Category: America

David Cameron: waterboarding does not save lives

Terrorism in the UK

David Cameron has flatly contradicted George W Bush and said he does not believe that waterboarding, the controversial interrogation technique, saves lives.

Protesters demonstrate the use of waterboarding in front of the Justice Department in Washington Photo: AP

By Andrew Porter in Seoul

The British prime minister, speaking at the G20 summit in South Korea, repeated the official British line that torture was wrong, and he went further, attacking policies pursued by the Bush administration on the detention and treatment of prisoners which he said had helped to radicalise people and made the West “less safe”.

Mr Bush memoirs, which were published this week, asserted strongly that the waterboarding of prisoners had averted huge terrorist attacks on key London targets. The former US president also said that he did not believe that waterboarding constituted torture.

In an interview on Thursday. Mr Cameron said he disagreed with Mr Bush, though he did not deal directly with the belief that specific attacks had been headed off. “Look, I think torture is wrong and I think we ought to be very clear about that,” Mr Cameron said. “And I think we should also be clear that if actually you’re getting information from torture, it’s very likely to be unreliable information.”

When pressed on whether torture saves lives, he added: “I think there is both a moral reason for being opposed to torture – and Britain doesn’t sanction torture – but secondly I think there’s also an effectiveness thing … if you look at the effect of Guantánamo Bay and other things like that, long-term that has actually helped to radicalise people and make our country and our world less safe. So I don’t agree.”

Mr Bush has claimed attacks on Canary Wharf and Heathrow airport were foiled as a result of the controversial interrogation technique. Speaking on the release of his book Decision Points, he said of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the supposed architect of 9/11: “We capture the guy, the chief operating officer of al-Qaeda, who kills 3,000 people. We felt he had the information about another attack. He says, ‘I’ll talk to you when I get my lawyer’. I say, ‘What options are available and legal?’”

Last month, Sir John Sawers, the head of the UK’s Secret Intelligence Service, said: “Torture is illegal and abhorrent under any circumstances and we have nothing whatsoever to do with it.” But the Foreign Office has accepted that information gained from waterboarding would be used if it could stop an imminent terrorist attack.

Mr Bush’s views have run into opposition from a number of experts in the UK. Lord Macdonald of River Glaven, the former Director of Public Prosecutions said: “These stories about waterboarding thwarting attacks on Canary Wharf and Heathrow – I’ve never seen anything to substantiate these claims. It’s an easy claim to make, it’s much more difficult to prove. These claims are to be treated with a great deal of scepticism.”

However US intelligence officials involved in the 9/11 investigation have said Mr Bush’s claim was supported by a welter of evidence, including a confession made by Mohammed to a military tribunal at Guantánamo Bay.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/terrorism-in-the-uk/8126623/David-Cameron-waterboarding-does-not-save-lives.html, 11 Nov 2010

November 17, 2010
Turkish Musician To Give Concert In New York Mills

Turkish Mystic Sufi musician Latif Bolat will present music, poetry, Sufi mystic stories and images from the ancient land of Turkey at the New York Mills Regional Cultural Center at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 18. Tickets are $12 advance sale and $15 at the door. Student tickets are $5 anytime.

Turkish Mystic Sufi musician Latif Bolat will present music, poetry, Sufi mystic stories and images from the ancient land of Turkey at the New York Mills Regional Cultural Center at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 18. Tickets are $12 advance sale and $15 at the door. Student tickets are $5 anytime.

Bolat plays Turkish folk music and devotional Sufi songs which are called Ilahi and Nefes, from the Anatolian peninsula. The lyrics of Ilahis or Nefeses are taken largely from the great 13th century mystical poets Rumi and Yunus Emre. The program also includes traditional Turkish folk songs as well as ballads composed by Latif Bolat. Throughout the program, devotional poetry will be recited from 13th century Sufi poets Yunus Emre and Rumi, and images of Turkish people and scenery will be reflected on a screen.

One of the most well-known Turkish musicians in the U.S., Bolat possesses a vast repertoire, ranging from Sufi devotional songs and Turkish Folk music to classical pieces. His mesmerizing performances draw on ancient texts and employ traditional instrumentation such as the baglama (long necked lute), and he is often accompanied by other Turkish traditional instruments such as oud, bendir and ney flute. Now residing in New Mexico, Bolat has presented his music all across America, Canada, India, Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Singapore, Bulgaria, Turkey, the Philippines and England. In addition to the concerts and lectures, he has recorded four successful CDs, made many TV and radio appearances and composed music for the PBS Documentary “Muhammed: Legacy of a Prophet” and George Lucas’s TV series “Young Indiana Jones.” He is also the co-author of a Turkish Sufi poetry book titled “Quarreling with God” which is published by White Cloud Books (Oregon, 2008).

Date: Nov. 28

Time: 19:30

Adress: The New York Mills Regional Cultural Center

24 North Main Avenue, Box 246

New York Mills, MN 56567

www.wadenapj.com

November 15, 2010
Axis of Turkey and new routes of Turkish Airlines!

It is no secret that Washington is the capital where debate on Turkey’s axis is hottest, particularly after Turkey’s “no” vote at the UN Security Council and the Mavi Marmara incident. This confusion, amplified especially by contributions from Israel’s friends in the US political arena and media biz, is said to rule in Congress.

Yet, some are aware of the vital role Turkey may play in the international arena after solving its own problems related to democracy and economy. But they need strong proof against strong wind.

During the several days I will be in Washington, I will have an opportunity to meet both the people with confused minds and those who correctly analyze Turkey’s current political transformation and new foreign policy approach. I will share the views of both camps with you in my coming articles.

But I will first talk about the trip, which served as the occasion for my Washington visit, and what I learned on this trip, as I believe it will add an important perspective to the axis debates. What served as an occasion for my trip to Washington is the Turkish Airlines’ (THY) launching direct flights to Washington. To establish a direct bridge between İstanbul and Washington at a time when bilateral relations are not agreeable between the two countries was meaningful. Not only the introduction of direct flights to Washington, but also the seven-year chart of flights between the two countries does not give much credence to conspiracy theories. The total number of weekly THY’s flights to the US was seven in 2003, and it will rise to 35 next summer, a fivefold increase.

THY’s success in boosting its number of passengers from 10 million to 30 million in seven years and becoming the fourth largest airline in Europe is indicative of Turkey’s overall economic performance, and the new routes it introduced and diversity in nationalities of its passengers are good indicators of Turkey’s foreign policy initiatives.

When the subject fell on the axis-shift debates during our conversation aboard the plane to Washington, THY General Manager Temel Kotil protested, saying that based on the THY’s flight patterns to eastern and western countries, there is no axis-shift.

Compared to figures from seven years ago, the statistics he provides are quite impressive and almost a perfect mathematical expression of the foreign policy Turkey is pursuing. In 2003, there were 100 weekly flights to Germany while this figure rose to 200 in 2010. Likewise, the flights to Syria rose from four to 28. The flights to Egypt and Libya rose, respectively from four to 28, and from seven to 21. In 2003, there were only seven flights to Moscow but it has since skyrocketed to 100. Suppose that the rise in the number of flights to Syria, Libya and Egypt is indicative of Turkey’s shift toward the Middle East, how can you explain the twofold increase in the flights to Germany, threefold increase to the US, and 14-fold increase to Russia in the same period? A more striking fact is that the flights to Israel rose to 28 in the same period with a twofold increase.

Today, out of 16 million passengers carried by the THY, 6 million are foreigners, and it is planning to boost its 17 destinations in Africa to 37 destinations shortly, becoming the airline that best connects this continent to the rest of the world. It also has plans to become one of the world’s top 10 airlines in 2015 by increasing its number of passengers to 60 million.

These figures reveal concrete facts compared to the relatively abstract discussions about Turkey’s so-called axis-shift. There is no doubt that the new Turkey is much different from the old one. Its new perspective about its neighbors and the world paves the way for significant economic achievements, and its rising economic power is making Turkey an attractive partner. The new Turkey does not sever its ties with the West, rather, it maintains their relations in all areas. Otherwise, how can one explain the rise in flights to Europe, the US and even Israel? However, due to the new initiatives, the West’s share is decreasing. So what we have is not an axis-shift, but an axis proliferation and normalization.

“Why do our economic relations with Turkey lag behind Germany and even Russia?” a congressman, who will come to Turkey in the first THY flight to Turkey from Washington, asked Kotil. Based on the deterioration of Turkish-US relations, his answer was an eye-opener. He replied, “Give us an opportunity and we will certainly boost our flights to 100.” If more thought is invested in this question, the formula for normalizing relations, which are fragile because they remain at a military or strategic level, will be found.

ABDULHAMİT BİLİCİ

13 November 2010

Journal of Turkish Weekly

November 14, 2010
George W Bush memoirs: foreign powers and Tony Blair

George W Bush, the former US president, has launched his memoirs and given a series of interviews, which provide fascinating insights into his views on foreign powers, among them Saddam Hussein’s Iraq and Tony Blair, the former Prime Minister.

By Andy Bloxham

On Tony Blair:

He compared Mr Blair to Winston Churchill and disclosed that, on the eve of the war in Iraq, the British PM was willing to risk bringing down the Government to push through a vital vote. He cites Mr Blair’s “wisdom and his strategic thinking as the prime minister of a strong and important ally”, adding: “I admire that kind of courage. People get caught up in all the conventional wisdom, but some day history will reward that kind of political courage.”

On British and European public opinion:

The former president was frank about the lack of weight he attached to how he was thought of in the UK both while he was in power and since he left it, saying: “It doesn’t matter how people perceive me in England. It just doesn’t matter any more. And frankly, at times, it didn’t matter then.” He said: “People in Europe said: “Ah, man, he’s a religious fanatic, cowboy, simpleton.” All that stuff… If you believe that freedom is universal, then you shouldn’t be surprised when people take courageous measures to live in a free society.”

On Saddam:

“There were things we got wrong in Iraq but that cause is eternally right,” he said. “People forget he was an enemy, he had invaded countries, everybody thought he had weapons of mass destruction, it became clear that he had the capacity to make weapons of mass destruction. What would life be like if Saddam Hussein were [still] in power? It is likely you would be seeing a nuclear arms race.” He also adds that Saddam disclosed his reasons for pretending to have WMDs when he could have avoided war were because “he was more worried about looking weak to Iran than being removed by the coalition.”

On Afghanistan:

“Our government was not prepared for nation building. Over time, we adapted our stratedy and our capabilities. Still, the poverty in Afghanistan is so deep, and the infrastructure so lacking, that it will take many years to complete the work.”

On Iran:

“A government not of the people is never capable of being held to account for human rights violations. Iran will be better served if there is an Iranian-style democracy. They play like they’ve got elections but they’ve got a handful of clerics who decide who runs it.”

On China:

He believes its internal politics will stop it being a superpower economy to rival the US for many years. “China, no question, is an emerging economy. China has plenty of internal problems which means that, in my judgment, they are not hegemonistic. They will be seeking raw materials.”

On Syria:

Mr Bush recounts an incident when Israel’s then-prime minister Ehud Olmert called him to ask him to bomb what Mossad agents had discovered was a secret nuclear facility in Syria. He said no but Israel destroyed it without warning him. Telling the story appears to signal his displeasure at not being told.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/8119227/George-W-Bush-memoirs-foreign-powers-and-Tony-Blair.html, 09 Nov 2010

November 13, 2010
$751 All-in on Turkish Airlines Direct to Istanbul. You In?

Every so often, we go through serious destination crushes, and we bet you do too. When it was summer in New York City, we were all about looking up airfares to Iceland, but now that it’s cold and getting dreary, the exotic entrances. Which means that we’ve got our eye on Istanbul, and umm yea we’re totally going to spend the weekend wasting hours on Wikipedia pages and Netflix documentaries about the city’s history and landmarks. Or we could just book a flight and be done with it. That could also happen.

Luckily for travelers who also need a serious escape, Turkish Airlines just launched a sweet fare sale to coincide with the beginning of direct flights between Washington DC, Los Angeles and Istanbul. If you book before December 31 and travel before March 31, 2011, then flights on the DC route are $751 including taxes & fees and $999 on the LA route, same deal.

It’s almost as good as that mindblowing Lufthansa sale that ended last week, but with the Turkish Airlines flights, you don’t have to switch planes in Germany. These are direct, baby!

Here are all the details on the flights, and we’ll (maybe) see you at the Blue Mosque.

[Photo: Bulent-LtBaSpotter]

November 13, 2010
President Gül says Turkey may join ranks of BRIC countries

President Abdullah Gül has said he hoped Turkey’s economic progress would take it into the ranks of emerging BRIC countries — Brazil, Russia, India and China — although he made it clear Turkey remains committed to joining the European Union.

Gül, in an interview with the Financial Times, said the international order was shifting towards the East. “It wouldn’t be surprising if we start talking about BRIC plus T,” he said. The BRIC countries are considered to be at a similar stage of newly advanced economic development, and their growing influence in the global scene is seen as an indication of the shift in economic power from the developed West towards the developing world.

Turkey, which has built closer ties with its Middle East neighbors under the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government, has been accused in the West of turning away from the Western club and cozying up to countries such as Iran.

Gül, who was on a visit to Britain to receive the prestigious Chatham House Prize, said in the interview that Turkey still saw membership in the EU as a “strategic vision” and wanted to be part of the principles that Europe defends, promising that Ankara would make sure it met all standards required for membership even though large parts of its entry negotiations are frozen.

But Gül, speaking a day before the European Commission criticized Turkey for restrictions on freedom of expression and over Cyprus in an annual progress report released on Tuesday, also complained of political obstacles raised by some EU member countries. “We see certain political issues being included in the process, which have the effect of slowing down and, to a certain extent, hijacking these negotiations. We are not happy about this,” Gül told the Financial Times on Monday.

Speaking in Oxford also on Monday, Gül said some EU member states were creating “artificial problems” in Turkey’s EU membership negotiations but said Turkey would stick to the task. “The injection of some political issues of certain member countries in the negotiating process leads to certain artificial problems that in our point of view are not fair and not acceptable,” he said at an event hosted by the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies. “But Turkey is determined to move forward in the direction of working on the negotiations,” he said.

Gül declined to name any country when he complained that certain, unnamed, “short-sighted” EU countries had hidden behind the Greek Cypriots to pursue their own objective of delaying Turkey’s membership bid in interviews with the British media. But Turkish officials say some EU countries, such as France, are using the impasse over Cyprus to stall Turkey’s accession bid.

He also said one cannot say for sure that Turkey will eventually join the EU because there will be public votes in several EU countries on Turkish membership after conclusion of accession talks with Turkey. “When the time comes, those countries will decide whether or not Turkey would be a burden on them. Maybe Turkish people would say, ‘although we concluded the negotiation process successfully, let us not be a member’,” Gül told the BBC’s “HARDtalk.”

Responding to a question on Turkey’s position regarding a planned NATO-wide missile defense system, Gül was hopeful that the alliance’s upcoming summit in Lisbon will produce a consensus on the issue. “The NATO Summit will convene in Lisbon next week. I think everybody will reach a consensus in the end,” he said.

Turkey insists that no country should be named as a potential threat in relevant NATO documents, a reference to Turkey’s neighbor, Iran.

When it was pointed out that US President Barack Obama addressed Muslim countries and relayed messages about peace and dialogue when he first came to power and he was asked whether Obama has caused disappointment since then, Gül said: “No, I think he is kindhearted. He does good things sincerely. However, maybe he could not succeed. Not only Muslims but others should listen to Obama. He should also persuade others, not just one party, to achieve peace in the region.”

via Today’s Zaman, your gateway to Turkish daily news.

November 12, 2010