The three-week trial made it sound like Siddiqui, who U.S. authorities had previously described as an al-Qaida sympathizer, had suddenly appeared in Afghanistan where she was arrested and then interrogated by Afghan and U.S. officials. (It was during that interrogation that Siddiqui allegedly staged her attack using a rifle a U.S. officer had left unattended in the room.)

The truth is Siddiqui had been “disappeared” in Pakistan by Pakistani intelligence forces in 2003 (She likely was picked up because U.S. intelligence agencies were saying she had terrorist links).

A report in the Pakistani press said that Siddiqui and her kids, then 7, 5, and 6 months old, had been seen being detained by Pakistani authorities. Days later, a spokesman for Pakistan’s interior ministry and two unnamed U.S. officials confirmed that she was in custody and being interrogated. Several days later, however, Pakistani and American officials apparently changed their minds, saying it was unlikely she was being held.

Siddiqui’s mother, Ismet, has said that a few days after Siddiqui’s disappearance, a man on a motorcycle arrived at her house and told her Aafia was being held and that she should keep quiet if she ever wanted to see her daughter and grandchildren again.

Interestingly enough, on July 7, 2008, only a few weeks before Siddiqui’s arrest in Afghanistan, Yvonne Ridley, an award-winning British journalist and patron of Cage Prisoners, a human rights organization, had sparked an uproar by calling a press conference in Islamabad to demand that the United States hand over an unidentified female prisoner being held at the U.S.-run Bagram prison in Afghanistan.

Ridley said the woman, whom she called the “Gray Lady of Bagram,” had been held in solitary confinement for years. And while no one knew for sure the identity of that prisoner, Ridley said she thought it was Siddiqui. Several former U.S. captives have also reported that a female prisoner, known only as prisoner 650, was being held in Bagram. And according to news reports, the former captives said she had lost her sanity, and cried all the time.

Ridley had written previously about “Prisoner 650″ and her four-year ordeal of torture and repeated rapes, saying that her cries had prompted the male prisoners to go on a hunger strike. And, at the Islamabad press conference, Ridley said she called her a “Gray Lady” because she was almost a “ghost, a specter whose cries and screams continue to haunt those who heard her.”

At her trial in New York, Siddiqui said she had been tortured and held in a secret prison before her detention. AP reported that she said charges that she attacked U.S. personnel who wanted to interrogate her were “crazy.” “It’s just ridiculous,” Siddiqui told the court.

And it is ridiculous. More likely this woman has been charged, and now convicted, of these crimes to cover up years of U.S. torture. The United States will never regain a position of trust in the world as long as a miscarriage of justice like this is unchallenged and uncorrected.

Reportedly there are over 3,000 veterans currently incarcerated and under threat of deportation nation wide.

Veterans’ rights activist Jan Ruhman wrote last year on the blog Vetspeak.org:

“American Military veterans who have served our nation in times of war and peace have quietly been deported since 1996 when the Immigration Reform Act (IRA) was passed by the Republican Controlled Congress and “broadly” redefined Aggravated Felony (AG) and took away certain applications for relief. This simple change in the definition of AG in the law has directly affected tens of thousands of veterans who served their nation. Quite simply, they are facing forced deportation or have in fact already been “quietly” and unceremoniously deported over the past 13 years.

“A trail of lies has been uncovered at point of recruitment and in boot camps. Statements concerning U. S. Citizenship being “automatic” were related by many veterans we interviewed. Other veterans, who were more educated, knew different and applied while in the military but then deployed to a combat zone and United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) didn’t have their application follow them. Many, who knew they had to apply, simply found that (as is the case with many veterans upon discharge, especially those suffering from PTSD), navigating the “system” is not psychologically or emotionally possible, for them.

“At present, it is estimated that over 3,000 of our fellow veterans are incarcerated and face deportation in Department of Homeland Security/INS Prisons nation wide. They are being processed through court rooms in rented industrials parks that more closely resemble fast food franchises turning out lunch than justice. Many are being held under “mandatory detention” with no option to pay bail to be released while fighting their case.

“Each month the human misery and degradation suffered by these veterans, their families and loved ones continues to grow.”

Nicolas Taborek, a staff writer for the Imperial Valley Press reports on two of those veterans in California:

“After serving six years in the U.S. Marine Corps, Rohan Coombs assumed he had earned American citizenship.

“But today the Jamaican immigrant is one of several military veterans in custody at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in El Centro fighting to avoid deportation.

“Coombs, 42, moved to the United States with his mother when he was 14 and ended up at the facility after serving eight months in prison for a 2008 marijuana distribution conviction. About the time he was expecting to be released from prison, he received some surprising news: despite his military service during the first Gulf War, he was never granted U.S. citizenship. As a non-citizen, he was subject to removal from the country for his offense.

“All this time I was thinking I was a (U.S.) citizen,” Coombs said. “The only time I left this country is when I was in the military…”

“Another veteran detained in El Centro, Fernando Cervantes, 55, moved to the United States from Mexico when he was 7 years old and is facing deportation because he was convicted of possessing less than a gram of methamphetamine with intent to sell.”

Coombs and Cervantes, like many of the veterans being deported, say that the military told them they would automatically become citizens by serving in the armed forces.

Vets’ activist Ruhman, a veteran himself, urges people to contact their local congressional representatives to “demand justice for these patriots.” Ruhman calls the deportations a “failure of U.S. immigration policy” and believes that only a federal law can stop them.

On Tuesday, a string of bombings killed nine people in two of Iraq’s largest cities, Baghdad and Mosul.

Examiner.com posted a slide show from these attacks here.

Last week, suicide bombings in Baghdad killed 127 people and wounded more than 500. Bombings in August and October, also in Baghdad, killed another 250 people.

According to The Associated Press, in Baghdad on Tuesday, “Three parked cars packed with mines and other bombs exploded within minutes of each other around 7:30 a.m. just outside different entrances to the Green Zone, just as Iraqis were coming to the area for work.”

The blasts killed five people and wounded at least 16.

The AP report said, “Four hours later and 225 miles away, in the northwestern Iraqi city of Mosul, two more car bombs and a roadside mine killed four people. The attacks appeared to target a busy neighborhood and a church, wounding up to 40 people.”

Of course, U.S. officials are quick to point out that violence, nationwide, is at its lowest level since 2003, a statistic that Iraqis may not find very comforting. It’s probably hard for many everyday Iraqis to see how the surge has changed their lives, with at least 386 people killed in bombings since August, let alone, the countless people killed in day-to-day violence.

The good news, for the United States, I suppose, is that Iraq’s prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, doesn’t see the bombings and other daily violence preventing the exit of U.S. troops, who are scheduled to leave by the end of 2011. Of course, that’s good news, too, for most Iraqis.

In the email, McDermott said, “Last week the President outlined the administration’s policy about the war in Afghanistan.

“I appreciate the time he took to carefully study all of our country’s options and inform our citizens of his plan.

“But at the end of the day, he simply did not convince me that escalating our country’s involvement in the War in Afghanistan is in our national interest…

“There is support in Congress to press for a vote on funding for new troops prior to sending them.

Congressman Jim McDermott

McDermott said he couldn’t support Obama’s troop surge because our country faces no immediate threat from Afghanistan and committing more troops to combat is not in our national interest.

He said: “We should be withdrawing troops from combat, not sending more of them into a conflict that the military cannot solve. At the end of the day, we will wind up with more people, both civilian and military, killed.”

On Dec. 2, right after Obama announced his Afghan surge, McDermott issued the following statement:

“The President’s speech tonight did not convince me that his policy is worth supporting. Last week, I attended a memorial service for seven servicemen from the same striker brigade from Fort Lewis who were killed on the same day in Afghanistan. I will not vote to send another troop to Afghanistan until I’m convinced that this strategy will succeed.

“No matter how many troops we commit, the United States cannot bring about the change necessary to stabilize Afghanistan. This responsibility ultimately falls on the Afghani government and its people, and no outsider can force this change to occur.

“Not only is this war costly in human terms, but it is bleeding our ability to provide for our own people and construct economic recovery and security at home.

“The Bush administration made a fatal mistake when it led us into Iraq and away from finishing the task in Afghanistan, and we have been paying the price ever since. I fear that we are asking our troops to fix a problem of our own making that the military cannot solve alone.”

In the fundraising email today, McDermott said, “Our country’s foreign policy toward the war in Afghanistan is another in a long list of difficult issues that Republicans will use in next year’s mid-term elections. They will also use our support of Health Care Reform and the much-needed jobs and stimulus programs in a desperate attempt to take over the Congress.

“Those of us who are outspoken advocates of progressive issues will be among their prime targets. But we cannot back down on our issues. Instead, all of us need to be ready to fight them next year.”

“Today, I will begin circulating two privileged resolutions which will trigger debate and votes on a timely withdrawal of U.S troops from Afghanistan and Pakistan.

“Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution of the United States makes it Congress’ responsibility to determine whether or not we go to war or stay at war. Consistent with Article 1, Section 8, the privileged resolutions will invoke the War Powers Resolution of 1973. I ask for your support of these resolutions, which will be introduced in the House in January.

“Yesterday, with the US Secretary of Defense at his side, the President of Afghanistan declared that his country’s security forces will need financial and training assistance from the United States for the next 15-20 years.

“We cannot afford these wars. We cannot afford the loss of lives. We cannot afford the cost to taxpayers. We cannot afford to fail to exercise our constitutional right to end the wars.

“Please sign onto the privileged resolutions to end the wars and to bring our troops home.
Stand up for the troops. Stand up for the truth. Stand up for the Constitution and Congress’ responsibility.”

Kucinich also sent the following letter to his colleagues under the heading, Require the President to Withdraw from Afghanistan and Pakistan:

“According to ABC News, Hamid Karzai, the president of Afghanistan, in a joint press conference with Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, remarked that his country’s security forces will need financial and training assistance from the United States for the next 15-20 years. This is especially disturbing since the Administration is already sliding back the timeline the President established only last week. What Mr. Karzai did not say is that would cost U.S. taxpayers an additional $2-3 trillion.

“As President Obama prepares to escalate military operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan, we must reassert our Constitutional prerogative as it relates to war. The United States has been involved in military action both in Afghanistan and Pakistan since the inception of the Obama Administration, despite the fact that the President has never submitted a report to Congress pursuant to Section 4(a) (I) of the War Powers Resolution.

“When Congress returns in 2010, I intend to bring to the floor of the House privileged resolutions reasserting this prerogative. My bills, which would trigger a timeline for a timely withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan and Pakistan, invoke the War Powers Resolution of 1973 and are intended to secure the Constitutional role of Congress, as directly elected representatives of the people, under Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution, to decide whether or not America enters into war, continues a war, or otherwise introduces armed forces or materiel into combat zones.

“Despite the President’s assertion that previous Congressional action gives him the authority to respond to the attacks of September 11, 2001, a careful reading of the Authorization of Use of Military Force (AUMF) makes clear that the AUMF did not supersede ‘any requirement of the War Powers Resolution’ and therefore did not undermine Congress’ ability to revisit the constitutional question of war powers at a later date.

“I invite you to join in reasserting Congress’ Constitutional right and obligation in these matters…”

Draft copies of the Kucinich bills can be read here and here.

And the protests are continuing. On Saturday, Seattle activists are gathering at 2 p.m. in Westlake Park at the urging of ANSWER (The Act Now to Stop War and End Racism coalition). The planned demonstration and protest is also endorsed by The World Can’t Wait, a group that began organizing in opposition to the Bush administration.

ANSWER described its opposition in a statement issued right after Obama said he was sending more troops to Afghanistan:

“The U.S. cannot ‘win’ the war in Afghanistan. It was losing the war when Barack Obama took office. In March 2009, President Obama ordered another 30,000 troops. Rather than reverse the outcome, the U.S. and NATO effort lost even more ground. Now President Obama has ordered another 30,000 troops to Afghanistan…

Bush and Cheney ordered the invasion thinking it would be easy going. They thought Iraq would be easy, too. They were going to wipe out the governments in Iran, Syria and North Korea. This colonial-type fantasy, nourished by ‘great nation’ arrogance and the acquiescence of a caste of corrupt politicians in Congress, set the stage for the current catastrophe of a war without end.

After eight years of war, more than 140 armed insurgent groups of Afghans now exist as a response to the invasion and they control large parts of the country. The people in Afghanistan perceive the occupation as a colonial-type takeover of their country. September 11 was a pretext, but there were no Afghans or Iraqis who hijacked the planes. The people of Afghanistan, like the people in Vietnam, will never accept foreign military occupation in their country.”

Meanwhile, violence in the region continues.

In Rawalpindi, Pakistan, news reports said, militants attacked a mosque near army headquarters, killing at least 36 worshippers, including six military officers, during Friday prayers. Officials said they sprayed gunfire and threw grenades before blowing themselves up.

The Associated Press said, “Violence in nuclear-armed Pakistan has escalated since the army launched an offensive in mid-October against Taliban militants in the northwestern tribal area of South Waziristan near the Afghan border.”

In Afghanistan, U.S. Marines launched a major operation today,

According to The Associated Press, “Hundreds of troops from the 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines and the Marine reconnaissance unit Task Force Raider were dropped by helicopter and MV-22 Osprey aircraft behind Taliban lines in the northern end of the Now Zad Valley of Helmand province, scene of heavy fighting last summer.”

World March organized a number of events for today in the United States and elsewhere. Ed Asner and Martin Sheen are among those joining the protests in Los Angeles. Chris Wells, the North America spokesperson for World March, said today: “We keep going down the same road. It’s important to denounce war, but we must build peace – we must change our entire mindset. During the Vietnam War, Martin Luther King Jr. said that the U.S. was the greatest purveyor of violence in the world and that if we didn’t end that military mindset we’d be protesting war in country after country. We’ll be participating in a tribute to King at the Lincoln
memorial this afternoon.”

The March has been endorsed by the presidents of eleven countries, and also by Desmond Tutu, Jimmy Carter, Noam Chomsky, Cornel West, Dennis Kucinich, Daniel Ellsberg, Cate Blanchett, Yoko Ono, Art Garfunkel, Philip Glass and hundreds more.

For more information, including a complete list of events in the United States, go to http://www.worldmarchusa.net .For events in other parts of the world, got to http://www.theworldmarch.org .

The IPA news release this morning also said Michael McPhearson, national executive director of Veterans For Peace, recently sent a letter to Obama saying: “With millions of U.S. people feeling the fear and desperation of no longer having a home; with millions feeling the terror and loss of dignity that comes with unemployment; with millions of our children slipping further into poverty and hunger, your decision to deploy thousands more troops and throw hundreds of billions more dollars into prolonging the profoundly tragic war in Afghanistan strikes us as utter folly. We believe this decision represents a war against ordinary people, both here in the United States and in Afghanistan. The war in Afghanistan, if continued, will result in the deaths of hundreds if not thousands of U.S. troops, and untold thousands of Afghans.”

Also, IPA listed a unique and more solitary protest by Thomas Mahany, a Vietnam veteran and a stonemason and artist from Michigan. Mahany has been protesting with a water-only fast in front of the White House since Veterans Day. Today, he sent a letter to Congress calling for an end to the military’s stop-loss policy, which is the involuntary extension of a service member’s active duty service in order to keep them in the military beyond the time they signed up for:

“The horrible mass murder at Fort Hood on November 5th was an alarm going off. On that day I decided I could no longer remain indifferent to such an obviously unjust Pentagon policy of troop procurement leading to rampant Post Traumatic Stress Disorder among our combat soldiers and placing unbearable hardship on the families of a very limited sector of our population.

“A new Army mental health survey of soldiers in Afghanistan shows that morale is down and mental stress increases with an increased number of deployments. Action is well past due to deal with the cruel and self-serving stop-loss strategy implemented by our military on a severely undermanned fighting force.”

While these protests are praiseworthy, it is also worth noting that Obama is only living up to his campaign promises. He said he would shift the war to Afghanistan, and he is doing that. On the domestic front, we got some “hope.” On the international front, we got a lot of goodwill toward the United States just for electing Obama. But as far as U.S. actions abroad, it’s still pretty much business as usual. We will still send our soldiers to fight for our business interests wherever those interests take us.

One would think, with President Obama poised to send more troops to Afghanistan, that a book tour by a woman who became the youngest person to be elected to Afghanistan’s new parliament in 2005, would be a big deal for our local news folks. But, it wasn’t. I only found out about it after seeing a mention of it on an Afghan site, and then finding her itinerary on a local activist web page, Peace Action of Washington. The lesson, I guess, is that I should tune in to KUOW more often.

Malalai on Wednesday spoke about her country’s struggle and about her new memoir, A Woman Among Warlords at Antioch

Malalai Joya's new book

In May 2007, Malalai, who, incidentally, has survived five assassination attempts, was suspended from the parliament on the grounds that she had insulted fellow representatives (War lords and drug lords are a sensitive lot). Her suspension, which she is appealing, has been protested by lawmakers, activists and intellectuals around the world.

Since most of us missed her talks, I’m reprinting some of Malalai’s key messages, taken from an essay she wrote for Britain’s The Independent just after the August elections in Afghanistan and from an article she wrote for the San Jose Mercury News on Tuesday:

“Democracy will never come to Afghanistan through the barrel of a gun, or from the cluster bombs dropped by foreign forces. The struggle will be long and difficult, but the values of real democracy, human rights and women’s rights will only be won by the Afghan people themselves.

“So do not be fooled by this façade of democracy. The British and other Western governments that claim to be bringing democracy to Afghanistan ignore public opinion in their own countries, where growing numbers are against the war.

“In my tours to countries that have troops in Afghanistan, I’ve met many bereaved parents who have lost their loved ones in the war in my home. I am very sorry to see governments putting the lives of their soldiers in danger in Afghanistan in the name of bringing democracy. In fact the soldiers are serving the strategic and regional interests of the White House and the consequences of their occupation so far have been devastating for my people.

“The worst casualty of this war is truth. Those who stand up and raise their voice against injustice, insecurity and occupation have their lives threatened and are forced to leave Afghanistan, or simply get killed.

“We are sandwiched between three powerful enemies: the occupation forces of the U.S. and NATO, the Taliban and the corrupt government of Hamid Karzai.

“Now President Obama is considering increasing troops to Afghanistan and simply extending former President Bush’s wrong policies. In fact, the worst massacres since 9/11 were during Obama’s tenure. My native province of Farah was bombed by the U.S. this past May. A hundred and fifty people were killed, most of them women and children. On Sept. 9, the U.S. bombed Kunduz Province, killing 200 civilians.

“My people are fed up. That is why we want an immediate end to the U.S. occupation.”

Siddiqui, according to the official U.S. version of events, was arrested in Afghanistan on July 17, 2008, for “suspicious behavior.” On July 18, while still in custody, so that version goes, the 90-pound neuroscientist grabbed an unattended rifle and attempted to shoot the agents before she was wounded by gunfire.

Before news of her arrest in Afghanistan, no one, at least publicly, had heard of Siddiqui since she was disappeared by Pakistani intelligence forces in 2003 (She likely was picked up because U.S. intelligence agencies were saying she had terrorist links). A report in the Pakistani press said that Siddiqui and her kids, then 7, 5, and 6 months old, had been seen being detained by Pakistani authorities. Days later, a spokesman for Pakistan’s interior ministry and two unnamed U.S. officials confirmed that she was in custody and being interrogated. Several days later, however, Pakistani and American officials apparently changed their minds, saying it was unlikely she was being held.

Siddiqui’s mother, Ismet, has said that a few days after Siddiqui’s disappearance, a man on a motorcycle arrived at her house and told her Aafia was being held and that she should keep quiet if she ever wanted to see her daughter and grandchildren again.

The treatment and fate of Siddiqui’s children, who are all U.S. citizens, is one of many troubling aspects of this case. The oldest, 11-year-old Ahmed, who had been detained with his mother in Afghanistan, was recently released from Afghan custody into his aunt’s care. Siddiqui has said that her younger son died in custody; her 5-year-old daughter remains unaccounted for.

Interestingly enough, on July 7, 2008, only a few weeks before Siddiqui’s arrest, Yvonne Ridley, a British journalist and patron of Cage Prisoners, a human rights organization, had sparked an uproar by calling a press conference in Islamabad to demand that the United States hand over an unidentified female prisoner being held at the U.S.-run Bagram prison in Afghanistan.

Ridley said the woman, whom she called the “Gray Lady of Bagram,” had been held in solitary confinement for years. And while no one knew for sure the identity of that prisoner, Ridley said she thought it was Siddiqui. Several former U.S. captives have also reported that a female prisoner, known only as prisoner 650, was being held in Bagram. And according to news reports, the former captives said she had lost her sanity, and cried all the time.

Ridley had written previously about “Prisoner 650″ and her four-year ordeal of torture and repeated rapes, saying that her cries had prompted the male prisoners to go on a hunger strike. And, at the Islamabad press conference, Ridley said she called her a “Gray Lady” because she was almost a “ghost, a specter whose cries and screams continue to haunt those who heard her.”

Ridley is an award-winning journalist who was detained for 11 days by the Taliban in 2001 while on an assignment in Afghanistan. Months after her release she converted to Islam.

Siddiqui supporters plan a rally for the opening day of her trial in front of the U.S. District Court in New York City.

But it’s been a while since I’ve seen anything on global hunger, so, after washing down my bagel with cold, black coffee, I read the email.

As expected, it had good and bad news. The good news is that hunger rates worldwide have shrunk since1990; the bad news is that they have shrunk less than 25 percent despite the greater focus on world hunger by various international organizations as well as the affected nations.

The 2009 Global Hunger Index, for the first time, also shows that high rates of hunger are strongly linked to gender inequalities, especially in terms of literacy and access to education.

The situation is especially serious in Chad, which ranks fifth worst on the Global Hunger Index, second worst in terms of gender inequality, and has a female literacy rate of only 13 percent, compared to 41 percent for men. The report said that IFPRI research shows that equalizing men’s and women’s status would reduce the number of malnourished children by 13.4 million in South Asia and by 1.7 million in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The press statement quoted Agnes Quisumbing, report co-author and IFPRI senior research fellow: “Women’s educational level and status or power relative to men’s in households and communities significantly affect children’s nutrition. In South Asia (especially), women’s low social status and limited access to schooling have dire consequences for the nutrition, health, and wellbeing of both mothers and their children.”

IFPRI Director General Joachim von Braun said, “Knowing that hunger and gender inequality go hand-in-hand, an important step to ending world hunger is empowering women and eradicating gender disparities in education, health, economic participation, and political opportunities.

“After decades of slow progress in the fight against hunger, child malnourishment is now on the rise due to recent economic developments. It is imperative that commitments made at the G20 and other global policy meetings are swiftly transformed into real action in cooperation with developing countries.”

Overall, the report found that 29 countries around the world have “alarming or extremely alarming” levels of hunger, and thirteen countries have actually seen increases in their hunger levels since 1990. The Democratic Republic of Congo scored the worst, followed by Burundi, Eritrea, Sierra Leone, Chad, and Ethiopia.

The situation is also bad in South Asia largely because of widespread child malnutrition. In Bangladesh and India, more than 40 percent of children are underweight. An important exception in the region is Sri Lanka, which has been committed to universal education and reproductive health care, and has been successful at reducing hunger.

Even though there is severe hunger in Afghanistan and Iraq, there wasn’t enough data available to be included in this report.

Most of the progress in the battle against hunger has been made in Southeast Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean.

The Global Hunger Index is being released in advance of World Food Day (October 16) for the fourth year by IFPRI, Welthungerhilfe, and Concern Worldwide. The Index ranks countries on three leading indicators—prevalence of child malnutrition, rates of child mortality, and the proportion of people who are calorie deficient—and combines them into one score.

The IFPRI is one of 15 centers supported by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, an alliance of 64 governments, private foundations, and international and regional organizations.