DOCSLIB.ORG

Jul|Aug|Sep 2013

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

July / August / September 2013 HIGHLIGHTS A PUBLICATION OF THE PEACE & JUSTICE CENTER PAGE 2 Building Connections From the Center Staff transitions, new board member, and BY Kyle Silliman-Smith, PJC Program Director renewed focus on our mission.. n recent years Chittenden County culture we will be exploring each week PAGE 3 I (and to a lesser extent, all of please check out the box on page 2. Upcoming Cost of War Series Vermont) has become a new cultural The Peace & Justice Center’s Let’s Aug. 9 Songs of Hope and TBA date for melting pot, which is now home to over Dance Together Series will create a space Jeremy Scahill and Dirty Wars. 14 resettled communities. I cherish this for people of all ages to discover different diversity and believe that it contributes to styles of dance from around the world PAGE 4 a vibrant and loving community that I am with a modern flair! Each class will be lead Ed Everts , 1919-2013 proud to call home. In recognition of the by two instructors (Susmita and Goma, enrichment that each international Zahra and Halima, Beny and Rodrick, and The Art of Social Justice community brings to our lives, the Peace Zeinab and Madina) who will teach in the Art is the motivator and the accelerator of & Justice Center is launching a couple of style of their culture. Each of these social behavior and change. very exciting summer programs! The PJC international teens have a passion for Kids’ Club and Let’s Dance Together. dance and an amazing natural ability. PAGE 5 The PJC Kids’ Club is a program Many of them have experience leading Which Way Home designed for children ages 5-10 and for classes for kids and some have aspira- A documentary chronicles the journey of youth, ages 11-15, to participate in as tions of being professional dancers. refugee children. mentors. Each week the group will focus Participants will hear from the youth Burlington’s Livable Wage on getting to know a different cultural dance instructors on what some move- Ordinance group from around the world by hearing ments represent culturally and the from young adult guest speakers from significance of traditional dance in their PAGE 6-7 that community. I believe that this lives. The students are supported by Fair Trade articles program has the ability to build powerful dance instructor Morgan Sherry, who is A Race to the Bottom; PJC Garment cross-cultural connections among the helping them to develop a full hour long Campaign; Deadline for the UN Millennium next generation and support youth and routine including warm-ups and cool- Development Goals young adults in gaining confidence and downs. leadership skills that will help them to Like the PJC Kids’ Club, this program PAGE 8 succeed. Parents of the children attend- is designed to build leadership skills and Quinoa Popularity and ees are asked to stay for all program experience among youth as well as create Consequences activities. By encouraging family partici- an opportunity for all people living in this Remebering Michael Hastings pation, both children and their parents community to get to know each other in a will have the opportunity to strengthen fun way. I believe that performance is a PAGE 9 their relationships with each other and powerful tool of expression that builds Robin’s Nest the community at large. connections that cross language and African History as told by Africans. It will also be incredibly fun! Our cultural barriers. These classes will be programming will include stories & unique and exciting and I encourage all PAGE 11 folklore, games, music, dances, language experience levels to attend. Don’t miss The Upcoming Generation of exploration, and snacks from around the this unique opportunity to learn fun, new, Celebrity Activists globe. This group will meet at the Peace and meaningful dances! Classes will take Celebrities like Gisele, Eva, and GaGa will & Justice Center, 60 Lake St, Burlington, place on four consecutive Saturdays inspire young activists around the world. on Sundays from 2-4 pm throughout July and August. For more details on what Connections continued on page 3 research policy action 2 July/August/September 2013 From the Board of Directors Dear Friends, EDITOR ransitions and decisions have occupied us at the PJC Board during the last three months. Wendy Coe T Transitions first: in mid-May Gaby Ochoa Brenneman left her position as store manager and director of the Fair Trade Campaign, with plans to travel more frequently to her native Guatemala. PUBLISHED We all miss her gentle presence. Carmen Solari, formerly Gaby’s assistant, is now bringing some new ideas 4/year to this position – like setting up a table promoting fair trade in the garment industry on Church Street. (See form on page 12) Carmen was a double Religion and English major at UVM. She selected Krista Panosian, who interned at CIRCULATION the store last semester, as the new assistant store manager. Krista’s studies at UVM have centered on 1,200 international and community development; she’s also full of good marketing ideas for the store. Together, they’ve managed a near-seamless transition. The opinions expressed in the articles, including Our Board is expanding. David Shiman, who brings us rich experience as a professor focusing on those by staff, are those international education and human rights at UVM, joined in May. As a former board member of Amnesty of the authors and not International and former president of UVM’s Faculty Senate, he’s well connected to local resources and necessarily those of the peace & justice center. savvy about how organizations work. Let’s all welcome him! Decisions: On June 12th, we held a very productive joint Board-Staff meeting to review programming in the past year and, even more importantly, set directions for the future. We decided that, during 2013-2014, we would concentrate on one major program within each of the areas in our mission statement: economic justice, racial justice, peace, and human rights. For economic justice that will be the Livable Wage Cam- paign, though we don’t plan to fully reactivate it until winter. Racial Justice will be promoted through programs on White Privilege. Peace and anti-war work will be covered by the Cost of War Series, which is 60 Lake Street #1C funded by a grant through December; after that our main emphasis will be on drones. The Fair Trade Burlington, VT 05401 Campaign – serially focusing on the production of garments and cocoa – is devoted to human rights. We 802.863.2345 fax: 802.863.2532 also intend to leave space in our programming for emerging issues we consider important. www.pjcvt.org Ongoing programming in the last three months has included Cost of War speakers (most effectively, [email protected] Medea Benjamin), white privilege workshops (including one for local police), and a series of workshops on nonviolence. This letter wouldn’t be complete without congratulating Colleen Deignan and Kyle Silliman- BOARD OF DIRECTORS Smith on their fine record of procuring grants for the Center during the past year. In June, they found out (alphabetical order) Linda Ayer that the Haymarket People’s Fund will be making us a sizable grant to support our racial justice program- Autumn Barnett ming. Brava! twice over. Spence Putnam David Shiman Nathan Suter Judith Yarnall Andrea Swan for the Board Judy Yarnall STAFF Wendy Coe Colleen Deignan PJC Summer Kids Club Series Krista Panosian Kyle Silliman-Smith 2-4pm Sundays. Join us for stories, games, music, and snacks that will broaden your understanding of these communities Carmen Solari in the Burlington area. Parents and family members are welcome! Info: 863-2345 x6. 7 JULY: CELEBRATING IRAQ 4 AUGUST: CELEBRATION OF AFRICAN CULTURES PJC MISSION Our guests will be Halah Sharad, a Peace and Justice Our mission is to create a 11 AUGUST: ABENAKI CELEBRATION DAY just and peaceful world. Studies student from St Michael’s College, and Anwar Diab Come explore Vermont’s vibrant Abenaki culture with us To this end, we work on Agha, lead singer and musician of Burlington’s Middle the interconnected issues as we meet and hear the stories of Abenaki community Eastern band: the Anwar Ensemble. of economic and racial members from the area. justice, peace, and human 14 JULY: CELEBRATING BOSNIA. rights through education, 18 AUGUST: CELEBRATING GUATEMALA advocacy, training and non- 21 JULY: CELEBRATING THAILAND & VIETNAM. violent activisim, and 25 AUGUST: CELEBRATING MEXICO community organizing, Our guest will be Teasella Taelyn Thi Nguyen, a former Carmen Solari, the P&J Store Manager, will have just since 1979. intern of the Peace & Justice Center. returned from a Fair Trade Conference in Mexico. 28 JULY: CELEBRATING BHUTAN & NEPAL research policy action July/August/September 2013 3 Connections continued from page 1 Cost of War Speaker and Film beginning June 29th from 1-2pm, at North End Studios, 294 N. Winooski Ave., Series Events to Look Forward to... Burlington. For details on what each class will focus on, see box below. Although the details are not concrete yet, there are several great events to look forward The vision for both of these programs to this summer. is to promote peace, justice, and apprecia- tion for cultural diversity through play Dirty Wars (an important aspect of nonviolence). I Dirty Wars Screening: Early August – details TBA. “Filed from the frontlines of the war hope that these events lay the foundation on terror, documentarian Richard Rowley’s astonishingly hard-hitting Dirty Wars renders that will allow our children and youth to the investigative work of journalist Jeremy Scahill in the form of a ’70s-style conspiracy become cultural advocates and delegates thriller.
Recommended publications
  • Jeremy Scahill: Two Degrees of Separation from the Dirty Wars Dragnet

    Jeremy Scahill: Two Degrees of Separation from the Dirty Wars Dragnet

    JEREMY SCAHILL: TWO DEGREES OF SEPARATION FROM THE DIRTY WARS DRAGNET Congratulations to Jeremy Scahill and the entire team that worked on Dirty Wars for being nominated for the Best Documentary Oscar. This post may appear to be shamelessly opportunistic — exploiting the attention Dirty Wars will get in the days ahead to make a political point before the President endorses the dragnet on Friday — but I’ve been intending to write it since November, when I wrote this post. Jeremy Scahill (and the entire Dirty Wars team) is the kind of person whose contacts and sources are exposed to the government in its dragnet. To write his book (and therefore research the movie, though not all of this shows up in the movie) Scahill spoke with Anwar al-Awlaki’s father (one degree of separation from a terrorist target), a number of people with shifting loyalties in Somalia (who may or may not be targeted), and Afghans we identified as hostile in Afghanistan. All of these people might be targets of our dragnet analysis (and remember — there is a far looser dragnet of metadata collected under EO 12333, with fewer protections). Which puts Scahill, probably via multiple channels, easily within 3 degrees of separation of targets that might get him exposed to further network analysis. (Again, if these contacts show up in 12333 collection Scahill would be immediately exposed to that kind of datamining; if it shows up in the Section 215 dragnet, it would happen if his calls got dumped into the Corporate Store.) If Scahill got swept up in the dragnet on a first or second hop, it means all his other sources, including those within government (like the person depicted in the trailer above) describing problems with the war they’ve been asked to fight, might be identified too.
  • Dirty Wars: Peace Psychologists and the Need to Confront Reality a Review of Dirty Wars: the World Is a Battlefield Jeremy Scahill Reviewed by Trudy Bond

    Dirty Wars: Peace Psychologists and the Need to Confront Reality a Review of Dirty Wars: the World Is a Battlefield Jeremy Scahill Reviewed by Trudy Bond

    Dirty Wars: Peace Psychologists and the Need to Confront Reality A Review of Dirty Wars: The World is a Battlefield Jeremy Scahill Reviewed by Trudy Bond Author’s Note. This essay has been published in Peace and Conflict: Journal of Peace Psychology (Copyright, American Psychological Association; DOI: 10.1037/a0034614). This article may not exactly replicate the final version published in the APA journal. It is not the copy of record. It is the responsibility of intellectuals to speak the truth and to expose lies. -- Noam Chomsky (1967, p.1). The dominant narrative is that wars happen and that a peaceful but powerful nation such as the United States responds to the aggression of other nations or groups using military force when diplomacy or other efforts at persuasion are not successful. This view presumes decisions to engage in war emanate from decisions by democratically elected officeholders to protect us. -- Marc Pilisuk and Ines-Lena Mahr (2013, p.3). Jeremy Scahill's recent book, Dirty Wars: The World is a Battlefield, is an incisive and disturbing documentation of U.S. covert actions outside the realm of the U.S. Constitution. With 528 pages of penetratingly detailed accounts, Scahill's investigative reporting covers a range of critical topics that do not support the dominant narrative: the U.S. government's engagement with the internal politics of foreign countries, including Somalia and Yemen; the targeted assassinations and kill lists that include U.S. citizens; the vast escalation in drone strikes that have killed civilians and children; and the continuing lies to the public regarding all the above.
  • Dirty Wars Discussion Guide

    Dirty Wars Discussion Guide

    www.influencefilmclub.com Dirty Wars Discussion Guide Director: Rick Rowley Year: 2013 Time: 87 min You might know this director from: The Fourth World War (2003) Black & Gold (2001) This Is What Democracy Looks Like (2000) FILM SUMMARY DIRTY WARS unveils the clandestine war that the United States is waging, with the world as its battlefield. Jeremy Scahill, a national security and war correspondent, serves as the film’s narrator and guide. His investigation begins with the mysterious tragedy surrounding a night raid in Gardez, Afghanistan in February 2010. Several civilians were killed, including an American-trained Afghan police commander and two pregnant women. The U.S. government claimed that the two women were victims of a Taliban honor killing, but family and friends who were in the house on the night of the raid give a different account. Footage captured on their cell phones reveal the bodies and the gruesome aftermath, and how U.S. soldiers examined the corpses in order to devise their own version of events. This cover-up leads to the discovery of others, as Scahill delves into the attacks carried out by Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), a covert military unit that operates in Afghanistan and other countries in which no war has been declared, including Indonesia, Yemen, Somalia, and The Philippines. The film argues that the war isn’t restricted by ethical or legal boundaries either. The film documents how U.S. citizen Anwar al-Awlaki was killed by a drone attack in Yemen on September 2011. He was executed without being tried in court.
  • Iraq War Documentaries in the Online Public Sphere

    Iraq War Documentaries in the Online Public Sphere

    Embedded Online: Iraq War Documentaries in the Online Public Sphere Eileen Culloty, MA This thesis is submitted to Dublin City University for the award of PhD in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. Dublin City University School of Communications Supervisor: Dr. Pat Brereton September 2014 I hereby certify that this material, which I now submit for assessment on the programme of study leading to the award of Doctor of Philosophy is entirely my own work, that I have exercised reasonable care to ensure that the work is original, and does not to the best of my knowledge breach any law of copyright, and has not been taken from the work of others save and to the extent that such work has been cited and acknowledged within the text of my work. Signed: ___________ ID No.: ___________ Date: _________ ii DEDICATION This work is dedicated to the memory of Martin Culloty. … I go back beyond the old man Mind and body broken To find the unbroken man. It is the moment before the dance begins. Your lips are enjoying themselves Whistling an air. Whatever happens or cannot happen In the time I have to spare I see you dancing father Brendan Kennelly (1990) ‘I See You Dancing Father’ iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................ vii LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................ viii ABBREVIATIONS ...................................................................................................................
  • Drone Directory Was Subsequently Published

    Drone Directory Was Subsequently Published

    DRONE Directory September 2016 Contents Introduction | 3 Ethics & Law | 5 Export Controls & Regulations | 17 Government | 21 Industry | 25 International Experts | 29 Military, Policy & Strategy | 37 Technology | 45 Media | 49 Appendix | 59 Index | 63 1 Photo credits Cover: US Air Force/Staff Sgt. Vernon Young Jr. Page 1, top: US Air Force courtesy photo; bottom: US Air Force/Tech. Sgt. Nadine Barclay Page 3: General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper by cclark395, https://www.flickr.com/photos/cclark395/8331454560/ under license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/ Page 59: US Air Force/Staff Sgt. Brian Ferguson Page 63: US Air Force/Lt. Col Leslie Pratt Directory Produced by Stimson Staff Rachel Stohl, Project Director Senior Associate, Managing Across Boundaries Initiative, Stimson Center Shannon Dick Research Associate, Managing Across Boundaries Initiative, Stimson Center Design and layout by Gratzer Graphics LLC Stimson would also like to recognize Alex Couzens, Emma Myers and Elizabeth Peartree, who served as interns with the project and provided important research and editorial support throughout the production of the directory. Copyright © September 2016 by the Stimson Center. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written consent from the Stimson Center. STIMSON 1211 Connecticut Avenue, NW, 8th Floor Washington, DC 20036 Tel: 202.223.5956 | Fax: 202.238.9604 www.stimson.org 2 Introduction When Stimson began its work on drones in 2013, it relied on a wide variety of experts to help unpack the myriad issues related to US drone policy. For the past three years, Stimson has built its network of key stakeholders — including legal schol- ars, military and technology experts, industry representatives, the human rights community, and other sectors of civil society — in order to provide nonpartisan and fact-based analysis of the drone issue.
  • Dirty Wars: the Book by Jay Kvale

    Dirty Wars: the Book by Jay Kvale

    Dirty Wars: the Book By Jay Kvale "We have killed an amazing number of people. none has proven to have been a real threat." — General Stanley McChrystal Dirty Wars by Jeremy SCahill. Available through MayDay Bookstore, Minneapolis. The killing of vast numbers of Civilian nonCombatants is just one of the regrettable developments of the Global War on Terror ConduCted by the U.S. government in response to the 9-11 attacks. The new book Dirty Wars: The World is a Battlefield by national-seCurity Correspondent Jeremy SCahill of The Nation magazine gives the most inCisive aCCount yet of what has resulted from a worldwide ConfliCt that is far from over. The goal of reorganizing the Middle East—beginning with the removal of Saddam Hussein—was ConCoCted by DiCk Cheney, Don Rumsfeld, and their neocon cohorts years before the 9-11 attacks, which provided a rationale for the U.S. to invade Afghanistan and then Iraq. The failure of Conventional forCes to fulfill their mission of pacifying Iraq led to reliance on the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), elite units of Army Rangers, Navy SEALS, and Delta ForCe warriors, who operated outside the normal Command struCture, and answered only to Rumsfeld and his inner circle in the executive branch without oversight by the State Department or Congress. When Iraq desCended into chaos and civil war in 2005-2006, JSOC units beCame the tip of the spear as their missions eliminated thousands of insurgents. PubliC perCeption is that an eventual stalemate had been drawn out of a loss in Iraq, for whiCh General David Petraeus and his counterinsurgency strategy have been given most of the Credit.

  • Dirty Wars Discussion Guide

    www.influencefilmclub.com Dirty Wars Discussion Guide Director: Rick Rowley Year: 2013 Time: 87 min You might know this director from: The Fourth World War (2003) Black & Gold (2001) This Is What Democracy Looks Like (2000) FILM SUMMARY DIRTY WARS unveils the clandestine war that the U.S. is waging, with the world as its battlefield. Jeremy Scahill, a national security and war correspondent serves as the film’s narrator and guide. His investigation begins with the mysterious tragedy surrounding a night raid in Gardez, Afghanistan in February 2010. Several civilians were killed, including an American-trained Afghan police commander and two pregnant women. The U.S. claimed that the two women were victims of a Taliban honor killing, but family and friends who were in the house on the night of the raid give a different account. Footage captured on their cell phones reveal the bodies and the gruesome aftermath, and how U.S. soldiers examined the corpses in order to devise their own version of events. This cover-up leads to the discovery of others, as Scahill delves into the attacks carried out by Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), a covert military unit that operates in Afghanistan and other countries in which no war has been declared, including Algeria, Indonesia, Yemen, Somalia, and Jordan. The War on Terror is not bound by national borders. The film argues that the war isn’t restricted by ethical or legal boundaries either. U.S. citizen Anwar al-Awlaki was killed by a drone attack in September 2011. He was executed without being tried in court.
  • Television News Coverage of the CIA Drone Program Darcy Bedgio

    Television News Coverage of the CIA Drone Program Darcy Bedgio

    Florida State University Libraries Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations The Graduate School 2015 Inside the Echo Chamber: Television News Coverage of the CIA Drone Program Darcy Bedgio Follow this and additional works at the FSU Digital Library. For more information, please contact [email protected] FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION INSIDE THE ECHO CHAMBER: TELEVISION NEWS COVERAGE OF THE CIA DRONE PROGRAM By DARCY BEDGIO A Thesis submitted to the School of Communication in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science Degree Awarded: Spring Semester, 2015 Darcy Bedgio defended this thesis on December 3, 2014. The members of the supervisory committee were: Jennifer Proffitt Professor Directing Thesis Stephen McDowell Committee Member Andy Opel Committee Member The Graduate School has verified and approved the above-named committee members, and certifies that the thesis has been approved in accordance with university requirements. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS A huge thank you to Dr. Jennifer Proffitt for her guidance and knowledge throughout this process. This manuscript would never have come to fruition without her support and encouragement. Her countless revisions and feedback have made me into a better researcher and writer. I would also like to thank the other members of my committee, Dr. Stephen McDowell and Dr. Andy Opel, for serving on my committee and providing insightful perspectives to my topic and approach. I would also like to thank my parents, for their love and support throughout this undertaking. Zack, thank you for the endless encouragement and support, especially in the final stages of writing. You have been an incredible boyfriend throughout the process.
  • Inspire and the Case of Anwar Al Awlaki A

    Inspire and the Case of Anwar Al Awlaki A

    Identity, Allegiance and Death: Inspire and the Case of Anwar al Awlaki A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA BY Peter Garrard Beck IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OFARTS Giovanna Dell’Orto, Adviser December, 2013 © Peter Garrard Beck 2013 Acknowledgements The road to this thesis began with my talking to Prof. Brian Southwell in 2010. I was very unsure if the University of Minnesota would allow me to enroll after four decades. He assured me that it was possible, provided my GRE and other application requirements were met. I want to thank Prof. Al Tims and others who opened the door at Murphy Hall. One year later, I enrolled in the SJMC and began work toward a MA in mass communi- cations. I want to express my gratitude to all of the professors and staff that helped me reorient to life at the university and taught with keen interest in their subjects and students. I am especially grateful to Prof. Catherine Squires and Prof. Shayla Thiel-Stern for making their classes so engaging. To my fellow graduate students, thank you so much for making me feel 30 years younger. I am very grateful for your friendship and advice. I want to especially thank my advisor, Prof Giovanna Dell’Orto, for her willingness to patiently listen to my reasons for returning to school and for her encouragement and advice along the way. Writing my thesis would have been far less rewarding without her advice and support. Her enthusiasm and full engagement in the classroom was a pleasure to behold.
  • Special Section

    Special Section

    SPECIALOPENING SECTION EYES SPECIALOPENING SECTION EYES telling stories of secret US military warfare that the film fo- ual devices born in Hollywood that are becoming more and Take me cuses on: Afghanistan, Yemen and Somalia. more common in contemporary documentaries. All three are tales of black ops, where the US military The opening sequence could have come out of the to the front played a central role in acts of war against civilians, by Bourne series. The post-production grading of the video committing them or, in the case of Somalia, facilitating creates an effect audiences will recognize as a kind of half- them. As Scahill says, in the opening montage, “This is a way house between entertainment and documentaries. Call RICHARD GIZBERT story about the seen and the unseen. And about things hid- it cinéma (slightly less) verité. den in plain sight.” The narrative winds through dusty roads in the Mid- In the documentary Dirty Wars (directed It seems rather easy nowadays, given what has hap- dle East, Central Asia and the Horn of Africa, pauses for by Rick Rowley) Jeremy Scahill shines a pened to the news industry, to hide such things. Jingo- breath at the reporter’s apartment in Brooklyn and fol- ism still mars a lot of the coverage of foreign policy coming lows Scahill into a congressional committee room in Wash- light into the darkness of America’s secret out of the US. Despite the mea culpas (or kinda culpas) we ington, DC. There, his shocking findings on an American wars, and on the culture of apathy and heard after all those anchor people helped cheerlead Amer- war crime are presented to a half-empty committee room ignorance that enables it.
  • THE PROPAGANDA MODEL TODAY PEDRO-CARAÑANA, BROUDY & KLAEHN (EDS) the Propaganda Model Today : Filtering Perception and Awareness

    THE PROPAGANDA MODEL TODAY PEDRO-CARAÑANA, BROUDY & KLAEHN (EDS) the Propaganda Model Today : Filtering Perception and Awareness

    THE PROPAGANDA MODEL TODAY MODEL PROPAGANDA THE CDSMS EDITED BY JOAN PEDRO-CARAÑANA, DANIEL BROUDY & JEFFERY KLAEHN THE PROPAGANDA MODEL TODAY Filtering Perception and Awareness PEDRO-CARAÑANA, BROUDY & KLAEHN (EDS) PEDRO-CARAÑANA, BROUDY The Propaganda Model Today : Filtering Perception and Awareness Edited by Joan Pedro-Carañana, Daniel Broudy & Jeffery Klaehn University of Westminster Press www.uwestminsterpress.co.uk Published by University of Westminster Press 115 New Cavendish Street London W1W 6UW www.uwestminsterpress.co.uk Text © the editors and several contributors 2018 First published 2018 Series cover concept: Mina Bach (minabach.co.uk) Print and digital versions typeset by Siliconchips Services Ltd. ISBN (Paperback): 978-1-912656-16-5 ISBN (PDF): 978-1-912656-17-2 ISBN (EPUB): 978-1-912656-18-9 ISBN (Kindle): 978-1-912656-19-6 DOI: https://doi.org/10.16997/book27 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommer cial- NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ or send a letter to Creative Com- mons, 444 Castro Street, Suite 900, Mountain View, California, 94041, USA. This license allows for copying and distributing the work, provid ing author attribution is clearly stated, that you are not using the material for commercial purposes, and that modified versions are not distributed. The full text of this book has been peer-reviewed to ensure high academic standards. For full review policies, see: http://www.uwestminsterpress.co.uk/ site/publish/ Suggested citation: Pedro-Carañana, J., Broudy, D. and Klaehn, J. (eds.). 2018.
  • Dirty Wars: the World Is a Battlefield

    Dirty Wars: the World Is a Battlefield

    11 November 2013 2012013333––––090090 Jeremy Scahill, Dirty Wars: The World Is a Battlefield . New York: Nation Books, 2013. Pp. xxiv, 642. ISBN 978978––––1111––––568585685856858––––671671671––––7.7.7.7. Review by William Astore, Pennsylvania College of TechnologyTechnology ([email protected]). Investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill is best known for his exposé of the private military contractor Black- water USA (later Blackwater Worldwide, still later Academi). 1 In his latest book, he considers the “dirty wars” that the United States has been fighting as part of its “global war on terror,” not only in Iraq and Af- ghanistan, but also in Somalia and Yemen. As national security correspondent for The Nation , Scahill has reported from the front lines and interviewed hundreds of participants. 2 In a detailed and episodic account spanning fifty-seven chapters, he traces the evolution of US anti-terrorism policies and actions, especially the rise of the Joint Special Operations Command after the 9/11 attacks, and their effect on the life and be- liefs of Anwar al Awlaki, the American imam killed on 30 September 2011 in a drone strike authorized by President Barack Obama. Scahill begins by recounting the targeted assassination of Awlaki’s sixteen-year-old son, Abdulrahman, also an American citizen, via drone attack on 14 October 2011. Neither father nor son had been formally charged with any crime. Only in May 2013 did the Obama administration admit to the killing of four Ameri- can citizens, including the Awlakis, by drone strikes; Attorney General Eric Holder called the slaying of Anwar al Awlaki “lawful,” “considered,” and “just.” 3 What are we to make of a government that assassinates its own citizens overseas without due legal pro- cess? That is the key question for Scahill.