Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights

August 26, 2007

Censored: U.S. torture, spy towers and crashing drones

By Brenda Norrell
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com/

SASABE, Ariz. -- There's an explosion of news in southern Arizona, from the torture trial in Tucson to the spy towers along the border and the Sasabe border wall. The futile, seven-mile Sasabe border wall construction is slated to begin Monday without public comment.
It is sad that so few news reporters are reporting this news, relying instead on the Bush-agenda, parroting the same worn-out refrains about the border and the slow spin of corporate-manufactured news.
Thanks to everyone who has shared information. In the breaking news, there is an article on the corporation who really operates those Wackenhut migrant deportation buses at the border. It is the Danish company G4/S, listed on stock exchanges in London and Denmark.
The news that a Danish-owned corporation is deporting migrants for profit at the border, follows the news that Boeing joined with the Israeli defense contractor Elbit Systems to build the spy towers. So much for all that talk about U.S. patriotism and securing the borders in the name of U.S. nationalism.
It is dismal to see the profiteering of those building migrant prisons, especially to see GEO Group, Inc., receiving so many contracts to imprison migrants, after contributing $100,000 to Bush's 2004 reelection campaign.
It is also horrible to know that the Hutto prison in Texas continues to imprison migrant and refugee infants and children.
We're researching now to see if Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are once again being used along the border. The Border Patrol had stopped using UAVs after one crashed near Nogales, Ariz. last year. We've just heard of new sightings. The dangers for those on the ground, include crashes and the lasers on board. The UAVs are being used in Afghanistan and robot UAVs are being designed to fire weapons.
As for the UAVs, the so-called environmental assessment for the spy towers says there was a change of plans: The UAVs would not be used in the Secure Border Initiative in Arizona. However, after the assessment was released, the Bush administration and Congress pressed for more crashing drones.
The Boeing and Israeli-Elbit spy towers continue to malfunction in the rugged desert mountains and canyons along the Arizona border. (Wi-Fi, what were they thinking?)
A special thanks to those who searched in the intense heat along the border this summer for the dying and dead, recovering bodies for family members.
Scroll down for more news from Zapatistas, Navajos, Lakotas and Mohawks. Delegations of Mohawks and members of the International Indian Treaty Council and AIM have been in Venezuela in the struggle against colonial oppression.
Thanks to all of you who turned this long hot summer, of unbearable heat in June, into a collaborative labor of love for the Censored Blog.
The monsoon rains are here, and while the mainstream media is still spinning the hype for the web of deception, at least the Sonoran desert is lush with green.
Thanks to all of you who continue to fight the good fight. You know who you are.

Uupdate from C Hues in Arivaca on the spy towers from the Connection newspaper:
http://www.arivaca-newspaper.com/category/tower-update/



Photo 1: Sasabe Store/Brenda Norrell Photo 2/UAV crashed near Tubac, Az/Fox News Photo 3: UAV/Photo U.S./ Photo 4: Spy tower northwest of Sasabe, Ariz., Aug. 2007/Brenda Norrell

No comments: