Obama and Human Rights (1)

Which country has deliberately lied to its people about circumstances leading to the death of a high officer of state? Which country has embarked on a spate of prosecution of journalists whose views of the extent of human rights differed from governments’? Which nation has tried to undermine press freedom by seeking to circumvent confidentiality of media sources? Which government has seized phone records of scores of journalists in an attempt to find out where and from whom they got their information? Which state targets groups whose ideology and views differs from the ruling party’s using the state tax agency? Which country systematically invades the emails and phone records of millions of its citizens, foreigners, allies and enemies and persecutes anyone who dares to disclose its activities to the voters? Will that be Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, Uganda, Saudi Arabia or Argentina? Well no! It is the United States of America under its first black president Barack Obama!!! On September 11, 2012 the US Consulate in Benghazi, Libya and an annex building came under a coordinated attack, armed assault, rioting and arson. The weapons deployed in the fierce offensive included rocket-propelled and hand grenades, assault rifles, 14.5mm anti-aircraft guns, truck-mounted artillery, and mortars and diesel canisters. At the end of the attack next day, four Americans including the US Ambassador in Libya, J Christopher Stevens were killed and 3 Americans and 7 Libyans were injured. It was clear that prior to the attack, there was no protest at the consulate and the attack appeared clearly premeditated probably executed by Al Qaeda linked Ansar-al-Sharia elements, probably including a fellow named Ahmed Abu Khattala. On September 14, CNN correspondent Arwa Damon found the dead ambassador’s diary at the still unsecured site! In spite of the fact that this was a patent terror strike on the anniversary of the September 11 2001 terror strike in the US, on September 16, US Ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice appeared on five major morning talk shows claiming (or actually lying) that the attack was “spontaneously inspired” by protests against the notorious “Innocence of Muslims” video and characterized the event as “violent demonstrations”. White House spokesman, Jay Carney also linked the attack to the video and denied that the attack was pre-planned or premeditated. Obama’s administration, it seems sought to mislead its citizens on the cause of the ambassador’s death so as not to suffer negative consequences in the approaching November 2012 elections, as has now become evident. The US Department of Justice also headed by that country’s first African-American Attorney-General, Eric Holder has prosecuted eight (8) of its employees for purported crimes under the Espionage Act 1917, “more than all prior administrations combined” according to Wikipedia. Many of the prosecutions were for providing information to journalists! The accused persons include Shamai Leibowitz, Jeffery Sterling, John Kiriakou, Bradley Manning (the alleged Wikileaks “leaker”), Stephen Jin-Woo Kim, Thomas Drake, James Hitselberger and Edward Snowden. On May 13 2013, Associated Press (AP) disclosed that phone records of 20 reporters had been seized by the Justice Department in an attempt by the government to circumvent the confidentiality of the journalists’ sources. The AP had published a story about a CIA operation regarding Yemeni terrorist Fahd al-Quso and government was determined to find out their sources. Rather than the more legally transparent route of issuing subpoenas, the Justice Department preferred to seize phone records from phone providers, including Verizon Wireless. The Washington Post has also reported that the department also monitored journalist James Rosen’s phone calls and e-mails and designated the newsman a “criminal co-conspirator” with some of the ex-employees it was prosecuting, in order to get legal grounds to obtain judicial warrants against him. They went further to classify him a “flight risk” to justify keeping him in the dark about the surveillance activity. Earlier this year, it emerged that the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) had since March 2010, targeted conservative political groups applying for tax-exempt status for closer scrutiny based on their names and/or political themes. Groups with “Tea Party”, “Occupy”, “Patriot”, or “Israel” for instance, in their names were targeted. Themes that attracted scrutiny included typical conservative causes like focus on government spending, debt and taxes; wanting to “make America a better place to live”; criticism of how America was being run; interest in the Constitution and Bill of Rights; and seeking to challenge the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act aka “Obamacare”. For two years from April 2010, the IRS simply placed applications from such “objectionable” (?) names and themes on hold! A former IRS Commissioner, Doug Shulman who was implicated in these matters was (at the very least) a very regular visitor to the Obama White House.