UN War Crimes Tribunal in Sierra Leone Hands Down First Verdicts.

Three men have been convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during Sierra Leone’s decade-long war.

Read on . . .

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Better Late Than Never: Klansman Found Guilty of 1964 Murders.

James Seale, a former Mississippi police officer and member of the Ku Klux Klan, has finally been convicted in the 1964 deaths of Henry Hezekiah Dee and Charles Eddie Moore, two Black hitchhikers. According to testimony from Seale’s cousin and ex-klansman Charles Marcus Edwards, Seale and his companions drove the two victims, both in their teens, to a forest where they were held at gunpoint by Seale while his accomplices beat them. Dee and Moore where then gagged, stuffed into the trunk of the car, and driven to a tributary of the Mississippi River where Seale attached heavy weights to them. The victims were then dumped into the water while they were still alive.

Seale was originally arrested in 1964 and charged with the crimes but he escaped conviction and imprisonment after the charges were dropped by local law enforcement officials (see my first post).

Because the kidnapping did not result in the victims’ being “returned unharmed,” the most recent conviction may carry the maximum sentence of life in prison on each count.

For the sake of the victims and their families, I am happy that justice has finally been done. In a perfect world, Seale would have been charged with murder as well. But hey, you win some, you lose some. I just hope this animal spends the remainder of his natural life behind bars.

Pity his accomplices won’t be there with him.

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Latest U.S. Strategy in Iraq: Arm Sunni Tribal Militias!!!

Yesterday, when my friend told me about the latest U.S. plan for combatting the insurgency in Iraq , I assumed she was joking. It sounded just like something the Onion would have published. But she was not kidding!

In an effort to counter the violence and influence of insurgents, “US commanders on the ground have been authorised and encouraged to enter into truces and agreements with local Sunni factions wherever possible, even if they are suspected of using arms against US forces in the past.”

Hmmm . . .

Sounds like a classic case of “my enemy’s enemy is my friend.” Now don’t get me wrong, I’m open to new and innovative ways of solving the Iraq debacle but this isn’t exactly the kind of original thinking that’s going to fix that mess. In fact . . . hang on . . . I’m getting a vague sense of déjà vu. It’s almost as if the U.S. has tried something very similar before. But where . . . ?

Of course!!! How could I forget. Afghanistan!! During the Soviet invasion of that country (1979–89), the U.S. supported the “Mujahideen,” who included the Taliban and the “Afghan Arabs.” This latter group counted among their number the then-obscure scion of a powerful Saudi family who went by the name of Osama. No prizes for guessing what his family name was. At the time, the Soviet Union was our enemy so their enemies in Afghanistan were automatically our friends. It’s a simple matter of logic.

Then there was Iran. The 1979 Islamic Revolution saw the overthrow of Shah Reza Pahlavi and the siezure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran. Enter Saddam Hussein, the erstwhile leader of Iraq who, in 1980, decided to attack his Iranian neighbors. Armed and supplied by the U.S. and other Western countries, Saddam spent eight years battling Iran while Western countries supported one or the other side, and sometimes both simultaneously. It’s a gross understatement to say there was much death and destruction on both sides.

Flash forward to this latest U.S. plan. In Iraq, tribal sheikhs are pledging to “police” their own territories against domestic insurgents and foreign elements linked to al-Qaeda. Certainly, some of the facts in this case are indisputable. It’s obviously a fact that the insurgents and al-Qaeda elements in Iraq are our enemy. It’s also a fact that many tribal leaders are now opposing these insurgents’ violent attacks against their territories.

The best part of the latest arrangement is that the U.S. is prepared “to empower and arm Sunni Arab tribes and factions” in exchange for a “plegde” from these tribes and factions that they will “resist outside militants like al-Qaeda.” Sounds pretty straightforward to me! If the sheikhs promise to be our friends, that must mean they are our friends, right?

But with the benefit of hindsight, aren’t we being a bit naive to assume that tribal sheikhs will stay on our side because they are our enemy’s enemy. I say not at all!! I mean, they did make us a promise after all, right?

What’s that saying about people who don’t remember history being doomed to something or other? Let’s hope history chooses not to repeat itself this time around.

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Tale of Racist Police Murder in Leeds Comes to Light.

David Oluwale, a homeless Nigerian man was routinely abused and humiliated by Leeds police officers in the late ’60s. David’s body was eventually discovered in a river and ruled a drowning. A year-and-a-half later, the case was was re-investigated and two police officers were convicted for the death. It was revealed that “[t]hey beat him, urinated on him, smashed his head against the floor and took him to woods miles outside Leeds and left him there.”

Kester Aspden’s new book Nationality: Wog – The Hounding Of David Oluwale sheds new light on the life and death of David Oluwale, exposes the abuse he experienced at the hands of Leeds police officers, details his treatment at mental health institutions, and includes interviews with people who knew David Oluwale while he was alive.

Read a review of the book here and an interview with the author here in which he talks about David’s experience in the mental health care system and mental health providers’ prejudices towards Black people.

For those not familiar with British lingo, “wog” is a racial slur equivalent to “nigger” in the U.S.

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One Klan Washed the Other: Mississippi Police Colluded With KKK.

Jerry Mitchell makes a compelling case that the Ku Klux Klan was able to literally get away with murder in Mississippi—home of some of the most high-profile murders in the Civil Rights era—thanks to assistance from local law enforcement officials.

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Ghosts of Racist Violence Return to Haunt U.S.

The FBI recently reopened several unsolved murder cases from the Civil Rights era, thereby resurrecting long-buried memories of racist violence in the U.S.

Here are some of the better-known cases:

August 1955: Emmett Till, 14, from Chicago, is murdered and mutilated while on holiday in Money, Mississippi after whistling at a white woman. Two white men are acquitted of murder by an all-white jury (they later confess to the crime in a magazine article). 

June 1963: NAACP field secretary Medgar Evers is murdered in Jackson, Mississippi. White supremacist Byron De La Beckwith was jailed for life in 1994 but died seven years later.

September 1963: Four black girls are killed in a bombing at a church in Birmingham, Alabama. Three men were convicted of murder, the last of them in 2002.

June 1964: Civil rights workers Michael Schwerner, James Chaney, and Andrew Goodman are arrested by local police and handed over to a racist mob. The next day their burned-out station wagon is found in the Bogue Chitto swamp, and the bodies of the three men are found 44 days later, buried 15 feet in an earthen dam. Edgar Ray Killen was convicted of these murders in 2005. Eight other bodies—including those of Charles Eddie Moore and Henry Hezekiah Dee—were discovered during the search for Schwerner, Chaney, and Goodman.

July 1964: Teenagers Charles Eddie Moore and Henry Hezekiah Dee are beaten to death by members of the Ku Klux Klan and dumped in the Mississippi River. Former klansman and sheriff’s deputy James Seal is currently being retried on murder charges in the Moore and Dee case.

June 1965: Klansmen shoot at the patrol car of deputy Oneal Moore and his partner Creed Rogers. Moore is killed and Rogers loses the use of one eye. The two Black deputies had been on the job for a year and a day. No-one was convicted of this crime.

For a longer list of victims of racist violence in the U.S., take at look at Biographies of Slain Civil Rights Figures.

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Justice delayed is justice denied! No escape for racists!

Take a good look.

This is what a racist, a member of the Ku Klux Klan, and a murderer looks like. An ordinary person. No horns, no tail, just a heart full of hatred.

James Seale (seen above in the mugshot from his initial 1964 arrest) has been charged with the 1964 kidnapping and murder of hitch-hikers Charles Eddie Moore and Henry Hezekiah Dee. It’s the second time he’s facing these charges. He was first arrested in 1964 but charges were dropped by local law enforcement officials who cited insufficient evidence.

Seal held Moore and Dee at the point of a shotgun while his fellow klansmen beat them with tree branches.  The victims were then dumped in the Mississippi River where their bodies were discovered by FBI agents who were searching for the bodies of three other victims of racist violence.

Hopefully, James Seal will not escape justice this time and his name will forever be associated with the vilest and most vicious members of our society.

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Personals: “Small Middle-Eastern Country Seeks Partner . . .”

Small Middle-Eastern country seeks partner for peace and possible LTR.

I’m a youthful new country, fairly diverse with strong liberal leanings. I’ve been in a lot of bad relationships with my neighbors but I’m still optimistic that I’ll be able to find a partner for a peaceful long-term relationship.

 I’m looking for someone trustworthy and peaceful who enjoys holding hands and long sunset walks on the beach. Stamina for passionate, night-long sessions of peace-making is also a major plus.

Baggage is OK because I have a lot of my own but you MUST be willing to work through issues in an honest and non-violent way.

I’m open to anyone at this point, except Shi’ites.

If you think you’ve got what it takes to be my knight in shining armor, make the first move. You will not be disappointed.

Oh, and leave the guns and bombs at home. I’ve got plenty of my own.

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