US Diplomat Hopes Song Can Win Over Pakistan

The Jakarta Globe, Damon Wake, December 07, 2012

Jenaiy from Black Box Sounds on Vimeo.
        

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In this picture taken on Dec. 5, 2012, 
Shayla Cram,  a US public diplomacy
 officer assigned to Peshawar, sings a
 Pashto song on her guitar in Islamabad. 
(AFP Photo/Aamir Qureshi) 

Islamabad. A US official is taking a novel approach to diplomacy in Pakistan — singing in a local language to build bridges in one of the world’s most dangerous countries, where anti-Americanism runs rampant.

Shayla Cram, a public diplomacy officer assigned to Peshawar, the gateway to Al-Qaeda and Taliban strongholds in the northwestern tribal belt, has not only learnt Pashto but has penned her own Pashto-style song.

“Jenaiy,” which means “girl,” is a tribute to Malala Yousafzai, the teenager who was shot in the head by the Taliban for promoting education for girls.

It features Cram on guitar and vocals and a Pakistani musician on the rabab — a traditional stringed instrument — and urges girls to have hope for the future and pursue their dreams.

“There’s definitely need in Pakistan to encourage young girls and females in their education and leadership, to make them young leaders, and that’s the basic message of my song,” Cram told AFP.

Women in Pakistan, particularly in northwestern rural areas, are frequently treated as second-class citizens, subjected to horrific violence in the name of family “honor,” and denied education.

Nationwide, fewer than half of women can read and write and militants are violently opposed to girls going to school — as showed by the October attack on Malala, now recovering in Britain.

Despite the anti-American feeling, Cram says the song has had a good response so far. She now plans to work with local musicians to record a whole album in other Pakistani languages.

“I would say 97 percent has been overwhelmingly positive and the other few people who have said that [given negative reactions], for example on our embassy Facebook page, are always our harshest critics no matter what we do,” she said.

Pakistan-US relations are on the rebound from a series of crises in 2011 that saw a CIA operative held for double murder, Osama bin Laden killed by US troops and botched air strikes kill 24 Pakistani soldiers.

Peshawar is regularly hit by militant bombings, including a deadly suicide attack on a US government convoy in September — and American diplomats’ movements are tightly controlled due to security worries.

Reaching out across the airwaves is a cheap and easy way to get around the frustrations of restrictions to make contact with people, Cram says.

“How can you do that for example in Peshawar when you can’t leave the [consulate] gates? How do I reach someone’s heart and let them know who I am and what I’m about as an American when I can’t physically go out?” she said.

“One of the most effective ways I think is through music, because it’s something people can connect to and understand in a simple way.”

The 29-year-old is no stranger to the musical limelight — she taught herself the guitar while working in west Africa, writing songs about HIV/AIDS and child trafficking that were still played on Togolese radio after she left the country.

While the embassy has been supportive, Cram received no financial assistance.

“Jenaiy” was recorded in a studio with the help of Pakistani friends in the music industry, and a slick video was shot in someone’s garden on the edge of Islamabad. The track has been sent to radio stations across the northwest.

Pastun culture has a rich and vibrant musical tradition, but critics warn Cram faces a tough task in trying to win over the public.

Sher Ali, a music journalist for English-language newspaper The Express Tribune, said success would depend on how much air play the track gets.

“The key is to get on the regional networks which connect to people in the grassroots,” he told AFP.

“The music is very mainstream and will connect with a certain class of urban listener, but Pakistan is very divided and a lot of the population you want to connect to with this message is working class or in rural areas.”

Rasheed Safi, head of news at Buraq Radio, one of the biggest stations in the northwest, welcomed Cram’s efforts but said her accent — picked up from her Afghan teachers in the US — might put listeners off.

“This is a good attempt and I appreciate that a US diplomat has learnt Pashto language and then sung a song, but the accent is Afghani, which is less attractive for Pakistani Pashto music lovers,” he told AFP.

The video can be seen at vimeo.com/54387742.

Agence France-Presse

Malala Yousafzai was attacked last month with two other
girls while travelling home from school in the Swat Valley. 
Photograph: Queen Elizabeth Hospital/PA

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US Supreme Court to rule on gay marriage cases

BBC News, 7 December 2012

The hearings at the Supreme Court will be the first time the justices
have considered the issue of gay marriage

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The US Supreme Court has agreed for the first time to hear challenges to laws banning gay marriage in the US.

The court will hear challenges to the Defense of Marriage Act (Doma), which defines marriage as between a man and a woman.

It will also consider Proposition 8, a constitutional amendment in California that overturned a state law allowing gay weddings.

The court is likely to hear the cases in March next year.

A ruling could be issued in June.

Both Proposition 8 and Doma have been previously struck down by lower courts.

The Supreme Court has the option of reversing the lower judgements - thus reinstating both laws - or upholding them, which could afford gay weddings legal status under the US Constitution.

However, the justices have also reserved the right to decide that they do not have jurisdiction to hear the cases.

'Unfair discrimination'

Backers of the California case argue that voters in the state breached the US Constitution by passing Proposition 8.

They will argue that a state Supreme Court ruling allowing gay marriage to go ahead should stand. No gay weddings are currently allowed in California, pending the outcome of the Proposition 8 case.

Doma, a federal law signed by former President Bill Clinton, has been overturned by four federal courts and two courts of appeal. They said Doma unfairly discriminated against same-sex couples.

It was most recently rejected by the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in New York, which ruled 2 to 1 on October that it violated the equal protection clause of the Constitution.

President Barack Obama, who backed gay marriage in May, also took the unusual step of announcing that his administration would not back Doma in court.

Although the federal government no longer defends Doma, it is the New York case, first brought by a widow called Edith Windsor, that the Supreme Court will hear.

She was forced to pay more than $350,000 (£220,000) in taxes after the death of her wife because Section 3 of Doma defines "marriage" and "spouse" as only relating to unions of men and women.

The law is supported by Republicans in Congress, and lawyers acting for the House of Representatives leadership are defending the law instead of the US government.

The court was also asked to consider the merits of a challenge to part of a 2009 Arizona law granting marital benefits only to legally married state employees. Gay marriage is not legal in Arizona.

But the nine justices chose not to hear that case, instead opting for the two cases analysts say offer a chance of a broad ruling.

Members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) 
community and  supporters attend the 5th Delhi Queer Pride
parade in New Delhi on November 25, 2012. AFP

Related Article:

Poll finds growing US support for same-sex marriage

Palestinians and ICC: What’s Next?

RNW, Lauren Comiteau, 4 December 2012

(Photo: ANP)

With the United Nations (UN) General Assembly voting overwhelmingly last week to recognize Palestine as a “non-member observer state,” legal institutions once closed to the territories may soon be within its reach, including the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.

“You need ‘state’ status to open doors,” says international humanitarian lawyer Liesbeth Zegveld. “Statehood is an important pillar in international law. For Palestinian rights, this recognition is a positive step forward.”

Long process

Indeed in 2009, representatives of the Palestinian National Authority submitted a declaration to the ICC saying it recognised its authority retroactively to the start of the court on July 1, 2002. The court is not allowed to investigate crimes committed before that date.

But it took until this past spring, a full three years and many legal submissions and meetings later, for the then ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo to defer the situation to the UN and the member states of the court, saying he lacked the authority to rule if Palestine was a state and thereby a candidate for the ICC.

International lawyers

Zegveld was one of about 20 international lawyers who in August sent a petition to ICC prosecutors asking them to seek the help of the court’s member states to consider the Palestinian request or refer the matter to the General Assembly.

“That is now a moot point,” says Zegveld. “Because Palestine has state status by a clear majority of the General Assembly, it is sufficient for the ICC to re-consider the Palestinians’ request  regarding crimes committed during” the recent wars.

Legal implications

ICC prosecutors say they “will consider the legal implications of this resolution.” A state doesn’t have to be a UN member to become party to the court.

Back in September, current ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said that just such a General Assembly vote could make the difference for the Palestinians. "What we have also done is to leave the door open and to say that if Palestine is able to pass that (statehood) hurdle at the General Assembly, then we will revisit what the ICC can do."

The ICC was established to hold individuals accountable for the worst crimes committed by those in power: crimes against humanity, war crimes, aggression and genocide. Under its statute, specific crimes resulting from Israel’s occupation of Gaza and the West Bank could include apartheid, persecution, forced displacement, and extensive destruction and appropriation of property not justified by military necessity.

Jurisdiction

121 countries are members of the court and therefore fall under its jurisdiction. But Israel—and other big players like Russia, China and the United States—are not among them.

But if Palestine is able to become a state party to the ICC, the court will have jurisdiction over crimes committed on its territory—even if Israel isn’t a member. Similarly, any Palestinian could be held liable for crimes committed anywhere in the world, even in countries, such as Israel, that aren’t party to the court.

Prosecutors will now consider whether the Palestinian Authority’s 2009 instrument of succession is valid to start the process of it becoming a court member or if the Palestinian authorities need to file a new one.

If Palestine does become a party to the court, it will still have to be determined just how far back its jurisdiction will go, with hearings before judges on the issue likely. Palestinians are trying to hold Israeli officials accountable for actions in the 2008-2009 Gaza war against Hamas.

"Legal or diplomatic intifada"

The Palestinians have said they long planned to use non-membership statehood at the UN as a way to enter the ICC. One Palestinian negotiator, in talks with the International Crisis Group, called the strategy a "legal or diplomatic intifada" against Israel.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ), the UN’s highest judicial body that rules on disputes between states, ruled eight years ago that the Israeli-built barrier in the Palestinian territories is illegal, saying in an advisory opinion that construction should be halted and Israel should pay reparations for any damages.

While building settlements is not in itself illegal, it is if criminal means are used to achieve them, such as the destruction of property or the transferring of large numbers of people. In reaction to the UN General Assembly’s vote, Israel announced the following day that it would build 3,000 additional homes on occupied land near East Jerusalem, a move that was condemned by the United Nations, the US and the UK as threatening any hopes for a lasting peace.

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Poll finds growing US support for same-sex marriage

The Daily Star, December 05, 2012

Members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) community and
 supporters attend the 5th Delhi Queer Pride parade in New Delhi on November
25, 2012. AFP

                              

WASHINGTON: Support is growing in the United States for marriage equality, suggests a Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday that also found a majority in favor of the legalization of marijuana.

Forty-eight percent of respondents contacted by telephone said they supported same-sex marriage, up from 36 percent when Quinnipiac pollsters asked the same question in 2008.

Forty-six percent were opposed, down from 55 percent.

Among white Roman Catholics, 49 percent were in favor -- despite strong opposition by the US Conference on Catholic Bishops to gays and lesbians tying the knot.

The findings come ahead of a decision, possibly on Friday, by the US Supreme Court on whether to consider the constitutionality of same-sex marriage, which is legal in nine states but not recognized in federal law.

"It seems pretty clear that attitudes towards same-sex marriage in American society are changing rapidly," said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

In October last year, the Pew Research Center found 46 percent in favor of same-sex marriage and 44 percent opposed, with support growing more steeply in recent years.

Quinnipiac University's poll also indicated that 51 percent of Americans think marijuana should be legalized, with 44 percent opposed. Support was strongest among men and those aged 18 to 29.

"This is the first time Quinnipiac University asked this question (but) it seems likely that, given the better than 2-1 majority among younger voters, legalization is just a matter of time," Brown said.

On other issues, 53 percent doubted climate change led to last month's Superstorm Sandy, and 47 percent said David Petraeus was right to quit as director of the Central Intelligence Agency over an extramarital affair, compared to 41 percent who thought he should have stayed on.

Quinnipiac University said it interviewed 1,949 registered voters across the United States between November 28 and December 3, resulting in a margin of error of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points.

Catholic newspaper calls for ordination of women

Google – AFP, Robert MacPherson, 3 December 2012 

Clouds form over the Vatican (AFP/File, Tiziana Fabi)

WASHINGTON — An independent Roman Catholic newspaper in the United States called Monday for a campaign to reverse the Vatican's refusal to allow women to become priests.

"Barring women from ordination to the priesthood is an injustice that cannot be allowed to stand," the National Catholic Reporter said, waving a red flag in front of the Vatican over one of its most strongly held teachings.

The call to the priesthood "is a gift from God," it said, and excluding women from responding to that call "has no strong basis in Scripture or any other compelling rationale."

With bishops and theologians on record as opposing women's ordination, the Missouri-based biweekly -- a respected voice of the Church's reformist wing -- said it now fell upon the faith's rank and file to press for change.

"We must speak up in every forum available to us: in parish council meetings, faith-sharing groups, diocesan convocations and academic seminars," it said. "We should write letters to our bishops, to the editors of our local papers and television news channels."

There was no immediate reaction from the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, which toes a conservative line on other hot-button issues such as abortion, contraception and gay marriage.

The United States has the largest Catholic population of any rich country, with a quarter of its 310 million people belonging to the faith -- a proportion sustained by Latino immigration.

The editorial was prompted by last month's excommunication and expulsion of Father Roy Bourgeois from the Maryknoll order for his role in a women's ordination ceremony in Kentucky in 2008.

In a statement on November 19, the order said Bourgeois, a priest for 39 years, had acted "without the permission" of local bishops "while ignoring the sensitivities of the faithful across the country."

"Disobedience and preaching against the teaching of the Catholic Church about women's ordination led to his excommunication, dismissal and laicization," it said.

The Vatican's Code of Canon Law states that "a baptized male alone receives sacred ordination validly." Church leaders insist that is an infallible rule that can never be changed.

Erin Saiz Hanna, executive director of the Women's Ordination Conference, said the National Catholic Reporter editorial comes at an important time for Catholics "fed up with the Vatican's hypocrisy and bullying."

Her organization, based in Washington, was founded in 1975 to campaign for women to become priests and bishops.

"While Father Roy suffers the severest sanctions possible in our Catholic tradition, bishops who fail to protect children from pedophile priests often quietly walk away without punishment or censure," she said in an email to AFP.

The editorial, she said, "resonates with a much larger church -- the church of the people of God who grasp that men and women are both created equal and that both men and women experience the same calls to priesthood."

The women timed the protest to coincide with the final days

 of the Vatican's Year for Priests.

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Pressure piles on church to vote again on female bishops - (CofE)

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"Recalibration of Free Choice"–  Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth,  4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical)  8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems  (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it),  Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse),  Illuminati (Based in Greece, Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.)

Palestinian president cheered on return from UN

Yahoo – AFP, Hossam Ezzedine, 2 December 2012

Palestinians fly balloons bearing the colours of their national flag while others

wave  flags as they celebrate their successful bid for UN non-member observer state

 status in the West Bank city of Ramallah on December 2. Palestinian president 

Mahmud Abbas returned to the West Bank after winning upgraded UN status

for the Palestinians, telling cheering crowds: "Yes, now we have a state."

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas returned to the West Bank on Sunday after winning upgraded UN status for the Palestinians, telling cheering crowds: "Yes, now we have a state."

"Palestine has accomplished a historic achievement at the UN," Abbas added, three days after the United Nations General Assembly granted the Palestinians non-member state observer status in a 138-9 vote.

"The world said in a loud voice... yes to the state of Palestine, yes to Palestine's freedom, yes to Palestine's independence, no to aggression, no to settlements, no to occupation," Abbas told the ecstatic crowd.

Palestinians wave their national flag
 and a picture of president Mahmud
Abbas. 

Abbas pledged that after the victory at the United Nations, his "first and most important" task would be working to achieve Palestinian unity and reviving efforts to reconcile rival factions Fatah and Hamas.

"We will study over the course of the coming days the steps necessary to achieve reconciliation," he said, as the crowd chanted "The people want the end of the division."

The return was a moment of triumph for Abbas, who last year tried and failed to win the Palestinians full state membership at the United Nations.

The bid stalled in the Security Council, where the veto-wielding United States has vehemently opposed it.

The United States, Israel and a handful of other countries also opposed the Palestinian bid to upgrade their status to that of a non-member observer state, but with no vetoes available in the General Assembly, the measure easily passed.

The move gives the Palestinians access to a range of international institutions, including potentially the International Criminal Court, and raises their international profile after years of stalled peace talks with Israel.

Abbas was received with a full honour guard, descending from his car to walk along a red carpet at the Ramallah presidential headquarters known as the Muqataa, where he shook hands with waiting dignitaries.

He laid a wreath and said a brief prayer at the grave of the iconic late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who is buried within the presidential complex, later dedicating the UN victory to the former president's memory.

Abbas called the approval a milestone in Palestinian history, saying it was the achievement of Palestinians everywhere.

"Our people everywhere, raise your heads up high because you are Palestinians," he said. "You are stronger than the occupation... because you are Palestinians.

"You are stronger than the settlements because you are Palestinians," he added. "You are making history and Palestine will be drawn on the map very soon."

Abbas's return drew supporters from across the West Bank, including Bajis Bani Fadl, from the northern town of Nablus.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas waves to the crowd upon his arrival in the
 West Bank city of Ramallah on December 2. Abbas returned to the West Bank
 after winning upgraded UN status for the Palestinians, telling cheering crowds:
"Yes, now we have a state." 

"I came to celebrate this day because the Palestinian leadership accomplished a great achievement, and this is a joy we haven't experienced in our lives," he told AFP.

"President Abbas... took us from a historical stage to a new stage, although it won't be easy to become a state on the ground," Mohammed Bani Audeh, 54, added.

"I know that the pressures will increase on us now, but these pressures don't mean anything, particularly if we achieve our unity."

While the Palestinians have expressed satisfaction and joy over the success of the bid, it has not been without repercussions.

Washington has warned it could withhold funds to the already cash-strapped Palestinian Authority, and Israel said Sunday it would not transfer millions of dollars it collects in tax funds for the Palestinians in response to the UN bid.

And on Friday, Israel revealed plans to build 3,000 settler homes in east Jerusalem and the West Bank in response to the bid.

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The Jewish-Palestinian Declaration (1997)

UN recognizes Palestine as non-member observer state

NO voters:

US

Israel

Canada

Czech Republic

Panama

Marshall Islands

Micronesia

Naura
Palau

Israel said to ease restictions on Gaza fishing and farming

"THE BRIDGE OF SWORDS"– Sep  29, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Text version)

“… Let us talk about the swords: When you hear the word sword, the first thing that occurs to you is battle. The Bridge of Swords is a battle and we told you that as well. Swords are metaphoric and they mean many things, so let us describe the things we mean them to say to you.

Number one: They are indeed a weapon in a battle. There is a battle coming. "Kryon, does that mean there's going to be a war?" Potentially, yes. Right now we will tell you that the Middle East cooks itself. You've noticed, haven't you? What do you know about the Middle East, dear one? Let's start examining things for a moment. What energy did you grow up in? What was the energy of the Middle East? In the '40s, what was the energy? With the establishment of the state of Israel, you built a wall of hate, both sides. The wall was so thick that the children of both sides were taught to hate one another as soon as they were able to understand the language. They were told who their enemies were. Now, where were you then?

Some of you weren't here yet. By the time you arrived, in your youth, were you aware of the Middle East? Not particularly. "What's the hatred about?" you might ask. What if I told you it's about a family feud? Two sons of a Jewish master are involved. One founded the Arabs and one remained a Jew. They don't want to hear this, but they are all Jews. (Don't tell them this.)

If you look at the lineage, it's pretty obvious and yet it's a complete and total set-up for either solution or war. The set-up would have this world ending in a conflagration that would have been brought about by this hatred. That's in the prophecy of Nostradamus and your scripture, but it is no longer the prophecy of the planet. Yet the hatred still exists. The hatred is as great today as it was then, but where was all the terrorism 40 years ago? It was isolated.

Those in Israel and Palestine and surrounding areas took the brunt of it, but now it's seemingly everywhere - and you're worried. Why would this be? The answer is that the old energy was happy to have this hatred contained, for it would keep it going and never involve outsiders. Outsiders tend to bring unwanted light to the party. Suddenly, the whole earth is involved and can see the entire scenario before them. The old guard wants war, just like all the eons before them. The ones on the bridge are holding the light and showing the earth how to cross. Even many younger ones in Israel and Palestine and Iran are holding light! It's all around the old guard and they are furious, for they are losing the "battle of hatred." …”

Stevie Wonder cancels show at Israel army fundraiser

The Daily Star, Reuters, December 01, 2012

Eddie Murphy, bottom, and Stevie Wonder perform Wonder's song "Higher Ground"
 onstage during "Eddie Murphy: One Night Only," a celebration of Murphy's career
 at the Saban Theater on Saturday, Nov. 3, 2012, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Chris
 Pizzello/Invision)

                              

LOS ANGELES: Veteran singer and United Nations Messenger of Peace Stevie Wonder has canceled a planned performance for the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces after several organizations asked him not to perform.

The soul singer, 62, was scheduled to sing at a Dec. 6 fundraising gala in Los Angeles hosted by the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces (FIDF), an organization set up to help those serving in the Israel Defense Forces and families of fallen soldiers.

"Given the current and very delicate situation in the Middle East, and with a heart that has always cried out for world unity, I will not be performing at the FIDF Gala," Wonder said in a statement sent to Reuters by his spokeswoman.

Wonder said he would make contributions to organizations that support Israeli and Palestinian children with disabilities.

The singer added that as a Messenger of Peace, a title he's held since 2009, "I am and have always been against war, any war, anywhere."

According to a statement from the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, a coalition that aims to change U.S. policy toward Palestine and Israel and support human rights and equality, Wonder's decision came after a "growing outcry" from several organizations and three international signed petitions.

The protest is part of a "cultural boycott" led by organizations that oppose Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories, the statement said.

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"The End of History" – Nov 20, 2010 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll)

(Subjects: Abraham, Isaac, Ishmael, Muhammad, Jesus, God, Jews, Arabs, EU, US, Israel, Iran, Russia, Africa, South America, Global Unity,..... etc.) (Text version)

" ..... If an Arab and a Jew can look at one another and see the Akashic lineage and see the one family, there is hope. If they can see that their differences no longer require that they kill one another, then there is a beginning of a change in history. And that's what is happening now. All of humanity, no matter what the spiritual belief, has been guilty of falling into the historic trap of separating instead of unifying. Now it's starting to change. There's a shift happening. ....."

US official signals future end to war against Al-Qaeda

Google – AFP, Dan De Luce (AFP), 1 December 2012

Defense Department General Counsel Jeh Johnson speaks in June 2012

 (Getty Images/AFP/File, Alex Wong)

WASHINGTON — The United States must prepare for a time when it no longer is at war with Al-Qaeda, and when sweeping federal powers ushered in after the September 11, 2001 attacks come to an end, the Pentagon's top lawyer said.

The address by Pentagon general counsel Jeh Johnson marked the first time a senior US official publicly raised the possibility of an end to the so-called "war on terror," launched by former president George W. Bush in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington.

With the US military campaign against Al-Qaeda now entering its 12th year, "we must also ask ourselves: how will this conflict end?" Johnson said Thursday in remarks delivered at the Oxford Union in Britain.

The terror network, which is under steady pressure, eventually will become so weak that it would no longer will make sense to maintain a legal framework for all-out war, Johnson said, according to a text released by the Pentagon.

"I do believe that on the present course, there will come a tipping point -- a tipping point at which so many of the leaders and operatives of Al-Qaeda and its affiliates have been killed or captured, and the group is no longer able to attempt or launch a strategic attack against the United States, such that Al-Qaeda as we know it, the organization that our Congress authorized the military to pursue in 2001, has been effectively destroyed," he said.

It would then fall to law enforcement and intelligence agencies to go after Al-Qaeda's remnants, said Johnson, a long-time political ally of President Barack Obama.

"At that point, we must be able to say to ourselves that our efforts should no longer be considered an 'armed conflict' against Al-Qaeda and its associated forces," he said.

Instead, the government would pursue "a counter-terrorism effort against individuals who are the scattered remnants of Al-Qaeda... with our military assets available in reserve to address continuing and imminent terrorist threats."

The war against Al-Qaeda has been cited to justify covert intelligence operations and unilateral military action around the world against suspected militants, including a major drone bombing campaign in Pakistan and the indefinite detention of alleged Qaeda members at a US-run prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The US administration chose to address the issue before an audience in Britain, where the government has harbored misgivings about the legality of the drone bombing raids.

The drone air war dramatically increased since Obama entered the White House in 2009, causing an unknown number of civilian casualties.

US officials, however, reportedly are examining stricter rules that would limit the open-ended, ambiguous nature of the drone raids.

With Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden dead and other senior figures killed however, US officials reportedly are examining stricter rules that would limit the open-ended, ambiguous nature of the drone raids.

Johnson's speech also signaled a possible path to closing the controversial prison at Guantanamo, since the legal rationale for holding detainees would no longer apply once the war was declared over.

"At that point we will also need to face the question of what to do with any members of Al-Qaeda who still remain in US military detention without a criminal conviction and sentence," Johnson said, noting that after World War II, the release of some Nazi prisoners of war was delayed.

Johnson, considered a possible candidate to become the next US attorney general, warned that the country must not accept the idea of a permanent state of war with no end in sight.

"'War must be regarded as a finite, extraordinary and unnatural state of affairs," he said.

"War violates the natural order of things in which children bury their parents. In war, parents bury their children," he said.

"In its 12th year, we must not accept the current conflict, and all that it entails, as the 'new normal'," he added.

"Peace must be regarded as the norm toward which the human race continually strives."

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The Jewish-Palestinian Declaration (1997)


"The End of History" – Nov 20, 2010 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll)

(Subjects: Abraham, Isaac, Ishmael, Muhammad, Jesus, God, Jews, Arabs, EU, US, Israel, Iran, Russia, Africa, South America, Global Unity,..... etc.) (Text version)

" ..... If an Arab and a Jew can look at one another and see the Akashic lineage and see the one family, there is hope. If they can see that their differences no longer require that they kill one another, then there is a beginning of a change in history. And that's what is happening now. All of humanity, no matter what the spiritual belief, has been guilty of falling into the historic trap of separating instead of unifying. Now it's starting to change. There's a shift happening. ....."