The US government is the second worst human rights abuser on the planet and the sole enabler of the worst\u2013Israel. But this doesn\u2019t hamper Washington from pointing the finger elsewhere.<\/p>\n
The US State Department\u2019s \u201chuman rights report\u201d focuses its ire on Iran and Syria, two countries whose real sin is their independence from Washington, and on the bogyman- in-the-making\u2013China, the country selected for the role of Washington\u2019s new Cold War enemy.<\/p>\n
Hillary Clinton, another in a long line of unqualified Secretaries of State, informed \u201cgovernments around the world: we are watching, and we are holding you accountable,\u201d only we are not holding ourselves accountable or Washington\u2019s allies like Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Israel, and the NATO puppets.<\/p>\n
Hillary also made it \u201cclear to citizens and activists everywhere: You are not alone. We are standing with you,\u201d only not with protesters at the Chicago NATO summit or with the Occupy Wall Street protesters, or anywhere else in the US where there are protests. (ref<\/a>)<\/p>\n The State Department stands with the protesters funded by the US in the countries whose governments the US wishes to overthrow. Protesters in the US stand alone as do the occupied Palestinians who apparently have no human rights to their homes, lands, olive groves, or lives.<\/p>\n Here are some arrest numbers for a few recent US protests. The New York Daily News<\/a> reports that as of November 17, 2011, 1,300 Occupy Wall Street protesters were arrested in New York City alone. Fox News<\/a> reported (October 2, 2011) that 700 protesters were arrested on the Brooklyn Bridge. At the NATO summit in Chicago last week, 90 protesters were arrested (Chicago Journal<\/a>).<\/p>\n In the US some protesters are being officially categorized as \u201cdomestic extremists\u201d or \u201cdomestic terrorists,\u201d a new threat category that Homeland Security announced is now the focus of its attention, displacing Muslim terrorists as the number one threat to the US. In September 2010, federal police raided the homes of peace activists in Chicago and Minneapolis. The FBI is trying to concoct a case against them by claiming that the peace activists donated money to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. As demanded by Israel, the US government has designated the PFLP as a terrorist group.<\/p>\n In Chicago last week, among the many arrested NATO protesters with whom the State Department does not stand are three young white americans arrested for \u201cdomestic terrorism\u201d in what Dave Lindorff<\/a> reports was \u201ca warrantless house invasion reminiscent of what US military forces are doing on a daily [and nightly] basis in Afghanistan.\u201d If the US government, which stands with protesters everywhere except in America, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Palestine, can make this into a terrorism case, the three americans can be convicted on the basis of secret evidence or simply be incarcerated for the rest of their lives without a trial.<\/p>\n Meanwhile the three american \u201cdomestic terrorists\u201d are being held in solitary confinement. Like many of the NATO protesters, they came from out of town. Brian Church, 20 years old, came from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Jared Chase, 27, came from Keene, New Hampshire. Brent Betterly, 24, came from Oakland Park, Florida. Charged with providing material support for terrorism, the judge set their bail at $1.5 million each.<\/p>\n These three are not charged with actually throwing a Molotov cocktail at a person or thing. They are charged with coming to Chicago with the idea of doing so. Somehow the 16 federal intelligence agencies plus those of our NATO puppets and Israel were unable to discover the 9\/11 plot in the making, but the Chicago police knew in advance why two guys from Florida and one from New Hampshire came to Chicago. The domestic terrorism cases turn out to be police concoctions that are foiled before they happen, so we have many terrorists but no actual terrorist acts.<\/p>\n Two other young americans are being framed by their Human Rights Government. Sebastian Senakiewicz, 24, of Chicago is charged with \u201cfalsely making a terrorist threat,\u201d whatever that means. His bail was set at $750,000. Mark Neiweem, 28, of Chicago is charged with \u201csolicitation for explosives or incendiary devices.\u201d His bail is set at $500,000.<\/p>\n This is human rights in america. But the State Department\u2019s human rights report never examines the US. It is a political document aimed at Washington\u2019s chosen enemies.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Human Rights america continues to violate the national sovereignty of Pakistan, Yeman, and Afghanistan by sending in drones, bombs, special forces and in Afghanistan 150,000 US soldiers to murder people, usually women, children and village elders. Weddings, funerals, children\u2019s soccer games, schools and farmers\u2019 houses are also favorite targets for Washington\u2019s attacks. On May 25 the Pakistani Daily Times<\/a> reported that Pakistani Foreign Office spokesman Moazzam Ali Khan strongly condemned the drone attacks: \u201cWe regard them as a violation of our territorial integrity. They are in contravention of international law. They are illegal, counter productive and totally unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n The US reportedly funnels money to the Iranian terrorist group, MEK, declared terrorists by no less than the US State Department. But it is OK as long as MEK is terrorizing Iran. Washington stands with MEK\u2019s protests delivered via bombs and the assassin\u2019s bullet. After all, we have to bring freedom and democracy to Iran, and violence is Washington\u2019s preferred way to achieve this goal.<\/p>\n Washington is desperate to overthrow the Syrian government in order to get rid of the Russian naval base. On May 15 the Washington Post reported that Washington is coordinating the flow of arms to Syrian rebels. Washington\u2019s justification for interfering in Syria\u2019s internal affairs is human rights charges against the Syrian government. However, a UN report<\/a> finds that the rebels are no more respectful of human rights than the Syrian government. The rebels torture and murder prisoners and kidnap civilians wealthy enough to bring a ransom.<\/p>\n NATO, guided by Washington, went far outside the UN resolution declaring a no-fly zone over Libya. NATO in blatant violation of the UN resolution provided the air attack on the Libyan government that enabled the CIA-supported \u201crebels\u201d to overthrow Gadhafi, killing many Libyan civilians in the process.<\/p>\n Under the Nuremberg standard (principle VI.a.i<\/a>), it is a war crime to launch a war of aggression, which is what Washington and its NATO puppets launched against Libya, but, no sweat, Washington brought Libya freedom and democracy.<\/p>\n Assassinating foreign opponents is the West\u2019s preferred diplomacy. The British were at ease with it, and Washington picked up the practice. In his book, The Decline and Fall of the British Empire<\/a>, Cambridge University historian Piers Brendon, the Keeper of the Churchill Archives, reports from the documents he has at hand, that in the build up to the \u201cSuez Crisis\u201d in 1956, British Prime Minister Anthony Eden told Foreign Office minister Anthony Nutting, \u201cI want him [Nasser, Egypt\u2019s leader] murdered.\u201d<\/p>\n Brendon goes on to report: \u201cDoubtless at the Prime Minister\u2019s behest, the Secret Intelligence Service did hatch plots to assassinate Nasser and to topple his government. Its agents, who proposed to pour nerve gas into Nasser\u2019s office through the ventilation system, were by no means discreet.\u201d The secret agents talked too much, and the scheme never came to fruition.<\/p>\n Last week in Malaysia a war crimes tribunal found George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and their legal advisers, Alberto Gonzales, David Addington, William Haynes II, Jay Bybee, and John Choon Yoo guilty of war crimes. (ref<\/a>)<\/p>\n But don\u2019t expect Washington to take any notice. The war crimes convictions are merely a \u201cpolitical statement.\u201d<\/p>\n _____________________<\/p>\n Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy and associate editor of the Wall Street Journal. He was columnist for Business Week, Scripps Howard News Service, and Creators Syndicate. He has had many university appointments. His internet columns have attracted a worldwide following.<\/em><\/p>\n