new election law beneficial to Fatah's prospects. One of the law's chief provisions allowed more members of parliament to be elected from parties' national candidate lists rather than from the district level, where Hamas's organization is strongest.
The results announced Thursday, however, showed Hamas winning three more seats from the national list than Fatah and nearly three times as many in district races. In addition to its sweep here in Ramallah, Hamas won all seats except those reserved for Christian candidates in such traditional Fatah territory as Bethlehem and Jerusalem, where the Israeli cabinet had prohibited Hamas candidates from campaigning.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Iran Says It May Drop Woman’s Stoning Sentence
by William Yong
TEHRAN — Iranian officials said Monday that a woman convicted of adultery and sentenced to death by stoning may now face only a prison sentence for acting as an accessory to the murder of her husband.
Apparently contradicting previous court documents, Zahra Elahian, the head of the Human Rights Committee in Iran’s Parliament and a close ally of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said that the stoning sentence against the woman, Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, 43, had never been confirmed. Ms. Ashtiani was convicted of adultery in 2006.
“The stoning sentence has not yet been finalized,” Ms. Elahian wrote in a letter to Dilma Rousseff, the president of Brazil, that was published by Iran’s semiofficial ISNA news agency. Brazil offered asylum to Ms. Ashtiani last summer after her story gained international attention.
Ms. Elahian said that a death sentence for the murder charge had been suspended with the consent of Ms. Ashtiani’s children. Under the Islamic law of “ghesas,” the family of a murder victim is permitted to spare the guilty party from a death sentence.
“This woman faces only a public sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment,” Ms. Elahian said in the letter.
Later on Monday, a top regional judicial official repeated Ms. Elahian’s statement, telling the official IRNA news agency that the stoning sentence had still “not yet been finalized.”
The official, Malek Azhdar-Sharifi, the head of the East Azerbaijan provincial judiciary, said earlier this month that “anything is possible” in the final outcome of Ms. Ashtiani’s case.
However, there is a continuing conflict between Iran’s judiciary and supporters of President Ahmadinejad — who in the past have tried to present a softer line on high-profile judicial cases — and on Monday a spokesman for the judiciary denied that there had been any significant change in Ms. Ashtiani’s status.
“The case of Sakineh Ashtiani is still in the same phase that it was in before,” the spokesman, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, said in comments reported by IRNA.
“Nothing new has happened,” Mr. Ejei said.
After an international outcry arose as a result of widespread publicity about Ms. Ashtiani’s case, Iranian authorities and official state news media mounted a campaign that emphasized her role as an accessory to the murder of her husband, rather than the adultery conviction.
This month, Ms. Ashtiani appeared at a news conference in the presence of foreign journalists and admitted to complicity in the murder of her husband. She denied that she had been pressured into making a public confession and denounced the protest over her sentence.
Before that, she had appeared in a series of state-produced television programs in which she confessed to her crimes and distanced herself from the international human rights campaign for her.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Excerpt: Remarks by the President at a Memorial Service for the Victims of the Shooting in Tucson, Arizona
Read the excerpt from the speech. At the end, Obama says we need to "align our values with our actions." What implications does this have for the US's international relations? Be specific about which US values you are talking about.
You see, when a tragedy like this strikes, it is part of our nature to demand explanations –- to try and pose some order on the chaos and make sense out of that which seems senseless. Already we’ve seen a national conversation commence, not only about the motivations behind these killings, but about everything from the merits of gun safety laws to the adequacy of our mental health system. And much of this process, of debating what might be done to prevent such tragedies in the future, is an essential ingredient in our exercise of self-government.
But at a time when our discourse has become so sharply polarized -– at a time when we are far too eager to lay the blame for all that ails the world at the feet of those who happen to think differently than we do -– it’s important for us to pause for a moment and make sure that we’re talking with each other in a way that heals, not in a way that wounds.
Scripture tells us that there is evil in the world, and that terrible things happen for reasons that defy human understanding. In the words of Job, “When I looked for light, then came darkness.” Bad things happen, and we have to guard against simple explanations in the aftermath.
For the truth is none of us can know exactly what triggered this vicious attack. None of us can know with any certainty what might have stopped these shots from being fired, or what thoughts lurked in the inner recesses of a violent man’s mind. Yes, we have to examine all the facts behind this tragedy. We cannot and will not be passive in the face of such violence. We should be willing to challenge old assumptions in order to lessen the prospects of such violence in the future. But what we cannot do is use this tragedy as one more occasion to turn on each other. That we cannot do. That we cannot do.
As we discuss these issues, let each of us do so with a good dose of humility. Rather than pointing fingers or assigning blame, let’s use this occasion to expand our moral imaginations, to listen to each other more carefully, to sharpen our instincts for empathy and remind ourselves of all the ways that our hopes and dreams are bound together.
After all, that’s what most of us do when we lose somebody in our family -– especially if the loss is unexpected. We’re shaken out of our routines. We’re forced to look inward. We reflect on the past: Did we spend enough time with an aging parent, we wonder. Did we express our gratitude for all the sacrifices that they made for us? Did we tell a spouse just how desperately we loved them, not just once in a while but every single day?
So sudden loss causes us to look backward -– but it also forces us to look forward; to reflect on the present and the future, on the manner in which we live our lives and nurture our relationships with those who are still with us.
We may ask ourselves if we’ve shown enough kindness and generosity and compassion to the people in our lives. Perhaps we question whether we're doing right by our children, or our community, whether our priorities are in order.
We recognize our own mortality, and we are reminded that in the fleeting time we have on this Earth, what matters is not wealth, or status, or power, or fame -– but rather, how well we have loved -- and what small part we have played in making the lives of other people better.
And that process -- that process of reflection, of making sure we align our values with our actions –- that, I believe, is what a tragedy like this requires.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
How can we prevent these tragedies from happening again?
Tucson, Arizona (CNN) -- The parents of Jared Lee Loughner, suspected in the Tucson, Arizona, shootings that left six people dead and U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords critically wounded, said Tuesday they do not know why the incident occurred and that they are "very sorry" for the loss felt by victims' families.
The brief statement from the suspect's family came as doctors said Giffords is breathing on her own and a picture emerged of her alleged gunman coming heavily armed to Saturday's event with constituents.
Loughner, 22, allegedly carried a knapsack to the shopping center, according to a law enforcement official familiar with the investigation. He had a semi-automatic handgun, four ammunition magazines and a knife, according to the official.
The weapon was a Glock 19, with an extended magazine that held 31 rounds, according to the Pima County Sheriff's Department. A total of 31 spent rounds were recovered from the scene, it said in a statement Tuesday night.
Missed signs in Arizona shooting tragedy
Loughner family leaves home, no comment
Inside Loughner's neighborhood
Shooting heroes tell their stories The law enforcement official told CNN authorities are still on the scene of the shooting with a piece of equipment called a total station. It is a type of surveying equipment that takes precise measurements that can be used to reconstruct a crime scene.
Loughner has been anecdotally regarded as very troubled and perhaps mentally unbalanced because of his ramblings spotted on the internet and the way he has been described by acquaintances.
His family asked for privacy during a "very difficult time for us."
"There are no words that can possibly express how we feel. We wish that there were, so we could make you feel better. We don't understand why this happened," the family said in its statement. "It may not make any difference, but we wish that we could change the heinous events of Saturday. We care very deeply about the victims and their families. We are so very sorry for their loss. Thank you. The Loughner Family"
Randy Loughner, the suspect's father, asked a neighbor to tell reporters camped outside the family's Tucson home Monday that he eventually would make the statement.
"Right now he can't talk. He can't get out three words without crying," neighbor Wayne Smith told CNN affiliate KGUN.
Giffords remained in critical condition Tuesday, three days after she was shot in the head during a gunman's rampage, but she was breathing on her own and doctors backed off on some sedation. Twelve others were wounded.
Giffords' office released two photos of husband Mark Kelly, an astronaut, holding her hand Sunday.
"I'm happy to say she's holding her own," said Dr. Michael Lemole Jr., chief of neurosurgery at University Medical Center. "Her status is the same as it was yesterday. She's still following simple commands."
Lemole said Giffords was generating her own breaths.
Loughner parents broken down, crying
Breaking down the Giffords shooting
Loughner's classmates speak out
Sheriff: Hard right 'fueling' the fire "The only reason we keep that breathing tube in is to protect her airway so that she doesn't have complications like pneumonia," he told reporters.
Lemole said he's encouraged by the fact that she's "done so well" with an injury where survival and recovery are "abysmal."
"We're hopeful, but I do want to underscore the seriousness of this injury and the fact that we all have to be extremely patient," Lemole said.
Six of the victims in the Saturday shooting remained at University Medical Center, Chief of Emergency Medicine Peter Rhee said. Along with Giffords, three people were in serious condition and two were in fair condition.
Daniel Hernandez, a 20-year-old intern on the Giffords staff, visited wounded staffer Ron Barber, 65, at the hospital. Hernandez, who initially used his bare hands to stop blood gushing from Giffords' head after she was shot, asked a bystander to put pressure on Barber's wounds, according to officials.
Tuesday night, mourners gathered at a memorial Mass for the six who were killed. The Mass was held at St. Odilia Church in Tucson, where 9-year-old shooting victim Christina Green had her first communion a year ago. A children's choir sang "Amazing Grace" during the service.
The rosary for Christina Green is scheduled for Wednesday, followed by a funeral Thursday. Services for U.S. Judge John Roll, who was among the six people killed Saturday, are scheduled Thursday and Friday.
A friend of Christina's family took the girl to the event Saturday after she had been elected to a student government position.
Suzi Hileman, who was holding Christina's hand before the shooting, remains hospitalized for her wounds, her husband, Bill, told reporters Tuesday.
According to Hileman, Suzi sometimes calls out, "Christina, Christina. Let's get out of here! Let's get out of here!"
Suzi Hileman, a social worker, is involved in the community, her husband said, and was impressed with Christina's civic interest.
"They are generations apart, but are very much birds of a feather," he said of the woman and girl. Christina's parents are supportive and have shown "graciousness" toward the Hilemans, Bill Hileman added.
In remarks in Tucson Tuesday, Gov. Jan Brewer remembered the victims.
"Among the lessons that life has taught me is that, sometimes, loss just finds you," she said. "You don't expect it. You don't want to accept it. But, suddenly, you're challenged by something dark and ugly, a pain you can hardly bear."
Among those killed was Dorwan Stoddard, 76. He tried to shield his wife, Mavi, who was wounded in the leg.
"He heard the shots and covered my mom with his own body. He protected her and saved her," said daughter Penny Wilson, according to CNN affiliate KPHO.
President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle Obama, will attend a Wednesday memorial service and visit with victims' families at the University of Arizona in Tucson, according to a statement from the school. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi will travel with them. An administration official said Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano also will attend.
The Arizona State Legislature in Phoenix, meanwhile, passed legislation Tuesday that bars protesters at funerals from getting within 300 feet of services. Brewer, who visited the injured Tuesday, later signed the bill.
The action, according to House Republican spokesman Daniel Scarpinato, was in direct response to a controversial church's announcement that it will picket Christina Green's funeral.
Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas, has made its name by staging protests at funerals of people who died of AIDS, gay people, soldiers and even civil rights leader Coretta Scott King.
The shooting has sparked horror across the United States and generated much partisan talk about vitriolic political discourse in American life and what Loughner's motivations were.
Experts said Tuesday the alleged shooter in the massacre may have difficulty making the case for a successful insanity plea.
Paul Callan, a criminal defense attorney and a former prosecutor, and Jeff Gardere, a clinical and forensic psychologist, said on CNN's "American Morning" on Tuesday they have doubts that an insanity plea would stand.
With the "amount of planning that went into this assassination," Callan said he believes "it's highly unlikely he will meet the legal insanity defense threshold."
"It's very hard to prove insanity at trial," he said. "You really have to prove that your mental illness is so severe that you don't even understand that you're committing a criminal act. And it's almost impossible to prove that."
Gardere emphasized that "premeditation will work against him in this one as far as getting an insanity plea."
Judy Clarke, Loughner's defense attorney, has not spoken on that issue.
Court documents released Sunday show that investigators found a letter from Giffords in a safe at the house where Loughner lived with his parents, thanking him for attending a 2007 event, similar to Saturday's meet-and-greet.
"Also recovered in the safe was an envelope with handwriting on the envelope stating 'I planned ahead,' and 'my assassination' and the name 'Giffords,' along with what appears to be Loughner's signature," the affidavit states.
A law enforcement official said Loughner asked Giffords a question at the 2007 event and was unhappy with her response.
"He never let it go," the source said. "It kept festering."
Loughner bought the Glock semiautomatic pistol used in the shooting back in November. He didn't fit any of the "prohibited possessor" categories that would have prevented the purchase and passed an instant federal background check. He tried to buy ammunition at a Walmart store, abruptly left and made the purchase elsewhere.
In other developments, U.S. District Judge Raner C. Collins has ruled that all magistrate and district judges in the District of Arizona's Tucson Division must recuse themselves from hearing any cases connected with the shooting.
The ruling, dated Monday, cited the need to "avoid the appearance of impropriety, and because a judge has a duty to disqualify him or herself if his or her impartiality could be reasonably questioned, whether or not such impartiality exists."
The brief statement from the suspect's family came as doctors said Giffords is breathing on her own and a picture emerged of her alleged gunman coming heavily armed to Saturday's event with constituents.
Loughner, 22, allegedly carried a knapsack to the shopping center, according to a law enforcement official familiar with the investigation. He had a semi-automatic handgun, four ammunition magazines and a knife, according to the official.
The weapon was a Glock 19, with an extended magazine that held 31 rounds, according to the Pima County Sheriff's Department. A total of 31 spent rounds were recovered from the scene, it said in a statement Tuesday night.
Missed signs in Arizona shooting tragedy Loughner family leaves home, no comment Inside Loughner's neighborhood Shooting heroes tell their stories Loughner has been anecdotally regarded as very troubled and perhaps mentally unbalanced because of his ramblings spotted on the internet and the way he has been described by acquaintances.
His family asked for privacy during a "very difficult time for us."
"There are no words that can possibly express how we feel. We wish that there were, so we could make you feel better. We don't understand why this happened," the family said in its statement. "It may not make any difference, but we wish that we could change the heinous events of Saturday. We care very deeply about the victims and their families. We are so very sorry for their loss. Thank you. The Loughner Family"
Randy Loughner, the suspect's father, asked a neighbor to tell reporters camped outside the family's Tucson home Monday that he eventually would make the statement.
"Right now he can't talk. He can't get out three words without crying," neighbor Wayne Smith told CNN affiliate KGUN.
Giffords remained in critical condition Tuesday, three days after she was shot in the head during a gunman's rampage, but she was breathing on her own and doctors backed off on some sedation. Twelve others were wounded.
Giffords' office released two photos of husband Mark Kelly, an astronaut, holding her hand Sunday.
"I'm happy to say she's holding her own," said Dr. Michael Lemole Jr., chief of neurosurgery at University Medical Center. "Her status is the same as it was yesterday. She's still following simple commands."
Lemole said Giffords was generating her own breaths.
Loughner parents broken down, crying Breaking down the Giffords shooting Loughner's classmates speak out Sheriff: Hard right 'fueling' the fire Lemole said he's encouraged by the fact that she's "done so well" with an injury where survival and recovery are "abysmal."
"We're hopeful, but I do want to underscore the seriousness of this injury and the fact that we all have to be extremely patient," Lemole said.
Six of the victims in the Saturday shooting remained at University Medical Center, Chief of Emergency Medicine Peter Rhee said. Along with Giffords, three people were in serious condition and two were in fair condition.
Daniel Hernandez, a 20-year-old intern on the Giffords staff, visited wounded staffer Ron Barber, 65, at the hospital. Hernandez, who initially used his bare hands to stop blood gushing from Giffords' head after she was shot, asked a bystander to put pressure on Barber's wounds, according to officials.
Tuesday night, mourners gathered at a memorial Mass for the six who were killed. The Mass was held at St. Odilia Church in Tucson, where 9-year-old shooting victim Christina Green had her first communion a year ago. A children's choir sang "Amazing Grace" during the service.
The rosary for Christina Green is scheduled for Wednesday, followed by a funeral Thursday. Services for U.S. Judge John Roll, who was among the six people killed Saturday, are scheduled Thursday and Friday.
A friend of Christina's family took the girl to the event Saturday after she had been elected to a student government position.
Suzi Hileman, who was holding Christina's hand before the shooting, remains hospitalized for her wounds, her husband, Bill, told reporters Tuesday.
According to Hileman, Suzi sometimes calls out, "Christina, Christina. Let's get out of here! Let's get out of here!"
Suzi Hileman, a social worker, is involved in the community, her husband said, and was impressed with Christina's civic interest.
"They are generations apart, but are very much birds of a feather," he said of the woman and girl. Christina's parents are supportive and have shown "graciousness" toward the Hilemans, Bill Hileman added.
In remarks in Tucson Tuesday, Gov. Jan Brewer remembered the victims.
"Among the lessons that life has taught me is that, sometimes, loss just finds you," she said. "You don't expect it. You don't want to accept it. But, suddenly, you're challenged by something dark and ugly, a pain you can hardly bear."
Among those killed was Dorwan Stoddard, 76. He tried to shield his wife, Mavi, who was wounded in the leg.
"He heard the shots and covered my mom with his own body. He protected her and saved her," said daughter Penny Wilson, according to CNN affiliate KPHO.
President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle Obama, will attend a Wednesday memorial service and visit with victims' families at the University of Arizona in Tucson, according to a statement from the school. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi will travel with them. An administration official said Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano also will attend.
The Arizona State Legislature in Phoenix, meanwhile, passed legislation Tuesday that bars protesters at funerals from getting within 300 feet of services. Brewer, who visited the injured Tuesday, later signed the bill.
The action, according to House Republican spokesman Daniel Scarpinato, was in direct response to a controversial church's announcement that it will picket Christina Green's funeral.
Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas, has made its name by staging protests at funerals of people who died of AIDS, gay people, soldiers and even civil rights leader Coretta Scott King.
The shooting has sparked horror across the United States and generated much partisan talk about vitriolic political discourse in American life and what Loughner's motivations were.
Experts said Tuesday the alleged shooter in the massacre may have difficulty making the case for a successful insanity plea.
Paul Callan, a criminal defense attorney and a former prosecutor, and Jeff Gardere, a clinical and forensic psychologist, said on CNN's "American Morning" on Tuesday they have doubts that an insanity plea would stand.
With the "amount of planning that went into this assassination," Callan said he believes "it's highly unlikely he will meet the legal insanity defense threshold."
"It's very hard to prove insanity at trial," he said. "You really have to prove that your mental illness is so severe that you don't even understand that you're committing a criminal act. And it's almost impossible to prove that."
Gardere emphasized that "premeditation will work against him in this one as far as getting an insanity plea."
Judy Clarke, Loughner's defense attorney, has not spoken on that issue.
Court documents released Sunday show that investigators found a letter from Giffords in a safe at the house where Loughner lived with his parents, thanking him for attending a 2007 event, similar to Saturday's meet-and-greet.
"Also recovered in the safe was an envelope with handwriting on the envelope stating 'I planned ahead,' and 'my assassination' and the name 'Giffords,' along with what appears to be Loughner's signature," the affidavit states.
A law enforcement official said Loughner asked Giffords a question at the 2007 event and was unhappy with her response.
"He never let it go," the source said. "It kept festering."
Loughner bought the Glock semiautomatic pistol used in the shooting back in November. He didn't fit any of the "prohibited possessor" categories that would have prevented the purchase and passed an instant federal background check. He tried to buy ammunition at a Walmart store, abruptly left and made the purchase elsewhere.
In other developments, U.S. District Judge Raner C. Collins has ruled that all magistrate and district judges in the District of Arizona's Tucson Division must recuse themselves from hearing any cases connected with the shooting.
The ruling, dated Monday, cited the need to "avoid the appearance of impropriety, and because a judge has a duty to disqualify him or herself if his or her impartiality could be reasonably questioned, whether or not such impartiality exists."
Loughner appeared in a Phoenix federal courtroom Monday to formally hear the charges against him -- including two counts of murder, two counts of attempted murder and one count of attempting to kill a member of Congress.
Friday, January 7, 2011
Defining Terrorism: Ms. Fugit's MUN 3/4 Class
When defining a group as a terrorist organization, complex questions arise. The five factors below are starting points for evaluating the terroristic nature of a group. As we work on our terrorism tribunal, your group will have to consider all of the questions below to build a strong argument.
In your blog response, create your own one-sentence definition of terrorism. Then respond to three of the questions below (each from a different section), using examples to support your opinion.
Method/result
Terrorism includes violence, but what about threats of violence? Kidnapping? Arson? Rape? What if no one is harmed -- is it still terrorism?
Perpetrator
Who carries out terrorism? Is terrorism always carried out by organized opposition groups? Can states be terrorists? Can individuals? Consider issues of inspiration, planning, provision of weapons, military assistance.
Target
Does terrorism target only civilians? Could an attack on a military target be terrorism? How do you decide what a civilian is? What about off-duty military personnel? Colonial occupiers? What about assassination of a head of state, one of whose roles is commander in chief? For an act of violence to qualify as terrorism, must its perpetrators deliberately target civilians, or simply be reckless as to whether civilians as well as military targets might be harmed? Are all attacks on civilians terrorism? Is the target of terrorism always human, or can acts of sabotage against property also be considered terrorism?
Motive
Is the motive behind an act important in deciding if it is terrorism, or should only the act itself be considered? What is the objective of terrorism? Is terrorism "violence for an audience" -- an act committed to inspire fear in the public and therefore force policy changes? Or does a terrorist act have specific strategic objectives? Does it make any difference if the perpetrators consider themselves a martyr for a religious or political cause?
Point of view
If a cause is considered legitimate, are any means to achieve its goals legitimate? How does one distinguish between a terrorist and a freedom fighter? What is the difference between terrorism and guerrilla warfare? Is terrorism "the weapon of the weak"? Are illegitimate acts against an enemy in war terrorism, war crimes, or is there a difference? Does history change the definition of terrorism? If a group achieves independence using tactics called terrorist by their previous occupier or sovereign, making their "rebellion" into a "war of independence," are they justified by their eventual success in becoming a state?
Terrorism includes violence, but what about threats of violence? Kidnapping? Arson? Rape? What if no one is harmed -- is it still terrorism?
Perpetrator
Who carries out terrorism? Is terrorism always carried out by organized opposition groups? Can states be terrorists? Can individuals? Consider issues of inspiration, planning, provision of weapons, military assistance.
Target
Does terrorism target only civilians? Could an attack on a military target be terrorism? How do you decide what a civilian is? What about off-duty military personnel? Colonial occupiers? What about assassination of a head of state, one of whose roles is commander in chief? For an act of violence to qualify as terrorism, must its perpetrators deliberately target civilians, or simply be reckless as to whether civilians as well as military targets might be harmed? Are all attacks on civilians terrorism? Is the target of terrorism always human, or can acts of sabotage against property also be considered terrorism?
Motive
Is the motive behind an act important in deciding if it is terrorism, or should only the act itself be considered? What is the objective of terrorism? Is terrorism "violence for an audience" -- an act committed to inspire fear in the public and therefore force policy changes? Or does a terrorist act have specific strategic objectives? Does it make any difference if the perpetrators consider themselves a martyr for a religious or political cause?
Point of view
If a cause is considered legitimate, are any means to achieve its goals legitimate? How does one distinguish between a terrorist and a freedom fighter? What is the difference between terrorism and guerrilla warfare? Is terrorism "the weapon of the weak"? Are illegitimate acts against an enemy in war terrorism, war crimes, or is there a difference? Does history change the definition of terrorism? If a group achieves independence using tactics called terrorist by their previous occupier or sovereign, making their "rebellion" into a "war of independence," are they justified by their eventual success in becoming a state?
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/globalconnections/mideast/educators/militant/lesson2.html#resources
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Factbox: Pakistan's Blasphemy Law Strikes Fear in Minorities
4:44am EST
January 5, 2011ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Pakistan's anti-blasphemy law has been in the spotlight since November when a court sentenced a Christian mother of four to death, in a case that has exposed deep rifts in the troubled Muslim nation of more than 170 million people.
While liberal Pakistanis and rights groups believe the law to be dangerously discriminatory against the country's tiny minority groups, Asia Bibi's case has become a lightning rod for the country's religious right.
On Tuesday, the governor of the most populous state of Punjab, Salman Taseer, who had strongly opposed the law and sought presidential pardon for the 45-year-old Christian farmhand, was gunned down by one of his bodyguards.
Here some facts about the blasphemy law and its fallout.
* The law has its roots in 19th century colonial legislation to protect places of worship, but it was during the military dictatorship of General Mohammad Zia ul-Haq in the 1980s that it acquired teeth as part of a drive to Islamize the state.
* Under the law, anyone who speaks ill of Islam and the Prophet Mohammad commits a crime and faces the death penalty but activists say the vague terminology has led to its misuse. The law stipulates that "derogatory remarks, etc., in respect of the Holy Prophet either spoken or written, or by visible representation, or by any imputation, innuendo or insinuation, directly or indirectly shall be punished with death, or imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine."
* Christians who make up 4 percent of Pakistan's population have been especially concerned about the law saying it offers them no protection. Convictions hinge on witness testimony and often these are linked to personal vendettas, they say.
* Blasphemy convictions are common in Pakistan, although the death sentence has never been carried out. Most convictions are thrown out on appeal, but angry mobs have killed many people accused of blasphemy.
* In 2009, 40 houses and a church were set ablaze by a mob of 1,000 Muslims in the town of Gojra, Punjab. At least seven Christians were burned to death. The attacks were triggered by reports of the desecration of the Koran. Police had already registered a case under Section 295C against three Christians for blasphemy.
Last July, two Christian brothers accused of writing a blasphemous letter against the Prophet Mohammad were gunned down outside a court in the eastern city of Faisalabad.
Hence a conviction or even an accusation under this law is often a death sentence, activists say.
* Some attempts have been made in the past to either repeal the law or try and amend the provisions to prevent their misuse, but each time the government has faced the wrath of religious conservatives. The current administration has ruled out scrapping the law altogether, saying such a move would hand a weapon to religious extremists and fuel militancy at a time when it is struggling to tackle it.
* Islamist parties have warned against any attempt to change the law, seeing it as a dilution of the country's Islamist character under foreign pressure. On December 31, thousands of supporters led a nationwide strike warning any attempt to change the law would only be "over their dead bodies."
* Earlier in December, a pro-Taliban Muslim cleric offered a $5,800 reward to anyone who killed the Christian woman, Bibi, in prison, angered by attempts, by among others governor Taseer, to save her from the gallows.
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