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‘Huge error’: Former US military chief admits Iraq invasion spawned ISIS

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The U.S. is poised to repeat all the same mistakes in Syria that it made in Iraq after 9/11, says former head of Defense Intelligence Agency

The Islamic State (ISIS) formed in the wake of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, said (Ret.) U.S. General Mike Flynn. (Photo: AP)

The Islamic State (ISIS) formed in the wake of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, said (Ret.) U.S. General Mike Flynn. (Photo: AP)

by Nadia Prupis, Common Dreams

The 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq fueled the creation of the Islamic State (ISIS) today and must serve as a warning against similar rash military intervention in Syria, a former U.S. intelligence chief said in an interview with German media on Sunday.

“When 9/11 occurred, all the emotions took over, and our response was, ‘Where did those bastards come from? Let’s go kill them. Let’s go get them.’ Instead of asking why they attacked us, we asked where they came from,” former U.S. special forces chief Mike Flynn, who also served as director of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), told Der Spiegel. “Then we strategically marched in the wrong direction.”

In recent weeks, ISIS has claimed responsibility for attacks in Lebanon andParis and the bombing of a Russian airplane over the Sinai peninsula, which together killed hundreds of people. Following the attacks, French President François Hollande vowed a “merciless” response against the group in Syria and Iraq—a statement that prompted comparisons between Hollande and former U.S. President George W. Bush in the wake of 9/11.

Echoing long-held arguments made by other experts, Flynn said Sunday that increased airstrikes and other offensives could be seen as an attempt to “invade or even own Syria,” and that the fight against militant groups like ISIS will only succeed or make progress through collaborative efforts with both Western and Arab nations. “Our message must be that we want to help and that we will leave once the problems have been solved. The Arab nations must be on our side.”

Otherwise, the U.S. is poised to repeat all its past mistakes, he said.

Der Spiegel‘s Matthias Gebauer and Holger Stark noted that in February 2004, the U.S. military “already had [ISIS leader] Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in your hands—he was imprisoned in a military camp, but got cleared later as harmless by a U.S. military commission. How could that fatal mistake happen?”

Flynn replied:

We were too dumb. We didn’t understand who we had there at that moment.

[….] First we went to Afghanistan, where al-Qaida was based. Then we went into Iraq. Instead of asking ourselves why the phenomenon of terror occurred, we were looking for locations. This is a major lesson we must learn in order not to make the same mistakes again.

Asked whether he regretted the Iraq War, Flynn responded simply, “Yes, absolutely.”

“It was a huge error,” Flynn said. “As brutal as Saddam Hussein was, it was a mistake to just eliminate him. The same is true for Moammar Gadhafi and for Libya, which is now a failed state. The historic lesson is that it was a strategic failure to go into Iraq. History will not be and should not be kind with that decision.”

Flynn’s interview with Der Spiegel echoes comments he made to Al Jazeera‘s Mehdi Hasan in August that the U.S. “totally blew it” in preventing the caliphate’s rise “in the very beginning.”

In fact, Flynn said, the U.S. deliberately backed extremist groups within the Syrian rebel movement as far back as 2012, when he was still DIA head. The Obama administration was aware at the time of a recently-declassified DIA memo that predicted the rise of a militant group in eastern Syria. Supporting the insurgency was a “willful decision,” he said.

Watch below:

Planned Parenthood: Three die in shooting at Colorado clinic

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A man could be seen being taken into custody outside the centre

A man could be seen being taken into custody outside the centre

by BBC

A shooting at a family planning clinic in Colorado Springs has left two civilians and a police officer dead, with the suspected gunman under arrest.

Nine other people were injured during the standoff at the Planned Parenthood clinic, which lasted five hours before the suspect surrendered.

A number of people were trapped inside the building as shots were exchanged.

The motive remains unclear. The Planned Parenthood group has drawn anti-abortion protests in the past.

A law enforcement source identified the suspect as Robert Lewis Dear, from North Carolina. No other details were given.

“I want to convey to the loved ones of the victims, this is a terrible, terrible tragedy that occurred here in Colorado Springs today,” Mayor John Suthers told a news conference.

“Obviously, we lost two civilian victims. We mourn the loss of a very brave police officer.”

The dead policeman was named as Garrett Swasey, 44, who was married with two children.

Colorado Springs Police Chief Peter Carey said five police officers were among the injured, who were being treated in local hospitals.

Garrett Swasey, who was killed, was a campus police officer for the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs (UCCS)

Police had sealed off streets around the centre as officers tried to make contact with the suspect.

“We did get officers inside the building,” police Lt Catherine Buckley said.

PM Cameron: Britain should join Syria air strikes

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Prime minister urges MPs to approve ISIL air raids, saying UK should not ‘sub-contract’ security to allies.

Cameron said the UK must expand anti-ISIL air strikes to Syria to deny the group a "safe haven" [Suzanne Plunkett/Reuters]

Cameron said the UK must expand anti-ISIL air strikes to Syria to deny the group a “safe haven” [Suzanne Plunkett/Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

Britain should join air strikes against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Syria, Prime Minister David Cameron has said.

Cameron attempted to persuade politicians to back action in parliament, arguing the Paris attacks have given new urgency to the fight against ISIL.

The Royal Air Force is part of a US-led coalition attacking fighters in Iraq, but not in Syria.

Cameron said Britain must join the coalition in Syria to deny ISIL a “safe haven” from which to plot mass-casualty attacks around the world.

“I believe that we should now take the decision to extend British air strikes against ISIL into Syria,” he said in a written statement to MPs. “It is wrong for the United Kingdom to sub-contract its security to other countries.”

On Monday in France, Cameron and French President Francois Hollande pledged to step up security measures after the attacks in Paris on November 13 that killed 130 people.

A parliamentary vote on the issue is expected next week.

Earlier this month, parliament’s Foreign Affairs Select Committee said British air strikes would be “incoherent” and ineffective without a plan to end Syria’s civil war.

Cameron replied on Thursday in the House of Commons saying air strikes were part of a “comprehensive overall strategy” to destroy ISIL and end the Syrian war.

Reporting outside parliament, Al Jazeera’s Charlie Angela said thousands of air strikes had been launched against ISIL in recent months and yet the group still remained a force in the region.

“There’s a big question whether Britain going in with air strikes would be all that effective,” she said. “This would be a good move diplomatically but it remains to be seen how effective militarily it would actually be.”

Refugees stranded at border sew mouths shut to protest cruel treatment

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Balkan policies banning refugees based on nationality slammed as ‘inhumane’

Rights groups have rebuked European states for erecting fences and sealing off borders in the face of the worst crisis of global displacement since World War II. (Photo: Reuters)

Rights groups have rebuked European states for erecting fences and sealing off borders in the face of the worst crisis of global displacement since World War II. (Photo: Reuters)

by Sarah Lazare, Common Dreams

At least seven people sewed their mouths shut and many more blocked trains on the Greece-Macedonia border Monday to protest the intensifying Balkan crackdown and profiling of refugees and asylum seekers that is impacting those fleeing war and poverty from across the globe.

The demonstrations have been ongoing for at least four days and were organized in response to a recent decision by some Balkan countries to block refugees according to nationality in the wake of the November 13th Paris attacks.

Many of those who have bound their lips together are Iranian nationals on hunger strike for the right to seek asylum and refuge in Europe. They protest alongside numerous others—from Morocco, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and other countries—who are stranded in the Greek village of Idomeni.

Slovenia announced last week it is barring entry to all refugees except those fleeing Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan—declaring everyone else an “economic migrant” ineligible for admittance. Croatia, Serbia, and Macedonia soon after announced they will follow the same policy.

“I cannot go back. I will be hanged,” a 34-year-old Iranian man identified as Hamid toldReuters, explaining he wished to travel to “any free country in the world.”

In lively protests that continued through Monday, demonstrators chanted, rallied, and laid down on train tracks, with many from Pakistan holding signs illustrating human rights violations in their home country.

“We are also at war you know?” Yianni, a 34-year-old dentist from Cameroon, told IRIN News last week. “We have Boko Haram! I need to continue with my studies and my life.”

The decision has been denounced by refugees, rights campaigners, and global bodies. This includes the International Organization for Migration, the United Nations Refugee Agency, and UNICEF, which released a joint statement on Friday declaring that the profiling of refugees according to nationality “is becoming increasingly untenable from every point of view—humanitarian, legal, and also safety related, not least in light of falling temperatures and the risks for children and others with specific needs.”

“These measures by States are creating tension at border crossings and a domino effect, leaving in total limbo some refugees and migrants stranded at different border points,” the joint statement continued.

“To classify a whole nation as economic migrants is not a principle recognized in international law,” Rados Djurovic, director of the Belgrade-based Asylum Protection Center, told a Serbian state television station. “We risk violating human rights and asylum law.”

Rights groups have rebuked European states for erecting fences and sealing off borders in the face of the worst crisis of global displacement since World War II. In a report released last week, Amnesty International argued that such policies do not deter those fleeing war and poverty, but merely force them to take more dangerous voyages, placing them at greater risk of death.

Global hunger and undernutrition could end by 2025

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Compact2025 is described as an inclusive global effort to support countries, institutions, and initiatives for the elimination of hunger and undernutrition by 2025. (Photo: World Bank/flickr/cc)

Compact2025 is described as an inclusive global effort to support countries, institutions, and initiatives for the elimination of hunger and undernutrition by 2025. (Photo: World Bank/flickr/cc)

by Thalif Deen, IPS News

The United Nations aims to help eliminate hunger and undernutrition – described as two of “greatest scourges” facing humankind — by the year 2030.

But the Washington-based International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) has launched an ambitious new initiative to help end global hunger by 2025 – five years ahead of the UN target.

IFPRI believes that its initiative, dubbed Compact2025, can help end global hunger by 2025 if countries replicate strategies that worked in places such as China, Brazil, and Thailand, where huge strides have been made toward reducing hunger.

“We can eliminate both hunger and undernutrition, and we can do so by 2025—which will also help end extreme poverty and will contribute to achieving multiple Sustainable Development Goals,” says IFPRI.

But there are significant knowledge gaps related to eliminating hunger and undernutrition that must first be filled for effective and cost-efficient action, IFPRI said.

Compact2025 is described as an inclusive global effort to support countries, institutions, and initiatives for the elimination of hunger and undernutrition by 2025.

It will work toward this goal by identifying pragmatic, innovative, and action-oriented strategies to address challenges on the ground while learning from stakeholders at all levels and from multiple sectors, including agriculture, nutrition, and health.

Compact2025 also plans to address these gaps by acting as a ‘Knowledge and Innovation Hub’ that will help guide countries in developing and implementing strategic actions for food security and nutrition.

Dr. Shenggen Fan, IFPRI’s director general, told IPS eliminating hunger and undernutrition in 10 years is a huge task, but it can be accomplished.

He pointed out that Brazil, China, Thailand, Peru, and Vietnam have each dramatically reduced hunger and undernutrition in a relatively short time.

At the Sixth Forum of the Parliamentary Front Against Hunger in Latin America and the Caribbean, held in the Peruvian capital of Lima last week, the final declaration adopted by over 60 legislators said Latin America and the Caribbean– of all of the world’s regions– had made the greatest progress in reducing hunger.

The region also reduced the proportion of hungry people by more than half, in the context of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which is fast moving towards its 2015 deadline by the end of December.

During the Nov. 15-17 Forum, delegates of the national chapters of the Parliamentary Front Against Hunger (PFH) also reasserted their determination to promote laws to “break the circle of poverty and enforce the right to food” in the region.

Dr Fan said learning from the experiences of the five Asian and Latin American countries, “and leveraging strong international and national commitments to end hunger and undernutrition, it is possible to accelerate progress even further, he added.

While not all the MDGs have been achieved, the world has made incredible progress in reducing extreme poverty and hunger, he noted.

In fact, he said, the target on reducing hunger was just narrowly missed, as the proportion of undernourished people in the developing regions has fallen by almost half since 1990, from 23.3 per cent in 1990–1992 to 12.9 per cent in 2014–2016.

IFPRI says Compact2025 will contribute to accelerating progress to end hunger and undernutrition and is fully supportive of SDG 2 (End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture).

Compact2025’s work will also support the achievement of many other SDGs (e.g. Goals 1: End poverty in all its forms everywhere, and Goal 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages).

The 2025 target relates to many of the SDGs because ending hunger and undernutrition are stepping stones to ending extreme poverty, said Dr Fan, who received the Hunger Hero Award from the World Food Programme (WFP) in 2014 in recognition of his commitment to, and leadership in, fighting hunger worldwide.

The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which were adopted by world leaders at a summit meeting in September, also include the eradication of poverty by 2030

To inform actions that lead to concrete results, Compact2025, through its Knowledge and Innovation (K&I) Hub, will provide policymakers and practitioners with context-specific, evidence-based advice on scaling up success stories to end hunger and undernutrition.

IFPRI said Compact2025 will also build the knowledge-base and promote innovations to help countries develop, scale up, and communicate policies and programmes for the biggest, most cost-effective impacts—and in doing so will help weed out ineffective or inefficient policies and prevent a duplication of efforts.

To build on existing momentum, Compact2025 will complement established networks such as Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) and initiatives such as the Zero Hunger Challenge.

Additionally, it will also work with those who are already dedicated to achieving this goal by 2025 such as Bangladesh, Ethiopia, and Rwanda at the national level; the African Union at the regional level; and the European Commission, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and World Food Programme (WFP) at the institutional level.

Compact2025 will contribute with the following approaches and activities:

• Serving as a Knowledge and Innovation Hub for stakeholders at all levels. • Sharing experiences, problems, and solutions within and across countries. Supporting evidence-based policies and experiments • Using pilot projects and policy experiments to strengthen the design, sequencing, and scale-up of successful policies and strategies.

• Promoting monitoring and evaluation systems and regulatory mechanisms for effective impact. Mobilizing a data revolution • Providing reliable and timely data on relevant indicators for evidence-based policymaking. • Collaborating to significantly improve data collection and analytical capacity in developing countries. Facilitating country-led strategies and investments • Facilitating implementation of country policies and strategies at national and subnational levels.

• Adapting successful food security and nutrition policies to local contexts. Strengthening inclusive and accountable partnerships • Engaging with established and new players including emerging countries, the private sector, and philanthropic organizations. • Developing country and global level accountability mechanisms for tracking progress.

Asked how much of funding is needed to achieve the goal of eradicating hunger, Dr Fan said that according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), investing 50 billion dollars per year can end hunger by 2025 (Schmidhuber and Bruinsma 2011).

The World Bank et al. estimate that 50 billion dollars over the next 10 years for a package of micronutrient interventions can help meet global stunting targets by 2025.

Additionally, IFPRI research found that investing in 100 dollars per child, or 75 billion dollars per year, can help reduce child stunting in four years (Hoddinott 2013). These estimates are just a fraction of the annual SDG funding requirement of trillions of dollars.

China coal mine blaze kills 21 workers

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Fire races through mine in Heilongjiang province, killing 21 miners and leaving one missing.

Miners walk out of a coal mine on the outskirts of Jixi city in Heilongjiang province [File: Jason Lee/Reuters]

Miners walk out of a coal mine on the outskirts of Jixi city in Heilongjiang province [File: Jason Lee/Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

A late-night fire at a coal mine killed 21 people and left one missing in China’s northeastern province of Heilongjiang.

State-run Xinhua news agency said on Saturday that the fire at the Xinghua mine in the city of Jixi was brought under control, and 21 bodies were recovered from the mine – owned by the Heilongjiang Longmay Mining Holding Group.

Xinhua said 38 miners were working underground when an angle belt caught fire. Sixteen people were pulled to safety.

The provincial work safety administration confirmed the death toll on Saturday.

A work safety employee, who only gave his family name, Xing, said rescuers were searching for the missing person.

China’s mines are among the deadliest in the world. Accidents killed 931 people last year, a work safety official said in March.

China – the world’s largest producer of coal – is grappling to improve standards in the poorly regulated sector. Many accidents are caused by corrupt bosses seeking profits over worker safety.

US: 47 Democrats join with House GOP to refuse suffering refugees

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“Not much is bipartisan these days, but apparently bigotry is something both sides of the aisle can come together on.”

"Speaker Ryan and this un-American bill's supporters falsely claim it will simply pause U.S. resettlement of refugees," said Karin Johanson of the ACLU. "In fact, it will bring resettlement of Syrian and Iraqi refugees to a grinding halt" (Photo: Reuters)

“Speaker Ryan and this un-American bill’s supporters falsely claim it will simply pause U.S. resettlement of refugees,” said Karin Johanson of the ACLU. “In fact, it will bring resettlement of Syrian and Iraqi refugees to a grinding halt” (Photo: Reuters)

by Jon Queally, Common Dreams

Forty-seven House Democrats joined with a majority of Republicans to approve a bill that would effectively stop the ability for Syrian refugees attempting to flee their war-torn country to be resettled in the United States.

 

The passage of the bill, which was backed by newly-elected Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and passed 289-137, was immediately slammed by progressive lawmakers who opposed the measure and rights groups who said the bill represents a gross and reactionary response to recent events in Paris, France.

View the roll call here.

Reps. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), who co-chair the Congressional Progressive Caucus, called the bill a direct assault on “a fundamental American value” which is to “provide a safe haven for our most vulnerable neighbors.”

Grijalva and Ellison said they were proud to oppose the bill which they characterized as a repetition of a past mistakes that have tarnished American history. “Syrian refugees are fleeing persecution and violence from the very same terrorists that attacked Paris last week,” they said. “We cannot allow fear-mongering to influence policy that could mean the difference between life and death for these desperate families.”  We stand proudly against misguided attempts to repeat past mistakes that tarnish our nation’s history.

The bill, they said, “diverts resources from where they are really needed by creating an excessive review process that would add years to the resettlement process and prevent thousands of people from getting the protection they need. Our Syrian refugee vetting process is already the most comprehensive in the world, and these changes would stretch the federal government’s limited resources. Closing our doors to Syrian refugees fleeing violence and persecution isn’t just morally wrong; it threatens our national security by fueling the extremist narrative that the West is at war with Islam.”

Though many Democrats sided with President Obama, who has said he will veto the bill, the 47 Democrats who sided with their GOP colleagues exposed just how susceptible lawmakers remain when it comes to knee-jerk jingoism and the hysteria that follows attacks like the ones in Paris on Friday.

As Nick Cunningham, an independent journalist and writer, responded to the vote on Twitter: “Not much is bipartisan these days, but apparently bigotry is something both sides of the aisle can come together on.”

And the Huffington Post reports:

Obama has been heavily critical of efforts to limit refugee resettlement, although he and other administration officials said they are open to ideas to strengthen the screening process. He has said he remains committed to his previous plan to admit 10,000 Syrians in the 2016 fiscal year, as long as they go through the screening process.

He said the rhetoric coming from Republicans — and some Democrats — would only hurt the country’s security.

“I cannot think of a more potent recruitment tool for ISIL than some of the rhetoric that’s been coming out of here during the course of this debate,” Obamasaid Tuesday.

“Speaker Ryan and this un-American bill’s supporters falsely claim it will simply pause U.S. resettlement of refugees,” said Karin Johanson, director of the ACLU’s Washington legislative office. “In fact, it will bring resettlement of Syrian and Iraqi refugees to a grinding halt by adding layers of bureaucracy to an already rigorous process.”

What’s more, she continued, “[i]t also discriminates against refugees based on their national origin, nationality, and religion. Supporters of this bill want us to turn our backs on refugees who are seeking safe harbor from the very terrorism we all abhor. This is not leadership. We thank the House members who rejected this reactionary impulse and this discriminatory legislation.”

When asked about the bill’s prospects in the U.S. Senate by a reporter, Democratic Minority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) responded: “Don’t worry, it won’t get passed.” Meanwhile, attempts from Republican presidential candidates Ted Cruz and Rand Paul to block or curtail benefits for Syrian refugees seeking to enter the U.S. failed in the Senate on Thursday.

Deirdre Fulton contributed reporting for this story.

The question of genocide and Cambodia’s Muslims

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As many 500,000 Muslim Cham were killed by the Khmer Rouge during the 1970s, but some question if it was genocide.

Estimates say as many as 500,000 Cham Muslims were killed during Khmer Rouge rule from 1975-79 [AP]

Estimates say as many as 500,000 Cham Muslims were killed during Khmer Rouge rule from 1975-79 [AP]

by Clothilde Le Coz, Al Jazeera

Phnom Penh: A debate on whether the Khmer Rouge committed genocide against Cambodian Muslims during the 1970s continues after a UN war crimes tribunal resumed this week.

A large number of ethnic Cham, mostly Shia Muslims, were killed during the horrific Khmer Rouge rule from 1975-79 with some death toll estimates ranging from 100,000 to as high as 500,000.

In total, at least 1.7 million people were killed or died during the period through execution, starvation, and disease.

In recent months, the UN tribunal has held hearings on genocide charges levelled against Khmer Rouge chief ideologist Nuon Chea – also known as “Brother Number 2” – and former head of state Khieu Samphan over the killings of the Cham and ethnic Vietnamese in the country.

The tribunal found both men guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced them to life imprisonment in August 2014. Nuon Chea and Khieu Samphan have denied the genocide charges against them and appealed.

The legal defination of “genocide” refers to the intention of eliminating a group of people based on their race, religion, ethnicity or nationality.

Hearings held in September and October saw Cham witnesses give frightful testimonies of the persecution they endured under the Khmer Rouge.

The Muslim Cham were rounded up by Khmer Rouge forces, forced to eat pork, and banned from using their traditional language. Qurans were collected and burned.

During the trial, one witness, Sates No, 57, recalled Khmer Rouge soldiers separating Khmer and Cham people. One day, she testified, 300 women were tied up.

“[The soldiers] asked us if we were Cham or Khmer. If anybody answered she was Cham, she would be taken away… All those who said they were Cham were escorted and disappeared.”

Sates No lied to the Khmer Rouge soldiers to make them believe she was Khmer. “I said so for I was hopeless at that time and I did not want to be killed,” she said, recalling seeing corpses floating in circles in the river. “It was as if the souls of the dead did not want to vanish.”

Questions raised

Meanwhile, legal monitoring groups have levelled criticism against the Khmer Rouge Tribunal – the United Nations-backed court trying Cambodian leaders.

A recent report by legal monitors with the Asian International Justice Initiative, the East-West Center, and Stanford University’s WSD Handa Center for Human Rights and International Justice questioned the legal reasoning behind the cases.

The groups said the UN tribunal had failed to guarantee the most fundamental aspect of a criminal trial: a systematic application of the elements of crimes to a well-documented body of factual findings.

Victor Koppe, Nuon Chea’s defence lawyer, responded to the report’s release, saying: “It’s very satisfying to realise I’m not the only one thinking this institution is a complete farce.”

While the report did not make conclusions about the guilt of the accused, it said “the serious shortcomings of the judgment cannot be ignored”, and raised concern about the outcomes of subsequent trials held by the tribunal.

Koppe said the genocide charges “exist because I believe there has been a strong pressure on the tribunal to somehow adjudicate genocide charges. It is seen as ‘the crime of all crimes’.”

For its part, documents used by the prosecution include orders given by the Khmer Rouge government in 1979 that stated: “The Cham nation no longer exists on Kampuchean [Cambodian] soil belonging to the Khmer.

“Accordingly, Cham nationality, language, customs and religious beliefs must be immediately abolished. Those who fail to obey this order will suffer all the consequences for their acts of opposition to Angkar [the Khmer Rouge high command].”

Farina So, who heads the Cham Oral History project run by the Documentation Centre of Cambodia, has recorded the experiences and coping strategies used by Cham Muslim survivors of the Khmer Rouge regime.

She said the regime did intend to eliminate the Cham. “Of course, the Chams were not the only group to suffer during the regime… But the motives seem to be quite different.”

Although the Khmer Rouge banned the practice of religion in general, So said the regime’s prohibiting the use of the Cham dialect, its destruction of mosques, and killing of the Grand Mufti, the leader of Cambodia’s Muslim community, showed that the Khmer Rouge regime branded Chams as their enemy.

Cham rebellions

However, Koppe argued that a genocide did not occur, and the Cham killings took place only at a local level after Cham resistance emerged in two villages in eastern Cambodia in September and October 1975.

The two rebellions were put down by Khmer Rouge fighters.

“This Cham rebellion was crushed pretty severely… and the ones responsible for it are, among others, Cambodia’s current prime minister and a senior senator [Ouk Bunchhoeun],” Koppe alleged.

The defence once again intends to ask Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and Ouk Bunchhoeun to testify.

Attempts for comment from Hun Sen and Ouk Bunchhoeun were unsuccessful. The two have been repeatedly been asked to testify but they have not done so.

A Human Rights Watch report published earlier this yearnoted that Hun Sen was a Khmer Rouge commander in parts of Cambodia where atrocities were committed against the Cham.

During the hearings, Khmer Rouge cadres testified there was “no plan to purge Cham people”, despite earlier testimonies.

The court resumed this week to rule on the appeals. Nuon Chea  asked the court to invalidate the judgment, while Khieu Samphan demanded his sentence be reversed and he be released.

On Tuesday, however, proceedings at the tribunal were stalled following a statement from Nuon Chea read out by his co-lawyer Sun Arun.

“From day one, it was my strong impression that this tribunal was not at all interested in exploring the truth,” the former Khmer regime leader said. “Instead it seems to operate as though its mission was simply to indulge the instructions of a handful of officials in power, and tell a tale approved by the government before the tribunal was established.”

Following Nuon Chea’s statement, Sun Arun walked out of the courtroom.

Mosques vandalised as US states reject Syria refugees

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Suspected hate crimes targeting Muslims carried out as anti-Islam rhetoric swells in the US following Paris attacks.

More than 4.2 million Syrians have fled their country as the civil war continues [Santi Palacios/AP]

More than 4.2 million Syrians have fled their country as the civil war continues [Santi Palacios/AP]

by Patrick Strickland, Al Jazeera

Several mosques have been vandalised and a number of suspected hate crimes targeting Muslims carried out after dozens of United States governors announced they would not accept Syrian refugees in their states.

The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), a civil rights organisation, said on Monday that it has documented recent “vandalism, threats and hate [incidents]” in Massachusetts, Florida, Texas, Kentucky, Virginia, Nebraska, Tennessee, Ohio and New York, among other states.

The wave of incidents follows declarations by at least 27 state governors – 26 from the right-wing Republican party and a Democrat – saying they will block Syrian refugees, citing last Friday’s deadly attacks in Paris, claimed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group.

In one incident, officials at the Islamic Centre in Omaha, Nebraska, said that an image of the Eiffel Tower was spray-painted on the wall of a local mosque overnight on Monday, CAIR said.

In Pflugerville, Texas, worshippers arrived at their local mosque on Monday morning to find faeces smeared on the door and a torn-up copy of the Quran on the doorstep.

The Islamic Center of St Petersburg, Florida, received threatening voicemails just hours after news of the Paris attacks broke.

The caller said that they have “a militia that is going to come down to your Islamic Society of Pinellas County and firebomb you and shoot whoever is there in the head”.

According to CAIR, another Florida mosque, the location of which has not been made public, received similar threats. A caller vowed to “bomb” the mosque and “shoot people at will”.

In Portland, Oregon, protesters gathered outside a local and taunted worshippers as they arrived for prayer. They called members of the local Ahmadiyya Muslim community “cowards” and told them they are “going to hell”.

On Tuesday, an Uber driver in Charlotte, North Carolina, said he was punched and threatened with death by a passenger who mistook him as a Muslim, according to local media.

And a Muslim family in Orlando, Florida, said their family home was shot at by an unknown assailant on Monday. Speaking to local media, the Elmasri family and their neighbours said they were targeted because of their faith.

‘Clear uptick in anti-Islam rhetoric’

Corey Saylor, spokesperson at CAIR, told Al Jazeera on Tuesday that the governors’ refusal to accept Syrian refugees has encouraged Islamophobic sentiment.

“It gives people a license to put into action the uglier things they may be thinking” about Muslims, he said.

“After any incident like the Paris attack, we see a clear uptick in anti-Islam rhetoric.”

The Syrian uprising started in March 2011 and quickly devolved into a full-scale civil war. More than 250,000 people have been killed throughout the conflict, according to United Nations estimates.

More than 4.2 million Syrians have become refugees, while about 7.6 million are internally displaced within the country’s borders.

“Closing the doors on people fleeing war zones is not a message that America should send to the world,” Saylor said. “Rather than values, the [governors] are projecting fear.”

Some legislators called for US President Barack Obama’s administration to accept Christian refugees and reject Muslims.

Saylor says such calls are misinformed because ” ISIL’s number one victims are Muslims.”

Human rights groups have slammed the governors’ anti-refugee measures.

While governors are not able to ban Syrian refugees from residing in their states, they can suspend cooperation between state programmes and the federal government.

The federal government is the sole authority for refugee resettlement. But states can cut their own funding to local refugee programmes, placing the full weight the financial burden on the federal government.

“That can make it more difficult,” Angelita Baeyens, programmes director for the Robert F Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights, told Al Jazeera. “But it also sends a message of extreme intolerance and Islamophobia.”

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said on Monday that the US should not allow any Syrian refugees, including orphaned children, into the country.

“I don’t think orphans under five are being, you know, should be admitted into the United States at this point,” Christie said.

Baeyens said that Christie’s comments and others like it “create a climate of fear and suspicion”.

“In the face of the worst refugee crisis in recent history, this rhetoric is really appalling,” she added. “It is collective hysteria.”

Presidential candidates have also chimed in. Writing on Twitter, Republican Donald Trump claimed that “some” Syrian refugees may be ISIL members.

Mike Huckabee, presidential candidate and former Arkansas governor, made similar anti-refugee comments during an interview with Fox News on Monday.

“Can you imagine bringing in a bunch of Syrian refugees who’ve lived in the desert their whole lives that are suddenly thrown into an English speaking community? Where it’s maybe in Minnesota where it is 20 degrees below zero?”

According to CAIR, Trump and Huckabee are among more than a dozen presidential hopefuls for the 2016 elections who have employed Islamophobic rhetoric during their campaigns.

While only 1,500 Syrians have been resettled in the US to date, the Obama administration announced earlier this year that 10,000 more will be accepted throughout a one-year span.

Speaking of the governors’ declarations, Human Rights Watch said Syrian refugees were being used as a “scapegoat”.

“Resettled refugees from Syria have fled persecution and violence, and undergone rigorous security screening by the US government,” Alison Parker, codirector of HRW’s US programme, said in a statement.

“The governors’ announcements amount to fearmongering attempts to block Syrians from joining the generous religious groups and communities who step forward to welcome them.”

Two suspects killed in Paris police raid

by

Deaths in Saint-Denis suburb police operation include female suicide bomber who blew herself up, prosecutor says.

Paris police raid

by Al Jazeera

Two suspects linked to the deadly attacks in Paris died after police raided an apartment in a northern suburb of the French capital, a prosecutor said. Police declared the operation was now over.

Forensic experts were examining the apartment after female suspect killed herself by detonating a vest rigged with explosives at the start of the operation in Saint-Denis early Wednesday, Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said.

A second suspect was shot during the raid, police said.

The identity of the casualties was not immediately released. However, French media said the target of the raid was Belgian national Abdelhamid Abaaoud, a key suspect in Friday’s attacks, in which at least 129 people were killed. His fate remains unclear.

Heavily armed police were seen hauling away a naked man from the building at the centre of the raid in Saint-Denis.

Earlier, Molins said in a statement that three men holed up inside the apartment were arrested, while a man and woman were detained near the location of the raid.

Three police officers and a passer-by were wounded in an initial shootout at the apartment, sources told Al Jazeera.

Hollande defiant

Speaking at an assembly of French mayors, President François Hollande called for a larger coalition against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), which has claimed the attacks in Paris.

Hollande also confirmed that a “dangerous and heavy” police operation had ended with the deaths and arrests.

“It was aimed at neutralising last night the terrorists based in Saint-Denis who are linked to the authors of the attacks and awful crimes of Friday night,” Hollande said.

“Two of the terrorists have died in the raid. There have been arrests. I can imagine the anguish which took hold of the residents of Saint-Denis in the early hours of the morning and I salute their calmness.

“I want to also express all my solidarity with the guards of the Mayor of Saint-Denis who already experienced the attack close to Stade de France on Friday.”

Residents of the area in northern Paris first reported hearing bursts of gunfire at 4:30am (3:30 GMT) as police exchanged fire with the suspects.

After a short lull in the operation, at least seven explosions were heard at 6:30 GMT, with more blasts reported later in the morning as a standoff ensued.

French soldiers secured the area as shots were exchanged in Saint-Denis in an operation to catch suspects [Jacky Naegelen/Reuters]

About 50 soldiers, heavily armed special police units, and ambulances gathered at the scene as a helicopter hovered overhead.

“Saint-Denis is a relatively poor area, housing many immigrants. It is near the area of the national stadium Stade de France, where suicide bombers claimed several lives during Friday’s attacks,” Al Jazeera’s Jacky Rowland reported from the scene.

Police also detained a man who said the suspects were staying in his flat.

“I found out that it’s at my house, and that the people are holed up at my flat. I didn’t know they were terrorists,” Jawad Ben Dow told Reuters news agency.

“Someone asked me to put two people up for three days and I did them a favour, it’s normal. I don’t know where they came from I don’t know anything. If I’d known do you think I’d have done it?” he said.

Police ordered onlookers to clear the vicinity as ambulances and fire engines lined street.

Friday night’s attacks in the French capital raised security concerns around the world.

Two Air France flights from the United States diverted for emergency landings on Tuesday because of bomb threats. All passengers were reported safe and no explosives were found on the flights.

Hollande on Wednesday held a meeting to discuss proposals to extend by three months the state of emergency declared after attacks, the worst in France since World War II.

It will then be put to vote by lawmakers on Thursday and Friday.

In a sign of the nervousness gripping Europe after Friday’s carnage, a football match between Germany and the Netherlands was cancelled on Tuesday and the crowd evacuated after police acted on a “serious” bomb threat.

As police stepped up the hunt for the fugitives, French and Russian jets pounded ISIL targets in the group’s self-proclaimed capital of Raqqa in Syria for a third consecutive day.

France and Russia have vowed retaliation for the Paris attacks and last month’s bombing of a Russian airliner, also claimed by ISIL, which have galvanised international resolve to destroy the group and end Syria’s more than four-year civil war.

“It’s necessary to establish direct contact with the French and work with them as allies,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said as France prepared to send an aircraft carrier to the eastern Mediterranean.

Hollande will meet Putin in Moscow on November 26, two days after seeing US President Barack Obama in Washington.

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